"Wake the Ashes"

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Goodbye Forever

Takira had been pacing around the small space in the back of the cargo ship, not saying anything to the other rebel medics. She was too scared to speak. Finally, when pacing around no longer did the trick to help her calm her nerves, she rested her forehead against the wall and squeezed her eyes shut. Tears ran down her cheeks. The binders felt cold against her wrists, and she began to shake uncontrollably.

Only now did she realize it. After she had lost everything she worked hard to gain over the past several months, now waiting to be taken to some horrible place where she would most likely be killed. Takira realized how much she missed Tatooine. That she missed home, before the war and before she wanted to leave so terribly. Now there was no chance of going back to say goodbye.

Footsteps approached the cell. Takira stood up straight with a small gasp, eyes wide. It was the same bounty hunter from before—Boba Fett, she remembered. She stepped back as he opened the cell door.

"Change of plans. Takira, you're coming with me."

Oh, no…

"What's going on?" she cried.

Ignoring her, Boba Fett grabbed her arm and pulled her forward, back down the main hallway of the cargo ship leading to the landing ramp. She struggled at first, but it soon proved to be useless. This bounty hunter wasn't going to let her escape. Takira repeated her question, but a second time he ignored her.

As she stepped out down on the ramp, the dim lights from the ship's interior cast two stark shadows on the ground. Her teeth chattered from the cold. She looked up and could see the night sky through the large gap in the exit of the hangar. Stars were everywhere in the sky. Some stars shone brighter than the rest, demanding to be seen against the darkness. Others were dim, as if in hiding from an observer, and difficult to see unless she looked for each of them closely. And others were still there, but impossible to see, for they were too far away.

The bounty hunter's grip on her upper arm tightened, and Takira whimpered slightly.

"Are you going to shoot me?" she managed to stammer out. Maybe he had singled her out and planned to have her killed in front of the other rebels. An example made of her.

A third time, Boba Fett ignored her. He did not even look at her. His focus lay elsewhere. Out into the darkness around the hangar. As if something, or someone, were waiting for them.

"All right! I have the girl here." He drew out a blaster and pressed it to Takira's forehead, and she instinctively let out a small cry. "State your name, loudly."

"T-Takira!" She looked out, wondering who was there.

Boba Fett turned suddenly, pulling Takira with him. Then she saw.

The air smelled of smoke and she could hear flames growing from within the base, tearing it apart minute by minute, and not far away, stormtroopers and rebels were dying at the hands of each other, and Terminus was alive with the cry for rebellion agains the Empire. Her friends could be joining the dead before the night was over. Some of them already had. But right now, none of that mattered.

His hat was gone. He wasn't smoking a cigar or a cigarette as he usually did. He was armed with weapons, but more than half of them looked unfamiliar. And she would know them if she saw them. In the darkness, she could have sworn he looked paler too. His face was twisted in a slight grimace. More hunched over. As if he were a mere shadow of who he used to be.

This could not be real. There was no way he would be here. Cad was on Tatooine. He had been on Tatooine for the past few months and he had no plans to leave. It made no sense that he would be here. And not now. This had to be some sick joke.

Or was she hallucinating now? Was this another male Duros with enough striking resemblance and a coincidental scar over the same eye? Was this a sign the war was starting to get to her? She had gone insane and could see things that weren't there now.

He glanced at her, and in that instant, Takira discovered the terrible truth. This was not a joke, nor a hallucination, nor a sign the war had stolen her sanity. This was real. Cad really had come to this Force-forsaken planet. She knew this was true because when he looked at her, she did not see what she would have expected to see the most. In Takira's mind, Cad would have looked at her with anger, betrayal, even disgust for what she did on Tatooine. Running off like that because she knew his hurt leg would make it impossible for him to catch up to her. Leaving without fair warning. He would have every reason to see her and be furious and repulsed. Or so Takira thought. But when he looked at her, his grimace softened into a look of relief and content. All of a sudden, he seemed calmer. As if a fire had been burning inside him that Takira's presence suddenly quenched. There were words on the tip of his tongue that he barely spoke, then held back at the last instant.

Takira stared at him, still in disbelief. Still unable to even grasp an idea of why Cad had come, and why he was not unhappy to see her.

"Cad? What are you doing here…?"

He looked back at Boba Fett. His right wrist had been bound tightly with some torn up cloth and he held his blaster in his left hand, finger hovering over the trigger guard.

"What are you doing!" she cried.

"Drop the weapon first, Bane."

"How do I know you won't pull some dirty trick when I do?" he snarled. As soon as he looked back at the bounty hunter, the grimace returned.

"You're much more likely to pull a dirty trick than I am. So drop the weapon."

Takira tensed, frustrated that no one was listening to her, or so much as acknowledging her. She tried kicking the bounty hunter in the shin, but it did no good. She shook her head to free her lekku where his shoulder armor had begun to pinch them.

Then it hit her. Cad had gone back on his word on not wanting to have anything to do with the war against the Empire. Inevitably, he had chosen a side. And it was not Takira's side.

"So are you working for him now?" she snapped. Heat rushed to her cheeks and the tips of her lekku. "You're with the Empire?!"

This was unbelievable. Worse than anything she could have imagined. It did not feel real anymore. Hurt too much to be real.

Bane glanced at her, shook his head ever so slightly, and looked back at Boba Fett. "Let her go first."

"Fine, but I'm keeping my weapon on both of you. If you try to shoot me, I will have both of you shot down long before you get the chance."

Wait…what's going on? What are they talking about? Her head ached. She had been scared before when the bounty hunter arrested her, had her cuffed, and took her to his ship. It had happened so fast. Now she was terrified. Out of her mind as to what to do to get out of this one. She did not want to die…

Then, all at once, Boba Fett reached down and pulled off the cuffs. Startled, Takira glanced at him. This was getting worse. But she could not imagine why.

"You're…letting me go?"

"That's correct," the bounty hunter said to her. "Now I suggest you get out of here as quickly as you can."

"Get out? But…"

Without warning he gave her a slight shove, urging her forward. Takira stumbled and hugged her arms. Fear sent chills through her whole body and she didn't know what he wanted her to do next, or how Cad was even involved.

"She's free now," Boba Fett called out. And then Takira realized who he was addressing. "Now give me your part of the deal."

Deal? What kind of…oh, no.

Takira began to panic. Her throat and lungs ached. Her hands shook as she ran up to Cad as fast as she could. When he saw her approaching, he froze still and watched her as if with a strong word of caution. His form was rigid, the blaster still at his side. Takira ran up to him and grabbed the front of his jacket, desperate for his attention, desperate for answers, desperate for a sense of safety and security in the midst of the war and the chaos she increasingly felt the weight of on her shoulders, that somehow she had brought this upon herself. She wanted even one word of hope, however false.

"Cad, what are you doing?" she whispered, her voice shaking. "You made a deal with him! You shouldn't be here!"

Surprising to her, Cad remained calm. She thought he would be furious with her, or disgusted. In fact, she never remembered seeing him like this. Reserved as if emotions no longer mattered or were on hold. Cad took Takira's hands in this, and slowly but gently removed them from the front of his jacket so she would stop pulling at him.

"Takira…Tee, listen to me," he said. His voice soft and distant.

The odd tone startled Takira so much so that she hesitated to listen to what he had to say. She was not prepared for any of it.

"Listen carefully. You remember the bank account I put up for you back home, about three years ago? There should be enough in there right now for you to get by."

"Get by?" She glared up at him. "Who cares about money right now?! I don't need money! I need you to tell me what the hell is going on. What deal did you make with him!" She did not like this at all, and not a word he said made it better, only worse in fact. It gave her a horrible feeling, like something bad was about to happen right around the corner, and as soon as it did, she would instantly regret it, but would never be able to take it back.

Even years later, she would still remember that conversation word for word.

Cad held on tightly to her hands. He was trying to calm her down. To stop her from crying and fighting him. Takira wanted to hit him and rip at his jacket, but Cad had always been physically stronger than her, so she didn't stand a chance.

"Takira, I know you're scared. But I need you to take a deep breath and listen to me right now."

She bit down on her lower lip, still shaking with fear. But, for the moment, she complied. If anything, perhaps this slight hesitation would be worth it if Cad told her something important.

"The bank account. You remember it?"

"Yeah, I remember. Who cares about the money?"

"You'll need it. Everything you've saved up. I hope it's enough." He hesitated as he looked down at her.

"For what?"

Boba Fett aimed his blaster at both of them. "I'm not giving you much time, Bane. Speak loud enough so I can hear you both. Get this over and done with."

Takira felt her lower lip begin to tremble and she looked back up at Cad and saw the exhaustion and old age showing in his eyes. In that slight pause in the conversation, a light rain began to fall down on Terminus. Not strong enough to resist the fires swarming around the Imperial base, not strong enough to drown out the hollow feeling around them. But the rain, cool and calm, reminded Takira of a place far away, years ago, where their paths had crossed for the first time.

"Cad, what's going on?"

The bounty hunter must have heard her question. When Cad did not answer at first, Boba Fett spoke up, speaking with no emotion save for a slight irritation and impatience.

"I'm releasing you and pardoning all your crimes, Takira Bane."

She frowned. "I don't believe you. This is some trick…"

"And in exchange," Boba Fett finished, "Cad agreed to go in your place."

"What? But…that's crazy. He can't do that." Takira looked at Boba Fett, then back to Cad. "You didn't do that."

Cad nodded once, a grave expression that only made him look even older. If he had been lying, she would have seen through it.

The realization of what was happening—-why she had been arrested, why the bounty hunter released her, and why Cad was here—hit her all at once. And it was unlike before, when the realization crashed down like a wave that burned her sense of time and placement. This one hit her like an icy poison in her blood, slowly, then all at once, as her body and consequently, her mind, began to adjust to the reality of what was about to happen.

"Cad…no. No!" She grabbed at him again. "Don't do this…please don't do this!"

Again, he took her hands and held them tightly. The rain ran down her face.

"Takira, listen," he said again, "You need to get out of here as quick as you can. Don't look for me, just run and don't look back." His voice suddenly grew quiet. "Be safe."

"Please don't do this…" Her vision clouded as tears filled her eyes. "I don't want you to go."

It was her. She was the one who ran away. She was the one who let herself get caught and taken away. Maybe he had been there as a safe excuse for her wanting to run away, and maybe the bounty hunter had led her into a trap for a reason. But in the end, it was her doing. So whatever happened as a result, she had to deserve it. It wasn't right that someone else should take the blame. Not when she had had it coming.

The bounty hunter stood a little straighter behind them. "Hurry up, Bane! We don't have much time."

Cad didn't take his eyes off Takira, even after Boba Fett had shouted at them. He noticed the slight bruises from the attack, the dirt streaked on her head and face that had begun to be washed out from the rain, the slight tears in her clothing. The terror in her eyes and how her bottom lip trembled.

"I'm sorry, Takira, for everything. I didn't take care of you like I should have."

"You can't go…I don't want you to," She cried.

She saw him smile sadly—the first time in many months she remembered that he had smiled at all. He gently cupped her face, brushing the tears and rain from her cheeks.

"Hey, now. Don't worry about me," he said, his voice scarcely above a whisper. It was becoming harder for him to speak.

"But I need to save you."

"It's okay. You already have." Then, holding her close to him, he gently kissed her on the forehead. "Take care of yourself and stay out of trouble, all right?"

Tears fell down Takira's cheeks as she closed her eyes tight, shaking. This couldn't be their last goodbye. It wasn't right. Their story could not end like this. Not after they found each other when they both had no one else left to love. Not when they walked away from a living hell and discovered that the darkness would not always last. Not now…she couldn't let go in this way. Not when it was her own doing that brought it upon them.

She felt him pull away slightly, releasing her. She could feel his hands shaking ever so slightly as he did. Cad stepped back and looked at her one more time.

"Now go. Get out of here," he whispered.

And all at once she was at a loss for words. There were too many things to say, too many ways to plead that this couldn't be the way they said goodbye, that trading this life for another wasn't worth it. That she did not mean it when she told him that she hated him. Her tongue was tied in knots.

"Cad, I can't. I—"

"Go." He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her. Not enough to knock her back, but enough so that she stumbled a few steps.

Takira regained her balance, still staring up at him through her tears, not wanting to believe what was happening, and what was about to happen.

"Go!" he shouted.

Boba Fett shifted his aim to the back of Cad's head. In his other hand, he hit a comlink.

"Drop the weapon, Bane, and don't move." The bounty hunter glanced at Takira. As a nearby explosion barely grazed the exterior walls of the hangar, the visor of his helmet flashed a brilliant red-orange of fire and smoke. "Young lady, I suggest you get out of here before I change my mind."

She did not have a moment to think. No time to pause and focus on what she could do to make the situation more improved. No time to stop. She could only react as she was told.

So Takira did something that she would still ponder many years later, and wonder what might have happened had she made a different choice. But really, she had little choice in the matter, and could only react on instinct. Takira turned away and began to run as fast as she could.

For a few moments, she slowed down long enough to see that Boba Fett had brought over a group of young mercenaries, who disarmed and cuffed Cad. But he acted as if none of them existed. He only watched as Takira stared back, petrified, not knowing what to do. Even when one of the mercenaries pushed him, forcing him to kneel down on the ground as they searched him for more weapons.

She turned away and continued running as the rain soaked through her clothing, back to where she hoped she would find any rebels still alive after the attack. There was already nothing she could do. The only thing she could do now was try to live, get help, somehow. It was the only thought clear in her mind at that moment. All else had faded to black, completely void and empty and meaningless.

Bane watched Takira go, knowing he would never see her again.

Takira…little Tee…I'm so sorry.

He looked away, not bothering to put up a struggle as the three young bounty hunters cuffed him and searched him for weapons. One of them was still wearing Bane's old jacket. And his hat. Which, even while in these circumstances, still managed to piss Bane off a little. He wished he had his hat right now to shelter him from the rain.

There was no reason to fight. He had finished fighting.

As he was led away to the cargo ship, Bane only thought of Tee in those moments. He had spared her from execution at the hands of the Empire. For now, she was safe. But she had had no choice but to run back into the heat of battle…what if she got hurt? What if she didn't find help in time? And if she did survive the battle, what would happen to her later? Too many questions to ask.

Bane swallowed hard as he discovered he would have to make peace with this horrific uncertainty. Because from this moment forward, he would never know if she were safe or not. When he looked up, only darkness lay ahead of him. No more light at the end of the tunnel. No more hope in the distance. Just a calm, familiar, and friendly darkness he had tampered with for far too long.

Bane was not placed into a cell with the other rebels, but under Boba's orders, locked away in a separate cell of his own. This left him with no company save for a lone bright light above him, the cold cuffs against his wrists, and the low growl of the ship as it left the system, headed for who knows where first. Then, only then, it began to hit him. He was going to be put on trial and found guilty of treason. If they didn't send him to the Kessel Mines or some other place to be worked to death, he would be executed. In public, as a crowd watched, some for entertainment, some out of boredom. He would be dead in less than twenty-four hours. We're all slaves of the Empire. And when those slaves step out of line, this is what happens.

Bane closed his eyes, focusing on the few things he could still sense, things that would try to keep him sane in his last few hours.

This was not a new feeling. He knew what it was to look death in the eye, to wholeheartedly believe he had arrived at the end. It had happened too many times over the past decades, and almost ten years ago, he tried ending his own life. This time, he did not feel all the same things from before. It wasn't the same as going on a suicide mission, or putting a gun to his own head.

Now he had handed his life on a silver platter to a rival and an enemy, delivered himself to the Empire, and now they could do whatever they wanted to him within the next twenty four hours. He had no freedom to run away from the situation, no last chance to escape. No choice in whether he wanted to live or die. All of it belonged in Boba's hands now. Meaning that Bane had nothing left anymore.

An hour or so after they had left, Bane opened his eyes to see Boba approaching him. He had taken off his helmet and was running his fingers through his hair. Bane realized, as soon as Boba leaned against the cell door and looked down at him, huddled there in defeat, that he had nothing left to say to Boba.

What could he say? That he was upset Boba had finally beat him, outsmart him, trapped him into a situation with only one way out? That Jango Fett would be proud? That Boba could never take away Bane's pride? As if.

"Well, Bane," Boba said, forearms pressed against the wall of the cell, "looks like I finally won."

Bane tensed his shoulders.

"We're going to the Eriadu system. You'll be taken to trial there. It shouldn't take long, they like to rush these things. Especially since you already have the confession. Only delay will probably be the publicity since you still have a bit of fame left."

Boba paused, as if waiting for a reaction out of Bane. Still, Bane said nothing.

"Are you worried about your sentence?"

Bane glanced up at him.

"No. Should I be?"

"Perhaps." Boba stood up straight and crossed his arms. He looked grim. "Considering your age, you might not be sent to any of the mining colonies. But I'm not sure whether they care how productive a worker will be. They probably don't even care if you would be there half a year or a half a week. I hate to say it, but it might happen."

"Thanks for the encouragement," Bane muttered. He did not really know what the mines were like, and frankly, if he could spend the rest of his life not knowing, he would be all right with that. It would not be a decent way to go, he knew that much.

So this was it. Possibly his last real conversation and it had to be about how he was going to spend his final hours.

He missed Takira. He wished he would have had even five more seconds to say goodbye. He wished he had had more time to apologize.

"It's a funny thing."

"What's funny?" Bane asked with a slight snarl.

"Actually, it's ironic. Ironic is the word. You committed too many crimes to be counted, but what kills you is the one crime you were completely innocent of."

Bane resisted smiling sadly at the reality of it. It was ironic, and it was funny. Of all the things he would be put to death for, it had to be a crime he never did. At least he now had final proof that his whole life had been a sick joke from the start.

Boba was staring at him, Bane could feel it. Another long silence passed between them. The mercenary waiting for his chance to be the best, and the condemned criminal waiting for this life to cease. When Boba spoke again, his tone of voice changed. He no longer sounded like the coldhearted, ruthless young man he had become, and who Bane had only had a few short weeks to become acquainted with. Instead, he sounded like a kid who grew up too fast, a kid forced to fight so quickly and feverishly that any chance at living better was denied him long ago, a kid who pretended that everything he did wasn't a hopeless plight to bring his father's ghost a little closer.

"I never intended to hurt your daughter. I was only interested in you."

"You could have hurt her," Bane said coldly. Even remembering what Boba had done to Takira, and what he had threatened to do, made him seethe with rage again.

"I wouldn't have. I swear it. She may be a traitor to the Empire, but I had nothing personal against her."

Bane frowned and looked up at him.

"It's not about what's personal and what isn't, Fett. You don't get it, do you?" He began pulling at the cuffs, as he felt a strange anger hit him. Not the sort of anger that fueled him with energy and made him want to lash out and strike. This anger drained the energy out of him. It was a passive, cold, empty anger…the anger that spoke too late and already run its course. Anger that arrived at the stroke of death. "As soon as you're involved, you make it personal. Everything about your business is personal. Everything. You can't pretend that none of it is a personal matter."

Boba frowned. "You have it backwards. I never let my personal feelings interfere with my work. I do what I have to do. It's the only way I can be a bounty hunter."

"You can pretend that none of it affects you. You can pretend that feelings never have a say in it," Bane snarled. "But you're lying to yourself, you know. Sooner or later everything comes back to you. Every single thing you ever did. Maybe you don't feel it when you're in the middle of the action, but one day you'll realize you never forgot their faces. It all sticks with you and ties you down. You can never run from it because it's a part of you. If someone says it's 'nothing personal, just business,' they're lying to themselves."

As he spoke, Boba stared at him until a frown creased his face. He still looked so young, despite the new scars. He didn't really seem like he was listening to what Bane said. If anything, he was studying the way Bane said it.

"This kind of job is always personal. And you can pretend all you want, but you can't pretend forever," Bane finished, not sure why he had said any of it in the first place. Not as if it mattered to share it.

"You know what that sounds like to me? Someone who lets it get to him. Someone who has lost their edge," Boba said coldly.

As Bane watched, Boba opened the cell door so he could step closer to him. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. The passive, cold anger inside him ate away at his insides, and he felt sick, and he wondered why he had begun spilling all of this now. And he felt pathetic that Boba Fett, the man who would kill him in a matter of hours, was the only person he could talk to.

Boba continued, "And it also sounds to me like you never figured out how to keep business life and personal life separate categories. Funny, back during the Clone Wars I always thought you had that down."

"So did I. But just wait a while."

"I don't have to wait. I already know what I'm capable of." Boba stood up straight. "How I feel about a matter does not interfere with my work. I do my job, I get paid, and my personal feelings stay out of it completely. I'm better than you ever were at this."

Bane bared his fangs in a snarl.

"You said that you finally won. You know what, Boba? You didn't win anything. No one is a winner here. There is no prize at the end of it."

"What are you saying?" Boba's eyes glowed with fury. He clenched his knuckles. This conversation was really starting to piss him off.

"It's not a race, it's not a contest. You just take what you can and run fast until one day you die. That's all there is to it. Sorry if that's too morbid for you to handle, but it's just the truth."

"No. It's a primitive and childish way of looking at it."

"I'm only telling it as it is, Boba." Bane softened his tone a little, but only because he was quickly losing the strength and motivation to continue speaking to Boba.

Boba sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That was a waste of a good ten minutes of my time. I'm leaving."

"See you around," Bane muttered.

"You're my prisoner. You should treat me with a little more respect than that." Before he could hear another one of Bane's sarcastic retorts, Boba turned away and left, leaving the condemned alone again to face the morbid truth.

A/N: this was one of those chapters that I knew I was going to write as soon as I started outlining the story, it's also a chapter that was over two and a half years in the making and I had it written in my head long before I published Chapter One. It's probably one of my favorite chapters in the entire fic :((((