If Luke Skywalker had to describe his apprentice Eris he would do so by saying she was the opposite of his nephew. Where Ben Solo sought brute force and power, Eris was graceful and mindful. Where Ben was wrought with confliction about his place in the galaxy, Eris was of one resolution- and yet they were closer than any of his other students. The force flowed like a magnetic liquid between the two. This made the Jedi Master uneasy. Eris came from everything-; power, privilege and whatever she desired but had chosen to hand it all the way because her resolution was to protect the system that gave her so much. Ben came to him begrudgingly. Luke worried that Ben's confliction with the darkness and Eris's compassion for him would spiral the duo into a path of evil.
During practice Ben and Eris were formidable forces their mind and bodies acting and reacting without needing to speak. The other apprentices cheered and commented on their unspoken bond allowing them to turn the tides of 'battle'. Eris took on mediation and scholarly pursuit of the force focusing her mind, whereas Ben wanted strength. When he saw them laying together that night his fears were only upon the deep seeded roots Snoke had placed inside Ben. How quickly he could end another age of darkness. How the world would never know another Empire. How the shame washed over him as his frightened nephew woke.
"Ben, stop this." Eris's voice calm and clear like a pristine river over the chaos. Please… Ben… what are you doing? His familiar brown eyes were no longer so as they were encompassed with flecks of fresh blood. She stood between him and two younger apprentices unwilling to join. Her lightsaber in hand, but inactive. The cold night air ripped apart by the flames he had created.
"Did you not see with your very own eyes my uncle trying to strike us down? The strongest of his students?" Ben's voice… was unstable filled with rage and pain. In this pain she could reach him. She knew it. Eris had momentarily seen Ben and Master Skywalker lock saber's before he tore apart the hut.
"I did see what you saw, but I also saw a man conflicted. As I see you before me know with a similar choice. To strike or not to strike. He chose not to land a killing blow. I know it." She could feel the force within Ben's body pulsating with anger. He ignited his grandfather's lightsaber.
"Don't stand in my way. Join me." the conflicted boy beseeched her, but this was not the original soft spoken Ben she had known the past years. No…this isn't a request it is a command. Darkness within him had arisen in a terrifying crescendo. The hum of her yellow lightsaber made them both tremble. Their first few blows to each other were awkward. Always they had fought with each other. Ben knew her physical weakness and she knew his emotional turmoil made him unbalanced and clouded in the force.
"Come on Ben!" one of the turned apprentices antagonized.
Eris could feel the apprentices trembling behind her, and the turned apprentices in front of her ready to take them on. So many were already lost on the ground before the temple. Ben took an upward slash at her. She allowed the hit to faintly scrape her brown so she could tumble backward closer to those she defended. The pain radiated through her cranium but cauterizes instantly. Ben became shocked at this contact, like he hadn't meant it. I have to do it… now!
She reached into everyone's minds-; Ben's, the turned apprentices, any surrounding enemy. It was something she had never attempted before-only read in the texts. In their collected minds she played out images of Ben's absolute victory over her and the destruction of the others. While doing so she shuttled the three of them over to a craft setting the course for her home world of StewJon. After the ship left the ground Eris sunk against the hull taking exasperated breaths, slow and painful, as she let the image of Ben ending her- a thrust through the heart, go through. She could feel his restraint- his hesitation- conflict wrought down to the bone, but it was what was needed for both of them. The shuttle and her vision faded from her as she whispered his name.
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