[Ezra's POV]
Reva's saber came in high and mean, already inside my space.
I had seen the telegraph. Hyper-perception handed me the whole arc like a preview clip, every muscle twitch and shoulder roll laid out in advance, and my body still lagged. Half a second. Maybe less. Long enough.
My left arm went to parry and felt like the servos were chewing gravel.
My counter cut, the one meant to make her reconsider the overreach, carved through empty air.
No. That was impossible—
Red glare swallowed my visor.
Oh fuck oh fuck oh FUCK—
The blade kissed the side of my helmet and the world became heat and ozone. Outer glass softened, flowed, then vanished. My HUD screamed static across the left side as circuitry cooked. The plasma kept sliding deeper like it had found a groove to follow.
I'm going to die I'm going to die she's going to cut my head open like a fucking—
I tasted copper. My lungs forgot the rhythm for a second.
L̴̮̗̮̪̦̪͑̚ȩ̶̞̙̲͙̜͔͌t̴͕̟͗̀͗ ̷̗́̄̕̕͠͝ģ̵̨̮̣͕̤͔̤͇̊̈́̀͐̋̅ǫ̶̖̗̻̘̊.̶̧̛͈̖͉̦̺̮͂̀́͊ͅ ̵̧̧͍̝̙̲̽̋̀̂͜͜ͅL̷̢̢̝̦̟̗̰͈̈̌̒̔̕e̶̫͎̥̒̾̒͝ţ̸̬̤̣̝̲̍̀́͐̇̃ͅ ̵̡̠̇̓̓m̷̧̡̨̦̭̭̞̘͒ȅ̵̮̈́͗́ͅ ̶͈̮̱̜̲͍̼͐͌͐į̵͚͈͇͔̘̟͊̅̔̄ṇ̷͉̏͒̌̄̇̃͐.̸̯̞̤̠͎̈̿̽̓̂͠ ̷̘̮̫̹̙͐͒̓T̴̯̲̳͕̙̺̚͘ͅͅő̷̧̡̞̟̖̦̲̼̊͆͝͠ ̴̨͓͔̰͉̙͖̣̘̋̇s̸̭̃͂̅̏ű̷͔͔͎̤͎̰̗̣́͗̈̈͊̓̂̽͜r̴̮͒̋͗́͜v̷̧̖̭̗͍͝i̷̡̢̳̬͍̇̓̐͒̽v̴͕͚͛͋̈́͐̏̽͝ẽ̴̛͉̩̥̯̳̞̈́̂͜͝͝.
It didn't wait for my answer as I suddenly felt something flood through me.
It wasn't the Force, not like I knew it. This felt different....deeper...darker...
Like a dam cracking, a pressure I hadn't known was there suddenly surging up through my veins, my bones, my nerves. For a single, crystal-clear moment, everything made sense. The alley, the trash, the blood on the stones, Reva's snarling face—it all felt like it was me. Like I could judge it. Like I could end it...like I could d̶̛͍͈͕͓̹͈̯̉̓̐͌͘͝ͅe̸̹̺͍̤̫̞̻̩̔v̷̡͈͇̙̱̪͗̐̓̈́̆̈́̊͝ọ̷̼͛ṷ̵̡͈̙̥͚̺̾̀̕r̵̢̞̄̐ it.
A wave of pure, electric pleasure washed over me. It was better than anything. Better than winning, better than breathing. It made every moment of my life before this feel gray and worthless.
Yes yes YES—
It asked to let it in...and I couldn't do anything other than to let it...in.
Then the pressure dumped out of me in a single violent shove, like breathing out after holding air too long, and the alley snapped back into focus with Reva flying away from my—
████████
—and my gauntlet rested against rough duracrete.
I blinked.
Wait.
My knuckles tingled like they had been asleep. The sensation crawled up my fingers and settled into an irritating numbness. I flexed once, twice, trying to wake the hand up.
When—
Since when had I been standing here?
What happened what just happened I was—the saber was—she was—
The memory of the saber scraping my helmet surged back a beat later and my stomach flipped.
Right. Right, almost died. Almost got my head opened like a ration tin. Fuck. Fuck.
I jerked my head around in a quick scan, pulse hammering.
Leia was still where I had left her, slumped and out cold.
Okay. Okay good. She's fine. She's—
Arachnae sat in the shadows near her, tucked up high, eyes blinking in that steady pattern she used when she was worried and trying to hide it. I gave her a quick look that was supposed to say "handled," even if my heart was still trying to claw its way out of my chest.
Reva was three meters out, against the far wall.
She looked folded into herself, head down, shoulders trembling. For a split second I wondered if she had already died.
Her chest rose again, shallow and ugly.
Alive. Still alive. Okay. Okay.
I took a breath. Another one.
Armor servos. Had to be the servos. Delayed response, that's why I was slow, that's why she almost—
My helmet felt heavier than usual. My head throbbed where her blade had chewed through the casing, and the left-side display kept glitching into static snow. I brought a hand up and brushed the ruined edge, feeling melted seams and warped plating under my glove.
One inch. Maybe less. If I'd been taller—
This was one of the two times in my life I had been grateful for my short height. Had I been even an inch taller, the saber would have found something more important than composite armor and cheap optics.
Stop. Focus. Saber. Where's—
I spotted my lightsaber on the ground off to my left.
For a second I just stared at it, then at my numb hand, then back at it, trying to line the sequence up in my head.
I let go? When did I—must have been when I shoved her. Panic reflex. Stupid. Obi-Wan's going to—
Idiot.
I raised my hand and pulled.
The hilt skated over grime and snapped into my palm.
"Yeah," I whispered. My voice shook. "Learn the lesson before it kills you next time."
Next time. As if there should be a next time. As if I should be walking into situations where—
I looked back at Reva, still slumped there. The poison had gotten deep. She was breathing like every inhale cost her something. She didn't even try to stand.
During the fight… she had been way better than I gave her credit for.
Even poisoned, she had dodged everything by a breath. Every swing I threw felt right, felt timed, felt like it should have connected, and she kept slipping the blade by a hair. She had screamed each time she moved too, like she was trying to rattle me, which had been… a choice.
Intimidation technique probably. Inquisitor thing. Doesn't matter now.
My body still felt off.
Servos. Has to be servos. Reaction timing all wrong. Micro-delays. Sensors maybe. Suit's been patched together and I've been running it hard and of course it picks tonight to—
I took a slow breath through my nose, forced the shake out of my hands, and was about to walk toward her when the helmet sparked against my ear.
A sharp, stinging jolt crawled down the side of my jaw.
"Ugh, fuck."
I jerked my head to the side reflexively, which just made the burnt padding scrape against raw skin.
Did the lining get fried too? Great. Just great.
Another spark popped near my temple. This one felt deeper, like it had reached the bone.
Okay. Decision time. Keep it on and maintain intimidation or take it off and risk—what? Her seeing my face? She's dying anyway.
A third spark crackled, this one running down the back of my neck.
Fuck it. Not risking shocks to my skull. One wrong nerve and I'm paralyzed right here, right now.
I reached up and hit the release catches.
The seals hissed. The helmet came free with a faint grinding noise where the melted section had fused slightly to the collar. I pulled it off and let it drop.
It hit the ground with a loud, echoing clang that bounced off the alley walls.
Fresh air hit my face. Damp, cold, smelling like trash and burnt ozone, but still better than recycled suit air and scorched electronics.
The clang made Reva flinch.
She raised her head slowly, eyelids heavy, like the effort cost her something. Her gaze found my face and her eyes went wide.
Not scared-wide. Shocked-wide.
"K...kid," she slurred, the words thick and wet. Blood bubbled at the corner of her mouth. "Fu...fuckin'... kid."
I stepped closer, boots crunching on grit and broken glass.
"What," I said flatly. "Were you expecting Master Yoda in disguise?"
She didn't answer. Just stared at me with that dazed, uncomprehending look people got when reality stopped matching expectations.
I stopped a couple meters out and actually looked at her.
Not that injured. Pale, yeah. Sweating. Breathing's bad but no major visible wounds. Maybe she's faking? No. No, she's not moving. I'm wide open right now and she's not—
I'd left myself wide open just now, walking straight toward her with my guard down, and she hadn't so much as twitched.
Poison must have hit faster than I thought. Body morphology variation maybe. Or that last attack burned through her reserves and the crash—
"That had been a nice attack," I said, more to fill the silence than anything. "The last one, I mean. Would've really taken me out."
She looked at me.
For a moment, I saw something flicker in her expression. Like she wanted to be angry. Like she wanted to spit venom and tell me to go fuck myself.
But there wasn't any energy left.
Her jaw worked. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. Then the words came out, quiet and broken.
"...please."
I said nothing.
"M'not... not with them," she choked out, words slurring at the edges. "Us...used them. Work— worked to... get close. T'reach... him."
Her hands were shaking in her lap. One of them was missing fingers.
Saber lock. Must have been during the—
"C'n help," she continued, the desperation leaking into every syllable. "Routes. Codes. Fort...Fortress lay... Who watch— shift. Know how... how they..."
Her gaze dropped for a second, then snapped back up to my face. There was something humiliating in the way she looked at me now. Something raw.
"I'll..." Her voice cracked. "...give m'self. I'll—fuck you. Suck. Be... be quiet. Here. Now. Jus'... let me... walk. Breathe. Gone. Swear. Swear."
The words hung in the damp air between us.
Oh.
I felt something twist in my chest.
For half a second, the thought crossed my mind. Let her go. Brainwash her. Scrub out whatever the Inquisitorius had fed her, maybe wipe the Temple memories too if I could figure out how. Drop her off on some backwater farming planet where she could live out a quiet, forgettable life and never hurt anyone again.
Because at the end of the day, this was just a traumatized girl.
One who didn't find support when she needed it most. One who had to live with the guilt of surviving when her friends burned. One who had been betrayed by someone they all looked up to, and the anger of that had curdled into something poisonous and sharp.
It wasn't entirely incomprehensible, what she had become.
But even leaving aside the risks of letting her live—the chance she'd remember, the chance she'd come back, the chance the Empire would find her and turn her into a weapon again—even ignoring the sheer difficulty of brainwashing someone trained in resisting mental intrusion…
She was too far gone.
The venom would have reached her brainstem by now. Even if I pumped her full of anti-venom, which I didn't have enough of anyway, the damage was already done. Organ failure. Neural decay. She had minutes, maybe less.
There was no saving her.
I crouched down until we were eye-level.
Part of me was curious... Did she regret it? Any of it? The children she'd kidnapped, ripped from their families and dragged screaming into Fortress Inquisitorius. The innocents she'd cut down in her anger, the witnesses silenced because they'd seen too much.
Did any of that weigh on her, or had she buried it so deep under justifications and mission parameters that she couldn't even see it anymore?
Was there still a small girl somewhere inside her? The one who'd hidden among corpses in the Temple, breathing through her mouth so the clones wouldn't hear? Or had that girl died there, and what crawled out was just… this?
"What about them?" I asked quietly.
She blinked, confused. "Wh... wha...?"
"The ones you dragged off worlds. The sensitive children taken to the Fortress. The minds you peeled apart until they would do anything. The families who died because you cut witnesses."
I paused.
"Are they less dead than your friends in the Temple?"
Her mouth opened. Closed. She swallowed, and the motion looked painful.
"Was... necess..." she whispered. The conviction was gone. Just echoes now. "F'r plan. Stay... place. Keep... cover. No... clean..."
She was shaking her head slowly, a broken, repetitive motion.
"Justice," I said.
The word felt hollow.
A flicker of hope lit in her eyes. Stupid, fragile, desperate hope.
"Please," she breathed. "Please. Deal. C'n... help. Give... ev'rything. I'll—"
"Do not worry about Vader," I cut her off, my voice softer than I meant it to be.
Her eyes widened slightly. The hope grew.
A dull ache pulsed behind my own eyes. I ignored it.
I reached out slowly and let my fingers brush against her cheek. The skin was cold, clammy with sweat. She leaned into the touch slightly, like a starving animal offered scraps.
"I will make sure he gets what is due," I continued. The words came easily. "There will be no forgiveness this time. Not for him. Not for anyone like him."
The ache spiked for a second. My vision swam at the edges.
"But for you," I said, and the softness drained out. "Try to do better in the next life, Reva Sanders."
The last ember of hope in her eyes guttered and died.
Her eyelids slid closed. Was she unconsciousness? I couldn't tell anything other than a overwhelming sense of resignation. Exhaustion. The kind of tiredness that came when you'd fought as hard as you could and there was nothing left.
My hand was still on her cheek.
And then—
My vision flickered.
For less than a heartbeat, everything changed.
What—
I wasn't crouching gently beside her. I was leaning over her. My hand wasn't resting on her cheek.
My gauntleted fingers were wrapped around her throat, squeezing hard enough that the skin around the metal had gone white. Her face was a ruin. Both eyes swollen shut. Nose crushed. Blood running from her ears. She wasn't looking at me. She wasn't looking at anything.
Then it snapped back.
No. No that's not—I'm crouching. I'm just—
I was crouching again. My hand rested gently against her cheek. Her face was pale, sweaty, one eye swollen, but whole. Her eyes were closed in that terrible, tired resignation.
A splitting pain lanced through my skull.
FUCK—
I groaned, the sound tearing out of my throat before I could stop it. I tried to pull back, tried to stand, but my body locked in place.
Move. MOVE. Why can't I—
I couldn't move.
What's happening what did I—what just—
The world flickered again.
No. No no no—
This time, it didn't go back.
----
A/N: finally I had been able to complete this chapter. thing damn thing had been so far above my paygrade that I couldn't even write it to be honest. I had spent the 5 days burning through more than ten thousand words to get this scene right.
It was the kind of thing that I had never experience of writing so I don't know whether I did it right or wrong even now but I hope I was able to atleast convey the right thing through it.
Hope people got the answer as to why Ezra was needlessly cruel to Reva.
Next chapter is up on Patreon, and its might be a tad spicy for some. Gonna post it up tomorrow.
Edit: Apologies as I forgot to clarify, whatever spicy stuff I said etc, let me be clear that it wouldn't involve any minor/under-18 character as such, so don't worry about that aspect.