Author Note: Yo thanks for reading this chapter and I hope you enjoy it. I have been feeling sick so this chapter may not be as good as the others though I liked how it turned out. Thank you all that have read, followed, and favorited this story and I appreciate each and every one of you because it helps with my motivation. I would greatly appreciate a couple of reviews. It helps me interact with the people who like this story and if you review, at the bottom of the next chapter I will respond. I greatly appreciate each and every one of you guys that have taken the time to check out this story. Remember to favorite, follow and review it helps me with my motivation and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
- Chapter 6 -
The trio…or rather the four sat along the strange bison. They slept while they flew, the avatar staying up for watch as the rest of the crew got shut eye. Though, when they were up. The questions began to commence.
Sokka stood up. His fingers wrapped along the arm handles of the saddle paralleling what Ben did last time. closed his eyes as he revisited the memory.
Ben's towering form…the searing heat of the fire ball coming towards Appa. He could feel it…the power that emanated from Benjamin as the telekinetic push destroyed the boulder midflight. He had seen Aang do amazing stuff with his air bending, though there were striking differences between the way the two boys used their strange or rather…ancient powers.
"Talk…" Katara reassured Ben, the boy's legs aimed inwards towards his chest. Her voice soft as she trained out the word. She didn't want to upset Ben, he helped them and potentially saved their lives the prior day.
He didn't even have to…he was already safe and was ready to leave, he could of just left on some boat leaving the island. Her eyes locked onto the boy whose senses were fixated on the leathery saddle. His form shaking as his arms were wrapped around himself. Katara didn't realize the war that was waging within Benjamin.
'I can't…we were going to die. I didn't have a choice but to…'
Ben's thoughts ravaged his mind. His shaking palms evident as he planted both on the cuffs of his knees. His brown eyes still solely focused on the leather of the strap. Trying to find any excuse until…
"I didn't know you were a jedi…" Aang exclaimed, his carefree voice carrying the weight of the air as he spoke casually like he was speaking of the weather.
Ben's eyes widened in alarm. His eyes nearly popping from his skull as he pounced from his position. His hand connecting with the front of the saddle. The maneuver was so quick that Sokka nearly fell off the bison, his sister catching him as his yelp carried through the air.
"Uh…yeah." The avatar nodded his head. Ben's eyes still focused on the young boy, causing Aang to anxiously continue. "That was a force…push?"
Ben nearly fell on his back. His eyes darting everywhere along the open sky as he couldn't believe it. He didn't know whether to be happy or sad from this outcome.
'The Jedi…are still alive? Yet, when I leaped from hyper space and my ship was damaged, I swear that I was sent into a black hole! How could the Jedi be here…though, Bill knew of my powers, but he never mentioned the Jedi or the Sith to me. Although, I rarely asked anything about the history of this world. However, this world has been at war for nearly a hundred years! Where are the Jedi!'
Though as the second passed, Ben's face reeked from pure disbelief. It was like a switch was turned off…his face contorting into one of pure rage and hatred, the bile emanated from his frame like poison. His eyes locking solely along the leather.
'If the Jedi still live, then they most likely are the same cowards they were during the Mandalorian wars…letting innocents be killed or enslaved due to arrogance and moderation. Those fools most likely sit and believe on their council chairs that they hold no responsibility…damn fools.'
"The Jedi…what of them?" Ben hissed out, not meeting Aang's eyes.
Aang's eyes widened as he stared at Ben's face. Before the guy looked to be a wreck, though now…he couldn't explain it, but he could feel something strange. Anger…resentment…guilt…hatred. Aang, didn't understand how he knew that, maybe due to his connection to the spirit world.
He gulped from the overwhelming pressure that the ex-Jedi secreted as he rushed to spit out an appropriate answer. "I don't know, the war with Szon was beginning and they were pushing to get me trained with the other elements. They believed that getting involved with a war between the four nations, especially one involving the avatar would be…"
Ben fell backwards along the leathery floor. His mouth opening wide enough to see his pale teeth as he let out a maniacal laugh, his laughter cut through the air and the serine viewing. Even able to gain the attention of a Sokka that just nearly died and his sister trying to calm her brother down.
"Ah…they always repeat, the same mistakes." He snickered once again. His laughter starting to slowly cease as he wiped a tear strand from his eye. "They didn't learn from the ancient sith…of Exar Kun…or of the Mandalorian wars. Jedi hypocrisy at its finest."
"What…but you're a jedi. How can you laughing at…"?
Ben's head quickly turned towards Aang, almost like a nut being grinded into place, quickly and mechanically. "I'm not a jedi!" Ben's voice cut through the air silencing Aang, the boy's eyes widened as Ben quickly recoiled back, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, but I'm not…not anymore. I can hardly even feel the force anymore."
"What…though you saved us. I saw you destroy that boulder how can you…"
Ben shook his head. Regaining his composure as his eyes darted along the large white clouds, he needed something to focus on while he was speaking. He didn't want to look people in the eye when he talked about this.
"When one is connected with the force, they feel it in everything…it's like a sixth sense in its own way. Though, if you do what I did, and sever your connection to it, you can feel it at times, but it feels more like a whisper than anything."
Aang couldn't understand it…the monks didn't speak of the jedi and there was not much known about them, though he heard amazing feats of there powers. How could someone turn away from such power?
"The monks…they told me about the gift of the force. How strong it was, I heard tales of the Jedi. I just don't understand how one could give it up." Aang questioned, finally turning away from Ben as he went back to piloting the bison.
Ben tucked his chin into his chest, his throat stiffening as the sad and bitter memories began to cut into him, like freshly pounded nails into a plank of wood. "Such a power…Aang. It comes with a far greater responsibility."
Aang felt it somewhere in his heart. Those words, they felt familiar. He never wanted to be the avatar, he never wanted such a responsibility though it was his birth right and he had no other option. As Aang stared at Ben, he began to realize something.
…Maybe they were more alike than they seemed…
"This Jedi stuff is confusing." Sokka tiredly spoke. Rubbing the back of his head in frustration as Ben eyed him from the corner of his eye. "What even is it!"
"The Jedi are guardians of peace…they use powers known as the force." Aang spoke up, before Ben even could form a sentence. Though, Ben didn't really mind as much. He didn't want to go on another rant of the hypocrisy and failings of the Jedi council.
"Je..a..di?" Katara spelled out the strange words. "Though, we've never heard of them. I haven't even seen them in any books or scrolls."
"That's strange, they were pretty lively a hundred years ago during the talk of war between the fire nation and the other nations. "I don't believe that they would just disappear…"
Ben's eyes widened as he felt his breathing tense up, the final words that Aang just said sparked up a thought. The puzzle began to click as he realized the words Aang just spoken. The Jedi were gone…though the fire lord and his successors was smart, they probably annihilated them all!
Yeah, that had to be the reason. There was one thing in defeating your enemy…but destroying them completely was a different kind of victory. In destroying them and ridding the future generations of the knowledge or legends of the force.
All force sensitives have lived and died in this world after the fall of the avatar because of the ignorance of their innate force powers. How would one learn how to lift a boulder into the air with the force…if such thoughts were the dreams of mad men.
A shudder ran through Ben's spine at the very thought. It was scary to think about…how the fire nation has grown so powerful to rid the world possibly of hundreds of years' worth of history…
The fire nation did what the Sith of both ancient and present times has failed to do…they didn't cripple the order, they destroyed it. Who knows how many secrets have fallen into the hands of the weak or the foolish, although there was another looming force weighting down on him.
As they began to descend throughout the air as Aang began to take them down through the skies a dark feeling began to well up inside of him, as he turned towards Aang he had to know. "Aang, what of the Sith?"
"Sith?" Aang shrugged his shoulders as the strange words emptied free from his mouth. "I haven't heard of them."
"Dark Jedi…Marauders…Sith Assassin…Sith lords. Aang, I need you to think right now and I need you to tell me if any of those names sound or feel familiar." He exclaimed. Aang noting the strange aura that surrounded those words, they weren't words they came out gnashed or furious. Rather his tone was of anxiety and concern.
The young boy shook his head at the strange words, only for Ben to let out a gush of air as he began to fish into his pocket. He was happy that Aang didn't know of any Sith or were familiar with any tales or legends, though he couldn't tell if this was due to Aang being too young for his mentors to teach him of the eerie history of the Jedi and the Sith or how there has been no monumental battles between the two that have ravaged this world, unlike the galaxy and other planets.
As he sparked up a match and pressed the roll into his mouth. He let a gush of smoke escape from his lips, his eyes softly closing as his mound of hair began to fall in front of his eyes.
'I feel…strange? I honestly don't know how to feel about this, if what Aang is speaking is true then that means that the Jedi are all gone…and the Sith is as well. Maybe it's for the best, I read the tales of the jedi, I know what the force can do to people with no self-control…I saw it even within myself. Maybe it's for the best, I guess I truly am the last of both the Jedi and the Sith.'
There was a certain sense of loneliness in such thoughts. Though, as they docked onto a bunch of landmass, Ben tried not to think about it as much.
He plucked the tobacco role free from his mouth. Dropping it onto the dirt floor as he adjusted his boot, plucking the small flame. "Benjamin." Katara's voice arose from right behind him. Her and her brother were now starting to slowly huddle off the tail of the bison. "You shouldn't smoke those things; they'll rot your lungs!"
Ben's eyebrow went up from the sudden words, his mind instantly reminiscing about his moments with Meetra where she spoke of the same things. 'Fuck, please don't tell me she's going to be like Meetra!'
The face of his master protruded in his mind as he imagined her face. A soft chuckle arising from within, before the war him and Meetra were inseparable. She always warned him about not getting into that stuff, alcohol and the other stuff.
Though, after the war…even during his time in this world he had a hard time shutting out the force. No matter how much he drank or smoke it would always come back, when Jedi partake in those base desires, they start to tune out the force.
Even now…even after what he did on both islands that they escaped from there was still no reason to reconnect. A part of him still just wanted to shun out the force.
Was it loneliness…despair or was he just still tired from the constant fighting? Ben shrugged off the thought as he followed the rest of the trio to where they were going. There shoes clamped along the wooden bridge of the dock.
Though, as Ben was about to pluck out another smoke the trio's attention was dragged somewhere else. So suddenly the ex-jedi didn't even have time or understand of how quickly their attention was dragged.
A man had dragged the trio's attention. Leading them to a small boat. Ben's eyes widened as he silently cursed himself. 'Damn it, even without the force I would have had been able to pay more attention. These damn things really do put my head elsewhere…'
"Why do you smoke those things, Benji. They limit your connection to the force."
His master's words carved along his mind as he followed the trio into the strange boat. Didn't matter anymore…especially with the new information Aang just told him. The Jedi and the Sith were gone, and he had no intention of being a force wielder.
Though…as Ben stepped into the strange ship and began to observe the strange tapestries or weapons arranged along the walls. Another thought began to bloom. 'Why am I still here with them. Why am I even in this ship?'
Ben's fingers went to his chin as he observed Sokka playing around with the weapons, and how Aang and Katara's eyes traced along a strange scroll they were gazing at.
It's been a long time since he had traveled with people. Maybe, a part of him hungered for such a connection once again. The last time he felt companionship was during his time on the academy on Dantooine…with Trissal and Shan.
Ben's eyes widened in alarm. The sweat beginning to pull along his brow as he felt his breath getting heavier, the rhythmic pain and beat of his heart splintering into his ears.
'No…don't think about them, forget them. Forget that they ever existed…wipe it out, forget…'
"Ben!"
Sokka's voice erupted in his ear as Ben took a step backward. His eyes training along the store as he felt his breathing start to return to normal.
"Yeah, what is it."
Sokka shrugged his shoulders as he put down the weapon he held back onto the stand. "Nothing, you just seemed. Worried…" Sokka took a step forward leaning towards Ben's ear. "Is there something wrong."
"No…no there isn't." Ben waved off. Sokka wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, though the young warrior could see the shaking of Ben's left hand and the sweat that littered his brow.
"Well, that's good to hear." He said as he rubbed the back of his head, he only knew Ben for a couple of days, and he didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. Though, there was a gleam in Sokka's eyes that he wouldn't just let the issue "Persist". "If you ever need anything, just ask me or Katara, even Aang will come and help."
"Really, well I don't want to be a bother." Ben responded.
"No…you're not a bother. Heck, you saved us last time. Honestly, thank you…me and my sister didn't get to tell you that yet." Before Ben could say anything Sokka cocked his head, gazing towards his sister and the avatar. With a firm clap of his hands and a wave to follow Sokka spoke. "Alright, looks like Aang and Katara are done. Come on Benji."
Ben was about to say something. Something along the lines of how the only people that called him Benji were his friends, though they saved the others' lives merely a day ago. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to be called that…
They huddled towards the cash register. The strange man's green earth bending robes stuck out like a sore thumb as Katara and Aang put down a strange role of paper, also adding in a couple of groceries and other necessary supplies. "How much for this please?"
"Sorry, kid that isn't for sale. Though…"
Ben didn't really care for the scroll. Tuning out the trio's bartering skills as he paid more attention to what was behind the strange man. His eyes starting to slowly widen as his own eyes focused on something.
At the corner of his eye there was something…something glittering behind everything. On the shelf, stacked behind everything there were crystals and jewels littered behind the man.
The shelf was decorated with long line of things. Jutting out and rudimentary created the shelf carried golden tiara's, iron engraved bracers and necklaces and even faint lone jewelry that glittered along the early morning sun rise.
Though, he held no care for the strange crystals or other merchandise. However, there was a strange crystal that he saw…no he felt. The crystal was small…smaller than the other crystals of its caliber, though in the inside it dangled with a strange orange core.
"How much for the crystal." Ben's voice arose through the trio's bartering skills. The shop keeper turning towards Ben as the shopkeeper pointed towards that crystal on the shelf. There talking ceased as the shopkeeper gazed up towards Ben. The boys towering and large form, even for being young the sleezy shopkeeper gulped from the pressure he was secreting.
"Ah…the orange one, right?" He spoke feigning confidence as he lifted the crystal, the crystal on closer inspection seemed more jagged, than the others. It wasn't something to be complimented with its beauty. Hell, bits of it were very uneven and kind of sharp.
The store owner dropped it in Ben's hand as he twirled it around his fingers. Something felt off with this crystal…a strange sensation was cutting through him and into his heart and soul as he couldn't help but feel something strange working through him.
"How much for the crystal?" Ben asked as the strange sailor tilted his head. His eyes not comprehending why such a giant would want an ugly thing. Honestly, he had gotten scammed into getting the crystal. Though, a crystal was a crystal. Maybe he could have turned that scam into potential money if he played his cards rights.
"One bronze coin."
'One bronze coin…wow that is cheap.' Ben thought as he dug into his pocket. Fishing out a spare piece of change as he dropped it on the counter. Ben took the crystal and dug it into his pocket, still confused to the fact of why he even purchased the crystal at all.
He was about to turn away. His eyes glued to the door. "Not yet…that's not for sale." The old shopkeeper spoke up, his voice making ben turn back.
"What why?" Katara spoke up, her voice trailing through the air as she pointed at the shopkeeper.
"Yeah, come on we'll pay." Aang recoiled back.
"It's an exotic item. Such a thing isn't going to be for sale."
"Really, I doubt you even bought it. More like stole it you mean." Sokka spoke up, his eyes training along the room. Focusing on the man's strange clothes and the amount of contraband around the ship. "Pirates…" Sokka murmured underneath his breath.
'Wait pirates…though, oh crap.' Ben face palmed as he finally read the room. This wasn't just about using the force but about the ignorance of the world, sure he had his fair share run in with bandits and pirates though he never seen any pirates using boats.
It should have had been safe to assumed what they were with all the blatant contraband and rare goods hanging around. As all four began to leave the door, Ben loitered for a second. His gaze still locked onto the scroll as his eyes trained around the area.
They were pirates right…bad guys? So, he leveled his right hand in front of him, cuffing his hand so his palm reached straight out, he felt the tension of the scroll along the force as he strained his hand backward.
The scroll zipped through the air as the dusty parchment collapsed and intertwined within his fingers. He quickly scuttled down the steps as his eyes trained down. Putting the old scroll into his jacket.
As the rest of the gang made their way onto Appa and they were flown into the air, Ben took out the scroll from his pocket. "Ay, Katara." Ben tossed the scroll as she caught it with her hands, her eyes gleaming with anticipation and excitement. "Thanks for that, Ben."
"Ay…it's no big deal. You let me waste all that cheap alcohol so it's best that I pay you back."
"Pay you back…Ben. You stole this." Sokka shouted, so loud that Ben covered his ears.
Ben shook his head. "Dude their pirates, they've stolen it first and knowledge is knowledge. Knowledge of any kind shouldn't be hidden. Hell, they were weak and foolish, in a way they deserved it."
The last statement of Ben's sentence caused all three to widen there eyes…Sokka particularly understood that they were pirates and sure they had it coming, but stealing was still stealing. He let out a sigh as he rested along the edge of the saddle. "At least Sis and Aang will have something to help them train at least."
Ben took out the crystal from his pocket. Putting the object to the sun as his eyes widened as he felt the force well up in the crystal. "Holy crap, it's a lightsaber crystal!"
Sokka's face dropped as he heard the strange word. "A lightsaber…what's that?"
"The weapon a Jedi uses." Aang spoke up before Ben could answer. "That's a crystal you need to power a lightsaber right Ben?"
Benjamin shook his head. "No, this isn't a color crystal. A color crystal is what creates the main beam of light in the construction, a synthetic or natural one would do but this isn't that. This is a power crystal…a phond crystal it seems."
Power crystals in lightsaber construction weren't necessary but having more crystals in your blade gave you more options in battle. Though, there was no crystal that was stronger than the other, a jedi with a lightsaber packed with the strongest of crystals could still very well lose to one stronger with the force or an even more experienced duelist.
A lightsaber, any weapon can only truly be used by the one that holds it, and through such struggles the blade can be defined.
"Benjamin, are you going to build another lightsaber. You're traveling with us now…a Jedi needs their tool."
Benjamin stared at the power crystal again. His overall being felt the force that was ingrained into the crystal, it helped center himself. Before the war he would take apart his saber and focus on the crystal to help center himself when he would meditate.
Though, even if he wanted to build another lightsaber where would he start? The Jedi have been gone and erased from history for nearly a hundred years. The enclaves and the academies must have been destroyed and ransacked by the fire nation.
Finding a power crystal was just one part of the process, he didn't even truly need a power crystal. A phond type of crystal from what the halls of the great Jedi library on Coruscant spoke of, was how it would produce a fiercely burning lightsaber beam.
He would need to find an energy cell fixture, a lightsaber emitter and a lens fixture. He would even need to scavenge parts to customize the grip, pommel and other parts of the blade to fit into his own preferred style.
Though the hardest part would be the main focusing crystal, or by others such as Aang they would refer to it as the "color crystal." The blade that would decide the jedi's color and would produce the overall blade of the weapon.
Where would he even begin, he guessed that Aang could try and hope to remember as much information about the Jedi, or maybe he could even break into a couple of fire nation libraries and try to piece together their garbled histories and th…
'Why would you want such a thing? A jedi's tool…a Sith's weapon.'
The thought recoiled Ben back as his gaze focused ahead. His eyes locked like steel along the sky as the crystal slipped into his jacket pocket. What was he even thinking about right now? His gaze didn't leave the sky as he began to understand what was going on…
'Was I actually thinking about…rebuilding a lightsaber…am I still trying to play the role as a Jedi? I lost that right years ago, what am I even doing. Using the force for such trivial things, I am not a Jedi knight anymore, just a damn fool.'
"No…Aang. I'm fine, I don't want a lightsaber. I'm not a Jedi, remember."
Aang's eyes went down to the reins of the bison. He didn't know what to say…though all three of them could detect the sorrow etched into Ben's voice, they didn't know what to say or what to do next…they didn't even know how to support him.
"Yeah, guess your right…" Aang finally spoke up. The conversation ending as the bison reached higher into the air.
Ben observed Sokka fish in the nearby pond, the boy throwing his spear in pure furry from the lack of fish he was able to catch. They had just set up in a forest clearing, due to the use of the bi…Appa. Ben shook his head from the thought as he turned his attention towards Aang and Katara. The water bending scroll rested on a mound of stone as they practiced in the same lake that Sokka fished in.
Ben dug into his pouch fishing out another cigarette as he pressed it to his lips. His eyes still scanned the training that they were doing, it reminded him of the martial arts of the echani that him and other padawans studied for a short period.
Though, he could feel it…the waves of jealousy surrounding the girl. Aang, maybe due to being the avatar or just out due to luck he seemed to be mastering the scroll quickly. His gaze still unfocused as he flicked the smoke free from his lips.
Jealousy, that emotion was strong…circulating along the girl like tendrils as he watched them both bend. The water would cup and whisk like a tornado, spreading and contorting to the boy's command while Katara's was a mere recreation of what Aang was trying to accomplish. It was kind of pitiful to watch the difference between the two, though Ben could feel it through the force.
The whirring winds of jealousy swarming and contorting along Katara. "Ay look Katara!" Aang cheered, his voice rising through the clearing as his eyes filled with awe and pride.
'Bad move Aang.' Ben's thoughts pounded into his skull as Katara yelled a jumble of insults aimed towards the young avatar. It was so loud that even Sokka broke free from the water to see what the commotion was about. It wasn't a surprise to find that she ran away and broke into the forest clearing.
"Damn it…Ben go after Katara, I'm going to deal with Aang."
Ben nodded his head, sighing underneath his breath. He didn't want to deal with this jealousy crap. He didn't want to get muddled or involved when he was just taking in the nice forest air and the smoke stinging his throat. However, his feet began to move as his blood began to pump as he chased for the girl that ran into the forest.
He pushed past brush and shrubbery, the bits of long-standing grass and low sticks ripped through his calves and legs as his eyes tried to find the tracks left by Katara.
Though, even after five to ten minutes of straight running all around the forest he couldn't find her. However, as he sighed knowing what he had to do…he lowered himself to the floor. Kneeling as he swiped the hair free from his face.
His eyes closing as he felt the biting of wind soar through his form. As he fixated on his own slow breathing, and the pumping of his own heart he reached out…
The force came towards him like a trickle of what it once was…like an echo at the edge of a deep underground tunnel. When force sensitives like himself cut themselves off from the force and refuse to reconnect to it this is the cause.
An echo in the force…
Though, Ben's golden eyes began to sparkle through his clumps of hair as he felt life throughout the force. Until…he found her, like a vision she was crying on one of the edges downstream.
Ben was back in pursuit. Cutting through the dense forest as he sprinted towards the girl, until he pushed through a breach within the tree line and there, she was…
Hunched over the roaring streams as her palms were over her eyes. Her blue water tribe clothes in view due to the harsh rays of the sun as Ben steadily approached. "Hey, Katara." His voice arose as she parted her palms away to look at him, her bloodshot eyes proof that she had been crying all this time.
"What do you want, Ben?"
Ben faced Katara not turning away, right before he nonchalantly pointed behind him. "Nothing much…your brother sent me out here to make sure you're okay." He confessed, before Katara thought that he was doing this out of his heart, not that her younger brother sent him to make sure she was alright.
She scoffed at the thought. "Well, I'm fine…well than you can go now if you want."
"No, you weren't. You were jealous of Aang, maybe due to how quickly he can pick up those water bending scrolls." Ben took a seat next to Katara, he didn't take his eyes off the roaring river that was in front of them as Katara looked at him.
"How did you figure it out?" She spoke sarcastically, a muffled laugh wretched into her voice.
"Well, I was busy smoking and paying attention the whole time, also it's a jedi trick. Those that feel the force can feel strong emotions circulating around others."
Katara's mouth slowly gaped open. To find out that Ben could detect emotions as well, sure she heard Aang and him talk about the Jedi today, but she still had no real clue about there potential.
"Aang, isn't the only person I am jealous of." She confessed, Ben didn't turn away from the roaring rapids, though the next couple of words…"I am jealous of you as well."
Ben's eyes widened from Katara's words. Though, he had heard what that girl just said. She was jealous of him…for what?
"Why…Katara?" He asked, now turning to meet the girl's eyes as she pulled away her own gaze, maybe due to shame in admitting such a thing.
"You and Aang have all this power, I see the way Aang looks at you and the potential he speaks of when he calls your name. How long till you both leave me and Sokka behind?"
"Leave you guys behind what are you even saying?" He spoke up, interrupting her as he couldn't even comprehend her words.
She let out a sigh as her eyes connected to the roaring rapids. "We're just teenagers, Benjamin. We're not the best candidates for taking Aang to the northern air temple."
"Katara…you don't need to be jealous of me. Hell, I am kind of jealous of you." Ben spoke back. A memory stung in the back of his head…the feeling of two people, memories pushed away. "The way you, Sokka and Aang are…I miss that. I wish I had that still. During my time with the jedi I had this group of friends. I was recruited into the academy at an older age than most, so I was isolated by the others."
"Isolated?"
"When you are recruited into the order you are taken from your family and your home…you aren't ever allowed to return to see your family again, it is to indoctrinate the children into Jedi beliefs."
She gasped from the words that freely emptied from Ben's mouth. "That's horrible…"
"I know, trust me."
He could still remember his time on the enclave…the first couple of months were rough, really rough. The feeling of inferiority when you saw your peers succeed, how the masters turned there back on you to pay attention to there more promising students…and the others rarely spoke to him, an outcast.
"I was always behind others…always alone and struggling." The words came out somber, his eyes directed towards his boots. "Though, I found them."
Those couple of words emptied free from his mouth. Katara, she could see the light emanate around him…them…the moment he said those words, for the first time she saw a little grin spread across his face.
"Trissal and Shan…they were my friends; they were my family. Shan was a counselor of the order, one who focused more on the force than her dueling abilities while Trissal and me were guardians of the order, we both favored lightsaber combat more than our force abilities. They were all I had, I can still remember them at times…our dueling training, our times practicing with the force. Playing, eating together and practicing. We were inseparable, Shan was the rising star of the order and Trissal had the other masters calling him the next "weapon master."
Katara didn't know what to say. She didn't know that the Jedi were like this…willing to just abandon and allow a child to be isolated, though she was glad to realize that Ben had people that he could have relied on.
"Though, I was left behind. My master believed that I wasn't ready…that my abilities were far too weak, and I was nearly kicked out of the order." Ben's fingers dug into his palm. Though, Katara wasn't paying attention to that. Her eyes widened as the bits of stone and wooden chips discarded from the rapids began to slightly hover in place.
"What happened?" She asked, her right hand resting on Ben's shoulder. His eyes twisting into one of a fierce glare as his words came out gnashed and worn. "I found her…Master Surik honed my talents, though it was my second master…my true master, the Jedi historian Kreia was the one that found me and taught me.
'I wonder what would have had happened if I didn't reach out and accept her hand…if I didn't listen to her venomous and euphoric lines of power…though she kept her word.'
"She took a risk with me…she was about to finish training Revan, but she saw something within me. Training me off the jedi enclave, she taught me the secrets of building a lightsaber and the higher mysteries of the force. Before I was jealous of Shin's affinity with the force and Trissal's ability with the blade, though with my new master's help I was able to reach them."
Ben could remember the feeling…of pride and ambition. The stares of his peers and the other jedi masters as he watched Shan's shallow breathing, her lightsaber split in two as she laid limp on the floor. His right boot along Trissal's chest…his recently converted lightsaber blade able to produce two shining cyan blades as he held onto Trissal's own lightsaber blade with the force.
Trissal and Shan were weak and arrogant like the rest of the fools on the council…believing that simply due to them not realizing his potential and the blessing of the force within him that they could easily win.
Though, they were wrong…and he was far more than just an apprentice.
"That was when I realized the truth…that this whole time…that Vrook and all the members of the council, all the masters that have overwatched me…they had been purposely holding me back."
"But…why?" Katara asked.
Ben looked back towards her, shaking his head as he prepared his response. "I can't use the light side of the force. I am something of a dark side adept is what they call people like me, those which force affinity lies with the darkside. Though, such an affinity means that I can only use my core abilities and no light side abilities…"
"They tried to make me believe that I was a failure…a fraud…that the blessing of the force didn't touch me like how it touched others." He spat out.
A scowl forming as Katara glanced towards her side, she could hear the snapping of bark break…though, that wasn't what caught her attention. It was the massive boulder that was jutting freely from the earth and held into the air.
"The jedi are weak…small people who do not realize the blessings of the force, who turn away from its true potential for greatness…who restrict and try to control their students because they feel that there a threat to their own power."
Ben's fingers tightened into his fist that he could even feel his nails clip into his skin drawing crimson. His eyes dazzling a darker orange as the taint of the darkness began to well up inside of his soul once again.
"That was when I learned…That the legends of the jedi were wrong! The Jedi are not the ones to be celebrated!"
The boulder began to crack…a downward crack splicing it in too as Ben proclaimed his sentence into the air. The air was thick, and Katara could see purplish sparks emanate from Ben's closed palm like a dark storm. Katara began to realize the danger that they were both in…Benjamin is so powerful that he could overwhelm and destroy everything in his path, maybe even someone on pure accident with his feelings. This whole time he hadn't even realized what he was doing.
Two shaking fist visible to see as the sweat poured from Ben's hands, Katara's fingers looped tighter along Ben's shoulder, his eyes widening in realization as he parted his staring from the pond back to the girl. "I'm sorry, Katara. I went too far I shouldn't have said all that." He stuttered out.
"No…it's okay."
She got up as she held out her hand for Ben. There fingers looping together as she helped him up. "Benjamin, don't worry anymore…okay." She gazed into his orange eyes; a small grin appeared over her face as she stared at him. "You're not alone anymore."