Chapter 34
Year 4 Month 5 Day 4
The war had returned to a standstill. No matter how many factions joined, no one was able to get the upper hand. Force users were in great demand, and the lose of even one would swing the fate of a battle.
Lord Watu walked down the imperial palace, going to the prison underneath the former school. The empire had recently taken in over twenty grey Jedi who had abandoned their order. He was followed by two of his apprentices. The hallways got darker the deeper they went down. As they had found out a while ago, the presence of the dark side was concentrated in the deeper parts of the castle. After the Royal family had all killed ancient Sith spirits scattered around the planet and had all risen to the ranks of Darth. They brought that darkness with them, and Watu bathed in it.
They entered the prison, seeing some of the experiments of the other Sith. Watu had no interest in them. He was crazy, not sadistic. As he walked passed the experiments, some of which were dead, others alive, they stopped by the cell block where they put force sensitives. Any grey Jedi they capture come here. They had a Jedi once, but he killed himself rather than withstand the process of falling. Watu looked at the newest arrivals.
"Bring me the leader." He said to his apprentice. His apprentice took out an electro baton and opened the cell door to the first prisoner. The woman fell at his feet. A human woman, in the standard grey jedi robes.
"We have spent this war in the shadow of the Jedi. No more. They have cast the shadow over us, we pledge ourselves to the teachings of the Sith. All of us." She looked up, and he saw Sith yellow eyes. He smiled. They needed more Sith for the war effort.
The Grand Inquisitor had the Grey Jedi who pledge themselves to the dark side brought in and had accepted them all. She would need to start the new Sith order here on this planet, but with what she knew, and the extra materials that Emperor Palpatine sent her, she believed they would be able to create an order that would be able to take down both the Jedi and the ancient Sith.
She was even more glad by all those who had left the alliance and false empire to join them. They all knew who would win this one. Soon, they would get the second wave of reinforcements, and soon the balance of power would sway into their favor. Of course, she knew that this second wave of people would be mostly civilians. The Emperor decided to make sure the rebellion wouldn't get any more help from this next wave of people. They just needed to carve out a little more land. The Grimm were still a threat, but she knew they could defeat them.
She wanted to test them against her rivals. And she knew the perfect location.
Karel went to the temple with Rouge, being called by the council. He wondered what it was, he did just get back from saving the bridges that connect Vale to Vacuo. He hoped for a little more time with his family before they were going to ask him to go win another battle.
He liked the news that Zia was pregnant. They did have a strange relationship, he admitted. She even sent him a card when Jade was born, but he thought it was good for Bora to know there would be more Mandalorians on Remnant. Though he wished they were with the alliance. Bora had trained a squad of Huntresses who joined Beacon recently to be like her. Karel asked her if she was starting her new clan.
"Master?" Rouge looked at him. Karel sighed.
"Sorry, I just thought I would get more time before we had to go again. I even had a plan for you to study with Yang and Ruby." They had agreed. He even got Arin to join them, which was a lot harder said than done. While their band had all but disbanded due to the war, he still wasn't a battlefield fighter. He was more of an agent with the rest of the band.
As they entered the council chambers, the Jedi council was there. Still no new members since the Grand Master died… Karel had read her journals over and over, but still he had more questions than answers.
"Commander, thank you for joining us. We have grave news to share, and news that must not leak out. That is why we are informing so few about this." Grand Master Ray said.
"Have the Sith found a relic?" Karel asked.
"No, not that bad. But still bad. Fifty grey Jedi fell to the Dark Side and have joined the Sith and Inquisitors. This is feared to be the first great schism of Remnant. This puts us in more troubling positions now as you should know. We need masters, but not few have met the requirements. Not even you have finished the final trial to become a master." Master Black said. Karel looked at Rouge and knew her training wasn't yet complete. But he did know of a few Jedi who have trained apprentices.
"Have you called Gael. Xar just passed his final trial." Karel said.
"Yes, he has. I did suggest Gael. She had yet to return to the temple. I have organized a team to rescue her, as she has sent out a distress signal." Roni said.
"Who is it?" Karel asked.
"You and your apprentice. Knight Jones and his padawan, and finally myself and my padawan." Roni said.
Karel realized that he did all the leg work gathering the Jedi. He smiled to himself.
"How long are we to be gone?" Karel asked.
"We can't afford to be gone for long. Jedi Xar has already left this morning with twenty troops. We must hurry to find her." Roni stood up and led Karel out of the council chamber.
"It has been too long since we went on a mission together. In fact, not since Pare. Our first mission is to find Xar, then find Gael."
Karel went back to his home, where Bora was holding onto Jade's hands as she started walking towards Adi. Erik was sitting on the couch, talking with someone on his scroll. Jira joined up with the Alliance military in the HQ. She has been busy, but essential.
"Karel, you're back." Alex said, coming from the gym with the huntresses Bora was training. The all looked tired.
"Take five then we're going back down." Bora said. Karel liked his house like this, a far cry from when he moved in here. But he had to ignore that today and get ready for the mission.
"I got another mission I have to go on. When Roni and Arin get here, we're going." He said to Bora. She picked up Jade and sighed.
"How important is it?" She asked.
"Important. We're in desperate need of masters right now." Karel said.
"What about you?" Adi asked.
"I haven't met the requirements yet. Rouge is still a padawan after all." Karel said.
An hour later Roni was at the house with Arin. Erik had offered to fly them to a drop off point, and they took it. They had to get to the edge of Alliance air space. Karel jumped out and landed on the ground. The other Jedi joined him. Rouge used her semblance to create four clones.
"We have to be careful. We're on the edge of our territory. We must suspect anything being thrown at us. Including Salem."
"We got to be quite on the chatter. Our comms have a bad habit of getting sliced." Arin said. He connected his comm and scroll to a visor over his left eye. In the dark of the night, it glowed for a fraction of a second, then matched the surrounding. Yang had one like it, and she gave Ruby a thumbs up.
"We're going to have to go the last known coordinates of Xar." Roni said. She and Ruby started first. Karel and Rouge jumped in the trees. The copies spread out, watching over the other Jedi.
Roni followed to where the signal was coming from. Ruby followed behind her, hand on her lightsaber.
"You might not need it." Roni said.
"I feel better when I can feel it." Ruby said. They continued to walk towards the signal. They stumbled on a dead imperial troop. The troop was killed by a lightsaber.
"This might not be good." Arin said. The forest became more and more scarred by battle. More bodies started to litter the ground. It must have been a skirmish. They finally found a single stormtrooper dead.
"Rouge found someone up ahead. It may be one of Salem's people." Karel said.
He went to where Rouge pointed to. He looked down and saw a someone standing there. Four dead surrounded them. Karel and Rouge jumped down. The person turned around. They held a lightsaber in their hand.
"I knew they would send Jedi after them. Good thing I brought back up." Two dark Jedi dropped down from the trees. They turned on their lightsabers. Karel held out his blue blade. The first of the three charged forwards, the yellow blade smashed against the blue. Rouge rushed forward, but the second dark Jedi cut down the first copy. Arin and Yang got to the fight, and the two blue blades shot out. Rushed forward in the with a djem so opening. The opponent was caught off guard and their thin defense was taken down. Yang almost got a kill if she didn't feel a push against herself. She was flung two meters back. The third dark Jedi stopped her ally from dying.
Roni and Ruby finally got to the battle. The six Jedi looked at the three dark Jedi. Three more copies of Rouge jumped out of the trees, attacking the dark Jedi. They were able to do minor damage to the dark Jedi, but the clones were all wiped out. Rouge stood next to her master waiting for instruction.
"The order of the Grey Jedi is going to fall before the end of this war. So many will join us." The first dark Jedi said. They were part of the fifty who left. And it was obvious which side they joined. The blades of light dancing as if they were fire.
Karel had spent the time gathering his force energy before the conflict restarted. The other Jedi jumped in the air as he let out a massive force wave, slamming into the prepared dark Jedi, though their shields were nearly broken. Yang landed first and rushed forward, blue lightsaber in hand. Ruby followed behind her with the twin red blades.
The purple blade of the second dark Jedi swung down towards Ruby's blade, aiming to cut it in half. Ruby used her semblance to speed behind the dark Jedi and bring the blade into a spin. The Dark Jedi spun around, barely blocking the attack. A ball of fire came from behind, Karel standing with his outstretched hand. The blue blade vanished for the hidden Oblivion. He held out the sword as a challenge. The orange bladed dark Jedi rushed for him. The dark Jedi didn't realize the mistake he made until the sword made the lightsaber bounce. A mistake Karel made sure he capitalized on. He quickly brought the sword across the chest of the dark Jedi, who fell to its power.
Roni wished it didn't have to come to killing them, but they had no other choice. She instructed Rouge and Karel to keep going. She and her apprentice were a match for the last two dark Jedi. They thought they gained so much power, but they had lost almost all of it, or was it that they couldn't control the power they had, and they burned it faster than they could use it?
Yang remembered a clever trick that Uriel showed her when engaged in a lightsaber duel. She was in a lock with the dark Jedi, both of near equal strength. She made a dangerous move and turned off her lightsaber. Her opponent blinked when a longer, yellow blade made his way through his chest. Yang turned off the lightsaber and Arin joined up with her. They rushed passed the last Dark Jedi. Roni would have to ask Yang when she upgraded her old master's lightsaber. The last Dark Jedi growled and used the force to pull the orange lightsaber to her hand.
Ruby stepped back, waiting for the next offensive, stepping towards her master. Roni stood next to Ruby and watched the dark jedi charge forward with reckless abandon. Roni used the force to bring a root up from the ground. The dark jedi didn't notice till she fell to the ground. She quickly cut the root and jumped in the air. The blades came flying down at Roni, but she masterfully blocked all the hits. She knew that the darkness in this dark jedi's heart would soon cause her to burn her energy, so she waited.
The dark jedi was completely unable to break the defense of Roni, so she switched to Ruby. Ruby blocked all the attacked with deft evasion, and after using her semblance to get to the side mid swing, she cut the arm off the dark Jedi. She dropped to the ground, and her eyes flashed yellow. She outstretched her hand, and lightning shot out. Ruby took the blast and flew back three meters. Roni used the force to push the dark jedi to the ground and rushed over to Ruby. Her semblance took the hit leaving her with little more than a slight burn on her chest. Roni turned back and continued her attack against the dark jedi, quickly disarming her. She dropped to the ground and screamed out at Roni.
"You're defeated. Give up." Roni said. She held the lightsaber out, even though she couldn't do anything.
"You want to know where the Jedi are?" She said.
"Yes." Roni said.
"Well, you can go to hell." She said defiantly.
A raven crowed out, making Ruby and Roni watch out for a bird, but in the dark, they didn't see her until it was too late. A sword went through the body of the dark jedi. Raven stood there. She took the lightsaber from the fallen dark jedi.
"Why did you do that?" Roni asked.
"Because I needed this. If the empire thinks it can hunt down my people without me taking my revenge, they've got another thing coming. You don't go after my people." She cut a portal.
"What about Yang?" Ruby asked. Raven didn't step through, just standing there. She sighed and looked back at Ruby.
"She's strong. She doesn't need me."
"But you're her mother! You of all people should be with her!" Ruby challenged.
"You are just like your mother. And that pisses me off." She turned on the lightsaber and pointed it at Ruby.
She turned on her lightsaber. They looked at each other.
"Salem is near." She flicked her head around and saw a Grimm swoop towards her. She went through the portal, the Grimm following her. Raven was gone as quick as she came. But Ruby wondered if she was planning on fighting her.
"We have to keep on going Ruby. We can meditate on that issue later." Roni said.
They continued forward, barely missing the Black fang members taking the bodies of the dark jedi. Uriel led the group and felt Yang was nearby. He felt Salem say in his head that he would kill her soon.
"You think she wouldn't be able to kill me? Her light shines bright." He said. He heard another portal open and heard Cinder walking towards him.
"She's a Branwen. No matter how much light she has in her, she's drawn to the dark side of the force. Doesn't help that her new master lacks the sight to see how close the darkness is to having both Jedi. And when they fall, we'll kill them. Or turn them." Cinder said.
"How do you know so much about her?" Uriel asked. After they gathered the bodies of those Salem wanted, Cinder and Uriel went back to Salem's realm.
Karel finally got a hit on his comm for Xar. He and Rouge went as fast as possible to the site of the beacon. It was a large open field. But there was evidence it was a forest until very recently. Karel looked around for Xar.
He touched the beacon and saw that when it was placed, there were still some trees here. He picked up the beacon and found a comm on it. It beeped and Karel answered.
"It's Xar, don't have much time. Imps found us flying over their airspace. Gael and I were separated, but as far as I know, She's alive. We're going to the ruins of Zollo. It's not too far from here." Xar said.
"Zollo?" Karel asked. No one had ever heard of it. But he still had a mission to do.
The trek to Zollo wasn't hard, except for the multiple Grimm that attacked them. Whatever Zollo was Salem didn't want them to find it. Karel finished with the last of the swarm of beetle Grimm. He sighed as the group of Jedi had finally got back together.
"Yang, when did you get a yellow kyber crystal?" Roni asked.
"It wasn't too long ago. Arin and I realized I hadn't created my own lightsaber like all Jedi have to." Yang said, holding onto her lightsaber. "I used parts from Uriel's lightsaber, and his crystal to help me make this."
It looked a lot like Uriel's lightsaber, but after a close examination, Roni noted many improvements. The hilt was longer so Yang could move her hands where she needed them to be. The grip was softer and wouldn't dig into the skin. It was now a duel phased lightsaber, and with the flick of a switch the blue blade became yellow. And on the pummel was an etched copy of Yang's emblem. The blade barely weighed any more than it did before the alterations.
"It's impressive. You're on your way to becoming a knight." Roni said. She handed Yang back her lightsaber and continued to Zollo. The moon still hung high in the night sky when they got to the first destroyed building. Arin walked to the ground and felt the rubble.
"This happened a while ago. Yang, have you finished the search?" Arin asked.
"Yeah, but we got a problem. Zollo hasn't been on any map in over five hundred years. Our record say that a battle happened here but no exact year. No idea if Sith are involved." Yang said, closing her scroll.
"So, we just have to hope for this to be quiet." Karel said. The gate of the ruins was opened wide by a lightsaber.
"Looks like we're at the right place. Be ready for anything. We've gone deep in enemy territory, and there seems to be a Grimm infestation." Karel walked into the walled city. As he looked around, he sensed more than one set of eyes on him.
"You have arrived." A voice in a broken building rang out. Karel turned on his lightsaber.
"Your Jedi friends are here."
"With us."
The other Jedi turned on their lightsabers. The voices laughed.
"Show yourself." Arin said.
"We have devoted ourselves to Bogan for millennium."
"We lost ourselves in our devotion. Lost across the stars for centuries. We observed those you call Sith rise. They took our power. We watched those ancient Sith fight their petty wars. We were outcasts with nothing, but spirits meant to serve the whims of any who called upon our power." The first priest of Bogan stepped forward. She looked like Salem.
"We watched the rise and fall of many Sith. We just wanted to become more than spirits. Ragnos was a promising prospect, but he rejected us, and cast us out. We wondered." The second priest had the body of a pure blood Sith, but the signs of whatever Salem does to people.
"We wondered till we found this planet and found our resting place. We found one as great as those ancient Sith. We found our lord. Your God, Lord Bogan. We were the not first, nor were we the last. Our greatest Priestess is who you know now as Salem. Now we are nothing more than spirits again. Brought to our resting place. You are desecrating our graves. This is a crime we will not forgive!" The third priest was a Chiss. They raised their hands and started to chant. The necklace and ring that Karel ware started to glow.
The three dark spirits screeched as the light shown. The floated to the skeletal bodies around the city.
"We call upon thee fallen of the followers of Bogan. We call upon thee to protect us. Lord Bogan commands it!" The bones started to rise and walk around. They all had weapons made from Remnant.
"I think we just learned why we stopped recording this city." Rouge said. The skeletons slowly started to move towards the Jedi.
"Kill the one who calls upon Ashla!" The Bogan priests cried out. The skeletons all marched on Karel. He raised his hand and let out a force blast. Multiple of the skeletons collapsed.
"They aren't strong enough to kill any of us." Karel said. Karel and the others continued the fight, taking down many of the skeletal remains with ease. They continued into the city, where they found a central post. Karel walked slowly to it and found Xar tied to it.
"Xar! Wake up." Karel said. He tapped Xar's face, but he didn't move. Karel touched his head and saw what happened to get him here. He was being chased by the three dark jedi and a stormtrooper squad. He placed the beacon, then rushed to Zollo. That was when he made his call. After he was overcome by a dark spirit and was knocked out. He still hasn't woken up yet.
He looked around the city square trying to find Gael.
Ruby used her unique ability to help look for her, and quickly found she was in the air. She was tied to a broken building.
"They're trying to steal Xar's body." Gael said weakly. Roni walked over, then jumped up in the air, using her lightsaber to cut what tied her to the building. Ruby held out her arms and caught Gael.
"You're okay." Ruby said. Gael spat out blood then held her hand to her side. She had a massive hole in her clothes where it seems a shard of her ship. She lost a lot of blood and wound need a lot of time before she would fully recover. Even with the extremely limited Bacta plants that Pyrrha could create. Most would have died hours ago.
"The spirits… They want to come back. I did my best to stop them…" She said.
"I'm sure you did." Roni jumped back down and quickly used her limited force healing ability on her.
"Thank you… master…" She drifted off to sleep. Roni made sure she was still alive.
"Master…" Ruby started.
"I heard her. We need to stop this." Roni said.
Arin and Yang walked towards a large mausoleum. He knew that dark spirits were dangerous, and he was certain that he was going to stop them from haunting this land any longer. He stopped at the doors and saw that they were closed. He took out his lightsaber and stabbed the doors. It cracked and burst open. He walked into the ancient tomb, and found it was filled with dark side amulets and artifacts. He felt a certain draw to them. He walked over to a necklace and grabbed it. An image flashed in his head, and he dropped the amulet. It scared him. He saw the face of a woman. A dark woman standing over him when he was extremely young. She placed her finger on his chest and he felt it burn.
"You will one day be mine." The woman said. He recognized she was Salem after he picked up the amulet again. His parents were once a part of something big. His mother handed Salem this amulet. She took it as the door burst open. Yang's old master and his apprentice Cinder were there. The vision faded.
Arin wanted to know more, how did his mother have this amulet? How did it end up here? Why did Salem want it? What connection did his mother have with Salem?
And the burn on his chest, a scar he had as long as he could remember, what connection does Salem have with him? Yang put her hand on Arin's shoulder, making him look back at her.
"Arin?" she said. He put the amulet down and shook his head.
"Sorry. We need to finish our mission. We need to destroy the skeletons of the spirits. It's their connection to the living realm." He went further into the ancient tomb, his hand unconsciously going for the dark relics. He started to feel ill in this tomb, but he had to keep going further. He knew Yang also started to get affected by this place. He had to turn his lightsaber on to remind him what darkness was.
He felt the pull of the dark side, and he felt all the dark thoughts that went through his head. He thought of that bastard who murdered Deedee. He thought of all those who he wanted to hurt. He wanted to hurt someone. He put his hand to his head and started chanting the Jedi code. He had to resist the dark side. No, not just resist, but defeat. He finally got the edge of the tomb and found three skeletons. Then he started hearing laughing. He looked all around him but didn't see anyone. He grabbed a ring from one of the skeletons and put it on. He felt his chest start to burn.
Karel watched as Xar started to convulse. He rushed over to him to try to help him, but there was nothing wrong with him.
"We shall rise again." The priests said. Karel saw them fly into Xar. He looked up and screamed. His skin started to become almost white. He turned his fingers towards himself and let out a blast of force lightning. The spirits jumped out of Xar.
"I won't ever go back." Xar said. The once Sith apprentice of an unknown master, now Jedi knight fought defiantly against the threat of falling once more to the dark side of the force, but he knows all too well how much it isn't worth it. No power could amount to what he would lose.
They stopped and went again to Xar, but Karel held out his necklace and ring. The spirits were thrown back and glared at Karel.
"You will not touch him!" He stood firm against the spirits, and the light glowed bright from the accessories. The spirits hissed at him, then went towards the mausoleum. They knew that Xar was no longer the best candidate to return to. They found two others who were better, two who don't know their own weaknesses to the dark side.
Karel freed Xar and got Rouge to make sure he was safe. He had to find Arin and Yang. He knew their defenses against the dark side.
"Rouge, do you have any more rings?" He asked. He hoped they had one, but he knew it wasn't likely. They didn't make many.
"We got two spares." Rouge handed Karel the unlikely rings.
"Make sure he's safe. The spirits won't come back." He turned around and saw Rouge make more clones. She made six clones, and five of them stayed with Xar.
"Master, we're going together." She said. Karel knew her defense against the dark side was great. She would be safe without a ring. They went to the tombs and saw that Yang and Arin already broke in.
"Keep up your guard." Karel said. Rouge took out her lightsaber along with her master. She stuck next to Karel. He was glad she was his apprentice. Her purity was so strong that even he sometimes she was going to be the greatest of Jedi. He remembered his lessons from the Holocron of the Barsen'thor.
They continued through the tombs, and after passing multiple destroyed dark relics, they saw flashing lights. Two blue blades smashing against each other. Karel rushed forward and saw Yang fighting Arin. Arin had put on multiple relics and started to look like Salem. His chest glowed red in the dark. Karel and Rouge gathered the force into a massive wave.
"Yang! Jump!" Rouge yelled as they released the wave. The dark relics went flying, many of them being destroyed by the light side and the push. Arin stood against the force wave, blocking it, with great effort. One of the relics he wore broke.
"The spirits took over Arin." Yang said. She turned off her lightsaber and started to punch at him. He deflected the shots off the bodies.
"Yang! Put this on." Karel handed her one of the rings. When she put it on, she felt so much better.
"You pathetic Jedi are no match against us." The voices of the spirits came out of Arin.
Yang, Rouge, and Karel raised their hands. The light shown off all of them, brightening the room, burning the relics. The spirits tried to raise a dark shield, but even here, they were no match against the light of these Jedi. Arin screamed as every relic he wore broke. The spirits rushed out of his body and fled to their bones. Karel stood in front of them and held his hand out holding the secondary ring. His aura glowed and he crushed the ring. He opened his palm, and the light rushed onto the bones. The screams of the dark spirits were heard, and they finally entered their final rest.
Karel started breathing heavily. Cleansing the tomb and destroying the artifacts had taken much out of him. The sweat rushed down his face. He knew that he wouldn't have lasted long in a lightsaber fight.
Year 4 Month 5 Day 6
Arin felt the burning in his chest leave him, and the light started to return to him. He woke up feeling a horrible pain. Roni walked to him in the temple infirmary and congratulated him. Yang was there to see him.
Roni let them be and went to Xar and Gael. Xar did a lot of damage to himself to get those spirits out of him. Gael recovered faster than anyone had expected. It was a wonder how even with the limited Bacta, she barely needed it to heal a deadly wound. When the ship crashed it killed everyone but Gael and Xar. She had a part of the wind embedded in her side. Xar had to drag her to Zollo and when they got there the spirits used the force to tie Gael and Xar up.
But with Gael able to go back to her Jedi duties, she was brought in front of the council to give her mission report. Xar was with her, though he was in much worse shape.
"Good Gael. Now, we have one final matter of business to discuss. As you may know, we have few masters with us. And seeing as you have passed all the marks of mastery, we invite you to join our ranks." Master Black said.
"I'm shocked masters. I don't know what to say." She said. She was humble, and all knew she deserved this position.
"As her padawan, she showed me everything I needed to become a knight. She has shown to me more than once that she had mastered all the Jedi knights. She helped me turn away from the dark side and she trained me to knighthood. I give her my full vote of confidence." Xar said.
Gael looked at Xar, then back at the masters.
"I accept." She said.
"We've got a ceremony, but we have one other thing of business. As the order's newest master, we have a spot on the council that needs to be filled." Grandmaster Ray said, pointing at the empty seat. She had even more shocked look on her face if that was even possible.
"This is quite a promotion." Gael said.
"And quite a well-deserved one." Roni said.
Shortly after the ceremonies finished, and the Jedi welcomed the newest council member, the issue of Arin Jones came up.
"Arin is in a dangerous state. After having the dark side spirits take control of him, his mental state seems to be… fragile. I suggest taking him and his apprentice away from the war for the time being." Master Black said.
"It may be that he needs someone to help him. But I understand that we're limited. Are they're any light side nexuses in Alliance territory?" Gael asked.
"We know of a few, but sadly, most of our knowledge on that was taken from us when Salem's latest body destroyed the temple." Grandmaster Ray said. "And as We have all felt, the dark side seems to be getting stronger."
"Then we must send him to one that we know of." Roni said.
"Yes." Master Black said.
Soon, they told Arin and Yang about their plans. They agreed, though Arin was reluctant to leave the war for so long.
Raven walked up to the imperial palace, hiding herself as a raven. She flew to a window, and looked inside, seeing the young prince, floating his toys in the air. She was reminded of Yang and had to fly away when the door opened. Empress Vox picked up the young prince and brought him with her to wherever she was going. Raven went to the roof and talked to herself.
"What was I going to do? Kill a Sith Lord just because I got one of these." She held onto the lightsaber. She sighed and flew away. She wondered all most every day what her life would have been like if she had stayed with Tai.
But she couldn't return. Not now. She had gone too far. She had killed a lot of people. She hurt Tai.
She just wanted to apologize so many times to him, and then she hated that guilt she had whenever she thought of Tai. Then she remembered all the arguments with Summer. All coming down to the dark side and the light side. She knew Summer was right, that the Dark side had made her feel and act worse. But it was the pride of her people.
But Yang was a good Jedi. She seemed to be able stop the dark side from taking over. She opened a portal to Tai but made it farther away. He was exercising in the front yard. She landed on a branch and looked at him. She turned back and looked at him in the trees.
"Good afternoon Raven." He said sweetly. She was always surprised that he knew when she arrived.
"It's already the afternoon. It's just morning in the Empire." She said as she jumped down.
"I heard you talked with Ruby." Tai said.
"Yeah… She's Summer's kid…" She just wanted to say it, and they stood there silently.
"They aren't here. You can take your time." Tai said. Raven clenched her fists.
"I'M SORRY!" She yelled out. She started breathing heavily. She started to feel her chest tighten. "I'm sorry."
"Raven…"
"I know what I did. I'm sorry." She started to apologize for everything, in between gasps of tearful breaths. She let everything off her chest. She felt a massive weight start to come off, but also felt her tears that she blocked for all these years come rushing down.
"It's okay." Tai said, as he held her.
She started to cry, not caring if anyone saw.
Author's Notes: I finished the book, but now I need to edit it. Once again, I thank you for reading those few of you who do. I don't know if anyone will read this. It's been so long, and I abandoned the story out of the blue. There is no excuse. And I know no one has even reviewed this story. I may be just posting this story to no one.
This story isn't going to last much longer. I need to finish this story. I've spent many nights thinking that I was disappointing so many of you. Maybe this is all just one big complex disappointment, but I will finish it even if it is just for me.
May the Force be With You
-DragonZlayerX12
