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Anakin let out an inarticulate scream of rage as he chased Savage through the Dathomiri wilderness. He could feel Obi-Wan engaging with Maul yards away, entirely focused on their battle. Anakin wanted to draw on his master’s peace even in the midst of all this chaos and confusion, but even the smallest touch to their bond had the possibility of distracting Obi-Wan, and he would need everything he had to engage Maul and, hopefully, capture him to bring back to Coruscant.
But to do that, they would need to subdue him. And to do that, they would need to separate him from his brother and subdue him as well, hopefully also to bring back to the Temple, as they were too powerful together. Thus Obi-Wan had begun to fight Maul and Anakin Savage, and it had been going well, until the moment Savage had run off and forced Anakin to follow.
Anakin cursed the Oppress brothers, the Nightsisters, the Senate, the Council, and everyone else he could think of who might be responsible for him being here at this moment as he stumbled through the mists. Dathomir was a strange planet, full of poisonous plants and animals that could and would attack without a warning. The planet itself also seemed to sing a strange melody, seemingly wanting to draw people into its depths until they couldn’t turn back and it snapped them up.
Anakin snarled to himself, cutting the sound short as he heard Savage do the same just in front of him. Anakin narrowed his eyes and pushed himself harder, trying to locate the nightbrother in the thick mists before he could escape again. Savage had grown up here after all, and he knew the planet much better than Anakin ever would.
It seemed the Force was on Anakin’s side because after a few tense moments, the fog around him seemed to clear, and Anakin saw Savage. He almost stumbled into the large zabrak really, Savage seemed frozen in the middle of a clearing with a short stone wall and two large arches around them.
Anakin shook off the strange sort of unease he could feel walking under the arch and lifted his lightsaber to point at the sith. “Surrender now,” he commanded, sure that Savage wouldn’t but needing to give him the option anyway.
Savage’s lips pulled back around his teeth and he snarled. “Never,” he swore, pulling out his own saber even as he glanced warily around the clearing. Anakin used the slight distraction to attack, pressing his advantage. Before he could hit him Savage’s blade came up to block, and they were once more in the thick of a duel.
Anakin’s heart pounded in his chest as he breathed heavily. He did his best to release the feeling of his sore muscles and aching limbs into the Force, to fall back into it the way he usually so easily did, but he wasn’t given even a moment of respite. Savage was a fierce warrior chosen by Dooku and Ventress, honed from years of fighting and granted strength from strange magicks. This fight needed every bit of Anakin’s focus, just as Obi-Wan had needed for Maul’s.
The only good thing was that Anakin could see Savage beginning to slow as well. Whether he was tired from fighting for so long or still off-kilter from earlier Anakin didn’t care. For once he didn’t immediately press for the small spaces Savage left himself open and held off. At times he seemed to want to give chase again, lead them out of the clearing, but Anakin wasn’t going to let him run away again and forced him to stay within the bounds.
They continued their deadly dance until Anakin felt it, the Force pressing him to dodge to the right and guiding his blade, and Anakin followed its command. Savage’s lightsaber was forced out of his hands, blades deactivating as it fell somewhere off to the side. Within moments Anakin had his saber pointed at Savage’s throat warningly.
“Surrender,” he said again, and Savage glared at Anakin even as he slowly nodded his head.
They stood there for another few moments, panting and glaring as the Force around them twisted, until a slow clapping had both of their heads snapping to the side.
“Well done, Jedi,” a low voice said, light steps seeming to echo around them as a witch came into view. She was older than most of the other nightsisters Anakin had seen, dark tattoos decorating her pale face and red robes trailing behind her. She was more ornately dressed than many of the others Anakin had seen too, he realized with narrow eyes. He could feel Savage tense beside him and Anakin moved his blade ever so slightly closer to the zabrak’s neck in warning.
“Who are you?” Anakin asked bluntly, already tired of the witch’s game. She laughed in response and raised her hands, green magick flowing from her fingers to surround them.
“Oh Jedi, you threaten those whose power you do not know and stumble into places you do not know the significance of,” she said, eyes beginning to shine the same color as her magick.
“What are you doing!” Anakin cursed, stumbling away a few steps and swinging at the magick with his saber before realizing it wouldn’t do anything and pointing it back at Savage. He tried to dispel it with the Force, push it back at the witch, but her magick seemed to slip around and find every weak point in his defense and come back stronger.
“An old ritual,” she murmured, the green tendrils wrapping around Anakin and Savage together. It lifted them up a few inches over the ground, twisting Anakin’s hand until he dropped his saber on the ground altogether, and bringing them both face-to-face. Savage seemed angry, sneering at Anakin, but also afraid and weary of the witch. He knew what was happening, Anakin realized, and he could have hit himself upside the head. Of course Savage knew something.
“What-” Anakin started to ask again, before a green mist covered his mouth, the witch smirking at his gag. She began to chant in a foreign language, a rhythm and weight to her words that Anakin knew from experience was some sort of ritual or ceremony. He could only catch a few words, ‘challenge,’ ‘duel,’ and ‘bonded’ among them, but it only made him more confused.
The witch released her hold after a minute, which felt as if it had stretched on for far longer. Anakin landed on his feet, Savage beside him doing the same, looking far more tame than Anakin felt.
“What was that,” he demanded again, pulling his saber to him. “What did you do!”
The witch only laughed again as she started to fade from view. “I only did as I was meant to, finishing what you yourselves started.”
Before Anakin could demand a real answer she was gone, and he cursed again. He nearly wanted to scream at the sky but the sound of someone stepping nearer to him had Anakin turning around, bringing up his saber in defense, and he only had a glimpse of Savage standing much closer to Anakin than he thought, much too close, his saber was going to bite right through him–
–And instead, his lightsaber seemed to glance off Savage’s skin, sliding away without harming him at all. The zabrak didn’t seem surprised at all, merely uncomfortable, and he didn’t even bring his own saber up in defense of himself or to hurt Anakin as the jedi tried to hit him again.
“Do you know what’s happening?”
Savage grimaced and nodded, tilting his head to the stone wall and sitting down on the edge. “It seems… I have much to explain,” he said, and began talking without Anakin needing to prompt him.