Note: this chapter contains A New Dawn references, with very minor spoilers. Still, you may not want to read it if you haven't read A New Dawn yet and plan to. :)

•   •   •

Thick smoke circled the village, smothering everything caught in its suffocating trap. Ash fell from the rooftops of houses, coating the ground and filling the air with an unpleasant smell. Small fires from the explosion were yet to be put out, silently eating away at the litter and debris that had survived the assault. If only everyone else had been that lucky.

Hera coughed the smog out of her lungs. She struggled to see as the hot air stung her eyes. She buried her mouth and nose into her elbow in an attempt to keep out the hot sparks on the wind.

But being nearly blinded by flying ash wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was the smell. The smell of burning flesh.

The young Twi'lek felt queasy. She tried to avoid looking at the countless bodies buried under debris, their souls long fled from the disaster. She had to take a deep breath to steady herself as she nearly tripped over a child's motionless corpse.

Looking around at what she could see through the smoke, she shook her head in bewilderment. "Everything's gone," she whispered.

Sighing gravely, Kanan put an arm around her shoulders. She'd seen so much hurt and suffering for someone her age. He sometimes wished he could do something about it, take away the painful memories. But he knew that Hera was more than capable of taking care of herself. Still...

The Empire did this. They were getting more violent and chaotic everyday. Blowing up small towns to spike fear into people's hearts, forcing them to blindly follow the Emperor's ways ... it wasn't right.

But Kanan and Hera ... they were just two people in a massive galaxy ... how could they make a difference? Kanan had often wondered that when he first joined Hera's crew. Sure, there were people like Zaluna and Skelly to help them a year and a bit ago (well, at least Skelly tried to help), but now they were on their own. All they had was a ship, an old astromech, and their passion for a better galaxy.

And today, that all seemed to mean nothing.

They had been staying on a small Outer Rim world for a few days. They'd needed fuel and food and a break from space. Just the day before, they had walked these peaceful streets, shopping at stalls and making trades with the locals.

And then it happened. Just before dawn, they'd heard an earth-shattering boom. It shook the ground beneath their feet and made their stomachs jump up into their throats. Peering over the field they'd parked the Ghost on, they saw flames rise high into the sky in the near distance. They'd heard screams: terrible, hair-raising screams.

When they saw Imperial transports flee the scene, they knew what had happened. The Empire had done this. Because of their cause.

The town was full of rebel-sympathisers - that was partly why they'd gone there and not to just any city. All the citizens needed was a push and they would be willing to stand up to the Empire. Hera and Kanan were actually considering recruiting some people to join their crew until that morning.

The sun reached its arms over the mangled buildings and the duo watched in grief as the smoke rose up in the air, swallowing the once happy village.

Kanan hung his head. Hera knew what he was thinking about. The last two explosions they'd seen were on Gorse and the Forager. She remembered it like it was yesterday. Looking up at the moon Cynda, the only light for a dark planet, and watching it burst into flames; peering out the back window of the life pod, filled with triumph and devastation...

She remembered the look of agony on Kanan's face when he realised who was up on the moon when it blew. The ache in Zaluna's eyes as they felt the impact of the bomb in space. They were images etched into her brain. She knew she would never be able to forget them even if she tried.

The Twi'lek fizzed up with anger. "This needs to stop," she growled under her breath, kicking the dirt up in frustration. Kanan squeezed her shoulder gently.

A sound startled them. It was a voice: young and full of pain. Their heads shot towards an alleyway next to them. They saw a flash of movement and raced over to the source of the cries.

The sight nearly made Hera's heart stop. Underneath rubble and duracrete lay a young Twi'lek boy, grimacing in pain as he found he couldn't move his legs from under the fallen buildings. He was startled by the sudden arrival of the two. He yelped in surprise and ended up coughing up blood. Hera was quick to kneel beside him to comfort him. He tried to wriggle away from her, cringing in pain as he did.

"No, no," Hera said softly in her smooth, melodic voice. "It's okay. We're here to help." She knew she couldn't move the rubble off of him to save him, but she couldn't let him know that.

Kanan's eyes were drawn to a corpse lying nearby. It was an adult Twi'lek, blue-skinned like the boy. He quickly jumped in front of it so the kid couldn't see it. If it was his father, he didn't want him to see his dead body, mangled, broken and lifeless. It was the last thing the poor child needed.

Hera seemed to notice and gave Kanan a grateful glance. She looked into the boy's warm brown eyes with her glimmering green ones and wiped the tears off his scratched cheeks. She hushed him gently as he began to shake. Whispering comforting words to him, she brushed her fingers against his forehead as she laid his head in her lap.

She tried to keep her voice steady. Her throat was tight and her heart was full of emotion. Her mind flashed back to the war on Ryloth all those years ago. She had prayed she would never see a wounded Twi'lek child again. Her spirit was crushed with anguish, straining her voice as she told the child to be brave.

While Hera was whispering to him, there was something about her voice that surprised Kanan. Although it was still the soft, beautiful voice that Kanan had fallen in love with on Gorse a year and a half ago, this time it was filtered through a rich Ryloth accent. Kanan didn't know Hera was capable of speaking like that, but the boy stopped whimpering and stared back at her. Even Kanan felt calmer as she lulled the child with sweet words.

It was as if she didn't even know she was doing it, as if through her emotion she tapped into a side of her that only she knew. The true-blood Twi'lek side.

"Shh, Lia'rn," she said, the syllables rolling over her tongue like a ballad. "It will be alright." The boy gripped her hand tightly as if he was holding onto his life. Silent tears left clean lines on his ash covered cheeks. He coughed once more, blood spluttering onto his bottom lip and onto Hera's face. She didn't pay attention to it.

Life was leaving him fast.

Despite all that she had said to comfort him, Hera knew that it was the end. She tried to smile, her eyes moist. The child would've had his whole life ahead of him. He would've had so much to do, so much to see, so many people to meet, so many friendships to make. He would've changed lives, he would've helped people.

But the Empire ended that for him. They cut everyone's lives short because of their paranoia. There weren't nearly enough rebels in the galaxy to start a full-scale rebellion yet, yet they destroyed the town because they saw a spark. A spark of rebellion. And they couldn't have that. They had to stomp it out ... brutally.

The Twi'lek child gripped Hera's hand tighter. He tried to say something but failed, pain stealing away his ability to talk. Hera spoke once again and the boy fell silent. Kanan was surprised by how she managed to keep him calm with her voice. Words poured out like song lyrics in her soothing Rylothian tongue, one so beautiful it filled him with hope.

Maybe the boy was going to be okay. Kanan closed his eyes, praying that the things she was saying were true. Oh, how he wished they were true...

But once he opened his eyes again, he was brought back to reality.

The child swallowed hard and stared up at Hera with wide eyes as his vision blurred. Any child, no matter what age, would've known what was happening. He couldn't fight death anymore. He had to brave it with a strong heart.

Soon he couldn't see Hera. He blinked to clear his vision but he couldn't see anything. His sight gave up on him and left him alone in the darkness. The world was a black void. He couldn't move his fingers or feel the gentle touch of her hand on his head. He couldn't smell the smoke or the charred flesh. He couldn't taste his own blood in his mouth or feel it clotting in his veins. The only thing he could sense was her voice.

Her words were muffled as his last sense threatened to leave him. He swore he heard what sounded like a Rylothian lullaby. The child closed his unseeing eyes and focused on her voice. If this was the end, he wanted it to be the last thing he'd ever hear...

Hera cursed silently, choking on her tears as the boy went limp in her arms. She bent down to lean her forehead against his, liquid running down her cheeks. She suddenly felt warm arms wrap around her. She clutched onto both the child and Kanan, her body shuddering through silent sobs.

After what seemed like hours, she rose her head and kissed the child's cheek. She sniffed and pressed her lips together to keep herself from crying again. She stared up at the sun slipping through the smoke particles.

Something inside her snapped. Her eyebrows unknotted themselves and her shoulders stopped slouching. She looked down at the boy and lay his small head carefully on the floor. She got to her feet and looked straight ahead. She found herself walking back to the ship though she didn't know why.

Kanan was right there beside her. He always was. He knew better than to say anything, but he did take her hand in his as they walked.

Hera, covered in tears and blood that was not her own, was changed. She knew that she hated the Empire before, but now she realised that enough was enough. It was time. It was time to get the rebellion off the ground. It was time to rally everyone to fight.

That day, she vowed to fight for peace, even if it cost her her life.

Enough was enough. No more innocent people had to die. Not on her watch.

•   •   •

Nope, no happy chapters here...

So I saw this prompt on Tumblr about Hera's accent. It gave me the idea of the dying boy and Hera speaking in her accent through her sadness and anger like she did in Homecoming (the feels!).

So yeah, I've never written about what death feels like before. Apparently hearing is the last sense to go before you die, so it worked out perfectly for this fic! *high-fives scientific research*

This was written as its own mini-oneshot-book-thingy on Fanfiction.net, but I had nowhere else to put it on Wattpad except here. So there ya go! :)

Anywaaaaaay, have a good day! And may the Force be with you, my young Padawans. ;)