AN: Soooooo...it's been a while.

Part of the reason is because, starting in November last year, I had, what we like to call, Major Life Changes. I'm not going to get into all of it because it would be an essay unto itself, but things have been so laughably mad, I don't even know how I managed to get through. The OTHER part of why this thing too so long is, when I started this series, this was one of the things I had in mind that got me writing it to begin with. This one chapter here has been sitting in my brain, absolutely festering, and writing it actually became pretty intimidating. I sort of HAD to get it right, and because of that, this idiot went through a couple rewrites until I decided I was happy with it. The result is this: a god damn monster that runs over twice the length of my usual chapters. It's almost twice the length of my longest chapter to date. Like...I'm not even kidding you. But here it is, through hell and back again, just for you lovelies. And you're going to HATE me for it. BUT! Promise, there will be no seven month wait for the next chapter.

Regular updates should actually continue now, though again, I work over 80 hours a week, and fanfiction don't pay the bills, so my time is limited. Still, chapters going forward aren't nearly so big and intimidating as this one was, so updates should happen more often by virtue of just being easier to write and a lot A LOT shorter. Not, like, every day fast like before because I honestly have no idea how I did that, but they will come out. I haven't abandoned this baby, I promise you. Which leads me to this...

Most of you, my perfect precious lovelies, are exactly that, perfect and precious and I love you all. You've been patient and supportive and generally great. However, there is a small group of you who have been less than nice about waiting for your free entertainment, and if there's anything that makes me not want to write, it's fucking that. Please remember that I write for fun, it relaxes me, and being generally nasty is a really good way to make me find reasons to not write. Updates will happen when the chapters get done. Harassing me about it is a bad way to make them happen quickly.

And that's all he wrote! Thank you all for your patience, and I hope you enjoy this absolute dumpster fire. Let's get on with it.

Chapter 55: Twilight of the Apprentice

"What do you suppose is the likelihood of the sensor beacons failing and the entire rebellion being eaten by spiders?" Vehemis asked as she flicked one of her long, red lekku over her shoulder, her eyes on the chittering arachnoid creatures scurrying about the hot desert mesa just outside of the newly established rebel base. Beside her, her Chagrian companion rolled her eyes, her forked black tongue darting out between her lips as she hissed in irritation.

"They aren't going to fail, and nobody's going to be eaten by spiders," Vitios droned, her sharp eyes scanning the ships lined out in neat rows upon the makeshift airfield before the base compound, the faint smirk touching her lips as she located the ship she was searching for fading into an irritated scowl when the Twl'lek beside her chuckled deviously.

"And why not?" Vehemis asked slyly. "I hear blaster fire has no effect on them, and they've already eaten a scouting team, including a lieutenant. If the beacons fail, who's to say they won't swarm the base and eat everyone?" She chuckled, a pleasant, delightful sound, and grinned at her unamused companion. "The entirety of Phoenix Squadron, eradicated like the rebel pests they are."

"Are you to be the one to sabotage the integrity of the sensor beacons?" the Chagrian snapped, jabbing a warning finger against the other woman's chest. "They would not fail otherwise, and I doubt our Master would be pleased to know you are even suggesting such a thing."

"N-no..." Vehemis choked quietly, clearing her throat and increasing her pace, her eyes swiftly glancing at the skittering creatures outside the safety of the beacon's range before fixing her gaze at the path before her. "No, I suppose he wouldn't. For the record, I wasn't suggesting that it might happen, it was merely a hypothetical possibility..."

"A highly unlikely one..." Vitios scoffed, quickly checking one of the sensor beacons and nodding her approval when she saw it was working. "It's far more likely that our former brother and sisters of the Inquisitorius will lead Imperial forces here to annihilate them all."

"Not if our Master has anything to say about that," Vehemis said in a light, airy voice, a devious smirk upon her lips as she nudged the Chagrian and together, they walked briskly toward the main structure of the Phoenix Cell's Chopper Base. The planet of Atollon where the base was located was ideal in many ways, both remote and located within the Lothal sector, the arid planet didn't appear on Imperial starcharts, the Outer Rim territories still being mapped by Imperial survey crews. It had been found by Hera's astromech on a recent mission when the crafty droid cross-checked rebel data with Imperial mapping of the sector provided by a disillusioned protocol droid that Chopper had managed to irritate and befriend.

Phoenix Squadron was quick to establish a base on the planet when it had been deemed habitable and reasonably safe, their desperation for a center of operations driving them to completely overlook the arachnoid, flesh-eating Krykna that lived beneath the arid surface. A survey team had gone missing, and the rebels were quick to discover the creatures and even faster to set up defenses against them, securing Chopper Base from the hungry arachnoids, though they remained vigilant just in case there was something else Atollon was hiding. And there was.

There was something out there, something both Vehemis and Vitios could sense, something that drew their focus out toward the wilds and pushed back every time they reached out with the Force, something that drew them toward it just as it warned them away. It felt powerful and cautious, a thing that was simultaneously both light and dark and neither of these things, both everything and nothing like life itself, like a force of nature that both created and destroyed, and nobody wished to venture out to discover what it may be. Not now, when a surge in the Force may attract the eyes of the Emperor and his Lords of the Sith. In any event, whatever it was that lay out in the wilds of Atollon was not seeking them out, and for now, that was enough.

As it was, the Phoenix Cell couldn't have asked for a better base. The atmosphere was breathable, the threats easily manageable, the terrain aiding in the defense of the compound and with Fulcrum's coding scrambling their transmissions, they may as well have been invisible. It was the safest the Phoenix Squadron had been since their inception, every asset they had collected working to ensure their security, and with the planet off of the Imperial charts, it left the Empire no reasonable way to track them.

And still it would not be enough.

"Think the Spectres will listen?" Vehemis asked, kicking a rock that skipped and rolled across the airfield, stopping only when it struck the landing strut of one of the X-Wing starfighters sitting idle as the pilot ran routine maintenance on the engines with a black and yellow R2 unit. The man looked away from his work at the interruption, and Vehemis flashed him a wide grin when his eyes landed upon her.

"The Spectres have no cause to trust us..." Vitios grumbled, turning to look behind her toward the valley below the base where the Star Destroyer Subjugator had been set down, the topside exterior of the massive ship crawling with activity as the fully converted Imperial crew serviced the engines and cannons. Some of the rebel leaders objected to the presence of the Star Destroyer, just as they objected to the presence of former Inquisitors, but both Darth Lumis and Fulcrum herself dismissed the concerns, and with Hera vouching for Kenobi's word, it became difficult to say a word against them.

"The Spectres trust Master, though," Vitios continued, her attention snapping back before her and her gaze darting across the airfield to look briefly at the Ghost and the Umbra, the two ships standing beside each other, their droid crews standing beneath them and conversing, the fussy AP-5 appearing to become frustrated by the homicidal HK-45. "Master will tell them they can trust us."

"He already has, little good that's done..." Vehemis muttered absently, a loopy grin on her face as her purposeful stride became slower and sauntering. "In any case, the Jedi should know. Isn't that how they ran into you on Takobo? You were hunting them?"

"I was hunting for new blood, I wasn't looking for them," Vitios swiftly corrected, her arms crossing in front of her chest as she thought, he pace slowing to keep in step with her companion. "Even if they do know, it won't mean anything coming from us. It sounds like a trap when we say it. Telling them they have to leave to - Vehemis, what are you doing!?" the Chagrian snapped grabbing hold of the Twi'lek by the lekku and yanking her back, the other woman chuckling softly as she gracefully regained her footing and pointed toward the pilot at the nearby X-Wing.

"See him?" she drawled in a smooth, husky voice, a devious smirk on her lips as she eyed the pilot as he fumbled his tools. "He's into me."

"You vapid idiot..." Vitios snarled under her breath, shooting her ever-pleased companion a vicious glare. "Not everyone wants you!"

"No, but he does," the Twi'lek purred pleasantly, her eyes darting toward three other rebels beneath a freighter as they unloaded cargo. "And them. And Jedi Jarrus!" she said with a superior smirk as she looked at her incredulous companion. "I've been given to understand that he likes Twi'leks."

"He likes a Twi'lek," Vitios growled, pushing the other woman forward when she stopped to wave at a group of mechanics. "Not you."

"You don't know that," Vehemis drawled sweetly as she matched her pace to her companion. "You should have seen how he was looking at me the other day when we arrived. He likes what he sees, I can feel it."

"Sweet Force, I am telling Master you are tempted by the light." Beside the Chagrian, Vehemis scoffed, her nose turned into the air, her arms crossed over her chest and fiercely pouting.

"It is so like you to lie to Master, you just want him all to yourself..." Vehemis covertly glanced at Vitios out of the corner of her eye, waiting to gauge the serious Chagrian's response to her obvious insinuation, but her expression stayed cool and collected, entirely unaffected by the other woman's ribbing. Huffing in frustration, Vehemis stamped her feet against the dusty ground as they walked toward the command center and kicked a rock into a stack of nearby supply crates that struck with a hollow twang. "And how do you know that I am not corrupting him?" she snapped at her contemplative companion. "Master would be so pleased if Jedi Jarrus traveled the dark path beside him!"

"He cannot be corrupted," Vitios hissed quietly as they entered the complex, her pace increasing as they headed toward the command center where the rebel leaders would be plotting their next moves against the Empire. "Master has said as much."

"Anyone can be corrupted," Vehemis snapped back, her jaw tightening when a nearby group of rebels looked toward them.

"Master doesn't want that, he needs Kanan in the light," the Chagrian whispered, grabbing hold of Vehemis' arm and leading her swiftly away toward the suspicious group. "The Clone Ward, the extermination of the entire Jedi Order, surviving in an Empire that hunted him, enduring training by a Sith Lord and the relentless pounding of the Dark Side that surrounds him...if he hasn't turned by now, he never will. His is not the dark path. The Force has something else in store for him."

"...the Force is sort of an incomprehensible little bitch, isn't it?"

"You said it, sister..." Vitios said with a roll of her eyes. "Now, if you're not going to help me think of what to tell the Spectres, can you please shut up so I can concentrate on something other than your relentless vanity?"

"Oh, right," Vehemis muttered, genuinely apologetic, her yellow eye falling to the ground before her feet. "Sorry, I'll shut up." And she did, the silence between them nearly louder than the sound of their swift footsteps upon steel grating and the buzz of the rebels as they continued their efforts to bring the base to full functionality. More than once, Vehemis looked to her thoughtful companion, the silence appearing to be just as comfortable to the Chagrian as it was uncomfortable to her, the very reason why Vitios, why the Third Sister, rather, had always been paired with more emotional, erratic Inquisitors. It was too late now, of course, but had circumstances been different, Vehemis thought that the icy Chagrian could have made for a fine Jedi Knight.

"What if we just told them the truth?" Vehemis offered, and her companion groaned, rubbed at her temple and rolled her eyes.

"Were you not listening to a word I said before?" she asked tiredly. "The have no reason to believe us. They are naive, not stupid. They aren't going to accept what we have to say as truth just because we're fighting with the good guys now."

"Won't they?" Vehemis asked wryly, an almost bitter smirk on her face as she flicked her lekku behind her. "Isn't this little rebellion of theirs based on hope and trust and all that garbage? Isn't that why they feel like they get to call themselves the good guys in this fight?"

"Just because they're taking some idealistic moral high ground doesn't mean they're stupid."

"Maybe not, but isn't that how they claim to be better than the Empire?" The Twi'lek flashed Vitios a smug smirk. "Trust in place of suspicion, love in place of hate, freedom in place of oppression, mercy in place of ruthlessness..."

"All the reasons they would lose the war without us," Vitios growled softly, her head lowering as she turned down an isolated hallway and lengthened her stride, the door of the command center now in view. "But the Spectres didn't come so far by being overly trusting, and we've yet to earn their trust."

"That's because you're a standoffish, icy bitch," Vehemis chirped. "If you were more like me, however, and were-"

"An insatiable, filthy slut?"

"...friendly," the Twi'lek snarled between clenched teeth, "then maybe they'd trust us by now. It's how Master did it."

"How would you know, you weren't there, he wasn't always so familial with them..." the Chagrian muttered absently, stopping before the door and taking a deep, calming breath. "We may have to rely upon Master to convince the Spectres. Which may be difficult, since the Force is so clouded to him right now..."

"...it's not going to clear up," Vehemis whispered. "Not before it's too late."

"...I know. I just hope it's enough."

Nodding resolutely, the two women used the Force to open the sealed door and looked within the command center, the room lit primarily by the large blue holoprojection of the galaxy over a holotable in the center and by the green glow of a dozen monitors displaying graphs and charts and status readings on the base and the various ships it housed. Around the holotable and contemplating the map and charts on displayed were Captain Syndulla and Fulcrum, the two women engaged in active discussion of potential allies, routes through Imperial territory, their next missions and targets. Upon one of the benches surrounding the holotable was Kanan Jarrus, the Jedi laying upon his back as he held up a lightsaber between his hands, slowly turning it over and carefully examining every detail, every scratch, every design as if it contained some great mystery he could not seem to discover.

Sitting at the monitor terminals were Luke, Leia and Ezra, Luke lounging back against the chair in perfect relaxed ease as his finger traced the control nodes on the monitor's deck, a gentle smile on his face as he watched animated Ezra talk, the excitable Padawan sitting sideways in his own chair to face the blond boy. Sitting a few seats down, straddling the swiveling chair and resting her chin on her folded arms on the back of the seat, Leia sat in brooding silence, her eyes fixed upon a dark corner where Obi-Wan sat deep in meditation. Sighing in relief at the sight of their Master, Vitios and Vehemis stepped into the more confident than they had felt before, and stopped when every eye in the room swiftly looked at them, save for the Sith Master, who remained in his meditations.

"Fulcrum," Vitios said softly, clearing her throat as she took a step forward and acknowledged Hera with a quick bow of her head. "Captain Syndulla, something has come to our attention that you-"

"Hi, Kanan..." Vehemis drawled slowly, her voice low and seductive as she raised her hand and wriggled her fingers in a wave, and before the Jedi had a chance to respond, Hera sighed and rolled her eyes.

"What do you want, Inquisitors?" Hera said flatly, tired irritation on her face as she looked at the two woman, and with a glare at her companion as she swiftly smacked her upside the head, Vitios took another step forward.

"We wouldn't be disturbing you if this wasn't important," the Chagrian assured her, quickly looking at her Master for guidance or assurance, only to find his eyes still closed in meditation. "I know you have little reason to-"

"This base isn't safe," Vehemis interrupted, Vitios wincing and glaring at the casual Twi'lek. "The Empire will find it and destroy it, so long as your Jedi remain here." She smiled almost brightly as she flicked one of her lekku over her shoulder, her hand on her cocked hip as she looked at the slack faces of the Spectres. "Our former brothers and sisters can find you in the Force. You need to leave."

"You do realize the last time we even saw the Inquisitors was when you attacked us, right?" Ezra lazily drawled, a smug smirk on his face as he draped his arm over the back of his seat. "Sounds to me like a trap."

"What did I tell you?!" Vitios snarled as she reeled on her companion. "I told you, they've no reason to trust us, they-"

"She's speaking the truth," Obi-Wan said from his corner, the Sith Lord not having moved an inch, though golden glowing eyes now looked back at them from the shadows where he sat. "The tides of the Force have shifted, and we are in focus. Something, someone is watching."

"Darth Sidious," Ahsoka said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest and looking through the hanging blue of the hologram at Kenobi. "He's been watching you for a while now. Do you think he's finally found you?"

"No," Obi-Wan swiftly dismissed, breathing deep and rising to his feet to stretch his shoulders before he strolled to the holotable, Vitios and Vehemis swiftly moving to stand at his side. "Sidious won't be interested in where I am, he's more inclined to focus on where I will be. He's always been far-sighted, and now's no different. More than that, the vision hasn't changed, that isn't what's caused this shift."

"The Sith Lords, then?" Luke squeaked from his place at the command consoles, a slight, nervous smile on his face as he looked pleadingly at his father, his fingers reflexively intertwining with Leia's when she reached out to him. "Has Vader found us?"

"If he had, he'd be here already," Obi-Wan quickly reassured the quietly nervous twins. "Either he doesn't know, or his mission is a different one. Hunting rebels is almost beneath him."

"But hunting you isn't..." Leia grumbled, a frown on her face as she looked away from the Sith Lord to stare at the ground, a tense, uncomfortable, heavy silence hanging over the room as all eyes turned to Obi-Wan.

"Yeah, safe to say he's hunting me," Kenobi whispered, his hands gripping the edge of the holotable hard enough to turn his knuckles white. "We have all seen the vision, and we know how that story ends. That...hasn't changed. More like than not, he's following Sidious' directions and laying in wait, but it's possible that he's hunting us all now." He tapped his fingers on the edge of the table with a deep, calming breath. "That could certainly explain the shift in the Force, but the fact remains that he isn't here. He doesn't know where we are. Not yet, at least."

"What you should be concerning yourselves with are the Inquisitors," Vitios quietly added, her eyes flicking toward Kanan as the Jedi rose from the bench, clipped the saber to the back of his belt, and joined the others around the holotable. "We are trained to detect Force sensitives, and Kanan and Ezra have been in our sights for a very long time."

"You really think the Inquisitors can detect us when the Lords of the Sith cannot?" Kanan asked, less skeptical than he was curious, and the tight defensiveness in the two women's chests released as the Jedi disarmed them.

"The Sith Lords have had their hands full hunting Lumis," Vehemis said. "The Inquisitorius has been tasked with hunting rogue Jedi, and quite frankly..." She hummed, rocked back on her heels as a devious smirk spread across her lips. "I was always under the impression that Lord Sidious has...discounted you and your Padawan, Jedi," Vehemis smoothly drawled as she leaned toward Kanan. "You are insignificant. A half trained Jedi hopeful is no threat to the Lords of the Sith."

"Yeah, well, this insignificant travels closely to Darth Lumis," Kanan said firmly. "You'd think that would be taken into consideration."

"It has been," Vitios stated, an almost bored edge dulling her tone. "We had been ordered to keep clear of you in the event that Lumis may be near. Our numbers have grown small because of him. There are only three left in service to the Empire, the Eighth Brother, the Fifth Brother, and the Seventh Sister. But now," she huffed, her balled fists resting on her hips. "Now, we can feel our Brothers and Sisters, and they have set their sights on you, Jedi."

"Are you certain?" Kanan asked quietly, intently looking at the two women as they drew closer together.

"We're sure," Vehemis drawled, the wry smirk upon her face and the flippant, easy tone faltering as nervousness gripped her. "We were made to compete with our Brothers and Sisters, and more often than not, our success came at the cost of another's failure. We were made to hate each other, but we bonded none the less, and those bonds aren't so easily broken. We're sure, Kanan..." she purred as the sultry, confident smirk returned. "They're coming for you and your student."

"Can they use you to find us?" Kanan asked, and the girls quickly looked at each other, both of them nervous and uncertain as they quickly turner their pleading gaze to their Master, though the Sith Lord remained silent, only arching a singular, questioning eyebrow at the pair.

"I'm...uncertain," Vitios said hesitantly. "We cannot sense where they are, not at this distance, but I suppose it's still possible they could. But it changes nothing. The fact remains that you are in danger, and your presence here will endanger the base. You and your student need to go." She shrugged. "And I suppose we must go with you."

"So why now?" Hera asked, her arms crossing over her chest as she glared at the two women. "The Inquisitors are a swiftly diminishing resource, so why would those orders be countermanded now?"

"Because of what happened on Batonn..." Obi-Wan whispered, the room falling silent as they looked at the contemplative Sith Lord move his hand through the air to zoom the holorgaphic map in on the Batonn sector. "Nightswan's rebels were an active and effective faction, and a particularly dangerous one, given what they had come to learn about the Empire's secret project." He paused, his eyes flicking over the map as he sighed. "But they're all dead. All of them. Not just on Batonn, but on Sammun and Denash as well. The entire rebel movement, gone."

"Which leaves the Phoenix cell the only rebel group active in ths part of the Outer Rim," Ahsoka said, her eyes narrowing and her mouth drawing a hard, tight line. "Kenobi's right. That could very well be the cause of the shift he's feeling. All eyes are on us."

"It's not just the Inquisitors," Obi-Wan muttered, drumming his hands on the holotable. "With Nightswan dead, the Admiral hunting him has suddenly become very available." The Sith Lord closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly slid his fingers over the datapad resting before Ahsoka, the hologram flickering as the map closed and the image of a Star Destroyer hung in the air before them. "Thrawn's coming," Obi-Wan whispered. "Of that, we can be absolutely certain."

"Well, we better not give him more advantages than he already has," Ahsoka said firmly, swiping away the image of Thrawn's Star Destroyer with a wave of her hand, leaving the hologram a blank and shimmering sheet of faintly blue light. "I believe Kenobi's acolytes," she said, gesturing to the two women with a wave of her hand. "If they say the Inquisitors can track our Jedi through the Force, than it's only a matter of time before they find us, and it'll be faster if they already have eyes on Kanan and Ezra."

"Uh..." With a huff, Ezra rose to his feet and shuffled to the holotable to stand beside Kanan, his fingers absently, almost nervously drumming against the table. "This isn't our fault, you can't blame us for-"

"You and Kanan have been very active, very visible arms of the Phoenix cell," Ahsoka explained. "You aren't some unknown element. If the Inquisitors can't locate you now, they will be able to soon, and if not them, the Sith Lords certainly will. It's only a matter of time."

"Sounds to me like there's only one course of action," Kanan said resolutely. "Laying low is just giving them time to find us, so we take the fight to them."

"No, absolutely not," Hera said without a beat, crossing her arms when Kanan looked at her with the calm resolve she knew meant the Jedi wouldn't budge. "We have never been reckless, Kanan, and we're not going to start now. Now when we've just established a base."

"There won't be a base for long if we don't move now, Hera," Kanan said softly, gently running his fingers down her arm. "There won't be a Phoenix cell at all if we allow the Empire the time to close in, and Kenobi's right, his acolytes are right. Thrawn is coming, and the Inquisitors will lead him right to us if we stay here."

"We can lure them to us and destroy them," Obi-Wan said quietly, and Hera shot him a reluctant and worried look, her hand moving to close tightly around Kanan's. "But we need to move quickly, before Thrawn and his forces have a chance to move in."

"We need to move quickly before your vision has a chance to come true, Father," Leia growled, her eyes narrowed as she boldly met the Sith Lord's warning glare. "If we don't, we're going to have a hell of a lot more to worry about that a handful of Inquisitors."

"You are grounded, and you will stay silent," Lumis snarled, a thing that would have normally cowed the willful teen, but instead she rose to her feet and defiantly held her ground.

"I will do no such thing," Leia snapped, shaking off her brother when he reached up to grab her arm. "You're going to bring the fight to the Inquisitors, fine. Good. But while you're out there, you may as well do what you can to avert the vision of your death. Sidious has a hook in you, Father, and I have what you need to cut that line. He may be patient, he may not know where to find you yet, but how long will it be before he reels you in and the entire rebellion along with you?"

"I have spoken to you at length about the risks," Obi-Wan said with a tired sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose to combat the oncoming headache. "I do not know when or where this will occur. If our hunt for the Inquisitors and the culmination of this vision converge on a single point, Sidious will destroy us all in a single stroke."

"Just as he will do if we do nothing at all!" Leia said as she strode forward and slammed her hands upon the holotable, the cleared holographic light flickering with the impact. "I know where to find Darth Nihilus' holocron, Father, and you said that's what you needed to alter your fate. We get that, you're freed from Sidious' hold, and he will never find us."

"Father..." Luke said softly as he rose from his seat and moved to stand beside his sister, his hand gently resting on the holotable as he flashed her a small, sad smile before he looked at the Sith Lord. "We should do it. I don't like that Leia's right, but she is. There isn't anything we could lose that we would save by doing nothing."

For a long moment, Obi-Wan was silent, his breath held and his shoulders tight as he looked at his twins and felt the chill of the Dark Side slowly creep up his spine. For the first time in a very, very long time, Darth Lumis was afraid. Not for his own death, which almost felt like a certainty, but for what would become of his children, the rebellion, the Spectres he had come to know as family. A thousand things he never did languished in his mind, plans he had never enacted and opportunities he never took which could have altered the vision of his fate, and a thousand things more that he did do that changed nothing. Luke and Leia were bold and brash and straining for purpose, eager to come out of hiding and fight against the Empire, and now that they had a taste of what it was like to be a part of the rebel cause, their spirit could not continue to be held. Luke and Leia had grown up, and Obi-Wan hadn't even noticed when it had happened.

"Very well..." the Sith Lord muttered, his gaze falling to his tightly clasped hands. "We will go after the holocron."

"Alright," Kanan said, swiping his hand over his hair and looking around at the group, a confident smile on his face. "We'll see if we can't lure the Inquisitors there with us when we go. Where is this holocron?"

Silently, Leia moved her hand across the holotable controls, the blue field flicking as the galactic map was brought up once again, and she swiftly zoomed in on the Outer Rim, again and again until she had isolated a remote star system in a distant sector, the image of a droll, ashen planet hanging on the field before them.

"Here," Leia said quietly, her fingers passing through the hologram as she pointed to it. "Malachor."

"Malachor..." Kanan muttered under his breath, his eyes fixated on the image of the planet before him and his unease palpable in the air around them, enough that Hera edged closer to him and took his hand beneath the holotable. "Malachor was always off-limits to Jedi. There were always stories and rumors about that place we'd tell each other when we were younglings in the Temple."

"That doesn't sound good..." Ezra said as he looked between Luke and Leia, the twins both somber and serious, though they lacked the feel of anxious worry that Kanan carried with him. "What sort of stories?"

"Ghost stories, mostly," Ahsoka said, giving the Padawan a small, comforting smile. "Things we would tell each other when we were supposed to be sleeping that would give us nightmares. Most of it was ridiculous, old legends that had been passed down since the time of the old Republic." She sighed softly, her smile faltering as she looked back at the hologram. "But there's always a bit of truth in legends. I don't know what it is we'll find there."

"Father said he'd take us after Sidious was dead, when the galaxy is safe for us," Leia said, uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot as she averted her gaze to avoid looking at the adults. "He's always said there's value to be gained in our knowledge of the past."

"Never thought I'd ever be traveling to a literal Sith hell..." Kanan muttered, staring at the map for a moment more before he looked over at Obi-Wan. "You ever been to Malachor, Kenobi?"

"No, I haven't," the Sith Lord said, clearing his throat and putting aside the apprehension he felt now that their path had been chosen. "Though Sidious talked about bringing me there early in my training as a Sith Lord once I had passed my trials on Mygeto, Kursid, and Shira. Once he was certain I was worthy." Obi-Wan shrugged. "But we never made it out there. Tensions were escalating in the Republic as the Clone Wars drew closer, and it became more difficult for my Master to get away from the Senate. Extended field trips became...difficult, to say the least."

"That's too bad," Ahsoka said thoughtfully, her fingers drumming on her arm for a moment as she examined the Sith Lord. "Surely you were taught the history of the Sith by your Master, even if you never managed to go to them. Do you know anything about Malachor?"

"Very little," Kenobi muttered bitterly. "Much of Sith history was lost to us when the Jedi nearly annihilated us, and a great deal was actively sought out and destroyed. We were left with rumors and stories and legends to fill in the gaps between the odd artifact we managed to collect." He waved his hand dismissively. "A history of myth and legend, and much of that comes from an account told by the Jedi."

"And the Jedi forbid anyone from going there," Kanan said. "So something spooky must have happened there."

"Spooky, yes..." Obi-Wan said slyly, a wry smirk on his face as he eyes the unamused Jedi. "We know for certain Malachor is a nexus of the Dark Side, and has in the past been the site of a very large Sith presence. But beyond that..." He shrugged. "Rumors and myths and legends. Ghost stories that came out of the mouths of Jedi younglings. Supposedly there was a battle there between the Jedi and the Sith a very, very long time ago. Some...nastiness ended the fight by massacring everyone, something so horrific that it transformed the entire planet into a Dark Side nexus." The Sith Lord smirked and gestured casually at Kanan. "The spookiness Kanan spoke of, no doubt, though what it was, I cannot imagine."

"Isn't that pleasant..." Kanan muttered under his breath. "The entire planet's some kind of messed up horror show..." Nobody said a word, the feeling in the air heavy and oppressive, and Kanan took a deep breath as he switched the hologram off. "Will what we find there be what you need to save yourself from Sidious?"

"If it's what I think it is..." Obi-Wan said, running his fingers through his hair as he exhaled the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Yes, it will."

"Well, if what the girls said is true, it's best not to linger," Kanan said, laying his hand on Ezra's shoulder and pushing him away from the holotable. "Go get ready to leave, I want to be out of here within the hour."

"I'm going with you?" Ezra asked, unable to contain the smile that crept across his face despite the somber looks of the twins beside him.

"The Inquisitors aren't just tracking me, they're tracking us, and you have less training," Kanan muttered, his hand once again drifting to the lightsaber on his belt, his fingers absently, delicately running over it. "You'll be easier for them to find. The point of this to keep the base safe. You have to come."

"What about Luke and Leia?" Ezra asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he looked from Kanan to Kenobi. "Are they coming too?"

"Leia has seen what we're looking for, she knows where to find it," Obi-Wan said quietly, taking a deep, heavy breath as he looked up from his tightly clasped hands and gave the teenagers a tight smile. "It would be a mistake to leave her behind. She's coming. They both are."

"Unexpected..." Ahsoka muttered, glancing at the Sith Lord out of the corner of her eye and carefully examined the tightness in his jaw and the ache that simmered just behind his eyes. A quick brush of the Force against Kenobi's impressive shields found a confusing swirl of resignation and pride before those golden eyes snapped in her direction, and she once again felt nothing at all. "Given how hard you fought to keep them away from the Lothal Temple, I'd have thought you'd fight even harder to keep them from a place like Malachor. Especially with them being grounded for their actions there..." she said slowly, her gaze shifting to the teens, who had very swiftly stopped talking amongst themselves to look nervously at the Togruta.

"You're coming with us, are you not?" Obi-Wan asked, a sly, knowing smirk touching his lips as Ahsoka quickly looked back at him, her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed before she scoffed softly, rolled her eyes, and nodded. "Knowing you will be there to watch after them makes a hard, necessary decision an easy one. And besides," he said with a shrug, his voice catching with a moment's hesitation as the smirk on his lips faltered, his gaze pulling away from hers to look blankly down at the table. "They won't be children forever..."

"Kenobi..." Ahsoka softly hissed, an inquisitive spark in her blue eyes as she leaned toward the Sith Lord, a thousand things running through her mind as she looked at her old friend as if to confirm she had heard his whispered words correctly, though she had known she had. "Just what is it you saw at the Lothal Temple?"

"Nothing," Obi-Wan said swiftly, far too swiftly for Ahsoka's taste, but she had no choice but to let it go. The Sith Lord would clearly reveal nothing, not here, and not now. "You know very well I might as well be blind for all I see with Sidious' damned vision haunting me." He pointed to the teenagers, the twins and Ezra swiftly snapping to attention before Obi-Wan's hand cut through the air. "You heard Kanan. Go get yourselves ready, we're leaving within the hour."

"I'll go prepare the Ghost," Hera said, starting to follow the teenagers as they sprinted from the command center, but was stopped when Kanan wrapped his hand around her wrist. Before she even turned to look at the Jedi, she knew what she would see, but she still felt her chest ache when she looked at his face and saw resolve and regret written all over him.

"Hera..."

"No," she said swiftly, shaking her head and looking away, her lip caught between her teeth when Kanan's fingers ran along her jaw and gently directed her gaze back to him. "I don't like this mission, but I agree with it," Hera said swiftly. "If the Inquisitors can find you, they need to be stopped."

"You're needed here, Hera," Kanan said, his voice soft but firm as he answered Hera's unspoken desire to go with him, his hand tightening around her wrist when he saw her jaw clench hard and her lekku squirm with unease. "You're the Phoenix Leader. You're needed here to help run this rebellion, and now that we have a base, you're more important than ever. As much as you say otherwise, Hera, this rebel cell will fall apart without you."

"I know..." the Twi'lek swiftly cut in, laying her hand over Kanan's. "I knew before you said anything that you would be going without me. I just wish that whatever it is you'd be facing out there, we could face it together." There was the briefest moment of hesitation, the slightest tremble of his hand beneath hers and an almost imperceptible tension at the edge of his smile, but Hera saw it plain as day. Kanan, for all his skill, for all his strength, for all his confidence, was worried about this mission. "I've always trusted you to be smart and strong enough to take care of yourself," Hera said with a faint smile, her fingers tracing along Kanan's cheek as he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. "Now is no different. Right?"

"Of course," Kanan said dismissively in his easy, carefree way, but Hera could detect that slight tension in his voice that he tried so hard to hide behind confidence. "We're going to be alright, Hera, everything's going to be fine."

"I know you well enough to be able to tell when you're lying, love," Hera whispered, a sad smile on her face as she gently stroked the Jedi's cheek, looking away from her lover's face for a moment to see Kenobi quietly talking to his Inquisitors before he dismissed them, the two women quickly leaving the command center the way they came in without a word. Nudging Ahsoka, the Sith Lord and the Togruta followed suit, leaving her alone in the room with her lover.

"I'm not lying," Kanan said swiftly, the confidence returned, though the tension remained. "But what we're facing out there could be worse than Inquisitors. It's dangerous, even for those of us trained to use the Force, and just being out there on Malachor..."

"Hush now..." Hera whispered, laying her fingers over the Jedi's lips and smiling when he reverently kissed at her fingertips. "There is no challenge you cannot face, Kanan Jarrus. I truly believe that. I may not be going with you, love," she said, dragging her fingers slowly down his neck to lay over his heart, "but you and I are always together. Always."

"I know..." Kanan scooted closer to the woman, gently ran his hand across one of her lekku to rest at the base of her neck, and drew her into a close, tight hug, laying his head on the top of her's and sighing when he felt her arms slink around him and grasp him tightly to her.

"If you don't come back safely to me, Kanan Jarrus, I will never, ever forgive you..." Hera mumbled against his chest, her hands clutching to the strong muscles of his back as she listened to the even beat of his heart and the gentle hum of his deep voice reverberating in his chest as he softly hummed.

"No pressure, right?" the Jedi muttered, smirking at the woman he held and, chuckling softly, kissed her nose. "We'll see each other again," Kanan whispered, stroking her cheek as he traced her jaw line and gently directed her chin to look up at him, his lips curling into an easy smile as he closed the distance between them. "I promise."


"Something on your mind?"

Kanan quickly looked up from where he had been sitting quietly in the small crew bedroom aborad the Umbra, the lightsaber he had mysteriously acquired on Lothal held gently in his hands. A small, muted smile touched his lips as his gaze fell upon Obi-Wan, the Sith Lord leaning casually, curiously in the now open doorway as he silently observed the Jedi. All around him, Kanan could feel the chill of the Sith's powerful presence, stifling and oppressive and brushing against his mind, though not dipping within it as he knew he could if Kenobi wished. Unable to help himself, Kanan could feel his lips tug into a sly, mischievous smirk, one that Kenobi quickly mirrored, so quickly and eagerly willing to shed the heavy feel in the air, and though they were unsuccessful, it felt good to pretend that things were alright.

"Aren't you a mind reader?" Kanan asked smoothly, the Sith's smirk becoming a wide grin a he stepped into the room and allowed the door to close behind him. "Work your magic, babe, what am I thinking?"

"What, it that a joke?" Kenobi asked, quiet laughter in each word as he moved before the Jedi and dropped beside him on the small bed. "Kanan dear, your mind is as empty as they come. Nothing but heroic delusions and Twi'lek tits up in there."

"You got me," Kanan said with a genuine smile, the briefest moment of ease passing between them before Kanan's smile faltered, his hands tightening around the lightsaber, and he tore his gaze away from the Sith Lord to stare at the weapon. "Guess I can't shake my unease about Malachor..." the Jedi finally muttered after a moment of silence that felt far longer than it was. "I don't know. It's one thing for kids to tell ghost stories of horrific deeds in ancient hells, but another thing completely to be going to one."

"A land of the dead, nothing more," Obi-Wan quietly said. "The spirits there cannot hurt you."

"I'm not worried about the spirits," Kanan hissed between clenched teeth, his grip tightening like a vice around the saber in his hands, and Kenobi looked down at it, his eyes narrowing as he examined the weapon.

"That is not your lightsaber." A statement, not a question, and Kanan allowed the words to hang in the silence between them, hoping the Sith Lord would say something, anything to withdraw the silent demand for an explanation, even as a thousand things he didn't understand rushed through his mind, begging for answers he knew Kenobi could help with.

"No, it isn't..." Kanan began quietly, turning it over in his grip for a moment before he offered the weapon to Kenobi, the Sith carefully taking it from Kanan and, opening his palm, allowed the saber to float in the air before him.

"This saber is the work of a Jedi Master," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully as he examined the floating hilt, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the black ridges at the base and grip and the tarnished silver chrome. "More than that, I am familiar with this weapon, and much more intimately familiar with a weapon much like it."

"Are you?"

"I am," Obi-Wan said firmly. "The first Jedi I ever killed wielded a lightsaber very much like this one. Sar Labooda fought like the Jedi Master she was up until the moment of her death. Sidious allowed me to keep her saber as a reminder of what I had done, though admittedly, it wasn't much of a victory by the time I turned on her."

"Doesn't bother you to talk about murdering the people that had once been your family?" Kanan asked, more sad than accusatory, and Kenobi sighed, a hand running through his hair as he turned the saber over with a flick of his wrist.

"I've killed a lot of Jedi, Kanan, and it was a very long time ago," the Sith Lord muttered. "Men and women, Masters and Padawans, young and old, some of them died easily, some of them pushed me to my limits. Master Labooda was mortally injured and weak. She was already dead before I fought her. My fight against Master Labooda may not have been fair, but the wielder of this weapon..." he said almost reverently as he reached out and closed his fingers around the hilt, the slightest press of his thumb to the ignition filling the small room with a soft green glow as the hissing blade extended. "Depa Billaba was strong and fast and fierce and even through pain and suffering, both physical and emotional, still stood and fought. A worthy and formidable opponent."

"You still bested her."

"I did," Kenobi agreed quietly, closing his eyes as he listened to the gentle hum of the saber. "And still, she rose again to train you. A testament to the strength of your Master." Glancing over at the Jedi, Obi-Wan switched off the saber and held the hilt out to Kanan. "Where did you get this weapon?"

"The Temple on Lothal," Kanan said hesitantly as he took the saber from Kenobi's hands, his brow drawing together as he frowned, as if he was having trouble accepting what he had said, as if they somehow didn't feel right, even though he knew them to be true. "I...can't explain it. My Master died on Kaller, it doesn't make any sense for her saber to be there."

"How did you come by it?"

"That's the weird thing..." Kanan grumbled, his thumb running over the scratches and faults in the hilt's chrome. "I had a...vision, I guess. At least, I think it was a vision. It had to be, but it felt so real..." Kanan glanced up at the Obi-Wan, the Sith Lord sitting quiet and attentive, and taking a deep breath, his hands clenched tighter around the saber. "I saw my Master. And Jedi Temple Guards. We...argued. She blinded me. We fought, and when I woke up, I suppose, I was holding this," he said absently, tapping the saber against his palm, frowning when Kenobi began to softly chuckle.

"The more I learn about the Force, the less I understand," Obi-Wan mused as he stood and grabbed the Jedi's face between his hands and, eyes squinting, leaned in close to the sound of the Jedi's nervous laughter as he tried to squirm away.

"Just because Hera isn't here, Kenobi, doesn't mean-"

"You know, Kanan, for as many times as you and I have made sweet, sweet love, it's nothing short of a cruelty that you won't let me kiss you..." Obi-Wan muttered with a wry smirk on his lips, and with a roll of his eyes, he smacked the Jedi lightly on the back of his head before once again taking hold of his face. "Be still, idiot, I want to see something."

The soft, serious tone underscoring his words was enough to make Kanan fall still, watching carefully as the Sith Lord's glowing, golden eyes ran slowly across his face and lingered on Kanan's eyes, and though he held his gaze, Kenobi appeared distant, as though he were not looking at him at all, instead focused on something very far away. Obi-Wan's thumbs slowly moved across the Jedi's cheeks before drifting up toward his temples to stroke at the high arch of his cheekbones, and with a hiss, Kanan winced and jerked back, a sudden burning sensation erupting beneath the Sith Lord's touch.

Shaking free of Kenobi's grasp, Kanan gasped in relief for only a moment before the Sith Lord grabbed hold of him once again, his fingers sliding into his brown, pulled back hair and his thumbs pressing against his cheeks, the burning sensation returning and causing Kanan to shut his eyes tight against the pain. Attempts to squirm away from Kenobi failed as the Sith Lord only moved closer, straddling the Jedi and pressing himself nearly chest to chest as intense, golden eyes raked over him, the feel of danger in the Force overriding the pain and forcing the Jedi to open his eyes to keep the predator in his sights. Kanan only stopped squirming away when he felt his back press hard against the cool bulkhead, and with nowhere left to go, he defiantly looked up at the Sith that loomed over him.

With Kanan still despite his ragged breathing, Obi-Wan's grip loosened, his fingers running ever so lightly across the Jedi's eyelids, the bridge of his nose, the high crest of his cheeks, hardly daring to breathe as he carefully examined the Jedi's teal eyes and the flecks of green within them. There, swirling just beneath the surface, moving the colors of his eyes like the undercurrent churned the surface of a river, was fire, an inferno that burned in bright blue and blinding white and radiant silver, a thing beyond the Sith Lord's understanding that almost, almost reminded him of Qui-Gon's blinding, immortal presence, a trait now shared with Grandmaster Yoda as well, now that he had been instructed by the persistent Force spirit.

But Kanan had no such training. His soul didn't blaze with the blinding light of the immortal, he hadn't studied the art of making his spirit manifest after his death, he hadn't grasped the mysteries of the Force between his hands and compelled it to make him whole after he had discarded his mortal form. Once, long ago on Mustafar, Darth Lumis had opened up the Dark Side and gazed into its very heart to behold the roiling chaos that surrounded the ancient leviathan beasts within, the dark soul reaching to engulf him in the black, bitter cold when he had stood before Anakin Skywalker in his infancy as Darth Vader. And now, looking at Kanan Jarrus, feeling the very real pain of an ethereal, invisible wound that sliced burns across his eyes and face, Obi-Wan saw the same thing.

It was like looking into the Force itself, a beautiful counter to the fearsome heart of the Dark Side where Lumis resided in, a gently burning blue star in the colorful, blazing stardust of a nebula instead of the consuming black hole within a stormy maelstrom. It was peaceful and serene, a warm and gentle breeze that cut through the icy dark to brush against his skin, and while the hot white inferno of Qui-Gon and Yoda blistered and burned and blinded him, Obi-Wan merely felt comfort in the beauty of Kanan's more subtle blaze, and the Sith Lord couldn't help but wonder if this was because Kanan was merely weaker than the old Masters, or if he was simply different, something new rising from the ashes of the Jedi Order.

Or perhaps, when Obi-Wan hadn't been looking, he had been the one to change.

"Magnificent..." Kenobi muttered as he released the Jedi's face and stepped away, allowing the other man the space to breathe and rub at his eyes, his brow furrowing in confusion as he gingerly felt at his face for the burning mark that the Sith Lord had touched, only to feel nothing at all. "What happened to you on Lothal, Kanan..."

"Did you see something?" Kanan asked swiftly, looking at the Sith Lord as he leaned against the wall and thoughtfully stroked his beard.

"I did..." Obi-Wan said slowly after a moment of silence, a faint smile on his face as he looked at the curious Jedi. "Nothing I understand, though, its meaning eludes me."

"Something I'm going to have to discover for myself, huh?" Kanan said with a wry, nearly bitter chuckle as he stood, stretched, and clipped the saber to his belt. "Sounds like something my Master would have said."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help," the Sith Lord said with a shrug. "There are too many forces at work. Your vision and the your inexplicable acquisition of your Master's blade, the saber strike that blinded you and the invisible wound you so obviously sustained, your changing presence in the Force..." Kenobi shook his head slowly, a slight, awed smirk on his lips as he looked the Jedi over. "Something has happened, that's for sure, but what it means, what it has done to you, I can only guess."

"Maybe we can find out together," Kanan ventured, pushing aside his nerves about the mission as he inched closer to the Sith Lord. "When we're done with whatever nasty business is waiting for us on Malachor."

"...I'd like that."

"So, uh..." Kanan said cheerfully, clearing his throat and changing the subject in an attempt to dispel the heavy, oppressive feel of anticipation in the air. "We've talked about me enough. What did you see in the Temple? Ahsoka seemed to think you saw something."

"Nothing..." Kenobi muttered absently, in a way that made it clear that he most certainly did see something, and the disbelieving quirk of Kanan's eyebrow made the Sith laugh dismissively as he brushed it off. "Nothing worth talking about, in any case. Nothing helpful to the current situation."

"More of the same?" Kanan asked, and Kenobi's eyes drifted down to look at the ground for a moment as he thought.

"It isn't like it was when we saw it together," the Sith Lord decided after a moment. "Before, it felt as though Sidious looked through the Force and saw me, like he was actually there. For a time, I would occasionally feel his presence. His shadow would fill with life, I looked into his eyes as if he were standing right before me, but now..." Obi-Wan shook his head. "Nothing. I see it laid out before me, but it feels...empty. Hollow. As if it's inactive, like a painting of an event that happened long ago..."

"Do you think that could mean you're drifting away from your fate?" Kanan asked excitedly. "Maybe Sidious can't see you anymore, maybe all you're seeing now are echos."

"I've...considered that," Kenobi contemplated. "It's certainly possible. Of course, it's just as likely that I'm just becoming increasingly blind and can't even see that anymore, so, you know..." He shrugged. "There's that pleasant notion. Uplifting, I know, especially given our destination..."

"Do you believe something's going to go wrong?" Kanan asked almost cautiously, the contemplative Sith Lord silent for a moment as he considered the question before he almost nonchalantly shrugged.

"There's always that possibility, yes." Kenobi quietly admitted. "Especially in places like Malachor, and seeing as how part of our intentions there include attracting attention, I feel as if we're inviting the opportunity for trouble."

"Well, I've said before that the safest place in the galaxy is close to you," Kanan said with an easy smile that almost instantly lifted the tension in the room, and Kenobi chuckled softly, his hand laying upon the Jedi's shoulder.

"Let us hope that remains true for the duration of the mission. We could stand to have a little bit of the Force's favor."

A sharp hiss accompanied the door smoothly sliding open and both men looked over to see Luke standing in the doorway, clad in his set of immaculate blue and silver Mandalorian armor, his helmet tucked under his arm and the slightest smile breaking through his otherwise stern expression when he looked upon the Sith Lord.

"We're here, Father," Luke said solemnly as he shifted from foot to foot, the expression of nervousness that he desperately tried to contain. "This is the place for sure. Leia can feel it even from here."

"Best not to delay then, hmm?" Kenobi drawled, his tone light and easy and carefree, an affect he adopted, Kanan knew, to make Luke feel more at ease, and from the look of it, it was working. The Sith Lord's hand laid upon the teenager's shoulder, and the nervous tension surrounding Luke released immediately with a long, exhaled breath and a comfortable, full smile on his lips. Nudging the boy out into the hall, Kenobi ambled after Luke as he rushed toward the cockpit, Kanan's long, slow stride falling into step beside the Sith Master. They were silent for a moment, Kanan smiling softly to himself as he watched Luke, the teenager running through the door ahead of them which slid closed behind him, the door once again opening to the smiling blond as he beaconed for them to hurry and rushed off once again.

"At the very least, Luke seems excited," Kanan muttered, and Kenobi shrugged, reaching out to trail his fingers along the wall as he walked.

"He's nervous," Obi-Wan whispered, his fingers drifting lightly over a control panel on the wall, opening an adjacent door and with a casual flick of his wrist, the bone white mask of Darth Nihilus was summoned to the Sith Lord's waiting hand. "We all find ways to hide it. Nobody likes to admit they're afraid."

"Are you?" Kanan asked, warily eyeing the mask in the Sith Lord's hands and flicking his gaze to study his friend's youthful face, his expression blank and thoughtful for a moment before he chuckled softly and turned an easy smile upon the Jedi.

"No, why should I be?"

A wry, knowing smirk crossed Kanan's lips, and without another word said between them, they strode down the hall, the door to the cockpit sliding open to the eerie sight of gray, grim Malachor hanging in starless space through the viewport. Occupying his usual seat at the control console was K-2SO, who was gleefully playing copilot to Ahsoka, the Togruta a great deal more polite and respectful than the belligerent Sith Lord and the insolent ship he was plugged into. In the passenger seats behind them sat Ezra and Luke, pressed close and peering over the cones of Ahsoka's montrails to get a good look at the planet while Leia on the other side of the aisle sat with her eyes closed in quiet meditation, the feel of her presence seeping through the air around them as she reached out for the pull of the Dark Side nexus before them. At the back of the cabin sat Vitios and Vehemis, the two women swiftly rising from their seats and bowing to the Sith as he strode past them, though the Twi'lek's yellow eyes looked up to meet Kanan's, and with a sly smirk, winked at him. Kanan rolled his eyes and walked past, intent on ignoring the undaunted woman.

"And there it is!" Kenobi proclaimed in the silence, tossing the mask into the air and upon catching it, held the dangerous Sith artifact out to Leia, the girl looking uncertainly at her father before she very carefully took it from him, holding it delicately in her hands. "Is it everything you ever dreamed of, Jedi?" he asked, placing one hand on the copilot's seat and the other upon Ahsoka's shoulder, pushing her back into the pilot's chair when she attempted to raise and surrender the Sith's chair back to him. "A thing from the very recesses of your darkest nightmares? As terrifying as the stories said?"

"More a riddle than some unknown terror," Ahsoka said as she leaned back in her chair and casually brushed Obi-Wan's hand from her shoulder. "The Dark Side is stronger here than I've ever felt it. Stronger than it was during the war, stronger than when I watched Anakin murder my Master, stronger than the night the Jedi died." She looked up at the Sith Lord and lightly punched his arm. "Even stronger than you, oh mighty nexus of the Dark Side. Something happened down there, and I want to know what it was."

"It was Darth Nihilus," Leia muttered, turning over the mask in her hands and staring into the black, vacant eyes in the smooth ivory. "His holocron is down there. He was here, and he corrupted everything he touched."

"Can one man have the power to do that?" Kanan asked, pointing at the viewport toward the planet before them. "You think one man can touch a planet and irreparably corrupt it?"

"With the power of the Force, anything is possible..." Obi-Wan muttered as he leaned forward toward the viewport, his glowing eyes squinting as he examined barren Malachor. "The Sith Lords of old had more power than you could possibly imagine, Kanan, and with Nihilus' particular...affliction, with the talents he possessed..." Lumis sighed, reverent and wistful, almost awed as he stared into space, far past even the dark planet that seemed to captivate him. "Yes, Jedi, it is more than possible that such a man could consume the life from an entire planet. It's more than possible that his touch could have forever corrupted the Force here." He laid his hand upon the transparisteel. "What is it you have done here, Nihilus..."

"Only one way to find out," Ahsoka said, her fingers deftly flying over the control console as she pressed buttons and flipped switches, her hand coming to rest on the acceleration lever as she looked back at the passengers in the cabin. "Is everyone ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," Ezra said firmly, a confident smirk upon his face as he looked at Luke and Leia, the twins sliding their helmets on their heads and nodding in agreement as Leia clutched the mask close to her chest as if to safeguard it from the darkness of their destination. Turning her gaze back toward Malachor, Ahsoka pulled back upon the acceleration, their bodies pressed back against the seats as the Umbra smoothly shot toward the planet and entered its gravitational pull, the feel of the Dark Side permeating the air making it seem as though the corrupted Force had reached out to pull them in.

As they slid into Malachor's atmosphere, the previously smooth ride became rough and turbulent, even the Umbra's powerful engines and stability dampeners unable to keep the ship steady, lightning arching across the sky despite there not being a cloud to be seen in the vast, gray horizon, as if they were flying into the embrace of a violent, invisible storm. The surface of the planet spread out before them like smokey glass, the lightning in the sky reflected upon the ground like cracks upon an uneven mirror, the flay expanse broken only by the occasional crater and the odd, unnatural formations rising high into the air like square pillars.

Feeling the dark pull of the roiling, wrathful Force around them, Kanan leaned forward toward the viewport, jostling his way next to Kenobi and laying his hand upon Ahsoka's shoulder as he squinted in the hopes of somehow being able to identify the source of the darkness, be it an object, a living being, or the planet itself. There was a strong likelihood that the cause was the holocron they were hunting, the ancient Sith artifact infecting the surrounding area for who knew how many centuries it had rested in this place, though Kanan had the sinking suspicion that there was something else at work.

Something flashed out of the corner of his eye and Kanan quickly looked in its direction to find...nothing. Another swift movement at the edge of his other eye drew his attention swiftly back toward the viewport and for a moment, Kanan found himself looking into the storm that none of them could see, billowing plumes of black and slate smoke churning and roiling and covering the sky like it meant to smother the planet. Spidering bolts of red and blue and purple lightning sent cracks running through the sky and lit the storm clouds with flashes of sickly green light and stained the poisoned rain.

He could see the raging wind as it stirred the storm in thick, jagged swirls of navy and black that tore the billowing clouds to painful wisps before reforming them larger and angrier than before. Deep within them, Kanan could have sworn he saw faces in the wind and smoke and rain, glowing deep with living darkness that consumed everything it touched with jealous, hateful wrath, with furious, unrelenting pain, and with simmering, violent envy. For a moment, Kanan saw life, dark and greedy and glowing all the darker for its parasitic consumption.

He blinked, and it was gone. No terrible storm, no faces in the mist, no unholy life. Just the bleak, desolate surface of cursed Malachor.

"You alright, Kanan?" Obi-Wan asked quietly as he ran an appraising eye over the man beside him, and Kanan swallowed hard, running a hand over his hair that he hadn't noticed until that moment had been shaking. "You look awfully pale."

"Didn't you..." Kanan started, his brow furrowing with confusion as he looked at the Sith Lord, a look of concerned skepticism on his face, and the Jedi found everyone else in the cabin to be looking at him with that same expression. Whatever it was that he had seen, whatever it was that had caused his eyes to sting the way they were now, he had been the only one to see it. It was enough to make him wonder if he had actually seen that brief flash of terrible, torrential color and light. He wasn't so sure anymore that he had.

"It's nothing," Kanan quietly dismissed. "I thought I saw something, that's all..."

"I wouldn't dismiss anything in this place," Ahsoka said evenly, laying her hand over Kanan's, which was tightly grasping her shoulder. "What is it you thought you saw?"

"I'm...not sure..." Kanan mumbled, huffing in irritation as he closed his eyes against the burn and tried to conjure the image he had seen, but he was having difficulty assigning words that could even begin to describe that briefest glimpse of colorful, sinister chaos. "There's something down there..." Kanan said absently, looking back out the viewport and willing himself to see what he had glimpsed before, but to no avail. Barren Malachor remained a colorless waste.

"Something?" Obi-Wan asked, a concerned frown on his lips as he stroked at his beard. "Or someone?"

"Maybe you're sensing the holocron," Leia suggested, her voice filtered through her helmet's vocal pickup, her fingers running delicately over Nihilus' mask.

"Whatever it may be, we should exercise caution..." Ahsoka muttered, flipping switches on the command console as the ship cut lower through the sky as they searched for the right place to land. "Kanan's right about one thing for sure. There's something here."

"Let's hope so," Kenobi said lightly, looking back at the teenagers in the passenger seats behind him with a sly smirk upon his lips in an effort to ease the heavy tension around them, which appeared to work immediately. "It'd be a waste of our time otherwise." He drummed his fingers against K2's shoulder. "K2, get me an analysis of the planet's surface, will you?" he asked as he looked out the viewport at Malachor's unusual surface. "We need to know if it's safe to land down there. And while you're at it, scan for life forms. If that thing Kanan sensed is alive, I want to know."

"Of course, Master, anything else?" the droid droned. "Is there anything else you need? Increased power to the stabilizers? Caf? Your misplaced morality?"

"You know what I could really use?" Obi-Wan said thoughtfully before a look of disgust touched his lips and he rapped the droid's head with the back of his knuckles. "Silence from the droid foundry."

"Sorry, Master," K2 said in a tone that was not sorry at all. "I can silence my vocabulator, if that is what you desire, but how will I convey the requested analysis if my functions have been muted?"

"I hate droids..." Kenobi growled under his breath, glaring at K2, who somehow managed to appear smug. "This is why I kriffing hate droids...just cut the commentary and do as your told. Nobody here has time for your sass."

"I do," Luke said quietly from his seat, his helmet lending a metallic twang to his voice and concealing the soft, good natured smirk Kenobi knew was upon his face. K2 looked from Luke, to Ezra beside him who was unsuccessfully attempting to stifle his laughter, to the unamused, irritated Kenobi, and at the sound of the soft whir of the droid's vocabulator activating, the Sith Lord covered the droid's visual receptors with his hand and forced his head to look down at the command console.

"The analysis, K2, focus," Kenobi snapped, shooting a glare back at the infinitely amused Luke and grabbing hold of Ezra's ear, turning the teenager's hapless giggling into hisses of pain.

"Arid climate, air composition breathable, standard gravity. It would appear that the planet's surface is primarily composed of flash frozen Carbonite," K2 said after a moment of silence. "Though it seems to be an outer layer shell, we detect significant space beneath the surface."

"A cave network?" Ezra asked through grit teeth, and sighed in relief when the Sith Lord released his ear. K2's visual receptors swerved to look back at the teenagers on the passenger seats.

"I would not call it such," K2 said, his attention returning to the readouts on the console. "It is too large for that. Almost...hollow. It would seem as though the planet's true surface is beneath this shell."

"A protective barrier surrounding the entire planet..." Ahsoka mused, her hands tightening around the control yoke as she leaned closer to the viewport. "I've never heard of anything like it. What could even cause Carbonite to flash freeze like this?"

"I don't know, but I suspect we're going to find out..." Kenobi muttered as he leaned forward, squinting as he looked out the viewport at the planet's surface. "How thick is this shell?" he asked K2, his fingers drumming on the droid's shoulder with a soft, metallic twang. "I know Carbonite is durable, but can it support our weight without collapsing? Can we land the ship down there? How thick is it?"

"So many questions..." K2 grumbled, his interface arm rotating in the ship's access port as the requested analysis was uploaded into the ship's processor. "It would appear as though there is little consistency across the surface," he reported, turning his head to look at the focused Sith Lord behind his shoulder.

"Can't we just blast our way through it?" Ezra asked as he stood from his seat to get a better look out the viewport. "We don't need to worry about any of this if we just land on the actual surface."

"And risk destroying everything underneath in a complete collapse?" Ahsoka asked quietly, her hands never leaving the controls and her gaze never leaving the view in front of her. "To say nothing about the devastation that would cause to any life down there." Ezra slunk back down into his seat, muttering apologies under his breath.

"You're so violent..." K2 droned. "In any case, such a thing would be quite unnecessary. In the section of one thousand square kilometers analyzed, the Carbonite thickness ranges from three centimeters to one meter thick. The molecular integrity of Carbonite, however, renders it structurally sound for load-bearing weights at thirty centimeters, and for standard human weights at six centimeters."

"Well, for once, I like our odds," Kenobi said with a smirk. "We should be able to set down on most of the terrain. "Leia,'he said firmly, turning to face the teenagers in the passenger seats, his shoulders drawn back and his hands folded behind his back, and both Luke and Leia instinctively straightened as they listened, the girl's hands tightening upon the mask held against her chest. "Use the mask to find the general area of where we should land. Don't go too deep. The Dark Side here is strong, and Qui-Gon can't reach us here. He won't be able to save you again."

"I'll do my best, Father," Leia said quietly, he fingers absently tracing the eyes of the mask and looking at her brother when Luke laid a reassuring hand upon her shoulder.

"K2, find us a good place to set down when Leia gives us a landing zone," Obi-Wan continued. "And I'm still waiting on that life scan."

"Weren't the Jedi renowned for their patience? Did you not learn anything from them?" K2 asked in an irritated drone, earning him a smack on his head by the quietly cursing Sith Lord.

"I wouldn't have left if they had anything to teach me," Obi-Wan snapped, but the anger and irritation that so usually wound its way into his voice wasn't there, his focus instead upon Leia as the Dark Side flared around her, her head bowed as she sunk into the feel of the mask in her grasp. "The life sign report, K2," he said absently. "Please."

With an electronic sigh, K2 returned to the display, disappointed that his needling hadn't drawn the ire he was hoping for out of the reactionary Sith Lord. Staring at the readouts as the Umbra communicated with his central processors, the droid quietly listened to the snippy, querulous ship harangue him about the demands placed on her and his insistence for it to be done quickly. The Umbra was, of course, a swift, efficient machine, and she knew it, lending the ship a prideful, boasting personality and an ego that disliked bristled at even the slightest insinuation that she was preforming below expectations. K2 had grown used to the ship's quirks, had even come to greatly appreciate them, and remained the only droid that the ship even bothered with, allowing him autonomy when she would usually slave droids to her systems to become unwilling, additional processors to her already impressive systems.

Another swift prod at the ship to hurry along the requested scan for life forms, and the Umbra bit back with immediate scorn and very unpolitely suggested that K2 take a long walk out the airlock, as the requested scan was impossible. His processors freezing for a moment as the returned data from the ship failed to compute, K2 asked the Umbra for confirmation, this time less of a demand than an inquisition as his visual receptors ran over the readout before him. With the more respectful tone, the ship's next response was more irritated than rude, confirming that the previous results were accurate. The life scan was impossible, not because the system was malfunctioning, but because something was disrupting the sensors.

After the harsh, snapped reply to his request to run a full system scan to check for unsuspected malfunctions, K2's visual receptors swivelled up to look Kenobi, the Sith Lord intently focused on Leia as she sat silently with the mask clutched between her hands. K2 looked back at the readout and leaned in closer to the screen to get a closer look at the glitchy, static display. Quickly confirming with the Umbra that all systems were optimal, and both the droid and the ship were in consensus. Be it the strange state of Malachor's unusual environment or something else entirely, something was disrupting their scanners.

"Master..." K2 said quietly, looking up that the Sith Lord, who didn't seem to even notice he had spoken, but both Kanan and Ahsoka were devoting their full attention to the droid. "The scan for life has failed," K2 said to Kanan and Ahsoka, the Togruta swiftly sliding her fingers across the command console to confirm the droid's findings and Kanan hissing a curse under his breath as he closed his eyes and extended his hand toward the viewport.

"Failed?" Obi-Wan asked, finally turning away from Leia and looking over K2's shoulder at the display. "How could the scan fail? All our other scans have been working just fine, there's nothing wrong with our scanners."

"I was thinking the same thing," Ahsoka said quickly. "So far as I can tell, there is no jamming signal messing with our systems, and a scan for other ships has turned up nothing."

"Could the Dark Side be disrupting the life scan?" Kanan asked as his fingers splayed before him, the Force around him warm and gentle and driving the darkness away from him.

"It's possible..." Kenobi mumbled, his fingers absently drumming on the back of the copilot's seat. "The Dark Side has always worked to obscure its children. In the presence of a nexus as powerful as this, it would be unreasonable to assume that the Force doesn't have a hand in everything."

"So what's causing our disruption?" Ahsoka asked quietly, her hands tightening on the control yoke as she pressed the ship forward. "The nexus, or the thing that Kanan sensed?"

"Could very well be one and the same," Kanan said as he opened his eyes and dropped his hand. "Whatever it was I sensed before, I can't sense it now."

"You know, Kanan, it's truly remarkable that you were able to sense anything at all..." Kenobi mused, leaning against the copilot's seat and studying the Jedi. "None of us managed to see anything, and let us not forget that the Jedi in their final years were all unable to detect the rise of Darth Sidious. And here you are..." he drawled, a smirk on his lips when Kanan looked modestly down at the floor. "The last Padawan, and barely that, able to see through what your Jedi Masters never could..."

"Stranger and stranger..." Ahsoka said as she looked over her shoulder and smiled at the fidgeting Kanan. "The Force truly works in mysterious ways. I wonder if Master Yoda could give us some insight as to why. You may have a greater purpose than any of us know."

"I told you..." Ezra said as he playfully nudged Luke. "My Master is way better than yours."

"He really is something, I'll give you that," Luke said, the smile in his voice heard even through the helmet's modulator, the boy for a moment reveling in the warm feel of the Force touched by stalwart, modest Kanan and excited, prideful Ezra before it was lanced through by a spear of cold. Luke quickly turned his gaze away from Kanan to look at Leia in the seat across the walkway. "She found it..." he muttered under his breath, and beside him, Ezra leaned over to look at the still, silent girl, the mask held loosely in her hands upon her lap, her head bowed in quiet meditation. Ezra looked quizzically at Luke, a frown upon his face, and his questions dying in his throat when the blond laid a calming hand upon his arm that silently asked for patience.

He did not have to wait long for the unfelt thing simmering between the twins' connection to b made visible in the sudden tightening of Leia's hands upon the mask and the shivering of her shoulders as a chill blew through the Force.

"Father!" Leia gasped quickly, her head snapping up to look at the Sith Lord, her breathing fast and ragged through the regulator of her helmet. "I found it." Swallowing hard, she stood from her seat, pointing a shaking finger out the forward viewport toward the barren expanse below at a pillar that shot skyward out of the smooth, reflexive ground. "There. Right below us. It's here, I can feel it."

"Take us down, Ahsoka..." Obi-Wan said calmly as he plucked the mask out of the trembling girl's hand and pulled her against him, whispering something indistinguishable to her before he kissed the top of her helmet. The occupants of the cockpit swiftly strapped in and grabbed hold of the seats as the Umbra spiraled downwards toward the ground, the ship rocking as it cut through the turbulent air currents whipped up by the furious Force. For as rough as their descent was, their landing was equally smooth, Ahsoka setting the ship down upon the ground so gently they could barely feel the Umbra settle upon its landing struts. Turning command of the ship over to K2, they gathered their things and stepped out of the ship, their footsteps reverberating through the air around them as they carefully made their way toward the tall, obsidian pillar before them.

"You know..." Vehemis drawled softly, flicking one of her red lukku over her shoulder and sauntering to walk closer to Kanan. "For as rough as our entry was, I'd have expected it to be at least a little windy out here." She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "It isn't even cold."

"It's far too still," Ahsoka quietly agreed. "Unnaturally so."

"I don't like it..." Kanan grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he eyed the pillar as they drew closer, detailed, intricate etchings that covered the surface becoming visible with each step they took. "I can't shake the feeling that someone's watching us..."

"Can a holocron really cause all this, Master?" Vitios said as she fell in step behind Obi-Wan, and the Sith Lord slowly nodded, his pace slowing as they drew close enough to the pillar to feel the power radiating from it humming in a low reverberation in the air.

"Many things can cause this..." Kenobi whispered, his hands folding behind his back and his eyes narrowing as he began to circle the pillar to inspect the writing upon it. "Could be the strength of the holocron. Could be atrocities committed here thousands of years ago." He shrugged. "Could be whatever it is that Kanan feels watching us, be it the living or the dead."

"If someone is here watching us, I want to know about it," Ahsoka said, tapping the comlink on her wrist. "K2," she said swiftly when the droid answered her call. "We're expecting company, if it's not here already. Try to get a fix on any ships in the area again, and if there's any incoming, tell us the moment you see them." After a swift affirmative from the droid, the Umbra's engines powered on and the ship effortlessly lifted into the air, sliding up into the air to hover high above them to widen the scanning range.

"Sooooo..." Ezra drawled as he sauntered toward the pillar and gently bumped his shoulder against Luke's with a mischievous grin. "What exactly are we looking at here?"

"We saw pillars like this on our trip to Moraband," Luke said, his tone light and airy and filled with laughter his vocal modulator could not filter out of his voice as he walked slowly beside the grinning Ezra, his fingers gently brushing the other boy's hand to urge him closer to the obsidian obelisk.

"There wasn't any writing on those," Kenobi said softly, laying his hand on Luke and Leia's shoulders just before they stepped within arm's reach of the pillar. "They were weathered and eroded. If they were ever carved or engraved, time had long ago worn the words away. But these..." The Sith Lord took a step closer and leaned in, his eyes squinting as he peered at the writing upon the smooth, black surface. "These look as though they were carved yesterday..."

"Could the state of the Force here be preserving them?" Kanan asked, striding to stand beside the Sith Lord, a frown on his face as he studied the ancient writing. His eyes flicked to Kenobi when he received no answer, the Sith standing silent and contemplative as he stroked his beard in thought.

"There are few places in this galaxy stronger in the Dark Side than Moraband," Kenobi finally said, inching closer to the pillar and holding his hand mere inches above the smooth surface, though never touching it. "That was not enough to protect the Valley of the Dark Lords from erosion and decay. But...it is true that the Force here is different." He slowly nodded. "Yes. It's possible the Force could preserve this place from the ravages of time..."

"If that's true, we stand to find more than just a few pillars in this place," Ahsoka muttered, a frown on her face as she leaned in toward the pillar and squinted at the writing. "Can you read it?" she asked, and the Sith Lord beside her scoffed.

"Can I read it..." Kenobi growled arrogantly. "Of course I can read it, what exactly do you think I am?" He looked scornfully at the woman at his side, the insult he felt fading quickly into embarrassed revelation when he saw the teasing smirk on the Togruta's face. "Oh..." he grumbled, shooting a withering glare at the teenagers as they unsuccessfully attempted to stifle their laughter before he cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the carved, elegant script. With a frown, he quickly turned to face the others, his finger raised in warning as he looked at each of them. "Don't. Touch. Anything," Kenobi snarled, huffing softly at the murmured ascent before he turned back to the pillar.

The Sith Lord began reading the script, the ancient Sith rolling smooth and easy off his tongue, his fingers drifting above the words as he read and only stopping to translate the section for those who were silently listening and answering the periodic questions Ahsoka and Kanan raised. A brush of gentle fingers against the palm of his hand send shivers up Ezra's spine, his focus shifting to Luke as he gestured for the other boy to follow, and with a dazed smile plastered on his face, Ezra followed the twins as they slowly walked around the pillar to investigate the writings on the other side.

Ezra heard none of it, just nodded absently at the twins' quiet discussions and mindlessly followed at Luke's urging. All he could hear was the soft, hissed ancient Sith, not the words spoken by Darth Lumis, but a breathy whisper spoken on wind that wasn't there. He heard it as he felt it, a thing that made his blood rush and his bones ache, the words seeming to beacon and call him even though he didn't understand a word. His head swimming and his vision hazy, Ezra stumbled toward the pillar and laid an outstretched hand upon the cold, smooth surface.

With a gasp and a startled cry of pain, Ezra pulled his hand away as his attention returned with a startling jolt, his palm red and burning as if he had grasped heated durasteel. Swallowing hard, his breath coming in swift gasps, he looked at the pillar, the imprint of his hand glowing in red upon the black surface, the red light spreading quickly to the carved script light molten metal poured into a cast. The silence in the air was thick, heavy and awkward, and Ezra could feel the eyes upon him, confused and stunned and angry, and he kept his gaze locked on his hand print, unable to face the people behind him.

For a moment, there was nothing, then the ground began to shake as the script glowed with burning light, the reflective ground beginning to crack and split with each new tremor, the pillars far in the distance glowing with faint red light as well. His heart pounding as he jolted into action, Ezra staggered away from the pillar as the others began running. All except Obi-Wan, who, with a tired sigh, slowly looked at the panicking teen.

"I hate you..." Kenobi told Ezra wearily. "So very, very much..."

Ezra sprinted as fast as he was able as the ground began to split and crumble around him, and it became quickly apparent that he would be unable to outrun the collapse. None of them could, and the next step Ezra took fell through the splintering ground as he began tumbling through broken shards of the shattered ground and deep into the open space below. He found himself falling through the air as though he were dropped from a black sky, the ground beneath him rising quickly to meet him. As he tumbled through the air, Ezra caught flashes of the others similarly falling, and under his breath, he quietly cursed himself for falling under the sway of the whispers in the Force.

Ezra landed with a hard thud upon the ground and groaned as he pushed himself up and rubbed his head, and gasped in surprise when Kanan and Ahsoka landed nearby in a practiced, controlled crouch, standing with ease and brushing themselves off. A moment later, and a gust of wind kicked up the dust from the rocky ground as Kenobi fell, the Force catching him before he hit the ground as if the wind had risen to cradle him and gently set him down on his feet. Ezra frowned as Vitios and Vehemis ran past him toward their Master from where they had landed a little ways away, and Ezra accepted Kanan's hand to help him to his feet.

The ringing in his ears slowly faded to the low, dull roar of flames echoing in the cold, still air, and Ezra looked up to see Luke and Leia hovering high above them, the jetpacks upon their backs keeping them airborne as they flipped to turn around and flew to land at the Sith Lord's side.

"Father!" Leia gasped excitedly, clutching Nihilus' white mask tightly in her hand as she pointed ahead of them, and Ezra squinted past the settling dust in the air and his blurred vision to look at what had the twin so excited.

"I know, dear..." Kenobi said quietly, his eyes closed and a serene expression on his face as he laid a calming hand upon her shoulder. "I see it..."

"What is that?!" Ezra asked when his vision had cleared, his surroundings coming into sharp focus as he felt the Force surge around him, both the crashing, tumultuous waves of darkness and the shield of light that warded it away.

"That," Ahsoka said gravely, "is a Sith Temple."

"Not just any Sith Temple..." Obi-Wan whispered. "The center of power of the Sith Triumvirate, the first Sith to purge the Jedi Order to near extinction." He inhaled deeply, breathing the stale, dusty air thick with the Dark Side and listening to the sounds that echoed around him, at first only the slow, ponderous hum of the gently moving air, and then slowly filling with hissed whispers, ancient chanting and muted screams. "Leia was right," Kenobi said quietly as he pulled himself from the currents of the Force. "The holocron is here." He turned and flashed a tight smile to the group gathered behind him. "Well!" the Sith Lord chirped. "No time like the present! Come on, kids. Stay close."

They pressed close to Obi-Wan as he turned and started toward the Temple, a large stepped pyramid capped with a massive, blood red crystal that loomed over the ruins of the temple grounds and the surrounding city that encircled it. High above them, light filtered through from cracks and weaknesses in the planet's unnatural surface, dust and ash drifting in the stagnant air like heavy mist through shafts of light. Still, it was dark in the world beneath the surface, like dusk before the fall of night, with just enough light flitting from above for those unaccustomed to the dark to make out their surroundings and the shapes in the distance, but little else. It was dangerous here, the details of their environment concealed until they stood nearly directly upon it, the shadows flickering and dancing just beyond their reach and almost seeming to breathe with life and death. Anything, anyone could be laying in wait within the churning dark, and only a few eyes between them even had a chance to see them coming.

As they drew closer to the temple, walking slowly and cautiously through the ruins of the forgotten city, the Force grew thick and heavy and oppressive with the Dark Side, enough that Obi-Wan ordered them to stop and take a moment to fortify themselves while he closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and took it all in, opening himself to the flood of darkness as it filled his lungs, his blood and bones, his every pore until he could feel himself sinking deep. It was calm here, silent and dark and comforting, as it always was in the blackest depths of the abyss, and reaching out his hand, he could feel the cold, smooth scales of the leviathan as it moved to coil around him, a faint smile touching his lips at the feel of his constant companion. Even now, when all his visions turned swiftly to his demise at Sidious' hands, when he felt abandoned by that which had guided him, the Force had never left Darth Lumis.

They did not continue on until Kenobi deemed them ready, Vitios, Vehemis and Leia in peaceful synergy with the still, smooth waters of the Dark Side, Kanan, Ahsoka and Luke protected in their dense shield of light, now smaller and more compact with the oppressive, heavy darkness pressing in upon them. All but Ezra, who stood close to Luke, shielded by the presence of the light twin while his very being clawed and hammered at his chest, yearning and aching for the song in the darkness that called to him. With a sigh, Obi-Wan walked to the group, placed his hand on Ezra's back and guided him away, gesturing for the others to follow as they walked down the cracked and winding streets of the city in ruins toward the Sith Temple.

"You are conflicted," Kenobi whispered to Ezra, his hand tightening on the teen's shoulder when the boy bowed his head. "You yearn for the dark, but cling to the light. You cannot. Not here, not in this place. You must choose, or your lack of focus will see you made an easy target."

"A target by what? Ezra muttered absently, and swiftly uttered a sharp yelp when the Sith Lord grabbed him by the ear and pulled hard.

"A target by what!" Kenobi hissed, looking over his shoulder briefly to glare at Kanan when the Jedi had warningly called his name, and with a growl of frustration, his eyes stinging with the familiar feel of gold pierced by spears of blood red, he let go of Ezra's ear. "Do you even hear yourself, boy?" the Sith Lord said under his breath. "Have you forgotten that the holocron is not the only reason we are here?"

"I haven't forgotten..." Ezra grumbled, rubbing at his stinging ear as he eyed his Dark Side teacher. "We're trying to lure the Inquisitors."

"And if you are not centered, Apprentice, you will be dead..." Kenobi said slowly. "The Force here is too thick, it is too easy to hide in this place, and you may be certain our enemies will do just that. Embrace the dark or cloak yourself in light, it doesn't matter, so long as you choose."

"Aren't you the one that's always telling me I don't have to choose? That I can walk the path in the middle?" Ezra asked, his attention drifting over his shoulder to fix on Luke. "Why do I have to choose..."

"Because..." Obi-Wan said through clenched teeth as patiently as he was able. "One might use light to see in the darkness, or one might grow accustomed to night by living in it, but to the creature that exists in twilight, the light is too bright and the night is too dark and they can see well in neither, and my dear, at this moment, we exists in the darkest of night, and it is calling to you." Kenobi sighed, shooting Kanan a weary glance when he had sped up his stride to walk at Ezra's other side. "There is a time and a place for everything, Apprentice..." Kenobi said quietly. "But now is not the time to stride the line."

"It would be easy to lose yourself to the Force here," Kanan said quietly, laying his hand upon Ezra's shoulder, though he didn't look at the boy, his gaze instead fixed sightlessly before him, as if he were staring out at something only he could see. "It would be dangerous for you to embrace the Dark Side in this place, especially since it's calling you and you don't have the strength to fight it." Kanan finally looked at Ezra, and the teenager felt himself flush with embarrassment. "That is why you touched the pillar, isn't it?"

"It's true that it would be easy to be swept up in the current here," Kenobi muttered. "This place is a nexus of the Dark Side that could have tested the will of the Jedi Masters. But..." he drawled, "your being already craves darkness, and embracing it will be easier than resisting it. I can help keep you anchored."

"I can help keep the darkness at bay," Kanan said confidently, drawing up to his impressive full height, and for just a moment, Kenobi could have sworn he saw the Jedi's teal eyes almost seem to glow a pale blue, possibly a trick of one of the beams of light that filtered down from above. "We may be able to help guide you, Ezra, but the focus and resolve must come from within. You can slip through Kenobi's fingers just as easily as you can escape me if you don't have the will to remain centered. Remember what we've taught you..." Kanan said, his voice growing distant as his gaze seemed to drift off again. "Just stay vigilant..." the Jedi muttered. "There are spirits in this place..."

"No pressure, right?" Ezra grumbled nervously, his feet shuffling on the cracked and rocky ground as his pace slowed, his foot catching on one uneven stone and causing him to nearly pitch to the ground before he stumbled to catch himself. He shot a quick glance over his shoulder, hoping that the others hadn't seen, though Leia's muffled chuckling through her helmet's respirator and the glint of golden eyes staring at him dashed any hopes about going unnoticed. Beside him, Kanan chuckled and patted the teen's back.

"I've always said you learn best under pressure," Kanan said. "You've always been a survivor, and today, your life is on the line. Better yet, you've learned this lesson before. You know what to do."

Ezra frowned, his brow drawing together in concentration as he wracked his memory for the lesson Kanan spoke of, a slow smile creeping across his lips as he found it. Kanan was right. He had learned this lesson once before, in circumstances so similar that he felt stupid for not realizing it earlier. It had seemed so long ago when he and Kanan had once lured the Grand Inquisitor to the asteroid belt, the place where Ezra had learned how to push past his fears, to reach out and touch the Force with a calm hand, to make himself one with the others who touched it. Through calm and understanding, he had learned how to reach kinship with animals, and through that peace, could control them, the soft merging of his will and theirs forging comradery and trust between them.

It was also here where he first touched the Dark Side, wild and savage and cold, and used it to accomplish something similar when fear and rage had over taken him. With it, he had summoned a large, vicious beast to do his bidding, not through the kinship of before, but because his rage had demanded it. It was...frightening, but so very, very powerful, and left him feeling sick and uneasy in its wake. And now here, in this place filled with oppressive cold and death and fear, they lured yet more Inquisitors to them, the last Inquisitors that remained. With Vitios and Vehemis serving Darth Lumis, and with the former Grand Inquisitor still imprisoned in the depths of the Umbra, a half mad shell of the man he once was, the threat of the Empire's Inquisitorius would finally be at an end.

Again, Ezra looked back over his shoulder at Luke, the twin walking at a slow, relaxed gait beside Ahsoka, his blue and silver armor almost seeming to glow in the dim light, and a soft, longing sigh fell from Ezra's lips. He hadn't thought to look too closely at his...fascination with Luke. Part of him didn't want to for fear of what he would find there, but in this moment, it was so easy to envy the twin's ease and calm confidence, even surrounded by all this darkness. That was what he wanted to be. That was what he knew he could be, and before he knew it, his choice was made for him.

"I'll resist the Dark Side," Ezra said quietly, looking away from Luke to fix his gaze resolutely forward. "I remember what it was like last time to be consumed. I don't like the way it makes me feel, and we could be here a while."

"A wise choice," Kanan said with a slight smile, and Ezra looked up at him and grinned broadly.

"Just remember that there are more things than just the Dark Side that may leave you unfocused and distracted..." Obi-Wan grumbled as Ezra's gaze began to drift behind them once again, and the teenager's attention snapped to the Sith Lord, a deep, embarrassed flush upon his face for having been caught.

"I-I know that!" Ezra stuttered, trying to sound as confident as he was able, but only managed to sound panicked and defensive. "Of course I know that, you don't have to tell me..."

"Uh huh..." Kenobi said flatly, frowning as Ezra slowed his pace to slink away from the Sith Lord's critical gaze, and with a furtive glance in his Dark Side Master's direction, the teenager fell into step beside Luke, the nervousness he previously felt seeming to melt away when Luke laid his hand upon his shoulder. "Let's pick up the pace, kids," Kenobi ordered. "I want to spend as little time here as possible, this place is ripe for ambush, and I'd much rather be the one setting the traps."

With the quiet murmurs of their understanding, the group sped up their movements down the cracked and twisting streets, their steps still careful and measured as they skirted around and over the rubble that lay in their path. Each step brought the massive pyramid of the Sith Temple looming over them ever closer, the air growing colder as the Force became thicker and more opaque, the pressure pressing down upon them as if they walked in the silent calm of the bottom of a deep ocean. Cresting a hill as they wound their way through the city, the group came to a sudden halt, the breath catching in their throats as they looked out upon the ruin before them, less of a city surrounding the Temple and more of a wide, shallow crater. Here, the remains of the city were less time-decayed ruins and more rubble, the destruction before them more complete, the city section surrounding the imposing Temple nearly completely leveled, save for the eroded evidence of tall, fallen structures.

All around them echoed the soft and eerie sounds of panicked shouting and distant, agonized screaming and unsettling, barely audible voices, the air itself seeming to ripple like the broken surface of a disturbed lake as shimmering wisps of pale, ghostly mist shifted and swirled and slowly took shape. For just moments at a time, they could see people sliding through the air, vague shapes that ran or huddled for safety or swung weapons before them before they slid once again out of existence, the momentary shadows and echoes of a horror long since past.

Kanan had been right. There were spirits in this place.

"It's just like Moraband..." Luke said, his stride lengthening to catch up to his father when the Sith Lord began to lead them down the slope toward the flitting spirits before the Temple.

"What happened here?" Ezra asked as he kept in step beside Luke, a frown on his face as he looked out before him at the jagged outcropping of stones peppering the barren land before them, not random rock and rubble, he realized when he took a closer look, but statues worn by time, their edges smooth, their details long since faded, but something about the way they stood kept him from getting too close. They seemed almost frozen in time, as if whatever held them still for however many untold centuries could at any time, release them to spring back into action. They were carved in mid-run, some crouching, some as if engaged in combat with another, but the vast majority, it seemed, had thrown their hands before them, a hundred different species collectively defending themselves from some unknown horror, their faces frozen in vague, faded expressions of raw terror that could be felt in the very air through the hairs rising on the backs of their necks.

"The ground looks scorched..." Luke said, kneeling to run his fingers over the dusty, blackened ground as he stared at the looming Sith Temple, the towering pyramid almost seeming to be untouched by time and the devastation that had afflicted the rest of the city. "Nothing here makes sense..."

"What's with all the statues..." Ezra asked, squinting as he took a step closer to one of the stone figures, his eyes drifting over the closest one and widening when he spotted something on the ground. "Is that..." he gasped, bending over to pick up the dull, tarnished cylinder beside the statue's foot. "It is! Look, a lightsaber!" he said proudly, holding it up toward the group, through his eyes remained fixed on the ground. "There's another one! And another! Kriff, there's dozens of them..."

"Idiot!" Kenobi hissed, a flick of his wrist tearing the ancient weapon from Ezra's grasp and sending it flying in the air to float before the Sith. "Did falling from the surface teach you nothing about keeping your hands to yourself?!"

"Y-yeah, but-"

"Don't. Touch. Anything!" Kenobi snapped, a casual gesture of his hand sending the lightsaber flying through the air, the hilt smacking Ezra on the back of the head before gently settling back down where it was found.

"Myths and rumors...Kenobi's stories were true. This was a battlefield..." Kanan said slowly, his eyes slowly scanning over the field of thousands of statues and the lightsabers scattered upon the ground, his vision sliding out of focus for a moment as he watched spirits weave in and out of existence, the pale, ghostly figures, for just a moment, seeming to come alive all at once, a hundred thousand souls trapped among the lifeless stone. "Those aren't statues..." he said firmly when he came back to himself a moment later. "They're bodies. These were Jedi."

"The smell of death and ash..." Leia muttered, a tension in her voice as she clutched Nihilus' mask close to her chest and moved to stand closer to Obi-Wan. "A hundred thousand petrified warriors. Father, this is the place I saw in my vision. This is the place Nihilus' mask showed me."

"Are you sure?" the Sith Lord asked quietly, and Leia vigorously nodded.

"I'm positive," she said firmly, her eyes scanning her surroundings for a moment before she shifted closer to her father when a wandering spirit drifted too close. "What could have caused this to happen?"

"I don't know," Obi-Wan muttered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, allowing the feel of the darkness around them to pass effortlessly through him. "Did you not see it in your vision?" Leia shook her head. "Whatever it was," Kenobi said, loud enough for the rest of the group to hear, "it came from inside that temple. Nothing else can explain what we're seeing."

"So..." Ahsoka mused. "The Jedi attacked the Sith Temple here on Malachor and...what? The Sith discharged a weapon? They unleashed some Dark Side horror?"

"Knowing the Sith, it was likely a bit of both," Kenobi wryly said. "If there are answers to be had, we'll find them inside the Temple. Remember," the Sith Lord said, turning to face the group. "The spirits that haunt this place cannot harm you. They have no place in this world, so do not allow them to distract you from the living, breathing threats that can harm us." He swept a warning finger at the gathered group, and ended up on Leia, frowned for a moment, and then accusingly pointed at Ezra as well. "Don't. Touch. Anything!" he growled once again, and Ezra had the good sense to look embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Father, I'll be careful," Leia said slyly, the smug, mischievous smirk on her face felt even though her helmet hid her expression. "And Luke will keep a tight leash on his pet, won't you, brother?"

With a heavy sigh and a shake of his head, Luke shuffled forward, nudging Ezra along with him as they once again started for the Temple. They cut a winding path through the petrified army and the ethereal spirits of the dead, the stillness of the heavy Force rippling as they silently slunk through, the dull, maddening thrum in the air seeming to become louder as they drew nearer toward their destination. It felt like eternity, like every step they took brought them no closer to their goal, as if time itself could not penetrate the depths of the Force they walked within, as if whatever horror that occurred here so very long ago had only just happened. And then, as if no time had passed at all, they were standing in the shadow of the mighty pyramid of the Sith Temple.

The seemingly sudden appearance of the Temple before them was so jarring that Ezra drew back with a sharp intake of breath, feeling as though he had started awake from a dream and somehow lost a large piece of time he knew he had experienced. A quick look at the others told him that they were similarly disoriented, confusion on their faces as they looked at their surroundings and tried to make sense of the puzzle before them, the picture confusing and the pieces not appearing to fit together at all. All but Obi-Wan and Kanan, the two men the picture of calm as they stood close together, talking in hushed tones as they examined the slope of the pyramid, the Sith Lord's fingers drifting just above the intricate carved patterns and designs that glowed with unearthly red light.

Determined to piece together what exactly had happened, Ezra turned to look behind him and immediately stopped, his breath catching in his chest as he gazed upon not the ruined waste of the battlefield he couldn't remember crossing, but the magnificence of an elegant, ancient city. Graceful archways and towering pillars lines wide streets that wound through the sprawling city, the buildings constructed from jet black stone and inlaid with bands of gold and red, the reflected light making it seem as though the entire city were glowing with ethereal light. The city felt alive, though there was not a single living being to be seen. Instead, the ghostly visages of a thousand spirits wove in and out of existence, as if breaking the surface of the Force for a breath of the living before vanishing again into the depths. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and Ezra couldn't take his eyes away from it, captivated by the allure of a city long forgotten and the sweet, gentle call of the Force that rode so effortlessly through the air.

It was also impossible.

"An illusion..." Ahsoka said, breaking the silence and jolting the others out of their transfixed examination of the city. "Don't be deceived. There is nothing but death in this place."

"I-I don't understand what happened," Ezra stammered. "I don't remember getting here, but it feels like we've been walking for hours! We just...never got closer. How can we be here?!"

"The Force is bending around this place," Kanan said calmly, turning to look out over the city, and Ezra sucked in a sharp breath when he saw Kanan's eyes, usually a vibrant teal, now glowing a clear, ice blue. "It's warping and twisting around itself. It's distorting our perception of time."

"You think the Force is interfering with the flow of time?" Ahsoka asked cautiously, her brow furrowing as she inched closer to the Jedi, carefully examining him, reaching out to brush him with the Force, and frowning when she found Kanan's presence almost seem to bleed into their surroundings, leaving her unable to find the usually so clear distinction of where a living being ended and the Force began.

"This place was destroyed long ago, Ahsoka," Kenobi said quietly, his eyes never leaving the etchings upon the temple's smooth, black surface as his fingers ever so lightly brushed the glowing red engravings. "What the Force chooses to show us does not change that."

"Time is irrelevant to the Force..." Kanan muttered, turning his gaze away from the city and looking at curious Ahsoka. "The past, the present, the future...all of it, occurring at once. And this place is so, so deep in the Force..."

"Time twisting around itself, as you said," Ahsoka mused, taking another step closer to the Jedi as he took a deep, shuddering breath, his eyes closed in focus. "How do you know?" Kanan opened his eyes once again and looked at her with his natural teal, no trace of the vibrant, glowing blue remaining, as if it was a trick of the light.

"I...saw it," Kanan whispered hesitantly, confusion on his face for a moment before he shook his head. "I can't explain it..."

"Mysteries to be solved for another time," Obi-Wan said shortly, the Force chilling as he looked over them with glowing eyes that swirled with molten gold and red. "Focus. The touch of the Force upon this ghost town is irrelevant. We need to get inside the Temple." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he pressed his hand flat against the smooth side of the pyramid. "The holocron is here," the Sith Lord whispered. "I can feel it..."

"Sooo..." Ezra said slowly, shuffling closer to Kenobi and stopping just short of him when Luke grabbed his hand to hold him back just out of reach of the Temple. Ezra flashed him a tight, sheepish smile before he looked back at the focused Sith. "How do we get inside?"

"Things like this are always tests," Vehemis drawled, breaking her concentrated silence as she sauntered closer and flicked one of her red lekku over her shoulder. "We have temples and shrines back home on Dromund Kaas, each of them designed to test the will and ability of the Sith and the dedication to the code." She flashed Ezra a sly smirk. "Very few ever return..."

"Isn't that uplifting..." Ahsoka said flatly. "So it's a riddle. This whole planet's a riddle..."

"So we just have to solve it," Leia said with a casual shrug, casting a final look at the ghostly, mysterious city before she followed Kenobi as he began walking once again. "And from the sound of it, we have all the information we need to do so. It's a Sith Temple, so obviously we need to use our knowledge of the Dark Side to enter. And," she said coyly, "we have with us a Sith Master. There isn't anything about the Dark Side and the Sith that Father doesn't know."

"Your faith in me is inspiring, dear," Obi-Wan said with a small smile, his fingers trailing along the intricate carvings upon the side of the temple as he walked. "And I have shared my knowledge with you. Tell me, what do you believe is our solution?"

Leia bowed her head and fell silent, clutching Nihilus' mask close to her chest as she considered all she knew, and after a moment of shuffling her feet, she looked back up at thee Sith Lord. "Like Vehemis said, it's a trial of the Sith Code. Could it be a test of the Rule of Two? Only a Master and Apprentice may enter, no more, no less?"

"An interesting thought," Obi-Wan said, a small smile on his lips as he looked back at the teenager before peering around the pyramid's edge, squinting through the red tinted haze that hung heavy and low around them, a casual wave of his hand clearing the fog from his path as he continued following the pyramid's edge. "But I think not. This place predates Darth Bane and his Rule of Two. The Temple would likely not have been designed with such a rule at its heart."

"That's a relief," Ahsoka said. "I don't much like the idea of splitting up in this place."

"Nor do I..." Obi-Wan muttered, a scowl on his face as he focused on the carved symbols running beneath his fingertips. "It has been a very long time since the Rule of Two has been observed, anyway. Sidious certainly never believed in it, though...not in the way I thought." He took a deep breath and swiftly removed his hand from the pyramid's side, the carvings upon the wall glowing a brighter red with the sudden surging of the Dark Side, the eerie hum of ghostly chanting reverberating through the air. And then it was over, the tension swiftly breaking as the Sith Lord's presence was concealed once again, and he patted Leia on the shoulder. "Come now, try again."

"I...don't know what else it might be, Father," Leia said as she looked back down at the mask in her hands. "I didn't see how to get inside in the vision I had, and if the answer was there, it moved far too fast for me to see."

"You have been given everything you need to find the answer, Leia," Obi-Wan said as he stopped, eying the alcoves cut into the sloping sides of the pyramid, and took a few steps back. "Ezra here showed us earlier the key to this place."

"...I did?" Ezra asked, and a slow, sinister smirk touched the Sith Lord's lips as he looked the boy over.

"You did..." Kenobi drawled, rubbing his hands together as the veins beneath his skin began to glow blue with the lightning that ran through his blood. "In the matters of the Force, often times it is the simplest solution that is the correct one." A deep thrum reverberated through the air as unnatural wind rushed around them, swirling the mist in the air as the Dark Side rushed to the Sith Lord. With his hand extended, his muscles wound tight, the concealed obsidian wall within the alcove began to shake, engravings glowing bright red and clouds of dust falling around it as Kenobi lifted the heavy slab with the Force. The space beneath the lifted slab extended a short way into the temple, only so far as the stone was long before backing into another obsidian wall, and before anyone could say anything, Obi-Wan reached out with his other hand, his arms shaking as he rose the next wall in as well. That one too backed into yet another wall, but they realized together that the Sith was creating for them a temporary hallway, their entrance inside the Temple.

Vitios moved first, the Chagrian rushing forward into the passageway, the obsidian slabs held by the Sith through the Force perilously shaking above her under the strain of the heavy weight. Calling upon the Dark Side, she reached out for the next block of stone that blocked the path forward and lifted, the obsidian shaking as it rose, though the effort forced her to her knees, the woman unable on her own to lift it high enough to pass beneath. A sharp cry for help sent Vehemis sprinting toward her, kneeling beside her comrade and gripping the shaking slab with the Force, and together, the two women lifted the block, the task seeming nearly effortless with the two of them working together. After a moment of adjustment, the Twi'lek slowly released her grip on the Force, leaving Vitios alone to hold up the stone slab, an easier task now that she was prepared for the burden.

"It can't be that simple..." Leia said. "The touch of the Dark Side? That's it?"

"Simple doesn't mean easy, Leia," Obi-Wan snarled between clenched teeth, his arms shaking as he struggled to hold up the two stone slabs. "This is much harder than it looks, what are you all waiting around for?!"

It was enough to jolt them into action, the rest of them running into the created corridor as Vehemis lifted the fourth wall of stone, no seconds thoughts spared to the safety of rushing headlong into a temple only open to them because invisible supports held the shaking ceiling up, the massive stone slabs threatening to descend upon them the moment their focus broke or their strength depleted. The moment they were through, Obi-Wan followed, lowering the first slab he held as soon as he had passed safely under it and dropping the second when he stood beside Vitios

Taking a moment to breathe and recenter himself in the Dark Side, Obi-Wan looked at Leia, the teenager hissing curses as she struggled to lift the next wall. Laying a hand on Vitios' shoulder, the Sith Lord raised his hand to ease the Chagrian's burden, which she gratefully accepted with a shuddering sigh of relief. She stood for a moment, almost seeming to bask in the rejuvenating presence of the Dark Side drawn to the Sith Master, before she jogged over to lift the next stone slab.

"Leia," Obi-Wan sharply commanded, and the girl stood quickly at attention as Vitios lifted the next wall. "This is a test of resolve, if you fear or doubt at all, you won't be able to raise them."

"I'm trying, Father!" Leia snapped clutching the mask tightly in her shaking hand. "It's heavier than I thought!"

"The well of the Dark Side runs deep here," Kenobi growled, shuffling closer to Vehemis and taking hold of the stone she held, the Twi'lek sagging in relief as she let go. "You draw upon it with every breath you take, every beat of your heart should send it flowing through you as it sends blood through your veins. Your anger is a weapon, my child. Use it."

"Father, I don't-"

"We don't know how far we must go on like this, Leia," Obi-Wan quickly interrupted when he felt her doubt and hesitation, dropping one of the walls he held with a shaking, hissed breath.. "Vitios and Vehemis cannot go on forever, and when their strength fails, the burden will fall on me alone, and not even my strength is limitless. I too will fade, and when I do, we will all be crushed to death." Obi-Wan flashed her a wicked grin as sweat began to bead on his forehead, his molten gaze drifting to the next wall, where Kanan and Ahsoka cursed as they tried and failed to lift the heavy slab, the intricate carvings remaining dark and dull with the touch of the Light. "The pressure's on, Leia. Time to prove yourself. Are you Sith, or just some child pretender?"

"My well does not run deep like yours, Father!" Leia snapped, and her temper flared when the Sith Lord began laughing as he grabbed hold of the wall from Vitios once again.

"You don't need it," Obi-Wan said in a voice that shook with effort. "In your hands, you hold the source of all the rage and hate you will ever need."

Leia looked down at the mask held in her hands, her fingers running over the smooth surface, and immediately understood. Resolving herself, she rushed past the out of breath Vitios toward the next wall. Her Father's permission was more than a test, it was trust and faith in her and her abilities, a moment where the Sith Lord saw danger and instead of shielding his children from it as he always did, he stepped aside so that she may face it on her own. Leia could feel tears prick at the corners of her eyes, and in the safety of her helmet, she let them fall down her cheeks. She felt, in this moment, that her Father looked at her and saw not a child, but a warrior, and for as long as she had itched to be an adult in her Father's eyes, now that the moment had come, it felt bittersweet, a haunting sadness hanging over the pride she felt.

Extending her hand out before her, Leia summoned the Force and commanded it to lift the next wall, her arm shaking with effort as the heavy stone hovered inches off the ground. Clutching the mask with her other hand, her fingers caressing the ivory surface, she brushed it with the Force, the deep, terrifying echo of a voice speaking ancient Sith filled her ears as she skimmed the surface of the mask's history, resisting the pull of darkness as it tried to drag her under. Centering herself, she skimmed the object in her hands for feelings, not memories and swiftly found what she was looking for. Anger and hate and wrath and hunger, so much hunger, gnawing at the very core of her like a gaping void that drew the darkness in and filled her with power so raw, so wrathful that she felt she could do anything.

With a casual gesture of her hand, Leia lifted the wall, holding it high above her as if it weighed nothing at all, though her arms and legs shook with strain that she did not feel. Through her mind rushed memories she knew did not belong to her, flashes of a life lived long ago, and Leia grabbed hold of her resolve and focused on the stone slab she held, pushing the memories away as best she could so that she may remain focused. It worked, the images relegated to flickers of light at the edge of her vision, but she still felt, the grief of loss, the gnawing, consuming hunger, the thirst for the Force, the blissful relief from pain as life was greedily devoured. Leia grit her teeth, gently letting go of the wall she held when her Father laid his hand upon her shoulder, and she ran forward to grab the next wall, pointedly ignoring the hollow, eerie voice that spoke to her out of the depths of the mask, though she couldn't shake the unsettled feeling it left her with.

They continued on like that, rising and lowering the heavy stone slabs, turning walls to ceiling as they delved deeper and deeper into the Temple, their pathway sloping downwards and gently curving as it twisted deeper underground. Their strength was slowly syphoned away each time they drank from the well of darkness, the weakness in their limbs driving the rage that made them stronger, and while those touched with the Light could not move the stones themselves, they stood close to the Darksiders, allowing them to draw strength from them when needed and soothing what weariness they could away when they had brief moments to rest. It was slow going, but they steadily made their way into the depths of the Temple, and when Leia raised yet another wall and saw open space behind it, they collectively sighed in relief and hurried through, Obi-Wan laying a hand on Leia's back and pushing her through to the other side as he took the slab from her and held it, a slight, proud smile on his face.

"Well!" Obi-Wan said brightly as he stepped into the opening and dropped the stone back to the ground, swiping a hand through his sweat-slicked hair as he looked at the panting, exhausted group. "That was easy!"

"That's why you're the Master..." Vitios said from where she sat slumped against a wall, taking deep breaths of the heavy, musty air to relieve the tension in her chest. "Hopefully we'll be able to find another way out of here. We're still expecting company, aren't we? I'd hate to fight them after our energy's been depleted just getting through this damn Temple."

"It wouldn't even be a fight, it'd be a massacre..." Vehemis said bitterly from where she sat. "Oh, I bet they planned it this way too, it's so like the Seventh to play dirty, that bitch..."

"You girls are so dramatic..." Kenobi said with a roll of his eyes as he sauntered past the group, examining the room and the corridor that lay beyond. "You're giving your former brothers and sisters far more credit than they deserve. They would need to know a great deal to be able to plan this, certainly more than they are capable of knowing without perfect foresight, which we know for certain that they lack."

"Unless they aren't the ones doing the planning..." Kanan muttered, a chill running through the group at the Jedi's implication.

"...we will be ready," Obi-Wan said firmly, confidently, a cocky smirk on his lips as he shrugged, as if the worst possible outcome simply wouldn't come to pass. "In any case, that won't happen. We won't be going into any fight taxed and unprepared because soon enough, we'll have that holocron." The Sith Lord closed his eyes, laying his hand flat upon the wall and breathed deeply as he felt the thrum of power beneath his fingertips, could hear the hissed whispers thick in the air around them. "It's here..." he muttered, laying his hand over his heart. "I can feel it..."

"What good is a holocron to us here?" Ezra grumbled, his fingers rubbing circles on his temple in a futile to stave off the creeping headache brought on by the whispers of ancient Sith permeating everything around them. "We're not planning on staying here while you study it, are we? I know we're supposed to try and lure the Inquisitors here, but-"

"The holocron," Kenobi quickly cut in as he rolled his eyes, "is a key to the entire Temple. Once we have it, getting out won't be a problem. No more trials, no more tests, no more lifting walls to make our way through this place..." He shrugged. "Supposedly, in any case. Which should give us time to rest and rejuvenate. If there's a fight waiting for us, we'll be ready."

"Are you...sure, Father?" Leia asked weakly, shrinking under his gaze when the Sith Lord turned molten, curious eyes upon her. "I mean...about Nihilus' holocron being what you need to change the fate the Force keeps showing you..."

"It certainly can't hurt..." Kenobi muttered, silent for a moment as he watched the girl, her hands clenching tightly around the mask, and though her helmet shielded her face from view, Kenobi could read every emotion that churned within her. "Why..."

"I-I don't..." Leia began, stopping for a moment to shake her head and begin again. "I don't know. Something feels...off. Wrong. Like I've missed something..."

"The Force led us here, Leia," Luke said, laying a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder. "This wasn't a vision, it was a memory. The mask led us to the holocron."

"Did it?" Leia snapped, her anger undermined to the slight quiver in her voice, and despite her flash of fury, Luke didn't step away, nor take his hand from her shoulder.

"There's a holocron here..." Obi-Wan whispered. "I can feel it's power humming in the Force, I can hear it's song in the air. I don't think you were wrong, Leia, but even if you were, there is indeed something here. A powerful something that I would very, very much like to get my hands on."

"Standing around talking about it isn't bringing us any closer to it," Ahsoka said quietly, and the Sith Lord swiftly nodded.

"No, it isn't," Obi-Wan said, turning his back on the way forward and pointing at the two former Inquisitors. "Vehemis, Vitios, you two keep your senses sharp for your brothers and sisters. The darkness here is thick and it will be easy to hide, but you catch an inkling of them in the Force, the slightest feel they might be here, I want to know about it."

"A two way street, Master..." Vitios cautioned. "If we can sense them, it's very likely they can sense us."

"Not if we're hiding better than they are..." Vehemis said smugly, a haughty smirk on her face as she eyed her more cautious comrade. "We're Darth Lumis' students. What chance does the Inquisitorius have?"

"That's my girl," Lumis drawled, flashing the Twi'lek a charming smile before he stepped under the archway and into the corridor leading deeper into the Temple, his lightsaber spinning on his palm briefly before he struck it on, bathing the area in red light. "Keep sharp, kids. The test isn't over until that holocron is in our possession."

They followed the Sith Lord into the ancient hallway, perfectly preserved carvings and statues illuminated by the saber casting dancing shadows on the wall that made it seem as though the darkness was a breathing, living entity, as if they were being watched, and while the Sith Lord and his acolytes appeared relaxed and comfortable, they rest of them felt uneasy, the chill in the air making the hairs on the back of their necks stand on edge. With a tense breath that did nothing to relieve the tightness in his chest, Kanan excused himself from Ahsoka's side at the rear of the group and jogged to catch up to the Sith Lord out in front of them.

"I've been thinking, Kenobi..." Kanan said under his breath, so quietly that Obi-Wan had to tilt his head closer to the Jedi to hear him over the thrum of the lightsaber and the echo of their footsteps. "What if this whole thing's a trap? What if the holocron's just a lure to get you here?"

"You believe the Sith Lords are behind it," Kenobi whispered, a statement, not a question, which Kanan answered with a hard look. "You mentioned as much before."

"This goes beyond the Inquisitors being dispatched to close a trap at the behest of their masters," Kanan hissed. "What if it's not the Inquisitors waiting for us, but the Lords of the Sith? What if this is the day the vision of your death comes to pass?"

Obi-Wan was quiet for a moment, the silence between them tense and heavy as he rolled the question over in his mind and decided how best to respond when there was truly no good answer. "I have considered that..." Obi-Wan said slowly. "It's a very real possibility, but no more likely than anywhere else since we don't know when or where it will happen, just that it will. But that is, in part, why we are here, isn't it? To sidestep that particular misfortune."

"But that's just it, isn't it?" Kanan said nervously. "If this is a trap, if this whole thing was planned by Sidious-"

"Taking steps to avoid my fate may very well be the thing that makes it come to pass," Obi-Wan hissed bitterly, fixing his furious golden gaze on the Jedi. "Don't believe for a second that the irony is lost on me. But I can't very well sit on my hands resigned to my fate and do nothing. Complacence is not the way of the Sith and I..." He stopped, his breath hitching as he choked on his own words, and with a growl and a shake of his head, Kenobi wiped his arm over his eyes and looked away from the Jedi. "I can't accept that's how I end..." Obi-Wan said, softer than before, so quiet that Kanan had to lean down to hear him. "I won't accept it. Not like that..."

"So, do we have a plan?" Kanan asked after a moment of silence, watching as the Sith Lord drew up to his full height, shaking the morose weight of the sore subject from his shoulders. "We came prepared to fight Inquisitors, not Sith Lords, but if it came down to it...could we win?" Kanan waited for an answer, but was met with only silence, hard and contemplative, which was better than the swift no he had been expecting. "Three Sith Lords in the vision, and you've already beaten two of them in the past, right?"

"I have..."

"There are eight of us," Kanan continued in hushed excitement. "I kind of like the odds of three on eight."

"They have a possible six, if the Inquisitors are taken into account," Obi-Wan pointed out, a sad smile curling the edge of his lips when Kanan frowned in distaste at the rapidly shifting odds. "And that would only matter if it was a numbers game, which it is not. The eight of us could not defeat Sidious alone. Look at us. Two former Inquisitors, three children, a Jedi part-timer and a half trained Padawan..." Obi-Wan scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Hardly an inspiring lot..."

"...we have you."

"Me..." Obi-Wan scoffed bitterly. "Have you forgotten? The vision condemns me, and were it to happen now, before I find a way to circumvent it, I will face defeat."

"But-"

"Consider, Kanan," Kenobi said softly. "Perhaps there are no others in the vision because we threw our strength at the Emperor and failed. Perhaps I am alone because you all died first."

"Or maybe it's because we weren't there to fight beside you," Kanan insisted. "Maybe having us there is what you need to change your fate."

"Perhaps..." Obi-Wan quietly confessed. "But that isn't a risk I am willing to take. My death may be a certainty, but yours is not. You..." he said softly, looking over his shoulder at the group that trailed behind them, the teenagers grouped together and talking quietly among themselves. "The Fulcrum, the last Jedi, and the children we protect...far more precious than the life of a lone Lord of the Sith."

"It almost sounds like you're ready to die..." Kanan muttered, a concerned frown marring his face. "You might be a depraved son of a bitch, but we need you, Kenobi. We'll find a way to beat this thing. The thing you say you need to defeat the Emperor is just out of reach. Don't go throwing your life away."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," Obi-Wan said with a wry smile, the red in his eyes momentarily retreating before glowing gold with the pull of the good-natured kinship between them. "I've been careful and patient for over fifteen years. I can wait longer still. And..." He cleared his throat when he choked on his words, his chest tightening with apprehension. "And if...today is the day I go to meet my fate, I am not going down without a fight. Just remember, Kanan, we have children to care for, people we must protect, and our defense of them is a weakness our enemy can and will exploit."

"Noted..." Kanan grumbled, looking back at his student for a moment before he turned his gaze back on the path before them, the etchings and engravings glowing a brighter red the deeper they walked into the Temple, as if the carvings filled with blood the closer they got to the heart. "You've obviously given this a lot of thought. You got a plan?"

"I do," Obi-Wan said firmly. "At the first sign of a Sith Lord that isn't myself, you, Ahsoka and my acolytes will take the children and you will run as far and as fast as you can." Obi-Wan swiftly brought his finger to Kanan's lips when the Jedi began to protest, hushing him gently with the weight of the Force behind him that swiftly silenced Kanan. "You will leave this place..." Obi-Wan ordered in a firm, dangerous whisper. "You will defend them with your life, and today, defending them means running away from foes you cannot hope to overcome, am I understood? I am not willing to sacrifice them. Are you?"

"...no, I'm not willing to risk them," Kanan said somberly. "I'm not willing to risk any of us, yourself included. Can't you run with us?"

"Someone needs to stay behind to give the Sith Lord something to focus on so the rest of us can get away," Obi-Wan said, a slight, sad smile on his lips as he looked the Jedi over. "And there is nobody in the galaxy that Sidious wants within his grasp more than me. If the Force is with us, it will not come down to it, but if it does, it must be this way."

"...this is a shit deal, Kenobi."

"You said it, brother," the Sith Lord sighed. "We're getting closer, I can feel it. Keep vigilant, Kanan."

"I will..." the Jedi muttered as he slowed his pace, allowing the Sith Lord to pull out ahead of the group as he fell back, the others passing him as he once again took up his position at the rear. With a swift look and a light brush of his tense consciousness, Ahsoka slowed to fall in step beside him, the Jedi jumping when her hand laid lightly upon his arm.

"Troubled, Kanan?" she asked softly, her lips curling into a slight smirk when Kanan tensely chuckled and shook his head. "Didn't much like what our Sith Lord had to say? What were you two discussing?"

"The plan, more or less," Kanan sighed. "Worst case scenario stuff..."

"Like the realization of his vision?" she asked wryly, patting the Jedi's cheek with a smirk when he looked at her with momentary surprise, and then flashed her a tight, sheepish smile.

"I don't know why I thought I'd be the only one with the idea..." Kanan mumbled. "I mean, we're all thinking it..."

"Each day, it rises higher and higher in our thoughts," Ahsoka said quietly, grabbing Kanan's arm and stopping as the rest of the group did when the Sith Lord raised his hand and hissed for them to freeze. "We stand to lose a great deal were we to lose him," Ahsoka whispered, watching as Kenobi stepped forward, his hand outstretched as the shadows in the corridor seemed to flee before him, a writhing mass of living darkness that screeched and howled in fury and fear. Vengeful spirits, all refused the chance to give form to something more sinister by the Sith Lord that wielded full command of the Dark Side that fueled them, tricks and tests that Kenobi made clear that he had no patience for.

"So," Ahsoka said when they began to move again, slower this time as Kenobi checked the path ahead more carefully. "What did our Sith Lord have to say about his plan?"

"Nothing I like..." Kanan grumbled. "Kenobi wants us to run, leave him behind to deal with things while we get away. Not sure how I feel about that..."

"You must know that the Emperor is more than any of us can handle," Ahsoka said gravely. "Even Kenobi's afraid of him. You can't actually want to stay and fight."

"No, I don't, but..." Kanan growled, his teeth clenched hard as he rubbed his hands over his eyes. "The night the Jedi died, I ran when Master Billaba told me to. She was murdered so I could live. It didn't feel right then, and it doesn't feel right now."

"I understand..." Ahsoka said under her breath, giving a wide berth to a skeleton that lay caught in a rusty, ancient trap along the wall, one of many that protruded in jagged, twisted effigies along the walls and floors and ceilings of the corridors they walked. The outside of the Sith Temple may have been in pristine condition, but the mechanics of the traps inside had not worn the test of time nearly so well. "My Master told me to run as well. He may have fallen to the Dark Side, but Quinlan faced his death like a Jedi Master."

"We can't let that happen to Kenobi," Kanan said firmly. "I can't allow another person to die for me, not again, not so long as I can stand and fight. So...what should we do?"

"What should we do..." Ahsoka repeated softly, sighing heavily as she carefully stepped over another broken, rusted trap and another decomposing pile of bones. "We do what he says," she finally said. "We run."

"...what?"

"Some things are just beyond us, Kanan. We must be wise enough to recognize when a fight belongs to us, and when the Force intends that fight to belong to another." She smiled. "Master Yoda taught me that."

"Ahsoka, we can't-"

"We can, and we will," the Torguta said firmly. "He doesn't go to face the Emperor alone without reason, and this isn't a decision he made lightly. Don't forget, this is a worst case scenario, there's no guarantee the Emperor will be here. But if he is..." She shrugged, a sly, secretive smile upon her lips. "I have a little emergency precaution in place."

"You do?" Kanan asked in a hushed, conspiratorial whisper. "What it is?" Ahsoka responded with silence. "Does Kenobi know?" Kanan tried again, and was answered with more silence. "Will it help?"

"I don't know..." Ahsoka finally responded. "It may, it may not. The plan isn't actually mine, but the one who thought of it seems fairly confident it will."

"Who-"

"We aren't the only ones searching for a solution to Kenobi's problem," Ahsoka said somberly, her step faltering when the Sith Lord shut off his lightsaber, the way ahead seeming simultaneously infinitely dark and eerily lit by glowing red as the corridor they traveled came to an end. They stood in silence for a moment, each of them breathing deep and strengthening their defenses as the Dark Side grew heavier and colder around them, so much so that Kanan could feel the strain and tension within all of them as even those steeped in the Dark Side fought to keep the oppressive darkness away, the deluge too much for even those acclimated to it to handle. Only the Sith Lord seemed unaffected, the void of his presence seeming to become even deeper as he greedily drank in the power of the Force, the vibrant glow of his eyes fading from golden to red.

The walked together out of the corridor and into a large, cavernous room, a shrine of sorts, or a place of worship, from the look of it, and in the center of the room, resting within a vertical alter of intricately and sharply cut black stone, was the beating heart that rested within the Sith Temple. A small, floating pyramid in the very image of the Temple itself, with golden capstones and intricate inlays upon smooth, glass surfaces that glowed blood red.

"That's it..." Kenobi said breathlessly, his shoulder seeming to sag with relief. "That's the holocron..." He flashed a quick smile at Leia, the girl still standing tense beside him, her fingers tightly grasping the mask to her chest. "See, dear? Nothing to be worried about, the vision you saw was a good one. You should have greater faith in your abilities."

"I-I suppose so..." Leia muttered, holding the mask out before her. "I just...I feel like I missed something, what could I have missed..."

"Maybe you missed how we're supposed to get it," Ezra said with an irritated sigh, looking over the edge of where they stood and into a deep, black chasm that separated them from the alter in the center of the room. It was wide, far too wide to jump across, and if once there had been a bridge to span the void, it had long since deteriorated. As it stood now, there was no obvious way to get across to the holocron. "How are we even supposed to get to it!" Ezra said, loud enough for his voice to echo off the walls, and Kenobi shot him a disdainful look.

"It's obviously another test," Vehemis said with a roll of her eyes. "If just anyone could take it, it'd have been gone long ago."

"...you could throw me!" Ezra said excitedly as he grabbed Kanan's arm. "We do this all the time! I run and jump, and Kanan will use the Force to push me over!"

"And if you miss, you just fall forever," Luke said as he grabbed hold of Ezra's hand and pulled him away from the ledge. "Leia and I have jetpacks, we can just fly over there and take it."

"There must be safeguards against something like that," Vitios said as she quietly scanned the carvings on the wall. "Like Vehemis said, if it was that simple, it wouldn't be here." A low thrum rumbled through the air as the Force swirled around them, a high pitched, protesting whine echoing around them as the holocron shook, and a moment later, it was torn from the alter, the little pyramid slicing across the gap to float peacefully above the Sith Lord's waiting hand, a cold, irritated look in his eyes.

"Simpletons..." Kenobi said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as the holocron floated before him, and his acolytes and the teenagers looked sheepishly at the ground. The holocron began to slowly spin, the capstone separating as the pyramid opened up, and the Sith Lord took a deep, long breath as he closed his eyes and felt the vibrating tension of power beat strong in his chest when the words in Ancient Sith swept through his mind as the holocron whispered its secrets to him.

The voice spoke in a cold, calculating tone, the speaker a tactician and a manipulator, one that used deception and betrayal as weapons to position for power. The words were poison, soft and confident and almost soothing to listen to, a thing that could hold easy sway over others and calmly command them to abandon what they believed in favor of this Sith's insidious views. It was filled with controversial teachings of the Force, dogmatic views on the natures of the Jedi, the Sith, and, most surprisingly, the Mandalorians, in addition to the in depth instruction on the advanced use of telekinesis as a weapon, one that could, with practice, be used to expertly wield a lightsaber, two lightsabers, three or even more with enough skill. All of this, spoken in Ancient Sith by a confident, disdainful female voice, not by the frightening roar of a wound in the Force as he had been expecting.

This was not Darth Nihilus' holocron, and the information Darth Lumis had needed and craved that seemed so close at hand was suddenly very, very far away, somewhere far beyond his reach. There was knowledge here, dangerous knowledge that he could certainly use to become stronger with study and practice, but nothing like the winning hand against Sidious he had been hoping to grasp.

"That...isn't Nihilus," Luke said quietly after the holocron had sealed shut and rested in Kenobi's palm, the Sith Lord sighing heavily as he slumped against the wall.

"No, it isn't..." Obi-Wan muttered, his eyes drifting to Leia when he felt the Force surge toward her, her hands shaking as she tightly grasped the mask and dove inside the past of the dark artifact.

"A holocron's a holocron, right?" Ezra asked hopefully. "You can still use it, can't you?"

"I can..." Obi-Wan said, his voice distant as he closely monitored Leia. "There is a great deal of knowledge to be gained from any holocron. Sometimes, the things we find aren't the thing we're searching for, but the things we need..." He chuckled softly, his hand tightening around the holocron, hard enough for the sharp edges to dig into his palm and fingers. "It would seem that this Sith Lord was blind, but could see perfectly using the Force as he vision. The things she's describing sound an awful lot like what you've been experiencing, Kanan." He held the holocron out toward the Jedi. "Perhaps the Force meant for this to be yours as well as mine."

"Maybe so," Kanan muttered. "But it's nothing I can use without you. You should hang on to it until we can have a look at it together back at the base." Obi-Wan was still a moment, the holocron humming on his palm, and he slowly closed his fingers around it and nodded.

"Father..." Leia gasped, Nihilus' mask falling from her hands, and the Sith Lord swiftly reached out and grabbed the artifact with the Force to save it from striking the ground and carefully took it from the air. "I'm sorry, I saw it wrong...this place isn't the resting place of Nihilus' holocron, it's the place where he was made. I should have known better, I should have seen-"

"An easy mistake, my child..." Kenobi whispered, his hand laid on her shoulder as he pressed the mask back into her hands. "Like visions, memories too can be warped and changed depending upon who witnesses them. And you were not wrong," he said lightly, tapping the top of her helmet. "There was a holocron here."

"Not the right one," Leia grumbled. "Not the one you needed to kill the Emperor."

"Perhaps not, but I have time yet," Kenobi said flippantly with a confident smirk that put the girl at ease. "We have what we came for, let's get out of here," the Sith said, spinning the holocron in the air and slotting it into an opening in the wall. Immediately, the engravings began glowing as red light seeped through the carvings like blood, and with a deep rumbling, a hidden door beside them slowly slid open, revealing a passageway beyond lit by torches on the wall that ignited with ghostly blue flames as they drew near.

"Well, you were right about that holocron being a key to the Temple, Father!" Luke said brightly as he strode into the corridor, his hands clasped behind his back as he read the inscriptions on the wall. "It's too bad we didn't know about this passageway before, we could have saved a lot of time and energy." He paused, biting his lower lip as he thought. "Do you think your other Sith holocrons could have unlocked the temple like this one did?"

"Perhaps they could," Kenobi said with a shrug. "Perhaps, like a key, the holocron opens only one lock and the others would be ineffective. It's impossible to say."

"I'd love to find out," Luke said so brightly that Obi-Wan could feel the smile upon his son's face through the visor of his helmet. "Maybe after the galaxy is at peace, we can come back and try it. And if it doesn't work..." He shrugged. "Maybe we can find the doors your other holocrons unlock. It'll be an adventure!"

"...I'd like that," Obi-Wan said, the faintest smile playing on his face as he felt his chest swell with resolve.

"Hey, can I come too?!" Ezra asked excitedly, tugging on the hem of the Sith Lord's robe for a moment before dangerous, glowing red eyes narrowed viciously on him, and the teenager let go with a nervous laugh. Undaunted, he jogged to stride at Luke's side, a bright grin on his face. "Hey, can I come too?!" he asked again, and was this time met with a gentle hand upon his shoulder.

"Of course, if you like," Luke said warmly, earning a groan of irritation from the Sith Lord as he slammed the holocron into another opening in the wall, which only make Ezra grin wider, the swell in his chest and the deviousness he felt a strange contrast of light and dark, the Force flowing through him like the first bite of winter on a temperate autumn day. "I think you could be a great ally on a journey like that."

"Stars, I can't wait!" Ezra said as he followed the group out the newly opened doorway and found himself squinting against the light that filtered in from the cracks in the surface high above them. "Kenobi, when are you going to get this war going? How long is it gonna be before you kill the Emperor?"

"What is it do you think I've been doing for all these years, you insolent whelp?" the Sith Lord snarled, and a teasing grin spread across the teenager's face.

"Seems to me like you've been doing a lot of running and hiding..."

"All in good time, Bridger..." Kenobi said quietly, tossing his com to Kanan and commanding him to contact K2 for pickup, and the Sith stood taller as he searched the Force for disturbances. "Focus, there is nothing to be gained by fantasizing about your little date with Luke. We are not out of danger yet."

"I-it's not a date!" Ezra stammered, his face flushing bright red as he clenched his jaw and looked away from Kenobi. "It's an adventure! And it isn't a fantasy if it's going to happen!" He flashed Luke a wild grin as he gestured back toward the Sith Temple. "I bet there are hundreds of places like this all over the galaxy! Not just Sith Temples, but old Jedi Temples too! We'll see them all!"

The Force around them was thick and heavy, the opaque waters showing no sign of ripples or waves, and over the excited pounding of his heart in his chest, Ezra did not hear the deep thrum of a lightsaber slicing through the air. His chest seizing with fear as he heard Ahsoka, Kanan and Obi-Wan shout for him to get out of the way, Ezra caught sight of a flash of red out of the corner of his eye and jumped to flip out of the way as a double-sided lightsaber spun out of the darkness toward him. He could feel the intense heat radiating off the blade as it singed the hairs at the nape of his neck, could smell burning fibers as plasma seared through loose clothing, and then there was nothing but agony as he crashed to the ground, every nerve in his body screaming in pain.

There was a brief moment of hesitation, a moment that felt insufferably long where Luke stared in disbelieving horror at his fallen friend before he rushed to his side, his hand pressed to Ezra's erratically heaving chest as he drew his blaster, the area around him lighting up with blues and greens and reds and whites as the others drew their lightsabers. Ezra's heart was beating so fast it nearly hummed as it pounded against his ribs, but a heartbeat, no matter how fast, was better than none at all. It had happened so quickly that Luke hadn't truly seen what had happened, but now that he was close enough to assess the damage, he could smell burned flesh, could see smoke rising from the cauterized wound midway up his thigh, and just out of reach, he spotted Ezra's severed leg.

Almost worse was that he hadn't sensed the attack. None of them had, and even now, as three figures wielding red lightsabers encircled them, Luke still could not feel them in the Force. With as much focus as he could muster through the panic and fear and the sinister howling laughter of the Dark Side, Luke called upon the Force to heal his friend, and though he could feel the warmth spreading through his fingers and the evening of Ezra's breath as he was soothed, it wasn't enough to sustain him for long.

"And there they are..." Kenobi said under his breath, a malicious grin on his lips as he eyed the figures that slowly circled them. "Loth Cats hunting the Terentatek...it seems as though the Inquisitors have come to play..."

"Doesn't seem like they're playing to me..." Kanan said between clenched teeth, taking quick glances over his shoulder to keep his eyes on Ezra and Luke, and the Sith Lord calmly laid his hand upon his shoulder.

"Go, be a Jedi, Kanan..." Obi-Wan whispered. "Protect the kids. We'll handle this." Kanan took a deep, calming breath, shot the Sith a tense, grateful look, and with both his blue saber and his Master's green in his hand, he cautiously backed up to stand protectively over Ezra and Luke, and with a look from her Father, Leia swiftly followed, her blaster drawn as she stood vigilant beside the Jedi.

"Is this your plan, Inquisitors?" Darth Lumis called to the Inquisitors, and the three suddenly stopped, their steps faltering as they backed up slightly. "Attack when you are severely outnumbered? Harm one of my own and...what? Wish real hard and maybe I wouldn't utterly destroy you?" The Sith Lord scoffed in disgust. "Have you learned nothing from your brothers and sisters who have tried exactly that and died for it?"

"I hear you've gone soft, Lord Lumis," a soft, teasing female voice called, her lightsaber spinning deftly in her hand. "Cavorting with Jedi, protecting weak, pathetic children..." She pulled up her visor, a cruel smirk on her lips as her eyes narrowed in sinister delight at the Twi'lek and the Chagrian. "Collecting weak, pitiful beaten sluts..."

"Oh, I have had it with this bitch!" Vehemis snarled, striking her lightsaber against the ground and sending sarks showering up before her as she poised her blade over her shoulder. "For years, I've been dreaming of tearing your head from your shoulders, Seventh Sister..."

"A pity I've always been better than you," the Inquisitor purred, and the savage growl in Vehemis' throat was silenced when Lumis laid his hand upon her shoulder.

"Divide and conquer," he whispered to his acolytes and Ahsoka. "Do not let them come together, do not let them near our children, and do not let them live."

Before another word could be said, Ahsoka shot forward, her white and green blades held in a relaxed, backhanded grip as she rushed toward the female Inquisitor before her. Without wasting a moment, the Inquisitors threw their sabers at their surrounded prey, the red weapons' rapid spinning aided by the mechanics in their hilts to slice through the air in an unblockable, deadly circle, and without even so much as slowing down, Ahsoka slid under the Seventh Sister's lightsaber, skidding to swiftly change her path, and sprinted toward the smaller male off to the side. Cursing when the Togruta shot toward him, the Eighth Brother extended his hand to call his saber back to him, the screaming blade rapidly cutting a sharp turn and rotating in the air to cut vertically toward Ahsoka, the red plasma slicing an angry, molten trail in the ground on its deadly path.

Sensing the danger drawing swiftly closer, Ahsoka shut her sabers off and returned them to her belt as she ran faster, and when she felt the heat of the Inquisitor's blade burning at her heels, she kicked off the ground to flip over the weapon, the spinning saber rotating as if to follow her trajectory. As she flipped over the lightsaber, just barely leading the slicing blade, time seemed to move impossibly slow for Ahsoka, a moment of intense focus making the blades visible in their bleeding trail, and with perfect precision, she reached out and gently wrapped her fingers around the saber's hilt. Time rushed to catch up to its normal flow the moment the weapon's hilt touched her palm, and allowing the weapon to continue being pulled toward its Master, Ahsoka sprinted alongside the spinning blade the moment her feet his the ground, helpfully guiding it toward its target.

There was a moment of shock, of brief hesitation as his saber was so effortlessly snatched out of the air, and the Eighth Brother swiftly released his Force grip on the weapon and jumped only a fraction of a second before the blade sliced a molten trail through the ground where he stood. The moment Ahsoka's feet touched the ground, she spun around to put the weight of momentum into the rotating saber as she hurled it straight into the air after the Eighth Brother. The blades corkscrewed toward him in uneven ribbons of light, the spinning weapon less a deadly disk than an uneven sphere, and the Inquisitor was forced to twist his body in the air, managing to narrowly miss the erratic blade as he threw he unevenly flipped. The lightsaber cut dangerously close to his head as it shot up high into the air, and again, the Eighth Brother reached out to call the blade to his hand as he attempted to correct his off-balance spin before he landed.

The lightsaber stopped, the blades wavering in midair as it fought against the sudden stop of it's rapid spinning before obeying the call of the Inquisitor and flying toward his hand. His blade was just out of reach when the Eighth Brother heard the all too familiar thrumming hiss of two lightsabers igniting in perfect unison, felt a swift, unbearable searing pain erupt in his side and spread quickly across his torso, and for just a moment, saw the lower half of his body fly over his head just before he caught a flash of white light just out of the corner of his eye as Ahsoka severed his head from his shoulders.

Darth Lumis didn't move as the Inquisitor's spinning blades shrieked toward him, only watched Ahsoka take off toward their attackers out of the corner of his eye, a wry smirk tugging at the edge of his lips as one of the weapons was suddenly pulled off its trajectory, called back to its master so he could intercept the Togruta. It was too late, Lumis knew before Ahsoka had even managed to pluck the weapon out of the air, the Eighth Brother's threat ended before it even began. Feeling the Dark Side surge through his blood, the Sith Lord hissed for Vehemis and Vitios to still themselves when their furious tension in the Force peaked and it seemed as though they may recklessly charge toward the other Inquisitors.

Reaching his hand out toward the howling sabers, the veins in his hands and arms glowed blue with the electricity that surged through him, and with a sweeping gesture of his hands, the spinning red blades cut wide, circling around the group instead of slicing through them as the Sith Lord redirected them. Lightning shot from his fingers as the Force held the Inquisitor's weapons in a tight grip, electricity dancing up and down the blades, the bleeding trails leaving arching sparks of electricity in the air as the high pitched shriek of the charged lightsabers echoed around them as they were flung back toward their owners. With his hands upon his acolyte's shoulders, the Sith Lord hissed his orders to them as he nudged them forwards, and with lightsabers gripped tightly in their hands, they ran in the sparking trail of the Inquisitor's spinning blade toward the Seventh Sister, while he turned his sights on the towering Fifth Brother, a cruel smirk on his lips.

His fingers slowly wiggling at his side, Lumis watched as his towering target barked curses as he dodged his sparking saber, the Force lightning making it impossible to grab, and the weapon sliced past him to cleave a deep, molten trench into the ground behind him. The Inquisitor swiftly turned, his hand extended to call his saber to him when the blades sputtered off, and the hilt stopped in midair and clattered to the ground when the frigid grip of the Dark Side clamped down around him, his boots scraping the ground as the Sith Lord began pulling him back to him. Panic filled the Inquisitor, his heart jumping to pound in his chest as he began running, but for every step he took, he moved further backwards.

Gritting his teeth to bite off the strangles cry in his throat, the Fifth Brother fell to the ground as his feet were pulled out from under him, his hands clawing at the ground in a futile attempt to drag himself away, but the Force continued to pull him back, as if the Sith had him by a rope that could not be undone. Eyes wide and darting around his surroundings for any sign of salvation, the cold knot in his stomach grew as he watched the flash of a white lightsaber slice through the Eighth Brother's neck. Sharp, tortured screams echoed across the ghostly ruins, and the Fifth Brother's frightened gaze snapped to his other side to see two gracefully spinning red blades cut through an ankle, a wrist, an elbow, a knee as the Seventh Sister was slowly dismembered by the traitorous former Inquisitors.

A surge of panic and terror filled him, ran cold in his blood and seized his heart, and with it came the breath of the Dark Side, hungry and eager to feed on the fear that gripped him. With a frantic, desperate grasp for power, the Fifth Brother found it, his lightsaber flying to his hand as he thrashed free of the Sith Lord's cold grip, and he quickly knelt up as his weapon ignited in his grasp and swung around to lash out at the man behind him. A sharp, sizzling hiss filled the Inquisitor's ears as his blade collided with the Sith Lord's, drawn without the Fifth Brother even noticing, and with a snarl of terrified rage, he spun around to rise to his feet and charged at Darth Lumis.

It was a futile effort, the Inquisitor's swings wild and savage and powerful in his desperate fight for his life, using his large size to the best of his advantage, but Lu mis was lithe and swift, his movements graceful and elegant as he effortlessly blocked and dodged each strike. The Fifth Brother threw everything he had into his fight against death itself, but Lumis just seemed...bored, a look of almost impassive irritation on his face as he watched the last of the Inquisitorius struggle against the inevitable tide, and for just a moment, the Sith Lord wondered if this was what his own resistance looked like in the eyes of Darth Sidious.

An irritated scowl crossed Lumis' lips, raising his saber to block a powerful downward strike as his second saber flew from his belt to his hand, and with a flash of blue and a swift downward strike, searing pain exploded throughout the Fifth Brother's body as his legs were cut out from underneath him. The Inquisitor howled in pain as the blackened stumps of his legs slammed against the cold, ashen ground, and desperately staving off the sinking, sickening realization that his fight was at an end, he swiftly brought his saber up to catch the lazy, downward strokes of the Sith Lord's two blades, blue and red sparking and hissing against his own as his vision tunneled to focus on the cruel, molten glow of the eyes above him.

"P-please..." the Inquisitor stammered through grit teeth as Lumis pressed down harder upon him, his arms shaking as pain shot through him. "Please, I-I can pledge myself to you! Spare me, Master, and I can serve you better than those two bitches ever could!"

"I'm afraid I'm not recruiting today..." Lumis said indifferently as he leaned in closer, his eyes narrowing as he grabbed the Inquisitor's mind, so filled with pain and terror that the Sith Lord could see nothing beyond it. "Where are your Masters?"

"M-my Masters?" the Fifth Brother asked so innocently that Lumis felt his own rage spike as the Dark Side roared around him.

"Vader, Maul, Sidious!" the Sith snarled. "Your Masters! Where are they! It's embarrassing that they skulk around in the dark like rats instead of facing me themselves!"

For just a moment, the confusion on the Fifth Brother's face was deep and genuine, his fear forgotten as his pain-addled brain tried to understand what the Sith Lord was speaking of, and when the Inquisitor mumbled, "They sent me, my Lord, they are not here..." Lumis believed him. Or at least believed that the man truly did not know anything about his Masters. In the next moment, a sharp whine echoed through the air, and Lumis felt searing heat on his skin and the wind blow through his hair as a bolt of red plasma energy rushed past his face and struck the Inquisitor right between the eyes, killing him instantly. Lumis switched off his weapons and quickly stepped out of the way as the double sided lightsaber fell from limp hands as the large body sagged to the ground in a lifeless heap.

The silence around them was heavy and oppressive, the Force calm and still and thick with death, and quickly looking at Ahsoka, the Togruta quietly running back to the group after quickly dispatching of the Eighth Brother, and at Vitios and Vehemis, the women standing over the dismembered body of the Seventh Sister as they continued to mutilate it, Obi-Wan turned his attention to the fallen teenager and his guards. Kanan had scooped Ezra up into his arms, holding his barely conscious Padawan close to his chest, Leia standing close to the pair, her head bowed and the mask held tight in her hands, and Luke stood defensively before them, his blaster rifle propped against his shoulder, the barrel glowing red with the heat of the recent discharge.

"We need to get going," Luke said as he powered down his blaster and slung it back into the holster on his back. "Ezra needs medical attention as quickly as possible or he isn't going to make it."

"I agree, no good can come from lingering in this place..." Obi-Wan muttered. "Kanan, did you manage to get through to K2?"

"Barely..." Kanan whispered as he clutched Ezra closer to him. "The connection was very poor, I'm not sure he could hear me. I think he said the scans for life are still failing, and there have been no other ships detected."

"Kriffing no other ships..." Kenobi snarled, snatching the com device from Kanan's belt and punching in the frequency to contact the Umbra. "The Inquisitors were here, like hell there were no other ships...K2!" he snapped into the com when a burst of static came in through the other end. "We need immediate pickup, get a bead on us and come get us." There was nothing, save for the grating sound of inconsistent static before the com shut off, the fragile connection lost entirely, and cursing under his breath, the Sith Lord pocketed his com, and with a heavy sigh, laid a gentle hand on Ezra's head.

"How could we let this happen!" Ahsoka said as she returned to the group, quickly laying her hands on Ezra's chest and back and pulsing the warmth of the Force through his body. "They came out of nowhere, how could we not have seen them coming?"

"I couldn't sense anything," Luke mumbled, his voice heavy with guilt. "There was no ripple in the Force, no warning, no sign of their presence at all. How is that even possible?"

"For them, it isn't..." Kenobi snarled, his eyes darting up toward the stone sky to look for the opening they had fallen through, some place where they could go that could perhaps make it easier for a signal to get through to the Umbra, but he could see nothing at all. Either the stone had miraculously repaired itself, the Dark Side was warping their perception, or the strange folding of the Force or the labyrinthian tunnels within the Sith Temple had somehow transported them elsewhere. He looked up at the Sith Temple looming above them and wondered if this was even the same pyramid they had first entered.

"If they can't conceal their presence, how could this have happened?" Luke asked again. "Leia and I can do it, but that's only because we learned it from you, Father, and there isn't anyone who can do it like you can."

"And where do you think I learned it from, Luke..." Kenobi said grimly, and Luke shivered, his hand tightening around Ezra's as his gaze drifted to the lifeless heap of the Inquisitor he killed before he swiftly averted his eyes.

"You think it likely that Sidious is here?" Ahsoka asked, and Obi-Wan hissed, muttered to himself in Ancient Sith for a moment as he dipped into the Force, as black and cold and still as ever.

"The Inquisitor didn't seem to believe so," Kenobi said, gesturing to the body on the ground. "But that doesn't mean he isn't, and something concealed the Inquisitors' presence from us. Be it Sidious' power or the madness of this place, I don't want to stay here long enough to find out." The Sith Lord whistled, sharp and shrill, and Vitios and Vehemis looked up from where they stood, switched off their lightsabers, and ran as fast as they could to stand before their Master

"The Inquisitors had to arrive here somehow," the Sith Lord said firmly as he eyed his acolytes. "In the event that we can't get through to the Umbra, we need a way to get off this rock. Find their ships and bring them to me. Quickly, girls, time is of the essence, but stay cautious and stay together. Something is out there, and I would be pleased if none of us find out what it is." Only taking the time to give their Master a swift bow of acknowledgment, Vitios and Vehemis sprinted out into the ruins of the city and disappeared into the darkness, and Obi-Wan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"What are we supposed to do, Father?" Luke asked, his voice straining with fear and tension as his hand tightened around Ezra's. "We can't just stand around waiting in the hopes that they find something."

"I...might have an idea about that," Leia said quietly, holding the mask up and using it to point to the apex of the pyramid behind them. "The Temple is a weapon. If we activate it, we could use it to blast a hole in the shell so we can get a signal through, K2 can get a visual on us, and he'd have a way to get the Umbra down here to get us."

"Are you sure?" Luke asked hopefully, and Leia swiftly nodded.

"I'm sure, I saw it in the mask. Everything that happened here...this weapon did all of it."

"Oh, so the Temple's just a weapon that devastated a planet..." Kanan said flatly. "We sure activating this thing's a good idea?"

"At the very least, being closer to the surface might give us a better chance of getting a signal through," Kenobi said, patting Leia on the back as he turned toward the pyramid. "Standing around isn't going to save Ezra. Let's go."

The slow jog they started at quickly became a swift run up the steps of the pyramid until they were sprinting at full speed up the zigzagging flights, the Force and the urgency of their situation driving them faster with each step. It was not long before they reached the top of the tiered pyramid, the ornate red crystal capstone looming above them just at the top of a final staircase. Taking a moment to catch his breath and make sure the others were alright, Kenobi walked over to a pedestal at the base of the stairs and slotted the holocron into the opening, the engravings etched into the black stone glowing a deep, vibrant red as the Temple seemed to come to life, the ground humming beneath their feet with the breath of power that rushed through the structure. As the Temple drank in the power of the holocron, the crystal capstone began to rise, lifting off the main structure and separating at its edges to form four points reaching high above them, the focusing point for the weapon that Leia said the Temple was.

"Everyone alright?" Kenobi asked when the rumbling had ceased and the Temple had stopped moving, reaching for his comlink to attempt to contact the Umbra and a mumbled chorus of affirmatives followed as Ahsoka laid he hand upon Ezra's chest, the warmth of the Force passing through her into the wounded teen.

"He's stable enough for now," Ahsoka said quietly. "Any luck reaching K2?"

"Not yet..." Kenobi muttered, hissing as he punched in a new frequency to contact his acolytes. "Looks like we're going to have to blast through to the surface, though we might be able to use the Temple to focus and amplify the signal."

"Let's get to it," Kanan said grimly, and after quickly checking in with Vitios and Vehemis to inform them of the plan, the two women reporting no ships yet, Kenobi tossed the holocron to Luke and gestured for them all to follow him as he ran up the steps toward the alter at the top of the pyramid beneath the enormous capstone.

It was an echo of the shrine that lay deep in the heart of the Temple, the entire area stained red by the glowing crystal capstone above them, the alter in the center designed to harness and focus the power of the holocron. The intricate beauty of the place, the overwhelming power of the Force singing in the air around them, the way the Dark Side twisted and bent was lost on Darth Lumis, the Sith Lord freezing in his tracks as he stared at the black robed, hooded figure that stood before the alter as the Dark Side parted, silent and still, waiting for him, pale yellow eyes glowing with cruel amusement from the shadows of his hood.

The others saw it after Kenobi did, and nobody had to be told to run for them all to swiftly turn around and sprint from where they came, only to have them skid to an abrupt halt when they found themselves staring at the tall, imposing figure of Darth Vader, standing silent at the top of the stairs, his crimson blade in hand. Beside him, Obi-Wan could hear Luke and Leia whimper pitifully through their helmets, their thin frames trembling as they stared paralyzed with fear at their biological father, their presence in the Force almost seeming to collapse in on itself into nothingness in an instinctual, desperate effort to hide. He could feel Ahsoka tense, rage and fury rushing through her as a deep, wrathful growl reverberated in her chest at the sight of her Master's slayer, her hands gripping the hilt of Quinlan's lightsaber tight as she was caught in the sway of vengeance.

From out of the corner of his eye, Obi-Wan saw another flash of red, another saber strike on from the shadows, this one held in the twitching hand of the half-crazed Maul, his presence unfocused, manic, and unpredictable, violent and dangerous in his madness, the man stalking like a beast as he guarded another side from where they could escape. As they were, fearful and enraged and dangerously protective, Kenobi knew they were in no state to fight, barely in a state to run, unbalanced as they were with the wrathful howling of the Force tearing into them, a thing which centered the Sith Lords, but would make the rest of them easy prey.

His entire being calm with resignation, his heartbeat slow and even with resolve, Obi-Wan laid his hand upon Ahsoka's shoulder, and the moment passed, the Togruta snapping out of her wrathful haze, and keeping her eyes upon the man that was once her friend Anakin Skywalker, she took her hands from her lightsabers, Yoda's words echoing in her mind as she looked at the fearful, broken children with them. He was right. This wasn't her fight.

"Darth Lumis..." Sidious said in a soft, malicious rasp that dripped with amusement and triumph, his hand passing casually through the air causing the ground to shake beneath their feet as the capstone of the pyramid began to reform and lower back to the ground. "We have been expecting you."

Not a word was said, just a single moment of understanding passing between Ahsoka and the Sith Lord as her eyes met his, the capstone descending swiftly in Sidious' efforts to seal them all in as Vader and Maul stalked closer. The Togruta tightly grabbed hold of Luke and Leia's wrists as she turned and ran for the only unguarded opening, dragging the screaming teens behind her as they struggled to pull free, desperate to run toward their father as he drew his lightsaber and stood between them and the other Sith Lords. A sudden push of the Force from Kanan as he sprinted toward them sent Luke, Leia and Ahsoka skidding across the ground underneath the closing crystal walls, and a moment later, the Jedi slid underneath to safety, Ezra clutched tightly in his arms. For just a moment, scrambling to look beneath the closing walls and screaming in desperation when they found the space too small to squeeze through, the twins saw their Father, his golden eyes upon them for what seemed like an eternity be fore he turned, lightsaber raised, to face the Lords of the Sith.

The walls closed with a deafening thud, and there was silence.