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Chapter 18 - Edit
The towering trees reached up to the heavens, their auburn leaves casting a vibrant red hue over the forest floor as Katara carefully filled her water flask. She tightened the lid securely; they were preparing to depart. Leaving the freedom fighters behind hadn't sat well with her, but her brother Sokka was resolute. Aang needed a proper waterbending teacher, and Benjamin, the Jedi Knight, had suggested this place.
They had hoped to find another Jedi, someone like Benjamin who had fought against the Fire Nation. Instead, they encountered a Sith warrior, clad in armor and stationed here. Were it not for Benjamin, she shuddered to think what might have transpired.
Sounds of splashing from upriver drew her attention, her eyes widening as she spotted Ben. His eyes seemed empty, his breath absent, even when she screamed his name, he remained unresponsive. Only her touch roused him, causing him to stumble back.
"Katara..." He uttered her name, his voice distant, almost as if he'd been thawed from carbonite. As she traced her finger along his face, he turned away, his face etched with shock and faint bruises marring his body.
"Benjamin, what happened?" she inquired, her voice trembling.
He didn't answer, instead pushing past her, his eyes vacant as he gazed fixedly at something in the distance. Blood stained his lips, and his fingers trembled.
But then, he halted.
Katara wrapped her arms around him, her forehead resting on his back. Her gaze drifted over the crimson fabric of his attire, and she couldn't help but notice his maimed left hand—a testament to the sacrifices he had made for them. She took a deep breath. "I won't let you go until you tell me what's happening. You're my friend, so please."
Benjamin's gaze remained fixed on the forest ahead, his dark hair rustling in the wind. He parted his lips, his words emerging haltingly. "I don't know who I am anymore..."
Katara strained to hear him, her eyes fixed on his dark mane. Hours had passed since whatever had transpired with the old man, the last of the Mandalorians. The last of a once-feared warrior race, extinguished by the last of the Jedi. Benjamin knew he should feel pride; that Mandalorian was part of Exar Kun's personal fighting force, a threat to countless Jedi. He would have continued killing Jedi if he hadn't crash-landed here.
Yet, guilt gripped Benjamin, an unshakable sensation. "Why do I feel so guilty?" he wondered. "I didn't do anything wrong. The Mandalorians were evil, they..."
His eyes widened as thoughts churned within him. This wasn't the picture of a young Mandalorian soldier, proudly executing civilians. Instead, it was the image of an old man who had shed his armor and the warrior's creed. An old man who had retreated to the forest, seeking peace and solitude.
Did Benjamin, in all his darkness, have the right to snuff out a life?
"Benjamin," Katara implored, her words laden with earnestness, "you're a Jedi Knight, the last of your kind. You've saved us countless times. You're our friend."
"A Jedi," he muttered to himself, the words tasting strange on his tongue. But was he truly a Jedi anymore? Jedi didn't wander so far into the abyss of the dark side as he had. They didn't revel in vengeance, nor did they act out of hatred. It was antithetical to the Jedi way.
Benjamin shook his head, trying to dispel the relentless grip of these thoughts. They twisted around in his mind, refusing to let go. He gasped for breath, the weight of his choices heavy upon him.
In the solitude that followed the murder of the old man, he had returned to the camp. The encounter with Katara had been a mere accident. He wished he could reach out to his master, Meetra, through their Force bond. He needed guidance, absolution, anything to quell the inferno of rage consuming his heart.
Ever since he had uncovered that Holocron in the cave, his soul had been corroded by hate and anger, a darkness that consumed him. He thought of his master, desperate for her guidance.
But now, doubt gnawed at him. Could he still consider himself a Jedi when he had shattered one of the order's most sacred tenets?
"I don't know if I can be a Jedi anymore," he confessed to Katara, his eyes fixed on the distant forest, avoiding her gaze. "I've violated a fundamental precept of our order."
His thoughts spiraled deeper into a dark abyss. The memories of those he had killed haunted him, especially the Fire Nation soldier whom he had killed unnecessarily. It had become disturbingly easy for him to take life since Kiara's death and the encounter in the cave. He couldn't pinpoint when or why he had become so adept at ending lives.
After the murder of the old man, he struggled to connect with the Force. It no longer whispered in his ear, but felt distant, as though he were reaching for it from light-years away. He closed his eyes, seeking the cosmic energies of the Force, but encountered nothing.
"Why should I feel remorse?" he questioned himself, his thoughts dark and twisted. "He was a Mandalorian. They all deserve death. They deserve more than that, in fact. I merely gave him what he had coming, what he deserved. All Mandalorians deserve death, like the Sith, like the Fire Nation!"
But these realizations did little to soothe the restless turmoil in his chest. When he closed his eyes once more, he was jolted awake by the visage of a dead Mandalorian.
Ben couldn't bring himself to tell Katara. The words stuck in his throat, heavy and insurmountable. So, with his lips forced apart and teeth clenched, he remained silent.
Suddenly, one of the freedom fighters emerged from the thick underbrush of the forest. His breaths came in ragged gasps, echoing through the tense silence. His eyes gleamed with a wild intensity as they locked onto Katara and Ben. Even though the Force felt distant, its connection severed, he could still sense the palpable fear emanating from the young man.
"The Fire Nation," he gasped, his voice trembling with dread, "they've attacked!"
Ben gripped his ignited purple blade tightly, ready for whatever lay ahead. Beside him, Katara conjured her waterbending, forming a swirling, protective barrier of water to aid them. They advanced toward the tree line, the place where the freedom fighters had established their home. The acrid stench of burning wood and flames reached Ben's nostrils, a scent that had become all too familiar after countless battles and journeys. It made him snarl in disgust.
As they approached, the devastating scene unfolded before them. The intricate housing system the freedom fighters had built lay in ruins, consumed by merciless flames. The trees that had once provided shelter were reduced to charred skeletons, their branches reaching out like skeletal arms. The fire threatened to engulf the entire valley, a relentless force of destruction.
Ben's mind raced. "Are they insane?" he thought, his anger simmering beneath the surface. "If they set this whole place on fire, they'll not only wipe out the freedom fighters but possibly the entire village, the whole valley!"
Katara, quick-thinking and determined, began bending water from her flask and any other available sources to combat the encroaching flames.
Meanwhile, Ben forged ahead, his ignited blade slicing through fallen branches and scorched wood that obstructed his path. He needed to locate Aang and Sokka and get them, along with the freedom fighters, out of this inferno.
But as he turned to face an approaching Fire Nation bender, a fireball hurtling toward him, something halted his hand mid-swing. A voice echoed in his mind, haunting and disruptive.
"You would've made a good Mandalorian."
Those words reverberated through Ben's thoughts, paralyzing him in the critical moment. He couldn't bring himself to deliver the final, fatal blow. The Fire Nation bender, however, moved faster, forcing Ben to leap aside just in time to dodge another fiery projectile. Ben's left hand shot out instinctively, using the Force to send the Fire Nation bender hurtling through the air. The man crashed into a wooden platform with a bone-jarring thud.
Ben's mind churned with turmoil. "What's wrong with me?" he thought, his inner conflict raging. "The Fire Nation is burning this place to the ground. Children, even younger than me, are dying!" He pounded his palm against his forehead, a desperate attempt to clear his thoughts. He struggled to tap into the Force, to harness its power, but something held him back. The dark side remained elusive, slipping through his grasp like smoke.
A looming force circled around Ben, setting his instincts ablaze. He clutched his lightsaber with both hands, twirling it as the armored warrior's weapon clashed against his in a burst of sparks, their blades locked at chest height. Green and purple clashed in a mesmerizing display of vivid hues, and their eyes bore into each other like predators in the dark.
"Ah, isn't it the false Jedi!" The warrior's voice seethed through his helmet as he forced his green blade through the blade lock, breaking their deadlock. With a fluid backflip, Benjamin leaped over the warrior, their weapons connecting in a whirl of steel and energy.
He landed gracefully, immediately hurling nearby objects at the warrior, who effortlessly cleaved through them with his massive lightsaber blade. Benjamin grappled with his own weapon, its hum resonating in his grip as he attempted to tap into the dark side of the Force, hoping to unleash a potent barrage of purple lightning, just as he had done before. But to his astonishment, his connection to even the darkest aspects of the Force had deserted him.
Frozen by this revelation, it was only the warrior's relentless onslaught that snapped him from his stupor. Benjamin stumbled backward, desperately parrying the warrior's powerful strikes. The green lightsaber spun and weaved, testing Benjamin's faltering connection to the Force.
The warrior's ferocious attacks disrupted Ben's already deteriorating link to the Force, leaving him struggling to hold his ground. As the warrior's emerald blade threatened to pierce his face, Ben's lightsaber quivered under the pressure.
And just before it might have been too late, a flurry of steel erupted against the warrior's back. A swift swing found its mark as the purple beam sliced into the warrior's right shoulder. The wound, though not severe, disrupted the integrity of the armored shell. With newfound vulnerability, Ben turned to face their mysterious savior.
It was Jet, the leader of the freedom fighters, who now twirled his blades menacingly. His eyes burned with a deep-seated hatred and rage, an intensity that sent a shiver down Ben's spine.
Gritting his teeth, Jet launched into another assault, his actions seemingly fueled by an invisible force, the dark side resonating with his fury. He pounded both his weapons into the emerald blade, and the clash unleashed a shockwave of power. It was the second time—the Fire Nation had razed his home to the ground.
A primal scream tore through the burning trees, the sound reverberating through the inferno as Jet shattered both of his weapons against the warrior's blade. One piece of shrapnel embedded itself in the warrior's iron armor as he retaliated with a surge of the Force, sending Jet hurtling across the platform.
But the fight was far from over. A boomerang cut through the smoky air, striking the armored warrior across the face, disorienting him. Sokka emerged from the smoke, the boomerang returning to his hand, while his other hand wielded a Water Tribe club.
"You...Water Tribe peasant!" the warrior spat, raising his right hand threateningly. But before he could unleash his powers, Aang materialized, his glider staff compacting into a lethal weapon as he slammed it down. It impaled the warrior in place, and Katara's bending sealed his arm in a block of ice, rendering him powerless.
Benjamin pressed forward, his steps fueled by the Force, a desperate attempt to deliver a final blow. But the mental barricade he'd erected proved unyielding. His saber could only graze the warrior's armored surface, lacking the depth needed to wound. A powerful counterstrike sent him sprawling, pain radiating from his lower stomach as blood trickled from his lips. He clawed to regain his footing, voice laced with agony. "Impossible, you fools can't beat me. My armor is impenetrable!" His words carried the torment of the dark side, his struggle palpable as he grappled with the ice and his own injuries.
"Jet..."
Ben climbed to his feet, his gaze locking with the freedom fighters' leader. Instinctively, he caught the object Jet hurled toward him. Clutching his side, he approached Jet, eyes burning with an intensity that pierced through the orange haze of the forest.
He gestured toward the dark Jedi. "I want you to focus, to tap into that current you've felt before. Feel the Force. See what you've seen before..."
Jet's blade remained ignited, leveled at the dark lord. To him, these were the ramblings of an alien language, concepts he'd never truly grasped.
"Relax, Jet..." Ben's voice dropped to a hush. He locked eyes with the dark Jedi, raising his palm. "Trust me. Close your eyes. Feel the Force. See where the unbreakable becomes breakable."
Jet listened, drawn into the realm of possibilities, a place far beyond his comprehension. He sank into his own fears, anger, and hatred, embracing the dark recesses of his soul. There, he glimpsed the faces of his fellow freedom fighters, his family. He realized the interconnectedness of all things and the pivotal role that Benjamin played in this cosmic struggle.
His eyes widened as he regarded the armored warrior. Red lines, like disgruntled scars, etched across his form in intricate patterns, connecting to everything. His gaze settled on the lone swordsman with the ignited purple lightsaber.
"The points... where the unbreakable becomes breakable," Jet whispered, finally glimpsing the Force's essence. He surged forward, the armored warrior too slow to react. Jet vaulted over the emerald blade, striking the source of those crimson lines. The armored figure crumpled, his vulnerability exposed. Jet stood tall, the hum of Ben's lightsaber resonating around them, and in that moment, he glimpsed the potential of a true hero, a warrior of the Force, if only he could receive the right guidance.
Soon, Appa arrived, landing on the platform. The wooden structure beneath them began to splinter under the onslaught of flames. Their escape was imperative. The rest of Team Avatar, including Jet, joined the path to freedom. Appa carried them through the blazing forest, emerging into the cool night air, under the captivating glow of the moon.