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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1844557" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 40: Light of the ForceAkan had managed to throw the lightsaber as he was diving the other direction. He didn’t have time to see where it landed, as the second it was out of his hand the black clawed arm of the Darkwing was slashing down at him. Thankfully, he had been already moving, and rolled across the hard durasteel floor out of the way. Of course, the Darkwing was intelligent enough to not simply attack once and wait for him to recover. As he was getting to his feet, it was diving towards him again, this time with its large jaws open. Akan somehow managed to pull to the side, out of the way of the loud snap that could have easily included him.     The problem though, was that he’d moved out of the way of the jaws only to connect with a claw that was also slashing out at him. Akan’s eyes widened as he felt four claws dig deep into his gut, throwing him back towards the hallway. As he slid across the ground, Akan did his best to focus on remorphing as Shadow had taught him to. But it was harder to do when a huge black creature was about to land on you, taloned feet first. Quickly prioritizing, Akan decided to just live with the pain and move. He rolled to the side as the Darkwing landed where he’d been, talons digging deep into the durasteel and causing Akan to cringe at what could easily have been him.    Drawing on the Force as he did his best to get to his feet, Akan attempted a quick distraction to give him at least a moment of time. Behind the Darkwing, a figure appeared. It was him, but human. Holding up his lightsaber in a defensive stance and looking ready. The Darkwing had been suddenly confused by this, and spun around to pounce the illusion. It went through the illusion, hitting the floor in surprise. Akan had only that single moment he’d wanted. Why he wanted it, he hadn’t been sure of. Then he knew. Distantly...part of him could still feel Shadow. Somewhere in there. In a way he’d never imagined, Akan found himself drawing the Force in and around him. As he did this, he took the lapse in the Darkwing’s defenses to pounce on it. Landing on its back, between the wings, he gripped tightly and continued drawing as much of the Force into him as he possible could. A small white glow starting around him as the Darkwing thrashed around to get him off, but unable to do so.    Voort was too busy to take any notice of the Darkwing beyond a black blur moving quickly beyond Sadrak. He was doing well at keeping Sadrak’s blows away, but it was nearly impossible to get his own attacks in between. He parried a high swing towards his neck, attempting his own strike towards Sadrak’s leg. The Inquisitor caught the blade easily, taking a strong step forward as his red blade swept across empty air. Voort had ducked low, pulling back down the steps and took the short second to swing up at Sadrak’s lower torso. Sadrak twisted out of the way, swinging his lightsaber in a vertical circle to keep Voort back as he came down on even ground with Voort.    Another flurry of strikes consumed the two of them, red and orange blades colliding up, down, to the sides, and sometimes only catching air or a table in the way. All the while, Voort found himself slowly backing up from Sadrak’s heavy strikes which were nearly always combined with strong steps to push Voort back even more. After managing a series of quick and almost lucky defensive moves, Voort hit something. Not with his saber...with his back. A horrified expression flashed across his face for a millisecond, still long enough for Sadrak to see it and smile. Somehow, though, Voort was managing to defend himself, even placing a strong kick to the Inquisitor’s stomach to give him a little more room. Despite this, though, Voort knew he was in trouble. Sadrak was simply attacking too strongly, and no matter how dangerous Voort was with his weapon, Sadrak was even more so.    Suddenly, over Sadrak’s shoulder, Voort caught sight of a blue-green blade moving quickly. He didn’t have time to see anymore detail beyond blonde hair before catching the red blade far too close to his face. Jen closed in, and Sadrak started to turn what looked to have been too late. But Voort didn’t see what happened. Just seconds before Jen’s blade reached Sadrak, a blinding flash of light overtook the entire room. Not only did it seem to blind them all in a hot white colour, but it radiated with a feeling Voort knew well. The Force. He had not taken notice of the small glow growing over Sadrak’s other shoulder. From the black of the Darkwing, a purifying white had grown slowly at first. Then, in that sudden flash, consumed the Darkwing. There was an explosion of energy itself, and the blinding white spread out across the room in a second flash.    It lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but was likely only a matter of seconds. Vision slowly returned, and the world looked disturbingly different. Across from Voort, stood Jen, holding the blue-green lightsaber down and off to her left, the ending arc of her swing. On the floor in front of them, Sadrak’s clothes and lightsaber hilt could be seen. Jen’s eyes were wide open, though they were still trying to focus after the light. Slowly, she looked up to Voort, who still had his blade up from where Sadrak’s last strike had left from. Jen opened her mouth, asking quietly the question that was in his own mind, “What happened...?”    Voort found himself staring at the remains of Sadrak. Something was still wrong. He wasn’t there...yet...Voort could feel him still. Faintly. Distantly...moving. Not dead? How? Well...they hadn’t seen it. Hadn’t seen it. The light. What was that?! Without answering Jen, he looked beyond her to where the black Darkwing had been. He saw nothing. Lowering his weapon and deactivating it, Voort motioned beyond Jen. She raised an eyebrow, deactivating Akan’s weapon and turning to see the same absence of Darkwing.    Jen had started walking towards the steps and up to see what had happened first, with Voort not far behind her. She hadn’t even gotten to the top when she saw Akan. He was sitting with his back against the far corner of the room, blue colored blood smeared across his face and body. He looked a horrible mess, as did everything around him. But nothing looked as bad as what he held. Resting back in his arms, sprawled out and looking so torn up it was near impossible to recognize, was Shadow. She wore nothing but Akan’s jacket, and pieces of her morphsuit could be seen scattered across the floor. Her hair was singed in a few places, with scratches and cuts and bruises all over her. She was draped across Akan, eyes closed and in no way looking alive. But Akan seemed to take no notice of that, or of Jen and Voort who’d simply stopped their approach.    In the disturbing silence that had overcome the room in the last few moments, the two humans could hear Akan speaking quietly, “Come on, Shady...I know you’re in there...” his face seemed slightly glazed over a moment, a look Jen had come to recognize as the two Alraxians using their telepathic link. After it passed, a dismayed expression came over his face again, “Please...I’m not supposed to be here with you...remember? Its either both of us or neither of us...not just one. Please...”    Jen wanted to do something, but found herself unable to. Her mouth had opened, but no words came out. All she could do was watch. All of them watched Shadow, though Akan still had not noticed the other two. There was another long, eerie silence. Jen didn’t see when Shadow’s eyes half opened, looking up to Akan in a dazed way. She did see, though, when Shadow slowly reached a hand up to Akan. Shadow’s hand found Akan’s fringe, pawing at it almost playfully. Akan couldn’t help but laugh, a smile coming over him as Shadow continue idly playing with the fringe of his hair.    The same smile had come over Jen’s face, and she turned to see even Voort was smiling. She poked the former Imperial gently, speaking quietly, “Thought you Imperials didn’t have hearts.”    Voort’s smile grew and he laughed quietly, “Thought you scientists didn’t know how to fight.”</blockquote>

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