From Flames, I Soar

by Kurenaino

With the Empire at the height of its power and the shadow of a greater threat hanging above all those who would oppose Palpatine, the Specters, led by former Jedi Padawan Kanan Jarrus, are forced to contend with the Sith Lord that set the galaxy ablaze. Sequel to In Chaos, I Thrive.

43. The Wreck of the Nashuaga

Chapter 43: The Wreck of the Nashuaga

"I really don't like this..." Hera muttered, her arms crossed over her chest as she sat on Kanan's bed, watching her lover go through his drawers as he packed for the mission. "I should be here with Phoenix Squadron, we've suffered enough losses as it is!"

"Which is exactly why you need to go," Kanan said, swiftly kissing the Twi'lek on the cheek before he snapped his lightsaber together and examined the completed hilt, a thing he was still too afraid to wear fully assembled in the event of discovery, though at this point, it was more out of habit than anything else. The entire galaxy seemed to know who he was, and more importantly, what he was. "We need a better ship with better firepower and the absolute best pilot at the controls, and that, my dear, is you." Kanan flashed the woman a charming smile when she pouted, clearly displeased with his logic, but her shoulders slumped in acceptance. "That blockade isn't going to break itself."

It was a big problem. Their last mission to deliver much needed aid to the suffering people of Ibaar ended with the Imperials waiting for them, and after an unsuccessful attempt to push past the blockade, the rebels were forced to retreat, but not before losing several fighter pilots in the process. Ibaar was suffering under harsh Imperial sanctions for their suspected rebel sympathies, and they were committed to helping the repressed people before they began to starve. They needed a stronger ship, a better ship, one built with enough speed and firepower to break a hole in the Imperial defenses long enough to get the supplies down to the surface.

Rex had a plan, a contact with no love for the Empire that was said to have built a ship that sounded like it suited their needs. The caveat was that this engineer was down on Shantipole, a planet renowned for its violent atmosphere that made most pilots consider the journey a one-way trip. Flying down to Shantipole was a death sentence, and there was no pilot in the fleet willing to embark on a suicide mission. Which was where Kanan had been quick to volunteer Hera for the job. Ibaar could not be abandoned, and the Twi'lek pilot was good enough to successfully make it down to meet with the eccentric engineer and pick up this new ship.

"You should be here," Hera said when Kanan clipped his full saber to his belt. "If I'm going, Spectre One should be in the Ghost. Who else is going to watch my ship!"

"Isn't that what we have Phoenix Squadron for?" Kanan asked dryly, earning himself a glare from the protective pilot. "We need to Ghost to aid in retrieving the supplies for the Ibaarans, and Chopper is perfectly capable of entering the coordinates."

"I want someone on the ship," Hera stressed, standing from the bed and snatching Kanan's pack away when he slung it over his shoulder. "You need to stay here, sending you out when we are in the middle of this mission is foolish. Kenobi doesn't even need you!"

"You'd send him out there alone?" Kanan asked, and the glare from the woman was all he needed for an answer. With a heavy sigh, Kanan gently took his tense lover into his arms, her agitation a product of her concern, her insistence he stay her desperate attempt to keep him safe. "Hera, I'm going to be fine. Obi-Wan won't let anything happen."

"What if you run into Inquisitors?!"

"Oh, we're counting on it." The Jedi winced, the confident smirk dropping from his face when the Twi'lek's eyes narrowed, her lekku twisting in agitation. He wasn't doing anything to ease her fears. He tightened his arms around her, his hand lazily running over her sensitive lekku and making her wriggle in his grasp. "You know what Obi-Wan does to Inquisitors, Hera," Kanan muttered softly. "And if that's not enough for you, I beat the Grand Inquisitor. I've been training with Kenobi, I can hold my own."

"...I-I know," Hera sighed, reaching up to stroke her lover's cheek, and he swiftly kissed her palm as he released her. "We just really need the help, and my own worries aside, we could use you. Our losses over Ibaar were significant."

"I know, and I've arranged for that!" Kanan chirped, a smirk on his lips showing just how pleased with himself he was. "Kenobi's going to leave the HK so you can take him down to Shantipole! You know, just in case Rex's intel is bad again and there are Inquisitors waiting..."

"Kanan!"

"I'm just saying that it's really convenient that they happened to be there on the last mission!" Kanan said, his hands raised in an effort to placate the frustrated woman. "I know you trust him, Hera, but clones have a history of betrayal!"

"Not Rex!"

"So he says," Kanan scoffed, and Hera swiftly punched him in the arm.

"So Ahsoka says!"

"I'm just saying, it doesn't hurt to be careful!" Kanan said with a sigh. "I'm willing to give him a chance, but until he proves himself to be trustworthy to my satisfaction, it would me make me feel better about your safety if we took extra precautions!"

"This, by the way, is exactly why I wanted you to stay on the Ghost and escort the supplies down to Ibaar after we break through the blockade," Hera said, resigned to the fact that things would not happen the way she wished. "You are my extra precaution, Kanan. I know Ezra is becoming a fair pilot, but I'd feel much better with you there."

"Zeb will be with him, so will Chopper and the entirety of Phoenix Squadron, including Ahsoka." Kanan ran his fingers down the woman's arm and gently took her hand and kissed her forehead when she tightly squeezed his hand. "It's not like you to doubt your crew, Hera..."

"There isn't a crew in this galaxy better than mine, of course I trust them," the pilot scoffed, gripping the Jedi's hand tightly in her own and laying her head against his chest, sighing deeply as she listened to the strong, steady beat of his heart. "This loss shook me, that's all. We lost a lot of men trying to get through, and I don't want to lose anyone else..." She frowned, her brow furrowed as she thought, completely oblivious to the feel of Kanan's arm as he snaked it around her waist and drew her closer. "And you know how I hate to lose."

"Oh, I know..." Kanan muttered, planting a swift kiss to her forehead. "This is why you're Captain Syndulla, you're going to make the right call, your decisions are going to save lives, and this time, we'll succeed because you're going to come back with a ship that will tear the Imperials apart."

"I hope you're right..."

"I know I am," the Jedi whispered, tilting her chin up to kiss her, and with an easy sigh, Hera leaned into it, allowing the man to soothe her fears away, if only for a moment. As usual, loud crashing and shouts from the hallway saw them parted, and the Jedi groaned, running his hand through his hair and glancing toward the door. "Never a second of peace, is there? It's like they know we're trying to have a moment..."

"You know how kids are, love," the Twi'lek said with a smirk on her face, patting her lover's cheek and handing him his pack. "Where is it you're headed anyway?"

"Volik," Kanan said slowly. "It's on the edge of the Unknown Regions, Kenobi's Chiss tipped him off about it's location and the really, really weird things that have been happening there." The commotion in the hallway increased, and a moment later, the door slid open and Obi-Wan stepped in, look a quick look at the couple, and bitterly crossed his arms over his chest.

"I knew it!" the Sith Lord hissed, pointing an accusing finger at Hera and fixing his sharp gaze on the confused Jedi. "I knew you were seeing someone else, and you told me I was the only one!"

"Sorry, babe..." Kanan said with an indifferent shrug. "You just don't satisfy me like you used to. And so long as we're being honest, that whole...Sith Lord, morally bankrupt, corrupted by the Dark Side thing you have going on is sort of a turn off for me."

"It's the eyes, isn't it?" Obi-Wan said with a sigh. "This is discrimination, and I'll have you know, I am very offended."

"Oh, discrimination, like how you and your people targeted the Jedi for mass execution?!"

"...no, no, nothing like that!" Obi-Wan said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I love Jedi, they're...they're great...so great that they haunt me incessantly, Qui-Gon!" the Sith snapped, reeling on the empty corner and for a moment, stood in silence, waiting for the spirit to appear, only to sigh and hang his head when the ghost didn't make his presence known. "Stupid kriffing Force ghost, making me look like an idiot..."

"You do that well enough on your own, Hera said with a roll of her eyes, and Obi-Wan bowed to her, conceding the point. "You're taking Kanan to the Unknown Regions?"

"Volik!" Obi-Wan chirped, a bright smile on his face. "The beautiful home of some very, very nasty rumors of something dark crawling around in the caves beneath their mountainous waterfalls." He grinned devilishly when the Twi'lek tensed. "Story time! Would you like to hear the tale of Darth Nihilus, the Lord of Hunger?"

"Never heard of him..." Kanan muttered, his hand tightening around the strap of his pack and his fingers intertwining with Hera's. "But it doesn't sound good..."

"It isn't, not for the Jedi..." Obi-Wan said, lowering his voice and touching the control panel to close the door behind him. "A Sith Lord so powerful that his very presence was enough to render his enemies powerless by consuming the very Force within them. He had a hunger for the Force so strong that he was drawn to people and places strong in the Force so he could consume them."

"Kenobi, please tell me we aren't going out to Volik because you found this creature..." Kanan groaned, his hand affectionately squeezing Hera's when he felt her tense beside him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Darth Nihilus was killed thousands of years ago," Obi-Wan said with a roll of his eyes.

"Right, how," Kanan asked tensely. "If this monster consumes the Force, how could anyone even get near him long enough to defeat him?!"

"I don't know..." Obi-Wan muttered, reaching into his robes and pulling out one of his red holocrons, his hand clenched tightly around it. "As I've said, much of our history has been lost. Everything I know about the Sith Lords of old comes from ancient texts and holocrons that the Jedi failed to destroy. But!" he said swiftly, brightening as he levitated the holocron and set it spinning when he tapped on one of the pointed corners. "I believe we may have found Nihilus' holocron on Volik. The things that have been reported out there sound very much like the passive influence of Dark Side corruption. Something's there, and that something is Sith, and my lovely Chiss friend reports whispers from travelers out of Volik that sound an awful lot like the Lord of Hunger." Obi-Wan snatched the holocron out of the air. "Seems to me like it's a good chance I'll find his holocron there."

"And do we really want you learning how to do what this Sith Lord could?" Hera asked cautiously, her lekku squirming nervously, and Kanan drew her closer to him.

"Hera's right, Kenobi, what could be gained by learning this stuff? Maybe it's just me, but Lord of Hunger doesn't sound like a title someone would want. Ten to one says you'll find that this Sith Lord was ruled by his desire to consume the Force. That goes against everything I know you to stand for. That isn't power, that's slavery."

"You're right," Obi-Wan whispered, his eyes fixed on the ground. "The hunger of the Dark Side is insatiable, and I know very well that the craving for power is an addiction. But I have the same power Nihilus once possessed, I can consume the Force out of the living. I know well the dangers of doing so, I have felt it."

"Then why," Kanan asked again. "Why learn from a creature that was lost to his desires when you already can control it?"

"Because of Sidious," Obi-Wan hissed, his hand tightening around the holocron, and Kanan slowly put himself between the Sith Lord and Hera. "If I can learn what Nihilus did, if I could learn how to drain the Force from someone during combat, if being in my presence can weaken my enemies, then maybe I have a chance at defeating Sidious, maybe I can avoid the fate that the Force so stubbornly insists is mine!" He was breathing harder than he thought, his heart racing in his chest, and as he began to calm himself, Obi-Wan saw Kanan's hand resting on his lightsaber, the Jedi ready to draw it at a moment's notice. "You'd kill me, Kanan?" Obi-Wan asked breathlessly, his eyes lingering on the Jedi's weapon, and Kanan closed his hand around the hilt, his finger on the ignition.

"If I must..." the Jedi growled softly. "I don't know if I could, and I certainly wouldn't want to, but I'd try my damndest if I had to..."

"I'd expect nothing less from you..." the Sith said softly, a slight smile on his lips. "If I were to lose myself, I would expect you to do me the favor of putting me down." When the Jedi looked at him confused and uncertain, Obi-Wan closed his eyes and softly chuckled. "I joined the Sith to bring peace and order to a galaxy in chaos. That hasn't changed, and if I become an agent of chaos and destruction myself...well, there are worse ways to finally die than being slain by you."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that..." Kanan muttered, patting Hera's hand as he let go. "I really don't want to be forced to kill one of my friends." Obi-Wan flashed him a small grateful smile before he drew up and slipped the holocron inside his robes.

"If you object so much to the acquisition of this holocron, you don't need to go," Obi-Wan said firmly. "I'm perfectly capable of handling this myself."

"Yeah, but what if this is the moment your visions were warning you about?" Kanan asked, putting his arm through the other strap of his pack. "Someone should be there with you, and regardless of how strong you are, it's a bad idea to go out alone. I'm going."

"This isn't it," Obi-Wan insisted. "What I saw in the vision was a Sith Temple, but you and I are going to be exploring a wrecked ship. To my knowledge, there is no Sith Temple on Volik." Immediately, Hera relaxed, the Twi'lek sighing in relief as her nagging fears were set to rest. "I wouldn't allow anything to happen to your lover regardless, Syndulla," Obi-Wan quietly promised. "Now, I'm leaving you with my droid in the event that something should happen on your mission. Is there anything else I can do for you before I leave?"

"Just promise me you'll keep him safe and you'll return soon," Hera said, kissing Kanan on the cheek before she shoved him forward, and Obi-Wan bowed his head, a playful smirk on his lips as he eyed the Twi'lek.

"You have my word, beautiful. We should be back within a few days." Without another word, the Jedi and the Sith left the room to head for the Umbra to prepare for their departure, leaving Hera to ready the remainder of her crew for their own task. There were lives to save, and now that she focused on her mission, she felt as certain as Kanan that they would succeed.

---

"Too slow!" Obi-Wan growled between clenched teeth as the blade of his saber effortlessly slipped between Kanan's ribs, the Jedi gasping in pain and shuddering at the feel of the burning plasma turning the air in his lungs to fire. When the blade swiftly withdrew, the Jedi dropped to the ground, clutching the blistering red welt on his side where the saber had pierced, his eyes narrowed defiantly at the amused Sith Lord, his red blade twirling around his hand as he paced and waited for him to rise. They had been at it for hours, and pain and exhaustion were finally beginning to take their toll on the Jedi. Obi-Wan was, predictably, unaffected, but he had yet to feel the touch of Kanan's lightsaber. And even if he did, the pain would have only made him stronger.

It was dreadfully unfair.

"Your movements are becoming inefficient," Obi-Wan lectured as he circled his fallen opponent. "I can feel your frustration, your pain, and your exhaustion. A Jedi would harness the Force to push past this. Immerse yourself in the Force, allow it to flow freely through you. Keep your mind in the moment, and you won't be struck." He flashed the Jedi a cruel smirk, the blade spinning in his hand before the tip came to point at Kanan's chest just over his heart. "You are tired, and it's making you slow."

"Well maybe it's because I'm in pain. It's making it very difficult to move right!"

"Don't get hit and you won't be in pain," Kenobi said, flicking his saber upwards and allowing the tip to graze Kanan's chest, the Jedi hissing as a long, red welt formed where the saber touched, adding yet another mark to the myriad of crossing lines on his bare torso. "If you do not wish to harness pain for power as the Sith do, then you must do as the Jedi do and use the Force to banish pain from your body. There is no other option if you wish to survive."

"I can't just not feel pain..." Kanan groaned as he rose to his feet, and he quickly whipped his saber around to block three fast, hard slashed from the Sith Lord.

"Of course you can," Obi-Wan drawled, his saber held ready before him as he allowed Kanan to slip into his natural defensive Soresu, modified from his original style to better match his Sith teacher's more efficient practice of the form. For as good as Depa Billaba had been, Kanan recognized that Kenobi was better, widely regarded as the master of the style, even by the Jedi that opposed him. "Pain, hunger, exhaustion, all meaningless manifestations of our physical bodies, but we are so much more. We are of the Force, ethereal beings born from everything that ever was and ever will be. Become one with it, and the pain of the body, the pull of your desires and needs, all that which is fleeting will become as nothing."

"You know, you could have made a halfway decent Jedi Master," Kanan drawled, a smirk on his face that the Sith Lord quickly returned. "Do you actually believe any of that?" Kenobi scoffed, lunging forward and striking fast at the Jedi, high and low with stabs and slashes, and he backed off, the blades nearly touching as he appraised his student.

"It's Jedi garbage, but it works," Obi-Wan said, his blade slowly circling as he decided on where to strike. "Time consuming and difficult to master, but if you can, pain and exhaustion won't slow you down." From off to the side, a dismissive scoff could be heard, and with a tired, frustrated sigh, Obi-Wan lowered his saber and looked toward the long, transparisteel wall, the blue and white of hyperspace passing by outside, toward the large, massive figure of Yoda, the rancor's flank expanding and deflating with each deep, even breath. On his head lay Cody, the clone draped lazily between the sweeping horns as he lounged.

"Not being in pain won't make you any harder to kill, Jedi," the clone yawned, shifting to make himself comfortable and letting his arms dangle in front of the Rancor's face, the beast huffing and sniffing and extending its long tongue to lazily lap at the clone's hand. Trapped beneath one of Yoda's claws, the Grand Inquisitor lay still, his eyes partially open as he looked at the dueling pair, his presence calm and contented despite the many weeping cuts along his bare torso, products of accidental scrapes by the rancor's teeth or claws.

"Pain and exhaustion wear on the body, Cody," Obi-Wan said through grit teeth. "If he is tired or hurting, his technique will suffer and it will become easier to kill him."

"His enemies won't be using powered down sabers," Cody emphasized with a roll of his eyes, his sharp tone making the rancor groan and growl and lazily lick at the Inquisitor in his grasp as he became restless. "Were your sabers made to kill, Jarrus would have been dead in minutes. Pain doesn't even figure into it when the first strike is fatal."

"Alright, Cody, since you know so much about the Force and lightsaber combat, why don't you come teach the Jedi?" Kenobi hissed, holding out his saber toward the clone, and Cody chuckled softly, raising his hands to refuse the offered weapon.

"Pain may wear on the body, but so does age. I'm getting too old for lightsaber combat."

"Don't you dare say that shit, you bastard!" Obi-Wan shouted, much louder and more frantic than he realized, and with a tense, nervous laugh, he ran his hand through his hair. "We're going to pick up a holocron that may have the answers we're looking for. If I can just learn how to drain life and give it to you..."

"Your experiments haven't been successful," Cody said with a yawn.

"Yet," the Sith Lord snarled. "I'm getting closer, you know I am. Look how much younger you look than Rex, something I'm doing is working, just not fast enough..." Kenobi suddenly hissed in pain, his eyes shooting to Kanan, the Jedi calm and confident, his saber in his hand, and Obi-Wan looked down to his arm, a small, blistering spot from where Kanan had tapped him.

"You're obsessing again," Kanan said with a cocky smirk. "Can we return to our training?" With a tight, tense grin, Obi-Wan extended his hand and blasted Kanan back, the Jedi striking the opposite wall with a loud impact, and with a groan, he fell to the floor.

"Focus, Jedi!" the Sith Lord snarled, stalking toward his fallen opponent and striking on the red blade once again. "Cast the pain from your body, rid yourself of weakness!" Kanan scrambled to his feet, his hand extended to call his fallen saber to him, only to be lifted into the air by the neck with the Force. "Your guard is down, Kanan, this is unacceptable!" Kenobi growled, stalking closer to the struggling Jedi and slowly slipping his blade into his stomach, watching with a mix of gleeful fascination and disgust as Kanan's eyes widened with pain. "Focus, keep your guard up, never allow it to waver, and the Dark Side can never touch you." With a disdainful flick of his wrist, he cast Kanan aside, the Jedi tumbling to the ground and skidding to a stop just in front of Yoda, left to cough and gasp as he curled up, his hands covering the new welt on his body. The rancor craned his neck forward and curiously sniffed at the man.

Taking deep, calming breaths, Obi-Wan slowly reached out to tame the Dark Side, calming the raging in his blood caused by the burst of pain in his arm. Kanan's blade had been set on a higher setting than Kenobi's, just below the point where it could begin to do some actual damage, and it still stung. It had been a very long time since he had been struck. He had almost forgotten how it set his nerves on fire. Switching off his saber and returning it to his belt, Obi-Wan sauntered over to a table along the wall, grabbed a wet towel off of it, and made his way over to the Jedi, his eyes fixed on the viewport as he draped the cool cloth over Kanan's shoulders, the blue and white of hyperspace snapping back into the pinpoints of stars as they reverted to sublight.

Not far in the distance, he could see their destination, vibrant green and blue glowing in the black of space. It was hard to imagine that such a beautiful planet contained something so dark, so corrupted as the holocron of Darth Nihilus, but Serenno had been beautiful as well. His beloved Mustafar had also been beautiful, but not in the same way. Serenno was temperate, covered in lush forests and misty rivers that flowed into a beautiful, crystal clear ocean, a mild climate and crisp, clear air that almost seemed to infuse each breath with th Force itself. Mustafar was stark and harsh, blistering hot and glowing with the power of rew nature that flowed in red rivers from cracked mountains and deep crevices. Each breath was blistering, searing with hot air and burning ash and the acidic taste of toxic vapors. The Force itself was blackened by the fires that burned on the planet, invigorating and raw and primal, and while it may have killed a lesser being, to Obi-Wan, it had been home.

Sidious took that away from him as well, kept his stark, harsh palace and gave it to his new pet, no doubt to serve as a reminder to Vader of the place where he was truly born. It was...fitting, somehow, but as soon as Sidious was dead, Obi-Wan would kindly thank Vader for keeping his castle warm for him while he was away and then take it from him. Along with his head, provided the apprentice was foolish enough not to submit to his new Sith Master. It made no difference to Obi-Wan. One day, if she wished it, Leia would serve as his Sith apprentice, and he couldn't think of anything more fitting for her first act as a Sith to be the murder of the old Sith Apprentice and the biological father that helped create her. If he was even still alive by then. If he could somehow beat the fate that Sidious had in store for him...

"We're done for today, Kanan..." Obi-Wan said gently, kneeling beside the man and laying a hand on his sweat-slicked hair. "I pushed you too hard, and for that, I apologize. It's...difficult for me to remember what it was like to be trained as a Jedi. So much of my life has been Sith."

"It's fine..." Kanan groaned, sitting up and wiping his face with the damp cloth. "I figure the best one to teach me to stand against the Dark Side is a Lord of the Sith."

"Well, you're not wrong about that..." Obi-Wan chuckled softly, helping the Jedi to his feet. With a few, deep breaths, Kanan was standing without his aid, frowning as he observed the red lines and welts covering him.

"Could the Jedi really keep themselves from feeling pain?" Kanan asked, draping the cloth over his neck and standing by Kenobi as he looked out the viewport at the beautiful planet in the distance.

"Pain is a physical ailment, like any other than may plague the body," Obi-Wan whispered. "In the same way we can expel toxins from our blood, we may dispel the effects of pain upon us. The physical is nothing before the might of the Force."

"...I'll keep practicing," Kanan quietly promised. "I won't stop until I can hold my own against you."

"You may be at it for a very long time..." Obi-Wan said, looking at the Jedi out of the corner of his eye. "But I believe that if anyone can do it, it's you."

"Master?" a soft, sultry voice said behind them, the light, delicate footsteps sounding against the floor, and both men turned to see the Chiss sauntering toward them, a pleasured, desirous smirk on the Sith Lord's face and his golden eyes glowing with increased intensity as he watched the woman approach. "Master," she said again, running her fingers across Kenobi's cheek and smiling when a deep, possessive growl reverberated in his chest. "We will arrive at our destination within the next hour, my Lord."

"One hour..." Obi-Wan drawled, his hands grabbing her hips and drawing her against him, the woman's breathing quickening as she slid her hands over his chest, her fingers brushing the deep scar cut into the muscle over his heart. "Just think of all the things we could do with an hour..."

"No sex on the Umbra..." Kanan said in a sing-song voice, and Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and glared at the Jedi.

"I know the rules of my own ship, thank you, Kanan," Obi-Wan said, hooking his fingers under the woman's chin and sighing as she pressed her lips to his neck. "Honestly, you're so simple. There's more one can do with their time than sex, you beautiful man." The Sith wrinkled his nose as he looked the Jedi over. "But right now, you're a mess, and you smell. Get yourself cleaned up, I don't want my partner on this mission stinking worse than the Dark Side creatures I'm hoping to meet."

"You don't smell so great yourself, Kenobi," Kanan drawled, watching as the Sith smiled slightly in agreement. "You might want to make time to clean yourself up as well."

"I will," Obi-Wan said, his gaze slowly drifting to the Inquisitor, his muted yellow eyes widening when he felt the Sith's focus on him. "After we play with our little friend here..."

"Kenobi, please, don't-"

"I'm not going to harm him, Kanan, not today," Obi-Wan quickly dismissed, laying his hand on the Chiss' lower back and gently nudging her toward the frightened Inquisitor. "Like I said, we're going to play. My friend the Inquisitor happened to serve me very well as of late, so we're going to have some fun..."

"Oh, I feel filthy being in the same ship as you, you deranges son of a bitch," Kanan said as he made his way out of the room. "You promise you won't hurt him or torture him?"

"Oh, please, why would I do that, Kanan, he hasn't done anything!" Obi-Wan said indignantly. "He only murdered Luminara Unduli and used her corpse to lure Jedi to him so they could be slaughtered..." Obi-Wan flashed Kanan a bright, malicious grin, and the Inquisitor behind him began shaking, staring wide-eyed at the Sith and daring not to breathe. "But other than that, he hasn't done anything!"

"I don't know why I bother..." Kanan muttered, leaving the room quickly and heading for the shower, the sound of Kenobi's crazed laughter following him into the halls.

---

The Shadow was a UT-60D U-wing starfighter that Obi-Wan had appropriated from the rebel base without permission from the people that mattered, though the hapless hangar guard he had influenced gave him all the permission he believed he needed. He took it because of an escalating rivalry between himself and Hera over who had the best ship, and then the Twi'lek pilot smugly pointed out that the Ghost was more versatile because of the Phantom, Kenobi set out to right this great injustice. He named it the Shadow because he was out of ideas, and Cody's suggestion to name it The Sex Shuttle was shot down after three days of careful consideration.

Painted in the same black and red as its parent ship, the Shadow was sleek and stylish enough to attract the Sith Lord's attention, the retractable strike foils giving the ship a versatility that most other transports lacked. It was big enough to fit his entire crew, the rancor included, though it was not nearly as fast as he would have liked, its top speeds falling beneath the much smaller X-wings, the infamously fast TIE Fighters, and worst of all, the Imperial Star Destroyers. The ship needed to be upgraded, and the ship's innards had been rearranged to make room for the desired changes and modifications, but the changes had yet to be made. For now, it was good enough.

The ship cut easily through Volik's atmosphere, the Sith Lord in the pilot's seat half immersed in the Force as he felt for what he was looking for, Kanan sitting beside him in the copilot's seat looking out the sloped viewport at the beautiful terrain they flew above, white snow-capped mountains rising out of a verdant forest that ran along winding canyons cut by numerous rivers and waterfalls. Kanan had never seen such a beautiful planet in his life and found himself staring awestruck out the viewport, often having to remind himself to breathe when he realized he was holding his breath. The striking beauty of Volik made it all the more startling that even so far above the surface, the Jedi could feel the unmistakable pull of something profoundly wrong, the chill in the Force that only came from something powerful in the Dark Side.

"The last time I went on a mission like this, I was a Jedi," Obi-Wan said softly, breaking the silence and making the startled Jedi jump slightly. "The Sith never sent me to recover our history. We were too preoccupied with moving forward, with seeing our plans fulfilled, or revenge enacted, and it left us no time to look behind us."

"...why would the Jedi send you to recover Sith history?" Kanan asked when the reminiscing Kenobi fell silent, and the Sith Lord tensed in surprised, his eyes confused as he searched the Jedi, almost as if he didn't understand why Kanan had spoken, or how he had known what he was thinking. Resignation settled over Obi-Wan, pained and almost defeated, and he looked out the viewport, his gaze on some distant thing he had lost long ago.

"To learn about the Sith. To find the Sith Master, the Jedi had no chance but to look to the past. We thought the Sith were gone, so our only point of reference were the Sith Lords of old. We had some knowledge of the Sith, but not enough, so at my suggestion, the Council sent me on a mission to Sith Space." A soft, sad smile touched Obi-Wan's lips, the gold of his eyes dull and tarnished, and Kanan could feel the heartbreak within the Sith Lord, an old would that never properly healed. "Quinlan Vos was my partner for the mission. You would have liked him. He was too wild for the Jedi, too carefree and free-spirited to be held by their strict rules. Quinlan followed a path of his own making. Not unlike you, actually."

"I met him once when I was young," Kanan said softly, and the SIth's hands tightened around the controls, his gaze seeming to waver with emotion. "And Ahsoka speaks about him often. He sounds like a great man."

"He was..." Obi-Wan sighed heavily, his grip on the controls easing as he leaned back in the seat. "We traveled together for over a year to search for the Sith Master. We found ourselves on Sith worlds, we delved into ancient Dark Side temples, we found Dromund Kaas, the ancient capital of the Sith Empire, which the Jedi Masters insisted didn't actually exist. We felt the Sith out there, found evidence of their presence, drew closer and closer to Darth Sidious and his new apprentice with each thing we found on the trail..." He sighed, sat up straighter in the pilot's seat, the pain faded from his face and replaced with focus as his attention returned to the present. "But it wasn't enough for the Jedi. They said we were jumping at shadows, but we knew better. The shadow we were said to be jumping at was cast by Darth SIdious himself."

"Is that where it happened?" Kanan asked, and the Sith looked at him pout of the corner of his eye, waiting for him to elaborate. "Your...fall, seduction, turn, I don't know..."

"You ask if that mission is what turned me toward darkness?" The Jedi nodded, and Obi-Wan chuckled under his breath, his hand on the yoke bringing the ship lower to fly closer to the mountainous forests. "It is not. My fall was triggered long before, though it was on this mission where I learned to embrace it. If ever there was a chance for me to return to the light, it was lost to me to me on my journey into Sith Space."

"So the Jedi sent you out to hunt the Sith, only to have you return Sith yourself."

"Funny how things work, isn't it?" The ship banked hard left, turned up toward the sky, and Obi-Wan looped them around and dove toward one of the winding canyons. "Found it..." Kenobi muttered, leaning forward in his seat excitedly as he looked out the viewport, his hands relaxed and effortlessly guiding the ship down into the winding canyons and under cascading waterfalls that thudded against the hull of the ship. He flew lower and lower until the ship was skimming the surface of the clear river in the ravine, the water fanning up behind the engines as they sped by, and Kanan leaned back in his seat, relaxed and at ease with the close calls and the quick turns, the man having grown accustomed to flying with an expert pilot.

"For as much as I complain about her speed, she handles like an absolute dream..." Obi-Wan drawled, pulling the ship out of the canyon to fly just over the ravine, scanning the scenery below as he searched for something he didn't know he was looking for.

"I really hope you tested this ship out before you decided to fly through a canyon where the slightest wrong move would mean our deaths..." Kanan said, and groaned loudly when Kenobi flashed him a grin that made it clear he did no such thing. "Are the Inquisitors here?"

"I'm uncertain..." Obi-Wan said, frowning as his eyes scanned the terrain beneath him. "Whatever's down there is corrupting everything, it's absolutely saturated with the Dark Side. If they are even here, the Inquisitors' meager presence would drown in such darkness. They are ultimately insignificant next to the power here."

"But they'd be able to sense me here, right?" Kanan asked, and the Sith Lord chuckled, deep and menacing.

"Oh yes...the blacker the darkness, the brighter the light shines, and you, my Jedi friend, shine like a beacon here. Although...we are quite a ways out from what the Empire considers theirs. It may have been overly optimistic to believe the Inquisitors would follow us here." Obi-Wan frowned, his hand pushing the accelerator forward and the whine of the engines dulled as the ship slowed, the Sith's eyes carefully scanning the scene in the viewport, searching for the origin of the dark pull in the Force. "When I modify this ship, the first thing I'm going to change are the engines, I want them to hum, this...starfighter whine isn't doing it for me..."

"I'm sure Hera would be happy to help you with the modifications when we return..." Kanan said, folding his hands before him and closing his eyes as he sunk into the Force. "If the Emperor could sense us here, he wouldn't be sending Inquisitors for us."

"If the Emperor could sense us here, we'd have a much bigger problem on our hands, because he wouldn't be looking at us, he'd be looking at whatever's down there," Obi-Wan quietly corrected. "For whatever's down there, he'd come himself, which I suppose is where the vision comes in. This may very well be how he finds me." He took a deep breath, felt the way the Dark Side lapped at him, pulled at the very center of his being, almost seemed to call to him. It was power, but a subtle one, corrupting for certain, but not a thing that caused a far-reaching disturbance. "But not here, not today. Darth Sidious is not all-powerful, at least not yet. There are things that even he cannot sense. If he knew something was here, he would have been here long ago."

"So it's possible that the thing we're looking for isn't even down there."

"...a distinct possibility, yes..." Obi-Wan growled, his hand gently nudging the yoke to the side to circle the ship around for another pass over where he felt the pull of the Dark Side. "I hope not. If Sidious could feel artifacts in the Unknown Regions from his seat on Coruscant...I'm not sure we can defeat him. But I feel something down there. Maybe it's just the touch of the Dark Side on whatever it is that lives in those caves, but I don't think so."

"There," Kanan said swiftly, his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder as he pointed out the viewport toward a waterfall that flowed off a cliff and down into the river below, the splashing water striking worn boulders and jagged rocks on the way down, and...something else far below. Obi-Wan leaned forward, squinting to see what Kanan's sharp eyes had caught, the ragged protrusion the water fell against worn and decayed and distinctly unnatural in the way it rose from the rocks and the river. There was something behind the waterfall, but more than that, the unusual formation the waterfall beat against appeared to be the rusted, decayed remains of a crashed ship.

"Good eye, Kanan..." Obi-Wan muttered, angling the ship to dive toward the waterfall and the wreckage. "What I am sensing is far below, further back..."

"Yeah, well, while you're looking through the Force, don't forget to look with your eyes as well." Obi-Wan looked sidelong at the smirking Jedi, his eyebrow raised and rolling his eyes when Kanan flashed him a cocky grin.

"You fancy yourself a teacher, boy? Don't make me put you over my knee and spank you with my lightsaber."

"What, all that and you aren't even going to take me out for drinks first?" Kanan drawled, and he laughed when Kenobi scowled, an unsuccessful effort to hide the smile that pulled at his lips. "I, uh...heard that from Rex while I was training Ezra."

"Oh, what's this?!" Obi-Wan gasped mockingly, his eyes wide and a teasing smirk on his lips. "Kanan Jarrus, the Last Padawan, learning from a clone? Truly, the galaxy is ending. We may as well surrender to the Empire now and embrace our Sith Masters."

"Ha, ha, you're an ass, Kenobi," Kanan drawled, punching the Sith Lord on the arm, the sudden hit jolting the hand that held the yoke and the ship wavered for a second before Kenobi resumed the smooth descent. "I might not trust Rex, but the man's got experience, which I respect, and he...I don't know, he says some shit that makes a lot of sense." Kanan rolled his eyes when an arrogant smirk touched Obi-Wan's lips. "You know...for a clone."

"Mm, sounds like love..." Kenobi teased, earning himself another punch from the Jedi.

"Focus on where you're flying, idiot, this place is treacherous enough without you getting turned on."

"Kanan, I am a Lord of the Sith," Obi-Wan scoffed. "I do my best work when I'm turned on." Grinning at his companion, Kanan patted the Sith's shoulder before he let him go and sat back in his seat, watching out the viewport as the focused Sith slowed their descent and flew them toward the wreckage under the waterfall. Up close, they could see how the falling water struck the jagged, rusty metal, old and brittle and made hard by time and calcified minerals from the mountain's runoff that made it look almost like the stone that formed the mountains. The water parted around the wreckage, breaking on the impact into fine mist and parted, heavy streams that fell like a curtain around the broken shape of the hull embedded in the side of the mountain, the hard echo indicating that something lay beyond the watery barrier.

As slowly and carefully as he was able, Obi-Wan piloted the Shadow toward the space underneath the jagged outcropping of the broken ship's hull. The closer they drew to the wreckage, the more they could imagine the nature of the ship that had crashed, not a small shuttle, but an enormous, half circle shaped freighter, based on the outline of the cavern that lay beneath the water and the impressive build of what remained of the ship after so many years. Water thundered off the hull of the Shadow, running thick down the viewport and obscuring their view as they passed underneath, the cabin falling into darkness punctuated only by the soft glow of the lights on the control console as they flew inside the cavern.

With the landing lights flicked on and the water clearing from the viewport, the Jedi and the Sith looked out upon a wide, massive cavern, an almost surreal blending of rock and metal as nature slowly encroached upon the ship's wreckage. Obi-Wan landed the ship on top of a metal shelf that may have once been the heavy blast doors of a cargo bay, bent away from the hull by the impact and now embedded within the cavern wall, the stalactites above leaking a slow, steady drip of water that landed in a puddle and ran off the far end to fall into a shallow lake below. As soon as the ship was secured and prepped for a quick take off if necessary, the Jedi and the Sith checked to make certain their sabers were secure, and together, they left the safety of the shuttle for the dark, echoing cavern of the wreckage and the caverns beyond.

They didn't need to go far for the meager light filtering in through the veil of water to go out completely, and both men struck on their lightsabers to help light the way, the Sith selecting his blue blade for the better light it provided. The further in they ventured, the better preserved the wreck of the ship was, the cavern walls reflecting the light of the sabers off tarnished panels, the dark, insular caves helping to protect the crashed ships from the elements that quickened its degradation. The caverns alternatively widened and narrowed as their trek through the natural caves and the wrecked ship led them through broken corridors and cargo holds and spaces carved out by subterranean lakes and water that slowly trickled in from the mountains above them.

Occasionally the pair would catch sight of small creatures scurrying away when the light touched the edges of their home, panicked squeaking or soft hisses echoing in the caverns from all manner of creatures offended by the light that they were unaccustomed to. The sounds of distant running water echoed around the far walls and high ceilings of the cavernous space they stood within, the damp chill in the air only made worse by the pervasive feel of the Dark Side that lazily lapped at them, a slow current pulling the deeper into the network of caves and the continuous wreckage of the crashed, ancient ship. It was no wonder that the Sith hadn't found this place before, the darkness here was almost completely still, its mirror surface hiding a slow, enduring current that sank endlessly deep. Unless one stepped within, it was impossible to know that this river had no bottom.

Through it all, beyond the frightened nocturnal creatures that scurried away at the first sign of light, Obi-Wan could feel something, could sometimes catch sight of movement just out of the corner of his eye that escaped the moment he turned to look, something that sent ripples across the Dark Side. Something was there, and whatever it was, it was following them.

"Kenobi, check this out," Kanan whispered, his voice echoing and carrying clear through the cavern and drawing the Sith Lord out of his daze, his attention shifting away from finding the unseen stalker and toward the Jedi that was cautiously exploring the ship's wreckage. When he reached Kanan's side, the Jedi held up his saber to illuminate one of the rusted, decaying sheets of thick steel, a blast door or a part of the hull, by the look of it. The blue light cast high up the metal wall and sunk into ordered indentations crossing diagonally up the sheet, sending shadows across the dull metal. Obi-Wan squinted, his sharp eyes accustomed to seeing in the dark, and was quickly able to make sense of the engraving. Writing, the letters in Galactic Basic, though the language was not.

"Nashuaga..." Obi-Wan slowly said, sounding out the foreign word written on the wall.

"Any idea what it means?"

"None at all, but I'll wager it's the name of our crashed freighter..." the Sith mumbled, producing a small datapad from a pouch on his belt and quickly recording an image of the wall to later show to K-2SO. The droid was terribly resourceful, and given a name, it was very likely that he would be able to find records of the ship through his back channels into the Imperial networks. For as old as the ship appeared, the state of decay indicative of hundreds, possibly thousands of years since its crash, it seemed likely that any record of the freighter wouldn't be behind any significant Imperial security. If they found nothing here on Voltik, it may be worth it to find out what was here.

"How long do you suppose this ship has been here?" Kanan whispered, this time close enough to the Sith that his voice only stirred the air instead of carrying across the distance.

"That depends on a lot of factors, none of which I have any expertise in," Obi-Wan replied, his thrumming saber held before him as he slowly made his way across the cavern and toward the continuing cave network, the Jedi keeping close beside him as he followed the tug of the Dark Side, his glowing eyes slowly scanning the area in hopes of catching sight of the creature or creatures that followed them. "Were I to venture a guess, however, we are looking at a ship that has been here well over a thousand years."

"Because of how badly decayed the ship is?" Kanan asked, pointing to one of the jagged, fractured spines of metal protruding from the ground, blackened with mineral deposits and the decay of rust and the slow, creeping stain of subterranean vegetation.

"No..." Obi-Wan whispered, his eyes narrowing and his hand held out before him, a sharp, shrill screech echoing through the cavern as the shadows seemed to come alive, roiling and writhing with life as thousands of life forms scattered to deeper parts of the cave to be out of range of the predator in their midst. Slowly, a winged creature came into the light of the sabers, its clawed wings digging into the rock as its jerky motions saw it draw closer to the pair at the Sith's bidding.

It was large, much larger than Kanan had been expecting from the fluttering wings of the flying creatures they had been hearing rustling in the dark since they entered the caves. The spines of its wings were tipped in sharp claws. Long, flexible quills ran the length of its back, rising and hardening with each twitch of its lean, powerful muscles, all of it ending in a barbed tail that leaked thick, black ichor that dripped on to the stones it crawled upon. The spasmodic twitching of its sleek, black body as its every instinct tried to tear itself away from the predator before it revealed long, sharp fangs lining a wide mouth, its eyes a deep and glowing red that peeked through the clear film of a translucent eyelid. Kanan had never seen anything like it, but decided that the creature looked vaguely like a mynock if it were over triple the size and flew out of the deepest pits of the very worst of the Sith Hells.

"What is that..." Kanan asked, leaning in toward the screeching creature, his hand extended before him to soothe the beast with the Force, only to have it begin to thrash violently under his gentle coaxing, and the Jedi swiftly withdrew.

"It very well may have once been a mynock, as you seem to believe," Obi-Wan whispered, kneeling down to get closer to the now fearfully whimpering beast, and Kanan followed his lead, frowning and looking at the Sith Lord after a moment of inspecting the creature.

"Kenobi, I didn't say anything about mynocks...are you in my head again?"

"I'm always in your head, we have a Force bond, Apprentice..." the Sith dismissed with a casual wave of his hand. "The Dark Side is infused in the very stones around us. This place has been throughly corrupted, right down to the creatures within it. This creature may very well once have been a mynock, or a creature like it, only to have the Dark Side change it. The corruption here is...slow. Subtle. They're changing to suit their environment, and the Dark Side is influencing the change." He reached out and laid a hand on the beast's head, and the twitching creature fell still and silent, its chest rapidly expanding and contracting with swift, panicked breaths. "This is the result of...thousands of years of exposure to the Dark Side. This is evolution influenced by the Force."

"The Dark Side can do such a thing?" Kanan asked softly, and Obi-Wan slowly nodded.

"I've done it myself, though the results of my own experiments to alter life and corrupt it on a genetic level were not nearly so...complete as this." Obi-Wan quickly looked at the Jedi when he felt Kanan recoil with revulsion, and scoffing, the Sith rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, the changes I made were superficial at best. There was no evidence of corruption in their offspring. As far as genetic experiments go, it was a complete failure, you cannot corrupt a creature on a genetic level without time, which I did not have. Which these creatures clearly did have..."

"The levels of your depravity never cease to amaze me..." Kanan muttered. "You experimented on children?"

"I really don't think holding me responsible for that is entirely fair," Kenobi said defensively. "I was insane at the time."

"And you're not insane now?"

"Oh, Kanan, my poor, sweet, beautiful idiot..." Obi-Wan drawled, patting the Jedi's cheek affectionately. "You have no idea." He stood, slowly circling around the held creature, trembling in submission under the power of darkness that pressed down upon it. "We're being followed."

"...what, by that thing?" Kanan asked, pointing to the winged creature, and Obi-Wan slowly shook his head.

"No, by something else, have you not sensed it?" Kanan shook his head, and with a flick of his wrist, Obi-Wan released the creature, the beast scrambling awkwardly and screeching as it clawed its way into the air and took flight after the swarm of others into the depths of the caves. Gesturing for the Jedi to follow, Obi-Wan slowly followed the flying creature further in, the screeching of the swarm echoing deeper in and keeping far, far away from the slowly approaching pair. Slowly, the wreckage of the ship began to fade, overtaken by the natural rock formations of the caves, the dripping and trickling of subterranean streams echoing in the small, enclosed caverns. Keeping their lightsabers held before them, the Jedi and the Sith paid extra care to the darkness, to the ways the shadows moves, to every glint of light from luminescent insects as they ventured carefully through the air, the caves absent of their natural predators in the wake of the two intruders.

"Our first destination was the planet Athiss," Obi-Wan whispered, startling the Jedi beside him enough for the man to jump and reel around, his lightsaber pointed behind them. When Kanan realized how jumpy he was and how much the Sith was amused by it, he grumbled and turned his attention to his companion, a questioning look on his face that alerted Obi-Wan that he had been speaking out of context, that the Jedi was not in his mind the way he was always within the Jedi. "Quinlan and I. Our mission to Sith Space led us to visit Athiss, the location of an ancient Sith Temple and a tomb to the Sith Lord that reigned in the area."

"And that place reminds you of here?" Kanan asked softly, and Obi-Wan slowly nodded, his eyes closing as he reached out and felt the pull of the Dark Side, the current growing swifter, stronger the further in they went, his hand laying upon the cold, slick stone of the narrow passage, the feel of water and slippery, rotted algae beneath his fingers. Like the creatures that inhabited the caves here, the vegetation had been altered by the Dark Side's corrupting touch, the slick, black sludge between his fingers stinging and making his hand throb with the feel of venom in his blood. Toxic, perhaps, but not fatal to a creature of his size, though he only allowed it to set fire to his blood for a moment before he used the Force to clear his blood of the venom. Kanan, thankfully, was too nervous or too smart to do anything but keep his hands to himself.

"In many ways, yes..." Obi-Wan whispered. "The site of the ancient Sith, a temple infused with the Dark Side down to its very foundations..."

"Sounds like a dream..." Kanan said with a roll of his eyes, and Obi-Wan chuckled softly, a faint smile playing at the edge of his lips.

"Not at the time, of course, but I have always meant to return and explore more throughly, now that I am accustomed to the feel of darkness." He bit down on his lip, his eyes narrowing in concentration as he sifted through his memory. "More important was what we found there," the Sith Lord whispered, just barely audible over the thrum of the lightsabers. "Humans, or something very close to them. Beings altered by the Dark Side, made feral and monestrous, reduced to nothing more than beasts trapped in the dark of a Sith Temple."

"Like the creatures we found," Kanan said, a statement, not a question, and Obi-Wan quietly agreed. "...you believe the thing following us is sentient?"

"This freighter had a crew," Obi-Wan said slowly. "I can't help but wonder what happened to them."

"They could have died in the crash."

"They could have survived," the Sith whispered. "Trapped in a cave on a remote world with a Sith holocron. Such a thing alone would be enough to change a man. I can't imagine what the voice of Darth Nihilus could do."

"Provided that's what's actually here," Kanan cautioned, and the Sith nodded in agreement. "Could they even open it?"

"They wouldn't need to. It's presence should be enough to seduce a creature and slave a lesser being to it. Come on, Kanan, how do you think the Dark Side corrupts? It wouldn't do if there was nothing for the Dark Side to feed upon." Obi-Wan frowned, his eyes darting about a new cavern that they stepped inside. "Though...I confess, the things that have happened here are extreme, even with thousands of years for the corruption to take hold. Were the holocron to be opened, perhaps, but if not..." He shook his head. "Even if someone happened to stumble upon it and been Force sensitive enough to open it, I'm not certain a holocron could do this."

"Maybe what you're sensing isn't a holocron."

"...I'm beginning to think that may be the case. Keep your guard up, Kanan, there's something dangerous here."

They were silent after that, the two men drawing closer together as they pressed deeper into the caves, the light from their sabers seeming to have less effect on the area around them than when they began. The darkness was oppressive, almost as though not even light could penetrate the veil, as if the shadows were somehow offended by the clear blue blades that tried to cut through. Beside him, Obi-Wan could feel Kanan shudder, the Jedi sucking in a hard breath as his hands tightened around his saber. The Jedi's very presence was unwittingly pulling the Dark Side to him, the swirling currents drawn toward the offending light that broke up the stillness of the perfect dark around him, the sharp claws of the Dark Side raking against his defenses in an attempt to break through and douse it.

Through the chill in the air, Obi-Wan could almost hear the faint, sweet whispers of the Dark Side, the seductive, coaxing voice that urged submission in exchange for pleasure and power, the same addictive deal that he himself had taken so long ago. He had been so susceptible, so easy to seduce, so willing to embrace the cold when he had felt so alone among the Jedi, but Kanan was stronger, and though he trembled under the weight, he did not break. His spirit was stronger than a young Padawan Kenobi's had been, more secure in who he was, more at peace with his place, already accustomed to the pleasure that the Dark Side was offering, though he craved it from no place than where he already had it.

With a growl of irritation, Obi-Wan stepped out of hiding, his concealed presence in the Force shattering to reveal exactly what he was, and demanded that the Dark Side recognize him and obey. The currents of the Force immediately shifted in response, the swift river diverting to flow quickly toward the nexus, circling around him like a cyclone and drawing the attention of the beasts that had been stalking them. It was slow at first, a cascade of soft, almost curious growls coming from the points of pale and yellow light that suddenly filled the darkness, hundreds of eyes belonging to whatever it was that kept to the shadows. The sudden shift in the Dark Side that they instinctively felt seemed to keep them wary and away, the calm waters instantly disrupted and more frighteningly, controlled by this newcomer.

Slowly, one became brave enough, curious enough to creep forward, the creature's skin a pale, nearly translucent gray, its eyes wide and tinted with the touch of the Dark Side, its mouth filled with sharp, jagged teeth. It was hopelessly thin, revealing a skeletal structure that was identical to humans or a species very near human, though from the way it moved, sniffed at the air, trembled with instinctual anticipation as it drew closer to the predator made it seem as though it was only barely sentient. By the time it was in the full light of the lightsabers, it was crawling with its belly scraping the ground, the growls becoming soft panting from its state of high anxiety, its eyes averted, though it's small, flat nose twitched as it sniffed the air, it's muscles trembling under thin skin in fear, though it was hopelessly drawn forward toward the powerful command of the Sith.

"Is that like the creature you saw on your mission with Master Vos?" Kanan whispered beside him, his eyes darting around the cavern as dozens of more just like it slowly crept into the light, hissing in pain as the comfort of the darkness was parted by the sabers.

"Just like it..." Obi-Wan replied, his attention leaving the creatures and looking further back into the darker shadows of the cavern. "Do not fear them, Kanan. I could control them then, at least for a time, and I can certainly control them now."

"I'm not afraid..." Kanan muttered almost defensively. "Do you suppose this is what happened to the ship's crew? Trapped here and transformed by the Dark Side into...that?"

"The ship's crew, smugglers, pirates, travelers, anyone who ventured into these caves, yes..." the Sith Lord drawled, taking a slow step forward to venture further back into the caves, the creatures screeching and scurrying to clear the way for the predator among them. "Whatever is here is strong enough to seduce them to stay."

"And it changed them into that," Kanan finished. "So...are they dangerous? Are you certain you can control them? Are they what's been following us?"

"Forget about them," Obi-Wan swiftly commanded. "These creatures are nothing, beasts of minimal intelligence, so negligible that their presence is swallowed by the Dark Side. No, what's been following us is something different and something far more dangerous, strong enough to influence the current of the Dark Side here."

"...you can feel it."

"I can," Kenobi nodded in agreement, the lightsaber on his belt flying to his hand and igniting as he put the other one away, the light of blue replaced with the sinister glow of red. "And whatever it is, now we have its attention..."

Kanan felt it before he saw it, the Force that swirled around Obi-Wan suddenly wrenched away, the current struggling to break free of its pull as an unseen power fought with the Sith for control. The damp cold in the air froze deeper, an arctic chill permeating right through clothing and skin and muscle straight to the bones, and Kanan crept closer to Obi-Wan, his teeth chattering as he sought the warmth of another body, though proximity to the Sith only made the chill worse. Despite the struggle, Obi-Wan seemed almost...delighted, the golden eyes blazing with fury and amusement and sinister glee, a challenge that he so rarely faced, something new and interesting to a man that had already seen so much.

The storm hit a crescendo, the roaring of the Force causing the wind to whip around them, casting stones and water and detritus swirling into the air around them, the Sith Lord finally regaining the upper hand when he suddenly faltered, the amusement in his eyes turning to confusion, his arrogant smirk fading into disbelief. Whatever it was that had disturbed Kenobi had yet to be seen by Kanan, the Sith's sharp eyes more accustomed to darkness and shadows than the Jedi's, but it didn't take long for the light of the sabers to cast an eerie glow on what slowly emerged from the darkness. A thin figure in black almost seemed to be made out of the shadows that surrounded him, the red and blue of the plasma reflected off a white, skull-like mask, blood red lines painted above empty eyes and a silver, ornamental line running from the hollow nose to the crest of the mask.

"Darth Nihilus..." Obi-Wan muttered, his voice breathless, awestruck, and his hand nearly dropped the saber he held, his eyes wide and searching as he looked upon a figure that should have been long dead.

"Nihilus?!" Kanan gasped, raising his saber and swiftly taking the other from Obi-Wan's belt and striking it on, the twin blue blades thrumming in his hands. "You told me Nihilus was dead! Is that what was causing all of this?! A kriffing undead Sith Lord?!"

"No..." Obi-Wan muttered quietly, distant for a moment before he snarled, shaking his head and refocusing, his saber raised once again and drawing the Darksaber from the back of his belt. "No," he snapped, strong and commanding once again, and Kanan could feel the Sith Lord grab hold of the darkness and pull hard, the figure before them stopping with the sudden fury of the Sith. "Not Darth Nihilus. His mask."

"His mask did all of this?!" Kanan gasped his eyes never leaving the ghostly visage before them, his lightsabers held out and ready not toward the man, but out toward the creatures that snarled and hissed at the edge of the cyclone that surrounded them.

"His mask, all of it!" Obi-Wan said excitedly, the glow of his eyes intensifying as they seemed to catch fire. "That mask is a Sith artifact, an object imbued with the power of the Dark Side!"

"Kriffing hell, who is this guy?!" Kanan asked, swallowing hard as he swiped his saber across the air to keep the snarling creatures at bay, many of them looking rabid as they foamed at the mouth and snapped the air with jagged teeth that dripped saliva on to the ground.

"A pretender," Obi-Wan hissed, taking a step forward and running the Dark saber along the length of his red blade, the hissing sound of the clashing blades echoing off the cavern walls and showering the air before him with sparks. "Unworthy, filthy creature, unfit to even touch such a thing!" For just a moment, the storm around them calmed, the winds dying down as the masked man held out his hands, and a moment later, a deep, savage growl echoed through the cavern, grating and chilling, its cadence dissonant and unnerving, and Kanan cringed, would have covered his ears were his sabers not keeping the feral former humans at bay. But the Sith Lord beside him simply smiled, a sigh of satisfaction on his lips as the sabers lowered. It was language, and Kenobi knew it.

"I was wrong, that creature isn't like the others. They are barely sentient, but that just spoke Sith," he muttered in awe, and Kanan shot him an almost frantic glare.

"What, so you have a new friend now? Not so sure he's going to just come with us."

"Don't be stupid, Kanan, he needs to die, but this is fascinating..." Obi-Wan muttered, taking a step forward and breathing deep the sudden swell of the Dark Side as the masked man drew up, responding to the Sith's movement with clear threat. "Klazje, tu yunoks asilas. Kam status'isar tu'aveti tave maskuoti'iv Urvaz Nihilus?" Listen, you little shit, by what right do you wear the mask of Darth Nihilus?

"Nuyak maskuoti," the man hissed, deep and guttural, the Force once again rising to whip that the Jedi and the Sith, though the wind failed to touch them, the two standing in the eye of the storm created by the calm Sith Lord. "Nu'zin tave midwan kia'vykti zhol." My mask. Because I had the power to take it.

"Power..." Obi-Wan scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Tu'zenoti nenx'kam midwan kash." You know not what power is.

There was a moment of building tension between the two as the Sith and the creature stared each other down, the snarling beasts hissing and sputtering and pacing, but never drawing closer, as if they were waiting for a command to fight or to flee. Kanan stood still, his breathing deep and even, reaching out for the Force despite the cold and found his current of warmth, temperate and soothing and always available to him no matter how cold it became if only he just reached out for it. For just a moment, all was still.

It broke with the crackle of static and the acidic, burning smell of electricity as blue lightning flared around Kenobi's hands, his sabers held loosely between his thumbs and forefingers as the arching blue plasma shot from his fingertips, stray energized bolts traveling down the length of his sabers and branching off to strike at water and debris in the air and any of the creatures unlucky enough to draw too close. The hissing electricity missed its target when the masked man slid underneath the crackling bolts and shot out of the way before it could connect, a savage, commanding howl sending the feral creatures into a frenzy and with a sharp point of his finger toward the Jedi and the Sith, the beasts attacked.

They came like a swarm, a thousand minds moving as one and obeying a single command, a gray wave rushing toward the Jedi and the Sith in a mindless frenzy for blood and the pressing, overwhelming need to follow the order they were given. The first wave stopped only when they rushed headlong into the Force, a violent shove outward by the combined efforts of Jedi and Sith sending them crashing backwards into their fellows behind them, their thin, lanky limbs hopelessly tangling together as they snarled and bit and fought each other as they tried to right themselves. They were swiftly crushed by those that came behind them, climbing over the heap of bodies and careless of the damage their scrambling did to the thin, fallen bodies beneath their feet. Again, the Force slammed into them, pressing the fallen back further and sending more skidding to the ground, only to have more vault over the bodies and rush toward them.

With the Jedi and the Sith occupied keeping the swarm off of them, the masked man rushed forward, the beasts parting to make way for him, though the man stayed out of range of the glowing, dangerous weapons. With his hand extended before him, he reached out with the Force, his fingers splayed for just a moment before his fist clenched, and with a strangled gasp, Kanan staggered, nearly dropped his weapons before Kenobi stepped before him, his eyes blazing and his face contorted with fury as he threw another volley at the swift masked man. The momentary respite was enough for Kanan to recover, and he brought up his sabers in a wide arch, slicing upwards at one of the beasts that pounced at the engaged Obi-Wan, the blue blade severing the creature in half, the pieces falling to the ground with a wet, heavy thud.

"I thought you could control these beasts!" Kanan growled through clenched teeth, his blades spinning and slicing through another creature and another one still as they continued to attack.

"Turns out they already serve a Master," Obi-Wan said, his voice level and even despite the battle around him, his eyes following the creature as he dodged lightning, rushed with ease through the gray ocean of clambering bodies, moved impossibly fast with the aid of the Dark Side which refused to leave him despite the presence of a Sith Master. It was almost as if the Force bent around him, his shielding perfect, his instincts correct for every move, almost as though the creature somehow had years of training and the knowledge to stand beside the Sith as an apprentice. He was, without question, more powerful than the Inquisitors that the Empire employed, but the matter of where this being got his training was a mystery the Obi-Wan very much wanted solved.

His sabers spinning in his hands, Obi-Wan powered the weapons off and returned them to his belt and reached out for the Force, felt the life teeming around them, uncontrolled and furious and violent. With Kanan moving expertly around the Sith Lord to cover him his sabers slashing at creatures as they pounced and using the Force to slam the tide back when he had the chance, Obi-Wan had the opportunity to focus his attention, grab the Dark Side flowing through the tainted creatures, and sent his cold, focused rage through them. The swiftly moving creatures came to a dead stop as they dropped to the ground, the air around them echoing with high pitched, agonized screeches as a hundred gray bodies writhed in pain and suffering, leaving the masked creature standing alone and looking at his fallen thrall.

Panic and fear and desperation ripped through the Force as the man tried in vain to hold the Sith Lord, his own power simply not enough now that his opponents' full attention was focused on him. When the beasts on the ground were no longer debilitated under the wrath of the Sith, they swiftly scrambled for the shadows to hide, pained whimpers and screeching continuing to echo off the walls. A few managed to overcome their base instincts and their fear of the pain that the newcomer could inflict, throwing themselves nervously at the pair, only to have the touch of Kanan's saber scare them off

With no allies and the Force shifting as the Sith Lord exerted his command over the Dark Side, Kanan and Kenobi moved toward the masked man, circling around to make certain he would have no way to escape further into the caves. As they swiftly moved forward, Kanan saw a brief flash of blue light, his saber reflected in the smooth, polished sheen of a long, dagger the masked man pulled from the loose, ill-fitting cloth he wore, and before either of them could move, he brought the sharp knife across his own arm, a strangled, pained howl echoing throughout the cavern that sent both Kanan and Obi-Wan sliding backwards with the sudden surge of the Dark Side. The swell of pain and fear and anger fueled the masked man's power, the sudden flare making him stronger and far, far more dangerous than before, a deep, hollow laugh sounding not in the air around them, but inside Kanan's head.

It had to end, and one look at Obi-Wan told Kanan everything he needed to know. Golden eyes narrowed in concentration disappeared like a mirage as the Sith Lord silently melted into the shadows. With a deep, guttural shout, both to draw the attention of the target and to help dispel his own mounting anxiety, Kanan rushed at the masked man, his sabers spinning around his hands and slicing through the air. Though the knife he held tightly in his hand was nothing next to the glowing plasma blades of his opponents, the masked man was far from unarmed, despite wielding no lightsaber of his own. No Force sensitive was ever truly unarmed, and the masked man expertly dodged and evaded Kanan's swings, almost as though he could sense the blades, like the Force itself served as a shield to protect him.

Still, Kanan was relentless, each swing coming closer and closer despite the raging in the Force and the wicked flashing of the long, sharp knife in the wiry man's hand cutting closer and closer to him with each movement. When the tip of his lightsaber finally slipped past the man's guard and grazed the man's side, a sharp, vicious howl was ripped from his opponent, savage and horrifying and filled with pain and hate and power as the Dark Side lashed out. The dagger flashed outwards, slicing up toward Kanan's arm and narrowly missing a fatal slice across the Jedi's neck, and at the last moment, the masked man violently twisted sideways, the sharp weapon slicing across Kanan's armored shoulder, leaving a deep gouge in the hard metal and causing blood to leak freely from the small slice on the Jedi's chest where the tip of the knife had managed to catch flesh.

The moment of grim satisfaction at the thick, metallic smell of blood lasted for only a moment before the masked man realized his mistake, and though he tried his best to swiftly withdraw from the Jedi's already long reach, he was too slow to evade the Jedi's twin sabers as one arched upwards, knocking th man off-balance just enough for the second blade to descend neatly across his wrist, severing his hand and disarming him of his knife. That split moment of sudden shock was enough time for Kanan to kick the knife away from the man's reach and quickly spin out of the way of the retaliatory blast of the Force, the pain and rage enough to see the masked man's power spike to dangerous levels.

Before he could make a move toward the Jedi, strong hands fell upon his shoulder, fingers digging hard into flesh as his legs suddenly buckled when a foot stomped into the back of his knees. Pain exploded behind his eyes as his knees struck the ground, the hard, uncompromising grip on his shoulder moving to grab hold of a shock of black hair at the back of his head, and the masked man was forced to look up into the cruel, blazing eyes of the Sith Lord he had let out of his sight, left forgotten to the shadows only now to emerge. His hand tightening around the man's hair, Obi-Wan pulled back hard, his knee pressing into the man's back and forcing his thin chest to arch outwards as he raked his hand across the howling man's face, his fingers catching the mask at the edge of its hollow sockets, his fingers digging beneath into the now screaming man's eyes.

With a deep, shuddering breath of satisfaction and triumph, Obi-Wan tore the mask from the man's face, the screaming, writhing creature left to be discarded upon the floor as shaking hands covered his now empty eyes and the pale, raw skin of his face that had been hidden beneath the mask for who knows how long. Obi-Wan held the mask in his hand, his eyes running over every feature, every detail, taking in how the Dark Side rolled off the artifact in waves, making it seem as though it was a living, breathing thing, the Force within it pulsing in time with each rapid beat of the Sith Lord's heart. It was beautiful, powerful, frightening and awe-inspiring in a way that he couldn't describe, and Obi-Wan felt almost unworthy to even be in the presence of such a thing. That feeling was quickly replaced with disgust when he thought of how many of these filthy creatures had their hands upon such a thing, the mask of one of the greatest, most powerful, most terrifying Sith Lord of all time. It was...pitiful, almost, to think that this was what was left of Darth Nihilus, Lord of Hunger. A mask in a cave, lost and forgotten and in the hands of savage, feral beasts who knew not what they touched.

For all of Sidious' mighty collection of Sith artifacts, there wasn't anything in his possession that could compare to that which Obi-Wan now held in his hands.

"Kenobi..." Kanan said, his hushed voice carrying easily in the silence, and Obi-Wan was drawn out of his thoughts to look at the Jedi as he stood over the now maskless man. "Kenobi, he...isn't Force sensitive," Kanan muttered in disbelief, and with a frown, Obi-Wan made his way to stand beside the Jedi, frowning as he looked down upon the writhing creature. He was right. This wretched beast had no connection to the Force.

"Impossible..." Obi-Wan muttered under his breath, his gaze drifting down to look at the mask in his hands, his thumbs running along the edge and feeling the way the Force pulled at him, and he slowly understood what had happened. "The mask gave him abilities he did not possess. Wearing it gave him a bridge to the Force he otherwise lacked."

"...is that even possible?"

"I see no other explanation for the powers he possessed, nor for his understanding of the Sith language," Obi-Wan slowly replied. "The power inherent in the mask must have given him knowledge far beyond his reach" Nodding slowly and accepting the explanation as one as good as any he was likely to receive, Kanan spun Kenobi's blue saber in his hand and slid it into the suffering creature's chest, the body going limp as his suffering was ended. Switching the blade off, he handed it back to Obi-Wan, the Sith Lord absently taking it from him and returning it to his belt, his attention quickly drifting back to the mask in his hands.

"So...it's not a holocron," Kanan said, pointing to the bone white, eerie creation Obi-Wan held. "You can't learn from that, so what are you going to do with that?"

"In the right hands, Kanan Jarrus, quite a bit of information may be gleaned from such a thing..." Obi-Wan muttered, gingerly running his fingers over the mask. "In this matter, I fear you are inferior to Quinlan."

"Well, sorry to disappoint, Master," Kanan said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well, I've yet to find anyone who is equal to Quinlan Vos..." Obi-Wan said softly, a faint smile on his lips. "But in this matter, I have someone who's close enough, provided I can bring myself to allow it..." With a heavy Sigh, Obi-Wan held the mask protectively to his chest. "Come. I find that I have had enough of this wretched cave. Let's get out of here."

With a silent nod, the Jedi and the Sith Lord slowly made their way toward the surface, the cave silent in a way it hadn't been when they had descended, like the life within could feel the shift in the Force, the quiet buzz of corruption deep in their minds silenced, and for the first time in an eternity, they were allowed to rest.