Star Wars Episode X: The Shroud of The Dark Side

Chapter 17:Ben Solo

Ben woke up and realized immediately that he was in a nightmare. In front of him was sith lords from the past and present looking at him. He recognized Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, and Darth Caedus. They didn't say anything to him but just stood there. It was an oddly creepy feeling. Ben looked around him and saw that he was in the death star. It was the Emperor's room, and he only knew this from studying the old starship from when the First Order was making Starkiller base. He stood up.

"Can I. Can I help you all?" Ben asked, his heart pounding.

"Join us Ben. We can give you everything." Darth Caedus tempted him, smiling.

"No. Not ever again. I will never fall back to the dark side." Ben confidently said.

Darth Caedus frowned but Darth Sidious smiled.

"If you will not join. Then we will take everything from you.." He laughed.

There was silence for a moment, with the only sound being Darth Vader's breathing.

"You are weak. The girl is holding you back. Love holds you back." Vader insistent angrily.

"No! This isn't real. You're not real!" Ben snapped.

"Not real... Is this real?" Darth Sidious stuck out his hand and shocked Ben with force lightning. He screamed and fell to the ground. It sure felt real. Sidious stopped, and Ben shakily stood up. He was smoking.

"You can't. You can't get me. I won't break." Ben breathed hard.

"What about my sister?" Darth Caedus asked.

"She would never turn. She's better than all of us." Ben was sure that they couldn't get to Rey.

"No no no. You misunderstand me. What if we took Rey out of the picture? We don't need her. You don't need her. But we need you Ben. Help us." Darth Caedus shook his head at the idea of Rey joining them.

"Don't touch her. Leave her alone, this is between us." Ben demanded.

"She's my sister. This was ALWAYS between me and her. But that's obsolete. She's already out of the picture." He smiled.

"What do you mean? What did you do, I told you that this isn't real!" Ben was getting angry but trying to keep it from controlling him.

Vader stepped forward and grabbed him by the throat and picked him up.

"You are a failure. You were to be my successor. This is very real. And I will show you the power of the dark side. The power that you turned your back to." He walked back in the room with Ben still struggling to get free. Vader threw him across the room and Ben hit something wet and cold. He looked at his hand and noticed blood. Ben stood up and spun around and was speechless and out of breath at the sight. It was Rey's body. Bloody and mangled. Ben was shaking. This isn't real, it can't be real. I'm in a nightmare, this isn't real. He walked backward and ran into gnarled hands. Darth Sidious grabbed him and threw him again. When Ben slammed on the floor next to his dead wife, Sidious shot lightning at him again. Ben screamed with pain. He couldn't move or breath and just heard laughing. They stopped when he was nearly dead. He twitched a few times. Darth Vader walked over to him and ignited his lightsaber. He looked down at Ben and swung down. Right as Ben would have been cut in half he woke up. He screamed when he woke up suddenly and fell off the bed. On his way down he slammed his head into his nightstand. Groaning Ben stumbled up.

"What happened, are you ok??" Rey had gotten up and ran over to him.

"Yea... Yea. It was just. Nothing. It's fine." Ben shook his head.

"Ben." Rey looked at him concerned.

He sighed. "I. Had a dream. A really bad dream. I think it was real. Well realish."

"What do you mean? What happened??" Rey took his hand and sat down on the bed next to him.

Ben told her what he had dreamt and sighed again. "I was able to have connections to Darth Vader when I was on the dark side. I think it's possible that Darth Caedus has too."

"But. Not all of it was real. I'm not dead. And you couldn't have been shocked by Darth Sidious, nothing happened to you here, you just moved a lot." Rey was trying to convince him that nothing had happened and while he wanted to believe her he didn't know if he could.

Ben stroked his neck. "It all felt like it happened. Like Vader picked me up by the throat. It hurt then and it hurts now. I don't know what's happening but if your brother is learning from our grandfathers then we need to hurry and find a way to stop him. The dark side has many abilities that are stronger than anything the light side could ever imagine."

"What do you mean? The light side is strong too. In history the lightside usually wins.." Rey scratched her head.

"The lightside users can usually control their power more. They usually last longer in life too. Think about the dark side like a huge firecracker that is really strong but doesn't last very long. The light side would be like a candle. Soft and beautiful, but it can still cause damage if needed. But the candle will last much longer than the firecracker. The dark side is the reason that Palpatine came back. Or Darth Sidious? I don't know what to call him now." Ben explained this and checked his body for any marks from the dream.

"So what do we do? We need to find out what he's up to and how to stop him." Rey stood up, and then winced and sat back down.

Ben shrugged. "I don't really know what we do. Prepare for war. If the Yuuzhan Vong and the Black Sun are teaming up with the new sith then we need to be prepared for everything. It also is possible that Darth Caedus is going to find an apprentice. Then we need to be ready for that too. There's a lot of things to look out for..."

"We'll figure something out. Soon. Please go to bed. We can worry about this later. Something will happen soon that will be good for us." Rey was trying to find the words to comfort him but Ben knew that she was making this up as she went. Hopefully They would have enough time to come up with something. They didn't have any leads and they didn't have a big enough army. Ben knew that Rey didn't want the Jedi to get involved with any war, but at this point it might be impossible. Something big was coming. Something that would change the Galaxy forever.