He is shrouded in darkness, steeped in it, so full of anger he fears it shall kill him; for so long has he resisted it, but now it is too much. Here is the traitor, the deceiver, the one who murdered half the Jedi in cold blood. Here is his own padawan, who turned her back not just on him, but on the whole of the Order, who led them to their slaughter. How can he not be angry? How can he not let the hatred consume him? Oh, certainly, it is not the Jedi way – but that can be damned, for he is blind to it. He sees only red, a terrible, wonderful red; it envelops and comforts and burns and covets, and he is the instrument of its implementation. As though of its own accord his saber flies to his hand, flickers to life, three prongs of green illuminating all the wrath that has collected about him. And, oh, is it a sight to behold!
Who could have ever thought that sweet Ben is so hateful? Who could have guessed the gentle giant merely left his ire slumbering? But it has awoken – it reared its head when he watched his darling sister cut down her compatriots, when he found himself surrounded by the blood and bodies of younglings and padawans and knights alike. Within every man is a monster, and the horrific serves naught save to beget more horrors. And now he stands, a consular no more – his negotiations are conducted on the field of battle, his treatises writ in blood.
Yet this is still his padawan. And, oh, how truly frightened she looks. His own soft heart, though surrounded by walls of thorns, still aches in empathy. He knows why this road was taken – he knows the voice that whispers between darknesses, that murmurs the forbidden into naive minds. He knows, and he remembers how inescapable it seemed. The knowledge, however, does not lessen his hate. But it serves to redirect it, to the Supreme Leader, to Snoke, to the monster that he prays he will one day be able to forget.
The monster took his padawan. Now it is time for the monster to die.
He holds his lightsaber steady, shifting to a more defensive position; the Dark Side swirls about him, but the teachings of the Jedi run deep in his bloodline. He is not blind to the way of the Light, not after he has recognized his true enemy. He embraces the shadow, knowing full well that it is cast by the Jedi way. He will not kill – that would be too much. He cannot say if this is a rescue, or an intervention, or a lost cause, but he knows that, whatever it may be, it is his last chance.
“I don’t want to fight you, Rey. You can still fix this.”
She SNARLS. How could she not, when all she hears is FILTH? Again, again, whispers and reassurances spoken in the same breath - So long have words suffocated her, drowned her in sweet deception and cruel reality, all at once and repeated again, and again, and again. She tires of it, wishes only to be free from it - But demons and monsters are bound to their sins; That is the only path left for her to take. And is such a path not so sweetly taken? Is blind resignation not as sweet as death?
Emerald green light bounces off the snow in a furious growl, and Rey decides - NO.
Death is much, much sweeter. Perhaps if she must choose to die, it would be with the bright green of LIFE piercing through her, ridding her of a galaxy’s gift; The kiss of breath. Yes, death would be much sweeter - It would be a MERCY. It would be, by all means, the only acceptable mercy. For none exists within the hearts of people. And so she finds herself drawn to this MERCIFUL light, its hue promising life. It promises the avenging of life; It promises her death. What sweet relief it might be, she muses, to be relieved of the lives on her hands, her shoulders, her weak, BROKEN heart.
It is when he speaks again, guttural TRUTH spilling past his lips, that Rey remembers herself. Her fear returns, turning into a frightful ANGER. She raises her saber, the bright red reaching into her eyes, and the added hue makes her look SICKLY -- And oh! Oh, is she so SICK and TIRED of this. This spectral image has done nothing but remind her of her sins.
It’s a desperate cry, words broken by the crack in her voice. Her sick eyes blink angrily, and teeth GRIT as she steps forward. There is something twisted in the way she transforms with each passing tree. Her posture grows more hunched, eyes growing DARKER, and the grip around her saber tightens. Step after step, one after another, and words spill from her lips - Unhindered, unrestrained. Here she is now, the CAGED DOG released from her restraints, starved of warmth and love and FAMILY.
❝ THERE’S NOTHING TO FIX. Nothing left to save - not when you find it so EASY to remind me what I did to you and say I can FIX IT in the same breath. They died at my hands. I killed - - So many of them. I - ❞
Another passing tree, another stage of her metamorphosis.
❝ — I was going to kill you, too. ❞
She can see him so clearly now that her fury has closed the distance. The clarity breaks her, blinds her even - And here, in her final stage, where monstrosity has replaced what humanity has been left, she nearly weeps. There, from eyes RED and SCORCHED with a cruel sickliness, well the tears that hold the revelations of years spent in brokenness.
Her saber still remains in front of her; Blinding.