Fallen Not Forgotten (Adventures!AU Book 6)

Ch 17 Whatever It Takes

We're back with one last chapter for FNF! Yes, I did say "one last chapter". Originally there was supposed to be four more (17,18,19,20) and maybe an epilogue, but I had to drastically shorten it. I have a longer post on why I did pinned on my tumblr (shadowthestoryteller) and linked through my Wattpad profile but TLDR is I may or may not have gotten so stressed that I got sick for the past month and ended up in the docs office. Luckily it was just acid reflux (which still SUCKS) but my health anxiety was off the rails. For those who have been around for a while, yep it's the same thing that happened in 2022. This story/series wasn't the only thing that did me in, but it contributed to about 70-80% percent of the stress. For my health I had to cut it short, but I wanted to at least finish it and post an ending. Even if it's about as strongly constructed as a bomb shelter made out of popsicle sticks. C'est la vie.

The long post goes more in depth, but I will be taking a break from posting any new Star Wars content for pretty much the next year. I hope to finally post some of Anachronism next year, but Star Wars content is on a hiatus. I need space from the franchise right now, and I just don't have the emotional capacity to start TtFR back up.

Enough rambling, on with the dumpster fire!

CW: Fears of abandonment/being a burden, canon typical violence.

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How pathetic, having dropped dead without firing a single shot. He'd held them back in training, nearly getting them all condemned to maintenance, and now he was the first Domino to fall?

The first to die.

The first to fail.

He should have done better. Should have at least taken down one droid. Maybe, if he had, the other would have been able to hold the droids off for longer. They could have stopped the droids from taking the base, or could have at least raised the alarm.

Cutup wouldn't have died. Hevy wouldn't have died.

Sure, in this timeline they would survive thanks to that Realm Walker, but what of the other?

It was his fault.

His incompetence had killed the sergeant, killed NUB, killed Cutup, and killed Hevy.

Well, he'd rectify that.

He knew his brothers still harbored resentment over that one sim. Where he didn't watch his back, and as a result fell and doomed the team to failture. If it weren't for Shakk Ti...

No. Not again. He wasn't going to just escape into the future without doing anything, like a damn coward. He'd prove himself, he would!

He'd help set the charges, help blow the base.

He'd show them. He'd prove to them he wasn't just... just...

Droidbait.

Fives wasn't looking, now was his chance. Sneak back up, sneak back in.

Prove to the Realm Walker he was capable.

Prove to his brothers he was capable.

He was a soldier like them, brave like them, useful like them.

He wasn't just going to escape into the future without having down a single damn thing.

He was going to prove he could be a good soldier, a good brother.

No matter the cost.

-Shadow pov-

The force of the bolt hitting me square in the chest sent me backwards off the landing platform, making me do a few flips in the process. Rex's scream followed me down, echoing around the desolate moon and sending a pang of guilt through me.