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Do your demons
Do they ever let you go?
When you try do they hide deep inside?
Is it someone that you know?
-Dio, “Rainbow in the Dark”
*****
Cere and Greez were discussing what exactly the captain finds appealing about the arena fights when Cal walked back into the cockpit, arriving at the most ill-opportune moment.
BD nudged himself farther into Cere’s leg. She had no idea what had transpired between him and his best friend, only that Greez had stalked into the cockpit with the droid in his arms, angrily muttering, before depositing BD in Cere’s lap. The droid had swiftly hopped off and ducked behind her legs. Cere had tried to ask him what was wrong, but he refused to answer. She knew better than to bother an angry Greez, so she had left it alone for now.
“Yeah, we’re talking pure entertainment,” Greez was saying. “Nothing gets me going more than watching a couple of slubs square off.” He swung his arms around in mock imitations of punches and hits. “Just slick moves and brute force.”
“Captain,” Cere said, “I am slightly troubled by your enthusiasm for something so- “
Cal slid into the copilot’s seat. Cere hesitated briefly before finishing her statement, “ -barbaric.”
“Oh, yeah, I mean… it is.” Greez chuckled, having not realized Cal had entered the room. “True. Totally barbaric. But still… kind of entertaining.”
“Yes,” Cal said. Greez nearly fell out of his seat. A rush of cold ran through Cere at the eerie grin Cal gave the Latero. “Entertaining is the way to describe it.”
Greez pursed his lips, peeled them open to say something, but swiftly spun back to his pilot’s console. “Just get ready to leave hyperspace. We’re here.”
Cal dipped his head, then sat back in the copilot’s seat. Cere’s eyes were trained on his back. Even with her severed connection to the Force, she could still feel the unnatural icy cold radiating off him. She noticed Greez had pressed himself farther into the left side of his seat as well. Even without those without the Force were said to sense the presence of the dark side.
The unnatural cold still called to her, even all these years later. She had locked a part of herself away when she cut herself off from the Force, the dark shadow that beckoned her toward itself, begged for her attention. The sudden shift in Cal scared her so bad because it was what she had once been herself, what she risked becoming whenever she tried to reach back into the warm arms of the light.
Cal turned, as if sensing her gaze. She quickly went back to the comms, pretending to do something productive. Out of the corner of her eye, he turned back.
The Mantis made her way through the clouds of Kashyyyk, over the planet’s forested surface, until she landed in the middle of the Partisans’ camp. As soon as the ship had shut down and the ramp was lowered, Cal stood from his seat.
“Hey,” Greez said. Cal glanced to him, and the captain practically wilted under his gaze. “Hey, uh, just let me know when you want to leave.”
Cal said nothing back as he exited the cockpit, not even bothering to give any attention to Cere.
“I worry about him, you know,” Greez said as Cal’s back disappeared. BD-1 scurried after him.
“I’m sure we both do,” Cere responded stiffly. “Care to give me any new information?”
Greez twiddled with his thumbs. “Before we landed, I- I said some stuff to him. It was real harsh, and I didn’t mean any of it. Well, I meant some of it, but it just goes as general stuff.”
“Like- ?” she prompted, interest piqued.
The thumb twiddling intensified, if that was even possible. “I threatened to send him back to the Empire if he ever drew his fancy little light sword on you again.”
She was torn. Part of her was indignant that he would ever suggest such a thing, as telling Cal when he was in this state was the worst possible option. On the other hand, her fondness of Greez only increased with the statement. Cere had never believed anyone would say such a thing about her, not after everything.
“Do you think he’s going to be okay?” Greez said, drawing Cere from her thoughts.
She could only shrug. “I don’t know. I think he just needs some time.” Time to what exactly? Come to the same conclusion that she had, that cutting himself off from the Force was the only option? That he wasn’t worth anything and that the state he was in was the only thing left for him?
Whatever it was, all she knew was that she couldn’t make the decision for him. Cal had a choice to make, and whatever it was, she could not interfere.
*****
Cal turned at the sound of BD skittering after him. “What?” he demanded rather gruffly as the little droid hopped onto the sofa, then up to the table and chittered at him.
“You want to come along to?” Cal motioned to the open ramp, then at him. “With me?”
Of course, BD responded. No matter what happens, cannot leave you alone.
Cal paused, then let out a disbelieving laugh. “Really?” He stepped over and squatted down by the table so that he was eye-level with BD. The droid moved two steps back, suddenly changing his mind, and Cal swallowed his annoyance. After all, wasn’t it his fault that BD was acting this way? “That confident I can’t take care of myself out there?”
BD did not respond.
Cal sighed. “Hey, look, I’m sorry.” BD’s head tilted like an inquisitive tooka kitten. “There wasn’t any reason for me to yell at you.” He held out his arm. “Think you can put up with me for just a little bit longer?”
A moment’s hesitation, then the droid scurried up his arm and onto his usual place on Cal’s shoulders. The comfortable weight fell back onto Cal, and he stepped down the ramp and out of the ship.
He had not made it but a few steps when an echo from a fallen Partisan helmet drew in his attention. He summoned it into his hand, the echo reaching his mind the instant it touched his fingers.
Normally, I wouldn’t waste my time with the likes of insurgents. Trilla’s voice filled his ears. But I’m looking for an old friend of mine, and I know he’s been here… And for that, all of you will suffer. The cold of death filled his as the hum of a lightsaber passed through his ears. Cal abruptly dropped the helmet.
Wrong? BD asked.
“Nothing.” Cal dusted himself off. He spied Choyyssyk and Mirienna, another of Saw’s Partisans, around the corner of one the ships and made way for them.
The two visibly recoiled at the sight of him. Cal could not find it in himself to even be annoyed by the action. “Four?” Mirienna asked warily. “What- what- “
“Long story,” he said without pretense. “A slight delay in the plans.”
She exchanged a nervous look with Choyyssyk. “It’s gotten dangerous here,” she said, turning back to Cal. “Saw’s already gone. The casualties are just too high.”
“So… you’re leaving?” What little respect he had for Gerrera quickly nosedived into the planet’s core.
“Not all,” she replied with a headshake. “Mari is staying behind with Choyyssyk and Tarfful. Some of our troops went with them.”
“And you?”
“My child has already lost one parent. I can’t stay.”
Mirienna… protect our Sienna…
Cal narrowed his eyes, mildly intrigued. “I am sure young Sienna would like to live in a world with at least one.” He sensed Mirienna’s shock, how she went cold at the mention of her daughter’s name. How often was it that he met the living relatives of the echoes?
“I- how do you know that?”
“I suppose your precious cause has its limits,” Cal continued, brushing her off. “Mari said that you were overrun. Far worse than even I would have thought.”
“It’s always this bad,” Mirienna added, “but there’s still a chance for your quest.”
“I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“But… “Mirienna trailed off, but Cal sensed it as she looked him up and down.
He only offered her a slight grin. “All the rumors and stories, the things you think I’ve done… it was never about the Empire. I know you have that beast that lives inside you. It is just the choice to feed it or let it rest.”
Mirienna pursed her lips, unsure of how to respond. She passed Mari’s location, a place somewhere in Kashyyyk’s Shadowlands, on to Cal before dipping her head and heading out, escorted by Choyyssyk. Cal began his trek to Mari’s location, encountering a fair few Wyyyschokk and Mykal --- a new, bat-like species --- on his way.
In the moments where he wasn’t dueling against one of the creatures, he pondered his new information. First off, he could not help but feel gleeful that they were right not to place too much trust in Gerrera. The man was a radical, and radicals were willing to use whoever or whatever they had at their disposal to reach their goal. There was nothing more important to them than the cause. Cal snorted at the thought. Took one to know one, didn’t it?
Cal sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. A headache was oncoming, and now was probably the worst time for it. They had been common aftereffects of his relapses. He was surprised one had not reared its head earlier. Sinking fully back into the Fourth Brother had to have some greater effect he just had not experienced yet.
Although, that yet seemed to be showing itself soon. Cal winced as his headache suddenly grew in magnitude. The corners of his vision darkened. His ears felt as though they had been stuffed with cotton. Nausea clenched around his stomach.
Cal shook himself. The feeling dissipated, reality coming back to him in full. He had a mission, a job, a point, a purpose. He could wait until they were crossing hyperspace to fall back into self-loathing and allow the pain to take him in full.
Stars, he had forgotten how much it hurt.
Okay? BD whooped from his place on Cal’s shoulder.
Cal shook himself again. “Fine.” Fine. He was fine.
This isn’t a discussion! the voice of Saw Gerrera said in an echo. Leaving Kashyyyk is our only chance for survival.
I won’t abandon them! Mari Kosan argued. I’ll take any fighters who want to stay!
Then you’ll be left behind. Move out!
C’mon. We’re going to find Tarfful.
Cal found another as he crossed in a darkened area of forest, hearing the trading of blaster fire between the Partisans and the Empire. They can’t breach our choke point! a partisan shouted.
Everyone, retreat! another said. We’ll cover you!
There had been a fight. The Partisans had suffered heavy casualties. There weren’t many of them left.
The air moved. Cal’s hand dove for his saber, but he suddenly found himself surrounded by three Partisans, each with their blasters raised and pointed at him. “Drop it!” one hissed. “Drop it, now!”
“Wait.” Cal raised his hands but did not drop his saber. “I’m on your side.”
“Four,” another Partisan, one he recognized as Mari, spoke, “drop it.” Her voice was hard and stern, opposing the cold fear he felt radiating off her. It took him a stupidly long amount of time to realize she, along with the other Partisans, no longer saw him as an ally.
With a great heaving sigh, he unholstered his saber and dropped it.
“Hands behind your head!” Mari motioned with her blaster. Cal did so. The Partisan in front dove forward and grabbed his saber. The one behind jabbed him in the back with the blaster’s barrel. “Move forward.”
Cal sighed again. “News travels fast, doesn’t it?”
“Shut up,” the Partisan behind Cal hissed.
They don’t take him far until they arrive on two Wookiees. The Partisan behind Cal kicked the back of his knees, forcing him to the ground. The one in front tossed his saber to one of the Wookiees. Both moved to his sides each, pointing their blasters at his head.
“If you try anything,” Mari said, stepping around in front of Cal, “I will have them shoot.”
Cal searched her hard, cold eyes. She refused to meet his. “What did you hear?”
“Enough.” She looked to one of the Wookiees, the one who had Cal’s saber in his hands. “This is him, Tarfful.”
The Wookiee glanced over Cal before turning back to Mari and warbling. She did not translate for Cal.
“I’m on a mission for Master Eno Cordova,” Cal tried. Tarfful’s war-hardened eyes brightened momentarily. “He was searching for an artifact that could help save the Jedi.”
The other Wookiee next to Tarfful snorted disdainfully.
Tarfful warbled again, then tossed the saber to the ground in front of Cal. He turned to Mari and repeated the same noise.
She nodded. “Get out,” she said suddenly, without looking at Cal.
He blinked. “Excuse me?”
The two Partisans next to him tensed. One closed his finger over the trigger of his blaster.
Cal shook his head. “I won’t- I would never- I don’t want anything to do with the Empire anymore. Please, I wouldn’t do anything to harm- “
“He said get out,” Mari repeated. “You’re a danger to us, to everything we’ve worked for on this planet. It was stupid of Mirienna to give you our location, even when she saw what you are. It was stupid of us to even think to trust you with anything. Get out. Don’t come back.”
Cal blinked again. “But- but my quest. You promised- “
“That was before we knew what you really were,” Mari snapped, finally meeting Cal’s eyes. However, she quickly averted them. “The Inquisition was here. You drew them to us. You’re the reason our fighters are dead. Go.” She kicked his saber toward him. “Leave.”
Cal stayed frozen in place, unable to move. What, was this how his quest was going to end? One last hope for the Jedi, gone because he was such a galactic fuck-up?
BD pinched his shoulder, finally spurring him into action. Cal slowly lowered his hands from his head and took his saber.
Tarfful let out another warble, drawing his attention. “He said Cordova found wisdom at the top of the Origin Tree,” Mari translated. “If you want your own answers, seek them there. Find your way up through its root system. But we cannot help you from here. You are on your own now.”
Cal glanced at Tarfful, then back at Mari. Neither would look at him. He raised his hands as he slowly got to his feet, turned, and set off. It was not until he was out of range did he feel the fear dissipate.
He saw them on his trek, the stormtroopers. He saw a few of them pass through the trees yards and yards away from him, bodies littered across the paths carved through the trees. Whenever the scouting troopers would get curious about whatever was in his direction, Cal would wave a hand. They would scatter off to check an imaginary threat in the opposite direction.
He could only let out a regretful sigh. Inevitable. It was all inevitable. Quite against his will, the self-loathing and thought-spiraling started anyway. They had always told him the dark side was inevitable, back at the Fortress, back before he fell. After, he knew he had not left it behind forever, but he continuously shoved that thought to the back of his mind. It followed him, a dark shadow hanging over his life. Now, he had embraced that shadow.
Then, people would turn against him, once they realized what he was. There were Mari, Tarfful, and the Partisans. He had never put much stock in them in the first place, but they still offered to help. He was going to take what he could get. Then there was Caleb, wherever he may be, if he was even still alive, was terrified of him. Cal had become the very thing hunting him, the very reason for the fear he felt every moment. He had up and left Ben without pretense one day, no warning, nothing preceding his disappearance. He would not be surprised if the man hated him for it, everything he had put in to help Cal and Cal throwing it all out by leaving. Prauf would have despised him, had he lived long enough to fully digest Cal’s secret. And Cere and Greez…
He had already burned that bridge. The three only stuck together on principle, on the mission they were committed to. Save for Greez, who had already threatened to Cal back to the Empire if Cal did something he did not like. How much longer until they decided they had enough, that there was someone better out there?
He passed a fallen trooper’s helmet, an echo calling to him. I’ve got a read on the Wookiee general’s position, the man’s voice said in Cal’s head. Close in. The echo left a light trail, one he had to strain to read. Cal followed it, through water, vines, mud, grass, and trees.
You know that, he said to himself. You know there has to be someone better. They only chose you because they’re desperate. He had been through this already.
Cal sighed again. Just get the holocron and get away. Once he had passed it off to Cere, he would do well-all whatever he wanted with his life.
The hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood up, cold dropping into his stomach. Cal wheeled, hand falling to his saber. He scanned the trees around.
What? BD asked. Cal lifted a hand to silence him. He searched for a moment longer, but nothing reared its head. He shook himself for a third time and kept on his trek, his hand still clenched around his saber hilt. The cold feeling remained, only growing heavier and hardening.
He wasn’t alone.
He found himself on a ledge overlooking a wooden treetop outpost. There were three troopers stationed there, patrolling around the edges — two regular and one Purge. He couldn’t go around, over, under, anything. The treetop outpost was at the precipice of a massive chasm, connected to other outposts by bridges. That was the only way to his destination.
“So through it is,” Cal muttered to no one other than himself. He dropped down from the overlook and onto the outpost.
The troopers immediately wheeled, the two regular raising their blasters and aiming them at him. The Purge Trooper slammed the butt of his electrohammer into the ground, sparking it to life. “Who are you?” the Purge Trooper demanded, voice distorted by his helmet’s vocoder.
Cal lazily raised his hands. “Relax,” he called back. “I’m one of you guys.”
A moment of pause. Then, the icy chill of fear trickled down his spine. It was coming from the two troopers. “Oh- oh stars,” one of them breathed out. They knew what was about to happen. They knew there was nothing they could do to avoid it.
Cal bit back a grin.
The Purge Trooper, on the other hand, remains stalwart and emotionless. Cal sensed nothing from him. “Drop your weapon!” He lifted his saber. “On your knees!”
“Right!” Cal lowered himself to one knee, placing his saber on the ground. “Of course.”
He thrusted his hands out in front. The Force rushed through the air, knocking the troopers’ feet out from underneath them. The Purge Trooper stumbled while the two regular fell flat on their faces.
“Huh,” Cal commented as the troopers quickly got back to their feet. “Empire’s best.”
The troopers’ fired their blasters in quick succession, but Cal activated his saber and deflected the bolts back at them with two strikes. One was hit in the head, the other in the chest.
The Purge Trooper charged him, bringing the head of the electrohammer down toward Cal’s head. He parried it to the side, but the trooper brought the other end up and caught Cal in the face. His teeth cut into his bottom lip. He pushed the trooper back as warm blood flooded into his mouth.
The trooper laughed. “How do it feel to bleed- “he sentenced cut off with a strangled groan as Cal rushed him and stabbed him through the gut with his saber. Cal yanked the saber out. The trooper fell to his knees, then slumped over.
Cal wiped blood off his lip, spat some out of his mouth and shuddered at the coppery taste. How pathetic, he thought, glancing back at the trooper. One of the old wounds on his abdomen flared with pain, but he gritted his teeth and holstered his saber.
No, he said to himself. I’m not doing this right now. He had more important things to be doing.
A flock of birds sprang up from the tree beside him. BD jumped, then glanced over the bridge’s rope railing. Cal did as well. The trees were moving oddly, pushed aside by a very large object. The pit in Cal’s stomach became even colder.
Ship, BD commented.
“Yeah,” Cal said, continuing with his trek. “I don’t even know how you would fit a ship through all this foliage, but to each their own.” The Inquisitors had a special kind of tenacity and sheer willpower that he had never seen anywhere else in the galaxy.
He made it to the edge of an outpost when the roar of the TIE fighter’s engines filled his ears. Air blasted into him as it raised above the trees right in front of Cal, pivoting around so the ramp could lower in his direction. And when that ramp lowered, he was greeted by the hulking figure of the Ninth Sister.
“How wonderful,” Cal muttered.
The Ninth Sister hovered on the edge of the ramp. She took a second to observe him before throwing her head back in a mocking peal of laughter, her glee spreading across his chest. “What’s this?” she said. “Has the little dog finally tucked its tail between its legs and decided it wants to come home?”
Cal’s hand fell to his saber again, fixing the Ninth Sister with a gaze with the intensity of a predator watching its prey. BD chirruped concernedly.
“I told the Grand Inquisitor you wouldn’t be stupid enough to show your face here again,” the Ninth Sister continued, “especially after that adorable little stunt you played with the Haxion Brood.” She laughed again as he gritted his teeth, clenching his jaw. “Oh, oh yes, I know about that. Everyone knows about that. So much for hiding from the worlds. Everyone knows what you really are now, even that feeble little resistance.” She shook her head. “They fought valiantly. I’ll give them that.”
Cal drew in a breath to speak. BD warned him, but Cal didn’t listen — “So, is that why you’re in a ship?” he shouted back. “Because you know, and you won’t get down here and face me yourself?”
Her eye twitched. It was all the confirmation he needed. “Always remember those cells are empty and waiting for you, dog.” She turned and started back up the ramp.
Cal took a few steps backward.
What are doing? BD asked. He gripped Cal’s flight suit tightly. Dangerous.
Cal shook his head. “I don’t care.” No. No, he wasn’t going to take this anymore.
He took two steps forward when it all went wrong. Turrets dropped from the ship and fired on the outpost.
The bolts whooshed by him, heat searing across his face. The wooden outpost cracked and burst, falling out from beneath his feet. He was falling, falling, falling until his feet hit a slick, muddy, slanted surface underneath. And then, he was sliding across it, wind whipping past his face, as the TIE fighter soared along side, firing just before and just behind his position.
He dodged and ducked, throwing his arms over his head, keeping his knees bent and attempting to steer along the mud plain. The fighter roared over his head, the smell of burning fuels and trees hitting his nose. Mud splashed into his face. BD let out one, long consistent shriek on the way down.
The slant came to a sudden stop. Cal was thrown forward with the momentum, stumbling and tripping over onto the ground. He rolled right back up to his feet.
He glanced up. The fight had finally tracked him, hovering in the opening between two hills. Even from here, he could hear the sound of turrets firing up.
Shit. “Hang on,” he told BD, then sprinted forward.
The bolts continued to miss him, but only narrowly, slamming into the mud beside him. He ran in a zigzag, even if it was the most inefficient choice. The mud had no traction beneath his boots, and he had to use most of his energy to prevent from landing flat on his face. He was making little distance, and the fighter’s aim was getting more and more accurate.
Warm — like the comforting warm of a fire on a cold light — rushed through him. A cry of fury sounded over his head, following by a single massive flap of wings. Cal’s heat shot up as a massive white long-necked bird-like creature when soaring overhead and slammed into the TIE fighter. Before he could process much more of what happened, he came upon a covered grove and dove into the water.
Cal surfaced a moment later, spitting out the swampy water he had swallowed on the way down. “You saw that too, right?”
Yes, BD confirmed.
“What- “Cal shook his head. “Okay, as long as I wasn’t hallucinating. Are we still on the right path?”
They were, as it turned out. Right in the grove the roots of the Origin Tree. How convenient.
Tell Cere, BD said as Cal started his swim through the grove. Tell Cere about Inquisitor.
“She’s monitoring coms,” Cal said, biting back the bitterness in his tone. “She’ll figure it out.” It hadn’t been Cere’s business what he got up to on his treks before, and it wasn’t about to be now. Besides, she wasn’t the one constantly risking her life. He should be the one to have all the information.
He swam for a brief time, listening to the creatures around. He could tell he was underneath the massive tree, and that the thick wooden structures around him were most likely the trees routes. He could not shake the distinct feeling that there was something alive in here. Yes, there were bugs and fish and a rough Wyyyschokk or two. But there was something more there as well. Almost as if the tree itself was alive.
Of course it’s alive, you fucking idiot, he scolded himself. Trees are living. Just because you didn’t have any on Bracca doesn’t change that fact.
Yet, this still felt… different. Pure, untouched, powerful, caring, and welcoming. A whispering voice.
He tried to shake off the feeling, but it would not go.
He arrived back on solid ground, in what appeared to be the trunk of the tree. He looked up. The place was massive and hollow, bigger than any starship he had ever been in on Bracca. There was a path laid out, one that required jumping and climbing. Creatures flocked across the trunk, through the air, up and down the sides. Sunlight filtered in through the very, very top.
He heard it, a whispering voice calling to him, so unlike the hissing snarl of the Fourth Brother in his ear. This voice was different — warm, comforting. The air around him brimmed with life, pure life. The kind that could only exist in nature unbothered by civilization and industry. It guided him up through the trunk, showed him echoes that laid out his path to the top. He learned this tree was sacred to the Wookiees, that it guided them on a pilgrimage to the top as well. He hears voices — one that distinctly sounds like his master, the other a young child’s. He felt the same rush of warmth as he had when the bird flew overhead.
He had to know what was up there.
Cal hardly felt his muscles burning, bones aching with exhaustion, when he made it to the top, breaching out at the treetop. He passed by a pile of massive feathers, which BD whooped excitedly at and jumped off his shoulders. The little droid scanned them before hopping back onto Cal’s shoulders and playing a recording: “My friend,” Eno Cordova’s voice said as Cal continued, “as Tarfful led us here he spoke of a glorious creature called the Shyyyo Bird. He said the bird is the forest’s protector. So rare it’s. Nearly legendary. I would dearly love to research this creature further, but I have other priorities. I hope to one day return and search for the Shyyyo with Tarfful.”
Cal doesn’t make it much farther before the rushing warmth suddenly flashed into a fiery heat. The world went white before his eyes-
“Get up. Try again.”
“I just keep falling, Master!”
“Do you? Good. Keep falling, keep getting back up! That is the only way to succeed. Don’t allow yourself to be weight down by ego and pretense. Let go of what you fear to lose and rise up!”
The world came back painfully harsh. Reality slammed into his head, a sharp pang causing him to fall to his knees. His heart beat in his ears, the sealed wounds on his torso searing brightly. He swallowed back nausea, fingers clutching into the dirt.
A tapping on the back of his hand brought him out of it. Cal blinked several times. BD had fallen from his shoulders, looking up to Cal with what he could only imagine was concern.
“I’m- “he stopped. Fine? After that, no. He was far from it. “I heard him again.” BD’s head tilted. “I heard- “
A twig snapped loudly to his right. Cal was on his feet a second later, hand on his saber. He searched the woods around.
Another twig snapped, off to his left. He wheeled, glimpsing a small figure darting through the trees. “Hey!” he shouted before taking off, summoning BD back to himself with an outstretched hand. He followed the figure through the foliage, under leaves and finds, over branches. Despite the sunlight, it seemed to be shrouded in darkness. It was small and vaguely human, probably that of a child.
What a human kid would be doing out here, Cal could not imagine. The thought that this kid wasn’t even real briefly passed his mind, and his pace slowed ever-so slightly. But, on the off chance he was, Cal couldn’t take that risk. He picked his pace back up.
The kid took a sharp right, leaping through a particularly thick set of brush. The rush of warmth filled him again. Cal burst from the brush.
The kid was gone. On the other side was a large open area, connected to where Cal was by a thick branch bridge. Cal wondered what exactly was going on before, as if on cue, the Shyyyo bird crashed through the trees and onto the opening.
Cal jumped. BD shrieked and clutched tighter into his flight suit.
The Shyyyo bird flapped its wings useless, getting to its feet, then collapsing. It let out an earsplitting cry.
Cal surveyed it, noting a massive red wound along its wing. Hurt, BD added. The bird flapped its wings once again before collapsing, head hitting the ground with a massive, earth-shaking thud.
Cal blinked. Then, he saw the figure of the kid again, standing halfway across the branch bridge. “Hey!” he shouted again. “Who- “
The kid turned away and started across the bridge toward the bird. Cal raised an eyebrow, but his feet were moving against his will as he followed.
The kid reached the opening with the bird before it once again vanished into the mist. Cal threw his arms into the air and shook his head in exasperation. Still, he continued, getting closer to the bird. Up close, he could see something long, large, and metal sticking out of the bird’s wing, the flesh around red, angry, and agitated.
He was about twenty feet away when the Shyyyo bird’s red eyes flew open. They landed on him before it lifted its head and snapped its beak.
Cal lurched back, hands flying up in defense. The bird laid its head back down, but its red eyes remained fixed on him. Not the eyes of a predator watching its prey, but a terrified animal staring down its killer. Cold fear, more powerful than anything he had ever felt, seeped into Cal’s spine.
“I- I don’t want to hurt you,” Cal said. He wondered if the bird understood human speech, but he hoped his tone would get it across. “I just want to help.”
BD hopped off his shoulders and trotted over to the bird’s wing, scanning the piece of metal. Cal recognized it as a piece of the Ninth Sister’s ship. He shook his head. That couldn’t be pleasant.
“Can I safely pull it out?” he asked BD. The little droid chirped in confirmation.
Okay. Okay, he had this. “This is gonna hurt, okay?” he said to the bird before stepping back and stretching out a hand. He reached out, feeling the signature around the piece of metal and latching onto it. Then, he pulled. BD offered him corrections, too much force, too little, keeping the angle straight. When BD said it was good, he yanked it out.
The bird screamed, wings flailing. Cal ducked underneath before it could take his head off. BD jumped up and down, then popped out one of the little stim canisters. Before the bird could swing again, Cal lunged forward and stabbed the canister into the bird’s wing.
The Shyyyo bird froze, then slowly relaxed, all tension loosing. Cal counted the time it would take for the stim to hit, then the bird pushed itself to its feet, lifting its head. It examined its newly-healed wing, then looked down on him. It cocked its head one way, then the other. Cal realized it was studying him. Then, it lowered its head to his level. Unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do, Cal offered it a quick pat on its massive beak.
The bird lowered itself even farther, flattening its head and neck to the ground. It took Cal a stupidly long amount of time to realize it was offering him a ride. Still unsure, he vaulted up onto its back. The bird got to its feet and with two flaps of its massive wings, they were off.
The cold air whipped into Cal’s face. White, puffy clouds surrounded them with the backdrop of the blue sky. If he dared to peer over at the world below, he could see the untouched world passing beneath them as the bird soared over mountains, hills, rivers, ravines, forests, and massive trees bigger than any manmade structure Cal had ever seen. Pristine, bright places brimming with life, untouched by civilization, by people, by the Empire.
The bird eventually came to land atop another tree. It jabbed its beak in a direction, and Cal slipped off, following the overgrown path. He found it hidden, a strange shrine with a Zeffo sage atop it. “At last,” BD’s recording of Cordova said, “I found my quarry — the Astrium.” Cal glimpsed a small, shiny, black object Cordova was holding. “Used by the Zeffo sages millennia ago. I hold in my hand a piece of galactic history. Oh, I will never be able to thank Tarfful enough!” (Cal let out a contemptuous snort at the comment.) “Do you know what this means, my friend? No need to return to Dathomir!”
Dathomir. He had heard it once, what felt like so long ago in his quest. His mind toggled the memory of it, of one of the first recordings he had seen of Cordova.
“The darkness clouded every attempt at finding the Astrium inside Kujet’s Tomb but the Force… the Force has provided a new path!” The recording fizzled out.
Cal brimmed with excitement on his way back to the Shyyyo bird. The Astrium was on Dathomir. The Astrium was what he needed to open the Vault on Bogano, which was where the holocron was. Where his quest would end.
His chest hollowed out at the thought. But earlier that day was he looking forward to the end of it, to going off on his own in the galaxy. Now, he was not too sure about.
He made it back to the Shyyyo bird, back to his new… friend. That seemed an appropriate way to describe how he felt toward it. They did not have a long-standing relationship by any means, but the bird had not fled when Cal approached. It was hurt and almost took his head off, yes, but it did not run. It had been afraid, but it trusted him eventually.
BD whistled as Cal got closer to the bird, reaching out a hand. The droid explained the significance of the bird, that seeing such would bring one a sense of peace.
Cal laughed at the irony as the bird dipped its head. Oh, if only the world could settle that long for that to happen.
The trees next to him exploded, throwing wooden splinters and brush into the air. Cal ducked, throwing an arm over his head. The bird shrieked. Another round of fire hit the other side. The bird let out another scream and took off into the air, replaced by the sight of the Ninth Sister’s TIE fighter.
The fighter swooped out of Cal’s view. He searched the sky for it, but the air behind him moved. He wheeled drawing his saber, as the Ninth Sister leaped out of the brush. She landed behind him, activating hers as well. “Found you again.”
“You’re done hurting this world!” Cal threw back at her.
“Oh, how cute,” she growled. “I don’t know why Second Sister’s always been so obsessed with you. I suppose it filled the desire for a pet we all had- “
“Shut up,” Cal hissed.
She didn’t. “But you know what happens to pets who bite? They get put down.”
His blood boiled, fire coursing through his veins. The dark shadow fell over the air. All the Inquisitors thought it was funny to call him a dog, a pet. But the Ninth Sister had been the most brutal about it. She had never seen him as an equal or someone to be feared. Just a rabid little animal set out to do other people’s bidding without a mind of his own.
Distantly, he recalled the life of the Origin Tree, the untouched world, the warmth of his new friend. The voice that sounded like his master, the voice that was his master, telling him to get back up even if he fell.
The void was also calling, the shadows looming down. The void that had saved him in the arena, saved him from the chair, protected him no matter what. All he had to do was let go.
Two hands reaching out. One right there, who was always right there, who would never leave him. The other, whom he had left, who yearned for him, but was always so hard to reach.
BD dove off his shoulders. The Ninth Sister lunged, and he grabbed the void’s.
Despite the Ninth Sister’s size and strength, the fight was evenly matched. What the Fourth Brother lacked in size and strength, he could make up for in speed. He was fast and agile, able to slip underneath her swipes, shirk away from her jabs, dodge around her blows. Her hits were heavy and slow, but focused and practiced. The Fourth Brother had slaughtered the arena, but none of them had been practiced with a lightsaber. It had been three years since he had been the one to fight against another saber-user. His unpredictable, rabid, erratic attacks typically gave him an advantage, but not now.
He managed to get a slice in at her face, shattering her helmet’s red visor. She let out a rage-filled cry and clipped him on the side. She slammed a hand into his chest, and he went flying back.
The Ninth Sister shook her head, quickly inspecting the damage to her visor, as the Fourth Brother got back to his feet. “You missed,” she said.
“You too,” he hissed back. His side seared with pain.
She tilted her head. “You were never going to be an easy one to kill.”
“Oh, you made plans?”
She shrugged. “Just in case. We never knew when you were going to get out of hand.” She activated the second half of her saber.
His anger flared again, and he lunged at her.
Their fight continued, only this time, she kept making quips at him. Cute. Not bad for a pet. Seems as if you still know something after all. The Second Sister trained you well, didn’t she? The red hot anger coursing through him fueled his attacks. They became more brutal, more violent. He aimed for vital organs, soft spots in her arm.
“Scared?” she said with a laugh as he dodged back. “I’d be scared of me too.”
Yeah, if I looked like that, he wanted to say, but he never got the chance. She brought her saber down on top of his, catching him in a bladelock. He pushed ups against her, then slipped underneath and through her legs, coming up behind her. She turned, and he brought his saber upward in an arc.
The bloodred blade caught something, and it fell to the ground beside the Fourth Brother. The Ninth Sister let out a strangled cry. She fell to her knees, clutching the stump of her wrist to her chest. Her hand and saber rolled off to the side.
His breath caught in his throat. The glee he normally would have felt from such bloodshed was noticeably absent. Instead, he felt… disgusted. Disgusted that he would maim someone so horribly to win a fight.
The Fourth Brother pulled his eyes away from her hand and back to the Ninth Sister’s curled over form. “It’s over” he said, keeping the shake out of his voice.
She lifted her head, a small grin pealing across her lips. He must have looked afraid.
Afraid. No. No, he wasn’t supposed to be afraid. He was a protector. He got them out of the chair, the arena, so much more. He wasn’t supposed to feel weak as the Ninth Sister got back to her feet, powerless as she seemed unbothered by the fact she was now missing a hand.
“Being an Inquisitor taught me no set-back is too great,” the Ninth Sister said, drawing his attention. “When you’ve already lost yourself, a limb’s easy. You know we were similar once. Both Jedi who cracked and fell. Let ourselves be taken by the temptation. But no. You had to be different.” The sound of an igniting saber sounded behind him. The Fourth Brother ducked as her saber went flying over his head and into her hand. “You ran. You ran from it all.” She laughed. “Oh, I can’t wait to see it all happen to you again.”
She threw herself at him. “The isolation- “she swiped at his head, and he blocked it” -torture- “he parried two more blows, one high, one low” -mutilation- “she caught him in another bladelock. “I can’t wait to watch you crack all over again, dog!”
An animalistic noise tore itself from his throat. In a wave of fury, he broke the bladelock and swung, catching her other arm. It fell beside him, saber deactivating as it clattered to the ground. He swung again, the tip of his blade cutting through her chest. She wheezed out and stumbled back, landing on her knees.
The Fourth Brother wheeled and faced her, breaths coming out heaving and hard. The Ninth Sister looked up to him, and he saw fear mirrored in her eyes.
The Fourth Brother drew himself up, grip tightening on his saber. The sound of her heartbeat, a light in the Force, quickly diminished. She didn’t have long left. It would be merciful to do it.
He thrusted his saber through her chest, all the way up to the hilt. She gasped, severed limbs and phantom hands grasping for the blade, but he kept his grip strong and his aim true. “I’m no one’s pet,” the Fourth Brother snarled before yanking the saber out.
The light faded completely. She slumped over onto her side, never to move again.