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Chapter five: The Wager

Summary: I kinda personified the light and dark sides of the Force, they are basically the Son and Daughter from the Clone Wars episode Overlords.(Which, I don't claim to understand completely like are they actually the Force itself? I didn't think so since they didn't talk about it that way but heck I don't know-) The concept was also sort of inspired by the film The Book of Life. (Which I think is really good btw. I think I may have stolen a line from it as well.)

The woman stood in what, in our mortal terms could only be described as a glade. It was warm, and bright, light streamed from no particular source. A sweet, unearthly singing kept the silence at bay.

At her feet was a flower.

A bright budded yellow flower.

And the inky black flower whose stem it was attached to-

The singing quieted. The air grew cold and the light dimmed.

She knew who was approaching.

"Hello Sister."

A man, if he could be described as such, for he was as a living shadow, and dripping greasy ink, took form and walked, or rather stalked towards the woman.

"Brother." She turned. "You have no right to enter this place."

A twisted smile that gave one a slimy unpleasant feeling stretched across the man's face.

"On the contrary, I have every right. I have earned my place here once more. The darkness is stronger now than it has been in millennia. And it is I who am above you."

His wicked smile broadened as he thought upon his greatest accomplishment.

"Even the mighty Chosen One is no longer yours. ...One might say he never was."

He began circling her as a predator would it's prey. She stood unperturbed.

"I always called to him in his anger and his fear. How he responded was….intoxicating. The first time he slaughtered innocents, we both knew it was only a matter of time before he betrayed you and came to me."

She did not blink, but finally spoke.

"The prophecy of old, merely said the chosen One would bring balance and destroy the Sith. How he would do so was never specified."

Anger rumbled in him that she still continued to dismiss him. But he pondered. His eyes fell on the yellow budded flower and the black flower.

His smile returned.

"How about a wager then, my Sister?"

Silence.

"A wager?" She asked it flatly, but she did not fool him. He could sense her interest.

"The boy."

He smiled as she looked sharply at him.

"The little one with golden hair and sapphire eyes, who shines so... brightly." He snarled the last word.

"You refer to the son of the Chosen One?"

"Oh yes. He seems so pure and innocent, does he not? He shines like the brightest of stars. But even his pure heart is not left untainted with the dark."

"If I can claim this boy as I have claimed his father, you will kneel, and finally admit I am stronger than you, greater than you."

She considered him.

"You misjudge him, Brother. Untainted, he may not be, but the light courses strongly through him. He will not be easily swayed to your side."

"Then it will be so much more the challenge. Oh, I have many plans and traps for him, as you well know."

She paused. Her eyes lingered on the little yellow bud at her feet.

"Very well. If the boy comes to you willingly. If he betrays all he holds dear and becomes corrupt, then I shall do as you have said.

But if he cannot be turned, then you will leave this place, never to return."

"Then by the ancient laws, the wager is set."

"Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force." Ben leaned closer to Luke and lowered his voice.

"He betrayed and murdered your father."

Despair and anger filled Luke Skywalker.

Despair that Ben was confirming the truth that Luke had always secretly wished would one day be proven false. That his father was indeed dead, and would never come back to collect his son from this desolate place and take him to fly among the stars.

Anger that his father had apparently been betrayed by a trusted friend. That he'd been murdered and would otherwise be alive, and the person responsible was still alive and kicking.

He smiled. "It has begun."

She didn't react.

The flower was still bright yellow.

"I am your father."

Luke stilled. An unnatural calm coming over him.

No.

That- No.

That's impossible.

That terrible black-gloved hand reached out to him. Proffering. Imploring. He's never trusted that hand. That hand had hurt him, his friends and so many others.

"Come with me, Luke."

NONONONONONO.

Shock. Anger. Horror. Pain-horror-shockrepulsionfearsorrowrejectiondistrustragedenialshockterrorbetrayaldisgustangerpainfear.

….

That's impossible.

Again the hand.

"It is the only way."

…..

No.

There was one way.

He let go. And let himself fall.

He scowled fiercely as he watched the youth fall. He would not die. That he knew.

"He has already proven he would choose death before joining you, Brother."

"We shall see, my Sister, we shall see. He has yet to face the final trial. One he will fail."

The flower was still yellow.

Luke stared at the lightsaber in his hand.

This lightsaber. This weapon. It was used for conflict, whether it be creating or resolving it. A lightsaber was the icon of the jedi. But a jedi was so much more than a flashy sword. It was a weapon such as this that his father had used to slice off his hand…. much as he had just cut off his father's.

And now it was clear to him.

Down this path there can be but one destination.

He was a creature of the light.

And he would not fight.

He would not turn.

Not now.

Not ever.

"No." His ultimate refusal echoing in the Force. The light within him swirling and vibrating like a swarm of fireflies. It warmed him, filled him until he practically glowed.

He threw his weapon aside. With it his anger, his hate, his fear. His darkness. He cast it aside, far, far away from him.

He raised his voice now. "You've failed Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me!"

Beyond the mortal realm, the brother howled at the youth's words, the boy's resolve shattering and shaking and ripping through his very core.

She, on the other hand, stood tall and radiant as ever.

"Now you know the truth. You will never have him Brother! He has overcome! He has faced his greatest challenge, and prevailed! You have lost the wager. Now go from here! Flee!"

She raised her hand and winds picked up. The Son began to disintegrate into red and black ashes, the winds sweeping them away.

"Never!" His echoing voice seemed to fill the heavens. "There will always be darkness! Even in his heart. One day he will make a mistake, one that will cost him dearly and he will despair. And I will be there to comfort him then. I will be present in his waking dreams. Not you!"

With a last shrieking howl, his center burst into a swarm of ashes and black soot, the warm winds sweeping them away into oblivion.

The light became bright and piercing once more, the air warm, and sweet. The singing gradually returned, stronger than before.

The Woman stood, then bent, kneeling to cup the bright yellow bud that now bloomed fully, as bright as ever. Her eyes followed the stem to the inky black flower. And she smiled as it uncurled from around itself and color flooded back into the petals. It was now a deep passionate red. Not a violent, savage, painful red, but a bright, sweet, loving red. As it had been, before.

But it's center had always been that pure, sweet red.

Beside the red flower was a slightly smaller, blue one, with a white bud growing off the stem. If one looked beneath the ground, they would find the roots of these flowers intertwined.

"The hearts of men may change with time." The words were barely audible. "But there will always be another hopeful soul to follow. The children of the light. You may wager that, my brother."