Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

A/N Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I'm working on my Master's thesis and it's amazingly hard! But I promise that I have not abandoned this story. Most of it is already written, there are just bits and pieces that I need to fill in. I'm also having some difficulties making certain that Aurora doesn't simply turn into a female version of Luke.

When we last saw our intrepid young heroine, she and Luke had entered the darkside cave of Dagobah. Mysteriously separated from her companion, Aurora has continued into a tunnel on her own… (Just in case you forgot what's going on )

The opening wasn't very tall, and Aurora had to duck her head to avoid the lintel. After only a few steps down the tunnel, she began to see a faint light and she picked up her pace. The fine hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end, but then her skin had been just generally crawling since they had first entered this place. She emerged into a smallish chamber, dirt floored and rough walled. It appeared to be empty. From the sound of her footsteps, the ceiling was several feet above her head, and there were two openings on either side of the chamber. Before she could decide which way to go this time, a dark figured suddenly seemed to emerge from the ground directly in front of her. It wasn't much taller than her, but covered entirely in some sort of black cloak, complete with hood. The only thing she could see where a pair of eyes, glowing with a yellowish-red light. One white, clawed hand appeared from a sleeve and beckoned to her.

"At last. I have been waiting for you for some time."

The hood tilted to the side as if the figure was studying her. "You are much less than what I expected."

It took a step forward, and Aurora dropped her hand to her side, reaching for her lightsaber. But instead of the cool metal cylinder, her hand encountered the fabric of her pants. She risked a swift glance down, but there was nothing there. Not even the clip that it usually hung on. A frantic groping to the other side failed to discover her blaster hanging there either. A sick feeling of dread began to fill her, as the figure in front of her let out a wheezing chuckle.

"I can't imagine why I ever concerned myself with you in the first place."

She backed away frantically, her eyes darting right and left looking for something to use as a weapon.

"You pathetic child. You are nothing. You, who were too afraid to even pick up the mantle of the pathetic Jedi think to stand before the might of the Dark Side?" The dark figure continued toward her, yellow eyes glinting from within the dark hollow of the face. "I will crush you like the insect you are and then I will hunt down and destroy your friends."

"No!" Aurora tried to calm herself, to still the frantic beating of her heart and suppress the gut wrenching fear that was jolting through her, in order to reach the Force, but she couldn't manage it. Her hands were shaking, the sweat pouring off her and her breath coming fast. That quiet strength that she had only recently learned to feel was completely beyond her reach, and she suddenly realized what she had done. Somehow, through her own fears and uncertainties, she had shut off her access to the Force.

To her right, she heard a familiar shout. "Run, Aurora! We've got this!"

The sound of blasters was suddenly audible, and on her right, Wedge and the Rogues opened up on the dark figure in front of her. Before she could even begin to question what they were doing here, her hooded adversary lifted one hand, and ignoring the blaster fire all around him, almost casually flicked his wrist. Several bodies flew backwards, hitting the wall with sickening thuds to lie still on the cave floor. She saw Wedge glance at his fallen comrades, and with a vicious snarl, bared his teeth as he continued firing. However, none of the bolts where coming anywhere near the dark figure in front of her. They all seemed to stop a foot in front, leaving him free to deal with his attackers. Aurora leapt forward, trying to come at the Sith from behind, but she was frozen in place, unable to move. Still she kept trying until her muscles ached and the sweat poured off her, as one by one, the blasters fell silent as their owners were killed. Aurora watched in mute horror, as Wedge, the last Rogue standing, suddenly dropped his blaster, grasping at his throat with both hands. With a malicious cackle, the dark figure squeezed his hand tighter and tighter, while Wedge's face turned first red, then blue, his eyes bulging while his hands clutched futilely at his own throat. There was a stomach-turning crunch, and Wedge went limp, collapsing to the floor, his face black.

"No!" She whispered, standing frozen, her eyes still fixed on Wedge's face. Dimly, she could hear his murderer laughing next to her.

"I told you, my dear. All of your friends, one by one."

Another voice called from her left. "Run, Aurora! We'll hold him off!"

She snapped her head to the side. Han, Leia and Chewie were there, determination in their faces as they too began firing on her adversary. "No!" She yelled again, "You can't beat him. Run!" Again, she struggled desperately to reach the Sith. Her muscles were screaming and she couldn't catch her breath, but it didn't matter. She had to save them.

But just as before, she was unable to take a single step and one by one, her friends too fell to lie still on the damp floor.

Numb with horror, Aurora dropped to her knees sobbing and shaking, only able to watch as being after being entered from one side or the other, yelled for her to run, and attacked the dark figure, only to die where they stood. At last, the cave was silent save for the cold laughter of her foe, and her own ragged breathing. There was only one person of her acquaintance who hadn't appeared yet, and when she heard the almost silent footstep behind her, fear such as she had never known shivered up her spine.

Without bothering to look, she spoke hollowly. "Don't, Luke."

But even as she spoke, she knew it was pointless. There was the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting and then his voice. "Run, Aurora. This isn't your fight."

"No, it's not." She agreed, watching him approach the dark-clad Sith. A black metal handle appeared in the cloaked figure's hand and a dark red blade ignited. Luke's face was bathed in the glow of the two weapons, set in lines of stern determination as he raised his own weapon. The two blades met with a crackling snarl.

"But it was supposed to be, wasn't it?" She continued numbly, watching the battle. She was speaking to herself; the other two so engaged with each other that they were paying her no mind. "This fight should have been mine. But I was so frightened and selfish; so afraid of losing myself, of giving myself up to the ways of the Force, that I ignored what that meant to the rest of the galaxy." In front of her, the battle continued unabated. Luke was holding his own for now, but it was obvious to both her and her adversary that he wasn't as skilled as the other man. Again and again the glowing blades crashed into each other; each time Luke lost a little more ground. All around them lay the scattered, discarded bodies of those who had tried to stop the Sith. Aurora knew it was only a matter of time before Luke joined them. "My fight." She whispered. "My responsibility."

Desperate, she reached inside herself again, trying to find the Force. But her emotions were careening out of control, fear and anger and despair battling inside of her. Finally, she touched something that coiled around her mind with desperate energy. With a sobbing gasp, she yanked it towards her, frantically pulling more and more power to her. She could hear Luke's labored breathing and the dark chuckles of his opponent above the screeching of the blades, and knew she didn't have much time. With one last desperate pull, she threw all of the power she had gathered towards the dark-clad figure. As she released it, she saw Luke turn towards her, his face reflecting horror.

"No, Aurora!"

It was only then that she realized the power she had gathered had no sense of warmth or light to it; it was cold and dark and metallic feeling: the dark side.

Even as the realization gripped her with terror, she saw the red blade draw back and then swing forward.

"Luke!"

ESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESB

Outside, seated on a damp log, an ancient Jedi master pushed his gimmer stick into the mud and sighed, his ears dropping disconsolately.

(Sorry it's so short. I could have included what happened to Luke while in the cave, but I'm fairly certain you're already familiar with that….)