Jeyna watches as Revan stands, shoulders straightening beneath damp, black robes. He's tall, and as he turns towards her, her body tenses with fear. His face looks haunted, dark, piercing eyes sunken in exhaustion.
But it isn't his drained state, nor his accusing stare that makes her muscles lock up in panic. It's the conflicted feeling of him in the force, a roiling turbulence in his energy. Jeyna can't understand the sensations pouring off of Revan. Victory clashing with despair, excitement tempered by dread. The battle within him is loud, she couldn't block it out if she tried. There is something wrong, but she doesn't understand.
"Finally," he says, voice rough with disuse. He looks down at his hands, studying them as he flexes his fingers. When he looks back at her, his face is cold. "I was worrying you'd never come."
"Why me?" Jeyna blurts out, her confusion and need for answers winning over the intuitive fear. She tries to ignore the way her body urges her to run from Revan. "Why did you lock the holocrons, why did it have to be me to find you?"
"Questions, questions," he says mockingly, taking a testing step from the stasis chamber. When his legs don't fail to support him, he steps again, closing the distance between them. "So full of questions. I didn't lock the holocrons. Bastila did. Bastila's blood locked me into stasis, so only Bastila's blood would release me."
Jeyna's mind is racing, feeling as though there is a part to the mystery she has failed to analyze. Some glaring piece of the puzzle has been missing, and she's been too blind to notice it. Her heart beats faster as Revan gets close, his face tilting down to survey her.
"Why did she make it so hard to reach the holocrons?" Jeyna whispers aloud, but she might as well be asking herself. She reviews the information, as a chilling conclusion starts to form in her brain.
Bastila Shan had purposely set the star map to destruct on Kashyyyk, nearly killing whoever would be retrieving it. She'd ensured the one on Dxun was located next to a powerful force ghost, one who would try to kill anyone who woke it… Why make the pursuit of the star map to Revan so dangerous? Why would Bastila risk killing her own descendants, should they try to follow the trail? Unless…
Had the difficulties they'd faced, in tracking down the pieces of the star map, been intended to deter them? Had Jeyna been so blinded by her bias of Revan, that she'd missed the warnings?
"She intended for me to never be freed," Revan says quietly, confirming her horrified thoughts. Her body turns cold at the way he's watching her, a strange amusement filling his gaze. "Meetra and Bastila intended to leave me, confined in this deserted prison, forever."
"But why?" Jeyna gasps, guilt consuming her as she realizes she has messed up. She's made a terrible mistake, even as she fails to understand the extent of it. Why would Revan's own wife, and his former ally from the wars, turn on him?
Revan smiles down at her, a small, humorless expression. "Let me show you what will become of the galaxy, in a way that you can understand."
His words trigger her memory of the dream, the one he had planted in her brain as she lay in a coma. The energy being siphoned from the web of life, the devastating power of the ritual of Nathema. Was his prophesy, his begging her to find him to stop the end of the galaxy, all a trap? In releasing him, had she really just ensured its destruction?
Jeyna's panicked thoughts are stopped, as Revan holds out a hand, his fingers curling. She's jerked upwards and forward, the force pulling her roughly into his grasp. He grips her neck, half marching and half dragging her across the room to a dusty window.
"Look," he commands. When Jeyna only digs her fingers into the damp material of his sleeve in response, he growls. "Look." He shakes her, his grip tightening to the point of choking her for one terrifying moment.
She complies, raising her eyes to look out of the tower they stand in. She can see it, out past the buildings around them. The Finalizer is hovering above the planet of Dromund Kaas, motionless in the sky.
Revan pulls her back, against his body, and she cringes in repulsion. His arm wraps around her, holding her still, even as his other hand refuses to relent his hold of her neck. "Can you feel them?" he asks, whispering close behind her. She tries to pull away, but he is too strong. "Reach out, in the force. I know you are weak, but your grasp of it has grown."
Jeyna tries to fight back as he invades her thoughts, but it is futile. She can feel what he's referring to, as he forces the awareness into her brain. She senses the First Order personnel, thousands and thousands of them, aboard the Finalizer. Each one like a distant light, a knot in the web, clustered together up above the planet.
"It's been too long," Revan breathes into her ear. "I am weak. I'll need energy for the transfer."
She drags a breath in, her body shuddering in fear. What transfer is he talking about? Before she can dare to ask, she feels a darkness building. Jeyna recognizes it instantly, hears the sounds that had filled the small holocron as the terrible force grows. He's using the ritual of Nathema.
She digs her fingers into his arms, attempting to claw free from him, before resorting to pounding her fists against him. It is a worthless gesture, as Revan behaves as though he doesn't feel her frantic assault. She falls limp when it happens, the ritual surging to the point of action. Her mind is still tied to those small beacons of the force, representing the crew that fills the Finalizer.
They are extinguished, each and every one of them, drained of the force in a fraction of a second. She tries to cry out, but the breath has left her lungs. The feeling of him draining the life from the ship is too overwhelming. Though the Finalizer still sits there, visible above them, she knows it is empty. He's massacred the entire living contents of the First Order ship, tens of thousands of souls, and he's forced her to feel it happen.
Her mind is in shock, she barely feels the way his body stiffens behind her. It's only when she feels the power within him surge that she jerks, struggling once more.
"Don't fight it," Revan orders, and his voice suggests he is enjoying her struggle. He turns her around, flinging her back against the wall before he crushes her against it, his forearm pressing on her throat. "I need a new vessel. We have raged against each other for long enough, and I tire of sharing this body. Yours will do."
Jeyna flails, adrenaline pumping through her body in the fight for survival. She manages to break a hand loose and strikes out, her fist colliding with his face. He merely laughs at the attempt, and she is crushed backwards with the force. He pins her to the wall with his power, her chest barely able to expand against the strength of it to breathe.
Revan invades her mind, forces himself into her existence as though he's shredding her soul apart to make room for his own. The pain is so intense that she loses sight of him, loses sight of the room. Her screams come out like broken shrieks, her body still too compressed under the pressure of his force hold. His energy is nothing but a dark void, cold and ruthless, ripping through her with agonizing brutality.
In the moment when Jeyna feels like she is going to blink into nonexistence, she feels him.
Ben's presence surges in her mind, his energy pulling her back together. It buffers her from the pain, and she clings onto him, their bond soothing the damage Revan's inflicted. She reaches for him, and it only seems to reinforce his power. The force rises strongly, Ben's hold pulling her own with it though the entangled link they share.
The darkness is pushed back, the pain retreating with it. Revan drops his hold of her, and she crumples to the floor as he relents. The last trace of his invasion vanishes from her mind, his energy abandoning her. Jeyna clings onto the connection with Ben, feels his presence close, and growing nearer.
She tells herself she just needs to hang on, even as Revan retreats. His face looks furious. "What was that trick?" he demands. "Who was that?"
"He's stronger than you," she realizes. "He's stronger than whatever you are…" Though her voice is shaking and frail, she knows she is right on both counts. Not only is Ben stronger, to be able to push him from her mind, but whoever she's been speaking to is not Revan. What he's said, and the conflicted feelings battling within him, have made it clear. Something has possessed the former Jedi Knight. And it just tried to take her over instead.
Jeyna sees the flash of fear cross Revan's features, before it vanishes. "An unforeseen complication," he admits. His head snaps to the side, landing on the unconscious Hux, still laying on the floor. "I suppose that will have to do."
He crosses the room, and Jeyna watches as Hux is pulled up, like invisible strings have connected to his body. He's hoisted into the air, his arms and legs hanging limp, boots hovering inches off the ground. His head is lolled to the side, as the redhead remains knocked out.
"Who are you!?" she asks impulsively. She knows she can't fight him, her body weakened to near the breaking point, her grasp of the force too new. But Ben can. And so she tries to stall him, to drag it out until Ben can arrive. She reaches out, and realizes he's much closer. Relief fills her as she suspects he is in the building.
Revan freezes, glancing at her briefly. "I've had many names," he admits. He grabs Hux's face between his fingers and examines the unconscious man's features. "Valkorian…Tenebrae…Vitiate…"
She doesn't recognize any of the names he lists, her confusion only growing with her fear. This must be the threat Revan had been referring to, in the holorecording she'd witnessed as a child. Do these names describe a terror that had been lurking, outside of known space? Had Revan fallen victim to it, even as he sought to destroy it?
Revan cocks his head, pulling Hux closer to his face. "I suppose this skin suit has a name. That will soon be mine, as well…"
Her mouth drops open in horror when she feels the dark, boiling energy begin to build again. She can sense it more clearly, now that it isn't directed at her. Hux's body spasms, his limbs jerking as if he is being electrocuted. Whether he has been woken up by the pain, or it is a reflexive response to the assault, she doesn't know.
Pained noises escape the general's throat, and her face crumples in disgust. She can't help the sympathy she feels for Hux in the moment, even as she hates him. She remembers the agony too distinctly to not feel bad. Even despising him, she wouldn't wish that degree of suffering on anyone.
Jeyna can't watch, flinching as Hux appears to be seizing, his whole body convulsing. She drops her eyes, tears escaping her lashes, guilt filling her once more. She's released this horror onto the galaxy, this is her fault. The guilt only compounds her exhaustion and the pain of her many injuries.
She jerks her eyes back to the pair of men when she hears the thump of a body collapsing. Jeyna is surprised to see it is Revan laying now, near unconsciousness on the floor. The energy coming from him is weak, she can barely detect him in the force. His body looks devoid of life, limbs splayed, but his eyes are open. Her breath catches when his dark gaze locks on her, his eyes boring into hers from across the room.
Ben barrels through the doorway, sliding to a stop at the sight of Hux standing over Revan. The general is staring down at his hands, flexing them as if testing their responsiveness. Jeyna sees confusion fleet across Ben's face momentarily before he looks like he understands. His expression is one of barely contained rage, eyes narrowing as he sizes up the situation.
Her mouth falls open as she takes in his injuries. Ben's face is bruised and bleeding in more than one place. His clothing is slashed and singed, his hair damp with sweat. As exhausted and beaten as he looks, she can feel his resolve. As he focuses on Hux, Ben steadies himself. His power is tangible, filling the room with a crackling aggression.
Hux, or rather the being possessing him, seems to get his bearings. He straightens fully, turning to notice Ben. His features darken in malice. "So, you're the one I felt in her mind. Who are you?" Hux asks, before furrowing his brow as if trying to remember. "Kylo Ren? Is that right?"
Jeyna's eyes flit to the lightsaber in Ben's hand, as he ignites it. A blue beam erupts from the handle, and Ben lifts it in a fighting stance. "Ben Solo," he corrects, voice threateningly low.
Hux's face twists into a snarl. "This isn't over," he promises. Jeyna gasps as the blast of force lightning erupts from Hux, arcing towards Ben. The lightsaber seems to catch the brunt of the attack, and Ben pushes back with the force. The electrical storm is sent surging backwards, striking Hux and flinging him through the air.
His body strikes the window, shattering it upon impact. There is nothing to stop Hux from plummeting out of the opening. Jeyna shoves herself upwards, stumbling on weak muscles across the room as quickly as she can. She joins Ben at the opening, a muggy breeze hitting their faces as they both look down. There is no sight of Hux on the ground below the prison tower. He has disappeared.
