momslilassassin | Aboard the Anakin Solo [let's call it early evening]

Shirtless and upside down, Ben floated in a bubble of white agony as he tried to remember he was human, that he was the son of two great Jedi, that he was trying to become a Jedi himself. The pain was determined to rob him of this, tearing at him in a thousand ways: acid that licked nerves raw, poison that raised blisters, needles that inflamed joints, pincers that yanked hair from individual follicles. It never let him go numb, or die, or fall into catatonic oblivion. The only way to end the pain was to surrender to it, to let it melt him down and turn him into something else.

Ben understood this. Each moment brought a new and startling form of pain, and still he resisted. He clung to the knowledge that he was Ben Skywalker, son of Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, cousin and onetime apprentice of Jacen Solo. And that Jacen had murdered his mother.

That last part, Ben repeated to himself twice. It was the only way to keep his hate--and hate, he’d decided, was what was going to help him escape. It was what was going to help him kill his cousin.

The chair he was strapped to—if you could call a pulsing mass of white tentacles tipped with black barbs a chair--tightened again, and the breath left Ben's lungs in a long, painful scream before he sank into another round of convulsions.

Later, when Ben's nerves had become desensitized to this particular torture, he grew aware of a presence before him. He couldn't see anything, and the Force had been lost to him since the pain began, but he knew who it was.

He lifted his chin as much as the device would let him. "Hello, Jacen."

	"I asked you to call me Colonel."
	Ben spat a mouthful of blood towards the voice.
	"Good." Caedus’s voice was now coming from somewhere near Ben's ear. "Hang onto your hate. It will help you endure. I couldn't hate and it nearly destroyed me."
	"My hate will destroy you," Ben said, wishing his voice didn't sound so cracked.
	"Perhaps," Caedus replied, not sounding terribly worried. "But it will take decades for you to develop enough powers to confront me openly. And I think you've learned the lesson of trying to take me by surprise. Surely your circumstances have made that painfully clear." "Do you want to die yet, Ben?" he asked as the chair inserted venom under Ben's skin. "All you have to do is ask."
	"More lies," Ben gasped. "You enjoy this!"
	"Enjoy this?" Caedus's voice sounded genuinely hurt. "You know that's not true. I don't enjoy any of this." He flicked on the lights and began pacing the disturbingly large room. In addition to the chair Ben was strapped to, there was a thorn-coated bed in the corner and a tendril-covered rack on the far wall. "How can you believe I want to do this?" Caedus asked, pulling a tendril away from Ben and not wincing as it wrapped around his forearm and sunk its barbs into his skin. "I'm part of it, Ben. Everything the Embrace of Pain does to you, I feel. We're in this together."
	"Fine," Ben said. "How about you take your turn and let me blow things up for a while?"
	"Very impressive. I lost my sense of humor after the first..." he caught himself before he could break the cardinal rule of torture and let Ben know how much time had passed. "But that's not important. I'm doing this to save you."
	"Save me?" Ben laughed, trying to ignore the spasms of pain that motion set rolling through his chest. "Right. The same way you saved Mom."
	"I don't know why you insist on believing something so hurtful," Caedus said, sounding aggrieved. "But very well, let's assume that you're right. Why would I have done such a thing?"
	"Because she knew you were working with Lumiya," Ben retorted. "You killed her to keep her quiet."
	"Think, Ben," Caedus demanded. "If your mother suspected I was working with Lumiya, wouldn't she have told someone about it? A whole team of Jedi Masters would have come after me, not just your mother."
	Ben was silent. He knew the reason Mara hadn't told anyone else: he'd asked her not to. But Jacen didn't know that, and from his point of view, if Mara had known he was working with a Sith, she'd have shouted it to every Jedi Master with a working comlink. She definitely would’ve told Luke. So Jacen wouldn't have thought killing her would have kept anything quiet. "I don't know," he muttered. "Maybe you just wanted to get even."
	"You know me better than that," Caedus said, sounding disappointed. "There's only one reason I'd ever do something so...difficult: for the good of the galaxy."
	"Killing Mom wasn't good for the galaxy!" Ben shouted.
	"And I didn't kill her," Caedus said smoothly. "But we're talking hypothetically now. If you could bring peace to the galaxy by sacrificing your own life--to assassinate me, for example--would you do it?"
	"In a heartbeat," Ben spat. "Even if it didn't save the galaxy."
	"Let's limit ourselves to meaningful sacrifices," Caedus said dryly. "If you had to kill someone else instead--say, your mother--to bring peace to the galaxy, would you do it?"
	"That's a stupid question!" Ben yelled. "Killing my mother didn't bring peace to anything! The galaxy's more of a mess now than before you did it!"
	"That's beside the point," Caedus replied. "And I didn't kill her. I asked if you would--if you would trade your mother's life for galactic peace."
	Ben fell silent, suddenly afraid that if he answered, he'd suddenly have to stop hating Jacen for what he'd done, that he'd find his mother's death...necessary.
	"You won't find a trap in this," Caedus said quietly. "There isn't one."
	Ben stayed quiet. He'd made that exact trade twice: he'd been willing to trade the lives of the Masters at the Academy--and Jaina--to try to gain Jacen's trust, and a short time ago (at least he thought it was a short time ago), he'd stood on the bridge and suggested burning Wookiee cities. And why'd he done that? To kill his cousin and end the war.
	"You can't answer because it'd be selfish to refuse, even evil," Caedus answered for him. "How could you not trade one life to save billions? Your mother would have begged you to, if the choice had been hers."
	"That's not what happened!" Ben screamed, feeling his hate slip away, and with it, his identity as the chair continued to plug away at his nervous system. "You didn't have to kill her!"
	"And I didn't," Caedus insisted, "but I would have. That's the difference between us. I'm willing to carry that burden." He walked over and began stroking the tendrils of the torture device, slackening their hold on Ben and rotating him back upright. "That's why this is necessary: to give you the strength to make the necessary choices." He laid his hand on Ben's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Now I'm afraid I'm going to hurt you worse than the Embrace of Pain has. A short time ago, my sister and your father made a foolhardy attack against the Anakin Solo. Jaina appears to have escaped, but your father's StealthX was destroyed."
	Ben's first thought was relief that Jaina had managed to escape from the Academy. He didn’t understand the implications of Jacen’s statement. "And?"
	"Your father's craft was vaporized," Caedus said. "He didn't have a chance to eject."
	"...you think he's dead?" Ben knew his heart should be breaking, but all he felt was disbelief and hatred. "Boy, are you gullible."
	"I was there," Caedus said. "I saw it with my own eyes."
	Ben snorted. Like that was going to make him believe anything. "You think you shot down Luke Skywalker? That's a laugh."
	"Actually, it was Jaina," Caedus replied. And wasn’t that beautifully ironic. "Friendly fire."
	That brought Ben up short. Could his dad, as screwed up as he’d been with grief, made that kind of mistake? "No, you're making it up," he said, sounding shaky. "I would have felt it--like I did with Mom."
	"Have you felt anything through the Force since I brought you in here?" Caedus asked. "How long could the Embrace have held you if I'd allowed you to have the Force?"
	"You can do that?" Ben gaped before pursing his lips together, irritated at himself. Clearly Jacen could do that. "I can't reach out for help. And when you tell me Dad's dead, I can't find him in the Force, I just have to take your word for it."
	"Look for yourself," Caedus said blandly, waving a few fingers.
	The Force came rushing back to Ben in a flood and he sensed a dozen things at once: his Aunt Leia searching for him, filled with pain and shock and sympathy; Jaina, full of guilt and apology, and--now that she felt him on the Anakin Solo--confusion; the other Jedi Masters down on the planet relieved to feel his presence in the Force again. But mostly Ben felt his father: a small, tight presence a deck above him. It took him a moment to wonder why everyone else was so sad before he realized that Luke was only allowing his son to feel him. "Neat trick." He didn't realize he'd said that aloud.
	"It's no trick," Caedus said, misunderstanding him. "You're sensing the same thing I am. Everyone knows what happened. I'm glad I was able to spare you the pain of feeling him die: that would have done nothing to make you stronger."
	"Oh, thanks," Ben said flatly. "How long ago did this happen? Everyone's still in shock, but they've had time to start worrying about me...I'd say about a day."
	"It appears their fears about you are misplaced," Caedus said. "Your thoughts are remarkably clear." He glanced at the Embrace of Pain. "All things considered, of course." He smiled beatifically at Ben. "It's okay to hate me, but you mustn't be controlled by it. You must make your hate serve you."
	Ben snorted again. "I don't hate you. I pity you. Dad's not dead. He's coming for you."
	Caedus tilted his head. "Maybe you're not holding up as well as I thought. The hallucinations will pass." His comlink chirped with reports about the sudden catastrophic failure of the number two forward turret.
	"Still think I'm hallucinating?" Ben asked. "He doesn't want you to feel him, but he's here."
	"And you'll lead me to him if I let you go, I suppose," Caedus scoffed.
	Ben smiled softly as a dark figure stepped through the doorway. "I don't have to," he said. "Dad's right behind you."
	Luke blinked at the scene in front of him, sure it was a bad dream: his son swaddled in thorn-studded vines, his eyes burning with a pain-mad gleam. Not even Jacen would use the Embrace on his own cousin.
	"You'll have to do better than that," Caedus said, laughing. "'Look, behind you!' That was old when the stars were young."
	Luke rubbed his eyes. He really was standing in a secret cabin full of Yuuzhan Vong torture devices. His nephew was really using them on his son. Luke didn't give Jacen a chance to surrender: he just sprang.
	Jacen started to spin, pulling his lightsaber from his belt and lighting it in the same motion, then moving the green blade high to protect his head and heart.
	Luke went low instead, striking for the kidneys. He wanted to wound in the most painful way possible.
	Caedus hissed as Luke's lightsaber cut through centimeters of skin and grazed his kidney. For most people, that would have been a debilitating blow, but Caedus thrived on pain. He pivoted smoothly, not even a little slowed down, and aimed a rib-crunching roundhouse kick at Luke's chest.
	Luke stumbled back. Jacen's attack had landed on a still-healing wound he'd received from fighting Lumiya, and now his breath was coming out in pained wheezes. Good, he thought. This was supposed to hurt. He spun inside, smashing his elbow against Jacen's temple.
	Caedus dropped hard to his knees, seeing stars.
	Luke brought his own knee up—hard—under Jacen’s chin and heard Jacen's teeth crack together, then slashed his blade down towards Jacen's chest.
	But Caedus wasn't there. He had one hand extended backwards, using the Force to pull himself towards the tendril-draped rack at the other side of the room. The other hand he flung towards the bed of thorns.
	Luke, bracing himself for Force-lightning, was completely blindsided as his body slammed into a wall, pinned into place by the bed Jacen had flung at him. He felt the venom begin to pour into his body and his hearing faded as Jacen took his time rising up from the floor. Luke shook his head to clear it, then slashed through the bed with his lightsaber as he leaped back towards his nephew.
	Caedus barely brought his blade up in time to avoid a vicious downstroke, and couldn't avoid the kick to his stomach that launched him a meter into the air. He ducked the slash at his neck and aimed a Force-enhanced punch to Luke's ribcage, trying to hit the same place he'd hit earlier.
	Luke's chest exploded with pain: now he croaked instead of breathed. He struck hard with his lightsaber, using both hands on the hilt and beating Jacen’s defense back so far that his nephew's lightsaber bit into his own shoulder.
	Caedus kicked out at the side of Luke's knee.
	Something in his knee popped and Luke went down hard, swiping his lightsaber out as he fell.
	Caedus screamed as the lightsaber hit bone at the back of his head and scorched his hair, but he met his uncle's next attack in a shower of sparks. He wasn't expecting Luke Kriffing Skywalker to poke him in the eyes, though, which was his uncle's next move. He bellowed and stumbled away as a nail scratched across his right eye.
	Luke reached into the Force and blasted Jacen straight into the rack hanging on the wall, limping forward on his injured knee as the vines entangled his nephew. Luke closed within two meters without saying a word. What point would there have been? Jacen wasn't going to surrender, and Luke wouldn't have believed him if he'd offered. He brought his lightsaber up to strike the final blow.
	"Wait!" Ben cried from across the room. "Let me do it!"
	That was the last thing Luke had expected to hear. He whirled in astonishment and put too much weight on his knee. He rolled out of the way of Jacen's lightsaber as he fell to the floor, staring back at Ben.
	Ben was still strapped to the chair, but he'd used the Force to grab back his confiscated vibroblade and was using it to cut himself free. "You have to let me!" he cried. "I deserve it!"
	"Deserve it?," Luke repeated, stumbling to his feet and suddenly much, much angrier with Jacen. And he’d been plenty pissed to start with. "To kill someone?"
	"You don't understand," Ben insisted. "It was my fault. If I don't do this--"
	"I said no," Luke said sharply. How could Ben believe he had a right to kill somebody? "You're confused. We'll talk about this later." Not giving Ben a chance to interrupt, Luke turned his attention back to Jacen, who'd been using the time to cut himself almost free of the rack.
	Caedus smirked and raised his now-freed hand towards the ceiling. The illumination panel came crashing down on top of Luke and plunged the room into darkness.
	Luke felt something important crunch in his nose and found himself choking on his own blood. He dismissed the injury as unimportant as he staggered to his feet to parry the attack from Jacen's blade as he raced past. …raced past. Jacen was running away. Luke spat out a mouthful of blood as he leaped after his nephew, using the Force to drag him back into the room. In the darkness, blows felt like they came out of nowhere: Luke caught another kick to the knee and felt a bone in Jacen's face shatter as his elbow connected in retaliation.
	Ben's face was illuminated briefly by Caedus's lightsaber as he broke off the attack, groaning. A new plan formed in his mind as he started towards his cousin. He needed to get closer to that chair…
	Luke was under no illusions that this Jacen would hesitate to use Ben as a hostage or even kill him. He leaped over to where Jacen's lightsaber was and beat the blade down easily. ...too easily. Jacen wasn't holding it. Luke looked around for the trick milliseconds too late as a vine wrapped itself around his neck.
	"You should've let me go when you had the chance," Caedus hissed in his ear. "Now you're done."
	Luke reached into the Force and flung them both into the nearest wall. The garrote loosened a little as Jacen's head clonked against the durasteel, and Luke hammered his elbow under Jacen's chin to get it to loosen some more.
	Caedus let out a blood-curdling scream and stumbled away into the darkness.
	Luke blinked. He hadn't hit the guy that hard.
	"It's okay, Dad," Ben said from beside him. "That was from me." He took a glowrod from Luke's belt and activated it, illuminated the room a little.
	Caedus was on the ground, crawling across the floor with the hilt of Ben’s vibroblade stuck between his shoulder blades. His face was misshapen, his clothes were smoking, a hand-sized rectangle of scorched skull showed through his scalp, and he was still reaching his hand for his lightsaber.
	Luke sighed wearily and pointed to the door. "Artoo's prepping the escape vehicle," he said, igniting his lightsaber. "Meet me there."
	"No way," Ben said, pulling Jacen's lightsaber towards him in the Force. "This kill is mine."
	Luke's blood ran cold. "I said no," he said, limping after his son and grabbing him by the shoulder. "You can't surrender to your rage, Ben. I did to Lumiya: all it did was make me weak. If you do it now, I'll lose you to the dark side. I can feel it."
	Ben was so not in the mood to hear a lecture about consequences. "I don't care about the dark side," he said, waving Jacen's lightsaber in wild circles. "Jacen killed my Mom and it was all--"
	"Is that what you think?" Luke asked, finally understanding some of his son's rage and need for vengeance. "Jacen didn't do it--Alema did."
	The hell? Had she even been there? "...huh?"
	"Jaina and Zekk uncovered some evidence that puts her near the scene," Luke said, glancing towards the door. "We've got to move--the rest of the turbolasers are going to blow any minute now."
	"They blew while you and Jacen were fighting," Ben said, still glaring down at his cousin. "Being at the scene doesn't mean Alema's Mom's killer, you know. Jacen was there, too."
	"If I can't be sure it was Alema, you can't be sure it was Jacen," Luke said quietly. "Give me the lightsaber, Ben. It isn't time to finish things with Jacen--not yet."
	Ben turned off the lightsaber, but didn't pass it to his father. "So we're just going to let him get away with it, then? Burning Kashyyyk, torturing me and everything else?" he demanded.
	"Of course not," Luke said, "but we'll come for him when our judgment isn't clouded by pain and rage." And Ben wasn't teetered on the brink of something horrifying. Luke didn't say that aloud. He herded his son out the door and locked it behind them, leaving Jacen stuck inside his torture chamber.
	"In that case," Ben said, finally tossing Luke the hilt and tottering along on wobbly legs, "we really need to move. Jacen still has his comlink."

[OOC: WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU, Troy "So What if He's 14" Denning and your book Inferno, from which I stole this dialogue? NFB, NFI, cuddles are welcome.]

Aboard the Anakin Solo [let's call it early evening]

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