Killing Strangers (Leave Me Alone) [Star Wars Rebels Fanfic]

Pack the Demolition (We'll Blow You)

So what if Kallus was supposed to be the enemy? Right now, all Ezra saw was a man who was obviously tormented. There was so much blood being spilled from either sides, and Kallus was cracking. He was trying to make sure he looked and acted normal in front of his soldiers, but when he was alone, Ezra was the only one who saw how tortured he really was by this planet-scaled war. He was plagued by nightmares at night, and haunting images by day. He had no peaceful time for himself anymore.

"Agent Kallus, the time to end this must come now. You must get rid of the Lasat presence on this planet and show that the Empire has no tolerance for rebellious acts of any kind. We must set an example."

Kallus nodded and Ezra could only feel their combined resignation as they listened to his superiors. This would happen. Nothing would change this event in history, and an entire species would be almost wiped out.

Continual pressure was put on Kallus to end this quickly, and the blood spilled of both his men and the enemy was making him come closer and closer to trying to find a way to end this fighting immediately, no matter what. So when he came to see they had a shipment of T-7 Ion Disrupters with them, he ordered his troops to use them and end this fighting decisively and quickly.

He, nor the others, expected the results.

Once they started using them and saw the effects, Kallus was horrified and immediately regretted the order. So did Ezra as she saw the results of the weapon being used on the enemy, and she practically threw up in her mouth. Kallus wasn't too much better, as when he was alone in his room at a base, he had run to the bathroom and dropped to his knees, hurling into the toilet. He threw up everything he'd eaten, until he was throwing up bile into the toilet and was unable to do anything but gag into it and heave harsh breaths.

"This shouldn't have happened," Ezra whimpered, crossing her arms and holding herself tightly. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to keep seeing the images that refused to go away.

Blood and gore covered everything around them. The T-7 Ion Disrupters did their job. Did it a little too well. The enemy didn't have a chance against those things, especially as those weapons shot at the Lasats and caused them to practically divulge their organs to their surroundings and splatter their blood like paint coating the area.

Death. Everywhere smelled like fire, brimstone, and death.

Kallus and his troops finished up the battle, tidying things up until the Lasats were all but no more in the eyes of the Empire. And then they were getting rid of their presence there and packing up, before leaving the planet behind and heading back home. Kallus easily acted normal, showing no emotion or that he was in any way affected by the slaughter, but Ezra knew better. By himself, Kallus was haunted by it and knew that he viewed the order of the disrupters as the biggest mistake he ever made and it was something he would never be able to get rid of.

"It's..." Ezra was going to say it was okay, but it really wasn't. And never would be, not even for Kallus. What happened wasn't okay, and was so, so wrong. And when it came to feelings, it really wasn't okay in that way either. And Kallus knew what had happened was wrong and not okay at all, and he knew that he wouldn't feel okay about it ever.

It was just...not okay.

"I'm sorry," she ended up saying instead.

Because she knew for that, they could agree they both were.

~*~*~

His head hurt. That was the first thing he noticed, which would be hard not to considering how it felt like someone had taken a blaster that had been shooting for several minutes and taken the burning end of the barrel to his temple and was letting it burn his head off.