Title: Dark Magic (4/?) 
Author: Jessica Barber 
Author email: mara_jade101@hotmail.com 
Category: Series (New Republic) 
Keywords: Kyp Durron, original characters 
Spoilers: Jedi Academy Trilogy, Darksaber 
Rating: I'd rate this fan fic PG 13 because there is some violence
and a couple bad words and a few sexual innuendos in the later
parts, but that's about it. 
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created
and owned by Lucasfilm, Ltd. No money is being made and no
infringement is intended. 
Summary: This is a story all about Kyp Durron and an evil woman
named Legerdemain. Hopefully you've read the Jedi Academy
Series and Darksaber, but if you haven't you probably shouldn't
read this! Some of this story contains flashbacks of Kyp's
childhood, but not much. Legerdemain is a three-hundred or so old
woman who, with the dark side, switches bodies and stuff. She's
out to kill off the Durrons, so obviously Kyp's going to confront
her. 


                    Dark Magic
                    Part Four


  The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost. --
Gilbert K. Chesterton
  Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do
and die, into the valley of Death, rode the six-hundred. -- Alfred, Lord
Tennyson
  These are the times that try men's souls. -- Thomas Paine



  Kyp sat up straight in bed, his hand flew up to his forehead to try and
calm the pounding headache.  A cold sweat covered his body; he shivered.
The scar on his chest burned like it was on fire.  Those blue within blue
eyes glowed in his memory like ice chips.  Her echoing laugh resounded in
his ears, making it hard for Kyp to hear the normal night sounds of Yavin
Four from outside the open window.  Suddenly, smooth, warm hands and arms
wrapped around his stomach and ran upwards to his chest.  He felt Seretessa
rest her head against his back.
  "Kyp?"  She whispered, enjoying the feeling of taut skin over hard muscle
under her hands.
  "She won't leave me alone.  I always see her."
  Seretessa tightened her grip around his chest.  "I wish I could rid you of
her."
  Kyp slid around to face Seretessa.  Her eyes looked blue in the moonlight
that beveled in from an overhead window.  Instead of their usual curiosity 
her
eyes shone with worry.  Kyp slid his fingers down her cheek and neck.  He
kissed her neck and motioned for her to lie back down.
  She did not.
  "I'll be fine."
  "You always say that, Kyp.  Even if you were dying you'd say that you were
fine and feeling great.  I never can believe you when you say that."  
Seretessa
tightened the covers that she held up to her sternum.  Kyp managed a small
smile at her modesty.
  "I'm telling the truth this time."
  "Then that's why you keep having nightmares, two to three a night?  And
you always wake up with your heart racing and tears falling down your face?"
  Kyp stared at Seretessa in astonishment, "Tears?"
  Seretessa trailed a path down Kyp's cheek with a finger where small traces
of salty water remained.  "Tears."
  Kyp looked away from her pale face and towards the open window.  All he
saw was the dark sky and some of a moon.  "I'm going back to face her."
  Seretessa grabbed Kyp's right hand in her own.  "No.  You can't!" she
whispered fiercely.
  "I will."
  "Then I'm coming, too."
  Kyp let his gaze rest on Seretessa's face.  He studied her large eyes.
Again he felt guilt for bringing such a young girl into the spider-web of
darkness and chaos that was his life, but she had come of her own free will.
Anyway, everyday that he spent with her she seemed to grow older and
older so that the once bright, happy, and naive Seretessa that he had once
known was nowhere to be found in those wide eyes of hers.
  "You can come, Seretessa."  Kyp said.
  Seretessa narrowed her eyes, staring quizzically at Kyp.  "You're not
going to try and stop me?"
  "It is our destiny to fight together.  It is a road we must take."
  Seretessa tightened her grip on Kyp's hand, then let go, hugging him even
tighter.  "I love you so much, Kyp Durron."
  Kyp closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her.  "I love you, too."
  Kyp and Seretessa slid down under the covers.  Minutes later, Seretessa 
was
already asleep, breathing softly against Kyp's chest.  Kyp knew that he 
would
not be able to sleep for a while longer, for whenever he closed his eyes he
saw Legerdemain.
  Kyp looked down at the top of Seretessa's head, which rested against the
base of his neck.  It had been two weeks since their first kiss.  Kyp had
put off going to Anoat so he could be with Seretessa longer, of course now, 
it
didn't much matter since she was now going with him and Guy.  It would be
better that way, after all, Guy had told him that he had seen himself,
Kyp, and Seretessa fighting side by side.  Maybe this was what he meant.
  And yet, what did all the other things mean which the blonde haired man 
had
seen? The battles of Jedi against Jedi, the war crys of Kyp being a god.
Somehow Kyp knew that all these roads Guy saw ran into Legerdemain, and 
after
that there would be only two, one would be peaceful, the other would lead
to the bloody uprisings and yet, there was a road Guy had not mentioned, and
Kyp had felt the secretiveness of it all, what road had Guy been hiding from
him?  Kyp held Seretessa tighter to himself as a lightning bolt of fear
arched through him. . .
  A warm nudge in his mind made Kyp's eyes flutter open.  Seretessa sighed
in her sleep, pressing herself closer to Kyp for warmth; the nights on Yavin
Four were cold ones.  Kyp felt the nudge again, it was Guy.  Kyp smiled to
himself, his friend had sensed the rolling emotions inside of Kyp after the
dream.  Kyp 'nudged' Guy back.
  There was silence after that, hinting towards the coming of predawn.  Kyp
let his senses spread throughout the Academy, everyone was asleep, which was
amazing.  He spread his senses farther, touching the borders of the jungle.
The nocturnal animals of Yavin Four were heading for their dens to hide from
the coming day, and the other animals had not yet risen.
  Complete silence spread like tendrils throughout the jungle, the temple, 
and
Kyp's thoughts.  There was complete peace, the eye before the storm.  A
sinking feeling rested in the pit of Kyp's stomach.  Dread.  Kyp furrowed
his brow at the new feeling.  Why dread?  A foreshadowing of something
bad, but what?  What would happen when he fought against Legerdemain?  Guy
hadn't said anything too bad was going to happen, but then he had been 
keeping
something to himself, but what?
  Then, Luke Skywalker awoke.  Kyp frowned, let his eyes wander around the
stone, brown room.  Luke usually was not up this early, obviously a new
student or two, or hopefully three or four, were coming in.  Kyp let go of
Seretessa, the dread filled his stomach again.  He slid out of the small bed
and quickly dressed.
  Kyp, as usual when a new batch of students came, met Luke Skywalker just
outside the Great Temple, where the transports usually landed.  Luke met
Kyp with an early morning smile and looked back up at the sky.  Kyp followed
the older man's blue-eyed gaze and saw a small transport drawing closer and
closer to them.
  "There is only one today along with our usual supplies."
  "And?"  Kyp asked, watching the transport with renewed interest as he 
began
to sense the person within.
  "A girl from the planet of Concord Dawn, she's eighteen."
  "And very strong in the Force."
  "Yes.  You and she should get along well."
  "Hm."
  The transport landed, and just as its engines were shut off, Kam Solusar,
Guy, Tionne, and Yert appeared to take care of the supplies.  Kyp smirked
at their usual perfect timing.  The yellow-brown humanoid, Yert, was the 
first
to head for the transport, followed closely by Kam and Guy.  Tionne stayed
behind, data pad in hand, ready to make a list of all that they had received
so she could later document things.
  The ramp slid down to meet with the mossy ground, and Yert stood to the
side as a long-legged woman stepped down the ramp, a duffel bag, its straps
hanging on her shoulder, softly hit against her right hip.  She wore knee-
high boots, a black leather jump-suit, with a thigh length brown jacket.
Around her waist hung a brown leather belt which hung slightly lower on her
right side, hooked to this belt was one visible blaster, but Kyp could _see_
one hooked to her lower back.
  "Kyp?"
  Kyp looked over at Luke, realized that he was not breathing, he took a 
deep
breath. "Her name?"
  "Onyx Crysania." The woman said, already having made her way to
Luke and Kyp with a cat-like grace that only suited her perfectly.
  Kyp looked from Luke Skywalker to the woman -- teenager he silently 
corrected
himself.  She was just a girl, he was still a year older than her. "Onyx,"
Kyp held out his hand, "I'm Kyp Durron."
  She took it, shook his hand, smiled a very brief smile and then turned to
Luke.  "Guy Vladmir's parent's said I should come here --"
  Luke nodded his head, "Yes, they contacted me here as soon as you left."
  Luke turned his attention from Onyx to Kyp.  "Onyx is from Concord Dawn,
but moved to Coruscant last year with her parents.  Her parents met Guy's
father while he was visiting Coruscant."
  Onyx crossed her arms over her chest, "Where should I put my stuff?"
  Luke looked at Kyp who frowned.  "I'll have Guy show you, it's about time
you two met."
  Onyx smirked at Kyp and turned around, watched Yert and Kam walk down the
rampways, carrying heavy boxes.  Guy followed, with an equally heavy box,
composed in his cool ways as always.  Luke let Guy drop the box down by 
Tionne
and then stopped him from continuing back into the ship.
  Guy looked down at the girl standing before him.  She was tall, probably
ranging five feet, eight inches, which made her slightly shorter than Guy 
and
Kyp.  Her hair, a dark brown with barely noticeable red streaks in it, hung
lose, gathering an inch below her shoulders, layered.  Her eyes, unlike her
hair, were a light dusky blue.
  Guy held out his hand, "Miss Crysania?"
  Onyx smiled a genuine smile and shook his hand.  "You can call me Onyx, or
just Crysania."
  "I have seen you in my meditations before, you are a very powerful woman."
  Onyx raised a dark eyebrow.  "Really?  And just how much do you see in 
your
meditations."
  "Obviously not enough."
  Onyx laughed, said, "It's good to finally meet you Guy Vladmir."



               *    *    *

  "She seems suspicious to me."
  Seretessa laughed at Kyp's comment, said, "You're just jealous that now
she's attracting all of Guy's time."
  Kyp frowned, turned his back to Guy and Onyx, who, on the other side of 
the
main room of the Great Temple, were talking and laughing.  Kyp's frown
turned into a smile as he wrapped his arm around Seretessa's shoulder, "That
might be true, but it's not that bad since I am able to spend all my time
with you, little lady."
  Seretessa giggled, pushed Kyp's arm off her shoulder and stood up.  "Yes,
well, like I said ten minutes ago, I have to leave.  Meditation time, but 
hey,
a powerful Jedi Knight like you wouldn't understand how much I have to 
train."
  Kyp stood, smiled.  "I love you," he said, pushing her hair back from her
face, wanting to kiss her, but in a strange way not daring to.
  Seretessa gave Kyp a strange glance at his actions, but smiled anyway and
left the room.
  Kyp let out his breath and fell back onto the bench he had been sitting
on.  A sweet laugh resounded through the large chamber, followed by a rich,
cooly controlled one.  Kyp shook his head, rested his forehead in his hands.
  There were soft steps, then, "Tired, Durron?"
  Kyp looked up, stared at Onyx for a moment.  "Why?"
  Onyx rolled her eyes, laughed.  "Better not be.  Guy told me how you were
leaving tomorrow to fight some witch."
  Kyp scooted over, allowing Onyx, and then Guy to sit next to him.  "We 
are,
wether I am tired or not will not matter."
  "Ah, but it will, how in the galaxy could you fight well without sleep?"
  "I've done it before."
  "Uh-huh.  Too bad I can't come. I'm sure it would be interesting."
  Kyp sat up straight, looked down into Onyx's dusk blue eyes staring up 
into
his.  Kyp felt forward with the Force, noticed she was neither nervous, or
happy, but amused by the rolling emotions she felt emitting from him.  
Already
she had control of the Force.  She was amazing.
  "It will be far from interesting, Crysania."
  "I find odd things amusing, I'd like to see the woman.  What is she like?"
  "The epitamy of evil . . . and saddness."
  Onyx narrowed her blue eyes, looked over her shoulder at Guy.  "Saddness?"
  Kyp and Guy both shrugged, Kyp said, "I just sensed it from her.  She 
hates
us so much because of this great saddness and guilt within her.  If I could 
-
I would try and save her, but - it seems impossible, she has sunk so deep
into herself and the evil of her revenge."
  "So you wont even try?"
  "No.  She has been given chances, I know it.  I can feel it."
  "Maybe if you tried . . ."  Onyx's voice trailed off as she caught a hard
gaze from Kyp.
  "Try not, do or do not, there is no try."
  "So do it."
  "I'd rather not."
  Onyx angrily stood up, pushing her hair behind her shoulders, "Fine.  Just
remember, when you kill that woman, you could have saved her.  You are a 
Jedi
Knight, it is your job to fight for people, to fight for their lives.  Not 
to
kill them."
  "She deserves to die, she has killed so many people."
  Onyx looked down at Kyp, narrowing her eyes, "And what of you, Kyp Durron?
Then do you not deserve to die?  After all, you have killed millions of
innocent people.  It is only because of Master Skywalker's mercy that you
were able to stay and train here.  If he showed you that mercy, why can you
not bring yourself to show that woman mercy?"


          *    *    *

     Deyer, Anoat

  The sun was setting, and pink, blue, and purple color reflected from the 
sky
to the water.  Even if Kyp had seen Derek and Kereene, he would not have
been able to talk to them.  He, Guy, and Seretessa, were in a hurry that no
one mentioned.  The fact that Kyp knew they all had the same sense of dread,
Guy more than any, made them walk faster, made Kyp fly the landspeeder 
faster,
and made them get off the landspeeder, in the dark, slowly.
  Legerdemain's building was close to being nonexistant in the dark.  Kyp 
felt
two people inside the building.  The powerful one being Legerdemain, the 
other
a man.  Kyp thought to himself, how in the galaxy does she find these people
to work for her?
  Seretessa walked closely to Kyp said, "I have a feeling that it is him. 
The
man who killed my family.  Revenge will be mine."
  Kyp grabbed Seretessa's hand in his.  "Revenge is what Legerdemain seeks,
not what you seek."
  Guy hurried up to Kyp's other side, kept his gaze away from Kyp.  Kyp
halted in mid stride, letting go of Seretessa's hand and putting both his 
hands
on Guy's shoulder.  Guy looked up slowly, his usual agonizingly cool 
composure
was gone, and his face was etched in worry.
  Kyp smiled at his friend reassuringly, "It isn't that bad, Guy."
  "I know . . . it's just . . . all the roads, so many lead to death."
  "Your death? Then get out of here."
  "Not mine."
  "Then my own?  I won't die."  Kyp turned from his friend, continued on.
  "No . . ." Guy whispered, fingering his lightsaber and finally un-hooking
it from his belt.  "I am useless here, I cannot alter the path already 
chosen
. . .I was such an idiot for thinking I could change His will."


  Kyp, with Seretessa behind him, both lightsabers ignited, walked into the
building.  It was exactly like the last time, unchanged, as if time had done
nothing but rid this building of the two dead men and replaced it with 
another.
The large room was dark, lit only by a few blue lights.  The same piercing
laugh echoed through the chamber, suddenly, as if it were a welcome to 
death.
  And, as he had done before, Kyp yelled out, "Legerdemain!  I know you are
here!  Come out and face me!  I have decided my path!"
  Legerdemain's voice bit out from the darkness, "Are you prepared to join
me and become a god?"
  Kyp stepped forward in surprise, remembering his conversation with Guy. 
The
blue banners with the gold cross and x.  The war cry with his name in it . . 
.
Kyp did not want this, he already had enough innocent blood on his soul.
  "Never!  I shall never become again what I once was!"
  There was an angry growl, and then silence.  Kyp let his eyes stay steady
on the hallway that the two men with the indestructable tridents had come 
out
of, the hallway leading to Legerdemain.  And, once again, not two, but one
shadow appeared from the darkness.  The man stepped into the light.
  Seretessa gasped.  His hair was light, his eyes a shadow.  Light 
highlighted
a goatee, dark clothes, a blaster, but no trident. The man's face
erupted into a grin.  His teeth shone like pearls in the darkness.
  Seretessa brushed by Kyp, her lightsaber glowing a faint blue.  "I'll take
care of him . . . the murderer . . .You go on and face Legerdemain.  Kill
her."
  Kyp thought briefly, 'Onyx said to give her a chance, I am just as bad or
worse than her . . .'  "Right."  Kyp ran past the man, he let him go on.
  Kyp ran through the dark hallway, slid to a halt before the rose covered
stairs.  He looked up to the dais, it was empty.  He swung around quickly,
only to realize no one was behind him.  A shrill laugh broke the silence, 
Kyp
widened his eyes, ran underneath the stairs.  His violet lightsaber cut 
through
the monsterous shadows, but there was no one there.
  "Kyp Durron, you are so blind."
  Kyp whirled around, was slapped by Legerdemain, and with the Force, sent
across the room to slam up against the wall.  Kyp dropped his lightsaber and
it shut off, leaving him and Legerdemain in partial blackness. the scars on
his chest began to burn.
  "You insult me, boy.  You not wanting to become a god? If we could only
join our powers you and I would be powerful enough to live for ages and to
rule thousands of worlds.  Humans and aliens alike would worship you."
  "I would rather die than become what you speak of."
  "Afraid, Kyp?"  Legerdemain made her way underneath the steps leading to
her throne and walked towards Kyp slowly.  "Are you afraid to be damned?  I
am already, and I can tell you truthfully, all I feel is vitality.  A true
happiness dwells within my damned soul.  Though I know when I die I shall
be caught up in the eternal fires of what you call hell.  I think it could
be interesting, though, if I continue on like I am doing, I shall live
forever."
  "You're insane," Kyp said, grabbing his lightsaber and standing, putting
his weight against the wall.  "You can't feel happiness."
  Legerdemain threw her head back, laughed.  "I do.  And don't even dare try
to save my soul.  I like everything the way it is now."
  'Sorry, Onyx,'  Kyp ignited his lightsaber and ran at Legerdemain.
  Using the Force she easily jumped out of the way and onto the stairs. "I
don't want to kill you, Kyp.  Although, for hundreds of years I dreamed
of your coming and of killing you . . . but now," Legerdemain stepped up
the rest of the stairs and stood by her throne.  She cocked her head to the
side, her dark hair hanging to one side, "You aren't going to come after me?
Are you that afraid of facing your destiny?"
  "Never," Kyp said, running towards and up the steep, black durasteel
stairs.
  Legerdemain laughed, pulled out her lightsaber.  "Then I shall kill you."
Her blue within blue eyes flashed once as she lit her silver bladed 
lightsaber.
  Kyp growled and ran at Legerdemain, their lightsabers locked.  Kyp being
the stronger easily pushed her back, she ran forward at him, their 
lightsabers
met again with hissing noises.  Immediately Kyp pulled back and then lunged
towards Legerdemain, who blocked just in time. Legerdemain's lightsaber made
a crackling noise as it clashed into Kyp's. The smell of ozone began to fill
the air.
  Legerdemain brought back the lightsaber and instead of bringing it down
towards Kyp, she brought up her foot and kicked the dark haired man back.
Kyp grabbed his stomach with one hand, and with the other kept hold of his
lightsaber.
  Kyp heard an angry growl move up through Legerdemain's throat as she
straightened up and smiled as she saw how close Kyp was to the stairs.
Kyp stood silent, his back to the stairs, and lifted his lightsaber over his
head, expecting Legerdemain to lunge at him again.  Surprising Kyp once
again, Legerdemain brought up her right foot and rammed it into Kyp's 
stomach.
As she had planned, Kyp lost his balance, tripped, and fell down the steep
stairs.
  Kyp fell down the stairs, and landed sprawled out on his back.  His light-
saber rolled towards and then away from him.  Kyp closed his eyes in pain,
tasted blood in his mouth.  A burning sensation that started from his lower
back flew up his neck and down through his legs.  Kyp groaned, felt blood
trickle down his chin.  He tried to breath from his nose, but upon wiping 
the
blood away from his mouth, he realized that he was bleeding from his nose,
too, but it was thankfully not broken.  He actually hadn't broken anything,
thank God.
  Legerdemain laughed and a muscular form flew by Kyp, red lightsaber 
ignited.
  "Guy!" Kyp reached towards his friend who was already up the stairs and
fighting Legerdemain.  Like Kyp, she edged Guy closer and closer towards
the stairs.  Kyp could sense the surprise that arched through Guy when he
realized how talented Legerdemain truly was with the lightsaber.  Of course,
she had had hundreds of years to perfect it.
  Kyp sat up, coughed up blood.  He wiped it from his mouth and nose, but
it did not help, more blood welled up and dripped off onto his shirt and the
black floor.  Kyp stood just in time to see Guy fly off the stairs and hit
the floor on his stomach, he was knocked unconcious. His lightsaber followed
closely, but rolled closer to Kyp than his own.  Kyp grabbed Guy's 
lightsaber,
kicked his toward Guy, let out a wrangled breath, but before he could take
one step, Seretessa ran by him, blue lightsaber ignited and went up the 
stairs
two at a time.
  "NO!"  Kyp yelled running after her, up the stairs, ignoring the seering
pain that swept from his legs to his neck.  Kyp ignited the red blade 
half-way
up, but he was already too late.
  With the Force Legerdemain was holding Seretessa up by the neck, the young
girl's lightsaber was gone.  Kyp shut down his lightsaber, watched as
Legerdemain dug her nails into Seretessa's neck, bringing out blood.
  "You know, you aren't that hard to fight Kyp Durron."
  Seretessa kicked her feet in the air, clawed at Legerdemain's hands.  
Leger-
demain shook the young girl, tightened her grip.  Seretessa stopped 
struggling.
  "What I have noticed, though, is how well people fight when a loved one is
in danger, and how they make rash decisions."
  Kyp spoke through gritted teeth, "Let her go, Legerdemain. Seretessa has
nothing to do with this."
  "She does, she just killed one of my men.  I must say," Legerdemain said,
speaking to Seretessa, "I am quite jealous. What did you do to get him in 
bed
with you?"
  Seretessa gasped for air, said to Kyp, "Ignore her, Kyp.  Kill her."
  "Let's see," Legerdemain tapped her chin with one finger, her blue within
blue eyes narrowed and then widened.  "I have it!  I let her go if you come
with me.  If you refuse to come with me, I shall kill the girl."
  "Kill me, then," Seretessa said angrily, "Kyp will never ever go with 
you."
  Kyp stepped off the stairs, stared at Legerdemain, "Let her go."
  "I will if you promise to come with me."  Legerdemain closed her eyes.  
"If
you don't . . ."  Seretessa's body tightened as tendrils of electricity shot
through her, she screamed in pain.
  "Stop!" Kyp yelled, tightening his grip on Guy's lightsaber.
  Legerdemain smiled, "So, you will come with me?"
  Kyp paused, not knowing what to say.  Seretessa took a deep breath of air,
said, "Stop thinking about me.  Remember the roads?  You must not ever go 
with
her!  It doesn't matter what happens to me!  You don't want this galaxy to
erupt in utter chaos do you?"
  "Shut up."  Legerdemain growled out, sending more dark force lightening
through Seretessa.
  "I --"  Kyp looked from Legerdemain to Seretessa.  "I --"
  Legerdemain sent more and more lightening bolts through Seretessa and her
screams grew softer and softer, her kicking had stopped and she now hung
limp in Legerdemain's grip.  A small trickle of blood appeared on her chin.
  "Stop, you're killing her . . . I --"
  Legerdemain bared her teeth, and with the Force threw Seretessa off the
dais and onto the floor a few feet from Guy.  "You take too long to decide
things, Durron."
  Kyp's eyes widened in shock, he turned to Legerdemain who was without her
lightsaber.  She easily sensed what he planned to do as soon as he 
re-ignited
his lightsaber.  She held out her hand, a small ball of lightening forming 
in
it.
  "Don't even think it," she whispered.
  Kyp ran at Legerdemain, lightsaber raised above his head.  He heard her
scream, felt the dark force lightening bolts penetrate him, he ignored the
searing pain, ignored the taste of blood in his mouth, the feeling of it
running down from his nose and the corners of his mouth.  He reached the
dark woman, brought his lightsaber down and across, cutting her chest open.
Her last scream echoed through the room. And then all was silent.  Kyp fell
to the floor, out of energy from the electricity that Legerdemain had sent
through him, he slightly heard Guy groan, Seretessa was silent.


                    Part Five . . .


mara_jade101@hotmail.com