SW: Sparring with Darkness

Hanabi knelt in the training room, meditating and trying to find her center after the day's frustrations. She didn't know how much longer she could continue to do this. She was not cruel enough for this new life. She knew that the only reason she was still alive was because Master Kahan, the Grand Inquisitor, allowed her to live and protected her from the ire of his peers, superiors, and subordinates. In her turn she tried to follow his new path but found it hard to execute the level of cruelty that such required. At least Aira-ty seemed to have adapted well to the New Order. She was almost as bad as Master Kahan had become though she was often left at a disadvantage when he interacted with her.
Hanabi sighed fretfully. She knew that Master Kahan still loved Aira-ty and that she loved him...but she knew that neither of them would ever admit it. Love was a vulnerability in the Empire. It was an avenue for an attack that needed to be defended. Hanabi herself was a vulnerability for Master Kahan, she knew it as well as he did though he never said as much to her. She found it so strange that despite his brusque nature that he still cared for her and she in her desire to garner his acceptance tried to meet the standards he set for her. Still, it left her being ill at ease. None of what she did now felt right.
Your mind is troubled. The Grand Inquisitor's mind broke into her thoughts. Release yourself from your doubts and embrace the Dark side Hanabi, revel in its power.
Hanabi opened her eyes and looked up as the Grand Inquisitor entered the training room. She reached down before her and took up her saber, standing loosely before her Master.
“Did the meeting with the Emperor go well?”
The Grand Inquisitor nodded. “It did. He wished to express his pleasure at our...efficiency in executing our directive.”
Hanabi tried to suppress the shiver that ran through her body at her Master's words. Their directive was the conversion or elimination of Jedi. She had seen dozens twisted to the Dark side or failing that, killed by the Inquisitorius. In an attempt to hide her discomfort, she raised her saber and ignited it.
“Are you ready Master?”
He smiled at her, letting his hand drop to his hip where his saber staff rested. Pulling it from its sheath, he ignited the amber blades and twirled the double saber in a lazy display.
“Let us begin.”
Hanabi struck first, coming forwards with her blue blade and striking hard against the Grand Inquisitor's defense. Unlike many of the inquisitors, Hanabi had refused to give up her original saber and replace it with one of the red ones that were so common. She was one of a handful—including the Grand Inquisitor himself—that retained her original blade from her time as a Jedi. As the pair of them struck and parried in their duel, the Grand Inquisitor smiled in apparent amusement.
“It seems you had a good teacher.”
Hanabi scowled at him as she attacked again and he deflected her attack, swinging back with the lower half of his weapon, forcing her back.
“I did.” she replied in annoyance. “And I still do.”
The Grand Inquisitor snorted and came forwards in a dizzying blur of movement. Hanabi realized he was twisting her vision and concentrated, countering with her own mental illusions which served to reorient her sight once more.
“You will have to pay him my compliments.” the Grand Inquisitor said glibly.
Hanabi focused her mind as she stepped back, buying herself the time she needed to bend the light around herself and vanish from view. She knew that it would not allow her to escape the Grand Inquisitor indefinitely, he could still sense her after all, but it would at least buy her a few precious seconds to reengage him. Dropping the shroud of invisibility, she came at him from a new angle and had the brief satisfaction of seeing his eyes harden in surprise as he twisted his saber staff and broke it into two separate sabers. She'd forced him to drop the defensive weapon which was his preference. She smiled, feeling smug at her accomplishment.
She knew that he could simply crush her with his mind, but that wasn't the point of these training exercises. They both were practicing for fighting opponents whose minds could not be bent or misled. Individuals like Kenobi or Master Yoda. Thinking that she might one day face down such masters of the Force frightened Hanabi, but she did as Kahan had once taught her and embraced her emotions. Letting them flow through her and become a part of her. Rather than the rejection that the Jedi had preached or the glorying that the Dark Jedi and Sith taught, it was a middle ground that allowed her to accept her emotions and a technique she still used even in her service to the Empire.
Continuing her assault, she found that she had pressed the Grand Inquisitor to the edge of the training room. She could both see and feel his ire at being set back so greatly and allowed herself some pride in her accomplishment. Then he simply let her strike him, Hanabi's eyes widened as her blade cut through the place where he had been standing as he dissolved around her saber. Then she felt the warmth of his own weapon against her throat. She froze, extinguishing her weapon and leaving her hands at her side.
“I yield.” she said quietly.
He stepped back from her, his blades dying as he reconnected them and returned the double saber to its sheath as she turned and frowned at him.
“You teleported.”
He smiled at her. “We cannot use illusions or mind tricks in these bouts of ours Hanabi, my teleportation and phasing techniques are neither of those.”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “If you say so Master.”
Stopping as the door behind the Grand Inquisitor opened, High Inquisitor Jerec standing in the doorway with his head bowed respectfully.
“What is it?” the Grand Inquisitor asked coolly, looking over his shoulder at the blind High Inquisitor.
“We've found another one my lord.”
The Grand Inquisitor nodded. “Very well, gather a team together.”
“At once.” Jerec replied, turning to go and once again leaving them alone.
The Grand Inquisitor turned back to Hanabi. “Come, it would appear that our duty calls.”
Hanabi nodded tensely and followed after him, walking respectfully to the side and slightly behind the Grand Inquisitor. Her heart was filled with misgiving as it always was when she heard that another Jedi had been found. She felt so helpless to protect her former comrades from the man that her Master had become, while he seemed to relish hunting them down with an almost delighted air. What had they become?