Regrets

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Liliane Lancaster"] [member="Kahne Porte"] [member="Adele Adonai"]

Haruun Kal


They were still. Like a moment frozen in time. The gash across the front of his chest plate smouldered. Blood trickled from a gap in his armour above his wrist and tricked down the back of his hand.

The three stood still, just their chests heaving. Then the nearest acolyte to Jacen simply fell apart. They had not minded their surroundings. Not seen the deep cut he’d left in a tree so that he could pull it down, separate the pair and bring the nearest one close. Close enough to knock her guard up and then swing his blade across the cut right through her at the hips.

Jacen’s grip tightened on his saber. In the distance he heard the others clash. He couldn’t fail today. He wouldn’t allow it. There were so many failures and just as before his last had left to someone close abandoning him. Not again.

He envisaged the steps before him that he had to walk, let the Force guide him as he carefully placed his foot in each one. Nothing would deter him from this path.

 

[Adele Adonai]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] [member="Liliane Lancaster"] [member="Kahne Porte"]

"Why do you fight, child?" Qorbin Fal's voice taunted her, crawling ever closer, seeming to resonate at all sides.

A sudden blast came at her direction, a ball of kinetite. If he were not going to get her through her mind, he would weaken her to find a chink in her armor.

A'dele simply reacted, her hand coming up as if to stave off an attack. The shimmering blue sphere of protection managed to barely block the hit, but the strength of it managed to have her stumble back. The bubble fell, strands of blonde hair whipping across her face, blocking her vision.

He was on her in an instant, saber an orange scythe ready to strike at her.

 

[Kahne Porte]

The force...

Sabers clashed, the familiar sound could be heard from miles away it seemed like. Thunderous they were as blades connected, yet in reality it was only a small sound, perhaps it was the moment they were in. Or maybe it was that figure he saw in the covered darkness that had him contemplating what was to come. However he grounded himself for the moment as he focused and kept his attention on what was going on, here and now. Saber rose to deflect the incoming attacking looking to take him in half. His blade met firmly with his opponents and seeing as his blade was at the side, an opening was clear. The Jedi's foot rose and he planted it firmly against the acolytes chest, the kick knocking him back and down to the ground a few paces away.

Kahne took a deep breath as he glanced around to his comrades and reflecting in his eyes an intricate orange blade coming across, looking to strike at Adele. The Jedi Master's hand shot forward gathering the force looking to hold the individual in place, momentarily freezing the attack. Stasis was apparent if only for a brief moment, for Kahne's own opponent would be against him soon. Which gave her just a few precious seconds before the stasis hold would be released.


[member="Adele Adonai"] [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] [member="Liliane Lancaster"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Adele Adonai"][member="Kahne Porte"]

Jacen stalked forwards, holding his opponent's gaze. As he stepped over the remains of the sith's fallen comrade Jacen looked down. The sith, naturally, followed his gaze. In that brief window Jacen surged forwards. He drew the Force to him, allowing the flow to propel him forwards at superhuman speed.

His thrust was parried. Not the quick victory he might have snatched. However, he had the impetus now and had to press home. Jacen took another step and launched into a quick offensive routine. A swing down for the shin was retracted and blades crossed over the sith's head.

Back and forth went their sabers, but Jacen only went forwards. It was hard not to be distracted by the sabers he could see flashing beyond the treeline.

 

[Adele Adonai]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] [member="Kahne Porte"]

The electrum blade gave a glint within the palm of her hand. A sudden swish-snap as a mirror of that orange blade came up to suddenly block Qorbin Fal's own. There was a sudden burst kaleidoscopic sparks over the two forms. Both straining as bright blue eyes bore defiantly onto the burning embers of the Dark Jedi's

"Why do you hide what you really are?" came the sinister rasp of Qorbin Fal's voice, almost serpent-like as it went brushing over Adele.

"That is none of your affair." she managed to say back quietly, her left hand coming up to suddenly send a forceful telekinetic push to send the man flying back away from her.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Adele Adonai"]

"Drop it."

There was no real threat in the command. Just two words spoken as plainly as they could be. Jacen didn't look past the acolyte to the battle that he was trying to keep from his mind. His gaze never left the acolyte's.

The reverse wasn't true. Having back back out of the trees and onto open ground, the man knew he was beaten. His eyes searched all around, hoping for solution.

"Drop the saber," Jacen repeated forcefully. The man didn't. He merely relaxed his grip, but that was enough. It was wrenched from his hand and thrown beyond the treeline. In two quick steps Voidstalker closed the gap and the last thing the acolyte saw on this day, was an armoured elbow swinging towards his head.

 

[Adele Adonai]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

There were few things in life that Adele put the entirety of her focus in. The last few months had been a harrowing experience for the Iridonian, and it all culminated here.

She was tired of hiding. Tired of having to constantly be on the look out for a potential chink in her armor. Tired of having to be on edge, to keep her at bay. It was an ongoing struggle she knew that she'll always have to fight. But it was her fight. Not some tool for a Dark Jedi to utilize against her. To cause her to doubt herself and become a weapon again for a cause she did not believe in. That was her past, yes. It had made her who she is now.

There was no changing that.

However, that did not mean the Weaver would be victim of her own web.

The Dark Jedi went sliding back, saber in hand. His mouth twisted into a cruel mask, the opposite of the stern resolve etched within the alabaster and lavender of the Zabrak Jedi Master.

A guttural cry came from the man, and he flew at her in a frenzy. Like a stone tower, the Jedi Master stood her ground. At the last second another bubble erupted around the woman, shielding her from the strike. Beads of sweat were forming at her temple, and she visibly shook at keeping her concentration.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Adele Adonai"]

It took a few moments of intense concentration to fortify his mental walls. The master knew he needed deep defences to keep Qorbin Fal at bay. He didn't have a circlet to protect himself and the one he had seen forged for Adele would not last long. At the same time it also formed a barrier between himself and his physical pain and exhaustion. The Force could only push unwilling flesh so far, but right now there was no room for compromise.

It was, at least in part, his fault she was here. She had been exposed to the dark side of the Force once more, found vulnerable. Instead of staying where she would have been safe on Sullust she had fled. She had run far, but no running could escape her demons. Or Qorbin Fal, it seemed. Did he want some petty form of revenge against a lone member of the New Jedi Order, or did he see potential in her?

Voidstalker lived up to his name. He didn't run or leap. His crossed the ground towards Adele's stand at a brisk pace. A free member of Fal's regime rushed to block his path. Jacen accelerated to meet the threat, saber held high.

A scarlet blade cut through the air where he had been standing. Shoulder to shoulder he knocked the sith off balance. A small hop and pivot as he landed beyond his foe and his golden blade came down. It opened up the sith from shoulder to waist, severing spine and bringing a painless, instant death.

The Jedi Marshal turned slowly. She held her ground. A focus in her piercing gaze he had never seen before. It was time to end this.