Savage-Time Chapter 35 (Patreon)

[Boz Pity, Somewhere in the Arid Canyons]

Falon Grey

Something had gone wrong, Falon didn’t need the ominous feeling in the Force to know that. His master and Quinlan should have caught up to him by now but they hadn’t and the dark presence that had made its appearance on the planet was surely to blame, the only solace he had was that his master yet lived Falon could still feel him in the Force and their bond while faded from time apart still stood strong.

The Sith had chosen to sacrifice their droids in an attempt to slow him down and while they had taken some losses the militia group that was following him was still at two-thirds of their full strength, soon they would tire and Falon would grant them peace. Normally Falon would have tried to make the Sith see sense, something he had done before. But his orders were clear, and after witnessing the massacre they had perpetrated, he realized that he could only grant them peace by killing them.

It rankled at him that he hadn’t foreseen their arrival, Falon was one of the few Jedi who had some control over his precognitive abilities something he kept very close to his chest in accordance with his master’s wishes something that had probably saved his life as many of his fellow Jedi that were gifted with similar abilities found themselves dead on the opening months of the war.

All the death in the galaxy was making it difficult to see beyond a certain point, sometimes Falon could only see an hour into the future were previously he could see months and even years. His master had told him that dependence on a single ability was the doom of many Jedi but when one could see the future that weakness wasn’t as dangerous, not until you couldn’t see the future anymore.

And what little he saw made no sense, the council didn’t know it but the reason master Kota didn’t like the clones was that at the beginning of the war, Falon had a vision in which they were hunting him down, he knew they were clones and not other beings disguised at them because he saw their faces, perhaps they were mind-controlled or something similar that would exempt them of guilt but clearly they were vulnerable to manipulation and his master took that as a sign that they couldn’t be trusted.

His thoughts were trapped in the future because he saw what awaited him for the first time in a while, Falon saw two equally possible futures one where he lived and one where he died (it also bothered him that the way he died changed too). He was trapped in a cycle of watching himself be found by his master so he could receive treatment and one where he was buried under some rocks with his master so close to him but unable to shout out for help, in his death vision he saw as his master cried out for him waiting for a response that Falon couldn’t give before the trapped Falon had to watch as his master left him behind to die as he couldn’t be found.

It was a terrible fate but it wasn’t what was important, the message of the vision was. Whether Falon survived or not the truth was that he wouldn’t be winning the fight that was coming and now he had to make a decision to let the militia retreat or to push them forward.

Falon paused as questions overwhelmed his mind, what if not taking them was what left him under the rubble? What if taking them caused him to be buried in rubble? Was he seeing himself lose because his original plan before the vision was to leave them behind so they didn’t needlessly die against the pair of Sith? More and more questions were making themselves heard and Falon didn’t know what to do or what was the correct choice.

He needed to make a choice so Falon turned around and saw the faces of the men and women that were following him, they were fighting for freedom, for their families, they were fighting for the Republic, and for Falon. They had willingly joined the war when they could have easily let the clones fight for them, they were brave people.

Falon made his choice if he was to fight he wouldn’t do it alone and if he was to fall here he would make sure none of them followed him to the grave. That was what being a Jedi was about. Let the Sith fight alone, Falon would have his friend alongside him, and when his time came to join the Force Falon would do it willingly and with as much bravery as the militia showed.

Falon stopped as they arrived at a jagged rock formation, it was a broken mess fitter for a horror story than for real life, despite the shadows that would help against the fury of the sun no animal was nearby.

“We made it, if any of you has someone waiting for them I implore you to retreat.” when no one moved Falon smiled as he ignited his lightsaber “ For the Republic!”

They echoed his war cry and soon they were all running toward their prey, the first loss came when someone got too close to the side of where Sith had climbed the poor man disappeared in a sudden explosion that left nothing but a red mist of blood that joined the sand.

“Landmines! Everyone get on top of something!”

Falon remained where he was when suddenly a burst of insight came to him, they couldn’t possibly be carrying land mines. The Sith had been on a mission to kill and landmines were not useful when you were the one pursuing, which left only one alternative that horrified Falon.

“Everyone retreat! They don’t have landmines! They’re-“ before Falon could finish his sentence explosions started to go off decimating the militia, the deafening sound left his ears ringing and his vision blurred for a few seconds and when he focused again the two Sith were now in front of him.

“That was a lesson in trickery not that any Jedi would know about that,” the female said in a mocking tone as if speaking with the truth somehow made the Jedi lesser “Would you care to do the honors?”

“With pleasure” the other one responded quickly before launching himself at Falon.

Even though his ears were still ringing and his vision was blurry Falon responded exemplary and deflected the oncoming strike with a hand as he dragged his enemy’s arm and attempted to stab his attacker but his enemy was saved by the other Sith who dragged the male back with the Force. Falon had overextended with the strike and he didn’t have his lightsaber in his preferred grip thankfully his enemies didn’t have lightsabers of their own or Falon would have died right then and there, he didn’t escape that position unscathed as he received some cuts to his arm as he pulled back.

Falon prepared to strike but was briefly distracted as another one of his men exploded, the female Sith had a detonator in her hand, and even though she had a smirk on her face and Falon could feel the satisfaction the death of his comrade brought her.

“Careful Jedi, you’re losing focus” as soon as she finished speaking her partner attacked again with several quick strikes to his already injured arm, the Sith probably expected him to defend or maybe even retreat but the only thing Falon did was change the hand that was holding his lightsaber before piercing the leg of his enemy. The Sith were skilled but they didn’t have the proper experience to fight someone like him, unlike normal Jedi Falon always moved onto the offensive.

Falon would forever deny he felt a measure of satisfaction as he heard the pained screams of the Sith, a surge of darkness came from the injured male and Falon scoffed in derision as he saw the Sith throw away his blade before he started swinging at him wildly. The punches went wide and while he had him pinned with his lightsaber Falon sent some hits of his own that made the Sith move back and in consequence made his lightsaber cut more of his leg.

Without missing a beat Falon cut off the leg he had pierced, his enemy fell screaming as he fell, punching the rocks without care for the mess he was leaving his hands in. it was a pathetic sight that reminded Falon of a wild animal.

“This can’t be happening to me! I’m destined for more! I am more than this!” the Sith screamed as he tried to stand even without his leg but he failed.

Falon watched as the male Sith dragged himself forward, no doubt planning to continue fighting but the deluded fool was so lost to the Dark Side that he probably thought that he could still win against Falon.

“I will give you the option to surrender,” Falon said as he turned to his remaining enemy “we can get him some medical care and I can promise you you will be treated fairly.”

“Oh that won’t be necessary” the Sith lady raised her hand and Falon guarded himself with the Force against an attack but instead of moving against him she grabbed her partner and floated him over to her side.

“Jinx I would be more than pleased to kill you right here and now but watching suffer after this defeat will be a much sweeter reward.” Falon couldn’t believe what he was hearing but he should have expected it from the Sith, the bonds of comradery probably meant nothing to them.

“You speak as if you can escape, you’re no match for me”

Falon was surprised at the nod he received “It’s true that we can’t fight against you or the other two not if we fight fair but that’s the thing isn’t it, Sith don’t need to fight fair.”

Once more she pressed the button and it finally downed on Falon that this was the moment he saw in his vision, rocks started falling as the girl jumped off the highest point dragging behind her the Sith named Jinx, Falon was about to follow them when he noticed that one of his men was alive but unconscious and about to be crushed by debris.

The world seemingly slowed to a crawl as Falon thought about what he should do. This was without a doubt the moment that would define his future, he could save the innocent man that had followed him from dying or he could try to make it out here on his own. One of those choices would end up with him dead, Falon doubted, and for a second the urge to run and save himself won out making him turn his back on his fallen comrade.

The moment he did, he regretted his decision. The militia had followed him there without fear, they had trusted Falon so leaving that man to die was a betrayal that only the Sith were capable of. Through the detonations and falling rocks Falon moved uncaring of the damage his body took as he crossed the distance.

Falon reached the man just as he was about to be crushed, Falon threw himself on top of him, and with all his strength he made a Force shield on top of both of them, the stones striking against it rattled him as did the fact that he was slowly starting to be buried under the rubble. As the stones kept pilling up Falon noticed a place where they weren’t falling as regularly, without any doubt he threw the man he had been protecting out of there, and once Falon saw he was safe.

Falon was ready to accept his fate, he felt at peace as he watched the rocks fall, for a moment he considered letting go entirely and getting rid of the shield so he wouldn’t have to watch his master move past him and think he was dead. Just as Falon was about to do so he noticed that the man he had rescued had woken up and he was running in Falon’s direction desperately shouting out for him. Falon felt it in the Force the hope the man had in his survival as he saw Falon react to his voice, he felt the gratitude the man carried as well as his refusal to let Falon meet his end there.

It invigorated him.

Why should he let the visions he saw decide his future? Why should he be content with that when the future was always in motion and the possibility of life was still at hand?

Falon Grey was a Jedi and he would never give up.

Falon reached deep into the light, he brandished the hope he felt, the desire to live up to the example of his master, and the conviction he had to live, all to get more power than he had ever wielded before. Slowly, like a mammal learning how to walk, he dragged himself from the rocky tomb that he had been trapped in until freedom was just a few more meters away and when his hands started to tire, when his legs couldn’t move anymore a hand reached out to him.

Falon didn’t hesitate in taking it.

The next time Falon opened his eyes he expected to see the face of Rahm Kota above him but instead, the captain of the militia group was there, Falon ignored the questions and started to laugh.

The future was not set in stone. As long as there was hope the future could be whatever he wanted it to be.

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Author note: it was difficult to write this as I tried to do justice to Falon Grey's personality if you guys don't know him he is a characharacterchter from Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron, a bit of a spoiler for that game, Falon has two force sensitive clones who he tries to redeem one with more success than the other and while not explicitly said that he has some kind of prophetic vision in the game he blames himself for not seeing order 66 come, so I intuited that he had some precognitive powers beyond normal, which would also help explain why Kota hated the clones so much (which in my opinion is better than the idea that he hated them because he found them unworthy, like they were brave as fuck and conceited or not he should have seen that and like any other commander would)

Anyway, i hope you liked it, might still make some edits later I'm not sure.