It's finally here! Chapter 2 of The Dark Side's Lure! Please note that this takes place 2 months after the first chapter, and there have been several changes. Enjoy, and please REVIEW!
The Battle for Gomika
She tossed and turned in her tiny bed, entangling herself in the sheets and tossing them about. But she couldn't help it, she wasn't just entangled in her sheets, she was entangled by a nightmare.
She couldn't remember the time before the nightmares… She couldn't remember sleeping through the night. It had been too long.
The nightmares were ferocious… relentless… recurring.
They'd been going on for near two months now, and she'd tried everything in her power to stop them.
Nothing worked.
And she couldn't tell anyone else that she couldn't sleep through the night anymore. She couldn't tell anyone that she was having these nightmares… because then they'd ask why. They'd ask why, and in an Academy filled with Jedi and Jedi hopefuls, she wouldn't be able to lie. They'd figure her out.
Then they'd know.
They'd know what she'd done, and what she was doing.
They'd know… that she had done something terribly wrong.
She couldn't let anyone know. No one could know what she'd done. She'd be expelled, sent home in shame. Or worse. She didn't even dare think about the rest.
No. She'd just keep suffering in silence. She'd keep it secret. No one would find out her secret. No one would stand in the way of her and her ambitions to become a Jedi. Even if she was doing wrong, she'd keep going. They couldn't stop her, even if they tried.
X-X-X-X-X
Nerca Gomika Beyul shuffled along the solid stone floor towards a table in the wide room that served as the Academy's cafeteria, yawning. Last night had been just like all of the others…
"Good morning, Gomika," a familiar voice said as she sat down at the table.
"What's good about it, Sombal?" Gomika growled at her twin sister.
"You're alive, aren't you?" Sombal replied, tossing a raven tress over her shoulder.
"Alive, but not happy," Gomika grumbled, pressing a button in the middle of the table.
"Why?" Sombal asked as a droid flew over and set down a tray of food familiar Nssh food in front of Gomika. "You didn't sleep well?"
"No," Gomika grumbled, shoving a forkful of fried l'kll'o egg in her mouth. "Did you, Sombal?"
"Yes, I did," she replied with a satisfied sigh. "What's with you, Gomika? You seem… I don't know, distant most of the time nowadays. What's up?"
"Nothing," Gomika snarled fiercely.
Nerca Sombal Beyul was never a courageous Nssh—often quite the opposite—but somehow, she found the courage to push onward despite Gomika's harshness.
"It's not 'nothing', Gomika and you know it."
"It is nothing!" Gomika all but shouted back. "I'm just a little stressed lately, Sombal and that's all!"
Sombal was utterly taken aback by this outburst, and just stared at Gomika with a wide open mouth for a moment. Then she sniffed, and tears welled in her dark eyes.
"I don't know what it is I did, Gomika, but I'm sorry!" Sombal whispered before jumping to her feet and running out of the room, sobbing.
Many students turned at looked at Gomika and Sombal's still half-full tray across from her, angry glares on their faces. Sombal was gentle and never harmed anything in her life, so when she was hurt in return, everyone tended to turn on the one that had harmed her.
Gomika returned the glares, intensified a thousand-fold and snapped, "Mind your own business!" at anyone that approached to ask the cause of Somabal's quick departure.
Part of Gomika was ashamed that she'd hurt her sister, but the other half said, "Sombal is weak. She deserved it."
Gomika finished her breakfast undisturbed, a battle raging in her head.
X-X-X-X-X
"Master Skywalker? I need to speak with you."
"Come in, Sombal," Master Skywalker called to the young Nssh.
She did, and as she came around the corner, Luke Skywalker picked up on the emotional hurt in her sense. But he also saw her face, her red eyes and the patches of skin under her eyes that had become scaly. When liquid touched Nssh skin, the skin became just that: scaly.
And the shimmering blue-green scales were all down her cheeks, as if she'd been crying.
"Sombal, what is it?"
"Master Skywalker, it's Gomika," Sombal quietly. "There's something wrong. She hasn't slept well in months, I can tell. She's always in turmoil somehow, though she keeps it well hidden. Something is terribly wrong, Master Skywalker; I sense it. But I do not know what it is."
"Are you sure that something is wrong, Sombal? Are you sure you aren't just imagining it?"
Sombal nodded firmly. "I am sure, Master. I know my sister very well… We are connected and intertwined in the Force. Yes, Master, I am very sure."
"Well then, what do you propose I do, Sombal?"
The Nssh teenager sighed. "Master Skywalker, I must know what is wrong with Gomika. If you could… I don't know… call her to your office here or something. Interview her or something like that. Master Skywalker, all I ask is that you try and figure out what it is."
For a moment, the Jedi Master was silent. Then he sighed and said, "Sombal, I promise I will help you all that I can. I'm not exactly sure I can though. Your sister is… tightly closed. She seals herself off often, even beyond what I can read. I am not particularly good in the investigative anyway, and if she does—" Abruptly, he stopped.
Sombal frowned and cocked her head to one side. "What is it, Master?"
"Sombal, I have a better idea. I will put Mara on this case, and let her help you. She is much more in tune with emotional findings and investigations that I am, and she could help you so much more. Would you care if I did that?"
"No, Master, I would not," the Nssh girl purred. "It would be just as well for Jedi Jade Skywalker to help me."
"Good. I'll send her to help you as soon as possible."
"Thank you, Master," Sombal said happily and strode out.
Luke Skywalker waited for a moment, then sent out a mental pulse for his wife of three years.
Mara?
The reply came back almost instantly. Yeah, Skywalker?
I need to see you in my office.
Luke, now's not the time for that…
He felt his cheeks get warm. It's not that. We have a potential crisis on our hands, and I need your help.
He could picture her mock-exasperation. The world just falls apart without me, doesn't it?
Luke Skywalker felt a smile light up his face. Just get up here, Mara.
"No need to get your wires all tangled," a voice said from across the office, at the door. "I'm here, Skywalker."
Mara Jade Skywalker strode in towards her husband, a playful smile on her face. "So, what galaxy-threatening crisis must I solve for you now?"
"It's not exactly galaxy-threatening, dear, but it requires your help nonetheless," Luke replied. "Sombal Beyul came to me a few minutes ago. She's concerned about Gomika, very concerned. She says something's wrong, that Gomika seems… in constant turmoil somehow, but she keeps it well hidden. Sombal can sense it. And I cannot help but believe her… She and Gomika are not only strong in the Force, but they're identical twins. Connected, intertwined. I know from experience…"
"You and Leia?" Mara asked.
Luke nodded. "And they grew up together, too." A luxury Leia and I never had.
"And you want me to check Gomika out and see if there's anything wrong with her?"
Luke nodded again.
"Sure, Skywalker, I'll do your dirty work for you," Mara mock-growled. "How soon do I get started?"
"As soon as possible, Mara," Luke answered with a slight grimace. "I have a feeling this whole situation may be about to explode into utter catastrophe."
X-X-X-X-X
Gomika was sitting alone at lunch—no one wanted to sit with the one that had hurt Sombal—when Jedi Jade Skywalker strolled casually over and sat down beside her, uninvited.
Gomika grunted slight disapproval at the Jedi Knight—she would rather eat alone—as she sat down, but Master Skywalker's wife just ignored it.
"Gomika Beyul, isn't it?" she asked a little too casually.
Gomika's concerns went up immediately. "Yeah," she said shortly, discouraging further questions.
Jade pushed on anyway. "You're the stronger of the Beyul twins, right?"
"Uh-huh," Gomika grunted, paying more attention to her sandwich than the red-gold haired Jedi beside her.
"So… I've heard that you're considered the stronger one, but that Sombal's the smarter and kinder. What do you think?"
This caught Gomika's attention. Usually when people asked this question, they at least tried to mask it so as to "consider Gomika's feelings". "I think she's gentler, but certainly not smarter. She's got her areas where she can upstage me in intellect, but I've got mine too."
"Such as…?"
"Weapons, history, mathematics…" Gomika listed. "I've got her there."
"Interesting," Jade said slowly.
"I would've thought that my class records would have shown that," Gomika snorted, realizing that Jade had gotten her talking.
"I'm not always privy to class records."
"I would've thought that the wife of the headmaster of the Jedi Academy and the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy would be privy to anything her heart desired."
"And I would've thought that the sister of Sombal Beyul the Gentle would have more respect for her," Jade replied.
So that was what this was about. Gomika knew Jade had some agenda, and she had just thrown the cover off wide.
Gomika snarled nastily at her. "I have respect for Sombal, but she's weak and needs to learn a couple of lessons."
"And you're the one to teach them?"
"Shut-up," Gomika snarled with ferocity that frightened her. It wasn't that she'd never snapped "shut-up" at one of her elders, she'd done that many times. But way she did it and just the way that it was sparked…
Lack of sleep is making me very irritable, Gomika decided.
Gomika was shocked by her ferocity, and so was Jade, but she just sat there, staring at Gomika after that outburst.
"What? No one ever told you to shut-up before?" Gomika growled, taking a bite from her sandwich.
"No one that wanted to live," Jade replied.
So now you're angry because I reacted to your insults, Gomika thought grumpily. Oh, great. Just great… I had to go and irritate Master Skywalker's wife.
"Uh-huh," Gomika grumbled aloud.
"Gomika, Sombal is very worried about you," Jade began. "We all sense it. You seem more detached than normal too. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she snapped reflexively.
"It's not nothing, I can tell."
"It is nothing, Jade, and you'd do well to leave it alone." Gomika knew the statement could get her in serious trouble with the teachers, but at the moment, she couldn't care less.
"So it is something."
"I said drop it!"
"I won't, Gomika."
This hit Gomika's very heart, and she grew suddenly afraid, but she kept it far down enough for no one to read that, even Jade.
"Then I'm leaving!" Gomika snapped, getting to her feet, grabbing her sandwich and storming off.
She knew she was running from Jade. Whether it was because she was irritated or because she was scared, she couldn't say.
X-X-X-X-X
That night was the same as all of the others before it, but worse.
Tonight, Gomika's nightmare was worse.
The pain she experienced through the nightmare was always awful, but tonight it was excruciating. She woke up with a scream, finding herself soaked in cold sweat.
Her breath was coming in and out in short, choppy stretches, and she was beginning to wonder if it would ever become normal again.
But in a deeper part of her, she was beginning to wonder if her life would ever become normal again, if the nightmares would ever cease.
She knew what caused them.
She had touched the forbidden Sith Fornath, and its dark power was making her have these nightmares.
She knew that the simplest solution would be to stop her now weekly power tap of the object, but she also knew that she couldn't.
Gomika was addicted.
Addictions are nigh always bad, but Gomika knew that hers could be the death of her if the side-effects didn't stop.
But she knew they wouldn't.
She was hooked, and hooked deeply. She didn't know it, but this force that had a hold on her now… this force was the dark side of the Force, power and strength of the Sith for many generations when they'd existed.
She didn't know it, but Gomika was being engulfed more and more by the dark side each time she did what was forbidden and touched the Fornath.