Shadow Side
By: detoxjustoretox

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"Pull back the next time I try to counteract your chest shot, maybe a little towards the right instead of how you seemed to center yourself. That way I won't kill you," Ben smirks, the staff padawans used for lightsaber training perched against his side as he stared down at Elara's frame, sprawled on the floor. She huffed, quickly coming to her senses as she got back up from the mat, ready to fight once again.

She tried the attack once more, this time making absolutely sure she pulled back to the right, able to miss Ben's staff by what seemed like a centimetre. Elara laughed, thankful that for the first time all night she was able to execute the attack fully.

"Not bad," Ben smiled, lightly tapping her shoulder with his knuckles. Elara brought herself down from the state of euphoria she was in, ready to take on the next move.

"Why don't we work on mimicking that duel Master Skywalker showed us, the one that was positioned on Tattooine? I feel like we could effectively go through the motions if we focus hard and-"

"Elara, we've been at this for ten hours. Don't you think we could take a small break?" Ben asked, Elara not having noticed the time until he pointed it out.

It was almost ten in the afternoon, a time where everyone should be off to bed. Elara felt differently.

"We are so close to being ahead of our group, so close we have it in our fists! Why don't you want to train? You don't want to get better, stronger? We finally have a day where we aren't having to wash dishes or clean droids, and you want to take a break?" She exclaimed, puzzled that her young friend would request such a thing.

They always practiced, all night if they had to, to further themselves in their training and excel in their classes. Master Skywalker was always so proud of them, and that made Elara soar with joy; doesn't Ben feel the same?

She looked to him, using her feeble mind powers to look into Ben's  thoughts and try to pinpoint what's troubling him. All she could see was red.

"It's not that I don't want to train, Elara, please understand that. I'm just so tired, and feel as if I've gotten a cold or something. Would you like to come back to my room and play cards, or see if my uncle will let us call my parents? They'd love to hear from you," Ben pleads, Elara trying her best not to back away, to run from this boy with the dark thoughts seeming to cloud his mind.

She knew Ben was always an angry character, but it's like he isn't aware of the filth that's infiltrating his mind, trying to take him prisoner. She looked him up and down, Ben catching onto her fear.

"You read my mind, didn't you," Ben mumbles. Elara nods, stepping closer to her friend as he stepped back. Ben sighs, running a hand through his dark hair as he couldn't meet her gaze.

"How long has this been going on?" Elara asks, stepping closer to take the staff from Ben's grip, before he hurt someone with it. Before he hurt her with it. She placed it amidst the pile of other tools for training, going to sit on the benches set up for audiences. Ben followed behind, keeping his distance as he searched for the right thing to say.

"A couple of months ago, I started to feel this urge to hurt people. At the start it would be because of something someone said, or did, but it's starting to become an involuntary reaction. I don't think it's that big of a deal right now, I just don't know what exactly to do with myself. I'm sorry, I must sound like an idiot," Ben sighed, his eyes glued to the floor.

Elara didn't know what to do, or how to help his poor soul. She was younger than Ben was, and definitely wasn't as powerful as he was. How could she possibly know how to deal with such a thing?

"I think you should talk to Master Skywalker, Ben," Elara states, her voice shaking as the words slipped from her tongue. "He will be able to assist you in this, this problem-"

"You think this is a problem? You think I'm a problem, Elara, that I can just be so easily fixed by my uncle's strong will? Maybe I don't want him to help me, maybe I would rather handle this myself." Ben Solo was seething, standing in front of Elara like a predator that has just come across it's prey.

Elara sat, still as a rock, trying hard to skim through the horrors of Ben's mind, to calm him, to bring him back to her. This was not like him. "I'm sorry, Ben, but I think this would be the best for your situation-"

"No, it's not! You do not know what's best for me, I do not care how much we spend time together, you do not know what will make me sane. Leave my sight, before I do something to hurt you Elara Jane!"

"Ben, let me help you-"

"It's not that big of a deal Elara so I suggest you leave now and forget this ever happened!"

Elara nodded, running from the training center and out into the hall, tears welling up in her eyes as she examines the monster that has slowly taken over her friend, her love.

Ben was enraged, grabbing a wooden staff and snapping it in two, doing the same to the rest. He cried out, flipping one of the practice dummies over, and Elara knew if he had his saber, he would have obliterated it. Elara kept running until she was in the safety of her bedroom, throwing herself onto the bed as she sobbed, praying to whatever's out there that Ben can be saved before he hurts himself. Hurts himself, or someone else.