Fools Don't Change, Stones Don't Bleed

Broken

When they attacked the Ossus Academy – at the first light of dawn, the time of the soundest sleep – it was sudden. Shado did not fully understand why. No one believed they were sincere in their intention to civilly convert the Jedi and spare their lives on bail of joining the One Sith. Especially after the destruction of the Coruscant Temple. It was better not to think about it now.

Scarlet, golden, green blades beamed behind the transparisteel of the viewport, leaving on the cracked steps and paths the deeds that could have made the galaxy a little better and that would never be done, words that someone vitally needed to hear that would never be spoken.

Confused, Shado admitted to himself that he didn't feel anything special about it.

"Younglings stowed," he said to Cade. "Systems on line. We're good to go."

Skywalker did not listen. He leaned against the viewport, shouting something about his fallen teacher, about his father who was now fighting alone. Malicious and possessive despair burned within him. Indeed, how dare the Sith take loved ones away specifically from him, the most exceptional, the most wonderful boy in the galaxy?

"He's not just your father, Cade. He's my Master. Not easy for me, either," Shado responded with indifference that astounded him. It was over. His best friend couldn't stand indifference to his person. "He expects us to obey. We must honour that."

"Can't do it."

Instinctively, Shado turned around in the pilot's seat, hearing the slap of bare feet. For a moment, some primal devotion whipped across his heart: get up, idiot, grab him! Don't let him do anything stupid!

"Get this crate up on repulsorlifts and then punch it if you have to, Shado!" exclaimed Cade as he ran. "I can't sit here and watch my father and my master die!

No guts to call me a traitor and a coward to my face?

"Fuck!" Shado blurted out, seeing a familiar figure on the battlefield.

"And you kiss your sister with that mouth?" resonated in the bases of his lekku, where his mental link with Cade nested.

Hands on their own reached for the control panel. The children he needs to take out of this chaos. The Jedi they would grow up to be. Their lives were more important. They were much more important than one empty head.

Azlyn Rae would had agreed.

The wounds from the loss of her were still fresh. Coruscant had fallen a couple of days ago; she'd been there. Her master had returned to Ossus alone. The Jedi had failed to contact her, and she'd been never heard from again.

"I'm sure she preferred to die honourably in battle, defending her principles, than to let the Sith decide her fate," Shado had said then. "Azlyn was a true knight. That's what pissed you off about her, right? But we should be proud of her. Be the same in the memory of her!"

Cade had only continued to growl and strike blow after blow at the training droids. His lightsaber had long since been thrown aside, his arms covered in fresh bruises and his own blood, his face flushed and sweaty.

"Talk to Sazen about this," Shado had suggested. "It always helps you. There are many forms of meditation to cope with grief." Cade had hit the machine with such force that his bones had crunched. "Let's do something together."

"Go fuck yourself with your advice." Cade had wiped his nose, turning to him. "You don't understand a thing, you wormhead bugger, and you never will. You... are more vile than any Sith! You prayed for her death, didn't you?"

Shado shuddered. He sighed, releasing unnecessary tension from his muscles.

Azlyn would have already been piloting the shuttle with younglings through outer space. Shado desperately wanted to say the same about Kol Skywalker, his mentor. But the inner instinct, the Living Force and, after all, common sense told him that the wisest living Jedi would have chosen the other way. He expected a different action from his apprentice.