The Lies I have told: So instead of abandoning this fic because the plotline lost interest for me because, well, fanfiction just isn't as much fun without ;D And because I finally powered through Season 7, sorta, so depressing.
KEYnote: Still focusing on the main cast, and no, you don't get anymore Anakin/Republic viewing until much later for a glorious clusterfuck :D Blame Dooku ;)
SideNote: I do not apologize for the message Obi-Wan didn't send, if the Clone Wars and the Prequels are canon than a dash of convenience cannot be an *unforgivable sin.
Chapter 66 - Fives and Five Commanders
The First to Cross - Fives
Fives was desperate, they had to believe, had to understand.
To kill or be killed.
To kill without consent.
Droids for an empire.
Skywalker and Rex didn't believe him.
It was almost a relief to be shot through the heart, even if it was one of his own vod.
Death would be better than what his vode would have to live through.
Even if some of his brothers had learned to hate the Jedi.
He knew none of them would have wanted…
Fives heard Rex call his name.
As Fives died, he learned what the Jedi were really about as the Force enveloped him.
The Two Who Crossed Together - Commanders Rex and Ahsoka
Rex's hands were shaking, Traitor.
Who was the traitor? Him? Or her?
"No, I'll do it," Rex said, raising his blasters.
He would never forget the look in Ahsoka's blue eyes.
He pulled the trigger and the world went still, weightless, time suspended.
That great mythical thing he had watched the Jedi wield but had never felt within engulfed him and Ahsoka.
He heard her heartbeat echo his, and he knew that he was the traitor as they fell into the dark, only the light from a green Convo bird guiding the way down.
To Kill a Father - Commander Wolffe
There was no thought.
Order 66.
Good soldiers follow orders.
But a part of Wolffe that had known, truly known that his General had loved him and his brothers, died as Plo's ship fell from the sky.
Plo had cared for them, for him. Master Plo Koon had mourned his brothers' deaths; each and every one of them.
Commander Wolffe closed his eyes and felt himself fall into an ocean of power and light and darkness he had no way of comprehending.
To Kill a Sister - Commander Bly
Commander Bly watched himself kill Aayla Secura, the General that had worked so very hard to keep them alive.
But good soldiers follow orders.
He didn't remember who had given the order. He just knew the numbers.
Was that all his life was? Numbers?
They had murdered General Secura, her body jolting on the ground from the blasts.
She was very much dead.
Bly was numb, and he did not fight the wave of starlight and shadows that overtook him.
To Kill a Brother - Commander Cody
Commander Cody had the absurd thought as gave the order to shoot.
Why had I given him back his weapon?
"No one could have survived that fall."
Cody smiled under his bucket, it was General Kenobi, gravity wasn't going to be the thing that killed him.
The full horror of what he had done overcame him.
He had fired on General Kenobi.
And none of his men had questioned him.
It took more strength than was pretty to keep his voice even, to order his brothers away, praying to the Force that Kenobi wasn't spotted by anyone.
The absolute worst thing had happened to him, he had broken his loyalty to his General, who he would have willingly and gladly followed till his death.
Obi-Wan Kenobi wasn't just another Jedi or officer to Cody, he was a brother. A brother who worked himself to death, who would never willingly go to medic, who Cody had been responsible for taking care of as he tried to fight a war on his own.
No one understood, not the rest of his vode, not Skywalker, not Dooku, that High General Kenobi was the true military genius behind the Republic. He was the linchpin, and without Kenobi, they would have lost this war.
Cody had been honoured to have been made his right hand, even if it meant being in charge of the largest percentage of the GAR, even if meant having to consider the politics behind the High Jedi Council.
It had all been worth it, Kenobi might not have been a clone but he was a brother, from the moment he stepped foot on Kamino and had caught Cody's gaze as he passed by on his tour with Lama Su, he had been a brother.
The Jedi had looked at him with horror filled eyes at the idea of people being grown for violence and war.
Kenobi had never abandoned them, hadn't fled even though Cody could tell how much he detested every second of this war. Kenobi had stayed and fought beside them, for them.
They fought this war to end it, knowing as well as he that the only way out was through it.
Cody had failed him.
He did not even think of fighting as the Force embraced him, stealing his vision and physical form.
Cody's last thought was to wonder if Obi-Wan would ever forgive him.
The Darkness Between the Stars - The Second Year of Darkness - 21BBY
General Obi-Wan Kenobi of the Separatist army had done a lot in the last year.
Had sacrificed much as well.
Returning to Kamino, seeing the genocide the clones had committed without hesitation at Dooku's word was the first wake up call to how deep the water that they were in was.
Things had become even more clear on Tatooine, winning the planet had been brutal. Giving the order to kill anyone left in the streets had not been fun or easy, but worse had been the realization that the slavers had run to the slave market to slit the throats of the slaves rather than surrender to a 'benevolent' voice.
It was Obi-Wan's true wake up call that in the Outer Rim, to rule, to truly rule and maintain power, one could not be kind. At least not to those who broke the laws.
A fact that gave him no illusions about the type of government that was necessary until they could stabilize and educate their growing populations.
Obi-Wan was very much aware that he was handing Dooku exactly what he wanted, an empire.
But Obi-Wan had not bowed all power to him.
He kept his promise not to contact anyone in the Republic, because the propaganda made conquering new planets easier, it would also make it harder for the Republic to build a prepared and informed resistance.
Obi-Wan was just glad only a few Jedi Knights had ventured into their territories. Each had been stunned and jettisoned back to Coruscant with a droid company whose inner circuits self destructed on arrival or with any tempering.
Obi-Wan thought of Anakin often, worried for him, for what he might think, knowing that even if he got a message to him now, it would be far too little far too late to do either of them any good.
No, Obi-Wan was far more worried about his current Padawan who was being exposed to an ever growing amount of violence and the Sith Lord who kept looking at them with a growing air of proprietary.
So, it was no surprise really when he almost screamed as Ahsoka, along with five others, fainted during a war council.
Four Generals were caught by their brothers, along with one junior officer.
Obi-Wan glared up at Dooku who stood over them as Ahsoka's eyes rolled back and her body arched in his hold.
"What have you done!?" Obi-Wan demanded of the Sith.
Dooku frowned at Ahsoka, then knelt beside them, running fingers over her forehead as the Force buoyed around the room.
"I am not doing this, Obi-Wan," Dooku said.
"Liar," Obi-Wan gritted out, trying to find an anchor as the Light and Darkness pounded down on them.
Ahsoka went limp in his arms.
"Fives!" Echo cried out as the others who had fainted with Ahsoka fell limp as well.
The Force then slapped them, like a wave breaking against a cliff.
Ahsoka gasped in a breath, then squeaked as her eyes focused on Dooku hovering worriedly over her.
Obi-Wan bit back a laugh as Ahsoka's fist whipped up so fast not even a Lord of the Sith had enough time to avoid it.
Dooku stood, stepping back, he made no sound but he still held a hand to his nose that was already dripping blood onto the polished floors.
Obi-Wan hurried to stand with Ahsoka as she and the others scrambled to their feet. He stood between her and Dooku.
Ahsoka looked bewildered and angry, "Master Kenobi? What are y-? Are you protecting Count Dooku!?"
Obi-Wan wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, the Count was their ally after all, but before he could think up a response General Rex exclaimed, "General Tano!"
Ahsoka spun on him and shouted back, " YOU SHOT AT ME! WHAT THE ACTUAL KRIFF, REX!?"
"Language!" Obi-Wan interjected on instinct.
Ahsoka, his amazing, well behaved, adoring Padawan, rolled her eyes at him.
"General Kenobi!" General Cody called.
Obi-Wan turned to look at him, the man was shaking, holding on to the table for support, "Yes, General?" Utterly bewildered by the emotions spilling off him, the look of mournful regret in his dark eyes.
"I'm so, so sorry," Cody said with such earnestness it nearly broke Obi-Wan's heart.
"What did you do?" Obi-Wan asked, at a complete loss, then flinched as General Wolffe collapsed back to the floor on his hands and knees and wretched.
Padme, who had sat frozen, her handmaidens having their weapons in hand at their Queen's back, ran to his side, "General Wolffe, are you alright!?"
Wolffe's only response was a broken sob.
"There are chips in our heads! You have to listen to me! The Republic is going to use us! There are biochips-"
"Karking hells," Ponds chastised, "Get a grip, ARC, we got the chips removed years ago."
"Breathe, vod, just breathe," Echo urged.
Fives jolted, his jaw falling open, "Echo? Echo… no, it can't be, you're…"
Echo gave him a smile and joked, "Your annoying batchmate, yeah, yeah, no need to repeat yourself, I know."
Fives just stared at him as if he had grown a few additional heads.
Bly, the only one out of the six who had collapsed and been affected by the Force and not lost his mind, asked in an eerily calm voice, "Why is Count Dooku here? And why is he still breathing?"
Thought too soon , Obi-Wan grossed in his own thoughts.
Cody and Rex jolted reaching for their weapons as Ahsoka scowled, "My sentiments exactly."
"Why doesn't everyone take a deep breath," Obi-Wan suggested only for Ahsoka to hiss at him.
"He's a Sith Lord."
Obi-Wan couldn't see Dooku's expression, but he could imagine. Obi-Wan stared at his Padawan, his worry deepening, "Yes, this is an established fact."
"Ponds, why are you alive?" Bly asked.
Cody frowned, "Yeah, how are-" he looked around the room, "What, the, kriff?"
Ahsoka smirked at him, "Oh, so you do swear."
Cody raised a brow at her, his composure and normal stoicism returning as he noted, "You're small again, Commander Tano."
Her shoulders stiffened and she drew herself up, "I am not small."
"Your montrals are shorter," Rex said before he caught sight of Fives and Echo and froze, Obi-Wan had no other word for it, he just froze.
Ahsoka reached a hand up to touch her left montral and gasped in horror, "What's happening?"
Padme shook her head, "I think we should adjourn today's meeting."
The two other planet leaders who had attended today slipped out the exit without being told twice, and Ponds signalled to a group of his brothers.
"Fives, are you alright-" Echo began again, trying to get a normal reaction from his brother who clearly wasn't alright.
But Rex came up on them both and pulled them into a crushing hug.
Padme helped Wolffe to his feet, fresh tears still sliding down his cheeks as he muttered in a soft litany, "I killed him, I killed him, I killed him."
"Okay," Ahsoka said, hands on hips, "What's going on?"
Obi-Wan angled his body so he was in Bly's line of fire.
"Bly, Cody, Rex, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan said, holding his hands out, "Please lower your weapons."
Ahsoka had no idea where she was, what was happening, and why Master Kenobi was protecting Dooku.
Nor why so many soldiers she knew to be dead were alive, or
"He's a Sith Lord," Ahsoka exclaimed, "He's a Separatist."
"As are we all," Master Kenobi said with the slightest of smiles and a twist of his wrists, her sabres flew to his hands and the soldiers, who in Ahsoka's opinion were acting normally by being freaked out had their weapons pulled from their hands as well to be caught by the brothers beside them.
"Waxer!" Cody exclaimed, "How are you alive!?"
Ahsoka was growing angry, "What is happening? Where the kriff are we?"
"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan chastised, "I understand you're upset, but swear-"
"Really, that's what you're upset about!?" she exclaimed, "One minute we are bringing Darth Maul back to the Temple then Rex was shooting at me, for no reason, then we were swallowed by the Force and now-" she gestured around.
Obi-Wan's eyes were big, "Darth Maul is dead. I cut him in half eleven years ago."
Ahsoka crossed her arms, "You didn't kill him well enough. I don't know how he survived but Mother Talzin gave him new legs."
Dooku who had been dabbing at his lip with a kriffing kerchief, said, "Interesting, do you know where he is now?"
She scowled at him, "I don't even know where we are right now."
"Or when," Rex said, recovering even as he took stock of the room with a wary and distrustful expression.
"Kamino," Ponds answered, "We are home."
Rex frowned at him, "Since when has Kamino ever constituted as a home?"
"Since we conquered it," Ponds said flatly.
Cody tilted his head, "By conquer, you mean…"
"We killed the Kaminoins," Monnk said.
"And the Republic sanctioned that?" Bly asked.
Ponds smirked, "The Republic can go kark itself."
Ahsoka blinked, it was rare for the clones to so openly… "Wait, back up, are you saying the clones are Separatists and that we-" she pointed at Obi-Wan, "teamed up with Dooku?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan said.
Cody looked at his General like he was insane but asked in an even tone, "So we are at war with the Republic?"
Obi-Wan shook his head, "No, we are not."
Cody crossed his arms, "Then who are we at war with, or would you like to tell me this isn't a war council?"
Obi-Wan frowned at him, "Cody… the Hutts. We are at war with the Hutts, slavers-"
"And pirates," Echo said, "Can't forget the pirates."
Ahsoka was pretty sure she was either in a parallel universe or the dreams after death were weird and sadistic.
"So what?" Bly asked, "the droids are fighting with the Jedi now?"
" No, " Obi-Wan said, "The Jedi aren't in this war at all, they abdicated from this conflict because we had both armies and the Republic paid us before realizing that the clones had reclaimed their independence."
Ahsoka brows went up, "So the Separatists got two armies? And you of all people sided with the Sith?"
"Yes," Padme said, Wolffe leaning on her partly stood there, "The Republic was going to rip itself into a civil war for a corrupted government that was benefiting from systems more than the systems were benefiting from it."
"When were the chips taken out?" Fives demanded.
Ahsoka watched Master Kenobi's face as Echo said, "Five, almost six years ago. Dooku told me about them."
"Aside from the fact he was one of the people responsible for putting them in," one of the others, Havoc, she thought, said.
Master Kenobi was thinking fast even as Ahsoka asked, "What are the chips and where is Skyguy?"
Ponds rested his hip on the table, "The inhibitor chips, it gave the Sith the ability to control us as literal slaves."
Wolffe was still shaking, "That's why I- is that why!?"
Master Kenobi's eyes widened, "You saw it then, you saw what would have happened if we had sided with the Republic?"
"Why would you ever side against the Republic?" Ahsoka asked bitterly. "You never have before."
He frowned at her, "Because Dooku gave me a choice and I did not trust the Council to do what was right. The Sith are controlling the Republic as well. I choose the lesser evil." He motioned to the clones, "I chose their lives over conflict. The Senate was going to force the Jedi to use them as slaves or allow them to be used as slaves. All of these men have a paycheck and are free to leave."
"You're on the High Council," she accused, "And where is Skyguy?"
He frowned at her, "Ahsoka, I am not on the Council, and I never was. Skyguy? Do you mean Anakin? I didn't think you knew him that well."
She gaped at him, then shook her head, she was done with this, "I'm sorry, I can't deal with this, I am not fighting another war nor becoming a Sith." She went for the door, "I'm leaving."
But Master Obi-Wan stepped in front of her and said simply, "No."
"Excuse me?"
"You aren't going anywhere, Padawan."
Anger rose in her chest, "I am not your Padawan."
His expression hardened, "Yes, you are, and as you are my responsibility I am not allowing you to leave after having a violent vision that has left you unaware of your place and the current times. After, if we have sorted vision from reality, and you still wish to leave-"
"I already left the Order, Master."
He smiled, "As did I, but we are still Jedi whether we are aligned with the Order or not."
She gaped at him, "You left the Order?"
Master Kenobi raised his brows at her, "I am the highest ranking General in the Separatist army, what do you think?"
Ahsoka jabbed a thumb at Dooku, "Oh, please, you're serving under the Sith, and you think that's okay?"
His shoulders stiffened and he warned, "Ahsoka… our circumstances are not so black and white."
"He's telling the truth," Padme said. "I don't agree with all that Count Dooku has done either but the Republic was going to buy these men as slaves, Ahsoka. They were going to force them to kill innocent people in the name of power and sustained wealth for the wealthy. Few things could be worse than that, and the underlying precedents…" she shook her head, "Naboo was the first planet to leave the Republic once the Senate passed that bill, but we were not the last."
Ahsoka frowned at her, "And what does Anakin have to say about that?"
Padme frowned back at her, "Ahsoka, I haven't seen Anakin since he was nine years old. I know he is dear to Obi-Wan, but otherwise… why should I care what Knight Skywalker thinks?"
Because you're in love with him, Ahsoka thought, exchanging a knowing look with Rex.
"And with that, I think it would be best if we took their coms away," Dooku said.
"No," Ahsoka said, "I'm leaving."
"No," Obi-Wan countered, "Padawan mine, you are not."
"I am not your, Padawan," Ahsoka said, baring her teeth.
Sorrow filled his blue eyes, "Yes, you are, don't you remember?"
"Remember what?" she snapped.
"I chose you, and you accepted. At the Padawan Trials, when I first returned from Kamino."
Her entire world seemed to stutter, more than anything else, more even then Rex shooting at her or whatever the kark this was, that simple statement rocked her.
Hit a bit of insecurity that she had carried around with her, always.
She hadn't been chosen at thirteen and she had been forced onto Anakin.
But to have been chosen.
Her voice came smaller than intended, "You chose me?"
His expression softened, "Of course I did, I knew it was meant to be from the moment I saw you."
That hit her hard, she had a flash of memory, overhearing Master Obi-Wan speaking to Master Plo that he had thought she had been meant to be his new Padawan, not Anakin's.
And then a different layer of memories came, of Master Sifo-Dyas, who she had never known, of Plo, of the Trials, of Obi-Wan facing off against her, encouraging her to use a backward grip and tossing her his own sabre.
She blinked back tears and reached for a bond, the powerful presence of Anakin was completely absent, but the warm, unfaltering light that was Master Kenobi, shone a bond, held brightly between them.
He was her Master and she was his Padawan.
Obi-Wan caught her as her knees went weak, "Master Kenobi, what is happening?"
He held her tight, "I do not know, Padawan, but we will find out."
Rex was in shock, he knew he was in shock, he was ecstatic that Ahsoka was alive but deeply confused by everything else.
He didn't have so much as a theory as to what was happening.
He probably would have shot Dooku by this point but kriffing Ponds, who should have been dead, had taken his blaster from him.
As for the rest…
His gaze kept coming back to Echo and Fives. Fives looked as panicked as Rex internally felt.
Wolffe did not look good, and Rex was doing his damndest to not think of why that might be.
"Rex, Fives, Cody, Wolffe, Bly, and Ahsoka are on probation-" General Kenobi said and glared at the vode who immediately protested, "I said probation, not decommissioned or a loss of rank, but we are not going to have people leading battalions who have been so affected by a Force vision they don't know what war they are in. Havoc, 5o1st, Ponds, you will take Cody's position in addition to your own, Fox, Wolffe's people, and Monnk, Bly's. Appo, go locate the Generals' batchmates, Domino with Rex."
That took Rex longer than it probably should have to translate. First, the implications of what he just said about there being batchmates.
That was kind of funny in a morbid sort of way because the Commanders didn't typically have surviving batchmates, which, while staring at Fives and Echo and Ponds and then Waxer, Rex realized with a start that maybe they were.
Maybe most of them were actually alive.
Rex was very used to his brothers being dead.
He was not used to even the idea that his vode could be alive again.
Sure, there was that one time with Echo, but Echo hadn't actually survived, not really nor fully.
But there he was now, bright and chipper despite his obvious worry for Fives.
The next thing that struck Rex was that General Kenobi would think to place them with their batchmates. Especially for the higher officers, they didn't always complete training together, if they survived that long.
But that also meant that their batchmates, unlike their closest friends were less likely to be the chain of command while still being able to offer comfort.
They were their batchmates, the vode they had slept beside during the first terrifying cold years before they fully understood what was happening to them, what was expected of them.
But Rex's batchmates had been decommissioned earlier than most, to no fault of their own.
Kenobi was aware of that, accounted for it, Domino with Rex.
Domino Squad, not just Fives and Echo, but all of Domino Squad, alive.
He didn't fight as Appo took his communicator from him and led him toward the door.
Rex stopped as he passed Kenobi who was Force suggesting Ahsoka to sleep, "We aren't Generals, we're just Commanders."
Kenobi tilted his head at him in the way that Cody did sometimes, "Ahsoka and I are the only Jedi in the Separatist army, there are no civilian officers. You earned your place, General Rex."
Rex just stared at him.
"Come on, vod," Appo said, "we need to go see Kix."
Rex let himself be led away.
The halls of Kamino were familiar but changed. That clinical smell was gone, replaced with the smell of saltwater and rain, and green living things. He didn't understand the last until they reached the heart of the main facility. It was no longer an empty space once designed for hosting guests or lining up for formal assembly drills, it was a tropical garden.
Appo smiled at him, "Nice, isn't it? Dooku came up with it. The man is a walking contradiction. On one hand, he's an evil bag of Bantha manure, and on the other hand… well, he has his moments. He brought us Kenobi and Tano, at the very least."
Rex said nothing, Dooku had been responsible for so much death and destruction, so many lost vode, that to think he was the cause of this current twist of survival…
But then, on the other hand, was that the Republic had tried to make them into biological droids and Rex had almost killed Ahsoka.
Rex forced his breath to even out.
He didn't know how to deal with this.
Kix's greeting was at least normal. He gave Rex a hostile glare and asked, "What did you do and why did you do it on my shift?"
Fives exclaimed, "The chips! Did you get all the chips out? Of everyone!?"
Kix's face softened, and directed them all to sit, Waxer and Echo took guard at the door as Appo went looking for dead vode.
Our vode that should have been dead, but weren't because…
Because of the Force?
Rex didn't understand this.
The five of them were seated on a couch, a comfy one.
Since when did medical wards have comfy couches even if they were covered in plastic?
Rex sat between Fives and Wolffe. Rex followed Bly in putting an arm around Wolffe, then Cody and Rex did the same to Fives.
Kix came back to Fives with a datapad, "It's alright, Fives, many of us have nightmares about it at times." He pointed to an icon, "These are your public medical records, the ones that all the vode have access to for emergencies and the basics." He clicked on the file with Fives's name and numbers, "These are your scans, before and after, here is a picture of the chip and its number, and he is a video of its incineration."
Rex watched with fascination.
"You did this for everyone?" Cody asked.
Kix nodded, "It's enough to make anyone paranoid. But why don't you remember this?"
They were all silent for a long moment.
Finally, Wolffe burst out, "I killed Plo. I killed General Plo Koon, I blew him out of the sky."
Rex hugged Wolffe tighter, "I'm sorry, vod." He paused, "I tried killing Ahsoka."
"I killed Aayla," Bly said in an emotionless tone.
Cody shivered, "I almost killed Kenobi."
Kix startled, "You did what?"
Cody shut his eyes, "I shot him off a cliff."
Rex snorted, "You didn't kill him, Codes, gravity is not Kenobi-effective."
Bly chuckled, "That line is insane, from Yoda to Dooku to Kenobi to Skywalker to Tano."
"Fox killed me," Fives stated, then tacked on, "and I was right about the chips."
Rex hugged him, "I remember, vod'ika, but we are safe now."
"Or most probably already dead," Bly reasoned.
"Okay," Kix said, calling them all back to attention, "let's take this from the top, you were all at the meeting when; what the kark happened?"
"Order 66," everyone but Fives said, "Good soldiers follow orders."
Kix shivered, "Right, okay, then what happened?"
Rex frowned, "We… ended up in a meeting with a bunch of undead vode."
"Ponds died in the first year of the war," Cody said, "Boba killed him."
"Boba?" Kix asked, "You mean, Boba Fett?"
"Yes," Cody answered.
Wolffe looked up, "Wait! If they are alive… If Tano- is Plo alive too?" He grabbed onto Kix's wrist, "Is he okay?"
Kix nodded slowly, reaching over to a side table to pull a flimsy-mag of the top pile. He passed it to Wolffe, "Master Plo Koon, right? He's on the Jedi High Council, he's alright. See, there was an article not too long ago about the Republic trying to goad the Jedi into sending more Knights into our territory, but the Order has been pretty good about keeping their nose out of our business so far."
Wolffe sagged and started mumbling words of thanks in Mandalorian.
"Knight Aayla Secura?" Bly questioned the first note of true inflexion in his tone.
Kix frowned but then nodded, "Yeah, Kenobi mentioned her, one of his old friends Knight Vos is her Master. She's also the same age as Skywalker, I think. No ill news has come of them."
"We should all be dead," Fives said, staring at the screen.
Rex didn't argue with him because he found himself agreeing.
"Alrighty then," Kix said, standing and dusting his hands off, "I'm going to go get you all some nice drugs and we will reapproach this after you've all taken a long nap."
Rex had a flash image of seeing Dooku arriving on Kamino, following Kenobi and Amidala into the Jedi Temple to see the Padawan Trials.
He closed his eyes, sinking into his brothers beside him.
What the kriff is going on?
Rex didn't fight as Kix as he got to him, taking his arm by the wrist, removing the arm plate to roll up his sleeve.
He didn't flinch at the needle. He did push himself to open his eyes, however, when he heard a bunch of his vode enter the room talking in a tumbling wave of sound.
The so familiar tones of Domino Squad hit him hard. He hadn't known all of them, but they had been among the first he had truly bonded with after losing his batchmates, even if they were younger than him.
He trusted them, missed them, and never, ever forgot them.
If this was death, he was okay with it.
AN: Thank you, Nauze and Ahrnberg! Thoughts on the chapter, ideas, porpoises, or feedback, pretty please?