Prologue
"You cannot train him like the others. He is different. Special," a familiar voice whispered.
"But how can I train him in something I don't understand?" Luke Skywalker said, his frustration evident in his constant pacing.
"I cannot guide you in this. As you well know, I was never able to achieve that balance," the Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker said.
Luke grimaced. The reminder of his father's fall to the Dark side was an unpleasant one. He was grateful that his father had, at the very end, come back to the Light, but being reminded of the destruction and pain he had caused still made Luke stiffen.
"I still think you are wrong," Luke said adamantly. He'd grown, gained more experience, learned so much in the decade since the Battle of Endor. He could train the boy. He just knew it.
"Obi Wan thought he could train me," Anakin reminded him gently. "If you do not acknowledge and accept the boy's darkness, you will him drive him to the Dark side, make no mistake. You will lose him."
Luke looked out the window at the children who were currently sitting around in the grass, relaxing after their morning exercises. He looked at the boy in question, sitting apart from everyone else. Alone. Always alone.
He turned to his father's Force ghost. "I will not lose him," he stated adamantly. Though he loved his father, in all honesty, there was still a kernel of doubt. He was afraid to trust him, despite his guidance having proven more than useful over the past decade.
Suddenly, another Force ghost appeared beside Anakin. Incredibly short, with green skin and pointed years, the creature stared up at him with pride.
"Master Yoda," Luke breathed.
"Done well, have you. Proud, I am, of you young Skywalker," the creature said with what amounted to a smile.
Luke smiled. "Not so young, anymore, Master Yoda."
The creature waved a hand dismissively. "When 900 years old you reach, then you can claim not to be young."
Luke chuckled. Anakin merely watched on quietly. Sobering, Luke asked his old master, "What can I do, Master Yoda?"
Yoda sighed. "Blind, I was. Blind and afraid. Of the unknown, I was afraid. Drove your father to the Dark side, I did."
"No, that is not true Master Yoda," Luke exclaimed, though Anakin kept strangely quiet.
"True, it is. There was Darkness in Anakin. Ignore it, we did. Make him into something he couldn't be, we tried. The same mistakes, you should not make. Listen to Anakin. As he suggests, you should train the boy."
Luke's eyes widened. "But I don't know how," he said.
"There is one. Ulaire Solenn, her name is. The path of both the light and the dark, she walks. Go to her. Take the boy. Together, you must go. Help, she will."
"Where do I find this Ulaire Solenn?" Luke asked, looking somewhat skeptical.
"Korriban," Yoda replied.
Luke cocked his head. "I have not heard of this planet," he said.
"It is the home planet of the Sith," Anakin said, giving Yoda a strange look. "Master, do you think it is wise to send the boy to a planet so steeped in the Dark side?"
Yoda nodded with a grunt. "The boy's only hope, Ulaire Solenn is. Know what to do, she will."
Luke nodded. "Thank you, Master Yoda."
"Go. Now. Time, you do not have," Yoda said adamantly.
"This place feels strange, Uncle," a young boy with dark hair and big, brown eyes said.
Luke took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. He felt as if he was being bombarded on all sides. The darkness beating at him, trying to worm its way into his consciousness. Trying to take over him. It took him a minute to gather himself.
"Korriban was once the home world of the Sith. Many very powerful Sith are buried here and the Dark side is strong here."
Ben looked up at his Uncle with wide eyes. "Why are we here?"
"To meet a friend," Luke said simply. I hope.
He and Ben walked down the ramp of their ship and looked around. Luke felt as if he was back on Tatooine. The planet was a hot ball of sand. If it hadn't been for all the ruins of Sith temples he'd seen when they'd come in to land, he would have checked the navigation computer to make sure he hadn't accidentally ended up on Tatooine.
A hunched figure draped in a black cloak from head to foot waited on the edge of the landing pad, which was in surprisingly good condition, considering that no one had inhabited the planet for hundreds of years.
"Ulaire Solenn?" Luke asked.
"Who wants to know?" the clipped Imperial accent almost had Luke staggering back. But he had to have faith. Yoda had sent him here with Ben for a reason.
"Luke Skywalker," he replied, trying to get a look at the woman beneath the robes. He could see nothing. The deep cowl obscured her face completely. He had a momentary flashback to Palpatine. But when he reached out with the Force, he found something he'd never encountered before. Neither light, nor dark, but in-between. This must be Ulaire Solenn.
"And what do you want with Ulaire Solenn, Skywalker?"
He remembered a similar scene with Yoda back on Dagobah more than ten years ago. He had much more patience this time.
"I need her help," he replied.
"For the youngling?" she asked.
"Yes," Luke said, then hesitated.
The woman cocked her head. "And for you," she breathed. He could hear the smile in her voice. "An enlightened Jedi. How very… refreshing."
The woman uncurled and suddenly stood ramrod straight. She whipped down her cowl to reveal the features of a woman that was many years his junior. How could she possibly train Ben when she was so much younger than he was?
"Master Jedi, have you not yet learned that things aren't always as they seem?" she asked with a small smile. She turned to Ben and extended her hand. "I am Ulaire Solenn and I'm going to teach you to harness both the light and the dark side of the Force so that none may ever manipulate you."
Ben stared up at the woman in awe, but then what she said sank in. "Uncle?" he asked, his voice wavering.
"It's okay, Ben. This is for the best."
Ben squared his young shoulders and nodded. "I am ready," he said.
Ulaire Solenn smiled and held out her hand. "Then come. There is much work to be done."
Five years later
"He is too young," Luke snapped. "This is a fool idea. I will not allow it."
He glared at the woman who had trained Ben for the past five years. The woman who had given him his nephew back. Ben had changed so much. No longer was he conflicted. No longer did he hide in the shadows. Ulaire had helped him accept who he was and taught him how to walk the razor's edge between light and dark.
But that darkness still nipped at Ben's heels. His sister had warned him there was a dark presence circling Ben, but he had never sensed it. Ulaire had latched onto it the day she'd met Ben.
"Someone has been playing in this boy's mind," she'd said grimly. "Old. Powerful. Dangerous. Insidious."
Luke remembered feeling as if his world was crumbling. He'd never sensed it. Hadn't believed Leia. "Can you help him?"
Ulaire had nodded. "Yes, I can sever the connection and shield Ben. But this is an old power. A patient one. And he wants Ben. No matter the cost."
"What are you saying?"
Ulaire had looked up at him, a challenge in her eye. "I suggest we use the connection. I will teach Ben to resist him. And I will make sure whoever is on the other side has no idea they have lost."
"To what end?" Luke asked skeptically, uncomfortable with allowing such a course of action.
"Such power, as ancient as it is, will not be satisfied with one boy. What I sense is far beyond darkness. It is not filled with anger or rage or hate. It is cold. Calculating. And so old. So very, very old and hungry. It will become a threat. Better to be prepared and know our enemy beforehand, don't you think?"
Luke still hadn't been pleased with the idea of putting his nephew in so much danger, but the argument that won him over was that if Ben wasn't taught how to protect himself, he would be vulnerable the moment he left Ulaire's side.
But this? This was far beyond that and he would not allow it.
"You underestimate him, Luke. Ben has come a long way. He's more powerful than both of us. And he can do this," Ulaire said softly.
"He's my nephew," Luke said with a sigh. "I'm not sending him into the lion's den. I refuse to lose him."
"You don't think I care about him?" Ulaire replied. "He is like a son to me and if I didn't think he was ready. If I didn't think he could do this, then I wouldn't have suggested it. But he can save so many lives. Without him, we will be blind."
"I don't care," Luke exclaimed. "I will not sacrifice Ben for the good of the galaxy. We will find another way. There must be another way."
"Uncle, I am ready. I can do this," Ben said. Luke looked him over and sighed. Ben had truly flourished under Ulaire's tutelage. He no longer stood hunched in on himself as if trying to protect himself from the world around him. He stood tall and straight. And there was a confidence in him that some might say could lead to the Dark side, yet when Luke looked at him through the Force now, his potential for darkness had been harnessed, molded, reshaped into a tool Ben could use rather than one that would use him.
Yes, he was ready. Ben was certainly a lot more prepared than Luke had been when he had been pulled into the battle against the Empire. But then again, no one had expected Luke to infiltrate the Empire as Palpatine's apprentice.
"I know you're ready," Luke whispered. "But I'm afraid. I'm afraid I'll lose you."
Ben smiled affectionately. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Uncle."
Luke sighed and ruffled his nephew's hair. It was good to see him so free, so open, so affectionate. So untainted by the evil that could have easily taken root in his soul had it not been for Ulaire's teachings.
Ben sobered. "I want to do this Uncle. Ulaire and I have looked at this from every possible angle. This is the only way to find out what is really going on. And, hopefully, to destroy it from within."
Luke looked at Ben proudly. He wasn't looking at a boy but at a Jedi, regardless of the path he walked. "You have become far wiser than I," Luke said with a smile. "Very well. We shall proceed."
Ulaire nodded. "No one must know or we risk exposing Ben and getting him killed."
"I have to tell Leia," Luke said.
Ulaire shook her head. "You can't. She is Force sensitive but with no training, she'll be easy pickings for a power as ancient as the one we are dealing with. And Ben will be compromised. She cannot know."
"She will hate me," Ben said softly.
Ulaire cupped his cheek. "She will always love you, Ben. You are her son. And someday, she will understand why this had to be."
"I don't like that he will be alone," Luke said.
She smiled. "He won't be. At least, not always."
The Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker materialized beside her. "I will be watching over Ben."
"Grandfather," Ben said by way of greeting.
Luke cocked his head and nodded. "Thank you." Over the past five years, he and Anakin had become much closer, thanks mainly to Ulaire, who had shown Luke that the anger he had never really been able to let go of before was being aimed at the wrong person.
"What happened to Anakin can be laid at the feet of the Jedi Council and Palpatine. If the Council had opened their hearts and minds instead of clinging to ridiculous traditions, none of this would have happened. And what more can he do to atone for his sins? He died to save you!" she'd snapped at him one evening when they were discussing the light and dark side of the Force and Luke's past. She'd ranted at him for another hour after that, until Luke was finally able to face the fact that he wasn't as much angry at his father as he was afraid that he'd be weak and end up making the same mistakes.
After that evening, he resolved to set aside his prejudices, and he and Anakin had grown much closer. And, truth be told, knowing his father would be watching over Ben calmed many of his fears. Anakin would not allow anything to happen to Ben.
Anakin nodded. He turned to Ben and smiled. "I'll be there for you, Ben. No matter what."
Ben nodded. He hesitated for a moment. "He wants me to turn any Padawans I can and destroy what's left, the Academy included."
Luke's eyes widened. "What?"
"It sounds like he's getting ready to make his move," Ulaire said.
"What do I do?" Ben asked.
"We," Ulaire said, stressing the pronoun, "give him what he wants, of course."
Luke nodded. "I will hide the Padawans and you will destroy the Academy." He reached over and grabbed Ben by the shoulder, pulling him into a powerful embrace. "I am so proud of you, Ben," he whispered. "Be safe. No matter what, you make sure you come back to us."
Ben pulled back with a cocky smile, though his eyes were glassy with tears. "I will, Uncle."