Before we start let me just clarify something. No I Do Not Own Star Wars or RWBY. This story is the only thing from either franchises that I own. If you don't like it, don't read it. Don't be the jerk that goes and starts railing and complaining about all the things i get wrong about the characters or the abilities. I'm still new to writing fanfiction and i don't currently have an editor so if my grammer sucks well nothing i can do at this time. If you like it and want to see more please review and give me suggestions on what to do next. Now ON TO THE STORY! I HOPE YOU ENJOY!
Alex Blackclaw
Prologue- The End of One Life...
Lights flash. Crimson and purple blades clash. The two combatants, once brothers in all but blood, fighting to the death aboard the dreaded Star Forge. One; a colossal man clad in dark red armor, with a black cape over his right shoulder, crimson blade in hand as he slashes mercilessly at his opponent with the powerful, broad strokes of the Form V (Djem So) lightsaber combat form. His sulfur colored eyes contrast greatly with the bone-white pigment of his skin; a sign of his enslavement to the Dark Side of the Force.
His opponent, a slightly smaller figure clad in black robes covered in rust colored armor, twin lightsabers of bloody crimson and royal purple in each hand, his movements and attacks showing a perfect mixture of the lightsaber Forms IV (Ataru) and Form VII (Vapaad/Juyo), his small, lithe form moving from one spot to the next with graceful, yet chaotic acrobatics and attacks. His face is shrouded in the shadows of his hood and covered with the mask he had once claimed from a long dead Mandalorian in another life, twisted into a determined snarl, his golden-green eyes both harsh and soft as he fought his former friend.
On and on the battle rages, neither combatant acknowledging the battle taking place outside the massive space station as the Republic attempted to move in close enough to destroy the massive construct that was continuously spewing out more ships, droids and weapons that powered the Sith armada. The black robed combatant leaps back as his old friend slashes at his chest, the crimson blade humming maliciously as it cuts through the empty air where its wielder's enemy stood not a moment before. Both combatants pause for a moment to catch their breaths, each staring at the other in an attempt to find a weakness. The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Malak, speaks first.
"I'm impressed, Revan," said Malak, his deep bass voice digitized from the apparatus covering his missing lower jaw. "I expected you to be as weak as every other Jedi I have slaughtered. However, as always you exceed my expectations, my old Master. Perhaps, once I defeat you, I will make you MY apprentice this time. Won't that be a sight?"
Revan Hawke, former Dark Lord of the Sith and newly redeemed Jedi Knight, stood silent for a moment before speaking, his baritone voice muffled ever so slightly from behind his mask.
"I will never be slave to the Dark Side again, Malak. It may not have been my choice to return to the Light, but I welcome it all the same," he pauses for a moment, eyes flicking this way and that as a thought blazes through his mind at light-speed. "It's not too late, Malak. Stop this madness now and surrender. You can come back to the Order. We can be brothers once more, just like the old days before the Mandalorians." Revan implores his former friend and apprentice, hoping beyond hope that his words will reach the curious and protective brother figure he once stood by in all things.
Malak throws his head back and laughs a cruel mocking sound that shatters the hope that had unwillingly bloomed in the Redeemed Jedi's heart.
"Return to the Light? I am the Dark Lord of the Sith! I have all the power I could ever want. The Jedi would have me restrain it all. Tell me, my old friend" Malak spits the word 'friend' from his non-existent lips as though it is poison. Revan's brow furrows behind his mask. "How well did the Light work for Bastila, in all the weeks she was my…guest? She last but a week before she accepted the Dark Side. I know you ended her in the map room below. Did she beg? Or did you simply cut her down like a true Sith Lord?" Even as Malak finishes the sentence, something ripples in the Force, touching all organics in and around the Star Forge. Within the Republic's fleet, every pilot and officer feels strength and clarity flow through them, allowing them to attack the Sith fleet with greater force and precision.
On the side of the Sith armada, every captain and pilot gasps as their resolve begins to crumble and their ranks begin to drift apart as capital ships and fighter craft are blasted to oblivion by their adversary. Revan grins triumphantly as Bastila's Battle Meditation takes effect, energy flowing into his body, soothing his tired muscles, and stopping the shaking he had not realized was occurring.
Letting loose a short chuckle at Malak's comically wide eyes before speaking, his voice echoing through the control room of the Star Forge.
"I'm sorry; I don't remember ever saying that Bastila was dead." He chuckles as Malak gives a disbelieving growl. "I said I had beaten her, not that I killed her. Something you've never understood Malak, is that there are many ways to fell an adversary. I did not kill her. I reminded her of all the good days, from before the war. Of the trouble we would drag her into, the pranks we would pull on the Masters. All three of us, together as the family the Council never would've approved of." He pauses as the memories of better days flickers through his mind. "It was my fault she fell to the Dark Side to begin with. I thought it would be fair for me to show her the Light once again."
Malak lets loose a roar of fury and leaps for Revan, his crimson blade raised high for a killing blow. Acting quickly, Revan extinguishes the crimson blade in his left and lets loose a torrent of purple lighting toward Malak. The Sith Lord is caught off guard by the Jedi using a Dark Side technique and is unable to block bolts of energy as it collides with his body, sending him flying across the room into one of the containment field that held the shriveled corpses of captured Jedi. Revan cuts off the flow of lightning and lets the Dark Side fade into the recesses of his soul as he watches his former brother push himself off the metal floor, twitching slightly as the energy continues to surge through his body. Malak raises his head and glares at Revan, who stands passively on the other side of the chamber with both lightsabers ignited, purple and crimson blades crossed in front of him.
Malak begins to laugh, the sound echoing through the room as the Star Forge begins to shake as the Republic ships begin pounding the station with volley after volley of turbo-laser fire. After a few moments his laughter halts, sulfur colored eyes shining triumphantly toward his former master.
"So you have already begun your fall into Darkness, Revan." Malak gloats at the thought. "All your bluster of redemption and Light, when you still wield the Dark Side of the Force! How amusing!" laughs Malak before Revan cuts him off with a pulse of power.
"You are wrong Malak," says Revan as he approaches the Sith Lord slowly. "I have discovered something that neither you nor the Jedi Council ever considered. Light and Dark are powerful individually, this is true. However, in order to achieve true power, to reach ones full potential, one must learn to wield both, to achieve balance and become something more than Jedi or Sith." Revan stops just three meters from Malak as the Sith Lord reignites his crimson lightsaber. "This is why I will defeat you. Because I walk the line between Light and Dark, and do not falter nor succumb to either side."
Jedi and Sith stare at one another in silence for a few moments, waiting for the final move of their duel, the attack that would determine the victor of the long battle. Another explosive rocks the Star Forge, and the combatants rush forward, Malak swinging his lightsaber for an overhead strike that would cleave his former brother-in-arms and Master in two. If it had landed, that its. Instead, Revan raises his blades in an X formation, catching the crimson blade on his purple and red. In a split second, Revan pulls his right hand lightsaber away from the lock and with a twirl of the purple blade, delivers a powerful, deadly cut to Malak's chest, cutting deep and dealing a fatal blow. Malak gasps in pain as the super-heated plasma blade cuts deep into his flesh, his body already growing numb as the life begins to drain out of him. He falls to his knees as Revan steps back, the black hilt of his lightsaber clattering to the metal floor as he tries to support his weakening body on his forearms.
A soft hand touches his shoulder and the Sith Lord raises his head to see Revan remove the mask he had worn for so long. Golden-green eyes watch from the youthful, regal and yet rugged features of Revan, filled with sorrow at his former friends fate. Malak shakes his head and takes a shuddering breath before speaking.
"I'm… I cannot be beaten…I am the Dark Lord of the Sith!" he cries with a shuddering breath. Revan shakes his head, long black hair falling from his hood as he speaks.
"This is the way of the Dark Side my old friend. All things end in death and destruction." Revan's voice is a whisper, almost as if speaking any louder would cause the older man more pain. Malak scowls and coughs violently before glaring at his enemy.
"Still…still spouting the wisdom of the Jedi, I see. Perhaps there is more truth to their code than I ever believed." Malak sighs as his head hangs low, the shame of his defeat by one he considered lesser than himself evident. "I…I cannot help but wonder, what would have happened if our roles had been reversed? What if fate decreed that I had been captured by the Jedi, instead of you?" Malak raises his head, his eyes begging for an answer before the last of his life slips away. "Could I have returned to the Light, as you did?" His body is wracked with wheezing coughs for a few moments before he continues. "If you had not led my down the Dark path to begin with…what destiny would I have found?"
Revan sighs at the question, the guilt of his actions evident as he responds. "I am so sorry I started you down this path my friend. But it was YOU who chose to continue down it." Revan chuckles lightly "You always were determined to see your missions to the very end. Stubborn bastard…" The young Jedi trails off at the memories of Malak's more successful and less dangerous paths. Malak chuckles in return before coughing. As soon as the coughs subside Malak nods. "Indeed…those were better days. I suppose you speak the truth. I alone must accept responsibility for my Fate. I wanted to be Master of the Sith and Ruler of the Galaxy. But that destiny was not mine, Revan." Another coughing fit wracks the Sith's body before he continues. "It might have been yours at one time…but never mine. And in the end, as the Darkness takes me, I am nothing" His final words but a whisper as the life finally leaves him and his eyes glaze over. Revan catches his former friend before his body hits the floor. "You were never nothing Brother...not to me at least." Revan lays Malak, his Brother down on his back and folds his hands over his lightsaber, covering the lethal cut to his chest.
Revan sighs as he raises his hand and closes Malak's eyes slowly, tears slowly spilling from his own golden-green orbs as the full weight of his actions finally crashes down on top of him. How many had died in his quest for power? How many families torn apart because of his drive to learn all he could. There was only one thing for it…
Revan is snapped out of his thoughts as his comm beeps. Quickly drying his eyes and clearing his throat, he raises the holocomm and presses the receiver, Bastila's image appearing over the device. An exhausted but triumphant look is plastered to her face as she beholds her adopted brother, alive and well after the long battle. "Revan! Thank the Force you are alive. We must hurry and leave before the Star Forge is destroyed with us on it," Bastila cries out as the station shakes even more violently than before. Thinking quickly, Revan shakes his head. "The turbo-lift is offline. I will have to find another way out. Malak mentioned he had his personal star fighter nearby just in case." Revan lied, feeling the guilt and pain of his decision weighing on him. "I'll find it and head for the fleet. You head for the Ebon Hawk right now and get out of here. I'll meet you on Dantooine if I miss the flagship." Not sensing his lie, Bastila nods quickly as she starts running for the hangar bay where their home for the past few months was waiting.
"Very well, brother. Be safe and hurry up! We'll see each other on Dantooine." Bastila says just before cutting off the holo. Revan sighs as he sits down on the steps beside Malak's corpse. Over the next thirty seconds, The Prodigal Knight sits in silence before raising his comm and sending a message across all Republic frequencies.
"I am Revan Hawke. Over the past two years, I have committed a great many atrocities in my quest for power. Now…at the end of my mission to stop my former brother-in-arms and apprentice, Darth Malak, from finishing what I started…I will finally pay the full price for all the pain I have caused the people of the Galaxy." Revan pauses as the explosions intensify, signaling a catastrophic chain-reaction. "I can never express the depths of my guilt and regrets for all the death and destruction I have caused. I am sorry. Not only to the people of the Galaxy, but to the people who stood by me in my quest to end Malak. Carth Onasi, Jolee Bindo, Canderous Ordo, Mission Vao, Juhani, Zaalbar…, and Bastila Shan. I am sorry… for everything." Revan looks up as the Turbo lift doors begin to buckle under the extreme heat and pressure from the explosions they are containing. "This is Jedi Knight Revan Hawke signing off…one last time." With that, Revan ends the message and turns back to the doors. As a final thought, he dons his mask once more, pulling his hood back up, and clipping his lightsabers to his belt as well. Ignoring the frantic beeping of his holocomm; most likely Bastila trying to contact him in a last ditch effort to talk him out of his self-execution; the Redeemed Knight closes his eyes as the turbo lift doors crash open, and the super-heated gases and debris flood into the chamber. A flash of pain screams through his body and he knows no more.
Revan gasps as his eyes snap open, his body devoid of any of the expected pain as he quickly jumps to his feet to take in his surroundings. A forest caught in midnight surrounds him, the trees green in the spring air, the grass beneath his armored boots alive and healthy. The young Knight quickly pats himself down to check if he is missing any limbs or equipment. All limbs accounted for, all armor plating in place and his twin lightsabers still clipped to his belt. Now bigger question: How was he still alive and where was he? By all rights, anyone or anything caught in an explosion such as the one he had evidently just survived should have been turned to ash. Instead here the Redeemed Knight stands. In a forest on a planet he has never seen before now. Looking up to see if any constellations look familiar, he stops as the moon comes into view. The Shattered Moon. As Revan stares at the night sky, only one thought passes through his mind: Just where the hell am I?