Ask Coruscant Know Thy Enemy

[Leon Baudelaire]

Desolation clung to the Jewel of the Core Worlds like a thick fog. The taint of the dark side permeated from the ruined duracrete. Leon Baudelaire’s eyes scanned the horizon. He glanced down at his EZPhone. He wasn’t far from the location. Leon wasn’t a stranger to twisted abominations in the force. His work as a padawan on Ord Matell forced him to look into the eyes of a flayed man. He’d spent more time understanding the twisted machinations of zealots than any other Jedi he knew.

So, when he heard the descriptions of the abominations here in the core he knew he needed to get a look for himself. Should he have told someone he was coming here? Yes. Had he? No. This was something he had to do, he could feel it.

Leon moved like a shadow. He concealed his signature within the force and moved from cover to cover taking it slow. His head stayed on a swivel the closer he got to the medical center, but… there was something else calling to him. Baudelaire slid in behind an overturned speeder and closed his eyes. His surroundings were drenched in pain, horror, and hate. It was stifling.

Suddenly, something crashed into the overturned vehicle. Leon rolled out of the way, just narrowly escaping a free leg amputation. A massive amalgamation of limbs, teeth, and claws let loose an ear splitting screech. Baudelaire didn’t waste time trying to comprehend the thing, he flew into action.

Moonlight, sprang into his off-hand in a defensive position while his main hand fired off a force push as he attempted to create space. The rush of force power barely budged the abomination, but it was enough for Leon to get to his feet. The monster slowly turned to face him and began walking toward him. Leon flung any and all the debris he could at it, but nothing slowed it down.

It lunged.

Three pairs of arms reached for him. Daybreak sprang into his main hand and ignited. Baudelaire dove forward, turning over so his chest faced upward mid jump and slashed out with both of his lightsabers as he passed under the leaping abomination. Leon landed hard on his back, the wind was driven out, but he managed to carry over some momentum, rolling over his shoulder and coming back up to his feet.

Multiple limbs made a bread crumb trail to the monster. It’s body convulsed and Leon started running. He had no idea if these things could regenerate, but he knew he’d see things like this explode before, and it was fucking gross. As Leon rounded the corner he heard the abominations keening wail and felt a freezing cold chill run down his spine.

 

[Darth Raze]

That unsettling feeling only grew as Leon kept walking. What was most uneasy was the fact that the abominations suddenly stopped giving chase. In fact, they stopped right where they were, bowing their heads or looking suddenly frightened. As if a circus animal that knew the whip was coming. After a moment, when Leon turned to look forward, he would see a thick, black smoke. That smoke slowly materialized into a figure. One that he would recognize from Serenno. The man needed no introductions. There wouldn’t be an ounce of doubt. The icy chill, the way the abominations became suddenly obedient, the way all life seemingly froze in place. Leon would know who this was.

“A long way from home, aren’t you, little boy?” He asked. Leon would feel the hilts in his hands abruptly crack and shatter. Only the crystals survived, falling to the ground beside him as if the prized weapons were childrens’ toys. The wraith observed him calmly, recognizing the Jedi from when he was Emryc Thorne. This one was close to Ezra Thorne and the family. He had many uses for the Anzat. But Raze always did like playing with his food.


@Zay

 

[Leon Baudelaire]

The unsettling feeling blossoming in the pit of his stomach caused him to look back. As he did a rush of pitch black smoke shot past him and Baudelair’s mouth dropped open. Before he could possibly fathom what was happening his weapons were shattered. The sharp edges biting into the hands that held them as they fell to the ground. As the shadow coalesced.

“Am I, you know what? You’re totally right, thanks so much for pointing that out I’ll—” he stopped when he noticed every abomination in the area standing still and staring directly at him. Realization hit him like a sledgehammer. Never in his life had he felt fear like he did right now. He was an insect, and The Wraith was a spider. He never expected to walk right into the destroyer of Ithor…

…The Saviour of Serreno…

Darth Raze.

“I’ll be honest, I thought you were on Onderon,” said Leon, doing his best to buy himself enough time to create a distraction. There was no way in hell he could fight Raze. He wasn’t Ezra… But maybe… maybe… Leon’s eyes flicked to the abominations now beginning to gather. They marched to the beat of Raze’s drum in sync with his desire. At that moment, Leon knew he wouldn’t make it out alive. So, he did as he was trained and sank into the light.

All he could do now was trust in the will of the Force.

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Raze]

If this were anyone else, Raze would have snapped their neck and eaten them. In fact, he considered doing just that even now. Before Leon could get even three words in, the Force constricted his neck to cut off any sound, “Silence,” He stated flatly, slamming the Jedi down to his knees as if he were nothing but a rag doll.

“You should have stayed in your little temple,” Raze said simply before he dove into Leon’s mind without warning. As he did so, he extracted details and data from him. It would leave the Jedi in excruciating pain and violated in the worst possible way. He would see glimpses of his deepest thoughts, personal thoughts on Jayna, Ezra, his friends, the Jedi. His fears. And also locations. Raze was particularly interested in Jedi locations, doing whatever damage needed to be done to extract Starlight’s location.

By the end of it, Leon would be left unconscious. However, Raze wasn’t done with him just yet. Ever since Tiamat had devised a way for him to create Exalted off Hoth, he now had the means to make more. Raze turned and began to walk, Leon’s unconscious body dragging across the ground of its own accord behind him.

When Leon awoke many hours later, he would have little memory of what happened or what he had divulged to the greatest villain in the galaxy. He would simply feel an itch at the back of his neck and find some scuff marks where he was dragged. He would wake up in Coruscant on a patch of grass.

And he would feel more powerful than ever.

@Zay

 

[Leon Baudelaire]

Leon’s throat closed mid-sentence and what little force he’d manage to pool shot up to the invisible vice around his throat. His knees were buckled underneath him and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t stand. It took nothing. He’d been beaten from the start. All of his training, all of his faith, all of his being was ruined with a lazy flick of the wrist.

Baudelaire’s eyes went wide when he heard Raze’s voice emanate from within his mind. Leon locked it down, but it was like throwing sandbags down to stop a tsunami. The Wraith ripped through Leon barriers. He could feel the tendrils of the interloper rifling through his memories and no matter how hard he tried to resist… he couldn’t. Once again… he wasn’t strong enough.

“No… Nonono…” Baudelaire babbled, but there was no stopping this. The pain was excruciating. Leon could hear himself screaming but his voice was so feral so animalistic that, at first, he didn’t recognize it. His hands buried themselves in his brown curls and spittle flew from his lips as he wailed in agony. Then he felt the fury. An anger so impossibly deep that it didn’t register as white hot rage, but as deep seated cold. It was the fury of water being frozen. He could feel himself trying to fight and with each struggle a part of him stopped working. A part of him was frozen. A part of him… was taken.

Images flashed through his mind as Raze pried and peered into mind. Kashyyyk, Ezra introducing himself as Jabba. Dash, Ezra and Leon killing the Anakoa. Ellora, Leon and Ezra fighting one another to get to Motep. Ithor, his first time meeting Jayna. Serreno, Leon and Jayna’s bodies intertwined as they watched the sun rise on a private beach. Christophisis, He and Dash finding Peetwo and The First Blade. Starlight, just after they’d rescued Ezra… Ferrin in the hospital bed unconscious.

Would they worry about him? Would they miss him? No… probably not. He was never anything other than the weakest link.

Leon let go… and everything went black.

Leon’s eyes snapped open, his breath hitched and gasped as he struggled to comprehend where he was and what had happened. His hands shook… but not from fatigue. Leon frowned. He was roughed up, but he felt strong. He felt stronger than he’d ever felt in his entire life. He pushed himself up off the ground. It didn’t make any sense… he could feel Raze… but from what he could tell… the guy wasn’t here.

“What in the fuck have you done?” he asked himself, as he sat down in the patch of grass and wrapped his arms around his legs, pulling them in tight. He kept getting flashes of pain and he felt an urgency, but he didn’t know why. He ran his hands through his hair. The back of his neck itched like it was sunburnt and as his fingers grazed the area an ice cold feeling washed over him.

“What have I done?”

@Sreeya