Fic - Star Trek: Rise of the Sith 16/17
Chapter 15
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Present: Year 1
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The Sith Lord halted his movement at the sound of Tom's yell. Harry seized the opportunity and summoned his lightsaber back to him, panting as he watched Tom and Cofoan - Chakotay - face each other for the first time in three years.
"Tom." No longer confined by the rules of the Jedi Order, there was no mistaking the open longing in Chakotay's voice. "I knew you would come to me."
Tom remained silent, eyes taking in the dark figure before him; some parts as familiar to him as his own hands, while others completely alien. His lover, his soul.... his sister's murderer.
The emotions tore through him, and Tom almost staggered at the weight of what he was feeling. Anger, love, and most overwhelmingly, guilt. Guilty over the fact that he could still love the man, the... monster before him, the man who tortured and killed not just his sister, but the destroyer of the entire Jedi order as well.
"Tom?" Doubt in the Dark Jedi's voice, even as he took a step towards Tom, brows frowned in worry or confusion, Tom couldn't tell.
Tom couldn't recall precisely what happened next, his attention focused completely on Chakotay. The familiar hum of an active lightsaber, flash of green and purple; Tom reacted without thinking. Things were moving so fast that everything appeared in a blur even to Tom's Jedi senses, when his mind finally cleared enough for him to register what had happened, it was too late.
Harry was looking at him in disbelief, Tom's own lightsaber crackling against his, inches from Chakotay, while the Dark Jedi's purple blade was embedded in Harry's abdomen.
Chakotay withdrew his lightsaber even as Harry collapsed, weapon falling from his hand, hitting the floor with a heavy 'clang'.
"No," Tom moaned, kneeling beside the prone form of his best friend as Chakotay silently stood aside, watching. "Harry...."
"You know, I had a feeling that something like this was going to happen," Harry managed weakly. "I knew you still love him. I've always known." The young Jedi started to cough, blood trickling down the side of his mouth. "I'm sorry I couldn't do this for you, destroy him before he destroyed you."
"No, Harry. You have nothing to be sorry for, just stay with me, please." But even as Tom pleaded, he could sense Harry was already fading from the world.
"Promise me," Harry's hand clutched Tom's. "Promise me you...." The younger Jedi never finished his request, his hand going limp against Tom's.
"No." He shouldn't have blocked Harry's strike. It was his fault that Harry was dead. His fault that the majority of the Jedi and his sister were gone. The visions and the dreams he'd been having were all true, and they had been right all along, he was a traitor; a murderer.
Left hand still clutching Harry's lifeless hand, Harry's lightsaber glided obediently into his outstretched right hand.
For the first time since Chakotay turned to the Dark Side, Tom let the link between them flare back to life.
Love.
Guilt.
Regret.
Looking straight at the Dark Jedi as he activated the weapon, the last thing Tom heard before embracing the darkness was Chakotay screaming his name.
Epilogue