A/N: Set after Vortex.

To those who recognize this fanfic, it had previously been posted in 2011, but due to losing the chapters I'd had finished that were ready to be added to this story – somehow the thumb drive I had them only fell out of my bag at the university I attend – I became discouraged and eventually took it down a while back. I actually only had a few random chapters of 1-13 saved on my laptop itself (I thought they were all saved but turns out only a few were and the rest were on that thumb drive). Since I couldn't recall what I had written exactly in the chapters I lost and couldn't foresee finishing it, I decided it might be best to just remove it.

In the days that followed taking it down, I received quite a few PMs asking why it was taken down and asking if it could be put back up and continued. I said I'd repost this if my muse came back, and it did, but I also found out that one of my friends still had some of the chapters and notes for the story saved on her computer (sometimes I worked on it at my friend's place and saved the stuff both on the thumb drive and her computer). So, I'm reposting it!

Chapters 1 through 13 were what had been previously posted, and every few days I will be uploading one of those chapters. I'd upload it all at once, but I want to get people into the story rather than post it all upfront. That and I still have stuff to edit and revise (I'm going to correct spelling and grammar and all that).

Once it hits Chapter 14, the chapters will be new.

One change that I made was a little edit in the title. The reason why I've added "Dark" to the title when it was previously simply called "Redemption" will be made known in new chapters later on.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

When she was a little girl, Vestara asked her father what killing felt like. He replied that it was easy and that you didn't feel anything but satisfaction when taking a life. Since then she'd killed a lot of people of various species'. Killing was easy, her father was right about that, and it was something she was very good at. And for a long time she did only feel satisfaction when she killed, but lately it was getting harder to live with the things she'd done and the things she was currently doing.

Everything was backwards. Black and white was starting to blend together, confusing young Vestara. And it was all Ben Skywalker's fault.

Before she met the Jedi, things had been simple, everything made sense, and she'd never lost sleep over a decision she made. But now, as she quietly made her way to the sleeping Jedi's quarters, things were confusing and guilt slowly ate away at her as she thought about what she was about to do. It was strange to feel guilty, being an emotion she wasn't use to feeling, but heading to Ben's quarters with the intent of using his feelings for her against him and seducing him planted a seed of guilt in her chest. She cared about him, more than she should, and she didn't want to use him like this. But she still had some hope that maybe she could bring him to the Dark Side and make him a Sith like her. Maybe then she would earn back her father's trust. More importantly, she wouldn't have to be enemies with Ben anymore.

Silently walking down the narrow corridors of the Jade Shadow, Vestara paused at Luke's door, listening with her ear pressed to the steel and reaching out with the Force.

Just as she'd planned, the Master Jedi was out cold. The drug she'd put in his drink was potent stuff. He wouldn't be waking up for hours.

Earlier when they stopped on the nearest civilized planet to refuel, Vestara had managed to wander off long enough to find and purchase a vile of the toxin from a plant and the vaccine for it. Both were costly, but with a little persuasion she'd gotten them for free. While the toxin was more or less harmless, it would knock a bantha out cold for hours. The vaccine kept those who worked near the plants immune to the effects.

Before boarding the Shadow, she'd slipped the vaccine into Ben's drink after she took some as well. The reason for that was so that she could poison Luke without him catching on. When they were all getting ready to sleep, she spiked the jug of juice that had been opened earlier and purposefully poured herself a cup and drank from it while Luke kept half an eye on her. He'd fallen for it flawlessly and drank some of the juice, convinced that it was fine since she had drank some. Shortly after he had retired to his quarters, suddenly very tired. No doubt he would be suspicious of her in the morning, but right now he wasn't a concern.

Passing by his quarters, she soon found herself standing direct in front of the doors to Ben's room.

Suddenly she felt very cold and nervous. The cold could be due to her only wearing black panties and a thin black tank top, but the nervousness that she felt could only come from being a virgin. This wasn't how she planned to lose what remained of her innocence. She wanted… well, she didn't want the first time to be by using someone she admittedly cared deeply about. While she had thought about sleeping with Ben, she'd hoped it would be under better circumstances, but she was desperate to earn back the trust of the Sith and if she got Ben to sleep with her, fall for her, then she could possibly bring him to her side. That should be enough to redeem her in her father's eyes.

Sighing, she leaned forward, resting her forehead on the cool steel. No matter how she tried to sugar-coat what she was going to do, she felt horrible.

Taking a deep breath and running her fingers through her hair, free from its usual braid, she waved the door opened with the Force and stepped inside, shutting and locking it behind her.

The room was cast in shadows, but Vestara could see Ben fairly well in the dark room.

On his side, the sheets were pulled halfway up his chest and the sound of his soft snoring filled her ears, making her smile. She wouldn't have thought of him to be a snorer. It was rather cute.

Pushing back her nervousness and negativity, she sauntered towards the bed and ever so gently pushed the young Jedi to his back whilst simultaneously pulling the sheets away. Ben grunted in his sleep, shivering from the cold, but didn't wake up. Without hesitation, she climbed onto the bed, swinging her leg over him so that she straddled his boxer clad hips.

Pausing momentarily, she took a second to just admire him. It was hard to tell when he was clothed in his black trousers and tunic, but he was quite muscular and she idly trailed her fingers lightly along his abs. Her dark brown eyes locked onto his face and she reached for a lock of red hair that had fallen in his eyes, brushing it away. All her life she had thought she was more attracted to those with dark brown or black hair, but now she realized that she loved the fire red shade of Ben's hair and that he'd ruined any chance of her becoming attracted to anyone but him.

Throughout her musings, Ben had yet to wake despite the brushing up her fingers against his abs, her hand resting on his cheek, and the delicate weight of her settled on his hips. He really was a deep sleeper. Since she didn't plan on taking advantage of him in his sleep, she leaned forward and ran her lips along his neck before placing a kiss at the column of his throat, nipping tenderly at the skin in an attempt to wake him.

At last, the Jedi began to stir and she kissed his chin.

Stretching his arms, Ben opened one eye wearily before frowning and opening both. "Ves? What…?" He attempted to sit up and became aware that the scantily clad Sith was straddling him. "What are you doing?"

Vestara smiled sweetly, running a finger along his cheek. "I was thinking about you and couldn't sleep."

"Uh…all right," he said, voice shaking from a mixture of caution and hormones. When Vestara kissed his throat again, he hissed, "Can you not do that?"

Smiling against his pale skin, she asked sweetly, "Are there other places you'd rather I kissed?"

A groan vibrated through his chest, making her shiver. "Vestara, stop it," he said firmly, albeit reluctantly.

Sighing, she sat up straight, sultry smile still in place, and she murmured whilst trailing her hands down his chest, "Just relax, Ben."

As her fingers of one hand traveled past his navel, Ben grabbed her wrist. "What are you doing?" he demanded, propping himself up on his elbow.

When it was clear that things would not progress until he received and answer, she replied softly, "I know I've screwed up in the past, and I know that you have no reason to trust me, but I need you, Ben." She put as much emotion as she could into her words. It wasn't hard because she was telling him the truth. She was just telling him the truth for the wrong reasons. "You've been there for me when others would have removed my head from my shoulders. I can't decide if you're brave for having so much faith in me or if you're the biggest fool in the galaxy."

Ben gave her a shaky laugh. "A bit of both probably."

She smiled and continued, voice taking on a more sensual tone, "Ben, I need you in more ways than one. I want you, and I know you want me too." As the words left her mouth, she took Ben's other hand with her free one and placed it on her bare thigh, encouraging him to touch her, smile widening as his face flushed. "I'm not blind. I've seen how you've looked at me. It's okay," she assured him softly, bringing his hand under her shirt.

Breathing uneven, the young Jedi gradually began to loosen up and she was able to release his hand and let him explore her curves on his own. Letting go of her wrist, he pulled her thin shirt up just under her breasts, laying his palm flat against her toned belly.

Eyes fluttering shut, Vestara sighed, his hesitant touch bringing all sorts of feelings to the surface.

Emboldened by her response and having the curious mind of a teenage boy, Ben brought his hands to her cotton clad breasts and the Sith gasped, surprised by the sudden boldness. When he shifted beneath her, she became acutely aware of his member pressing against her center and ground her hips into his, whimpering as she did and receiving a low groan from Ben.

Before she could react, Ben reached up, tangling his fingers in her brown hair as he pulled her lips down to his in a deep, awkward kiss. It was slow and shy and when it became clear that he wouldn't take the lead, she did and ran her tongue over his lips. Instinct caused him to allow her access and his free arm wrapped around her, holding her close as her tongue brushed against his again and again.

Breaking their heated kiss, he pushed her back just enough to gaze at her face. Tenderly his thumb traced the scar at the corner of her lips.

"I love that scar," he admitted quietly.

His gentle touch and words nearly drove the Sith to tears. All her life that damn scar had been a flaw amongst her people, something ugly that no one liked. No one had ever said they loved it. No one had ever been so good to her. She hated him for it, for it made what she was doing that much harder.

Instead of replying, she placed a passionate kiss on his lips and this time it was his tongue that sought entrance. When Ben began sitting up, she was forced to sit up as well but she let him take control and didn't ask questions.

Without a word, he rolled them over, pinning Vestara to the mattress. Beneath him, she felt small and fragile. He wasn't the tallest human, but he was taller and far more muscular than she was, and she was suddenly intimidated and she tensed. Ben must have sensed this because his kiss became less frantic, becoming slow and gentle, causing her to lose herself.

Pulling back as his hand trailed down her side to her thigh, he said, half serious and breathing heavily, "We shouldn't be doing this. If my dad walks in we're both dead."

Breathlessly, she threaded her fingers in his hair, pulling him back to her. "Don't worry, I took care of it," she replied and instantly knew she'd made a big mistake when he tensed.

Face flushed, Ben looked down at her suspiciously. "What do you mean, you took care of it? What did you do?"

"I…" Frantically she searched through her mind for an answer, a believable lie, and came up blank. Sighing, she replied, "I might have slipped something into his drink."

"You did what?" he demanded, voice raised and the mood broken. "What did you give him?"

"Relax, it's basically a heavy duty sleeping pill. He'll wake up in a few hours. But until then…" she was about to attempt to salvage the situation when she felt the subtle yet instant probing in her head and frowned. Too late did she realize that Ben was trying to sense her intentions. While she doubted he found enough to pinpoint what she was up to, he definitely knew that her intentions were dark and not just warm and fuzzy.

As though she were disease ridden, Ben jumped off her and looked at her with contempt as he backed away from his bed. "What are you up to?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Skywalker," she lied, straightening her tank top and getting out of bed, making her way to the door.

Ben stopped her, grabbing her by the arms and holding her inches from him. "I want to believe you came here because of what you told me, I do, but I don't, so why don't you tell me why you really came in here?"

"I told you the truth, Ben," Vestara insisted. She was torn between telling him her intentions and desire to return to the Sith, or lying.

Ben sighed. "But not all of it, right?"

Swallowing, she shook her head, her resolve slowly fading. "I… I don't want to be enemies. I know I said that we don't have to hate each other even though we are enemies, but this would be so much easier if…" she trailed off.

He waited patiently for a moment but released one of her arms to tilt her chin up, forcing her to meet his blue eyes.

"Easier if what, Ves?" he asked gently, looking down at her.

It was hard to lie to him when she wasn't looking at him, but now, looking into his eyes, it was nearly impossible and her heart began to race. Against her better judgment, she whispered, "It would be easier if you were a Sith."

Comprehension and hurt cast a shadow over his face and he stepped away from her as though she'd slapped him. "You… were you trying to seduce me to the Dark Side?"

A smirk came to her lips. "There was no trying to it, really." The smirk left her face when Ben began to pace back and forth, his anger radiating off of him. "I didn't want to hurt you, I was just -"

"You were trying to turn me against my father!" he shouted, making her jump at his sudden outburst. "Against my entire family and every other Jedi out there! How could you do that to me after all the trust I've put in you?"

"Because I was told to, all right? My father became aware that I'm attracted to you and wanted me to use your feelings for me in hopes that you would turn to the Dark Side!" she shouted right back, temper flaring. "And you know what? I was happy to do it! I was happy to do it because I wanted to spend more time with you!" Running a hand through her hair, she walked to the wall and leaned back against it, the weight of what she'd confessed baring down on her shoulders. Force, her father would have her neck if he found out that she'd told Ben. But at the moment, Ben was all that mattered and she hated the look of betrayal he was sending her way. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

"Get out."

Tears stung her eyes. "Ben, please -"

"I said, get out," he sighed, going to his bed and sitting. "Just go."

Biting her tongue until it bled to keep from crying, she raced out of the room and back to the little room that was made into her quarters.

Force, what had she done?

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