Ben Solo

XXXVI

Ben was shaken. Kill them all?

But then he let the power flow through them.

This power is what drove his grandfather. It was what drove his Master. He could be more powerful with it.

He as the Jedi was weak, but as a Knight of Ren, he could be stronger.

There are two sympathizers of mine here as well.  Ben felt a flash of annoyance when Master interrupted him.  Two padawans of your uncle.

"Who?" he asked aloud, unafraid of being overheard.

Wyal Trace and Quin Schill.

Wyal was a quiet boy, with light hair and light eyes, but midnight skin.  Quin was nearly his opposite, with dark hair and eyes and pale skin.  The two were inseparable.

But he would have to wait, until all of the children arrived, the next day, and to tell Wyal and Quinn.

Ben pushed away the darkness for a bit.

Only one more day.

Then he could go and join the Knights of Ren.

He walked out into the hall and went outside to wait for Poe, Mei, and Kilya to get back.

It hit him that he would have to kill Mei. The girl he had trained in everything he had learned from his uncle, would have to be murdered by his own hand.

He shook that off.

The power he would have.

They landed and Poe slung his arm around his shoulders. "Ben!"

"Hey, Poe." He thought about having to kill his best friend. "When are you heading back?"

"Ready to see me gone already?" Poe laughed. "I've already overstayed my leave. I'll be heading back before dinner."

Ben nodded.

"Oh, by the way. I saw a few speeders headed this way with some of the first children. They should be arriving tonight and some tomorrow morning."

"Alright. But I'm not the one to tell that to. Tell Luke."

Poe laughed. "I just thought you might want to know."

"Okay."

"Why so gloomy?"

"I'm just tired. I haven't slept well."

Poe took his arm off of his friend's shoulders. "Puzzling over that burned-out village?"

"Y-yeah. Why did they just leave?"

His friend shrugged. "I don't know. But keep looking into it."

Mei ran up. "Master Luke! Can we duel?"

He shook his head. "Not now, but you may meditate."

Mei pouted and walked into her room.

He spent the rest of the day with Poe, Ilia, Onya, and Averann, who had all sent their padawans to meditate, dreadfully aware that that could be his last day with any of them.

Poe left just before dinner. He and Ben shared a long embrace.

"Keep yourself safe," he told his friend.

"You too. And keep the rest of these guys safe too. I'll be back in two weeks"

Ben smiled. Poe was blissfully unaware of what would happen. He would return on leave, only to find the academy in destruction.

"Goodbye, Ben."

He looked up. Poe was waving from his X-Wing.

Ben smiled and waved back.

He went inside.

The first of the children were arriving, twenty of them from the other two villages.

Soon, night fell, and they all went to bed.

The next day, in the morning, the others from Ira arrived.

There were now over fifty children in the academy, who were not training.

They allowed the, until dinner to settle in, then ordered all of the children to report to the training room. Luke told Ben to go in when he was ready, to give them a briefing on the rules, as the elder Jedi was going to go to Dunov to request more supplies from Han directly.

It was as though Master had influenced the minds of the other Jedi.

Ben stared at the two lightsabers sitting on his bed.

One straight green one. The Light Side.

One cross-beamed red one. The Dark Side.

He took up the red one, never to pick up the green one again.

Ben Solo, Jedi, was weak.

He was strong.

He tucked it under his cloak and walked down the hall to the training room.

May the Dark Side be with you, my apprentice, in your task at hand.

He acknowledged it.

Ben entered the training room. There were no padawans or Jedi in the room, only fifty children wandering around.

He reached for his saber, then let his hand fall.

Not yet.