"When destiny calls, the chosen have no choice." - Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Water Wars~

The Fated and the Destined

Angela had finally reached the hidden lake. By the time she did, the morning sun had just begun to rise. However, due to the large mountains that kept the lake hidden, it was just beginning to feel like the brink of dawn. A faint fog had settled on top of the lake's still waters, giving the whole area a rather mystical tone.

Angela quickly spotted the place where they had placed their picnic and chose it. She sat under the large tree, leaning her back against its thick trunk.

"You got this. Just like last time."

She closed her eyes and focused her mind on the energy within her. She could sense the Dark Side had slipped in and balanced with the Light. The Darkness was the last thing she wanted to feel. Angela had seen just how destructive it was and she never wanted it to be controlling her thoughts and actions. She had to go completely back within the Light.

Her mind focused on the Light in and around her. It was now only a matter of the Light pushing out the Dark.

The Knights of Ren had landed within the deep jungle of Yavin 4. All of them had their weapons at the ready, masks on their faces, and exited the ship. At this point in time, they would all know their role in the plan they had set up beforehand to assassinate their target. Unfortunately, they were not acting as a unit. They each were in their own mindset about how the assignment should be executed. There was no way the team would act in accord.

Sudeac, being the leader of this mission, decided that the best option for now was a bit of separation. "In order to find the target quickly, we will have to break off into groups. Kalam and Naver. Sulihin and Songar. Myself and Ayimul. The Supreme Leader has told us what the Halva will look like. If you spot them, transmit over the short-range coms. Be certain you are not spotted. Do not engage until we are all together. It will take all of us working as one to take them down. Do not take this assignment lightly." He motioned his right gloved hand in a circle. "Move out."

They grouped up and split in opposite directions of each other.

Kalam and Naver walked in unison. As the footsteps of the other team members faded behind them, they eased up in their demeanor. Yet, they both still kept a lookout around them to ensure they would not been seen and to spot the target as soon as they were able.

"This mission will be dull." Naver was the first to speak, his words mangled robotically by the voice synthesizer in his mask. "We should be able to just kill this Halva target however we please."

"I agree with you." Kalam responded. "This assignment is stealth-centered. We can't even be spotted. I was hoping for more of a challenge."

"May I offer a proposition?" Naver asked.

"By all means, please do." Kalam allowed his partner to speak his mind.

"Suppose we find the target first. We could take them out by ourselves. Then, we claim to the others that the target could sense us through the Force and attacked us first. That would make the excuse of not contacting the others believable."

Silence fell between them as Kalam thought upon the idea. It was a solid minute before he spoke again to Naver. "And if there are others with the target?"

"We could destroy them as well. After all, if we were attacked first, we must keep the mission from getting discovered. If there are witnesses that happened to meddle, they must be killed as well."

Kalam gave Naver a single nod. "Very well. We shall go along with this if we are the first to find the target. This conversation never happened."

Naver returned the nod. "Indeed. It never transpired."

Songar and Sulihin had been paired with one another. Songar already was treading several feet ahead of Sulihin. He didn't want to even look at him. The fact that Sulihin had even uttered that this one Force user could kill them all had infuriated him to his core. It was an insult for Sulihin to believe that the target could take him out. If they would happen upon the target first, he was going to attack the target and torture them however he wished to. He wasn't going to allow anyone to take away his right to enjoy himself. After all, they hadn't slain a Force-wielder in years.

Sulihin remained silent as usual. He, like Songar, was monitoring the surrounding area to find the target. He still kept faithful to the mission. However, his demeanor had changed. He was ready to accept whatever outcome would result from this mission, whether success or defeat. In a way, he was finally at peace with himself. No more conflict over the moral dilemmas or the worry of his existence after his passing. Whatever would come to pass, he was ready.

Ayimul and Sudeac walked right beside each other. Both were keeping a close eye on any movement that could be the target. Even though Sudeac wore his mask, Ayimul could tell that he wasn't positive about the situation they were in.

"You have done well, as far as I'm concerned." Ayimul attempted to reassure him.

Sudeac still thought otherwise. "You may think so. However, I could have done something else. I don't know what, but if I had more time I could have had the team on the same mindset."

"No. We were already split as soon as the Supreme Leader gave us this mission. All it took was a few choice words from Sulihin to completely break the team into several mentalities. And you know as well as I do that Sulihin never speaks unless it is something he feels is necessary to say. Not one word from his mouth has ever been useless banter."

"Well, no matter what happens, I will follow the mission plans to the letter. I'm not surviving this. I'm going to thrive from this. And you will too."

With no response from Sudeac, their conversation ended as they both continued their search for the target. They both wanted to find the Halva first. That way they could somewhat have control enough to keep the mission on track, something that the other two groups more than likely wouldn't do.

Angela couldn't feel a change in her connection to the Force. She still felt both Light and Dark within her. However, the conflict that should have been there wasn't. It was as if the two sides had found balance with one another. She sighed as she pulled herself out of meditation. Grabbing a section of her shoulder-length hair, she moved it from behind her shoulders to see that it was still had its vertically-striped blonde and black sections.

She didn't know what to do as she leaned against the large tree and gazed out at the lake. The morning light was already shimmering on the still waters. The forest creatures were far off in the dense jungle going about their day. The weather was clear above, but now lingering near the mountains were several dark storm clouds, which threatened to block the morning sun.

Why can't I just go back to being able to block out the Dark? I've been able to do it before. Ever since those dreams though… This is bad. How exactly do I explain this to Finn and Poe? "Oh yeah. I colored my hair during the middle of the night. It looks pretty awful, but I was never very good at coloring pages, let alone hair."

That sounds bad. Really bad. But I can't tell them the truth. No way. I need to figure something out soon or else they are going to come looking for me.

"Ang?"

As if the galaxy had it out for her, Poe called out several yards behind her. Angela would have sensed him coming if she had still been meditating, but now she had to act quickly to hide her changed appearance.

"Damn it. How do I always jinx myself at the worst times?" She quickly took off her denim jacket and laid it over her head, creating a makeshift hood just open enough to see a sliver of the world.

It was just in time too because Poe walked out from the jungle path and onto the edge of the lake. He spotted Angela sitting where they had been yesterday, under the large tree.

"There you are." He calmly walked over to her, already seeing that she had taken off her jacket and placed it over her head, leaving her torso covered in her white, long-sleeved shirt. "What are you doing here this early in the morning?"

"I just wanted to get out for a bit. Is that a problem?" The tone in her question was both spiteful yet earnest.

"No. Not at all." He answered before he sat down next to her.

"Then why come out here?"

"BB-8 was worried. He saw you leave and woke me up so that I could find you and ask what's bothering you."

Angela knew, just by the tone in his voice, that he genuinely cared about her. It was something that had never been felt by her before. It stung a bit as she made a quick lie. "Nothing is bothering me." She couldn't see Poe through the jacket but, if she could, she would have seen him look at her with a pitiful smirk.

"Really now? Because from where I'm sitting, I see someone who doesn't want to look me in the eyes and say that nothing is wrong."

Damn him. Why can't he just leave be me until I can fix this?!

"Listen, whatever is troubling you, I'm here for you. You don't have to tell me what's wrong or explain yourself right here and now. But I just want you to know that whenever you want to talk to someone about it, someone who promises not to tell anyone about it, you have me."

Angela gave in. There was no way she was going to be able to meditate like she had in the past to get rid of her hair change. Plus, like Poe promised, it would be kept between the two of them and he wouldn't ask about it. There was still the matter of Finn, but she knew that he would do the same thing Poe promised once he was given an explanation.

Angela lifted the jacket off her head. She could feel Poe's shocked gaze on her as she put her jacket back on. She looked him in his chocolate-brown eyes. "Something is wrong. I just can't…explain it to you."

"Does it have something to do with your hair being two colors?"

"Hey. You said I didn't have to explain anything. Remember?"

"Right, right." Poe stopped himself from asking the many questions running through his mind.

"The answer is yes. The thing that is bothering me is related to my hair." Angela gave him the answer he wanted. "That's the only question I'm answering."

"That's fine by me, as long as it fine by you."

For the first time that morning, Angela cracked a smile. "Thanks."

Poe stood up and offered his hand to help her up as well. "Ready to head back?"

She took it and helped herself up to stand too. "I suppose so. How am I going to explain this to Finn and BB though?"

"Just tell them that you don't want to explain it, but be sure to tell them not to worry and that you're fine or else they will." Poe said.

Angela nodded. "I can do that."

Poe began to take his hand back but felt Angela tighten her grip on it. He didn't fight it. He willingly tightened his grip around hers as they started their trek back to his house.

"Let's go." She said eagerly. "The sooner we back means the sooner we start working on my fighter."

Poe raised a questionable eyebrow her way. "Not before breakfast."

"Breakfast?"

"Yeah. Breakfast. The meal you eat in the mornings."

"I know what breakfast is. But don't most people just skip it?"

Poe was a bit taken back. "Not if you're in the Resistance."

A victorious smile found itself onto Angela's face. "Ha. I'm not part of the Resistance. Therefore, I can skip it."

"Well, I'm not going to force you." Poe gave in. "I, however, am going to eat every bit-"

Angela stopped walking in an instant. It nearly threw Poe off balance since they were still holding hands, and he had walked ahead until their handholding abruptly stopped him in his tracks. She felt something off. Something that was getting closer to the two of them. Her instincts told her to take out her lightsabers out of her backpack and ignite them. She couldn't though. Poe was with her.

"Hey." Poe looked at her, noticing her eyes dart all around them as she turned to look in every direction. "What's wrong?"

"Poe. Did you come in your speeder?"

"No. I walked here. I thought that I would give you some time alone to think before I found you."

Just within the jungle, a rustling of foliage could be heard. She also knew that it wasn't a small animal. It was unnatural. Something that didn't belong. It had its sights sets on both of them, more so on Angela.

Poe didn't get an answer and asked again, this time walking around to stand directly in her line of sight. "What's wrong?"

She didn't have a direct answer for him. The darkness that was rapidly approaching them didn't have anything she recognized about it. "I don't know. But we need to-"

Her words ceased. A cloaked figure had jumped out of the jungle and lunged towards Dameron with two metal cutlasses. Angela reacted by pushing Poe out of the blades' path before dodging the attack as well. Oh, how she wanted to take the lightsabers out of her backpack and take on the intruder. She immediately noticed the number of intruders from one to two when another attacker, dressed like the first, stepped out of the jungle holding a heavy-duty battle-axe.

She gave Poe her hand, which he quickly took to pull himself off the ground. "You alright?"

Poe nodded. "Yeah."

"You soon won't be." Naver, the one wielding the cutlasses, possessed a devilish grin under his mask.

"Hold on." Kalam threw his arm out in front of Naver, not wanting his partner to miss a crucial detail. "Do you know who he is? If I remember correctly, he is the Resistance fighter the Kylo Ren interrogated months ago."

"You're right. And if he is here, then the Resistance must be close by."

That was it. Angela knew that she couldn't let them leave alive. If one escaped and got back to the First Order, the Resistance would be in danger. She would need her lightsabers and the Force in order to defeat the both of them. Her true self would be shown to Poe. She was going to have to attempt to sort out the revelation later. Right now, her skills were needed, and she was not going to let this tragedy happen.

"Ang." He grabbed onto her wrist. "Run."

She twisted her arm out of his grip and proceeded to take off her backpack. "No, Poe. You run. Head back to the base while I take care of these two."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Poe attempted to take her hand again and force her to run with him. Before he had a chance though, she had already something in both her hands.

Angela let the backpack fall the ground with a thud. No going back. Then, she ignited both her lightsabers in unison. The blue blades came to life with a hiss.

"So," Naver's voice was altered by the mask. However, the bravado was still heard by everyone around. "Not only do we know that the Resistance is here, but the target has just confirmed their identity. This mission just became exciting."

Kalam seemed to ignore his partner as he pointed to Angela. "I claim the target. You can have fun with the flyboy." His words hoped to start the fight. If the target would make the first move, both of them could read how their target fought and could have as much with torturing her without any harm befalling them.

"Get out of here, Poe." That was all she told him before charging towards the two Knights, lightsabers out in front of her and her mind centering in on the battle. There was no way in hell that she was going to let the Knights hurt Dameron or get the word back to the First Order about the base. That was a risk the whole galaxy could not afford.

Poe was frozen in place. His mind was trying to make sense of everything that had happened within the past minute. It was a lot.

She...she's a Jedi?! How? Why? And these two…Are they the Knights of Ren? They must be. I got to help Ang. But how? I don't even have my blaster on me. It will take too long to run back to get it. I can't just leave her here.

Angela managed to shove both of the Knights back before she shouted back at Poe. "I'll be fine. Go!"

That was all Poe needed to hear for him to act. He turned and ran. He ran as fast as his feet could carry him. He had to make it back to his speeder at home. Then, he could drive it back and help Angela. He could even get BB to go to the Resistance base and tell General Organa about the situation.

Poe's leaving was taken in by the Knights. It was a problem. If word got back to the Resistance of their presence, it would shorten the amount of time they had to finish the mission. Then again, both Knights believed that they wouldn't need that long.

Kalam adjusted his grip on his axe. "Make this interesting, will you?"

The two cutlasses Naver held were ready to taste blood. "Yes, please give it your all."

Angela glared at the Knights. She swung her lightsabers in a circular motion beside her. No words left her mouth. She was going to remain silent, focused, balanced. All the training that she endured. Every technique that combined her saber skills and Force abilities. It would be implemented. She would not hold back.

She slashed at the two Knight, reinitiating the attack between predators and prey.

The sound of his breathing was the catalyst to Finn waking up. His eyes slowly opened as he gathered the energy to push himself upright in bed. The pain from his injuries had nearly disappeared. A grin of satisfaction rose to his face as he continued getting out of bed and dressed for the day ahead, which he anticipated to be a normal, average day.

Once dressed, he left the room and entered into the kitchen. Food was the first thing on Finn's mind. As quietly as he could, he rummaged around and found a few sweet snacks to munch on. "Heh. Heh. Score." He unwrapped one, chewing it up as he walked into the main room of the house.

His eyes fell upon the open door and BB-8 rolling back and forth in the doorway, as if he was waiting nervously. One look back at Poe's bedroom door being open gave him all the information he needed to start a conversation with the droid. "Hey BB."

"Brrreeee-eee." The droid responded without taking his field of view from outside the home.

"Where did Poe go off too?"

"Tee-eee-eeep."

"Ah. Then, why are you acting so nervous about? It's not like they will get into trouble or anything. They'll be back soon."

BB-8 didn't respond but kept rolling back and forth in the middle of the doorway.

Not wanting to ask the droid to move, Finn stepped over BB to go out and lean against the front of the house. He wanted to enjoy his snacks while breathing in the clean air and gazing around at the natural scenery. Once outside, he opened another snack and began munching on it. A few torn wrappers and fifteen minutes later and Finn had just finished his snacks. This is going to be a good day.

"Finn!"

Finn's gaze snapped to Poe, who was running as fast as he could towards his direction. He knew something was terribly wrong and ran from the house to meet Poe just past the land speeder.

"Poe, what's wrong?"

As Poe went from a run to a full stop he was trying to catch his breath. He didn't have time to waste. Angela, with the possibility of the Resistance base, was in danger. First, he had to warn the base. "BB!"

By this point, BB had already rolled over to Poe, inquiring what he could do to help his friend.

"BB, I need you to get to the base. Find General Organa and tell her that there are at least two Knights of Ren here on Yavin. The First Order may be nearby as well. She'll know what to do. Go!"

Although the droid wanted to ask exactly what was going on, he trusted Dameron and headed immediately to the base to complete the task.

Once that was done, Poe finally addressed Finn. "Finn, I'm going to need your help."

"Let's go."

Poe nearly jumped into the pilot's seat of the speeder as Finn climbed in beside him. "There should be a rifle under your seat."

Finn reached under the seat and felt the stock of the rifle. "Got it." He pulled it out and prepared himself as Poe ignited the engine and headed back towards the lake.

"Finn, I don't have much time to explain the details, but I think Angela is a Jedi."

Finn didn't believe what he had heard. "Wait, what?"

Poe's sight never left the path that he took with the speeder. "I don't know. I didn't see her use the Force but when the Knights attacked us, she took two lightsabers out of her backpack and stayed behind to hold them off while I ran for help."

In all honestly, Finn didn't have a proper response to what Poe just said. It was hard to accept but he did. Poe wouldn't have a reason to joke around with him, not like this and not to this degree. He prepared his mind as he took the rifle off safety.

Finn opened his mouth to give his friend some words of encouragement. Something along the lines of 'Well, she's a Jedi. She can hold them off until we get there'. However, he was cut off by the speeder being struck from behind.

Poe tried to bring the speeder under control of its swaying, but it overpowered his control. The speeder was going so fast at the time that the sudden blow to its backside caused it to overturn, throwing both its occupants from their seat then rolling off the pathway, striking several trees bordering the path.