Darth Zannah crept along the ridge, overlooking the valley. Night had fallen on Naboo, giving her extra concealment, in addition to her natural abilities to hide herself in the Force. The air was calm, the temperature mild. It was a beautiful evening, and one could see all the stars in the galaxy, it seemed.
Zannah pulled out her goggles and increased the zoom, observing the couple that were sitting next to a campfire. She could feel the Force in this one, and it was so, so strong. If she was going to overthrow her master, she would need a worthy apprentice, and until the past few weeks, the search had been moot.
The young man before her radiated power, more than she had ever felt, including in her own master. He was a Jedi, of course, but that was no matter. She was on the path to be a Jedi, once...
And even though he radiated the light side of the Force, he had a stench of darkness about him.
Attachment.
The woman sitting next to him was certainly older, but absolutely beautiful. She was the young man's weakness, and Zannah would exploit that, in the isolation of the Naboo countryside.
After moments of slinking down the slope of the hill, and then low-crawling through the tall grass, Zannah was within just a couple dozen meters of the couple. This is as good of a time as any, she thought to herself.
She stood up, startling the couple. The Jedi jumped to his feet and ignited his lightsaber, the blue blade a stark contrast to his dark clothing.
"Put that thing away, you could put your eye out," she said with a smirk.
"Who are you?" the Jedi demanded.
"Well, some call me Rain, some call me Zannah, but you will call me master."
The Jedi narrowed his eyes. "You're a Sith!"
"How perceptive," she said, rolling her eyes as she produced her double bladed saber, igniting both ends. "Now, unless you want the Jedi to know about your little fling here, which would cast you out of the order, effectively ruining your entire life, as well as that of the Senator's-yes, I know who you are-then you will come with me. We have much work to do, and very little time."
"Anakin isn't going anywhere with you," Padme Amidala said angrily, her hand resting on her blaster.
Zannah laughed. "Ha! You're jealous, aren't you? You feel as though little Anakin here would betray you, is that it? Well, I'll have him calling me master before we leave, and perhaps I'll be calling him master tonight." Zannah raised an eyebrow, waiting for the inevitable.
Padme raised her blaster and fired off three shots, all of which were redirected by Zannah, almost effortlessly. One bolt to the hillside, one bolt to Anakin, which was reflected by him as well, and the other...the other bolt burned a hole in Padme's hip. Padme screamed and fell to the ground, holding her leg.
"Padme!" Anakin screamed, and the turned back to Zannah, rage in his eyes.
"Let's see what you're made of," Zannah said, twirling her saberstaff around in an elaborate flourish.
He came at her like a demon, straight, powerful strikes that she redirected easily, cutting long scars in the dirt, setting the grass on fire as well.
“Form V? Against Soresu? Maybe you aren’t as smart as I thought.”
Anakin’s face twisted into a mask of hatred, hatred at this woman who had appeared out of nowhere and hurt his wife. For the Sith, who seemed to always be ruining his life, always causing problems.
Hatred of the Jedi for having these ridiculous rules, making him have to hide his wife. The only reason she was hurt was because they had to hide here to meet.
“I’m smarter than you think,” Anakin retorted, and began a large, one-handed, over head swing at Zannah, but as he started to swing down, he used the Force to call his saber to his left hand, and completely changed the direction of the attack, swiping diagonally at Zannah’s leg’s.
She was barely able to counter. In fact, his blade intercepted her lightsaber at the emitter, causing a sharp, small explosion, extinguishing her lower blade.
Zannah quickly retreated, back-flipping several meters away. Time to reevaluate this fight, she thought to herself, too late.
Anakin was on her. Zannah was incredibly skilled with Soresu with her saber staff, but she hadn’t spent near the time with the single blade. Defending against Anakin’s onslaught was exhausting, and at times, terrifying. Bane was right, I should have practiced with a single blade, more.
Perhaps he did still have more to teach her. The was the slightest hesitation, and Anakin took the advantage, thrusting his palm out and landing a powerful Force push, knocking Zannah several more meters backwards, leaving her gasping for air. She embraced the pain, letting the dark side pour through her, drinking in it’s bitter taste, letting it refresh her fatigued muscles.
Changing tactics, Zannah rushed Anakin, attempting to put him on the defensive. Try as she might, she was not pressing him. When he wasn’t merely dodging her attacks, he was easily deflecting her much weaker strikes. Her blade hitting his was like a twig banging against durasteel. She would never break his guard.
Zannah spun underneath a counter-strike by Anakin, barely avoiding his blade. She turned to bring her saber into an overhead guard for the expected downward strike, but there was none. Only Anakin’s boot in her face, shattering her nose, sending blood flying.
She fell to the ground with a cry, immediately ashamed of herself. She would not lose here. She would win, and then return to her master and beg forgiveness. He would teach her more, and then she would find another like this man.
Crying out, she summoned every bit of Force power she had, a telekinetic blast leaving her hand and impacting Anakin in the chest, who was already lowering his blade for the killing blow.
He flew back fifty meters, landing in a heap and his figure rolling to a stop.
“Padme,” Anakin said, his breath ragged. He had never been pushed so hard.
He picked himself up, and advanced on the Sith once more.
Zannah was sitting cross-legged, hands in the air, muttering to herself. Anakin found this beyond strange. Why wasn’t she preparing to defend herself? No matter, she would die.
As he stepped forward, everything seemed to go a little bit darker.
“Ani, don’t do it. She’s just scared.”
“Mom?!” Anakin gasped. The figure of Shmi Skywalker stood in front of him, the smile as warm as he remembered.
“Leave her be Anakin, let her escape. It is the Jedi way.”
“Master Qui-Gon?”
Anakin shook his head. Why was it so dark? And why was he seeing the figures long dead?
“No, you’re not real…you can’t be.”
“But we are, Ani,” replied the figure of his mother. “Here, feel my hand on your cheek. Oh, my sweet boy.” The figure touched his cheek, and Anakin allowed himself to feel his mother’s touch for the first time in years. Since she had died.
He reached his hand up to grasp hers, but something wasn’t right. Her hand wasn’t warm…it was rough, dry, and…cold. Anakin glanced down to see the skeletal fingers pulling away from his cheek. “What’s the matter, son? Don’t you love me?”
Anakin stared in horror as his mother’s face began to morph into a decomposed body. He screamed.
It’s a trick, this is all a trick, he told himself as he pushed past the figure of Qui-Gon being impaled over and over again.
He began to spring. There was no ground under him, only empty space, and he felt as though he were falling, but he kept running. Running until he reached the point of absolute darkness and swung his lightsaber with all his might, only to have a brilliant red beam emerge from the darkness.
“How?!” demanded Zannah, as everything appeared as it were before. “That has never failed, not even once!”
She struck at him wildly, hoping that she would find some opening, any opening. There was none.
And finally the time came. Anakin sliced Zannah’s saber staff in half, and delivered a powerful kick to her stomach, leaving her double over in pain. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her upright.
Zannah smiled. “You are so much stronger than him…we could have been a powerful pair…please…let me serve you…I will be your apprentice, and we can overthrow my master together. You can be the new Dark Lord of the Sith.”
“There are far too many Sith in the galaxy, already.”
And with a quick thrust of his lightsaber, he ended Zannah’s life and allowed her body to fall to the ground.
Turning quickly, he raced back to the horrified face of his bride and cradled her in his arms.
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