The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter One Hundred And Six: Betrayal

KANAN JARRUS

Kanan started as Maul landed in front of him and Ahsoka, separating them from their enemies and readying his dual bladed lightsaber to strike.

And as unexpected as his arrival was, Kanan begrudgingly had to admit it wasn't unwelcome. The Inquisitors had grown more skilled since they had last crossed blades on Oosalon, and while splitting up had given Ahsoka and Kanan a slight advantage, the dark pull of the Temple put them right back where they started. Maul's fighting ability gave them a new edge that more than evened the score.

Kanan looked to Ahsoka for a signal, and in response she offered him a nod. This time, as the two Inquisitors scattered, their formation broken by Maul's attack, he and Ahsoka hesitated only a moment before leaping into the fray to join him.

Maul was focusing his attack on Fifth Brother, so, as Ahsoka moved to reinforce him, Kanan shifted his efforts to intercept the new Inquisitor. He caught him in a saber lock for a moment before his blade was batted away again. Kanan moved to counter the Inquisitors' quick slashes to his sides, finally leaping forward to answer with some of his own.

Suddenly, a cry of pain sounded from behind him – not Ahsoka's, as Kanan was relieved to realize. A moment later, Fifth Brother's presence in the Force dimmed, flickered, and finally went out.

Try as he did, as he looked up into the dark helm hiding his opponent's face from view, he couldn't bring himself to feel any kind of dismay or remorse at the loss of life, as he once would have. Ahsoka called him more of a Jedi than she was, and yet he was the one who drew a sort of sick pleasure from knowing they had struck a blow his enemies would not easily recover from.

And there was no way of thinking more unlike to the Jedi ways than that.

But there was no time to contemplate the philosophies of the old Orders now; he had a job to do. And that was doing his part, however big or small, in making sure the remaining Inquisitor could never hurt anyone else ever again.

The Inquisitor's head turned fractionally to regard his fallen brother, and Kanan used that brief moment of distraction to get the upper hand. Summoning all the strength he could muster, he slashed downward, and managed to score a hit along the side of his opponent's lightsaber.

He leapt clear before Kanan could cut through it completely, dropping into a defensive stance a few feet away. But then, his twin red blades began to flicker and the hilt that held them smoldered ominously, and Kanan knew he had won.

Ahsoka and Maul as they moved to join him, standing together to face the remaining Inquisitor. Kanan nodded to them and twisted his blade into a ready position, preparing to strike.

The Inquisitor had to take but one look at the three of them standing together to know he was outmatched. Flight or surrender were his only options now.

He chose the latter, activating repulsorlifts in his damaged saber and taking off. But the spinning motion proved to be too much for the already compromised circuits, and it wasn't long before it had ripped the hilt in two.

The Inquisitor shrieked in terror as he began to fall, but there was nothing left that could save him now. Kanan waited only until the spot of darkness in the Force that was the Inquisitor had faded away before turning toward Maul.

"Where's Ezra?" he demanded, suddenly afraid Maul had taken off and left him alone to fend off Seventh Sister.

The former Sith was silent for a long moment. "You mean... my apprentice?"

Then, before Ahsoka could move to intercept, before Kanan could even think to raise his saber, he struck. And Kanan was greeted with the last image he would ever see with his own two eyes – a red blade surging forward to meet him, eyes like coals and a sneer like death just behind them – before his sight left him forever.

"Kanan!"

He fell to his knees, but the ground was little reassurance beneath his fingers muffling a scream of pain as he pressed one palm to the rapidly cooling mark that traced a searing line over his eyes and the bridge of his nose.

And he couldn't see anything... Now, where there had always been so many colors and textures and faces and shapes, there was only an angry red glow, a solemn after-echo of the blade that had taken them all from him.

He was blind. He was sure of it. His eyesight was damaged beyond repair; he could feel that when he touched the wound across his face. Even once his eyes were healed, he would never again see a sunset, or the way Hera smiled when she was with him, or the faces of those he cared about...

It was all gone.

Distantly, as though from very far underwater, Kanan heard a crash of lightsabers above him. Reflex kicked in immediately and he tried to open them, but the gesture was futile: it brought him nothing but more pain, and no more information than he had had before.

He couldn't see...

"My apprentice is activating the Temple – or, more precisely, this battle station – which I shall use to exact my revenge on all my enemies!"

Kanan tried for a long time – far too long a time – to make sense of what Maul was saying through the nearly impenetrable fog of absolute pain that had wrapped itself around his mind, allowing only fragments of thought to get through: Ezra sight mistake loss Chopper danger ship Hera run blind protect gone death

But then, as it had often done in the past, a single purpose stood out to him, and he needed only three of all those ideas to understand it.

Ezra. Danger. Protect.

Ezra was his apprentice; not Maul's, not anybody else's. And Kanan refused to lie back and let the Dark Side claim him as one of its own when there was still a chance to save him.

*With their common enemy finally slain, Maul has at last revealed his true colors to Kanan and Ahsoka. And while Kanan still has hope, the call of the Temple continues to draw his young Padawan Learner further and further into the Dark Side. Will they be too late to save him, or does the corruption of its dark powers stretch further than they can possibly imagine? Will Kanan, Ahsoka and Ezra be able to stop the Temple's activation before the unthinkable occurs? You'll find out in the next thrilling chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano! 

Heyyy guys... Sharron's back again with a nice treat: a quadruple update!

Brain: But it's full of feels and angst

*glares at it* Shhhh

Brain: And also some of the chapters are shorter than usual because there's only so far she can stretch short scenes with periods of deep reflection

*stuffs it behind me* SHHHHHH

Anyway, I don't really have much to say about this chapter that hasn't already been said, so I'll let you guys get to the next three--

Brain: --exceptionally feelsy--

--chapters now.

ONWARD!!!