AN: I forgot to mention last chapter that updates will be Monday and Thursday. Also, this fic should end up being 9 chapters long.
Anyhow, please enjoy:
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Cal quickly realized that he had no idea where he was going.
The fortress' sprawling platforms and twisting halls, visible through the ocean gloom and transparasteel windows, were an impenetrable labyrinth, and Cal wondered how he had ever managed to find the holocron during his first visit.
Passing one patrolling stormtrooper after another, Cal didn't dare stop and ask for directions. Not only because he was sure that most of them recognized him as a recent prisoner, but also because he rankled at the idea of acting like just another imperial employee, lost and somewhat confused on his first free day in the fortress.
After wandering for what felt like forever, Cal did let himself notice some differences in the way that the Force roiled and rolled on the air. Some places were heavy with dread, others cool and desolate.
But one place felt dangerous.
Not dangerous like the dojo, with its fervent and adrenaline-soaked walls. Dangerous in the way that promised a glimpse of a monster lurking in its lair, of a slow and creeping threat.
Remembering that creature that had so easily thrown Cere from the platform and to the lava flows far below, Cal stopped, trying not to let a whisper of fear reach him as he reached out through the Force.
This energy was different. Evil to be sure, but not the planet-shattering power that was the beast in black.
Huffing, Cal followed the twists and flows in the Force until he came to a short walkway that ended in a set of double doors.
"Dramatic…" Cal couldn't help but mutter to himself as he walked down the clear walled hallway, thermal vents letting out plumes of iron and lava stone into the bubbling waters just outside.
Approaching the door, he looked for a control panel. Though he found nothing, he wasn't surprised to find that they slid open as he came near.
The room beyond the doors was dim. Solid doomed with no hint as to the boiling waters just on the other side. The sole light came from guides set into the ground near the bottom of the walls.
"Ah. Cal Kestis," the slender and gray pau'an Cal recognized as the Grand Inquisitr stood in the middle of a mostly bare room, "Enter."
Knowing that the invitation was far more a command, Cal immediately went on guard as he stepped into the room.
Expecting some cheap trick like a moving floor panel or some danger dangling from the ceiling, Cal was made even more suspicious when he found no hidden dangers.
The Grand Inquisitor noticed, "Searching for traps. Do you really think we would stoop to something to gauche?"
His voice was smoother in person than over hologram, though the corrupted glow to the Grand Inquisitor's eyes was somehow even more unnerving. Offput and slightly intimidated at first, Cal tried to cling to some amount of bravado as he replied with a simple, "…yeah."
Taking note that the Jedi hadn't completely been beaten into submission, the Grand Inquisitor quickly abandoned the idea of coaxing out Cal's version of events from Kashyyyk. Instead, he looked the boy up and down before lazily strolling to the side of the room.
Cal stiffened, noting that the floor seemed a slightly different color.
The Grand Inquisitor, as relaxed as he looked, kept his senses carefully tuned to Cal's reactions. Thinking through the best ways to manipulate the tinge of fear that lingered around the boy, he came to a stop at the far end of the lighter section of the floor – a sparring mat.
"In lieu of a trap, how about a sparring match?"
Pretty sure that's also just a trap. Cal quickly thought, keeping the sarcastic comment to himself.
"Perhaps to spar is the wrong word," the pau'an said when Cal didn't have a reply, "A demonstration is more apt. I've been so curious as to how you killed the Ninth Sister."
Locking his jaw to hide a grimace, Cal tried not to think of that dual at the top of the Life Tree.
"I'd be fun to bring you in," the Ninth Sister's final words echoed through Cal's mind regardless, "Watch you crack like the rest of us! Just wait till the isolation! Torture! Mutilation! Your friends! You can't stop the Empire!"
And then he'd thrown her from the tree. At the time exhilarated instead of tormented by the death, Cal told himself that the Ninth Sister had been wrong. That he would never let the Empire hurt his friends.
And when I needed them the most, they left me with the Empire…
"I did what I had to do." Cal tried to stop the intrusive thoughts, speaking for his own sake.
But the Grand Inquisitor heard him, "Show me what that was, exactly."
Looking back up at the man he had almost begun to ignore, Cal hid another grimace. Not one of shame this time, but one of a biting irritation. Not quite anger, but perilously close.
"Go on."
Fine, Cal harshly thought as he took up a position at the opposite end of the sparring mat, if he really wants to do this.
The Grand Inquisitor looked at Cal expectantly, his own weapon still hanging on his belt, "When you're ready."
Trying and failing not to feel a creeping annoyance at the whole scenario, Cal ignited both blades of his saber before settling into a defensive open stance, He's up to something…
"Form five? Odd choice for a dual blade." The Grand Inquisitor examined Cal's stance, noting the one-hand-over, one-hand-under way he held the hilt, along with the wide placement of his feet, "with a reverse grip as well. Interesting approach."
Cal wasn't here for a lecture, especially not one that sounded like a researcher observing an experimental subject. Saying nothing, he watched the Grand Inquisitor settle into his own opening stance.
Right arm held wide, the inquisitor had a single red blade at his side. Wide-open, and all but beckoning an attack, the stance almost reminded Cal of Trilla when she held her staff partially behind her. As Cal's eyes locked with the Grand Inquisitor's, the other man's left arm went neatly folded behind his back, an obvious way to tell Cal that he was no real threat.
"You may begin." The Grand Inquisitor spoke with a smooth and over assured tone.
Already annoyed by every ounce of the Grand Inquisitor's demeanor, Cal breathed deep.
And then he struck.
Nearly leaping across the mat, Cal ran, propelled to a blur by the Force.
Small movements, barely flickers of the Grand Inquisitor's burning red blade, perfectly caught and deflected Cal's quick attacks.
"Typical method of closing the distance between us." The Inquisitor mused.
Dropping into a familiar pattern, Cal suddenly twisted the center of his dual blade. Bringing the two separate sabers down.
Eyes wide for a fraction of a second the Grand Inquisitor tipped his blade to the side, batting against Cal's right saber. Ready for a second hit from the opposite direction as the Grand Inquisitor whipped his blade back up to defend, Cal bore right.
Only to be hit from the opposite direction, his attack suddenly pushed wide and too far to recover from.
Caught off guard for a split second, the Grand Inquisitor had activated a second blade, turning his saber into a staff much like Trilla's, and smoothly transitioning into a sweeping defense as he felt a shift in Cal's stance.
Seeing his opponent almost off-balance, the inquisitor let his blade bounce off of Cal's, flourishing it to disguise his movements before passing the hilt to his non-dominant hand and attacking from Cal's weakened side.
"Anticipate my actions, no opponent will wait while you hack them to pieces." The inquisitor told Cal as the younger man took a wide step to prevent falling from the unexpected blow.
"Stop acting like this is the Temple training room!" Cal half grunted half shouted as he quickly made a second charge, recklessly swinging his blade down.
"The Fortress serves the same purpose." The Grand Inquisitor answered without a hint of strain in his voice as he flawlessly parried the blow.
Years more experience left the inquisitor to smoothly sidestep Cal's attack, lightsabers hissing against each other as the pau'an stepped within Cal's defense.
Proving a deadly point, the Grand Inquisitor brought his free hand over to lay a heavy punch against the side of Cal's chest.
Losing his breath and stifling a cough, Cal barely made out the Grand Inquisitor's next bit of a lecture.
"You rely too much on surprise and brute force." He said, once again tucking his left hand behind his back and holding his now dual blade wide to the side, "The dual blade naturally lends itself to form six. You show hints of it, but you're unrefined. Sloppy."
Expecting a lightning-fast charge while he was winded, Cal reset himself to a defensive stance.
"And back to form five." The Grand Inquisitor noted, dropping the pretense of a fight as he stood straight, "At least get the footing correct. Push your right foot forward, turn your left toe inward by five degrees."
He can't be serious, Cal thought as he watched the Grand Inquisitor.
The older man made no move to attack and instead looked at Cal expectantly. Suspecting a trap, but not sensing none, Cal kept a close eye on his adversary as he modified his stance.
He would never admit it, but this stance was more solid than the last.
"Much better." The Inquisitor told Cal.
"Are you going to attack me or not?" Cal called out, knowing better than to assume there was no danger here.
"I learned everything I needed to know." He answered as he deactivated his saber.
Technique notwithstanding, Cal was sure that he was faster than the Grand Inquisitor. But, still keeping on guard and not venturing any closer, Cal held onto his still-activated weapon. He knew he would regret asking, but curiosity got to him as he asked, "Which was?"
"That you never formally completed your training. And that your old master relied on a longer than usual reach and greater than usual strength in battle. You don't have the physique for either, but that is what you learned, so that is what you use."
"Master Topal taught me everything I needed to know." Cal indignantly replied
"You closed almost the entire floor, yet stopped short so that you had to extend your blade into an easily deflected position." The Grand Inquisitor coolly pointed out.
Stopping himself before he gave the Grand Inquisitor anything else to poke at, Cal bit his tongue.
Seeing the gesture as much as he sensed the young man's guard going up, the Grand Inquisitor decided to poke at a different weak point. Keeping his blade in hand, and senses sharp in case Cal decided to lash out, he took a few slow strides across the sparring mat.
Coming to a stop only a few feet away, he watched Cal almost shift his corrected stance back to the one that was a bad habit.
"The fight is over, but I do request one more demonstration." the Grand Inquisitor slowly brought up his saber. Keeping it deactivated, he held it flat in front of himself, as if offering the weapon to Cal.
Remembering the stark terror that had flooded over him the last time he'd touched an inquisitor's saber, Cal eyed the Grand Inquisitor's offer with deep suspicion.
The Grand Inquisitor sensed as much, "Your records indicate that you're gifted with psychometry."
Cal grit his teeth, still holding a lit blade "You mean, Trilla told you."
"She wrote the record." He corrected.
Unamused, Cal looked back down at the lightsaber.
"Go on." The Grand Inquisitor shook the blade slightly, "Tell me about myself."
It can't be worse than anything I've already been through… Curiosity getting the better of him, Cal switched off his weapon, and I do want to know who this guy is.
Lowering his own, Cal reached for the saber.
Hours, days, weeks passed by in a blur, each one more desperate and grueling than the last.
A temple guard kept to his post. A silent sentinel, sworn to protect the order even as Coruscant burned.
It was dreadful. It was exhausting. It was everything he'd trained for.
And it nearly destroyed him.
Wave after wave of clone troopers advanced on the temple steps. One charge cut down after another by the lone guard's golden blade, slowly they ran out of clones to send. Or the military at least grew bored of him.
Starving, alone. No hope of recontact from a council that he knew to be dead, the lone guard resigned himself to his fate.
Until a great shadow crossed his path.
The vision became muddled, the night-time lights of Coruscant blurring into a whirl of dots and lines as Cal drifted back into the present. He heard nothing of what was said between the guard and the shadow, only sensing that the shade brought a fowl and corrupting force with it.
And then the vision was gone.
"You were a temple guard." The realization came out of Cal's mouth as if it were an accusation while he belatedly thought, That explains why everyone trains with dual blades.
"Most impressive," The Grand Inquisitor muttered, his approval enough to make Cal's skin crawl.
Dropping the blackened saber, Cal took a quick step back.
The Grand Inquisitor didn't mind, commanding his weapon to zip back into his outstretched hand as he said, "You should work to hone your talent, it would serve you well."
"It's not like that," Cal talked back, "The visions just happen."
"Anything can be perfected." The older man quickly replied. "or at least improved. Speaking of, I have tasks for you."
Why am I not surprised, Cal dryly thought as he let the Grand Inquisitor continue talking.
"First you'll go find a change of clothes, dressing like a stormtrooper is beneath us."
Cal hid a flinch at the word 'us'. Sure that he knew exactly how the clothes he could find in the fortress would look, he also tried to hide a sinking feeling of dread.
Not reacting to the silence that Cal let fester, the Grand Inquisitor went on, "Then you will have to prove your mettle here at the Fortress."
Recovering from the revelation that one of his worse fears would surely be realized, Cal looked for and tried to cling to a little bit of defiance, "So?"
"We have reports of a Jedi." The Grand Inquisitor spoke with a sinister edge.
Sure that he already knew the answer, Cal tried to hold onto a thread of rebellion, "What do you want me to do about it?"
The Grand Inquisitor didn't care for the haughty tone. Voice deathly cold, he spoke plainly, not needing to stoop to simple threats to convey what a dangerous game Cal was playing, "Find them-"
Cal braced himself for what he already knew was coming.
"-And kill them."
