Fragments of the Dark

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Celene slouched in the pilot's seat, the colorful blues and greens of Tython filling her vision.

Din stood behind her, arms crossed across his Beskar-clad chest.  He didn't have his helmet on, the rich brown of his hair glinting in the starlight of space.  His face twisted into a frown.  "Are the Jedi there?"

Celene nodded.  She could sense the Light-side emanating from the planet, even this far in the atmosphere.  

She hated it.

It made her want to unleash herself, summon shadows and drown out that obnoxious light, the warmth- she shuddered.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said.  "I can sense them.  Whoever the Jedi is."

Din didn't say anything else though his frown deepened.  Grogu let out a coo from the co-pilot's seat. 

Celene sighed, flicking the engines to life.  "Don't worry, kid.  Hopefully, this will be your new home."  She steered the ship down, descending through the fluffy white clouds that hovered above the surface. 

"There," Din pointed to the north at the ruins of massive stones jutting up from the ground.  "Those most be the remains of the Jedi Temple."

Celene piloted the ship in the direction of the ruins, even as her insides began to writhe.  The Light-side was here but the closer they drew the more she sensed something else.  Something familiar. 

She set the ship down gently in a patch of grass.  She took a few breaths and then rose from her chair, wordlessly heading for the back of the ship.  Din followed on her heels, Grogu in his arms.  They stopped in the main seating area where Celene shrugged on her jacket.

"Only one blaster?"  Din asked, with raised brows.

Celene picked up her lightsaber, weighing it in her hand.  She hooked it to the back of her waistband.  "Trust me, a blaster will be useless." 

Din slid his helmet over his head.  "Makes me feel a lot better."

But Celene didn't smile.  The weight of the planet was pressing down on her and something else she couldn't place.  The air was beckoning outside and as soon as Din had secured Grogu into the sling, hidden from sight, Celene punched the button by the wall.  The door opened with a hiss, the ramp extending. 

She squinted at the sudden light, scanning the area.  "Stay alert," she said to Din and then stepped off the ramp.  Her boots hit the ground, dust rising.  She began to walk in the direction of the ruins, where the Force energy was the strongest. The closer she drew, the more she began to realize what the familiar feeling was.

Despite the overwhelming presence of the Light-side, she could sense it.  The fear.  The despair, the anger and pain and rage.  She stepped among the ruins of the temple and felt it all, the surge of triumph from the Sith as the Temple and Jedi Order was brought to its knees.  She closed her eyes, breathing in deep, her blood thrumming as a warm breeze blew through her hair. 

No.  She turned.  Not a warm breeze, but someone trying to sense who she was.  What she was.  "Someone's here."

"Where?"  Din was already scanning their surroundings.

Celene shook her head.  "I can't tell.  They're hiding from me."

"Sith!"

Both Celene and Din pivoted the latter's blaster instantly in his hand and Celene's fingers within easy reach of her lightsaber.

A male emerged from behind one of the larger stones, his gait stalking.  "You do not belong here."  He seethed, his words dripping with rage from across the clearing.