The Darkening: Chapter Fourteen

Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.

Five minutes ago, the sun was shining, and there was not a cloud in the sky. As far as the eye could see, the blue expanse was unbroken except for the yellow-orange ball which is Ossus' sun.

In the space of that five minutes, the sky has darkened, the sun blotted out by rolling, dark-grey clouds. Every sentient that was outside for some reason in the city that surrounds the Jedi Temple, has stopped and watches the rolling mass of clouds, the vertex of which is the Jedi Temple itself.

As the first lightning strike rips from the clouds and smash into the side of the temple, a superstitious awe rolls across the sentients of Ossus. The crack of thunder that follows in the immediate aftermath of the lightning strike makes those who were unaware of the darkening sky jump in surprise and fright.

Even though the clouds look bloated and full of rain, no drops fall. The only thing that comes from those clouds are the bolts of lightning, striking the Temple again and again and again.

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Ben is staring into the vault as the first lightning strike hits the Temple, causing the lights in the hallway to flicker. With the next strike, the lights die entirely. After a few moments, an eerie red glow starts to appear in the vault, and Ben steps forward.

As he looks around the walls, he sees numerous boxes, which are the source of the room's illumination. Jysella is floating about a third of a meter off of the ground in the middle of the room, her eyes closed, and an odd red mist writhing around her form, an ecstatic expression on her face.

A scuttle of movement behind him, and Ben twists, nearly screaming out in pain due to his stomach wound. As the blackness fades back, he notices that the door to the vault has swung shut.

"Jysella?"

Ben watches as she slowly lowers to the floor, and opens her eyes. He shivers at the fire that flashes in them, their reptilian, yellow tinge causing an instinctive fear to rise in his stomach.

"Hello again Ben. I'm sorry, but you already had your chance with me."

Ben shakes his head. "That's not why I'm here. I'm here to help you."

"I don't want or need your help Ben. The power is mine!"

Jysella throws out her hand, and lightning writhes down it, flying straight for Ben. In an instant he has his saber up and is deflecting the blast towards the ceiling.

As he focuses on keeping his blade up under Jysella's onslaught, a fork of lightning shoots out from a nearby holocron, it's tendrils wrapping around Ben, who screams and falls to the floor, dropping his saber.

As the lightning fades, Ben weakly lifts himself to his knees, and two different holocrons fire lightning at him. He collapses back to the ground, curling into a fetal position. Finally the lightning once more fades away, the scent of ozone hanging strongly in the air.

Ben has his eyes shut tight, fighting his body's desire to give into shock and the pain. He opens his eyes and looks up at Jysella. "Is this what you wanted? Is this who you want to be?"

For a second, Ben sees a flicker of indecision, a brief moment of humanity in her reptilian eyes. Yet it came and went so fast, that he has to wonder if he imagined it. A sneer flows onto her face, as she replies to Ben's questions. "It is who I asked to be. I wanted the power; I had to take the power. And then I had to punish those who mistreated me."

Horror once more fills Ben at those final words. "Kai and Keira. You killed them."

A laugh that sounds nothing like Jysella erupts from her throat. "Of course I did. And don't forget Corran and Merida. Oh wait, they've not found her yet have they."

Ben leverages himself up into a sitting position. "And Jacen?"

Once more that laughter rolls out, a deep masculine laugh. "Jacen thought there was no Dark Side, no Light Side. So of course I had to show him just how wrong he was."

Ben heaves himself to his feet, wavering slightly, before he is able to once more steady himself. Gingerly, he touches the lightsaber wound on his stomach, and pulls his hand away at the stickiness. He sighs as he realizes that the contortions his muscles went through under the lightning barrage opened the wound again.

"Yet, you never did answer my question; is this who you want to be?"

Ben watches as Jysella lowers her head. "No…Yes. Yes, it is who I want to be." Then she raises her head again, and Ben notices a lone tear running down her cheek.

"I don't think it is."

Jysella's clenches her fist, and her arms begin to tremble with the exertion which she holds them. She speaks through clenched teeth. "What you think is immaterial."

Ben takes a step forward, closing the distance between them. "I think you just wanted to be accepted and loved. The same as everyone else."

As he watches another tear escapes from her eyes. "No! No! No! No!" Each exclamation is punctuated by a swing of her long brown hair. "I wanted revenge and power!"

Ben finally closes the distance, and brushing through the red mist, which withers at his approach, he wraps her in a large hug. He places his mouth next to her ear. "I would accept and love you."

He pulls his head back slightly, and looks into her eyes, noticing they are now tear-filled and their normal green. Her voice is weak and watery. "Ben?"

He smiles down at her. "I'm here. I told you I'd stay with you."

Her body hitches with a sob, and then her eyes flicker yellow once more. "No! She is a child of the Dark! You do not get her back!"

Jysella places her hand against his chest, and pushes with the Force, throwing him backwards. Ben lands against the shelves, knocking various artifacts to the floor. As he once more gains his feet he turns towards Jysella. "Get out of her. She doesn't want you there."

"She no longer has a choice."

Ben steps forward once again, and a holocron sends lightning at him. Then another. Then another. Before long, he is writhing on the floor, trying to dispel the effects of the attacks. He looks up to Jysella and gasps out. "You can stop this Jysella. I have faith."

Then the rest of the holocrons start pouring their lightning into Ben, who opens his mouth and starts to scream.

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The scream cuts through the fog that Jysella had been in for so long, and she looks around the dim room, and sees a picture from her nightmarish vision; Ben being attacked by various holocrons.

She reaches down and grasps her saber, and ignites it. She is startled slightly by the silvery-pink blade that comes forth. Then ignoring the color of her blade, she slams the saber into the closest of the holocrons. The explosion of the holocron buffets her, and showers her with shrapnel, but she pays no attention, but instead swings her blade at the next one. And then the next.

She quickly disposes of the holocrons, and then drops to Ben's side, lifting his still form into her arms.

"Ben? Please Ben, don't die. Please!"

She drags her eyes away from Ben, as the vault door once more swings open, the light shining from the hallway beyond momentarily blinding her. Then she hears the voices of both of Ben's parents as they cry out his name.

As his mother takes Ben from her arms, Jysella becomes aware of the multitude of pains and aches and wounds she has. She struggles to stand, but the exertion proves too much, and darkness claims her.