Author's Note: Just to clarify a few things, I'm estimating this story will end up being around 20-30 chapters total, and I will be writing it alongside V5.
Malachor I - Outer Rim Territories
3rd person POV...
A tall and imposing figure, injured from the destruction of the Sith temple, stumbles his way out of the dark caverns below and onto the flat surface of ground above. Smoke billows around him, some of the Sith pillars cracked and broken, but he paid attention to none of that. He walks with a limp, pausing for a brief moment as he thinks about what happened, about whether or not she is truly dead. There's no reason for him to suspect otherwise: he would've likely died in that explosion as well had the floor not collapsed underneath him, and yet...
And yet he still doesn't know.
He growls, the faint shimmer of blue in his exposed eye fiercely returning to seething yellow as he continues on. Whatever fate became of her and that other man, it is of little consequence to Vader. He knows there is no logical way for her to have survived, nor can he sense her presence, which must be a confirmation of that. She did not truly care for him, she only cared for the Jedi, and so she will receive no care from him in return. Another chapter of the Jedi's past is now gone, buried in the ruins of the temple, leaving him free to hunt down and destroy the other Jedi that escaped him, namely Shan and Jade.
On one of the broken pillars nearby sat a green and white owl, gazing at the injured Sith Lord in sadness and disappointment. Morai then takes flight, letting out a long cry as she soars back down through the smoke-covered hole Vader emerged from and to the lower side of the ruined temple. Looking through the Force she could see the soft silvery glow of her chosen, walking alongside that of her beloved, who gave off a more golden glow: though together physically they were still not truly one due to their fractured bond with each other.
The two come to a stop before the doorway of the temple and look up to see Morai flying over in their direction, also pausing in the air above them.
"Morai... where do we go from here?" Ahsoka asks.
Morai chirps at them, gesturing with a twitch of her head towards the triangular doorway, and then flies down into the dark tunnel.
"I suppose that's our answer," Jarik murmurs.
Together, the two enter the temple and make their way down the dark stairway, wondering what could await them in the darkness.
Jarik POV...
Inside the ruined structure of the temple there's very little natural light shining down to help us see, and while that's not necessarily a problem for us as Jedi, it's still preferable to be able to visually make out our surroundings, especially in a place like Malachor that is shrouded in the dark side of the Force, possibly trying to confuse our senses. Seeing as I still have no blades of my own Ahsoka is lending me one of hers, and with her white blades illuminating the darkness we make our way through the temple. Up ahead we can hear the sound of Morai chirping, waiting for us to catch up before moving on, something she's been doing for a while now.
"Any idea where she might be leading us?" I ask Ahsoka.
"What makes you think I know?" she asks in reply.
"Because you carry her spirit within you," I point out.
"Good point," she admits.
We continue on in silence for a short while, walking down another short staircase. I look around the black stone walls, seeing words in ur-Kittât written along it every once in a while. If I reach out through the Force with my mind, I can just barely detect the lingering presence of the Infinity Stone somewhere down at the roots of the temple: it's considerably less noticeable now, no longer active the same way it was when it destroyed the temple, but its eerie cries still linger.
"How did you lose your lightsabers?" Ahsoka suddenly asks me.
I look at her and then spare a glance over my shoulder, where I'm still carrying the bag containing my broken lightsabers and Jedi attire, and let out a small sigh.
"I still have them with me, but they were destroyed about two, maybe three months ago," I tell her.
She looks expectantly at me, and I continue.
"You remember Elita One? The Cybertronian trapped underneath the island?" I ask.
Ahsoka frowns for a second, nodding in recognition.
"About a year ago, Mara and I managed to free her. She'd been trapped there in some form of stasis, close to death, for six thousand years," I say, much to her surprise.
"Six thousand years?" she asks in bewilderment. "How did that happen?"
"It's somewhat of a long story, but... in summary, her people are in a civil war, and while in our galaxy she was tracked to Ahch-To by the Decepticons, her enemies," I explain. "Mara and I freed her, and while she was searching for a way back to her planet she decided to help us fight the Empire for a short while. But as luck would have it, the Decepticons figured out she was still alive, and eventually their big bad, Megatron, showed up to kill her."
"Hmm..." Ahsoka furrows her brow, giving me a knowing, and uneasy, look. "Don't tell me you actually fought this 'Megatron' on your own!"
I give her a sheepish expression and she sighs in exasperation.
"Only you would be crazy enough to do that..." she replies. "Is that why your sabers were broken?"
I hum in confirmation, rubbing my left arm.
"My prosthetic was destroyed too," I add. "If it wasn't for Kira's boyfriend, I'd probably be lacking an arm still."
"Kira?" Ahsoka asks, confused. "Who is Kira?"
I blink my eyes in realization and give her a side glance, heaving another sigh.
"Oh... this is big news," I murmur, unsure of where to start explaining, and she narrows her eyes at me. "A lot has really happened... or, I guess will happen. Kira is... well, she's my cousin."
"Your cousin?" she repeats, gaping at me in surprise. "You have a cousin?!"
"A Mandalorian cousin, to be specific," I add, watching her reaction.
Ahsoka stops walking out of astonishment, and I come to a stop as well. She's looking at me with an intense gaze, pondering what I'm telling her.
"How?" she asks, confused. "You're descended from Revan, so how would you have Mandalorian family?"
"I can thank my father for that," I tell her. "He was once a Mandalorian warrior that fought in the civil war. Some time after that he met my mother. They fell in love... and had me. And he was banished for it."
I can't help but feel a bit saddened at the reminder of my parents, and the hardships they went through all because I'm their son. Ahsoka stands next to me and places a comforting hand on my shoulder with a reassuring gaze, smiling softly, and I acknowledge her with a smile of my own.
"So... are you saying that you resolved the conflict between your family and Mandalore?" she deduces hopefully.
"It wasn't easy, but... I did," I tell her, a small grin forming on my face. "I think you'll be happy to know that Bo-Katan became the new ruler of Mandalore."
She raises a brow at me.
"Really?" she asks.
"Really. Just this past month," I nod in confirmation. "Or... technically, over two years from now."
We share a small moment of laughter with each other, though Ahsoka's amusement soon fades away into sadness and unease. She looks at her lightsaber, then down the dark tunnel ahead, and I eye her in concern.
"Two years..." she murmurs quietly. "There's so much I've missed..."
I watch her closely with an uneasy gaze, a bit worried.
"...you and Mara thought I was gone, all that time," she says with sorrow.
"Ahsoka, don't blame yourself for that," I tell her.
"I'm the one that decided to stay, Jarik, so that I could..." she falters, voice breaking slightly. "...so that I could save him, but... it was all for nothing."
"Maybe, but what happened to him is not your fault," I insist firmly. "Ahsoka, you were able to do something that I couldn't have done- that I can't do. And you're all the stronger for it."
"But it hurt you, hurt us, and Mara, and everyone else," she responds guiltily. "I still couldn't save him. And because I stayed, our bond was shattered and you all had to go on for years thinking I was dead."
"And now we know otherwise," I point out. "Yes, it hurt, and I've done some things these last few years I regret doing, but we still persisted. Because we have hope for a better future."
I reach out to gently lay a hand on her cheek, directing her gaze up at me.
"You said that you believed we would see each other again," I remind her. "Well... we did."
She smiles at me in gratitude, her eyes watering up a bit, and she wraps her arms around me in a hug, laying her head against my shoulder. I return the embrace and soothingly rub her back in comfort. Even though our bond is broken, leaving us less able to connect to each other through the Force, everything else is still the same for us... I've seriously missed this. After a short while we separate from each other and Ahsoka wipes the tears from her eyes, smiling at me.
"You always say I'm wiser than you, but are you sure that's true?" she asks me.
"Yes, I'm sure," I tell her.
"I don't know, you've got an extra two years on me," she disagrees.
"Doesn't matter. You're the foundation of my wisdom," I reply, a small grin forming on my face. "Now that you mention it... I'm actually now older than you, Sweetie Horns, so that means you'll have to come up with a new nickname."
"Oh, really?" she says, narrowing her eyes with a frown. "Huh. But it suits you so well."
"Too bad. I'm not the little one anymore," I state triumphantly.
"Well that's where I'm going to have to disagree with you, Little Jari," she retorts.
"And why's that?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.
"You might be older now, but mentally you're still a child," she shrugs casually.
Ahsoka resumes walking through the corridor with a teasing grin on her face and I follow after her with a frown.
"Oh come on, that's absurd," I scoff, shaking my head.
"But I thought you said I'm the wise one!" she gasps in mock-disbelief, looking innocently at me.
I stare dryly at her, unamused.
"You're impossible, Ahsoka," I deadpan.
"It's just a lady's charm," she says sweetly in reply.
"More like vexing," I retort.
Ahsoka rolls her eyes at me in exasperation and I allow myself a small smile of amusement, and we continue on. Eventually we come across a more open chamber in the temple, with several stone pillars throughout connecting to the room. The strangest thing about this room is that it is filled with perfectly clear water that seems to be about waist-deep, and along the floor underneath it seems to be some sort of shimmering reflection creating ambient light that goes down the chamber like a pathway.
"Well, this is interesting..." I comment.
"It seems we have to cross this room," Ahsoka says.
I look over at where she was pointing her lightsaber to see Morai perched on a broken pillar, seemingly like a glow of light in the darkness despite not giving off any illumination herself. She sits quietly, observing us with a thoughtful gaze.
"I guess so," I reply.
We both shut off our sabers, casting us in mostly darkness once more, though the strange illumination from below the water is still providing enough light for us to see our surroundings without much difficulty. I take a few cautious steps forward to the water, shivering in response to the cold chill running up my feet and ankles upon making contact with the water. Other than that, however, it wasn't bad at all... just plain regular water, surprisingly enough. No Sith magic about it.
"The water is cold. But, it's just water," I tell Ahsoka.
She nods in acknowledgement and moves up beside me, and we both shiver from the cold as we step deeper into the water. With every step we take the water level rises up to our calves, knees, and then reaches its height at waist level.
"I hate the cold," Ahsoka grumbles.
"Says the woman who's never worn sleeves since becoming a Padawan," I tease her.
"Oh, ha ha," she replies sarcastically.
While moving through the cold water of the chamber, following the ambient-lit path, Morai took flight with a quick hoot and flew around once before passing overhead and starts flying down the chamber in front of us, continuing to act as our guide through the temple.
Temple grounds - Malachor I
3rd person POV...
All throughout the tremendous cavern that housed the ancient ash-covered ruins of Malachor's Sith temple, not a sound could be heard except for eerie whistling created by the occasional gust of air blowing through it. The dead, lifeless, empty silence was broken, however, by a ring of orange sparks, momentarily illuminating the dark environment. The sparks fade as two figures quietly move amongst the ruined structures, their gaze fixated on the remains of the pyramid.
"What happened here?" the first woman murmurs.
"There's only one thing that could have caused such destruction..." the other replies softly.
"But it's supposed to be hidden!" she insists.
The dark-haired woman doesn't respond at first, casting her gaze around the ground of the temple in suspicion. She can sense something off... something that seems out of place, and yet... almost familiar in a way.
"We must ensure it still is," she instructs the first. "Others are nearby."
Jarik POV...
It took us a long time to reach the other end of the water-filled chamber, astonishingly so, and by the time the exit came into view I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief—its been over ten minutes since we first entered the room and began to cross it. We were both shivering, the coldness having fully soaked into our lower bodies over the long duration of time. An archway in front of us leads to a stone staircase that goes up, with a small amount of illumination visible from above.
"Looks like that's our exit," I say with a sigh of relief.
I step up onto the stairway, reaching back to help Ahsoka out of the water as well: she was shivering a bit more noticeably, rubbing her arms occasionally, so I wrap an arm around her and hold her a bit closer to help her warm up a little bit, which she acknowledge with a small nod of gratitude. When the top of the stairs comes into view she suddenly stops with a quick gasp, her eyes wide in fear.
"Ahsoka? You okay?" I ask her in concern.
She blinks her eyes quickly and takes in slower breaths, forcing herself to calm down.
"Y-yes, I'm okay," she responds. "I... thought I saw Vader, just now."
I eye her in sympathy and rub her arm reassuringly.
"It's okay. He isn't here," I say gently.
Ahsoka nods back and we resume walking up the stairs.
"It was strange..." she says softly. "His mask was cut open, but instead of his face underneath, I saw myself... walking away from him..."
She trails off into a silence and I don't say anything back, unsure of how to respond other than continue to be a source of comfort for her.
Once we exit the stairwell I look around in slight surprise to see we're on a platform overlooking the ancient ruins surrounding the temple. Like I remember, beams of light shine down from the ceiling for miles around, providing the only illumination for the dark underground. The place we're standing at right now seems to be a balcony of some sort, with a few boulders scattered here and there, and above us stood the structure of the temple, or at least what's left of it. What was once a towering pyramid of powerful Sith architecture is now a crumbling frame, the obelisk chamber completely gone.
"How Vader survived that is beyond me..." I murmur, partially amazed. "And that's saying something."
"I... intended the break the floor underneath him, so that he would be out of harms way from the explosion," Ahsoka says guiltily.
"Don't beat yourself about it," I tell her gently. "He was still a friend."
"Yes... he was," she murmurs in reply, gazing out a the ancient ruins.
After reaching the open platform overlooking the ruins Ahsoka and I realized just how tired we are. We've been moving through the temple for a while now, unsure of our destination, and before that we were in the World Between Worlds and fought the Emperor. I don't think I've slept since before Mara and I left for Lothal, or had anything to eat. Ahsoka though is even more exhausted than I am, something I just now realized―it's only been a few hours for her since we all journeyed here in search of knowledge, and in that time she's faced the Inquisitors, Maul, Vader, and even Sidious, as well as just experienced the pain of our Force bond being broken, not to mention having traversed the temple for hours.
Given everything that's happened we decide to make a camp for ourselves here on this balcony, sheltered by some of the large boulders and stone next to the wall. Ahsoka sat down against the wall with an exhausted sigh and I sit beside her. I start rummaging through my bag, taking out my usual attire, holocron, and the cloth-packaged lightsabers. I set them on the ground between us, which Ahsoka starts to inspect for herself, and continue searching the bag for anything else that might be in it. I empty it out and set the things on the ground, making a face at it all.
"So, we're stuck on Malachor. No ship, no comlink, no source of food for miles, with the only water close by filling up an old Sith tunnel," I start to say, sighing at the ridiculousness of it all. "And all we have available to us is a ration bar and two small stones from the Lothal Jedi Temple."
"Hmph... I think we've had worse scenarios," Ahsoka remarks.
"That's debatable," I mutter in disagreement, and she shrugs.
"Master Yoda said we would find knowledge here," Ahsoka recalls, glancing at me. "Did we?"
I think back for a moment to recall my memories of the Sith holocron with a frown, not entirely pleased about it. Now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure what became of the holocron after I gave it to Shaak Ti. I can only assume it was left behind during the chaos on Atollon, not that the holocron matters anymore.
"We did learn things... but I don't know if that's what he meant," I admit skeptically. "The Sith holocron caused us a lot of issues. It nearly turned Ezra to the dark side, and... nearly turned me as well. It was... a really difficult time."
She looks at me sadly.
"But you persisted, regardless," she points out.
I glance at her with a small smile of acknowledgement, though it fades as I think a bit more.
"Honestly... I'm not sure what Master Yoda meant for us to learn," I murmur.
"There was certainly something," she insists, frowning in thought. "Maybe it was for us?"
"I don't think so. He was talking with Mara and Ezra," I shake my head in disagreement. "Maybe... maybe he wanted us to see this."
At her questioning look, I elaborate a bit more.
"Ezra kept saying he wanted to fight... am I right?" I ask her, and she nods in confirmation. "So, maybe Master Yoda sent us to Malachor so that we would see the cost of fighting. To help the others understand."
Ahsoka nods her head along in agreement.
"That makes sense," she remarks.
We both continue to sit in silence for a little while longer, and Ahsoka takes the moment to look over my broken lightsabers, unwrapping the cloth covering her old one. She looks on in some surprise at seeing how badly it was broken, holding her hand over it with a bit of hesitation before picking up her old kyber crystal, which was dark and lifeless.
"I didn't realize it was this bad..." she murmurs, disheartened. "What happened to the crystal?"
"I don't know," I admit glumly. "That wasn't because the saber broke. Just a couple days ago, your crystal and mine just... lost their energy. There was no reason for it, they just suddenly stopped glowing, as if the Force was completely drained from them."
Ahsoka listens with a trouble expression while inspecting the crystal in her hand, closing her eyes for a few moments.
"I can't sense anything," she tells me uneasily, opening her eyes again. "Do you think it's because our bond is... broken?"
"If that's why, it certainly has the most ridiculous timing," I respond.
She sets the crystal down with the hilt pieces and rewraps it with the cloth covering, setting it back down.
"There has to be a way we can repair our bond, Jarik," Ahsoka says softly. "There has to be."
"Well, Morai fixed it once," I recall. "Maybe she can do it again."
"Maybe," she nods in reply.
We don't say much for several long minutes after that, the only sounds breaking through the empty silence being the occasional whistle of the wind. I soon take notice of how Ahsoka is sitting, her back against the wall and her legs pulled up to her chest, hugging her sides and trembling from the cold. Think for a second, I pick up my Jedi cloak and hold it out to her.
"Here," I say, getting her attention. "This should help."
I help Ahsoka put it on, wrapping it around her shoulders while she slips her arms through the loose sleeves. I pull the edges over to cover her body and shut out the cold, and she murmurs her thanks. She snuggles up against me with a sigh of comfort, resting her head on my shoulder, and I wrap an arm around her to pull her closer too. Though unsure of what the future has in store for us here, we nevertheless drift off to sleep with the knowledge that we'll be able to face it together.
3rd person POV...
The two figures move silently through the dark ruins towards the structure of the temple, following their senses in search of the two unknown beings. The dark-haired woman eventually comes to a stop, prompting the other to do the same.
"What is it?" she asks.
"They're close now," the dark-haired woman says.
The second woman glances up ahead, the dark pupils in her yellow eyes narrowed to thin slits.
"Are they aware of us?" she questions.
"I am unsure," the first murmurs back. "But we must discover their intentions. Come!"
They continue onwards, their movements quick and silent, heading for where they know the two unknown beings to be. Should they be a threat, or someone they're not supposed to be, then they'll have to be cautious in dealing with them.
Author's Note: If you noticed, when writing Jarik and Ahsoka's route through the temple, I took some inspiration from the Topps' cards that Dave Filoni had revealed. :)