AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello, and welcome to yet another little disaster, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood snackfiend! This story is for Leandjo (hope I spelled that right!), and schmrdlbrgr sweetheart (hope I spelled that right, too), as well as for the usual suspects, sammie teufel and the gamorrean princess. Gamorrean princess gets her name mentioned twice 'cos she beta-ed this for me. Anyway, this story involves death, dismemberment, destruction, dark-side-ness, and defenestration (well, not really, but it sounded good). Consider yourselves warned. Featuring evil!Jaden, deadmeat!Rosh, confused-and-slightly- ineffective!Kyle, and nonexistent!ending. First chapter up! Starts out near the end of Bast Castle, natch.

CHAPTER ONE: DARK TIMES, DARK PLACES

"Rosh?" Overtones of surprise and shock colored Jaden's voice as she stopped dead on the threshold of Darth Vader's old throne room.

"I sensed your presence, Jaden," her once-friend informed her, eminently unsurprised, turning slowly from the throne. The staff in his hand was familiar—it was the same one Jaden had seen the dark Jedi use, back on Yavin at the Massassi Temple.

Her mind blanked out with shock. She'd never expected to see that evil thing… in Rosh's hand.

Cold eyes. Hard face. Tense posture. This wasn't the Rosh she'd known.

"What are you doing?" she asked carefully, keeping her voice low and level with an effort.

A cold chuckle. "What does it look like I'm doing?" He took a step towards her, ignoring the two goons hanging out to either side of him. "I could ask you the same question, Jaden."

Her brow furrowed. "What?"

"You're on the losing side. Why don't you join us?" Rosh asked, as though it was the most reasonable thing in the world.

"Join—Rosh—no! What are you—I don't—"

"Kyle was holding us back. I was right. We can be so much more powerful—the power, Jaden. Imagine it."

"I never wanted power!" Jaden protested, fumbling for words. "Neither did you! Don't do this, Rosh," she warned him, seeing something change in his cold blue eyes. "You're a Jedi, damn you!" The last was a desperate appeal to her old friend.

His face changed again—he looked lost, confused, bewildered. The staff slipped from his fingers to hit the floor with a loud clatter. "Jay—I—"

"Enough!" snarled one of the goons, stepping between Jaden and Rosh. She felt a surge of the Force and instinctively tried to block it.

She didn't even see the blow coming. One moment, she was standing there, the next, she was flying across the room. She hit a pillar and felt something crack. Fortunately, it was the pillar itself, and not her bones.

With a groan, she tightened her grip on her lightsaber, hauling herself gamely to her feet.

Only to face Rosh once again. His face was blank, empty. His eyes blazed with anger. And there was a red lightsaber in his hand.

She ducked, just in time, her eyes wide. Her own weapon came out with the signature snap-hiss, and red strained against green for a long moment. She broke the stalemate, staggering backwards, barely in time to avoid getting punched in the head by a goon.

The green blade of her lightsaber swept up, decapitating the goon neatly. He sprawled bonelessly on the floor. Jaden's eyes narrowed. One down, one to go.

Two.

The red blade hummed menacingly close to her face. She scrambled backwards, blocking him again and again. She knew she was the better fighter of the two. She knew it…

Dammit!

She bound the red blade with her own, forcing him down, forcing him back. As soon as there was sufficient space, she lashed out with a foot, catching him in the hip. He'd gotten shot there, no more than a few weeks ago, and she knew it would still bother him.

That surprised him. It was his turn to stagger back, nearly tripping over the body of the headless goon. Jaden advanced. He managed to turn aside her blows, but it was a close thing.

With a distracting roar, the second goon charged Jaden. She whirled, lightsaber moving up into a defensive posture. A wave of the Force hit her with punishing momentum. She managed to deflect it, but it wasn't easy for her. Defensive Force powers were not her strength.

Her blade left smoking tears in his tunic. The smell of burning flesh made her nostrils flare in distaste.

Never take your eyes off your enemy.

She saw the red blade approaching, barely in time to throw herself bodily backwards. She knew she could never avoid it entirely…

Pain exploded in her face, her jaw. Again, she smelled the horrible odor of burning meat and knew that this time, it was her own flesh. She staggered, completely off-balance from her desperate dodge. Her vision was cloudy for some reason, and shock and pain dulled her reactions.

The last goon standing advanced on her slowly, grinning, certain the injured apprentice was an easy target. Jaden felt the phantom grip of the Force tighten around her neck as he came closer. Her breathing quickened in panic, and automatically, she drew on the Force, knocking him backwards. The grip was broken.

Again she called on the Force, letting it run through her, healing the wound, making the agony recede. Her vision cleared, and she brought up her weapon, parallel to the floor, as the second man charged her.

He impaled himself. Jaden coolly finished the job, yanking the blade sideways and down, then freeing it with a swift twist.

Then she turned to face Rosh, her grip on her lightsaber tightening. He backed up, eyes flicking to either side, weapon held out in an aggressive guard position. He had to know retreating wouldn't help.

He lunged forward again, blade leading. It hummed dangerously close to Jaden's face, but she swayed out of the way, sullen rage burning in her chest. She raised a hand, gathering in the Force.

She had meant to knock him backwards, buy herself time, time to think…to control her anger. But what emerged from her outstretched fingers was not a wave of the Force…

Blue-white lightning spat from her fingers, crackling eagerly as it bridged the distance between the two. It grounded in Rosh's chest, sprouting hungry tentacles, crawling along his limbs. He stiffened, cried out, a stuttering, desperate, choking scream. There was a clatter as his hand spasmed, his lightsaber hitting the floor.

Jaden advanced. The lightning died out, but the power hummed at the back of her mind, filling her. She spun her lightsaber in her other hand.

His breathing echoed in the room, tortured gasps that inspired a sense of cruel satisfaction in Jaden. Almost without thinking about it, she raised a hand to her face, feeling the rough texture of the scar that now marred her jaw. So she'd hurt him. It was surely nothing worse than what he'd done to her.

He straightened, painfully. His eyes blazed with anger. One arm was protectively across his midriff, as though it still pained him. The other hand clenched slowly into a fist…

…and now it was Jaden gasping for breath. Damn it! She dimly felt her feet leave the floor, but most of her attention was concentrated on her neck and lungs, gasping painfully for breath.

Force Push had broken the hold before.

Jaden couldn't force her mind to calm. Panic started to overcome her as she clawed at her throat. This isn't helping!

With a supreme effort, she reached out a hand, gathering in the Force. It was impossible to separate Force and anger…

She fell to the floor. She caught herself on one hand and a knee, keeping her other hand steady, keeping the arc of lightning intact. It was draining her, but it was the only thing she could think of.

He was doubled over, fingers digging into his scalp, paralyzed, the lightning dancing over his skin.

Jaden's breath came in uneven gasps, ragged with anger, effort, and emotion. "Damn you," she whispered.

Her hand clenched into a fist, and the lightning vanished.

Immediately, she felt him gather his waning strength in the Force, calling his weapon to hand. She beat him to it. There was a brief struggle as the lightsaber hovered in the air, wavering, then it flew to Jaden's hand.

She flicked the switch. The red blade hummed in her fist as she slowly got to her feet, approaching him.

He had fallen to his knees, too weakened to remain standing. He glared up at her with frustrated anger, rage, hatred… more emotions too diverse and strong to be named.

No one knew what might have happened next, had Kyle not arrived. He ran through the door, then stopped short a few paces away, taking the whole scene in. Surprise registered on his face. "Jaden! What are you—"

Then the lightning hit.

Jaden had used Force lightning on Rosh, twice. But she'd never had it used on her. Pain enveloped her, tearing along her nerves, ravaging her mind. Dimly, she heard someone cry out. After a moment, as her throat became raw, she realized it was her own voice she heard.

Her knees hit the floor. Her hands wound into her hair, pulling, pushing, trying unsuccessfully to eradicate the pain. Her eyes were squeezed shut. Her breath came in harried pants.

Someone spoke, she realized after a moment. A woman's voice, soft and hateful and teasing.

And then the pain was gone.

Jaden lay sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath like a beached firaxan shark. Slowly, the room swam back into focus. A woman leaned over her, a mocking little smile on her face.

"…sorry, little Jedi. But your petty friendship cannot compare to the power of the dark side!"

Dark hair. Tattooed face. Skanky clothing.

"Tavion," Jaden heard Kyle say with disgust.

Jaden's fingers twitched. Where was her lightsaber?

"Kyle," the dark Witch said, sounding maniacally cheerful. "How good to see you again!"

Slowly, pain screaming down every nerve, Jaden rolled onto her stomach, then managed to haul herself up onto her elbows…then hands and knees. Tavion was still talking, her back to Jaden. Perhaps she thought the young apprentice no threat, subdued and unarmed.

Kyle's eyes flicked to his apprentice, then back up to Tavion. He understood what Jaden was trying to do and was ready to do his part. He straightened, and said something that distracted the Witch.

Jaden coiled her strength under her, preparing for a leap. If she could just find her lightsaber… She was terrified to reach out to the Force again.

She exploded from her crouch. Every muscle screamed in agony at the rude treatment, but she gritted her teeth against the pain.

Someone bulled into her side, knocking her away from the Witch. Both hit the floor and rolled apart. Rosh was panting, but his eyes gleamed in the half-light. Neither apprentice was armed. Neither was able to use the Force at the moment. Both were exhausted and wounded. But both were completely willing to continue the fight.

"No, no, you stay down!"

Tavion's hand was outstretched, her expression one of mild irritation. And then lightning spat from her fingers again.

The next thing Jaden knew, the ceiling was falling in. She yelped and rolled aside as a heavy stone hit the spot where she'd lain, doing her best to ignore her aching limbs.

Another rock was falling. Jaden skittered aside, barely avoiding the rock itself as shards of stone flew everywhere.

And then it stopped.

There was still the ominous rumble from above, but no further rocks fell. Jaden saw Kyle, crouched, hands raised, obviously concentrating hard to keep the ceiling from coming down on them, whole hog.

She crawled over to him, snatching the lightsaber from his belt. For one insane moment, she was engulfed in the sudden urge to reverse the blade and plunge it into her Master's chest.

Horrified, she almost dropped the weapon, but then she recovered. I'll worry about it later, she promised herself shakily. Later.

The floor was weakened already. It was the work of a moment to break through it into the lower level and escape. And from there, it was not difficult to get back to the ship.