Ben Solo

XXXVIII

Averann heard the cries of the children. Ben could sense her on the other side of the door as she tried frantically to open it before running off to find the others for help.

But it was too late.

Most of the children were already dead, laying on the ground, motionless.

Cody was the first to go, much to Ben's satisfaction.

A few hid in the corner, and he stalked towards them.

One whimpered. With the flash of his saber, they were gone.

The blade, which wavered due to the cracks in the crystal and the fact that it had been cut as any other gem would be, retracted into his hilt, and he stepped over the children on the ground.

His hair, which was now a deep black, fell into his eyes, and he pushed it back.

Now, how to fight each Jedi and Padawan separately.  He could defeat them all together, but one at a time he could.  Or maybe Jedi and Padawan.

But Averann had already raised the alarm, and they would be coming soon.

"Go get a ship!" he yelled to his two accomplices.  They ran for the door and disappeared.

Ben slipped out and ran down the hall to the kitchen. Perhaps Onya would be there, and maybe she didn't know about what had just happened.

He slowed his steps as he entered, hiding his lightsaber.

She was leaning against the counter, head in one hand.

The green Twi'lek looked up when she heard him.

"I felt a disturbance," she said, trailing off.

For a moment, Ben considered stopping, handing himself over, for trial for manslaughter, so he wouldn't have to kill any of his friends.

But...the power.

He turned and closed to door, disabling it also.

She looked at him, confused. "What are you doing?"

Ben didn't say anything, couldn't say anything.

He took out his lightsaber and the three blades, two short and one long, extended. He could feel the heat.

Onya gasped and looked at him.

The look she gave him made his heart ache, the part that hadn't devoted itself completely. It was one of betrayal. Of pain and hurt. The one thing he couldn't detect, because it wasn't there, was anger.

However, though she had rarely done anything to anger him, let alone fuel this rage, the power flowed through him, this absolute fury spurring it on.

She reached in her own belt for her lightsaber. It sprung up, yellow.

The two blades clashed.

Ben had trained enough with his saber to know how to avoid the two cross-blades. Onya didn't, and her dark clothes were singed quickly by the immense heat.

He pushed against her blade, sending her backwards into the counter. She grunted, and slashed towards his feet.

Again, red clashed with yellow.

Over and over and over, faster than any training they'd ever done.

This wasn't a play battle, put on to teach or assess. This was life or death, and Ben knew who would come out alive.

The hum of the lightsabers filled the small room.

They danced around the center counter, where they had all eaten for over twelve years.

Ben was thrown back by a burst of Force into the stove, where he had cooked with Poe and the very Twi'lek he was fighting.

The two were almost perfectly matched in skill, but, with Ben's new power, he was stronger.

Finally, Onya was able to push him over with the Force, effectively disarming him.

He hadn't used any yet, waiting and saving his energy for later.

She approached him, lightsaber at the ready.

Ben lay, panting, one arm up on a chair, the rest of him in he ground, where he had landed.

"Why?" Onya asked, almost plaintively.

"You don't know true power," he said, surprised by how much lower his voice was with the Dark Side flowing through his veins.

"Ben, the Force is the truest power!"

"But the side you dare not use, that is strongest."

She raised her saber, eyes partially closed, and Ben knew that she had to kill him, and didn't want to watch.

His lightsaber lay just out of reach. He pulled it towards him using the Force, and blocked her.

With the blades still locked together, he stood.

It was time to use the mind-reading training Master had taught him.

He probed her mind, and her forehead furrowed in pain. But he didn't find what he was looking for.

"Where is Kilya?"

"I'll...never...say," she told him, straining against the pain.

But she had thought it, and he had what he needed. Kilya, last time she had seen her, was in a small room down the south corridor, meditating.

He smiled. "Thank you."

Then, a slash of his blade, and his childhood friend lay on the ground. Dead.

He stepped over her and opened the door with a few taps.

Kilya was where Onya's mind had told him. Except instead of meditating, she was cowering in the corner.

Ben thought that that would be easy.

He raised his saber and she barely deflected it.

He slashed again and the girl blocked that too.  She raised herself to her feet, using the back wall to support herself.

They made their way down the corridor, back and forth, Kilya winning for a bit, before Ben pushed her back.

He could sense her tiring.

Kilya slowly backed into a corner.

Ben chuckled slightly.  A child's move.

He slashed.

Two down.