Alternate Start (ARCHIVE)

Chapter Thirteen: Psychometry

"Match!"

Kaar picked himself up off the mat and held out a hand to Droidbait, pulling the clone to his feet. He grinned at him warmly, "That was spectacular Droidbait!"

Sparkler, who stood off to the side, slapped his younger brother on the back, "Yeah, think about it like this Droidbait, fighting General Sunna is like fighting me. Where he got ARC training, he still won't say." Kaar shrugs with a smirk, "General's secret." He looked up, seeing that Spencer had come in with the shinies some time during the match.

"Spencer! Care for a rematch?" Spencer looked up from one of the shinies and shook his head, "Nah, you wiped the floor with me last time sir."

Kaar grinned to himself when he saw the haircuts he's only seen in holos back in Hevy town. "How about one of you shinies?" Then, to wig them out like he did with his other shinies, he picked out two names he knew in his vast roll call of clones, "Tup? Dogma? Maybe one of you?"

The two shinies stiffened hearing the general say their name, which caused a few of the more experienced to chuckle to themselves. Fives grinned, "Don't worry shinies, that's just something the general likes to do to freak us out. He called me and Echo by name when he saw us on the mats the first time."

Kaar walked over and lightly slapped Fives on the back, about behind his heart.

Pain.

Fear.

Betrayal.

Intense feelings from a different time flashed through him in the Force. Kaar fought the urge to cry out as he fell to his knees, clutching his head for a wound that wasn't there. The resonating memories felt far worse than any laser whip could ever have felt. He could see his men running around him in a panic. Could see Sparkler's mouth moving but couldn't hear the words. His eyes turned to slits as the panic, and fear, and betrayal washed over him like cold, inky water. It was chilling.

His hearing slowly returned to him. He could still hear the memories in his ears and see them in his mind's eye, but he could now he could feel the weight of Sparkler's hand on his back, feel his tears dripping down his face as a result of the psychometry.

"—nna! General Sunna are you alright?"

"D-Don't worry. J— Jedi stuff." Kaar joked, despite his voice being the quietest it's ever been, and his smile not quite reaching his eyes. The tremble in his body, the tears on his face, and his usual joking purr being very absent.

He took deep breaths, reeling from the waves of dark finally pulling back. He felt dizzy. Echo extended an arm for him to grasp. Kaar grabbed Echo's forearm as gently as he could, only for his grip to tighten alongside his pupils as he was once again met with washes of memories from the Force.

Pain.

Loneliness.

Fear.

Desperation.

Regret.

His breathing froze for a moment. A small trickle of blood from his nostrils flooded his senses with the metallic smell before his vision blacked out.