Family Found - Chapter 14

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Ben grasped the edge of the hole, his feet dangling back into the room from which he had come. Struggling, he pulled himself, up, and suddenly gravity shifted, and he flipped over, spilling onto the floor of the hallway.

He shook his head, and turned and looked at the hole, which had now become just another doorway on this particular section of wall.

He frowned as he looked at the darkened hole. Stretching out on the floor, he stuck his head through the door and was instantly hit with an overwhelming sense of vertigo.

Grinning, as he recognized the effects of multiple gravity fields, he stood back up in the corridor and looked around.

It was plain brown stone, the same stone used in the room he had been in. Every ten meters or so, there was a light set into the ceiling, casting bright cones of white light onto the floor. Closed doors lined one side of the hallway, with the only open one being the one to the room he had been in. Across from that door was the bright spotlight which had stared down at him while he was in the cell.

He turned and looked down the other direction and saw the same unending hallway.

Shrugging his shoulders, he set off. Walking down the hallway, he had no true destination in mind. No plan, beyond the need to move.

Soon, the walls changed. They were no longer the same cells stretched as far as he could see, but were rougher hewn stone. The doors were further apart, and side tunnels started appearing. Additionally, the corridor no longer ran straight, but curved and had sharp corners and angles.

He continued walking, wondering about the differences. Wondering where his friends were. He even was wondering where the boy who was talking to him earlier was. Why no one had come to find them yet.

He sighed, deciding that it did not matter.

If he was rescued, or if he managed to save himself, all that mattered was finding Noelani and the others, and making sure they were all right.

Finally, he turned another corner, and in the distance saw a single spot light shining brighter than the rest. Kneeling at the edge of the light was Noelani, even at this distance he could see the tears streaking down her face as they twinkled in the bright light.

Between him and her, stood Poll, his arm lifted near his head, a dull silver tube gleaming in his hand. After a second, he recognized what it was that Poll held against his head. His lightsaber.

"Kriff," he muttered under his breath, and took a step forward, even as Noelani slowly picked herself up off of the ground.

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Noelani knelt beside the dead. Her body was curled in around itself, arms pulled tight against her chest, and her forehead was resting against the cold stone floor.

All of it seemed real.

While none of it did.

She lifted her head slightly, and looked to the left and right. There was Tahiri and her friend Jaina, and beyond that, Jaina's parents. To the other side, she could see some of her classmates. Behind her was her papa, Huff, and her family, killed by those Tuskens so many years ago.

All slaughtered, left here to rot in these tunnels with her.

At arms reach laid the weapon which had caused all this death and destruction. A simple lightsaber. Silver steel, black plastic. She knew what color blade would shoot out of the emitter if she just simply pressed on that activation plate, yet every time she did, another body appeared.

Another of her friends appeared: dead, decaying.

Her body shuddered, fear and despair warred within her, eating away at the hope that she used to think bubbled up out of her endlessly.

She lifted her head again, and focused on her lightsaber where it sat. Her vision blurred slightly as tears formed in her eyes once more. She shifter her hand slightly, and used her knuckles to wipe away the tears.

Then a scuffle drew her attention, and she lifted her head a bit higher, looking down the hallway.

She blinked her eyes, at the shadow shape that trudged towards her. It still stood off in the distance slightly, and Noelani wondered what new horror this place had decided to show her.

Lights flickered on, and she adverted her head, twisting away slightly, overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of light.

After a moment, she looked and saw Poll standing there, his saber pressed tight against his forehead. Odd emotions -- fear and despair chief among them -- flickered across his face and Force presence.

She blinked her eyes, looking at, watching, him. His pain provided a focus for her thoughts, a way for her to wrench her thoughts away from her own pain and despair.

"Poll?"

His eyes snapped to her, fear flaming in them, as he shook his head.

Beyond him, she saw Ben turn a corner, and her eyes narrowed as she wondered if this was the real Ben or if he was another shade created by the catacombs.

She leveraged herself to her feet, noticing for the first time that the dead had disappeared.

Poll took a step back, and then yelled, "NO! Don't move, stay away!"

She frowned, and paused, wondering what to do.

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Kor turned a final corner, and pulled to a stop. Standing stock still were Noelani, Poll and Ben. Noelani directly in front of her, with her back towards Kor. The two boys were further down the hallway, staring her way.

Poll's eyes focused on her, and she could smell the fear, the insanity as it poured off of him.

She blinked as she realized that he was not quite all there. That his time in the Catacombs had not hardened his resolve in the way it had for her. As it appeared to have done for Ben and Noelani.

She stretched out with the Force, and gently touched each them.

Noelani was a brilliant star, burning in suppressed fear and pain.

Ben was a steel trap. She could feel the power which leaked from his shields, but got nothing from his emotions, or what he thought of this whole situation.

Finally, she focused on Poll. His Force presence felt like a twisted, broken branch. Consumed by his pain and fear.

She sighed in resignation. He had failed. His pain and fear had driven him, if not Dark, then definitely insane.

Despair rolled off him, and crashed against her Force presence, the Darkness of it suffocating, and nearly drowned her in pain.

She shuddered, as she heard him scream out, "NO! Don't move, stay away!"

She watched, as Noelani stretched out her hand, "Poll, we're you're friends. We want to help."

Poll shook his head violently, and then stretched out his free hand. "I don't believe you."

Then a wave of telekinetic energy slashed down through the hallway, ripping out stones from the walls. The energy then slammed into Noelani. She was flung backwards, and thrown to the floor, skidding a short distance.

Seeing her friend knocked down, Kor quickly threw up a shield. The wave of energy struck her Force barrier and blasted through it. She howled in pain as she flew through the air, hearing the distinct snap from her arm as she landed.

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Poll held his saber to his temple, watching the dark shape as it shimmered and shuddered on the floor.

It raised its head, the blackness of its cloak transforming into waves of golden hair. The ice blue eyes of Noelani locked onto him, slicing through his core.

He snarled, recognizing her as just another shade. Another trick of this place.

His thumb caressed the activation plate again, and the voice hissed in his ear once more. "Yes. End this."

Another shade appeared behind the Noelani being. This time of Kor.

As he realized that this place was using her against him, something in his heart shifted. Something that had been bent to the breaking point, twisted just a bit more.

His heart breaking was the final straw.

His mind shattered, and he snarled, "No! Don't move, stay away!"

He noticed that at some point the Noelani-shade had stood up. He frowned at that, wondering when it had happened.

She then stretched her hand towards him, "Poll, we're you're friends. We want to help."

Friends? He laughed to himself, as he threw his head violently from side-to-side. They just want to consume my soul. Then he stretched out his hand towards her, and stopped moving, just stood and watched those blue eyes. "I don't believe you."

Before she could respond, he had gathered every bit of power at his command, and threw it down the hallway.

He felt a blood vessel burst beneath his lower right eyelid, and cackled as first the Noelani-shade and then the Kor-shade were thrown backwards.

"Noelani!" Ben's voice grated against his awareness from behind him, quickly followed by a snap-hiss.

Poll turned, dropping into a fighting stand and igniting his saber as he did so.

Ben struck fury on his face.

Poll easily blocked the strike, and then twisted around, his foot slashing out to catch Ben's shin.

Ben stumbled, and he slashed downward, in a move to cleave the Ben-shade into two pieces.

Unfortunately, the Ben-shade was too fast. He dropped with the kick, and rolled forward, bringing his saber up into a block.

Kor snarled, and sent a telekinetic push his way.

The Ben-shade threw up his free hand, and the wave washed around him, crashing against the wall.

A plume of dust flew up, and obscured Ben for a moment. The only sign of him that Kor had, was the diffused glow from his saber, its light refracted by the white stone dust.

Then the dust was moving, and the Ben-shade flew out. A snarl on his face, his blade held low. The Ben-shade thrust forward and Kor moved to block the blow.

Telekinetic energy smashed against his hilt, twisting it upright. Keeping him from being able to block the thrust.

Kor felt the Ben-shade's saber slide into his heart, evaporating the muscle and tissue. Pain flared for a brief instant, until the weapon sliced through his spinal column, severing his brain from the pain.

Sleep pulled at him, and he gladly succumbed.

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