Author Note: Yo, sup! This was kind of of a short chapter but it is one of the most important ones. Thanks for reading. Remember to review, follow and favorite it greatly helps with my motivation. Have a wonderful and awesome day!

Chapter 16

Ben could see Haru fade from the distance…

He was just a figment that was lost as they slowly reached up towards the atmosphere. Ben, Katara, Sokka, Momo, Appa and Aang the avatar himself. They further pushed on in hopes of finding Aang a waterbending master.

Ben leaned on Appa's saddle, the waves of air refreshing him as he grudgingly tried to keep his eyes open. It had been a week ever since they destroyed the labor camp and rescued all the workers. About a week since Haru's father died…and he began his formal Jedi training.

Ben took the liberty of teaching him. He went over the lore and histories of the Jedi order, training him with his lightsaber and the force, even teaching him a couple of meditations to center his own mind. Haru, he was a quick study. Strong with the force and showing a proficiency with the lightsaber.

Though, there was a darkness within him. Even after his training Ben could still sense the disquiet and the anger that was within Haru. He blamed himself for his father's death, believed that if he was merely stronger than he could of done something.

Ben didn't know what to do. He taught Haru all he knew…he even changed his mind about taking him with team avatar and invited him into the team.

He only gritted his teeth at Haru's words. "I am needed elsewhere; the force has pushed us down these paths for a reason. Master, I believe we must walk separate paths…at least for now. I must learn about who I am within the force. To get stronger…"

Haru's words were kind. They came out blissful but with a fake smile that spoke that he was lying, that he was hurting inside. "…bastard, you aren't fine." Ben whispered underneath his breath. How else could Haru learn to move on without help.

In the end Haru decided to travel with the other workers to join the revolution and the Earth Kingdom. He said that he would continue training, as well as pushing any other force sensitives that he found towards Benjamin. "This world needs more Jedi." Haru told him before he departed

The legend of the Jedi and the truth of the force would eventually come out. There was no other option, the dawn of the Jedi was slowly returning. Ben didn't want to think about it so much, the war between the fire nation and the other nations was approaching, the Sith and the Jedi would eventually have their war as well.

The only thing he could do now was stick with his training and find people like Haru, train them in the force so they could get more allies. This was also another reason for their next pit stop.

"Guys, I am sorry again. That one laborer, for all we know it could just be a rumor." Ben parted his lips to speak, the trio around him glossing over.

Katara waved it off. Continuing her training with the water bending scroll as Sokka turned to Ben. "Don't worry about it, Ben. Seriously, we got the time to train Aang and to find this rumor."

Aang turned around, still holding onto the reins of the flying bison. "What was this rumor again?"

After they arrived back on the mainland Ben talked to the laborers about the force. He asked an assortment of questions to see if they knew something, even running a couple of tests to see if there were any that was force sensitive.

His results proved fruitless…until one laborer spoke up to him. "An armored warrior that bore a green blade of fire." Ben repeated the rumor to Aang. Turning back to Sokka as well. "The town the laborer pointed us to is a fire nation occupied one, the whole valley is."

Katara pushed her water back into her flask. Taking a seat as she attached it back to her belt. "That is going to be a problem…how do we know it's not a Dark Jedi?"

Ben shook his head. "I don't think so Katara. The worker mentioned that there was a resistance group, also it's a green lightsaber. They are typically held by Jedi Consular's."

Sokka nodded his head, finally understanding what his friend was getting at. "So, you believe that this Jedi is apart of the resistance group that is fighting against the fire nation?"

Ben nodded once again, throwing his hand from Appa's saddle as he rested his head onto his cushion. He massaged his temple as he felt the stirring of sleep starting to dawn on him.

"Ben, can I ask you a question…" Aang's soft voice arose through the winds. Ben grudgingly got up as he pushed the fallen tendrils of hair that clouded his eyes.

He sighed. "Yeah, sure…what is it?" He spoke in response.

Aang's gaze directed to his front. The setting sun starting to slowly disappear into the horizon, his eyes starting to narrow as he pushed his knees to his chest as he huddled into himself.

"How did it feel…when you killed, Kiara?"

Ben's eyes widened in shock. Aang's voice wasn't riddled with zealous accusation or with a voice that was filled with anger and poison. Rather, it was the curiosity of a young man that was the chosen one. Asking someone who he looked up to, what it was like to take a life.

Katara and Sokka watched Ben. It had been a week ever since his fateful duel with Kiara and the dark Jedi, the duel was short but equally as deadly. Even then, his skills with the lightsaber and the force were able to match the two warriors of the Sith.

He tried to beat them into submission, though it didn't work…taking too long to kill them resulted in the death of Haru's father. Ben blasted the dark Jedi with lightning that cooked him, he finished off Kiara by cutting off a limb. Returning the favor.

He didn't tell team avatar…he couldn't tell them Kiara's final words. The weight of the dark side and his own sins was his weight to bear, they shouldn't be bothered by his own issues. He would rather be burdened on then allow them to take some of the weight.

It was his duty as a knight of the order. "I…I've killed people before, Aang. You learn to deal with it and to understand why it happened." The rest of the trio stared at him, the words coming out of his mouth but directed into the air. "The first man I killed was when I was twelve or thirteen, I don't really remember much around that time. I didn't pity him; he was an invader and it was me or him."

The harsh reality of war dawned on all three. Sokka especially, Ben was a warrior just like his father…was he really that ignorant to believe that a warrior didn't take lives? He wanted to be of aid, he knew he could. All he needed was to get stronger.

Ben continued. "It's a sad thing to get used to killing, though I couldn't hesitate or draw it out anymore. Kiara, she had to die."

All four knew the truth. Katara understood that Kiara was an animal, she was never going to learn and would have kept on hunting them. This wasn't like Zuko who wanted to capture them. Kiara was content with killing innocents and even maiming Benjamin.

Sokka felt a similar way…Ben did this all to protect them, he couldn't keep on fighting the same enemy repeatedly. Kiara was smarter than before, bringing another partner with her and if Haru's father did not interfere, they might not be talking to Ben right now.

Aang, he understood. Yes, the monks of the air temple taught him how taking a life was horrible that all life is sacred. Even then, Benjamin was presented with no other option. Aang was now wondering that maybe the teachings the monks gave him was flawed in some way.

"I think…I understand." Aang spoke. He turned around towards Ben. A small smile over his face. "You did it to protect us, thank you."

Aang could tell that there was something within Ben. That there was something within him, a part of Ben that was hidden to all three of them. He didn't know what it was. Though, he had to trust with the Jedi that aided them for the correct answer.

"There is a saying that my mother taught me. A song, it was a Jedi song that I learned when I was still young." Ben whispered, the other three breaking out of there mood.

He coughed into his fist, etching out the words as his mother's soft voice beckoned through him. "We take what we are given. We do what we must."

The avatar trio stared at the young Jedi. Sokka tilting his head as Momo ran along his lap. "That's it…" He replied, raising his hands. "That's the song!"

"What!"

"Come on, Ben. That was like two seconds." Katara replied agreeing with her brother. The Jedi groaning in response as they bickered for the rest of the journey. After a couple of hours Appa docked as they made camp in one of the many wilderness areas.

They cooked, cracked jokes, and ate. Katara did their laundry and Ben's robes leaned on the drying rack, it also reminded him to buy a long-sleeved shirt because the only thing he was doing was chittering in his sleep.

He liked the cold air along his face, not along every single nook and cranny that was in his body. Even then, maybe due to exhaustion team avatar quickly went to bed. The weight of tomorrow slowly dawning on them as they slept.

Though, something was happening as they slept. The Holocron Ben had hidden away in his pouch, it began to spark to life. The crimson sides began to glow a deeper red as small brackish smoke inched from the confines of the sack.

It wafted like a distinctive smell; it began to form along the wind as it entered through Ben's nose. He slightly stirred as his dreams were once again occupied, the waves and waves of terror starting to seep in.

Nightmare

His eyes parted wide open as bright flashes of lights decorated his vision. He was standing alone…on top of a metal sheet that made up of a roof, the long arrays of city lights shone as Ben peered overhead. He could see the red and yellow structures that were the trademark fire nation colors.

Ben, he took a step forward. The steel roof creaked under his weight as he felt the waves of power and dark side energy circulate around him. "This place…" He murmured underneath his breath, the cold air gracing him as he took a step forward once again.

He was assaulted with a flash of images; he grabbed his head as his knees collided with the steel roof. The endless stars of the night sky peering into him like eyeballs through the galaxy. He howled from the pain, the screams of images gracing his frame.

Katara being swallowed up by debris. The girl struggling as he heard the snapping of her bones under the weight of the rockslide, her muffled screaming as he felt the weight of the force leave her…as he felt her die.

Ben howled from the pain, tears flooding from his eyes as he struck his head so hard against the metal that he drew blood, the crimson seeping into his eyes as his fist barreled into the steel cover. The next vision was of Sokka.

The young warrior swinging wildly, a blast of force lightning slamming into him head on. The volley ripping and cooking the boy nearly instantly, he was dead before he hit the ground, his final act was of staring into ben's eyes. The fear and sorrow etched within them; he knew…that he failed Sokka.

Ben's breathing grew rasped, throw up following as bile decorated the area in front of him. His teeth bared like a savage dog as the elements of his very own force lightning sparkled erratically from his fingers. His eyes narrowing as his tears cleaned through the blood. It was Aang that was next.

The boy's eyes hovered within the Avatar's state. His eyes growing a clear white as power radiated from within him. Even then, it wasn't enough. Hounds of the Sith descended on top of him, even as Aang would utilize all of his bending he would still get cut down as hundreds pooled in through the darkness and further surrounded him. He was stabbed through his back, a bright crimson blade pushed through him. His eyes going back to normal as they closed one final time…Hope was lost, the Sith and the fire nation had won.

Erratic purple lights linked all along Ben's frame, his eyes burning the heavy orange of the true Sith as he lost himself within his rage. The pure malice and rage boiling over as he gave himself into his anger. 'Why shouldn't I…in my anger, it gives me strength. I used my hate to cut down the Mandalorian, and they were destroyed.' He thought. The waves of rippling hate boiling along him as the sparks began to die down, the reminder of this dream or force attuned vision starting to push through his head. Even then, it wasn't over yet.

He trained his gaze over the steel roof. The fabric of his robes rippled along the course winds as his mouth slowly gaped open, his eyes widening as he felt the terror squeeze his heart like a cork.

The Sith, in years prior would suffer from infighting. He didn't give it much thought about there standing in this world. He believed that maybe there would be maybe over a hundred, maybe a couple of dark lords and another rare few that exceeded to the other prestige classes.

As he glossed over that ceiling, his hopes were quickly as dashed to the floor. Crimson energy soared through the air, the whipping and humming of lightsaber blades as they cut through and followed in the complicated stances of Ataru.

He saw their dark robes, he felt the darkside that was within there movements. It was there size; they were arrayed like dominos or cards. Stance by stance, side by side. In this training area that was so massive…there were over at least three hundred.

He felt the weight of the assassins of the Sith preying as they trained to conceal themselves within the force, the anger and hate the Marauders used to further fight as they invested themselves further into there training, he could feel the dark nature of the Lords of the Sith as they silently watched and instructed the recruits.

He recalled what Kiara had said. "Academies" she mentioned, meaning that there were multiple training faculties that lined up the whole country of the fire nation. Ben did not know how many there were or how strong they were, but if this training ground was enough…

There had to be at least over one thousand of them. The thought of such an age of darkness, it thrown him to his knees as he collapsed to the roof. His hair flailing in the wind as his eyes went back to normal. Fear and sorrow following up in his chest.

His gaze changed. Shadows approached as a bright comet came into view. It cut through the atmosphere as he saw it, he felt its strength as it cut down through the air. Slamming into the very Earth and consuming everything with fire.

You are far too weak, Exile. To prevent…what is to come…

Ben watched as the wave of fire consumed everything around him. The vision gracing him as he lashed out both of his arms to stop it, but it was far too late. He succumbed to it as everything went black.

"The Jedi Who Fall are the most dangerous of them all."

That was a children's rhyme, that Ben heard from his mother when he was growing up. He wished his mother was still with him…especially on days like today.

He erupted from his sleep. Throwing the blanket off him as his hollowed breathing erected through the campgrounds, he saw the stirring breaths of team avatar as the sweat dripped from his nose and to his blanket as he used his right hand to swipe it away.

He tried to grab onto the blanket, still in shock of the whole experience but it wasn't enough. His right hand cupped the edge of the blanket, but it slid out so easily. His hands twitched and contorted, he grabbed onto it with his left hand as he tried to wrench it still.

It wasn't stopping…

He was too freaked out; it was messing with him far too much. He needed to be alone. The waves of fear still going through his very core as he grabbed his satchel quietly, he didn't want to disturb his team. He knew they would want to talk to him, they would want to help…but this was his burden. As the Jedi of this team, he couldn't show weakness.

Yes, he cared for them but this…was his burden to bear. He emptied out his nostrils as he dropped his sack to the ground. He sat cross legged on the plains of grass as he pressed his palm to his face, he didn't know how to explain what he just saw.

Though, this fear and shaking wouldn't just stop. He dug into his pouch; he had hidden away a couple of items here. He needed this, he just wanted to forget and let it go past him. He exposed a faint small bottle of gin concealed in his pouch, pulling out a couple of matches and a few traces of rolled up tobacco.

"Just to forget…just to forget, only for a little while." He murmured.

He parted his lips, inching the smoke between them as he tried to light up the match. As he tried to break it open and spark a light, it fell from his trembling fingers twice. After the third time it sparked to life.

He pressed the match to his cigarette. He let the toxic fumes purify his body as he inhaled the killing smoke into his system. "That's the stuff…" He murmured under his breath as he felt the weight of everything starting to slowly leave him, it felt like for a second, he was levitating.

He parted the smoke when it was nearly burnt to a nub. He flicked it away from him, he popped open the small bottle of gin as the spicy liquid further dislodged everything. His worries starting to go away as that blistering warm feeling sparked a small smile along his face.

Even then, the worry of what he had saw still tormented him. The dream of his friends, the comet at the edge of the world. Finally, the legions of the Sith that were training to put an end not only to the Avatar but to the other nations.

The war would end soon…the real question is just how much time did they have?

He had never been through something like this. Everything, his training and all the histories he had learned did not prepare him for anything like this. The odds were so not in their favor that there was zero to no chance that they would survive to years end.

He read of the Hyperspace Wars, the Exar Kun or the Dark Wars. He was involved with the Mandalorian and Jedi Civil Wars. Even then, they were nothing like this. The Jedi at least had a few hundred on there side, at least the Jedi had there rising stars that were able to best the Sith!

There was no Nomi Sunrider, there was no Cay or Ulic Qel Droma. There was only the Sith and the darkness that would spread out into this world.

He craned his eyes shut. Digging himself further into the hole of sorrow and fear as he didn't know what else to do. A part of him wanted to run away, to just run as far as he could. Though, he shut that part of himself just as quickly. He would never run away again, he had people that needed him…that relied on him.

He would never run away again!

He picked himself up, tossing the bottle to the floor as his eyes radiated with pure determination. He had a job to do, he knew he was not going to die old and in bed. He had a job to do, whether he was a Jedi or not…the Sith and the fire nation had to be stopped.

"You are right…" He craned his head towards the star filled sky, answering the voice that spoke to him in that vision. "I am far to weak to prevent what is to come."

Ben understood, he was a hollow shell of what a Jedi was meant to become. He didn't have the time anymore, he had to get stronger to prevent what was to come. He needed to get stronger to protect those lights he desired to protect.

He dug into his satchel. He knew what he had to do…he knew he had to recruit other allies to join him and team avatar to fight against the fire nation and the Sith. Meaning that if him and team avatar were lucky, they could recruit another Jedi to their cause.

Haru, maybe after his journey and when he is finally content with his standing in the force. Then he would come and join them. Though, Ben knew that this was a situation that was far away. Haru, just like him had their own paths and journeys to follow.

Ben felt the shape of the object as he lifted it through the opening of the sack. He held the Sith Holocron in his open right palm. The weight of the object further pushing him to open it, to seek the secrets hidden within its crystal matrix and to seize it for himself.

He took a deep breath. Remembering on his prior talents with the dark side of the force, he remembered on his own fall after Malachor V. "If I just remember…that the force is merely a tool, that I can control it. Then maybe, I'll be fine." He solemnly whispered to himself, closing his eyes as one of the red sides of the Holocron was pushed against his forehead.

"The dark side, it doesn't scare me…"

He tried to speak those words as resonance, even then he knew it was a lie. Though, he believed that if he did tell himself that, then most likely he would be fine.

How deluded he was

Ben took a deep breath, placing the Holocron on the green grass as he kneeled in front of the Holocron. He raised his right arm slightly as he peered into the Holocron, the crystal starting to slowly awaken. He eased himself into a meditative trance. Slowing his breathing as he further dug himself deeper into the dark reaches of the force.

The Holocron began to sparkle and shimmer. A beam of orange light projected from the sides of the Holocron, engulfing Ben's frame with a shadow of pure dark side energy. A figure began to breach through the shadows as the shadow contorted and transcribed deeper within the breaches of the dark.

A figure began to form, a large and heavy robe covered himself. Even then, Ben could see the tattoo of the Sith ingrained into his forehead, the large braid that slouched over his left chest as he stared down at the false Jedi.

He spoke, his voice cold and funneling with the strength of the force. "I am Exar Kun, Dark Lord of The Sith."

Ben stared at him, his golden eyes going back to the sulphonic orange color of the true Sith. He was doing this for his friends, even then the maddening laugh of the dark side echoed through the forest lines. As Ben, took another step into the dark path that would follow in his very destruction.