Kissed by Fire: Cal Kestis

Chapter 30

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.