I updated on AO3 and completely forgot on this site...sorry for the wait!
Chapter 3: Golden Nightmares
"They what?"
The man did not flinch as the chair was torn out of the floor and went crashing into the computer inches from his head. "They escaped-"
"I heard what you said!" his commander screamed, his chest heaving as he ripped his helmet off his head. "We sent over a dozen men down there. Down to that stupid poor excuse of a planet. And you're saying a Jedi took them all out?"
"There were two others, apparently. We spotted two ships," the man reported calmly.
Dirty brown eyes closed and a hand ran through limp black hair. Hanamiya Makoto did not take kindly to failure, but his masters took it even worse. "Fine. Well," he breathed. "Any idea where those ships went?"
The man nodded. "We managed to lock onto them. They were seen moving out of the system. We believe they are headed towards Qua-Ren."
Hanamiya's thick eyebrows scrunched in slight confusion. "Qua-Ren? There's nothing there but the ruins and their dead." He smiled. "Perhaps it's fitting, then. The Jedi can join them."
Kagami's feet firmly hit the gravely ground as he exited the plane. The air smelt cold and dry and stale, like a room that had been left locked for years. The ground itself was a scattering of pebbles and brown sand with no vegetation in sight, and when Kagami looked in front of him, he could see that most of the landscape was a vast expanse of flat plains, although the shroud of darkness brought on by the night made it hard to see any details.
He turn behind him, gazing up at the only natural feature he could discern, a low wall of stony mountains and crags that rose towards the cloudless skies. The jagged faces of the cliffs reflected the dull blue glow of the moon that hung in the blanket of stars above them, a huge satellite that was many times bigger than any of Tamaria's moons and appeared very close to Qua-Ren's surface. It seemed to loom over them like a silent yet imposing guardian.
No signs of life, and yet Kagami could feel it. Something in the air, in the earth, something permeating through everything. It was similar to the feeling he had experienced back in Emora, a strange…connection to everything around him.
Kagami jumped when he felt a hard slap on his shoulder. Aomine peered at him, his face lit by the lights of the aircraft. "You feel it too, don't you? Well, it's pretty strong, so no doubt you do."
"What is it?" Kagami murmured, feeling a strange prickling under his skin.
Aomine glanced downwards and scowled. "That. Satsuki forgot to pack up properly."
Kagami followed his gaze and stepped back in soundless horror.
It was unmistakably a bone.
"What…" Kagami breathed.
Kuroko walked up to them. "I've informed Momoi-san of our arrival, and as I suspected her team had already detected us." His eyes darted between Kagami and the thing on the ground. "Oh, of course, Kagami-kun is unaware of this planets history," Kuroko nodded, glancing around him. "But perhaps it would be easier to explain once the sun is up. You can see the ruins properly then."
"What is this place?" Kagami asked, shocked.
"It's a dead planet," Aomine shrugged. "In more ways than one."
"Ironically, in the native tongue, Qua-Ren means 'Land of the Worthy'," Kuroko explained, before he pointed up at the moon. "That is Qua-Rao, and it is roughly half the size and mass of Qua-Ren, making the centre of orbit slightly off so that Qua-Ren and Qua-Rao sort of orbit each other. Qua-Rao has no atmosphere, and can sustain no life for as long as it has existed. This is why the natives named it Qua-Rao, or 'Land of the Forsaken'."
"Although it's arguable which one is more 'forsaken' now," Aomine muttered.
Kagami swallowed. "What happened…to the natives?"
The sound of footsteps behind him caught his attention, and he turned around to see a woman with a lantern smiling up at him, the light flickering off her pink hair and brown robes. "That's what we're here to find out, although we do know a little. I don't believe we've met!" she held out a pale hand and Kagami shook it slowly. "My name is Momoi Satsuki, and I'm the leader of this expedition. Although it's been a pretty long expedition," she pulled a face. Her rose coloured eyes brightened when they fell onto Kuroko and Aomine. "Tetsu-kun, Dai-chan, I'm so glad Akashi-kun told you to come here. It's been months!"
"Pick up your damn rubbish, Satsuki," Aomine growled, kicking at the bone on the ground. Kagami winced at the action.
Momoi frowned. "That bone is older than you think! Stop destroying historical artefacts!"
"Maybe if you didn't shit them around everywhere-"
"Why you stupid-"
"It's cold out here," Kuroko piped up, "Why don't we head inside and get warm?"
"Sounds good," Kagami mumbled as he observed the two bickering people in front of him, the way they acted and insulted, yet still held warmth in their eyes. It reminded him of himself and Himuro. He shook his head, ignoring the pang in his chest. I'm sure Tatsuya is fine. First, I need to deal with this. Take the next step. I've already come a long way from home. He was still finding it hard to process the events that occurred in Emora, but Kuroko was right. They needed to relax a little first.
"Yeah, yeah, fine," Aomine rolled his eyes. "Come on Satsuki, we're freezing here. Show some hospitality."
Momoi huffed and the three men shared a small smile as they wordlessly followed the pink haired woman into the mountains.
Kagami shifted on the bedroll, the coolness of the stone seeping through the material and kissing his back. The flickering warmth of the fireplace in the centre was only somewhat comforting, the shadows of the cave eerily dancing on the walls. Momoi had kindly given the three of them their own little cave in the mountains, which had ended up being a whole system of tunnels and caverns the natives had once dug out as habitats. There was a hole in one of the walls that allowed a little moonlight through, but the air was still with the lack of wind.
"Go to sleep, Kagami," Aomine blinked at him from across the fireplace, lying down with a groan. "It's going to be a long day tomorrow."
"Aomine-kun is right. Good night everyone," Kuroko mumbled tiredly.
Kagami eyed how the light reflected off the silver of his lightsaber. He felt a strange sense of comfort when it was near him, sort of like a gift from his father.
"Good night," he whispered, suddenly tired, his eyes slowly dropping closed.
It was the cold that woke him. The fire had gone out.
He sat up slowly as uneasiness roiled in his stomach, his eyes darting left and right. The small trickle of moonlight from the makeshift window was enough to show him that he was alone with his bedroll. There were only the charred remains of the fire. No Aomine, no Kuroko, not even one trace that they had been there.
"Aomine?" he called out hesitantly. "Kuroko?"
No answer.
Kagami bit his lip, his hand instinctively scrabbling for his lightsaber. It wasn't there.
"Looking for this?" a male voice resounded.
Kagami gasped, scrambling back as he saw a figure standing in front of him, his face shadowed. He wore a dark brown robe over a white undershirt, held together with a leather belt. In one hand, he held Kagami's lightsaber.
"Who are you?" Kagami rasped, hating the small tremble in his voice. "Where are Kuroko and Aomine?"
"They're fine," the man said calmly, his tone smooth and controlled. "I'm more interested in you." He stepped forward, and the moonlight glinted off light red hair. A pair of eyes glared down at him, one gold and the other scarlet.
"What do you want?" Kagami asked, trying to look for a way out.
"I want to talk," the man said simply, and sat down in front of Kagami. There was a snapping sound and suddenly, the fire was brought back to life, crackling warmly in between them. "An important talk. About the Force, and what you plan to do with it."
Kagami stared at the man in front of him distrustfully.
"The Force is like an energy field that pervades everything you see and do not see," the man poked at the fire with a stick that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "And in every living cell, there exist microscopic lifeforms called 'midi-chlorians'. They are what bind us to the Force, what allow us to use the Force's power. They are like the messengers. You must have a high concentration of these in your body to be able to draw upon the Force and its power." The man looked straight into Kagami's eyes. "And you have a lot of them. Just like your father."
Kagami felt his breath catch. "You knew my father?"
"Yes, quite well in fact," he hummed, still staring at Kagami. "He was my Master, he taught me the way of the Jedi. And I killed him."
"What?" Kagami shook his head, confusion, fear and anger towards the stranger an ugly mess in his mind.
The man in front of him smiled thinly. "Does that make you angry? Sad? Scared? Does it make you want to know why? Does it make you want to kill me, the man who murdered your own father?" his eyes flashed with more than just the light of the fire. His voice grew hard. "You can. You have that power. You can crush me like an ant if you wish it, just like you crushed those Empire armies on Tamaria," he raised a hand and curled it into a fist. "Will you bend and break and fall to the Dark Side, as so many who came before you did?"
Kagami felt his heartbeat quicken as his fingernails scratched the rock under him.
The man waved his hand above the fire and it disappeared, plunging the room into darkness.
A blade of light glowed at the other end, the pale red flickering on the man's sharp features. Kagami stood up and felt his fingers curl around something hard and cold. His own red blade extended from the hilt of his lightsaber, which had somehow appeared in his hands.
They had similar ones, he and that man. The man smiled coldly at him, beckoning him forwards.
"The Dark Side of the Sith, and the Light Side of the Jedi. We have given them these names and definitions," the man chuckled as Kagami stepped forwards. "The Jedi follow the light, the warmth of peace and content, of love and defence and protection. The Sith embrace the Dark, accept the fear and hate and aggression that fuels their power. Two sides of the same coin. But the Force itself does not care."
Did this man really kill my father? Did he kill Kuroko, Aomine, Momoi? Kagami felt lightheaded, approaching the man with his sword drawn. …can I kill him? Should I?
"The Force merely exists, it does not think or care. It is just energy, and how you use it defines you. It does not care about your father, it does not care about Tatsuya, it does not care about your friends," the man spat. "It does not care for the atrocities I committed, it does not care for the lives lost, or those that want power. So why should you? Wouldn't it be easy to give in to your desires? To do what you wanted?"
Kagami growled, thinking of those he left behind. Where were they? Where was his father, Himuro, Kuroko, Aomine, everyone he even remotely cared for? Before he knew it, he had swung down, slicing at the man. The man blocked with surprising strength, moving out of the way.
"For all you know, they might be dead!" the man spurred him on.
Kagami tried again, and he deflected it easily.
His eyes assessed Kagami as the taller man tried to catch his breath. He never attacked, only stepped out of the way or parried, increasing Kagami's frustration.
"Are you so easy to anger, Kagami Taiga?" the man muttered unhappily. "Anger and pain and fear. So much of it is in you, and I had to barely do anything to draw it out. How easily you fall, Taiga. Perhaps I should kill you before you become hard to deal with, because you are strong, but you do not know how to use this strength responsibly. Your father would be disappointed."
"Shut the fuck up!" Kagami yelled, swinging madly. "Don't you dare speak of my father!"
"Let it out, it's better to go crazy here and now than anywhere else," the man said, dodging another attack. "But I cannot kill you. Not because I am a Jedi, but because I made a promise that I would protect you. And a Jedi keeps his promises."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kagami panted.
"You are new to all this, and I cannot let someone of such power fall to the Dark Side. Your father would be saddened by it all."
"Shut up!" Kagami ran forwards in a blind rage and shoved the laser blade right through the man's chest.
The man dropped his lightsaber, and raised a hand to cup Kagami's horrified face.
For the second Kagami had driven the blade it, the man's image had changed, and now Kagami stared up into the navy eyes of someone he never meant to hurt.
"See what it does?" Aomine's face, Aomine's voice, spoke to him. "This blindness brought on by rage and fear. This blindness brought on by an unquenchable desire for power. You hurt the ones you love, and by the time you realise what you have done, it is too late."
"I…I didn't…" Kagami felt the burning of tears in his eyes.
"The Force does not care, but that is why you must. It is what you do with the Force that defines you, that changes the lives of those around you," Aomine leaned in closer, whispering in Kagami's ear. "Once you recognise that the sweet seduction of the Dark is a hidden poison, then you can better understand how to combat it. Only those who have seen the darkness can truly appreciate the light."
The body collapsed and Kagami felt his heart being torn out.
"Aomine!" he laid the body on the ground, grabbing Aomine's face and shoulders and shaking him. "No, no, no, please Aomine, wake up!" he sobbed, burying his face in Aomine's unmoving chest. "Fucking hell, if you don't wake up…I…I'm gonna kill you, please…please…I can't lose anyone else…" he cried with his eyes tightly shut.
"-gami…"
Kagami grit his teeth. "Aomine, please…I'm so sorry…"
"Kagami, wake up!"
Kagami gasped as his eyes opened, the sunlight momentarily blinding him. He blinked blearily, completely disoriented.
"Kagami, are you okay?"
He squinted to see familiar navy eyes peering down at him worriedly, firm hands shaking his shoulders. "Aomine?"
"Who else?" Aomine scoffed, but voice sounded relieved. "You were crying in your sleep," he said a little more seriously. "And then when you started calling my name, I…I don't know," he averted his gaze. "I thought it was a good idea to wake you up. It's about time to get going anyway. Bad dream?"
Kagami just stared at Aomine for a moment, taking in his curious expression, and the way his dark hair stuck up at odd angles and how the small plait near the nape of his neck was in dire need of braiding. He saw Aomine's lively and warm eyes and he grinned brightly, brimming with relief and happiness. "Yeah, just a dream. Nothing to worry about."
Aomine blinked, rubbing his cheeks. They'd grown a little red, but Kagami didn't really see it. He was paying attention to Kuroko, who was smiling at them amusedly.
"Akashi-kun arrived in the middle of last night. He wants to meet us," Kuroko gestured out the entrance. "They're waiting by the ruins."
Kagami rolled up his bedroll. His lightsaber was lying where it had been, untouched. He shrugged the memories away, following Aomine outside. Qua-Ren looked completely different by day, and Kagami could clearly see some large stone structures in the distance, tall and dark against the light orange sky.
"They were known as the Ren, or 'Worthy', in their tongue. They were very smart people."
Kagami looked behind him to see Momoi smile up at him, a bag slung across her shoulder.
"My team is already down there greeting the new guests. I thought to stay here and escort Tetsu-kun! Oh, and you, of course," she winked.
"I see," Kagami grinned. He waved around himself. "Why don't they live here anymore?"
Aomine scowled. "They played with something they didn't understand. For being smart, they sure were fucking dumb."
Momoi frowned at him. "Well, I can't disagree. I don't think they had ill intentions, but they went in over their heads." She looked up at Kagami, her pink eyes bright with knowledge but dampened by sadness. "You see, everything was wiped out. All of the water on the planet, every species of flora and fauna, and all of the Ren."
Kagami's eyes widened. "Were they attacked?"
Momoi pressed her lips together. "Not really…" her eyes darkened. "They were wiped out by the Force."