"It's time Jaden..." Velea said with a sad smile.
Jaden looked up at the sky. "Will I ever see you again..." he asked.
Velea grabbed his cheeks in her palms. "We are connected by threads that go beyond our world," she whispered.
"Whether in this life or the next, we will find each other again..."
Jaden and Velea shared one more kiss before the world fell away and Jaden saw her for the last time.
...
Yoda felt his power start to drain away as Darth Nihilus focused his full attention on him. Every moment Darth Nihilus was incarnated he grew stronger, and he'd continue to grow stronger until he reached his original strength. A terrifying level of strength that allowed him to suck planets dry and to hold a starship together with his mind. Yoda continued to push against Nihilus but the latter was able to drain his energy through the stalemate that he'd forced.
He couldn't give up yet however. Not while the Padawans and knights weren't free. He continued to push forward for them, to try and break his hold on them. All while the other masters tried to attack him and kill the Sith Lord.
Darth Nihilus unleashed a Force Maelstrom that erupted from his body in a single violent pulse. The ground split beneath his feet as the shockwave expanded, tearing through the rubble and lifting the very air into a spinning vortex of red lightning and crushing pressure. The storm kept growing bigger, stronger—swallowing stone, metal, and bodies alike.
Jedi were caught mid-step and flung backward. Some were pulled from the ground entirely, dragged screaming into the swirling chaos as the Maelstrom roared outward in all directions. The Force itself felt like it was being pulled apart, bent toward him as if the planet couldn't resist. The force shields that the Jedi Council had engulfed themselves in started to grow dimmer as Nihlus drained them as he layered his force drain ability into the maelstrom.
He was too powerful.
They were all going to die.
Every Jedi was shocked when they saw Jaden appear and pass through the force Maelstrom. Fay who had needed to get away from Jadens body to help save other Jedi was more shocked than everyone else as she had believed he was dead. Aubrie, Zule and Scout all wanted to go towards him and save him but they could barely move as it was.
Jaden took slow steps forward as he walked towards Darth Nihilus, despite not being affected by the force the wind that was whipping about and the debris that was constantly thrashing around made it hard to walk. But he kept on walking and soon he stepped up to the same stone that Nihlus stood on.
The Sith Lord turned to him.
"It's over..." Jaden said as he stood there.
Nihilus tried to crush him with the force but found that he could not. Instead he raised his lightsaber and tried to strike him, but Jaden caught his wrist. Stepping closer towards him Jaden held the lightsaber at bay. A scream tore itself from Darth Nihilus who struggled in his grip; the force scream like everything else had no effect on him.
Yoda who was outside the Maelstrom felt Darth Nihilus release the grip on the Padawans. Wasting no time Yoda yanked them back. "Run now you must!" He shouted at them before falling into his knees, sweat continually beading at his forehead.
Aubrie, Zule and Scout rushed forward but Master Fay held them still in the force before they could get themselves killed. She then looked back to Jaden who was still struggling with the Sith Lord.
'How was he doing that?' She wondered to herself.
Meanwhile inside Jaden continued to struggle against the Sith Lord. Despite not being affected by direct force usage he was still able to be harmed by secondary things, such as the power Darth Nihilus was getting from force rage. If it wasn't for the fact he was in a weakened body Jaden would've been overpowered already.
'Come on! Come on!' Jaden thought. 'Use it!'
And as if by magic Darth Nihilus began to use Force drain on him and while the red arcs of electricity danced across his skin and ran through his body, they did not drain a single bit of life energy. Yet Darth Nihilus didn't stop, for he had no thought, he was only hunger made flesh. He kept on draining and draining despite the hole it was causing.
Jaden held strong but he could already feel his body failing; he couldn't use the force and that meant that the injuries he was holding together were now loose and they were getting worse with every moment.
But suddenly something changed.
The mask kf Nihilus tilted back slightly as the red energy began to twist, shifting in color and intensity. His own power started bleeding back into him, twisting, recoiling, poisoning. The Maelstrom around him faltered for a second as the drain deepened. His body began to shake violently. The fabric of his robes fluttered and snapped in the unnatural wind. His form flickered, solid one moment, hollow the next.
The ground beneath him cracked in wide, jagged lines. The Maelstrom buckled outward, collapsing on itself as his pull began warping gravity, light, and sound. His body started to distort—his limbs stretching and pulsing with waves of energy that weren't contained by flesh. His chest convulsed as invisible pressure fought to implode his form.
Darth Nihilus shuddered violently.
Chunks of armor peeled away from his body, pulled inward toward the void opening in his core. A deep groan echoed from somewhere inside him, as though the galaxy itself were cracking under the strain. The red arcs of lightning no longer lashed out, they snapped inward, spiraling into the black wound in his chest.
And still he drained.
Even as his essence began to fracture.
Even as his form collapsed inward like a dying star.
He couldn't stop.
He didn't know how.
Jaden let go of him and jumped off the boulder they were on. The moment he did an implosion rang out which quickly turned into an explosion, which launched Jaden further tossing him across the ground and slamming through boulders. He rolled a few more times before he hit his head on a rock and his vision turned white.
The Jedi looked in awe as the wind and smoke cleared and they saw that Darth Nihilus was gone, the only thing resting where he stood was his Mask.
Aubrie and the others rushed towards Jaden who was already succumbing to his previous injuries that had only now been worsened. "Jaden just hang on!" Aubrie said as she started to heal him.
Jaden lifted his hand as he tried to reach out for her but his hand collapsed and his vision fell into darkness.
___________________________
When Jaden woke up he immediately felt a large amount of pain coming from everywhere across his body. His vision was blurry and his head was throbbing. He turned around off the bed he was on and he threw up.
Slowly, the haze began to lift. His vision started to sharpen. The outlines of the room came into focus. Cold metal walls. The sound of distant machines. Sterile light above. A medical bay. More importantly it was his medical bay, on the Vengeance.
He was still alive. Somehow.
As he began to take in his surroundings the door opened and he saw a familiar face.
Vaylins eyes widened when she saw him and the puddle of sick that was at the bed. She rushed towards him "Jaden are you okay?!" She asked. "Shall I activate the medical droid?!"
"I've been better, and no it's fine," he replied as he pushed himself up onto the bed.
"Where are we?" Jaden asked.
"We are currently in orbit around Volik, it's been a week since you were brought onto the ship," Vaylin replied as she sat close to him.
Jaden rubbed his head. "Where are the others?" He asked.
"Aubrie and the rest?" Vaylin asked.
Jaden nodded.
"They are asleep currently, would you like me to wake them up," she asked.
Jaden shook his head. "No it's fine let them sleep." He took a deep breath.
"Does that mean that those damn prisoners from the Oberon were transferred over to the Jedi cruiser?" He asked feeling a little relief.
"I'm afraid not," Vaylin said with a sad expression. "After you left they tried to commandeer the ship, me and SD8 stayed in the cockpit and locked it, after that I guess they must've been frustrated as they left the ship..."
"What happened to them after that?" He asked.
"They were killed by some of the wildlife, at least that's what the Jedi concluded when they tracked them down," she said with an expression of genuine sadness.
Jaden looked at Vaylin for a moment. "Are you okay?" He asked. For some reason there was something off about her.
Vaylin easily smiled at him. "I'm absolutely perfect," she replied.
Jaden still felt something was off but he let it go as his mind had drifted to something more important. "Where are my clothes?!" He asked Vaylin urgently.
"The clothes you came in with?" She asked. "They're here," she said as she stood up and went to get them.
Jaden took them from her and began digging through the pockets, relief flooded through him as he found it. The Holocron was there.
"What's that?" Vaylin asked.
Jaden looked at it for a moment.
"It's a promise..."
"One I'm going to keep..."
(AN: So there we go, the end of the arc I hope you guys enjoyed it. Also I know that Darth Nihilus doesn't speak normally he has that weird force speech but I couldn't be arsed for that and so my explanation is that he has a body and can now speak. Anyway next arc we will be delving into Jadens history a bit more as well as Jaden trying to find a way to fix Satele. I think at this point we are gonna go into the clone wars tv show. Or maybe around that point idk I haven't decided. I'm making this all up. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it.)
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