Chapter 9
"Inform the first order that I've found the droid and the fugitive rebel scum accompanying it."
Elsi's whole body shook as she lay back against the wall in a daze. A strong force echoed around her. She struggled to stand as she leant against the wall.
Bazine took off, leaving Elsi in the dark corridor.
Elsi couldn't remember what she was doing there. Everything merged together. The room was blurry. Everywhere filled with smoke. The place felt like it was on fire. Elsi was burning up.
She stumbled along the corridor and through the back door, out into the fresh air.
As soon as she was behind the cover of the trees she ripped off her mask and pulled down her hood.
The sound of a lightsaber igniting behind her shocked her to the core and reignited her nightmares.
There was nothing there.
She turned back around only to find that she was not in the forest anymore. She was on her home planet and everything was destroyed.
A lone ship was parked in the distance. A man was lifting a young girl into his arms and saving her, taking her inside his ship. Shortly after the ship took off a bright beam of light shot down to the centre of the planet, white flashed, Elsi was at the jedi temple where she had trained to become a jedi.
Luke was on the floor, Ben had his lightsaber raised over him about to strike.
"BEN, NO!" Elsi reached out to him. Ben's eyes met hers.
He looks back down at the figure below him and Elsi follows his gaze only to see that Luke was no longer there, instead Elsi could see herself cowering before not Ben, but Kylo Ren.
The nights of Ren walk into view and stare down at her.
"Ben please." Elsi pleads.
"It's Kylo Ren."
He strikes down his lightsaber and Elsi falls on her back. Elsi feels the forest floor beneath her.
Her mind is clear again.
There is no fire, no flames, no explosions.
Elsi had no clue what just happened but her connection to the force felt stronger than ever.
She could sense Luke's presence, though she knew he wasn't here.
Elsi sits up as a figure emerges from Maz's Palace. It was Rey. It looked as though she was running from something. BB-8 was rolling after her.
She decides to leave her a minute as she catches her breath from the horrid nightmare scenes Elsi had just encountered. Some she knew were memories, parts of her past that she had tried to block off.
A loud blast sound echoed through the atmosphere as a large beam of light shot across the sky. It was the first order. The light was from Starkiller base bombing several nearby planets.
Elsi couldn't believe her eyes as she watched the sky as those planets were easily destroyed. Just like her home planet was.
How could Ben do it? How could he fight for a cause that kills so many innocent lives. He once told her that he would avenge her home for her and destroy those who took her family from her. Yet now Ben was working alongside the very people who destroyed her life at such a young age.
Elsi remembered Bazine and how she contacted the first order. They were probably already on their way by now.
She knew that she had to alert Han, but BB-8 had gone with Rey and it was too dangerous for them to be out in the forest alone with the first order on their way.
Quickly decided, Elsi lifted her mask again to cover her face and ran off into the forest heading in the direction that Rey took.
After several minutes of running Elsi heard several tie fighters flying over the forest.
She had to find Rey and BB-8 quick.
Rey races through the trees. She can see Maz's Palace ahead being destroyed by first order ships. Everyone was screaming and running away from the palace and into the woods. She just hoped that everyone was okay.
Rey hears the sound of a radio not far from her. She attempts to grab her blaster and shoot the stormtrooper patrolling. But when the stormtrooper sees her, her gun does not fire.
Oh, the safety.
Rey removes the safety and fires at the trooper. She hits him after two shots and she takes off running, firing off at troopers as she sees them.
Elsi continues running towards Rey, taking down a couple of stormtroopers on her way. She uses the force to sense where Rey is and as she does she senses another presence on the planet. A presence she had not felt so close in many years.
Kylo Ren was here and he was headed towards Rey.
Elsi was not far now. She could feel the waves of fear coming off of Rey as she stood before the menacing Kylo Ren desperately trying to fire her blaster at him as he calmly walks towards her.
"The map, you've seen it?"
Ben lifts his hand to use the force but Elsi rushes forward and forces his hand down and holds him still, using the force herself.
Elsi had immobilised Kylo for a moment but she knew that she couldn't hold it for long.
"Rey, run!" Elsi forced out between her teeth, never once taking her eyes off of her once best friend.
Rey stood frozen in shock. Elsi could use the force?! She hadn't seen what had happened on Han's ship when the gangs attacked but she guessed now that Elsi had something to do with why the blasters suddenly stopped firing.
"RUN! NOW!" Elsi pleaded.
Rey shot off and only moments later Kylo broke free. Using the force he froze Rey in her tracks and brought Elsi's body towards him.
Unable to break his hold, Elsi was immobilised as Kylo was before.
"The Fae? Hm, a bounty hunter is that what your life has resorted to?" With a flick of his hand Elsi's mask was off of her face and her hood was lowered.
Kylo looked into the eyes of the woman that Ben Solo once knew and saw only hurt and loss; there was no fear.
Whilst normally Kylo loved to instil fear in his victims, it gave him a sense of pride that Elsi was still her fearless self.
"Hello Kylo." She spat out.
"Ah, finally admitted it have you? Admitted to yourself that the man you loved is dead."
"The man I love is not dead! But he is not you either."
Kylo leaned forward, now his mask only a breath width away from her face.
Elsi desperately attempted to break his force hold.
"You have grown weak. You are connected to the force once again but yet you carry no lightsaber. Is it perhaps that you are afraid. Afraid of what you could become. Afraid that you could join me and together we could rule side by side." Kylo softly caressed Elsi's face and for a moment Elsi believed that the action belonged to Ben. But then she saw the mask of Kylo before her.
"I will never join you! Ever!"
Elsi force pushed Kylo away from her, he wacked into a tree but quickly righted himself.
She lifted her blaster and shot at him which he easily deflected with his saber.
She tried again but this time force directed the blast around his weapon causing the blast to catch him in the leg. He knelt down for a moment in shocked pain.
"Elsi." He breathed out in a voice that she knew was Ben's.
"Ben?"
A blast from a nearby stormtrooper knocked her back as she narrowly avoided it and ran to take cover behind a tree. With a clear shot she blasted the trooper and turned back to Kylo and Rey.
Looking around she could not see either of them. If Kylo had taken Rey then he must know that she had seen the map.
But Elsi had also seen the map. Did he leave her because he knew Rey's mind would be easier to break or was it subconsciously Ben who didn't want her anywhere near the enemy.
Either way Elsi was once again distraught as she knew she had failed Leia again. Yes she had protected the droid but now the map would be in enemy hands and Elsi was yet again not strong enough to bring back Leia's son. How could she face her again.
Flashback
Voe and Tai fought furiously with Ben. Lightsabers clashed back and forth causing sparks to ignite off of the blades. The two padawans had tracked down Ben Solo once again, and this time they were here to avenge their fallen friend.
The fight became more filled with hatred and malice as each force user used each ounce of their strength to parry the others attack.
Meanwhile Elsi was pounding her hands against the doors of Voe's ship desperetly trying to break out. After Hennix had died, it was too much for Voe and Tai to take, they would avenge their friend, no matter what it took. Elsi knew that they would kill Ben and whilst she knew he wouldn't get away with what he did, she refused to let them kill him.
As soon as Elsi had revealed the planet that she suspected Ben would be on, Voe and Tai locked her on the ship, saying it was for the good of everyone.
She refused to believe that killing Ben was for the good of everyone. Two wrongs don't make a right.
A gigantic shock wave exploded through the force causing Elsi to stumble.
Something was wrong. Something really bad had happened.
Elsi begins to look around at what she could do, she needed to get to them, NOW.
After about 15 minutes of scrambling with the wires and using the force to assist her Elsi eventually managed to open the ship doors and started running down the ramp.
A few moments later she managed to figure out where in the building that Ben precisely was. She walked into a room, her lightsaber ignited and at the ready.
The sight that greeted her was fresh out of a horror movie.
To her right Tai lay in a mess of blood, eyes closed, chest unmoving.
To her left was Voe, on her back, one arm missing, body still.
They were both dead.
But right in front of her, shifting his gaze between both of them was Ben. Though he no longer looked like her Ben.
"Ben." Elsi whispered in complete shock. "What have you done?" She could barely tear her eyes away from the broken bodies of her friends.
Ben stalked his way across the room towards her. His expression remained blank. Elsi's was full of hatred. How could he?
Ben's lightsaber ignited and Elsi immediately moved her blade to block his.
"What happened to you? Why would you do this? After everything we shared, everything we've been through."
Ben remained silent as their sabers clashed, light sparking off both, reflecting in Ben's eyes that Elsi could have sworn turned amber for a moment.
Elsi tried to catch him off guard. "What about that last night we shared together. Were those moments not special enough for you. You told me you loved me."
It worked and for a moment Ben stumbled. Elsi lowered her blade. Ben lowered his. "I did love you. What I said was true and my only regret was that I didn't tell you sooner than I did."
She truly believed that she was getting through to him. But that hope crashed at his next sentence.
"But Ben is dead, so I don't love you." Too shocked to move, Elsi stumbled back and tripped over her feet as Ben force pushed her and knocked her down so she lay flat on the floor.
Elsi couldn't help but look at Ben standing above her menacingly as it appeared he would strike her down. She remembered the first time he beat her in a match and she only hoped his reaction would be so much different now.
"Ok Ben you win." Young Elsi started to stand up but Ben reached down to help her up. As he did Elsi was disappointed that she wouldn't find out what his secret was. She wondered if she ever would.
"Now, tell me more about your home. I want to know more. That was the deal."
"But what about your secret, I still wanna know." Elsi pestered.
"I guess you'll never find out."
It appeared he was remembering back as well, having tapped into her mind and figured where it had gone.
This time Ben didn't help her up. Elsi stayed where she lay on the ground and instead Ben kneeled down beside her and leaned over her.
"I truly am sorry for the way things turned out Elsi. It appears that the young boy you once knew has faded from existence. Your memory of him is the only reason that I will allow you to live." Ben reached forward to stroke her face. Elsi fought the urge to lean into his touch, still distraught at the loss of her friends. She desperately wanted to know what he was thinking, why he had paused searching her face. His next words whispered into her mind. "I will leave you that little boys secret. One I hope will carry you forward. His secret was that the first day we met, I thought you were the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. The way you glowed was magical. I knew that from then on, you would hold my heart forever."
With that he kissed her forehead and Elsi watched as the man she loved walked away from the one thing that kept him in the light.
Love.
Authors Note:
Ohhhh, I love this chapter so much. Ben reunited with Elsi and you guys got to see what happened to Voe and Tai. Sorry it was sad, but this was when Ben fully turned to the dark side. It seemed like the moments Ben and Elsi spent together were not enough to stop Ben from turning evil. But will she be able to bring him back to the light? Well you will have to keep reading to find out. Let me know what you all thought. Please review, favourite and follow. Thanks for reading. ZV.
