Author's Note: A few of these are sort of connected by character, and a couple are just completely unrelated. Apart from the first one - which takes place near the end of The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force - the rest of these drabbles are once again set at various points of time in my Enter!verse.
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Week Two
NJO – 47 ABY, Beyond-Legends/Enter!verse AU
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6. Battlefield
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"Jacen."
He looks up at her, careful not to disturb Jaina, who is fast asleep and slumped against his arm. "Hey, Mom."
It wasn't a trick of the light earlier – he really does look like he's aged five years. She sits down next to him and takes the hand that isn't supporting Jaina, squeezing his fingers between hers. "Are you sure you're all right? What you did against Onimi was…"
(incredible and terrifying and more than you should ever have to bear)
"Yeah," he says with a warm, reassuring smile, glancing down at Jaina. "I'm all right, Mom. I promise."
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7. Opponent
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"Are you prepared to kill him, if it comes to that?"
Jaina's fingers brush across Davin's forehead before drifting over to stroke Dolan's dark, downy hair. "Hasn't it already come to that?" she says distantly.
"You won't know until you face him." Aunt Mara sighs and folds her arms across her knees. "You don't have to do this, Jaina."
She reaches into the part of her that has always been Jacen and aches for the emptiness that echoes there instead.
I know you're still there.
Can you hear me?
Come back.
Come back, please.
"Yes," she answers simply. "I do."
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8. General
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It feels a little wrong to accept the rank, even if it is only a field promotion. Myri turns to her sister and gently rolls her eyes when Syal reaches out to touch the rank insignia in her hand.
"General Antilles," her sister says with a proud if somewhat sardonic smile, shaking her head. "If only Dad could see you now."
"Me? What about you, Fleet Commander Antilles?" And then something amazing occurs to Myri, and she gestures back and forth between them with a slowly widening grin. "Wait a minute… commander… general… Does this mean I outrank you now?"
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9. Knight
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The girl's anguish hits him like a wave, almost as overwhelming as his twin brother's sudden roiling anger. Dorian sets his datapad down and peers out from under the stairs. The room is so crowded and noisy, it takes several seconds to spot them…
There. He sees Roji with his stupid smirking face, and Cass standing silently by like always, and Veeran desperate to break something, and then he sees her…
He scrambles to his feet, slipping through the crowd with practiced ease. He's no match for Veeran, never has been – but right now, that's the last thing that matters.
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10. Ceasefire
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Her wounds are fatal, but the light fills her, drowning the pain. She wonders if this is what Anakin experienced as he died, if this is how Jacen saw the universe when he battled Onimi, touching a higher plane, connected to everything—
Jacen.
It cuts through her, sharper than any blade, that sudden knowing. When everyone else thought him lost after Myrkr, she had known, would always know. She looks across the battlefield at the armored figure—
(how did she not see it before now)
—and as she passes into the Force, she hears his voice, whispering: I'm sorry, Mom.
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