A/N: An old repost from the Jedi Council Forums, this was a gift-fic for the lovely Ceillean who wanted a story featuring Jacen crashing on a remote planet where the Jedi are unknown and falling in love.

I warped that fun idea into a total post-NJO AU/reboot because, why not? So some direct references here to a lot of LotF and particularly FotJ story elements, and a random funny or two thrown in for good measure. Do enoy!

Disclaimer: Shockingly, I don't own or profit from Star Wars. Dammit, Disney.

Prologue

Kathol Rift

Jacen Solo smiled reassuringly at the Aing-Tii monk, his guide Tadar'Ro, even as the growing sense of urgency in his mind made him impatient to be on his way. "I must go," he repeated, zipping up his flightsuit to his neck and tucking his helmet, unused in his long months among these strange Force-users, beneath one arm. "There's something… dark, something pained. It's calling to me. I have to find out what this disturbance is; lest it become a threat to the whole galaxy."

Tadar'Ro sounded wearily resigned, as his agitated pheromones were interpreted through his translation device that enabled him to speak Basic. "Many secrets are held in the Maw," he warned Jacen somberly. "Some… are not meant to be discovered."

"I'm sorry." He truly was. "This is too big, too dangerous."

"Even the most skilled among us cannot see a definitive future, Jacen Solo; but know now that your actions today may shape the futures of all."

"Is that not the burden many Jedi have borne for millennia?"

The Aing-Tii shook his head back and forth, an awkward gesture, a human affectation more than a natural motion. "Be wary of pride, Jacen Solo."

"Of course," the young Jedi bowed his head in chagrin. "I thank you for your hospitality and your teachings, Tadar'Ro- and for your wise warnings. And I'm sorry that I could not do more to help you settle the schism among your people. But you must understand," he spread his hands in a helpless gesture, "the galaxy is only just beginning to recover from one deadly threat. If there is another lying in wait, I must find out, I must be able to warn the Jedi."

Tadar'Ro watched as the dark-haired young man pulled his helmet on and leapt with one fluid motion to the topside of his craft. He held his hand up, palm outward in a sign of both thanks and farewell, and settled down into the cockpit of the starfighter. The monk lifted his own plated arm and watched solemnly as the craft lifted off of the rocky world and disappeared through the atmosphere, heading for space- and darkness- beyond.

"You play with the fates of many, Jacen Solo," the monk murmured sadly before turning and shuffling quietly along the path back towards the young Jedi's vacated abode.

X-X-X-X

Beyond the Veil

"I thought we agreed- no intervention."

"You've seen what is to come to pass, should young Solo come into contact with the eternal one." Both turned to their elected leader of the century, who rested her head in one clawed hand. "Tyla?"

She was a long time in answering, even as the four high councilors watched her closely, awaiting her verdict to settle the split in the dispute. She was a long time in answering… but time was such an abstract concept in this realm that it mattered little, might have been minutes or hours, before she raised her head again and met the eyes of the other four steadily. A decision had been reached.

Her words were spoken evenly and with great care. "Much pain… anger… suffering… are to be found in Jacen Solo's future. Even our mortal brethren have seen the despair to come."

Varu glared pointedly around at them all. "Such tragedies are many-fold. Why should we violate our resolution of non-involvement for one boy?"

Ylin nodded wary agreement; Suwo looked unsure; Nali looked earnestly to Tyla and spoke quietly, urgently. "What have you seen, Tyla? You know what I know- that his actions will be the inadvertent catalyst to undoing our great pains at containing the evil that long ago threatened all in the mortal plane."

"What do you mean?" Ylin snapped.

Tyla let her eyes drift half-closed as she concentrated on the future, the future that would come to pass should Jacen be allowed to enter the Maw, to make contact with the eternal one. Images drifted before their eyes, some ghostlike and foggy, some sharper and clearer. Images of pain and death… of love and loss… of betrayal and sacrifice… of civil war.

And then one image, calm and peaceful, of the familiar oblong station… before it erupted into glowing white light and was consumed entirely. "The prison of the eternal one," Tyla murmured sadly. "The Jedi will be its undoing, through their ignorance to its purpose. In the effort to curtail one evil, they will facilitate the strengthening and unleashing of one that is far greater."

Varu sighed, but even the most adamantly opposed could not deny the folly in allowing these events to unfold, as they were destined on the current path. "Who would you choose then? Who is to be our next sacrifice to the mortal realm?"

Tyla shook her head. "It was agreed a millennium ago that no more were to endure that fate; I would not betray the memories of those who have gone before by subjecting another to that pain of separation from the ethereal plane. No," she said slowly, "we will not intervene in that realm, but shall bring Jacen Solo to ours."

X-X-X-X