A/N: Hi, everyone. Here's a little story I've been holding onto for a while. I hope you enjoy it-I wrote it for a contest (and have yet to get the book it's supposed to be published in...). Anyway, we are allowed to post it for the rest of the reading public today, so I lengthened it and made it much better, I think. Please let me know what you think. This is a ONE SHOT, not a series. Acablas is a weird place listed in Wookiepedia (in Legends, I think) if you want to read about it. I'm not sure if it was ever mentioned in a book, but here's my take on it anyway. You might recognize Master Marellus Varro from "Orbits," but this is not in that AU.

I just needed a Jedi and felt like the old guy was just too cool not to use again. :)

"Acablas"

"Acablas, on the planet Auratera, remains one of the least understood vergences in the entire known galaxy. It is quite an unusual area very strong with both sides of the Force. Usually the light predominates, but the vergence can invert to the dark side in response to solar events in the system. I am in agreement with the historical record that only the most experienced Jedi Masters be allowed to study here, due to the potent and unpredictable nature of the Force on this planet."

From "A Proposal for the Securing of Acablas." Jedi Master Marellus Varro

Hera first tried the idea on Kanan while they were working on the Ghost's engine. "You're crazy," Kanan exclaimed, glancing at her in disbelief.

The engine damage was due to Kanan flying through an asteroid field to avoid some TIEs. He hadn't chosen any old asteroid field, though. Spacers called it "The Grinder." The asteroid field did exactly what its name said: ground ships into bits with fast-moving hunks of rock. The three TIEs that had followed them in had not been as lucky as the Ghost. As it was, the ship suffered only two serious hits and a small hull breach, but she'd fixed it with a temporary patch until they could land and affect repairs.

Had Kanan been any less attuned to the Force, Hera knew they'd both be dead. It was at least the tenth time he'd saved both of them using his abilities.

"You have to think about it, love." Hera reached out and put a hand on his arm. "You have an incredible gift…You should consider the possibility of a student if the opportunity presents itself."

The Jedi laughed sarcastically, slinging his wrench into the tool box. "Hera, it's not been a gift for a long time. Any Force-sensitive kids out there are…better off not knowing these days, believe me." She was still looking at him in that stubborn way she had. He gestured to himself. "Have you met me? I'm not a role model. Come on—you know how I was when I first came on board. A drunk, a brawler, and worse...the only reason I've cleaned up my act at all was because of you—" His voice was thick with self-hatred.

She looked up at him, a gentle expression on her features. "Kanan Jarrus. There's a lot of good in you, and I'm not giving in until you see it." Then she smacked him on the chest with her hand.

"Ow!" He said, even though it hadn't hurt. "What's that for?"

"For being a nerfherder."

"Hera, you're seeing things that aren't there." He sighed heavily before turning away and back to the engine work. "I keep telling you, I'm just a half-trained Padawan that's just…just as lost as everyone else out there! I'm not even here to fight this war…I'm just in it to make sure you don't get your ass shot off," he admitted, glancing at her over his shoulder. "If that means I get to kriff with the Empire some, I'm okay with that. But make no mistake, I'm mainly here to watch your back."

"Hm," she frowned then reached over him and snatched back her datapad. "Fine."

He knew from that frown that she was not dropping it; she was only dropping it for now. Her voice showed she was all business: "We're up to 20% power. That should be enough for us to limp to the nearest planet in this system," she hit her comm. "Chopper: nearest planet where we can set down and make repairs?"

Chopper warbled at her.

"Auratera? The planet Fulcrum had us bring the medical supplies to that time?"

Chopper confirmed.

"Okay, I'm coming up."

"I'll stay back here and monitor." Kanan offered, gauging her reaction with a wary expression. Had he gone too far? No, he decided. She needed to realize that her idea was…was ridiculous.

"Yeah." Hera tapped hard on the pad until she handed it back to him. "A quick stop off, then we'll head back to Garel this time." She gave him a sour look and was gone.

Great, Kanan thought, she's still pissed. Should have just kept my karking mouth shut.

As Hera limped them to Auratera, she mused over the problem of Kanan Jarrus. He was a very attractive problem, but still a problem to be solved.

She heard her father's voice in her head. Hera, you can't fix every broken thing that comes your way, girl.

Yes. Yes, I can, she thought, staring out into the starfield.

It wasn't exactly fixing Kanan needed. He needed to…realize his potential. When she'd allowed him to sign on as crew, she had known there was something extra there. Saving her on Gorse had become the Krayt dragon in the room that they never acknowledged. It was too dangerous…too perilous to put words to.

But then, a week before Empire Day, the anniversary of the destruction of the Jedi, Kanan had begun disappearing at nights when they were in port and coming back more and more drunk each time.

They'd had a fight about it on the eve of Empire Day and he'd left. The longer he was gone, the more she feared it would be permanent. Eventually, she'd tracked his comm and gone into town to get him. But she had brought back a different man. His tongue loosened by alcohol and Hera's gentle questioning, he'd broken down and wept as he described the death of his Jedi master and how he knew he was responsible. She hadn't been able to reason with his overwhelming grief, but she'd been there for him.

She'd even brought him into her bunk, she thought with a blush, and they'd eventually fallen asleep. When they woke, the clouds around him seemed to have lifted a little. She still remembered how he'd stuck close to her the next day, like a little baby nerf. It was as if he was afraid to be alone with himself, so they'd bundled themselves into the dejarik booth and watched the holonet while binging on junk food. While not exactly good for their health, it had been better than Kanan's alternative coping mechanisms.

She sighed as she landed on a grassy plain bordered by mountains in the distance. Nearby, Chopper's scans revealed two sets of ruins. She ordered him to scan them, but he found nothing.

Hera realized she'd been too hasty in talking to the Jedi today. But just like on Gorse, she wondered-what if he became the Jedi he'd been meant to be? After Kanan had told her who he was, he'd been…different. Meditating every day had helped him to drop the constant drinking, and one time she'd even caught him in the empty cargo bay, practicing with his lightsaber. He seemed to have found a tenuous peace by cautiously re-adopting some of his Jedi practices, and it was a good sign.

"We're here," Hera said through the internal comms.

She powered down the engines and began a full diagnostic. After she had that started, and she still didn't see Kanan, she tried the comms again.

It wasn't like him to stay angry at her. Maybe she'd pressed him too hard. A little worried and resolved to apologize, Hera walked through the Ghost, making her way to the engine room. It was then she saw him in the hallway.

The Jedi was leaning against the wall, a strange, distant look on his face.

"Hey…" she ducked her head, trying to get a read on his eyes.

He was dazed. "This…this planet is strong with the light side of the Force."

She grasped his shoulders and steadied him as he brought his gaze to focus on hers. "It's having an effect on you?" she asked.

"Yeah." He closed his eyes and worked on strengthening his shields. When he opened his eyes, it was better, but he still felt the incredible draw of the Force here.

Come to me, lost child, it sang.

"The Force...it wants something. I've got to go." He walked unsteadily toward his room as she followed. He ducked in and came out wearing his blaster and belt—she didn't miss the fact that he'd strapped on his lightsaber pieces. He seemed to have gathered himself a bit.

Without another word, he headed for the ladder into the cargo bay.

"I hope you don't think you're going alone." Hera grabbed her own blaster and followed after him as he made his way to the ramp and lowered it.

A warm breeze blew into the Ghost from outside, and Kanan stepped into the knee-high grass.

The Force was throbbing in him like a heartbeat. The only thing he had to compare it to was the Jedi temple his master had taken him to when it was time to get his kyber crystal, and even that temple's vergence had been pale in comparison to this. He glanced around and saw they had landed near the familiar looking ruins, so it would only be a short walk.

Come to me, lost Jedi, it beckoned once more. Refusal was out of the question.

"H-Hera," he turned to her. "You should stay and work on the ship. This could be dangerous."

"Nice try, love. I'm still coming along." She hit her comm, "Chop, work on the engine repairs while we're gone."

There were the usual complaints, but she ignored them. "Let's go, gunslinger. It's time I have your back for once."

He started to reply, then shook his head with a rueful smile and held out a hand to her.

They scouted around the rectangular buildings that Kanan identified as the Jedi temple, then made their way toward a circular ledge of stone stairs. Looking over the side, they saw a hole at the bottom of a deep pit.

"What do you think this is?" Hera asked, taking a few steps down to peer in further.

The pit glared at him like an open eye, and he felt icy splinters of cold. Kanan reached out for her shoulder. "I'm not sure, but don't go any further. C-come back this way."

She followed his instructions immediately. "Is…is there something down there?" It reminded her of a sarlacc pit for some reason—the empty blackness she'd seen below was disturbing.

"Maybe…there's just something wrong. Something dark…" he shook his head. On the way over, he'd tried to explain what vergences were so she'd understand—deep nexuses of Force energy. "I've been near vergences before, but…this place must be a lot older than it seems. Like…that," he nodded his head to a pyramidal shaped building on the opposite side of the pit, "I'm pretty sure that's an ancient Sith temple." He'd seen a painting in an old book in the Great Library.

Hera's eyes widened.

"I think the Sith and Jedi structures were probably built at different times. But on the whole, the place is full of the light side, so…as long as we stay on this side of the pit, we should be safe." His focus was drawn to that black mouth of the pit once again and its network of tunnels that he could sense deep below.

She nodded, realizing just how much she didn't know. "You know more than me. Lead the way."

As Kanan turned back toward the Jedi temple, he felt something slow and dark stir in the deep dark below, but the further he went toward the Jedi temple, the less he felt it. The light was a gentle tide that wrapped around him with reassurance, and his tension began to ease.

They reached a hangar, but the blast door was closed. Kanan found a smaller door and tinkered with the security pad. He couldn't get it to work, so he reached out with the Force and simply pulled it open.

"Stay focused," he said, leading her inside.

Recessed lighting came on as they made their way across the empty hangar. When they reached the other side, Kanan noticed a door that led into the complex. Another motion with the Force to open it and they were startled by a figure on the other side.

Kanan had his lightsaber in his hand before Hera could fall back and draw a blaster. He'd aimed his blue blade for the figure's head but halted just a millimeter before he struck the fatal blow.

It was a dead droid.

"Karking hells!" Hera slammed her blaster back into the holster and heaved a sigh.

Kanan stepped back and disengaged his blade with a snap-hiss. "Its power source is drained or it's been switched off." He began to examine it. "Security droid. Best to just move around it," he said, slipping around it and waiting for Hera to catch up. A few weak automatic lights had come on with their movement, which threw wild shadows on the polished stone walls inside.

He could feel the Force-tide pulling him toward a place deeper in the complex. Again, he was overcome by the sheer strength of the vergence here. It hungered for him, causing the beginnings of a headache in the middle of his skull. As they made their way down the hallway, the passageway opened up into a galley and small dining hall.

The rows of empty chairs seemed to do something to Hera's heart-the emptiness of the temple was like a solemn cenotaph to the Jedi who had been lost. If she could feel the melancholy past of this place, she wondered how Kanan was taking it. He had paused as well, looking at the rows of dusty tables and chairs as a peculiar mix of regret and sorrow warred on his features. She slipped her hand into his.

"I…I've never been back anywhere like…like this, um…since they died," he admitted, his voice heavy.

"It must be difficult," she whispered. "I can't begin to imagine."

They walked on in silence. Hera sensed him settling further into himself, into a dark place in his mind. The longer he went without talking, the more the darkness seemed to solidfy around them.

"What's going on?" she asked, trying to turn his attention outward instead of backward to the past. "What are you feeling?"

He closed his eyes and reached, opening himself up fully this time.

Caleb. Come further.

Master Billaba. Her voice was clear and quiet near his left ear. He hadn't used his true name since…since that day on Kaller. Hearing it again, it took everything within him to keep from crumpling. He felt his hands scrambling for purchase on the wall so that he didn't fall to his knees.

"Easy," Hera whispered, pressing close to his side to keep him steady.

"It's this way," he said when his voice had settled. He gestured down a small side hall.

A set of steps led down a winding staircase. The thick spider webs blocking their way sizzled when Kanan's lightsaber sliced through them. The deeper they went, the rougher the stone walls became. Toward the very bottom, a set of dim yellow lights lit the way.

As Kanan made his way down the rough steps, he could feel a warmth growing. The Force that had first been a soft glow was now a pulsating light. As Kanan extended his senses he realized that the light was coming from the very earth, water and air of this place.

As they reached the bottom of the staircase, the room's details slowly became apparent. The walls were covered with brilliantly-colored, stylized paintings of figures. "They're Jedi," Hera whispered.

"It's a meditation room," Kanan said softly. He recognized the pattern of the decorative tiles on the floor from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. He began to examine the room, walking across the center, where he felt the light side flowing most keenly. It was a nexus point.

Kanan gracefully dropped to his knees. "I need to meditate to find out why I was called here," he said.

"I'll be right here with you." Hera promised.

He nodded gratefully. Closing his eyes, the waters of the Force immersed him so deeply that he quickly lost awareness of himself.

A few minutes later, Hera came over to check on Kanan, and found his eyes were half-open. Only a sliver of his teal irises was showing. There was an unnatural stiffness in his body that said something strange was going on.

"Kanan," she murmured softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. He did not reply. "Are you alright?"

"These two…come as a set…" Kanan muttered, his head turning away from her.

She brushed a strand of hair from his face tenderly. "Come on, love. Wake up."

"The kid…he's the one."

His head bowed. Hera realized she was helpless to do anything, so she just stayed near. "I'm here, Kanan," she breathed, not knowing if he could hear her.

"All I can do is…train him the best I can." Kanan's chin dropped down on his chest, his eyes closed. His voice was the voice of a sleepwalker. "Of course, Master."

Emotions came and went on his features while Hera looked on. When she saw a tear escape his eye, she broke, clutching his shoulder tightly, "Kanan?"

He opened his eyes, blinking tears away for several moments, as he worked his way back from wherever he had been. "Where…where did she go?"

"Who?"

"Master Billaba…" Kanan's eyes skidded across the room. He could feel her presence fade from his mind, just like the memory of the vision. He struggled to hold onto both, but to no avail.

"It's just the two of us. What…what just happened, Kanan?"

"I…I'm not sure." He looked around, the trance and the fuzzy warmth of the light side falling away. The room grew cold and he began to shiver. "Do you feel that?"

"What?"

"Cold. The dark side." Kanan scrambled to his feet. There seemed to be a shadow falling over everything as the lights dimmed.

She stood up as well. "Kanan…I think we'd better go—"

A sound of footsteps echoed in the darkness. Kanan's eyes darted to a doorway, not previously obvious before. Several identical, familiar voices filled him with dread-it was the droning voice of nightmares made real.

"Good soldiers...follow orders…"

Hera heard it as well, watching Kanan's face fill with horror. She remembered the phrase from Kanan's description of the clones that killed his Master. They had chanted the exact same words as they had taken aim.

"Good soldiers follow orders…" The voices were a zombie-like drone.

Terrified, she took Kanan's hand and began to pull him back toward the exit. "Someone's here," she hissed. "We need to go." Kanan was frozen with a numb terror, but pushing him frantically, she eventually got him moving toward the staircase.

The measured tread of feet became louder. The last thing Kanan saw as Hera pulled him up the stairs was the white of Republic era trooper uniforms and the red markings that designated the troopers as Grey and Styles. Ever the good soldiers, they had returned from the dead to complete their last order, he realized with utter shock and revulsion.

"Come on, Kanan!" Hera got him moving again, and they reached the top of the stairs.

"They're here for me." Kanan said in a voice dulled with fear.

"I don't care!" Hera said. "They're not getting you!" She kept him moving, never slowing until they were outside the complex.

The sun was waning in the sky, eclipsed by one of the moons.

Kanan looked around then met her green eyes. "Hera…we need to get off this planet. The dark side is growing stronger here…" He fell to his knees and got sick as the dark pounded him in horrible black waves of nausea. His head felt like it was going to implode.

"Please…" she begged, frantically pulling him to his feet. At as close to a run as they could get, they reached the Ghost with no sign of pursuit.

"Chopper, set a course." Hera commed him, ignoring his protests as she got Kanan into the cargo bay. She cut him off abruptly. "I don't care that we only have 35% power. Just get us the karking hell out of here!" She got a read on Kanan's eyes as he sank down, back against the wall.

Hera knelt down near him. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut in pain.

"The soldiers?" she asked.

"They were the same ones…who turned on us…" Kanan said simply. "Grey and Styles. Hera…I saw them die. How were they there? They were dead."

And in an instant, she had wrapped her arms around him in silent sympathy. There weren't any words to be spoken.

When Kanan finally spoke again, it was against her shoulder. "My master showed me a boy…I don't remember all of it, Hera, but there's a kid...a kid that's meant to be with us. I think he's…supposed to become a Jedi." The dream had faded. All he could remember was an overwhelming sense of purpose to be fulfilled, and this kid was part of it.

Hera let him slip from her arms and met Kanan's eyes. His color was returning and he seemed to be recovering. "If he's out there, we'll find him. We found each other, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded slowly, the barest specter of a smile haunting his face. "We did."

Chopper beeped over the comms, asking what heading to take.

"Garel," she replied. As they stood up, she took his hand, leading him to the ladder. "Come on, love. Let's go somewhere."