- Fear -

That she spins as quickly as she can into determination - she doesn't want to plunge into the ocean of the dark side while also being Elesse - 

You won't defeat me by clinging to tedious notions of morality, girl. To ignorant divisions of the Force into 'light' or 'dark', allowed or taboo.

The Force convulses, and scores of Jedi die at the hands of bodies Anakin hasn't yet taken. Even the ones she's now sheltering falter, confused, their prescience clouded.

That dark shadow spreads, and good soldiers march on the Temple. 

How dare she - 

Elesse was High Councilor - that is the Temple that sheltered them, numerous memories together, Anakin's first true home - 

That is the Temple she died in, where her body still lays in repose in a cold rack, with no allowance for a funeral in a war that claims an uncountable tragedy of death every day -

That shadow has greater sway over most of her bodies in Coruscant, but there's one that's always belonged to her, that others have tried to chain and fallen for their hubris - 

Deep in the Temple, the cold body of Anakin Skywalker opens its eyes, and Anakin grabs an anchor. 

Most fascinating, the shadow purrs, terrible delight oozing from where it brushes against Anakin's very being. But you'll need to try harder. 

Stop trying to trick the world, and demand what you want. 

How about you fuck off into a black hole? 

Do you really think that would stop someone like us? 

- Anger - 

I'm nothing like you. 

But you are.

And you will never escape me. 

(And in a flicker Anakin glimpses/ feels/ hears/ knows one of the tendrils reaching not for the soldiers she is but for a different body - for whoever Anakin is shielding, smothering so carefully and absolutely - )

- Fear - 

She shoves the tendrils, wraps her blinding light like vicious teeth around them, holds on and doesn't let them keep advancing -

But darkness isn't something you can hold back, and the tendrils have stopped but the shadow - 

The shadow is bleeding from the light, from her, and it isn't the bodies she owns that her enemy is trying to become -

It's her, and that darkness is reaching in through her widening cracks.

She snarls - reaches - tries to go on the offensive -

- And recognizes the amused signature of the one she's fighting. 

- What - 

She falters for a critical moment -

You already know you won't win. 

It's not over yet. 

- And she recenters herself, forcefully. Curls tighter around Elesse - tries to remind herself why she's doing this, why she's suffering - 

And reaches through her cold Temple body again, fully, searches out in the area around it, wielding the Force - 

And touching minds, ones she curls around as she's curling around Elesse. Scared minds. Confused minds. Betrayed minds.

Minds who have been taught their whole life to listen to the Force, many of whom aren't old enough yet to realize the risks - minds who feel her impossibly large presence -

She's still clinging desperately to the light, and with the knowledge of Elesse's love - even with the dark shadow strangling her - 

She's entirely possibly the lightest being here. 

They've been taught to trust in the light side of the Force, and as she reaches into them they trust, helplessly, in her. 

Laughter, again, as the shadow races through her mind, to all those she wraps around - not Elesse, not yet, but she's close -

You're like a beacon, girl. You can't protect anyone when I can still see you. 

There's an almost helpful nudge as she uses Anakin's own connection to kill several Jedi, those who'd trusted her the most recklessly. A hint on how to twist the Force just so, to hide herself and those she owns in loving, possessive shadow -

- She feels herself teetering, the shock of that shadow just using her rippling through her entire being - fear, anger, indignation, they're mine I won't let you damage my possessions -

- Feels ripples of darkness echoing through her. 

She loosens her hold, giving at least the Jedi back their minds -

Giving Elesse back her selfhood.

And, trying to be quiet - probably failing, because her enemy is in her own mind how didn't Anakin notice before - 

Elesse. Elesse help me.  

Elesse's love slams down around her like a durasteel blast door, a cleansing fire racing through her veins and purifying the dark influence. A reminder of what Anakin fights for. Who she fights for. The soul-deep difference between her and the enemy.

There you are. 

You.

Me. And what of it? 

Leave.

Why should I? Anakin darling and I were having such fun. 

Anakin is not your darling. You are torturing her. We reject your schemes, your influence, the death you have wrought upon the galaxy. Leave.

Elesse's defenses are solidifying further by the instant. She has made of herself an impenetrable wall to interpose between Anakin and the Sith.

Her bond with Anakin - the scars she's left on Anakin's psyche - cannot be so easily dislodged. Cannot be erased by love alone. 

I doubt she wishes to reject all of my influence.