Force Destiny

Conflict

Kylo felt cold. It was a bone-numbing cold, and he had felt it once before on Starkiller. There was the pull of the Force around him, but his senses weren't heightened as they should have been. Distantly, Kylo knew he was still safe in bed, asleep, but this felt too real to be a dream. At first, he believed it was a memory of Starkiller, when he collapsed into the snow. But his face didn't burn as it had then. In fact, nothing hurt. Kylo looked up to find one of his Knights standing over him in the snow. There was something off about the Knight's posture, something threatening. Reaching into the Force, he recognized the familiar energy.

Jacen.

When he sensed a warning in the Force, Kylo pushed himself to his feet and ignited his lightsaber. He barely lifted his blade to meet Jacen's swift strike. His body, however, didn't respond with the strength and power he was accustomed to. He found himself on the defensive. With every block and parry, he grew weaker. He could barely stand. Groaning through gritted teeth, he struggled against Jacen's wrath. His arms shook as the weakness overwhelmed him. This fight would be to the death, but Kylo knew he wasn't strong enough to overpower the other Knight.

"The mighty Kylo Ren can barely wield his own lightsaber! Snoke was right; you are weak and foolish, like your father!" Jacen laughed. There was no fear in the other Knight's eyes as there once had been when they faced each other. Kylo could see the thrill of recognition; Jacen knew his master was struggling, his body was surrendering to whatever weakness possessed him. No matter how skilled Kylo was, they both knew he would fall.

Physically, they were close to equally matched, even when Kylo was at his strongest. But Kylo could barely stand, and he couldn't feel his connection to the Force. He had always wished he had been born without Force-sensitivity, but in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to feel its power surge through his veins. Kylo was struggling against a man who knew his every weakness in a duel, but without the Force, it was no contest. His fate was an inevitability. Kylo didn't fear death, but his mind was screaming that if he fell, there would be no one to stand between Jacen and Rey. He didn't know how, but it was a truth he was certain of. If it was the last thing he did, he wouldn't let her fall because of his mistakes.

Enough people had already died because of him. Jacen was right; he was weak and foolish. But his father was not. He had known what Kylo was too blind to see and knew that sacrificing himself was the only way to save... The realization settled over him with shivering clarity.

"I won't fight you, Jacen. You have what you want. Let her go." Kylo said, raising his hands in surrender. "Please."

"If you won't fight, then you will die," Jacen sneered. "You may have been like my brother, but you took my sister from me. I will make you suffer, Kylo." His eyes flashed with bitter contempt, and Kylo immediately recognized it as something he had seen in his own eyes when he looked in the mirror. Kylo hadn't taken Jaina from him; he would have remembered that. Still, something inside him knew Jacen wasn't lying. There was yet another ghost he would have to atone for.

"I'm being torn apart," Kylo whispered to his old friend, "I want to be free of this pain. I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it. Will you help me?" He swayed as he struggled to stand, staring into the eyes of the person he had failed. Jacen nodded once. They both knew it was the truth; this was the way it had to end. Rey screamed from somewhere behind him, but his understanding that she was there only served to reinforce his decision. Through their bond, he had no doubt she could sense his grim acceptance and resolution; she knew what he was going to do.

Jacen cautiously walked toward his old friend, but Ben made no attempt to move. They both knew he had no strength left to fight. His knees shook as he struggled to stand. His hand let his deactivated lightsaber slip to the skyway with a loud clang. He kept his eye on the Knight as he approached but also on the woman closing in on them. She was nearly upon them.