The second Vestara felt Ben's distress she was running off the Jade Shadow and pushing her way through the crowded streets of Haven Port. Fear and pain washed over her like a wave emitted for Ben and that made her panic. And Force help her she could feel his pain and she had to fight back a wince of her own when she felt a strong pressure on her chest.
Luke was hot on her heels, having sensed a strong disturbance in the Force that surrounded his son.
Coming up on an intersection, she looked around frantically, reaching out to Ben in response to his calls.
His Force signature was growing faint and she finally had to come to a stop and put all her concentration into trying to feel Ben. Despite their bond, she was losing him, and then he was gone from her mind all together.
Stopping in the middle of the street, panicked, she put her hand over her mouth, eyes searching each face in the crowd, trying to sense him, find him.
Sensing rather than seeing Luke come up beside her, she murmured in distress, "I can't feel him. I… I can't feel him."
"Neither can I," Luke said, looking around. It was unnerving that the great Luke Skywalker couldn't feel his son's Force signature. "He's using the Force to disappear," he added after a moment, both perplexed and utterly concerned. "It was something he learned while he was Jacen's apprentice." He then turned his eyes to Vestara. "What was the last thing you saw in your mind before you lost him?" he questioned, voice calm, but she saw through the mask and knew that he was just as panicked and worried as she was.
"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention. I was just trying to follow his Force signature and..." A wave of curse words fell from her lips and she kicked a nearby trashcan, angry at herself and afraid for Ben. "I should have paid attention!"
Coming up and taking her by the shoulders, Luke said calmly, firmly, "You're letting your anger and fear control your thoughts. Those kind of emotions won't help you find him. Relax, reach out with the Force and try to remember what you felt, what you saw in your mind."
Gritting her teeth, Vestara closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Gradually, her raging thoughts calmed and she began to see things clearer. Once she was sure most of her anger and fear was pushed away enough, she stretched out with the Force, bringing back the images and feelings she felt coming from Ben. It was disconcerting, trying to see and feel what he'd seen and felt at the time of his distress. When they were intimate, it had been different, easy and natural because they were both so open to each other. Now, it was chaotic and she felt like she was having to force herself into his mind just to recall what had happened.
"I see," she began, voice just a whisper. "An alley, maybe."
"Do you sense any distinguishing features?"
She shook her head. "No… wait." Taking a deep breath, breathing in the scent in her mind, she said, "It's near a restaurant. I smell food and garbage." Furrowing her brow, she tried to put a face to Ben's attacker. Picking through the chaos, everything turned blue-white and she knew immediately that it was Dark Side lightning, sudden pain making her flinch. She didn't need to see or feel anymore. She knew who the attacker was. "Tarick," she said, snapping her eyes open and looking up at Luke. "Tarick attacked Ben."
Cursing under his breath, Luke shook his head. "I shouldn't have let him stay on the ship."
"We both screwed up. That vision I had…" She should have tried harder to get to the bottom of what Tarick was up to.
Taking control of the situation, the Grand Master Jedi pointed to the left of the intersection. "Let's split up. You take the left, I'll go right." Pulling a comlink from his belt, he tossed it to her. "Contact me immediately if you find anything."
Giving him a curt nod, she went down the street, looking for a familiar face. It seemed as though everyone had decided to flood the streets and they slowed her down, blocking her view of alleys to the point that she had to jump everyone now and then to see over their heads. This was bad. This was really bad. She didn't know much about Force-bonds, but she was fairly certain that she should be able to feel Ben. For their bond to just fall silent… Determined, she pushed people of various species out of her way, ignoring their rude comments as she passed.
From the pain she'd felt coming from Ben, she took a guess that Tarick had beaten him a good bit. How the Sith could have overpowered him was beyond her, but Tarick was smart and a powerful Sith who knew just how to ware someone down. But why would Ben make himself disappear in the Force? That bothered her more than anything. It was possible that he was trying to protect her and his father, but surely he knew that they could handle themselves. There had to be another reason for his hiding.
Passing a few restaurants, she stopped dead in the street, a mouthwatering smell coming from inside before turning rancid as it mixed with the garbage out in the alley next to it. It was the same smell. Coming to an alley encased in darkness, she stretched out with the Force and sensed the Dark Side hiding within the shadows and knew it was the place.
Reaching for her comlink, taking a few steps towards the darkened entrance of the alley, she pressed the button and raised it to her lips to speak with Luke.
Before she could utter a word, an arm shot out of the alley and hauled her into the shadows, a hand clamping over her mouth.
"It's me," a familiar voice whispered in her ear and she stopped struggling.
Prying the hand off her mouth and placing the comlink in her pocket, she turned and wrapped her arms around Ben's torso, relief flooding her system. He was all right. He was safe. But something was wrong.
"Are you all right?" she questioned, looking up at him and squinting her eyes, trying to adjust them to the darkness.
"Yes, I'm fine," he assured her smoothly, sifting his fingers through her hair in a soothing manner that wasn't at all as soothing as it should have been.
"Then why are you still hiding yourself from me?"
He didn't answer right away and seemed to take a second to think about it. "I don't know. I've made myself disappear in the Force for my own protection, but I'm uncertain as to why our bond has faded," he said, sounding confused but unconcerned.
Frowning, she said, "I'm no expert on Force-bonds but I doubt they can just disappear like that."
"I'm sure it will come back, Vestara," he replied and took her hand, heading deeper down the alley. "For now, we must get to the landing platform. Tarick is waiting for us."
Stopping abruptly, she looked at Ben with wide eyes, completely confused. "Tarick? Ben, I felt the pain you were feeling. Tarick attacked you! Whywould he be waiting for us?" she demanded.
"Don't worry, everything will be all right," he said calmly and gave her hand a tug.
Pulling her hand out of his, she shook her head. "No, I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me why we are going to Tarick."
Sighing in frustration, Ben took her shoulders in his hands. "He's right, Vestara. He's right about everything. I see that now. The Jedi and the Sith… they're corrupt, weak, and need to be cleansed."
"…What?" she murmured, voice hardly a whisper.
"The Jedi are going to turn on the Republic, against Daala. It's clear that the Jedi can no longer be trusted to protect the Republic. As for the Sith… Tarick said that they too must be wiped out because they have grown weak and soft. Killing the Sith is fine with me of course, as for the Jedi," he paused briefly, then took on a tone that chilled Vestara to the bone. "Destroying them is necessary. In time, I'll get over their death."
Her thoughts were raging, clashing with each other. This wasn't Ben. Ben wasn't like this and wouldn't turn on the Jedi. He was a good man. One thought pushed its way to the front of the line and she swallowed before asking, "What about your father?"
Force-bond or not, she felt sorrow and anger radiating off him. "I don't know. I don't want him to have to share the same fate as the rest of the Jedi. But from what I saw in my vision, what he was willing to let happen to you." His hands tightened on her shoulders. "I won't lose you, Vestara. I won't let my father turn you over to the Sith."
She stared at him. That was all she could do. Words failed to come to her as she struggled to think.
How could he even consider the mere thought that Luke would have to die? There was no way that he would go along with Ben and Tarick. The Dark Side's presence in the alley was nearly suffocating her and she wanted nothing more than to leave. Having spent so much time with the Jedi and in the presence of the Light Side of the Force, she found that she didn't much like being near the Dark Side again, a feeling that was so very strange and foreign to her. There was a chance that close proximity to the Dark was clouding Ben's judgment.
Shaking his hands off her shoulders, she took him by the hand and started leading him out of the alley but it was like pulling on a bolder. He refused to move his legs and tugged her roughly back to him.
Irritated, she turned to snap at him and caught sight of the hand she held when a thin ray of light coming from the only working light in the alley touched it.
Gasping quietly, she pulled up his sleeve. Veins that were supposed to be faintly bluish in color were tinted black, outlining his arm like webs. Turning her eyes up to his face, she pulled him closer so that she could see his face and her eyes widened in horror. The same black ran through the veins in his face and his eyes were a luminescent yellow.
"What did Tarick do to you?" she whispered, shocked that she could form words at all as she slowly raised her hand to his face, tracing one of the many dark veins with her fingers.
Smiling faintly, he answered, "I wasn't open to the truth. He injected me with his blood, said it would help me see things more clearly. It made me see the truth and understand that he's right." Cupping her cheek with his cold hand, he went on with a seductive tone, "We can finally be together without worry, Ves. Tarick and I are going to create a new Order. We'll finally be on the same side."
She couldn't believe it. To be on the same side was her dream, but this was a nightmare. "Ben…"
Leaning forward, he kissed the top of her head and took her hand again, pulling her towards the other end of the alley. "We have to hurry. Tarick is growing impatient."
"No, Ben, this isn't right," she argued, trying to pull her hand out of his iron grip.
"What is right and wrong, Ves?" he questioned, giving her a yank when she slowed down. "It's all a matter of perspective. In time you'll come to see that Tarick is right. Now, come on."
Frightened by his tone and rough treatment, she dug her boots into the ground and tried to pull away again, causing him to tighten his hold on her to the point she thought he'd brake her fingers. "Ben, stop it, you're hurting me," she hissed and her blood suddenly ran cold the moment the words left her mouth.
"Easy," she breathed, heart racing while the hand that had been against her back sank down her grasp her hip almost painfully, grinding against her roughly. When he bit her harder than before, she frowned and repeated, "Easy. That hurts."
Either he didn't hear her or he didn't care because he became even rougher and his hand in her hair yanked her head back as he painfully sampled the column of her throat. Fear washed over her and she opened her eyes and pushed against his chest to get him away from her. "Ben, stop it, you're hurting me!"
Suddenly she understood what that vision had been telling her with horrified clarity.
Ben's face changing to Tarick's, the phrase she'd just uttered… Ben was infected with Tarick's blood and was becoming more like the Sith – something she'd believed to be capable of in fictitious stories rather than reality despite her people's history. More terrifying, Ben was willing to hurt her.
There was just one part of the vision missing. The part when he reached out to strangle her.
If she went with him, she knew in her heart that she was as good as dead.
Upon hearing her words, Ben released her hand, looking horrified, and for the briefest second the yellow in his eyes gave way to blue. "Ves… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," he apologized quietly. "Just come with me," he pleaded. "This is what you wanted, remember? You wanted to be on the same side so that we can be together."
She wanted to go with him, to be with him, but she couldn't make herself move. This wasn't her Ben. This man wasn't Ben at all. He was something else, something twisted.
Gathering her strength, she shook her head and took a step away from him. "No," she whispered brokenly.
His face hardened, all traces of blue in his eyes gone, and she saw in the faint light that his hands had formed fists at his sides. "What did you say?" he demanded quietly.
Taking a breath, she said with more conviction, "I said, no. I'm not going with you. This isn't you, Ben. Tarick's poisoned you."
"Poisoned me?" Ben exclaimed with a harsh laugh. "Ves, I'm fine. He helped me to see the truth, that's all."
"And the only way for you to see the truth was by him attacking you in the alley beside Fine Twi'lek Dining and infecting you with his blood?" she asked, arching a brow. It was so absurd that she breathed out a humorless laugh. "Doesn't that sound a little extreme to you?"
"Perhaps," he admitted after a moment. "But it had to be done."
She couldn't believe this. "You need help, Ben. Force knows what that blood is doing to you. I mean, it's someone else's blood for Sith sake! That alone is dangerous. You could get sick or even die!" She knew the stories of how the Sith had poisoned the opposing Keshiri, how the blood of another posed little real harm for some reason. The Darkness in the blood, however, was what was truly dangerous. Ben would be lucky if he didn't go insane, or worse, die.
"You're trying to confuse me," he declared angrily and advanced towards her. "You'll see things our way soon enough."
"She said no, Ben," said a stern voice of a third party.
Throwing a glance over her shoulder, Vestara saw Luke coming from the shadows behind her.
"You certainly took your time," she grumbled to the Grand Master Jedi.
Ben looked at his father in disbelief. "No… I've hidden myself! How did you find me?"
Instead of Luke answering, it was Vestara. Keeping her eyes on Ben, she pulled the comlink from her pocket and held it up. "I switched it on to speak with him when you grabbed me, but I never turned it off. Your father heard everything." Putting it back, she swallowed the hurt she felt. "I'm sorry."
Ben stared at her with sadness and anger. "When you mentioned the restaurant we're next to… you were telling him where we are." All sadness left him, and hate and anger radiated off him in waves that sent a chill down her spine. "You betrayed me."
Her heart broke but she didn't let it get to her. This wasn't Ben. He made that perfectly clear when he activated his lightsaber and attacked.
Both Vestara and Luke activated their own, fending off the corrupted Jedi's rage filled strikes. Neither she nor Luke wanted to hurt or kill Ben, but they weren't just going to bend over and let him strike them down either. Ducking under the blue lightsaber before it could decapitate her, Luke stepped in and blocked the blade with his green one before it could reach him.
Dropping to the ground, she spun and kicked Ben's legs out from under him and he fell to his back.
In a defensive position, Luke stared at his son. "This is exactly what you wanted to avoid, Ben! Fight this!"
Growling in anger, he jumped to his feet and lunged toward them.
Working together to fend off Ben's attack, Vestara blocked the back of the alley where he'd tried to take her while Luke blocked the front, keeping Ben boxed in. When she lunged at him, intent on cutting his lightsaber in half, he sent a massive Force push her way that sent her flying into a dumpster.
Hissing in pain, she got to her feet and made to get back in the fight.
Seeing her out of the corner of his eye, Ben back flipped in her direction. The moment he landed in front of her, he kicked her with great force in the abdomen. She lost her breath from the force of the kick and doubled over, willing to bet that she had a cracked rib given the sharp pain the erupted from the action. She didn't have a chance to recover, still hunched over holding her side. Before she had a chance to catch her breath, Ben was behind her, his arm wielding his lightsaber going around her waist and holding her against him while his free hand grabbed her wrist that held her own lightsaber. In the next second, her lightsaber was mere inches from her throat, the red blade hot against her neck.
Luke instantly stopped his advances on him and, though he kept his lightsaber activated, he held his other hand up, palm open. "Take it easy, Ben. You don't want to hurt her."
"You're right, I don't," Ben agreed through his teeth, slowly backing up towards the end of the alley with Vestara. "But I will if you don't back off."
Forcing tears from forming in her eyes, she kept calm and didn't struggle. Thinking quick, she spoke gently, "Let go of me, Ben."
"Why? So you can run away from me?" He shook his head. "No, you're coming with me."
"This isn't something you can force on me," she reasoned softly, soothingly. "I need time to consider this. To think."
"You're messing with me."
"No, I'm not," she said, surprising herself by how truthful she sounded. "You know how much stress I've been under with my father and the rest of the Sith out to get me, with this seemingly endless hunt for Abeloth, and you scared me earlier when I couldn't sense you. Don't you think the stress I'm under could impair my judgment? Make me frightened of too much change all at once?"
His retreat slowed as he considered her words. "How am I to know that you won't try to get far away from me?"
Keeping her movements slow, she thumbed off her lightsaber and was relieved when he didn't activate it again or react with hostility. Throwing a look to Luke that told him not to do anything, she turned carefully until she was facing Ben and had to force herself not to flinch upon seeing the dark veins and yellow eyes. Rising to her toes, she placed a kiss on his lips, slow and deep, which he instantly returned. Pulling away, she whispered, "Because I love you. Once I can see past my stress, I'll be more open to going with you. All I ask is that you give me that chance, please."
Slowly, relief reached his eyes and he nodded. "I can't stay here and wait for you to be ready." Touching his forehead to hers, he said, "One week. I'll give you one week to sort out the stress you're under. At the end of the week, I will contact you to get your answer. I pray your answer is positive, Ves. I don't want to have to come and find you."
The unmasked threat make her tremble fearfully. She'd hoped that he would stay and that somehow she and Luke would able to help him, but his tone suggested that there would be no negotiating and that she would have to let him go.
Sighing, she nodded. "One week, no longer."
After an agonizing second, Ben let her go and started backing away without her, his eyes turning back to his father. "I don't want to have to kill you, Dad. Please try to understand that what Tarick and I are doing is right."
With forced optimism, Luke said, "I will try. Be careful, Ben, and may the Force be with you."
Ben didn't return the words.
Without another word, he was gone, running out of the alley.
Staring at where he'd been standing, Vestara couldn't help but feel as though she'd failed. She should have tried to get him to stay, tried to convince him to stay with her.
As though reading her thoughts, Luke's hand landed on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. Looking up at him, she saw the sadness and worry in his eyes. "There was nothing either of us could have done, Vestara. All we can do is prepare for what we are going to have to do by the end of the week."
Swallowing her guilt and frustration, she nodded.
Leading her out of the alley, he said, "I need you to tell me everything you know about why Tarick injected Ben with his blood."
Coffee keeps me awake to write, but reviews keep me motivated to write!
A/N: The next chapter will explain the Sith blood in much more detail.
