Beyond - Legends Simpatico (Anakin/Jacen/Tahiri)

Force it's been a long time since I've posted here! Maybe this time, I'll actually get a chance to pop in regularly.

Simpatico:

Breathing. Feeling. Hurting. I must still be alive.

The last few minutes have passed in slow motion. I feel what's around me, but it doesn't seem to process. Seeing his face - his of all people in this Force forsaken galaxy - was a surprise to say the least. He was one of the few people I still trusted, one of the few that I still gave a kriff about. Well, stang that! I'm going to start being more picky.

I manage to push myself off the floor with effort. Pain shoots through every fiber of my body, but with a little focus, I dim it into a dull throb. The deck plating beneath my hand burns, and I know the fire has spread to the level below us. This ship will be space trash soon; I don't have time for this.

"What's wrong, brother? Getting tired?" The voice is taunting and too familiar for comfort. I wince.

"Concerned, Jacen?" I quip, dragging myself forward on my one good leg. "And here I thought you didn't care."

His laugh is shaky, and I can tell he wasn't expecting my witty comeback. Score one for the lightside.

"Too bad your lightsaber skills don't match your humor, little brother," he says as he emerges from the shadows. I watch him as he moves closer to me, body crouched predatorily as he eyes his prey. I look at his features closely and almost cringe. He's no longer the man I knew. His eyes are bloodshot and wild. His face is red and lined with protruding veins. I can feel the darkside boiling in his blood like a fever. It is a plague, infesting and consuming.

"Is this the way it has to be?" I ask him, earnestly. The question brings him up short, and he pauses in his advance, his expression perplexed.

"Can it be any other way? Dark and light. One or the other. It's you or me."

With a sudden burst of Force enhanced speed, Jacen lunges forward with a furious attack. His weapon arches towards my skull, and, then, the moment's over.

~~~~

"You're everything I want to be."

The words echo through his mind, condemning... blaming. He wonders if they're real, or a cruel distortion of his memories. His parents haven't looked at him since he boarded the ship. He killed their son. He saved their son. It's a paradox they still can't quite comprehend, and he tries not to blame them from that.

"They'll come around," Tahiri whispers to him in the darkness. Her body molds perfectly against his in the sea of bed sheets. The warmth from her skin is the only thing that seems to dim the ice cutting through his veins.

"Will they?" he counters, staring up at the black void of ceiling above them. "I killed their son, forgiveness isn't exactly mandatory."

"You are their son," she reminded him gently.

"Maybe I'm not anymore." He felt himself drifting. Out of body they called it. He'd experienced it a lot recently. He felt detached from everything now. Only Tahiri seemed to offer an connection to the world around him.

"Jaina's forgiven you," she stated, pointedly ignoring his last comment. "She has, and your parents will too."

He had to admit, she was right there. Jaina had forgiven him, and a lot sooner than he had ever imagined she would. She had been there to meet him when his escape pod was picked up. She hadn't said a word, but her eyes told him everything.

"It's night, isn't it?" he asked, his voice soft in the stillness of the room.

"Yes," Tahiri told him, fingers brushing comfortingly across his face. "It's late. You should rest."

"How can I?" he whispers back, closing his eyes and dreaming of fire.

~fin

 

Wow! What a way to come back to the boards! Stunning!

"You're everything I want to be."

The words echo through his mind, condemning... blaming. He wonders if they're real, or a cruel distortion of his memories. His parents haven't looked at him since he boarded the ship. He killed their son. He saved their son. It's a paradox they still can't quite comprehend, and he tries not to blame them from that.

"They'll come around," Tahiri whispers to him in the darkness. Her body molds perfectly against his in the sea of bed sheets. The warmth from her skin is the only thing that seems to dim the ice cutting through his veins.

"Will they?" he counters, staring up at the black void of ceiling above them. "I killed their son, forgiveness isn't exactly mandatory."

"You are their son," she reminded him gently.

"Maybe I'm not anymore." He felt himself drifting. Out of body they called it. He'd experienced it a lot recently. He felt detached from everything now. Only Tahiri seemed to offer an connection to the world around him.

That was particularly touching and powerful!

 

Hey there, VaderLVR! Thanks for your comments! It's good to be writing again. It's been awhile, but it's nice to have some time to look around here on the boards. There are so many new fics to read and so many old ones still going strong! Lovely to see familiar faces.

 

Welcome back!!

Heh! I like this!!

Anakin's POV in the opening scene is a real treat - he keeps his sense of humour; but there's a grim determination under it - it's an effort for him to be himself...

And in the second scene, we're faced with the question of which Solo brother has survived. The way that the names are arranged in the title offers a chilling possibility that it's Jacen - and a straight reading of the final line of Anakin's POV suggests the same thing; but even here we're left with ambiguity.

If it is read "straight", then we have to assume that the last phrase of Anakin's POV reflects an attitude of awesome Jedi calm (and that Jacen's being deceitful to Tahiri and perhaps himself in the next scene, too)...

The alternative is that Anakin pulled a feint, and put a blaster-bolt through Jacen when his guard was wide open!

And of course, if Anakin was dead before this 'fic, then anything Jacen could do might be ineffectual!


Either way, it's a neat illustration of the possibilities in a single, pivotal sentence - what you can express, and what you can leave ambiguous...

Or was there a give-away reference of some sort that I just missed?

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Nice little study in ambiguity I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's Anakin at the end there because by killing Jacen. he'd save him. Plus I can't stand the thought of Tahiri with Jacen

I also have a feeling that at some stage in the earlier books Jacen said something about wanting to be like Anakin - I think in terms of being "certaint" about things.

Anyway - I enjoyed this.

 

Thrawn McEwok:

You know, I hadn't even thought of the Jacen option until I started reading your reply, and honestly, I kind of like that idea. It offers a different dimension to the story. Is it a bad author that doesn't realize all the possible plot points, or a good one that lets the reader come up with new ideas?

Now, I like that idea, too. *imagines Jacen dyeing a painfully slow death* Ah, happy thoughts.

As always, thanks for the feedback, McE. It simply serves as more fuel for my creative impulses.

thusspakezarathustra:

I second that!!!

Thanks! I'm a closet feedback junkie, so thanks for reading.

 

It's a good author who doesn't even consciously think of J/T as a possibility?

Hmm...? Some might say he's been doing that since Myrkr...?

Thanks, too!!

Does that mean we get more 'fic?

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Very nice! I have admittedly found my self thinking about a fight with Jacen and Anakin for sometime now, and I must say I really enjoyed how you showed his, if only in a small segment of the fight.

I also loved the moment with Anakin and Tahiri in the second chapter, i never really considered the fact that Han and Leia would grieve Jacen death after all that he had done, but if you think about it at the end of the day he is still their son, so why wouldn?t they grieve.

Great little story, gives me some ideas for a fic I?m planning of my own lol

keep up the good work, i hope to see some more new storys from you comming up.

 

Yay - another story from you. Excellent.

This is a thought-provoking little piece. The shift in narrative style from first person to third is a kind of jolt which IMO can be read as a way of showing the effect of Anakin's killing of Jacen on Anakin. (This is my reading of it anyway. I'm with Zara on this. ) As if he has shut down a bit and doesn't wish to articulate for himself - as if dealing with the aftermath is a hell of a lot messier than doing the act. Which it no doubt would be.

But anyway - I'm all for killing Jacen. And Anakin killing him is perfect.

Lovely mood in this story - dark and sombre, and also kind of wistful. Yummy.