The clash of lightsaber against lightsaber snapped through the air. Tess swung her yellow blade down hard, only to be blocked by a green beam of light. Her head snapped in the direction of her new opponent.

"Luke?!" she gasped. Startled, Tess did not have the chance to counter the Force push from her brother's outstretched hand.

Her head hit the ground hard, digging a shallow crater into the dirt under it—but her leg hurt the most. Both hands covered the blaster wound on her thigh, willing it to stop throbbing with pain. With it, feeling returned to her entire body. Her joints ached. She breathed—all she could do, really—powering through each concentrated breath and letting her dark fuel return.

With Tess immobile for the moment, Luke took the brief chance he had to examine Leia. By this time, Han had made it out of the rubble and stumbled over to the princess.

"It's shallow…" the princess assured them through labored breaths, grasping the wound on her side. Her eyes met her brother's. "Luke…"

"I know," Luke assured her, cheating a look at their younger sister, who still seemed to be recovering from a blaster wound to the thigh. "It's Tess. I don't want to hurt her. Here's hoping she's still in there."

Leia's bottom lip tucked under her top, biting back her emotions. Han removed the vest over his shirt to apply pressure to her wound, and Luke turned to face his former apprentice.

Cauterized with her own lightening, Tess stood on her injured leg and watched her brother approach her.

"…the beauty of his former love, and a power greater than all the Skywalkers combined…"

A hiss of her father's words in her head boiled up Tess' will to fight. She had a power that could swallow them whole if she wanted to. She was better than them. They had spent years trying to convince her otherwise—even after Palpatine told her the truth—but they were wrong. Tess was a tool of destruction from birth, and nothing had changed.

Her hands dug into the grass around her in search of her lightsaber.

"You won't be needing it," her brother interrupted. Tess looked up to see her weapon on the ground in front of Luke, just before he plunged his own lightsaber into its hilt.

"That…was unnecessary," Tess muttered, hiding any grief for the object with anger. Then suddenly, his brown cloak flying behind him, Luke charged at her with his green lightsaber in the air.

Tess' heart jumped. She finally paused her panic enough to stretch her hand out towards Leia's lightsaber. It ignited in her hand just before Luke's blade would have slashed through the top of Tess' head. Her arms twitched under the weight of the blow, causing her further shock as it made her realize that her brother was not holding back. He would have killed her.

Tess met Luke's eyes through the cross of their weapons, almost as if to make sure it was him. The brother she knew would have never laid a hand on her—no matter what she did. He would never turn on her like this. It caught her off-guard, and frightened her more than she cared to admit.

"Why?" she hissed. "Why now? If you wanted to kill me, why didn't you do it back on Teyr?" Tess swung her lightsaber in a half-circle, flying down to aim for Luke's legs. He blocked, and their swords met again at chest level before Luke stretched out his hand and pushed her a few paces back.

Tess regained her balance and planted her feet, waiting patiently for him to charge at her. She knew he was stronger physically—but she was confident that she could be faster and smarter. In fact it was the only thing she was confident about as she stared at her him, her mind swirling over when exactly her brother grew capable of killing her. She willed for that to stop eating at her heart and fuel her rage instead. The fiercer she was, the more control she felt buzzing blue in her fingertips.

"What do you remember?" Luke asked his younger sister, lowering his lightsaber.

"Everything," Tess shot back.

"Really?"

"Yes. Fight me."

Staring down her brother, Tess lost her patience and charged. Her weapon ripped through the air and nearly grazed his shoulder before Luke swept it back in her direction, almost pushing it into Tess' face. The girl dodged to the left when she couldn't shove through her brother's strength anymore and was just a moment shy of stabbing him in the back. He turned around to counter, and they sparred for the next four strikes. On the fifth, Tess felt her hands burn as lightening from her fingers buzzed up her blade. The blue shards of electricity popped and screamed in combat with Luke's lightsaber.

Everything inside of Tess was screaming. So was everyone around her. For all she knew, she was screaming, too.

The rain soaked her ripped black dress and white lightening lit the sky. Her hands reached for it, and blue lightening shot up to meet with the white. The lightening danced, charging together until it joined into a single bolt of electric energy and plunged down into the very center of the Rift Skyrail. The tracks cracked in half.

The bending of heavy metals cried out with the audience below. With the central support gone, the tracks could only stand on their stilt-like support beams for so long.

Tess watched, stone-faced, until her line of sight was blocked by Luke.

"Tess—you have to help me! Push it back! Back the other way!" yelled the Jedi Knight. He brought his hands up and his face twisted with exertion. Tess just watched him for a moment. Then her own hands rose and suddenly the tracks flew forward and came crashing down hard in the center of Turos Noth. The far ends of the stage cracked under the weight of a beam, shaking the center that Luke and Tess stood on.

Brother and sister fell to the ground. Their ears rung painfully. Tess could feel Luke wrap himself around her. She turned towards him, seeing his pinched-shut eyes. The fifteen-year-old was surprisingly calm.

The rumbling of the earth finally died down, concluding with flashes of white and blue light bouncing and buzzing off every surface. Tess was the first to turn around and see the crushed, lightening-scorched bodies of the audience that had stood laughing and cheering while her friends were tortured.

And she was glad they were dead.