With guilt hanging in his heart Skar mended Kayupa's wounds. The slash on his chest had been reopened while fighting with Master Bo-Hi. Skar had found a first-aid kit on one of the dead stormtroopers. He placed the antibiotic synthflesh patch on his chest, which began treating and cleansing the wound. Skar produced another and slapped it onto his shoulder. Kayupa screamed in pain, barred his teeth, and his hands clenched in fists.

When the pain vanished he looked up in Skar's face. "Thank you."

Skar only nodded, a numbness inside him. A feeling of sorrow but not sure where to place it. Not sure if it was justified, not sure if it would vanish when they'd done what they'd come to do. He turned and looked at Shinran.

Her face was dark. She had been staring at Kayupa ever since the duel had ended. Skar remembered feeling her torment when she'd hunched down by Master Bo-Hi's tunic. A few seconds later she'd set fire to it, saying she didn't want to feel like she was leaving any part of him behind. Skar only then realized how much the mentor had meant to her too, he may have been a Jedi Master to him, but he had been a tutor and teacher to all of them.

"You feeling any better?"

She shook her head. "Tired." Then she looked over at the crouching Kayupa, her eyes flaring with disgust. "You know, he never hurt anyone."

Kayupa frowned. "From your point of view, lady."

"Am I wrong, Kayupa?" she said full of spite. "I can't wait to see you prove that!"

Kayupa slowly shook his head. "Lady, I told you to trust me -"

She was furious. "You shut up! Shut up right now, you arrogant bastard! You've killed him, you killed Master Bo-Hi! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Kayupa's smile could freeze lava. "Yeah, its too bad he's gone. He would have made a nice trophy."

Skar stepped in between them. He'd seen enough fighting between loved ones. "Come on! We all need to stay calm here." Skar placed a palm on each of their shoulders. "Now, look; we're not out of this yet. There's still the small problem of a Star Destroyer up there in orbit. Waiting for us. In fact I can't think of one good reason as to why it hasn't blown us apart yet. They must be waiting for their commander to order the assault before they dare take the chance. How are we gonna get out of here? What about the Koniduz? Do we still have that?"

Kayupa nodded.

"Great," Skar said, "then let's hail it down here and leave."

Kayupa rose out of his crouch. "Skar, you and I, we came here for a reason."

Skar nodded and looked up at the ever present Jentarana. Its existence had yet to be liberated. "You're right. Then let's get to work - "

Shinran's fist clutched around Skar's wrist and she pulled him back. "You can't trust him! I told you. Look at him, or for the love of the stars, use the Force. You must feel that he is not the same. He isn't Kayupa. He's gone over to the Dark Side!"

Skar's feelings were diminished. He'd subconsciously been avoiding the issue. He'd not touched Kayupa with the Force ever since Master Bo-Hi had died. Mostly because he was afraid of what he might find. He looked over at Kayupa, echoing the words Kayupa had spoken to him a month ago. "I came here looking for the friend I had two years ago. Is he dead?"

Kayupa's hurt look made Skar feel sorry. Even more as Kayupa recited the words Skar had said to Kayupa's words. "No, he still lives. But he has changed too."

Skar felt a touch of anger. "We will destroy the Jentarana, as promised."

Kayupa nodded, a small smile forming at the corners of his mouth.

Shinran was still not pleased. "I should have known."

Kayupa's smile vanished and he stepped over and got in Shinran's face. "There are things at stake here that you can't imagine! So stop your whining! I'm beginning to regret I ever saved you in the first place. All you've done is sit around and whine about your putrid life! I'm sick of it. So tempt me one more time, and you'll join that sorry excuse for a Jedi!"

Skar grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away. "Stop this! Now!"

Shinran followed Kayupa even as he was being pushed away by Skar. "Don't you talk that way about him! You didn't even know him!"

"What! I didn't know him!"

"No, you didn't know him! You have no idea of why he even came here."

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea - "

"No, you don't. You only think you do! And you stand here now, with the Dark Side settled in your heart and dare call him a sorry excuse for a Jedi? Look inside yourself for a moment, Kayupa!"

"I told you not to - "

Skar raised his voice. "Stop it! The both of you! I don't wanna hear anymore of this. We have to work together, as a team if we're gonna get out of here."

Shinran frowned. "Team? Since when did Jedi and Dark Jedi work together!"

Kayupa remained pushed back by Skar, though Skar could sense his wish to run over and kill Shinran. Skar held him firm, physically and mentally as Kayupa's face molded into confusion.

"Why did you like him so much?"

Shinran hugged her elbows. "The same reason you feared him. He knew what secrets were in our hearts. In all of us. He knew more about us, than even ourselves. That was why you feared him, because you were afraid of what he might know was in your heart. The darkness." She turned her back to them both. "He knew great things, when he talked you listened."

Kayupa frowned. "Yeah, you're right. He had a lot to say. He had a lot of nothing to say!" Kayupa freed himself from Skar's grip and started walking over to Shinran. "Always ranting and pointing his finger at everything but his own heart. And you swallowed his facade because you were so eager to identify with someone who seemed to feel the same, someone who could lead the way." Kayupa stood right behind her, mockingly whispering into her ear. "To guide you because you're too weak to do it yourself."

She didn't turn to look into his eyes. "Tell me - the real reason why you killed him?"

Skar heard Kayupa's smug laughter, which only made him wonder about the question himself. He'd always thought he knew the answer, but maybe there was more to it than just the destruction of the Jentarana. Maybe there were more secrets.

Kayupa whispered again, his answer in the mockingly self-amused tone. "Eye for an eye."

Even with all his abilities in the Force, as well as the Dark Side, Kayupa couldn't keep himself protected from Shinran's punch. His head swung back and he touched his lip, where Master Bo-Hi had kicked him earlier in the fight. The bleeding started again.

"Damn it!

Shinran held out a bloodied fist, ready for another punch if the opportunity showed itself.

Kayupa looked over at Shinran. "Nice punch." The bloody smutch still running down his chin, Kayupa looked over at Skar. His eyes ran up and down Skar, noticing the change as if for the first time. "Do you like my suit?"

Skar was thankful for a change of topic. "I thought it would come in handy. Follow your own way, right? Like you did."

Kayupa's face twisted in self-loathing. "Didn't know I had a lapdog," he said coldly, "when I said follow your own way, I didn't mean follow my way. I never said do what I do, I said do what I say."

Skar took it as a shot at him.

Behind him Shinran was smiling amused as she looked around at all the corpses surrounding them. "How relevant."

Kayupa flared out his arms. "All of this could have been avoided, you know? If Master Bo-Hi had not been so persistent." Kayupa glanced at Skar. "All your training, all your time spent on Kryuu, it was all so you could learn the secret to the Jentarana, so he could operate it, so he could win back his name and bring the Jedi out of their shells. He was obsessed, Skar. He didn't care about right or wrong. That's why he kept so many secrets. Don't you think he should have mentioned earlier that we were living in a Sith Temple, with the spirit of the Galaxy's most feared man living in the basement? He was weak. I don't know when he gave into his desires, but we both know he did."

Shinran was still smiling, knowing something the others didn't. "You're wrong, Kayupa."

Kayupa was still concentrating on Skar. "That was why I withdrew myself, so I could take precautions to his plan. I hoped he would see the wrong of it, but seeing your ship coming through the clouds, I knew my hopes were useless. He would never stop."

Shinran stepped forward. "You're a liar - and what's worse; you know it!"

Skar found that strange. He looked at Kayupa, suddenly not seeing a friend, but rather a huge question mark. "What is she talking about?"

Shinran went on. "I told Master Bo-Hi about your theories. He told me they were wrong. He never wanted it. He was out here to protect you both. He loved you each. Kayupa's been filling you with lies. Just like I said."

Skar stared at Kayupa, wanting to believe them both to be right, but knew he couldn't. Skar didn't know who to trust. "Kayupa, tell me that isn't true."

Kayupa didn't answer.

Skar turned to Shinran. "Shinran, tell me that isn't true."

She didn't answer either.

Skar ran a hand through his hair, nudging the bandana. It had been a gift, or credit in exchange for a favor? Skar didn't know. The stealth suit, the blaster, were they too collateral or were they offerings between friends? Sentimentality or persuasion? Skar fixed his gaze on Kayupa, tired of all the charades. "How did you know about the Witty?"

Kayupa tried his best to look confused, but it only looked overacted.

"Tell me!"

Kayupa gathered himself, stared with hate at Shinran across Skar's shoulder. Then looked back at Skar, betrayal in his eyes. Sadness. He swung out his hand at the gangway above them to the Jentarana.

"Indulge me, and you'll have all your answers."

There it is, Skar thought as he slowly walked down the gangway, only a few more steps away. Captivated by the awesome battle machine, Skar felt his mind go blank. There were no words, not even feelings that came close to explaining the sense of honor and pride he felt in his heart.

Someone in my family made this.

Skar did notice however that Master Bo-Hi must have left his cloak there when he left to fight Kayupa. Shinran picked it up as they passed it. They held hands as they strolled down the gangway. Oblivious to the danger of the Star Destroyer above, finding only safety in each other's palms. Skar felt Shinran's worry and her very anxious mind. She didn't like this at all. Prone to nervousness as she was, Skar could only do so much in this particular situation. He didn't want to admit it, but unveiling the Jentarana meant more to him right now than her inertia.

Skar squeezed Shinran's hand, the only way he could help her right now. For once he was willing to admit that his Jedi heritage came first. Because this was too important. This was his legacy. To open the Jentarana and destroy it.

Skar stared at the naked back of Kayupa as they walked along. Seeing the scar that ran down his back. Skar remembered the intimacy between them on the day he'd first seen the scar. They shared childhood memories. They'd realized how much they were alike, and a friendship had grown from the tragic events in their younger years. That friendship had begun to wilt it seemed, a cloud had passed over the sky and the light was fading, leaving the flower to die.

But the thorns could still prick if one wasn't careful. Skar looked down one end of the Jentarana, saw the strong metal tail, looked down the other end and saw the ferocious head. It was enormous. Skar felt a tingling in the Force. The moment was here, they were here. The unveiling of the key, whatever it was, should come to him soon. Nothing had come yet.

But before that mystery was solved, another had to be. As they approached the access panel, Skar watched Kayupa run his hand over the hull near the main access. Caressing it. Skar had never understood Kayupa's weird bond to the Jentarana. It was something unexplainable, he could even feel it in the Force. But there was no reason why a man from Shalasha, a captive orphan, would have any connection to it.

Kayupa typed in a code Skar couldn't see on the panel and the door slid open, revealing a darkness that looked like it was about to leap out and devour them all. Skar squeezed Shinran's hand again. Now he was worried too.

Skar gathered the courage it took to step forward. "You owe me an answer."

Kayupa turned, fire in his eyes. His hand reached down to his belt, dangerously close to his lightsaber, but instead unhitched a comlink. He tossed it to Shinran, who stared at it in wonder. "Use that, when you want to hail the Koniduz."

Shinran nodded and placed it in her belt. "I'm not leaving without Skar."

"And I'm not leaving," Skar smiled, "until I get my answer."

Kayupa mused. "The moment of revelation. What tale would be complete without it?"

Skar crossed his arms, feeling agitated. "The Witty?"

Kayupa nodded hesitantly, and leaned against the nearby railing. "During my seclusion I traveled around Kryuu. Trying to find purpose in it all. Basically I was trying to find some way to lose my addiction to the Jentarana. As a Jedi I knew such feelings would corrupt me in the end."

Skar remembered a piece of their conversation on the bluff. "I remember you acknowledging that you wouldn't let yourself be attached to others. You saw it as a weakness."

"I still do." He looked at Shinran.

"But why? Where is the weakness?"

Kayupa reminisced. "Strength is usually about independence. And to be independent requires self-sufficiency. Self-reliance. But that was not on my mind at all. Rather I figured my task to destroy the Jentarana would kill me in the end." He looked sad. "I didn't think I'd make it back. I didn't want to be connected to anyone, didn't want to let anyone in."

Skar found himself recalling a quote from Kayupa that he hadn't understood at the time, but it made sense now. In life there are many doors, there are doors that open by themselves. There are secret doors. There are doors that lock. And there are trapdoors, that you can't come back from.

Skar held out his arms in confusion. "So what? You came out here to die?"

Kayupa pushed away from the railing and placed himself in front of Skar, they were face to face. Mistrust and uncertainty was painted on both their faces, none of them knew where they stood compared to each other. Were they still friends, or were they enemies? Skar prayed for the former. He'd beaten Master Bo-Hi in a duel but so had Kayupa. They were unmatched the both of them, Skar couldn't predict victory on his part, anymore than he could acknowledge Kayupa might be better than him.

Kayupa spoke. "I thought you had the same wish to do this. This neglected task. But - now I see you only wanted to help me." He nodded, the slightest of smiles on his lips. "You came here for me, not the Jentarana."

Skar nodded, rested a hand on Kayupa's shoulder and gave it a little shake. "As long as I can trust you. About destroying the Jentarana. That's still our job, right?"

"I need you here with me, Skar, as a friend and because you are the holder of the key."

Skar frowned. "No, I'm not. My uncle told me I would know the answer but I don't. I have no idea."

Kayupa smiled and turned his back to him. "It came to me that the key could be anything. A thought, a word, a feeling. And as I delved deeper inside the possibilities I thought; maybe its not any of those. It could just as easily be a person or an item. If it was a person, it would have to be someone that went with Skind wherever he went. If it was an item, it would have to be something he carried with him at all times."

Skar felt the lightsaber against his thigh. He firmed his hand around it.

Kayupa held out his hand. "Give it to me."

Skar shook his head hesitantly. "No, its not something as simple as that. My uncle was smarter than that."

Kayupa's smug smile lived again. "I know. Please."

Skar unclipped his lightsaber and handed it to Kayupa. There was something uncomfortable about handing over his weapon to Kayupa. He didn't like being disarmed in front of him.

Kayupa looked over the lightsaber, still smiling assured of himself. "The man, the legend … Skind Kjoil."

Skar dared to smile, while his hand reached out to find comfort in Shinran's. "You always did like drama, Kayupa."

"Well, what story would be complete without it? Every tale has to have a hero, a villain, a lover, a fight, a mystery and then finally the unveiling of that mystery."

Skar nodded. "The key to the Jentarana."

"We already have our hero; that's you. The villain is cast by me, regretfully."

Skar himself was amused now. "I've heard stories that end with the villain turning good in the end, saving the day. Its not too late, Kayupa."

"We'll see." He looked at Shinran. "And we have the lover."

Shinran hugged herself nervously. Skar could feel her hate for Kayupa boiling.

"Its in you, Skar. Its the Kjoil passion. Their weakness." Kayupa cradled the lightsaber between his hands. "And like Skind, it could mean your fall."

Skar looked back at Kayupa, denying mentally every thought of Shinran's potential danger of driving him to the Dark Side. "That leaves the mystery," Skar announced, "the key."

Kayupa took his predatory eyes off Shinran, and held Skind Kjoil's lightsaber up in front of Skar. "You know what a retinal print is, right?"

Skar knew what it was; a security device that identified individuals by comparing retinal patterns with the prints stored in a database, to access, for example, a door. But if what the Jentarana needed for a key was a retinal scan, the mission had failed. Skind Kjoil's corpse was nonexistent.

"I know it, yes."

"This is close," Kayupa said, "only a lot more accurate. The cockpit of the Jentarana responds only to the genetic code of Skind Kjoil, his physiological data, and only so if the lightsaber is inserted as the key."

Skar was dumbfound. "So the lightsaber is the key, after all?"

Kayupa shook his head. "Its only half; the other half is Skind Kjoil's genetic code. The cockpit creates a scan field that reads the data of the occupant. But the scan field is only activated if the lightsaber is inserted and powered."

Skar heard a rumble nearby, like an explosion. He pulled away from the conversation, reached out with the Force. Huge reds energy beams were protruding the clouds above and striking down dangerously close to the Offeyyu. It seemed the time had come. The Star Destroyer was unleashing its turbolasers on Soliton. Bent on destroying the Offeyyu.

And with them inside.

Shinran pulled him over. "We've got to call the Koniduz now if we're going to get out of here alive. We can't defend ourselves against a Star Destroyer."

Skar nodded. "Maybe the Offeyyu has some weapons - "

Kayupa shook his head. "I already checked. The ship is weaponless. That was why they brought the X-wings."

Skar tried to think of a solution. But came up with nothing. All around him the world trembled with the barrage of turbolasers from above. In the end he turned to Shinran. "Right, then call the Koniduz. We still may have a chance to - "

Kayupa cleared his throat and Skar turned to see the vicious smile on his mouth. Smug as always. "I'll deal with that."

Shinran stepped in front of Skar. "You'll what?"

"The Jentarana. It would make little work of a Star Destroyer."

Now Skar had heard enough. "What in blazes are you talking about? You can't activate the Jentarana with just the lightsaber! You said it was only half of the key!"

Kayupa nodded.

"And you don't have Skind Kjoil's - " Somewhere along the sentence Skar considered the words. Finding truth among them.

Shinran turned to looked at him. "What? What's the matter?"

Kayupa was still smiling.

Skar shook his head. "I was only his nephew, our genetic code isn't similar. It can't be!"

Now Kayupa laughed. Then he dropped the Skind Kjoil's lightsaber, leaving it hovering in the air with the Force, before it whisked away into the Jentarana, finding its roots in the control-less panel on the armrest in the cockpit.

Then Skar heard the sound. The blue and gray hull seemed to illuminate. Glowing internally with a slight hum, as if alive by itself. He heard grained gears snapping into place. Motors running. He heard a low rumble as if the Jentarana itself was coming alive.

And it was.

The huge head, the copy of a rancor's, opened its mechanical jaws and released a powerful roar. The sound made the entire bay tremble, along with the gangway which caused Skar to tumble over, knocking Shinran with him as he fell. The entire room was vibrating by some innate force. Off to his right Skar saw the head lift, very little, but enough to send a flow of fear through him.

Then it turned, looking over at the three people on the gangway who'd just resurrected it from its grave. The eyes were a throbbing red, the very image of a hellish nightmare.

Skar began to crawl backwards, hauling the screaming Shinran with him.

Near the opened main access Kayupa stood, laughing like a mad man, as the Jentarana broke free of its confines and settled its enormous feet on the ground, adding to the waves of trembling already shaking the bay. The arms released themselves too, stretching themselves as if waking from a long sleep, before clenching in huge fists. The tail waved from side to side like a playful dog. Then the beast began moving around in the small confines of the bay. Smashing accidentally into the walls and ceiling. It was trapped in there.

And it wanted to be freed.

Again the eyes looked at the gangway, looked at Skar, then Shinran, and then Kayupa who was staring back at it in ecstasy. Again the bond between the two eluted Skar, only left him mesmerized on the gangway floor to watch as the terror of his entire life came to breathing again for the first time in two decades.

Skar felt internal guilt. If Kayupa had been right, his genetic code, along with the lightsaber had activated this creature.

Skar got to his feet, reaching for his lightsaber to defend himself against the creature, only to remember the menace had already swallowed its creator's weapon. His survival instinct told him to run, but a ripple in Force told me he could not escape this moment. He could never run from his inheritance, he was destined to destroy the Jentarana. There would be no escape.

Skar held onto Shinran to protect her. She was still screaming under his arms. He didn't need the Force to tell him that she was terrified. Then Skar studied Kayupa, standing at the jaws of the Jentarana, looking like its first meal after a long sleep. Skar began to run to help Kayupa out of the way, but the wave reverberating through the Force knocked him on his back.

Who did that?

Skar tried to step forward but the fear of it all pulled him back. Instead he yelled to Kayupa's back. "How did you know the key!"

Kayupa turned, now looking like the dark man he'd impersonated when coming into the bay on electric currents. The lightning was shooting from his shoulders and fingers, running over the entire bay in a haze of blue streaks of light. He was the Dark Jedi again.

Then his mouth moved, very slowly and Skar couldn't hear the words of the carnage of lightning and the massive Jentarana moving its bulky body around the bay. But he heard the words internally through the Force.

Skind Kjoil himself told me the secret.

Skar felt his heart dampen, darkness shrouding it in its grasp. He replied. You went to see him? But Master Bo-Hi said he doesn't talk to anyone but me, anyone but family.

Kayupa smiled.

Skar managed to take a step forward. "Why did he talk to you, Kayupa!"

Kayupa looked at him, his eyes a cloak of danger and deception. "You keep calling me Kayupa - "

Skar felt ivy running up and down his bones, felt it slithering at his heart, drenching him a cold state of disbelief. "What?" Skar beat it away and concentrated on the more immediate danger. "How do I shut it off?"

"You?" Kayupa quizzically asked.

"Yes, me!" Skar screamed. "My genetic code activated it! How do I shut it off?"

Skar felt movement behind him before Kayupa could answer and saw Shinran sporting her blaster, training it on Kayupa. Her face was filled with anger.

"Give my best to Master Bo-Hi!"

Skar reached out with the Force to stop her from shooting, to stop her from hurting Kayupa. But her finger had already pressed the trigger. The blue energy raced through the air, passed Skar's form, only to hit dead center on Kayupa's now illuminated blue lightsaber. The energy beam then reversed direction 180 degrees and bounced right back into the pit of Shinran's belly. Shinran went down, a smoking wound on her belly.

"No!" Skar screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I promised her back on Nar Shaddaa," Kayupa said in a low hateful voice, "that if she ever pointed a weapon at me again, she wouldn't be walking away from it."

Skar raced to her aid, hunched down next to her, and held her head up as she wrestled for air. Skar looked deeply into her eyes and saw the fear there, and the regret. Inside she was regretting ever going to Soliton, wishing she'd stayed back on Kryuu.

Skar's tears dripped onto her clothes.

Her hand reached up to touch his face, searching blindly in the haze of her pain. "Skar, go on…you promised …"

Skar placed his hand on her wound, and immediately channeled the Force through her. To his own fear he felt that the wound was fatal and that she would die soon, if she didn't receive proper help. The kind of help the Force could not provide. Skar clenched his teeth, letting his anger sink in and anchor itself in his soul, caring not for the danger of doing so.

Then he stared at Kayupa, hating the man more for every second that passed. "Kayupa!" Skar reacted on the hate, pulled the blaster from Shinran's palm and aimed for Kayupa's head.

"You'd point a weapon at your own brother!" Kayupa laughed over the inferno of noise around them. "Don't be coy, Skar. Fire that weapon and you'll join her."

Then he turned his back on them and walked closer to the Jentarana. Skar saw his intent to mount the Jentarana through the main access now looming close to the gangway edge again.

He stopped briefly at the edge, looked over his shoulder at Skar. "Come with me, Skar. Leave her. We can still be heroes."

"Not like this!" Skar screamed, the blaster still pointed at Kayupa's back. "Tell me how to shut it off! Tell me how you knew! Tell me why Skind Kjoil spoke to you! Tell me why you know the Jentarana so well, Kayupa!"

Kayupa turned, a slight sadness in his eyes. "Don't call me that, Skar. Please. That man died two years ago - "

"Stop it! Stop the Jentarana now!"

Kayupa shook his head. "Once I've destroyed the Star Destroyer I will. Then I'll cast it into a pit so dark that it will never see light again." Skar felt another presence in the room as Kayupa opened his mouth again, his mouth spilling out someone else's request. "For I am a prisoner of fate, a prisoner of emotion and destiny, the curse in all genes. My past cannot be undone, nor my future." His eyes looked at Skar, and Skar saw someone else's spirit behind those mountains of hate. "Only if the Jentarana is gone, can I go."

Skind Kjoil's words.

Skar felt the components coming together, the pieces of the puzzle melting together before him. Kayupa was no longer Kayupa. Somehow he'd - Skar didn't want to think it. The words made sense but he wanted them to be wrong.

"You're - "

Kayupa smiled smugly one last time, then turned and leapt, flipping twice in the air, before landing gracefully inside the main access of the Jentarana. Kayupa turned to give Skar one last look before the main access sealed shut before him.

Now Skar ran.

He hauled Shinran onto his shoulder as he ran down the gangway, dodging falling debris and making his way through the shudder vibrating the entire bay. His mind was set, he was getting out of there. Behind him he heard explosions, roars, the clatter of the entire bay falling together in chaos. Flames streaked through everything, bringing the air to a boiling temperature. If he didn't get out soon, they would die in the explosions. Skar reached the door to safety and slammed his body up against it. The door held. Knowing seconds counted, Skar slammed his hand into the access-panel, but it did nothing. They were locked in.

He heard the screech of the metal claws on the Jentarana as they pierced through the walls and the Jentarana bellowed into the onslaught of sudden sunlight. Kayupa's maliciously laugh echoed through the collapsing hangar.

"Skar! Lets step outside!"

Skar dropped Shinran's lifeless form to the gangway-floor and started pounding on the door, hoping that someone would hear him.

Then the bay lit up in a giant red flare. And blinded by the superbright light, Skar fell over as the entire world around him dissolved in a blinding white flash of light, drowning him, blinding him, sending him into a sleep of perpetual astonishment. Then the light collapsed inwards and he felt himself tumbling down deep into a pit of darkness, leaving him shattered on the surface of too many things that had never crossed his mind.

Then he knew no more.

General Koan had promoted himself to Admiral of the Myrmidon. He'd even been so bold to rename the ship. Before it had been Admiral Stamper's Atrophos, but no more. Now it was the Myrmidon, an instrument of menace and terror for all of the Galaxy to cower in fear from.

Admiral Koan was here to put things back in place.

Admiral Stamper had not reported back at the scheduled interval and now he was presumed dead. Admiral Koan used the occasion to manipulate the crew, he'd rallied them together under his own new leadership to assume the loss of their previous commander. He remembered standing impatiently the last five minutes before Admiral Stamper's scheduled report. Silently praying the report wouldn't come through. He'd even considered destroying the commstation so that even if Stamper was still alive, no one would hear him report.

Chance favors the prepared mind.

Shattering the Offeyyu was just a way of decorating the grave. He wanted to make sure Admiral Stamper wasn't coming back. The report hadn't come through, and Admiral Koan was the rightful heir to the command.

Admiral Koan believed in grapping opportunities as they came. Elevation of the corporate ladder was always desired, even by the mindless minions running around behind him on the bridge. He didn't care about the deception and dishonesty he had unfolded here. Or even what the crew thought about him bombing their previous Admiral's grave. It was of little concern. He was in charge now.

Once his bombing was over, he'd find some off-beat world to terrorize in the name of the Empire.

Stamper has to be dead. Can't have him coming back. This is my boat now. But it is a pity though, I would have enjoyed personally choking the fat slime right here before the crew.

Resting comfortable in his new command chair, he rather enjoyed the spectacle outside his viewport. Red beams pierced down into the atmosphere, shredding clouds and leaving the ground below in a burning cloud of dirt and dust.

Ah, the power he possessed.

"Gunnery, keep firing."

The turbolasers continued to pound relentlessly at the already devastated remains of the Offeyyu below. Admiral Koan didn't care whether or not he actually hit something. He just liked flaunting his power and felt no guilt. Finally he had reached his rightful place in life, finally he was going to prove his worth to the Galaxy. And anyone that might stand in the way, would feel his wrath.

I'm the king of the castle now. No more fights about leadership. No more -

The sensor officer looked up. "Admiral, inbound craft moving at high velocity."

Admiral Koan flew to his feet. "What? Is it one of ours?"

"Negative, rapidly moving through the atmosphere. Admiral, it doesn't meet the profile of any Imperial ship."

Admiral Koan tried to spot the craft out the viewport but failed. Instead he backed away and towered over the officer in the pit below. "What profile does it meet then? There aren't supposed to be any other ships."

The officer ran the profile of the ship through all known specifications. Nothing came up. "Its .. something new, Admiral."

Admiral Koan snarled and turned to his communications-officer. "Anything in the recent transmissions about an unknown type of craft or ship?"

The officer held up his hands in defeat. "Admiral, we haven't been receiving any transmissions for the last couple of weeks. Since the Emperor died."

"Then check the older ones! Check through every transmission we've received in the last year!"

The man groaned. "Admiral? That would take days!"

Admiral Koan needed to know if this new vessel was friend or foe. It would be immensely foolish to shoot down a potential ally. And he didn't feel like waiting for the unknown craft to shoot first to prove its intentions. Admiral Koan looked back at the officer. "Perhaps you've got something better to do?"

The man cowered. "No, Admiral."

"Then hop to it." Admiral Koan turned and addressed his gunnery officer. "Concentrate our turbolasers on the new ship. But don't open fire until I give the word, understand?"

"Yes, Admiral."

Admiral Koan turned again to look out the viewscreen and spotted the shadow moving through the atmosphere. She's a big one. With that thought soon came a mental connection to something he had almost forgotten. The very reason why he was even in this sector.

The Jentarana.

Admiral Koan thought better of his orders and returned to the communications-officer, busy reading through every transmission they'd received through the past year.

Admiral Koan cleared his throat. "You know what? Scratch that last order, and hail the new craft. I wanna talk to this guy."

The officer complied and Admiral Koan positioned himself by the hologram-projector. The image cracked before settling into a fuzzy image of a man's face. The man looked focused and determined. Sweat was running down his face and the cockpit around the head was humming in a bloody red.

Admiral Koan linked his hands behind his back and lifted his chin. "Unknown vessel. This is Admiral Koan of the Myrmidon," he'd never felt so proud, "state your intentions or you'll be fired upon."

The man said nothing, didn't even flinch.

In the distance Admiral Koan saw the craft grow in size, it was already too big for a craft so far away. Admiral Koan felt the first shred of inertia creep up his spine. "State your intentions!"

The lips moved, slowly, and the words cut through Admiral Koan's defense like a razor. "I intend to kill you, Admiral Koan."

The Admiral shook it off and tried to remain composed. "Do we know each other, pilot?"

The man shook his head. "No. Your Admiral Stamper is dead."

"We know, pilot." Admiral Koan said. "He was a great leader, in my mind. I will miss him," Admiral Koan lied.

The man snickered. "No, you won't."

Admiral Koan nodded. "Indeed. Nevertheless if you killed him that makes you our enemy."

The man laughed and his fixed eyes stared directly into Admiral Koan's soul. "Enemy?" The transmission faded with one last image of the defiant smile. "I hope you are insured."

Kayupa smiled internally as his prediction came true. The Jentarana has no controls; its guided through the Force. Although he was pleasantly surprised, he found that somewhere in his memory he'd already known the fact. Many things came with sharing the spirit of Skind Kjoil. Details about the Jentarana, details about Skind himself, as well as the memories of that man.

Kayupa tightened his hands on the armrest and kept his focus in the Force. Any divergence from it would possibly send the Jentarana flying in the wrong direction and he didn't want that.

Kayupa felt his spirit soar as the Jentarana came in for a long sweep of the Myrmidon, flying overhead its wedged shape. He saw, but not as much as felt, the red streaks of light firing from the turbolasers along the ship. Kayupa knew he could retaliate easily with his own turbolasers, but refrained from doing so.

This was personal, and personal required face to face confrontation, and that was just what Kayupa had in mind.

The Jentarana flew like a dragon over its prey, continuously working to break through the turbolaser pattern and strike a blow at the very heart of it. Guiding the Jentarana with the Force was complex, but was similar to moving an object with the Force. He guided it through his feelings, his emotions, until the Jentarana and him were one. They melted into one spirit, one entity, striking vengeance upon the Empire.

Moving his own hand out into the empty cockpit, the Jentarana's arm copied the movement with its own immense limb. Then he slammed his hand down into the armrest, and the Jentarana smashed its clutches onto the hull of the Myrmidon, shattering armor and sent shards of metal platting drifting lifelessly through space.

Then it slammed again, knocking out a line of turbolasers as it went. The red blasts struck the Jentarana but its shield was better than that of a Star Destroyer. State of the art, only twenty years older. The blasts just bounced off, joining shrapnel as it flew into space.

Kayupa relished zero gravity. It was like floating on a cloud, all he needed to do was think of a direction and the Jentarana complied. Its powerful sublight drives, newly installed, rocketed the Jentarana between the stars as it danced around the Star Destroyer, picking at it like an overgrown bully. Although the Myrmidon was seven times its size, it mattered not. The Jentarana was faster, stronger, better shielded.

And it was protected by the Dark Side.

As the voice spoke over a speaker, Kayupa regained Skind Kjoil's memory of an onboard advisory system. "Avoid excessive use of the drives." The voice was that of a soft female kind. The firmness of it making Kayupa believe the woman had been Jedi. "Short bursts to one side or another is all that is necessary to avoid incoming shots."

Kayupa heard, but did nothing to comply. The Jentarana was his now and he'd use it anyway he saw fit. Next, Kayupa moved the Jentarana down to the belly of the Myrmidon. No doubt they would soon launch fighters and bombers to attack him but he wasn't in the mood for picking them off one by one.

Even so, he had no doubt he could. The Jentarana would simply stand and swat them like flies. Kayupa's lack of patience motivated him to make a quick kill. The Imperials were going down, in one piece, or millions.

They had no choice.

As he neared the fighter bay, he used the landing clamp to attach the Jentarana to the belly of the Myrmidon. Securely fastened, it slowly drifted with the Myrmidon, like some slug sucking on a bigger animal. Like a parasite. He spotted several pilots rushing to their fighters inside the bay.

By thought he swung the strong tail up like a hook into the bay, smashing fighters and humans as it swung from side to side. He could feel alarms go off all over the Star Destroyer, hundreds of minds fearing for their lives. Nevertheless he persisted in smashing the bay relentlessly. The gravity system failed and soon all air was sucked out of the bay, leaving it lifeless, and useless.

But Kayupa was not done. He pulled back the tail and rammed it straight up into the superstructure of the Myrmidon. Slicing through several levels with its super-fast vibrations, destroying several life-support systems, and leaving a huge part of the ship devastated.

Devastated and useless.

The Myrmidon was bleeding oxygen and lives were expiring all over. The turbolasers were still pounding the Jentarana but to zero effect. Kayupa felt his blood rushing, the adrenaline and surge of power flowing through him, enforcing him to think of more drastic and destructive measures to finally quench his lust for revenge. It didn't matter to him that the lives onboard were, in a great part, innocent.

It mattered only that they'd sworn allegiance to the Empire, a government he'd long wished and desired to see writhing in pain.

Him and Skind Kjoil. They were the same on that part.

The predatory Jentarana then dislodged from the Star Destroyer, drifting slowly into space, surveying its piece of work. Like an artist admiring proudly his latest creation. Oxygen was flowing like water from several areas around the hull, he spotted dead bodies being flung into space by lack of pressure. He saw men hanging onto their lives, before fate whisked them away into the coldness of space.

And he enjoyed it.

"Use the Force to determine when you are in danger of attack and when you can relax," the female voice advised, "cooling your weapons and recharging your shots."

Kayupa directed the Jentarana on a wave of Force as it came up on the left side of the Myrmidon, dodging shrapnel as it looked for a new place to wreck havoc.

Gliding in space it finally unleashed its power. The turbolasers came to life, shredding metal hulls from the main structure, leaving new cuts open, ending the lives of more, partially, innocent men.

He watched as the red beams of death, by his mere thought, dug deep furrows into the shield generators, crippling the entire system of defense.

Then when he was done, he slid the Jentarana along the hull, bringing it up close and personal with the bridge. Before dealing with the bridge, the Jentarana spun on its tail, bringing the spear-like tail to bear on the last remaining shield-generators on top of the bridge.

Then he slammed the tail deep into the neck of the bridge, securing itself to a spectator seat right in front of the bridge.

He could feel the fear radiating from the fifteen or so men on the bridge, unknowingly rushing to save themselves by pouring useless power to the last remaining turbolasers. It was futile, he knew. But the spectacle was morbidly interesting to watch.

Kayupa smiled as he swung out his arms, stretching them to their fullest. Then clapping his palms together.

Outside the Jentarana copied the gesture, resulting in its two strong arms smashing through the bridge from both sides before flattening its gigantic palms together in the middle of the flaming fury that ensued. An explosion followed, rippling through the entire Star Destroyer like a wave.

In seconds it would all be over, and nothing would remain of the Myrmidon except the few surviving pieces of shrapnel that would make it through Soliton's atmosphere. Kayupa disengaged and sat back at a secure distance to marvel at his creation.

The Myrmidon went down bleeding, before imploding in a great giant ball of fire, never again to aid the Empire's plague of terror.

Skar's bleeding knuckles did nothing to deter him from his quest. He scraped them, adding more bleeding cuts to his hands, across the rocks as he threw boulders and rocks away from Shinran's supposed grave. He could feel her alive somewhere below. The landslide and the exploded Offeyyu hadn't been enough to kill her. Nor had it terminated Skar's life. Only sent him into unconsciousness, protected by the Force.

As he dug in the massive crater, he was only partially aware of the rubble lying around him. The explosion had resulted in a huge crater and after that a landslide of shrapnel and rock had come down upon them. Now he was trapped in this giant hole, hoping that the Force would be enough to lift him and Shinran up the seven stories to ground level. From there they could call the Koniduz to pick them up.

Skar could tell from the lines streaking in through the atmosphere that the Star Destroyer above had met its demise. While that was a delightful thought, delightful meaning so many things, it also meant that Kayupa had survived. Skar only prayed that wouldn't mean he would come back. While Skar felt the Force telling him that he had to destroy the Jentarana, right now he could do with Kayupa being on the far side of the Galaxy.

The only thing that mattered was Shinran. Skar tried not to think about anything but digging. Every time his mind started to wander away from the task the world seemed to gang up on him, letting him remember painfully what had occurred during the day. Everything flooded to him in a never-ending flow of pain and regret. He couldn't help wonder if what he had done that day was wrong. He found that coming here to find and help Kayupa still seemed right. It had been the right to do to come here.

But leaving Shinran with Master Bo-Hi; that could have been a mistake; she needed him. He'd counted on Master Bo-Hi to be able to protect her. And Kayupa, he'd faced down Master Bo-Hi for the both of them; a task Skar had no regrets about not having for himself.

Skar felt his heart freeze. How can I say that? He did miss Master Bo-Hi and was sorry to have lost him. Skar couldn't help but think of Shinran's claim that Master Bo-Hi had never wanted the Jentarana. If that was right…

Skar felt his hate rise to the surface. Then Kayupa is a killer.

Skar felt something moving beneath the boulders. Then he heard harsh coughing. Skar stood back and used the Force to gently remove the remaining rocks one at a time. He sat them all down neatly beside the new hole, then jumped into the hole and pried Shinran free.

She was still coughing when he laid her down on the flattest surface he could find. She was still wearing Master Bo-Hi's cloak, laced with holes and torn fabric. Her face was covered in dust, her skin a sickly white pale. He brushed off the dust from her face and looked for the life-sign that the Force had assured him was there. She came to, coughing up dirt.

Skar sighed in relief. Her eyes scouted around her curiously, as if to first understand then what had happened and where she was. Then she looked at him, her green eyes mesmerizing and chilling him as they always were. Their eyes locked and they embraced in a long awaited passionate kiss.

Skar pulled away, kept both hands on her cheeks to warm them, to get the color back in them. "Hey, gorgeous. You alright?"

She frowned for a moment, then curled her lips in a sarcastic grin. "What do you think?" She coughed. "What about you?"

Skar caressed her forehead, and remembered something she'd said to him. "I wanted to see you again. That hope kept me alive."

She leaned in to kiss him again. "Smooth talker."

Shinran walked past him, still coughing, moving back and forth franticly. Skar thought about asking her to stand still but knew it wouldn't help. She was anxious to get out of there and he didn't blame her. Skar glanced at her wound and tried not to think of her time as ticking away. She had recovered immensely from one of his Jedi techniques but the effect would wear off soon and she would be in pain again. Hours after that, she would die.

Skar perched his elbows on his knees and placed his palms on his cheeks. "We can't change what happened."

She didn't stop. "No. I know." She grinned loosely. "The Force doesn't warrant time travel, does it?"

Skar tried his best to smile, but couldn't. "No, that's the first of limits on a very short list."

"So what do we do?"

He looked up at her. "I … honestly do not know."

"Why are we even thinking about it? Lets get out of here."

Skar rose to his feet, brushed off dirt and walked over to her, holding her still for once. "What about Kayupa?"

His hold on her wasn't strong enough. She broke free and walked away, staring at him like he disgusted her. "You can't be serious! After what he's done!"

"I know what he did. And I hate him for it. If what you said was true about Master Bo-Hi, then I know. Okay, Shinran? I know. And I hate Kayupa for it!"

She clutched her belly, fighting the pain she was feeling. How she stayed upright was beyond him. "But you're willing to stay here, and fight him again? For what? Heroism?"

Skar could barely contain his rage. "Shinran, this is what you bought into when you got involved with me. You knew that I've sworn allegiance to something greater than all this. Something greater than even Master Bo-Hi. The Force is telling me to stop him, not for revenge, not to vindicate Master Bo-Hi, but because what he's doing is wrong!"

Shinran was enraged. "But you heard him! He said it himself that he would destroy the Jentarana after he's destroyed the Star Destroyer," she held out her arms, "and he has!" She looked to the heavens and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Thanks, Kayupa! You're quite a guy!"

Skar pointed out the obvious. "Then where is he?"

"I don't know! Maybe he died in the explosion. Maybe he killed himself by plunging the Jentarana straight into the Star Destroyer."

Skar felt sick pride. "No, it could take even that. The Jentarana would have survived even that."

She was speechless.

"I know that if we take off now, he'll come back to haunt us later. We can't escape him."

"Why? Why should he come for us?"

"Because," Skar hesitated, "he's my friend."

Shinran was silent for a moment. "What does that mean?"

Skar turned his back to her. "You heard him. Somehow Skind Kjoil has taken control of him. That's how he knew the secret. He isn't himself anymore. He's my uncle. And I promised I would set my uncle free by destroying the Jentarana. Its the only way I can set him free. That's what he wants."

Shinran walked up behind him and put her arms around his waist. Her warmth was a welcome embrace. "But you still hope you can still save Kayupa, don't you?"

Skar nodded. "I can't look away. I have to meet it head on." He felt genuine pride. "It isn't about taking lives. Its about giving. If I can help Kayupa, then maybe I can give him back his life. If I can't, then I can at least give him peace."

"So you'll fight him?"

Skar released himself from her embrace and walked away, he needed space. He knew his actions were hurting Shinran but he'd made a pledge to the Force and to his uncle. He couldn't disavow that. "I can't put things back together the way they were. But I can fix the future. That way I can give what happened today meaning and not make it into some horrible nightmare that I'll wake up from screaming in the future, wondering if I did the right thing. My uncle…he turned away from the responsibilities of a Jedi so he could be with the woman he loved. I understood it at the time, but now I am in the same position. I can't ignore my responsibility like he did. I have to stay and fight Kayupa. Its the only I can prove," Skar remembered Lwen, "that I am not a coward."

Her eyes looked at him, as if she saw something in him she'd never seen before. "I know you're strong."

He looked up at her to show her his determination. "But never doubt that I have our interests at heart, whatever I do." Skar stared dead ahead. "I still feel us, Shinran. But this is one of many things I have to set straight."

"You think Master Bo-Hi would have wanted this?"

"That doesn't matter. Its what I feel must be done."

Shinran hugged him hard and Skar could feel the hurt inside her. He tried to comfort her but it didn't work. "Lets just go away, okay?" her eyes began to tear and Skar heard the plea in her voice, "show me that you love me and that we belong together. Away from all this, all the obligations that come with it. Away from all this evil. Lets just be us."

Skar smiled and tightened his grip on her hand for comfort. "I want that. I want that so much, but I must face Kayupa," Skar said and looked into her teary eyes and tried to make her stop crying by showing her a confident smile, "we can get through this. We can have what we want, but this last test must be completed first."

She cried even harder and Skar held her close.

"Please trust me. I know this can be done somehow. I can't let Kayupa stay here."

She held herself against him as hard as she could, as if she tried to get inside him. "What if you fail?"

Skar nodded, rubbing his chin against her temple. "Trust me."

She looked up into his eyes, and the tip of their noses touched. This time she smiled and Skar felt their union strengthen again. She reached up to her cheek, dried away a tear, and ran the tear over his lips. He tasted the salty tear, kissing her. Slowly he gave her another small kiss on her forehead for courage. She shivered within his arms and he smiled.

"So where am I while all this is going on?"

"You don't have to do anything. Just be here."

"I wish that was enough."

"Believe me, it is." Skar took in a deep breath. "When we first met, I felt so sorry for you, I thought I had to make everything good for you." Skar smiled. "But now I know that's not what you need from me, you don't need a healer, you need companionship."

She looked up at him, looking surprised that he knew that about her. Skar knew that he hadn't said it before, but also knowing her independent nature it was only obvious that she wanted it that way.

It didn't take the Force to realize that.

She cried, but it was tears of joy. "I love you, Skar. I never suspected you to hold any key to my anxiety." She smiled. "I expected you to hold a diversion. And you did. You let me wander into a life of myth, Skar. Don't leave me living it all alone."

He smiled. "I promise."

They hugged, sharing the feelings of love and unity. Skar felt Shinran squeezing him so hard he was about to burst. Nevertheless he continued to hold her close.

The moment shattered as Skar felt danger. He reached out with the force, expanding his awareness like sonar, and picked up on the source.

"You know, Kayupa was right about one thing. This tale has all its key elements."

She looked up at him, confused.

Above the crater he began to see a shape forming. And even without the Force he recognized it all too well.

"But the tale lacks the final crucial chapter; the confrontation."

With Shinran safely hidden inside the crater there was nothing else Skar could do but wait for Kayupa to come to him. And Skar knew he would. Skar positioned himself in the center of the crater, his hand once again went to his hip where his lightsaber should be clipped but he'd forgotten that it was now incorporated into the Jentarana's control system. He was weaponless, both his and Shinran's blaster had been wrecked in the explosion.

He heard Master Bo-Hi's words, reminding him of the innate power he possessed within. Fight with your mind. The lightsaber is a weapon, but you posses one greater.

Trusting the advice and feeling it to be true, Skar calmed himself in the Force and readied for the inevitable.

The Jentarana descended through the skies, thundering through the clouds, before perching itself on the ledge of the crater. The ground shook as the weight pounded onto solid rock. Skar fought to remain standing. Once the shook wore off, the Jentarana opened its hands and then clutched them again in a threatening manner. Skar allowed it to flow over him, leaving him unimpressed.

Then the head, the metallic copy of a rancor's, looked straight at Skar and roared. The roar shook the ground in waves like an earthquake, and Skar began to run forward towards the Jentarana.

Rolling with the tumble he put himself directly under the Jentarana, hiding beneath the ledge it had perched itself on. Skar could feel Kayupa drawing on the Force to move the Jentarana. It resonated to Skar like red flashes of light, letting him see where the Force drain was coming from.

The Jentarana lowered its head and turned it sideways to look down upon Skar. Skar held onto the rock-wall for support as he expected another roar.

"There you are!"

There is no emotion, there is peace. Skar got to his feet, using the Force to keep himself in check, calming his fear, as he started talking to Skind Kjoil rather than Kayupa. Skar dared to slowly walk out from the wall that the Jentarana sat upon like a bird. Shrouding himself in its shadow.

"Uncle, face me!"

He heard Kayupa sneer before the Jentarana leapt from the ledge in a gigantic jump and landed perfectly inside the crater, shaking the entire crater and causing more rocks to landslide down the walls. It then preyed upon Skar, corning him up against the rock-wall.

"Ignorance is not a burden anyone should bear!"

Skar flattened himself against the wall, the Jentarana's head moving in close, like an animal sniffing its prey. Gently it pushed its nose up against him, pressing up him against the wall, careful not to crush him, but pinning him safely for keeping.

"You wanna know who I am?"

Skar placed his fists on the cold metal and began to pushing himself up against the wall, an effortless move he knew, to push the Jentarana away. His arms buckled and he couldn't amount the strength needed.

With a heavy sigh he accepted defeat.

"Don't test me, Skar. Your skeleton isn't strong enough to withstand the pressure if I decide to squash you on the wall." Kayupa laughed, voice tone filled with self-amusement at the power he possessed.

Skar screamed at the giant. "Why not take me on yourself!"

Kayupa's laughter boomed over the walls of the crater. "Call me sentimental, but the poet in me thinks it would be the ultimate irony if I killed you with the very weapon your uncle made to protect you!"

Skar tried pressing back the head again but it was useless. He was trapped. Skar felt his bones aching under the pressure. But he still maintained calmness inside the Force. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. Skar folded himself inside the Force, creating a bubble of protection, then he moved it outwards, magnifying his protection, and pushing the Jentarana away.

Once he was free of the head, he rolled sideways and came up ready again. He pushed outwards again, punching the Jentarana back inside the crater. It waddled on its hind legs like it had tasted something bitter and sour. It shook his gigantic head then looked at him in awe.

"Skar, don't fight me!"

With new strength Skar raced across the crater, the Jentarana following his every move, then jumped onto a boulder for leverage, to stand face to face with the Jentarana. The huge red eyes staring down upon like it was ready to eat him. Resolutely Skar jumped from the boulder onto the Jentarana, smashing against its face. His bleeding knuckles felt like they were on fire as he pulled his legs out of its mouth and climbed onto its scalp.

The immense arms came flying towards him, eager to punch him off, but Skar ducked under their swings. The Jentarana lifted up on its legs, lifting Skar to some thirty floors into the air, well above the crater. Reaching out to the Force he flattened himself on the head, using the Force to keep him there.

"Skar! What do you think you're doing?"

Skar held onto the head as it swung from side to side, trying to throw him off. Skar delved inside the Force again, hoping for an answer. Kayupa could keep him up here until he caved and then it would all be over. He needed counsel.

Inside the Force he felt few solutions that would benefit his personal health in exchange for victory. Skar delved deeper, studied his very own mind for hints he'd picked up along the way. Scouting his own brain for help, waking up subconscious knowledge to help him now. Meanwhile the Jentarana continued to tear at him with its hands and shaking its head.

Then it came like a flash. Kayupa's duel with Master Bo-Hi. Skar did not have his own lightsaber in possession, but didn't mean he couldn't obtain one. Flinging out his open hand he reached out to the crater below.

Released from a rocky grave came a short cylinder object flying straight up into the air and dropping neatly into his palm. Skar rose on his feet, keeping himself balanced with effort, and ignited the green blade.

The green blade sizzled as it slid neatly and without difficulty into the scalp of the Jentarana. The beast roared in pain and increased the intensity of its movement. Skar dug the blade out again, then inserted it in another area of the head. Sparks flew, spraying over him like fire. Next he moved the lightsaber in a long swipe, leaving a huge tear open on the head of the Jentarana.

The entire head seemed to catch fire as Skar, victoriously, began to slide down its neck, over the back and further on down to land softly on the ground. He ran to nowhere special, only wanting to put distance between him and the Jentarana.

In front of him the Jentarana was on fire with rage. Its tail swung without grace, carving through rock-walls in a hopeless effort to hurt Skar. The arms came down pounding rocks into dust. The entire spectacle caused the crater to shutter, and Skar had to run to dodge falling boulders and rocks.

Using the Force as a shield the rocks bounced off it before they could crush him. Skar made sure he was always behind the Jentarana, destroying its hope of seeing him directly.

But he knew Kayupa would be able to sense him within the Force. Taking that as a warning Skar found asylum in a tight crevasse and immediately calmed his body, calmed his heart-rate, and placed his body in hibernation. He moved quickly to block his mind, while maintaining the frozen state.

Now Kayupa couldn't see him or feel him.

He suspected the Jentarana to have motions sensors but they would only pick up on things that moved. The Jedi technique he'd unleashed would make his body into a statue, undetectable to any motion sensor. The block he'd set around his mind locked off his mind to the outside, leaving Kayupa without a way of tracing him through the Force. Meanwhile Skar would know perfectly where Kayupa was, he could still sense him even though Kayupa couldn't feel his touch.

The effect was optimal.

"Skar! Where are you? I'll crush you into dust!"

Skar reinforced the Force to calm his mind and allow him to see things in a fresh light. All he had to do now was think of some way to disable the Jentarana. Even though its shield could withstand even plunging into the heart of a Star Destroyer, the armor itself was not strong enough to withstand a lightsaber. It could deflect most blaster shots, but not the carving elegance of the heated blade. Without its shields it was very vulnerable to his lightsaber. But where was the best spot to attack?

"Skar!"

Skar penetrated Kayupa's mind. Its doesn't have to be this way.

Kayupa's response was filled with infuriated anger. "Damn you, Skar! Don't hide from me! You and me, we're better than that, we don't shy from combat! We are warriors! We share the same blood, the same ancestors! We are both sons of destiny! Don't you do this to me!"

Skar kept his focus, oblivious to the devastation behind him, created by the Jentarana as it smashed everything in sight. Skar only prayed Shinran knew she was safe where she was and that she wouldn't leave the hideout. If she did, the Jentarana was sure to pick up on her and use her as bait.

Or worse; kill her.

Tell me what happened in the cave.

Kayupa seemed to quiet down. The Jentarana still smashed everything it could, a sign that Kayupa's anger was still very dangerous.

"I went to the cave and Skind Kjoil showed himself to me. He said he had a secret. I meditated and the truth came to me, the secret Master Bo-Hi kept from me, the reason I wanted to kill him, the reason I came here to destroy the Jentarana. To find peace."

Skar heard the sobering and felt Kayupa's incurable pain. Such torment Skar had never felt in one person. The loss of identity, the loss of the soul, and the loss of the self.

What was the secret?

The Jentarana slammed its tail into the rock-wall, creating a flow of falling rocks onto the floor, creating more crevasses and tearing the ground apart. Skar prayed the ground would hold and that there weren't any caves underneath. He didn't want to fall through the ground one more time.

Scorched rocks landed around the Jentarana's feet and as it moved they were pulverized into a delicate gray powder.

"I … am not Kayupa. That's not my true name. I am merely a product of the war."

Skar didn't understand. What war?

"The Clone Wars!" Kayupa screamed.

Skar couldn't see how the Clone Wars could have had any affect on Kayupa. He was born just as it started. He was born around the time Skind Kjoil died. And Master Bo-Hi found him on Shalasha shortly after that. How could Kayupa have been even close to the Clone Wars?

Then it dawned on him.

It wasn't so much about the Clone Wars in itself. Kayupa had given him a hint, but it had been too obvious for Skar to see it. Skar felt his heart weighing down inside him.

No…

"It's the truth!" Kayupa's voice was alive with unspeakable pain. "I am Skind Kjoil's clone!"

To hear him say it out loud broke Skar's heart. But before he could deny it, Skar remembered the past clues of the last two years and so, he remembered the familiarity he'd felt whenever he'd seen Skind Kjoil on holo. He'd always thought he was recognizing himself in the image, when infact he was recognizing Kayupa. Kayupa's face had all the traits of Skind's yet it was different. It was not a complete copy.

Kayupa and Skind had grown up like two different men, and so had encountered different situations. They were not the same, but somehow their beliefs and emotions were frighteningly similar. All this time he thought he was idolizing Kayupa and Skind separately as two different people. When in fact they were the same man. They shared the same blood.

How?

"It was how I was able to unlock the Jentarana. It wasn't your bloodstream. It was mine. You were never the key. I have Skind Kjoil's exact blood-type. The same genes. I am him, physically. But Skar, you've got to believe me. I didn't know before my solitude. After I found out, all of Skind Kjoil's memories, thoughts and emotions keep flooding my mind. I can barely hold on to the man I was before - the man who was your friend. I fed you so many lies about Master Bo-Hi, only to keep you on my side, to keep you from being manipulated by his lies."

Skar wanted to shiver. How couldn't you have known before?

"The program created me as an infant with his exact bloodstream. I grew up not knowing that I was actually someone else. Can you imagine the feeling? To find out that who you thought you were, who you've fought to be, was really someone else?"

Skar couldn't. No.

"I nearly didn't come back. I sat for days with my lightsaberhilt over my heart. I was going mad! But my lust for revenge to Master Bo-Hi was too great. I couldn't kill him on Kryuu. I had to do it here, so I created the story of him wanting the Jentarana to himself. I manipulated you into coming here, played a game on your friendship to me!"

But … you still want to die?

Kayupa laughed. "I am a prisoner of fate, a prisoner of emotion and destiny, the curse in all genes. My past cannot be undone, nor my future."

Skar felt like crying but didn't want to give off his position.

"But if you didn't come here … who would kill me? That is all that matters now, death is the only way I can be freed from this torment. I'm tired, Skar. Tired of feeling like fate has regretted putting me into life, like its trying to break me every chance it gets!"

Skar shook his head in despair.

Then a second later he realized his mistake.

I moved!

"There you are!"

Using the Force as leverage Skar leapt straight into the air, right after the crevasse was permanently destroyed by a barrage of turbolaser fire. In midair Skar powered his jump sideways, landing directly to the right of the Jentarana. It turned to face him, turbolasers at full charge and blasting huge furrows in the rocks behind him. Skar rolled forward, in between the Jentarana's feet.

He powered up the green lightsaber, jumped straight up and used both hands to cut a wide gash in the belly of the Jentarana. Its plating exploded instantly, raining fireworks down around Skar as he touched back down and rolled away from the lightning. The Jentarana was off balance.

It wobbled from side to side, as if unsure how to stand.

"Damn you, move!" Kayupa was obviously talking to the Jentarana itself, infuriated with its loss of control.

Skar sprinted back in between its legs, eager to do more damage. Skar's sprint came to a halt just in front of the right leg. He held up the blade, ready to strike -

Then it raised its right leg and bounced into him, tossing him across the rock floor and shattering his body against the wall. Skar slid down from the wall, bleeding internally and externally. The Jentarana's head turned to look at Skar, as its red eyes lit up with power surges.

The turbolasers lit up too.

"Not too impressive, Skar! Master Bo-Hi's training has been wasted on you!"

Skar kept his focus ahead as the Jentarana came charging towards him, with a raised arm ready to crush him. Skar lit his lightsaber, ready to fight to the end. Even in his weak and powerless state.

As the Jentarana came charging, Skar imbedded his soul in the Force, desperately thinking of some way he could still win without dying. There had to be a weakness. Something he hadn't thought of. Or something he'd forgotten.

Words fought through his panic and out his lips.

"Selia Iver!"

The Jentarana, looking like it was choking, slid to a halt mere inches from crushing him. The machine turned in every direction, trying to understand where it was and how it'd gotten there. An out of body experience for the soulless.

Inside the Force Skar felt another entity enter the scene, and as its presence was felt, it also took on physical form. When the metamorphosis was complete, the Jentarana reared its head and seemed to look at Skar in silent curiosity.

Inside the cockpit Skar could feel Kayupa smashing electronics in fury and anger, the Jentarana no longer under his control.

Out of the face of the Jentarana, followed by trails of blue lightning, came the ghost figure of Skind Kjoil, clad in black, leaping down onto the ground in front of Skar. After recuperating for a moment, with lightning lashing out from his body, the ghastly Knight looked up at Skar, his featureless eyes glaring down upon Skar. Skind Kjoil looked more like a prisoner than he had in the temple, more dark than even Skar's worst imaginations could have been.

The shock overtook Skar's nerves and he slumped down on the ground, just as Skind Kjoil raised his fist to the sky.

"At last!"

The cry was ear-deafening, so inhuman that Skind sounded like a god screaming down from the heavens, screaming for liberation. Skar held his ears trying to block out the horrid sound. Then Skind looked down at him, those warm, strong eyes looked right down into him.

"Not many are as cursed as I am to have three lives." Skind looked back up at the Jentarana behind him, its body frozen in time. He held out his palm, the way a wrangler would calm a wild beast. "Should I kill him…or do you want to?"

"Don't…" Skar spoke, softly.

Skind lowered his palm again. "Fine then. With the Jentarana out of commission, my last link to this life has been severed. My spirit is free. And I owe that to you, nephew."

Skind walked over and knelt down beside him. All Skar could do was concentrate on not fainting. Or falling apart. Skar couldn't help wonder if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but somehow he felt calm inside when his famous uncle sat beside him, a sense of peace between them, the way you felt around family.

"I am not special," Skind said bluntly, addressing Skar's thoughts, "I was a normal man with common thoughts, and I've lived the same life that everyone else has been given. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will someday be forgotten." Skind looked over at the crippled Jentarana, a smile growing on his face, seeing his life flash before his inner eye, seeing how it all ended now at this moment. Seeing the things that had made life worthwhile.

"But I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, nephew, that has always been enough."

Behind Skind Kjoil, roaring in agonizing terror, the Jentarana opened its jaws, reared its head up into the sky, and a small pod exploded from it mouth shooting into the sky.

"I've spared his life. His fate is now yours to decide."

Skar stared at the object flaming across the sky.

An escape pod?

Skind Kjoil's distant, mesmerized gaze grew as he started walking towards the Jentarana. Seemingly in some forbidden state of ecstasy. When he stood at its feet, he flung out his arms, threw his head back and laughed.

"Selia! I'm coming!"

With a giant flare of light, Skind Kjoil vanished from life, a lightning where he'd once stood. A sharp pain ran across Skar's heart as he felt the fabric of the Force being ripped at. Not only ripped at, but sliced open and his empowering guidance faded for a second, leaving him exhausted without the help of the Force, only to reenter him tenfold.

Just like Master Bo-Hi told me it happened when Skind died, the first time. The Force acknowledges his death with sorrow.

Only this time it felt forced, it didn't feel as serious as Master Bo-Hi had described. Once the initial shock wore off, Skar watched the Jentarana stand frozen solid above him. Only then did Skar hear the sound. A low rumbling coming from inside the Jentarana's belly.

A self-destruct system!

The world turned white, then black, then into nothingness.

When they found me I was just an infant. A dirty little orphan. A baby screaming in the backdrop of the investigation. After Skind had taken his own life, the Republic ran their technicians and investigators all over the temple on Kryuu.

Your mother sat in a corner, your father was there too, comforting her. Master Bo-Hi was there, with the Jedi Council. Then they found me in the remote hangar. Crying inside Skind Kjoil's ship. No one knew how or why I was created. It was your mother who identified me. She knew who I was. I was just a baby but she saw it in my eyes. Your father didn't want to believe it.

Skar felt his body being dragged across sand, scrapping his knees and hands on rocks as he went, but he didn't care. His head felt like a detonator had gone off inside it. And he was only faintly aware of the fist clutching the fabric of his suit by the neck, dragging him along.

Your mother didn't want anything to do with me, and of course neither did Koll. I was an abomination, a disgrace to Skind Kjoil. Now that I think about it, your mother was pregnant with you at the time. I guess that was kinda our first meeting. I ain't that much older than you.

Skar continued to feel his body being dragged over the ground. His arms felt numb. His legs were lagging behind him like the tentacles of a squid. He wished for sleep more than anything. His body was aching for rest, rest Skar knew he couldn't supply it just yet. Constant hammering pounded his aching head, driving him insane. More than anything else he just wanted to lay over on his side and sleep, dream himself away from this life.

Then Master Bo-Hi came over and took a look at me. He suggested that I be kept a secret. Only the Jedi Council, your parents and Master Bo-Hi knew about me. It was kept hidden from all others who I infact was; the scourge of the Jedi. A copy of their greatest failure. A failed copy of a failed man. But Master Bo-Hi insisted that he took me far away, somewhere no one would ever find me.

Don't you see, Skar, he wanted to dispose of me. Just like all the others. I was not meant to live. The gods cursed me from the day I was ever created.

My life is borrowed.

Skar felt no sympathy, only fragments of hatred he couldn't piece together to actually produce the real emotion. He was in mid-emotion, feeling nothing and feeling everything. The dragging continued and Skar still felt the hand pulling him by his collar. Like a dog on a leash.

So he took me to Shalasha, hoping that fate would kill me off there. Master Bo-Hi was ordered to stay there until he was sure I was dead. Then the day of the revolt came and I got into trouble, Master Bo-Hi must have won a heart in a contest or something along the years, because he saved me and took me back to Kryuu, where he began training me as a Jedi.

Then during the Purge the Jedi Council was wiped out, and he was no longer under order to kill me. He raised me and kept my identity hidden from me.

Skar tried reaching out to the Force but hit only a thick wall. He was too weak to reach it, it lingered somewhere in the distance, mocking him with his poor control. Skar felt the weakness conquer him until he was suddenly dropped down hard on the ground. He didn't even bother to look where he was, he just relished lying still.

That was why I killed him. If he wanted to be the father to me that he pretended to be, he should have told me before. He stole my birthright, my very existence, he took everything from me. It was only fair I returned the favor.

Something kicked Skar in the rips and he opened his eyes in shock. Soliton was stretching out before him. Nearby he could see the crater very close. Infact he was lying on the edge of it. Skar tried pushing himself up on his elbows but failed.

"Come now, Skar. The circle is almost complete. Get up. You still have one more choice to make."

Skar was pulled to his feet, and through blackness, felt his feet ghost-walking across the ground until they suddenly went out of ground.

Skar peeled his eyes open. Below he could see the crater, now magnified a great deal due to the Jentarana's self-destruct. Skar had trouble seeing the bottom. It was only then he realized that Kayupa must have saved him in the blast. The same Kayupa who now stood before him on the ledge, holding him by the throat over the abyss.

Kayupa was still wearing his gray pants, his chest dripping with perspiration. Kayupa's long dark hair was tightly kept in place by the bandana. His gritty beard had patches of blood in it. The wounds on his chest and shoulder were healed, but colored oddly purple.

Skar managed to open his mouth. "Kayupa? Are you a god? If you are … death is gonna suck…"

Kayupa grinned. "Now that you've destroyed the Jentarana your uncle has been freed. Yet I still remain, with his emotions, his fear and his hatred. His Sith legacy passed on to me. You may have saved Skind Kjoil's spirit, but I am still very much alive."

Skar grabbed the hand holding him, afraid to fall into the depths below. Skar screamed in agony, not pain, to rid him of the inner turmoil that was engulfing everything he knew about the Force, life, Kayupa and love.

It didn't work.

Kayupa held out his hand to point at something. "Look!"

Skar followed the hand and saw Shinran lying close by. Her eyes were closed and he could tell she was unconscious. Mentally he thanked Kayupa, through all his evils, that he had saved her.

"She's still alive. But you decide whether or not she stays that way."

Skar held on as best as he could, feeling Kayupa's fingers squeeze around his throat. "What is it you want from me? I did what you wanted. The Jentarana is gone."

In front of him Kayupa's mouth formed into a hideous smile. "I want you motivated. I want…my peace." Kayupa kicked a small pebble over the side and it bounced off Skar before it fell into the darkness. "You have to let go of the past in order to reach your future. That's why you're still clinging, because you're afraid. I'm holding you back. You must set me free. You're the only one who can, after all. I refuse to die without a fight, and the only one who can beat me is you."

Skar knew he was right, he knew that the Force was showing him the only real choice he had left. To kill Kayupa would let him live, but it would be a memory more painful than anything else to live it. He wasn't sure he would be able to live knowing he had done so. Despite all Kayupa's failings, he was the one who had gotten Skar this far. His inspiration.

Skar's voice was frail and pleading. "Stay with me." Skar's hand couldn't hang on much longer. "You can still save yourself, brother."

Kayupa spat. "You ignorant fool. Don't you see? I have to make amends. Skind Kjoil murdered thousands. Their souls deserve retribution. This isn't about me anymore. Its about them. Its about our heritage, yours and mine. I brought you this far, taught you all I knew. Now you have to use what I've taught you, to unmake me. There can be no other way."

Skar couldn't. He couldn't do it. He didn't want to. He didn't want to live knowing what he'd done. Slowly but surely it came to him, that he didn't have to live with it.

Skar took a deep breath. "If you really want to die - "

Kayupa's own lightsaber unclipped itself from his belt.

" - we'll die together!"

In midair the blade lit powered up, twirled the blue beam around itself and pierced straight down through the ledge him and Kayupa were standing on. They both heard and saw the rock ledge begin to crack as the lightsaber had created a soft spot in its construction. The last three feet of it, holding both Skar and Kayupa, began to break apart.

Kayupa began to back off to save himself, but Skar held on to Kayupa's hand under his throat and tightened his grip while he pressed his feet against the rock wall and pushed outwards, pulling Kayupa over the edge. Kayupa felt him pulling him down. Skar continued to push, pushing himself further away from the ledge into certain death, but at least Kayupa would join him.

Skar had never felt so confident about any choice. This was right.

"You're coming with me…brother!"

Kayupa lost his footing and giving Skar a betrayed glance he fell over the side of ledge into the chasm below. Skar followed, their bodies still interlocked. Together they swirled into the crater, holding onto each other for help. With the ledge falling out of view, them both falling inevitably to their doom, Skar reached inside Kayupa's mind. The two clutched to each other for some useless effort to save themselves. Kayupa smiled, and for a moment he looked like the old Kayupa, the friend. Air rushed by them, only seconds away from death

Kayupa glanced down at the oncoming crater-floor. His bandana and long hair trailed behind him as he closed his eyes.

Its not over yet.

The two went entangled down into the blackness. Together they charged into oblivion.

Skar found that in the darkness of the Force laid also a resting place for the soul to unwind. A place where aggressions could linger, recharge, unfold. A place where hate was the fuel of his passions. A place where fear was dragged into the light, kicking and screaming, to face its demise in the brightness of the sun. It was true that the Kjoil had abilities to stay on the side of good even when acting out with hate or fear, the calling cards of the Dark Side, but to cross over to Sith was irreversible. To turn Sith was to turn forever into evil. There was no redemption.

While Skar had no intentions of doing so, he found unmatched pleasure in swirling through the negativity of the soul.

At first it was just a whisper, a voice within voices. Emotions within emotions. Thoughts that seemed to lead one way shifted direction. Skar listened to them in his head, as he found himself inside a meditative state of near-death, listening for answers. They spoke in gentle tones, non-hostile, non-threatening.

Skar responded to them in the Force and a transaction of strength and harmony was made between him and the voices.

Skar cut the connection then began diving toward the light at the bottom of the black well. It was a feeling of peace and communication, a feeling of belonging. Skar had never known the Force to have this effect. It was close to meditation only here he could talk to others imbedded in the Force. Like a central for past spirits and ghosts abandoned by life.

Skar tore into the hole, bringing with him new energy and new resolution. Skar felt the Force calling to him, like the voices, as if it made one last attempt at bringing him back. He shook his head, and tried to block it out. It continued to reach out to him, and he knew he couldn't ignore it for long.

But Kayupa was out there somewhere, still alive, and he had to be stopped. Kayupa's darkness matched Skar's determination, and he only hoped that he could find some way of rectifying the wrongs. If ever he and Shinran were to have a future, then Kayupa would have to be out of the picture. And Skar was prepared to rise to the challenge.

The light came closer.

Skar opened his eyes to find himself in another world. The twin explosions had made the lower crater look like a street surrounded by diamond teeth instead of a bomb site. Super sharp and diamond-shaped rock-formations stretched high wherever he looked. The gray rock spears protruded through the ground and stretched on up to the sky, which Skar had difficulty seeing anymore.

He could spot a low source of light among the dust clouds that he knew to be the sun, but there was no sign of anything else.

As he began walking slowly down the street of rock stalactites he looked at his current weapon of choice, Kayupa's blue lightsaber, and tightened his grip. He could feel Shinran somewhere but wasn't sure where. She was alive, and that was all that mattered. She was also awake but he couldn't get a fixed position on her.

Skar snarled in anger.

The silence gets us nowhere, Kayupa. Don't hide from me.

Skar knew Kayupa was in there somewhere hiding in this labyrinth. Skar could feel him drawing on the Force to refresh his body and mind. Skar could feel him moving around in the crater. But the thought of not knowing where he was, made Skar tighten both hands around the lightsaber's hilt.

Carried by the wind through the millions of caves came Kayupa's voice like a whisper.

My supposed brother…

Skar startled at first and then looked everywhere to find the source of his voice. There was no trace of him. Skar could imagine Kayupa's feelings being more and more pushed to the limit of insanity. The instability in him already was very dangerous. Skar felt a wave of sorrow channeled through the Force crash into him, making his heart sink.

A more violent wave came, and pounded him with a thousand curses and words of regret. Skar closed his eyes and tried his best to block the pain, but the Force wouldn't block the wave of hate. Kayupa was nowhere in sight.

Instead of the sorrow and fear, there was now only the thunder of rage. It echoed Kayupa's words through the cave, as it echoed inside the Force.

For some reason he didn't know, he felt more and more like he was in unfamiliar territory, not just physically but also spiritually. He knew that Kayupa was a man who would only bring devastation and horror to the Galaxy if he persisted in living. But Kayupa didn't persist in living. He wanted to die. He wanted to be free of his mortal coils, but for as long as Skar could remember he had followed the man's words, listened to them with interest. He'd idolized Kayupa so much that a part of him wished he was the man himself.

How was he supposed to destroy the man he was trying to live up to? How could he kill that invincibility he wanted for himself?

Then Kayupa spoke, his voice bouncing off the walls of crater. "Your idolization will be your coffin."

Skar checked every corner he passed but there was nothing there. "What?" he said aloud.

"Devoting one's life to something not discovered by your own mind, is ignorance. Its too easy to hatch on to a belief or an idea constructed by someone else, easier than it is to be original. To discover your own views. Idolization, no matter how you look at it, is a form of love. Devotion to a religion or an idea is akin to the love you'd have for a woman. If the religion is proved fallible, you break. If the woman is not what you'd built her up to be in your own fantasy, you break."

"I believed in you," Skar muttered under his breath, still searching for the source of Kayupa's voice, his preaching.

"You shouldn't believe in something that isn't your own idea. Don't settle for an easy answer about faith. If the subject of religion or faith really bothers you that much, at least give it the time and effort it deserves. If you don't care more for it than to take the easiest and quickest answer, then don't even bother."

Skar wiped sweat from his brows, tightened his hands around the lightsaber again, not sure what Kayupa was trying to tell him.

"No one can force you to find a faith that already exists and settle for less than what you feel. The important thing is what you feel, what you think, what you believe to be right. You don't even have to call it a religion. People treat religion like its supposed to mean they're better people, but most of the times they're just hiding their own insecurity behind something they think will protect them. The only ones they deceive are themselves. What people don't see is that you don't need a chapel, or an altar, or anything, other than what is in your heart. Its what you feel inside, that determines your level of commitment. Religion is not about walking into a church, or a temple. Its about taking a walk inside yourself."

Skar felt alone. Kayupa was right. Skar had been influenced way too easily by Kayupa's strength. All his life he'd looked to Kayupa's example to find an answer to whatever problem he found. Nothing he'd done had been his own. Kayupa himself was continuing to grow more Kjoil than Jedi to accent his genetic heritage. His words of spiritual freedom was that of a Kjoil, a true Jedi would never consider taking up other beliefs than that of the Force. A Kjoil was free to explore other faiths.

"What are you trying to say? What is it I need to do?"

"All you need…is an idea, something that seems right to you. Something you believe others might need to hear. It doesn't have to be the meaning of life, or how to make a better environment. It can be anything. Life isn't about finding out your purpose. That would take away the fun of being alive. What we can do, is find something that makes life more interesting. The meaning of life is not going to be found in our lifetime, brother. What kind of a world would it be if we actually knew the secrets behind it? Who's to say we'd like it?"

Kayupa laughed at his own clever words. "But whatever you find, whatever you want to believe in, whatever idea you have, don't let anyone take that from you. It doesn't matter what other people think, or how impossible your goal may seem. You're the only one who can decide whether or not its doable, by giving it all the faith it needs to be achieved. If all we do are reactions of something else, intellectually and spiritually we become slaves. You're the only one who can make an idea into reality. How much faith you give, determines its success. Look at your own life, you've been through some horrible events, Lwen's death, Master Bo-Hi, Skind…even me, but your faith, your dedication has kept you alive."

Kayupa's voice grew more dark, the anger back in his tone. "Now its time to live up to your responsibility as a Jedi, its time to prove your faith in the Force. Soon I'll be gone from this world, leaving you behind to fight. But first you must destroy me. I've trained you for this moment. This is your final test." Kayupa's voice was light, haunting. "Sever the tie that binds you to me, brother. Free me. You're the only one who can. Let go of the past and take your first step into the future. You have missions to fulfill, and that's I've trained you for. To be a soldier, a warrior. A man who knows the difference between right and wrong, a man who knows when to sacrifice himself for the greater good. Sacrifice me."

As much as it hurt to consider, Skar acknowledged the idea. At least then it would be his own act - Skar sighed. No, it wouldn't. Again it was Kayupa's will, his words. Not Skar's own idea. Nothing made sense anymore.

"Humans are more than living flesh wishing for better. We are meant for something grander. Some worship the Force, for the power and purpose it gives them." Kayupa chuckled, signifying he did not believe in that. "And some fall in love, worshiping that love, giving whatever is needed, whatever must be sacrificed."

Skar's boots crushed stones beneath them. The cave loomed huge all around him, there were hundreds of little alcoves and small perches where Kayupa could hide.

"Follow your own dreams, Skar, not mine. I know you will find your way through it. So that you and Shinran can be together…that is your war, Skar."

Skar was getting sick of the charade. Seeking a way to end this game, he reached out to the Force. Closing his eyes he turned off his senses one by one, allowing only the Force to show him what was really happening around him. The ground faded, then the canyon walls, and eventually everything else. The world around him became darkness, but there was one light shining through; Kayupa's presence.

It surprised Skar to find that Kayupa was not in front nor behind him. Nor was he to his left or right. Skar's connection to the Force became a two-way link as the Force in turn touched him.

Warning him.

Skar rolled forward as a lightsaber, Master Bo-Hi's green, carved straight down into the ground where he had stood a second earlier. Skar came back up and turned around, his blue blade now alive and protecting him from Kayupa who stood on the ground before him.

The green blade slid out of the ground and Kayupa smiled as he twirled the lightsaber in his hand. "You're faster than I thought." Kayupa gestured to Skar's arm. "But you're bleeding."

Skar looked down. A stripe of red was painted across his right wrist. He must have cut himself on the sharp rocks as he rolled. Skar tightened his left hand around it, trying to stop the blood. Skar looked up to see if Kayupa was gonna take advantage of his momentarily weak condition. He wouldn't put it past him.

"I want this to be fair." Kayupa said as he crouched down and shut off his blade. He placed the lightsaber in his lap and closed his eyes. "This is a Jedi's fight. We are creatures of honor. You deserve a battle."

Skar frowned at him, though he did feel grateful. He switched off his lightsaber and pulled out a small medpack which he kept in his belt.

"Take all the time you need, my brother." Kayupa oozed with darkness.

Skar began bandaging his wrist while stretching out to the Force, for strength. He kept a good eye on Kayupa as he tightened the bandage on his wound.

"You have really improved your skills with the telekinesis," Kayupa mocked, a frosty smile on his lips, "thank you for saving my neck."

Skar frowned again and even let out a small laugh. "Don't thank me, Kayupa. Thank life and it's sick sense of humor." The reason why fate had chosen to spare Kayupa's life, as well as his own, eluded Skar. Skar had managed to break the fall with the Force and Kayupa must have tagged along.

But even as he'd said the words to Kayupa he began to feel something familiar, maybe it was Kayupa or maybe just the surroundings but something had definitely clicked inside him. Skar's eyes locked on the lightsaber in Kayupa's lap.

A lightsaber with a green blade.

The dream I had on Nar Shaddaa two years ago, fighting on that cliff. Skar shook his head in silent understanding, while tightening his bandage. Kayupa. It was Kayupa the Force was warning me about. I see it all now. The man in the dream had a green lightsaber, I thought that the threat would come from Master Bo-Hi. But he was never a threat. Skar felt his heart tighten and his breath became shallow. This moment has been waiting for me.

Kayupa smiled as he had done in the dream; all teeth and glaring eyes of hate.

I've dreamt this. I've seen this happen. I've seen what happens. Skar reached up to his face, and realized his face would look exactly the way it did in the rain-puddle in the dream. The tattoos on the hands, the hair, the light beard he'd grown since they'd left Kryuu, everything matched.

I couldn't escape it. I must do this. It would be wrong of me not to follow this moment through. Skar took hold of the lightsaber, tightening both hands on the hilt. I have no choice; I have no will. I have to trust that for some reason the Force wants this moment to take place.

Skar circled his thumb over the ignition-switch twice then pushed down. The blue blade ignited him in its warm light, humming like a waiting serpent, and he took his defense-stance. Skar closed his eyes and opened himself up. The Force flooded through him and awakened his weary mind and body. Feeling refreshed he opened his eyes and smiled at Kayupa, though the smile was just a mask.

I have to accept that I have no choice.

Kayupa too readied himself for combat, the man rose from his crouch, ignited his own lightsaber, the green blade snapping to life in his hands, the tails of his bandana flowing on a slight breeze.

Skar looked up to the sky and noticed the sun glaring down upon them like the maker of fate watching if events transpired as it wanted them too. Slowly the sun moved down towards the horizon. Skar could feel the gigantic mass moving through space. But even the sun couldn't remove the darkness that had come over them, in their hearts.

He sighed. "Damn you, Kayupa. Damn you for not having the strength in your heart to fight it. You were my friend...Damn you for making me do this."

Kayupa was infuriated. "Damn you! You and your entire family. I never asked to be part of you, I never asked for this. At least live up to your heritage and kill me! Or give up ever being free!"

Skar clenched his hands around the hilt, cocked a cold smile.

"What are friends for?"

Skar was upon him in seconds. Filled with hate Skar swooped his blade down from a high arc and Kayupa parried slowly. Too possessed with his newfound hate for Kayupa Skar didn't think to change his tactic, he merely raised his blade again, striking down hard as he'd done before, this time only to hit dirt as Kayupa rolled away from the second attack. Skar turned around, facing Kayupa again, both them shielded behind their glowing blades.

Skar rolled sideways to his right as Kayupa attacked, and coming out of the roll he immediately leapt high up, cushioned by the Force. In midair he threw out the lightsaber, sending it whirling towards Kayupa. It struck once, twice, thrice, and then returned to his waiting hand the second he landed back on his feet.

Skar rushed forward, his hilt swinging in circles on the tips of his fingers. Kayupa ran at him too, but leapt above Skar at the last minute, executed a flip and landed perfectly on the other side of Skar, who rolled forward to avoid any hits from behind. Skar pivoted on his knee as he came out of his roll and raised his blade again to defend himself as Kayupa pushed forward and struck down with his green blade at Skar's face.

Skar blocked and Kayupa spun his saber in a circle over his head as he backpedaled, the blade ended pointing at Skar.

The two attacked each other sending sparks and cracks from their weapons. Skar lunged for a high attack, striking down on top of the green blade. then he spun right and attacked low, then pivoted back to his original position and lunged at the back of his foe.

Just like in the dream.

The green blade parried and thrust away his blade. Kayupa spun full circle and struck at Skar in a cut that would have decapitated him if he hadn't ducked. Like lightning Skar rolled across the ground, but came out of the roll slicing his blue blade through nothing but empty air as Kayupa leapt above the cut, then dived in close and struck at Skar's shoulder. Skar parried and moved into Kayupa's inner circle of defense and landed a fist on his throat.

Kayupa heaved for air and backed off, playing out his allotted part. Then he wiped away the sweat from his eyes and glared at Skar. Kayupa advanced again, this time raining blows upon Skar's blade and finally kicking him in the side of his pelvis. As it had done before, a jolt of pain shot through his back and Skar fell over, his face drowning in dust.

Just like the dream.

He waited for the lightning to strike down in the back of his thigh but it never came. Skar rolled over, curious as to why things hadn't happened the way they should. Skar took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and relied on the currents of the Force. He found no answer as to why he hadn't been killed as he had in the dream, but rather than distracting himself from battle by thinking too much, Skar decided to explore this new territory. Skar could feel the Force guiding him, touching him, and moving him where it wanted him to be, and it wasn't on the ground biting dust.

It was on his feet, fighting Kayupa.

As he got up, Kayupa circled and pounded his green blade on top of Skar, who brushed the blade aside with his own. Kayupa recovered and went for another attack, which failed also. Every detail and aspect of the moment moved through Skar, and even before he could think of a strike, he'd already executed it. Skar was fast, faster than ever as he pushed his way through each of Kayupa's parries.

Kayupa was weary.

Skar was just getting started.

Skar stabbed his blade forward, only to have it pushed away. Kayupa lunged, but Skar sidestepped and the man went past him, but came around fast enough to block Skar's swipe at his back. Skar wove through the blades and slammed his saber down at the back of Kayupa's leg, but the man blocked that too by reverting his blade behind him.

But Skar still managed to land a kick on his back and pushed Kayupa forwards, stumbling as he went. Skar crashed his blade down on Kayupa's with all the strength he'd found in his hate for Kayupa, and Kayupa managed to parry it, but only barely. Skar could see the effort on Kayupa's face, the man was not too confident about his abilities to parry another blow like that.

Skar loved that look on his face.

Skar retracted, swung his blade left, smashing his blade against Kayupa's again, their blades entwined for a second. Full of anger, Skar pulled his weapon free and swirled, his blade following the motion. Kayupa ducked beneath it easily and then lunged fiercely at Skar's side, but coming through the revolution Skar parried it at the other side.

Their blades entwined, their hands touching as they pushed at each other, Skar moved slightly forward, his boot landing on Kayupa's kneecap. He kicked outward, twisting the knee back at a very unnatural angle.

Kayupa cried out in terrible agony, a betrayed look on his twisted face as he fell down on one knee, his one leg useless beneath him. With Kayupa on his knees, crying in anguish, Skar ran up to him, used a nearby rock as a leverage to jump and to land a powerful kick in Kayupa's chest, flattening the weakened man on the ground.

Currents of anger roared inside Skar, their hateful gales like waves as he came around, eager to punish Kayupa more, eager for the man to die in a ways that would make a mortician sick. Kayupa lifted his blade up pathetically to defend himself. Skar slammed his blade into Kayupa's, nearly ripping the hand off with sheer power, cocked his wrist and wrestled the lightsaber from Kayupa's hands, finishing off with a strong kick to Kayupa's stomach, causing the man to vomit black blood over the ground next to him.

Kayupa cried inaudibly for mercy, but there was no none who would grant him that. Skar's anger was still not sated.

Far from it.

"Get up!" Skar shouted, wanting to hurt Kayupa more. Wanting the man to stand so he could tear him down. "What's the matter, Kayupa! Does it hurt!"

He didn't know if the man could hear him, Kayupa was already crying at the top of his lungs, seemingly lost in his own pain.

"You think that's pain! I'll show you pain!"

Skar tightened his hands around the hilt, reverted his blade and struck down. But the blade stopped in midair. One inch above Kayupa's right eye socket. Kayupa couldn't move, he could only cough up the blood, and try not to let the waves of pain washing over him make him twitch, not wanting to puncture his face on the blade.

"Kill me," he pleaded, "please! I can't take this anymore!"

Skar's hissing breath and gritted teeth portrayed a container of anger unlike anything Kayupa had even dared to touch. Skar knew Kayupa was taunting him, tempting him to kill him, and Skar found it strangely comfortable.

"Its you…or me, brother."

Skar felt the Dark Side tempting him, begging for this allegiance.

Kayupa laid out flat, holding out his chest as a clear target. "Bury me when I'm gone."

Skar's teeth ached as he lifted his blade up over his head, preparing to strike down and kill Kayupa once and for all, revenging his Master, revenging Shinran, and bringing an end to the evil that Kayupa had swept over their lives. To kill his inspiration, to surpass him, to destroy him, to finally rid himself of his last idol and stand victorious as the greatest of them all. It was his duty.

His responsibility.

"You were an inspiration for me, Kayupa - "

Skar turned off the blue blade.

" - for the way that I'll never ever be." Skar staggered back, weary from the drain of the Dark Side. He felt it eating at his heart. He couldn't kill Kayupa. He could feel the Sith ghosts lustfully watching him, praying he would step over to their side. He hadn't been aware of it before, but it occurred to him that the Sith had been watching him all along.

"This is my choice. I know I can't have our friendship back, things can't go back the way they were, but if I kill you, it will never have been at all. Like me, Kayupa, you'll take the hard road. To live, to grow, to learn. To be scared and to do what it takes to move through it the hard way. The right way. I don't care what your genes tell you, but you're going to live with it." Skar panted. "And so am I."

Kayupa sat up, staring curiously at his friend.

Skar's breathing was heavy, his brows dripping with perspiration, his hair soaked. His mind felt like a giant blur, he could barely hold on to his sanity anymore, but somewhere he knew he was doing the right thing. He was tired of living through others. For once he would break the curse, make his own decision, no matter what it implied.

Maybe Kayupa deserved to die, maybe his existence was unnatural and harmful to the world, but Skar didn't care. This was his friend, no matter what he had done Skar wanted to preserve that feeling in his heart.

Kayupa called his blade to his hand, rising up slowly on his good leg in a last desperate attack on the weak Skar. Kayupa had to drag his leg behind him, supporting himself with the Force as he limped across the ground. The green blade snapped to life over Skar, bathing him in its light as Kayupa moved in for the kill.

Seeing Kayupa coming at him, the green blade meant to kill him, Skar closed his eyes and threw away his blue lightsaber. Accepting his fate at the hands of Kayupa.

Just like the dream.

The strangest thing happened. Kayupa stopped and turned to look behind him, receiving a booted kick in the nose and a second kick removed the green lightsaber from his hands. A hand grabbed Kayupa by the collar and pulled him in tight. Kayupa was pinned with his back pressed against the spectator. The spectator's left hand held Kayupa in place, holding his throat in a tight grip. The second hand reached across Kayupa's chest and Skar's unlit blue lightsaber hilt flew through the air to land in the opened hand. The hand turned the hilt around and held it against the skin over Kayupa's heart.

Kayupa managed to let out a growl as he found himself defenseless. "No!"

Skar looked mystified, as Shinran now held Kayupa in an iron-grip, clueless as to how she'd been able to call the lightsaber to her hand, she was not a Jedi. Skar worked on getting to his feet but his body was stripped of all strength. Skar held out his hand to try and comfort them both.

Kayupa squirmed under her hold. "Shinran, no, don't, you don't know - "

Shinran's voice was merely a whisper. "This …needs to be done, Skar" she stared at nothing, "neither of us…matter more than you." There was a careless finality in her words that sent shudders through Skar's heart. She looked over at him, and Skar saw the painful sadness in her eyes and he saw the fear, and the resolution.

The necessity.

With the lightsaber held over Kayupa's chest, if ignited, the blade would be long enough to piece through her behind Kayupa as well. Skar felt like time stood still, and he dragged himself across the ground to reach her, hoping to save the one thing in his life that made it beautiful, the only one he'd ever loved, the one that was his life.

"No!" Skar screamed.

"Fate arranged for us to meet, Skar." She closed her eyes, drawing her face away from him, her voice heartbroken. "I love you so much...but Kayupa is right," she sobbed and her voice buckled under her emotions, "I would only get in your way."

The lightsaber bloomed.

One second he could feel her presence clear as day, a radiant shine within him, one that felt even more powerful than the Force. A warm center around all his dreams and his hopes. The thing that kept him going, the one that kept him motivated. The one that shone through all the darkness in his life and the one that lived in his soul.

But the next second that part of him was torn out, ripped from his heart and a hollow unnatural loneliness was all that remained, a bitter taste of loss in his mouth. For an instant no sound existed in the world, except the hiss-snap of the lightsaber as it ignited. Skar heard the tear of flesh and the burning of clothing.

And he heard Kayupa scream in agony, his dying scream. Shinran never said a word or made a sound.

The entire crater began swirling in a Force-storm, demanding the spirits of those two dead, and Skar felt the wind pulling him closer to its center. He grabbed onto a rock that stabbed up through the ground like a pyramid and pulled himself in tight, as the Force took Kayupa and Shinran from him.

"No!"

Skar managed to scream across the wind. His fingers began to slip and he felt the Force tearing into him, invading every fiber of him and filling his mind with the sensation of death. The sensation of agony. The sensation of pain. Looking back, feeling every touch of the Dark Side in him being blown to the wind, he caught glimpses of Shinran's lightning figure, it seemed she was on fire, a blinding light was burning from her skin and Skar couldn't dare look at it. Like an inferno in the middle of a supernova, its light fading under a much greater light.

Lightning struck down through Skar, drowning out the millions of complaints, words of regret and sorrows he felt in that moment. Realizing the sacrifice Shinran had made for him to reach his destiny. Giving herself because she loved him that much. Skar screamed inside the whirlwind, inside his own chaotic understanding of it all. As thankful as he was, he didn't accept it. Skar's heart was shattered in two as the Force surged through him, letting him for one last time feel Shinran's kiss on his lips, before she was whisked away into its brilliance.

Then the wind calmed down. One thought occupied his mind, blotting out the aches and the stinging from his cuts and bruises. Skar jogged to where Shinran laid, as quickly as his battered body would allow him. He knelt down next to her and rolled her onto her back and slipped his arms underneath her to lift her up and lean her against his knee.

Shinran's head rolled limply over to one side.

Skar stopped, not believing what he had just seen, noticing now that she was cold and completely motionless in his arms.

"Shinran?" Skar called. The hope in his voice had faded away. "Shinran?"

He felt the heavy, hollow feeling deep inside of him grow and his throat tied itself in a knot. His mind was blank. Cold and hot anger rose up in a tide all over him. Skar knew what he was wishing for would be nothing short of miracle but still he gave it every ounce of hope he had.

"Shinran, no. You can't be …"

Then it came, the moment of realization creeping up his spine like ivy. His cry echoed over the plains of Soliton like the death-scream of a wounded animal, echoing against hundreds of surfaces, magnifying and seemingly living forever in the crevasses all over the world, never to be heard by anyone, never to meet sympathy. The leaden feeling grew. Empty. Skar could feel his heart sink down. The wave of anger returned again, much stronger and more violent. Skar didn't want to accept it, he couldn't. He didn't know what else to do. What could he do? The training and all of the fighting he'd seen hadn't prepared him for this.

"Shinran!" Skar yelled out loud, throwing his head back. His cry echoed down the hillside, well after he had stopped. Guilt came crashing down on him. Skar felt his throat tighten up again. He couldn't say anything; the words stuck and wouldn't come out. The deep void reached down into the pit of his stomach, the realization of her death made him feel queasy, and his head spun, still full of jumbled words, pictures and moods.

Skar put Shinran down gently, and let his head fall back down. He looked down at her and closed his eyes. Why? he thought. Skar carried on, turning it over and over in his mind. It was my fault, Skar thought reluctantly. He opened his eyes and saw Shinran again. Shinran died because of me. Skar mustered up the strength to say what he wanted out loud. "Forgive me," he gently said in a low voice.

Skar hung his head away from Shinran, rested his other arm on his knee and supported himself on his right arm. His hand throbbed from hitting the hard ground. Skar shuddered in bitterness. Trying to make sense of everything that buzzed inside his head. He couldn't bring himself to look at her. Skar didn't want her to see him feeling so miserable and looking so broken. Skar continued to put himself through this ordeal, blaming himself solely for Shinran's death.

This was the reality of it and not like on the holodramas where the hero always rescues the girl and they go off into the sunset to whatever happy life that followed. Whatever future he had planned for him and her, belonged solely to the past.

"I wasn't able to protect you," he choked back his heartache. He looked at Shinran. He knew that there was no one there to answer the questions in his head. "Shinran, I'm sorry…forgive me." he implored and lowered his head down again.

Almost instantly Shinran began to lose shape, form and existence. Before his eyes she melted away into small twinkling stars that twirled around him, hovering silently to the sky. Skar felt Shinran fading from life, perhaps going to a better place. Skar looked down at his hands, Shinran's body was gone, taken by the Force.

And before he could begin to understand why, someone was calling out to him.

"Brother!"

Skar turned on his knees, tears streaming down his face, his teeth clenching in anger at what he saw behind him. Walking very slowly towards Skar, still supporting his broken knee with the Force, the dying Kayupa held his hand to his chest, holding onto the lightsaber that was still impaled through his chest, blue light sticking out of his back a final evidence that death was coming.

Then he looked back up at Skar with his smug, but broken, smile already in place. "I never meant for it to be this way, brother. I never wanted…to break up the family. I can't make it up to you," his voice broken and filled with regret. "Remember, Skar, always listen to your heart." Kayupa's leg bent awkwardly underneath him and he fell to his knees. "Our fates are for us to decide, we are not sons of destiny." Kayupa sat there on his knees, clutching his wound, a calm silent understanding in that smile on his pale lips. A clarity washed over his face. "Don't cry for us."

Only then did Skar feel the tears running down his cheeks. The endless stream of water that he knew was not only devoted to Shinran's fleeing spirit into the Force but also to Kayupa who was now at the brink of death.

Skar wiped away his last tear. "You got what you wanted," Skar said softly, "and I have no tears left to spare."

Nodding once, Kayupa's eyes died and his body slumped over, the lightsaber in his chest flickering before bursting into flames, short-circuiting itself. As Kayupa caught on fire, the burning corpse laid on a desolate planet of the Galaxy the man had once so feverishly sought to save.

Skar Kjoil felt the tickling sensation, then the cool liquid that surrounded him. Fearing he was drowning he flared his arms and legs around, only to bang them against surfaces. Slippery surfaces. His hands and legs moved slower than he was used to. Something obstructed them. He felt like he was swimming, only then to open his eyes and see that he, in a way, was.

The bacta rejuvenation tank held him in place, slowly repairing his body. A nose-plug and air support was thrust over his mouth so he wouldn't drown. He waved his hands back and forth, finding odd fun in moving around. The liquid worked over his body treating and healing his wounds. Bacta was applied in a solution of synthetic fluid that mimicked the body's own vital liquids. Skar found himself immersed in the bacta tank, captured like a prisoner.

The gelatinous, translucent red water acted as bacterial medium. It was a construction to heal patients from serious wounds and Skar found it to be much like his ability to use the Force to heal himself. Only this way it required no effort from him other than to relax and let the liquid do its job. The bacta encouraged regeneration and tissue growth to rapidly heal his wounds and cuts without causing scarring.

Skar calmed himself and allowed the bacta to do its job, relishing the thought of being in medical aid. Whoever it was that was helping him, he thanked them mentally. He hung there vertically suspended in the transparent cylinder. The bubbling slime encapsulated his body.

Skar moved himself closer to the window that separated him from the next room. Outside he could see the sterile whiteness of a medical bay. He couldn't see anything that let him know who was responsible for his rescue.

Skar was about to fall asleep, succumbing to the comfortable flow of the liquid, when two figures appeared just outside the window. One of them was a droid, a silver clad protocol unit by the looks of it, and a woman with long brown hair, dressed in a nurse gown.

As Skar watched, the woman picked up a headset from a nearby table. Then she signaled to Skar, pointing at his air-support. Skar realized there was a microphone in it he could talk into.

He started to talk, which came off as hard to him, his jaw was sore and he realized he had no sense of time. He could have been in the bacta for days.

"H..hello?"

The woman smiled and nodded on the other side. As she spoke Skar found that he could not hear her directly. He had no headset with speakers in them. But he could read her lips and touch her with the Force to find out what she was saying.

"Don't worry, you're safe. You've been in dormo-shock for some time now and your body is recovering miraculously. You're out of danger and you're going to be fine." There was something very comforting about the way she said that.

Again his jaws hurt. "Where…am I?"

The woman smiled. "Onboard the New Republic frigate Mimosa."

Skar jolted. "N…New…Republic?"

She smiled, a nurse's smile. "Yes, after the Battle of Endor a document of declaration was made. You are in our care."

Skar calmed down. "How…long have I been here?"

"For about a week. You've been in bacta for a day now, before that you underwent surgery while you were in a coma."

Skar shook his head in the jelly. "Surgery?" He didn't remember having any afflictions that would necessitate cutting him open. "Surgery for what?"

"When we found you on Soliton you were almost dead. From what the medical team told me it appeared you'd suffered a very powerful electrical shock. We were lucky to have found you when we did."

Electrical shock? Could it have been the surge he'd felt when Kayupa and Shinran had died? "I don't remember anything about that."

She snickered. "Well, that's how a coma works."

Skar knew she was joking, he could feel it off her emotions. "How did you find me?"

Now the droid stepped forth, its silver sheen very bright under the powerful white lights in the outside medical bay. "I found you, sir."

Skar looked over the droid. "Who are you?"

"My name is 2L, I was the protocol droid of Master Kayupa, sir."

Skar heard the name and it stung like a spear in his side. "You were his droid?"

"Yes, I was onboard the Koniduz when I received a hailing beacon from Master Kayupa's comlink. All that remained at the site was Master Kayupa's corpse and you. I signaled the closest ship I could find for medical aid, and this vessel responded, sir."

Skar nodded slowly. "So … Kayupa is dead?"

The droid didn't seem to know how to respond. "Much so, sir."

Skar felt happiness knowing that. He remembered seeing Kayupa die, but he wanted to be sure. "Good." And it really did feel good.

The woman reacted and pulled out a cylinder object from her gown. Skar recognized it. A lightsaber. "Do you know what this is? Did it belong to this Kayupa person?"

Skar shook his head, feeling horrible memories springing to life. Flashes of the last things he could remember, the memory feeling so old it could have been years ago. "No … it belonged to my Master. Jedi Master Bo-Hi Dzog."

She looked at the droid, then back at him. "There are some people who want to talk to you about this."

"About what?"

She looked stern. "About Jedi."

Skar looked at her as hard as he could manage through the liquid. "What do they want to know?"

She stepped forth and placed her empty hand on the glass. She looked concerned for his welfare while curiously interested in him. "Are you … a Jedi?"

Skar nodded. "Yes."

She nodded and smiled. "I'll have you out of the tank in a few hours. Then I'll take care of you and make sure you're perfectly back to health." She placed the lightsaber inside her gown again and rested her hands at her hips. "After that you can talk to him."

Skar was confused. "Who?"

She smiled with the hint of a grin. "Don't act like you don't know. He's very anxious to meet you. He should be here in a day or two."

Skar banged his fist against the window and saw that it frightened her. She stepped back while the droid just stared at him, as if curious about his irrational behavior.

"Who?"

She swallowed hard before voicing the name. "Luke Skywalker."

It had taken a while to wash off all the healing goo but he found himself in pretty good shape. His arms and legs were sore from not being used for a week, but his health was perfect. The wounds on his hands from digging Shinran out of the dive were all patched up and healed. The cut on his wrist from rolling away from Kayupa's flying blade was healthy too.

He went down to the mess hall onboard the Mimosa. There was a grayness over everything he saw, his own sadness painted over all he touched. A feeling of being a ghost walking amongst those whose opinion he didn't care for, wallowing in his own misery. The tables were all empty and Skar was happy for that. He longed to eat solid food again, of any kind, he'd even eat some of the goo he and Kayupa had once swallowed down before tasting it back in the days. The mere memory almost sent Skar back to the medical bay to cry, but he found strength in the Force and collected a cup of caf and some porridge from the cafeteria.

Skar picked the table that was as far away from anything he could want. He sat down and sipped the hot caf, tasting the warm and rich drink. Then he slowly started to poke at the porridge with the spoon. The porridge didn't taste of anything but he found the sensation of having food work its way into his belly refreshing. Skar finished the plate and sat back.

The mess-hall soon crowded with pilots coming back from missions. They collected plates from the servant droid and began eating while cheering about past victories and bragging about their last simulator scores. Skar found the overwhelming wave of overconfidence sickening. He thanked his luck they kept distance from him.

Out of the entrance to the mess-hall came 2L. Kayupa's abandoned protocol droid whom Skar guessed now belonged to him. 2L came clattering across the floor and, with permission, seated himself next to Skar.

"I'm terribly sorry to disturb you, sir, but the nurse told me you'd be here and I have a question that requires an answer only you can provide."

Skar nodded. "What question?"

"When I received the hail from Master Kayupa's comlink, it was a woman talking. Who is she and where is she, sir?"

Skar felt his heart beating fast. "She was a friend and she's…dead." Skar leaned forward. "Not to put you down, but that's all I can say right now."

"She was a friend, sir?"

Skar nodded and thought, and so much more. "She was a friend."

2L looked at him, the slightly comical way only a droid could do, and seemed to think no more of it. "After Master Kayupa's regretful death I suppose you are my new Master. I am presently without any other option, and would be delighted to enlist in your service."

Skar smiled. "How did you and Kayupa meet?"

"He purchased me on Nar Shaddaa. A good deal, I'd say. I am equipped with the latest in protocol procedure and could be a great asset to you. I've also updated my own memory with all the information there is surrounding Jedi. I could be a great help to you."

Of that Skar was sure. "What else you got?"

"Apart from being an excellent interpreter and an expert in human-relations, I have an extensive knowledge of the Galaxy."

Skar found himself oddly amused by the droid's attempt to sell itself. "I have no money to offer you."

"And such is not needed, sir. I am yours by default."

Skar thought of something. It was a long shot and it had already been beaten to death in his own mind, but he thought the droid might shed some new light on the subject.

"Search your database for a planet called Nanh."

The droid's head tilted as it searched its mechanical brain for a match, but it came up empty. "Sorry, sir. Such a planet is not registered. If it does exist no one has registered it."

Skar nodded. "Run a match for the word itself and see what you come up with."

The droid complied and said, "the word Nanh has fifty-three matches to exist in the languages known to the Galaxy. The most common meaning of the word lies in the Kjoil language." The droid seemed to smile, as much as it was possible for a droid to do so. "It means home."

Skar smiled. While he one day hoped to have the strength and power in the Force that Master Bo-Hi had possessed, he knew it would be long before he was that well-founded in the Force. To become a true Master of the Force required more than he was ready to give right now.

Together the three Jedi had created the future, guiding the path of many others into a better world. It would take effort yet, but Skar was sure that the future would be a haven compared to the past. Skar knew he would always remember Master Bo-Hi, he would be remembered for his strength, his trust, his care and his love. You truly did show me a home.

The droid remembered something else. "Now that I think of it, the word Kayupa has a reference to the Kjoil language as well."

Skar was afraid to ask.

"It means brother."

Skar wondered at why Master Bo-Hi, for who else, had named Kayupa with a name that meant 'brother'. Again he found himself in awe of the Master's foresight and strength. He must have known Skar and Kayupa would eventually meet. Skar still saw him as an idol for him, while realizing the danger of idolizing. Kayupa had all the right ideas, but his frilled control and painful past had geared his path into destruction. Skar prayed Kayupa had found the rest of spirit in the afterlife that he so much longed to have while he was alive.

Skar leaned back in his chair, noticed all the pilots still engulfed in their feeble attempts of self-elevation. Skar didn't want to be that way. He was better off on his own. His heart told him it was the right thing to do. He didn't even want to meet Skywalker. Maybe someday in the future he would stand by the Jedi's side and support him, but not now. His fate didn't call for it yet.

Your life as a Jedi will not be easy on you, if you choose this path placed before you, then a hard life indeed it'll be. You will leave this sorrow and you must never look back to this point. You must never dwell at this pain. Your eyes must look forward to the future, and to the dreams you want to realize. So you can be who you want to be. And do the things you've only dreamt of doing.

Skar nodded. There is no emotion, there is peace. He looked over at the silver sheen of 2L and said, "what now?"

The droid was confused. "Master Skywalker should arrive at any given moment. You have time for another meal or shower by my estimate, sir."

Skar shook his head. "I don't want to meet him."

The droid was in shock. "Why not, sir?"

Skar sighed. Everywhere he looked there was some painful memory to remember. Events had transpired that would follow him forever and he could do nothing but accept them. As time went by it would mend what was now so wounded, or least so he prayed. He had no doubts that he would remember the last month, in fact the last two years, forever. It was a vital part of his growth as a Jedi. He'd overcome the most impossible obstacles, endeared the most horrifying emotional challenges. Skar felt the touch with Force, like the brightest star of them all glowing right inside him. He had survived, while others had failed. Skar didn't know how to explain it, not to a droid anyhow.

He knew the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker was coming to see him, no doubt to persuade him into joining him and to bring this Galaxy back together. Skar realized that while he had been fighting to keep the Jentarana at bay, Luke Skywalker had been fighting the Empire up close, killing the Emperor and Darth Vader. They were much alike in that way, he guessed

Skar shook his head. He wanted rest. He wanted to contemplate where he could do the most good the way he found most comfortable. He wouldn't let Skywalker influence him into making a bad decision. And he wanted more than anything to have time to heal. After all, how could he go on fighting another cause, when his own heart had not had time to mend? This was what Kayupa meant. Skar had so much freedom but he just didn't acknowledge it. Free now to choose his own life, free of the past, somewhat, and free to find a new path.

A path for himself.

I'm not ready for the responsibility. I've kept my promise. I vanquished the Jentarana. I ended the tyranny my uncle created. I've freed his spirit. All of it was done out of my own sense of duty. My life was based on fulfilling my heritage and I have. Now its time to look for myself. I know who I am, but I don't know where I'm supposed to be. Is it with the Republic or is it on my own?

Skar shook his head determined.

I'm not ready. Skywalker will have to wait. The farther back you look, the farther forward you are likely to see. Its time I began living again, for myself.

"It is not … my place to be here yet. There are other things that I must take care of first. I can't join the New Republic just yet."

2L nodded, mimicking understanding. "I am frequently updated with the latest in religious and philosophical aspects of existence. As a droid that knowledge is of little use. I understand however. You're in need of rest. Spiritually."

Skar smiled, liking the droid more and more as they got to know each other. "Yes. That's right."

"My services are at your command, sir."

Skar thought it over. "We will need a ship."

The droid made the equivalent of a human smile, titled its head in pride. "The Koniduz is still at our disposal, sir. We are free to leave if we want to do so. Even the New Republic cannot hold us here if they wished to."

Skar smiled. This droid was great. Determined, rebellious and cocky. "Where is the Koniduz?"

"Lower hangar, sir."

Skar nodded and rose from the table. "Meet me there."

"Yes, sir."

Skar began walking away from the table but he heard the droid moving behind him. The droid looked embarrassed, as much as it was able to do.

"What is it, 2L?"

"Sir, while I am your servant and you are my Master, I find that this action does not apply with my database's image of a Jedi's behavior. The Jedi kind have been extinct for a long time and were once the respected protectors of the Old Republic. Now that a New Republic is in effect, the little number of Jedi would gain most by unifying their numbers. They work as a team. Your not wanting to meet with Master Skywalker contrasts this."

Skar lowered his head. The droid was telling him he was making the wrong choice, that he should stay here instead of taking the easy way out of confrontation. Nevertheless his heart told him it was the right path to take. It was the road that he wanted and that was all that mattered.

Skar looked back up at 2L, smiling. "A wise man once told me to listen to my heart. It is the only way we can find happiness in our lives. To follow the wants of the heart. Right now my heart is telling me this is the right way to go. I won't force you to come, 2L, it could be dangerous."

2L held out his hands. "You are my Master, it is my duty to follow."

Skar watched as the Koniduz powered up on its repulsorlift, ready to go.

"Wait!"

He looked behind him to see the nurse, running across the hangar. She looked desperate. Skar folded his hands behind his back. As she neared Skar could feel her haste and her lack of understanding his sudden departure.

"Where are you going? What about your meeting with Luke Skywalker? Have you forgotten?"

Skar shook his head slowly. "No. I haven't."

She stared at him in confusion. Then her eyes rolled and she reached inside her gown to pull out the lightsaber. The lightsaber that belonged to his Master Bo-Hi. "I guess this belongs to you."

Skar took it in his hand. The sensation washed through his feelings and he felt Master Bo-Hi's presence in the Force. It was not his real presence, just a brief image of who he was, like a snap-shot of the man's life. Skar wanted to cry again but shook it off.

"What do I tell Skywalker?"

Skar looked at her. She was right. He didn't want to leave without at least letting Skywalker know why he hadn't wished to meet him. Skar closed his eyes and imbedded himself in the Force, drawing on its energy at the task at hand. He focused his thoughts into a document which he then placed in the presence of the Force in the lightsaber. All a Jedi needed to do to read it was to touch it. He hoped Skywalker would pick up on that. That he was gifted enough.

Skar handed it back to the nurse. "Give him this. He will know what it means."

She nodded and took the lightsaber in her hands. "I will."

Skar turned and walked towards the Koniduz, the ramp was lowered and he could feel 2L impatiently walking around inside the cockpit for him to come. The droid must have picked up on Skar's desire to leave before Skywalker arrived.

Skar turned and looked down at the nurse from the ramp. "Tell Skywalker I've spent enough time in the company of Death," Skar proclaimed, "but this isn't goodbye."

She nodded and Skar ascended the ramp, leaving the New Republic's care and setting off on his own. The ramp closed shut behind him.

Only one more stop remained before he could set out on his own path.

While he remembered his lack of love for the world and his vow to never return to Nar Shaddaa, there was something natural about being back there. His eyes looked at the falling Nal Hutta, taking in the only light and warmth left in the day. Closing his eyes, he focused the warmth to a part of him that felt strangely cold; his heart. The decision to not return to Kryuu and pick up his Holocron had not been easy, nor hard. The pain of having to see the world again, reliving the memories, ripped at his heart. The part of him that was still human knew that he wouldn't return to that place.

Skar's tattooed fingers placed another log on top of the funeral pyre, outside the Koniduz. He also felt the inner sadness coming off of Kayupa's remains, the one he felt inside too. The body was still laid out on a metal hull that had once belonged to a ship. Kayupa's eyes were closed, his hands joined at his chest, and dried blood over a burnt hole in his chest. 2L had managed to acquire what remained of the partly cremated body before they left. The New Republic didn't seem to want it. Nor did Skar really, but he felt he owed one last thing to his lost friend.

Skar lit the logs and watched as the fire slowed worked their way across Kayupa, once friend and Jedi, later turned to the Dark Side, becoming an enemy. The clothes caught fire quickly and Skar stood back, as to not smell the ashy odor coming from the pyre. The smoke lifted to the sky, slightly pushed at by the wind, but unstoppably rising to the dark clouds and the light from the Nal Hutta off in the east.

After pulling his hood up, Skar folded his hands at his stomach, and let out the heavy air contained in his lungs. The air had been held in too long, and Skar felt the strain, but it no way toppled the feeling of despair in his heart.

With wind pulling at his robe, warm tears on his cheeks, Skar closed his eyes. "I admired you, Kayupa. You helped me push to be better, to be even better than you. You kept me on my toes, constantly training to be what I could be. Though our last time together was one smeared in hate, I will remember you as my sparring partner, the one who helped me be the best swordsman I could be. A trait I'm sure I'll need in the future."

Skar shuddered at the words. Skar felt like saying more to explain his own perception, but his throat closed at the strain of having to speak his emotions for a friend. And too late.

"You asked me to bury you, because you knew you wouldn't join with the Force," Skar's eyes became blurred as the mixture of heat and his own thoughts sent his eyes watering, "but this way you will join. Perhaps not the way you wanted, but I'll know you are gone. I want to know you are gone." Skar's sleeve wiped away the tears and he sought to the cloud-filled sky for comfort. "I loved you as a brother. The hardest thing I've ever had to do was fight you. You taught me good, and I'll remember you always, brother."

Skar swallowed and let his shoulders sink. "Your death saved me from the Dark Side. I'm sorry I couldn't repay the favor." Skar's right hand became a fist, as his eyes again succumbed to the warmth and his own emotions. Skar turned away from the funeral pyre and looked out at the last rays of light before the clouds blanketed them.

He wasn't through with the eulogies yet. Skar covered his eyes with his hand, and felt his face convulse into a frazzled image of the face he had.

Shinran.

Saying that he was sorry wouldn't let the anguish go away, it wouldn't bring her back. The familiar feeling of rage came back with force. It was hard to believe there was any kind of super-being or super-energy at work in the Galaxy taking care of the world. Many lives were destroyed every single day, but why did it have to be the one in the entire world that he loved so deeply?

He'd always thought they'd be together until the end, somehow he couldn't imagine life without her. He guessed he should have been grateful for the last two years he had her in his life, but he realized he wished those two years could have been his whole life, and in a way so far they had. He couldn't help feeling evicted from life, feeling that nothing would ever be as good or as perfect as what he'd had with her.

He wished he could stop breathing, wishing only to escape the pain. Their love seemed a dream now, a mere fantasy, something he'd dreamt up but had never really happened. A dream he'd stolen and was forced to return, left only with a hole where he'd once had a soul.

Dreams always passed in time.

He turned it around in his head, replaying the incident. Trying to find the moment where he'd neglected her, where he'd not done what he'd should. The moment where he hadn't seen himself losing her. Had he always been? Was it just not meant to be? Could something so right…just be a mere coincidence? Had he fooled himself into thinking it was really more than just a casual meeting? Why did something so pure have to be torn?

"Shinran, you once said you didn't know where you'd end up or who you'd be when your time ran out. I didn't know either that time, but now I think I do. I do know who you were and where you were when the time came. You were with me, you were inside me, and you brought warmth to the coldest part inside me."

Skar looked over his shoulder to see the last remains of the funeral pyre. All that was left was ashes and dark scorch marks on the makeshift table.

Kayupa was gone.

"The Force has you both now. In a way I wish I'd never entered your lives. A part of me wishes you to be alive, though I know that I wouldn't be where I am now if you were. I wouldn't be a Kjoil."

Skar looked away, afraid to see Shinran's or Kayupa's face in his mind. Trying not to remember what they looked like. "The mistakes you taught me will never be repeated, you can count on that."

Skar tried to smile like it was the hardest thing he'd ever done. "Its time for me to leave this world," Skar's throat clapped tight again, hearing dread in his own voice, "but I'll be back someday. To remember what happened. To remember why I became a Kjoil in the first place. To learn how to go on - "

"I thought you'd learned that by now."

Skar whirled around, his heavy robe suspended on the wind, as the familiar voice cut through everything.

It was not her; not all the way. She was transparent and blue shining specks, like stars, orbited around her white persona. As much as it hurt to admit Skar recognized her as a ghost. Her moves were followed by blue clouds of vapor. He knew some Jedi were able to return in spirit after death, if they were joined with the Force in their death, even though Skar's preconception of Shinran as being a non-Jedi conflicted that. But he didn't want to know the details now, he was too glad to see her.

Suddenly the world seemed perfect again, suddenly his life made sense, suddenly all his pain didn't feel like such a waste of time. She looked radiant, more beautiful than ever. Her long blond hair trailed down her face, surrounding her delicate features and her warm smile. Skar's heart warmed up as he started to walk closer to her.

She held up a palm to stop him.

"You're here …?"

"No, I'm not. I've been called forth to talk to you one last time."

Skar couldn't believe it. "How...do I know you're real? How do I know I'm not crazy?"

She raised her brows. "Do you care?"

He realized he didn't. "No..."

"I have only this last moment, so I must be brief. I hope you will understand me, as you've always have."

Skar shrugged, wanting more than anything to remove the quench he felt in his heart. "Right now I know we're both thinking the same thing."

She nodded. "That we'll never see each other again."

Skar felt his heart being enclosed in a cold, hard fist. That was it. "Shinran, why did you…?"

She smiled. "Because I loved you."

"Is that the only reason?"

"Isn't it reason enough?" she said endearingly. She seemed giddy, almost as if she was experiencing joy for the first time, and Skar hoped that was not true. Crossing her transparent arms she looked at the ground. "You shouldn't try to explain love, Skar, that's a mistake. Love can never be portrayed, its a mystery, its in the eyes of the beholder. I wasn't going to let Kayupa hurt you. When we first met, I felt our connection, I went after it, because I wanted to know if it was real to you."

Riding along with the wave of pain he felt from her, was a sadness, birthed from a feeling in him that he should have taken off with her instead of rushing off to fight Kayupa. He should have let her see how much he loved her. That she mattered more than the Force.

"I did what I felt was right. Kayupa was in trouble. I had to go help him. I couldn't forget him. I had to try and help him. I had to, Shinran. I owed it to everybody I've ever met. I had to do what I did. I had to follow my heart."

She sighed, trying to show a point that was hard to make in words. "None of that matters now. Life is gonna go the way it wants to go. Its up to you to make the best of all the things that come your way. You can't change the past and there are still millions of choices down life's path. Don't stay in the past."

Skar heard the words and found comfort in them, but only little. "Was that the message you were sent to deliver?"

"No."

Their eyes met and he felt hers were digging right into his mind, trying to find some reassurance. When she spoke, her voice was inside his head, filling his thoughts with clarity. Letting him understand more than just the words.

I'm here to tell you that the path you have chosen is the right one. And many new things you will find in that path. Be who you are, no matter what people think. What you are inside, is never something to be ashamed of. The only person you have to impress, is yourself. What you have, no one can touch that. Be proud of yourself, Skar. You have every reason to. Follow your heart and you can go to where no one's been.

Skar cried, finding relief in her words. "Thank you."

She smiled and her hand reached out to him. He could feel it wiping away the tear at the corner of his nose. Skar found the tears to be an odd relief for his emotions. Somehow crying helped confront the pain, making it go away, but slower than he would have liked.

Skar held out his hands. "I don't know if I can move on, without you. I can't let this…dream slip through my hands," the frustration of not having the ability to keep her in his life made him sick inside, " I just can't accept that…you were never meant to belong to me."

She moved her finger across his lips, her touch slight but more than Skar could have ever wished for. "It wasn't a dream, Skar. It doesn't matter if you don't know where you're going to, as long as you get there."

"What - what was the purpose of it all?"

She smiled. "Who says it has to have a purpose?"

"You died, I can't let that just be a - " his voice cracked. He didn't know what he wanted to say, he only knew he couldn't accept Shinran's death as a random outcome of it all. He wanted it to have a meaning, a significance. Losing her was one thing, but losing her for nothing would drive him crazy.

"If I had killed Kayupa you would still - "

"Be alive?" She shrugged. "Maybe." She smiled in that severely cute way, reassuring him as only she could. "Kayupa wasn't the only person who got to influence you, you know. I had my moments too. These last two years were catalysts for you to grow. Me, Kayupa and Master Bo-Hi, we were all there to further your advance. The Force has a keen eye on you, Skar Kjoil," she teased, "it expects great things of you in the future. But this moment in your life…is your own. Where you end up from here is entirely up to you. Who knows, maybe next time you'll get to influence someone?"

Skar felt lighter inside. "I wouldn't kill Kayupa, I didn't follow his words. That's what changed the outcome of the dream, wasn't it? The Force knew. That's why I'm still alive."

She nodded, her beautiful eyes filled with their own light. "You changed the course of the future, the dream was a warning. And it helped you realize many things. Now the future is your own. You make the choices, listen with your heart; that was one of the things Kayupa told you that wasn't a bad influence. Its through the heart we can only really see the true nature of a thing. Don't obsess over words too much."

Skar smiled. "I won't."

She pulled away a strand of hair from his face. Skar found it hard to concentrate on her words when her beautiful face was so close, when the warmth surrounding them felt so right. "Strength is never found through others. You have all the tools inside, you just need to look harder."

Skar looked up at her. "I thought we were strong through each other. That we were only strong because we were together."

She kissed his lips, the moment lingering for so long Skar thought time had stopped, her voice again a whisper. "But what we shared that made us perfect wasn't strength. It was love, Skar. That's what made us complete." She kissed his nose, teasingly. "Our love." She tilted her head and smiled, a smile so complete, so honest, that he doubted she could have looked as happy if she were still alive. "Go lightly down your path, Skar."

Feeling like time was slipping away for them, there were only two more things he needed to know, he wasn't ready to let go. "How did you join with the Force? You said that you weren't connected to it."

She shrugged. "We're all connected to the Force, Skar. Even those of us who don't believe in it."

"That's not an answer."

Her face remained the same. "Time will tell, Skar. I don't know the answers myself." She turned around fast, as if she heard someone calling behind her, like she saw something he couldn't. And she started to pull away.

Skar held on to her as firmly as he could. "Don't go," he said lightly, his throat starting to clog, "please, don't go."

She looked back at him, smiled reassuringly. "I have to. And you have to."

Skar felt her begin to slip out of his life again, but he wasn't ready for it. "Will I ever see you again?" Asking, he realized how sad the answer to that question could be.

She tugged her arms around him, even as she was fading. Reaching in towards each other, sharing one last embrace, Skar and Shinran shared their last kiss. Skar tried not to cry as he knew this might bethe last kiss they'd ever share. When it was over the last Skar saw of her was her close green eyes, looking through him, filling him with warmth, filling him with confidence and reassurance. Telling him yet again she believed in him.

She always had.

"What does your heart tell you?"

The End