Chapter Text
Cal’s reluctance to kill Dagan led to his fatal mistake.
He curled in on himself protectively on the floor. Dagan’s lightsaber had grazed his chest deep enough that Cal’s senses were overwhelmed by the smell of smoke and charred flesh. Bile rose in his stomach.
“Get up, Cal!” Bode called. “You can beat him! You can–” Bode’s words were choked off.
Through bleary vision, Cal saw his friend sail through the air and crash on to the platform with a horrible crunch. BD was immediately on top of Bode, checking him over. There was no response.
Cal reached out for him. “Bode…”
Dagan stomped on his arm. “You’re weak!”
Cal howled in pain as Dagan dug his boot into the flesh, rending tendons in excruciating fashion.
“You’re an embarrassment!” Dagan accused.
Cal groaned as Dagan kneeled over him.
“You’re terrified.”
Dagan prodded him with the butt of his lightsaber. “I know you’re hurting. Your demise is inevitable. I will annihilate you, and the galaxy will never notice. ”
Cal’s lightsaber was plucked from his grasp.
“How does it feel, knowing you’re about to die?” Dagan asked. “That your life meant nothing.”
Cal struggled as Dagan cupped his chin and turned his head up to face him.
“Don’t resist. You can’t hide from me.”
Cal tried to block his mind, to shut Dagan out. But it was no use. The other Jedi was too powerful.
“Yes, I see it now,” Dagan whispered in his ear. “You said I was alone. But you’re the one who’s alone, Cal Kestis.”
“I know!” Cal gasped. ““Dagan, please! We’re all that’s left!”
“Bow before me, Jedi, or I will grant you only death.”
Cal’s eyes strayed towards Bode, who was preternaturally still. If Cal couldn’t get to him in time, he might die.
“Look at me!” Dagan yelled, punctuating his words with the Force to command Cal’s attention.
Unable to fight the compulsion, Cal scanned Dagan’s silvery face, and what he saw was loathing. Loathing for Cal. For what had become of the Jedi Order. For the way they had let the galaxy fall to an unworthy empire.
Cal’s eyes fluttered shut, tuning out his shame. “Please. Dagan.”
“You’re so green,” Dagan said, voice gone oily and almost sultry. “There’s so much I could teach you.”
What you’re doing isn’t right, Cal wanted to tell him. But his breaths were coming in short, pained gasps.
“I should kill you for standing in my way,” Dagan said. With mock tenderness, he brushed the hair back from Cal’s forehead. “You’re nothing.”
Cal recoiled from his touch, but Dagan held him fast.
“You’ve been too long on your own. That’s why you’re so pathetic. So undisciplined. So lost. But I could show you the way.”
Cal pushed against invisible bonds. Let me up!
Dagan pressed his hand against the tender flesh where the saber slash to Cal’s chest still burned.
“Should I spare your life, Jedi?”
Cal was trembling in shock. He tried to put his lips together and school his tongue into the shapes of words. “S-s-spare my f-friend.”
With a roar of outrage, Dagan lifted Cal up only to slam him back down onto the ground.
Cal’s eyes rolled back into his head.
But then Dagan let him go.
Cal barely had the energy to turn his head to see Dagan approaching Bode’s fallen form. BD-1 chirped in alarm and struck a defensive pose on Bode’s chest.
“BD…” Cal whispered.
Then Dagan was bending over Bode and placing his fingers over his face. He was muttering something.
Whatever he did, it caused Bode to cough and sit up.
Cal smiled faintly. If he died here, it was a worthwhile bargain if his last words kept his friend alive.
Only death didn’t come for him. Dagan did.
Cal was Force-lifted into the air until he was hovering in front of the other Jedi.
“Do you see, Cal?” Dagan demanded. “I have intimate knowledge of the Force you can’t even dream of. I know its mysteries. I know its secrets. and I know yours, too.”
“What secrets?” Cal managed to ask.
“I know the secret desire you harbor for your friend. I know you covet him. Crave him.”
Cheeks flushed, Cal was glad he couldn’t see Bode at this moment. What must Bode think of him? Some Jedi he was. Not for the desire, but for hiding it. For being too scared to face it. To name it. To act on it.
“What else do you crave, Jedi? Peace? Freedom? No, you crave revenge. I can sense it. I told you before: the Empire is your true enemy. Not me.”
“You’re right,” Cal admitted. “And I told you: we don’t have to be enemies. That’s your doing.”
“Yield, then,” Dagan implored.
He dropped Cal, who fell to his knees in front of him.
“Stop this futile attempt to interfere with my plans,” Dagan said. “And in return, I will grant you your life. I will grant you many things. Like your friend.” The word was delivered silkily. “You won’t have to be alone again.”
Cal wanted to deny Dagan with every fiber of his being. But he also wanted to live so he could stop him.
“Well?” Dagan asked impatiently, holding his lightsaber to Cal’s neck.
Cal closed his eyes, then opened them and met Dagan’s with muted submission. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
Dagan extinguished his saber. “Then you won’t. You’ll be mine.”