Magenta Sith

Chapter 2 - Multiverse

Ezra pushes himself to his feet, eyes scanning his surroundings. At first, he thinks there's nothing more to see than the darkness of space, but when he looks, there are white-outlined paths twisting and winding throughout it, and there are other odd-looking portals that branch off from it. Some of the pathways even curve down. "Whoa," Ezra breathes before the current goings-on catch up to him.

He scrambles to his feet and looks back, just to see, but he doesn't see Vader there. He sees nothing. They're safe. He couldn't be more grateful. The last time he saw Vader, he nearly got killed, and Kanan was hurt, and Sabine was nearly killed as well – she had to repaint her armor, and if not for the strength of beskar, she'd be dead. He remembers his fear when he saw Vader standing there, outlined against the roaring fire that was once a walker that was thrown on top of him, and that if the Sith could survive that, he could survive anything.

"What is this place?"

"I don't know," Kanan answers, "I've never seen anything like it."

"Didn't you learn about it?"

"No. Or, maybe. If I did, it was so long ago, I don't remember anymore."

"What should we do?" Ezra inquires, "If we go back, Vader will be there, waiting."

"We can't go back," his master replies, "Not yet. We'll have to wait."

"For... how long?"

"I don't know."

Ezra takes a few steps down the path, scanning their surroundings again. He doesn't know what to do or where to go, if anywhere. Something is... nagging at him, calling him, and now that he's focusing, he can hear indistinct whispers all around. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Kanan asks, frowning.

"I can... sense something," he replies, walking a little further down the path.

"Wait, it could be dangerous," Kanan warns. "We don't know anything about this place, except it looks like a part of the Force between times."

"It's calling to me," Ezra insists. He takes a few steps down the walkway, itching to follow. He can feel something there is in danger, and the Force is calling them to help whatever it is. He cannot ignore that. He hears Kanan sigh behind him, but he follows when Ezra continues down the path. Something about this one looks a bit... different than the others, but he follows it anyway.

Somewhere along the way, he can't quite say when it happened, but their surroundings change, shift, and suddenly they feel far more... vast. And he can sense the portal they need to head to even stronger, though he catches... glimpses of things through some of the others.

Mostly it's just indistinct noises and whispers of things he can't quite make sense of. He could swear he saw through one of the portals something of himself with a red lightsaber but moves on, because the thought is far, far too disturbing.

He can't help taking a quick glance at some of the others as they try searching for the one calling them.

He feels a sudden much too familiar dark presence – though this one feels a little different – and turning towards one of the portals he sees Vader. Except he looks strange and blocky somehow, almost as though he's made of plastic. And his hands look more like pincers.

"If the Emperor doesn't like this one, I don't know what else I can get him," the disturbingly too Vader-like voice complains, picking up a package on the floor that says "Happy Life Day" on it. "But he never likes any of my gifts."

Ezra backs away, wide-eyed, and keeps moving. He will never unsee that. What in the galaxy was happening there, anyway?! He doesn't want to know. (Does Vader buy the Emperor Life Day gifts?! He never wants the answer to that question.)