Rise of a Legend

Chapter 30

Sabine walked right to Kanan who was still meditating. The two of them started talking.

"What do you think they are talking about?" Jeffrey asked.

"Sabine's probably apologizing and Kanan has a fantastic new technique that he has been working on these last few hours and they are gonna start right away." Ezra gave his synopsis while Jeffrey and Rau gave him a surprised look.

They watched as Kanan handed Sabine the darksaber.

"That was impressively accurate." Rau stroked his chin while Ezra grinned.

They continued to watch as Kanan ignited his own saber. Sabine and Kanan clashed blades and the spectators watched in suspense.

"Block low!" Kanan warned Sabine. "High, middle, high, low, middle." Kanan slashed slowly allowing Sabine to adjust to the darksaber.

"Good, let's work on a series. Are you ready?" Kanan asked Sabine.

"Yes." Sabine answered.

"Remember the forms Ezra taught you. Take ready position." Kanan said as they both got into their starting position.

"We'll start slow. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6." Kanan counted off the strokes while Sabine blocked them.

"She's doing pretty good." Ezra commented.

"Your only saying that because..." Jeffrey started before Ezra cut him off.

"Not here please." Ezra said while gesturing to Fenn Rau Who had his back to them.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6." Kanan moved faster. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6." Sabine was a second too late in blocking the attack and was knocked to the ground.

"You're making it easy for me." Kanan said. "Ready position! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6." Kanan went faster still and this time Sabine matched his pace.

"The blade feels lighter." Sabine said.

"Your connecting with it. It's becoming a part of you." Kanan replied.

Kanan started the next series of attacks before Sabine started getting sloppy. 

"She's still not focusing on fight, she is conflicting with herself." Jeffrey said.

"Kanan's not exactly taking it easy though." Ezra responded.

"Yeah but she would do a lot better if she opened her mind to the Force and let her energy flow through the blade." Jeffrey pointed out.

"I agree." Rau crossed his arms.

Finally the darksaber flew out of Sabine's hand due to a weak block on her part. "You'll have to get better." Kanan said.

Sabine used her energy rope to bring the darksaber back to her hands. 

"Woah." Ezra watched with awe.

They began to spar again before Kanan knocked her legs out from under her. Her blade cut her Madalorian braces as she let out a cry of pain. Ezra started to move to her but Rau grabbed his shoulder and shook his head.

"Your not fighting me. Your fighting yourself and losing." Kanan said and deactivated his lightsaber.

Sabine ignited her blade and charged at Kanan. He easily sidestepped her attack. "Your not committed to this. You should quit." Kanan taunted.

"I don't quit, I never quit." Sabine yelled as she rushed at Kanan again.

Really? That's not what it looks like." Kanan challenged. "You did run didn't you?" 

"No!" Sabine shouted.

"But that's what your family believes isn't it? You ran from the Empire and you ran from your family." Kanan said.

"Lies!" Sabine yelled again.

"So what's the truth?" Kanan demanded as he reignited his lightsaber and they locked blades.

"The truth... the truth is that... I left to save everyone! My mother!" Sabine slashed at Kanan powerfully. "My father! My brother!" Sabine continued to fight.

"Everything I did was for family. For Mandalore! I built weapons, terrible weapons. The Empire used them on Mandalore, on my friends, my family, the people that I knew! People controlled by fear. Mandalore feared the weapons that I helped create! I helped enslave my people! It had to stop. I had to stop it! I spoke out to save them. To save everyone!" Sabine cried as she kicked Kanan and knocked him down. 

She held her blade above her head. "But when I did... my family didn't stand with me. They chose the Empire. They left me, they left me no choice. The Empire wanted to destroy worlds and they destroyed mine." Sabine deactivated her saber and stepped away full of sorrow.

"I get it. My planet may not have been destroyed and nobody on my planet hates me but I understand the loss of family." Jeffrey stepped forward.

"Me too, losing family isn't easy." Ezra agreed.

"We've all been through hard times before Sabine and not everyone can be as strong as you. Where you go from here is your choice. You can continue down this path or you can choose to leave it but for what it's worth, I would follow you." Kanan said.

"As would I." Rau said walking over to them.

"Sabine looked at Jeffrey and Ezra who both nodded. Sabine thought for a moment. "Alright I'll do it. I'll go back to Mandalore and face my family. But we are all in this together, I can't just go alone." Sabine said.

"Of course not, we all will go with you." Kanan said and everyone nodded.

"I've always wanted to see Mandalore anyway, besides it can't be that bad.... can it?" Jeffrey asked.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I tried to capture the emotional parts from the actual episode in this chapter but remember, I still am an amateur. Constructive criticism is appreciated so if you see any ways I can improve feel free to comment. Anyway that'll be doing it for this chapter. Until next time, Lunch Kid out.