This is a one-shot challenge fic from over at TFN. We did a fic exchange for the holidays. I was asked to write a fanfic with the following things:

It has to occur after EP6 and it must include:

1. A red rose
2. A curse
3. A beast

The person making the request did not want Jaina Solo in the story, but the requestor did want Kyp Durron or Jacen Solo

Author Note: I came up with a story in which Jaina is not physically present or even named directly, but there are a few references to Jacen's sister. Hopefully the requestor was not too disappointed.

I go by another screen name on TFN...so this story is not stolen. It's not good enough to be stolen anyway. lol!

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Jacen walked from his parents' house down a dirt trail meandering through pastoral rolling hills and grasslands. The sun was setting as a warm summer breeze rustled the tall grass. In the distance he could see his destination...the Jedi memorial commissioned by his parents to honor the dead. It was a simple obelisk—a four sided monolithic tapered shaft—on which the names of Jacen's fallen comrades were engraved. As he approached the black granite monument a bitter, crippling, agony welled up within him. It was an anguish he suffered every time he visited these hallowed grounds. His gaze dropped to a lone red rose he held in his trembling hand. It was a small offering symbolizing love, respect and courage—all attributes exhibited by the people memorialized. He bent down and placed the flower at the base of the memorial and then straightened to gaze at the names etched onto the granite, still not believing they were gone. Luke, Mara, Ben Skywalker, Corran and Valin Horn, Kyle Katarn, Kenth Hamner-just a few names out of the two dozen slain. He reached out and lightly rubbed his fingers across his sister's name carved into the stone. The pain of her loss caused his knees to buckle and he dropped to the ground tears flowing freely. "I swear…I will find who did this to you and kill them."

"You won't do it alone." Jacen turned toward the sound of a familiar voice.

"Kyp," Jacen whispered acknowledging his friends presence.

Kyp Durron, one of the few surviving Jedi, walked up behind Jacen dressed in black Jedi robes, his lightsaber by his side. The older man's dark brown hair was greying at the temples, but he remained fit with the strength of a much younger man. He knelt down next to Jacen and picked up the flower, looked at it for a moment, before returning it. "I loved her too."

Jacen didn't have to ask to whom he was referring. Kyp's feelings for Jacen's sister were well known

"I don't know how one man could kill so many Jedi."

Kyp stood while shaking his head. "You know it wasn't a man. The survivors described something no longer human. It was a sithspawn devoid of any compassion—a cruel beast with a malignant soul."

Both men startled when an inhuman scream sounded in the distance. Jacen quickly stood and tried to determine the direction of the sound. Kyp turned and faced west toward the home of Han and Leia Solo. "That came from your parents' house!" Kyp grabbed his lightsaber and held the hilt in the ready position. "The beast has arrived."

Jacen immediately broke out into a sprint racing toward his family's dwelling with Kyp trailing at his heels. They arrived to find the front door of the two-story brick home smashed open. Both men ignited their lightsabers and cautiously entered the dwelling. The home was dark and quiet with only the hum of their blades to be heard. A scream pierced the stillness causing a cold shiver to crawl down Jacen's spine. "Mother!" He rushed toward the sound of a struggle and nearly tripped over his father's decapitated body at the entrance of the living room. On the far side of the chamber his mother's blue lightsaber was a blur of motion as she fought a tall, cloaked opponent brandishing a red blade. Both Kyp and Jacen moved forward to defend the princess turn Jedi, but it was too late. The Sith's blade found its target, slicing the Jedi in half.

"No!" Jacen leapt at the hooded figure, attacking his opponent wildly, screaming with a primal rage. The Sith strained to fend off Jacen's vicious assault, but in the end the Jedi prevailed as Jacen's saber cut through the beast's neck. The head rolled to the ground as the body collapsed next to it in a heap.

"You got him." Kyp sounded relieved, but Jacen could only think of his parents cut down in front of him.

"I shouldn't have gone to visit the memorial." Jacen's breathing became ragged as he tried to suppress the sobs threatening to overtake him. "I should have stayed by their side. I could have protected them from…." Jacen moved the decapitated head with the edge of his boot revealing the face of the beast.

"What?" He stared at the man who murdered his parents in disbelief. "This can't be? Is it a clone?" At his feet Jacen saw his own dead eyes staring up at him. He was pulled out of his shocked stupor by the sound of Kyp laughing. He turned to the older Jedi dumbfounded. "What? What are you laughing at?" His throat tightened from the emotions surging through his body making further speech difficult.

Kyp gave a hearty chuckle and a good-natured slap on Jacen's shoulder. "I'll never get tired of seeing that look on your face." Kyp threw his hand up in the air while mimicking a mock expression of shock and despair. "What? I killed my parents?" He then burst out in an almost hysterical laughter.

Jacen's confusion morphed into a burning rage. "What the kriff are you talking about?"

"What the kriff are you talking about?" Kyp repeated satirizing Jacen's voice. "You moron! You're the beast! Come on, don't you see the symbolism in this situation? It's just like the story the Grand Master told us about his failure in the cave, remember?" He pause, but continued when a dazed Jacen failed to reply. "Oh, you remember. Luke Skywalker chopped off Vader's head only to discover it was Luke himself inside the mask." Kyp pointed a finger at Jacen. "It was a warning. Beware of the darkside. I know it's somewhat hypocritical of me to lecture you after I destroyed a solar system and my brother with it, but there is a difference." Kyp dropped his hand and stepped forward his dark eyes blazing. "I was possessed by Exar Kun when I accidentally killed my brother, but you-you murdered your sister deliberately. You looked her in the eye and cut her down…and you did it on a Star Destroyer named in the memory of your younger brother…how amazingly ironic."

A burning anger surged through Jacen. "You are crazy!" He tried to move past Kyp but the Jedi blocked his path. "Get away before I kill you!"

"Like you killed everybody else? You were the hero of the Vong war—but you allowed yourself to be duped by a pseudo-Sith." Kyp shook his head sadly. "The wrong Solo son survived the war."

"That's it!" The combination of anger and sorrow overwhelmed Jacen's reasoning as he swung his lightsaber at his friend.

The older man laughed as the blade passed harmlessly through him. "You can't kill me. I'm inside your rotting darkside diseased brain." Kyp scowled contemptuously. "And I am never going to let you have a moment of peace as long as you live."

Jacen looked down at his saber in disbelief. "This can't be real. What's happening to me?"

Kyp gave a snort as he deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his belt. "Oh, it's already happened, Jacen. You turned to the Darkside and became Darth Caedus. You murdered your aunt, you tortured your cousin and you eviscerated your sister. You were on a rampage until I hunted you down and captured your murdering Sith ass." Kyp raised his hands and motioned to the walls around them. "This isn't here. You my Sithspawn friend are hooked up to a brain-wave projection device." Kyp grinned broadly. "It was used for psychotherapy to treat post traumatic stress disorder …until a few warlords discovered it could be modified to actually imprint traumatic events into a person's brain." Kyp gave Jacen a self-satisfied look. "It makes a very effective interrogation device…it can also be used as a form of eternal punishment for Sith scumbags!" A wide grin split Kyp's face. "Enjoy the show…it's going to be a very long performance."

Jacen watched as the image of Kyp faded and then disappeared leaving him alone in a room smeared with his parents' blood and gore. "No! This can't be! No!"

Kyp's eyes popped open as he turned to Jacen Solo seated in the diagnostic chair next to him. The man was unconscious, but the twitching of Jacen's face indicated he was still dreaming. Wrapped around Solo's head was a metallic circlet hooked to sensors and probes with cables running to a computer. A laboratory technician reached up to Kyp's forehead and removed a similar device. Once unhooked, he stood and smiled at the man who made this all possible, Talon Karrde. The former smuggler turned trader was leaning against the laboratory wall his arms folded across his chest. "What scenario did you run this time?"

Kyp shrugged casually. "The Jedi are dead and he ends up killing his parents."

Talon blew out a breath as he ran a hand through his beard. "I know that mother-kriff'n Sith deserves to suffer for killing Mara and his sister, but…" He trailed off.

"But what?"

Karrde lowered his head and dropped his arms. "I just think this has gone past payback to…torture. I would hate his parents to find out their son's fate and if the Grand Master or the other Masters discover what you're doing…you'll be disbarred from the order."

Kyp's face tightened into a determined mask. "He killed the woman I loved and someone dear to you. If we didn't hunt him down and encircle his Sith butt with ysalamiri he'd have killed everybody whose name was etched on that bogus memorial." Kyp put his finger to his temple. "I know what he had planned. When we're hooked up into that machine I can see his thoughts. He wanted to be another Palpatine." He pointed to the machine. "He deserves this. This is his curse!"

Karrde nodded slowly. "I know, I know." He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. "But for how long?"

Kyp turned and glared at the Sith Lord he once called friend. "Until I stop grieving for my loss." He pointed at the technician standing next to Jacen. "Mallec, run another simulation."

The lab tech went over to his computer. "Yes, sir. Which one."

"The one where he kills the Queen of Hapes and the Princess Allana." A wicked smile curved Kyp's lips. "That one's my favorite." He turned to leave the secret laboratory built within Talon Karrde's old Myrkr base, but hesitated at the exit. "And put it on a running loop! Let's make this curse eternal!"