Brother and Sister Moment

Leia Nightmare

"One must be a Sith... or think like one."

He hesitated. The words of Master Yoda quickly followed Maul's.

"A challenge lifelong it is not to bend fear into anger."

Using the dark side was wrong. He knew it. He had felt cold and alien when he had used it the first time. He had felt frozen, paralyzed and slightly nauseous when he had first felt Vader.

At the temple, though, he had felt the power of his anger rushing through his consciousness. The thrill was undeniable as was the exhilaration and relief of finally unleashing the vast reservoir of fury and hatred which seethed just beneath his deceptively sunny exterior.

The confusion was terrible. Why did Yoda send him to Moriband if not to find this holocron? If to find it, then for what other reason but to open it?

But opening it meant using the dark side. It was the only way.

He was trapped and he knew it.

Ezra sighed heavily, resigning himself to his fate.

The decision made, he gathered his will and concentrated on the sullen, glowing red pyramid in his hands. The events that took place on Moriband cycled through his mind in an endless, painful cascade.

Slowly, exerting as much control as he could muster, he let his anger, fear and hatred begin to build. Fear that he would lose his new family. Anger at himself for trusting Maul. Hatred for the Empire for taking his mother and father. Hatred for Darth Vader for killing Ahsoka.

Soon he was filled to the brim with emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. The connection to the darkness was easier and more complete each time he made it. To his surprise he found that this very fact produced the most intense fear of all – fear that he would lose himself and be consumed by the dark side, as Yoda had warned.

The holocron's red glare increased as his passion built. Slowly the pyramid rose into the air. Its tips twisted in place and the unit began to unfold...

Then he was gone.

"Your anger is strong, young Jedi," the female voice observed with approval, "You have potential... if you have the will to seize it."

He was kneeling inside a circle of red light against a backdrop of stars. Ezra looked around him, but saw nothing except the endless expanse of empty space.

This was a vision, much like the one where he had met Master Yoda, yet here he felt no comfort or peace. This place was cold and forsaken. The intense alien presence he felt was hard, unyielding and observed him with cool and unsympathetic eyes.

"Who are you?" Ezra called out, "Where are you?"

The reply seemed to emanate from all around him. It was the same voice he had heard at the altar on Moriband.

"You are not yet strong enough with the dark side to see me, boy."

"Are you... were you a Sith?"

The woman laughed, a cruel, hard sound, but made no other reply.

"Please!" he pleaded urgently, his hands balled into taut fists, "Tell me how to destroy Vader and his Inquisitors! You must know!"

"What makes you think you are worthy of such knowledge?"

Ezra hesitated. He had not considered the possibility of such a challenge. Weren't holocrons just recordings?

"Well, I'm not sure I am, to be honest," he admitted in a confused tone, but continued, his voice becoming ever more intense, "all I can say is I'll do whatever it takes bring them down! I'm going to get more and more powerful until I can kill Vader and...and his emperor!"

The entity considered this.

"Yes... Your hatred for Darth Vader is strong."

"He killed my friend," Ezra admitted sullenly.

"Revenge is a powerful motivator, young one, it can give you focus, but you must learn to free the power within you if hope to gain the strength you will need to destroy the Sith."

"I've come this far," he replied, crossing his arms in front of him, "and I won't stop now!"

"Maybe, boy, but are you truly prepared to do what must be done to achieve your goal?"

"What part of "whatever it takes" don't you understand?" he answered with more bravado than he felt.

He swatted his bangs out of his eyes and crossed his arms petulantly.

The laughter resounded once more.

"I understand more than you could possibly imagine! I'm afraid it is you who does not understand and if you have the strength to follow through on your boast you will soon discover that suffering will be your teacher!"

"I have a teacher!" the boy replied hotly, "and I know all about suffering already!"

The spirit of the holocron paused before continuing in a soft, frigid tone.

"Your master is useless to you now."

"No, he's not!" Ezra protested, "Kanan defeated Maul after he was blinded! He's better now than he ever was before!"

"Is he powerful enough to defeat Darth Vader?" the voice replied in scorn, "Is he powerful enough to defeat Vader's master? Have you even considered this?"

"Well, I..."

Before he could help himself his mind summoned an image of Kanan, blind and stumbling, in desperate combat against the dark lord. He knew without doubt that his master was no match. An instant later he remembered his own brief encounters with the enemy. He had been lucky to escape with his life.

Anger at his own helplessness welled up within him, threatening instantly to decay into despair and anguish.

"You will never defeat him or his master as you are now, young one," the voice continued coldly, echoing his own fears, "and your blind teacher cannot show you how to defeat them because he himself does not know."

Ezra's arms fell back to his sides.

"That's why... that's why I've come to you."

The holocron spirit laughed in triumphant satisfaction.

"Wise you are to seek the knowledge of the Sith!" she exulted, "For only through the power of the dark side can you ever hope to become great enough to destroy your enemies!"

Kanan's padawan stood up and shouted to the cold, starlit universe around him.

"But I don't want to use the dark side! The dark side is evil! I don't want to hurt people for no reason! I just want to protect the people I love! I want to protect all the good people I don't even know! And I want justice for those who have been killed by the Empire! People like my mom and dad!"

His voice echoed into the darkness. The entity waited for it to die off before replying softly.

"Oh, the dark side is evil, mmm? What makes you think using the dark side requires that you destroy without cause? Where is this law written? You have much to learn, young one, about a great many things."

Ezra made to reply, but realized this was an assumption he had made almost without thinking. He shut his mouth with an audible click.

"The dark side of the force is simply a path to power for those that have the strength and determination to seize it. What you do with that power... that is entirely your decision."

The boy hesitated. He hadn't considered this and he could not suppress the sudden surge of hope that swelled within him.

"You mean... you can use the dark side... to do good things? To help people?"

"If you wish," the specter of the holocron replied cryptically, "Without power, child, there can be no justice. Without power you will protect no one, not even yourself. Without the power of the dark side... you will fail."

"No! I will find a way to win! I have to! But...but..." he equivocated, doubt seizing him once again, "Master Yoda said that how a Jedi chooses to win is what's important and I don't know what he meant!"

"Oh, Master Yoda? A powerful Jedi is he?"

"Yes!" Ezra retorted, grasping desperately for a lifeline to the light he felt slipping away with each passing moment, "More powerful than you could ever imagine!"

"Then why did he send you to me?"

He had no answer. That question had tortured him the moment the fog of battle had receded.

"By now you must know, young one, that no Jedi can show you the power you seek!"

Ezra sunk to his knees. He was terrified... terrified the sinister disembodied spirit was right.

"Are you going to tell me how I can beat them or not?" he finally asked once more in a quavering voice.

"I already have, young fool, if you but paid attention!"

"No, you didn't tell me anything, you just told me to use the dark side!"

"Yes, that is the only path to victory."

"But even if I wanted to, you said yourself Kanan can't teach me this stuff anyway, so how does that help? Can you teach me?"

"No, boy, my holocron is no mere instructional device!"

"Then what am I to do!?"

"Find a teacher."

"But who? Vader and his Inquisitors are the ones trying to kill me!"

"The answer is obvious, boy, and if you aren't smart enough to puzzle it out then you are unworthy to claim the knowledge of the Sith."

His agile mind jumped to the conclusion.

"Maul!? But he betrayed us! He tried to kill Kanan! I can't learn from him!"

"Did he betray you?"

"Yes, of course he did! I just said he tried to kill my master!"

"Did he try to kill you?"

"Well... no."

"Did he lie to you?"

Ezra sifted through his memories.

"No... no, he didn't... but he hurt my master!"

"Yes, that is true, but that deed can only be punished once you are powerful enough to deliver justice yourself, is that not so?"

"Yes, but why would he teach me then if he knows I'm going to go after him later? That makes no sense!"

The spirit laughed once more.

"All Sith expect their students to rise up against them. Only those who are unworthy fail to kill their masters once they have learned everything of value from them."

Ezra recoiled, his face twisting in a expression of utter revulsion.

"That's horrible! That's... that's insane! I don't want to be like that! I want no part of this!"

"You have no choice, boy! Search your feelings. The only way forward is through the power of the dark side. You have anger, you have hate and you will use them... whether you want to or not..."

The presence receded.

" NO BIG BRO DON'T LISTEN." Leia screamed in fear after seeing that horrible nightmare

" It just a dream." Leia said as Ezra came in igniting his saber

" Sis you alright." Ezra asked

Leia explained everything

" Do you want me to stay with you tonight." Ezra asked

" Yes." Leia said

" I grabbed some stuff and come alright." Ezra said as he grabbed stuff and layed on the floor

" Night Big bro." Leia said

" Night Leia." Ezra said