The Rising Dark

"Speech"

"Radio or calls"

'Thoughts'

Bunk room of the Vagabond

Marie looked at Allelujah, her eyes filling with concern. Her lover took a deep, shuddering breath, and her old healer training kicked in. There was a sense of loss and confusion as he leaned on her, and she caressed him as she kissed his temple, "Tell me exactly how you felt when it happened."

Allelujah took in a sharp breath, "I was angry at Ribbons threatening a teammate, and Hallelujah couldn't contain himself. Power rushed through me, and it felt so…good…at the time. Ribbons was at my mercy, and even if it wasn't him directly, a part of me couldn't deny the urges."

He looked down at the ground, tears running down his face, "Yet when I looked into her eyes, I could see he was gone, and she wasn't even mad at me. She understood even as I choked her." His lips were a thin line as he had to take a deep breath. Every sensation of that night flowed into him, and he had to push it back. It had a bitter taste, and he hated it as he could feel the inner calm of Marie wash over him.

Marie knew all about the temptation of the dark side, as she had to constantly brush up against it. The imperial regime left little room for mercy or understanding, and even kindness had to be justified on logic, like leaving a target alive so they could be captured. 'And sometimes it was worse to leave them alive.' She couldn't be the idealistic teenager anymore, and she was thankful to have a deeper understanding of the emotional spectrum due to her experience.

She pulled him close and just stayed silent, letting him work through his trauma. Allelujah hung his head, "How can a Jedi fall so far? How can I be so broken?" Tears ran down his face, and Hallelujah's smug face looked at him as the ghost manifested. He didn't say a word, but the dark part of him was confident about something.

Marie just frowned bitterly, and tried to comfort him through the force, which just caused him to lean on her more, "All of us suffered after the Clone Wars. And you went through so much. I don't think anyone blames you for it. I don't."

"But I lost control. I could have killed a woman because of repressed anger." Intense self-loathing sat in his stomach as he sunk physically and mentally. He didn't know what to say, and while he squeezed her hand, hoping that it would help him, "I don't deserve it after this. Any of this. I'm not even a proper Jedi anymore."

Marie's healer instincts acted up as she knew exactly what he was going through. 'I wonder if he anyone to comfort him after Order 66.' She grabbed him by his chin. Not hard, but just enough to force him to look at her, "Alle, this is not your fault. And if you feel it is, then make up for it. Find a way to forgive yourself, to prove that you haven't fallen. And if you aren't a Jedi, then neither am I."

Her voice was firm, and he stuttered a bit as she said that, "But you-"

"We have to hold onto all we can, and all of us have had to make hard choices. I chose to join the imperials. To join the people that want to kill us. I am as guilty as you. I want to help you, but you have to let me in, to tell me what we can do."

Allelujah just sighed, "I guess I can." He let down his walls, and Marie focused herself, scanning him. Even with their tenuous connection, she had never been able to probe this deep. The deep-seated pain filled her mind as she kept to her training. Not just as a healer, but as an agent. It was like a darkening pit, it only getting darker as she explored more.

She could sense that brokenness that he mentioned before, and there were metaphorical cracks as he she could almost feel the divide his power. She had sensed people with dark souls before, but this was something different. Allelujah's power was seemingly divided, and that torture must have been extreme.

She tried to reach out, the shadowed part of his presence right there. But her mind was assaulted by images. Bloody tools, burn marks, cries of pain, Allelujah's and others. None of them were clear, but their force echo was more intense than anything she had felt before. So much pain shot through her as a dark voice growled in the back of her head, "Get Out!"

Her mind was forced out of his as she held her head. A dark mirror stuck in her mind; a font of power hidden away from her love. Allelujah winced as she was forced out, holding a hand to his own head as Hallelujah sunk even deeper into his mind. A growl emanated from the back of his mind, and Allelujah looked at Marie, "I'm sorry for that reaction."

She shook her head, "You don't need to. I didn't realize how bad it was for you. Only the greatest Jedi masters would probably know how to help, but we don't…" She trailed off, Allelujah just nodding.

"Yeah. I wish I had my master to kick me in the ass." He took a deep breath, "But I was told a way that I can help resolve it."

The healer looked at him curiously, "What is it?"

Allelujah stood up and walked over to his locker, pulling out the holocron. She looked at the yellow pyramid, tilting her head. 'I have never seen that color before.' Her master had been a renown Jedi scholar, and that meant Marie had access to holocrons that most of her peers had never seen. Granted she never got to really access them, but it was still cool for a kid.

She hoped that at least some of them were saved, but they were so far from a place to do anything about it that it wasn't funny. She was handed it and the familiar weight sunk into the palm of her hand. She scanned it, and saw it was definitely damaged a bit, but nothing too serious, "So what sort of lesson did it teach you? Who was on it?"

"An ancient Je'daii master. Older than even the Jedi Order. I think our order descended from them, but I don't think there is enough evidence to prove it one way or the other."

She held off activating it, wanting an answer for this question, "An order older than ours? Over twenty thousand years old?" It was mind bending, though a logical idea that someone else had to practice the force before they did. And even the Jedi Order's origins were a partial mystery to themselves, records only going back so far with any detail.

This mystery was tantalizing, and he shrugged his shoulders, "It seems so. They didn't even have lightsabers. Just blades like Setsuna." Allelujah wondered exactly how the blade worked, but from what he could tell Setsuna had to focus on the blade, and it acted similar to a lightsaber.

Marie had several questions, but right now one was more important than all the others, "So what force technique did it teach you?"

"From what I could tell, it forces the two aspects of me to fuse, or at least the greater half absorb the lesser half, taking in all aspects from that side. All of those intense emotions and everything else." Marie held back a sigh as she could tell that could be traumatizing. For all of the issues with the division, that darker half clearly took a lot of the darkness from what happened to Allelujah.

"Are you sure you can do that?"

The Jedi sighed, "I don't know if I have the choice. If we have to face an inquisitor, then I'll need to be at full power. Only Setsuna and I have a weapon that could be used against him. But that's not the worst part of it. Both parts of me need to join willingly, or we would have to fight over control, or I could even lose my force sensitivity."

Marie swallowed heavily at those last words, "Lose your ability to use the force? This must be a very secret technique."

"It is. I am trying to figure out anyway in which we could connect. He is so…selfish and focused on his own survival and power. The only common ground we have is our opposition to Ribbons." He took a deep breath, "A few years ago I figured out that I couldn't muster anger at an intensity is normal. A part of me is cut off, and it makes it hard to control it if you can't even feel it. He has that half, and I want to feel complete."

Marie put a hand on his, and linked their fingers, "Then what do we need to do?"

Allelujah looked at their linked hands, then into her soft eyes. Determination flowed from her, and he was happy to have her on his side. He started to open the Holocron, and smiled at her, "I think you should ask him yourself."

Deep in the male Jedi's mind, Hallelujah stewed in his anger and frustration. Desire bubbled up in him. He wanted revenge, yet he also wanted to live. A selfish life, but he couldn't help but feel a pang of need as he felt his lighter half bask in companionship. He didn't know if it was her or just the empty sensation, but despite his hatred of these soft emotions, it didn't feel completely wrong.

He growled as he listened in on the ancient holocron start explaining what needed to be done. 'I'll never give in. I refuse to work with a weak coward like him.'

Conference Room of the Vagabond

Feldt and Setsuna were the last to arrive in the conference room, everyone who was currently free there. They had been working on the training they had done for the last couple days, and they both took a seat as Lyle nodded at the group, "So it looks like we are going to rescue an imperial prisoner."

Allelujah spoke up, "So are we going to tell command about this?"

Lyle shook his head, "We are keeping this on the down low for now. It's better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?" He had a smirk cross his face, and even Setsuna sighed at this. This was a risk, and there might be hell to pay on the other side.

Lyle then raised his hand, "But unfortunately, we can't use the Vagabond in its condition, so we are going to need a volunteer to stay behind and make sure we are safe. Normally Christina would, but she is needed for the operation."

Christina waved nervously, and even the non-force users in the room could see that she wasn't exactly comfortable with this, her leaning on the table as she controlled her breathing. Feldt looked kindly at her, "Are you ok with this?"

The Zeltron chuckled, "Being ok with this isn't important. The system I need to access is closed loop, and at the very least I have to be on the shuttle, though to make sure I have to be there in person."

Tieria gave her a comforting nod, and Lyle raised the question again, "Any takers?"

"I will. I wouldn't mind the peace and quiet." Feldt looked at their team leader, and he nodded. But before he had a chance to say anything, another voice spoke out.

"And I'm staying behind as well. Feldt should not be alone when Ribbons could strike at any time." Tieria's face filled with an intense look, his eyes subconsciously looking at the area where the brig was. Lyle let out a long breath. Anew was secured in her cell, and Tieria's firepower would be appreciated, but he couldn't deny his logic.

"Alright. If Ribbons tries anything, stun Anew and keep her hands locked up." He looked away as he said that, and Tieria just nodded. The Corellian took a deep breath, centering himself, then spoke, "So here's the plan…"

Bridge of a Tartan

Ribbons looked out the window at the darkened planet. Orsaa Lehon lay below them, the darkened, near black surface highlighted by the sun of the solar system. Two large continents divided the planet, the only color the dark blue water. The planet didn't even hum with life as he reached out with his force senses. A dead, dark presence was the only thing he could sense, thrumming like a dark heart. It was primal and corrupting, and Ribbons had a small smile as he finally looked down on the sight.

He tapped his fingers against the window, and just basked in the glorious sensation of what he had found. A decade of searching, and he had finally found what he had been obsessed over. It was real, and now he could think about his plans after this.

Two sets of footsteps echoed from behind him, and he turned to see Regene and Ali. The clone smiled at him while Ali looked down at the planet, "So this was the job you needed me for. Looks a bit dead, boss."

Ribbons just tutted, "Yes, it is, but the prize it contains is worth far more than anything else on the planet. And I think the reason it is dead is because of what I seek."

Regene spoke simply, "Scans have found a massive pyramid structure on the southern continent. Scouting parties have been sent to set up a base camp. Any orders for them?"

Ribbons nodded, "Secure the entrance, and alert me once they have it secured. No one will see the inner sanctum until I do."

Ali looked at his boss, "I hope I get a bonus for this. You need me for security? Or something else?" A new axe at his side, with a simple wide head and curved wooden handle. The head shined in the light of the bridge, and he grinned even more at Ribbons words.

"Yes. I expect security there, and those rebels may make an appearance. Including your lost soldier." Ribbons eyes gleaned in pleasure, "And that little girl that escaped you will be here too."

Regene frowned for a split second as she looked away, making it look like she was paying attention to something on the bridge. The whole planet felt wrong, and she didn't want to be here. Ali simply moved to the window, "Killing him should be more than worth it. I hope you don't mind if I kill the girl."

"Do what you want. She is beyond my concerns." That dark heart tugged on him, and a grin crossed his face. 'With this, my ascension can begin.'

Author Note

Welcome back! Sorry for how short it is, but it was the best way to fit into the next chapter. Our protagonists have a plan, and our villain now gets closer to his objective. Can they reach him in time to stop him? And what truly is this device of legends? Thank you for reading and I'll see you guys' next time!