For ladiesbingo
Dec. 13th, 2020 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: Rise Together
Summary: The duel between female Revan and Bastila, on the Star Forge — at least the end of it.
Prompt: Horribly Misunderstood Villain
— one stroke of a lightsaber, and Bastila Shan, short-lived apprentice to Darth Malak, found her lightsaber split in half —
“No! It’s not possible." Bastila was keenly aware that she sounded pathetic. It was fitting, all things considered. After all, she was pathetic. She couldn’t even defeat Revan — defeat Jamie, she thought, taking a look at the black-haired woman whose hair was coming out of her ponytail. “You’re a weak, pathetic servant of the Light. How did this happen? Why can’t I defeat you?”
Jamie stood there, deactivating her blue lightsaber, throwing away the band in her hair that let her hair fall down her shoulders. “Because you’re not a killer, Bastila.”
Not a killer. There was something about that that was enough to weaken Bastila, almost bring her to her knees. She was already exhausted, injured. Badly, at that. Jamie — Darth Revan — saying that, even though Bastila had let everyone down...
It wasn’t just that Bastila had been tired of being talked up. All about how powerful she was, how gifted. “She’ll be superb." “Amazing. Has anyone ever seen her like this?” All this talk, until she was tired of it, until she just wanted to be Bastila, and not Bastila Shan, age twenty-two and apparently The Last Hope For The Jedi Order.
She had failed at even being Bastila.
“Why? I betrayed the Jedi Order, I joined the Sith — you cannot possibly allow me to live...”
“Don’t you talk like that,” Jamie argued. "You said it yourself — all life is sacred. Even that of a Sith Lord. Even mine. Why are you the exception, Bas? Really."
Bastila almost smiled. There was Jamie’s nickname for her. Bas.
It already felt so liberating.
Jamie continued. “I felt you, you know. Over the Bond. You held out. Held out even when Malak was attacking you with everything he had. You held out. I felt it. It was when he started getting under your skin...that’s when you started to crack. Anyone would. You were tortured. But you held out as long as you could. You’re so very strong, Bas.”
“A strong Jedi wouldn’t have — ”
“But you are. It’s one of the reasons I love you.”
I love you. Jamie had said it, hadn’t she, when they were in the crew quarters. “I love you, Bastila. And I know you love me.”
Bastila had been scared of it. Of course she had been. She had been holding on, trying to be strong for herself and this bizarrely lovable amnesiac Sith Lady.
“You do love me,” Jamie said, sounding almost in wonder. “That was why you threw yourself in front of Malak. For me...”
“Don’t blame yourself, Jamie,” Bastila said. “It was necessary. To save the mission. To save you.”
“I didn’t want you to be hurt for me...”
She looked so vulnerable. So very alone. Like she had when she had had that brush with the Dark Side, interrogating that Sith prisoner. How scared she’d been. “I don’t want to become like Malak. I don’t want to become like him.”
And it was those moments that made Bastila want to protect her, at all costs...
"I did it because I loved you,” Bastila said. “I only wonder how it can save me." Save me. From the sea of darkness I am drowning in.
"You could use your Battle Meditation,” Jamie said. “Just to help the Republic fleet. They’re losing. They need you.”
“Would they accept me back?” It occurred to Bastila she would have to apologize to Juhani for what she said to her on the Temple summit.
“I was redeemed, Bastila,” Jamie said. “You can be too."
***
Bastila used one of the life support packs to heal her wounds, and Jamie apologized to her for fighting her.
“You did what you had to,” Bastila said. "And Jamie...you’ll go from being the Sith Lord herself to the savior of this galaxy. I only wonder if I’ll have a place there. With you.”
"Always, Bas. Always." A beat. “You could say you saved me. Not the other way around.”
“We saved each other."
It was there that they kissed on the Star Forge, Bastila’s fingers tenderly carding through Jamie’s hair, and even in the darkness of the Star Forge, she had never felt more alive.
Bastila broke away then. “Good luck, my love,” she said. “And may the Force be with you.”
“And with you.”
Jamie left. Bastila could only hope that her love would survive the confrontation with Malak. She needed it. For the galaxy, for her crew, for Bastila herself...she needed to live.
Watch over her, Bastila thought, even as she tapped into her Battle Meditation once more. Keep her safe. I cannot lose her, not again...
Summary: The duel between female Revan and Bastila, on the Star Forge — at least the end of it.
Prompt: Horribly Misunderstood Villain
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author’s Notes: Delving into KOTOR again. Be gentle. Title from the Lawless song “Descent”.
— one stroke of a lightsaber, and Bastila Shan, short-lived apprentice to Darth Malak, found her lightsaber split in half —
“No! It’s not possible." Bastila was keenly aware that she sounded pathetic. It was fitting, all things considered. After all, she was pathetic. She couldn’t even defeat Revan — defeat Jamie, she thought, taking a look at the black-haired woman whose hair was coming out of her ponytail. “You’re a weak, pathetic servant of the Light. How did this happen? Why can’t I defeat you?”
Jamie stood there, deactivating her blue lightsaber, throwing away the band in her hair that let her hair fall down her shoulders. “Because you’re not a killer, Bastila.”
Not a killer. There was something about that that was enough to weaken Bastila, almost bring her to her knees. She was already exhausted, injured. Badly, at that. Jamie — Darth Revan — saying that, even though Bastila had let everyone down...
It wasn’t just that Bastila had been tired of being talked up. All about how powerful she was, how gifted. “She’ll be superb." “Amazing. Has anyone ever seen her like this?” All this talk, until she was tired of it, until she just wanted to be Bastila, and not Bastila Shan, age twenty-two and apparently The Last Hope For The Jedi Order.
She had failed at even being Bastila.
“Why? I betrayed the Jedi Order, I joined the Sith — you cannot possibly allow me to live...”
“Don’t you talk like that,” Jamie argued. "You said it yourself — all life is sacred. Even that of a Sith Lord. Even mine. Why are you the exception, Bas? Really."
Bastila almost smiled. There was Jamie’s nickname for her. Bas.
It already felt so liberating.
Jamie continued. “I felt you, you know. Over the Bond. You held out. Held out even when Malak was attacking you with everything he had. You held out. I felt it. It was when he started getting under your skin...that’s when you started to crack. Anyone would. You were tortured. But you held out as long as you could. You’re so very strong, Bas.”
“A strong Jedi wouldn’t have — ”
“But you are. It’s one of the reasons I love you.”
I love you. Jamie had said it, hadn’t she, when they were in the crew quarters. “I love you, Bastila. And I know you love me.”
Bastila had been scared of it. Of course she had been. She had been holding on, trying to be strong for herself and this bizarrely lovable amnesiac Sith Lady.
“You do love me,” Jamie said, sounding almost in wonder. “That was why you threw yourself in front of Malak. For me...”
“Don’t blame yourself, Jamie,” Bastila said. “It was necessary. To save the mission. To save you.”
“I didn’t want you to be hurt for me...”
She looked so vulnerable. So very alone. Like she had when she had had that brush with the Dark Side, interrogating that Sith prisoner. How scared she’d been. “I don’t want to become like Malak. I don’t want to become like him.”
And it was those moments that made Bastila want to protect her, at all costs...
"I did it because I loved you,” Bastila said. “I only wonder how it can save me." Save me. From the sea of darkness I am drowning in.
"You could use your Battle Meditation,” Jamie said. “Just to help the Republic fleet. They’re losing. They need you.”
“Would they accept me back?” It occurred to Bastila she would have to apologize to Juhani for what she said to her on the Temple summit.
“I was redeemed, Bastila,” Jamie said. “You can be too."
***
Bastila used one of the life support packs to heal her wounds, and Jamie apologized to her for fighting her.
“You did what you had to,” Bastila said. "And Jamie...you’ll go from being the Sith Lord herself to the savior of this galaxy. I only wonder if I’ll have a place there. With you.”
"Always, Bas. Always." A beat. “You could say you saved me. Not the other way around.”
“We saved each other."
It was there that they kissed on the Star Forge, Bastila’s fingers tenderly carding through Jamie’s hair, and even in the darkness of the Star Forge, she had never felt more alive.
Bastila broke away then. “Good luck, my love,” she said. “And may the Force be with you.”
“And with you.”
Jamie left. Bastila could only hope that her love would survive the confrontation with Malak. She needed it. For the galaxy, for her crew, for Bastila herself...she needed to live.
Watch over her, Bastila thought, even as she tapped into her Battle Meditation once more. Keep her safe. I cannot lose her, not again...
