Darth Marr was as always standing tall in the middle of the command bridge of his personal ship. This time he had a different pilot, and copilot…His children. Behind his mask he smiled proudly and let himself be assaulted by memories. Leo'Ren's silver hair was shining even in the dim light in the small room. He watched his precise movements, the way he was flying his ship and he remembered the first time he had ever touched the controls of a ship. It was a long time ago, when he and Cleo took the children in her ship for the very first time. They were six years old…and he remembered every detail of that day. Leo'Ren was fascinated by ships and every time he saw one his eyes opened with joy and excitement. Even if Cleo hadn't touched her ship in years, he convinced her that day to go on what was supposed to be a fun, short flight. Cleo started the engines and said 'hello' to them, just like she has always done, when Leo'Ren asked her surprised.

"Who are you talking to mommy?"

'The ship, of course!" answered Cleo and she smiled at her son. "You see, every time you press a button, or touch any of the controls, the ship is listening and does what I tell her to. I have to show my appreciation, this ship saved my life more times that I can count."

Marr was sitting in the chair next to her with Arria on his lap, while Cleo was holding Leo'Ren. As soon as they took off, Leo'Ren's excitement was impossible to contain and he started to ask his mother to show him everything she knows, to teach him how to fly. That was when Cleo let him touch the controls, holding his tiny hands with her own, not much larger. A new smile passed over Marr's face at that memory. They flew in a quiet zone, and Cleo had fun with her son, together they did the first roll and Leo was laughing while Arria was just looking at them, not so patiently waiting for her turn.

"My turn…" she demanded and Cleo took her on her lap, passing Leo'Ren to his father.

They played for a while, then they went in hyperspace and started to explore her ship. Every room, every corner, every object on that ship had a story and Cleo was telling them to their children. Marr remembered laughing at his son reaction when he saw a holo of the entire crew that Cleo used to have. The first thing he noticed wasn't the big Wookie, or the cute little Ewok, it was Cleo's friend, Risha. His first question was who the pretty lady was. Marr still felt proud that his son could recognize a pretty lady when he saw one, and Risha was just the first one…While Cleo was playing with the kids in the most spacious of the cargo areas, where she had a training dummy, he was standing looking at all three of them rolling on the floor, jumping and hiding behind empty crates. Suddenly the whole ship shook, and instinctively he rushed to grab the children and his wife. Cleo was so much faster that he was, and by the time he got the children, she was already running to the bridge. He followed her, holding the twins one in each arm and sat in his chair holding them close.

"Where did this came from? There were no asteroids on the map when I calculated the route," he heard her right away and saw her exiting hyperspace and taking on the manual controls.

Leo'Ren was watching his mother navigate between the fast moving asteroids while Arria was holding tight to her father's robe. In only a few minutes she took them to safety, finding their way out of the asteroids field and watched them from far.

"Whoa, mommy, that was great!" they all heard Leo'Ren saying, his eyes still glued to the large windows. "Do it again!"

Instead of any answer, Marr remembered seeing Cleo getting tense and followed her eyes. She was looking at some fix point, somewhere inside the asteroids field and soon she pointed in that direction, to the tiny blinking red light.

"There! It's an escape pod…"

Marr saw it the same instant and through his connection to the force, he felt life on board.

"There are people inside…" he whispered and they looked at each other.

"Are we going to help them, Mommy?" came Leo'Ren's question and both Marr and Cleo looked at him.

"We cannot do anything for them son…It is too dangerous to go back there," Marr explained and tears appeared in his son's eyes.

"Please, Mommy! They are going to die…" he pleaded and turned his face to his mother.

"Leo…' started Cleo, but this time her daughter interrupted her.

"If daddy said no, we have to listen to him. He knows!"

Cleo smiled and looked at Arria, still hugging tight to her father, her tiny arms around his neck. She was her daddy's little girl, and always did what he asked, never going against his word.

"But…We can't leave them there…" insisted Leo'Ren with big, heavy tears running down his cheeks.

"There is nothing I can do, Leo…I don't have a long range tractor beam to pull them to us…"explained Cleo and Marr remembered her hand messing his silver hair, trying to make him feel better.

Marr took a few steps with his hands holding at the small of his back, and a few deep breaths. Those memories were so alive in his mind, he could feel the same way he did back then, over twelve years ago.

"Father…Are you all right?" he heard his daughter asking him while she turned in her chair to look at him with the same green eyes like her mother's. There was always a force connection between the two of them. She was born force sensitive and connected with him from the first few days of her life.

"I am fine. How long until we get home?" he asked next with the hissed voice that both his children were used to hearing.

"An hour and ten, twenty minutes…" answered Leo'Ren and he also turned to look at his father.

"Good. Your mother is expecting us."

Marr tried to stay calm and regain control over his own emotions. Years and years of experience helped him and both his children get back to what they were doing, letting their father be. His emotions might have been under control, but the memories continued pour through his mind. Unlike his sister, Leo'Ren was born force blind, or at least that was what everyone thought. In the first couple of years Marr started to have some suspicions. There was something about his son that was unusual. It was definitely not a force connection, at least not a conventional one, but there was something. That day, the moment Cleo told him that there was nothing they could do for the people in that escape pod, Marr found out what it was…His son wiped his tears with his small, chubby hands and then it happened. Marr felt like he would have been exploded in his arms. The sudden power surprised him, he wasn't prepared for anything like that. Leo's hands extended in front of him and he closed those tiny hands in even smaller fists. The whole ship started to shake around them and Cleo looked at her husband, scared.

'What is going on?" she asked him right away and he nodded to their son.

She looked at him and saw him closing his eyes while holding his tiny fists tight in front of him. Next they all could see the escape pod coming closer and closer to them, avoiding every asteroid. Tears of joy filled Cleo's eyes. Marr was speechless, proud, happy and overwhelmed. Clouds in different shades of violet and indigo were swarming around Leo'Ren, and Marr sensed the incredible power his six years old son had for the first time. The pod stopped right in front of them and pulling herself from the shock, Cleo activated the short range beams and directed the pod, docking it at their entrance.

"Can we help them now?" asked Leo'Ren with innocence and both his parents smiled.

"Yes, we can…" whispered Cleo and she was the first to rush to the hatch.

Marr left the children with HK and, pulling his mask on quickly, joined her. Inside the pod they found a couple and a baby girl. She couldn't have been more than two years old and they helped them out of the pod and into their ship.

"Thank you, you saved our lives…" said the man while his wife was still crying, holding their girl in her arms.

"Are you injured?" Cleo rushed to ask the same second.

Fortunately they weren't, just a little shaken and scared. They had recognized them right away as being Darth Marr and Captain D'arc, and after another round of thanks, they followed them into the main area of the ship. The little girl was still crying, but when Arria went to her, she calmed down right away. She was tiny, and cute, like a doll. The most unusual lavender eyes looked at them scared and curious.

"Mommy…" whispered Leo'Ren partially hiding behind Cleo's leg.

"Leo, don't be shy, go and say 'hello'" said Cleo smiling, surprised by her son's sudden shyness. He was always outgoing, always the first one to make friends.

"She has purple eyes…' he whispered and a new smile appeared on Cleo's face.

"Yes she does. Isn't she pretty?" insisted Cleo and only then Leo'Ren left Cleo's leg and went closer to the tiny girl. "Careful, she is not a doll, Arria. Play nice," added Cleo, while C2 was bringing refreshments and snacks.

With the children playing, the adults sat down to talk. They found out that the couple had been living on Voss for the past four years and they were on their way to Tython when their ship was destroyed in the asteroid field.

"Your daughter is force sensitive…" Marr remembered saying, sensing the fear and deceit from the couple in front of him. Later he found out that they had lied to them, the names were fake.

"Yes…That is why we're going to Tython, to the Temple…"

Marr looked again at the little girl playing with his children. She was timid, but his daughter was entertaining her, making her laugh. Leo'Ren was unusually reserved and Marr wandered if he is feeling something from the little girl. The same second he left the adults and went to his son, kneeling beside him.

"Leo, why are you not playing with your new friend?"

"Her name is Lyla…" whispered his son and looked at his father.

"All right…Lyla…why are you not playing with her and your sister?"

Suddenly his son wrapped his arms around Marr's neck and whispered in his ear: "She is sooo pretty…"

Marr had to control himself again and not laugh just as he did twelve years ago. It was the first time his son liked a girl and was shy around her. He looked over to him, again, and behind his mask another proud smile covered his face. It was no secret for anyone that Leo'Ren was preferred by all the girls he encountered, or how much he enjoyed it, or that that shyness was long gone. Could have been the gold eyes, the silver hair, or his personality? Whatever it was, Leo'Ren Dorrimar, Darth Athran as of last year, was the most popular Sith with the girls in the academy, and he was proud of his son. He was the youngest Sith Lord, and Marr heard rumors about his son. A few members of the Dark Council wanted to nominate him for a seat in the Council. If that was going to become reality, he would become the youngest member of the Dark Council ever, at only a little over eighteen. In spite of his late start, Leo'Ren had finished his training a couple of years ahead of everyone else in his class, and has been his father's apprentice for the last year, most definitely not the easiest year of his life.

Dromund Kaas was in front of them, and they started the landing maneuvers. Marr shook his head and came back into the present. He was only minutes away from seeing Cleo and he couldn't wait. It had been almost ten hours since he left her on the terrace after breakfast, and he missed her. They had their nineteenth anniversary only a couple of weeks ago, and his love for her only grew stronger, deeper throughout the years.

Cleo was indeed waiting for them, they were late. She couldn't wait to see her children. She should have been used by now with their long absence, but she wasn't. Whether they were away for a year, like in Leo'Ren's case, or a week, she still missed them and was the happiest when they were around. She saw them walking towards her and felt her heart jump. Her son looked so much like his father, that anyone seeing them would have thought they were seeing double. They had the same height, same build, they were walking the same way, slow, with confidence and superiority. Their hair color was the only difference, and as soon as she saw Marr taking his mask off, she felt butterflies in her stomach. Nineteen years of being with him didn't change that. She got hugged by her children as soon as they came close and she ran to them, under Marr's patient look.

"My turn," he interrupted when he saw tears building up in her eyes and took her in his arms kissing her. Even if they were tears of joy, it still hurt him to see them. "I have missed you, kitten...'"he whispered to her on a low tone that only she could hear.

Cleo looked into his eyes, smiled and whispered in return: "Me too..."

"Let me see it!" demanded Cleo, turning to her son and he extended his hand in front of his mother. She looked at the ring that he gotten that day, the Sith ring, and then in his eyes. "You have worked so hard for it… Darth Athran…"

Leo'Ren smiled at his mother and hugged her again. He hadn't seen her in last year either, busy with trips, missions and his last tests. "Mom, you know you don't have to call me that unless we are in public…"

"I have to get used it so I won't screw it up and call you Leo in front of some snobby son of a …" and she stopped realizing what she was about to say, making everyone laugh.

"After this month, it's your turn…' spoke Marr next and he turned to his daughter after they were all seated and had drinks brought to them.

Arria looked at her father and smiled. She had her mother's brilliant smile that could light up a room. "Are you sure you are ready for me?" she asked and Marr shook his head, taking a sip from his drink.

"As ready as I will ever be. I am not sure anyone else could deal with you…" he answered and Arria became serious the same second.

"Are you serious? Is my reputation this bad?" she asked, alarmed.

"I have told you before that you have to watch your tongue…I know you have your own opinions and that you are not shy to share them with the world, but sometimes you have to think before you speak. You have bruised a few egos and that is not something that is taken lightly by everyone. I will not put up with your rebellions…You will get punished just like anyone else, no special treatment. Ask your brother…"

"I will listen to you, father! You know that I will do as you order me…" she said right away looking at her brother with the corner of her eye and saw his nod.

"Remember to do just that. Your progress will be watched by many," added Marr and they changed the subject right away. "Are we all still going to Ulton at the end of the week?"

Both the children let their heads down the same instant. They had plans and already knew that their parents wouldn't like it.

"I have a party to go to, on Nar Shaddaa, but I can come straight from there…" said Arria first and looked at her mother, hoping she would understand.

"I was going to spend the weekend on Nar Shaddaa as well…I sort of have a date…" hesitated Leo'Ren and Marr put his glass on the table a little harder than normal, letting them both know he wasn't happy.

"It is your cousin's birthday. Have you both forgotten?" came his question on a harsh tone that Cleo knew and usually nothing good came out of it. Arria and Leo'Ren knew it too, and they rushed to change their plans. They didn't want to upset their father, they both knew he loved them more than anything in the world, that he would die for them, but they both respected and feared him as well.

"I can move my plans for the week after," Leo'Ren rushed to answer first and his father nodded at him.

"It is just a party…I will go next time!" Arria assured him, and Marr rose to his feet.

"Good. Now, shall we have dinner?" he asked and pulled Cleo up to him.

Later that night, in the intimacy of their bedroom, Marr took his wife in his arms. He noticed she was thinking of something.

"What is it kitten? "he asked her after a kiss, lifting her face to him.

"I can't get used to how harsh you are with them sometimes…They are young, they want to have fun…" she started, but Marr interrupted her right away.

"They are young and have to learn their priorities. I know they both work hard, that they excel in their training, I am proud of them both, but family comes first. They have to get that through their heads! I will not be around forever, I do not want the family to fall apart…It is not like Leo cannot get another date…Girls fight over him. And Arria is popular enough, she does not have to go to every single party. She scared away enough guys already, she can use a break," he explained, making Cleo smile.

"Still, they…" she tried again, but another kiss interrupted her.

"Just trust me kitten. Now, you said earlier that you missed me today…" he whispered her and Cleo saw the same instant the glow in his eyes.

"I did?" she asked him back letting her hands run through his hair. The few silver hairs he had when she met him they had multiplied over the years and made him look even better.

"Let me remind you…" said Marr and the next second lifted her in his arms and Cleo giggled wrapping her arms around his neck.

~~#~~

Home…Ulton…I will miss it when I will go to the Academy for the next year. I am a Master Jedi now, I don't have to be a Sith Lord too. But father would be disappointed, and I can't do that to him. I have to do it, I want to, and I will. As about choosing a side…I am not sure about it. I want to be able to help the ones in need and at the same time eliminate enemies…How do I choose what I want most? Both are just as important. I would rather not choose a side and do both. Is that even a possibility? Xollin was by the lake, in deep thought. He touched instinctively his hilt clipped on the belt, then held his hands behind his back. The light breeze made his long, braided hair move, the white and black beads touching with a metallic sound. He smiled instinctively remembering how surprised most were to see a sage healer with double bladed light saber. It was his choice. He was combining techniques, he was the living proof that light side and dark side can coexist in one. He had proven, just like his mother that force doesn't know color. After he had struggled for years with the concept, he finally understood. It only took that one short conversation with his parents when he admitted to them how confused he was. Being raised to use both sides of the force, reciting every day the Jedi code and the Sith code made him wonder, where does the truth lie.

"Think of it as colors…" he remembered his father's advice. "Think of the light side as white, and the dark side being black." Xollin remembered that moment and closed his eyes. "Now…" continued his father "Close your eyes and imagine all the shades of gray in between…How many are there?" Xollin was about fourteen years old at the time and he whispered.

"There are too many to count…"

"That is right, those are your possibilities," came that time his mother's answer. "Years ago, your father taught me the same thing, the world is not black and white, we live surrounded by everything in between. Keep your mind open to all, not just to extremes."

From that day he understood, he accepted that he was different, lucky enough to be able to use both sides of the force, that his options and possibilities were countless. He did embrace his gift and worked, trained, more than anyone else. He wanted to explore all those shades of gray, he wanted to learn everything, to be able to do everything. By sixteen he was both Sith and Jedi, but his training was only becoming more intense, he wanted to become better. His hard work was rewarded only months ago by the Jedi, when he became a Master. In a couple of months he was going to become his father's apprentice, and start the last phase of his training in his quest of becoming a Sith Lord. He wanted to make his parents proud, he wanted to be the first one ever to become a Jedi Master and a Sith Lord at the same time. He had become already just as good a healer as his mother, he only had to become now just as good of a fighter as his father.

Xollin opened his eyes and looked at the calm surface of the lake with steel gray eyes. The long lashes gave him a softer look. Even if he was born with blue eyes, just like his father, in the first year of his life, they changed color, they became gray, cold, almost like liquid steel. The straight nose and square jaw were also an inheritance from his father, but the soft lips and high cheek bones were his mother's touch. There was certain gentleness about him, and people were drawn to him for no reason, in spite of the coldness in his eyes. He touched in a slow motion the tattoos on the either side of his head and smiled sheepishly remembering his mother being scandalized when she saw his whole body tattoos for the first time. It took close to two years to complete them, but his body was a work of art now, in more ways than one. He couldn't remember where he read about the mystical creature called a 'dragon', with a body covered in scales, wings and claws, tails and spitting fire. It was supposed to be the most powerful creature, the absolute protector, gentle and ferocious all at the same time. That was what he wanted to be. His back was covered with the dragon's body, with the wings wide opened. The head of the dragon was right below the back of his neck and the flames he was spitting were going up to his neck, separating on the two sides of his head. The white flames were on the right side and black ones on the left. The flames were going close to the corners of his eyes, up on his forehead, just above the eyebrows, and down around the ears. The white and black were together, in equal amounts on every detail of the dragon. Over the already broad shoulders, the dragon's claws were also white and black, scratching the planes of his chest. The body of the dragon was tapered , following the shape of his own body, and the two tails, a black one and white one were going down and around his long, strong legs. The tattoo was covering the lightsaber marks he had gotten before he was even born. On his bulking arms, Xollin chose to have forever imprinted the two codes that were guiding his life. On the right arm, imprinted in black letters was the Jedi code, while on his left arm had the Sith code in white letters. He believed that there is light in the darkness and darkness in the light. He closed his eyes and remembered the smell of the ink going in his skin, the sound of the needles…Even if he could heal himself almost instantly, he chose some days not to. He wanted to feel the pain, to remember that there is nothing that can be accomplished without pain. When he had the codes tattooed he wanted to remember every word, every letter imprinted on his body forever. He did, he was remembering and he knew he always would, no matter what.

From inside the house, his parents were watching him, feeling his emotions, his struggle. Xander and Clarisse were in each others arms, as always, looking at their son.

"He is troubled…" said Clarisse, first looking at her son's gray suit. He had chosen gray as his favorite color. Clarisse remembered when he supported his choice saying that gray is the color that never ends, there are too many shades to get bored with it.

"He is…Making his choice, wasn't supposed to be easy. But if he is having a hard time choosing, it means we have done our jobs right. We taught him well, and the more he knows, the harder the choice will be," said Xander tightening his hold on his wife.

"I can't believe that he is already a Jedi master…It was like yesterday when he was struggling to crawl on the floor…" whispered Clarisse letting her head fall on Xander's chest.

Xander smiled at that memory. He remembered when he used the force to lift his son, and Clara getting mad at him for doing it.

"He is, and soon he will also be a Sith Lord…The third generation of 'Lord Hellix'…Thank you, beautiful," he added and kissed Clarisse surprising her.

Clarisse looked in his eyes, the same blue, serene eyes she loved for years, since the first time she saw them. A flash back came in her mind, the day she met him, the day they fought together, he saved her life, the very same day he was killed and she brought him back to life just so she can have him for the rest of her life.

"No…Thank you," she whispered, smiling. Xander looked in her hazel eyes, at the very few fine lines around them. She didn't age a day in all these years. Just as beautiful as the day we met…he thought and kissed her again.

~~#~~

The day they arrived on Ulton, after everyone was asleep, Darth Marr went into his meditation chamber. The last few days had left him with a weird feeling of…finality. He merged into darkness and stood without moving for almost three hours. Suddenly he opened his eyes, glowing gold in the dark room.

"So it is the time…" he whispered and with his head down, went to his bedroom.

Cleo was sound asleep and he took his time to look at her. Her image in their bed was one of his favorites through the years. It seemed everything in their lives revolved around that image. She had been close to dying way too many times, she had been happy, playful, passionate, frustrated when she had been bound to the bed with the twins, cried when she had the miscarriage, everything their lives had thrown at them solved, started and ended in their bed. He got in bed and closed his arms around her, he needed to feel her close just as he needed air to breathe. I accepted my destiny a long time ago. Now, when the time is near, I am having a hard time letting go. I have so much still to do, so much more now to live for…Leo'Ren is probably going to need me the least. He is powerful enough to make it through almost anything. Arria…forgive me baby girl…I will not be able to see you through your training to the end…But I am and will always be proud of you. You are so much like your mother… You are a brunette version of her, same attitude, same way of pushing people's buttons and drive them crazy…I hope one day you will find someone to love for who you are just as I love your mother…Cleo…My love, my life, mother of my children, my wife, my everything! I love you so much…You are the hardest to let go. I will never let go of you. Ever! Even after I will become one with the force I will not let go. I cannot…Cleo felt him close, his arms around her and she cuddled into him, molded her body against him, still asleep. Marr took a deep breath and looked at her in the faint light of the silver moon.

"You are back…Are you all dark and full of power?" she whispered, surprising him. He thought she was still asleep.

He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose "I am sorry I woke you, kitten…See for yourself…" he added as soon as he saw her smile even if her eyes were still closed.

She opened her eyes under his gold gaze and giggled, recognizing the passion and desire in him.

"What time is it?" she asked next.

"Why does that matter?" he answered with a question and pulled her under him the same instant.

"Just so I know how much time we have…"came her reply with another giggle.

Suddenly all the brightness in his eyes was gone, and a shadow covered his face, alarming Cleo. "Ari…' she whispered before he had a chance to compose himself or answer. Marr knew that he would have to tell her sooner or later…

"Unfortunately, not much…" he whispered and the way he looked at her made Cleo understand right away what he was talking about.

"No…how much?" she insisted with desperation gripping at her. No matter how much time they would still have together she knew it was not going to be enough.

"Days…"

A/N

Welcome to a new story. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it.

As always, your feedback, reviews, questions and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Buckle up for a new ride!