Power

14.

The sun begins to rise past the grassy cliff I sit on, watching as it makes its appearance over the horizon. A new day has dawned even as the nightmare of this past year replays in my mind. I cross my legs and close my eyes, taking deep, heavy breathes. The force wraps around me, I feel it in every inch of my body.

You will heal from this pain, Lyra.

I open my eyes as my father's voice fills my head, watching the sun with empty eyes. Even after returning to Maro and staying on the Resistance base, the broken shell of what I once was still resides. The First Order left me fragile, the most powerful Sith to ever live fallen to ruin. I close my eyes and the memory of the day I lost half my sight fills my mind, I wince at it and open them again.

You have power that ascends beyond both sides of the force.

I pause for a moment before taking out my lightsaber from the Jedi Temple and the one bladed saber gifted to me as an Inquisitor by my father. In a way, the hilts resemble one another in my palms. I ignite both, revealing a blazing red blade and a shining blue one.

A Jedi Master and a Sith Lord, yet holding power beyond both of them.

This time, the voice that enters my mind is Master Windu's. I close my eyes and let out a breath before standing and walking back towards the base.

...

"Where'd you run off to?" Maro asks when I return.

"A place where I could be one with my own mind." I tell him, continuing to walk forward. He quickly catches up to follow me.

"Your eye hasn't moved from the even red and blue split since we got here." I glance at him and suddenly stop.

"I am not the same person I was before the First Order, and I don't believe I ever will be. Master Windu spoke to me out there, he told me I am a Sith Lord and a Jedi Master, and yet I have more power than both of them combined. Neither of us have even attempted to come close to harnessing the power Vader left us with, and it could be what saves the galaxy. In that way, we have become selfish, and I will not let myself fall into that again." Maro studies my face before nodding, though there's a look of concern in his eyes. "I just... need time. I need a moment to collect my thoughts and think. Please, Maro, give me that time. I cannot be good, like you wanted me to be. I need to figure this all out." He takes my hand for a moment before letting it fall back to my side.

"You know I will always be waiting for you." I gaze into his eyes before quickly pressing my lips to his. He holds me there for as long as he can before I pull away.

"I'll be back, I swear that to you." I back away and spin around to head to the hangar bay. "General?" Leia turns to look at me.

"Hello Lyra." She says, although she looks at me as if she already knows what I am going to ask.

"I would like to know if I can borrow a ship from you, I need to find myself." She smiles and nods.

"You're in luck, Commander. We have an extra one. I'll have it loaded with supplies for you." I nod in appreciation at her.

"Thank you, Leia. Truly." She takes my hand in hers.

"Go find what you're looking for, whatever that may be."

...

After an hour, I swing my bag across my shoulder and board the newly packed ship, lifting into the air and setting my hyperspace coordinates to a distant planet on the outer rim. I feel drawn to it, like I must go there and see what resides. The stars stretch out around me as the ship makes the jump. I watch as they soar past me, thoughts of Maro pass through my mind. Yet, in this moment, my thoughts roam to Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader. In the time of his rule, I heard stories of a lost apprentice who had broken free of the control of the Empire. I had never learned his true name, but what they called him still rings clear in my memory.

Starkiller.