The Unseen

Chapter 28 - Duel of Fates

For a long moment, the three of them stand there, and Anakin begins dropping his shields. He'll need all of his strength to win this fight; he cannot afford to hold back. The faster Sidious is destroyed, the better. They can make no mistakes. They won't have a second chance.

Anakin hears the door at the end of the hall close, separating Obi-Wan, Solo, and Chewie from them. It won't be easy for scouts to follow them, especially being as Sidious didn't seem to be planning their arrival. Or maybe he was. Maybe this is some giant trap to kill all three of them. Well, they have to try. If he begins to doubt himself and everything, he'll never stop.

He willingly meets the sickly yellow eyes of his former Sith master and sees a flicker of rage. It's all Anakin needs to see to know that while Sidious had been planning a trap, he hadn't expected Obi-Wan to actually escape. He'd probably been intending to use Obi-Wan as a way to get Anakin to bow to him again. Anakin lunges, swinging his lightsabers in a joint effort to catch Sidious off guard. Ahsoka is right behind him, covering his weaknesses and hammering at the Sith's defenses right alongside him, just as they'd planned for.

Anakin isn't an expert as Soresu – actually, any defensive form is hard for him – but he knows the basics. Obi-Wan had drilled them into both him and Ahsoka after they had settled onto Corellia. As Obi-Wan so aptly pointed out, Soresu is the best form for defense which will be exceptionally useful when dueling a Sith with unknown skills. Anakin knows he was one of the best duelists among the Jedi; he couldn't have defeated the Jedi at the Temple if he wasn't. If he survived that, he can survive this too.

Sidious blocks and parries their strikes, moving with a grace that reminds Anakin of a giant, lethal predator. He's good, but Anakin is better. Anakin draws on the Force, Light and Dark Sides swirling around him. He might have been injured, he might have been close to death, but he's healed now. He may not be as strong as he once could have been, but it will be enough. It has to be enough.

Ahsoka ducks backwards, dodging Sidious's attack, deflecting it with a move that seems rooted in Soresu. They have to outwait him, wear him down slowly by letting him attack them. Anakin spins around, his red blade clashing with the Sith's, forcing him to spring backwards as Ahsoka's twin blades whiz towards him.

It becomes methodical after a minute or so. He and Ahsoka block and cover one another, doing their best to refrain from causing excessive damage which could compromise their escape. Sidious has no such compunctions. He uses the Force to hurl Ahsoka backwards, and she catches herself by plunging her blades into the floor. Before Anakin can block him, Sidious slashes diagonally across a security terminal. Alarms start blaring, and Anakin flinches. It's only a matter of time before the stormtroopers show up. Or worse, Inquisitors.

"Ahsoka, the door!" yells Anakin, throwing himself into a brutal assault against Sidious, forcing the Sith to move backwards down the long hall. This really isn't the best place to duel. From behind him, he can hear a sizzle as Ahsoka presumably destroys the controls to make it harder for anyone to come inside.

Leaping across the hall, she crashes blades with Sidious again. Anakin is almost grateful for how powerful and warriorlike she is. If not for the Clone Wars, she would never have gotten this much strength. Anakin's blue blade nicks the Sith's thigh, making him hiss at the pain. The Dark Side seems to swirl even more menacingly as he struggles to force them away from him. Anakin can sense him tiring, and it seems to be making him desperate. Which probably isn't a good thing, come to think of it.

They're keeping Sidious so busy that he doesn't even have enough time to gather the Force to throw them away from him. Out of the corner of his eye, Anakin spots a red lightsaber plunge through the entry to the prison block. Not good. They can't fight on two fronts and still expect to win. They have probably thirty seconds, and that's not nearly enough time.