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Ghosts of Dathomir
"We're here," Kanan said.
"We're late," Damian said, setting his feet down and standing. "They've already started."
"Started what?" Kanan asked.
"They've contacted the Nightsisters," Damian said.
"Wait, I thought the Nightsisters all died," Sabine said.
"That's the problem," Damian said. "They did."
Sabine and Kanan shared a confused look as Ahsoka set the shuttle down and opened the ramp. Damian walked out of the shuttle and instantly felt the planet stir beneath his feet. The thick red mist that seemed to cover the planet began to swirl around him slightly.
"Let's go," Damian said, running away from the ship, the other three following.
They ran toward a cave, no one questioning how Damian knew where to go. They just accepted that he did, and when Sabine checked on her tracker, he was right. After a moment, they ran into a cave, finding a pair of green silhouettes made from smoke flying around the room.
"Ezra!" Kanan shouted.
"Kanan, Sabine, stay back!" Ezra warned.
"Pay our dues!" one of the ghosts ordered in a raspy voice.
One shot down at Damian but he focused, a light shining from his hand and the specter shrieked in pain, retreating from him. The other swiped a hand and sent several bottles flying at him. He waved a hand and they deflected into the wall. Then, Sabine screamed as a specter shot out of the ground and grabbed her, rapidly invading her body.
"Sabine!" Ezra shouted.
Kanan caught her when she collapsed and the second specter shot toward her, only for Damian to hold his hand out, light shining from his hand again. However, when the specter retreated from Kanan, it instead shot after Ahsoka, who moved to flee, only for it to grab her ankle, sinking into her instantly.
"Shit," Damian sighed. "Kanan, get away from her."
Kanan looked at him in confusion, so he sighed irritably, yanking Kanan to them with the Force. Sabine and Ahsoka walked to the alter and knelt for a moment before standing again.
"Ezra!" Maul snapped as he took several steps forward. "Stay back."
"Listen to Maul, Ezra," Damian said. "That's not Sabine and Ahsoka right now."
"Sabine?" Ezra asked, ignoring Damian, until he used the Force to drag Ezra away from Sabine as Ezra reached out for her.
Suddenly, both opened their eyes, Sabine opening fire at Ezra with her blasters as Ahsoka drew her lightsabers and lunged, beginning to slash at Damian rapidly, Damian fending her off with his own lightsaber.
"What's going on?" Kanan asked as he helped Ezra deflect Sabine's blaster bolts, both backing away from her.
"I'll give you two guesses, and it rhymes with 'they're possessed,'" Damian said, kicking Ahsoka back. "Both of you need to get out of here. Let me handle this."
"No way!" Ezra said. "I'm not leaving Sabine!"
"Come!" Maul said. "I will show you how to save your friends!"
"Ignore him," Damian said. "I know how to save them. I can see the connection."
"What connection!?" Ezra said.
Damian paused to deflected a particularly savage string of blows from Ahsoka before Force Pushing her backward, Ahsoka flipping and landing on her feet. "Just leave, Ezra!"
"Tell me how to save Sabine!" Ezra said.
"Fine!" Damian said. "The alter is the source of their power! We have to cleanse it! Can you do that?"
"I don't know how!" Ezra said.
"Then leave it to me!" Damian snapped, just before Ahsoka's foot crashed into his gut and she turned, leaping at Kanan, who turned barely fending her off.
Damian stood, yanking her to him with the Force, and she spun, slashing at him. He ducked out of the way and turned, once again fending off her blades with his own.
"Look, I'm not leaving without Sabine!" Ezra said. "If you're going to do something, do it now!"
Damian growled in annoyance and shoved both Ahsoka and Sabine with the Force, sending both bouncing across the cave. As Sabine stood, she held her hand out, a tendril of green smoke shooting out of it and wrapping around an oddly-shaped lightsaber hilt off to one side, pulling it back to her before she extended a black lightsaber blade with a white aura and an extended tanto-point.
"Oh, now that's fancy," Damian said.
She leapt at Ezra and he began to fend her off, backpedaling rapidly. Damian turned to help, only to spin back, fending Ahsoka off again. Finally, he extended his second blade in time to block both blades from above and set his hand on her forehead, a flash of light going off and sending the ghost exploding out of her back. He caught Ahsoka as she collapsed and turned, sending her to Kanan with the Force.
"Take her and run, Kanan!" Damian said.
He caught her and hesitated before turning to flee. Ezra, who was struggling to fend off Sabine, glanced at Damian as he picked up Ahsoka's lightsabers and clipped them to his belt.
"Ezra, go with him," Damian said. "The Nightsisters' spirits can't leave the cave."
"I told you, I'm not leaving without Sabine!" Ezra said.
"I didn't tell you to," Damian said. "I just said the spirit can't leave the cave."
"Oohh," Ezra said, blocking Sabine's blade.
Then, he shoved her and turned to run. Sabine turned to attack Damian instead, but Damian swiped a hand and sent her toward the exit from the cave.
"Ezra, catch her with the Force and carry her!" Damian called after them.
Ezra took off sprinting instantly. Damian turned back to the altar as green smoke began to billow from it, a dozen ghosts forming before the one possessing Sabine returned a moment later.
"We are owed a debt of flesh and blood!" one of the ghosts shrieked.
"Declare bankruptcy, then," Damian said before shining white lightning exploded from his hand onto the altar, which shone blindingly instantly.
The ghosts all shrieked in pain and dismay and shot toward him, only to fade before they could get there. Then, the altar exploded, demolishing the far side of the room. Damian turned to leave, picking up the fancy lightsaber on the way before walking to the exit from the cave, finding the others waiting, Ahsoka refusing to allow Ezra back into the cave.
"Here," Damian said, passing her lightsabers to her.
"Thanks," she smiled.
"Now, you two, on the other hand, Damian said, looking to both Ezra and Kanan, "are both going to explain here and now, why you refused to do what I said."
"Well...it's just...I didn't want to abandon Sabine," Ezra said. "It was my fault she was in danger, so I wanted to help her."
"That's fair," Damian said. "However, I told you multiple times to let me handle it, and you refused. We'll work on that. Kanan?"
"I told you, I didn't want to bother your family," Kanan said.
"I'm not talking about that," Damian said. "I told both of you to leave the cave, and neither of you did. Ezra gave his reason at the time. You remained silent. Then when I asked you to get Ahsoka out of the cave where she'd be safe, you almost didn't. You didn't trust me. Why?"
Kanan was silent for a moment before sighing heavily. "You've been asleep for a week. And then you wake up and you act like suddenly you know everything, and all of a sudden you just happen to know all this super detailed information about stuff you shouldn't know anything about."
"You do understand that I basically have a God of Mortis living inside of me, right?" Damian asked. "That's why I'm so powerful. I am both the descendent of the Mother, and her host. Because of that, and after whatever happened on Felucia to strengthen that connection, I can sense things about the Force that I wouldn't otherwise know. because the Mother is a manifestation of the Force. She is the Force. I'm sorry that I can't explain exactly how I know everything I do. Can you explain exactly when and where you learned to speak?"
"What's with you today?" Kanan asked. "You've been in a horrible mood all day."
"Oh, you mean like I'm grouchy and tired from having just woken up from a week-long coma borne of having expended massive amounts of energy to fight a Dark Side user that was as strong as Vader?" Damian asked. "And then about an hour and a half after I wake up, I get told Ezra's hallucinating a former Sith Lord, but instead of coming to ask for advice from Ahsoka and Barriss, both of whom know a lot more about the Force than you, at which point you would have realized I was awake and I could have fixed this as it was, instead you took him to Bendu, knowing that Maul might show up and take Ezra, so you put a tracking device on his wrist comm. So then, instead of just using the Force to sever their connection and call it a day, I had to come to this goddamn place where I see images of death and I can feel the pain of the Nightsisters' massacre every time I blink, and I had to fight against my own wife because she got possessed by a ghost while helping clean up your mess! Is that a good enough reason for me to be in a bad mood!?"
"You put a tracker in my wrist comm?" Ezra asked.
"We needed a way to track Maul so we could be there if you needed us," Kanan said.
"Or you could have just trusted me to handle it!" Ezra said. "I would have been fine if you hadn't shown up and given them more people to possess! We could have escaped the cave and just left them there!"
"Can we leave, please?" Ahsoka asked. "We can discuss this in the ship, but being here is just going to make things worse for Damian. He needs rest and be off this planet."
The other three nodded and they returned to the Phantom Two, flying away from Dathomir as Damian began to meditate, ignoring Ezra and Kanan arguing about whether or not Kanan trusted Ezra.
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