Tormented • Kylo Ren/Ben Solo

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"This is how the world works, you gotta leave before you get left"

28 ABY

It was dark out, so dark that it looked as though a black blanket had covered the sky, riddled with minuscule bits of white. As he crept closer to his destination, he could hear crickets and frogs in the grass, and although those sounds calmed him, nothing could ever soothe the anxiety and fear he was feeling.

Shaking, heart pounding, Luke crept closer to the hut.

For months, years even, he's felt a shift in his nephew. He, of course, has had to deal with the news about his grandfather, but this was something else. Something more had occurred in Ben. Something dark.

It saddened him to think that his nephew may be going through something, and didn't confide in him. Opening the hut's door, Luke went in.

The hut was filled with Ben's things; his calligraphy set, books, clothes, and pictures of him and his friends.

And in the center, he lay on his bed, sound asleep.

The Jedi master stalked towards him, his posture rigid. He was worried, afraid. Of what? He couldn't exactly tell.

He examined his nephew for a minute. Ben's breathing was slow, smooth. His narrow face was facing the side, away from Luke. And Luke may not have seen this, but there was even a small smile playing on Ben's lips.

Luke hasn't come here to check up on how Ben was sleeping, however. He raised his hand towards his nephew and closed his eyes. He tried to probe Ben's mind, see what was going on. What he saw had caused him to be appalled.

Ben's mind was filled with thoughts about Vader, passion, and thirst for power.

Luke felt sick. Ben was going on a path to be another Vader. He could practically already see the blood on his nephew's hands.

Another Vader could not happen. The amount of destruction and pain he caused cannot be allowed to return. Luke couldn't just allow what he had risked his life and youth for to simply go to waste. The Jedi were supposed to bring peace, not ruin the gal-

Luke stopped.

He looked to his hand to see that his lightsaber was already ignited, prepared to strike.

Suddenly he felt helpless, and a tear threatened to run down his cheek. As quickly as he could, with with shame and sorrow, he turned off his lightsaber.

Then he looked down to realize that he was too late. Ben, eyes shining with tears and bottom lip trembling, was looking up at him. His skin paler than usual, and Luke could tell that it wasn't just due to the moonlight shining into the hut through Ben's window.

A flash. He raised his own arm to bring the hut down.

Luke, frozen, could only yell a strangled, "Ben, no!" before the walls came crashing down on top of him.

A moment past. Two. Three.

Heaving and shaking, Ben emerged from the ruble. He couldn't hear anything except his own heartbeat, as he tried to rap his mind around his what had occurred.