Shadows of Tomorrow

Chapter 55 - The Way Back Home

It's hardly uncommon for people to move about with a hood pulled over their heads, so Theseus doesn't need to worry about looking suspicious in that regard. He moves as inconspicuously as possible through the streets of Odessen, hoping that his hood will at least conceal him enough that no one will look at him twice.

Two years. It's been two years since he first came here.

He knows the place now, the city, even if he's always kept to himself. He doesn't belong here, not really, but there isn't anywhere he belongs anymore.

Ahsoka and Rex never came back.

To be fair, Theseus didn't really expect that they would. They parted knowing full well that they likely wouldn't see each other again until Theseus left to join up with the Rebellion. He hasn't yet. He still isn't ready, and he wonders when he will be. Likely, it'll take something drastic to throw him back into the fighting. He's tired of it.

He has heard about it on the news, though. Sometimes there's a mention of a terrorist attack somewhere, so Theseus can at least see there's obviously a rebellion of some kind in operation, because he highly doubts that the attacks are random and sporadic.

But at the same time, they also certainly aren't getting anywhere in overthrowing the Emperor.

For now, at least, Theseus was intending to remain on Odessen. But now, he's encountering a slight problem in that plan.

The Empire is here.

They're slowly spreading their clutches to more and more planets, and now they're here, too. It's not likely anyone will recognize him, but it isn't a possibility he'll shrug off.

A prickle of unease runs through Theseus, though, as he keeps moving. Maybe it's just the sight of an occasional stormtrooper milling about, he doesn't know. (What happened to the clones? He doesn't know that either.)

He's only out here to buy some things that he needs for his mechanic's shop. It's not like there's anything unusual about what he's doing. Everything should be fine. He is just trying to live a relatively normal – and unimaginably lonely – life, after all.

He would have kept going to his shop, if not for the sudden commotion coming from right around the corner. People talking loudly – borderline yelling, really – and against his better judgment, Theseus rounds the corner to check it out.

There's a group of about half a dozen stormtroopers, surrounding a civilian. A Twi'lek.

"Take him in for treason," orders one of the stormtroopers to the others, one who looks like a superior. The Twi'lek protests something that Theseus can't quite hear, but the stormtroopers ignore him, and start shoving him away.

"No!" wails a much younger sounding voice, and he looks over sharply to see a much younger Twi'lek girl – around ten, maybe? – try to run after them. "Daddy!"

The stormtrooper in the back turns around, roughly knocking her to the ground before he turns to walk away after the others.

Theseus clenches a fist, anger surging as he watches them. Yes, this is the kind of government that rules the galaxy now. For a moment, he really wishes he had left with Ahsoka, but now, it's too late for that. He doesn't even know how he'd find her. He misses her all the time, but he misses everything all the time. It's just a constant ache that he always feels, somewhere in the back of his mind. He's accustomed to it now.

"Help them," a voice whispers in the back of his mind. It's what he should do, he knows.

His gaze darts between the now crying, and probably minorly injured, girl and her father, as the stormtroopers continue to shove him away.