No light, no light in your bright blue eyes

[neverlosemyfocus]

She sat in the pilot’s seat of her ship, silent and patient. This latest mission of hers had brought her to Tatooine. ‘Find him’, they told her. ‘Don’t stop until you’ve dealt with him.’ And she had left, taking the ship she was given and leaving Coruscant without delay.

The trail had long since gone cold, but she was good at what she did. This was what she was for. Her… training had been thorough. Cold his trail might have been, but she found enough to give her something to go off of. Enough to start tracking him. And finding a young woman on Alderaan only helped matters.

Her target was on Tatooine.

It had been an easy matter to erase all trace of her ships’ existence from the computers and the minds of those within sight of her ship when it landed, using a Force suggestion to keep them away from the hangar where she was docked. And to aid them in keeping others from poking their noses where they didn’t kriffing belong. She would need an unimpeded escape when she completed her mission.

She moved through the streets of Mos Eisley silently, moving through what would probably be considered a crowd on Tatooine with ease. The hood of her dark cloak was pulled low, hiding her eyes, and the mask she wore over the lower portion of her face.

It was only a matter of time before she found him.

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[neverlosemyfocus]

She tilted her head, pausing briefly as she swept through the crowd. Twisted malevolence was something she was all too used to sensing, but it still clouded her senses. Despite that, she could have sworn that she sensed… something. She didn’t NEED to sense anything in the Force to know that someone was following her, though. It was either someone from Mos Eisley who thought she made a decent target (they would be sadly mistaken, but it would be the last mistake they ever made)…

Or it was her target.

He wouldn’t be the first of her targets to come to her. But she’d thought he was smarter than that. Her masters had led her to believe that he was. No matter. She would discover who it was soon enough. And if it was him… well, it would make this mission a simple one.

She continued on her path, winding her way through the streets. Wretched hive of scum and villainy though Mos Eisley might be, it would be better for her to deal with him somewhere less… crowded. For insurance. So she led him onward, towards the outskirts of the spaceport.

[averybadfeeling]

Ah. So he'd been noticed. Well, perhaps it was inevitable. Still, here it was on his terms- far from Luke. If he was struck down, so be it. The Emperor would not raise that child to be a pawn of evil. If nothing else, he simply hoped that Qui-Gon's spirit could in some way aid the boy in his stead.

It wasn't until the pursuit had led to the empty outskirts of town that he finally spoke.

"Hello again, Darth."

He tried to keep his tone even as speaks the title, but the pain and betrayal he felt couldn't help but force its way into the word. Still, they were alone now- no bystanders to interfere, no potential hostages or human shields for Anakin- Vader, he reminded himself again forcibly- to use against him. If ever there was a time and a place to have this battle, this was it.

[neverlosemyfocus]

By the time he spoke, she’d already drawn to a halt. Waiting for him. What he SAID, however, was… unexpected. He thought she was Lord Vader. Why was that? What reason would the Emperor’s right hand have to pursue a former Jedi to a desolate hellhole like this? She turned to face him, slowly, her face still shadowed by the hood of her cloak.

And the pain, the betrayal in that one word. In Vader’s title. Curious.

It didn’t matter. She didn’t ask questions. She didn’t ‘wonder’. She did as she was ordered. Nothing more. Nothing less. She was a tool. A weapon.

There was no sense delaying things, so she shoved her hood back, arching an eyebrow at him.

[averybadfeeling]

He should have trusted his initial assessment. It wasn't Vader.

But who it was...

That, he was still having some trouble processing. He must have been wrong. It was only her eyes and hair, she could have looked like anything under the mask. And yet that presence...

He didn't have time to consider the implications. He slips his lightsaber into his hand, though he doesn't ignite it yet.

"I don't know who you are, but you have no business here. Leave this world."

[neverlosemyfocus]

So noble.

So JEDI.

She stalked in a slow, predatory circle around him, unconcerned with the unignited lightsaber he now held in his hand. There was a similar weapons clipped to her belt, its hilt matte black. She preferred vibrodaggers, but sometimes a different weapon was… necessary.

“No,” she told him, voice low. “I’m not going anywhere.” Not until she was finished.

[averybadfeeling]

That voice. The eyes were one thing, but that voice... it was so low, so flat and harsh and lifeless, but it was still unmistakably, undeniably hers.

He wasn't imagining it. He couldn't be.

What have they done to you...

"Then I'm afraid we're at an impasse."

He didn't follow her as she stalked around him, but he kept himself aware of her position, in case she tried to strike. He didn't know what happened to her, but there was no mistaking her posture and tone, much less her emotions. Siri Tachi or no, she would kill him if he let her.

[neverlosemyfocus]

“Not for long.”

He was going to try and make this difficult. They always did. And Jedi worst of all. She continued her slow circling of him, until she was behind him, just off to one side. What she was able to sense from him, here, away from the crowds, was... She didn’t understand. What she was sensing from him didn’t make sense. Why was he...

A gloved hand slipped beneath her cloak, fingers curling tightly around the hilt of a vibrodagger. It didn’t matter.

EVER GOTTEN A TAGBACK AFTER THREE+ YEARS BEFORE?

[averybadfeeling]

"The Dark won't aid you in this fight. Its power is a lie."

He didn't see her hand move, but he did feel her posture shift, hear the faint shifting of her gloves against the weapon- it wouldn't be a lightsaber, he suspected. The fact that she carried other weapons suggested that she was at least somewhat inclined to keep a low profile when possible. That would have been an advantage for him, if he was willing to use his own, but it had been a bluff- he couldn't even turn it on. Not here. There could be eyes on them even away from the spaceport, despite the privacy they'd sought- it would take only one stray droid, one distant bystander, one security recording of the saber blade igniting to bring Imperial agents down on his head.

On the Lars' heads.

Besides, he didn't think he had it in him to raise his saber against her. Brutal life-or-death fighting against Anakin had been agonizing enough. Against her as well?

No. Not even if she had fallen. Not even if she was as twisted by the darkness as Vader, not even if she had become a pawn of the Emperor as well- or some other dark power. He couldn't do it again.

She would strike soon. He had a plan, but it would require she be distracted. She'd always been his equal in combat and in the use of the Force, and he couldn't assume that was no longer the case- if anything, she could be more powerful, fueled as she was by the easy power the Dark Side could hold.

His initial thought was to play dumb, make her think he was off-guard, but that might be too much. She would be suspicious, and that might tip her off.

He'd have to be just invested enough in his reaction to keep her engaged.

So he tensed his shoulders, ready to shrug off his cloak and evade as soon as she drew her weapon.

And he began to grasp, subtly, at the dust and sand that seemed to cover every exterior surface of this planet- Anakin had not exaggerated its pervasiveness. He had plenty of material to work with as he gathered it into a cloud behind her.

"Even if you succeed, killing me will resolve nothing. "