THE FORCE

From: Arrun Zaine

Subject: A friendly message

Let's meet at Outpost Warden. I'll be waiting for you.

When Leena received the message, she didn't know what to do. Baras told her not to meet with him or Occlus anymore or else she would be receiving a different kind of pain than what was already given to her.

Vette noticed that her friend locked herself in her room, she didn't do her usual routine – practicing her lightsaber techniques in the balcony under the rain. 2V would come back to the Twi'lek stating that its master refused to eat even a single bite out of her food. It worried her.

Ever since she came home with burns and cuts on her back, Leena hasn't been much the same. She stayed silent, her eyes didn't scream fear of Baras but rather, it screamed revenge. She was angry, and slowly discovering the dark side of the Force through meditation and intense negative emotions. If she were to go against Baras, the apprentice knew that she had to completely commune with the dark side but at the same time, deep down inside – she knew that the dark side was lacking.

The Force tells her something else, it tells her that the dark side isn't the only way to personal evolution.

The Force has a plan, it always has a plan.

'Go to him'. That voice whispered to her. Unlike before, Leena didn't seem to be frightened or bothered by its presence. The voice that was once a stranger to her, became a familiar companion in which she no longer questions.

'Go to him.' The voice repeated. There was more to the voice than just something to guide her. She didn't know if it was the Force that spoke to her or something else, a familiar essence that is also connected to the Force.

'Go to him.' The voice repeated once more as the apprentice climbed out of her bed, preparing herself to go outside. The girl left her room, looking around to find the droid cleaning up in the kitchen and Vette fell asleep on the couch. It was already late at night. She hasn't eaten nor did she do anything but stay in her room and think.

Giving out a small sigh, Leena reached out her hand and lifted her Twi'lek companion with the Force, gently carrying her to her chambers and putting her down on the bed. With a small smile, Leena proceeded to leave the stronghold.

It was already late and the message was sent earlier that day.

'The Force is strong in you.' The voice continued to speak as she rode the speeder, heading towards the location Arrun said he would meet her. The cold feeling of the planet and the raindrops falling from the sky bothered her all too much. Regardless of the possible dangers that Baras holds on her life, she's drawn to this Sith Lord named Arrun Zaine, as he is drawn to this mere apprentice.

When she arrived at the outpost, he was there waiting for her under the rain. Looking up as their eyes meet, Arrun smiled and went towards her. But he stopped when he felt something else in her presence. He seemed shocked, as he gently placed his hand onto her cheek. Her grey eyes still on his.

"You were hurt." He mumbled.

"Punished." Leena corrected. There was no shames in her scars planted on her back, even when she was forbidden to see Darth Occlus – to see him, there she was, bold enough to disobey direct orders.

"Come walk with me." He gave out a small smile as he led her within the jungle. Deep down in the jungle where little people were, not a soul to hear what they have to say to each other – Baras wouldn't have any spies wandering around an unpopulated place.

He had to admit, the Citadel was reckless of him and it got her punished. He could feel the pain through the Force, the pain that was inflicted on her – the undesirable pain that screams around the galaxy. "How long has he been doing this?"

"Quite a while now," Leena admitted as they continued to walk through the pathway of the jungles. "He never hurt my face. He needed my face, the face of Zylas Sern's daughter… but the rest of me, he can do anything with the rest of me as long as I know my place."

"And what is your place?" Arrun asked, in worry and in curiosity.

"A place by his side. His right hand. His… enforcer. He wants to use me as a weapon, to show the Empire and the galaxy that he has successfully tamed a Sern." Leena spoke in frustration and anger. "He enjoyed beating me, torturing me – I could feel him smile behind that metal mask of his. I can still feel it… I don't mean in my tender heart, I can still feel what he did to my body and I know I'll feel it through the rest of my life."

"And what do you want to do?" The Sith Lord asked. "Do you plan on staying by his side for the rest of your life? Be tamed like a common animal?"

"I'll have his head… and I'll do it with or without the Force."

The Sith Lord smiled in amusement to her answer. "You made a stranger choice. A unique choice, really. And know that, that is the true lesson of strength. To turn away from strength that isn't your own. You are beautiful to me, Leena. The Force is strong with you – and I feel that the Force has a great plan for you."

"With or without the Force," she repeated. "I excel in my combat skills and yet, I know that I need to fully commune with the dark side of the Force if I want to be free from Baras's shackles."

"We all demand a simple answer and we refuse to look within," Arrun stated as he stopped by within a cave. Shielding them from the rain in the middle of the night. He finds her answer rather simple for her problem and it wasn't enough. "That is the essence of failure."

"What would you have me do then?" Leena asked as she crossed her arms in front of him. Waiting for an answer.

"Light and dark exist in perfect balance forming a nexus in the Force." He began to explain. Quoting words from a Dark Lord who expressed his opinion on the Force when he was only a mere apprentice. "It is some sort of paradox, it empowers and imprisons, destroys and unites – it binds the galaxy together and it tears people apart. It has a will but needs a commander. There is no greater challenge than to change from within but that is what we all must do to survive on countless worlds. I watched Sith and Jedi sacrificed themselves to delay inevitable defeat. The Force is in motion, and we must follow – but the old ways aren't enough. And it will never be enough."

He continued. "The Sith Code teaches us to break our chains, but freedom is not your ultimate goal." This phrase confused her. She wanted freedom from Baras, that's all she ever wanted from this galaxy. But for him, he believes that the Force has something greater for her than mere freedom from her master. "You must anchor yourself to power."

"That sounds like something that only the dark side can grant me, the lust for power, the greed for it… that's all Baras."

"The Jedi approach the Force as a companion and the Sith try to enslave it, but we have to trust the will of the Force. You have strong potential, something sleeps inside of you, Leena. A dragon waiting for the right moment to breathe its fire. Until you embrace your full potential, you will only be a pawn of fate and never its master. Our masters will tell us to dismiss the Jedi Code, but even I see that we are wrong. There is no death, there is the Force. And it has a plan, the will of the Force is a flowing current you can follow or fight, but it is always there. Even when it has no truth."

"How will I do that? I have to be Sith, Arrun – I need to be free from him!"

Arrun placed his hands on both of her cheeks. Looking into her eyes, she has yet to be corrupted, invested in the dark side of the Force. But she can be more than what she believes she can be. "Then I want you to do better. You have the heart of a Sith and you will have a power that the galaxy has never seen… but do you want to be like me? A monster with the dark side of the Force?"

Looking into his yellow eyes, he is corrupted with the dark side of the Force. The only thing that kept him communing with it fully was the teachings of his master, Darth Occlus who has learned to balance both sides of the Force in the name of the Empire. "To forge the future, you must first break with the past."

He was drawn to her because there was still light inside, there's still good despite all of the teachings of the Sith she learned throughout the years. The conflict within – but the true war isn't one waged my armies or droids. The true war is waged in the heart of all living things, against their natures – light or dark. Its what shapes and binds the galaxy together, not these creations of man.

She has fear inside of her. She has hate, she has anger, but she doesn't use them. We all wage war with our past, and it leaves scars. In battle, words do not exist giving way to actions, mercy, sacrifice, anger, fear – these raw feelings of expression. "I failed myself, and I won't fail you – do you understand me?"

Arrun wasn't afraid of dying. He didn't care what Baras might do to him if he found out about his meetings with the apprentice continued. He was more afraid of surviving until the end of the war, discovering that he would be all alone. And everyone he knew and cared for would be gone. He was raised and taken up as Darth Occlus's apprentice and son and they say that the woman behind the mask lost everything.

Not just emotions but life as well. He didn't want to be that and he wanted her to be better. "You are beautiful to me, Leena. The Force has a great plan for you… embrace it."

He was like a hand stretching outward and she found her, far away alone in the dark. He viewed himself as a monster, the kind of monsters that haunt her every dream turning them into nightmares. Which caused her to scream in pain and agony. And he stood there in front of her, holding her close – he's Sith but he's not a monster.

He has touched the Force – and he no longer felt its absence, he could feel it. He felt standing on a cloud, witnessing everything set into motion, singing its own chorus even within the darkness of their hearts. He feels this moment, as long as it lasts. It was like feeling life as it is.

"Wipe the fear from your mind." He whispered. "If you believe the dark side can grant you the power to defeat Baras, imagine what kind of power you will hold if you master both sides of the Force… in balance."

"That's impossible," claimed the apprentice as she took her step back. Looking at the Sith Lord with confusion. "No one can master both sides of the Force."

"You believe that because that's what you were told." Arrun continued to speak his wisdom. "We were told that the dark side is stronger, that the Sith are stronger than the Jedi all because we could feel the spectrum of emotion running through our veins, it grants us more connected to the Force, and they were wrong."

The Lord sighed and took something out of his pocket, some sort of token as he placed it onto Leena's hand. "You don't have to decide now… I'll be off-world with Darth Occlus for a mission in the name of the Empire. I… don't know when I will return but, I do hope that you will consider my offer. Master both sides of the Force."

"I don't understand…" the apprentice was honest. "…What's this token for?"

"They're located at the deepest parts of the jungle, show them this token and they will show you the way."

"The way of what?"

"The way of Revan." Leena continued to look into his eager gaze. The curiosity in her mind was consuming her. His words were like a mesmerizing song going through her ears and being implanted in her heart. She wanted to be free of Baras and at the same time, a voice spoke to her: 'There is more to the galaxy than freedom.'

"You will not walk his path as the Master will tell you but rather… you will learn and reflect, gain your own experience and hardships like every living being in the galaxy. There is more than what the Sith can teach us, and there is more than what our Masters expect from us – there is only you."

She was lost in his corrupted eyes, but no matter how connected he is to the dark side of the Force – she could feel the warmth that he wanted to give. She was beautiful to him, unlike anything he's ever seen. Her curiosity, her smile, he found the ray of sunshine inside of his dark soul and yet he knew he could never go beyond where he stood. Her connection to the Force was remarkable, powerful to the point where even he suspected that she has a power that no one has seen for a thousand years.

Perhaps she may receive it well and show the galaxy what the Force can be like in balance.

'Feel this moment,' he thought to himself. 'For as long as it lasts.'

He knew first hand that the galaxy can be cruel and there would be no point in returning once the steps were taken. She was still there in the light, and he prayed to the stars that she would never go deep in the dark as he did. She was worth every star in the sky to him. As cruel as it sounds, he would have killed the galaxy to preserve her. He would have let the galaxy die – for her to achieve her destiny.

"Always… you."