Chapter 7

Jaina was in the kitchen, grabbing a bite to eat while she was home alone with Sara. Luke and Mara were on their way home from a mission to Coruscant and her parents were gone for the day on business. They told their daughter to stay home on her day off and keep an eye on Sara, but being around the devastated girl caused Jaina too much pain. Since her twin brother had not come home, Jaina had avoided going to visit the poor girl. The Jedi was so angry with her uncle. She was the only one from her family that had returned after the mission to Myrkr. Her younger brother was killed and Jacen was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong.

She had called Jag immediately after her parents had left, and was waiting for him to pick her up when he was finished up with his work. She had grown a little attached to the handsome pilot since she had returned from Myrkr, giving her strength to hold herself together while others around her were broken. While Jaina was impatiently waiting for him, she was distracted by the pretty sound of a sound synthesizer coming from Sara's room.

Curious Jaina quietly tipped toed over to Sara's room and peeked through the door. Sara was sitting at a sound synthesizer, playing what seemed to Jaina to be a lullaby. The Jedi just sat there listening to her in solitude, not saying a word.

I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all of my childish fears
and if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
Because your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I've held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me

Finally Jaina couldn't stand to the heart-wrenching song anymore; it was just too sad for her to listen to. Jaina quickly turned away from Sara's room just as Jag entered into the apartment. She walked quickly over to him with a tear streaming down her cheek. Jaina looked straight into his worried green eyes. "Hold me," she whispered to him. Jag engulfed her in his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder, and the strong-willed girl broke down and started sobbing.

The couple decided not to out that evening, choosing to sit on the sofa in silence and watch the HoloNet. As she rested her head on Jag's strong shoulder, Jaina didn't pay attention to the story on the net; instead she thought about her brothers. She wondered what type of relationships they would have had as they got older, and if other people had such a close relationship with their siblings like she had with hers. "Jag, are you close to your brothers and sisters?" she broke the silence they were in.

"I was close to my older brother Davin before he died," he answered as he remained focused on the HoloNet.

"What was he like?" she asked curiously.

"He was fun to be around, a flirt," Jag smirked at the thought of his brother flirting with the girls around town. "He always believed in doing the right thing. It didn't matter other people said." He took his eyes from the Net and looked the girl in his arms in the eyes. "That's one of the reasons why I looked up to him so much. My favorite time with him was when we were at the academy. He was a few years older than me and he would sneak me and a few friends of ours off planet to a remote bar on the outer rim that would serve liquor to anybody, it didn't matter your age. We would drink, flirt, and be young kids." Jag's heart warmed from remembering his brother. "We did that every week for year until dad found out. We got into pretty big trouble."

Jaina smiled and laughed to herself. "You, get into trouble? That hardly seems possible," she teased. "How did your father find out?"

Jag went quiet for a minute thinking. Jaina felt the young man torn between something as his mood changed and she could see in his eyes that it hurt him. Slowly he took a deep breath and told her, "I started skipping classes."

"Why?" She was shocked that he would do such a thing.

Jag sighed, "There was a friend who was in trouble, and I was trying to help her."

"Oh," was the only thing Jaina could say after realizing the struggle he was dealing with. "And she didn't want your help?"

"No," Jag whispered and turned his attention back to the HoloNet. The conversation died after that and they were back to enjoying the silence they had earlier.

Jag stayed until Jaina fell asleep. After putting her to bed, he was about to leave the Solos' apartment when the sound of a sound synthesizer playing from Sara's room caught his attention. He stood at the door watching the singer. She was unaware of her audience. The pilot was amazed by the person that was in front of him after not seeing her for years. He had been captivated by her once, along with all the other customers at the tiny bar in the outer rim. He had fallen for her, but she only considered him a friend because there was someone else in her life who had stopped her from loving him back. Jag never could forget the sadness he felt when she walked out of his life.

"Hi, Pink Star," he dryly spoke the nickname he and his buddies would call her when she was singing; she shined on stage then blushed bright pink when they would tell her how wonderful she did.

Startled, the girl whipped around at hearing that name, but relief filled her when she saw the familiar face at her door. "Hey, flyboy," she replied with the name she would call Jag. She jumped out of her chair and stared to run to him, but stopped herself immediately when she remembered that the last time she had seen him, she had broken his heart. She had missed his friendship deeply; he always took good care of her, even when she didn't want him to. Their parting had been unpleasant and she was surprised he would be standing before her. The young man opened his arms slightly to let her know he had put what happened to them behind him. She ran into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"I was so worried about you." He looked at her in his arms. "Why did you leave?"

The sad girl looked away from the man; she didn't want to answer his question. "How is your brother, Davin?"

Jag didn't let the question faze him, but inside it hurt that she was avoiding his question. Because of what Jaina told him about how fragile Sara was at this time, he couldn't bear to tell her that Davin had been killed a while ago, along with their friend Syndic. "He is good," he lied to her, not knowing how she would take the truth. He looked her in the eyes and waited to see if she saw through his lie. When she didn't, he asked her again. "Please answer my question. Why did you leave?"

"Jag, I was," she paused searching for words to explain to him why she could never love him. "I was messed up, and your father did not…"

"I didn't care what my father thought," Jag interrupted her. "I was scared that you went back to that slimebag of a boyfriend."

Sara stepped away from Jag with a guilty look on her face. "I did," she spoke softly. "But he wasn't there." She added quickly to defend herself, "I never saw him again." Jag didn't say anything to her, but she could see the rejection in his eyes. "Please, Jag," she walked up to him. "Please know that why I left had nothing to do with you. I told you, my life was messed up; I needed to straighten my mind out." She took a deep breath and told him, "I was pregnant."

Jag's eyes shot open instantly "Mine?" he whispered in shock.

"I was hoping…" She turned away from him. "But I could feel that it wasn't, and when I looked in his little eyes, I knew that it was his." She looked as if she were going to cry. "Jag, I'm sorry. I didn't want to put you through that.

Jag silenced her by wrapping his arms around her again in a comforting hug. "I'm just glad that you are alright."


Jacen was lying on the ground, staring up into the darkness that was surrounding him. He just lay there, not knowing where he was or how he got there, feeling numb. He couldn't even feel the force surrounding him. The mission to Myrkr was complete, but with disastrous consequences. The voxyn queen was dead, but his sister was consumed with darkness. His brother's life was gone; he was gone. He wondered if this was another trick that the Yuuzhan Vong were doing to try and break him.

Slowly the Jedi sat up and got to his feet, noticing that he was not alone. A very dim light illuminated two other people a few yards away from him. One, a girl, was lying on the ground, and she looked like there was no life in her. She was being cradled in the arms of the other person, who knelt on the ground next to her, wearing a long Jedi a robe with the hood covering his face. He slowly walked toward the couple, his footsteps echoing throughout the room.

As he got closer, Jacen realized that he knew the girl lying limp in the other's arms. A horrible feeling crawled up in Jacen's throat as he got closer. His vision slowly started to blur from the tears creeping into his eyes. The Jedi struggled to keep his composure as he stared at the girl he loved lying there dead. "What happened to her?" he softly asked the person holding her as he swallowed hard.

Jacen got no response. He had a feeling he just knew in his gut that this person hurt Sara. "What did you do to her?" he demanded to know.

"I didn't do anything to her," a harsh raspy whisper filled the room around the Jedi.

"Who did this?" He spoke through his teeth as anger filled his heart at the thought of someone killing the one he loved.

The person turned and removed his hood and Jacen wound up staring into sickly yellow eyes of himself. "You did."


Jacen's eyes shot open at the strange dream. He took a deep breath, inhaling dust, which caused him to choke and cough. He realized he was lying face down in the rubble dirt from the Old Jedi Temple on Coruscant. His body ached and his head throbbed, and he had no idea how he had gotten there and this was the first time he had woken up not in the Yuuzhan Vongs' custody. He heard someone rummaging through some of the rubble.

Jacen slowly rolled over onto his back and was blinded when someone shined a glow stick in his face. "Are you alive?" he heard the same raspy male's voice from his dream. Jacen held up his hand to block the sudden brightness that had been thrust at him. Before he could answer the stranger's question, the raspy voice spoke again. "Don't worry; they haven't been here for hours."

"Who?" Jacen squinted so he could try and see who was talking to him as he coughed more dust out from his lungs.

"The Yuuzhan Vong," the man answered his question.

"Why did they leave me here?" Jacen was confused about what was going on.

"Because I made them." The stranger's voice sounded very cold.

"What?"

"I have done everything possible to protect what is hidden here. When I saw that they had you, I killed them." Jacen was uneasy by how the man spoke about killing someone like it was a household chore. The stranger removed the light from Jacen's face, finally letting the Jedi see his face.

Jacen racked his brain on where he saw the familiar, pale face with dark, stringy hair before, but nothing rang a bell. He was still a stranger to Jacen. "Do I know you?" Jacen asked the man.

"No," he spoke casually, and then he gave him an evil grin. "But I know all about you, Jacen Solo."

The Jedi's body tensed when he realized that the man who had freed him from the Yuuzhan Vong might be holding him hostage. Jacen reached out in the Force to see if he could feel the man, but he couldn't feel him; he couldn't even feel the Force. It made him sick to his stomach; it felt like a big part of him was missing. The pale man started to chuckle at him. "Don't bother, Solo. I have stripped the Force from you, hidden us from other people," the man spoke menacingly.

"What do you want from me?" the Jedi asked cautiously.

"The Key."

Jacen was surprised by his answer. He was beginning to think that this man was crazy. "What Key?" he asked.

"Why should I tell you?" The man frowned at the Jedi on the ground. "You'll just steal it." Now Jacen knew the man was crazy, probably from being left on Coruscant alone to defend himself. The man slowly turned and started to pace in front of Jacen. "Tell me, Solo, do you find yourself easily losing your temper?"

"What does that have to do with your key?" Jacen got to his feet quickly.

"Beware, Solo, you are not the one who is chosen to protect the girl," the crazy man continued to ramble on, leaving Jacen lost in the conversation. "Only one can protect the Key at a time. Others will be driven by obsession from the power she has."

"Are you talking about Sara?" Jacen asked, wondering if she was the girl the man was talking about. The crazy man gave the Jedi a smile like he got some sick joy from hearing her name. "You leave her alone," Jacen demanded after seeing his reaction.

"I'm not the one you should worry about." He started to chuckle at Jacen's statement.

"I'm not going to sit here and listen to your crazy talk." The young man was fed up with all the nonsense and started to find his way out of the building.

"You should listen to your dream."

Jacen stopped dead in his tracks. He turned and walked furiously up to the crazy man, backing him up into a wall. "Are you reading my mind?" Jacen's voice was anything but calm after finding out his thoughts were being manipulated by someone else. "How do I know you didn't fabricate the whole thing?" When the man didn't respond to him, he added, "Nothing is going to happen to her. Not over my dead body." The man started laughing hysterically at Jacen's threatening tone. The Jedi turned away and made his way through the rubble of the Old Jedi Temple so he could find a way home. He left the man there and made a promise to himself that he would do anything to protect Sara and Obi-Wan.


"Where have you been?" Luke overheard Sara talking to someone in her bedroom as he sat outside his adopted daughter's room with his ear pressed against the door. He and his wife had returned from Coruscant a few days ago. They'd had great success in setting up four resistant cells. After returning, he'd noticed Sara acting a little strange. Every so often he would hear her talking to someone, and when he would walk in the room, she would act as if there was no one there. This time Luke would figure out who it was she was talking to.

"What are you doing?" Mara's voice startled Luke as she snuck up behind her husband. "Are you spying on your daughter?"

"No!" he answered defensively as he looked into the eyes of his beautiful wife and knew she saw right through him. "Yes. She is talking to someone and I don't know who."

"Oh." She saw the worry in her husband's eyes. "Have you heard from Han or Leia?" Mara asked him.

"Yes, Leia said they just arrived at the first resistance cell we set up. She said that they found another spot that would be perfect to set up another one." He pulled his wife into his arms.

"That's wonderful." Mara slowly leaned in close to gently kiss the man she loved.

"Why are you doing this?" Sara's voice echoed through the door interrupting their moment.

Luke pulled away from Mara and looked at her with torn eyes. "I should go see if she is alright." Luke kissed her softly on her lips, turned and punched the panel to open the door to Sara's room. "Sara?" he poked into her room. She wasn't there.

"Please just leave me alone," her voice pleaded from the patio outside. At first Luke thought she was talking to him.

"Sara, I'm not going to-"

"Please, you're not real; just go." She almost started crying.

Luke was very confused as he made his way quietly to the patio door. There she stood, looking out at the body of water in front of their Mon Calamari apartment. There was no one near that she could be talking to. "Sara, who are you talking to?"

His voice made her jump as she whipped around. She looked around the patio and didn't find anyone but her father standing at the door. Sara closed her eyes and looked to the floor. "No one," she whispered dryly.

"But I heard you talking to someone," Luke persisted.

Sara tried to hold her composure so he wouldn't think that she was crazy, but started to get really upset. "No, I wasn't talking to anyone." She mumbled as she brushed past her father and stormed back inside. Luke could see the tears roll down her face.

"Who is not real, Sara?" Luke followed her in to the room. His daughter refused to answer his question. She just stood there quietly crying, refusing to answer his question. "You see Jacen, don't you?" he took a stab at the idea. Sara slowly nodded her head.

"He won't leave me alone," she whispered through her tears and looked at him with watery eyes. "I'm not crazy, Daddy." She broke down. "I see him as clearly as I see you, and it hurts so much every time I see him. It's such a disappointment when I realize that it's not really him." Luke walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her to bring her comfort.

"I know you miss him." Sara started sobbing in his arms. "I miss him, too." All Luke could do was hold on to his daughter while she cried.


Jacen roamed around what used to be the underskirts of Coruscant, but the Yuuzhan Vong had destroyed almost everything, turning the buildings into organic materials. He headed west, for no reason he could think of; he just needed to keep moving so he could find a way off this planet and find his family and make it back to the girl he loved. He walked for what seemed like days, trapping food when he needed it and taking shelter when needed.

A light rain had filled his journey for three days now; it was chilly, but it didn't bother him. The cold seemed very minimal compared to what the Yuuzhan Vong put him through. The wandering man stumbled upon another man, who built a shelter that housed the man, his wife and their little boy. The boy reminded Jacen a little bit of Obi-Wan, except this boy was a bit shyer. The family had managed to keep a fire going during the rain fall and Jacen wondered if they would let a stranger warm themselves by their fire. He approached them in a non-threatening manner, which was hard to do because he still did not have the Force to help him. "Can I join you by the fire? I have food." Jacen pulled out a piece of died meat he caught a few days ago.

"Sure," the man moved to open a spot for Jacen to join them. The Jedi walked over to the family and handed the man the food he offered. The man broke pieces off and handed them to his wife and son who sat quietly eating the food. "How long have you been down here?" the man asked the Jedi.

"I don't know' feels like weeks." Jacen hovered his hands over the fire to warm them up from the wet weather. "What about you?" he asked out of politeness.

"We have been down here since the invasion. We've been pretty lucky. We are too far down, so the Vong don't waste their time trying to find us." The man seemed very friendly and talkative. "Have you found a resistance cell yet?" the man asked.

Jacen had no idea what the man was talking about. "What is a resistance cell?" He rubbed his hands together to get more blood circulation in his finger tips.

"Rumor has it that a few Jedi came back and set up a few resistance cells to provide shelter from The Yuuzhan Vong and possibly a way off this planet," the man explained.

Jacen's eyes perked up a bit along, with his hope of getting out of here. "And you don't know where one is?"

"Sadly, no. We have lasted so long here; why chance leaving?" the man put his arm around his wife to reassure the frightened woman that they were safe. "It's a hard life, but we have made it work."

Jacen watched the dancing flames of the fire that was in front of him and listen to the man talking about their survival. Until the man said something out of context. "You have the key!" Jacen looked up at the man and found that the crazy man who had freed him from the Yuuzhan Vong was standing right in front of him. Jacen jumped back and tripped over a rock and fell to the ground as his heart raced from the illusion he was seeing.

"I want the key!" Jacen looked at the wife and saw the same pale face looking at him.

"No!" Jacen huffed at them and tried to back away.

"Beware of its power!" This time the crazy man's voice came from the boy.

"Get out of my head!" Jacen yelled at the family and scrambled to his feet. When he stood and faced the family again, their faces were back to normal and the man was pointing a blaster at the Jedi.

"Are you okay?" he demanded.

Jacen calmed down a bit at the sight of them being back to normal. "yeah, I'm fine."

"I think you better leave," the man suggested.

Jacen looked at the man's wife, who had her arms wrapped around her son to protect him, and he saw the terror in their faces. The Jedi agreed with the man and slowly turned and walked away from temporary kindness the family had offered.

As Jacen continued walking, a flash of light streaked across the sky when a ship entered the atmosphere. As the ship swooped back to look for its landing spot, Jacen was able to get a clear look at it and noticed that it had a disk-like appearance, all too similar to his father's YT-1300 ship. He wondered if it really was his parents as he tried to reach out to them, but the Force was still not there. The crazy man that had rescued him from the Yuuzhan Vong still was blocking it from him and putting illusions in his head, so there was no way of knowing if it was them or not unless he tracked down the ship that flew overhead himself.