"…Ben?" Jira whispered.

The other Knights began removing their helmets, too. Owen was right behind Ben, along with Brendol and Arvel, the other two Knights who had recently disappeared. There were two women who I didn't recognize along with a newly minted Knight named Daine. None of them were smiling. Their eyes were dark and empty and their varying shades of skin all looked pale.

Something was clearly not right. We knew most of them but… didn't.

Jira twisted the hilt of her lightsaber, refusing to sheath the blade. "Why are you here?"

Ben passed his helmet to Arvel and fluttered his cape so we could see the hilt of his lightsaber. He had two: the one he'd inherited from Anakin and another with a strange cross guard. It was meant to be a subtle warning to Jira to watch her step.

The other Padawans began drifting in front of me so I was obscured from Ben's dark eyes as he casually ringed around the edge of the group. We all knew who he was here for.

I stared, barely breathing. He looked taller, older, and… mean. The sadness was gone, replaced with stoicism and icy arrogance. It was hard to think that his impassive face had ever been lit up with warmth or laughter. It was like being in the presence of an android.

"One of my Padawans is being promoted," Ben said in a deep, slow tone. "Traditionally, the Knight escorts the Padawan to Christophsis to select a kyber crystal—and the Jedi do love their traditions. Isn't that right, Master?"

I shrank back. This was not Ben. I didn't want to go anywhere with him.

Oola stepped in front of me and Senni mouthed for me to run. The other Padawans were closing in, trying to help me escape. I could hardly see Ben over the tops of their heads.

"You were given express instruction to stay away from Rey," Jira replied. She glanced at the other five Knights and her expression tightened. "If you'd like, I can fetch Master Luke."

"Luke is not here." Ben continued slowly circling the throng of Padawans, studying them. "He's on Coruscant, with Han Solo and Leia Organa. But I do know my Padawan is here. I can sense her."

Oola drew away from me and made her way to the front of the crowd. I reached for her, but Senni slapped my hand down and pushed me back. Her eyes were wide and scared.

The three Knights tried to stop her, but Oola broke out of the group and stood firmly in Ben's line of sight. I couldn't see much other than his eyes turn curiously to regard her. Her body was trembling.

"Go back, Oola!" Jira snapped.

"No." Oola shook her head. "I'm… I'm not ready to be promoted, B-Ben."

He paused in walking and raised an eyebrow. "Then clearly I'm not speaking of you."

Jira stepped between Oola and Ben, raising her lightsaber. "Rey isn't here, either. She went with Luke." She shoved Oola back into the Knights and scowled. "And I don't have to tell you how unwelcome your presence will be on Corsucant."

"No, she didn't." Ben closed his eyes and I stiffened when I felt the darkness whisper through my mind. "Rey… I know her. I sense her. She is mine."

His last word echoed in my head and I stumbled backwards into another Padawan. They helped me up and pointed to a hut I could slip past and hide behind. I panted in fear and felt the stony edge of the building. He hadn't made any threats, but we could all feel the heavy pressure of the Dark Side.

Galen ejected out of the crowd next. He had grown tall and had some Mirialan tattoos from his home world. He stepped right up to Ben, unflinching.

"Rey is my girlfriend," Galen said defiantly. "Whatever you want to say to her can go through me."

Galen—idiot! As I clung to the edge of the hut, scared out of my mind, I realized I was being a huge coward. How could I be promoted when I ran and hid while everyone else protected me? Oola, Senni, Jira… They all accepted me without question and gave me friendship and safety and comfort.

I clenched my jaw and shakily straightened up to start making my way through the crowd. Luke always said that fear was normal: your response to fear determined your character.

Ben turned his icy glare on Galen. "Is she now?" He slipped a hand into his cape and in one fluid motion, a bloody red lightsaber snarling with heat stained the grass. "Tell me more, Padawan."

Frightened gasps swept through the crowd. Jira grabbed Galen by the collar and flung him to the ground, standing over him with her lightsaber humming at the ready. The other Knights eyed the group in helmets and shifted their stance.

Ben blinked innocently. "Oh—my lightsaber. Do you like it?" He twirled the weapon and it crackled through the air.

I hesitated near the middle of the group, eyes widening. A red lightsaber. That meant…

"Is that what you've been doing?" Jira demanded. Her lightsaber trembled. "Turning your back on all of us? Helping Supreme Leader Snoke? I can't believe you'd do this after everything Luke went through—and Anakin!"

All eyes turned to Ben. He raised an eyebrow, still emotionless, and drew back his lightsaber. He shrugged so his cape encased his entire body again and resumed scanning the crowd. Jira's outburst didn't affect him in the least.

"I haven't been helping Snoke," he said after a moment of silence. He was reaching out for me, calling through our bond. "We had a bit of a… falling out."

"A severance, even," Owen said with a smug glance at Ben.

Jira pointed her saber in Ben's face. "Explain yourself!"

I was close to the edge of the crowd when his eyes finally fell upon me. We both took a sharp breath and it was like everything around us faded away. All I saw was Ben, and all I could feel was the bizarre sensation that the light in me was inexplicably drawn to the dark in him.

Mesmerized, I teetered forward a step. The other Padawans whispered as I drifted past them towards Ben's impossibly dark eyes and I saw a flicker of hope flash across his pale face.

Jira turned as I emerged from the throng and she grabbed my arm to stop me. Her touch snapped me out of my reverie and both Ben and I blinked like we had just woken up. I could feel it in him still—the slimy thing, rooted deep into Ben. Snoke's voice was gone, but somehow, he remained.

Ben's throat bobbed and his mouth twisted like it always did when he was nervous. He held out a gloved hand, extending his long fingers to me.

"Rey," he said, staring at me. "Little one. I have so much to tell you."

"I'll cut that hand off so you match the other Skywalker men!" Jira snapped.

Ben ignored her and strained towards me. "Please, Rey. Come with me."

There was nothing I wanted more than to accept and disappear with him, but I could still feel the sickness in him. I lingered beside Jira and shook my head, still looking into his eyes.

"I can't," I whispered. "I'm sorry."

The rest happened in the blink of an eye.

Ben's expression flattened and he curved his fingers to fling Jira's lightsaber off into the distance. She immediately reached for his saber with the Force, but Ben paralyzed her, dragging his former best friend down to her knees. The Knights behind her advanced but Ben's also restrained them with the Force and all the defense Spintir had was kneeling on the ground.

The Padawans panicked and began to back up. Half of them could barely lift a rock with the Force and the others had no chance of defeating a Knight. I managed to seize Anakin's lightsaber when Ben was distracted by Jira struggling against his hold and ignited the weapon for the first time.

It was surprisingly light and I could feel the pulsations of the Force running through it. I held it over my shoulder and swallowed hard, glaring Ben down. One of the female Knights moved to attack but Ben held a hand up to stop her. He eyed me with mixed amusement and… something foreign.

"Are you going to kill me, Rey?" Ben asked, raising his eyebrows.

I twisted my hands on the hilt. "I… I don't know. I will!"

"No, you won't. You don't have it in you." He idly ripped the saber from my hands with a flick of his fingers and it clipped to his hip. "Jira did an excellent job of keeping you the same innocent little girl I plucked from Jakku." He glanced down at her and turned his hand maliciously to make her gasp in pain. "Thank you, Master Jira."

I knew exactly how to make him stop. I started towards Ben to burn him with the light, but he paralyzed me, too, opting to draw me to him instead of forcing me to the ground. It hurt. It was like ice chewing on my muscles, freezing the blood in my veins.

Ben released Jira and another Knight quickly paralyzed her yet again. He had both hands free to brush my hair back from my face as I stood in front of him, trembling from the strain of the paralysis, and his dark, hungry eyes searched my face. I tried to swallow and my lower lip quivered.

"No," he murmured, "no, no." He cupped my cheeks in his cold gloves and smiled slightly. "Don't cry. I'm not going to hurt you. But you are coming with me. And when we come back… I think the Knights and I may stay for a while to offer Luke some friendly advice."

"You…" It was hard to talk but not impossible. "You… monster…"

"We'll discuss that later. For now, you and I have a trip to take. Alone."

I glared defiantly as Ben swept his fingers through the air near my face. The light faded as I fainted right then and there with no further pretense.