XII

Axel Quinn's body dropped in the snow, Ben stood before him. Kaida could no longer feel her brother's presence through the Force, and sheer, unadulterated panic settled in her. No, no Axel. No, Axel. Get up! Get up!

But Axel didn't stir.

When the stone-cold realization hit Kaida Quinn in the chest, it was as if a dragon, who had long been hibernating, suddenly woke from its slumber.

She screamed shrilly, from pain, from anger, from all of it. She felt a power explode from her, and she found herself buckled to her knees, saber shut off, and fists hitting snow.

Kaida slowly raised her head, looking up to see Ben Solo before her. No, not Ben Solo. He's right. Ben died a long time ago. He wears the face of Ben Solo. He's someone else. He's something else.

~*~

It had been the troopers that had started this escape. Kaida and Axel had evaded them. Now, they were back in their place that they shared, prepared to leave and move on. It was too good to last. We have to move. Damn troopers.

Hastily, the Quinn twins gathered what belongings—what few—they took for their fugitive run.

As Kaida collected the last of hers, she stopped. She felt a dark presence growing faster, coming for them. Abandoning her possessions, Kaida ignited her purple lightsaber, a stark light contrast to the dark she was hiding in. Stormtroopers she could cut down easy, but this presence...

It was unmistakably the presence of a Sith. Perhaps the one who led the slaughtering of Jedi. Kaida suppressed the anger and the memories. Though the Jedi Order was extinct, she still wanted to try and keep her morals intact. She would not let her anger make her irrational and reckless. Her goal was to run and stay alive.

Kaida ran at the first noise of blaster fire. She joined Axel in deflecting red bolts. Some hit walls, some ricocheted back to the troopers and hit their white armor. The more Kaida dared to take steps further, slowly, the more troopers fell. The armored bodies were piling up in the entrance/exit route.

Axel, his green saber aglow and getting its own workout, backed as his sister advanced. Neither dared to charge for the troopers, not when there were so many. It wouldn't be as difficult if it were a few.

Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in Kaida's skull. She shook it off, but it grew, persistently. She cried out, nearly getting a blaster bolt to the forehead as she dropped to her knees. She kept one hand on her head while the other still held her saber. Through the chaos, she could hear her brother grunting from pain. This is the Sith's doing.

With a yell, Kaida watched as all remaining troopers were flung against the nearest wall, very roughly. She cast a side-glance to Axel, who was down on one knee, clutching the side of his head too. No troopers came back from consciousness.

But that was the least of the twins' worries, for the dark presence Kaida had felt was practically on top of them.

The figure cloaked in black stepped through, red, unstable saber humming at his side. His identity was concealed with a mask. Someone wants to be a Darth Vader wannabe, Kaida thought snidely.

She noticed the figure held an outstretched, black-gloved hand. It confirmed her suspicion.

"There's nowhere to run," said the figure, whose voice was distorted by the mask over his face.

"Two against one," Axel rasped. "Seem like favorable odds."

"For who? The two Jedi who are caving from a meager headache?"

"This is not meager," Kaida hissed through clenched teeth. She was seeing black spots in her vision now. "If you're going to kill us, just do it."

"I could, easily," the figure considered. "But unlike your fellow Jedi, you might actually be useful to me."

A Sith who wants Jedi alive? That was a new puzzle.

Kaida felt the pain in her head growing. She could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness.

"Kai, don't do it," Axel hissed to his sister.

But we might be okay. He might let us live. Kaida couldn't voice her thoughts to Axel, because before she even could, the pain consumed her and caused her to fall unconscious.

~*~

Kaida Quinn slowly rose to her feet, her anger making her body tremble violently. Ben—no, he wasn't Ben Solo any longer. I guess he never was, Kaida thought mournfully. She associated a new name with him now, one she was sure he would prefer. The one he was trying to get her to say without forcing her to do so.

Before Kaida stood Kylo Ren, the Jedi murderer. The murderer of her twin brother, Axel.

Kylo Ren was the person Kaida was going to destroy.

I don't care anymore. I'll fix myself later. Kaida let the hate in, she let it fill her veins. The man before her murdered her brother, right in front of her. And he smirked as he did so. He watched as the horror hit her square in the chest, just as the red blade cut through her brother like butter.

"You wanted this," Kaida commented darkly. "This was the whole point, wasn't it? To make me see the dark, to embrace it."

"Did you honestly think that I was trying to find a way out, Kaida?"

"I guess what they say is true, then. Once a Sith, always a Sith." She raised her chin. She ignited her purple saber once more.

With a battle cry, Kaida lunged for Kylo. His reflexes were just as fast as hers as she struck for him. Red mixed with purple, creating light in the dark of night. Kaida kicked at his shins, trying to distract him. If I can just disorient him...

The two kicked up snow as they moved. At one point, Kaida tried to envelope Kylo in a snow storm to throw him off. It worked to no avail. If anything, it only angered him more.

Kaida had to adjust herself, his movements were becoming faster than hers. She leapt up onto the nearest tree, nearly getting her legs cut off at the knees as she jumped skyward. She nearly missed her landing and tumbled back down. She glanced down to find Kylo shooting himself upwards on the same tree.

Uneasily, on a wobbly branch, Kaida watched as the Sith was gaining ground from below. This will be interesting. She hopped from branch to branch, a delay in the fight so she could think up a new strategy.

"You can only go so far!" Kylo shouted from below her.

As she jumped higher, Kaida cut any branches close by, and with the Force, shot them in Kylo's direction. His snarl deepened with each branch chucked at him. It didn't hinder him, either. Nothing seemed to do the trick.

Just as Kaida launched herself again, she missed. But it wasn't because of her; the area of the tree she was scaling was toppling over. She was falling with it. She was in a panic, and she saw Kylo shoot from his perch to try and stab her through with his red blade. With a cry, Kaida Force shoved him higher into the air while she continued her fall towards the snowy floor.

She shut her saber off and twisted to have a softer landing on the ground. Her shoulder took the brunt of it as she rolled into the snow. She made a quick getaway as part of the tree came crashing down, kicking up snow into her face. As she came onto her feet, her purple saber came back to life. She watched as the red blade grew bigger, and she stared as Kylo landed in the snow, on both feet, feline-like.

"I would have helped you," Kaida told him through her pants, "if you had meant it. But it was all a ploy. Now, you've—I have no family left. I have no one left but myself. And I can't let you win. I can't let you live while my brother is dead." Hot tears gathered in her eyes.

"Do you wish it was me that was in his place? That's not very Jedi-like of you."

"You're not the man I knew, so I don't feel so bad to think it."

"Kaida, what you're feeling, I can teach you how to control it and better it. If you just submit—"

"I will never submit to you." She pounced for him, aiming her saber for his face. She missed, and he struck her side. She gasped from the sudden pain, buckling to her knees. She could feel the sticky blood soaking her clothes.

"What do you expect to gain if you kill me, Kaida? The return of your brother? You know how the world works. Your freedom? They'll never stop hunting you. In fact, I think killing me will send you over the cliff. It'll put you on the path that I want. Face it, it's all around you. You either die, or you become just like me."

"Needing a mask to hide my face like a coward? I don't think so." There was a pinprick on the back of her neck. A small herd of presences. Stormtroopers. And they were getting closer. If Axel were still alive...

Kaida was alone in this, truly alone. She was going to have to face troopers, and Kylo. All by herself. One Jedi against a Sith and his minions.

The odds seemed stacked against her, but she was going to make the best of it.

**My babyyyyyyyy Kaida. Kick his ass!**