This is my own personal take on the final showdown between the Solo twins-Jaina and Jacen. Details from the books sorta kind don't apply, this what I came up with only vague knowledge of the Legend of the Force series and I used my imagination to fill in the blanks.
She felt his presence as she entered the atmosphere. Her ship Moonwalker landed on the forest floor, yet despite the distance and the trees she knew he had seen her. He knew she was there, for the first time in years she felt a feeble shade of the force connection she and her brother had once shared. She couldn't fully grasp the concept of what she was there to do to her twin, her other half, her last sibling. Jacen. He had been morphed and twisted by the dark side but Jacen was still in there, he had to be; somewhere. If he wasn't she would have to kill him and while the chances were slim to none she could turn him back to the light, clinging to that hope was the only thing pressing her onward.
Darth Caedus stood on the overlook outside the room he inhabited at the base. The wind picked up causing his black robes to swirl maliciously around his body. She was here. Jaina. He had cut her out of their bond years ago, but they could still sense each other's presence. He saw no reason to keep up the effort of blocking her from his mind at this point, especially since there was no longer any reason to hide his location from her. He knew what her mission was, she was "The Sword of the Jedi" now and it had fallen to her to kill him, the fact that they were family be damned. Hell, he had killed Mara Jade his uncle's wife, family meant practically nothing at this point. Still, Jaina would try-valiantly- and despite their best efforts he knew one of them would die today. The sith's lips curled into a sinister smile, yes one of them would die, but it wouldn't be him.
Jaina sliced through the last of the bases defenses, taking a moment to inject herself with medpac and a stim before checking out the terminal near her. The panel confirmed what she already suspected. Caedus was through the doors ahead. She felt his presence crashing against her, rubbing her nerves raw. The darkness that had festered within him was palpable through their connection, which had been slowly strengthening during her battle through the base. It was useless for Caedus to block her out of their bond now, she knew where he was and he undoubtedly was aware of what her mission was. She already fought with him once, and had severely underestimated the grip the dark side had taken on him, while overestimating the amount of influence she would still have over her brother from their past together.
"Jacen-" she breathed, tears threatening to spill over her lashes. "Please. Don't do this, you still have a choice. You-you can still turn back, leave this all behind before you lose even more. Think of what Anakin would've wante-"
"Don't you even try to use our brother against me Jaina." His voice was laced with acid as he started. "You have no idea what you're dismissing, the power. The possibility. I'm doing what's best for me, for this universe."
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions Jacen." Her voice was broken, like her heart. How could this have become of her sweet loving brother, the one person who had been her best friend in the entire galaxy was now only one swing away from taking her life. His force lightening had left her weak, she had lost a lot of blood from his recurring strikes and her one arm was practically useless with the huge gash in her bicep.
"It's Caedus now Jaina, Darth Caedus. And unless you plan on joining me I'm afraid I won't be able to let you leave here alive."
His lightsaber flickered back to life, practically purring in his hands.
"It's funny, I thought the 'Sword of the Jedi' would be a bit more formidable." Caedus raised his lightsaber as he stepped toward her.
"It's a shame our parents have to lose another child. Guess this will make me the last of the Solos."
Jaina slowly pushed herself backward across the steel floor until her back hit a wall, deciding to change her tactics.
"The second you took on this dark mantle you were lost to us Jacen. I've been the last all this time, if you die now it will be no different."
Caedus chuckled, his saber humming as he spun it.
"Well then, our parents will have quite a milestone to mourn once I've found them. All three children dead."
She braced herself against the wall as his sword swung faster through the air, reaching out to the force with everything she had left.
"Goodbye Jaina. Give Anakin my best."
Just as he moved to deliver the final blow she sent a whirlwind force push toward the sith, sending him spiraling backwards. He recovered just in time to see her propel herself into the support beams of the ceiling and pull herself through the emergency hatch leading to the hangar that had been opened during their monumental battle and consequently, her ship.
Thinking of her narrow escape still brought a hollow ache to her arm. The wound had been so damaging that scar tissue had formed deep within the muscle before she had been treated, and it still pained her from time to time.
But now was not the time to dwell on the past. This time she couldn't afford to fail, the repercussions of what would happen were unthinkable. She was the Sword of the Jedi, she had to put the needs of the galaxy above her own, and right now the galaxy needed her to stop her brother before it was too late.
Jaina took a final breath before hacking the console to unlock the durasteel threshold before her. She closed her eyes, centering herself in the force as she heard the gears moving to open the portal, as they were secured in place she opened her eyes and stepped into the Spartan room her brother had apparently been using as his command center. An enormous console took up practically the entire central wall, but aside from that there was nothing. Jaina immediately wondered if he was plagued by insomnia again as he was after Anakin's death. Her thoughts were interrupted when she spotted a dark figure in the shadows.
"Jaina." The figure clad in all black emerged from the darkness. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to work up the courage to come through that door."
"Caedus."
He seemed slightly taken aback she had used his given Sith name as he drew back his hood. "I see you've finally accepted my new path."
"Nothings permanent."
"Really?" He smirked as he stepped further out of the shadows. "How's your arm?" Her scar immediately starting throbbing once more.
"Healing takes time. So does change."
"So this is the part when you try to turn me back to the light? How predictable."
"You can come back to the temple, back to our family. You can be yourself again, it will take time but you can and will get your life back."
"This is my life Jaina, I'm doing what needs to be done to secure this galaxy. You're the Sword of the Jedi, I thought you of all people understood sacrifice."
"Do you? You have a child Jacen, she needs a father not a Sith Lord."
"Don't pretend to understand things you know nothing about Jaina, it doesn't suit you." His voice took on a threatening tone.
"You think I don't know about Allana?" She saw him stiffen at the mention of his daughter's name. "You may have cut me out of our bond Jacen but I'm not blind."
Caedus reached for the clasp of his cloak, using the force to unlatch it before tossing it to the side.
"Luke told me to bring you back Jacen. I don't want to bring back a body bag-I want to bring back my brother." For a moment she saw the color return to his pale face, but in a flash it was replaced by an ugly snarl crossing his lips.
He was done listening to reason, and the only way to quiet her Jedi-pawn lips was to do what he failed to do last time. Kill her.
Less than a second passed before he released a storm of force lighting at her.
Jaina propelled herself into a flip to dodge the storm chasing her, she circled the room evading the electricity as she went. Before she got a chance to flip out of range she found herself in a corner and quickly drew her lightsaber to block the continuous lighting. It loudly crackled against the heat of her sword, the force of the attack slowly pushing the weapon closer to her body.
"You can't save me Jaina, I'm not the Jedi's toy anymore, and I'm certainly not a tool for our family of power hungry politicians. I am my own master."
He approached her in the corner, the lighting spewing from his fingertips seeming effortless.
"You can't kill me sister-you don't have the strength. And you won't escape like you did last time."
Sweat starting forming on her brow as she pushed against the lighting.
"You're right, I can't kill Jacen." She knelt to a crouching position as the sith closed in on her. What would have been a smile on her sweet brothers face came out as only a mangled sneer.
"But I will kill Caedus." In an instant she stood up, redirecting the lightning with her lightsaber sending it directly back at her assailant.
He had only a moment to sidestep the attack, and by the time he faced her fully again she was on him in a flurry of strikes. Caedus used the force to pull his now blood red lightsaber from his belt and into his hand to block the blows. He focused his anger into his counterattack-his anger with his underestimation of her power, with her blind faith for the Jedi, with their family for not understanding what he had to do.
She parried his attacks, his blade barely glancing off hers as he came at her with an almost unimaginable speed. In his ferocity Jaina slowly started zeroing in on the weaknesses in his form, his anger clouded his thoughts and left him defenseless for her to slip an attack in between his swift blows. She raised her hilt to eye-level, angling it down to block, as their swords connected she directed the swords upward leaving him susceptible. She surrendered her grip to just one hand as the other reached for the dagger she kept on her belt-Jacen's dagger. The Corellian dagger she had coveted for years before he had given her on their eighteenth birthday. Once she had it in her grasp she moved to strike at his chest, but before she could connect blade with flesh his torso danced out of reach and instead sliced into the meat of his bicep.
He stumbled once he realized he'd been cut, his free hand immediately going to the wound. When he pulled it away he saw the thick blood that coated his glove, his eyes wide with rage.
"Now we match." Jaina motioned to her own arm where he had injured her on their last encounter.
"You would use my own knife against me?"
"This dagger belonged to Jacen, not a sith."
"Guess I'll just have to take it back once I've killed you."
"The only way you're getting this is if it's firmly planted in your heart. If you even have one." Jaina lunged at him with her lightsaber, aiming once again for his chest, but he easily deflected the blow and danced away into the shadows of the room, effectively becoming invisible.
"Don't get too emotional sweet sister." His voice echoed against the cold steel walls. "The Jedi wouldn't like that very much."
"Come out and fight me you coward!" She shouted, her head swiveling around the room trying to make out his figure amongst the shadows. The swell of confidence she had felt from striking him started to fade.
"Accept it Jedi, your brothers gone. Both of them lost to you."
Her heart sped up, she couldn't see him. She could sense his dark presence but the power was so overwhelming she couldn't pinpoint its location.
"Both of your brothers, lost because of you."
Her breathing became ragged. Anakin didn't die because of her—everyone had assured her—but guilt had plagued her mind regardless of their assurance, she had been there and watched him die as she was pulled to safety.
"Anakin wasn't my fau—I—I tried to save him, I did!"
"Lies!" His voice reverberated towards her. "You stood by and let him needlessly die while you watched him do what you were too afraid to do-your job. His 'sacrifice' was nothing more than a death you tried to justify in your mind with a noble title."
"No-NO!" She screamed as she swung her blade at the movement in the shadows. Caedus's red sword flashed back to life and met her swing. They struggled for a moment, blades sparking as they collided in a deadly dance. The pair finally broke apart, both of their breathing had grown heavy from the exertion.
"Yes Jaina. It was your fault. And not just Anakin, you lost Jacen too. You felt me slipping into darkness and yet you ignored it. You were too busy juggling your love life to notice the turmoil of your only remaining sibling."
"Stop it!" She lashed out again
"Does it make you angry? The truth? Good." His danced by her as she made to attack, she abruptly turned to face him again.
"Give in to it Jaina, find your true power."
Jaina responded with a violent force push, blowing him into the wall. As he looked up he saw her coming directly at him, mid air with both dagger and lightsaber raised to deliver a final blow. He rolled to the side just as her weapons connected with the wall where his head had been. Her nostrils were flared in frustration, sweat dripping from her body.
"That's right, let it become you-become your strength!"
She ran at him once more, throwing the dagger to distract his defenses as her buzzing blade flew towards his neck.
He anticipated her attack with a chuckle. Caedus spun, catching the knife by the hilt and simultaneously blocking her lightsaber. He blocked with such velocity the weapons went spinning from both of their hands, but he paid it no mind, he didn't need it now. He grabbed her throat with his sword hand and pushed the dagger into her side.
Her eyes widened in pain as the knife bit her, gurgling as he gripped her throat.
"Only the strong can channel the dark side-the weak are left on the wayside, and you my poor sister were clearly not meant for great power."
Jaina gurgled again, his hand constricting in on her neck as he twisted the knife in her side.
"I'm disappointed Jaina, I thought you would put up more of a fight than this."
He pulled the dagger from her body and released his hold on her wind pipe, letting her drop to the floor.
"I thought you'd be worthy of death by my hand, but now I'm not so sure." He left her curled on the floor struggling for air as he walked to the computer in the center of the room. As he typed something in small doors opened on several sides of the room, storm troopers of his own dark design came charging in at all angles. She called on the force to staunch the bleeding from her side as she looked up and saw the imposing threat. Once she identified the threat she refocused the force to propel herself up into the walkways overhead, collapsing the second her feet touched the grated metal. She was drained, and they had both sustained more injuries from their flurries than she had thought as she let her hands wander over the burns on her skin from close calls with the sith's lightsaber.
Caedus saw her fly into the rafters and strode over to get a better look at her position. The movement reminded him of his hurt arm, and he too suddenly became aware of all the burns and singes in his robes from their fight. She had definitely come a bit closer to finishing him off than he'd care to admit. He disregarded the rest of his external robes as he threw it to the floor, resuming his confident stance as he spoke.
"You still have some fight in you after all-impressive, but pointless, you can't hide Jaina, it's over!" His voice boomed over the sound of troopers boots on the floor.
Jaina closed her eyes as they opened fire into the rafters, curling into a ball as she resumed healing her side and activated her last shield. She began to feel the wooziness dissipate, her pulse slowed to a normal rate. She had to get a handle on her emotions or she would just end up like the brother she was now trying to stop. She took deep cleansing breathes as the shield was taking the last bit of battering it would be able to endure. The slightest formation of a plan came to her mind, the best she'd be able to manage at this stage anyway.
She took one last breath before she rolled off the walkway, free falling as she dodged blaster fire. The troopers were collecting around her position, surrounding her as she plummeted towards the ground. At the last second Jaina brought her fist to the ground, using the force to halt her fall sending the force of the descent into an almost earthquake reverberating through the floor. The troopers were thrown into the air and time seemed to slow down in her mind. She had found her center in the force. As they floated in the air she reached for the marble sized mines she had designed in her belt, throwing them into the air with the gunmen. Small explosions filled the air, detonating as they made contact with their targets. Time resumed its natural course in her mind as she called upon the force to send a whirlwind throughout the chamber, slamming all its inhabitants into the walls rendering them useless.
Caedus had managed to avoid the debris of bodies and flew at her from behind, his lightsaber lit as he came in for the attack. Jaina called to hers with a quick outstretch of her hand, instantly igniting it and blocking the onslaught of Caedus's increasingly sporadic swings.
Jaina managed to direct the fight so that Caedus became cornered in with the wall at his back. Her eyes glinted as she closed the distance between him and the durasteel wall of the base, ideas perpetually tumbling and changing in her head as the situation evolved.
As soon as Caedus was aware of his surroundings he took one hand from the hilt of his weapon and put it on the wall behind him. Jaina took her opportunity to exploit the weak grip on his lightsaber and came in with a flurry of attacks. Her strikes were focused and deadly now that she was calm, with the last swing of a series she struck his sword out of his hand. Just as she went to make the finishing blow he used the force to propel himself off the wall, barreling into her and causing her to drop her own blade as it disengaged with a hiss.
They skidded to a stop on the floor amongst the remains of the Caedus's army, their tangled bodies separated and flew in opposite directions once they hit the ground.
Caedus groaned as he tried to stand, this battle was taking its toll on him-was it possible? Could she truly be stronger than him? In a maniacal response to his own question a sick laugh slowly spread through his body, he straightened himself out and saw Jaina apparently unconscious on the floor. Reaching out his hand his lightsaber flew to him and immediately sparked to life.
"Goodbye Jaina!" He tapped into the force to speed him across the floor to his sister, yet right as he reached her motionless body it disappeared. Before he could process what was happening he heard a voice behind him.
"Confused?" He turned right into her fist, making a crunching noise as his face made contact. The sith fell to his knees, his back facing Jaina.
"And to answer your question. Yes. I am stronger than you." He chuckled as he got up, wiping some blood from his split lip as he stood.
"So you can hear my thoughts? Good for you, you've got some of your nifty parlor tricks back, but it won't be enough."
"It's over when I say it is Caedus."
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but we don't have time for these games Jaina! You can't stop what's been put in motion." He barked, his eyebrows contorted in anger.
"Fine, then die already!" As Jaina turned she spun her lightsaber behind her back, slicing the hilt of Caedus's weapon in two before he had a chance to raise it against her. She followed through on her turn, raising her weapon in her hands and plunging it deep into the sith's chest.
In the instant before her lightsaber penetrated his light armor she felt a familiar vibration in the force. Jacen.
He was reaching out to Tenel Ka to warn her of something, but before Jaina had fully comprehended what she was sensing, a searing pain tore through her chest causing her to cry out. Their bond had been fully reestablished. What he felt, she felt—and that could only mean that Jacen had returned to her.
Her eyes had shut once the pain hit her. She opened them slowly almost afraid of what she would find. Caedus stood there, his mouth agape in pain with her cerulean lightsaber glowing on either side of his pierced chest—no, not Caedus, Jacen. The humming of her weapon was the only sound audible in the large chamber that had been filled with the noise of their battle only moments before.
Jaina felt her throat constrict as tears formed at the edges of her eyes. She pulled her blade from his body as he collapsed in what felt like slow motion. She cut the power from her sword, letting it fall to the floor as she herself dropped next to the man struggling for breath.
"Jacen? Jacen!" she gently cradled his head in her lap as a tear trailed down her cheek. The pale palour and translucent veins of the Sith Caedus were slowly receding from his features.
When he reopened his eyes the dark crimson had vanished and his hazel eyes met hers.
"Jaina I-" He raised a hand to her cheek.
"Shhh" She started gently smoothing his tousled hair like their mother had done when he was upset as a child. "Don't apologize Jacen."
He mustered as much of the devilish Solo grin he could manage, it had shed it's sinister intent and echoed the charm he had once commanded.
"Heh-how'd you know I was gunna apologize?" Jacen sputtered.
"I'm your twin," She stammered in a half laugh, half sob. "I know you better than anyone." She gently brushed a strand of hair off his face.
"You're going to be okay, you have to be okay. I can't go back without you Jacen—I-I just can't."
This time Jacen shushed her. "Jay, there's so much strength in you." She shuddered at the use of his old nickname for her. He paused to catch what remaining breath he could, "I know you hate that you're The Sword, but don't you see? It had to be you-" He took another pause as he deeply swallowed to clear the blood from his mouth, his eyes fluttered. "You were the best of us, of the Solo kids."
The tears were flowing uncontrollably from her eyes as she held her twin, her other half as he lay dying in her arms.
"I was wrong Jaina, you're the one who was meant for greatness, not me-not even Anakin." He coughed, struggling to breathe, his eyes loosing focus as they gazed beyond her shoulder.
"He's here Jaina. Anakin's here." She looked behind her to try and see what he could. There was nothing there, and yet she sensed something familiar as if from a distant dream.
"You saved me Jay, it's ok to let me go."
"Jacen stop-stop saying goodbye!"
"Tell Tenel Ka-tell everyone I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"No Jacen—no"
"Jay.'" he breathed the last sentence with a whisper as the life left his body. His hand gave one final squeeze before it went limp in her own.
Her jaw began to quiver uncontrollably before her body was wracked with sobs as she cradled the lifeless body of her twin. She had done her job, completed her mission and saved the galaxy-but in the process she had killed her twin, and it felt as though a part of herself had died as well.
Hope was restored to the galaxy and all was not lost-but Jaina Solo had never felt so lost in her life as she sat there, bruised and battered in a Sith base rocking Jacen's broken body back and forth; the brother whose life she had taken with her own hands and whose blood she would never be able to wash from her hands.
So what did you think?! This was my first stab at a Star Wars piece and I would love to know what you all thought! Please be a kind soul and click that little review button down below and let me know!
missonasi