It Begins
By superninja
Hidey ho, everybody! Hope you enjoy my story. Characters belong to Lucas, etc. etc.
I am numb.
My eyes are open. I'm wide awake. But I see and hear nothing around me. As I turn my head slowly, the air moves as though I'm in a vaccum, trying to suck my sanity away. Too late. It's almost worth laughing over, or crying, but again, it's too late for any of that now. The light from the twin suns above pulls at the edges of my vision, and I focus on the dark patch of ground where my mother last stood.
"Mom?" The noise comes out of me small and quiet. I can feel that person inside of me, reaching out. Out of need, out of pain and sorrow… I can't let him take control. If he does he will drag me down with him into darkness. I start to panic, not knowing what I must do next, my hands frantically plowing through the dirt for an answer. So I shut my eyes, and will him to die. It is painful at first, this strange death; he doesn't go quietly. My body shakes spasmodically trying to exert control. "Shhh," I tell him, "it must be done." I must survive.
The creature moves and I catch her out of the corner of my eye. She is watching me from the dunes above. Waiting for me to come to her so she can finish me off. Her mistake. Tall, lean and hard, I can see that she will prove a test to my abilities. But she WILL die. The completed image is already forming in my mind, that small thread weaving over and over again into the fabric that will be the future. I don't rush up to meet her. Instead, I take long, confident strides, taking my time up the dune. I let her watch me, my unmoving eyes fearless. Filled with fear, she raises her blaster in a feeble attempt to stop me. Pathetic. Even if I could feel the pain of the laser scorching my hand, it would not be enough to stop me. She retreats from the ricochet of laser fire, drawing a strange lightsaber creation. Always fascinated with the mechanical, I'm distracted for a moment by the uniqueness of its design. She probably created this herself. I look back up to her and see that she is trying to appear brave. Yes… the Force is strong with her. No jedi, but she may have a few tricks up her sleeve.
She draws the weapon and swipes it toward me, end thick like a scythe. The raw power of the swing drags her shoulder downward, and instead of pulling back, she rams me hard, throwing me backward towards the ground. Natural reflexes allow me to jump to my feet, and I pivot away as she circles me, plotting her next move.
"Are you prepared to die, young jedi?"
She's taunting me. I still myself, following her with my eyes alone as she paces before me.
"Or will you beg for mercy like she did?"
The flash of defiance in her eyes awakens the rage within me. I draw my saber and light it, diving towards her hacking as hard and fast as I can to silence her wicked laughter. Leaping away from me, she slides down the sand dune, hesitating just long enough to lead me in pursuit down to the rocky soil. Then our weapons meet again, sending sparks flying into the dry air.
"For all your training, young jedi, you could not save her," she said smoothly. "How disappointing!"
She swings trying to knock my feet out from underneath me, as I anticipate her movements, jumping away from her, deflecting her blow at the same time. Rushing forward to meet me she kicks up the sand around us sending it flying into my eyes. Groaning, I trust my instincts, and reach out towards the other being with the Force, pinpointing her location. She meets me halfway, shoving the full weight of her body into the attack knocking me to the ground before her. I hadn't thought she'd be so strong. I silently reprimand myself for my arrogance and wipe the last of the sand from my eyes. Standing over me with a gleam in her eye, she hold her weapon straight at my heart. I finally notice details I did not see before: lightsabers, jangling in the sun from her harness as trophies from jedi she has killed. Bits of hair and teeth and claw from her other victims. And there among the rest, my mother's bracelet.
I begin to shiver when a sudden cold envelops me, and I'm lost in a whirlwind of confusion. Standing over me she eyes me with patience now. Knowing that I have no where to run.
"What would your precious mother think of you now, broken and defeated at my feet?"
Cool droplets of sweat run down my face as I struggle against the darkness creeping over me. It's familiar to me, and frightening. I had sensed it before at Qui-Gonn's funeral ten years ago.
"Unable to avenge her?" she continued.
"What is your name?" I managed to stammer. Weakened from fighting, I could feel the weight of my doubt and fear. What if my vision was wrong? What if I never defeated her?
"Little good it will be to you dead, but you may call me Aura Sing, little jedi." The sound of her own name pleased her, and she said it soothingly.
I stared longingly at my mother's bracelet that seemed to tinkle against her armor for me alone. A reminder to finish what I began…but could I? Oh mother, how I have failed you! Never to see what I have become…never to be set free from the bonds of slavery! You deserved better than this!
I will see you avenged.
I stop fighting the darkness. Instead, I let it carry me on a wave of hatred, bound for Aura Sing. Never before had I felt such power. My confidence returned a hundredfold, and my hunger for vengeance to match. It burned in me like never before, filling my body with new life. The strange power guiding me, directing me to fulfill my purpose.
"Now, you die jedi…" She said it will such finality, such assurance. Then she stopped, and her hands rose to her throat as she gasped desperately for air. Shock registered on her face and her bulging eyes turned to my outstretched hand.
"No, you will die, murderer."
She fell on her knees as I reached my feet, my concentration unwavering. Obi-Wan's voice spoke to me from a memory, a lesson he had given me in our early days on Coruscant. " A jedi uses the Force only for defense, never to attack." Those words seemed so hollow to me now. If only he could understand the power that courses through me…I can do anything with such power! I could've saved my mother. The realization dawns on me.
Watching her finally end her struggle, she collapses to the ground and then breathes her last. I suspect her knowledge of the Force allowed her to live longer than most would have. Sadly, the satisfaction of her death is only temporary, my new abilities yearning to be tested again. I can never tell Obi-Wan of this, he will refuse to understand. The council will not let him complete my training in any event, if only to prevent others from defying them. I will have to find some other way. My mother must be avenged.
I will become a jedi, mother. I swear it. And then those that stopped me from saving you will pay. All of them.
The End