After ✔️

Fight For Your Lives (reprise)

I m p e r i a l   P r i s o n   2 2 3 ,  s e c o n d  f l o o r

Ahsoka barely dodged a strike from Lyz as she rolled to the side. She had faced Sith before, but this girl was nothing like them. Despite her fast, angry attacks, they were all carefully planned and coordinated. Ahsoka found herself being pushed back, but gritted her teeth and pushed on.

"You're good, sweetheart," Lyz beamed as she parried another strike, "Man, I'm getting nervous. You've obviously had a lot more experience at this than me. How can I ever stand up to you?"

"I dunno, let's see," Ahsoka swung her two savers in an X for her head. Lyz beamed brighter and ducked, flipping back onto her hands and sending a kick to Ahsoka's torso. The Jedi stumbled backwards but regained her footing.

Before either Togruta could move, a shot rang out. Lyz fell to one knee, clutching her arm, and Ahsoka looked to see Jai down the hall, pistol still pointed.

"Phew," Jai said after a moment. "Miss me?"

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the assist." She crouched by Lyz and snatched her swords away.

"Oh, good one," the Togruta was grinning, teeth flashing. "A team up! Man, I didn't see that one coming."

"Oh, shut up," Jai scowled before knocking her on the head with his gun. She slumped to the side, out cold. "So, who's she?"

"One of Kalar's crew," she shook her head. "She's tough. I was barely able to stop her."

"And if there are more of them..." Jai trailed off.

"The others might be in trouble," Ahsoka hooked her sabers back onto her belt. "Come on. We don't have much time."

I m p e r i a l   P r i s o n 2 2 3 , t h i r d  f l o o r

Ezra barely dodged as the first light whip came whizzing by where he had been standing only moments earlier. He felt shaky on his feet, his mouth was dry from thirst, his vision blurry from pain and head aching for reasons he didn't know. His body hurt. His legs were barely holding him up. But he forced himself to tune into the Force, let it support him.

I don't have to be afraid anymore. I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.

Sabine fired her pistol at Kiyfi but she flicked it out of the way with a quick and precise move of her light whip. Then the warden turned her focus to the Mandalorian, swinging both whips right at her head.

Sabine dropped to the ground and rolled, coming up on one knee and firing again. Ezra watched her move with the feeling of being in a dream. Was this really happening? Was he finally free? Was his best friend really here, fighting alongside him again, or was it all just another hallucination procured by the warden?

He had seen it all. Kanan. Sabine. Zeb. Chopper. Hera. Jai. Tristan. Ahsoka. Even Ketsu and Kallus. Dying, saving him, killing him. Over and over again in his mind. But this didn't feel like the work of Kiyfi. This... this was real. Sabine was real. She was alive.

Or she would be if they could just manage to get the upper hand. Ezra focused on the Force, channeling it all around him. It sang to him and whispered in his ear. It felt like an old friend. Ezra pushed out with his hands and Kiyfi flew backwards into the wall.

"Oh, that's got to be cheating," she clicked her tongue, bounding back to her feet. 

Sabine opened fire but Kiyfi easily dodged. "Silly girl, why would you bring blasters to a light whip fight?"

She lashed out at Sabine again and Ezra flung forward a hand and pulled it back towards him. The light whips changed their course and fell harmlessly to the side. Sabine turned her head towards him and he gave her a thumbs up.

Oh, it felt good to be back.

Sabine leaped forward, dropping her pistol and vaulting over the warden with her hands. She landed behind Kiyfi and Ezra Forced pushed the warden against the wall again. Sabine grabbed hold of the two light whip hilts and yanked them away from her grasp.

Perfect, synchronized. That's how they fought. Ezra and Sabine. No foe could outwit them.

"Do you want applause?" Kiyfi grinned widely. "For beating me? I'm hardly the toughest opponent you'll be facing. Your friends are dying, and up on the fourth floor is someone who won't stop until both of you are dead."

"Oh, shut up," Sabine said, then slapped the warden across the face. "That's for Ezra." She slapped her again. "That's also for Ezra." She slapped her one more time for good measure. "And that's just because I don't like you very much."

Ezra didn't keep the laughter from escaping. It felt good to laugh. Sabine turned to face him, a smile on her face.

"What do we do with her?" she gestured to Kiyfi.

Ezra stepped forward to face the warden. His torturer for all these years. She had done her best to ruin him. Quorr stared right back at him.

"Whatcha gonna do, Ezzy? Vengeance?" she giggled. 

"No," Ezra said simply. "That's not what a Jedi does. I'm sorry this was the path you were brought up on. But there's nothing I can do to change that. Only you can."

That said, he shoved the warden into one of the nearby cells and closed the door.

"You're the same Ezra I remember," Sabine said behind him.

Ezra turned with a smile. "I think you'll find a lot has changed."

Sabine helped him limp over to the lift, recovering her pistols and hooking the light whip hilts to her belt. "Whatever's waiting for us on the fourth floor..."

"The darkness," Ezra replied. "The one I've been feeling."

"Are you sure your Jedi's not just another Dark Side user?" Sabine questioned.

Ezra shook his head. "I'm positive. We have to go to them."

"I'll be right beside you, every step of the way," Sabine promised softly as the lift rumbled upward.

Before he could return her smile, an overwhelming darkness swept over him as his headache flared up. Pain shot through his head and he let out a short cry, legs giving out.

"Ezra!" Sabine screamed as the lift doors opened.

"Ezra Bridger," another voice said. "Welcome."