The Force Betrayed: Cal Kestis x OC

19.

Once the waterfall had been melted and the pair could finally enter the cave, Sakana felt a sense of relief wash over her. The cave's frigid breeze was rough against her skin, but the Force felt like a warm hug, melting the ice around her.

"So..." Sakana trailed off, looking up at Cal. "How do we find our crystals? I know Cere said the Force would guide us, but—"

"We're probably still too close to the entrance to find our crystals yet," he said, crossing his arms to preserve some of their warmth. "You'll just...feel it," he shrugged.

"How long did it take you to find yours the first time?" she asked, and a smile pulled at the corner of his lips.

"Not very long," he chuckled, looking down at the frozen ground beneath them. "It felt like forever, though. The lack of daylight and the strength of the Force clouds time."

"Huh," Sakana smiled curiously to herself.

Cal and Sakana continued walking down the icy decline on the side of the cave, their boots crunching against the packed snow. The surrounding walkways were made completely out of ice, and Sakana wondered both how they formed and how they hadn't broken.

"My first crystal was blue," Cal suddenly added, "like my master's. I wonder if this one will be blue too."

"The color is determined by your personality, right? At least, that's what my mother told me. I know it's probably a bit more complicated than that, though," Sakana responded, ducking into a short passageway.

"It's determined by the way you interact with the Force," he responded. "In my Master's terms, we are vessels of the Force. The crystal is the will of the Force through you."

"I understand," she nodded as they walked into a more open part of the cavern. "I wonder what mine will be."

"I don't know," he pondered, letting his eyes size her up. "I'm not sure I know you well enough to really guess. Green, maybe...your power in the Force is strong."

"Maybe," she shrugged, following Cal through a tighter tunnel. There was just enough room for her to move without feeling claustrophobic, but the fear was starting to settle in anyway. "I just hope it's not yellow," she continued, trying to distract herself. "I'll never be my mother, but that's not what I want anymore. I need to learn how to be my own person."

"Right," Cal said as he shimmied through a crack in the ice. Sakana watched him with wide eyes as her throat closed up and her feet became heavy as neuranium, unable to move herself between the two walls.

"I also hope that when we go back to Dathomir," she huffed, squeezing herself through the crack with her eyes closed, "we don't have to go through anymore tight spaces."

"If that Gorgara doesn't try to kill us again, we might have a chance," he smiled, turning his head to the right so that he was just barely looking at her.

"Noted," she smiled, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. Despite her past failures, she was starting to face some of her fears, and she let herself be proud of that.

They came out of the tunnel and entered another open part of the cave. It was wider than any of the other areas they had seen so far; small platforms of ice formed a way across the vast chasm, but the size of the cave made Sakana start to feel overwhelmed.

Cal seemed to sense her inner turmoil as her eyes took in the vast expanse of gleaming crystals in front of her, their reflections glistening like stars.

"Hey," he assured her, grabbing her attention. "You'll know which one is yours when you feel it."

"It's not just that," she said, looking up at him with a sad expression. "I feel like I'm looking at a galaxy...our galaxy. How many thousands of planets has the Empire taken over? Saving all of them...it feels impossible."