Warnings: yay :) (fluff) (also should mention Anakin is VERY LIGHTLY tortured but only a tiny bit)
Summary: You and Anakin go to Geonosis to attempt to rescue your Masters; an important shift occurs...(you may want to blast that Birdy song again)
Word Count: 4k
"Anakin," the ghost of a voice rang out, "re-transmit this message to Coruscant."
The pale form of the hologram of Obi-Wan Kenobi rose from both your comm and Anakin's. You'd needed to head out to your ship, to connect to the long-range transmitter. You stood below the ladder that led up to the small cockpit, holding your comm links in your palms, watching the message that your ship had already recorded. Your ship was, at this moment, transmitting Obi-Wan's words to the council chambers, making sure the message hit the ears of the most powerful and respected Jedi in the Order. This was not a live communication, and therefore, you couldn't say anything back to Obi-Wan. Still, hearing his voice after weeks was jarring. So much had happened between the moment you'd left Coruscant and now. You'd almost forgotten your life, your Master, the sound of Obi-Wan's voice, its specific timbre. You felt, rather than sensed empirically, that Master Yuma stood just beside Obi-Wan's holographic form. You wished, in spite of yourself, that she would step forward—that she would speak to you, that you could hear her voice. Your heart flipped inside your chest. How could you return to your old life, now that you felt you had been made into something new?
"Yuma and I have tracked the bounty hunter Jango Fett from Kamino to the droid foundries on Geonosis." Obi-Wan's hologram paused, as if distracted by something. "It is clear, now, that Count Dooku has been behind the attacks on the Galactic Senate."
At this, your eyes widened, and you and Anakin looked at one another. I told them, you thought, frustrated, but you pushed the thought aside immediately. You had too much on your mind to dwell in spite.
"The Commerce Guilds and Corporate Alliance have both pledged their armies to Count Dooku," Obi-Wan continued, addressing the council, "and are forming an...Wait!...Wait!!" Obi-Wan had drawn his saber as fast as light speed, blocking, you saw, blasts coming from somewhere outside the hologram. You gasped. As Obi-Wan backed out of view, you saw Master Yuma, her long braids swinging around her, her lightsaber held high as she too blocked holographic blasts. Both of the Jedi moved out of view, and in their place, you saw destroyer droids walking forward, shooting blast after blast until the transmission cut out.
You gaped at Anakin, stunned. What had you just witnessed? This could have only occurred mere moments ago—you'd received the transmission when you had been sitting with Anakin, in the underground room that housed the moisture vaporators. Where were Master Obi-Wan and Master Yuma now? Had they managed to escape?
"Anakin," you heard a different voice command, "Y/N." You looked back at your comm, which now showed the hologram figure of Master Mace Windu. "Return to Coruscant immediately. We will handle Count Dooku."
"Yes, Master," you heard Anakin choke out, and at this, the transmission ended. You stared at Anakin.
"We can't go back," you said quickly, and Anakin looked up at you, widening his eyes.
"Are you suggesting," he said, disbelieving, "that we disobey a direct order? For the second time?"
"Yes," you said firmly, staring him in the face, no hint of insincerity in your voice.
"Who are you and what have you done with Y/N?" Anakin asked, a laugh gracing his face for the briefest moment. The laugh didn't sound genuine. This situation was just too heavy. In the past few weeks, your life had descended from the normal level of complicated to full and utter chaos. Anakin's dark act sat heavy at the back of your mind, a weight that you tried to push aside. Still, you knew that Anakin's feeble attempt at humor was a good sign. It meant he was still trying. It meant he was breathing in the light.
"We're much closer to Geonosis than Coruscant," you said seriously. "We need to go rescue our Masters." Anakin was looking at you funny. "What?" you asked, suddenly self-conscious. You felt within Anakin a very strong admiration. Amidst all of the tragedy, amidst everything, you felt suddenly buoyant, as if the seaglass around your neck was lifting you into the air.
"Nothing," Anakin said quickly, and for the first time since you'd left Levangé, his smile reached his eyes. "Agreed. Let's go."
"Are you ready?" Anakin asked you softly as the ship pulled out of hyperspace.
"As ready as I ever am," he heard you respond. The planet beneath your ship was a darker orange than Tatooine, but it looked just as barren, just as unwelcoming. Anakin flew the ship down low, near to the sector where Obi-Wan's transmission had come from. Anakin pushed aside his darker thoughts—his fears for his Master, his guilt, his worry for you. He tried, hard, to focus on the present.
"There," Anakin heard you say, and he looked and saw steam rising from vents near what looked like a settlement hidden in the rock.
"A perfect place to hide," Anakin responded, pulling the ship into the steam. He hoped it was harmless.
"I know you prefer the, 'guns blazing' approach," you said as Anakin touched the ship down on what felt like a metal grate. "But I think stealth is our best option here."
"Don't worry, flea," Anakin smiled. "We can do this your way.
Anakin covered his nose and mouth as he opened the cockpit and lowered the ladder. He gave you a hand and then descended himself, hurrying to the edge of the grate where the steam was thinner.
"Over here," Anakin heard you call, and he saw you kneeling in front of a hidden door. Anakin quickly got to work on the door panel, pulling off the metal and rewiring, his fingers moving fast. The door opened.
The two of you crept into a dark hallway. Anakin felt you reaching out, communicating to him in his mind that you should not draw your sabers until it was absolutely necessary. Anakin agreed. He didn't know anything about this place, and he thought it best not to announce your presence with the light and sound that a saber cast.
Suddenly, Anakin felt you reach out in the dark and grab his arm. Anakin stopped, listening hard, but he heard nothing. What had you felt, that he had missed? Were your abilities picking up on a presence?
"Anakin," you whispered, and Anakin turned to look at you in the low light. The sight took all feeling from his body, his legs and feet going cold. Your eyes were rolling back into your head, and your body was shaking. He'd seen this happen to you twice before—once on Hoth, and once on Serenno. The fact that it was happening now could mean nothing good.
"Y/N," Anakin whispered frantically. You didn't seem to have lost all of your awareness. You still gripped his arm firmly, and Anakin saw that your other hand was reaching out for him. He quickly took your hand in his, taking you into his arms, looking around, still seeing and hearing nothing.
"What is it Y/N? What do you feel?" Anakin breathed quietly into your ear.
"Horrible...horrible things," you whispered back, your mouth struggling with the words. "He's telling me horrible things."
"Who is?" Anakin asked, his fear spiking.
"He's here," you rasped a little louder, and at this, you fell limp in his arms, completely unconscious. The hairs on the back of Anakin's neck stood up, and Anakin felt the change before it happened. Keeping you firmly in his arms, and moving your collapsed figure to the side, Anakin drew his saber with his other hand, blocking two quick blasts that came from what looked like sonic blasters.
"Y/N!" Anakin shouted, trying to rouse you as he blocked more blasts from the oncoming attackers, bug-like creatures that clicked when they spoke. They descended upon the two of you, and Anakin pulled your body behind his, blocking each blast one-handed with his saber. The sonic blasts, however, did not rebound upon the attackers—the energy was absorbed fully by Anakin's lightsaber, and thus, Anakin was solely on the defense. While holding onto you, Anakin could not take an aggressive attack stance.
The bugs grew closer and closer to Anakin, and he blocked their blasts cleanly, still trying in vain to rouse you. Suddenly, Anakin heard the sound of dark laughter, and the blasts stopped.
"So heroic," the man said, stepping forward, clapping his hands together twice. At first, Anakin thought the unfamiliar but foreboding old man was performing a sarcastic applause. Anakin quickly realized, however, that the claps signaled to the bugs to drop their weapons.
"You must be Dooku," Anakin said, his tone confident, feigning civility, mirroring the man who stepped before him.
"Your weapons," Count Dooku gestured to Anakin's saber, which he still held high in the air.
"As if," Anakin spat, looking at the man in hatred.
"Manners, Padawan," Count Dooku said, looking quite at ease. "Your weapons, or else..." the man trailed off, and at this, Anakin saw the Geonosians behind him put their sonic blasters to your exposed and defenseless neck.
"What have you done to her?" Anakin asked, his brow furrowed in anger, his heart beating fast.
"Nothing more than what is necessary," Count Dooku said simply, and Anakin sensed an unspoken truth behind this mysterious man's presence. Anakin narrowed his eyes. "Oh, yes, she is a fascinating talent. Which, of course, can create problems for us." Count Dooku laughed, and Anakin shifted his weight so that you were fully behind him, unconscious as you were. "But, in the end, she is nothing," Dooku seethed, and Anakin's anger curled upward inside him, licking at his throat like a flame.
"How do you know who she is?" Anakin asked, suspiciously, trying to keep Dooku talking so he could find a way out of this that didn't include you in a body bag.
"I know many things, Anakin Skywalker," Count Dooku said threateningly, stopping in front of Anakin. "Now, your weapons. Unless you'd like this to get...messy," Dooku continued, and at these words, the bugs held their guns cocked at your neck. Anakin was sweating, and he sensed Count Dooku would kill you given the slightest provocation. In fact, he thought it odd, that Dooku had not already attempted to kill the both of you. Clearly, this man was not shy when it came to killing. Anakin sighed in defeat, and dropped his lightsaber on the ground. Count Dooku immediately swept it into his hand using the Force.
"And hers," Dooku said, looking Anakin in the eye. Anakin shifted your limp figure back into his arms, and freed the lightsaber from your belt. Dooku collected your weapon in the same manner as Anakin's, and Anakin touched your face, seeing that your eyes were still moving beneath their sockets, still rolling around in your head.
"Right," Dooku said professionally, as if this matter were beneath him. "Now come with me." Dooku walked forward down the hallway, and Anakin had half a mind to try to run, with you, in the other direction—but the Geonosians were all around, in seemingly infinite numbers, their sonic blasters pointing up at Anakin where he held you in his arms. Anakin saw no choice but to follow.
Dooku led Anakin through what looked like a factory, and onto a staircase made of rock. As the two men walked, you stirred, your head moving back and forth.
"Y/N?" Anakin whispered quietly, touching your cheek with his thumb. "Can you hear me?"
"She won't wake," Count Dooku called from ahead, and Anakin flushed with anger. "Not now, anyway. Your friend is easily distracted." Dooku laughed. Anakin didn't understand. What did he mean, by this?
The Geonosians pushed Anakin forward with their blasters, down more stairs, through what seemed to be a magnificent rock structure, until they were below ground.
"Time to part ways," Dooku said harshly, and before Anakin could stop them, the Geonosians were wrestling you out of his arms. You made a soft noise, but remained insensate.
"No!" Anakin shouted, lunging forward to you, but Dooku quickly used the Force, shooting with his fingers a blue lightning at Anakin. The pain was excruciating—but in a moment, it was over. Anakin gasped for air. He'd never seen anyone use the Force in this manner before.
"No harm will come to her," Count Dooku said, and a look of impatience crossed his face. This reaction confused Anakin even more. "The same cannot be said, unfortunately, for you," Dooku continued, shooting Anakin with more Force lightning. Anakin's knees buckled and he fell to the ground, his eyes watering at the pain. When the lightning stopped, Anakin looked up just in time to see the Geonosians carrying your lifeless form out of sight.
"It's time for us to have a conversation," Count Dooku said menacingly, lifting Anakin's body with the Force. The Geonosians bound Anakin's hands behind his back in restraining cuffs, and Dooku pushed his body into what looked like a cell.
Anakin panted, hanging in his restraints. Count Dooku circled his form, studying him. Anakin didn't understand. Why was Dooku holding back? Why not kill him? Why carry on with him, in this way?
"I'm simply trying to understand," Count Dooku said aloud, as if answering Anakin's unspoken question. "What is it about you, Skywalker? Why are there so many whispers? Why must I preserve you?" Anakin didn't understand this speech. What was going on?
"Why are you killing senators?" Anakin responded cheekily, struggling as he hung, held by the ray shields that kept him vertical.
"And why is it so important," Dooku continued, as if he hadn't heard Anakin's interjection, "that I incapacitate your friend? Why must she be preserved, and yet blinded?" At this, Anakin was fully lost. His heart gave a pang as he thought of you, being led away by the bugs, your eyes rolling back into your head. Where were you, now? What kind of Force prison was your mind trapped in? Why did this keep happening to you, and more importantly, how?
"Ah," Dooku said, looking Anakin in the eye as he circled him. "More than a friend, perhaps? You are too forthright with your presence, Padawan. This is something you must learn to control, if you wish to be a Jedi Master. And yet..." Dooku looked away, as if looking somewhere else, into the future. "What if there is use for you, after all?"
"What do you mean?" Anakin burst out, unable to keep his curiosity to himself.
"What if I told you," Dooku said, his tone picking up in urgency, "that you could have what you desire? That under my mentorship, you could have more?" Anakin's insides squirmed.
"I want nothing to do with you," Anakin sneered clumsily.
"You could have her," Count Dooku continued, looking maniacal, and Anakin's heart panged once again, as if being tugged from the other end of the string. "The Jedi would never let you marry, but if you want the love of the one you seek..." Dooku sounded almost crazed, his eyes wide. "And you could have power—power beyond anything you have imagined. Together, you and I could destroy our enemies, and make things the way we want them." This speech tore through Anakin like a pact. How could this horrible, evil man in front of him say something that sounded so very much like what Anakin himself had said to you?
"I would never join you," Anakin said angrily, struggling in his restraints. Dooku seemed to come back to himself.
"Pity," Count Dooku responded, coming back to his civility, looking Anakin over in distaste. "That you will lose her, the one you love. Yes, I can feel it, Skywalker, I can feel the desire in your heart, the covetousness, the...despair." Anakin's stomach dropped to the floor. "A waste, that she will die, because you were too zealous in your commitment to this dying religion." At these words, Anakin screamed.
"What have you done with her?" Anakin shouted, wriggling in his restraints. "Let me out of here!! Bring her to me, now!!" Anakin yelled with as much Force command as he could muster, but it did nothing.
"You are so predictable," Count Dooku spat, "and you bore me." At this, Count Dooku hit Anakin again with more Force lightning, and the sound of his screams rang through the palace of rock.
When you came to, you found yourself collapsed on the ground of a small, semi-dark cell made out of orange rock. You were alone, you saw, as you sat up and rubbed your forehead. Where were you? What was happening? The last thing you remembered, you...
Dooku! you thought, and you gasped. You remembered arriving on Geonosis with Anakin, remembered walking through a dark hallway until...until you had been led into a dark hallway in your own mind. You remembered now. The presence you had encountered on Serenno, Dooku's own signature in the Force, had not turned and walked away this time. He had greeted you, had led you into his own trap. He had told you horrible things...horrible things about yourself, about Anakin, about the Jedi, about the Republic...and those horrible things had trapped you in a cage, your own consciousness keeping you prisoner. But now, as you tried to piece together that exchange, you couldn't remember. What had Count Dooku told you, in the Force? How had he imprisoned your mind?
You were shaking. You looked around, felt your belt, but saw that you had no lightsaber. Being without your weapon made you feel vulnerable, naked. You weren't even wearing Jedi clothes—you were still in the senator's garb, which was now dirtied and torn. You stood up, though you were still shaking and covered in cold sweat, and swept the cell, looking in all the corners, feeling with your fingers the place where the rock met the cold metal of the door. You tried to use the Force to open it, but it was no use. The thing wouldn't budge.
Just then, you heard the vaguest sound of a scream, like an echo of an echo, a tear in the fabric of the silence that surrounded you. It was like you felt the sound in your heart, rather than heard it with your ears. It was a familiar voice. It was Anakin.
"Anakin!" you yelled, and you banged on the metal of the door. You heard the sound of more screaming, and it brought tears to your eyes. What were they doing to him, to make him scream like that? Where was he? You had to get to him.
You paced the cell over and over, feeling every inch of the rock. You pushed with the Force as hard as you could, but the door wouldn't budge. It seemed impenetrable. You sighed, sweating, shaking your head back and forth. How were you and Anakin going to get out of this?
You paced in circles for an unknowable amount of time—how long had you been in here? There was no way of knowing. Your brain was buzzing with anxiety, and you paced and paced. Then, suddenly, mid-step, you felt movement. You felt something coming closer, through the Force. You felt someone approaching. The door opened.
"Anakin!" you exclaimed, half terrified, half relieved. In the split second you had to make the decision, you thought about trying to fight your way through the dozens of Geonosians you saw behind the door, all of them pointing their sonic blasters straight at your heart. But then you saw the condition Anakin was in—saw him being pushed forward into the cell, saw him falling forward to his knees, his arms restrained behind his back. You thought no more of fighting. Anakin could barely walk.
"Anakin," you breathed, kneeling next to him as the Geonosians slammed the door of the cell shut. It was dark, but you could just barely see his face, and you reached outward, touching his cheeks.
"Y/N, are you all right?" Anakin asked, and you saw that he was covered in sweat. He looked severely shaken, you noted, but you didn't see any bruises or lacerations, no signs of serious injury, and this calmed you.
"What? Yes, I'm fine," you said, hurriedly, "Anakin, what did they do to you? Where does it hurt? Tell me, and I'll fix it, I'll—"
"Are you sure you're all right? They didn't hurt you?" Anakin asked, his body drooping forward, but his eyes alert, looking you in the face, kneeling in front of you.
"Ani, I'm fine," you said quickly, shaking your head, "but Ani, look at you! What happened?"
"Nothing," Anakin said, crinkling his eyes in confusion, "Dooku didn't want anything from me. I don't understand..."
"Understand what?" you whispered, keeping your hands firmly on Anakin's face. He was here. Though your situation was desperate, though there seemed to be little hope of escape, you felt okay, felt wonderful, because Anakin was here in front of you, unharmed. You took in his whole form with your eyes, how sturdy and real he looked, and you felt whole in a way you couldn't describe. It was like the reality of your situation—how precious life was, how easy it might be to lose it—shattered every structure inside of you. You didn't remember, now, why you felt it so important to keep yourself far away from Anakin. Those reasons for not allowing yourself to express how you felt blew away in the wind like they were made of straw. You could no longer pretend you didn't feel the way you did. You felt like you could never let him leave your side again.
"I don't know. I don't know why Dooku has kept us alive. I don't know what he wants. It doesn't make sense." You nodded quickly, agreeing, but not fully caring. All you could feel was the relief—the relief that Anakin was okay and here with you, if even for one more moment.
"I don't know if we're going to make it out of this one, Ani," you said quietly, looking at the blue of Anakin's irises, and at these words, tears formed in the corners of your eyes. You felt the weight of the seaglass hanging on your chest. These words seemed to give Anakin new strength.
"I'll figure this out. I'll..." Anakin said, straightening on his knees, looking around the cell, trying to think. "I'll get us out of here. Don't be afraid, little flea."
"If I'm afraid to die," you breathed, quietly, "it's only because I'm afraid of being parted from you." Anakin, who had been looking all around the cell, distracted, suddenly snapped his face back to yours, furrowing his eyebrows, breathing in quickly.
"What?" he asked, not taking his eyes off you, looking confused.
"Ani, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before, I—" you choked, the tears flowing freely now. You kept your hands on Anakin's cheeks, pulling him closer to you. "I was wrong. I didn't understand..." Both you and Anakin were breathing heavily, him hanging onto your every word. You felt in him a tidal wave in the Force, forming in his ocean, beginning to rise. "I thought I could live without you, if I was strong enough, but I was wrong. It isn't about strength, and I can't, I can't live without you near me, I can't take one more breath without telling you—"
But Anakin cut you off, pressing his lips to yours firmly, and you didn't object. You wrapped your arms around his face and head, and together, the two of you intertwined in the Force, your breath curling around his breath, your soul stringing together with his. The change was irreparable. There was no going back now. There was no going anywhere, not unless the two of you were together.
You communicated all of this in the kiss, and Anakin responded in kind, his waves crashing inside of him, waves of joy, of oneness, of passion. You felt as if the two of you might still be on Levangé—you were without a care for anything else, anything outside of the two of your bodies, your forms, your selves. The rest of it didn't matter. You were connected, and no matter who might try to attack you, no matter where you found yourselves, nothing mattered as long as this bond was held intact. The Force demanded this of you: that you worship the connection you had formed with Anakin, that you revere this bond with every breath, with every heartbeat.
Dizzy, you and Anakin broke apart. The smile on his face was unlike anything you'd ever seen, in any lifetime.
"I love you," you said breathlessly, your smile mirroring Anakin's, "is what I meant to say."
"I know," Anakin replied, his love for you beaming through the Force like the sun—burning always.
Crosshair and Jedi!Reader were together during the Clone Wars. Unfortunately, Order 66 happened. Crosshair was sure that the reader is dead. The reader thought Crosshair was either dead or under the chip influence. Both of them have been through a lot. And then two years later they meet by chance. (Maybe the readee showed up at Cid's?)
Could you write something like that? If not that is totally ok.
Crosshair - The Way Things Were, The Way Things Are
Summary: It’s been two years since Order 66 happened. Two years since you lost each other. Two years before your paths crossed again. And though you both desperately hoped for a reunion, nothing could have really prepared you for the day it would finally happen.
Pairing: Crosshair x Jedi! Reader
Reader description: up to you, no description
Word Count: 2233 words
CW/ TW: Angst; mention of Order66/ death/ injuries, scars, betrayal, it’s sad but it gets a bit fluffier toward the end
Notes: Thank you Amallarisss for your ask! it was really fun to write! (and hopefully sad to read hehe)
Listened to Laura - Bat For Lashes (slowed) while writing it!
They told you to go to Cid. She had information about a prisoner transfer, and the Rebellion needed the details to intervene, so they sent you. They usually did, because you knew how to find your way in and out of complicated situations; and you had a secret advantage; though these days it was more of a curse than a blessing.
You were a Jedi, once. One that fought for the Republic; convinced of its values, of its intentions. You truly believed it stood for freedom, for democracy, for something better. But you believed too much, trusted too much; and it almost killed you. It was the death of your padawan; and a handful of your men. The best troopers you could have asked for, but the worst opponents you had to fight against.
Now, things were different. Your lightsaber weighted too much, and most of the time it was hidden in a pocket against your thigh. You never talked about your life at the Temple, never mentioned their names anywhere else but when you were all alone, too desperate to keep your prayer silent. The Force never felt emptier than the day you lost them. All of them. You saw Jedis and clones getting killed, dying of their injuries; and these soldiers turning against their own generals, shooting without a second thought, repeating that cursed sentence; one that haunted your nights and woke you up more than you would ever dare admit.
“Still with us, Cloak?” Cid’s sharp voice called you back to reality.
“Yes.” You reached for the credits in your pocket, dropping and pushing them on the counter. She went to take them, but your hand didn’t move.
“I see…” she sighed, and she took out a small electronic card from her own pocket, sliding it toward you. “There. Happy?”
You heard the door open and footsteps coming toward you, so you let go of the credits and grabbed the card calmly, bringing it closer to you as you whispered a faint “thank you.” And you were about to leave when you saw it.
You could have recognised that arm plate amongst thousands.
Your heart pumped so violently in your chest it hurt, and as you tried to catch your breath and stop your hands from trembling, you turned the opposite direction. It was a mistake, because it only led you further in the bar; not outside of it like you needed it to be.
“Next time, tell us about the droids.” A voice groaned, and it demanded all of your remaining strength not to lose your balance; but you still flinched, and it didn’t go unnoticed.
“Everything’s alright?” Hunter called you back, and you knew you had to leave. You tried to rely on the Force, breathing in and out to calm you down just enough to hide the card in your bag and run a hand against your thigh.
It was still there, ready to be used.
“Yes,” your voice sounded hoarse, but it wasn’t a bad thing given the circumstances. “Went for the wrong door.”
You turned around, wishing for your hood to cover enough of your face as you walked around the table; trying to keep your distance with the group. And it worked well, until you reached the door. You had no other choice but to tilt your head up a bit to avoid bumping into the figure standing there, arms crossed. You recognised his face, though he looked a bit older, more wrinkles running around his nose and forehead, but always that same cold façade.
You guessed he was about to say something to you, but his jaw froze and his eyes opened wider than ever before he could even let out a word, and you knew it was your only chance to get away from here. You were lucky, back then, to resist the clone troopers; but here it was the Bad Batch, it was…
You pushed him against the wall using the Force and ran outside as fast as you could. But you didn’t stand a chance against a trained, enhanced sniper. You had to get off the ground, hide somewhere higher. You turned in a small street and jumped on the lowest roof around, then kept running higher as Hunter’s voice came to you; ordering to go after you and use plan Omega.
You didn’t know about plan Omega.
You felt something wrapping around your legs, and the next moment you were falling from the roof. You groaned in pain, a burning sensation eating up your arm, and instinctively, you reached for your pocket. The blue blade activated in a swift whistle and cut the rope restraining you, and you barely had the time to get up before a tall figure emerged in front of you.
You spun your lightsaber, coming back to your old habits; and as you aimed straight for his neck, he dropped his rifle on the floor and raised his hands in front of you.
“Stop!” he pleaded, and your blade touched just enough of his armour to make it smoke. “Stop, please, I-“
He let out a choking sound, somewhere between a nervous laugh and a sob. You felt your blood rushing through your veins when you realised the rest of the group could be anywhere around you, setting a trap.
“I won’t fight you, I don’t want to fight you.” He said, desperate, his eyes begging for you to believe him. “Please…It’s me.”
You couldn’t help the trembling of your hand, and your blade obeyed to the shaking movement, lightly bouncing up and down as you pulled it away from his neck. He breathed a sigh of relief. You kept your lightsaber close to you and ready to be used, in case the teary eyes staring right back at you were nothing more but a play.
“It’s me.” he repeated, lowering his hands to take yours, and the light touch of his gloved hands send an electroshock across your body.
“You cannot be alive.” It sounded softer than intended, and though you didn’t feel like letting your guard down just yet, you also couldn’t repress the weight crushing your lungs, choking up your voice.
“I am; and you…” he cupped your face, disbelief painted all over his own. Your heart shattered in millions of pieces as you felt his hand barely reaching for your face. It felt so unreal; too good to be true.
“How can you be here…?”
A loud sob blurted out of his mouth, and it was too late to stop his racing heart and shaky body. Every muscle ached too much, his breath felt so heavy and hot, vision blurred in an instant; and he abandoned yourself to you, to your long lost embrace; unable to overcome the devastating feeling taking over his mind. The memories of two long years, mourning, begging; and to finally reach what you both thought was a desperate, impossible hope.
Two years to feel his arms clutching you so hard and tight against him, to hear his voice break when he called your name like a prayer, again and again; two years to reach that exact moment when your heart died and came back to life all at once.
When he finally found you, Echo slowed his pace until he almost stopped walking. His heart flinched at the sight; Crosshair hanging on to you, his face buried in your neck, your hands holding onto his armoured shoulders; cries and chocked up words echoing all around. Tech and Hunter were quick to arrive, but they froze as well when they saw you both.
Neither Crosshair nor you noticed them. Nothing mattered but the fact that you were both here.
You remembered vividly the day the Force became empty. The pain and the screams burning your throat and lynching your heart. Death wrapping you in its fatal embrace as everything around you stopped existing in a matter of seconds. But what you could feel now was on the opposite spectrum of that dreading, loathed sensation.
A glimpse of life. Faint, but present nonetheless. Maybe there was a little bit of hope left, after all.
.
You accepted to walk the boys back to Cid’s; Crosshair holding your hand, and the silence weighting around you became too unbearable for you, so you tried to break it.
“Where is Wrecker?”
Your question was unsure, and you could tell by the way the Batchers tensed up it was the wrong one to ask. But Crosshair found the way to look at you; pain filling his eyes as he slowly shook his head, negative.
“His chip activated.” He explained, and your heart ached at the silent look Tech shared with him. You knew what he felt – in a way – and thought it was your turn to confess a deep, painful secret. Something you never found the strength to say to someone else, for two whole years.
“Kona didn’t survive the Purge either.”
The four of them looked at you like you had awoken a long lost memory; and Crosshair’s grip tightened around your hand, trying to get his apology across. It didn’t change the fact that you lost them, but it did help to know that someone could relate and understand your loss; and that you could do the same for them.
Cid scolded you when you came back. Told you that you shouldn’t have ran away, that she wasn’t looking for trouble with Imps and that if you were so eager to be noticed you should “light that ‘saber farther from my bar!” and you didn’t feel like answering that because you knew she was right. The last thing you needed was for the Empire to catch you. Which led your thoughts back to the card, and your mission.
“I still have to go. People are waiting for me.”
The question burned Crosshair’s lips; but it was all so new, so unexpected, and so much things changed for you both; between you both. Was there even something left? As far as you were concerned, you both mourned each other; and though meeting again felt…unreal and heart-breaking, you couldn’t deny the fact that you believed each other to be long gone.
You met his gaze, and his worried got to you. You didn’t know how to address them, though you felt the same as he did.
“Do you need a hand?” Hunter offered, trying to find a way to include themselves in your mission.
“I…Maybe.”
You couldn’t tell if it was the right decision. Your memories and emotions were too contrasted, and you couldn’t say which of them you should trust.
You were a Jedi, once. Emotions didn’t get in the way of your actions. Things were logical, done for the greater good, not for your own interests. You thought you were doing the right thing, back then, when you secretly broke the Code for love. For Crosshair.
But now? Now, you could see why attachments were forbidden.
You nodded to confirm your words and got up from the table you were leaning against; inviting the Batchers to follow you. You heard some muttering behind you, but didn’t bother paying attention to them, trying to get focused on your task. You told them where you stationed your speeder, and they offered you a ride back to the Rebel base that was built an hour or so away from the town.
“Look,” you tried as Crosshair helped you get the speeder in the Marauder, “I…I’m happy you’re here; all of you.”
And for a split second, that was all you wanted to say, and you closed your eyes as the speeder stopped against the wall, trying to remember that almost peaceful, almost happy moment.
“Things are different now, and it might take a while to…Adjust.”
You opened your eyes to see Crosshair nod, his face a bit more expressive than what you remembered of him. He looked at you, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“I understand. I’m happy you’re here too.”
You felt bad for being afraid. Afraid of how he leaned closer, probably coming to you for a kiss. It had been so long since your last kiss; it had happened almost a week before the Purge, as you left for another mission far from him. You remembered too vividly the way he smiled, promising you another one for when you would come back to him.
“I’ll be looking out for you!” he loudly promised as you walked away to your ship.
None of you could have guessed. None of you would have left, if you had.
And now that you were coming back to him, he would probably fulfil his promise. And it scared you.
So you jolted a bit when he grabbed your hand instead; gentle in the touch, caring; and brought it to his mouth. He barely brushed his lips against your scarred skin, marked by the battles you had led these last two years, and squeezed it.
One. Two. Three.
Your heart missed a beat, eyes opening wide at the realisation. He didn’t look back at you, focused on your hand, the way your fingers barely intertwined with his. He missed the feeling so much, and you could tell.
You did too.
“Don’t worry,” he confessed in a whisper for you only to hear, “I’ll look out for you. We won’t be alone anymore.”
listen. i know ahsoka has to fulfill her promise to find ezra after the OT ends. but hear me out. rex wants to go—he may be tired of fighting wars, but an adventure into the unknown—well, what can he say, he shares the touch of crazy that the commander and his former general both had. but thanks to his accelerated aging, his bones are starting to creak and his body is finally falling behind his spirit.
ahsoka and rex decide to compromise, and they go on a planet-hopping vacation and generally have a blast. rex decides his last destination is a little backwater planet called saleucami. he travels to an obscure homestead he visited all those years ago, and bids ahsoka a fond farewell. he knocks on the door, and a familiar face, grizzled and wrinkled as his own, opens it.
“i’ll take you up on your offer to stay, if it still stands,” says rex.
i'm abt to hit 50 followers and i'm :') i feel so honored!! like, i know 50 isn't a lot and there are people with way more followers, but like???? people genuinely like my writing and my random reblogs!! angels, all of you
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