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Ezra’s eyes opened to a whole lot of green. While there was some green on Peridea, Ezra had spent enough years living on the planet to instantly know that this was somewhere entirely different. Somewhere with multiple waterfalls, if the sounds surrounding him were anything to go by.
The simple white noise was broken by a groan, drawing his attention to his left. Next to him was Kata, sprawled out on the grass in much the same way he was. Slowly, she sat up, rubbing her forehead as she examined their surroundings.
“Where are we?”
That’s exactly what Ezra was asking himself too. A few minutes ago, they, along with Sabine and Ahsoka, had been fighting Baylan on Peridea. Things had started to get really weird when the Dark Jedi called upon the Father, and the World Between Worlds had very quickly begun splitting open. Sabine was occupied with the apprentice and Ahsoka was having what looked like an out of body experience, so it was up to Ezra and Kata to stop Baylan from whatever weird time shit he had been planning.
They, of course, did that by jumping through the portal that seemed the most desperate to be open. And that led them to where they were now, with no others—friend or foe—in sight.
“I think we travelled in time,” Ezra said, getting to his feet. “The World Between Worlds is capable of it, and Baylan was trying to do…something, so…”
“We got sent whenever he was trying to go,” Kata finished for him.
“Yeah.” Ezra nodded, before smirking. “Have you seen time travel holos?”
Her eyes rolled. “A few. My siblings like them more than I do.”
“They have good taste,” he commented before taking in the greenery. “Any ideas where it was he was trying to go?”
“I only got involved in this mess two weeks ago,” she pointed out. “If you didn’t know, why would I?”
“Fair enough. Though, I only met the guy when you did. All we have to work with is—”
“‘Reset the Jedi and the Empire’,” she quoted. “Which could mean anything in the past.”
He frowned. “You don’t think we’ve been sent, like, really far back, like before civilization far?”
“I hope not. We’re probably just stuck in the wilderness somewhere. I can start us a fire easily if it comes down to it, but do you have any survival skills?”
He flipped through his time as a street rat and as a nomad, ultimately saying, “I can talk to animals.”
She gave one nod. “Okay, that might be helpful if we run into something like a Chirodactyl.”
“Chirodactyl?”
“Giant bats from Dathomir,” she explained. “Be glad you’ve never visited.”
“I actually did,” he corrected with a grimace. “Except I ran into ghosts, not bats.”
“Huh, I would have expected zombies,” Kata commented before an unseen speaker came to life.
“Takeoff in ten minutes. Initiates, return to the creche until further notice. Padawans, defer to your masters.”
Both their brows furrowed, with Ezra quietly muttering, “The hell?”
The sound of hurried footsteps startled both of them, and a Twi’lek in brown robes appeared, scrutinizing them. “Are you knights?”
“Uh,” Ezra glanced at their two exposed lightsabers, “yeah.”
“Then get to the hangar,” they urged, motioning for the duo to follow. It only took a few seconds to arrive at a path, which they followed past an extensive amount of greenery and waterscapes. Kata shot Ezra a look, communicating through the Force a general sense of what? while keeping their guide none the wiser. He shrugged in response just in time for them to arrive at a doorway leading out from what was apparently a garden to lightly colored hallways.
Outside the window, Ezra saw a cityscape and felt his stomach drop. It looked noticeably different now compared to the one time he had gotten to visit since returning to the galaxy, but the never-ending buildings could only mean one thing.
They were on Coracaunt, and considering they traveled through a Force portal, in the Jedi Temple.
Oh shit.
All too quickly they arrived at the hangar, filled with transport ships and individuals with such bright presences in the Force. Someone said that it was going to be two to a cabin, and Kata quickly put Ezra’s hand in hers as they were shuffled into a boarding line.
“What’s happening?” she whispered, the proximity Ezra was trying not to think about allowing her words to hopefully not be heard by anyone else.
“We’re in the Jedi temple, before—” he paused, deciding to err on the side of caution for what they discussed, “before I was born. Or you, for that matter.”
Her lips parted, and a moment later she asked the Jedi passing out cabin numbers, “Excuse me, but my friend and I missed most of the briefing. Where exactly are we going again?”
There was some grumbling about responsibility before they got their reply of, “A planet called Geonosis. Kenobi’s gotten himself into some mess that we have to get him out of.”
Well, that certainly shot panic down Ezra’s spine, and the Force was telling him it did the same to Kata. If Obi-Wan Kenobi was alive, that gave them a somewhat narrow window of the time period they could be in. And, in that window, there were two notable times Jedi were on Geonosis. And considering the lack of troops and the number of Jedi…
“The Clone War starts today,” Kata spoke his thoughts aloud.
“Yep,” he agreed while locating the door to their dwelling. “And we’re about to be part of its opening battle.” Their cabin was notably smaller than the ones on the Ghost, but its bunk bed still made Ezra nostalgic for his time aboard the ship.
Conveniently it also had a door that sealed behind them, allowing Kata to say at full volume, “We can’t be part of the fucking Clone Wars!”
“Well, we can’t exactly leave either.” He gestured to their surroundings. “That would lead to way too many questions.”
She huffed. “But what about the butterfly effect?”
“I highly doubt two extra knights will change the trajectory of the universe. There’s gotta be like, two hundred of us. They’re not going to notice two extras, especially if we manage to sneak off at some point during the battle.”
“I guess,” she admitted with arms crossed. “But we can’t do anything that would make us stand out. Which means no summoning purgill for you—”
“I’ve only done that three times.”
“—And no magick for me. Though,” she added, “if either of us get injured, I have supplies for a healing spell, which I would only use if no one was looking.”
He nodded, thinking through what they were flying towards. “We both dodged Imps and Inquisitors and Sith our whole lives. We have a lot of experience with combat and staying undetected.”
“So, it should be easy,” she agreed.
They were so, so fucked.
The battle was nothing like they expected. All the tales they had heard from their masters about the heroics of the Jedi were clearly set after this battle, because this was brutal. Kata had felt the deaths of more Jedi in the last hour than the number that had survived to the time of her birth. By the time they had been surrounded by the droids, she felt ready to puke.
Of course, she and Ezra had no trouble fending off the attackers. It was painfully obvious that they had used their sabers in active battle more than any of the Jedi present, save an exception or two. While they stood with their backs pressed against each other and deflected bolts with practiced ease, knight after knight was stuck down beside them, their light extinguishing and striking right to her core.
Then, their expertise in fighting led them to be put on the same transport as Obi-Wan Kenobi and his padawan, flying all the way to what Kata assumed was a palace. There, they did their best to stay out of a quite frankly impressive duel, only to be pulled in by Ezra being choked by the Sith and Kata charging in to save his life without a thought to the consequences.
It took a few seconds of fighting against him for Kata to realize they were fighting against Count Dooku, leader of the Separatist Alliance and major player in the Clone War, and they were winning. Now, this was a problem, because Dooku was neither captured nor killed until later into the war, meaning this battle was going better than it should.
Seeming to realize this, Ezra joined her in fighting a little less intensely, allowing their opponent to best them without causing any injuries. This was going great until a short green bastard showed up and started helping them. Things started going too well, so once Ezra was ordered to tackle the Sith to the ground (more or less), Kata used a quick and simple sleeping spell to knock the little guy out.
Ezra, from where he was pinning Dooku down, panicked. “You killed Master Yoda!”
“Did you feel him return to the Force?” She rolled her eyes, before the name registered. “Wait, that’s what Yoda looks like?”
In the confusion, the Count had made his escape onto a small ship, leaving behind only a data card dropped in the scuffle. While they probably could have stopped him, they decided the timeline was probably close enough to ultimate doom already. As the ship sped away and the duo panted on the ground, Obi-Wan Kenobi limped over to grab the data card.
“Hm,” he mused, “I wonder what this is.”
With a flick, it illumined a small holo of a sphere with a circular dent. It clearly meant nothing to the Jedi, but for the time travelers it was something they’d never forget.
“Is that the fucking Death Star?” Ezra yelped.
Kenobi, slightly shaken up by the Outer Rim swearing, asked, “Are you familiar with it?”
“A little,” Kata jutted in before Ezra could say something stupid, again. “We’ve heard whispers of an armored space station with the power to destroy a planet.” The whispers wouldn’t start for another two decades, but it was as good an explanation as any.
The Jedi Master paled. “A planet?”
“Yup.” Ezra put his hand into a fist, before quickly releasing it. “Bwooosh.”
Obi-Wan contemplated this, brows furrowed. “How do you know of such things?”
The knights glanced at each other, wincing. “It’s a long story.”
The Stewgoni sighed and glanced at his padawan, who was reuniting with someone who looked strangely familiar. Clearly, it had been a long day for everyone. “We shall discuss it back at the temple. In the meantime, you should have that bruising looked at.”
Kata blinked and quickly turned to her partner. Dark purple was beginning to bloom on Ezra's neck, and she rushed over to run her fingers along the surprisingly soft flesh. It looked like the bruising Merrin had received when… “Oh Force.”
“That bad, huh?” Ezra chuckled.
“You’ll live,” she reassured, pushing down the revelation. “My mom had this happen once, and it was gone in a few days. Especially if they slap some bacta on it.”
“Who?”
“The medics, either clones or Jedi back at the temple. Because that’s apparently where we’re going next.”
“Right.” He let out a huff. “I think we might be in a little over our heads.”
She snorted. “You think? We completely failed at not destroying the timeline.”
“We’re going to have to fix it, aren’t we?”
“If we want to be alive in the current timeline, probably,” she reasoned.
“Great.” He rolled his eyes, then nodded towards the waiting clone troopers. They quickly looked away from the conversation they had obviously been eavesdropping on. “We should probably get going before they worry.”
“Yep.” The fell into step together, heading into what would probably be a massive fucking mess. At least she had Ezra; that had to count for something.