A/N: Hey folks, Soul Possession has been doing a lot of sitting around with no work being done for a long time now. Finally I sat down to do some focused work on it and realised that in the time between starting it and now I have improved as a writer and didn't like a lot of it's earlier structure. Because of this all existing chapters have been completely rewritten. I checked my reviews and took all suggestions and criticisms on board and used those to help recreate this story in a much better format and with a better story flow. The story has changed direction somewhat and the final chapter of the original version has been replaced rather then rewritten because of this. Chapters 1 through to 3 have just been revamped though.
I hope you all enjoy the new and improved Soul Possession.
Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me, all I own is a plastic lightsaber.
"Get down!" Rosh called as he pulled the young child padawan behind the safety of the wall just as something hit where they had been standing.
"Rosh there's too many of them!" The child looked like he might cry.
"Surrender!" someone called from the other side of the room.
"Never!" Rosh and the small group of kids called back.
"Rosh, Arnaia please do not tell me this is your fault." A new voice broke in as a stuffed toy landed inches from Rosh's face.
Jaden Kor watched as a few sheepish heads appeared from behind the walls of pillows and over turned beds.
"Should have known." The other knight next to her shook her head.
Jaden could see her suppressing laughter.
Rosh Penin and Arnaia Tavus had been the two older padawans assigned to looking after the younglings for the evening. In typical Rosh and Arnaia style the whole thing had escalated into a full scale disaster zone.
"Hope you're both planning to help clean up." She said.
"No problem." Rosh said as he stood up.
Arnaia took the chance to toss a pillow in his general direction.
The younglings started to gather up the fallen toys as they talked about 'the war'.
Jaden helped turn the beds the right way around while Arnaia and Rosh continued to throw various objects at each other in the guise of cleaning up.
She hadn't felt completely ready to take on a padawan when Arnaia had first arrived but now she was glad that she had. With Kyle only training Rosh there was a definite shortage of available Jedi to help train the padawans and Jaden hadn't wanted to refuse Luke Skywalker's request. Plus the girl had struck up an almost instant, albeit at times chaotic, friendship with Rosh. After Rosh's difficult time where he had fallen to the Dark Side he had found it difficult to integrate back into the academy. That combined with an already competitive nature had led to him being more often then not on the outside, not the position Kyle had wanted his still shaky padawan in.
Arnaia Tavus had been born on Naboo and had drawn the attention of a visiting Jedi. She had been in an accelerated learning program heading towards a political career. Her natural affinity with the Force had made her a prime candidate for the academy whose offer she had quickly accepted. The young girl seemed to honestly love trying new things, and when paired with Rosh's competitive nature this had led to many new games being invented by the two as they constantly threw themselves into the friendly competition. This was also something that often led to scenes like the one before Jaden now. Where most people would have stopped at pillow fight Arnaia and Rosh had quickly escalated to a pillow and soft toy warfare.
"Bedroom cleaned, requesting permission to return to our bunks ma'am." Rosh threw her a sloppy salute.
Jaden waved the two away and watched them take turns to shove each other as they disappeared down the hall laughing and arguing over something that sounded suspiciously like 'stuffed bantha bomb' and aforementioned bombs explosive radius.
Jaden grinned as she found the 'bantha bomb' on the ground and returned it to the toy chest.
As she turned to follow them she felt something out of place and paused to cast her eyes, and her senses, around. Nothing.
"Jaden?" the other Jedi asked.
Jaden shrugged before switching off the light and letting the door slide shut behind them. But even after she had reached her own room she couldn't shrug off a slight sense of discomfort.
Silence reigned over the academy now that the Jedi had all finally returned to their rooms. No one was around to notice the disturbance made as the ghostly presence passed through the halls.
The Dark Side was a powerful tool for those who dared to wield it. And Tavion had. Fuelled by her hatred for Kyle Katarn and his student Jaden Kor she had managed to live on as a ghost in the Force. Almost powerless, but not quite. She had enough power to change things in her favor.
She passed the room where Rosh Penin slept. But he was not her target tonight. Further down the wide hall she found the room that held the girl she had been tracking. She had the bed at the end of the room. Tavion slipped past the other two beds.
One of the girls muttered something in her sleep.
The other twitched uncomfortably.
This close Tavion couldn't afford to dampen her presence as much as she would have liked. She had to move quickly.
Rosh woke up in a panic.
He tried to slow his breathing and get his focus back.
"Just a nightmare…" he muttered quietly to himself as he rolled over trying to settle back down.
But he couldn't shake the dread or the cold feeling that seemed to choke the room.
Someone down the hall screamed.
Rosh jumped to his feet and ran down the hall.
Arnaia had stopped screaming by the time Rosh got there.
"Someone was in here!" she said looking scared.
The other two girls seemed nervous as well.
Just like the hallway, just like his room, this one felt cold.
"What's going on?" a Jedi asked from the door.
"Arnaia thought she saw someone in here." One of the girls answered.
Other padawans had come out of their rooms to see what was going on and where gathering in the hall.
"Rosh take Arnaia to Jaden. We'll have a look around." The Jedi suggested.
Rosh nodded and offered his hand to Arnaia.
When she took it he wasn't sure who was shaking the most.
"What do you think?" Jaden turned to Kyle.
After hearing Rosh and Arnaia out and having nothing turn up, except for a lingering sense of discomfort that simply could have come from the fear of the padawns, they had let them return to their rooms to get what sleep they could.
"You mentioned earlier you thought you sensed something." He pointed out.
"I looked around before I got back to my room. I didn't notice anything." Jaden said. "I should have checked it out more thoroughly."
"There's been a sense of that around here all week. I had it down to the ruin Luke just found, you know what this place is like." Kyle pointed out.
Jaden knew that Luke's academy was housed in the ancient ruins that at one point had hidden the Rebellion. Long before that though the Massassi temples had been the home of many Sith and the dark force often clung to areas, especially recently opened or unearthed places.
"Maybe we should look into this ourselves." Jaden said with a sigh. "I'm not sure I just want to pin this on residual dark side energy and some nightmares."
"We'll start in the morning." Kyle agreed.
Tavion reveled in her victory.
The transference had been draining and as of yet she didn't have enough power to take control. But that had its advantages. For now she wasn't at risk of being exposed.