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Chapter Four, the Entire Chapter |
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Chapter Four
“Fallen”
“Master Skywalker,” the Lady Iris Revan said regally, as she stepped from her ship. She held one slim hand out to him. Luke, having not forgotten what Leia had taught him about acting around Senator types, took it and kissed the onyx ring on her finger. Gaudy thing. “What a beautiful planet!”
What a fake person, Luke thought. “Thank you,” he said. “Yavin IV is very nature related. It’s half rainforest and — ” Revan waved him off.
“I’m not here to listen to you rambling on about this rock,” she hissed. Luke blinked, a little more than surprised. “I’m here to make sure you aren’t teaching these little urchins how to kill with a glance. Now,” her demeanor changed from cold, scathing-b***h to sweet, loving fifties mom. “I’d so enjoy a tour of your academy.”
Luke had to suffer the interrogations she threw at him every time he opened his mouth. He was ecstatic inside his head when he realized the last stop was the training ground. It was more of an open lot where the students could hang out and practice. Then remembered his one flaw: he forgot to tell the Sweet Sixteen to behave.
Luke did the only thing he could do this late in the game: Pray.
2
Loki made another attempt at the strange device Tril had given her. It was a sort of flat circular object with a string. Yo-yo, Tril had called it. She let it fall as her friend showed her. It clunked to the dirt lifelessly. The trick to this game was obviously not to lose it and use the Force to manipulate the toy. Or destroy it.
Jaken Crane howled with laughter at Loki’s failed attempts. Loki scowled. The Draconics were very good at this game, as Vyse did a trick called ‘Around the World.’ Gabrielle and Max were semi-experts. Constantine and Juniper would get angry and destroy the thing. Nikolai and Kagome were good, but not as good as Tril. Roki, Rio, Xaqi, and Aliea were even worse than Loki.
Tril pulled her pink, purple, and green Yo-yo from her cargo-short’s pocket and worked on her own wonderful skills. She flipped it around, over and under. Man, she’s good, Loki thought. Jaken looked at her with rapt attention.
“Where did you learn something like this, Tril?” Rio asked, hands tied together with the string. Jaken supplied the answer in a flash.
“On Nal Shadaar, the Yo-yo is used in a provocative dance,” he said, not taking his eyes off his girlfriend. Tril flicked her wrist nonchalantly and the Yo-yo bounced off Jaken’s forehead with a resounding plastic thunk!
There was a moment of silence as the Eldest Crane child blinked. Then everybody burst into hysterics. Loki and Rio’s eyes met. For once, she didn’t pull them away and neither did he.
Nikolai flicked his wrist and his Yo-yo went up and down with ease. A sudden jerk and the toy flew up and hit him, square in the . . . well . . . you know.
The laughing doubled twofold. Loki froze and cocked her head to one side.
“Tuhs pu, uoy syug,” she said. The laughing died to a slight tremor in some of them. Loki turned her head to the Academy. “Od uoy leef taht? Rojam ecnabrutsid ni eht Force.”
Her friends blinked.
“Um,” Constantine said. Loki looked at him like he was crazy.
“I do not understand?” Juniper said, question filling her voice.
“Dito, June,” Kagome said. “Was that Basic?”
“What?” Loki said. “Don’t you guys feel that? Major disturbance in the Force.”
“Oh, that’s what you said?” Riku asked.
“Of course. What do you think I said?”
“No clue,” Vyse said. “It all sounded like gibberish to me.”
“She slipped into Jenovian,” Roki said, looking as confused as the others.
“I did?” Loki asked. She frowned. “I never did that before.” She shook herself. “Whatever! But, none of you guys feel that?” They all focused.
“I feel like an idiot, if that’s what you mean,” Roki said, somewhat bitterly. “Other than that, nothing. You’re feeling things in the Force now, Loki?”
“What’s your problem?” Loki asked. Roki shrugged.
“It just feels like a normal day to me,” he said.
Loki gave him a look and shook her head. She handed Tril her Yo-yo and walked past all of them. She knew she felt a very familiar presence. Not one she had felt in a long time, but she recognized it. Her eyes narrowed. Iris Revan.
3
Revan looked disappointed by the end of the tour. Luke couldn’t be more happy.
“Well, Master Skywalker,” she said, sounding dejected. “Everything appears to be in order. I suppose that the Jedi will be a wonderful help to the galaxy in the future.” Luke smiled and nodded.
“Thank you, Senator Revan,” he said. At that moment, he felt Loki’s presence. The only question was, where was it coming from? Not from behind or ahead, right or left.
Above.
He glanced up to a bit of a balcony and caught her looking scathingly down at him and Revan. Revan, thankfully, didn’t catch it. The Senator smiled a fake smile back at him.
She leaned forward with the air of one disclosing a secret.
“You’ll slip up, Skywalker,” she said, silkily. “And when you do, I’ll be there. To see it all.” She stood back, smiling again. Luke returned her icy demeanor.
“I’m sure you will be,” he whispered back at her. “I don’t know what you have to gain from the Jedi’s potential ‘slip ups’ but I plan to find out.” Her smile faded to a scowl.
“You are a cocky little b*****d, aren’t you?” She hissed. “If you haven’t noticed, the galaxy is in fine shape. The last thing we need is some wizards like you coming around, like hippies, to spread whatever occult religion it is you people practice. It’s all dark, if you ask me. But then again,” she smiled, her black eyes glinting, “Black is the new white.” She turned and walked away from him.
“Hag,” Luke muttered. He looked up at his apprentice, who was still looking at him with more than a little contempt. Luke motioned for her to come to him with his finger. She shrugged. Loki placed both her hands on the side of the balcony and swung both her legs over. Luke’s eyes widened. The sheer drop was about fifty feet.
Loki pulled her legs in and flipped twice before landing on two feet, one stretched out farther than the other, one hand on the stone floor to support herself and the impact. She straightened and brushed the shoulder of her black crop-top off.
Both hands went to her hips as she looked at Luke. He raised an eyebrow at her.
“Is there a reason you’re looking at me like that?” He asked, crossing his arms.
“No, not really,” Loki said. “Just thought you’d like to know a little something about the woman you were just chatting with.”
“You know her?”
Loki snorted.
“Know her? I hate her.” The teenage girl said. She looked Luke up and down once. “You should too. For what she did to Anakin.”
The mention of his father jarred Luke.
4
Roki leaned against a stone pillar at the front of the Academy, alone and motionless, as the sun set. The orange and yellow and red reminded him of fire. Fire . . .
What’s happening to me? He asked himself.
“Hello,” a kind, gentle voice said from behind him. Roki turned quickly to see a pretty woman behind him. She had dark eyes, like onyx, that matched her hair and lips. Her face was concerned. “Are you alright, dear?” He nodded. She walked forward, black sheath dress rustling. She laid a hand on his shoulder gently and looked at what he was looking at. “Ooh, it’s beautiful. I can see what you were looking at it.”
“I was thinking,” Roki replied. Why am I telling her this? I don’t even know this woman.
“Excuse me for being so curious, but, what were you thinking about?”
Roki blinked slowly.
“Life and my place in it,” he replied, looking up at her.
“How very philosophical,” she crooned.
Usually when his friends said that to him, they were being sarcastic. But she seemed genuinely impressed.
“Thanks,” Roki said, dully. “Hey, who are you? I mean, I’ve never seen you around here before.”
“I’m only visiting, Rokion,” she said. He pulled away from her, looking at her with suspicion.
“How do you know my name?” He demanded. She smiled.
“I know everything about you, Roki,” she said. Roki’s eyes widened. “I know how you compete with your sister, how you wish you were something special, like her.”
“Who are you?” He hissed. “How do you know me?!”
She plowed on.
“I know how you strain against all of them. How you pray each night to be able to set them all straight. To be able to prove that Lokina is nothing more special than you are.”
“Shut up. You don’t know me.”
“Ah, but I do. And I know something these ignorant Masters do not.” Her eyes glinted. “I know you are something special, Rokion. Even against Lokina. You know you could strike her down without trying and so do I.”
Roki was breathing rapidly. Her voice was hypnotic, all of it truth. It was in The Prophecy, after all. The Fire Child, the Vine, the Rose, and the Thorn. The Thorn, the Vine, and the Fire Child kill the Rose. If Loki really was the Rose, then these three people would kill her.
That cool sense of darkness settled over him once more and he calmed.
That one person. It was only one. The three names were the three stages of his power, he reasoned, convincing himself. Of my power. The Vine is weak against the Rose. The Thorn is always a part of the Rose. But the Fire Child, he alone has the power to burn the Rose.
“You do know me,” he whispered to her. She nodded, smiling. “You can help me, can’t you? Help me fulfill The Prophecy?”
“Of course, Roki, dear,” she said, her voice sweet. “I can help you. Mold you into the Force User you are meant to be.”
Roki licked his lips. She spoke the truth.
“What’s your name?” He asked, feeling stupid.
“Darth Revan,” she said, smoothly. Roki’s mismatched eyes widened.
“You’re a Sith!” He accused. He shivered.
“Yes,” Revan said. “But, really, why put needless labels to something that has an identical twin in the Light Side of the Force?” Roki blinked, confused. “What, exactly, is the difference between a Sith and a Jedi? I’ll tell you. A Sith pours all of his heart and soul into what he does, mastering the Force with ease. A Jedi, huh, well, they remain aloof and cold and do not dare to use all of the Force. Why? Because they fear it! You are not afraid of the Force, are you? It is, after all, the source of all power. That’s all it comes down to, Rokion. It’s not Good and Evil, Jedi and Sith. It’s weakness and power, Servants and Masters.”
Roki licked his lips. He knew, vaguely, that the sun was almost set by now.
“What do I have to do?” He said, quietly. Revan’s smile widened.
“Kneel, my Apprentice,” she said, relishing the very thought of it. Roki didn’t even think of Mara as he dropped to one knee.
Only about one fourth of the sun still hung over the horizon.
“What is your name?” Revan asked.
“Rokion Razorwind Meridean,” Roki replied automatically.
“No,” Revan said, sharply. “From now on, you shall be known as Darth . . .” A slow smile spread over her features. “Veltan. You are now Darth Veltan.”
Roki bowed his head.
“Yes, my Master.”
5
Loki threw her legs up on Luke’s table much how she had seen Mara done several times. The other woman was there too, her own report on Revan resting in front of her. Luke raised an eyebrow at both of them.
“Loki, feet down. Mara, set an example,” he said, sitting down himself. Mara and Loki exchanged glances, but lowered their heels nonetheless. They knew when to pick their battles. “Now, what do we know about this Revan bi—woman.” Loki struggled to keep a straight face. So, Revan rattled him to the point of name-calling.
“Have Meridean start,” Mara said. “After all, she knows Revan on a first name basis.” Luke looked to his apprentice expectantly.
“Iris Revan was ‘bought’ by the Emperor to be Darth Vader’s concubine—yeah, nasty—anyway, Vader really disliked her, but couldn’t dismiss her because of Palpatine’s hold on him. I hated her too. She was a manipulative b***h who enjoyed sleeping with Admirals. Vader threatened death on her several times for her promiscuous nature and actually killed several officers for the offense.
“In any event, when the whole Prince Xizor thing sparked up, Vader was charged by an ‘unknown source’ of working against Blacksun, who was working for the Empire. We never discovered who it was, but we had our thoughts. We figured it was Xizor himself. Well, the Emperor had to plant a spy to watch Vader.”
“Three guesses who,” Mara said, dryly. Luke shook his head, marveling at the Emperor’s treachery.
“Right, Revan. I figured it was her, after how much she bragged to me about it after the fact. Anyway, Vader really was in a rivalry with Xizor, and Revan reported back to Palpatine that the claims were true. Palpatine wasn’t happy. He. . . he punished Lord Vader.”
Loki fell silent. Luke shivered.
“I won’t go into the details,” she said, “but you know, Luke, how good the Emperor was with Force Lightning. I’ll leave it there.
“When the Empire fell, Revan went with it for a while, since Vader never trusted her again to leave her in his will. She had no choice but to fall into the shadows for a while, I suppose. Then she must’ve come back. I dunno why, but she did. Probably got used to the cushy life. Never had much of a taste for it myself. Vader’s castle was all black marble and onyx. No life in it. Not like the life that still existed in Anakin.” She stopped as she realized she was babbling on. “Anyway. That’s all I know about Revan. She’s bad news mostly.”
Luke nodded. He definitely sensed that about her.
They had no idea of what conspired against them, only outside the Temple walls.
6
“Now, Darth Veltan,” Revan said, the sun setting rapidly. “Whom are you loyal to?”
“I am loyal to my Master, Darth Revan, only,” Darth Veltan replied.
“Prove it,” Revan said. “Recite the Sith Code.”
Roki closed his eyes. He allowed the Dark Side to supply him with what to say.
7
Loki felt a sudden jolt of pain. She touched the place above her heart, blinking. Luke noticed the sudden jerk and looked at her with concern. Peace is a lie. That pain hit her again, harder, more violently. Luke stood, unsure of what to do. There is only passion.
Loki winced in pain.
“Loki?” Luke asked. The girl tried to get up, but fell to her knees. Through passion, I gain strength. Loki’s breathing was erratic. Am I having a heart attack? She thought. No, it’s something much worse. Luke and Mara kneeled by her. She gripped Luke’s robe and opened her mouth.
Through strength, I gain power. Loki swallowed her words and gasped.
“Something’s . . . happening . . . ” she managed to spit out. Through power, I gain victory.
Loki’s face paled. Luke tried to bury his panic. He could feel Loki’s pain, but could not pinpoint its source. He only knew it was very close to her heart, but not the heart itself.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
Loki screamed, Luke trying to hold her still as she thrashed. Finally, she stilled and stared up with wide, glassy eyes.
“Roki’s dying . . . ” she whispered, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.8
“The Force,” Veltan said. The sun behind him was only a sliver now. “Shall set me free.” Light disappeared on the moon of Yavin IV. Darkness ruled.
Loki screamed one last time before she slumped back in Luke’s arms. Her scream echoed around the entire academy.
8
Revan smiled, feeling Loki’s withdrawal from the Force because of her brother’s Turn.
“Very good, my Apprentice,” she said. “Rise.” Veltan did, obediently. “Come, we leave for Korixban, now.” She walked past him, towards the hangar.
“Yes, Master,” he said, walking in stride with her. “What of my sister? She is greatly disturbed by my turn. I felt her pain.”
“Her pain makes her weak,” Revan said. “She is merely your spring board to greatness. Understand? You are not her tool; she is your tool.”
Veltan smiled. Yes, he thought. She is mine to control now.
They boarded Revan’s shuttle and left Yavin.
9
Loki had yet to resume consciousness after the ‘death’ of Roki Meridean. Aliea Moonbeam, the self-proclaimed emotionless vacuum of the Sweet Sixteen, burst into tears within moments of the news. The others escorted her back to her quarters, where she remained, still crying and sobbing hysterically.
Luke placed a hand on the glass separating him from his apprentice. She had shown no signs of improvement, which frightened him. Was the Twin’s bond so strong that Roki’s Turn to the Dark Side would have adverse effects on Loki? Or was this more to do with The Prophecy? A few seconds after her collapse, Luke and Mara felt the two Force presences just disappear from Yavin and into space. It was decided that Revan had Turned Roki and he was now with her somewhere. But where?
Loki’s eyes snapped open. Luke jumped despite himself. Her eyes were that shocking violent glowing lavender-purple color. The sudden movement caused the machines that were hooked to her to jitter erratically. She rose to a seated position and the machines spat sparks. Med droids began bustling to her. They shut down within a foot of the girl.
“Loki,” Luke yelled, hitting his palm on the glass. “Calm yourself! Loki!”
She stopped, blinked and her eyes were normal again. Loki’s eyes met Luke’s. For the first time, Luke saw those eyes in total anguish. She knew the truth.
10
Hours later, as Loki sat before him, eyes set in cold defiance. Luke sent some of the others looked for Revan’s ship. Loki refused to believe Roki left on his own free will.
“He was confused,” she said. “Or hypnotized. There is no other explanation.”
“Is that what your feelings tell you?” Luke asked.
“That’s what my heart tells me. I know my brother. He would never do something this stupid.” She lied.
“What about your senses? Your feeling in the Force? What do they tell you?”
Loki was silent.
“That doesn’t change what I’m saying.” She said. “What Revan’s making Roki do is . . . well, it’s probably horrible s**t, Luke. Killing people and stuff.”
“Revan only started the fire,” Luke said. “Roki’s hate is fueling it.”
“Roki would never do that.”
“He is doing it,” Luke said. “You’ve been out cold for the past few days, Lokina. You don’t know what we’ve heard.” Loki’s anger simmered below the surface of her being. Luke sensed her attempting to keep it under control.
“I don’t care what you’ve heard,” she said, calmly as she could.
“Loki, listen to me for once,” Luke said. “Roki has turned, we know that much. And from what you’ve said about Revan, she very well could be making him do these things, but Roki is with Revan. To the Senate, he’s just as guilty of their crimes.” Loki’s eyes were wider.
“What has he done?” She whispered.
“There were reports of three murders where the weapon was a lightsaber on Magrathea,” Luke said, carefully, taking out the holo pics. “We’re not sure it’s Roki, but odds are it’s him.”
“Roki didn’t do anything!” Loki yelled.
“He sold his soul, Lokina. Willingly.”
“Liar!”
“Roki’s Force Signature was all over the bodies.” Loki sat, shocked by Luke’s words. He continued. “I didn’t want to bring it up because your wounds are still fresh on this matter.”
“Has anyone made an attempt to find him yet?” She asked.
“We’ve got Rogue Squadron on it,” Luke said. He took a breath, thinking on how far to take this with her. “Loki,” he began. She looked at him with near dead eyes. “I want you to realize that, the time might come for you to be on opposite sides with your brother.” She remained silent. “Your duty is to the Jedi. You can still save Roki in time, but, as for right now, he is an enemy.”
Luke didn’t get any farther. Loki had jumped up and gave him a rough slap. He blinked, dazed from the blow. She stood, breathing heavily, chest rising and falling.
“I will never raise a saber to my brother,” she hissed, somewhat violently. Luke could feel the angry red patch on his cheek burn and sting and knew it was in the shape of a hand print. Loki opened her mouth to say more but, instead, turned on her heel and left.
Luke could feel her sadness and pain. She realized now. She knew. Her brother was no longer lovable Roki.
He was Darth Veltan.
11
Loki leapt into the air, tucked and rolled into a flip, only to ignite her saber on the second roll and make a lavender Z in one fell swoosh. She was on one knee behind the training droid and she waited. A spark and the droid fell in three neat pieces behind her. Loki exhaled.
She disengaged her saber and clipped it to her belt. She threw a casual look over her shoulder. It looked like a droid graveyard. Taking frustrations out on the droids was better than taking it out on a fellow Jedi. Loki sighed.
“Roki, where are you?” She asked herself.
“He’s on Korixban!” A little voice piped up.
Loki remembered watching holo-toons where a vornskr scared a feli-line and it jumped up and imbedded its claws on the ceiling. Well, that was Loki. She screamed and jumped in a full circle, heart racing. She was ready to quick-draw her hip blaster and blow a few holes in whoever came out of nowhere like that. And ask questions after the funeral.
Gabrielle Starchild stood there, wearing a powder-blue sundress, which, even for the little girl, was odd. Gaby usually chose to wear sensible clothes. She was also barefoot.
Loki rolled her eyes. She was being theatric, little Gaby.
“Gaby!” She said, breathing again. “You scared the crap outta me, girl!” Gaby smiled.
“He’s on Korixban,” she repeated. Then she turned on her heel and walked out of the training room before Loki could get a word in edgewise.
It took a moment for Loki to catch on. Then she realized that Gaby must’ve had a vision. Blast that girl! She thought. Always having important visions and not telling anyone until its down to the wire.
Then she rethought what Gaby had just said.
He’s on Korriban.
Loki smirked.
Roadtrip.
12
“We can’t find her anywhere, Luke,” Mara said. Luke breathed deeply. Where has Loki run off to? He thought. Mara had brought Loki’s absence to his attention an hour ago.
“What about her friends?” Luke asked. “Do they know anything?”
“Not that they’ll say,” Mara replied. “But . . .”
“Don’t tell me,” Luke said, ready for the worst.
“We can’t find Moonbeam or Solo either. The Starchaser and The White Raven are still here but The Century Raptor is gone.” Luke rubbed his temples.
“Well,” he said. “This tells us about three things. Aliea and Rio are with Loki, wherever she is. Rio took the Raptor, with Aliea and Loki on it.. That said, we know that Loki is dead set on saving her brother. She’s convinced there’s still good in him. So she’s gone looking for him.”
Mara walked behind her fiancé and began to massage his shoulders.
“Sound familiar?” She asked, an eyebrow raised. Luke smirked, a little sadly, and rose from where he was seated and crossed the room. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to find my apprentice and her friends and, quite possibly, the Turned.” He replied. Mara got up and stared at him. He knew what that look meant. “Mara, no, it’s way too dangerous. You know what the Twins can do. Having the two of them face off against each other with that kind of fire power would be worse than a supernova.”
“I’ve faced worse,” she said, stubbornly. “Besides, you need me for this one.” Luke raised and eyebrow. “I can fly decent. The Jade Shadow is ten times faster than that old X-Wing of yours.”
Luke thought about it for a minute.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he said. Mara smiled. The red-head slunk into his arms and snuggled there. She sighed.
“You won’t,” Mara said abruptly and moved away from him, heading for the door.
“Very well,” he said at last. “We must hurry, though. They have a head start.”
13
Loki sat in the co-pilot’s seat of the Raptor as Rio guided the ship expertly. Aliea was seated behind her. The second passenger seat was empty. A seat for Roki, she thought. The three of them were silent since Aliea and Rio cornered Loki as she went to leave. Truth be told, Loki felt sick. What was going to happen when she finally got to talk to Roki? Was Luke right? Did he turn into some evil Sith? It was too much to think about. Loki fingered her round, gold locket that hung around her neck, thinking of the holo that would appear if she opened it: her and Roki, standing side by side, The White Raven behind her and The Black Dove behind her brother.
Aliea turned a page in Roki’s folder. She had snuck into his room and stole it after his turning. It had many interesting (and disturbing) passages written on the loose leaf papers. She couldn’t eat much. It was hard to swallow with that lump in her throat. The more she read the passages, the later ones, the more she felt lost.
“How long ‘til Korixban?” Loki asked Rio. He typed into the nav-comp.
“About five hours,” he replied. The nav’s computer-synthesized female voice informed them more about the planet they were flying to.
“Korixban,” it said, pronouncing the name exactly. A 3D image of the red planet opened itself like a folding fan before them. “A desert planet, famous for its red sands. A distant moon of the ‘Lava Planet’ Mustafar, Korixban is an Outer Rim world and has many active volcanos. The lava from said volcanos is used to make Imperialist weapons and steel, a vital asset to the planet. Please note that Korixban is still under Imperial rule.”
Loki and Rio exchanged glances. The Empire was never a good thing to put on a brochure. The description continued without pause.
“A rich melting pot of culture, the Korixbanies live easy lives, the lava mills being run mostly by droids and Imperial Troopers. Local bazaars and market places help the locals raise income. Please note that only Imperial credits are valid currency on this system.” Rio paused it.
“Do we have any Imperial credits?” Aliea asked, sounding more than a little worried.
Rio snorted.
“‘Course,” he said. He opened the glove compartment. “‘Bout one hundred. Hope that’s enough to get us through a few days.”
“We’ll be there a few days?” Aliea asked, now sounding like a teenager being told the family vacation that year was a petting zoo.
“It’s a planet,” Rio said. “It’s not like there’ll be a sign that says ROKI MERIDEAN IS HERE and an arrow.” Aliea scowled and continued with her readings.
Loki, tired of the squabbling, hit play on the description.
“While Korixban is fabled to be a Sith stronghold, it also is an Imperialist territory,” the computer said. “It was bought years ago by Prince Xizor Blacksun, who allows the Empire to use the lava flows at their will.”
The name of the owner made them all freeze.
“Blacksun,” Rio said. He looked at Loki. “You think Xinix is there?”
Loki blinked as she thought.
“But Revan’s palace is there,” she said. “Why would Xizor allow Revan to build her palace there?” She looked up. “Unless that unknown source that ratted Vader out was Revan and Xizor’s mistress was Revan and that would mean . . . ” She looked at Rio, eyes wide.
“Revan is Xinix’s mother,” she finished. “Of course! It all makes sense now!”
“Wait, what?” Rio said. Loki’s detective skills must be really, really good, he thought.
“Think about it, genius!” Loki said. “Xinix said he was going to bring honor back to his family and planet. Vader once destroyed the Faleen moon and had Xizor killed. Revan was his concubine. Xinix has a huge grudge against me and Skywalker and that’s why! Skywalker is Anakin’s (a.k.a. Darth Vader’s) son, I was his apprentice. I hated Revan’s guts.”
“I’m beginning to see a pattern here,” Aliea said.
“Duh!” Loki said. She began counting on her fingers. “The attacks on me and Luke, Revan’s coming to Yavin to ‘inspect,’ and her turning Roki. It’s all a huge revenge plot with me, Luke, and Roki in the middle. Oh, I was so stupid not to have seen this all before!”
“Wait, so that means Roki was just a ploy to drag you away from the Academy,” Rio said. Loki nodded.
“Of course! She knew I would do anything for my brother. That’s why she came! To find and turn him! And she knew that I would come looking for him after she left with him.” Loki said. “She also knew that Luke would probably come looking for me after I left too. Which means . . . ”
“We’re flying into a trap,” Rio completed.
“Yes,” Loki said, resting her head on her hands. “Stars, they planed this so well.”
“So why are we still going?” Rio asked.
“Because, they still have Roki and we need to go to the place where they would all be.”
“The palace,” Aliea said.
Loki snapped her fingers and said “Exactly!”
“This seems like an awful a lot of trouble to go through for revenge,” Rio said. “I mean, why didn’t Xinix just kill you and Luke when he had the chance?”
“He wasn’t good enough, and he knew it,” Loki said. “But Roki, on the other hand, he and I are evenly matched. If Roki wears me down enough, Xinix could walk in and kill me.”
She stopped talking for a moment. The Prophecy surfaced in her mind.
“I don’t like this, Loki,” Rio said. “Not one bit. We should go back and tell Luke.”
“If we dilly dally, Revan and Xinix could get impatient and kill Roki off, deciding he isn’t worth the trouble to keep around.” Aliea said. Loki nodded.
“We need a plan,” she said. “Something that will anticipate their moves. I’ll start working on one.”
“But how?” Aliea asked. “Revan has thought of everything and she even has Xinix with her. Now, I know you’re powerful, Lo, but Xinix nearly wiped you out last time you two fought. Who knows what could happen the next?”
Loki’s eyes hardened.
“I won’t be fighting Xinix,” she said. “That’s Roki’s job from now on. My qualms lie with Revan.” She rubbed her thumb over her silver saber hilt like it was a worry stone.
“Loki,” Rio said, slowly. “This might hurt to hear but, maybe Roki’s gone.”
“No,” the black haired girl said, shaking her head. “No, he’s not. There’s still good in him. I know it. He can’t be all bad. He just can’t. He can’t be evil.”
“But what if he is?” Rio whispered. “What if he is, Loki? What if the Roki we knew really is dead?”
“Yeah, well, if if’s and but’s were fruit sweets and Figgy Nuts, we’d all have a merry Fete,” Loki shot back, scathingly.
“Loki,” Aliea said, trying to calm her friend. Loki sighed.
“If Roki is gone, then it’s my problem,” she said. “It won’t be easy, but if worse comes to worse, I have no choice but to kill him, even if it kills me inside.”
They lapsed into silence then.
The nav computer beeped.
“We are approaching Korixban,” Rio said. Indeed, the red planet, like hell, loomed before them. Loki prayed silently. Please, Roki. I know there’s still good in you. I’m coming.
14
Veltan and Revan knew she was coming. They were banking on it.
“Where are they, my apprentice?” Revan asked, shrouded in darkness.
“Loki and her friends are coming, Master,” Veltan said. “And behind them, Skywalker and his fiancé. It won’t be long now. They are flying right into our hands.” Revan smiled. It was all going to be too easy.
*eek!* Roki's a bad guy now?! WTF?! burning_eyes
 Blakaize · Sun Jan 27, 2008 @ 11:17pm · 0 Comments |
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