Kanan is screaming, but he makes no sound.
He'd known something was wrong with the planet since he and Sabine came out of hyperspace and he felt the sickening energy it carried. It was the Force and yet not the Force, dark and yet not dark, and it made Kanan's stomach twist. It certainly hadn't helped when Sabine checked the star charts and found the planet was Dathomir. Kanan had heard the stories, and he had heard the warnings. He knew Dathomir was not a planet to visit unprepared.
But Ezra was there, so Kanan had to go too.
And so he went, and he followed Ezra's signal into the cave, and the Force was swamped with a sickly energy he didn't understand, and Sabine's presence warped into something wrong, and then-
And then-
Kanan is screaming, but he makes no sound.
He's drowning in the mist, choking on it, trying to fight it even as it permeates every inch of his body. He's vaguely aware of his body moving, walking, kneeling, but none of that is under his control. He draws his lightsaber and attacks, but that's not under his control either.
There is a voice in his head, a voice that whispers, we will bring back the Nightsisters, we will be reborn, we were promised flesh and blood and you will do nicely. Kanan wants to shake his head, wants to vow he'll never help them, wants to yell at them to get out get out get out, but he can't. His body is no longer his own.
He reaches out for the Force desperately, but even that is just beyond his reach. The Force on this planet is slightly off anyway in a way that made it a bit harder for him to access before, and now, he stands no chance. He can feel things, vaguely, but nothing more than that. He only has an impression of what's going on around him.
He still knows when his lightsaber clashes with Ezra's, and he screams, but it does no good.
The fight with Ezra is short, and then Kanan is aware of his body walking deeper into the cave, towards a spot where the dark side of the Force converges in a way that makes him sick. That's exactly where his body goes, of course, kneeling in the very heart of the convergence.
We will be reborn, and you will call our spirits back, the voice in his head whispers, and Kanan only has an instant to be very, very afraid before his mind is cracked open, and a wash of green drowns him again. It's even worse than last time, even stronger, and he knows that whatever spirit is possessing him has called on more of its kind. He hopes that Ezra stays away, that Sabine is able to break free and leave as well. He doesn't think he'll be able to break free on his own. The voice likes how open he is to the Force, relishes the way he can touch it so easily, and coos over how useful a body he makes. He doesn't think the spirit will let him go without a fight, and he's not sure that's a fight he can win.
Then, he feels Ezra again.
Go, he wants to beg, go, get out of here, leave me and save yourself, please. He knows Ezra won't, though. Ezra will never leave him, not so long as he lives. He's proven that already, time and time again.
And as Kanan draws his lightsaber and attacks Ezra, he hopes desperately that won't be the death of him.
"I know you're in there!" he's vaguely aware of Ezra yelling. "I'm not losing you to these monsters!"
I'm here! Kanan wants to cry. I'm here, and I'm telling you to let me go. Lose me to the monsters, that's fine, just get out. Don't make me kill you, Ezra, I couldn't bear it.
But he doesn't kill Ezra. He doesn't win the fight. Ezra throws him, and he loses his lightsaber and falls. Ezra stands over him, and he bargains with the spirit and wins.
The mist rises, and Kanan can breathe again.
He falls back, reeling from the sudden freedom, and Ezra's hands heave him to his feet. "Ezra," he grunts, trying to keep his legs steady underneath him. The voice speaks again, but it's not in his head this time, it's echoing from all around him, and it's demanding Ezra.
Ezra is brave, and Kanan knows he'll stay and fight, and he knows that's a bad idea but he can't think quite straight enough to put it into words. They stagger away a few steps, and Ezra tells him to leave, but Kanan isn't sure he could make it all the way out of the cavern even if he wanted to. There's also the fact that he vehemently doesn't want to; he's not about to leave Ezra here alone. He may not be able to do much right now, but he'll do all he can.
The voice speaks again, and Kanan tries to keep himself from shivering.
And then Ezra does… something? Kanan still can't quite read his surroundings through the Force properly, but there's a surge of energy, and an explosion, and the voice screams-
And then everything goes quiet.
Kanan finds himself leaning against a rock, not quite sure how he got there. He's breathing heavily, and he still can't quite connect to the Force the way he usually does, but he pushes that aside when he hears footsteps rush towards him and Ezra cries, "Kanan? I'm here."
Kanan may not be able to connect to the Force as much as usual, but he can still feel Ezra, and he knows he's upset and scared. He needs normalcy right now, and he needs for Kanan to be alright, so Kanan makes his best attempt at pretending that's the case. Sabine returns, sounding blessedly normal, and Ezra helps Kanan to his feet.
"Well, was it worth it?" Kanan asks, still breathing a bit harder than usual. "Did you find out what you wanted to know?"
"Yes," Ezra says with determination. "The answer to my question of how to destroy the Sith is Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"You think he's still alive?" Kanan asks, unable to help the way his voice goes small and tentative. He'd thought he was the last Jedi left, after Ahsoka's death, but perhaps…
"He must be," Ezra says. "But Kanan, Maul's also looking for him."
"So he knows where he is now?" Kanan asks. He thinks he remembers hearing about some sort of grudge between Master Kenobi and Darth Maul, back before the fall of the Republic, but he never knew any details. If Maul tracks him down…
"The holocron didn't tell us that," Ezra corrects. "It just told us a planet with two suns."
"Well, that hardly narrows it down," Sabine remarks.
"Well, we're gonna have to figure it out," Kanan says, "because if we don't find Master Kenobi before Maul…"
"There won't be any way to stop the Sith," Ezra finishes.
To be entirely honest, this is more than Kanan can really deal with right now. He's still reeling from the possession, and now he's reeling from Ezra's information, and he's really only barely able to keep it together. He starts walking back to the Phantom - or at least, he hopes it's the right direction; the Force is still a bit too slippery to fully rely on - and hears Ezra fall in step next to him. A moment later, he hears Sabine jogging to catch up with them, and normally he'd ask her if she's alright, but if he's going to stay upright and walking, he needs to focus on that. He'll ask her later.
They make it to the ship, and Ezra goes to the front to pilot it. Kanan gratefully sinks into one of the back seats, and Sabine sits down in another. Kanan can feel in the Force that she's a bit jittery and on edge, and he wishes he could help, but he's not in any position to comfort anyone right now. If Hera is there when they get back to base, he'll tell her to check on Sabine, and maybe, if he needs it, he'll ask her if she can stay with him while he puts himself back together. Maybe he'll even ask her to help.
But for now, Kanan sits in the back of the Phantom, and he breathes, and the further they get from Dathomir, the better he feels. He does his best to forget the sensation of being controlled, to cleanse his body of any remaining wisps of mist, to stop remembering the voice that whispered in his ear. He does his best to heal.
He really, really hopes he never has to go back to Dathomir again.
