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The lightsaber hilt in his hand is cold, slightly dust-flecked from its descent to the cavern floor
The weight on his hand is warm, comfortable and familiar
"Oh, by the way sir, I think you'll be needing this.
Commander Cody,
"Thank you Cody, we've got a battle to win here.
The time has come.
"Come on sir, when have I ever let you down."
Execute Order 66.
“Good man, that Cody.”
Yes, my lord.
Why didn't he take the Southern wall? He knows the guns can't angle like that. He has to have known that it would take just that much longer for Cody to reach for his blaster, to issue the command, to fire, to shoot, " for him to get away, for him to surv-"
Good Soldiers Follow Orders
Commander Cody is a good man
CC-2224 is a better soldier
He takes a breath
Blast him.
CC-2224 knows he doesn't have to specify who to blast, or where to blast, or why they're blasting the man they once called General friend partner "companion "
CC-2224 knows that Obi-Wan Kenobi, former Jedi General of the 212th Attack Battalion's movement patterns will be right where the blaster bolt will hit
CC-2224 doesn't understand how he knows that
CC-2224 watches the varactyl fall in an arc of green and red.
He watches Obi-Wan Kenobi, former Jedi General of the 212th Attack Battalion follow in a limp arc of brown " and a distinct lack of red ."
The planet Utapau falls to the Empire " everything seems to be falling these days"
It's a victory. " he trusted us"
The Jedi are dead. " he loved us"
It's a victory. " He would die for us in a heartbeat and we shot him down like a fly How COULD WE JUS- "
Good Soldiers Follow Orders
It's a victory
Did you find " Kenobi?"
Not “his body,” not “any signs of life,”
Kenobi
They insist that there isn't any possibility he could have survived the fall
The pool at the bottom of the chasm ripples in a rainbow sheen
Cody CC-2224 knows better.
The ever-present hum that filled the space in his bones is silent. A gaping ache, a grief that rakes fingers down his spine and twists his lungs into rope walks with a whispered apology before his mind settles to green and red and blue and purple and red and red and red
Mourning. CC-2224 doesn’t understand how he knows that
“I’m fine sir. Just tired.”
CC-2224 has been here, on this planet, holding this blaster, listening to the rustle of soaring branches before. Another time, a kinder face, sharp blue eyes and whispered strategies while Republic ships burned in the night sky and blaster fire glittered in the distance.
"Many species likely have terms for what we had. More than a friendship, less than romantic, somewhere comfortably, familiarly in-between. Always a we.”
“You and I are going to give Grievous a little parting-gift.”
“We must get to the main hangar.”
“Are you injured, Commander?”
“Cody! Get down!"
"Comfortably, familiarly in-between. always a we. Trust and dependence and companionship. A friend to turn to, a general to look up to, The Negotiator, a kind man, a gentle teacher,
A BEACON OF HOPE, I SHOT HIM, I AM CC-2224, CODY, MARSHALL COMMANDER OF THE GR-"
Good Soldiers Follow Orders
A hand to his brow, he doesn't understand how he knows that. Cody was a good man.
“I’m fine, sir,”
Just the adrenaline blurring, the planets fading together, the guilt that should never exist begging and begging and begging
The Empire bringing peace and justice and the galaxy to its knees with a little arc of green and brown and a distinct lack of red
“Just tired.”
CC-2224 doesn't know what planet he's on
The guilt in his head has been silent for years now
He's lying in a growing puddle of something, on someone else's planet
Beneath someone else’s stars, fighting someone else's war, wearing someone else's armor
The silence that echoes in his head is startling, he realizes from behind the fog. The drone of “Good Soldiers” that has held hands with the guilt has given him a moment’s breath. Hours and days and months and years of
"I'm well, sir. Simply worn."
He's oddly cold
"I'm good sir, just hungry."
He can't feel his legs
"I'm goodwellfine sir."
The lights are too bright and everything is fuzzy
"Just wornhungrytired, General."
Cody is fine, just tired is all
There's a figure clad in obnoxiously dangerous robes coming towards him, boots clinging softly to blood-wet mud.
They've talked about this: robes are a grabbing hazard, a sanitation nightmare. Cody gets on Rex for the same thing with his kama
They've talked about this. They've talked about this
A face comes into focus
He watches Obi-Wan Kenobi, former Jedi General
of the 212th Attack Battalion follow in a limp arc of brown
and a distinct lack of red
There's a hand on his chest, and he's warm again
There's a hand on his arm and he can feel his legs again
There's a hand on his shoulder, his arm, his face, and he can see again
See's the face he watched disappear down a shaft hold him in place
Someone's crying and he's not sure if it's him or Obi-Wan
but it's probably him and and he feels nothing and everything, he wants to run and hide an-
GOOD S-DIER-F- OR-d-s ss
Time claims in the end, and even biomechanics weren't meant to last. For all intents,
neither was Cody but time has yet to call her ticket and his General is Here, and there
is a weight at his side and comfortable, familiar arms around his shoulders
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," Cody has screamed into the guilt as planets burned in pairs and blurred in dozens and that little brown arc of his general made his way down the wall.
"Not your fault," the guilt whispers back this time
Someone's still crying and now he's sure it's him
The comfortable, familiar arms around him have made a home
Cody is fine, just tired is all
More than a friendship, less than romantic, somewhere comfortably in-between
Only the dead see the end of the war, but those that lived became always a we.