In Vengeance of the Light, The Sith had caused a major amount of trouble, especially with the cloning facilities Between the Sith, and the varying Jedi orders who had banded together against the the sith, the battle's outcome has been devasting on both sides. Nobody is quite sure if the result was really a success, or a complete failure.

One Shadow Jedi Knight, was captured in amidst the fighting. The more troubling part is, that she changed, like a butterfly emerging from the cocoon into something more dark and decidedly dangerous.

Though, of course, this is just the beginning for one Raven Skywalker. The journey has just begun for her, and the remaining choice still remains to be seen.

To go further into the darkness, or turn back to the light?

The tale continues...


Raven awoken the next morning, a smirk already on her face. For some reason, she suspected she'd awake alone, after a rather interesting night.

She stretches her arms, only to hear a fit of giggles, as a familiar face peeks in with a tray of what appears to be breakfast. Something tells Raven that Maavis once again rocked the boat, from the amount of haste the girl had in shutting the door.

Raven pulls the covers closer to her as the girl giggled again, lowering the tray on Raven's lap.

"Don't rock the boat, especially while you're in it." Raven told the girl, who only giggled again.

"Oh, but he...." she started, only to see Raven's eyes darken threateningly.

"Trust me, his patience is rather, shall we say, thin? It won't be long before he'll kill you for such a trivial matter as going through his wardrobe." Raven told her, taking a bite out of what appeared to be toast.

The girl turned an aweful shade of white, and Raven's eye's softened a bit.

"Though I could use a hand here, but only if you don't mess with his things again. Believe me, he looks better in dark colors. It suits his character." Raven added, to see the girl's face brighten again, a grin appearing on her lips.

"Now, do you promise?" Raven smirked, raising an amused eyebrow.

Maavis nodded.

Raven crossed her arms, giving the girl a serious glare.

"Alright, alright! I promise! Damn!" Maavis spurt out, crossing the room, opening the closset door. She yanked out a single outfit and tossed it in Raven's direction, then proceeded to rush out of the room.

Raven shrugged, and proceeded to finnish her meal. She very much doubted that the girl would hold to that promise for very long.

She set aside the tray, and quickly dressed, a smirk once again on her lips. Dark violet, again? Oh well.

Raven kept that smirk on her lips as she left the room, and headed down the hall.

The hall was empty as usual in the morning. No one seemed to be up yet. SOmeone would be punished severely for that. No one slept in in his facility. You were up and around before him or you were in serious trouble. He was liable to kill them.

Raven rounded the corner and Zerxes growled out an "It's about time." before turning back to the door. He keyed in the voice activation and the door opened. Walking in he waited for her to enter before closing the door.

"I have a test for you."

He slapped his plam against a button on the wall and a door opened. Out of the door came a few children in their tens. Kamon looked at Raven and smirked.

"Kill them."

Now, it's Mr. Sith without his caffeine fix?

Raven merely rolled her eyes, and entered the room noting him following her and closing the door. He was once again the sith from on board the ship, a complete contrast to last night after dinner.

Not that it makes a difference to you any, Mr. Ruder than a Hutt doped up on spice. Oh, brother.

She watched him slap a button on the wall, frowning upon seeing a few children slowly walking out. A few of them were yawning and rubbing their eyes, since they had been so rudely woken up.

He issued the order to kill them, and smirked.

"With what? My good look, charm, and bad jokes?" She asked, her sarcastic question getting a few giggles from the more alert of the children in the room.

"There are other ways to kill than with a lightsaber, but here."

He tossed her his old one and stood back against the wall. It was surprising that she was so ready to do this and yet he had known she would be. This woman would make a great Sith.

"Now, kill them."

"Ah, darn. I thought I'd kill them with my poor taste in humor." Raven snorted, rolling her eyes.

Her gazed darkened upon the site of the children before her, whom were all alert, and whimpering. She hated whimpering and whinning. They compared to some guards and and sniveling senators from back when she was a child.

Thankfully, none of the children who were starting to scatter had the same remote appearance as the little girl from the evening before. That girl had admitedly, scared the hell out of her. Perhaps it was an omen of what could possibly happen to Raven herself.

Raven sighed, and rolled her eyes again, a smirk growing on her face.

"Why do they always have to run?" Raven asked, her eyes darting back and forth for a few moments.

They'll only die tired. Oh well. This will be the last morning they'll ever see. Maybe they'll be thankful they dont' have to spend another miserable day here?

With that thought in mind, Raven sprung to work. The secondary thought being that the sith was going to get his butt kicked for having her do this, when there were more intesting ways in which to spend her time.

Zerxes watched with pleasure as Raven set to work. He knew she would enjoy this and he knew he would enjoy this. The girl would become strong with time. That's all it took, time. She'd become real strong he could see that.

"Good. Kill them all."

There had to be a better way in which to get rid of them. Eventhough there was only a little boy of an unrecognizable race running rampant, Raven knew it was only a matter of time before the sith would become cranky and irritated.

It had already taken too long, letting the annoyance of the fact urge her further onward.

Another few mintues, and suddenly Raven's foot caught on one of the already fallen, with her swearing as she hit the ground, the lightsaber dropping to the floor beside her. Raven had tried getting up again, only to find that when she tried placing her weight upon one of her feet, to only find a sharp pain racing up her leg, and her spine. She had only bit her lip as she calapsed on the floor again, to prevent her from crying out.

The child was squeeling in pure delight, thinking he had out smarted a sith, dancing around the edges of floor just to spite her.

The squeels were making her reel with frustraition, a frown upon her lips, then a hint of a smile emerged as an idea came to her.

Raven then layed out on her back, overly dramatizing her "death" for the child, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, fluttering her eyes closed and gasping audibly, as if it were her dying breathe. She sensed a questioning thought from the sith's direction, but she quelled his concern with a playful, but knowing wink while the child wasn't looking.

The next few mintues, she kept in the same position, keeping track of the child's movements through the force. The child was dancing and cheering at first, hollering victory cries, the sound grating and annoying to her ears. She was very tempted to end it, but she stubbornly refused to budge.

If this little bugger had tricked her, well, he was going to get his just reward.

More time passed, and the victory cries faded, much to her relief, sensing doubt and fear from the child. The child probably never seen a dead sith before, and, all too soon, his curiousity overode his fear, and she felt him poking her on the forhead, the shoulder, the arm, and then he crawled onto her stomach.

Gotcha!

Raven imediately sat up, and grabbed the boy, who had gasped in shock, and well, soiled his pants.

She scrunched up her face in pure disgust and tossed the boy off of her, her anger adding in to the force-guided throw against the opposite wall.

Raven then managed to stand, hobbling over to where the child had fallen, and knelt down next to him. She the smirked, and grabbed him, snapping his neck.

"The little brat pissed on me." Raven told the sith, pulling herself up, and leaning against the wall, her dark eyes clearly showing her disgust and annoyance.

Zerxes couldn't help but laugh. The way she was toying with the little Jedi children was hilarious. He'd have never done anything similar to it. He'd just have grabbed them and beheaded them. This girl was good, he had to give her that.

"Good. Now kill the rest of them."

He licked his lips and watched on. FOr some reason his lips seemed dry. He'd have to get a bit of wine later to unparch them. Or maybe a bit of Raven later. He smirked and watched as she went after her next victim.

She heard him laugh, and she frowned.

No, wait, was he clearly amused by the show she was giving him? Or, was he laughing at how pathetic she was?

No matter, for a few more children were now in her view, frowning in puzzlement as she watched him lick his lips.

It seemed odd that she had now, out of all times, had noticed that particular quirk. Why did he do that? Were those lips of his that dry? Or was there something else that he wanted?

Raven mentally cursed at herself for being so easily distracted, though she smirked in spite of herself. Damn that man!

She then gazed about the room, and eyed the borrowed lightsaber near the center of the room, this time, swearing under her breathe.

Strangely enough, another idea sprang to mind, and Raven slowly moved from the pillar that she was leaning against, ignoring the children at first, just simply heading towards that lighsaber on the floor.

She sat down, the lightsaber hidden, but within easy reach of her fingers.

" I know something you don't know." Raven whispered, her voice sounding cheery, her eyes overly bright with disguised hope.

The children stoped, giving each other puzzled looks.

What was this? A secret?

She senced the flares of hope brightening from each child's mind, keeping the cheery smile frozen on her face. She noted a knowing smirk from the sith from the corner of her eye, her smile widening. He knew now that it was all a game, a sham, an enticing snare to a trap that Raven would soon spring, once the children were within her clutches.

The children slowly approached her, the promise of a secret about to be told.

"Why are you so afraid for? You can trust me. I know a secret. Don't you want to know?" Raven asked, spreading out in a welcoming gesture.

"What about him?" a little girl asked, refering to the sith watching them all.

"Oh, don't worry about him. I know how to deal with his type." Raven murmured, sharing a seemingly knowing wink with the girl. The sith gave Raven a scowl, and she gave him a smirk. Well, she kinda did. Maybe. His scowl deepened, and Raven smiled easily, hoping he didn't catch her gulping.

"What's the secret?" another child asked.

The very question seemed to break the dam of uncertainty, all eagerly wrestling over the tops of one another as the scrambled to get closer to the one who held such a big secret.

Raven grinned, and motioned for them to stop, just a mere breathe away from her. It seemed all too easy.

"What's the secret?" a child, perhaps the same one, asked.

Raven leaned forward, giving them a conspiratal grin, her fingers urging them to lean closer to her. She looked up, as if checking to see if the sith was watching, and quickly diving her head down again, though before she did, she unconsciously licked her lips in antisipation.

They were all lapping it up, curiuosity burning intensely in their eyes.

"I know how to get out of here." Raven whispered, loud enough for the sith to hear.

The children didn't seem to care that the sith was listening to their conversation, as whispers murmured throughout the group.

"How do we get out?" a child nearly shouted, his companions shushing him up, telling him if he got any louder, the big bad guy was going to feed them all to the creatures outside.

Oh, how little did they know, that the worst monster was right there in front of them.

"Do you really wanna know?" Raven asked, glancing about the children's eager faces.

Her warm eyes suddenly sparkled darkly, a smirk curving her lips, an eyebrow raising in dark amusement.

The children, were entire oblivious as to the real reason as to why she suddenly smiled, possibly believing that Raven was eager to reveal the secret.

Raven sprung into action, her fingers grasping the lightsaber. Surprisingly, most of the children never caught on to her intentions until it way too late. There was no way, in hell, that she was going to let a single brat out of her sight, and she was not going to get peed on again!

This girl was going to get it one of these days. The way she talked about him was unreal. No one ever talked like that when he was around. They were either too scared or had better things to do than waste their time fiddling with his mind. This girl seemed to know otherwise.

Zerxes watched in puzzlement at first as she sat down, but he caught the faintest whisper. He knew what she was going to do as soon as he heard what she first said. It all came to him clearly. Children, especially at this age, often kept secrets and wanted to know others. That was the trick.

He smirked as she leaned closer to them but scowled when she said the bit about escaping. No one escaped from his facility. It was all but impossible as all the access doors were locked and only he knew the combination. His scowl deepened as she smirked at him, and he notice her gulp.

She then bent down to tell all the leaning in children her secret. They all leaned in to listen closely as she began to tell them. He noticed her hand reach for the lightsaber and knew what was coming next. Smirking, he watched as her hand found a hold.

Do it.