Author's Games: Star Wars

Task Six: Kanan (NOT A FINALIST)

Though I'm not a finalist, a few of you wanted me to write a final entry for Kanan, so I did! Here it is, handed in on time. Hope you enjoy! 

Also, I tried to make it feel like an ending, but at the same time, I couldn't, since this isn't the end of Kanan. His story will continue in Author's Games: Fandoms, so remember to read that if you want to see more of him (or join him with your own characters *hint hint wink wink Jenaara and Yuurei* Anywho... Let me know what you guys think! Enjoy!

Emptiness closed itself through Kanan's entire body. His wounds hadn't been fatal, unfortunately. After he knew everyone was safe and that they had escaped the Imperial blockade, all he wanted was to join Adaara in death. Perhaps it was grief, but Kanan couldn't bring himself to fight, or want to live any longer.

The only thing that kept him going, was hate.

"You're giving up." Jenaara walked into Kanan's room as the door hissed shut behind her.

Kanan shook his head and rolled over on his bunk, facing the wall—turning his back to her. "My wife is dead. I have nothing left to live for."

He sensed her presence as she walked closer to him and felt her weight on the end of the bed. Flinching as she touched him, he finally glanced at her over his shoulder. "I've lost too. My brother... M—My f..." She sighed and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply as if she was trying to hold in tears. "And..."

A familiar presence flickered and his eyes widened. He sat up, feeling the same darkness in him, inside her too. "You—You're a..."

"Don't say it. I don't want to hear you say it."

Kanan furrowed his eyebrows. "H—How?"

Swallowing deeply, she took a deep breath before speaking. "After you and Yuurei opened the holocron with the codes, when we plugged it into the ship, it didn't work. We realized it was only half the codes, so we had to go back and get the other holocron... But you passed out from your wounds and... Yuurei sensed the Force inside me... So, I—I helped him open it."

"You did what?" Kanan yelled.

Jenaara glared at him and crossed her arms. "You did the same thing!"

Kanan gritted his teeth, raking his mechanical hand through his hair. "I... I know. But you—You're innocent. You're... I didn't even know that you were Force-sensative."

Jenaara shook her head, staring at the floor. "Neither did I."

They sat there in silence for a long time. Kanan wasn't sure how much time passed. Jenaara eventually closed her eyes and leaned on him, falling straight to sleep. He listened to her heart racing beneath her chest and watched her chest rise and fall with each trembling breath.

His body was exhausted to the very core of his being, but he couldn't sleep. Part of him couldn't bring himself to move and stir Jenaara—she seemed just as tired as he was and she was like a sister to him.

She was all he had left.

Another part of him couldn't sleep because his mind refused to shut down. He kept seeing Adaara's eyes looking at him as she faintly smiled at him. "Y—you m—mu...must...li—live..." Over and over again, he kept seeing the shield appearing, instantly chopping off her head.

Her closed eyes, her beautiful face peered at him from the ground where it landed and he couldn't get the image out. The hatred swelled within him, longing to explode in rage. He wanted his lightsaber in his hand, wanting to kill them—to kill them all. Vader, the Emperor... To kill Kaladin all over again.