Chapter Text
Axe sits in his quarters looking at the surveillance videos again. He can’t seem to stop himself. No matter how many times he chastises himself for it, he watches. Even after these few weeks of tracking the Quarren ship, since he first got the holovids, he still watches. Part of him is glad she is all right, the other part of him hates her with the fire of a thousand suns.
He thinks he understands the Mon Cala Prince and the Quarren captain as well. There has been no ransom because there is no need for one. They are in love. Two complete opposites.
He notices things the more that he watches. He thinks that the younger Mandalorian might be a foundling that Bo-Katan, and the zealot have taken in. She stays with them most of the time. She seems to like the green child and takes care of him like an older sibling would a younger one.
He notices that the zealot still possesses the Darksaber. Did Bo-Katan decide to join the zealot’s little tribe to be the riduur of the Mand’alor? Are they still going to retake Mandalore? He can’t see her giving that up, but he can see the zealot helping her and maybe the zealot’s tribe. If they retake Mandalore what will happen with the Nite Owls? Will they expect him to challenge the zealot or bow to the zealot? The thought makes Axe’s stomach clench.
He pauses the video where Bo is gazing up at the zealot after he shifted her out of harm’s way. He still can’t see her face, but he still swears he can feel her smile even through the distorted video. His door chimes. He gets up to answer it, leaving the video on pause.
Koska stands at the door, her face the mask of disproval she’s been wearing for quite some time now as she greets him with, “We have come across the signature of the Quarren ship. If they maintain current speed, we will catch them in about thirty minutes.”
“Great. I’ll be up to the bridge in a moment,” he turns back to shut the video off, thinking Koska left when he hears her gasp, “She’s…... alive?”
Koska pushes past him to stand in front of the holovid. She hits rewind taking it back to the beginning and watches in silence. She says nothing as she rewinds it again. After watching it a third time she turns to him, “You knew, and you didn’t tell me.”
“Koska….”
“HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN?”
He runs fingers through his hair, “Three weeks.”
She guts punches him below his cuirass but at least not in the groin, “Are you kidding me? You have known for three weeks and never told any of me?”
“What’s the use?” he pants, “What purpose does it serve? She’s with the zealot and his little clan now. She doesn’t care about us.”
“It matters because she’s alive and I thought she was dead.”
“She made her choice,” he snarls standing up straight.
“Yes, she did,” Koska looks at him, “I needed to see this sooner. You don’t know a lot of things and I needed to know this. I don’t care that she’s with the zealot. I needed to know she was alive.”
“Why? She left us.”
Koska glares at him, “She tried killing herself. People found her and saved her. I took her to…...the Jetii. I took her to Kalevala before she chased me off, lost in her own despair. I needed to know she wasn’t at the bottom of the rubble or dead somewhere else.”
“I’m sorry Koska,” he shakes his head, “I should have told you. Had you told me she was so mentally….”
“She wasn’t mental, Axe. She was lost. She didn’t think she had anything worth living for. You wouldn’t understand.”
“I wouldn’t understand?” he growls out, “I lost everything in the Purge. I offered her everything. And you think I wouldn’t understand?”
Koska shakes her head looking at him with pity on her face, “You wanted her to kill the man she loves. You wanted her to hunt him down and make a spectacle of it. It’s not the same Axe.”
“It doesn’t change anything, Koska. She’s with him now. We can wash our hands of her.”
“Yes. She found a reason to live, and she went with him.”
“What a reason,” Axe snorts and Koska punches him in the arm below his pauldron. He grunts in pain.
“She has been his since the day they met on Trask. I knew that,” she shakes her head, “And I saw what he did trying to give her the Darksaber after Gideon fucked them around. I knew she’d never fight him. I knew she wasn’t really looking for him the whole time. She was trying to appease your bloodlust. They were riduur before they ever fucked each other on Gideon’s ship, it just looks official now. I’ve never believed in Mandokar'tome until I saw those two.”
“You don’t……” Axe starts and Koska stops him pointing her finger in his face, “She never loved you Axe. She’s never loved anyone until him.”
She points where the video has paused again where Bo is gazing up at the zealot after he shifted her out of harm’s way, “I am happy for her. I am angry that she let us believe she was dead, let me believe she was dead, but I am happy for her.”
She walks to the door, then turns to him, “I am sorry she didn’t love you the way you wanted. Just be warned, she will come back for the fleet someday, when she’s ready. She will challenge you. He will be with her. You have to be ready to face them both.”
She walks out leaving him standing in her wake staring at the image on the screen. He flicks it off and heads to the bridge.