Hello everyone! I came out with a chapter earlier than usual, and it's longer! 4,900 words before all these author edits I put in. This is mostly due to wanting to make up for how late the last chapter came. I apologize for that. This chapter, though, is more...ehm, spread out. You'll see what I mean. As I said before I skipped Manaan and will only touch on Kashyyyk. Anyways, enjoy!

Redemption of the Fallen

Chapter 8: Before It All Goes Downhill

"Zalbaar, would you like to accompany me on the search for the Star Forge? I know where it is, but it would be easier to move around with you with me." Revan questioned as the Ebon Hawk finished landing on the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk.

"(I am sorry but I will not accompany you. I am no longer welcomed here.)" Zalbaar growled his reply. Revan raised an eyebrow at the response; namely at the slight shift into sadness the Wookie displayed for a brief second.

"I understand. I will ask someone else." Revan stated, a polite smile showing on his face. Inwardly Revan was slightly disappointed, having hoped to have a 'guide' of sorts to limit the questioning glares he would be sure to receive. When he had last traveled here with Malak, a portion of the Wookiee population were already being enslaved and many 'free' Wookiees already distrusted his and Malak's very presence. "Mission? How about you?"

"Sorry Rev. I think I'll stay here and keep Big Z company." Mission responded in her usual cheerful manner.

Revan was slightly confused. Was there something that happened to Zaalbar here that even made Mission want to stay behind to stay with him? Revan gave a slight shake of his head that went unnoticed, he didn't have time to ponder why; as much as he wanted to. He needed efficiency.

"HK. You're coming with me to find the Star Map." Revan called as he walked by the area HK and Canderous were likely to be, taking no time to hear his trusty droid reply. As Revan approached the docking ramp, Revan saw Bastila was already there, waiting on him; despite him not asking her to join him. "I should have known."

"You can try to scare me all you want, Revan. I'm not going to stay away." Bastila responded curtly.

"Wasn't trying to scare you, just trying to dissuade your attempts to learn about my experiences." Revan replied coolly.

The young Jedi woman remained silent to the reply she got, instead taking notice of HK-47 walking up to Revan. "Statement: I look forward to killing many meatbags with you, Master." Revan gave a nod before opening the docking ramp, a wave of humidity hitting him head on causing him to wince. On Tatooine, it was just blistering hot with dry air. On Kashyyyk it was still hot, but annoyingly humid. It made Revan somewhat thankful that he didn't choose to wear his Star Forge, instead opting, much to his annoyance, regular Jedi robes with the sleeves cut short, reminding himself of what he wore during the Mandalorian Wars.

Revan gave a passing glance to Bastila as he began his descent from the ship. "Ready for this?"

"Oh yes, let me go out onto the annoying humid hot air of Kashyyyk where likely more of Malak's Dark Jedi are likely to be looking for us. Why don't you use your mask to keep them from attacking us?" Came Bastila's snarky reply.

Revan gave a slight grin, "Wearing my mask would make it too easy. Besides, I doubt there are many, if any amongst Malak's numbers that are loyal to me. If anything they're more likely to attack me out of the thrill of earning Malak's acknowledgment or out of anger for thinking I'm insulting their former Master."

"It's never that easy." Bastila muttered under her breath.

"It rarely is. Come, let's get this over with. I'd rather be off this planet as soon as possible."

"Quickly! Set her in here! You, droid, go grab me that bucket of water next to that water." An older man of dark complexion ordered out as he along with the trio barged into an old. Onto a makeshift bed, a very pale Bastila was set gently onto the bed, shivering. "The hell you run into the get her like this, boy?!"

"Tarentatek." Revan answered calmly, though his actions and expression showed anything but such as he was inwardly panicking at the young poisoned woman.

"Where was she hit?" As soon as he asked the question, the old man saw a noticeable amount shredded cloth on Bastila's abdomen, pushing some of the cloth away to see a sizable slash across the young woman stomach. It wasn't fatal, wound wise, but a single scratch deep enough was all it took for such a creature to inject it's deadly venom into you. It was still a large wound to be life threatening if it wasn't closed soon. "You know better about healing than I do with the Force, close that wound then we'll worry about the poison."

Revan took a brief second to look at the old man, "I see you recognize me, Jolee."

Jolee only showed a slight smirk, "I'd know your presence anywhere Revan. Now hurry up. That wound is likely to kill her faster than the poison. Droid you got that water yet!?"

"Query: Master can I just shoot this old meatbag? He's quite demanding." HK requested as he came up to Revan and Jolee holding a bucket of water; a noticeably 'limp' of sorts in its walk as well as a missing left arm.

"No, you cannot HK. Jolee is to not be harmed by any means." Revan curtly replied.

"Lament: You're such a cruel master, Master." HK's eyes dimmed slightly as it lowered its head slightly, before it set the water down.

"There are some rags behind you, hand me two." Jolee ordered as he took the bucket and set it on the floor next to the bed. When he looked back it he already had two rags outstretched from Revan's hand. "Good." The old man took both rags and sank them into the bucket of water, taking only one out, only wringing it slightly. "Move your hand, it's best we try to remove the possibility of infection before you get too far into healing."

Revan gave a nod as he let up on using the Force to heal Bastila to let the hermit clean the wound gently. He knew what he was doing. Revan was no stranger to using more conventional ways to treat wounds, having at times performing, or helping perform, on scene treatment to wounded soldiers at his most exhausted; being unable to use the Force.

"Ok, you can resume healing her now." Jolee took the now bloody wet rag and tossed it aside. No need to put it into the bucket. "At times like this, it would be nice to have something to make ice." Jolee muttered out as he grabbed the second, wringing it completely before folding it and setting it on Bastila's forehead; being sure to move some of her hair.

"Will it be a problem?" Revan asked carefully, trying to contain his frustration. Whatever happened wasn't the hermits fault, though Revan found it hard to bring himself to care.

Jolee shook his head, "It shouldn't be. It was sitting at the window and the Shadow Lands gets quite cold, particularly when it gets dark…not that it isn't always dark. She'll be running a fever for a while, likely a few days. In the mean time I'll go look for some herbs to help lessen the pain for her." The hermit wasn't a complete stranger to the effects of Tarentatek poison. While extremely rare to survive the initial encounter, Jolee had a handful of times since his time on Kashyyyk, helped some of the local Wookiees get better after their encounter.

"Need a hand?"

"No. You stay there and heal her. Plus you have an attachment to her. It will do her good with you by her side, and I'd rather stay away from your droid. That thing still freaks me out as much as it did when you came here with Malak." With that, the old hermit walked out the door into the darkness.

Revan took a gaze at the door, though he was still focused on healing Bastila; so much so that he didn't notice when he felt a cold hand on his cheek. He looked down to see the pale face of the young woman, her once full-of-life gray eyes now so dulled, almost sickeningly; it almost reminded him of Malak. "Hey there, Bastila." Revan greeted softly, ceasing to heal her now that her wound was closed; he was exhausted anyways.

"Hello….Revan." Bastila greeted weakly. She was noticeably shivering less now, likely due to the slightly warmer conditions of the small hut. "Where…are we?"

"In Jolee's hut." Revan answered simply, taking Bastila's hand into his head, squeezing it tenderly. From slightly scrunched expression the woman was making, she wasn't conscious for the last few minutes to know who Jolee was. "Ex-Jedi who has lived here for years. Ran into him when Malak and I came here looking for the Star Map."

"Your memories…of the Star Forge…they're coming back?"

"Only a little, I remember where exactly the Star Map on Manaan is and I can only remember slightly, the planet the Star Forge is next to. Rest now. I'll explain more when you get better." Revan gently lowered Bastila's hand to her side, as he watch the woman give a weak smile, closing her eyes slowly, but quickly falling into a deep sleep. "HK, do you have your arm with you?"

"Answer: I am sorry, Master, but I do not. It is likely next to the corpse of that grotesque meatbag we killed earlier."

Revan sighed, that would leave him with something less that he could do to take his mind off of Bastila's current state. He only knew about Tarentateks and not of how he could help cure it's poison, Jolee on the other hand, seemed at least somewhat experienced in it. All he could do was heal the actual wounds.

"What's your play, Revan? One moment you're finding the Star Forge with Malak to recreate the Republic, next you're supporting the Republic to defeat Malak. On top of that, you look as if you've been working with the Order again. "

"Working with, yes, but I am not a Jedi. I will still find a way to reform the Republic." Revan answered, his voice firm, but otherwise quiet so he wouldn't awake Bastila. In the time while he and Jolee were waiting for Bastila's recovery, Revan busied himself with repairing HK-47, namely in retrieving his lost arm at the site of the Tarentatek.

"You know she probably won't agree to that."

Revan gave a somewhat saddened glance to Bastila, "I know, and as much as I'd wish she'd join me, I'm prepared to live with the likely possibility she will not join me."

"Even if it meant killing her?" The question made Revan's face darken. Initially he thought he could, he was prepared to fight and potentially kill Bastila aboard his flagship. Now, being around her again, with moments that remind him of the 'better' days, he wasn't so sure. "You're playing a dangerous game, Revan."

"I know." Revan muttered.

"So where to next?"

"Manaan then Korriban. I can only hope that Malak isn't aware of what we're doing."

"Your former apprentice while a brute, isn't completely brainless, Revan. I wouldn't underestimate him." Jolee warned,

It was then, when Revan heard Bastila stirring as he immediately moved to her side at the bed, "R-Revan?"

"Hey Bastila, how are you feeling?"

"Hungry mostly, but otherwise I'm fine." Bastila answered weakly.

Revan took a moment and filled a small glass of water, "Sorry, we don't have any food prepared at the moment, you'll have to wait until we reach the ship, for now here's some water." To no surprise, Bastila eagerly took the water and downed it quickly. "If you're feeling well enough, we need to be heading back to the village and take care of Zalbaar's brother; I fear if we don't get back soon enough he's possible to kill Zalbaar. "

"Then we must leave at once." Bastila retorted immediately, shakily throwing her feet over the bed, grabbing at Revan's robes to support her as she stood up; it was shaky, given that she hadn't moved for quite some time, but she quickly steadied herself thanks to using the Force to help her balance for the time being.

"Then let's be off, HK, you go ahead and clear the way."

"Affirmation: I will leave plenty of bodies for you Master." HK responded a little too eagerly, his red eyes glowing brightly as it walked to the door with a simple blaster at its side.

"Alright, let's go, I'm sure Freyar would much like to see Justice." Jolee stated as he and the duo in front of him readied themselves for the journey back to the Wookiee village.

From that day to now, everything went so fast. Starting a small revolution amongst the Wookiees to free their planet from Czerka. Exposing the Sith's activities on Manaan. Finding the second to last Star Map needed to find the Star Forge. To now. Why hadn't he seen it coming? Jolee had warned him that Malak was likely to suspect what he was doing. Why did he not take that into consideration?

It was no use now. The Ebon Hawk was caught in a tractor beam set to draw them to the Leviathan. Malak's flagship.

"Dammit, there's no use now. What do we do now? Do we fight?" Carth suggested, looking to Revan for an answer. In the time from Kashyyyk to now, Mission had helped mellow out Carth's attitude towards the former Sith Lord. He didn't trust him, but he couldn't deny Revan's abilities as a warrior and his tactical genius.

"There would be no point. They would overwhelm us eventually." Canderous interjected. It was quite obvious that they would all die or be captured should they fight.

"He's right, however, they don't know how many of us there are." Revan observed, "There's no use in Carth, Bastila, and I, in hiding, they will be looking for us."

"So we would get capture then one of the others could rescue us? It could work." Bastila commented.

"My implants enable me to heal quickly. I could injure myself in a way that would make the Sith think I'm dead and I can come get you." Canderous offered, though he secretly didn't exactly want to nearly kill himself just to chance the idea that he would even be able to get out of wherever he may be taken.

"I am able to hide myself in the Force, I could wait on the Ebon Hawk until all the soldiers are gone." Juhani offered. Revan was more interested in this offer, while he much preferred Canderous as he knew of his abilities from the war, he wasn't looking to get the man nearly killed. Zalbaar wasn't exactly sneaky and Mission, while certainly able to pull it off, he wasn't about to risk it with her.

"Alright, Juhani, you will be the one to spring us free." Revan stated, already seeing the slight look of disappointment in Mission at being shot down even before she was able to nominate herself. "They'll probably have us in their hanger in a few minutes, you should prepare. Carth, Bastila, hand Juhani your lightsabers. I'd rather not chance the Sith on keeping them around once we're taken captive.

The duo, Revan included, handed Juhani their weapons to keep safe. Carth simply picked up two cheap blaster pistols that were picked up in their adventures. Revan walked out of the room for a brief moment before walking to Bastila, "Here, keep this on you." He handed her an elongated cylinder, clearly another Saber Staff. "Don't activate it, or it will give you away."

Bastila gave a nod, she looked to the rest of the crew as they shuffled away, opting to look as if they were caught unaware, it was just them now. "Revan, what are your plans for when we defeat Malak?"

Revan's gaze left the young woman's, he wasn't sure if he should tell her. "There are many things I have done; many things I still need to correct. I'm not sure what I'll do after, but somewhere down the line I must face the Sith Emperor." It was a half-lie. He actually knew what he would do after defeating the Sith, but defeating the Emperor was exactly what he planned. He didn't know how, He may have grown considerably more powerful, but he feared he still paled in comparison.

Bastila moved closer to Revan, nearly pushing into him as she looked up slightly into his eyes, "Would you be willing to be there with me when I visit my mother and father on Coruscant?"

Despite the situation, Revan found it hard not to crack a smirk, "Your mother seemed adamant on us getting married first."

Bastila gave a weak smile, "The Jedi would exile us."

"I don't care." Revan replied as he cupped Bastila's cheek and gave her a soft kiss. "Now, let's try to focus on making it out of here." It was time for action and Revan opted to no hide it any longer. It was time to show the galaxy that Revan was back, and Malak and his Sith would be the first to know. It was only fitting he would show himself fully garbed in his robes and mask. It would make for intimidating first impression to some of the Sith to see their former Master.

'Here they come. Just hope everyone can make it out.' Revan internally hoped, though he was slightly distraught in light of some of the visions he had while meditating by himself of Bastila being captured in their escape. It would not allow that…at any cost.

"Come on, the hanger is just a bit farther!" Carth called at the two Jedi behind him. The plan had worked and Juhani was able to successfully free Bastila, Revan, and himself as well as give them their weapons. The Sith didn't think anything of the swap they made to their weaponry. They had sent off the rest of the crew ahead of them to prep the ship for takeoff. Particularly lucky for them, Malak for once was away from his ship but was hot on his way due to Saul recalling him to the ship.

"Wait Carth! I feel a massive presence!" Bastila warned too late as the trio came to a closed door, opening it to reveal Malak, Revan's former best friend and apprentice.

Carth felt his anger surge at the sight of the Dark Lord, Saul might have laid waste to Telos, but it was Malak who ordered it. He hated both of them, but Malak made his blood boil. "Down you go!" Carth roared as he drew his two blasters, immediately opening fire on Malak.

To the Republic pilot's dismay, Malak had quickly drew his crimson lightsaber and deflected the bolts into the walls around him before extending his hand and pushing Carth back onto his back.

Darth Malak turned his gaze to the other man in the group, his eyes widening at the sight of black and crimson robes as well as a very familiar Mandalorian Mask staring right at him. "Soo….you are still alive, Revan. I had thought for sure I had kill you."

Revan gave a slight nod. "You'd be surprised, Malak. Tell your minions to improve their aim."

"It was good enough to get me the title of Dark Lord as well as send you out of the picture for nearly a year. I had always thought you were half-hearted in your attempts to conquer the Republic; how you tried to deceive me and all who followed you into believing in you."

"You knew as well as I did that I had no intention to destroy the Republic, I held no desire to live my life controlled by the Emperor. I broke free and tried to reinforce the Republic to fight him while you stayed his loyal lapdog, doing his work for him." Revan retorted, anger lacing his voice.

"Enough! I am in control of my own fate now, Revan. I will conquer the Republic." Malak declared before his gaze drew to Bastila. "Ah, Bastila. It has been too long. Come, won't you give me a hug like you used to?" Malak asked menacingly, mockingly opening his arms out as if expecting an embrace.

"You are not the same person you were back then Malak!" Bastila spat.

Malak dropped his arms to his side, "Such a fiery temper. You have not changed much. You are right though. I have change. I am no longer the foolish young boy who was ever loyal to the foolish Jedi Council. I am no longer that glory seeking knight who went to war to protect those he held dear. I am my own self now, I bow to no one."

Revan narrowed his gaze behind his mask. He sympathized with Malak to an extent. Malak had always been in his shadow to some degree. He was the prodigy amongst the Jedi, everyone wanted to talk to him. All the Masters wanted to teach him. Malak, while quite the talented young boy, only truly shined in lightsaber combat. He stood out on his own anywhere else. Then when the war started, he followed Revan's lead. At the time Revan never thought it bothered him, even though Revan had offered to let Malak take the spotlight at times. They were best friends. Now…such memories were clearly twisted. "Come Malak, let's see how much you have learned since I've been away."

Malak's gaze narrowed at Revan's taunt. He knew first hand not to make the first move when it came to fighting Revan. Revan always planned ahead, multiple steps. It was why he was the Master. But who said he had to make the first move against Revan? He only had to attack someone else.

"I am not so foolish to charge in to battle you after all this time." Malak declared, turning his predatory gaze on Bastila. Revan looked on as he saw Malak raise his hand, only to barely realize in time what Malak was going to do. He reacted immediately as he pulled out his lightsaber and brought it out in front of Bastila just as Malak released his own torrent of Force Lightning. The torrent ended as soon as it began. When unprepared even 'weak' Force Lightning could knock someone out.

Revan's anger flared at the action. It would seem he would be taking the initiative in this fight. Revan gave a turn to Carth who was shakily starting to stand up. "Carth. You may want to get to the ship. I got this. Bastila you best go as well."

Carth gave a nod. He was far outclassed for this kind of battle. Bastila on the other hand did not. "No I will not leave you, Revan." Declared as she walked up to Revan's side, idly grasping his hand with her own.

"Such affection…unbecoming of a Jedi"

Revan pointed his blade at Malak, pulling his hand from Bastila's, "I'm no Jedi."

"And yet you are sided with them. How curious. However, you chose the wrong side…Revan!" Malak roared as he reignited his lightsaber and charged at Revan. Revan reacted quickly bringing up his blade to intercept Malak's own; Bastila immediately following up by pulling out her saber staff and bring it up to slash at Malak's face, narrowly missing him as he broke the blade lock to jump back.

"So you're going to let a woman fight your fights Revan?" Malak taunted.

"As if you're one to talk Malak, you used your own flagship to try to kill me along with Bastila." Revan retorted as he initiated the next clash of blades; enhancing his body with the Force to lunge at Malak at blinding speeds. Malak was used to this; it wasn't the first time he had seen Revan do this. To Revan's surprise, Malak not only dodged the string Revan had aimed for Malak's chest, but also caught Revan's wrist with his left hand.

"You seem surprised, Revan. Is it really so hard to believe that I wouldn't be stronger after all this time? While you were off playing Jedi I was slowly gaining more power." Malak gloated, he gave a quick glance to Bastila, to make sure she wasn't trying to blindside him. Thankfully the room halls they were in weren't the most open and it seemed as if Bastila was equally shocked at Revan being caught by surprise the way he did.

"Well…you were always the better dualist between us." Revan commented, bring his left arm up, already arcing with lightning. It wouldn't be such a good idea to attempt to use Force Lightning in such close proximity, but Revan threw away the thought.

Just as the first bolt of Lightning started to shoot towards him, Malak had already brought up his own lightsaber to defend against the small torrent of lightning; the bolts arcing off onto Revan and Malak's armor harmlessly. "Have you already run out of tricks? Revan?" Malak gloated.

"Not quite. I still got one more." Revan replied, a hint of amusement lacing his muffled voice. Malak had just started to raise an eyebrow when he sensed it coming; only he couldn't avoid the danger all the way. Bastila was able to get a good strike across Malak's back. Had he not sensed it, he would have been paralyzed if not killed quite quickly from the wound.

"Gah! You little…" Malak cursed, pushing away from Revan as he tried to move to keep both Revan and Bastila in front of him. In a one-on-one with Bastila, Malak was almost guaranteed victory. In a one-on-one battle with Revan, Malak was fairly certain he would win thanks to his increased power since they last met. Two against one were odds that Malak was now realizing was stacked against him. "I guess…it's time to stop playing around. I promise you…by the end of this, you, Revan will lie dead at my feet while your precious Bastila will be my slave as I use her Battle Meditation to crush the Republic you both hold so dear." With that said, Malak reach down with his free hand to his belt and activated something, which Revan didn't know what for, but knew it wasn't good.

The trio just stood there, eying each other. Bastila didn't dare the first move, she was outclass here and she knew it. Revan would surely struggle against Malak by himself now, and Malak was now wounded.

"Revan. Princess. You guys coming or what!? These Sith just keep coming!" Canderous' voice rang out on the holo-communicator on Bastila's belt.

"Malak caught up to us!" Bastila replied hastily.

"Kriff…we'll come back you up." Canderous offered, though to Bastila, it seemed more like a statement.

"No! You guys need to get out of here…you too Bastila." Revan took the risk to turn to Bastila. He could sense it…many Dark Jedi along with many other Sith were heading their way. Malak had intended to keep his troops on standby should his fight with Revan go south. "You must sense what's coming…"

Bastila nodded weakly. Even she couldn't deny at the current rate there would be no escape for her and Revan should they stay, and should they both run, Malak would surely catch them both. One would have to stay behind.

"You assume I'll just let y-" Malak was cut off when he was struck full force by another bout of Force Lightning, unfortunately this time he wasn't so prepared for it, being thrown back into the far wall, away from Revan and Bastila.

"Go! I'll hold him off. The last Star Map…" Revan began, as the memory came back to him. "…it's in the Tomb of Naga Sadow on Korriban…The Academy…You'll have to go through it." Revan advised through much strain at trying to keep Malak subdued but also speak to the young woman. Doors began to open up revealing Sith Troopers followed by Dark Jedi. Immediately without hesitation they opened fire at Revan. It was with his best effort that Revan broke his torrent of Lightning to deflect the barrage of laser fire.

Even with all his skill, Revan could not keep up deflecting so many blaster rifles firing upon him, eventually one broke through his defenses. One got Revan in the leg, causing him groan in pain, leading him to fall to one knee. "Bastila, I said get out of here!" Revan roared out, just as another blaster bolt struck him in the left shoulder; only then did he see Bastila make her escape.

"You know Revan, I've had a change of heart…" Revan heard Malak's amused voice rang as the bald man shakily got up from the ground. "I won't kill you." With a nod, several more Sith soldiers fired at Revan's right arm, causing him to lose his lightsaber. Revan was now basically at Malak's mercy; his fatigue from his torture earlier catching up to him with a vengeance. All he could do was look on as Malak strode towards him, towering over him, looking down with his cold gray eyes. "Put him down and prepare to transport him to the Rakatan Temple." Malak ordered to several soldiers.

Revan could only look up at Malak with an angry glare that was concealed by his mask before his vision went dark. 'Hurry…Bastila.'

And that is the end of that chapter (feels kind of rushed now that I do another read of it...). I know some people might be disappointed with how I write out Lightsaber fights, but I never been that great at them, but I also found it more appealing of the more...gritty action (Think the lightsaber fight in Episode VII rather than the fancy fighting like in Episode III). I could hardly imagine a lightsaber fight in the confined spaces they were in to be very flashy. Anyways. Revan is captured and Bastila made the escape What will happen next? That's for you to decide! I have a question for those who wish to have a say in the story and it will affect how I continue the story, and it's a simple question. Does Malak Live or Die? I will leave it to you. Anyways, the next chapter will primarily focus on Bastila with minor glimpses onto Revan and will possibly conclude the MAIN Kotor 1 game, but I do have plans to continue the story beyond Kotor 1 (ideally into Kotor 2 and maybe after). Anyways, if you liked the story so far, feel free to favorite or leave a review, if you have suggestions or questions, leave those in the review as well or shoot them my way in a PM. I'll be sure to answer it. See ya later!