In the same way that the Yuuzhan Vong had left vestiges of themselves and their exotic savagery on Coruscant and a host of other worlds, the war itself had opened wounds that were long in healing, leaving scars that refused to fade. Chewbacca was one of those; Anakin, the Solos' youngest son who had seemed destined to live forever, another.

Years later Jacen's death had reawakened all the anguish.

Jacen, who in a real sense had come closest to understanding the Yuuzhan Vong and had looked to the Force for a peaceful resolution to the war. Only to fall... to die and merge with the Force rather than disappear into it. Or was he, as Han sometimes liked to believe, merely exiled, as the Yuuzhan Vong had been to the sentient world of Zonama Sekot, and advancing toward redemption?

As if she were a witch of times old in the histories of thousands of planets throughout the galaxy, Magister Danni Quee swayed the entirety of her body to the chants over the hollowed-out pit in the very center of La'okio's ground. The repetitive, guttural chants of the Yuuzhan Vong around her acted as one of the key ingredients to this ceremony, for they shouted in their alien language, "Return, for we can be saved! Return, for we can be saved! Return, for we can be saved!"

The ceremony went on for a full hour, not a single individual involved waning in their resolve, before a great fire flared from the open hole. The chants from the Yuuzhan Vong were silenced as they all stared in wonderment and profound happiness on their faces. Their human Magister, meanwhile, halted her sways, fell still as she widened her body as if they were pulled to either direction by invisible hands, dropped her head so that it faced the ground, and her eyes closed as the brilliant fire before her rocketed to the night sky of Zonama Sekot.

When the fire died out abruptly, the naked form of a brown-haired human male took the place of the hole in the ground, laying on it in a fetal position. All was silent and still as the crowd looked upon the man with great trepidation.

The man's eyes fluttered open, and he looked up, apparently unaware of his surroundings, to find the blond-haired Magister gazing upon him intently.

"Danni?" he asked.

The Magister smiled as she bent down and took the man's face in both hands. "Yes, Jacen, it's me; and I've finally brought you back from the Force." No more words were said as she gave him a long, passionate kiss on the mouth.

.

Enveloped in each others' embrace as Jacen and Danni cuddled up in the latter's bed, the both of them completely nude beneath the sheets, Jacen asked, "How did you bring me back? Why did you bring me back?"

Danni lifted her head from her lover's chest to regard him. "The Force willed it, Jacen. And I heeded its will."

"Why does the Force want me back, Danni?" Jacen asked. "After all I did..."

The former scientist placed a finger on his mouth to silence him. "That's not for you to judge. And it's not for me to judge, either. All we can do is allow the Force to guide us where we're needed. It's how you helped the Yuuzhan Vong when you defeated Onimi."

Jacen made a wry face as he stroked Danni's hair. "Speaking of the Yuuzhan Vong, why were they there when you brought me back?"

Danni smiled. "Because they need you, now more than ever. You're their salvation, their guide to their return to the Force. Sekot and I have done all we can to help them, and while we've been somewhat successful..."

Jacen raised an eyebrow in concern. "What, what's wrong?"

Danni sighed. "Without you, I don't think any of us'll have the time to see to it that the Yuuzhan Vong overall will be able to return to the Force."

"What do you mean?"

"I had a vision, Jacen," Danni told him worriedly. "I saw the galaxy in flames. I've seen the Bringer of Chaos return from the depths of the Maw. And the only way that she can truly be defeated, the only way that Balance can truly be maintained from now 'til the end of time, is for you to fulfill your destiny."

Jacen sighed. "If I had a special destiny, Danni... if the Force saw me worthy enough to come back from the dead to fulfill it, why did I fall in the first place?"

Danni laid her head back on Jacen's chest. "We all have to fall sometime, Jacen. It's the only way we can ever really learn from our mistakes."

"But I've made some pretty irredeemable mistakes, Danni," Jacen said. He then locked gazes with her. "I still remember when Aunt Mara told me that I was just like him. Like Palpatine. And then she died because of me." His eyes began tearing up in remembrance. "How could the Force forgive me for that? I can't even forgive myself for all the evil I've done."

Danni frowned sympathetically as she began wiping Jacen's eyes with the sheet of her blanket. "Again, that's not for you to decide, Jacen. The Force chose you for a reason, and it isn't in our position to question that reason."

Jacen grimaced. "Well, I'm still going to ask questions. Like why didn't the Force choose anyone else? Like Anakin or..." He trailed off before allowing himself to lay back against the bed and sighed with a defeated tone. "You're right. It isn't our place to ask why."

"And it obviously frustrates you," Danni stated. "Especially when you spent most of your Jedi career questioning the nature of the Force."

Jacen laughed humorlessly. "Yeah. And look where that got me."

Danni made a wry face. "Well, maybe that's why you were chosen. Because you ask so much of the Force."

Jacen looked back at his lover with appreciation. "Like what is my ultimate destiny?"

Danni nodded as she reciprocated his smile.