-Sadie-

I gaped at the ludicrous amount of stuff that was in one of the large empty rooms of the Everbright. Vince was grinning like a madman, and Darin had a similar look. The room was supposed to be off-limits, but I wanted to investigate.

"What's going on?" I asked, curious as to what the pair was up to.

Darin looked at me with a grin and said "I'm seeing what kind of stuff Vince has. Wanna check it out as well?"

I shrugged and said "Sure." I walked up to them and found a few crates were opened with a whole slew of weapons and trinkets showing. I pulled out a large ring-type weapon. I examined the green glow from the two ends that didn't fully connect and asked "What's this?"

Darin peered over and said "Oh. I saw that kind of thing on Noreno. Couldn't get it to work."

"That's cause you ain't used to the firing mechanism," Vince said from a few boxes away. He put down the contraption he was holding and came over to us. He reached his hand out and I handed him the ring thing.

He turned it around and said "There's a safety that has to be pressed down when firing. Let go of it, it won't fire. Try to fire without pushing it, it won't fire." He pressed in a hidden button on the inside of the ring near the trigger, then released it. He then aimed at the wall opposite us, pushed the button, and pulled the trigger quickly. The ring lit up bright green for a split second before a thick bolt of green plasma shot out and hit the wall. "You can also charge up a shot for more power." He aimed at the wall again, pressed the button, and pulled the trigger. However, he didn't release it immediately. The ring started glowing bright green, but this time it's glow started increasing in intensity. After a second, Vince released it and a much larger ball of green plasma flew across the room, albeit slightly slower than the small green shot. I noticed that after shooting, two pieces on either side remained jutted out and green gas was coming from the ring. After about a second, the pieces retracted and the gas stopped. "The large shot is slower, but has some homing capabilities. The charged shot is hotter, so the gun is unable to shoot until it returns to safe heat levels. It's a safety mechanism to keep it effective." He tossed the gun to me and said "You try."

Excited, I grabbed the ring and found the safety, once I found the safety, I aimed at the wall and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out and flew across the room. It felt a bit clunky, but that was most likely due to it's rather unusual shape.

Suddenly, Darin piped up "Here. Shoot at me" before igniting his saber and jogging over to stand by the wall.

"You serious?" I asked, slightly taken aback by his decision.

"Yea. If I'm gonna face them, I want to see them coming. Get familiar with it."

I looked at Vince, who shrugged, then turned and shot a few in his general direction.

He batted them away with ease and said "Come on Sadie. Get serious. Actually try to hit me."

I didn't want to. I really didn't.

He wanted me to do it though.

"Darin…" I said, hoping that he'd hear from my voice that I really didn't want to do it.

Darin looked at me for a moment, then pulled out his commlink and pushed a button. I stared at him quizzically, but he just smiled and shrugged.

A few minutes later, a door popped open and M5 walked in.

"I really don't want to be bothered right now," he said as soon as stepping in the room.

Darin said "M5. Sadie is going to shoot at me. Want to watch?"

M5 let out a low mechanical whirring noise before saying "I would indeed."

Darin turned to me and said "See? No risk."

I didn't feel good about it, but I didn't really see too many ways around it. If M5 was here, at least he would get medical treatment quicker. Not that I wanted him to get hurt.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on my family. The Jedi took them from me. They ruined my life. They started all of the horrible stuff that happened to me. After a moment, I could feel my blood begin to boil and the Mandalorian in me rose to the surface.

I looked at Darin, and the fire immediately began to subside. I couldn't be mad at him.

Stop it. Focus.

I looked again and this time I focused only on the blade. With the anger back, I let loose a flurry of shots at Darin.

Each of them was deflected by a few graceful sweeps of the blue blade. I charged up a shot and fired at him.

The blade sliced through the charged shot, and I heard him let out a shout of pain.

The anger was immediately replaced with panic as I stared in shock at Darin as he turned off the saber and fell on his face.

M5 let out a clap and said "Congrats! He's been severely burned!"

I dropped the gun and rushed to him.

When I got to him, I realized he was still breathing. His arms were an ugly shade of red and His fingers looked almost black.

"Oh my god I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" I exclaimed in a panic.

I heard a grunt and looked at his arms. I watched in awe as he used the Force to repair everything. Within seconds, his arms looked back to normal and he lifted himself off of the ground.

He looked at me and flashed a goofy smile "I'm fine. See?"

I looked at him in shock before punching him in the chest. "What the kriff were you thinking?!"

He smiled. "I didn't want to keep my personal Force shield up. Wanted to scare you a little."

I stared at him before punching him three more times, standing up, and storming over to where Vince was.

I picked up the gun and shot a few times at him. He didn't have his saber yet and wasn't ready, but I saw him fluidly roll to avoid the shots, reach his hand out to catch the saber that he used the Force to pull to him, then quickly deflect the last shot.

Vince, who was looking on with curiosity at the impressive display by Darin, said "I have a few other weapons if you want."

I glanced over, and he said "I'll show you how they work, and then you two can take them all and shoot each other all you want."

Vince had long since left Darin and I to our own devices. I'd been shooting at Darin with a variety of weapons, but nothing seemed to get to him. He was so incredibly fast that any combination of shots, no matter how quick or accurate they were or whatever pattern (or lack of one) they were in, nothing would touch him.

Darin had shown me the holocrons, and I had looked up some stuff on lightsaber techniques and forms, but Darin and I never really got into it other than a little bit of the basics. It was from my own curiosity. I'd seen the forms of combat, and what the experts looked like. Their fighting styles were all different and unique.

As I tried to figure out Darin's style, I realized that I couldn't.

I didn't know what to really look for with lightsaber combat, but Darin appeared to not have a form. Instead, he opted for a variety of forms, and they seemed to interweave and come together so seamlessly that it was difficult to distinguish which form was being used when.

It struck me for the first time how lucky I was to be learning from Darin. This guy spent a ridiculous amount of time training in lightsaber combat. He was a workhorse, and he seemed to know everything about the craft. If I could learn from him, maybe I could add a Mandalorian spin to it. I learned to fight at a young age. All Mandalorians do. Grandpa did most of my training.

I imagined combining lightsabers and Mandalorian training, and a smile started to form on my face. That could be one fun combination.

The gun I was holding clicked, and I realized I was empty. Each of the guns was empty at this point.

Darin shuffled over to me and mumbled a quiet "Thanks".

I glanced at him curiously and asked "Everything okay?"

He nodded, but I could see in his face that it wasn't. He looked pale.

I watched him pass me, and I realized that there was something different about the Force around him.

It seemed to be more volatile, more unstable.

Something about the way it was wrapping around him, interacting with the environment, was familiar.

I watched him leave the room without a word to me. I was tempted to follow, but something told me not to do that. Instead, I started packing the weapons up, musing all the while about the moment.

Suddenly, it hit me. That was how the Force felt when I was angry. When I lost control of it.

But that meant that Darin was losing control.

I felt fear grip me as I imagined the type of destruction Darin could cause.