Katou (katoustheshit) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-08-22 18:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, kanan jarrus, yue katou |
Who: Katou and Kanan
What: While Kanan and Katou fight zombies, Katou spots one he knows
When: August 5th
Where: Out and about
Warnings/Ratings: References to childhood abuse
Status: Complete
It really was good to feel useful again, after months of being the opposite. Katou had thrown himself into the fight, taking out as many demons as he could the day before. The undead seemed easier to take down, his katana slicing into their rotting flesh like a knife through butter, though there was a good deal more of them.
He was taking a cigarette break, perched on top of a tall wall to keep out of reach out of the shambling dead, when he heard a familiar buzz. He glanced over, the glow of the lightsaber easy to spot, and then grinned when he realized it was his favourite Jedi. He hopped off the wall, flicked the butt of his cigarette in the general direction of one of the zombies, and made his way to Kanan, staying out of range of the lightsaber. “Hey old man, need a hand?” he asked cheerfully.
Zombies were probably Kanan’s least favorite things to fight. Considering they weren’t living, it was difficult to use the Force to pinpoint them or gauge how many of them there were at any given time. The blind Jedi had to rely more on his sense of hearing (and in some cases his sense of smell-- and zombies of the rotting variety smelled terrible in case anyone was wondering). Fortunately, this particular hoard of the undead had no issues moaning and groaning and shuffling their feet along the ground all of which gave away their locations.
Carolina had boots on the ground with her brother defending the county in the name of The Agency and the newest addition to Jarrus Terrace had wasted little time ripping to shreds any shambling undead that strayed too close to the house. Kanan was free to do his own thing. He had to admit that there was a part of him – the part of him that was more and more influenced by his dreams – that lived for these types of events which gave him the opportunity to defend the innocent the way Jedi were intended.
Katou’s very distinct presence on the Force alerted Kanan he was nearby before the younger man approached or spoke to him. “There you are, Yue,” he said with a grin, though his attention was not taken from the undead around him. “I was wondering if we’d get a chance to meet up. A hand? Sure, though an extra set of eyes would probably be better.”
“They’re thick enough that you just gotta swing and you’ll hit one,” Katou quipped cheerfully, running his sword lengthwise through one of them as made his way to Kanan’s side, not too concerned that Kanan would accidentally smack him with his lightsaber. “There’s about a dozen of ‘em hanging around here.” Though really, from what Katou’d seen, Kanan didn’t seem to need much help with them. He took position at Kanan’s back. “You been out here for long?” he asked, taking another swing at one of them.
“A few hours,” Kanan responded. “Shortly after we received word that the demons had been replaced with the walking dead.” Though Kanan’s confidence in combat had improved dramatically since being blinded, having Katou at his back was welcomed. The younger man was right about one thing: there was a hoard of the undead out shuffling through the county. Even though Kanan had so far managed to avoid becoming overwhelmed by them, there was still that very possibility.
With Katou at his back, Kanan was better able to keep his focus on what was happening in front and to either side of him. The Force wasn’t able to tell him how many of them there were or where exactly they were standing, but he could still use the Force to send them flying when necessary, which he did when it appeared as though a few were getting just a little too close for his comfort. “How about you?” He asked after cleanly slicing the head off of one that had come within striking distance. “You working solo or is this work related?”
“If it ain’t one thing, it’s another, huh?” Katou asked, grinning to himself. “Bitta both. I’m getting paid for it, but out here on my own.” He’d been doing a lot of solo work since he’d come back to the fold. He was probably better off on his own anyway, where he couldn’t fuck things up for anyone else.
He cut one of the walking dead down, and was going to swing for the one behind it, but something stayed his hand. There was something familiar in it, in it’s walk, the way it carried it’s broad shoulders. He hadn’t seen that face, stern and unyielding, in years, but he recognized it almost instantly when he looked at it. An icy feeling travelled down his spine, and he found he was helpless to do much of anything except take a panicked step backwards, right into Kanan.
Something had changed, though Kanan couldn’t tell exactly what it was. Katou’s back connected with his own, not hard enough to make the Jedi have to stumble forward, but enough to make Kanan have to alter his own attack last minute to compensate. Katou wasn’t a clumsy fighter and Kanan had never known him to show much (if any) fear when facing down the hoards Orange County occasionally dumped on them. There was a different sort of trouble on the horizon and Kanan braced himself for it.
“Yue?” He turned his head just slightly to better hear the young man over the moans and groans of the undead. “What is it?”
For a minute, Katou was ten years old again, and the zombie’s reaching hand was a closed fist, his father alive and whole and not a rotting corpse shambling toward him. If his sword had been anything other than Shiranui, the closest thing he had to a security blanket, it would have fallen from numb fingers. Instead, his grip around the hilt tightened.
At then, he heard his name, Kanan’s voice, and he was brought back to himself and where he was now. It would be easy, pitifully easy, to cut his father down. He’d be glad to do it, it was all he wanted, but when he tried, he couldn’t move.
Instead, he reached behind him for Kanan’s hand, and said “We gotta get outta here.”
That Katou didn’t respond to him right away told Kanan that something was wrong. And when he reached back and took hold of Kanan’s free hand? Something was very wrong. Kanan decided it was time to leave. There were plenty of others around to take care of the rotting hoards for as long as they remained.
“Alright.” He turned his face forward again, blind eyes narrowing behind his sunglasses. Kanan was unable to tell exactly how many were currently in front of them, but he could make enough of an educated guess. He closed his hand around Katou’s at the same time the blade of his lightsaber retracted with a zzztt and he thrust that hand outwards and to the side, using the Force to send anything that was directly in front of them flying in the same direction. He waited just a moment to hear the sound of retreating moans. Then, he darted through the newly opened path, Katou in tow.
Normally, Katou would have been impressed by Kanan’s force powers. No matter how often he saw them, they were pretty damn cool. But right now, it took all he had to not look behind him at his father, even as Kanan dragged him along.
He kept running until they turned a corner, the hoard out of sight if not entirely out of mind. Even still, he glanced back in the direction they’d come from, wondering exactly what was going to happen to his father once all of this was over. Maybe someone else would cut him down. Maybe he’d just crawl back into his grave.
He took a moment to catch his breath, and then lit a cigarette. “Someday you oughtta teach
me all that Force stuff,” he said, half joking.
“Someday. Maybe,” Kanan answered as he too caught his breath. He lifted his sunglasses enough to swipe an arm over his sweaty face. He was on high alert and listening for sounds of moans and shuffling feet signaling that they were being chased. However, it seemed as though they were in the clear. For the moment anyway. Now seemed as good a time as ever to catch their breath.
He could still feel the way Katou had grabbed his hand and he frowned a little in concern. He wasn’t sure he was going to get a straight answer, but he had to ask. “What happened back there?”
Katou wasn’t entirely sure if he was going to give a straight answer, and very nearly made some joke to brush off the question. But he also knew he could trust Kanan, and Kanan probably deserved to know what was going on. Or at least deserved to know there wasn’t some Super Zombie out there that had scared the pants off of Katou.
He chewed his lip, silent for a long time as he considered how to answer Kanan. “I think… no, I don’t think. I saw my dad. He was one of ‘em,” he said, quietly.
A frown creased Kanan’s mouth. That certainly explained a lot and honestly Kanan couldn’t blame Katou for wanting to run away. He reached out towards Katou’s voice to place a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Yue,” he said. “We can keep going, if you want. Or…” he hesitated a moment. This may have been an opportunity for Katou to get some kind of closure. “We can go back and you confront this. It’s up to you.” He gave the younger ma’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll be with you whichever you decide.”
Katou thought about it a moment; all the things he wished he could have said to his father, all the things he wish had been said to him in return. But whatever that was back there, he didn’t think it could speak to him at all. It was his father’s body, his face, but he didn’t know if anyone was inside. So what was there to do? Yell at an animate corpse that nearly paralysed him with fear, that he couldn’t make himself raise a hand toward? No thank you.
Besides, he reminded himself forcefully, he was long over all of that. He’d made amends with his sister, more or less, and had a new family. A better family. There was nothing in his past that could hurt him. Or even bother him, really, he thought, ignoring the weight in the pit of his stomach. He shook his head, and then remembered that Kanan couldn’t actually see him. “No,” he said. “Let’s go on. There’s probably other dead dudes we can cut down.”
It was hard to let go of the past. The man calling himself Kanan (and not Caleb), knew that all too well. Sometimes letting go wasn’t as important as it was coming to terms with it, whatever that may have entailed. It was different for everybody. Had Katou elected to go back and scream at the zombie, or cut him down with his sword, Kanan would have gone with him. Sometimes coming to terms meant just moving on. Kanan would be there for that too. “Let’s go then,” he said, giving Katou a soft pat on the shoulder. “I think it’d be pretty funny if the two of us manage to kill more of these things than Carolina does.”
Katou took a breath, and forced a grin onto his face and into his voice. “Guess I oughta start keeping count,” he said. “But you’d better believe we’re gonna beat her.”