Star Wars Rebels: When Hope Is Lost

Chapter 25: Growing Faith

Meditation was something he had always practiced. No matter what side you were on, you learned it. There were simply different purposes for it, depending on what side you believed in. The light side used meditation for contemplating, for learning, for trying to be wiser. It taught focus and discipline and enhanced your connection to the Force.

The dark side used it to sharpen emotions. Fear, anger, hate.... These were the primary emotions dark-siders used to achieve their goals. And to use them, they needed to be at the surface of one's conscious, always being ready to be brought up and used as weapons and strength. Emotions were the key to power, as Lord Vader had told him. Therefore, it was important to meditate often, so that your emotions would be raw and strong.

Therefore, his current meditation had been different from his previous ones.

Dev opened his eyes. The yellow light and golden gleam in them grew ever brighter as his faith in the dark side grew. Personally, he liked the yellow compared to the ugly emerald green he had had before. It reminded him of his father, like his clothing had before he had changed into a black Imperial uniform. And he hated his father, and Ezra. He hated everything they stood for. Betrayal and forsaking Dev, were his main reasons to hate them. The two went hand in hand, as did Kanan and Ezra's treasons against him–and the glorious Empire he was now a part of.

But hatred was good. It made him stronger, more powerful.... Everything he had ever wanted to be. And he could have revenge. Hatred could give him that. The dark side, could give him that.

The light side couldn't.

His new Imperial comlink signalled. Dev reached for it and put it up by his mouth. "Yes?"

Dev.

He dropped the comlink. "Dev?" Came a voice again, but it was different.

Dev shook his head angrily at himself and picked up the comlink again. "Yes, my Lord?"

Dev.

Darth Vader said something, but Dev didn't hear him. His focus was on the voice and not the spinning world around him. He fell to the floor as bright white light overtook him.

"Dev."

"Go away." He said. "I don't want to hear you."

He was standing in a spotlight of white light. Beyond it, all else was black. He whirled around, searching for the source of the voice. Then he saw the familiar figure.

"Dad?" He asked in shock, then shook his head. "No. Go away."

"Dev," his father said and stepped forward, now only a few feet away from him. A spotlight lit up on him too, revealing that nothing had changed about the man in front of him. He still looked the exact same as he had the last time Dev had seen him. Other than the fact that his shoulder armour had a thick scorch mark on it, he was still the same person Dev had thought he had known.

"I don't want you here," Dev said angrily.

"It's a vision, son. It's not like you get a choice," his father said in that same cocky tone he had always had.

"Well, I'm not talking to you then. Traitor," Dev spat bitterly.

His father tilted his head at him. His voice was soft but strong. "Is that what you think of me now?"