Soundtracks for this chapter: Scene one gets a blend of two of the best soundtracks from Corpse Party, The Nightmare of the School Years (which I used before but it’s still good) and Chapter 5’s Main Theme. But the final fight is upon us! I’ve used so many different tracks for this fight I have a whole playlist just for this one fight. The first one on there was The Stains of Time from MGR (for some reason I’ve always felt like that was the most edgey teenage boy song on the OST), which in a way was a callback to the very first soundtrack of this story, from the very first chapter, being I’m My Own Master Now also from MGR. Then over time the playlist also expanded to include Angel of the Dark by Aviators as a callback to when Murlesson first showed power and mysticism in public (although in this scene it actually goes at the end), and then Change the World by Man With a Mission, and finally a song which I think is called something about ParadiseLost (Belial Avatar BGM) from Granblue Fantasy (I felt “let me feel the power that could rip me to shreds” was a pretty appropriate chorus line!). I hope it lives up to the hype I’ve built!
Part 36: Darth Nox
Bursting through the door down from the roof, he nearly crashed into Revel. “Had a fight with Shara, huh?”
“Shut up,” Murlesson growled, storming past him at a run. “I don’t have time. She’s in trouble.”
“So you’re going to rescue her anyway, of course,” Revel said, turning to jog after him. “She’s really got you wrapped around her finger.”
Murlesson turned, eyes raw and blazing. “Don’t you talk about either of us like that.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Revel said. “I’m surprised you haven’t had more fights-“
“I said– be silent!” Murlesson lashed out, knocking Revel to the floor, then tensing his fingers as if around Revel’s throat. For the first time in their acquaintance, Revel looked up at him with fear, choking slightly as Murlesson’s fingers tightened. “Don’t- I don’t want to hear it!”
He was wasting time being volatile. He’d need every bit of control if he was going to keep her alive long enough to escape. He turned away from the pilot and kept running, grabbing his comm and scrambling all his troops, giving breathless orders as he cut through the bottom of the elevator and dropped to nearly a kilometre to the first floor, yanking on the Force at the last moment to save him from turning to paste at the bottom.
Xalek heard his unspoken summons and was waiting for him in the lobby. “Lord.”
“Go to Ashara and keep her alive,” Murlesson growled. “Tell her… tell her I heard what she said, but right now I need to pass the lowest bar she set. Take her where she wants to go.” She needed to stay alive. He couldn’t keep her safe, but by the gods he didn’t believe in, he’d try to keep her alive. She could pursue her happiness later, and only if she was not dead. “I’ll send you reinforcements as they mobilize but keep her alive. At any cost.” Even at the cost of Xalek’s life, and he knew Xalek knew it.
The Kaleesh bowed with perfect calm. “I obey, Lord.”
They both ran to the door and Xalek ran east and Murlesson turned west. His long legs devoured metres, but he couldn’t just go down the main road to the Museum of Industry – or rather, the crater next to it. He was his own bait, and he needed to arrive at the target location without too much interference. So he headed for a side alley. Fear twined with determination, settling his breath into a steady rhythm even while his hearts pounded wildly, his hair blowing back from his horns and forehead. Sithspawn, what if he was too late-!? He would not, could not let himself be too late…
He was halfway down when he sensed a vaguely familiar veiled presence and a bright, impatient presence, and heard a cheerful call. “It’s you!”
Who the hells would hail him so happily given the aura he was putting off? He skidded to a whirling stop and saw – red hair. “Rurouni?”
“That’s me!” said the Rurouni with a smile and a humble bow. “And my dear friend, Kira. Kira, this is the boy I told you about, that I met on Balmorra.”
“And now he’s in a fight for Dark Councillorship, massacring Republic ships willy-nilly,” the woman beside him told him irritably, her dark hair in a high ponytail that bounced with every move she made. “Really, Shin, only you would save someone like that.” The Rurouni just smiled sheepishly. They were both very short. More importantly, they were both Jedi.
Murlesson put his trembling hands on his knees and panted. He didn’t think too hard about what a pair of Jedi would be doing in Imperial territory. “Rurouni… I need your help. But not for me. Please. I beg you.”
“Oh, what’s the matter?”
“My… friend, Ashara, a Togruta… Padawan, she’s in grave danger. She left my base and Thanaton is going after her to get to me.”
“How’s a Sith Lord friends with a Padawan?” the woman wanted to know, but the Rurouni nodded.
“Of course we’ll help. Can we expect others to be there as well?”
“I’ve sent my other apprentice and all my remaining forces to her, but Thanaton outnumbers me by magnitudes. So you might want to start by announcing you’re there to protect her and that yes, I really did send you. And… if you can… get her to safety. Real safety. She’s leaving this fight.”
“I understand,” the Rurouni said gently. “You’ve really grown since we met.”
Murlesson bristled as if the Rurouni were wrong. “I’m going to rip Thanaton’s heart out if I can. You know that, right?”
The Rurouni’s smile faded to something more serious. “I said you’ve grown, not that you’re perfect. But don’t downplay your own heart. You care for her. You’re fighting for her. Not in memory of the dead, but to help the living. Even if you embrace the Dark Side, you wield it here for the brightest of reasons. And so, I will gladly help you.” He gave his companion a fond look. “Kira may do as she likes…”
“Of course I’m coming with you, idiot!” the woman said. “Can’t go getting killed without me-“
“All right she’s over to the east somewhere goodbye!” Murlesson told them and began to run again. Hope had blossomed through the fear and resolve, stilling the shaking of his hands, steadying his hearts and his breathing. Maybe she had a chance. She should have a chance.
Ashara took some deep breaths while she had the space. This Sith was the sort to send in his goons first, and she’d managed to deflect every single laser bolt that might have hit her so far, bouncing some back into her attackers. She was still outnumbered and in huge danger, but she was calm again. All that was on her mind was letting the Force flow through her.
There was a commotion from the street behind those who had cornered her, and she sensed a new presence as she heard a short sharp scream. The Sith yelled. “Reinforcements! Squad two, about-face! Get him away!”
It wasn’t Murlesson, she would have sensed it – Xalek? She recognized his Force-sense a moment before she caught a glimpse of him, his mask gleaming in the depths of his hood. “What are you doing here!?”
“Aiding,” he said shortly, and slashed his way through the lines. The enemy Sith hissed and drew his lightsaber, taking Xalek on.
What was she to do? She sprang forwards and attacked the soldiers that stood between her and freedom. “Look, if you want to run, I’m not gonna stop you guys. If I don’t kill you, Xalek absolutely will, so you should take the opportunity!” Here they were, playing Good CorSec, Bad CorSec again.
“If you run, I’ll kill you!” yelled the Sith.
“Man, that’s a really tough position you guys are in,” Ashara said. “Everybody wants to kill you! I’m so sorry. I’ll try not to make it hurt. Are you doing okay, Xalek?”
“Ask him,” Xalek said, and stabbed the Sith in the neck. The remaining soldiers ran for their vehicles. Xalek turned and zapped them.
“Xalek!” she scolded him as she sheathed her twin sabers. “They were running!”
“To get help and cause us further trouble, even if that is not their conscious intention,” Xalek said. “We have wasted too much time. Come.”
“Wasted too much time for what?” she demanded. “I’m not going back to base. I’m out. I still don’t know why you’re here.”
“My lord sent me,” Xalek said with great patience. “He heard your words, but still wishes you to live.”
“My words… Oh! About how just keeping me breathing and nothing else is being possessive?”
“I do not know what passed between you. But if you are not going back to base, you must go somewhere. Thanaton is out for you.”
“Right, I figured,” she said, and kept heading down the street. At the first cross-street, Xalek led her off the main road to the alleys behind the government buildings. They were really wide, for alleys, and unusually clean and tidy. It wasn’t much in the way of cover, but at least she was less obvious here than on the main street.
They only went another two, maybe three blocks before a speeder cruised up behind them, full of enemy soldiers – at least, she assumed they were enemies because they were shooting at them. And she sensed more danger surrounding them on all sides. They just were too slow on foot. But how was she going to get a speeder?
“Aw, crap,” she said as they zigged and zagged – running was a much better option than fighting right now, though they wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever. “Well, you tried… You should probably get out and go back to him. He’ll need you for his plans, especially without me there to help out.”
“I can’t do that,” Xalek said.
“Excuse me?” came a light voice from above, and she looked up to see a pair of humans running parallel to them on a decorative protrusion on the building above them. “Are you Ashara?” asked one of them, a red-headed man.
They were Jedi. She smiled. “Yes! Can you help us?”
“That’s what he asked us to do,” said the Rurouni, dropping down beside them. “I’m usually called the Rurouni, and this is my dear friend Kira.”
“Hi! How’d you ever get involved with that weirdo?” Kira asked. “Shin likes odd strays, so him I get being acquainted with a random Sith, but you seem way too sweet to hang out with someone like that.”
“Good question!” Ashara told her. “This is Xalek. I’ll tell you when we get out of this!”
A speeder jolted to a halt in front of them, and soldiers began unloading from it. These ones had heavy weapons. “This way!” said the Rurouni, and without breaking stride, ducked sideways into an alcove with a fire-door, smashing it in with a Force-laced gesture and leading them inside… whatever building that was. She got the sense that he didn’t know himself, that he was acting on instinct. She wondered if he was taking apprentices, because that was her kinda style.
She heard their pursuers pounding after them, as the Rurouni scampered up stairs and down halls, nimble as a teenager and calm as a sage, slamming doors behind them.
“This will not necessarily help us for long,” Xalek pointed out. “They will be surrounding the building.”
“True!” the Rurouni said cheerfully. “But they can’t predict where we’ll try to come out, so maybe we can break out through a weak point.”
“There will be no weak points,” Xalek said grimly. “Thanaton knows what a prize awaits him.”
“Let’s not be defeatist yet,” Ashara said. “Let’s see!”
“Ooh, that hall probably leads to the main entrance,” Kira said. “Let’s not go that way…”
“We have to leave this building eventually,” the Rurouni said. “My style doesn’t do well when cornered, it’s not very defensive.”
“Me either, and not Xalek either,” Ashara said.
“I really feel like the odd one out right now,” Kira said.
They made it up some stairs and to a window overlooking the road on the north side of the building. There did appear to be a gap, if they went quickly, to get across the street and to the next building.
“We can’t keep this up,” Kira pointed out. “At some point, we’re going to need to get transport. Anyone good at stealing speeders?”
“Y-yes?” the Rurouni said, and Kira gasped like that was something she hadn’t known about her companion. “What? I’m not good at driving them…” He cut through the transparisteel and launched himself into the air, aiming to get as far across the street without running as possible. They followed him.
“I’m not hearing anyone volunteering,” Kira said as they landed and made a run for the next building through a hail of blaster fire following them. “Well, if no one else will, I will…”
“Please say you’ll drive,” the Rurouni begged the other two, and dodged Kira’s swat.
“Cease your chatter and look around,” Xalek said. “Reinforcements have arrived again. For us, this time.”
There were more speeders inbound, which pulled up around their current building, unloading tons of troops. Some of them began setting up heavy weapons. “Miss Ashara! Miss Ashara!” she heard, and there was Drellik, hurrying towards her through the horde of taller soldiers, his pistol drawn and a medkit in his other hand. “Are you all right?”
“I’m all right,” she said. “What are you all doing here?”
“Boss’s orders,” Andronikos told her. “The thought of you in danger has driven him a li’l bonkers.” He felt his throat and grimaced.
Her eyes widened in horror. “Are you all right?” How could Murlesson do that to one of his closest friends!?
He shrugged. “He’s a Sith. They don’t know what ‘proportionate reaction’ means.” She guessed Murlesson would have to apologize good and proper for that.
“But the plan…” she began.
“The plan isn’t as important as you, Miss Ashara,” Drellik told her. “Everything will be all right, I’m sure! And I will do what I can, small though it is.”
“Thank you-!” she gasped out after them as they went to find advantageous positions to shoot from. Murlesson’s soldiers had already set up pop-up barriers all around them and the heavy weapons were keeping the superior numbers of the enemy at bay.
The Rurouni gave Xalek a friendly smile. “I guess this is where we dig in and fight, then!” Xalek grunted and jumped forward, using the covering fire the friendly troops gave him to close with a portion of the enemy troops.
The conflict was spreading. She could sense it, rippling out from her position. She’d never wanted this. So many people were going to die because of her. She had just wanted to leave.
He was throwing every single person and resource he could get at her – he was throwing away everything just so she would stay alive. And even that might be futile; she didn’t know how many soldiers Thanaton had sent to get her but they could always get thousands more reinforcements at any moment. But what about the stupid kaggath!? He wouldn’t be able to win now! And that meant he might die and she might be heartbroken over him but she didn’t want him to die. Not yet. Not until she’d seen for herself that he was completely and fully irredeemable, and that meant seeing that spark die in his heart, seeing his love and guilt have no purchase on him. He was dangerous and she needed to leave him, but he wasn’t there yet.
“Stay calm,” the Rurouni said to her, sensing her emotions. He had paused and pulled back to speak to her, but she almost wished he hadn’t – his fighting was magnificent, lightning fast, blisteringly intricate, he barely seemed to touch the ground; she had never seen anything like it and almost just wanted to watch in awe. Kira was about as skilful and well-trained as she was herself, but he was something else. “One thing at a time. For now, we live. Oh, hi, Sabran!”
“Rurouni-sempai!” Sabran greeted him cheerfully, dropping down into the fray from another building as the Rurouni turned scarlet to match his hair. “Hi, Kira! Hi, Ashara, Xalek! Hope you don’t mind me joining in!”
“Sabran!” she gasped; she wanted to hug them. This was ridiculous. Sith and Jedi and armies all fighting together for her… She was going to cry in a minute because why couldn’t they get along outside of crazy situations like this? And then she heard whooping as the Mandalorians joined in.
The world was crazy, and there was too much to keep track of. She took a moment to centre herself. She wasn’t alone. All these people had come to protect her, but now that they were all together, she could also protect them, and that gave her strength. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, chose a target, and went to fight it, trusting in the Force that surrounded her and her allies at her back.
She felt free in this moment, defending the people behind her, attacking the people in front of her. She was tired of killing, but at least her goals were clear – to fight until the battle was won. She found herself slipping into a trance, and welcomed it. She had learned so much since she’d been forced to leave the enclave on Yavin 4. About herself, about the Force, about life. She wouldn’t trade that, even if her future right now was completely uncertain…
“I think they’re pulling back,” the Rurouni called over the battle, and she turned back to regroup with her allies. A lot of people were giving him and Kira and Sabran very suspicious looks, but since she and Xalek weren’t complaining, she guessed normal soldiers certainly couldn’t.
“Great! Shara needs a rest,” Andronikos said, patting her on the shoulder as she joined their gathering. “How are you holding up? Sorry about your break-up, by the way. He’s an idiot, but we always knew that. I’m not gonna ask what happened, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”
It was too much. Murlesson really didn’t care about anyone’s affiliation, whether political or personal, and that was still wonderful to her, despite everything else – but also, that all these people were willing to come save her life, at great risk to their own… Most of them were under orders, sure, but the ones who knew her were only filled with concern for her, orders or no. She’d never felt more valued and cared for, especially with all the kindest people – and Xalek, she supposed – standing near her, supporting her. She put her face in her hands and let some tears out.
Sabran patted her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. A lot has happened. Take a minute. We have a minute. After emotions will be peace.”
“Okay,” Ashara said, once she got over her sniffles. “What is that idiot doing while you’re all here?”
“Preach,” Kira muttered under her breath. The Rurouni fidgeted awkwardly.
“He will confront Thanaton directly,” Xalek told them. “He was heading in that direction when I left him.”
“He can’t do that!” Ashara cried. “If he sent literally everybody to help me, he’s – he can’t fight through Thanaton’s reserves on his own!” And the forces that had just left had probably gone to reinforce Thanaton-!
“That is the point,” Xalek said. “You have value as a captive, but Thanaton desires our lord’s death most of all.”
“The rest of us are worthless in comparison,” she said, aghast. “Does he think that making a grand gesture is going to get me to stay!?”
“No,” said the Rurouni quietly. “He might be going about it in a very dramatic way, but truly all he wants is for you to escape unharmed. He doesn’t care about himself in comparison, not anymore. I knew there was no changing his mind… because those were once my thoughts as well. The only one who can convince him…” He glanced at Kira, who reached over and squeezed his hand.
The Rurouni wasn’t going to finish that sentence, he didn’t want to influence her decision. She was going to cry again. “That… stupid…!”
“Ashara,” Sabran said calmly. “What do you want to do now? This is your choice. You can leave if you like, I think that’s what he wanted. Or we can do the suicidal thing and go help him.”
She sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve. She did want to leave, she could go with these kind Jedi who she almost trusted wouldn’t condemn her if they knew the mistakes she’d made. But there were other things that were just as important. She thought about how he looked in the rare moments he had been happy, when he was able to pretend to be normal, how he held her close so gently, like she was the most precious person in the universe. She couldn’t be his friend, or his therapist, and the Jedi way of life would advise her to give up this extra-dangerous attachment.
But she couldn’t give up on him either, even now. It was the same argument she’d had with herself on Voss, but with an extra dimension. Was she a hypocrite for wanting to give him another, probably-undeserved chance when that meant other people would die? Could she risk her life over him one more time? “I don’t want him to die, especially not over me. Is there anything we can do?”
She was surprised to see a little smile on the Rurouni’s face. “Yes, I believe there is. Hey, is anyone here good at tactics? I don’t think they’d want a Jedi taking control. Ashara?”
“No, I’m no good at strategy,” she said. The Major in charge of Murlesson’s troops would be good, but he would want a Sith to take orders from, wouldn’t he? “Xalek, would you…?”
“I can command,” Xalek said succinctly.
“Wait, are we even allowed to interfere, though?” Ashara said, suddenly catching the Rurouni’s drift.
“Do you believe Murlesson can defeat Thanaton in a fair fight?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she said. He’d been so gleeful the last time they’d crossed paths, even if that had made him spiral into depravity all the faster.
“Then we have to give him that fair fight,” he said, as if it was so simple. “The Republic has been broadcasting news of this kaggath just as much as the Empire has – they’re hoping to benefit from Thanaton’s removal and the subsequent period of upheaval. So I have an idea of what we’re looking at… I don’t think we’ll be outnumbered at Thanaton’s base by more than three to one, at least for long enough to get an outcome. If we did all go down fighting, it would be incredibly costly for Thanaton, even if strategically we’ve got very bad terrain. I think we have a good chance of strong-arming him into a duel. But… you’ll have to do the talking.” He smiled charmingly. “Not a good look for me to be advocating for Murlesson. Think you’re up for it?”
That was a really tall order. “I’ll…” There is no try. “Y-yeah. I’ll do it.”
Murlesson arrived at the crater wildly out of breath. He’d done everything he could do for Ashara, except for the last, most important thing. But he needed his breath back before he tried it, or it wouldn’t be very convincing, just desperate-looking. He was desperate, but Thanaton couldn’t know that for certain.
He was about to step out from the shadow of the building he was in, to draw all the attention for a kilometre around, when he heard a voice from behind him. “I’m very disappointed, you know,” Zash said to him. “All the work I’ve put in for you, all the support and effort I’ve given building you up, and now you’re going to throw it away.”
He turned to face his monster. “I don’t care what you think. I stopped caring what you thought when you tried to kill me.”
“You’re throwing it away for a girl! I know you like her but I thought of all Sith, that you would be smarter than this. More focused than this.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” he said coldly. “Khem, what are you doing, letting her have control at a time like this?”
<I agree with the witch, for once,> Khem growled with menace. <If you freed me from my curse, I would have followed you willingly all of my days. Instead, you are a weakling over your foolish feelings. I told you she would be your undoing. You have blundered and he will kill you, and I will let him.>
“Is that why you blatantly disobeyed my direct orders,” Murlesson said. This anger was good, he could use this to stay alive a little longer. Everyone just thought he’d panicked and screwed up, but while he had panicked, yes, everything he had done under it had been a definite choice made with a clear head. He hadn’t screwed up. He just hadn’t planned for his own survival. “What, were you thinking you could talk me out of what I’m doing?” He turned back to the crater before him, white and grey rubble turned golden in the late afternoon light. “The most you can do here is bear witness to the end of my folly. Goodbye.”
“Murlesson-!”
He stepped out into the light and crossed the street until he stood at the edge of the crater. There were the twelve replica seats of the Dark Council, each of them two stories tall and made of recently-poured duracrete. He wondered if they had holoprojectors for the councillors, in which case, Thanaton didn’t have to have built one for himself… but that was an idle thought. He could sense areas that were likely metaphysical traps meant to paralyze him or debilitate him. “Thanaton!” He projected his voice, and it echoed thunderously from the skyscrapers around.
He’d been aware of the snipers fixed on him from the moment he showed himself, was aware of the thousands of eyes suddenly turned to him, the thousands of nervously beating hearts suddenly on high alert and ready to kill him. But they didn’t. Perhaps such a blatant, reckless challenge confused them. He reached out experimentally with his mind, but – even with five souls at his command, he couldn’t confuse and disorient them all and attack Thanaton. It would be a choice between blurring all their eyes and risking taking a hit from someone he missed, or using other means to protect himself and going straight for Thanaton.
It took a few minutes, but Thanaton eventually came down from the museum to the other side of the crater. “What are you doing here? I was expecting you tomorrow, in a much more unpredictable manner.”
Funny. Didn’t that technically make his sudden appearance even more unpredictable? “Too bad. I’m ready now. Come and get me.” Thanaton would not be able to grasp his true intentions. He wouldn’t be able to comprehend that anyone would be so loyal to a mere apprentice, which was all Ashara appeared to be to them.
He was still going to try and kill him. What did he have to lose now? The harder he fought, the more time Ashara had to get away. Though his wish to keep her safe was mingled with his hatred for Thanaton, rising up and boiling into mad rage at this cruel old man who had hounded him so long, who had tried so hard to grind him into nothing, to exterminate him for the crime of existing, like every other Sith did – except perhaps Aristheron.
Thanaton scoffed. “I know you know there are a thousand blasters trained on the spot you stand. I didn’t actually think you were this foolish, after all the trouble you’ve caused me. What advantage have you gained that gives you such confidence?”
He grinned. “Would you like to find out?”
One by one, seven of the thrones of the Dark Council flickered to life, towering around him larger than life. And other holograms around the edge of the field; Thanaton’s other supporters and allies throughout the Empire. “You finally caught him?” Darth Ravage said to Thanaton.
“It would seem so,” Thanaton said. “Boy, it’s time for you to learn – you can be a great Sith, with incredible personal power and intelligence, and I will deign to acknowledge that it seems that in general, you are… today’s blunder aside. No one has ever caused me as much trouble and aggravation as you. But your power base is lost, scattered, and without even the most modest shred of support, you are unworthy of becoming a Darth. And that is why I can do this.” He gestured with his hand, and a thousand sniper rifles went off in a volley from every direction around him.
Murlesson leaped to dodge most of the bolts, grabbing pieces of debris with the Force to whirl around him and act as a shield. He had to juggle so many pieces he could scarcely see the sky between them, almost completely encased in a moving dome of stone and duracrete, dropping pieces as they were shot through and grabbing more to replace them. And he moved forward, swiftly, trying to close the gap to Thanaton. They would not be able to shoot at him if they were tangled up together…
But Thanaton was moving back and away, and a new tide of soldiers was sweeping past him and towards Murlesson. It was a brute force approach for dealing with a Force-user, but even if he somehow fought through all of them, he’d be tired and easy prey for Thanaton. And he was realizing he still really, really did not want to die. Still, he had to try to attack, to at least pretend he was going to kill Thanaton even if he’d never get there, and lightning crackled around his shield of stone as he prepared to unleash it across the entire battlefield-
Soldiers were turning away from him as if to deal with a new threat- “H-hang on- Hang on a minute!” said a new voice, shaky at first, but gaining in indignation and volume. And he whipped around in shock and fear, because that was Ashara’s voice. Everyone he had sent to help Ashara was here, including Ashara-! How dare they all! She was supposed to get away, because what was the point of sacrificing himself if she was going to die anyway? The soldiers had stopped firing at her request, and she had stepped out onto the edge of the field with his army behind her. This was not tactical…
“More lambs to the slaughter?” Thanaton said. “I suppose your power base isn’t quite as scattered as you made it look. Are you trying to save your master? Bolstering his weakness with your meagre strength?”
“Well, I mean, I guess,” Ashara said. “Kind of? Look, I know you can just shoot at him with a million guys until a lucky shot gets him. But that’s not very clever, is it?”
She was using Thanaton’s ego against him. He’d taught her well. Even if she’d done the stupidest thing possible, coming back for him and bringing everyone else with her, but she’d likely argue that so had he. But he was distracted by the defiance shining through her awkwardness, the way the sunlight caught her beautiful face. Despite their fight not an hour ago, and everything they’d been through in the past couple months that had driven them apart, she was as beautiful as the sun itself to him, and she’d come back for him despite his rejecting her so violently. How could he have lost sight of her?
“I don’t really care, at this point,” Thanaton said. “I just want him to go away.”
“There’s a problem with that,” Murlesson said, dropping his duracrete shields partway to speak. “My forces are here now. This could be very costly for you if you want to simply try to overwhelm me. So here are your options-“
“You do not need to tell me my options,” Thanaton interrupted furiously.
“Is that the Rurouni?” asked Darth Mortis on the Council. “What are Jedi doing among your forces?”
“Temporary alliance,” the Rurouni spoke up. “You know I’m a meddler. I’m not in your power structure, so joining his power base shouldn’t cause a problem, right? Like those mercenaries you both have been using, except I’m not getting paid.” Murlesson heard Jeik made a sympathetic sad noise. “Which is as it should be.” Jeik made a confused noise. He didn’t know why Jeik was reacting, Jeik was getting paid.
“I wonder if your superiors would feel the same,” Thanaton said.
The Rurouni shrugged. “I am a rurouni. I have no superiors. Because all they try to do is use me. I am no traitor to that which I believe in.”
Thanaton snorted. “You may not think yourself so, but you are – and so is Kallig.”
“I’m simply making use of everything I can get my hands on,” Murlesson rejoined. “Surely you can relate, you hired a Hutt against me.”
“I’m a bit surprised at this claim,” said Darth Baras, the newest Dark Council member, Akuliina’s master. Murlesson looked flatly at him. He always wondered how Akuliina could work for such a pompous egomaniac, but she’d abruptly dropped off the radar a couple days previous. He hoped she’d survived the obvious betrayal. “You’ve always spoken against working with the Hutts, Thanaton. I thought they weren’t mystical enough for you. What is a member of the Dark Council who cannot control his own servants? The boy doesn’t know any better, but I thought you did.”
“Naturally, he was making use of every resource he could get his hands on,” said a new, smooth, calm voice from the edge of the field.
“And what are you doing here?” Thanaton demanded. “Is every passing acquaintance of this virus going to attend?”
“Perhaps,” Aristheron said, crossing his arms on the other side of the crater. Soldiers were forming up in regimented lines behind him. “I have come to witness my ally’s battle. As your allies witness yours.”
“You and several battalions of your troops,” Thanaton retorted sarcastically.
“I will not interfere,” Aristheron said. “These are for my own protection.” Yet the presence of so many soldiers not allied with Thanaton, in addition to Murlesson’s companions, allies, and ground forces on the other side of the field, would be putting pressure on him.
Murlesson flexed his wrists. He wanted this tension over with. “Have you decided yet?”
Thanaton could attack Murlesson and his army with his own army. But although Murlesson was vastly outnumbered and Aristheron was not supposed to interfere, there was no guarantee that Thanaton would win – there was no guarantee that Thanaton would even make it out alive, even if his army wiped out Murlesson’s army. He could let Murlesson go, since this situation was not advantageous to anyone. But then he would have to deal both with an annoyed Dark Council, who would have been called up for no reason, it wasn’t like they didn’t have anything better to do, and also with dealing with suddenly unpredictable moves from Murlesson in the following days. And he could engage in this duel. He definitely had no guarantee of surviving, but he would have more control over it than a large, chaotic battlefield.
“I agree, let’s stop arguing semantics and see some action,” Darth Ravage said.
“There is no point in me sullying my hands fighting him,” Thanaton said, switching tactics. “He calls himself Sith, but he is slave to a corrupt master. Zash is now dead and all who served her must die as well.”
“You seem awfully interested in a woman dead for months,” Murlesson said, trying not to snarl at the ‘slave’ label. It still made his hearts race with fury, and he couldn’t let on that it did, or he’d never shake it. Thanaton was only trying to justify attacking with his army. “You never bothered to kill her, if she was so corrupt. I did that.”
“The question stands: why has this apprentice, this… child, proved impossible for you to kill?” Marr asked.
Murlesson snorted impatiently. “Has it occurred to any of you that I might be just that good?”
“A flippant response from a flippant fool,” Thanaton shot back.
“You’ve had ample opportunity to kill me. You’ve tried a dozen different ways. You’ve always fallen short of finishing the job.” He spread his arms. “It’s enough to make a Sith feel like you’re not even trying.”
“I am a member of the Dark Council! I am your superior!” Thanaton tried to thunder, but to Murlesson’s ears it only sounded whiny.
Ravage growled in his throat. “I swear, if you don’t silence Thanaton, I will!”
Thanaton whirled on him with a death-glare. “I will not be betrayed. I will not die. And when I’ve killed this slave, you will all answer for it.”
“Please kill him, then,” Darth Mortis said, politely gesturing for him to begin.
Thanaton’s face worked with suppressed rage before he rounded on Murlesson again. “Fine. This is a waste of my energy, but I shall kill you myself.” He raised his voice. “Watch me now wipe this degenerate from the face of the Empire, and know that all who follow him shall suffer the same fate.” His soldiers hurried off the field, leaving only the two of them, Thanaton at one end, Murlesson directly in the centre surrounded by the Council’s holograms.
“I’m glad you accept the inevitable,” Murlesson said, and cracked his neck. “Ready when you are.”
The sky darkened above them, raging black clouds drawn by the volatile emotions of two high-level wielders of the Dark facing off. Thunder growled softly, echoing from skyscrapers. Thanaton hissed. “I didn’t want to waste my personal effort on such a worthless parasite, but congratulations! You’ve earned my full attention and power.”
Murlesson cracked a grin, bouncing on the balls of his feet. His hearts were thrumming far harder than they had a few minutes ago and he hardly felt his still-forming bruises of the past two days. Just being given this chance had given him all his energy back. “And how long has it been since you had to use your full power, old man?”
Thanaton did not answer, spreading his arms and drawing the Dark Side about himself. It was thick, and old, a choking cloud full of black, rotted passions, full of blighting ambitions. That sense reminded Murlesson that Thanaton did have decades of power and experience… and it did count for something. It was triggering his ingrained fear from when he was the half-trained nothing Thanaton believed him to be, from when they’d first fought in the jungle of Dromund Kaas outside the tomb.
He couldn’t act intimidated now. He’d sacrificed his soul over and over to gain the strength to counter this power, and he let it bloat out to its full, unveiled potency. Thanaton’s gaze flickered.
Thanaton drew his saber, carefully and precisely adopting his stance, but that was not the greatest threat he wielded. Still, Murlesson drew his own lightsaber, spinning it until he dropped into his own half-crouching ready stance, the black core hissing within the scarlet blade. His hearts were thumping in his chest with tight-wound anticipation.
And he sprang forwards, intent on closing the distance for real this time under the eyes of the Dark Council. His hatred soared, bursting out of him, finally finally unchained and free to rampage, singing through every wave of the Force around him, clashing against Thanaton’s own disdainful, fearful hatred. They really were alike in uncomfortable ways.
Immediately, the battlefield erupted with the Force – lightning struck at him, and stones rose around him and blasted towards him. There was an outside pressure against his mind and body, and he yelled as he tore it away from himself, sending stones flying. He channelled his rage and hate into his own invisible weapons and flung them outward with a hissing roar. Most of the pre-arranged Force traps and nodes popped instantly, unravelling uselessly, overloaded with energy. The Dark Side writhed and twisted about the battlefield, contorted and clashing against itself as the two masters drew on it for their own ends. When he blinked, he could almost see it, coils of metaphysical wind blasting to and from each of them, eddying around the other souls watching the conflict. Massive blows impacted on the rubble, sending sprays of debris and dust raining across the field, leaving new smaller craters.
It was like fighting into a hurricane. Thanaton might have hoped this sort of confrontation would be a last resort, but he was not unprepared to go head to head with Murlesson; he had clearly fought this passionately in his past. He stood there at his end of the field, using his lightsaber almost as a baton to control the Force, spinning swiftly out of the way of Murlesson’s Force strikes when he absolutely had to, and then unleashed his own, viciously tearing at the space and ground around his enemy. Murlesson cut through what he could with his lightsaber, making mnemonics with his off-hand to counter-attack, dodging or bulling through the rest with his ridiculous power acting as a buffer. The raging lightning flashed and glittered, blinding and hungry, thunderclaps blowing out windows in the skyscrapers. The onlookers cowered, many of them retreating.
Murlesson lunged into melee range, lightsaber humming, and their blades clashed with blurring flashes of crimson and scarlet. Thanaton ripped the ground out from under him with a whiplash motion and although he rolled, his momentum sent him sliding across twenty feet of rubble. He clambered to his feet, shaking red hair and dark blood out of his eyes, absolutely seething. He couldn’t lose control here, no… if he lost control, he’d be taken apart piece by piece. He hissed, baring his fangs, and flipped backwards to avoid a really colossal rock.
“You will kneel before the end,” Thanaton told him coldly. He had put more distance between them again.
“How about no?” he retorted, voice grating.
Thanaton shook his head. “Is this all you have? You took me by surprise when you burst into my meditation chamber and began ranting like a deranged person. Here, you have tempered your strength, but I am ready for you.” Two more giant pieces of duracrete smashed into spots Murlesson had been standing a second before – he seized the third and the fourth and sent them slamming back in Thanaton’s direction, dodging again. The only cover here was the giant thrones, and he used it, no matter how silly it might look to the Councillors, ducking behind them, jumping onto a colossal armrest.
Thanaton wanted a big rock? His own model throne here was a big rock, more or less, and he lifted it and hurled it at him. Thanaton of course caught it, and sent it flying in a random direction – straight at Murlesson’s troops. The Jedi caught it before it could smush anyone into bloody pulp, but Murlesson had already looked in the direction of the screaming sounds, distracted.
Thanaton smirked and backhanded him with the Force, sending him flying high in the air. Before he could tell up from down, lightning struck him and he screamed. More and more power flooded in, turning the space around him completely incandescent.
But after that first shrieking moment, he’d managed to channel the energy around him, so it was no longer wracking every nerve beyond even Zabrak pain tolerance. It still stung, and he finished his flying arc to land with a heavy crunch on the field away from Thanaton, bruising his back and smacking his skull.
“Giving up already?” he heard his enemy call to him, heard lightning crackle as Thanaton took the time to power up another strong blow. “You do not have the strength, or the authority, to defeat me!”
Why was he having trouble? He was massively overpowered – he’d wrested Kel Reu Giri’s control away from an entire planet when he was on the verge of death, so why…?
“What are you waiting for?” he heard Ashara calling from the sidelines, worry threading through her voice. “Hurry up and kick his butt! Master.”
It wasn’t like he didn’t want to, but his hatred-
His hatred wasn’t enough. Thanaton understood hatred and fear as well as he did. And Murlesson had become more than just his hatred. He was so used to hiding his warped soul, or only using it to intimidate those who could see, that he… He climbed to his feet slowly, painfully, reaching up a hand to catch the new massive bolt of lightning Thanaton had sent at him and freeze it motionless in midair.
Reaching inside himself, past his rasping lungs, past his pounding hearts, down to his new reason for fighting – his new reason for living.
And he saw-
Colours.
The Force unfurled around him, spreading wider and wider, roiling darkness shot through with slashes of bright violet. All around him, the Force shimmered, the connections within him shining brightly, stained with colours like they had washed through tinted glass.
He rolled his shoulders and grinned, breathing in this new feeling. There was nothing to it – he only had everything to lose.
The freed lightning bolt sizzled past him and shattered the remains of a wall with a sharply echoing crack. Thanaton was staring at him warily. He laughed, spreading his upturned hands, revelling in his freedom. At some point he’d dropped his lightsaber and he didn’t even care. The dark sky overhead churned, the setting sun glancing beneath the clouds between the skyscrapers, and the entire crater began to shift as the rubble around its edges began to swirl in a huge whirlwind, faster, higher, many stories high. This was his power, and it coursed in torrents from him, too much to hold. Just like before, when he’d tried to kill Thanaton before, but this time it was all his. He was a burning dark star with violet fire, and maybe it would burn him up, but right now, he welcomed this feeling. He felt… unstoppable. On the brink of chaos. Alive.
“Oh, now this is getting interesting,” Darth Vowrawn commented, leaning forward on his throne. “Look at him go.”
“Y-you’re insane!” Thanaton stammered, backing away, throwing more lightning at him, more stones. “I always knew you were! No one can control that much power!”
He laughed again with absolute exhilaration, deflecting those frantic attacks before they got anywhere near him. Even a huge blast of sheer power that would have squashed him like a bug under a boot he simply turned aside and its impact created another small crater behind him. “The Force shall free me. It’s funny what one can accomplish when one neither knows nor cares what the limits are supposed to be.”
He closed his eyes, letting his head roll back around his neck, feeling the wind on his face, whipping his hair. He spread his hands again, lightning playing between his clawed fingers. “Don’t feel bad. This is the natural life-cycle of our kind. As well you know, even if you’re not ready to go yet. No one ever is.” He wondered when it would be his turn to stand and watch his doom approach him.
“No!” Thanaton shouted, turning to threaten Murlesson’s followers, maybe to try to punch his way through the whirling duracrete and run, but Murlesson put out a hand and took hold of him, forcing him down, crushing him to his knees, to kneel before him, even as Murlesson floated, levitating above him. “Zash – you- how dare you!”
He paused at that, the words dragging up echoes of another assassination in a dark jungle. All this time, had Thanaton thought…? “Zash is long gone. I defeated her.”
“You can’t fool me!” Thanaton raved hysterically. “You were always good at acting – hiding in the body of this boy, like I wouldn’t see through your tricks-“
All this time, and he still couldn’t have credit for his own actions. He put his head back and sighed. “Her ritual failed. I escaped. All this time, you thought your rebellious apprentice was being sneaky, when really, you’ve been outsmarted and outfought by a boy, a literal child, and your precious ego couldn’t take it. Whatever your hate for her, it was me you tried to kill, and it was I who struggled against you.” He looked down again. “Fear me, Thanaton, because I am my own self, and none have managed to take that from me long enough to stop me from destroying them completely. I am the voice of the forgotten, the rejected, the vengeful forsaken. And now I kill you, not for her sake, but for mine.” And Ashara’s, and Drellik’s, and Pyron’s, and Rylee and Destris’s, and everyone who depended on his power in this moment.
“No… no!” Thanaton struggled uselessly. “That’s not possible! I refuse to accept it!”
“Then die in ignorance, and may hell itself erase your name,” Murlesson hissed, and snapped his neck.
The “Thanaton thinks Zash took over the Inquisitor and that’s why he’s been so obsessed” thing is something I read on like Tumblr or something and I thought it was really cool, but it was a long time ago so unfortunately I have no memory of where I found it or who wrote it otherwise I would say thanks for the really cool headcanon!
And it’s only now, at the end, that I realize… how I could have plotted this to avoid it being a kaggath in the first place LOL (kaggaths are stupid). Like, Thanaton joins the war effort and Murlesson sneaks in to try and get him while pretending that he is also helping the war effort (might make it harder to recruit new cultists but given how irrelevant they’ve been I don’t think that’s an issue). I’m vaguely tempted to rewrite Act 4 from scratch, but I’ve put so much work into this version, and I do think it’s pretty good, that I don’t really feel like doing something so drastic right now. I like these goth theatre kids wallowing in their drama. XD
Like, I dunno, I get that kaggaths make sense as a historical thing for Sith Lords to do to each other, I can envision that, but it seems like it should be frowned upon to do it while a war is on, and while in the majorest warzone. Although that part we can blame the linear planet pathing for, I guess. And isn’t that one of the themes of the Inquisitor, that while they know the old ways, they’re also a nonconformist rebel? (Sure, in the games it’s Thanaton who issues the challenge, which I took away from him because having Murlesson do it gives the Inquisitor more sorely-needed agency.)
Anyway, one more epiloguish chapter remaining!