closed; forward-dated

[darkforce]

CHARACTERS: jedi trio
LOCATION: deep in the hallways
WARNINGS: idk creepiness?
SUMMARY: sir kenobi and sir vos rescue princess skywalker from the darkness
NOTES: takes place around the 5th of march

	This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, at first: It doesn't start out as another search for solitude. Peace isn't something he can find here. Isn't something he believes he's capable of finding anywhere in the galaxy. But he's been granted the gift of distance again. A clear division between the other Jedi and himself. And while it may not be an expected separation- escape -he wants to take full advantage of the time he's been given. Meters turn to miles. Minutes turn to hours, and the possibility of returning diminishes. The walls close in, pressing in at every angle. Drawn in to dark holes and hidden corners, the light fades. Fades, but doesn't disappear. Distant whispers. Pain and suffering and hunger. They can't be escaped. Can only be avoided, temporarily. Everything is temporary here. Life. Death. Captivity. Freedom. Images scrawled onto walls; red as blood. Red as Sith. A reminder of all that is and all that shall be. A fate none can truly escape.
		The dark is generous, and it is patient.
	This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, soon after: With each passing minute, each hour, each day, he can feel it uncoiling in his chest. He can hear the whispers, the dragon's breath slowly freezing his insides and turning them to ice. So cold it begins to burn. There is no escape. No running from the monster that lives inside him. No hiding from the memories of dead stars, of dying planets. Of Darra's face. Of Yaddle's. Of Qui-Gon's. Of the natural order of things. An order that can't be stopped; can't be changed. All things die. Even stars burn out. The Zabrak. Ke Daiv. The Sith Lord. He has seen true power. A power he isn't ready to match yet, but one he knows he will one day be capable of overcoming. Of defeating. The Sith will be his to destroy, and the galaxy will be his to save. To protect. To control, it hisses to him. Its claws sink in deeper. You alone can free them. The bite working its poison deep in to his veins. You alone can keep them safe. One day he'll be strong enough. One day he can return to fulfil his promise. One day. Weeks. Months. Years. It's a slow climb and yet a quick progression. They say he's grown quickly. He knows it isn't fast enough. In the dark he can hear the whispers. The distrust. The confusion. The rejection. Qui-Gon was wrong. Obi-Wan should have chosen differently. The Council were mistaken. In the dark he can see his future. In the dark…
		The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.
	This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, right now: The silence is deafening and it is draining. Each second feels like an eternity; a lifetime spent staring into an impenetrable void. The whispers grow louder. More insistent. You can't protect them, it mocks. You're going to lose them again. The only reprieve he finds is in each slice of his lightsaber. Each flash of blue sliding neatly through decaying flesh. Anger and violence fills the air, growing stronger with each encounter. With each creature he comes across. Their hunger grows. Their bloodlust is infectious. Their anger becomes his. He knows he should leave, but there is no escaping the darkness. A constant passenger with each path he takes. It lives beneath each footstep. Beneath each twist of cloth and each blink of an eye. There is no Light without Dark. No Dark without Light. Two parts of one whole, and it's his duty to balance the two. His purpose. But he's a masterless Padawan. A pathless Jedi with an inescapable destiny. Fear to anger. Weak. Anger to hate. Powerless. But he has nothing to fear because he is stronger than they believe. They don't trust you. He doesn't need the lick of fire-ice breath to tell him that. He knows. They never will. They will be lost to you in time. This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker. Right now.