Ben POV

I know that what I've done is wrong, but it was necessary for her to harness the power her anger brings her. Luke's seen it and he's turned on her, now she'll have no choice but to come with me to discover what Snoke can offer us.

The rage, I'd never seen anything like it. Not even in myself, and I wonder for just how long it's been buried. I'd seen flashes of it and knew it was past time she confronted her true nature. She's throwing herself into the line of fire, and she'll have to be stronger than she is now to survive it.

If she doesn't harness her true power with the force she will die. I've seen it, and she may hate me for my methods but she asked me to train her to survive and that is what I'm going to do.

I always thought she was the golden child, our mother's daughter, destined to follow her in being horribly perfect or at least pretending to be.

But no.

She may just be more Skywalker than I am.

And that terrifies me.

It wasn't just the rage, it was the power. A power I've never felt, not in Luke, not even in myself. I've sensed it in her training, in her anger, and still I know I've only seen a fraction of it. Then there's her visions... there's something strange going on, a vergence within the force that surrounds her.

And I hear Snoke's voice telling me to search my feelings and find what I know to be true, the suspicions I've long harboured. In my own face I've always seen my father's as much as I hate it. The dark hair and eyes are my mother's, but all else is unfortunately his.

In Hope I see our mother's features and hair, I see Luke's eyes - our grandfather's eyes - and other features belonging to Anakin Skywalker, but not our fathers. No. There's nothing of him in her except for her impulses to run away. Learned behaviour, but not inherited.

I can sense that urge to escape now and so I march inside the temple, the younglings going silent as I storm past and I don't stop until I've reached Hope's room and Aylee stops dead when she sees me.

"Where's is she?"

Hope's lightsaber sits next to a half packed bag and Aylee immediately straightens up, her voice stiff as she answers "Senator Organa called and she stepped out to answer it, political business. I think she went to one of the meditation rooms."

"Of course," I mutter, knowing that this resistance is going to be just one of the many obstacles keeping her from her training, and march to find wherever the hell she's hiding away.

I still remember the jealousy I felt the first time I laid eyes on her when Mom went into an early labour onboard the Falcon, hearing her screams and thinking she was going to die only to watch as they doted over this baby in a way I could never remember them doing for me. I was six and couldn't understand why they'd have another child if they didn't have time for the one they already had. Even then I could understand she was not planned, an unexpected gift as Mom had put it and I knew that in their eyes she was their second chance at making something good.

That I at the great age of six had somehow failed to be the ideal son.

Luke had tried to explain that was not the case, but when they named her Hope it was clear to me that all my worst fears were true and that whatever shadow was looming over me never touched her, that she was the last Hope for our line, or at least that's what they'd all thought until now.

She was only four when I was sent to train with Luke, sent away for the violence I committed to save her from the same fate that befell Lando's daughter, and that jealousy turned to resentment that they were separating me from the one person who never looked at me with apprehension, who loved me in a way no one else ever did. Perhaps there are the vague memories of Chewie and Lando stepping up when my parents were too busy with their lives to raise me, they did the same for Hope after all, but even then the moment she came into the world all I knew was that she was the golden child.

Not anymore.

I tried to hate her, more than once I'd thought of suffocating her in her sleep when she was a baby, that was until she would crawl to me and no one else, when she learnt my name and cheered it like I was her favourite person in the galaxy. Then she grew old enough to seek me out when that darkness would creep into her dreams and turn them into nightmares, sleeping at the end of my bed so she wouldn't be alone and I knew I had no choice but to protect her.

Then I began to see she shared the same fears as I did and knew I'd never be alone in them as long as she was by my side.

And again I feel anger, anger that I never truly saw how they made the same mistakes with her that they did with me. Leaving her in the care of nanny droids whilst I'd been sent away, and then sending her away to Naboo, having to fight tooth and nail to be able to train. I never understood the fear I felt from our mother and Luke when Hope told them she wanted to be a Jedi like me, but now I do.

Now that the darkness has shown itself I need to protect her, but not from Snoke, from Luke. He won't fail her as he's failed me, and when I bring her to Snoke I'll train her to her full potential so the Republic can never harm us.

After minutes of searching I march back to Hope's room to find Aylee gone and know I've been lied to, but if she isn't here...

Panic surges through me as I make my way to Luke's hut, knowing how unpredictable her loyalties have been these past weeks, knowing just what she might tell him given the opportunity.

She's resisting her true nature, just as I have for so many years, and I refuse to let Luke stand in our way for a moment longer. But before we leave this planet I need answers, I need to know the depth of the lies we've been told. I need to find the truth that Snoke has promised me.

Because if what I suspect is true and Hope learns they've deceived her... it would ruin her, it would destroy her, and there's no telling how far reaching that destruction will be.

~

Luke POV

This is worse than anything I could have anticipated.

I'd known Hope had found herself in trouble before she first returned to the temple, from her expulsion to the entire mess that came afterwards, but I could never have imagined this.

Considering she's Han's daughter I'd anticipated some trouble with the law, a foolhardly adventure or two in the Outer Rims to rival his and Lando's golden days, but never this. Murder. And from what R2 had spat out in a panic when he'd come to get me some far darker acts. One I'd witnessed when I'd run out to see Hope choking Ben.

I've always known there were seeds of the dark side in her, the same seeds that live in Leia and I, but I'd been in denial as to how they've bloomed ever since she had uncovered the truth of where those seeds come from.

I never knew Anakin Skywalker before he had given himself to the dark side, but I've learned who he once was through the people that had once known him. Yet Hope may just know him in a way I never could and the thing's she's seen have left a permanent scar upon her psyche. Her visions... the past and future are seeping into the present creating a vergence in the force. For so many years I've tried to pinpoint what made her different to Ben, tried to decipher the warning the Knights of Ren gave, and now I know that I'd been blind to the fact that she is a vergence in the force just as Anakin was.

What type of vergence is something I can't yet speak to, but Ben knows it exists and he's seeking to manipulate it, just as Snoke has manipulated him since his conception. Hope had gone mostly ignored by these dark force users and the Sith Eternal, that is until now. Snoke wants her and Ben both, and it's clear to me now that in my complacency that I've failed him.

Hope, I know that she can still be diverted from that path since unlike Ben she is not actively choosing it. I know I've been harsh, that I've hurt her, but if my harshness convinces her to leave this planet and run back to Leia then I've done my duty in protecting her. She cannot continue as Ben's apprentice and surely she must know it as well. As far as I'm concerned she cannot be anywhere near him until I've found a way to bring him back from Snoke's manipulations.

Still I can't shake the horror that's taken hold of me. The anger, the brutality... Ben wanted to show me what she's capable of and he's done that. Yet, despite what I've witnessed I can only see her as my sweet niece who would always ask question after question until even my patience would become exhausted. Who would disappear on my watch only to be found playing with R2, breathing much needed life back into my old droid.

My niece who is chaotic and passionate and everything a Jedi should not be, who possesses the very qualities that made Anakin Skywalker the Jedi he was, who has the potential to be a greater Jedi than he ever could have been. She is full of contradictions just as he was, and I cannot predict what she may do, but what I know is that she has the determination to change the galaxy. Tthat is a potential I've mishandled with every step out of fear that I would fail her as Obi-Wan failed Anakin. Leia is the only one who can guide her down the right path, the only one who understands what it is to possess such anger and passion and not fall victim to it.

Hope needs her mother, not a master.

I realised it the moment I watched her tearing apart the senate from across the galaxy. Standing there as fearless and forthright as I've ever seen her and knew that anger I've always been wary of comes from a place of love, loyalty, and like Han she shows that love through foolhardy actions such as threatening the senate with an inquisition rather than traditional declarations.

She has a heart driven not by duty as her mother's is, nor by the pursuit of the mysteries of the force as her brother's is, but like her father's it's driven by the pursuit of freedom, a thirst for adventure, and incidentally doing what's right along the way. A heart meant to be amongst the stars.

But whilst she certainly has her father's heart, she is also a Skywalker. A heart that like Anakin Skywalker's is not compatible with the tenets of the Jedi Order yet holds the potential to be something greater than a Jedi. A heart driven by passion and easily swayed by anger, that turns so quickly from love to hate, from idolisation to perceived betrayal. A heart with the fatal flaw of craving love above all else.

Despite this she is the best of both her parents, yet still that Skywalker blood may just run stronger in her than in any of us. At times I've had my suspicions, pondered the possibility of the force bringing her into existence to counter a Sith resurgence in the same way it had created my father, then I look at her and see a spark in her eyes that could only come from Han.

Whatever this vergence is, it is not the same that brought Anakin Skywalker into being. What I do know is that she is out of control and has tapped into the dark side of the force, until I can uncover the truth behind this vergence and this First Order she must be protected from her brother and Snoke. She needs to return to Leia and knowing her she's already making her way off the planet before Ben knows that she's gone.

Now I have the impossible task of dealing with Ben now that Hope's revealed to me the extent of Snoke's influence upon him, to go so far as to try to bring Hope to him- I've attempted to send a transmission to Leia for her to come to Ossus as soon as she can but the turbulence above's blocking the signal.

I know now that I can't get through to them, but if anyone can it's Leia.

"Master Luke!" I turn to see Aylee dashing in and know something's terribly wrong. "You can't let Ben leave with Hope, you can't let him follow her."

"What's happened?" I ask as fear overwhelms her senses in a way that is truly unlike her. There's fear, desperation, and then remorse.

"She's afraid of him Luke, somethings changed and I thought- I thought it was Hope who was out of control but it's more than that, I- I think he's been hurting her," she stammers and looks back to the temple. "I don't have time to explain, but you need to stop him. I bought time for her to get off the planet but I don't know how much."

Knowing the nightmares that have plagued Aylee these past months, especially in the past weeks since Ben took Hope as his apprentice, I don't ignore her warning as I feel Ben approaching and tell her "Go see if you can find Hope, I'll deal with Ben."

She nods and quickly leaves through the hole Hope had left in the wall the moment before Ben comes in the door and I know all I can do is try to de-escalate the situation whilst I wait for Leia to receive the signal.

He enters with intention, darkness following him with every step and I brace myself for the confrontation that I've been waiting for ever since he learned the truth about Vader.

I may not be able to save him from himself, but I have to try. I tell myself that even as darkness falls over the temple. Over us all.

~

Ben POV

"Luke," I state in an act of defiance after all these years of calling him master and he's apprehensive the moment he sets his eyes upon me.

Yet he hardly seems to even notice my choice of words.

"Ben."

With my jaw clenched I spit it out. "Who is Hope's father?"

He stills at that question, the momentary panic confirming my suspicions, confirming the fact they've hidden a far worse lie from her than Vader.

"Han Solo is her father and yours, even if you don't necessarily like it."

"Lies," I declare. "We both saw the power she unleashed today, she snapped."

"She used anger, she used the dark side," he says, his own turmoil suffocating. "She used it because you pushed her there and we need to help her before-"

"Before what?" I ask him. "Before she becomes me, or before she becomes Anakin Skywalker?"

"Ben," he says slowly. "You are angry and need to search your feelings-"

"I have!" I snap and say what we both know to be true. "Hope doesn't have a father does she?"

Even he can't conceal the way his heart stops and his voice turns to a harsh whisper "Something is amiss and your delusions are only going to endanger her, which is why you are not going to say anything or leave this temple until I've learned what this vergence is. Hope is not going to know anything until I've contacted Leia."

"To ask if her and Han could actually stand each other for long enough to make her?" I ask and he stares at me in disbelief. "How long have you known, how long have you deceived her?"

"I know nothing," he still insists. "But what I do know is that she is exceptionally strong, strong enough that Leia and I decided when she was young that to train her would be dangerous. I love her dearly and just want what's best for her, as should you. She has tapped into the dark side of the force Ben, do you understand that if she gives into her impulses it could destroy her?" He hesitates before asserting "She cannot continue her training."

I just scoff, having expected this. "So you send her away because you're afraid?"

"Yes," he answers, his patience rapidly waning. "Of you, of the path you are taking and the fact you are trying to drag her down with you." I turn my head away and he chooses now to confront me with the knowledge Hope revealed in her anger. "Do you think we haven't felt Snoke since before you were even born? Do you think that the moment Leia knew she was pregnant again she wasn't terrified of these dark force targeting her children? Hope was not planned, that much Leia's told me, and she did not want to listen when I told her there was something strange in the force surrounding her. I know you can feel the vergence so I won't deny it, and I will admit that at moments I had believed what you do, but surely you know your sister's heart well enough to know she is as much of a Solo as you are. She is her father's daughter-"

"Yet she's more Skywalker than all of us," I state and he can't refute that notion. "Can you taste the irony in your words? Sending her away because you're afraid... do you think she won't seek out others to finish her training? You've failed me and if this is true you've failed her. But I won't fail her, I'll ensure she fulfils the potential of our bloodline and the New Republic won't dare stand against us."

He looks at me now and apprehension turns to horror. "Ben, whatever lies Snoke is telling you... it's not too late, it is never too late."

But he doesn't know what I've seen, he doesn't know what this fight she's throwing herself into will cost her.

And I see what I tried to dismiss as nightmares, as paranoia, but I've seen it as clearly as I see Luke now. Hope on trial before the New Republic, condemned for our very blood, for our power. Then... then her body, several years older than she is now and caked in blood, cold and grey in the midst of a battlefield, cradled by a man in a flight suit donning the symbol of the Rebellion.

A martyr for the same people who would put her on trial.

It will cost her everything.

The only way for her to survive the coming war is if she stands with me and embraces the darkness, if she fulfils her true potential in the force.

"I've seen where her path will take her, and it's too late for you to protect her from what's coming." He takes my words as a threat and his hand rests over his saber, the movement has my throat tightening and I know everything Snoke's told me is true, that he fears me. That he will betray me. "But I still can. We are leaving Ossus and she is coming with me as my apprentice. I will keep her safe."

"The only thing you need to protect her from is yourself," he says and for just a moment I glimpse what he sees. The two of us standing together before an army that rivals that of the Empire's, no longer afraid, but feared. "You will not become the heirs of Vader."

"We'll only become what you've made us," I say and find his hand trembling over his saber, eyes pleading with me. "With every lie, every deception, this is what you've made us. You never protected us, you tore us apart and left us in the dark to face it alone." I shake my head at my master, finally feeling the depth of his betrayal to us both. "The truth will destroy her."

She loves our father, worships the ground he walks on even if she can't see what I can, that someday he'll disappoint her. To learn the truth would shatter her world.

Perhaps I can't protect her from the truth, but I can protect her from him.

"Ben, you don't know what you're saying-"

"You're afraid because you know she has the potential to become a new Vader," I claim and he doesn't refute this. "Stronger even. Stronger than either of us."

"Of course it does," he grounds out. "It should, for that is a power that should not exist, a power that could destroy worlds-"

"And we will," I promise him, finally embracing what I've fought since the moment I was born. "You'll see."

But just as I turn my back on him his saber ignites, and with his betrayal he's sealed his fate.

"Are you going to kill me Luke?"

"Don't make me do this Ben," he pleads with me and his voice is weak. He is weak. "I know that you're better than this. No matter how far you've gone down this path... it's not too late to turn back."

"You say that as if this isn't my choice," I say, drawing my own saber. "Even if it takes some convincing, Hope will make the same one."

"Don't make the same mistakes that Anakin made," he lectures as I look down at my saber in hand. "Be stronger than he was."

"You're right, I will be," I decide, knowing that Anakin's fatal mistake was his mutilation on Mustafar. "He should have killed his master when he had the chance."

And with those words I ignite my saber.

~

Hope POV

The storm looms overheard as I sneak inside the temple, going the long way to my room to avoid any chance of running into Ben since he's no doubt come searching for me.

Thankfully my saber's where I left it and upon retrieving it R2 and I start making our way back out of the temple, thunder booming overheard.

"I don't like the sound of that turbulence but we aren't waiting out the storm," I tell him, knowing I'd rather face that than Ben. "There's no rain yet so that should make getting through the atmosphere easier."

But as I step outside a chill settles into my bones and for a moment I swear I can hear the sound of sabers clashing and then...

"Oh my god," I breathe as Luke's hut collapses in the distance, frozen in shock and confusion until Ben emerges from the ruins with his saber ignited. "No-"

Luke...

He's half mad as he points his saber to the sky, raging. "This is what you made me! This- this is what I am!"

The sound of R2 rushing to the ruins catches Ben's attention and he points his saber towards me as I reach through the force for Luke but find nothing.

Nothing but darkness.

"What did you do!" I bellow as lightning crackles above us, the wind picking up violently as I search for any sign of life from the hut but darkness clouds any light that was once found on this planet.

"I saved you!" he yells, believing every word that comes flying free. "He feared us, he would have killed us!" His voice then softens as he extends his hand. "He failed us, failed you... but I won't. He stood in our way, but now no one will be able to stop us."

My heart shatters as I meet his red eyes and I shake my head with tears burning in my own, hand trembling as it clenches around my saber.

No, no-

"He's dead," he declares proudly. "And we're free."

I look past him to see R2 trying to dig through the ruins and dash forward only for Ben to keep me back with his saber pointed at my chest.

"Ben-"

"He drew his saber on me," Ben begins, face contorting in pain. "He tried to kill me!" I flinch at the power his rage commands, tears catching in my throat as he points his saber back towards the hut. "But he underestimated my power, it was the last thing he ever did."

The wind picks up into a gale, blowing my hair into my eyes as the storm above casts light across his face, reflecting the red in his eyes as he rages. All I can do is look up to the sky as tears slip down my cheeks, praying, praying for what I don't know but the force answers me.

It's with me.

And I hear the cries of those who stood where I do long ago as my thumb rests over my sabers ignition switch.

"Destroy the Sith, we must."

"Send me to kill the Emperor. I will not kill Anakin."

"To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough you are not."

"He is like my brother, I cannot do it."

"Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become."

"With Luke gone no one will stand in our way," Ben continues while I swallow the sob that threatens to escape me. "Not him, not the New Republic, no one. We will show them that they were right to fear us and the Jedi will never have to live in fear of persecution again. We can begin a new order- greater than any the galaxy's ever seen."

"You're going down a path I can't follow..."

"Because of Obi-Wan?"

"Because of what you've done! What you plan to do-"

"No," I whisper and he stares incredulously.

"No?"

"We can still- we can still fix this," I insist as I look at R2, knowing if he's still digging then there's still a chance. "Help me get Luke out-"

I step forward, trying to make it to R2, but stumble back as the heat of his saber kisses my chin, keeping me firmly in place. Yet even as I look upon him I'm still in denial.

"I know Anakin. Your vision is flawed."

"I see the padawan needs one last lesson."

Ben's voice darkens and I taste salt on my tongue. "I am your master. You will do as I tell you now." He steps closer, shifting his grip so the length of his saber rests against my throat and the agonising heat of it is a welcome pain. "Luke betrayed me, don't you betray me."

"The Jedi turned against me, don't you turn against me."

"I love you, Ben," I whisper as I search for a trace of my brother behind those eyes and find none. "Please don't make me do this."

Those words only anger him and he grabs me by the hair of my scalp, the heat of his saber scalding my throat as he accuses "You're going to attack me? You think you can strike me down- "

"If you're not with me, then you're my enemy."

"Ben!" A harsh voice interrupts, and I twist my head enough to see Enyo standing at the entrance to the temple. "Let her go!"

In response he throws me down and I don't even have time to scream before he throws his saber and her head's removed from her shoulders. Her body hits the ground before his saber even returns to his hand and I look up at him in wide eyed horror.

"My master could never be as vile as you!"

"Anakin Skywalker was weak. I destroyed him."

"Then I will avenge his death."

I take a shaky breath as I adjust my grip on my saber and see the challenge in his eye, the belief that I won't do it.

But what choice do I have?

"I will do what I must."

"You will try."

And so I breathe in the force, all of it, resisting neither the light nor the dark as I find my footing and ignite my blade.

"Luke couldn't kill me," he says, sensing my intention. "What makes you believe that you can?"

I feel my answer in the wind, because it's the will of the force.

Because it's my will.

"Search your feelings," I bite back, tired of his games. "But I think you already know."

"Lay down your lightsaber," he instructs, a slight tremble in his voice and for a second the red fades from his eyes. "I'm your brother, you won't hurt me."

I could almost believe him if not for the violence he's inflicted onto me and the violence I'm prepared to return.

"My brother's already dead," I realise and with those words our saber's collide, thunder booming above us with each strike and every deflection, masking the sounds of the battle from those inside the temple.

"What's the lesson?"

"Live... or die."

He moves to subdue me whilst I move to kill, the tip of my saber cutting through his robes and scorching the edges of his hair, provoking him into striking in anger. He unbalances himself and when our sabers collide this time I reach for the hilt of his, disarming him at the same moment I drive my boot into his gut and force him to his knees.

I expect him to get up, to keep fighting, but he stays on his knees and looks up at me - accepting defeat but not his fate. Even as I cross both blades across his throat he feels my hesitation.

"You can't do it," he says and the wind changes. "You aren't strong enough."

"I am," I insist, but he merely gives a disappointed shake of his head as tears catch in my voice and I cry out "Why did you do this? Why did you have to do this-"

"Luke made me do this," he still insists. "He's lied to us our entire lives, lied to you-"

"Because he knew what you'd become," I grit out, having seen it in the temple on Coruscant. "He knew that if you saw what Anakin became-"

"That I'd finish what he started," he finishes and tilts his head with a deranged spark in his eye. "Do you really think that's all he lied about?"

"Stop-"

"You know what you have to do, but you aren't strong enough to do it." I open my mouth and he clarifies "It's your heart that's weak, you could be more powerful than Anakin Skywalker ever was but still you refuse to embrace your true nature."

Tears wet my face and I close my eyes, prepared to do it, but it's then I feel it; a flicker of life.

Luke.

He senses my momentary distraction and twists my wrist, reclaiming his saber and I make a dash for the hut only to have to duck as he swings his blade and a violent scream's torn from my throat as the tip of his blade sears my arm and at that same moment lightning strikes from above.

The blast sends us both to the ground and there's nothing but ringing in my ears as my body burns, but at the sight of the fire I'm getting to my feet and running for the temple.

"Hope!" Ben shouts and grabs me, pulling me back from the blaze as the temple erupts into an inferno. "You can't- you can't help them."

In my desperation and horror I break free, running past the charred remains of Enyo's body and clutching my seared arm as I force my way inside.

I'm yelling out for anyone, for any sign of life as I try to make it past the flames and raise my hands up to shield my face, manipulating the flames enough to part them and see past the inferno only for a choked cry to escape me at the sight of charred skeletons, small skeletons...

"Oh god," I gasp out at the same time Ben shouts at me.

"Hope!"

I look back just as the ceiling gives way and the last thing I see is his horrified face before it comes crashing down onto me.

~

Leia POV

My datapad hits the floor as my trembling hand comes to cover my mouth, frozen in shock until Han waltzes in with Chewie in tow.

"Hey, see I told you I'd make it! Might be a little late but we still made it," he grins and asks "Where's Hope? I got her a cake since I gave her her present early, and yes before you get mad it was a blaster but I think we can both agree that she'll be needing it."

"Did you bring the Falcon?" I manage to get out and he blinks in confusion.

"Yeah me and Chewie flew it over, why did Hope want to take it for a joyride?"

"We need to leave, now," I grit out, snapping into action. "Hope- they're in trouble."

"Leia?" Han says as I stumble past him to get to the Falcon, but not without pulling my blaster out of the safe on the wall. "Leia I need you to stop and tell me-"

"Mistress Leia, oh and Master Solo how good it is to see you," Threepio says, stopping us as we try to get out the door. "I've received an attempted transmission request from Master Luke dated to around half an hour ago, but it seems a storm over Ossus had delayed the signal. I've tried returning the transmission but I cannot get through."

My heart stops upon the realisation that I can't feel Luke and I'm pushing past Threepio as I tell Han "We're leaving for Ossus, we need to get there before it's too late."

"Before what's too late?" he exclaims, following after me as we make our way through the apartment and past my staff working overtime trying to get intelligence on the First Order. "Leia-"

"I can't explain just do as I'm telling you," I snap at him, utterly distraught as our children's voices echo through the force.

"What did you do!"

"I saved you!" Ben yells. "He feared us, he would have killed us! He failed us, failed you... but I won't. He stood in our way, but now no one will be able to stop us."

As we reach the door Han grabs my arm, his voice trembling as he demands "What has Ben done?"

"We need to get to him and Hope," I quake, darkness shrouding everything. "It might be too late to save Luke, but we can still save her."

~

Hope POV

I'm choking. Choking on ash and smoke and the blood gushing down my face. My vision blackens and I'm fading in and out, one second amongst the stars and the next pinned down by rubble with thunder still booming overheard.

"Hope!" Ben bellows as I cling to the force to maintain any consciousness but another voice pulls me under.

"Hope?" Through burning eyes I look up to see a figure standing over me, recognising him from his force signature alone except it's different here. The darkness... it's balanced by light. "This isn't your time. Not yet."

My voice is hoarse. "Anakin?"

But before I can reach for him the weight's lifted from my chest and I feel myself being carried from the burning rubble and laid out on the ground, Ben holding the sleeve of his robe to my head to clot the bleeding wound.

I'm choking as I rasp for breath and he turns me onto my side, helping me force the ash from my lungs until I'm spluttering and my lungs are burning.

"You're alive," he says, and for the first time since we left Hosnian Prime I recognise my brother's voice as I reach for my saber and find it lying nearby. "You're going to be alright."

"Ben-"

He tries to shield my view of the temple by bringing my head to his chest, but I refuse him. Instead using him as leverage to find my footing and stare numbly at the temple and the corpses that I know burn inside. Aylee's amongst them.

"They're dead," I whisper as he holds me upright, my hand reaching to clutch my seared arm. "They're all dead."

He clutches me to him as we take in the carnage, only for three figures to appear from a ship neither of us had noticed landing.

"Ben? Hope!"

We look to see Voe, Tai and Hennix rushing towards us. Although relief is the last thing either of us feel as they take us in.

"You three," Ben says, voice monotone and once again unrecognisable. "That's right, you were off planet."

"What happened here?" Tai asks, voice even but cautious as he takes in our current states.

"Where is Master Skywalker?" Hennix asks and I look up at Ben as he turns his head away, smoke burning in my eyes.

"Where is Master Luke, Ben?" Tai demands to know, and I look to the smouldering debris on the ground. "We can't sense his presence." When he gets no reply he turns his attention to me. "Hope, where is he?"

"He attacked me Tai," Ben says, protectiveness creeping into his voice as he puts himself in front of me. "Tried to kill me. He turned on us, and now he'd dead."

His words don't mean to implicate me, but they do, and Voe sets her sights on me alone.

"That cannot be! What did she do?" she growls as I look at her in disbelief. "Hope-"

"This doesn't involve her," Ben shoots back and Tai steps between them to try to de-escelate but even he, the one who would always calm the worst storm, is distraught.

"Voe we don't know what's happened, just look at her," he says and tries to get a better look at me. "Hope you're injured, let me take you to the medbay onboard-"

"Don't step any closer," Ben orders and Tai comes to an abrupt stop, looking at his friend in shock. "Luke betrayed us, I won't be attacked twice tonight."

Voe's voice turns desperate as she tries to make sense of his words. "Master Skywalker would never hurt any of us, and you Ben Solo could never, but she..." she looks at me as she shakes her head. "What did you do Hope?"

He pushes me back now as that fuse within him finally explodes. "What? What Voe? You don't think I could do it? You don't think I'm strong enough in the force!" My hand wraps tighter around my saber as I take him in, as I take them in. Knowing even now that this only ends one way... except I don't know if it's him or them I'll be fighting. "I'm stronger than all three of you put together! Skywalker made us act like we were all equal, but you all know the truth! I was the temple's prized student, and when it mattered I was stronger than Luke Skywalker."

Luke...I find myself searching for R2 in a sudden panic, but when I again try to make a dash to Luke's hut Ben grabs me by my arm to keep me in place, the sudden tug causing me to gasp in pain and Tai raises a hand to try to calm him.

"Ben, your sister is hurt, she-" my hand slips enough as I try to loosen his grip that Tai sees the wound and recognises it as a lightsaber burn. "Ben, she needs medical attention. This story you're telling us... whatever happened there has to be more to it. Whether you were protecting her or yourself - the temple, Master Luke, the other students... just talk to us." He manages to get close enough to put a hand on his shoulder all while Ben hardly moves a muscle. "It can't be as bad as what you're saying."

Ben throws Tai off and I open my mouth but no words come out as Ben rages "He turned on us! Condemned us! This place was a lie! Now it's over. I'm leaving, you all should too."

I feel the wait of my blaster still holstered on my hip as Voe steps forward, her finger pointed at me. "No! We know that Hope attacked you! We know that she finally lost it and snapped, and so have you." Her hand reaches for her saber as I struggle to comprehend her words. "I don't know what happened, but neither of you are innocent. You aren't going anywhere."

My eyes find Enyo's decapitated and burnt corpse half crushed by rubble and I look up at the sky, at the lightning above.

"Oh?" Is all Ben says, a sick amusement playing at his face as he releases me and Hennix reaches for his saber with more hesitation than Voe.

"By the seas are we really going to-"

"No, we're not!" Tai insists, still trying to broker an impossible peace as I bring a hand to my head and look at the blood on my fingers, my head spinning and eyes unfocusing. "Ben, we can just talk-"

"No, until they tell us what really happened," Voe protests and I shift my saber into my left hand as Hennix and Voe both ignite their sabers, fire burning around us.

"None of you are Jedi," Ben says as I ignite my own, with no choice but to stand beside him if they're going to damn us both to hell. "Do you know how I know that? You're all afraid." His voice turns to a growl as he sticks his finger at Voe. "Especially you Voe! You should be."

Tai begins appealing to me upon realising Ben can't be reasoned with. "Hope, whatever you did, or he did,... I know you didn't mean to cause this. We know for whatever reason you attacked him, and that-" he can't bring himself to say the words. That Ben killed Luke. "Whatever argument you and Master Luke had, we know you never intended for this to happen."

Before I can speak Ben orders "Just get out of our way. We won't be responsible for whatever happens if you force us to fight you."

"Don't worry Solo," Voe says, looking us both in the eye. "I take full responsibility."

"Voe- don't!"

She attacks, leaping from above with her saber raised to strike and I swing mine to block hers, cutting upwards at the same moment Ben uses the force to suspend her mid air and freeze her attack before I can stop my own.

And that is when the blood finally covers my hands.

A choked cry escapes her throat and I stare in horror at the deep gash across her chest, reaching from the bottom of her ribcage to her collarbone.

The sight of the burn searing through her vital organs has my saber falling from my hand as Ben releases her. Her body hits the ground with a thud and I'm frozen in shock as Tai and Hennix both rush to her side.

"Voe? Voe!" Hennix cries and Ben tugs on my uninjured arm, trying to pull me away from the scene.

"We need to leave," he stammers, the sight of his friends body having finally snapped him out of this terrible madness, but only temporarily. "Hope-"

But I can't move, not even as he grabs my saber and tries to drag me towards the ship yard, yelling into my ear but all I hear is the ringing in them as lightning strikes all around us.

Despair sets in as Tai and Hennix stand and turn to us, and I can make out Tai yelling "Blast- Ben why are you doing this!"

"I haven't done anything, she attacked me just like Luke!" Ben insists. "This is their doing not mine." He puts a hand out now to keep me back as he warns. "I'm giving you a chance, I'm just wanting you to go. Last chance."

Except Hennix isn't prepared to walk away as he finally sees Enyo's body and Tai's own horrified eyes follow his. "You're a murderer."

He steps forward and the earth breaks as the smouldering debris surrounding us become an inferno under Ben's will, blasting them both back and there's a cry of pain as a piece of broken would lodges itself in Hennix's side.

Ben looks between Hennix who lays on his back with Tai kneeling over him, trying to take his pain, and Voe's body before putting his hand on my back and forcefully moving me.

"We're leaving, now."

"We can't leave them-" I insist and a scream's torn from my throat as he grabs me by both arms, fist tight around the burn as he shakes me.

"Voe is dead! Aylee's dead! They're all dead and soon he'll be too!" he screams as I bite back my screams into a whimper, no better than a child. "They died afraid, be stronger than that or you can join them."

I don't resist as he pushes me towards the shipyard, my vision darkening with each step until I can feel myself being dropped onto the floor of the Grimtaash and he barks an order at one of the temple droids.

"Geegee, see that she's treated with bacta."

"Oh my, Mistress Solo," the droid exclaims. "Master Solo, what has happened-"

"She needs bacta," he says shortly as he gets to the cockpit and I reach out for R2 but find him missing. "Is the ship fueled?"

"Yes Master Solo," Geegee says as he scans my vitals. "Oh no, this is not good. She is suffering from quite a severe concussion and her lungs- I recommend that she is brought straight to a hospital for treatment. I will administer life support in the meantime."

The droid tries to touch me and I smack its hand away, crying out "R2- where's R2?"

"Probably scrap metal by now," Ben mutters and a sob catches in my throat as the ship lifts off the ground. "Hennix and Tai will follow us, when we get clear I'll bring you somewhere we'll be safe."

"Hosnian Prime?" Geegee inquires. "Senator Organa will want to see Mistress Solo immediately and their hospital is-"

"No, not Hosnian Prime," he says aand panic rises in my chest, my vision darkening as I look about the room, black spots obstructing the room as the ship swerves. "Hope, lie down and hold on tight. I'll take care of this."

"No- no I want R2," I rasp out, refusing to believe he was caught in the flames, knowing he wasn't in the temple. "I-" I slip across the floor and slam straight into a wall as Ben dodges shots from their ship and choke out in pain, the air being knocked from my lungs.

I look up at Ben in the cockpit across the hall and again I feel that instinct, to run like hell at any cost.

This time I listen.

While he makes an attack run I force myself to my feet, half blind and head spinning I trust the force to guide me as I stumble to the boarding ramp and slam the button to lower it as he soars high above the burning temple towards the atmosphere.

For a second I stop as I look down at the temple with the wind blowing smoke into my eyes, debating if I can even survive such a fall, but when I look back and hear him yell my name I know I have no choice, and so without another moment of hesitation I throw myself from the ship.

I'm in freefall, drifting in and out of consciousness as I give myself over to the force to slow my descent, and somehow when my body slams into the ground I'm still breathing.

There's stars beneath my fingers and smoke above me, cannons being fired as Ben's chased into the vacuum of space and my head falls limp against the ground.

For a minute or perhaps a lifetime I lay there as lightning strikes all around me until beeping brings me back to consciousness and an aching smile spreads across my face as I reach for him. "R2..."

He's distraught as I use him as leverage, every bone in my body aching as I find my footing and look around at the destruction as if it were a dream.

Then... then there's something, a flicker or not quite life but something darker, and slowly I turn to see Aylee staring at me from the ruins of Luke's hut, clothes scorched and face ashen as she takes me in.

"You killed them," she says numbly and I can't register the sight in front of me as she looks from the temple to Voe's body. "You killed them all."

"I-" I begin but find myself lost for words, unable to comprehend what's happened and watch as she ignites her saber with tears staining her face. "Aylee-"

There's no warning as she lunges at me and all I can do is grab her wrist to keep her from impaling me with her saber. She struggles against my grasp, the warmth of her saber kissing my neck as she narrowly misses stabbing me through the shoulder.

"I didn't-"

"I knew-" she whispers, something utterly unhinged in her eyes, the girl I knew burned away with the temple. "I knew you'd destroy us, I knew- I knew but no one listened!"

"I don't want to hurt you-" I plead and she screams as she strikes without warning, harnessing an anger I didn't know she possessed to break my grip and our sabers clash as I stumble back, barely able to keep myself standing let alone fight. She goes for the kill and I manage to block her attack but not for long, my strength waning with every second I struggle against her until finally her saber forces mine down, brutally tearing through the flesh of my thigh.

One knee hits the ground as I scream out, pain overwhelming every sense and I'm desperately feeling for my leg to ensure it's still attached and feel the burning heat radiating from the wound, swearing it's scorched the very bone as it falls limp beneath me and my saber falls from my hand.

Somehow- somehow I'm still kneeling, somehow I'm still conscious as I search for R2 until I find Aylee standing over me with bloodshot eyes, a hand held out to freeze R2 in place as the force echoes.

"What if I want to stop fighting?"

"Then you'll die.

"Stay down," she warns as I reach for my saber, knowing nothing but the instinct for survival, to kill or be killed, and fear creeps into her voice as my hand wraps around the hilt. "Stay down!"

It's then I hear his voice as he speaks directly to me, three simple words.

"Live... or die."

My head spins, vision darkened with blinding pain and my senses assaulted by the smell of my own burning flesh, but the moment I see a flicker of her own green saber I swing my blade back expecting to meet her's, but all I'm met with is a choked cry of pain before her body hits the ground and my own collapses beside her's.

Only one thought runs through my mind as R2 desperately begs for me to get up, as he tries to drag me by the fabric of my clothes to the shipyard.

What have I done?

For what seems to be an eternity I lay there as lightning assaults the earth, until somewhere in the the darkness I find Luke's horrified face staring back at mine with his saber in hand. Weakly I raise my own, finding my fingers barely strong enough to grip the hilt before it falls limp beside me.

He brings a hand to my forehead and his voice is filled with nothing but pure remorse. "I've failed you."

"Luke..."

"I'm sorry," he quakes and for the first time in my life I see tears staining his face. "Leia is coming, R2 will keep you safe. Now close your eyes."

My body obeys his command and when my eyes again open I'm where he left me. Utterly alone. Dried blood coating my face and my flesh scorched. My mind cannot recall what brought me here and it searches for Ben- for Luke... but there's nothing.

Nothing but darkness and half dead I still feel it, the moment his heart truly turns. Unable to move, barely able to breathe, I lay there with smoke filled lungs until the Falcon appears in the sky and as the sun rises above the horizon I know that this is not the end...

It's merely the beginning of the end.

A/N: Hi, thank you so much for reading! Be on the lookout for the sequel Fire Meet Gasoline which follows Hope from 32ABY onwards through the Poe Dameron comics and into the sequel trilogy. Seventeen chapters are already written since this is published on ao3 and it will be uploaded to here shortly. It's very much a slowburn fic between her and Poe (emphasis on slowburn), he had a little cameo here but they'll meet properly in the sequel where the age gap will be 20/21 and 29/30. There'll be a bit of rivals to lovers but it remains very oc/solo family focused with alternating pov's between Hope, Leia and Poe.