The long trip from Ilum to Dathomir felt so much shorter for Cal this time. Last time, he was only focused on the mistakes he had made during Order 66 and the words he had seen come from the mouth of a monster wearing his Master's face. Now, he was ready to face his past and he was ready to fight whatever awaited him in Kujet's Tomb. However, when they approached the surface of the planet, a lingering thought entered the back of his head when he watched Y/n start to prepare herself for the unforgiving planet once more.
Approaching her side as Greez landed the ship, he spoke saying, "Hey, um-"
"Hey, I'm almost ready. Dathomir won't get the best of us this time," she interrupted him, prepping her gun.
"About that," he began, causing her to look up at him, "I don't want you to go this time."
"What?" she replied, her face contorting to one of bewilderment. "What do you mean, you don't want me to go?"
"Y/n, the last time you were here, you were stabbed with a lightsaber and we got separated," Cal explained to her, although he knew she would be difficult on the matter. "I can't have you out there, especially when we don't know if that Nightsister is still angry, or if Malicos is still a theat."
"No, Cal, come on, I'm perfectly fine!" she argued back. "I'm not going to have you out there by yourself to fight off a couple of crazy Force-users."
"I won't be alone. I'll have BD," he spoke, the droid stepping away to avoid the argument with a shake of his head and a few beeps. "Look, Y/n, this tomb is different from the other ones. If something goes wrong, I can't risk having any of you out here should this go sideways."
Lowering her voice, she checked to make sure Cere and Greez weren't listening in as she said, "If this is about what happened in the engine room-"
"It isn't about what happened in the engine room," he immediately shook his head, lowering his voice with her. "I just can't have another casualty on Dathomir. So, please, stay here. I'll be on the comms if I need you."
Y/n let out a frustrated sigh and closed her eyes. Shaking her head, she opened her eyes once more to say, "Fine. But if I get one hint that something is wrong, I'm going out there guns blazing."
"You won't have to," he assured her, although if he was being honest, even he wasn't entirely sure he'd be alright on this journey. After what happened last time, he knew there was multiple complications that would make this quest much harder. Starting with an uncountable amount of undead Nightsisters that still wandered the planet.
"We'll be fine... we'll be fine..." they heard Greez mumble, causing the two of them to step away from one another as he and Cere entered the common area. "Any bets on what horrible things will happen this time? More dead things? Giant spiders? Killer plants?"
"All of the above," Cal answered with a smirk as Cere sat in the couch.
"Don't say that," Greez whined.
"Or maybe the Haxion Brood will come and find us," Cere pointedly spoke, causing Y/n to manage a laugh as she sat down on the couch beside her.
"Are you three still mad at me? The Greez guy?" Greez feigned puppy dog eyes at them all.
"Not particularly mad, just... annoyed, perhaps," Y/n answered for him.
"Hey, you gotta admit though, I paid you back in thrills. How many slubs get on the Haxion Brood's most wanted list? Huh?" Greez questioned them with raised hands and a smirk.
"Yes, on top of being an Imperial fugitive, being on the run from an illegal gang's bounty hunters is just what I wanted," Y/n sarcastically told him, causing Cal to grin slightly.
"If you weren't such a good pilot, I'd hand you over myself," Cere told the Latero, who gaped at her statement.
"Better keep your skills up, Greezy," Cal told him before heading out the door and jumping back onto the red sands of Dathomir. This time, he was prepared for the incoming magick.
As soon as he was on the Nightsister's territory, he was hounded by the walkers she had raised from the grave. This time, however, his lightsaber came more in handy than ever. Without Y/n's help to back him, it was definitely harder to get through the droves that came at him from all sides, but he managed to find the large familiar cave that would lead him to the path of Kujet's Tomb.
Something itched at his mind when he entered the Nightsister's territory. The Force was drawing him to something there. Looking around, he saw a small fireplace and a pot set over it. It had clearly been there for many years. Probably just a Nightsister setup he thought to himself, except that didn't feel right. Approaching the fireplace, he gently touched his fingers along the pot and was suddenly taken back into someone's memory.
Looking around, he was still on Dathomir, but the pot was bubbling with stew, and he looked to someone beside him. It was a woman, a Nightsister, but this wasn't the one that was fighting him. This one had short, cropped white hair and markings down her lips. She was oddly familiar to Cal.
"Asajj," came his voice, but it was the voice of someone much older than him. His hands took the Nightsister's, Asajj's, own and held them, kissing each finger. "I don't want to go back. I want to be with you." Finally, she looked at him, and Cal could finally tell this woman was Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku's former apprentice. "I can't walk away from this, and I don't want to. Do you?"
She didn't speak for a moment, then said, "No. I don't want to either. But Quinlan... be sure. It's all you've ever known."
"I know you now. And if being a Jedi means I can't be with you... I also know what I chose." Cal was shocked at the scene before him. He was in Quinlan Vos's memory, a Jedi who, like him, had psychometry. He didn't know that Vos had ever spent time with Ventress, let alone... fall in love with her? "It starts now," he said before smashing his comm. Cal assumed it connected him to the Jedi Temple. "Together."
All Ventress did was kiss him passionately before they began to lead themselves back to her ship.
Cal blinked as he was brought from the memory. Confusion raced through him, but he didn't have time to ponder what he had just seen. He knew Ventress had died in a strange accident that was kept quiet from the Temple, but he had a strange feeling her death had something to do with her love for Quinlan Vos. The idea itself was strange to Cal.
Standing from his position, BD-1 beeped a question about what he had seen. Cal responded, saying, "A Jedi and a Nightsister were here... They were in love." BD's whirs of surprise caused Cal to laugh a little. "Yeah. I'm surprised too."
He continued on, running through the caves and defeating every Nightsister walker he could find. He wondered now if any of these undead were Ventress. Her disappearance and death were questioned throughout the Temple, but only the Council knew what happened. It was fruitless to wonder now, for he knew he would get no answer.
Cal was lucky this time, for he had shortcuts to bring him back to the stone bridge where he had first met Malicos in a speedy time. The journey back to the tomb was quick, but he was met, unexpectedly, but two bounty hunters waiting for him in front of the tomb. A large droid and a woman with a jetpack began their attack, and Cal had to praise Cere on her guess of the Brood coming to find him. There was no other hunters that would bother coming after him unless Sorc Tormo ordered it himself.
It was a somewhat difficult battle, but once he defeated the jetpack hunter, it was easier to take down the droid. "Bounty hunters from the Haxion Brood," he said to BD, who whirred a couple of curses at them. Cal chuckled, nodding his head with his statement.
He ran inside, the door opening for him once more. This time, when he reached the end of the entrance, he let out a deep breath. Placing his hand out, he felt the power of the tomb surrounding him once more, and in a flash of light, he was brought back to that world in between worlds. He knelt in a meditation position, hearing the footsteps of the creature wearing Jaro Tapal's face. He stood, greeting it with, "Master."
"You were wrong to return here unarmed," it claimed, tightly holding Tapal's lightsaber in its hand.
Cal took his own blade from his belt, calmly stating, "Not unarmed."
"You think that lightsaber proves you a Jedi?" it sneered down at him, looking from the weapon and back to the boy.
"No," Cal simply stated. "Facing you... Memories that have haunted me since Bracca... I won't run from them anymore."
"Then let us see what manner of death your courage brings," the creature said, and ignited one end of the lightsaber. Cal ignited his own, and instead of him casting the first blow, this time it was the creature. He remained calm as he moved and parried, refusing to listen to the words the thing spoke in his ear. "You lost your lightsaber. The weapon you wield is still mine, apprentice." Cal split his sabers, using both at a time to gain an edge. "Impressive," the creature raised a brow. "But is power the answer?"
Cal knew what he had to do. He shut off the blade in his hand and returned it to his belt. The creature let out a cry upon seeing him unarmed, and raised its blade above its head to bring it down upon Cal. But it paused. Just as the light of the lightsaber was a hair away from running Cal through. The boy did not falter. Instead, he looked up into the creature's eyes, into his Master's eyes, and spoke. "Master," he began, "I will never forget. The loss has become a part of me. I will honor your teaching. And your sacrifice."
Through his words, Jaro Tapal merely watched him, until he removed the blade from above Cal. He let his arm fall to the side, and a look of serenity came over the vision. Now, when he spoke, there was no tone of hate or disappointment. Instead, it was the peace of teaching. "Remember. Persistence reveals the path."
Cal let out a sigh of relief as he was brought back to Dathomir, looking up to see the entrance to the Tomb rising into the ceiling. "I did it, BD," Cal grinned, and BD chirped a song of rejoice. "This is only the first half. There's still more to come, buddy." The droid let out what could only be constituted as a sigh. "Come on. We've got this."
There were a few Zabrak Nightbrothers waiting for him inside, undoubtably placed there by Nightsister Merrin in case he did get in, but he was easily able to make it through them. A small chink in the wall ahead of him was his only path forward, so he made his way through and squeezed into the other side of the tomb. Now, he was officially inside. However, he felt movement around him, and heard the telltale sign of magick circling behind him. He ignited his blade and turned before Merrin had appeared, but he was right in assuming her there. "You chose to return," he heard her say, but could not see her until she once again spoke behind him. "Brave... But not wise." This time her hood was down, allowing him to see her grey hair pulled back into a tight bun, only a few strands hanging beside her face.
"Maybe," he retorted, and lifted his lightsaber to show he was turning it off as the blade disappeared. He thought of Y/n's own one-on-one with the Nightsister, and took a small page from her book. "Merrin, right? I'm Cal Kestis. What you were told about the Jedi is not true."
"So you say... Cal. Malicos said many things too," she told him.
"Taron Malicos might have been part of my Order but what he is now, I..." Cal began, but hesitated a moment. "I have no idea. All I do know is having a lightsaber," he threw it to her, which she caught with ease while keeping her eyes on him, "isn't what makes you a Jedi."
Her brows raised in question. "Then what does?"
"We were peace keepers. We were betrayed by those we protected. Hunted down by the Empire, I..." he took a careful step forward. "I might be one of the last of my kind."
Merrin looked from him down to the lightsaber in her hand. Igniting it, she allowed the blue glow to emanate on her face, almost seemingly admiring the blade. "I was only a child when they attacked. An armored warrior brandishing this... descended upon us. And cut down my people. My sisters. Until I was left alone. With the dead. Then Malicos came, and promised me revenge if I shared our secrets with him in return."
Whoo-whooooo BD blipped, hiding behind Cal's shoulder.
"I know what it's like to lose everything. And Malicos was wrong to use that against you," Cal told the girl, who looked from the lightsaber back to him. "We don't have to be enemies."
"You have very interesting friends, Cal Kestis," Merrin told him. "Very trusting." Merrin turned off the blade with a face of contemplation. She was thinking, it was clear to Cal. Tossing it back to him, she said, "You will need this."
With that, she disappeared into the air once again. "There she goes again," Cal grumbled to himself.
Boo-woop woop! BD beeped in agreement.
"I'll be watching," Cal heard Merrin say, causing him to stop in his tracks in surprise.
He rolled his eyes gently, looking to BD and saying, "Let's get outta here."
"Malicos lies ahead. You could turn back," Merrin spoke in his ear.
"I can't. Lives are at stake," Cal responded to her, running forward. He could see the silhouette of the old man in the distance, laying in wait for him.
"Who's lives?"
"Innocents. Force-sensitive children who will be hunted down and murdered."
"As we were."
Cal continued forward, seeing what appeared to be statues of the Zeffo surrounding the tomb. Green magick lit up ahead of him, seeing that Merrin would using her power to allow Cal to cross onto the floating platform where Malicos was waiting. The man turned around when he heard the boy approach, a flutter of surprise and joy in his tone when he said, "Cal Kestis!"
"Malicos," Cal greeted on far less friendly terms.
"Welcome home," Malicos claimed, raising his arms with a smile. "Here to begin your training? What in these ruins tempts you so much to risk death?"
Cal heard the tell-tale sign of Merrin appearing, and looked up to see her watching over their conversation from a stone pedestal. Turning his gaze back to Malicos, he shrugged and said, "I could ask you the same thing."
"There is power there," Malicos claimed. Cal began to pace around the platform, feeling Malicos' eyes following him. "Beyond Jedi understanding. Power I control. I would offer you the same thing."
"Don't you understand? I'm not interested in power," Cal spelled out for the elder man. "I want to restore the Order."
"Restore the Jedi Order?" Malicos repeated like a dirty taste upon his tongue. "Oh, you poor fool. It's over! Jedi fell long before the Purge. Stifled by tradition. Deafened by our past glories. Blinded by endless war."
"Maybe," Cal relented. He knew part of what Malicos was saying held truth, he had acknowledged it himself not even two days ago. But the darkness in Malicos' heart was the difference between the two of them. Cal would never let himself resort to the Dark side. "But it's never over, Malicos. We stand here now with a chance to learn. To rebuild from our mistakes."
"Jedi learn?" Malicos spat, a deadly turn in his voice. "There's no future for them. How can you not see that?! It's time for something new. You and me. We could build something different. Something better."
Cal wanted to make something new from the rubble of the Jedi Order, but it was not what Malicos wanted. He only wanted power and glory and to control the darkness. "No," the Jedi stated simply.
Malicos' face turned sour, and he raised his arms as he drew his sabers from their holsters with the Force. "Then Dathomir will be your grave."
Cal ignited his own saber just in time for Malicos' red lightsabers to be brought down over his head. He had to admit, the man was talented, and powerful with the Force. Cal was struggling to maintain himself with both of his opponent's blades at once. Igniting the other half of his lightsaber, he dodged a sudden powerful attack before blocking and rolling away. "Dodging won't save you!" Malicos shouted at the boy, a deep and malicious cackle echoing in his chest. Cal managed a strong hit, but Malicos simply sneered, "That was nothing!"
Cal was pushed back by a powerful thrust from the Force, but quickly regained himself to stand on his feet and push his own power back at Malicos. However, he underestimated how strong Malicos was, who simply raised a shield with the Force and disregarded Cal's attack. Malicos began throwing his lightsabers, which Cal was lucky to block. Cal brought down his saber upon Malicos, who blocked with both of his, but a twist out of the impasse allowed Malicos to get a grip on Cal with the Force. He lifted the boy into the air, holding him up as he growled, "I was wrong to think you could stand with me!" He slammed Cal onto the ground, BD-1 falling from his shoulder. Malicos broke a large boulder from the cave's wall, and Cal struggled with all his strength to release himself from the hold as Malicos shouted, "Die, welp!"
Before he had a chance to crush Cal, a large burst of green light shattered the boulder. "You have no right to Dathomir," they heard Merrin say, the man looking up to see her gathering her magick upon her pedestal. "No right to our magick." She began throwing balls of fire at him, until his lightsaber cracked upon the pedestal she stood, breaking her concentration. Malicos shattered the rest of it with the Force, making Merrin jump down to the platform. "Get up, Cal Kestis! You're not dead yet."
She disappeared once again, leaving Cal to the fight. Malicos began fighting with even more vigor and anger than before. "You will not beat me!" he barked before bringing his lightsabers down in a painful strike. He began sending boulders hurtling towards Cal, who was only just able to dodge before he and Malicos stood in a block. Cal twisted his saber, surprising Malicos and kicking him back before Merrin appeared and sent her magick his way, weakening him still. Finally, Cal broke his saber in two, sending a brutal array of attacks towards Malicos and sending him to the ground.
He raised a hand to strike once more, but Merrin was quicker. Her magick wrapped around him, binding him to himself as the ground beneath him began to rumble. "What is this?!" he managed to grunt out in struggle.
"It's like you said, Malicos," Merrin sneered down at him, her hand lowering as the rocks beneath him began to swallow him. "Dathomir will be your grave!" Her hand clenched into a fist as Malicos began to be swallowed beneath the floor, shouting out in protest before he finally disappeared. Cal approached her, his lightsaber attached to his belt once more as she glared down at where the man had fallen. "Let him lie in the dark with his secrets. Until death takes him," she said, her voice still dark with magick behind it.
"Why'd you help me?" Cal asked her.
"To rid Dathomir of that parasite," she sneered, but her tone became calmer. Turning to face him, she asked, "What are you really doing here, Cal Kestis?"
"The ones who built this tomb, the Zeffo, they created an object called the Astrium," he informed her. "It opens a Vault on a distant planet. Inside is a list of Force-sensitive children across the galaxy, but the Empire is looking for it too."
"What empire?" Merrin asked him, and Cal was almost star-struck with shock when he realized she knew nothing of the happenings outside of Dathomir.
"The Empire," he told her. "The one bent on exterminating Force-sensitives so no one can stand against it?"
"Then it will come for Dathomir before long, as the war did," Merrin realized. She knew nothing beyond what happened during the massacre of the Clone Wars. "I will help you find this Astrium."
"Thank you," Cal said, and Merrin turned to use her magic to help him forward on his path to the end of the tomb. Blocks of stone were floating midair for him to jump on. He couldn't help it when he said, "This place... it's..."
"Horrifying," Merrin finished for him, following behind with her magick.
A deep red light began emanating from the ceiling above him as he entered a small hallway before finding the end of the tomb. He approached the end of a cliff, seeing the décor around him filled with images of falling enemies and death. When he reached it, the chamber he saw opened up, and a statue of one of the Zeffo holding a spherical object in its hands lowered. The object fell, hovering down within Cal's reach as a bridge of stone allowed him to cross. He took the object, and saw it was the Astrium he had been looking for.
He looked at it in awe, unable to fathom this moment. "We finally found it," he said to BD, the droid letting out a few whirs at the sight of it. "Yeah."
He approached Merrin, who waited for him on the stone bridge. "It is real," she claimed, gesturing to the Astrium.
"Merrin, this could be the key to the next generation of Jedi," he spoke quickly in joy.
He let her hold it, but he thought he saw sadness in her hazel eyes. "I'm happy for you, and your Jedi," she stated. "But nothing can bring back my people." She handed it back to him, and Cal had to admit his disappointment.
She began to walk away, but Cal spoke to her, causing her to stop. "After the Purge... I was alone for a... a long time. In hiding, I was... I was scared that they'd find out who I was or what I was."
"What changed?" she asked him, not yet turning to face him.
"A very good friend of mine told me to go out and find my place in the galaxy," Cal replied, raising his hands with a light chuckle of Prauf's words.
"Your friend, was it the doctor?" Merrin questioned, and she saw a light smile appear on Cal's lips before it disappeared.
"No. No, she's uh... She's one of the reasons I was able to," Cal told her, unsure of how to word the phrase.
"So you listened?"
"Well, no," Cal admitted, "but life has this funny way of forcing you on the path forward anyway. Now here I am. Where I least expected."
Merrin finally turned and looked at him. "A path forward." After a moment's hesitation, she approached him and said, "I will join you."
Cal was a bit surprised to say the least. "You will?"
Merrin nodded, and shrugged her shoulders. "I've spent years... waiting for a chance to avenge my sisters. I'm finished waiting. I wish to fight by your side. Nightsisters and Jedi do not travel together but... Survivors. We adapt."
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess we do," Cal nodded his head. He was glad now to have another person on their team. "What do you think BD?" he asked the droid, looking down at him a she stood by his feet.
Woop!! BD excitedly said, looking from Cal to Merrin.
"I agree," Cal smiled. He held out his hand to her, which she took, and shook on their newly formed partnership. "My crew, they might take a little bit of convincing, though."
She raised her brows in a playful manner, saying, "Then we'll convince them." BD trilled a laugh at her words and jumped back on Cal's shoulder as Merrin disappeared.
After fighting a pair of nydak, Merrin watching amused from her own little lookouts, he was able to make his way out of the tomb. Merrin's disembodied voice came through once again as he reached through the small crevice to squeeze through to the other side. "The elder woman you travel with. Who is she?"
"Cere? Wait, how do you know about her?" Cal questioned, a little bit defensively.
"I have seen your companions beyond the girl I met," Merrin informed him. "Malicos wanted me to attack them, but they posed no threat."
Trying to find where to start, he said, "Cere... well, she used to be a Jedi. It's a long story."
"I would like to learn it. I will meet you at your ship."
With those words, Cal watched as she disappeared. He only hoped that the others back on the ship would welcome Merrin. He had hope she would be a powerful ally in their fight against the Empire. He was lucky he gained her approval indeed, for on his way back to the Mantis, he didn't have to face any more Nightbrothers or undead Nightsisters on his path. When he found the ship once more, Merrin was there to greet him, and the two of them walked up and into the common area of the ship.
Cal approached a sitting Cere and Y/n with untold joy as he held the Astrium in his hand, Greez just about ready to give them some beverages. "Cal, you're back!" Y/n grinned, standing from her seat. All he wanted to do was run up to her and kiss her, but he considered that a little inappropriate for the current situation.
"You found it," Cere claimed, looking at the Astrium in his hand.
"Whoa, whoa, who's this?" Greez questioned warily as he pointed at Merrin, who had still remained silent as she looked over the ship.
"Merrin?" Y/n questioned the girl's presence, not unwelcoming, but with a tone of surprise.
Bee-woop! Beep boo-beep! BD informed them, and Y/n couldn't help but smile at what the droid had said.
"What's that supposed to mean??" Greez demanded of BD.
"It means I'll be joining you," Merrin deadpanned.
Cal, realizing his companions had no idea who the Nightsiter was, besides Y/n, looked to the others and spoke with open hands as he said, "Cere, Greez, this is Merrin."
"Wha- She's a witch, isn't she??" Greez stressed, still holding his beverages in his hands.
"Greez, calm down," Y/n scolded him, lightly hitting him on top of the head. She wasn't unwelcome of Merrin joining them, but she was still wary considering their last meeting hadn't ended so well.
"A Nightsister," Merrin corrected the Latero. "Your fear is unnecessary."
"I couldn't have gotten the Astrium without her. We fought Malicos together," Cal informed them, hoping the story would sway their opinions. "I trust her."
"And we trust you," Cere said to Cal, but then looked to Merrin sternly. "You will have to earn it."
Cere and Y/n looked down at a fidgeting Greez, who sighed and shrugged before grumbling, "Okay, fine." He set down his cups. "Grab some seat. As long as she doesn't try anything funny."
Cere and Greez started towards the cockpit, but Y/n remained behind. Looking at Merrin with a smile, she knew that if Cal trusted her, there had to be a good reason. Coming out from behind the caf table, she held out a hand to Merrin and said, "Welcome aboard. And don't worry about Greez. He'll warm up to you sooner or later."
Merrin nodded her head, taking the girl's hand and shaking it like she did Cal's. "Thank you."
Y/n nodded her head, her eyes lingering on Cal for a moment before she followed the others up to the cockpit. Cal watched her go before turning to Merrin and saying, "They like you."
Merrin didn't answer as Cal walked away, but turned to the couch and sat down. She wasn't used to such a comfortable seat, and heard whirring beside her. Looking, she saw BD staring up at her curiously, saying, Be-be-beep!
She had to admit the droid was cute, but said, "I don't know what you're saying."
Cal grinned slightly at the scene, and turned to the holotable ahead. He felt a presence beside him, and looked with relief to see it was Y/n. "Are you alright, Cal?" she asked him, putting a hand on his arm.
"I'm a little sore, but I didn't get beat up too bad," he responded to her, putting a hand over hers.
"He's lying," they heard Merrin's monotone voice say from the common area. "Malicos nearly killed him."
Y/n looked from the Nightsister to Cal with a raised brow. The boy let out a breath of disbelief, looking back at Y/n as he said, "She's exaggerating. I'm fine."
Y/n couldn't help but laugh, saying, "With Merrin around, the bullshit on this ship is going to come to a screeching halt. But, you know, I don't think that'll be a bad thing." She ruffled his hair slightly, BD laughing from his position beside Merrin as Cal ran a hand through it to straighten it out. Looking back down at the holotable, he selected Bogano as their next destination. It was time for them to return to the Vault.