Kylo Ren turned to face the ghost behind him. His eyes narrow as he looks the unfamiliar form up and down. He doesn't look very intimidating but Ren can feel the great power of his Force swelling around him. His instincts kick in and he begins pacing back and fourth, a fear tactic that bolsters his own confidence while lessening his enemies.

The young man is a threat, it's as clear as his strength in the Force.

This is like no dream Ren's had before. His eyes never leave his supposed grandfather's face yet he measures him from head to toe. He's dressed like a Jedi, not a master Jedi or a Knight, but a padawan. He wears long brown robes over a white tunic and brown under shirt complete with the plain brown trousers. His hair is short and light in comparison to Ren's and he has a single long braid running past his right shoulder. The young man claiming to be his grandfather is no more then maybe seventeen and a padawan of many years, judging by the length of his braid.

"A bit young to claim such a title aren't you?" Kylo Ren's voice comes out viperous, he can't help but feel slightly intimidated by the boy Jedi who houses the strength of a Master. His eyes picked up on the slight smile that pulls at the young man's mouth and Ren begins to circle the humor filled specter like prey.

"Well, you certainly have the whole Dark side act down don't you?" Grey eyes shine with amusement as Ren patrols around him.

"Act?" Ren arced a brow in the direction of the spirit. His head cocks and his hand opens as he debates wether or not to call his lightsaber to it.

His supposed grandfather chuckles and he turns to face his grandson. "You can't kill a ghost Ben, the past is the past, the memories will always linger and so will I." He says casually through a charming smile on the same lips that smirked at him only moments ago.

"My name is Kylo Ren." He informs the grinning ghost.

"Ahh yes, the infamous Master of the Knights of Ren. You've taken quite a shine to that title haven't you?" The Jedi's smile fades and his eyes grow sharp with an intensity that shouldn't belong to one so young.

Ren's feet stop in their tracks. His head tilts deeper to the left as his eyes still carefully inspect the features of the deceased stranger. There was something about him... something so familiar yet unrecognizable in his eyes.

"I see you've put my Acolytes to a better use then I... but then; I was never really the warrior type. You have a nack for it thought don't you? You like the brute force that goes into the hand to hand combat. I was more of a dictator myself, a leader by Force if you will." The young ghost stares at his grandson with a prideful bewildered look in his eyes as he reminisces over a time long since passed.

Ren almost wished he was his grandfather, he'd give most anything to see Lord Vader look on him with such unabashed pride but this could not be him. Why of all times would he choose to come to Ren now?

"Watching my wife's belly grow... I hoped for a son. When I found out she'd survived long enough to birth me one and he survived; I'd rather imagined he'd be like you..." His words trailed of and his eyes looked momentarily distant. Ren's thumb ran over the engager of his lightsaber as though debating or maybe just itching. The Force ghost gave him an approving smirk that twisted his innocent looking features into something frightening, even for his young age.

"Yes, if Luke had been like you... well, you'd have grown up in a much different universe then the one you currently occupy." His hands clasped together, his fingers intertwining all except his thumbs, he left their pads pressed together, his brown robes nearly covering his hands down to his knuckles. The stance was something he'd picked up from his old Master, Obi Wan. Bright grey eyes blinked at his speechless grandchild.

"Turns out that was probably for the best. I made too many mistakes in my time..." His grey eyes gleamed with something Ren hadn't seen in a long time.

The hope in them melted the hard metal irises into quicksilver and that look was shining in Kylo's direction placing an unknown weight on his shoulders. It was strange, he already felt like he had the responsibility of his grandfather's legacy on his back, why then did this feel like a different burden?

Anakin's head tilted to match the angle of his predecessor. "I didn't imagine you as the quiet type... or maybe you're just a little slow. I suppose the combination of brooding around, slashing things up and your unstable temperament must make it hard to make friends hmm?" He teased his grandson into a response, goading him out of silence.

"What do you want spirit?" Ren spit the last word from his mouth as though it tasted poorly on his tongue.

"Of all the times I've had to listen to your prattle... you're misguided, skewed pleas... how many times have you bowed before my mask and asked for my guidance? How often have you come crying to me to show you the power that is already yours to take?" His haunting silver eyes ignited with power. They bore into Kylo Ren and he felt the heavy pressure of their weight bearing down on him.

"You... you can't be..." Kylo's breathy words barely reached the ears of the specter.

"Ahh, so there is a bit of intellect behind all of that power. I thought there might be, I was certainly hoping you weren't daft." The taunting ghost chided, his grandfather speaking a language Ren understood, using sarcasm and taunts to pull speech from him like a weapon.

Kylo Ren's lightsaber ignited in his hand, bathing the walls and floor around them with an eerie red illumination.

"Ah yes... the anger." The ghost sucked in a breath of air as though enjoying the taste of it. "Potent... bitter... strong.... yet lacking... always lacking."

Ren's nostrils flared. How dare this imposter mock him! He gritted his teeth and his jaw flexed. "I can't help but wonder, was it that charming mouth of yours that led to your early demise or your inability to see a threat before them?" Ren fired back, his annoyance replacing his outward curiosity with his normal armor of cocky arrogance. His anger made him more comfortable, giving him his tongue back.

The air around him hummed with the response of the ghost's power. Kylo clenched his jaw tighter. He wouldn't show the effect he was feeling under the apparition's strength but he did feel it. His skin prickled from head to toe. His shoulders and chest felt heavy under the pressure around him. The fine hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

"Tell me Ben... that pull to the Light that you keep ignoring... where do you think it's been coming from?" The ghosts eyes hardened and he grew very sullen and very serious.

Something shot through Kylo's chest... his mind raced. It couldn't be... No, my grandfather wants me on this path, he's guiding me, leading me. He helped set me on this path... I will not doubt you grandfather.

He's a liar, an imposter! His Darkness warned him but Kylo still had to ask...

"Why not show yourself sooner then?" He tried to keep the level of his voice but he could hear the genuine longing in his words.

"Your Master is powerful, he keeps you in your own mind, locked down by your fears and doubts. He plagues you. I am shamed to admit that his hold on you runs deeper then my own. He's been with you a long, long time Ben. You know he has roots in your mind... you can feel them there, I know you can."

Vader sent you to him... this imposter lies! His Darkness fell into unison with his memories.

"I told you, my name is not... " His hissing tongue halted in his seething mouth as a rush of intense power blazed through the room. Suddenly the boy began to age before his eyes.

His hair grew into long, sandy blond waves, much like kylo's but his own was longer and darker. A long thin scar ran across his right brow and Kylo almost found himself reaching for his own mark. The Force ghost's attire changed with his age. Now he donned a rich dark brown tunic but the rest of his gear was black, still in the form of Jedi's training garb but the colors were nothing like he'd ever seen back at the temple Luke had trained him at.

"I am your blood. I am your DNA. I will call you what I see fit and while you are in my presence you will not disrespect my daughter with any other title then the one she chose for you when she gave you life!" The ghost of Anakin Skywalker spoke with authority and the power in the room thickened further still.

Ren was finding it difficult to breath but he did not let up. The ghost was challenging him. Real or imagined... he could not let that go unspoken for.

"I am Kylo Ren, Master of the Kni..."

"You are Ben Solo Skywalker! Son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Skywalker! You are MY grandson! You need no other titles or ranks to speak for your person or for the power that you wield; do not think to hide behind them now!"

"If you are who you say you are then your opposition is hypocritical at best... Lord Vader." His grandson retorted in a mocking tone.

Ren clearly still didn't believe that the ghost before him was his grandfather and why should he? He'd been seeking his guidance since he was a boy and he'd never appeared before now. Kylo had experienced whispers, dreams and on rare occasions sometimes even visions, but as far as he knew,  the Force ghost had never reached out to him.

The ghost's countenance softened. For the briefest of moments he almost looked embarrassed when.Ren had addressed him as Vader, but then his face hardened. His eyes seared with the heat of his power and he smiled at the last remaining hope for his bloodline. He raised his arms in front of him, lifted his head and straightened his spine.

Dark heavy liquid seeped out from his skin like thick oozing tar. It clung to his form. It ran down his legs in thick ropes of black fluid until it coated his entire body. The gooping substance spread from his chest to climbed up his neck then down his shoulders and back.

Ren's mouth dried as he watched the spectacle before him. Every breath he tried to swallow down burned with the heat of the ghosts growing Force essence. The young man aged, his face wilted and scarred before Ren's eyes. His skin paled to a sickly grey and his hair singed until it completely disappeared, leaving behind thick burned skin. Finally the black liquid climbed over the new face of the clearly tortured man, consuming the bright power filled eyes that gazed knowingly into Ren's own dark stare. The substance hardened and the ghosts breathing slowed into a deep unnatural rhythm that kept it's timed tempo with the guidance of the computer that was programmed to control all of the Dark Sith's major organs.

Darth Vader's unmoving mask stared blankly in the direction of his grandchild. For a long moment the only sound between them was that of the robotic breaths coming from within the faceless mask. There were buttons along the Dark Lord's chest that Kylo could only imagine were for the purpose of setting the simplest of his bodily functions, such as the obvious breathing apparatus he had installed within the mask of his helmet. Kylo he was surprised at how clunky all of his gear was. He could see why the boy had admitted to being more of a dictator then a fighter. His armor was impractical for hand to hand combat, but then, if this really is Darth Vader... what use for hand to hand would there be?

"Is this what you were hoping to see when we met?" The ghost's voice had deepened significantly.

His speech had slowed, he had no choice there. The controlled timing of his breathing forced him to take pauses in between his sentences to accommodate his need to breath. The Dark figure raised his arms out to his sides becoming his grandson to inspect him. He made no other movements as he waited for the young man to comply.

Kylo took the motion for what he assumed it was. He was daring enough to circle the Sith before him. He inspected him form head to toe again. His build had changed and Kylo knew why. He could see where the armor had thickened to accommodate having mechanical parts from his technological era. Both legs had been replaced by the parts, at least one hand, maybe both and he was betting that most of the controls on his chest were for his internals.

"You've seen better days." There was a slight smile on Ren's face but it was not from humor. Nothing close to that. He wore the facade to hide his discomfort... his fear. The ghost's current form made the muscles beneath his skin itch.

"You have no idea... but I'm going to show you... you're going to witness my rise and fall first hand."

Kylo's face twisted in a flashed of confusion and fear. He didn't know why the ghost's words cracked across his spine like a whip across his back but he felt it just the same. He tensed against the invading power of Anakin Skywalker as the ghost forced his way into his mind. Kylo mentally raised his walls but he was too late. The probing hand of Darth Vader dug into him. He was not able to extract from Ren's mind but he could share his past through Force visions and he did so brutally.

His body jerked from the sudden assault that over took his mind. Quick flashes of the life of the ghost before him implanted in his brain. Kylo saw in detail everything his grandfather had gone through from his youth to his adolescence. The history burned into his cortex in a quick searing strike of lightning. The images slowed into drawn out scenes as the boy became a man. He witnessed everything first hand. Jedi mission flashed through his mind as he witnessed bonds being formed with his fellow Jedi Masters and peers... then there was Padmé.

Ren witnessed the restraints placed around their relationship. He felt the familiar tearing of a heart caught between the loyalty for the brothers he found within the Jedi and his first and only love. He felt his loyalties swaying from the Jedi who would keep her from him and from the lathes and codes he believed in. He felt the accepting pull to the Dark. He witnessed the deception at the hands of both the Dark and Light side as each pushed and pulled Anakin in a different direction.

Anakin struggled inwardly and outwardly over the relationship that he would inevitably pursue in secrete. Things only worsened for the young man from there. The two sides tugged at him, they split him apart until he lost himself. Eventually the manipulation from the Dark side and the thoughts placed within his ancestor's head became to much and fearing the worst for his family, the young Jedi snapped.

Oceans of blood flowed under his grandfather's fall and Kylo felt his stomach twist with disgust, disscontempt, and fear not over his grandfather, but what his own future might look down should he stay on the path he was on now. Anakin had killed without thought and there was very little remorse in the young man. Some how he was able to shut it all off, tune it all out. Kylo couldn't help but wonder how he did that.

How did one keep their demons from gnawing at their soul? What made him immune to that suffering but not Kylo? Perhaps that truly was the power that came from becoming a Sith, but it wasn't Kylo's intention to give up his ability to feel emotion and to complete what he set out to do, he needed to become a master of both the Dark and the Light. He doubted there could be peace after becoming a Sith.

The memories continued to burrow painfully. They drilled into Ren's aching brain until his eyes reared from the ache. Kylo could not believe when he saw the devotion and compassion Kylo had just witnessed for Padmé crumble under his blind rage. He stood only feet away from her, her belly large with his bairn, his arm was outstretched and his Force coursed through his hand as he used it to chock the life out of her.

Kylo couldn't help but recoil at the memory. His heart contracted. There was something about this scene that felt to close to home. He feared the embers that shot through his mind would catch hold and ignite the path of his future. He watched his young grandmother drop to the ground, nearly dead at her husbands feet, her twins unknown to them at the time, were clinging to life within her womb.

He had no time to recover from the burning in his chest before he witnessed the battle between his grandfather and a young Obi Wan Kenobi, the same Ben he'd been named after. This was not the battle that had been taught to him at the temple he grew up in. He had been told that the two masters fighting had been Anakin and Darth Vader and that Vader had won in the end but it didn't matter, he'd learned this version years later through the records of the Acolytes.

The actual battle was glorious, sabers danced and clashed as the two Jedi's took to opposing paths. They moved with a grace and awareness that Kylo longed to experience. He dreamed of having such a battle, the closest he'd gotten was between Rey and himself in their blazing hate fueled passion.

The extent of the damage done to Anakin's body was nearly impossible to recover from, but he did. It had been painful to witness though. He watched his grandfather pull and drag at the ashen ground beneath him, his limbs severed by a man he loved like a brother. He expected the Jedi to help him, he expected some kind of effort to aid him, maybe an attempt to save him from his broken mind over time while the fallen Jedi healed from the physical wounds he'd sustained, but instead he witnessed his Light side Master abandoning him.

Obi Wan Kenobi watched his friend and Apprentice struggle against his defeated body as it ignite from the searing heat of the flowing lava inches from his severed legs. His body burned and melted before the Jedi's feet and Kenobi just walked away, leaving him to his excruciating demise. He would have slowly burned alive had it not been for his Dark Master.

This was a turning point for Anakin Skywalker. He'd already chosen the Dark path, he'd proven it when he slaughtered the countless younglings at the very Jedi temple he studied in, nearly taken his wife's life, though he was told she hand survived their encounter, and when he fought his Jedi Master, openly declaring him an enemy as his former brother in arms left him to die.

"I hate you!" Anakin's words burned into Kylo Ren's head with the searing intensity of the lava around his blistering body. Kylo nearly buckled from the pain in his head. His hands cupped either temple and he squeezed in an attempt to offer his skull any kind of comfort he could but it was no help and the memories continued.

Anakin's torment didn't end there. His body was reconstructed but his mind was left fractured. He was told that he'd killed his wife along with his unborn child and Anakin had no reason to believe otherwise as his former brothers had done nothing to dis assuage the false information that was fed to him by Palpatine. In fact their attempt at protecting his wife and children had led to Padmé's death and their separation. Perhaps if Vader had know the truth, he would have returned to the Light, if for nothing else then his family sake.

The children that were separated from birth and hidden away from the newly risen Sith didn't know of their siblings existence or their heritage until they were young adults and his wife, kylo's grandmother, had died shortly after their birth from an actual broken heart shortly after she was told that Anakin hadn't survived the encounter with Obi Wan.

Kylo couldn't imagine how such a strong woman could give up so easily, but then, for some unknown reason he pictured Rey turning completely against him. Abandoning him, leaving no doubt in his mind that she cared nothing for him or his existence. Kylo could almost survive on the hate and pain that would leave him with but then he pictured her lifeless and he wondered if he could survive that?

It was a foolish and weak thought. A misplaced thought, as though Rey would ever reciprocate his feelings for her back, let alone long enough for them to have a family... Maybe it was his bloodline that made him care so deeply where she seemed to be so much less affected by their bond then himself. Perhaps he was more like his grandmother then anyone else, passionate to a fault.

The pain through out Anakin's life continued to crack and sear through Kylo. His vision blurred with the blinding images that would now forever linger in his mind as though they were his lessons to been learned. Kylo felt a sharp hate for the Light side, but to his surprise, he felt just as much for the Dark. Anakin was promised so much that was never given. In fact he'd suffered worse at the hands of his Master then that of the Light side. Both men understood why his family was hidden away from him. In his current state of mind he would have raised his children in the Dark. Maybe if Padmé had survived he could have been brought back, but after her death, there was nothing left of Anakin to be salvaged.

He became a slave to his Master's will, he followed his orders like an obedient pup. Always promised a life that was never granted to him; always blamed for his misery until that pain became the chains that held him down. The chains of guilt that kept him locked to his Master's side. And then there was the discovery of his children; it was the first moment that true doubt crept in. The first moment he weighed his past and found himself wanting for things long lost and better off forgotten. He fought the Light that nipped at his heels. He convinced himself that he was undeserving of their forgiveness and he was probably right, but Luke had proven him wrong in the end. He had stood in the shadow of his father's sins and Darkness and he beamed with hope for his father's return.

The final scene that his grandfather had shared with him was one of betrayal and compassion. He'd finally turned his back on his abuser, and that was what his Master was, he used him for his strength, for his Power. Han Solo's final words echoed through his head once again, this time while Kylo witnessed his grandfather saving Luke form his Master's wrath.

"Snoke is only using you for your power..."

In the end Darth Vader had chosen his blood over his Master, over the Dark side. Kylo was stunned and crushed. He saw his father's fleeting form spiraling beneath him, falling further into the abyss below. Kylo had gone further then even Darth Vader had. He should have felt prideful but instead he felt the distinct tug of defeat. He felt like he failed at some test he wasn't sure he'd been taking. A test he'd blindly thought he passed. What a fool.

"So now you see..." His grandfather's form had changed again, this time to the man he'd been when he'd been a husband and soon to be father.

Kylo was lost in his own mind. What could he do with this information. He'd known most of it, but the grimy details made so much difference. He got the feeling that he was the only mind that Anakin had shared his life with. He knew this was his grandfather. There was no doubt about that now. The life he'd witnessed was too dark to have come from Luke's influence and it was too Light to be his own Master's doing, he'd never risk his Apprentice knowing so much about how used his grandfather had been. He was so powerful yet he'd remained a pawn his whole life. It changed so much about how he saw the ghost of the man before him.

The ghost looked back at him with turmoil in his stormy grey eyes. He looked pained. His eyes were strained from the memories that he'd just relived for the sake of his grandchild. "To that creature, you are a pawn Ben."

The ghost's words struck a cord somewhere deep. He couldn't help but feel the stab like a molten blade through his heart. Kylo was aware that Snoke had failed him in the past, he even knew that he couldn't be fully trusted in the future... he wasn't an idiot, not completely anyway, but he was still his Master and Kylo was loyal, that was his way. His Master had been the only one that hadn't yet abandoned him, he felt he owed him the same respect, at least until he became more powerful. Kylo would overthrow him one day. He would break his mental chains and take his freedom, he would earn his place on the thrown that his Master currently occupied.

Kylo raised his chin, stubborn as ever. He didn't fall this deep into the Dark side or cause the pain he knew he caused so that he could run back to the Light at the first sign of his doubt being proven correctly placed. The Light had still made more mistakes then the Dark, at least where Kylo was concerned, besides he still had work to do here first, he still had to much to accomplish and he needed the resources here to do that. He needed the power that came with his position to make a real difference.

"I'm not asking you to forsake the Dark Ben, but you can not deny the Light that burns in you either." His grandfather continued as though he could hear his inner thoughts and for a moment Kylo wondered if he could, but he doubted it, this gift was a rare one in the Force and Kylo had done enough research to know it was not one one his grandsons's abilities. His words though, they brought forward a more recent memory...

"The First Order rose from the Dark side, you did not..." The words of Lor San Tekka.

"I'll show you the Dark side..." The response of Kylo Ren.

"You may try, but you can not deny the truth that is you're family!" The final words of Lor San Tekka... an old family friend... before I killed him.

"You're so right..." Kylo's words had never been so right...

You are Kylo Ren. This ghost is toying with your head. You are Ben no more. Ben is gone! Ben was weak! You are strong! His Darkness reassured him.

"I'm Kylo Ren, Master of Ren, Apprentice to The Supreme Leader and Master of the Dark side, there is no Light left in me!" It was only a half lie, but it was still a lie and both he and his grandfather knew it.

"You would dare lie to me!?!" His grandfather's eyes blazed with dark power.

How was it that a Jedi spirit was able to have that amount of Darkness in him?

"Very well then Dark one, show me your commitment. You think killing your father has proven anything other then you have daddy issues?" The ghost taunted him.

Kylo opened his mouth to let out the fire that blazed within him but it all went away when a small girl suddenly appeared before him. His alarmed brown orbs flickered from the familiar frightened child to his grandfather then back again.

"Well, come now Kylo Ren, prove your the Dark sider you claim to be. Prove you're like me..." His grandfather said causally. His shifting eyes took in the shock and self doubt on his grandson's suddenly worried face. "Kylo... it's just a youngling, there are many more out there, they plague the worlds like locusts." He shrugged bowing closer to the small child.

An image of a young Anakin slaughtering innocent younglings flashed through his mind again, and Kylo suddenly felt sick. He looked back over the young girl who looked smaller then he remembered but perhaps that was because the last time he'd stood before her at this age, he'd been but a boy himself. Her bright hazel eyes rimmed with tears. She was terrified of him, she didn't recognize him and why should she, he looked as he did now, not as that young boy she knew and trusted then.

"Ben... Ben...?" She cried, squeezing her eyes shut tightly as though the simple action would make the bad man go away, as though if she couldn't see him, he wouldn't be real.

Suddenly Kylo remembered this scene. He'd still been Ben, the boy she called to, and he'd found her curled up on the floor where he'd left her meditating in the temple. She was terrified of something he couldn't see. She was trembling, gazing up at someone invisible to Ben. He'd pulled her to him, cradling her, comforting her against whatever unseen force was tormenting her... it had been a vision of his future self.

While Ren was distracted by the memory of the past, his lightsaber suddenly ignited in his hand, only... he hadn't done it. His wide eyes flew back to his grandfather. The Sith's hand was open and he'd used the Force to ignite his lightsaber with little to no effort and in Kylo's distraction, nearly no resistance. The small girl fell back in her fear. He remembered Ben covering her with his body, his eyes searching the space behind him for whatever was terrifying his friend but he saw nothing. Kylo's eyes narrowed with unrestrained fury.

"Stop." He meant to sound stern but his voice cracked. His hand shook and his strength wavered. After everything his grandfather just showed him, what was the point of this?

"What's holding you back Ben? End her. Prove yourself... why drag this out?" The ghost asked raising Kylo's arm for him by the power of his Force through his Lightsaber. The girl squealed under the crimson light of his blade. Kylo gritted his teeth, he fought his grandfather's mind for the control of his lightsaber but he was so strong and the Kyber crystal within it's core responded to him as though it had no other Master, of course Kylo knew why... The crystal was in fact what remained of Lord Vader's destroyed lightsaber. It had since chosen Ben, but it recognized it's first Master as it's true Master before it did Kylo Ren.

"I have already proven myself to my Master, I have nothing to prove to you!" He fought against the power of the ghost to the right of him but his eyes never left the g girl's frightened face. Sweat glistened along his neck and temples. He knew the girl could see herself in the reflection of his eyes, he could see it in hers.

"You can't be so naive, I won't let you be so stubborn, so blind...You will not fail where I did!" His grandfather's dissatisfied voice scolded and Ren knew then, what he was intending to do.

Kylo felt the Force around his plasma blade tugging down and Ren countered the pull with his own. The girl screamed and cried. Somehow even though this couldn't be real, he knew she felt the heat of his lightsaber above her tiny frame. He felt his Force wavering. His growing fear did nothing to help his power and his anger only improved his strength so much, but his compassion... his compassion for her empowered him. He locked the saber above her and before his grandfather made a counter play his most basic instincts kicked in. Kylo Ren didn't even have to think about his next actions because he already accepted that she was his to protect, even now, in whatever messed up dream scape they were in, he knew he had to keep her safe. His Force began to draw his grandfather's into him. It was a power unlike anything he'd ever felt. He expected it to be more dark then Light, but he was sorely mistaken. There was so much Light in him. How was there so much Light in Darth Vader... ? Had he silently suffered torn between the two dueling sides of the Force the same as Ren had all of his life?

The ghost cocked his head to the side and his eyes narrowed curiously. His grandson had tricks he'd never even knew existed in the Force. Anakin could feel his Force being consumed, being dominated and claimed within his grandson. He had an understanding of the Force that would have changed so much for Anakin Skywalker. His power was so impressive. If only he wasn't too afraid and too angry to use all of it. He was capable of so much more. If only he realized what Anakin was certain of, Ben already knew deep down that the Light that he hid away was just as empowering as the Dark. He sensed his hold on his grandson's Kyber crystal weakening as it recognized the power of it's current master but he wasn't ready to end this lesson. It hadn't sunken into his stubborn grandchild's head yet. Why were all of the Skywalker's so stubborn, even Leia had that trait. The ghost ripped the lightsaber from his grandson's hand. It flew into his corporeal palm, yet somehow it landed with the sound of a smack.

"You can hide behind the name your Master gave you... you can mask yourself under that helmet in hopes to hide your origins from those around even from yourself all you want, but underneath... you're still Benjamin Solo Skywalker. Your my grandson, my blood, not his! He may be in your mind, but I'm in your veins and the Force is strong in our veins... and yours like no other before you, not even me. Your Master doesn't know how to control the power in you but he will find a way, if you don't control yourself first he'll leash you to him and you'll never be free! You can't deny the other half of your power anymore then you can deny her!" His grandfather held the plasma blade out, pointing it at the child. He twisted the plasma in her directions as he spoke and Kira shook at the sight of the terrifying blade. She didn't seem to acknowledge the man holding it, just glowing red plasma threatening her life, perhaps she couldn't see him.

"You claim to hate the Light but you refuse to snuff it out instead you protect it. You help it grow..."

"No! You're lying! I wouldn't..." Kylo defended himself, now his grandfather sounded like Snoke, accusing him of compassion... that was obviously proving to be true... was this ghost correct as well?

"You help it thrive within her..." He nodded to the girl before his grandson's menacing form. "...And she encourages the Light within you, it confuses you but you don't stop it. You're drawn to her like a moth to a flame. You've always been drawn to her, even before you bonded with her. Both of your Force signatures call to one another... You both have the same potential for the Darkness as you do the Light and you bleed into each other. Should you not wish to destroy that which destroys the Darkness you hold onto so tightly? I wonder... what do you say to that Kylo Ren... what would your Master say to that?"

Kylo said nothing, he just stared down at the small girl at his feet.

"We both know who you are Ben Solo. Now it's time to face your demons... If you want to surpass where I failed... bare your sins, carry your guilt, own your heritage and grow up, if you cannot then move forward, let nothing hold you back! Surpass where I failed, rise above your Master!" He raised the plasma blade over the silently quivering child.

Kylo shook his head trying to block the ghost's words from his mind. He refused to acknowledge the truth in the words he spoke. He'd given so much up already... he couldn't go back to being Ben, he'd killed his father, destroyed his uncle's legacy, broken his mother's heart, turned her into a widow...

"No, I'm Kylo Ren..." He had more to say but nothing else followed.

"Your a coward!" His grandfather scoffed. "Just like I was. There is power in admitting your weakness a power you lack. There is strength in owning your mistakes, a strength you don't yet have. I guess you got what you wanted after all, you're following my footsteps exactly as I took them. You're going to watch your family burn because you're to weak to stop it."

"They aren't my family anymore." Kylo kept his stubborn resolve but his voice shook from the strain of his lies and the pain in his chest.

Anakin sneered at his grandcild, he could see the Light in the boy, he could feel it. Ben, like himself was so determined to keep the path he chose that he would tear himself apart until his last breath, the same as Vader, but Anakin had an insight to help the boy, an insight that Obi Wan Kenobi didn't. He watched the torment in Ben's eyes as he looked down at the figment of the girl.

Kylo Ren remembered when this had happened, Kira shoved Ben away and now he understood why. She tried to save him. She thought she was going to die and she wouldn't take Ben with her. The boy version of himself tried to hold her again but she flailed against him, pushing him out of the way as the blade raised over her head. Her face hardened and she screamed at the boy to leave her alone. She pushed him away, told him to go...she didn't want to see him. He remembered it all. How had he ever forgotten. She looked up at the crossguard lightsaber ready to die. She'd done her job by protecting him. She was ready to meet the maker. The ghost twirled the blade in his hand and the girl sucked in what she thought would be her last breath but no other sound came out of her trembling mouth. She knew Ben was nearby and she wouldn't risk him getting hurt for her, not for her.

"What do you think you're real test will be Kylo Ren? What will it take for your Master to really share his power with you? You think your father's death proved more to him then his power over you or his control over your mind. It won't mean more then the guilt he's trapped you under. Eventually he will want the one thing you're not willing to give up and if you don't he will use that thing against you. He will hold it over your head to keep you under his power." Kylo's eyes widened with recognition. He had recently felt the same worry in his head and now it was being spoken allowed, possibly by his actuall grandfather.

"He will demand more sacrifice from you until it comes down to you and that one thing, in your case... that one person. You know I'm right! She will be your final test just as Padmé was mine. I'm not asking you to leave the Dark Ben, I always felt more comfortable there myself, but cut the strings... stop being a puppet or find a Master that will better serve you! Do not let our legacy remain as I have left it, Luke is lost  it at least he is free. I had no will left of my own, o desire to break the cycle of Master and Slave... will you be like us? Will you live in our shadow? Are you satisfied leaning half in the Dark? Or will you find and carve your own path like a man? I'm not encouraging you to become a Sith, do not misunderstand me. The Sith are as weak as the Jedi and just as misguided. I'm telling you to own your power! Become something greater. If you continue to refuse the Light in you, you will fall to the shadows around you." His grandfather's words were cold and level. The sincerity in his voice was unmistakable and it haunted Kylo Ren's already doubt plagued mind.

Anakin waited for his grandson to acknowledge what he already knew deep down. He waited for him to submit to the Light that fought to break free from the Darkness within him, but the boy only tightened his hold on the small pool within him. He truly was a Skywalker. His grandfather couldn't let go of the Dark and his Uncle couldn't let go of the Light. Ben Solo was stuck in the middle but owned neither one enough to truly control it. He wouldn't fully commit to the Dark not without being broken first and he denied the Light because his adolescent rebellion wrought to much guilt in the aftermath, it was to great for Ben to see past and his Master's hold was to strong for him to find release with out a fight. Now he was caught in the sticky web of his sins and his Master's any lies. This Master of Ben's had taken such time carefully destroying and manipulating Ben's mind until the poor boy was fractured nearly beyond repair. He was more skilled at this then even Palpatine had been, and that Freind had been blessed with the devils tongue. It was time to push the boy into a reaction he couldn't hide from, one he couldn't deny after.

"Very well, allow me a gift to you then grandson... allow me the burden of carrying what would break you. I'll take the weight of what lies ahead so you can move forward without the risk of the weapon our Master would otherwise use against you. If I don't do this and you stay under Snoke's rule, he will ask this of you and no matter what you choose, you won't survive. Either way he will destroy you physically or mentally he will break you the same as my Master did to me." Anakin's irises rimmed with Red and yellow rings. His Sith was showing through his Jedi's aura. It polluted the air around them, Kylo could feel the Darkness growing and it felt very similar to his own hut there was something more potent in it. He knew his grandfather was so much deeper in the Darkness then he currently was because Ren was able to control his Darkness, his grandfather... not so much.

Kylo's eyes widened with unrestrained fear as Anakin Skywalker brought his arm down and with it... his own crimson lightsaber. Ren dove forward with out thought of consequence or fear for himself. He wrapped his large arms around the girl, using his body as a shield for her to hide beneath. He waited for the blow. He waited for the burn of the hissing blade but it never came. It crackled inches from his back but Kylo held onto her, his hand cradled the back of her head as he loomed over her protectively. His other arm encircled her small body, pulling her to his chest encasing her form while a Force shield wrapped around them both, but it was not his. In his blind panic he hadn't thought that far ahead. He felt stupid for not thinking of that first but he had no time to think, only to react. His brain blanked and he just jumped in front of her, proving once again how foolish he was where this girl was concerned, even when she was just a child and probably not real. Kylo didn't even notice when the sound of the crackling blade disappeared. He just held her waiting for it all to end. After a moment of nothing but silence, he pulled away from the small child in his arms. Somehow he knew it was over, somehow he knew the threat to her had passed. His large hands gripped her small biceps and he stared into her wide hazel eyes.

"It's alright sweetheart. It's over now." He couldn't help the worry in his voice or the endearing term that he'd once again borrowed from his father. This girl brought out the purest version of himself, he could never hide from her not even in this place of tormenting visions and arrogant Force ghosts.

She stared into his brown eyes without fear. She dropped the shimmering shield around them and her young, Force exhausted body, collapsed in his hands. He scooped her up and laid her down gently along a mat she set out to meditate on before he showed up. She was so tiny, so helpless, how could any one want to hurt her? He was rising, ready to flee from the weakening feelings this memory was giving him when her small hand lifted up to the scarred half of his face. He froze, his head turning back to face her, he hadn't expected the motion and he didn't know what else to do.

"Ben...?" She asked, her eyes locking once again with his as they searched him for something she thought she found familiar.

"Wha... what?" Kylo barely mustered the one word. He suddenly remembered that he as Ben, had come back to check on her after only a few short minutes of pacing outside, he'd been to worried about her sudden outburst to leave her alone for long. He remembered leaning over her and checking her forehead with his hand, he'd been worried she was sick with a fever, explaining what he thought were hallucinations. Kylo thought that was who she was calling to now but then...

"You look... different." Her shocking words rang in his ears like it was the first time she'd said them but he remembered her hand resting on his young face just as she touched him now. Her small fingers traced from above his brow down the length of his cheek. The tips pressed over his skin as though analyzing something, memorizing the feel of something. Her fingers continued down, they smoothed over where the raised tissue along his jaw would have been and then she cupped what she could of his neck with her palm. Unbelievably, her small hand pressed over the protective layer of his black armor right where his grandfather's lightsaber would drag across his skin years later... a lightsaber controlled by her hands. He saw the scene he was living playing out again, only now he understood what she was doing. Her fingers traced the long scare that her future self would carve into his face. Her hand rested over the damaged tissue that ran down the length of his throat, like she knew even through the gear covering it, what laid beneath. She saw him then, as he is now and she recognized him... she knew him... how?

"Get some rest." He followed his past selfs words mimicking them in unison with the memory of himself as Ben. She faded from the room as though released from the horrendous vision she'd just endured. Her suffering was his fault yet again...

Kylo whipped around angrily. He wanted to confront his grandfather for using her to teach him a lesson but the room was empty. Anakin Skywalker was gone. "Coward!" Kylo yelled, blinking back tears he wouldn't dare shed. His voice echoing off of the walls hurting his own ears with the volume of his fury and the haunting word that accused him of the same fate with every echoing bounce.

He still spun around looking for the Force ghost but there was no trace of him. Not even a single lingering presence of his power remained. Ren's hand fell to his belt and clipped into place as though it had never been removed was his crossguard lightsaber. He blinked, his heart racing in his chest. What was happening to his mind?

*Hey every one, I hope this was as satisfying for you guys as it was for me. Again I really wanted some witty banter between these characters but I felt like this was definitely not the time so I gave them some sass cuz let's be real, how can Anikan and Ben not have some sass in their dialogue. At the same time I wanted this to be a serious lesson from the person kylo looks up to most, demonstrating to him who he really is and what will happen if he can't accept his sins and stand up to the Master who would otherwise control him. I really hope that this did the characters justice while conveying these things honestly and clearly. If not well at least we have this summary for what I was shooting for.*

~Please Vote! And comment! I love your comments so much, they are hella fun and keep bone motivated to update as quickly as I can, providing I feel like the work I've produced rips worthy of posting! Thanks for your support guys, your all amazing, every vote ⭐️ and every comment counts! First timers are just as appreciated as the amazing commenters and Voters that always show me love and support so don't be shy! ~

-DarkGuarduan-