Work Text:
The heat was indescribable. It was more than just fuel and fire, it was a wall, a force, and Kanan was the only thing able to hold it back. In that moment, watching him, Hera truly understood the Jedi. They were living idols of the very Force itself, and there he was, doing its work. The Force worked through him as he held back the explosion of the fuel depot, as he… as he held Hera away from him.
Kanan…
No.
There was nothing but pure strength and resolve in him, and somehow, Hera wanted to hold onto it. But the heat held her back. He held her back.
In that moment it didn’t matter that it was to protect her. Why should he protect her? This was her fault! He didn’t want to start a rebellion, or be part of another war. She should’ve listened to him. And here he was, fighting for her.
Kanan…
Hera should’ve been the one fighting for him. She should’ve… She should’ve done something! Or—or never have left, or done something different, or just held onto him tighter.
Look at me.
But he couldn’t see. He couldn’t see her.
Of course he couldn’t see. He was blind. He didn’t know. How could he possibly know what was happening? How she was bursting and tearing apart inside, and the few seconds she knew they had were the only things holding her together?
He was holding her together. Kanan Jarrus. Caleb Dume. Even as he tore her apart, as the Empire tore her apart, as the very will of the Force— No. Not the Force. Her. This was her. Fault.
All of it.
Her capture. Her torture. Her drugging. Not saying those three precious words till just moments before. And not hearing them from him…
The power grew, and grew. Kanan couldn’t possibly contain the explosion any longer. Everything would tear and burst, and be obliterated.
And then… he turned to her, and she saw his eyes—his beautiful, beautiful eyes—change. Heal.
Kanan saw her, and Hera saw him.
I love you.
He knew. She saw that he knew, and he knew of what lay inside her, what she would eventually add to her family’s kalikori—their family’s kalikori.
In Kanan’s final moments, the light never left his eyes; it strengthened, brightening with fierce love and kindness and bravery. The light lived in his eyes, lived in him … and it died in Hera.