#and the only adult in the 501st

[anstarwar]

Rex tired of Anakin being late to mission briefings

#shenanigans #Rex is tired #and the only adult in the 501st #captain Rex #anakin skywalker #my art #silly #the clone wars

[moonstrider9904]

Don't Blame Me

This one shot is for the Bad Batch Prompt event using the prompt:

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck me yourself, you coward.”

Pairing: Crosshair x Fem!Reader

Tags: 18+ strictly. Minors should not interact with this or any of my writing pieces as they are content for adults only. Smut, sexual tension, foul language and swearing, oral (female receiving) sex, unprotected vaginal sex, creampie, flirting.

Playlist: Don't Blame Me by Taylor Swift

@arctrooper69 Tagging you right here :D

A night like that one was much too rare. The sun had just finished going down beneath the horizon, and the faintest hue of blue still lit the sky while the stars had already begun their nightly dance. The breeze was warm on your skin, even with the drops of water that lingered on you as you sat at the edge of the pool with your feet and calves still in the water, your hands running down your wet hair as you sighed and took in the life of the moment. The speakers played chill tunes, easy to listen to, perfect to vibe with the summery air and the laughs coming from all around the pool.

You looked around and smiled at the fact that all of your favorite troopers were there, and even some you hadn’t seen before—probably shinies who had just joined their platoons. Boys from the 501st, 212th, hell, even the 99s had bothered to come to a summer pool night on Naboo for their shore leave.

You couldn't help but laugh and think you’d seen it all when, across the pool, you saw that silver-haired sniper taking a sip from a bright cocktail. And his eyes were on you too, glaring, but you were used to that. You shot a cheeky grin at Crosshair only for him to roll his eyes and look away.

Your gaze remained on him for a little longer until you heard somebody diving into the pool, and when you looked at the crystalline water lit by the warm bulbs submerged in it, you quickly realized it was Fives as he emerged from under the water running his hands up his face and towards the back of his head, brushing the hair away. In that pose, Fives opened his arms and flexed, showing off his biceps as he shot you his signature charming grin, winking at you.

“These babies have gotten bigger since the last time I saw you, sweetheart,” Fives beamed.

Laughter escaped you—as much as you adored Fives, his attempts at flirting were always a sight to behold. Something about young, handsome soldiers tripping over their feet for your attention made you wish all summer nights were like that one, and to follow along with Fives’ game, you crossed one leg over the other, planted your hands firmly on the ground at your sides and shrugged, pursing your lips together.

“I don’t know, they kinda look the same to me,” you teased him.

“Don’t listen to him,” you heard the voice next to you as Jesse took a seat beside you only to fully get into the pool and swim over next to Fives, adopting his same pose. “I actually think I pull it off better, and I only lift half as often as he does. It’s like I don’t even have to try.”

“Oh, shut up!” Fives yelled, grinning mischievously as he brushed his hand and forearm over the water’s surface in Jesse’s direction, splashing him.

“That’s how you wanna do it, you runt?” Jesse played along and began splashing back.

As if that gesture were a galactic beckoning for the clones, the pool almost instantly became filled with troopers wanting to partake in the splash battle. You giggled as you watched them splash and wrestle playfully—the scene in front of you was probably the best definition of “boys being boys.” You loved it, and laughter wouldn’t stop leaving you. For the duration of that night, you hadn’t enjoyed anything more than what was currently playing out in front of you.

However, across the pool, the same pair of piercing amber eyes glared past the scene and into you, but you weren’t taking notice of that anymore.

It only took a few seconds for the clones’ splash war to no longer be about you, and the water flying in from multiple directions was beginning to get out of hand. Wiping a couple of drops that had fallen near your eyes, you got up and made your way towards the chair where you’d left your things. You slipped your feet into your sandals, smiling at the sound of the racket behind you blending with the music, and then you took the cream-colored shawl you’d taken to the party and wrapped it around your hips in a makeshift skirt. You were in the mood for a drink now, but while the water wars ended, you figured you’d hit the powder room to adjust your suit.

Crosshair watched you from where he stood, his eyes following your silhouette as you walked from the pool to the lounge. Every time your right leg came forward, your skin was exposed by the edges of the fabric wrapped around your hips, offering him a teasing glimpse of your thigh. He picked up on the sway of your hips, the delicate left and right of every step that you took, partnered perfectly with your hands coming back and forth in tandem with your stride. As you walked past the chairs and the tables, Crosshair took in how gracefully your hair framed your face, as well as how perfectly the top of your bathing suit framed your breasts and the top half of your belly, letting him see the skin just above your belly button only for the smoothness to stop just above your womb, where the shawl began.

Fuck. He suppressed a groan. Did you even have any idea how sensual you looked? Clearly you didn’t, why else would you waste yourself on all those amateurs trying to impress you with a basic flex and a splish-splash of water?

You’d made it to the common mirror just outside the restrooms and looked at your reflection in the flattering warm lighting. You combed through your hair using your fingers, trying to achieve a carefree look, a blend between messy and done that seemed right for the night. When you were done with that, you eased a few creases on the fabric of your shawl and tightened the knot—you didn’t want that getting loose on accident—and you smoothed out the top of your bathing suit as well. Once you were ready to head back out into the party, you turned around and began making your way where you came from. Your thoughts on what cocktail you were gonna get were interrupted by a tall, lean silhouette dressed in black coming into view. The sight of those amber eyes made you stop in your tracks, and you couldn’t help the little grin that appeared on your lips.

“Look who finally decided to socialize,” you teased him.

Crosshair scoffed, his eyes looking aside as he did. “Don’t flatter yourself. I wouldn’t waste my time or energy with you.”

You placed your hands over your heart, faking a heartache. “Must you hurt me so?”

“I’m not particularly happy with you,” Crosshair crooned.

You giggled. “You’re never happy with anyone. And you of all people have no reason to hold anything against me, you never even let yourself open up to me.” Your gaze softened and you took a step towards him, holding your fists behind your back and pouting up at him. “Why won’t you let me in, Crosshair?”

Again, he rolled his eyes. “I didn’t come here for this.”

“Something tells me you did,” you answered. “Here I am, what do you want with me?”

“Nothing,” Crosshair nearly spat the word out.

You raised a brow. No one in that party could deny how insightful you were, not even him.

Crosshair scoffed again. “Fine, I’ll bite.”

“Please do,” you couldn’t resist the urge to say.

“Maybe I didn’t like the way the others were making fools out of themselves for your attention,” Crosshair glared. “It was pathetic to watch.”

“Ah,” you crossed your arms, nodding slowly. “So you’re jealous.”

“Fuck, no,” Crosshair smirked. “I just wouldn’t be caught dead being a complete idiot like that.”

“So you aren’t jealous?” You smirked back.

“No.”

“Then why do you look like you’re about to stab someone?” Your smirk widened.

You’d cornered him, and Crosshair hated that. He was used to always having the upper hand, the higher ground, to being on top of everything. Nothing could ever surprise him, and when it did, it only meant he’d screwed up. The fact that you had just done that in the most leisurely of settings made him want to puke.

“Forget this,” he said, his silhouette beginning to turn around.

“I didn’t take you for the type to run away, Crosshair,” you said as your hands went over to your hips and you shifted your weight onto your left side, emphasizing the curves of your silhouette.

Crosshair faced you again, his gaze darkening at the little pose you’d adopted. You noticed his eyes running down your body, but when they met yours again, his gaze hardened.

“Fuck you,” he said, without hesitating.

You scoffed, looking at him from head to toe as well. “Fuck me yourself, you coward. I’d like to see if you can.”

He scoffed, his thin lips curving into a smile as he made his way towards you painfully slowly. Hovering in front of you, he took his fingers up to your chin, tilting your face up, making your breath hitch despite your witty exterior.

“You better be damn serious about that, doll,” Crosshair purred with hungry eyes.

“What, did I stutter?” Your breath shook as you whispered, and your hand snaked up his abdomen and felt his chest over the black shirt he wore. “What other way do I have to tell you I want this?”

The hand that was on your chin traveled back and down to cup the side of your neck, firm, but never hard enough to hurt you. Crosshair’s fingertips rested gently on your nape, and his other hand went up and joined the first in perfect symmetry. He pressed his body closer to yours, never breaking eye contact with you, and your heart beat so fast you were afraid he’d be able to hear it through your chest. He was devastatingly handsome, looming over you, watching you with lustful eyes foreboding passion. It didn’t matter where you were. It didn’t matter if there were people outside—they were enjoying their own night, they didn’t have to be involved in what only concerned you and Crosshair. All that mattered was the sensation of his hands on your skin, your hands over his chest, and the heat beginning to boil low in your stomach.

You half-expected another snarky remark, another sneer coming from Crosshair just to test the waters, but you basked in the mercy of the satisfaction that came when Crosshair finally crashed his lips down on yours. He stepped towards you and you stepped backwards, stumbling into the bathroom for him to lock the door behind him when you were both already inside. The music continued to boom from the party outside, as did the cheers and the laughter from everyone blissfully ignorant of the fire catching between you and the marksman. You didn’t have to worry about being heard.

You blindly walked backwards with your fists tugging at Crosshair’s shirt, your mind swarming with the concept of him as he devoured your lips with luscious kisses and mischievous nibbles. You felt your back bump into the wall next to the sink, and he pressed you onto it, letting you feel the erection growing under his pitch-black boxer bathing suit. You whimpered at the hardness and let your hands travel up his chest and around his shoulders until the tips of your fingers found his silver hair, which you twirled and tugged hoping to get a sound from him. Crosshair pleased you by letting out a low grunt and grew more passionate with every tug you gave to his hair.

One of the hands that was on your neck traveled down to your waist and kneaded your flesh with his fingertips, freeing your neck for him to take his kisses down to that sensitive skin he so badly wanted to mark. You shuddered when you first felt Crosshair suck on your neck, and you were astounded at his ease to find your sweetest spot. He nibbled and sucked such that you were certain there would be a maroon mark on your skin, and you enjoyed every second of it. You were enjoying the idea of coming out of that bathroom with that mark on your neck for everyone to see, and something told you Crosshair would get a kick of it as well, parading you in front of everyone else to show them how it’s really done.

When he was finished with your neck, Crosshair moved down your body leaving a trail of kisses and nibbles whilst feeling every inch of your body he could, including your hardened nipples over the fabric of your swimsuit, until he was on his knees in front of you. His hands greedily squeezed the flesh of your buttcheeks as he focused his kisses on your lower abdomen, just above the line where your shawl and the bottom of your bathing suit began. Unwilling to wait much longer to finally taste you, Crosshair curled his fingers around your bathing panties and pulled them down your legs with ease. You stepped out of them for him to hand them to you for you to hold in one hand, and when your other hand went to undo your top, he was quick to stop you.

“No, doll,” Crosshair purred. “You’re keepin’ that on.”

You giggled at him in response, and by his actions, he didn’t intend for you to remove that shawl either. Part of you would have preferred for Crosshair to have already been shirtless at this point, but any sort of thought faded when Crosshair took one of your legs and wrapped it around his back—it was only until then you became aware that your aching cunt was finally exposed to him.

Crosshair split the fabric of your shawl and placed it over your hips to keep it out of the way; he held your butt with one hand to keep you steady while he used his index and thumb fingers on his other hand to lift the hood of your clit. Your mind barely had a second to ponder on the fact that he knew what he was doing, and when you felt his tongue begin to brush over the pearl of your clit, your whole world faded. A deep moan escaped you, and your head fell back to the wall as your chest heaved at every sensation Crosshair gifted you with. You slipped farther from sanity and nearer into bliss, feeling he’d tip you over the edge in an obscenely small amount of time.

Switching between luscious kissing and precise sucking, Crosshair turned you from confident temptress to whimpering mess, pleased at the idea of having you at his mercy. Your moans grew louder and more desperate, and your hand reached down to find his hair again, twirling and tugging at his beautiful silver locks. You drew a moan from Crosshair, and its vibrations resonated deep within your flesh, finally finishing you off. Your already helpless moaning turned into pleading mewls as the pleasure that focused on your clit exploded into beautiful flames invading every corner of your body. Your muscles tensed as you squirmed, knowing it was only Crosshair’s grip keeping you upright. You were oblivious to the amount of times you whimpered his name, you only had the headspace to rut your hips against him, as if you weren’t feeling enough mind-erasing pleasure already.

You wanted more. You wanted his fullness, his touch. You wanted him.

Crosshair emerged from between your legs as if he were coming up for air after a long swim. You were dazzled, panting in the aftermath of every wave of pleasure you’d just felt, but you managed to look down and see him smirking proudly. Crosshair grunted as he stood up, towering over you again, and just when you were beginning to make sense of the world around you again, you saw him pulling down his bathing shorts to reveal a long, hard erection waiting just for you.

You couldn’t help but moan at the sight, making him chuckle with pride.

“Got room for some more?” Crosshair asked.

You nodded frantically, and without hesitation, Crosshair firmly grasped your ass and lifted you, resting part of your weight on the sink beside you. You clung to him, needily wrapping your legs around his waist, and he could only hum at the sight, pleased. After the painful wait, you finally felt Crosshair sliding himself into you, hissing at the initial stretch of your flesh only for you to moan when it became the most incredible sensation you’d ever experienced.

And Crosshair took it from there. Holding you firmly, he took care of every movement. Your arousal made it easier for him to slip in and out of you at whatever speed he desired, and you could tell he wasn’t planning on putting anything off. He was quick, accurate, decisive, grunting low and seductive into your ear with every few thrusts into your hips. Your nails clawed into his upper back, moaning deeply as you tightened your legs around him as much as you could, and it heightened the sensations you felt.

As he continued to fuck deep into you, Crosshair made eye contact with you for a moment, his cocky exterior suddenly becoming caring, even soft. The thought of your prior conversation entered your mind—how long had he felt that way for you? How long had you been suppressing your own desires for him?

Now that you were in his arms, feeling all the pleasure he could give you, you were certain you were where you needed to be.

A tender moan of his name escaped you just before you felt the pleasure expand through your body again. The moans induced by this second orgasm were far louder and embarrassingly more lustful than those of the first, and Crosshair thrust his hips faster into you as he fisted your hair and gave it a light tug. Your vision went white as you succumbed to the pleasure, to him, until you felt the heat of his release inside you followed by soft, low-pitched moans that sealed every one of your feelings for him.

Carefully, he set you down, and once he was sure that your feet were firm on the ground, Crosshair went limp in front of you. His arms were the only thing that remained strong as he caged you to the wall, panting to recover his breath in tandem with you. His lips were close to yours, and you couldn’t help but reach your hands up to cup his face and kiss him gently. Crosshair kissed you back without a hesitation, retrieving his hands from the wall to place them over your wrists, pressing you deeper to him.

“You never had to be jealous, Crosshair,” you whispered.

“Don’t blame me,” he panted, “for getting a little unhinged at the thought of someone else trying to satisfy you.”

“Hey, if this is the result, I’ll take it any day,” you winked. “I should have known a tease and a challenge was all it took.”

Crosshair smirked at you and let his hands travel down to your waist, straightening his back and lifting your feet up with him. “Wanna show off your hickey?”

You felt the heat rush to your cheeks. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”

Crosshair chuckled and pecked your lips, setting you down on the floor again and pulling up his bathing suit again. “Come.”

You put the bottom of your bathing suit on and followed him out of the refresher with your arm linked in his, ready for all the stares you were about to receive. Crosshair would definitely show them all, and you never would have fathomed the idea of parading a fresh hickey in front of a group of men who were flirting with you minutes earlier, but if that love hadn’t made you a bit crazy, you wouldn’t have been doing it right.

#tbbpromptevent #moonstrider writes #tbb x reader #crosshair x reader #tbb crosshair x reader #tbb crosshair smut #tbb smut #tbb fanfic #the bad batch fanfic

[fanfic-obsessed]

Merge the Timestream AU.

This came about because the amazing @bitter-chocolate-stars muse for the AU idea Merging the TimeStream flew out and bit me.  I would highly recommend reading it first, because it is awesome and I could not do it justice.

Now onto the madness. 

It is a mission to a Force Temple, old enough that no one knows which side of the Force it was for (or if it was for a specific side).  There were rumors that there was an ancient artifact that could change the tides of the War, so The 212th and the 501st were dispatched to get it before the Separatists. 

Five people went into the final chamber to search(There was a description of the artifact in the temple. Only four words had been able to be translated-Past, Present, Future, and Knowledge): Obi Wan Kenobi, Anaking Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Commander Cody, and Captain Rex.  

It was these five people who were caught by the artifact.  Each of these five were split into three. The present version of themselves, a future version, and a past version. 

I bet you all can see where this is going. 

Obi Wan’s past version is from Melida/Daan, two days before Cerasi died. The future is Old Ben, coming directly from his own beheading on the Death Star. 

Anakin’s past is nine year old Anakin, hours before he would meet Qui Gon Jinn and Padme Amidala for the first time.  The future is Vader (I hope none of you are surprised), a month after he cut off Luke’s hand, and just after he fully realized that it meant his and Padme’s child had always lived.  

Ahsoka’s past is three years old, just Found by Plo Koon. Her future is Rebels Era Ahsoka, aka Fulcrum, before she found out that Vader was Anakin.  

Rex’s past was a physically four year old cadet, the only survivor of his batch (who were decommissioned because of their blonde hair mutation-Rex’s scores were so high that he was kept). The future is Old Rex, post Empire (I always headcanon that Rex survives to see the end of the Empire because of spite).

Cody’s past is ARC Trainer Cody, after the war had started but before he was assigned to be Obi Wan’s commander. His future had just deserted the Empire and doesn’t even know about the chips yet. 

Frankly it likely would have been better if one or more of those people had arrived unconscious. Alas this was not to be. 

Upon arriving, Little Ahsoka immediately started crying to the visible concern of both Cadet Rex and Child Anakin (both were concerned about punishment at the noise). Before anyone could even think to do anything, Vader pointed a dramatic finger at Old Ben and went ‘You’ and followed up with ‘Why didn’t you tell me my son lived?’

Old Ben caulked his head, ‘Even leaving aside I thought I had left you for dead for a decade, Darth, why would I trust you with your children after the march on the temple?’

Now Darth Vader rocked back on his heels, “Children?” and then a moment later “Leia Organa”

Old Ben sighed deeply, ‘Surely we can both agree that the fact you tortured your daughter does prove me right to keep them from you.’

‘I cut off Luke’s hand too’ Vader said absently

Old Ben just buried his face in his hands.

Now all of this was with the background tune of little Ahsoka still crying.  Former padawan Obi Wan is the one who reaches her first, and picks her up, smoothly herding Cadet Rex and Child Anakin behind him, away from the adults in the room.�� Former Padawan Obi Wan is radiating a vicious, desperate protectiveness. 

The movement caused Old Ben to look away from Vader at the rest of the room. His brow furrows. He looks back at Vader, “Do you remember this?”

Vader’s black mask turns to take in the rest of the room, his breath rasps somehow louder than the crying Ahsoka. At last he says ‘I do not’.

Post Empire Rex snorts and says, with an unimpressed deadpan ‘It is probably Force Shit’. 

It takes another half hour to get any kind of semblance of calm and start to piece together what is going on. In spite of the fact that neither Old Ben, nor Vader want to admit who they are (for different reasons), no one in the room is actually stupid. 

There is a moment when Rex is obligated to give Old Ben shit for the fact that he told Luke that Vader killed Anakin Skywalker, to which Ben responds ‘I was just passing on what he’ points at Vader, ‘told me’.

At another moment Fulcrum throws up her hands and shoes at Old Ben ‘I thought you were dead, again. Why didn’t you tell me you survived.’ Old Ben blinks at her, ‘Leaving aside I also thought you were dead, my dear, for the last decade I have had the single highest bounty in the empire’ Old Ben looks to Vader, who nods solemnly after a moment, ‘I would have thought that would be telling.’ Fulcrum actually pouts and mutters, ‘I thought that was a plan by the Rebellion to draw Vader’s attention.’

There is just…so much trauma in this room. Like it is possible that this group has the highest concentration of trauma in the entire galaxy. 

Deserter Cody appears to be having multiple concurrent panic attacks, his face swinging between Old Ben and General Obi Wan almost constantly. Between the residual guilt of having his general shot at, the horror of the long held belief that Cody had caused Obi Wan’s death, the combination of relief and horror at the news of the chip in his head, the combination of relief and confusion at Old Ben (who is proof that Obi Wan Kenobi did not die on Utapau), the confusion of being confronted with two other versions of himself all culminates in the fact that Deserter Cody is going through some things. 

ARC Trainer Cody is going through less, mainly horror at the chips. He is also very much a shiny as far as his reactions to the Jedi are concerned.  He is confused at being transported from Kamino, and does not know if he was transported to the future or they were tanspote to the past.  Frankly by all measures ARC trainer Cody is one of the most stable people in the room. 

Current Cody is sure that his younger self should not meet any members of Ghost Company on the basis that he would never live it down. He is also facing the horror of the chips, confusion at the triplicatation that is going on. His horror is that much deeper than his younger self because he knows and cares for Obi Wan (Light CodyWan for the win).  He is also quite worried for his older self. 

Melida/Daan Obi Wan is still not sure if he is willing to let any of the adults in the room near the other children. He is also doing slightly better with the fact that he grows up to be a general then the fact that he went back to the Jedi. He is also very much a child soldier with all the trauma therein.

Old Ben is not sure if this would be his heaven or his hell. On the one hand he could feel in the Force that he was before Order 66, all the lives he had felt snuff out were alive and well.  On the other hand, there were three Anakins in the room, at least one of which hated him. Also he thought getting beheaded would get him out of dealing with more Skywalker BS.  

General Obi Wan Kenobi is more than a little horrified. His connection to the Unified Force means that he is perceiving echoes of Order 66 through the future counterparts AND the variety of trauma that exists in the younger counterparts simultaneously. In addition, both his younger self and Anakin’s younger self are each triggering unresolved trauma.  

Padawan Commander Ahsoka Tano is staring at her older self in awe, when she was not staring at Vader in horror. She has also been herded to one corner of the room by Former Padawan Obi Wan, despite the fact that she is 16 to his 14. 

Fulcrum makes the decision that she CANNOT deal with the Vader/Anakin revelation at this point and is blocking it out. Instead she is staring at Old Ben. And glancing at her younger self, wondering how much being Anakin’s padawan had damaged her view of the Order. 

Little Ahsoka has calmed, now that she was securely held by a warmer than average Cadet Rex. 

Post Empire Rex is so, so done. This was supposed to be retirement. Being dragged back to the clone wars is not retirement. It was nice to see Fulcrum again though.

Cadet Rex is the definition of stress. He is not sure what test is going on, nor who these new trainers were but he would not fail. 

Captain Rex is not sure what to do with the proof that he would survive the war.  Nor the fate of his general as he stares at the tall black clad being. 

Darth Vader, in addition to all the issues he always carries, is looking at his younger self covetously. Had he had a way he would have tried to possess his younger self, who has everything he wants. At the same time he wants to sit this younger version down and tell him exactly how to avoid everything that Vader is (It should be noted that Vader has no idea how to avoid all that Vader is). He is also boiling angry at every version of Obi Wan, though distantly looks at the little angry version and wonders if this was a way to get his brother back.  The knowledge of Luke’s survival is drawing him back toward the single selfless thing he has done in decades, but he is still very much a Sith. 

Child Anakin is deeply confused and frankly ecstatic that he hasn’t blown up yet. It is very clear they are not on Tatooine and nowhere near Watto. He is also not impressed that he somehow escaped slavery only to become enslaved again (in his perception Vader is also chip controlled and thus enslaved).

General Anakin Skywalker is freaked out by Vader, who is radiating a weird greed at him, and also by the implications of everything the future people have said. He is also heartbroken over Palpatine being evil (even Vader agrees, in his own way, that Palpatine is evil). Everything strikes deep enough that Anakin actually decided he needed a therapist (There is something about the casual way that Vader talks about torturing Anakin and Padme’s children that cements that decision).

It turns out that the Artifact is the entire temple, so removing it is not feasible. 

Like in the original idea, I am not sure if the past and future versions find themselves eventually returning to their own times, or if they are stuck in the present. Though there is something that is amusing about the Jedi now having to deal with three of each of these five people, one of which is a Sith. Particularly since Vader both wants to kill them all and wants to protect them all (to prevent Anakin’s Fall).

It does change so many things though.

#star wars the clone wars #star wars #fanfiction prompt #star wars au #anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #codywan #anidala #bamf obi wan

[little-miss-vader]

Masterlist & Navigation

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Hey there! I’m Crow (she/her) and I thought it was about time to start a Masterlist :)

⚝ This is an 18+ blog! Minors please don’t interact or I’ll hex you.

⚝ My inbox is open for requests but I cannot promise I will get to it quickly. I read everything y’all send, especially requests so don’t be discouraged if I don’t publicly respond!

⚝ I also love making friends. Dm me or shoot me something fun in my inbox :)

⚝ I have a list of what I’m comfortable writing below so you don’t have to inbox me or dm me to ask unless what you’re looking for isn’t on the list!

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What I do/do not write!

Characters I am open to writing for:

The number of stars out of 5 represent how willing I am to write them

⚝ ⚝ ⚝ ⚝ ⚝ Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

⚝ ⚝ ⚝ Obi-Wan Kenobi

⚝ ⚝ ⚝ ⚝ The Mandolorian/Din Djarin

⚝ ⚝ Padmé Amidala

⚝ ⚝ ⚝ Kylo Ren

⚝ ⚝ ⚝ ⚝ Poe Dameron

⚝ ⚝ ⚝ Ahsoka Tano (MANDALORIAN/AHSOKA ERA ONLY.)

⚝ ⚝ ⚝ ⚝ The 501st boys

⚝ ⚝ ⚝ Commander Cody

⚝ ⚝ Commander Wolfe

If you don’t see a character but have a good enough request, I might bend the rules and write the character! It never hurts to ask :)

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Kinks/Tropes

I will be categorizing this by colour, green meaning I will absolutely write it, yellow meaning the circumstances might differ me from writing it, red meaning I will absolutely not be writing it.

Green:

⚝ Bdsm

⚝ Daddy/Mommy kink

⚝ Breath Play

⚝ Mutual Pining

⚝ Knifeplay

⚝ Breeding Kink

⚝ Infidelity Kink

⚝ Corruption Kink

⚝ Enemies to Lovers

⚝ Forceplay (As in The Force, not coercion/rape)

⚝ Age Gaps (I’ll only write age gaps if both are consenting adults)

⚝ Normal stuff is my jam. Fluff, angst, romance, regular ass smut. The green isn’t as important because I’m okay with writing almost 90% of kinks and tropes. Yellow and red however, are mostly what I made this list for.

Yellow:

⚝ Polyamory (I’m not polyamorous and idk how it works so I don’t feel entirely comfortable writing about it as it might not be accurate/correct.)

⚝ Saberplay

⚝ Dubcon/Noncon (the only time I’ll write it is if there is consent beforehand)

⚝ Bloodplay

⚝ Ships (idk not a fan. I like writing reader inserts. I might make an exception for AniDala)

⚝ Anal (I personally just can’t get behind it but I understand the allure.)

Red:

⚝ Incest of any kind (step-cest included)

⚝ Rape

⚝ Piss/Scat

⚝ Omegaverse

⚝ Suicide

⚝ Self-Harm

⚝ Eating Disorders (I honestly tend to keep mental illnesses out of my writing for the most part, I like my fantasy worlds to be an escape, not a reminder)

⚝ Age Play (Age gaps are different, I’m fine with those. I will not however sexualize or romanticize infantilism)

⚝ ObiKin (I mean it)

⚝ AniSoka (Do not ever ask me for this I actually might block you.)

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝ ⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝ ⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

Character Lists!

Anakin Skywalker

One Shots/Series:

Dueling Fates: Pt.1 & Pt.2

His Best Girl

Maker, Save The Queen

As You Wish

Gentle Hands

Ask Nicely (Hayden Christensen, if I write more for him I’ll give him his own section lol)

Driven to You (Anakin AU)

Unbreakable Bonds Pt. 1

Drabbles:

Flowers

Perfume

Songs that remind me of Anakin are all under the tag #anakins playlist

There are more drabbles but they’re scattered around, I’ll add them in when I have time 🫶🏼

#crows master list #Thank you guys again for even taking a moment to read my work #i love u all fr

[dragon-pups]

You know I've seen a decent amount of post questioning how the batch ever managed without Echo or Omega. So I've come out of my hibernation to explain from my own experience as a chaotic bitch and an adult being with responsibilities to other living beings. I can go from no thought head empty only bonk to what are you doing? don't eat that! where are your shoes its raining?! It just depends on the group.

So we all now know that Crosshair and Hunter physical fight like all siblings have and still do, hells I just watched a pair of my cousin, my adult cousins, fight to the point of actually scrapping on the ground over something not that important and in two hours they were lounging against each other watching videos and sharing memes. Siblings do this shit. We also know that they also have some verbal only spats like some small ones we've seen between Wrecker and Tech. Also normal.

What is also normal is the transference of responsibility between members of groups. Depending on the members present at the time.

Like in a family group if the parents leave for a time and there is an eldest sibling home then that sibling, depending how they were raised, will most likely increase the responsible behavior to care for the younger, or at least see them alive til the parents come home.

Or in friend groups, yeh know the "mom friend" they one that could be anything from an always assertive person to someone who couldn't speak up for themselves but will absolutely maul a bitch that insults their friends. While they may be the leash holder for one set of friends they could very well be the fuck lit dynamite stick of another, or even of the same set of friends if you add an even more mom friend to the equation. Or the opposite if you take away a mom friend one of the chaos gremlins may take up the mantle of responsibility.

That being said, the batch are brother they fight, but off the top of my head I don't remember in the few interacts before order 66 of Cross and Hunter physically or verbally fighting during a misson, with each other, but we didn't get to see much. Hunter was the responsible one, the leader. It's only once Echo was back in the picture during season 3 that it got physically during a mission. Which makes sense, Echo is Hunter's Corporal he has the rank and the experience to take charge in Hunters place. So Hunter doesn't have to be as tight, and to be fair anger will break anyone out of a responsible headspace.

I'm also extremely certain that Echo being an ARC and being from the 501st means that when Hunter is in charge that he is also a chaos gremlin.

So yeh it makes sense for them to fight with each other especially during this whole debacle. But they're highly trained soldiers they had to be efficient the entirety of their lives, I say they get to be little shits on camera as a treat.

PS I also know that the whole "the batch couldn't manage without Echo" thing is a joke. I just thought it would be a good thought experiment and behavior dissection.

#the bad batch #bad batch #star wars the bad batch #crosshair #hunter #sergeant hunter #tech #wrecker #sw tbb #the bad batch echo #bad batch echo #bad batch tech #the bad batch wrecker #bad batch wrecker #arc echo #the bad batch crosshair #bb crosshair #bad batch crosshair #tbb crosshair #tbb hunter #tbb tech #tbb echo #tbb wrecker #arc trooper echo #echo #echo is mom #but echo is also gremlin #hunter is tired dad #but hunter will also slap a bitch

[masterjedilenawrites]

Falling For You

This is my gift for the #cloneficgiftexchange, for the lovely @arctrooper69! I'd heard Jesse was the least requested character in this event so I think I have to pick him from your list of options for this prompt! 😁 Poor guy just needs some love...

Please go check out the @cloneficgiftexchange blog for all the other contributions to this great event! Fics are being posted all throughout today (4/8). Spread the love for fandom writers/creators by reblogging!

Jesse x fem!reader | 6.1k words

Content: light angst, hurt/comfort, misunderstandings, injury, pining, fluff, flirting

Prompt: "I know you said you were falling for me but I didn't expect you to actually fall."

Jesse was a huge flirt.

Everyone knew it. He knew it. For reasons you couldn't comprehend, the skilled and strong ARC trooper, with so many good qualities to his name, put an incredible amount of effort into making "huge flirt" his identifying trait. From little winks to obvious showboating, from cute nicknames to devastating pick-up lines, Jesse made his way around the galaxy with nonstop charm.

You'd been amused at first. You'd never known someone so unabashedly flirtatious as him. It was always the highlight of your day to see him saunter up to your desk with a silly eyebrow wiggle or a teasing comment about your glamorous life as an accountant for the GAR. Even seeing him flirt with others made you laugh. Their reactions to him, ranging from bashful giggles to exasperated eye rolls, broke up the monotony of your day like nothing else could. If you'd had to pick back then, you would've said Jesse was your favorite of the clone troopers.

And then one day, he'd crossed a line. Not in an inappropriate way or anything; no, somehow he always managed to be respectful in that regard, even with his more suggestive comments. It was a line that, once crossed, took your feelings into actual "crush" territory. That, you now suspected, was the start of all the misery you currently felt.

He'd called you a hottie. Not the most intimate or special of names, but it had struck a meaningful chord in you.

"Are you kidding? You're a hottie. A total babe. There'd be a line out the door of guys trying to buy you a drink. Right fellas?"

He was responding to an offhand comment you'd made about not being the type of girl to fit in at 79's. Jesse and a few of his brothers were trying to round up a group to visit the clone bar later that night. Maybe the others had agreed with his flattering response, but you hadn't listened beyond that one word.

Hottie.

Not once in your life had anyone described you that way. Hot, sexy... heck, even just attractive... those weren't words anyone associated with you. The few times your appearance was complimented, it was more along the lines of cute. Maybe pretty if you dressed up a bit. You'd spent your whole adult life up to this moment believing you were undesirable to the opposite sex. Jesse changed your mind.

And after that, he was the only man you had eyes for.

His flirting stirred something different in you. It was a mixture of both pleasant tingles and sour pain. Pleasant when his comments were directed toward you. You ate it up, not bothering to hide your blushes as it only egged him on. You wanted his attentions, as much as you could wring out. And sour when he approached others with the same moves. You didn't just want his attention; you wanted all of it. Seeing him make someone else blush and laugh reminded you of all your insecurities, all the ways you knew you were inferior. You wavered back and forth between loving Jesse and all his charms, and hating how quick he was to just give it away so freely.

The 501st had been back on Coruscant for R&R an almost two full weeks now. Plenty of time to send you spiraling. You saw Jesse almost everywhere you went. In the mess hall, in random hallways, at your own desk because apparently it got good sunlight in the afternoons and he cared about that sort of thing.... The only place you could find reprieve was your living quarters, where you found yourself crumpling into bed with emotional exhaustion each evening.

Even when you didn't see Jesse you still heard about him. All of your friends and colleagues around the base were chattering about whatever smooth compliment he'd paid them that day. There was an ongoing debate in the accounting office over who the sexiest clone was, and your ears couldn't help but turn red every time you heard someone arguing for Jesse. And it was guaranteed you'd hear some story over the caf machine about his moves on the dance floor at 79's the night before. You often scurried away before you could catch any further details, like whether he took anyone home with him. Even if it meant you never got to make your caf the way you liked it.

It was ridiculous how crazy this guy was making you. You were convinced he'd only called you a hottie because you felt sorry for you. Right? How else could he put you in the same category of all these other people who were clearly so much better looking. But sometimes, just for a few minutes in the morning, you'd look in the mirror and pretend you were attractive to him, and this lovely feeling of butterflies washed over you. It was the best feeling, to think that someone like him, Jesse, could want you.

And so you'd carry that light and fuzzy feeling around until you inevitably heard another bar story or saw him flash a smile to some random civvie, and then you'd come crashing down in insecurities all over again.

Just when you were considering maybe seeking some professional help, you found yourself crossing his path just outside the training rooms.

"Whoa!" Jesse exclaimed as you both rounded the same corner and almost collided. He quickly reached out to grasp your shoulders and keep you from falling over. His chest, you immediately noticed, as it was mere inches from your face, was bare and dripping in sweat.

"Easy there, cutie," he chuckled, the first to recover from the surprise.

Cutie. A far cry from being hot. You shuffled back and mumbled an apology, finding it difficult to meet his eyes. Equally difficult was not staring at his shimmering muscles. Your eyes flitted around, searching for something else to fixate on instead.

"What are you doing down here? I thought you said accountants didn't work out. Something about your bodies only being a transport for your heads?" He gave another chuckle and started dabbing his face with a towel. You were surprised he'd remembered that joke you'd made months ago.

"Oh, um..." You were still awkwardly looking around the hallway and it took you an embarrassing amount of time to remember why you were there. "Yeah no, I was uh, meeting with a manufacturer. Had to get some quotes to replace some of the exercise equipment."

Jesse's face lit up just as your eyes flicked to his. Your stomach twisted pleasantly.

"We're getting new equipment? Finally! Half my workout is just trying to get the kriffing treadmill to turn on."

"We'll see," you quickly tried to warn him from getting his hopes up. "It's not cheap, and with the increases in spending for munitions this quarter, there's not a whole lot of funds left to allocate for things like this. I'll have to make a pitch to shift some assets around, or possibly delay that upgrade to the... what?"

You noticed Jesse was chuckling again.

"Oh I love it when you talk budgets to me, sweetheart."

You could feel your cheeks heating up. You weren't sure how to respond, which seemed to amuse Jesse even further. He playfully swatted the towel toward your side as he started to go past you, ready to move on to wherever he'd been headed before.

"Hey, you doing anything later? You know, after you're done with all those funds and assets and whatever?"

You turned to see him walking slowly backward, waiting for your answer. Was he asking you out or merely making chitchat? It didn't seem like a casual offer, or an afterthought, though you couldn't be sure.

"Um, depends." It was your default line anytime someone asked about your availability. Vague enough and non-committal in either direction. You never got trapped into plans you didn't want to be part of, and you were never impolite about it.

"Depends?" he quirked his eyebrow and stopped walking. "Well aren't you a coy one. Didn't realize I'd need to impress you so much."

You weren't sure how to respond to that either. You were all sorts of tongue tied and you were still doing a poor job of not checking out his chest.

"Okay, okay, hear me out," he went on, not seeming too put out by your response. "I know you're not into the bar scene, but there's gonna be this local band at 79's tonight... they do more acoustics and vocals, so, you know, it'll be pretty low key. And a lot of the guys are set on getting tattoos tonight which means it won't be as crowded. I don't know, figured you might be more into that?"

"And... this would be... with you?"

For the first time, you started to see cracks in Jesse's confidence. Just barely. Hairline fractures. Subtle enough to fool anyone who wasn't paying attention, but as evident to you as if they were your own. Jesse cleared his throat and slung the towel over his shoulder, trying to play it off.

"I mean, yeah. If you wanted to. I just have tonight, we finally got our next deployment and it'll be a while so... well, you know, just wanted to spend my last night here with some good company."

This time you did know how to respond, but for some reason your voice wouldn't cooperate. You wanted to holler Yes! and jump for joy, wrap your arms around his neck and give him a smooch. ARC trooper Jesse, the debonair soldier, the only man you had eyes for, was asking for your company.

You heard your name followed by a Hellooo? and suddenly there was a hand waving in front of your face.

"I'm trying to ask you out, girl. You gotta give me something here!" Jesse laughed, and the warmth in his smile brought you back to reality.

"Yes," you breathed, and then swallowed and said more clearly, "yes, of course! I... I would love to."

"Really?"

You nodded enthusiastically. Jesse made a little fist pump.

"Yes! You had me worried for a second there." He started walking backwards again. "But okay, cool. Um, I gotta clean up, and then we got a few mission briefings. Let's meet there at, say... 5? Happy hour, so first round can be on me."

He winked and you giggled, feeling your cheeks heat up again.

"5 o'clock," you confirmed.

"Can't wait, beautiful!" he called over his shoulder as he finally turned around skipped through the fresher door at the end of the hall.

* * *

The rest of your day went by at an agonizing pace, but you finally got off work and could have a little moment of celebration in your quarters, complete with squealing into your pillow and dancing all around. You didn't have too much time to get ready, which ended up being a blessing as you would have surely spent hours cycling through various outfit combinations. You were able to pick the first outfit that came to your mind - cute, comfortable, and very you - without doubting or changing your mind. You spent the rest of your time taming your hair and calming your nerves.

Your anxieties only crept in occasionally, asking such annoying questions as whether you were the only one he'd asked out like this during his time off, or whether he would've found a way to ask you even had you not run into him in the halls.

But there had been joy in his smiles, relief in those tense and deliciously muscular shoulders when you'd agreed. He'd seemed so genuine. How could you worry about whether you were good enough when he'd very clearly asked you out?

So you shoved those pesky thoughts to the side, in a way you hadn't known how to do earlier when there were so many unknowns and uncertainties about the situation. Jesse liked you, he wanted to spend time with you before leaving. That was that.

You got to 79's only a few minutes early and placed yourself comfortably at the bar to wait. He'd been right, it was not crowded or boisterous at all. There were still plenty of people, clones and civvies alike, but enough booths were still open that you wouldn't have trouble finding somewhere to really relax once Jesse showed up.

You gave him about twenty minutes without worry. His meetings could've run long, or the Coruscanti traffic could've held him up. No big deal. You asked for a water from the bartender so you didn't seem rude, and patiently sipped through it while you scrolled on your datapad to pass the time.

As 5:30 drew nearer, though, you began to get concerned. Was he okay? You cursed yourself for not asking for his number, just in case. You glanced around the bar, wishing someone from his troop was here so you could ask. You decided to chance talking to an older, bearded clone who sat just a few seats from you.

"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to know anyone from the 501st, would you?"

The clone nodded back with a little laugh. "I know some. The ARC troopers, anyway. They're regulars. Doesn't look like they're showing up tonight though. Were you wanting to meet them?"

"Well, I had a date with one. Jesse. I guess he's running a little late. Wasn't sure how to get ahold of him, make sure he's okay."

The clone's eyes narrowed.

"Jesse? Huh, didn't picture him for the dating type. Well, anyway, maybe you're right, just running late. Here, let me order you a drink while you wait."

Now you felt awkward. Silly. Just a silly little girl, sipping a silly little cocktail, waiting for a silly little date she was probably too excited for to begin with. That was always the danger, wasn't it? Get your hopes up too high and it hurts that much more when they come back down.

5:30 turned into 6. Couples passed by, filling up seats around the band that had finally started playing. Clones came up to the bar to order, passing you a pitying look before taking their drinks back to their pretty dates.

6:05. What if he had meant 6? What if you had mis-remembered the time? No, you were pretty sure he'd mentioned happy hour, and there were signs all over the bar about that hour being from 5 to 6.

6:10. Whatever you would've found to do on your datapad had you stayed home for the evening didn't seem to exist now that you were here. You fiddled with a napkin, folding and unfolding until it was falling apart.

6:15. You started thinking about what time you should call it quits and head home. Was it weird you hadn't left by now? Should you have tried harder to get ahold of him sooner?

6:17.

"Hey beautiful! Oh good, you got a drink." Jesse was suddenly by your side, draping an arm around your back and placing a quick peck to the side of your head. He then leaned forward to catch the bartender's attention, not seeing your look of incredulity. Behind him was another trooper, one of the 501st medics, who gave you a polite nod but otherwise looked too grumpy to be there.

"Sorry I'm late, Kix here was moping in the med bay and I had to literally drag his ass off the floor to get him over here."

Jesse was all smiles as he leaned an elbow on the bar and finally took a look at you. He whistled.

"Damn, you look great!"

You were momentarily speechless. You didn't know what to make of this. The casual apology for his tardiness, the fact he'd brought someone else along. But then a couple beers were placed on the counter and he swept them up, nodding his head toward the wall of booths in the back.

"Come on, let's find some seats!"

You hesitated only for a moment before getting up to follow. He'd finally shown up. The evening wouldn't be a total waste. You could talk to him about it later, and definitely make sure to swap numbers so this wouldn't happen again.

Jesse and Kix slid into opposite sides of an empty booth in the far corner, positioned slightly behind where the band was set up so there wasn't a great view. Jesse patted the seat next to him for you to join and gave you another dazzling smile as you slid in.

"You really do look great," he said in a low voice by your ear, making you blush and conjuring up memories of that time he'd called you a hottie. He had his arm along the back of the booth, just behind your head, and you could feel the warmth radiating off him from such a close position.

"Thanks, so do you," you whispered back. He laughed and shook his head, but you meant it. He had a blue sort of vest over his blacks that made him look fit and clean. He also smelled nice and it took all your willpower not to lean in to take a big whiff.

"Hey, lighten up, grouchy pants," Jesse called over to Kix, who was glaring into his beer like it had personally offended him. Jesse raised his own beer in a salute. "This is way better than crying on the floor."

"I wasn't crying on the floor," Kix huffed. "And how is this better? I can't even see the band from here."

"Music's meant to be listened to anyway," Jesse shrugged him off.

"What's his deal?" you asked.

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Some girl he liked made fun of his tattoo idea and now he won't get one."

"I shaved my head for it and everything," Kix lamented.

You held back a snicker. You wished you could ask Jesse why his brother's woes meant he needed to join your date. But not only did you not want to seem rude, but the band switched to a new song that had a faster tempo and for some reason the volume also increased as a result. You were having a hard time hearing your own thoughts; conversation with Jesse would be even more tricky.

The next hour passed in an awkward blur. Jesse flagged down a waitress to refill your cocktail, calling her all the same names he'd been calling you today. Sweetheart, cutie... You tried to ignore the sinking feeling in your stomach.

Two more rounds came after that, and you gladly downed each drink just to give yourself something to do. You tried asking him a few questions to get to know him better, but he'd end up turning his answer into some kind of a joke. Most of them were pretty funny, but after a while you got frustrated that he wasn't actually sharing anything with you. He did try to maintain a few conversations, but it was hard to keep things flowing when the band alternated between soft, twinkly instrumentals, and noisy, upbeat rock vocals. And then there was Kix, who had taken up sketching new tattoo ideas on napkins and would ask every five minutes to give your opinions on them.

And then the rest of the 501st piled in, proudly showing off their new ink around the club. Jesse seemed delighted to see them and waived them over, much to your disappointment. He pulled at your arm to get you to slide further into the booth with him, making room for a few clones to slip in, clunky armor and all.

"What you do think?" Hardcase stood at the head of the booth, unabashedly holding up his shirt to reveal a continuation of the blue lines on his head down across his torso.

A chorus of opinions and stories erupted. Fives was trying to reenact Hardcase's squeals as he'd gotten tattooed. Rex was trying to get the clone to pull his shirt back down. Several were ragging on Kix for not joining. And Jesse was laughing hysterically through it all.

You loved to see him so happy, you really did. And maybe it was just the four drinks that were now messing with your head, but you couldn't shake how out of place you felt, sitting in a booth surrounded by clone troopers on what was supposed to be a date between you and Jesse. You had nothing to contribute, no reason for them to pay you any attention. You sat in the middle of a group of people you barely knew, feeling more alone than you had when you'd been waiting at the bar.

Just as you were wondering how you could possibly get out of the booth without making a scene, Kix finally caved in to Fives's nagging about getting his original tattoo idea after all, and the whole lot collectively shimmied out of the booth. You felt Jesse's hand on your elbow, guiding you out. You turned to him once you were both standing.

"Are we really going to a tattoo parlor now?" you asked, hoping he'd see how badly you didn't want to be part of this plan.

"It'll be quick. I think there's an ice cream place near too, we can go there when we're done."

He flashed a reassuring grin and it almost gave you a little bit of hope back. You couldn't remember if you'd ever told him you loved ice cream or if it was a lucky guess. But when you tried to ask if you could just hang out at the ice cream place while the others went for more tattoos, Jesse had already turned to jump on Kix and give him a hard time about crying in the med bay again.

Your ears were ringing from a combination of alcohol, loud music, and annoyance. You couldn't take it anymore. You stepped aside from the group and just gazed at the man who had supposedly wanted your company, and now seemed more content to be in the company of others.

You felt a hand on your shoulder and turned to see Rex, looking over you with concern. "Are you alright? You don't look so good. Do you want us to take you home to rest?"

You shook your head, all you could manage in response at first. Tears had suddenly sprung into your eyes, you weren't sure why. Maybe because it was the first time someone had offered to do something you wanted tonight.

"Are you sure? I can get you some water or...."

"No, thank you," you finally found your words. "I can get myself home. I'll be fine."

"We can take you..."

"No, really, I'm fine. Just, tell Jesse I'll see him tomorrow before he leaves, okay?"

You hurried off before he could offer any further help, and before you would be caught with tears down your cheeks. You didn't want to make a scene, you didn't want to ruin Jesse's fun. But you didn't get far before the clone was calling your name, grasping the back of your arm and turning you to face him.

"Hey, what's the matter, sweetheart?"

If he hadn't used a nickname, you might have tried to play it off. But you remembered distinctly, even in the midst of your intoxication, the last person he'd called a sweetheart was the waitress in the busty crop top. Something in you snapped.

"Am I a joke to you?"

And there they were, those small cracks in his confidence, reemerging and widening before your eyes. Realization pulled the edges apart more and more as you spoke.

"You made me wait for over an hour. Do you know how ridiculous I felt, sitting at that bar all by myself, wondering what time meant you didn't actually care? And then you did finally come, and not only did I barely get an apology, and definitely no acknowledgement of how much my time you wasted without good reason, but I also didn't even get a proper date. I had to sit through all your flirting, only it wasn't directed at me, but to another woman who's paid to pretend your jokes are funny. You didn't answer any of my questions about yourself. You didn't even ask if I wanted a different drink, you just kept ordering the same one. The music also sucks, by the way. And now we're headed off to hang out with your brothers, people you see every day? While I'm the one you're going to leave tomorrow when you deploy?"

You weren't shouting, and somehow you'd even managed to hold in most of your tears, but your exasperated rant did have the intended affect of making Jesse feel like shit. You could see it written all over him. Remorseful eyes, pleading hands on yours, mouth opening and closing in a desperate attempt to find the words to make things right.

"And you know what really sucks?" you continued, feeling your speech start to slur a bit more in your emotional exhaustion. "I do still like you, Jesse. In fact, I think I've fallen for you. You're normally so good, so attentive and... and... simply wonderful. I just don't understand why you couldn't be that way tonight. For me."

Something dawned on you, something you'd suspected before, all those times you caught him flirting around the base with everyone he came across. Those insecurities found their way back to the surface and claimed their victory.

"It's because it's me, isn't it?" you choked. "You don't really care for me, do you?"

The tears were definitely going to fall now. You could hear him saying your name, you could feel him gripping your hands more firmly, but just then the rest of the 501st went marching by, oblivious to the moment you two were caught in, hollering after Jesse to get his ass out the door before they kicked it. It was distraction enough for you to slip out of his grasp and make a beeline for the refreshers.

The ladies room was on the second floor, a narrow flight of stairs serving as the only barrier between you and your chosen hideout. Unfortunately, it created the perfect storm. You were halfway up, alcohol complicating your ability to balance, tears clouding your vision, and apparently at some point earlier in the evening, someone had left a nice puddle of their insides on one of the steps.

You heard your name being called from behind, startling you, just as your foot made contact with the vomit. You turned, slipped, and next think you knew, you were tumbling painfully down the steps. Later, you'd be grateful that you were unconscious by the time you reached the bottom, crumpled on the floor beneath the only man you had eyes for.

* * *

You regained consciousness with a splitting headache and a heavy heart. You remembered everything almost immediately.

It took a few moments for your vision to swim back into focus, revealing a curtained-off corner of the med bay where you were laid on a gurney with a thin blanket draped over your frame. You could tell you weren't wearing the same clothes from before based on the odd, stiff texture you felt against your skin. Possibly a medical gown? One of your arms was also hooked up to an IV, the monitor glowing faintly off to the side.

In front of you, in what little space was left between the bed and wall, was Jesse, pacing. Back and forth, back and forth. He was clearly in distress, wringing the edge of his shirt and looking for all the world like he was waiting for news on whether you'd live or die.

As conflicted as you still felt about your first date with him, you figured you'd better put him out of his misery.

"It's not that bad, is it?" you croaked out.

The clone wasted no time in rushing to your side, trading his shirt for your free hand, grasping it so tightly you winced. His palms were sweaty.

"No, no Kix said you were going to be fine," Jesse reassured. "Just a cut on your head, there, above your eye." 

You touched at the indicated spot, feeling a short row of stitches along your eyebrow.

"And a few bruises on your back," he added. Made sense why you were now in a medical gown, they had to check for further damage. "And the IV is for your hangover. 

You groaned. "Well if this isn't the most embarrassing thing I've done..."

Jesse made a sort of gasping laugh, like he was surprised to remember there was humor in the galaxy. "Yeah. I know you said you were falling for me but I didn't expect you to actually fall."

You glared over at him, but only for a moment. He was a deer in headlights, waiting to see if his attempt to lighten the mood had gone too far. You started laughing, a silent laugh that still shook your chest enough to hurt. You went back to groaning.

"You know I'm still upset with you."

"I know, I know," Jesse hurried to affirm. He scooted a chair over to be closer and looked up at you with those soft, brown, desperate eyes you'd last seen in the bar. He truly looked miserable. "You have every right to be. The date was a disaster and it was all my fault. I was an idiot, I never meant to make you feel that way."

You nodded but didn't have anything else to say that you hadn't already.

"And for the record, you're not a joke. You're far from it. You're... you're..." He was stuttering, licking his lips as if parched. You'd never seen him - Jesse, the huge flirt - act so unsure of himself, especially when trying to pay a compliment.

He reached for your hand again but held it more gently this time, more reverently. He studied it, as if the words he needed were written on your skin. "It is you, but not in that way you thought. It's always been you. For me. But I guess I did a piss poor job of making sure you knew that tonight."

He flicked his eyes back up to yours, questioning, cautious.

"So..." you tried to wrap your head around what he was confessing. "All those things you've said, about how I looked, and how smart I am... all that. You meant it?"

"Of course I did." Jesse gave you a small but sincere smile.

"But... you've said all those things to other people, too. Did you mean it to them?"

His smiled fainted as he thought about your question and what his flatteries looked like from your perspective. He bowed his head for a moment before looking back up at you. "I just want people to feel good about themselves. One of my first experiences off of Kamino, I came across this woman who'd lost her husband, and that wasn't something we were prepared for. All the ways the war actually hurt people. But then I started talking about her hair and how it looked like silk, and she just lit up. And I don't know, I guess I got addicted, making other people feel good like that. You never know what someone else may be going through. They can be smiling and still need that little pick-me-up, you know?"

Your gaze never wavered from him as he spoke. This was more than you ever knew about the man, and you couldn't deny how it made your chest feel simultaneously tense and mushy.

"And yeah, maybe I lay it on a little thicker sometimes when I'm actually interested for myself, you know, not just making someone's day better. And you don't know who may fire back until you shoot your shot. But I'd always hoped it'd be you. That's why I never gave up, even when everyone told me to. They said you weren't interested. I thought you were just shy."

"I am," you whispered, suddenly self conscious. It was clear now that the soldier had frequented the accounting office more than he had any other reason to, that it was not the only office to get good sun in the afternoons if that was truly his excuse.

"I wish you'd told me," you added. "This is the sort of thing I was trying to learn about you earlier."

Jesse's rueful eyes returned. "Ah, yes, on the worst date in history, brought to you by this dummy."

"It wasn't the worst. Bad, yes, but sadly I have been on worse."

Jesse didn't seem comforted by that. He shook his head. "Would it surprise you to know I, uh... I've never been on a date?"

You blinked at him in surprise.

"Not that that's any excuse," he quickly added.

"Right, but, you didn't know what to do." You felt like you were starting to understand him more. "You did what you knew. What you were comfortable with."

"I kept making jokes because I thought if you weren't laughing then you weren't having a good time. I kept ordering the same drink because I didn't know you might want something else, I thought that was what you wanted and I wanted to..."

"You wanted to make me happy."

"And you wanted to feel special."

You gazed at each other for a long moment, exchanging looks of regret and realization. It was an unfortunate evening, but probably not avoidable. There had been enough misunderstanding from both of you that would've always led you to the same moment. You couldn't have known how the other felt, what they wanted, where they were coming from, until you'd gotten to know each other. And you couldn't have gotten to know each other without the misalignments being revealed.

He was the first to speak again, still feeling miserable about the whole thing. "I was late. I could've at least got that right. I lose track of time, sometimes. I don't know why."

He hung his head but you gave his hand a reassuring squeeze to show him you were okay, and he relaxed in your grip in return, giving you a relieved, though still sheepish, smile.

"I wish you weren't leaving tomorrow," you said quietly. "I feel like we need a do-over on our date now."

Jesse perked up. "What do you mean? This first one's not over yet! There's still time to redeem it."

You looked about the room. "Doesn't seem very romantic. No food. No music. I'm in a tacky gown."

"Nonsense, you look hot."

Jesse held up a finger and ducked behind the curtain. He was gone for only a minute, but your cheeks were still flushed by the time he got back.

"What, you like that one? Hot?" he grinned.

You looked shyly away but still gave a nod.

"Noted."

He had a handful of what looked to be protein bars and a datapad that he deposited onto the bed beside you.

"Food, aaand..." he tapped a few times on the pad until some sort of lo-fi jazz started playing, "... music."

You giggled. "You stole these from Kix, didn't you?"

"His office is in the next room," Jesse laughed with you. "I know it's not glamorous and you deserve a much better do-over from me, but..."

"It's perfect," you whispered, grabbing his hand again. "There is one thing, though."

"Yeah?" he asked eagerly.

"Well, this cut on my head is kind of hurting. Maybe you could... kiss it better?"

You couldn't believe the words that were coming out of your mouth, but you knew with Jesse they'd be received well. And boy did his face light up.

He wasted no time in leaning over you, carefully placing a hand by your side to brace himself, and bringing the other up to cradle the opposite side of your face. His breath ghosted over the stitched up cut, sending pleasant shivers down your spine. Then he finally planted his lips softly over it, letting them linger for a few seconds before pulling back.

"What other names do you like?" he asked, his voice low but tinged with a sort of playfulness that kept the mood light in the midst of these more intimate gestures. "We'll take them off the table for anyone else. They'll only belong to you."

He'd sat himself down next to you and was now lifting up the hand with the IV. You watched, enamored as he brought it toward his lips.

"I like sweetheart," you breathed.

He kissed just above where the IV was taped, a smile behind his action. "Sweetheart. What else?"

"Beautiful."

"I meant, what else is injured so I can kiss it?" he teased. You used your hand to swat at him, even though it hurt a little, and he laughed.

"There were bruises on your back right?" he pretended to lift your gown and you swatted again, this time with your good hand.

"That sort of behavior is for the second date, sir," you laughed. "Or maybe the third or fourth. We'll see."

Jesse brought a pair of protein bars around and made a mock salute with you. "To future dates, then, beautiful."

~ ~ ~

Everything Tag: @damerondala, @dangerousstrawberrypie, @fallingforthem, @harleyevanstan, @imabeautifulbutterfly, @justanothersadperson93, @misogirl828, @itsagrimm, @error6gendernotfound, @theroguesully, @clonesimp, @techie-bear

+Clone Bois Tag: @marvel-starwars-nerd, @pandora-the-halfling, @darkangel4121, @sobstea, @rintheemolion, @dionysuskid21, @jesseeka, @hanbetired, @thatmultifandomdumbass, @sarahtanmarvel, @call-me-a-fool, @lackofhonor, @theclonesdeservebetter, @hannahhearttcw, @salaminus, @arctrooper69, @katzs-current-obsession, @501st-rexster, @rebel-finn, @not-a-big-slay, @writing-positivelyexisting, @nekotaetae, @the-mom-friend-dot-com, @pickle-rick-y

(Join my tag list here)

#star wars #the clone wars #one shot #clone trooper jesse #arc trooper jesse #jesse x reader #hurt/comfort #fluff #flirting #cloneficgiftexchange

[chocmarss]

The sort of chaos inflicted on the 501st would be the kind that all of the 212th’s commanding officers, junior officers, and anyone who’s in charge on some form of squad get turned into babies and the 501st would be forced to take over the 212th for a little while.

It doesn’t help that General Kenobi’s roped into the de-aging shenanigans and is currently three years old. He’s drowning in his Jedi robes and his men are a year old at most, and they’re crawling around the Negotiator and almost falling off high places, Anakin, I require your assistance right now.

Anakin, mind running a hundred miles a minute at the sight of his tiny former Master: …….Master? Is that you? Why are you—

Tiny Obi-Wan: Questions later and help now, pah-da-wan.

It’s just as well that the 501st is just a system away, and it takes them twenty minutes to travel through hyperspace before they find the Negotiator floating in deep space with the kind of tranquility and power it usually imposes.

Until Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex and a squad of their own carefully slip into the cruiser with their weapons ready, only to find a private holding a baby at arm’s length, a clump of Shinies around him staring at the kid in wide-eyed panic.

The clones: SIRS, HELP, OUR SERGEANT SHRUNK

They find Obi-Wan in the command centre and he’s absolutely as tiny as the holoprojector showed them. His robes drag behind him as he marches towards them, bare feet pattering against the floor, and oh, Anakin thinks, feeling a little faint. That’s a toddler.

His Master’s a toddler.

And he’s holding a baby as much as his little arms can carry him, who’s staring at them with wide eyes.

Ahsoka: Master?

Obi-Wan, dumping the baby on Rex, who scrambles to meet him: Hold Cody, I need to wrangle Boil and Waxer away from the controls or they’ll crash us into a moon

Rex, who is probably gawking after him under that helmet: Cody?

As if he can hear the incredulity in his voice, Cody the baby only sends him a baleful look. They didn’t know someone so tiny can do that. Surprisingly, the scar’s still there, as if whatever that made them turn this way had a twisted sense of humour none of them seem to currently appreciate.

(What turned them into babies? Let’s go with the usual Sith buffoonery and the 212th falling into some long forgotten trap that might’ve have gotten a little wrong than it’s initial goal. It was supposed to kill Jedi, and not do something wimpy like simply incapacitate them.)

Anakin’s entering into a panic of his own? Yeah, absolutely, because he suddenly sees that the whole command centre, which is usually full of clones manning the cruiser, is empty, and that’s because half of them are turned into babies, and the other half who usually got someone else to order them around are holding them and making sure they don’t hurt themselves. They’re the 212th, they’re like a well-oiled clanker with no problems because Cody has an iron fist on how system works around here, and Obi-Wan would make sure some things go through the plans they’ve agreed on with the kind of smooth sailing that works because they have it all under control.

And now, Anakin has to take over all of that? On top of taking care of his own battalion? What if he messes up? What if all of Obi-Wan and Cody’s hard work just collapses because Anakin can’t do it the way they want it to? He can’t follow their system, their system’s perfect, controlled, admirable. Meanwhile, the 501st purely runs on adrenaline and sometimes caf and definitely not like the 212th.

Anakin snaps his thoughts back to the present when Obi-Wan has two babies in his arms. He’s waddling his way back to the adults because he’s only three after all, and his strength’s not as it used to be, and his robes are proving to be a hassle to manoeuvre when there’s just an excessive amount pooling around him, but he’s determined to keep Waxer and Boil from biting into something that could get them electrocuted and sick.

Anakin and Ahsoka quickly take the babies from Obi-Wan before he trips, or the babies fall, or just to prevent any sort of disaster than what’s already happening. The tiny general huffs, but lets them free his hands, and Anakin finds himself staring at a baby, whose bright eyes look back at him. It’s Waxer, Anakin knows it is, he can feel him in the Force and he’s worked with the man enough to know how to differentiate him and the others.

And the Mini Lieutenant seems to realise who Anakin is that the baby gives him a gummy smile, babbling as he does so as pats Anakin’s cheek with one chubby hand.

Oh. Oh, no.

#anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #ahsoka tano #captain rex #commander cody #lieutenant waxer #de aging #501st #212th #the clone wars #star wars #marswrites #marsrb

[deejadabbles]

Hello there, my name is Deeja and I have very little shame for a 28 year old woman. If @secondaryrealm follows you, sends you asks, or replies to your posts, that's me.

About this blog: This is a side blog where I post reader inserts and other fanfiction. Below you'll find my master list and link to my tag list form!

I do post NSFW stuff quite a bit, so Minors, please do not interact with my blog. If you're an adult but don't like NSFW things, I do try to remember to tag it as "spicy lemons".

I never use the term y/n and always try my best to avoid any physical descriptions for the reader. I usually write gender neutral (GN) readers unless otherwise stated, however please keep in mind that I'm a cisgendered woman so said readers may be unintentionally fem-coded.

I hope you enjoy your stay on my little corner of Tumblr! 💙💜

If you want to be tagged when I post:

Just fill out this form 💙

Master Lists! (sub-sections and tags will be added as needed)

Attention: this list only includes my star wars stuff. If you would like to read my works from other fandoms they're all on my AO3 account

List is divided by characters

Misc tags:

Deeja writes (my general tag for all my fics)

Works by others (please check out these amazing writers!)

Fanart (wonderful artists who deserve love)

Feel good tag / Happy tag (things that make me happy)

Captain Rex x Reader

The Mistake You Can't Live Without (jedi!Reader)

Desperate Distractions (fem!reader smut, drabble)

Take a Ride (fem!reader smut)

Ruin (fem!reader, smut)

Spicy prompt: "I don't think you're supposed to use the Force like that" (jedi!reader, spice, drabble)

Western AU Headcanons

The Captain and the Shadow (jedi!reader, series) Prologue /// [Part One coming soon]

Echo x Reader

Dreamy Desires (incubus!Echo x fem!reader, smut)

The Hidden Room (halloween prompt)

Somebody Else (fem!reader, angst, drabble)

Western AU Headcanons

The Beauty In All (Matchmaking AU) Part One // Part Two //

Echo and Comms (comm officer!reader, series) Part One /// Part Two /// Part Three /// [Part Four coming soon]

Fives x Reader

An Awkward Kind of Charm (matchmaking AU)

How to Summon a Demon Boyfriend (demon!Fives halloween prompt)

Five-Oh-Thirst, Part One (fem!reader, spice, 501st x reader)

My Ding-ding-dong (humor)

Touch (fluff, drabble)

Tup x Reader

Hold On Tight (fem!reader, smut)

Wild, beautiful things (fluff, drabble)

Languid Reunion (fem!reader, smut)

Tup NSFW Alphabet Headcanons

Kix x Reader

Forbidden Masks (fem!reader, halloween prompt)

Five-Oh-Thirst, Part One (fem!reader, spice, 501st x reader)

Spicy prompt: "I don't need to take it off to fuck you" (fem!reader, smut, drabble)

Jesse x Reader

Five-Oh-Thirst, Part One (fem!reader, spice, 501st x reader)

Funeral Grey (fem!reader, spice, drabble)

Commander Fox x Reader

Among the Hedge Maze (halloween promt, fluff)

The Handmaiden's Fox (fem handmaiden!reader, series) Prologue /// Part One /// Part Two /// [part three coming soon]

Commander Thorn x Reader

Safeguard (drabble)

Safehaven (oneshot, companion to Safeguard)

Hunter x Reader

Songs in the Kitchen (fluff)

Hunter x (fem) Reader x Hound (predator/prey vibes, drabble)

Western AU Headcanons

Wrecker x Reader

A Tooka for a Puppy (fluff, drabble)

Western AU Headcanons

Tech x Reader

The Right Parts (western AU)

Western AU Headcanons

Crosshair x Reader

The Garden (fluff, drabble)

Crush (angst, drabble)

Western AU Headcanons

Grey x Reader

Feverish Flirtations (fluff)

OCs and Unnamed Clones

Period Pains (unnamed clone, comfort, drabble)

OC Mana: Introduction post

OC Tiio: Intro post, personality ask,

OC Jacen: Intro post,

OC Jedi Knight Mayreen: Intro post,

OC Commander Zedge: Intro post,

OC Whisper: Intro post, more headcanons, aesthetic/style ask,

OC Bravo: Intro post,

OC Fixit: Intro post,

OC Dott: Intro post,

#making this so i can pin it #deeja rambles #i also wanted to clarify the request situation #as i do enjoy requests but just dont have time for full one shots anymore

[phoenixyfriend]

Thought- in the terracotta warriors thing, you mentioned that the Jedi archeologists brought in a specialist in mando iconography to try and work out what’s going on with the 501sts symbols- what if that outside specialist is jaster mereel? Could be pre becoming the mand’alor, could be just his side job, but either way he spends a few years studying it all and getting used to being the only mando in a base camp full of Jedi, makes friends, has academic discussions and disagreements, steals someone’s holopad to try and use the link to the Jedi archives to read all the things on tarre visla, gets into an actual argument, reconciles with agreeing to help with a historical reenactment of a Jedi mandolorian war, gets Madame nu’s comm number, introduces his new son to his comm bff who argues historical nitpicks with him, brings jango to the next summer at the site, clones react to jango somehow and/or there’s a few tubies in there who look distractingly like jango and/or someone has their helmet off and jango has a breakdown over it looking like a family member? And so on and so on

Context: Sleeping Soldiers AU

See, I don't really subscribe to the "halfway to archaeologist!Jaster" fanon. I'm especially reticent to engage with the Jocasta ship, honestly.

But... okay, here's the thing. It does feel pretty incongruous with how I've written Jaster thus far. I can believe him having like. A 'classical' education. Not actually tutored like a noble, but that he sought out the same subjects as an adult to make sure he understood how to rule once he started having a proper political angle. He's a history nerd in the way that a particularly political/philosophical aristocrat of the 18th century would have been.

Military history, philosophical history, political and even some arts... but not actually in an archaeological sense.

(Also, it raises my hackles because it's one of those things that feels like it's heavily associated with the whole "True Mandos Were Best Mandos" crowd.)

It also really depends on the era! Tarre makes more sense than Jaster, just because of the timescale! The soldiers are millennia buried by the time Jaster is born! That said, even Tarre is a few millennia late but... makes more sense than Jaster.

Most likely, there are historians and archaeologists coming by every few centuries, as new generations encounter the issue, and older analyses are lost in the depths of the archives. Frequency tapers off after a few millennia, but... by the time Jaster is around?

It's 100% a New Mandalorian with an art history doctorate. (With a military symbolism specialty, in this case.)

It's probably not a New Mando if it's an Early On moment, but it probably is a New Mando if the Jedi start getting Weird Vibes and investigating the soldiers in the decades leading up to the Prequels.

Would the New Mandalorians know more than the traditionalists? Not necessarily. Would they know less? Actually, no.

I firmly believe that the New Mandalorians are taught about their histories in a "German kids learn about WWII atrocities, going on field trips to historic sites of said horrors, so their teachers can stress that they don't repeat the mistakes of the past" kind of way. I imagine the New Mandos would have plenty of research and records in regards to actual history, with plenty of museums and such. Part of maintaining pacifism is ensuring that the coming generations understand what led them to pacifism in the first place.

Is this thousands of years in the past, and thus difficult to research? Yes, but the traditionalists would have that same problem.

More of them, even. If the New Mandos have been around for seven hundred years, like Legends claims, then the traditionalists have probably have lost a lot of history through various battles and bombings, while the New Mandalorians, while not entirely escaping large scale destruction and such attacks, are much more likely to have protected and maintained their sites, simply by not courting war as a matter of culture. The traditionalists, meanwhile, would have had a much stronger emotional and cultural attachment to legends and themes, though I'll admit those are probably prone to revisionism, much like real-world folklore and mythology.

As @atagotiak put it:

Ehhhh. The traditionalists do care about legends and history and stuff. Often in an idealized way, sure. But you could argue that they’d have more reason than new mandos to be into these stories. Which, to be clear, isn’t like, saying that Jaster is definitely a part-time historian or anything like that. It’s just I don’t think one side would have an advantage over another. (edited)

So the New Mandos and Trad Mandos are probably on an even playing ground, insofar as skill and resources and knowledge go.

But by Jaster's time, the Jedi would have more reason to think the New Mandos would cooperate. No real downside to asking them when it comes to knowledge/skill, and an upside in terms of 'not getting shot when asking.'

As Tia said:

And even if we assume Jaster is a big history nerd and would be receptive to the Jedi (and tbh there’s even less indication of the latter) there’s no reason to think the Jedi would know that.

So yeah, when the soldiers start having Vibes And The Force Becomes Suspiciously Active on that level... New Mando archaeologist, definitely.

#star wars #the clone wars #time travel #jaster mereel #mandalore #new mandalore #traditional mandalorians #new mandalorians #phoenix answers asks #trad mandos #new mandos #true mandalorians

[littlemissmanga]

LittleMissManga Fic Masterlist

My entire blog is 18+ so minors begone! The asterisk (*) denotes explicit 18+ material. Please read responsibly. If it isn't for you, I got plenty of SFW content.

So far, I've only written for Star Wars, the clones in particular, including Rex and various 501st members, The Bad Batch members, Hound, Wolffe, Cody and Boba Fett.

Requests are closed!

I'm taking a small step back so I can recharge. I'll still be lurking and hopefully working a bit on WIPs, just without the self-imposed pressure to get them done quickly. If you've sent anything in, know that I am working on it! This includes all the First Kiss Prompts.

NSFW requests are OK and welcome, but please no gore, major character death, romantic/mature relationships between padawans and adults, or clonecest.

If you'd like to be tagged in future fics, you can join my taglist :)

Random Clone Shenanigans

Clone of the Month Calendar

Tooka Interviews

Dad jokes/puns

Threesome Choice* (Rex, Jesse, Wrecker, Crosshair)

TBB Meets Sailor Moon Crack

How the 501st & BB Boys Handle a Reader with Chronic Pain

Hound

Hound Thots (SFW above, NSFW under the cut)

Broadside

Maybe Among the Stars

Rex

One Last Order Part 1, Part 2* (only part 2 is spicy).

Did He Hurt You?

Date Night Pt 1

A Little Something Sweet for Breakfast

Jesse

Kiss Prompt

"Just Lay Back and Let Me Take Care of You"*

Why Is There Rope Next to the Bed?*

Hardcase

"I'm Trying to Be Sexy and You're Laughing!" (SFW but alludes to intimacy)

Fives

"Seems Like Someone Likes Being Praised"*

Dogma

Date Night Pt 3

Date Night Pt 4

Echo

The Promise In Your Eyes

Why Echo is the best smelling clone trooper (HC)

"Seems Like Someone Likes Being Praised"*

A Teasing Echo*

Bittersweet (HC)

Spicy Echo Thot*

Wedding Speech

Tell Me*

Crosshair

Don't Forget That, Okay?

"He Was Staring At Your Ass ... And That Ass Is Mine." (SFW, but implied impact play).

Song of the Caged Bird (1/3)

Song of the Caged Bird (2/3) TK

Song of the Caged Bird (3/3) TK

Tech

Spicy Tech Thot - Cerebral Stimulation*

Why Now? - TK

A Mechanic in the Sun

Tech & Non-Verbal Reader

"That's the Most Attractive Thing I've Seen in My Life"*

"Looks Like Someone Likes Being Praised"*

A Little Awkward Never Killed Nobody

Home for the Holidays With You

Wrecker

A Man What Takes His Time*

"Are You Wearing My Shirt?"*

Wrecker Headcanon Asks* (SFW above the cut, NSFW under)

Wrecker Spa Day HCs

Spicy Games Thots*

Rainy Day Comforts

When Wrecker Gets Comfortable Thot (Not spicy, but there's definitely heat)

The Slow Stretch*

Hunter

"That Is the Most Attractive Thing I've Seen in My Life"

Cody

Date Night Pt 2*

Boil

The Once and Future Brother

Wolffe

Wolffe Thots* (SFW above the read more, NSFW under the read more)

"Just Lay Back and Let Me Take Care of You"*

Boba Fett

The Daimyo's Princess

My OCs (Star Wars)

Yen Ori'ken (You can read more about her in Date Night)

SFW Alphabet

NSFW Alphabet

Yen x Wolffe/Yen x Kix hcs

Yen x Cody hcs

Yen x Echo hcs

Yen x Wrecker hcs

CT-2460, Clone Pilot Corkscrew, AKA Cor

Intro & SFW Alphabet

(I don't know why this last link isn't working so I'm putting it here, too)

#masterlist #my writing #tbb #the bad batch #the clone wars #tcw fanfic #captain rex #tbb wrecker #tbb crosshair #tbb Tech #boba fett #wolffe #commander wolffe #sergeant hound #501st legion #104th battalion #corrie guard #tbb hunter #clone trooper hardcase #arc trooper fives #commander cody #tcw dogma #oc: yen ori'ken #oc: ct-2460 Corkscrew

[saggitary]

Ahsoka Series 1x5 Spoilers

A lot of people have mentioned how jarring it was for them to see young Ahsoka in the most recent episode because it put into perspective just how young Ahsoka actually was when she became the Padawan Commander of the 501st. It makes perfect sense why it is only really hitting us now because we are seeing her as a real person. This isn't to say that animated Ahsoka wasn't real, she was just, well, animated (and the first 2 seasons of The Clone Wars wasn't the best animation known to man either). She was a child just like many of us were when we watched her for the first time. We were young just like she was, we laughed at the droids and we counted the droids cut down just like Anakin had Ahsoka do.

Now we finally have a live-action Ahsoka Tano and she is an adult just like many of us are now. That same adult Ahsoka was dropped right back into the Clone Wars but now the veil of fun and lightheartedness has been stripped away... for her and for us. She might not have noticed how messed up her situation was when she was young because Anakin did his best to protect her from that.

Throughout the whole flashback scene, they kept placing Ahsoka next to Anakin or in front of him, having her run among the adult clone troopers, even showing how the injured clone trooper's hand completely covers her smaller one because they wanted us to see how small and how young she was.

She sees all the injured troopers just as we did and she knows that it was her mistakes that caused that damage. She sees how fucked up it all was because she couldn't make mistakes now without losing lives. It brought us right back to the Storm Over Ryloth arc when Ahsoka lost almost her entire fighter squad because of her mistake.

(There is also that little bit of knowledge that all of that death, all that trauma and darkness was for nothing in the end as well)

#just my thoughts on the matter #ive made it very clear how personal the injured trooper scene was to me #but it also serves a larger purpose #the clone wars #sag’s stuff #ahsoka series #star wars #ahsoka tano #anakin skywalker

[hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall]

Love isn't something you just learn Commander. Part 2

Pairing: Commander Cody x F!Reader

Words: 14 536 (oopsie)

Warning: Angst, like A LOT OF ANGST, a description of violence, DEATH, a little bit of action, wouldn't call it a smut even. Fluff. Cody being an idiot. ANGST. Bur Fluff as well.

Summary: A lot has happened and Cody realised that maybe things change.

A/N: So it is not editted. I am sorry, maybe I will do it later. I just really wanted to post it :D And I'm not sure I am 100% with the ending. It feels rush. Maybe I will come back one day and re-write. But for now. ENJOY :)

P.S. My Tag List is open to yeah... :D

It was new and scary. The thought itself wasn't really welcoming. You were a stationed medic, not trained to be a field doctor. So when the request came in for you and your team to accompany the Troops on the next mission you weren't sure if that was just some silly mistake. 

Of course you were promised to be secured as well as it was possible, but the thought itself wasn't really as welcoming as you'd like it to be. The War was scary and you weren't a soldier. Not one bit, and you never hid that. 

"We need some medical support. What we have from the Clones army isn't enough", Obi Wan explained, hoping to find a common ground with you. "We work well with your team. You know Kix and our medic, so both the 212th and 501st would be able to cooperate well with you."

"We're not soldiers, Kenobi" you answered, looking at your closest medics. "Most of my team consists of civilians volunteering to help, with not even any medical background." You stopped and sighed deeply, feeling all the eyes on you. "Are we going to get any basic defense lessons?"

"The first mission starts in three days. We don't have time for that. Most of your people would stay behind as a background help. Only those with more medical experience would be put in front of the battles as a better equipped help." Saying that, his gaze was moved to his soldiers and nodded his head at them, making you frown. "I'm sorry Y/N", your brow raised hearing him say your first name. Manipulative son of a bitch. "I know, you didn't sign up for that, but…" 

"I will talk to my people. It is their decision, alright?", he nodded understanding your point. "I will help as much as I can of course. I'm just…" you trailed off, feeling bashful all of a sudden. "I don't want to be a bother if it comes to it."

"You won't be, Doc, trust us." Cody spoke and you turned towards him. It has been almost a month since that fateful talk. You kept your promise to him to be adult about it and to your surprise Cody made sure you felt comfortable around him. What's more, he and you spent more time together than ever. At the beginning he would come for a check up, staying a bit later just to talk. Nothing special, nothing that would make any of you uncomfortable. But with time the two of you noticed that your conversations became more and more fun rather than essential. “We would still prefer to give at least a basic defense training for the medics that would accompany us into an actual field. You included.” You swallowed and nodded. No, you didn’t like that one bit. There was a solid reason why you decided to never become a soldier. You weren’t the physical type of person really. Always keeping your nose in books has made you averse to any physical activities. “Some of my people and a bunch of 501st guys will be happy to teach you guys some basics.” Despite Cody’s soft spoken words you were still not sure about it. But it was War and you promised yourself that you would help the Clones and the Jedi win it in any way possible. 

“Let me talk to my team and I will let you know about the final size of the eventual group.” All of them nodded their heads. You could decide for your own, but your people’s lives weren’t yours and they had a right to decide. “I will accompany you, of course, but I will have to leave Garialth here to keep an eye on everything.” Kenobi wasn’t too happy about it, but he understood that someone must stay behind in case and if he was forced to choose, you were still the best possible option. “How much time does my team have to decide?” 

“None, really” Rex interjected, sending you one of his apologetic looks. “Even if the smaller medic teams wouldn’t accompany us to the field, we still need to give them a basic military brief. And we leave tomorrow morning so…” 

“Give me half an hour?” Rex smiled, thankful for your cooperation. “I need your word, Kenobi, that if any of my men decides to stay here, there will be no consequence.” The Jedi nodded and promised that nothing bad would happen. “And I want to have a way to contact all of the teams that will be made up from my medics.” Another nod and well, you had to give it to Kenobi. After all, he was a negotiator. “Half an hour.” 

***

You were proud of your men. There were only a handful of them that didn’t want to join the Troopers. Most of them may have been civilians joining your team, but they have quickly become the true medic team of the War. Even Skywalker and Kenobi were surprised when you gave them the numbers. Yes, you were proud of your men, and even more afraid now. The more joined the field, the bigger probability that more would never come back. 

“Come on, Doc.” Cody’s hand on your shoulder shifted your focus onto him. “I’m responsible for your training.” 

“Excuse me?” You gaped at him, not believing what you were hearing. “For sure you have some better things to do than that!” He turned and looked at you with a raised brow. He sighed deeply and then you truly looked at him. He was tired, very tired. The rested man that left your hospital bed was long gone and the Cody you knew took his place. The blacks under his eyes were getting bigger, his face despite not showing any emotions gave away more to those that looked closely. You noticed the way he would look for a quiet place more than often, probably due to the headaches that were probably becoming an everyday occurrence in his life now. His sullen cheeks worried you a bit that you have already been taking care of. Whenever he would come to you for a caff or just a talk you always had something to eat. Whether it was something as stupid as a sandwich or even something sweet. But something more than ratio food. 

“Keeping you and other medics safe is our priority now.” He smiled softly seeing the way you were looking at him. “Stop analyzing me.”

“I’m not” you pouted and chuckled when he raised his brow at you playfully. You rolled your eyes and sighed. “Fine, maybe I am. But can you blame me? You left my hospital looking shiny, like you came right from Kamino and not even a month later you are once again.. Well you…” 

“Me?!” He laughed at that and you cursed the little butterflies in your stomach at that sound. It wasn’t often Cody would truly laugh, but when he did, it was the most beautiful sound and you swore you’d do anything just to hear him again. It was like an addiction, when you had it once, you wanted it always. 

“You look tired Cody. I know you’re the Marshall Commander but when was the last time you actually rested? I can’t make you train me when I know you could spend that time resting.” He raised his brow at you and you stood your ground, knowing what he was doing. The bastard knew how imitating he was, but you were a head medic of the Coruscant Hospital. You weren’t one for intimidation. And so you crossed your hands and locked eyes with him, making him smirk. 

“You are stubborn, has anyone ever told you that?” 

“One or two of your brothers”, you shrugged and he rolled his eyes at that, making you smile. 

“How about we go through the strategy for this mission, and while you revise it yourself I would close my eyes for a while?” You narrowed your eyes at him but obliged, happy with a somehow compromise. A simple “close my eyes” wasn’t what you initially was aiming for, but when it comes to Cody, you knew it was more than what you were able to get. 

"Just a heads up, I'm a very slow reader!" The man chuckled and you were already forming a plan for him to rest as long as possible. Even if it meant reading the damn strategy briefing more times that it was logically necessary.  

***

The sound of your angry groans was the only thing that could have been heard for a while now. No matter what you'd do, the damn thing wouldn't work as well as it did for Cody and the bastard seemed too smug about it. 

"You won't become an A-class shooter after just an hour, Doc" the little smirk on his lip would normally bring a soft smile to your lips, but you were tired and annoyed. Nothing seemed to work. No matter how you stood, how high or low your arms were, or what direction your feet were facing, you were unable to shoot the damn target. 

"Your breath is too hectic", he started, taking a stand next to you. His blaster at a perfect angle with his arm, the stance was just as he showed you, and his eyes never leaving the target. A perfect soldier shooting a perfect 10. "It's like you hate the solemn thought of holding a blaster." You looked at him and bit your lips nervously. He had a point, the first time he gave you the gun to hold, you could feel your hand shaking. You weren't a trained soldier. You were a medic, a doctor, and holding a gun was the last thing you wanted. 

"I'm a medic, a doctor," you started, avoiding his eyes. It felt stupid. Here you were in front of a Marshal Commander, a man you lo… you look up to, looking all so weak and pathetic. "I swore to protect people not kill them." Cody frowned and sighed, ignoring the way you flinched at it a little bit. 

He never thought of that. He knew training you wouldn't be easy, after all you weren't a trained soldier, bread for it. But he never truly comprehends that your complete lack of skill with a blaster would have another reason, other than just you being unable to do it. He would never have guessed that someone would just be opposed to even holding it and with an actually good reason. 

"A gun isn't just for killing," he started, not sure how to go with it. He wasn't good with talks like that, Rex or even Fives would probably have a better go, but you were here with him and his job was to keep you safe. He wanted to keep you safe. And to do it, he needed you to learn the basics of self defense. "It can save people as well. This is how we do it, why we Clones use it." You raised your brow at him but looked at him giving that benefit of a doubt. "Killing is hard and the last result when it comes to humans. This is why the blaster has two options. To stunt and to kill. We may be machines made to win a war but we do not like killing any more than you or other civilians." 

"You're not machines!" He smiled at your interruption. He would never admit, but his heart did skip a bit whenever you showed your protective side towards him and his brothers. He would never admit to it, but he liked the way your eyes shine with anger whenever someone spoke wrongly of Clones, he couldn't help but smile at the way your tone gets more serious and your feet stumble with a bit of anger, almost as if to emphasize your words. It's kind of childish, but he still adores it. He doesn't know when that happened, but whenever you speak and defeat them, his heart does this weird thing he never truly understood and he thinks he never will. 

"Is that all you got from my speech?" His question, despite being serious, weighs some kind of cheekiness that only Cody would show. "Think of a gun like one of your scalpels and equipment you use to save our lives." He gave you the weapon back and you looked down at it, weighing it in your hand. 

It was so warm. From that short time he held it it already became his. She felt different, like his touch on it took away the scary aspect of it. After all, if Cody could hold it and use it, it can't be that bad. Right ? 

"How do you feel with a knife?" The question got you off guard. You raised your brow at him and smiled mischievously. 

"I did cut you open nicely", your heart skipped a bit with his laugh and you were never more proud of yourself. Cody had one of the most beautiful laughs. Despite him being a clone, you were sure that you would be able to distinguish him from the others with that laugh alone. It was deep and soft at the same time, with that something in it, something mysterious. 

"Maybe the gun isn't really your thing after all."

***

"So no knife either?" You felt like crying. Nothing worked. The knife was even worse than the blaster. With the latter, you were at least able to shoot remotely close to the target, with a knife… well it took Cody one simple move to take it away from you. You felt angry and embarrassed and you don't know when you started to cry. "Hey, Doc, are you alright?" The concern in his voice brought a quiet sob from you, which he didn't miss. His hand on your shoulder would have probably brought you comfort if you weren't so mad at yourself right now. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"I'm angry", you hissed, throwing away the knife and trying to get rid of the angry tears pouring down your cheeks. "I'm so damn furious at myself." He raised his brows and whether he knew or not, his hand tightened on your shoulder. "We're off on the first mission tomorrow and all I did for the past two days was waste your time. I'm so angry because I'm sure you had better things to do than babysit me around and teach me things I'm so terrible at. You tried so hard and here I am…" you looked up in alarm when you heard a chuckle coming from the man. You expect all the different reactions but not this. 

"I'm sorry Doc, I really am… it's just" he composed himself and straightened sending you one of his soft smiles. "I thought you hurt yourself or I worked you off too much and here you are… gosh you really are adorable!" The both of you froze at his words. 

From the way his eyes searched anything but you, it was obvious he did not plan on saying it.  At least not saying it out loud. You looked away and bit your lip nervously. You must have misheard him, it was impossible that the Marshal Commander Cody saw you as adorable. But it was not the time for that. And so you did all you could to master the most neutral face, like you didn't hear it at all. 

"You're tensed", he finally continued when he noticed that words he stumbled didn't have any effect on you. He wasn't sure if he was thankful for that or the complete opposite. "It's like you are already preparing yourself for failure." You rolled your eyes, trying to control your breathing once again. "Here." There was a millisecond of uncertainty, but he picked up your knife and walked behind you, handing you the weapon. "Take it and slowly take a deep breath. Try to feel it in your hand, but empty your mind. Do not associate it with anything rather than just a knife. A blade you used hundreds of times in your entire life." His gloved hand was on yours, the second one protectively on your other arm. "You're holding it so hard, I'm afraid you'll break it", you couldn't help but chuckle, despite the uncontrollable feeling in your stomach, when he moved closer and you could feel him almost leaning on you. "Take a deep breath, Doc. Breath with me. Come on", he turned you around and put your hand on his chest. Despite the inner happiness in seeing him in only his blacks, you really wished he had his chest plate now on. You could feel his muscles from the thin fabric and you did your best to focus on what he wanted you to do. 

And so you closed your eyes and listened to the controlled beating of his heart. How his chest would move wu\ith such peace that you envied him for it. "Breath with me. In and out and repeat."

He smiled softly, feeling how you started to drum your fingers on his chest, almost looking for a rhythm that would relax you somehow. He would never guess that you were so stressed. He knew that feeling well. Having the lives of others on your back was enough to make your nights sleepless. Also the longer the War was taking, the more tired you would become, the more of his brothers would make your life more and more tiring. He knew and saw numerous times how you cared deeply for him and other Clones and he knew that whenever any of them didn't come back it hurt you more and more. And yet you never let it affect you. You  always smiled and supported them. You were always there when he or the others needed you. You would send him to get some sleep, not caring about the oh so growing bags under your own eyes. You were way beyond tired, you were exhausted and yet here you were on a way to a mission you really could have said no to. However, you never even thought for a minute about yourself, your main priority was your man. You didn't think twice before saying yes, but your men’s lives weren’t yours to decide. You were not a soldier and yet you were stronger than anyone Cody knew. And he admired it, he watched you since his hospital visit and he couldn't take his eyes off. 

In the beginning he would come and talk to you, because he felt bad for the way he reacted to your feelings. But the more he observed, the more time he spent with you, he learned to realize that he actually enjoyed that time. You were such a fun and interesting person, with a lot to talk about. And what he found himself to be waiting for yet another evening he would spend just with you. Talking about the War, politics and the situation of the medic teams. But also about your favorite planet, the language you both would like to learn, about the dish you'd like to try and things you'd never touch and how awful Kenobi's lack of any reason is. He found himself thinking what would you think of the last planet he was on. Would you enjoy it or would you hate it as much as he did. What he learned was that he didn't find it scary that he started to think of you more and more often. And that scared him the most. 

"Now open your eyes and just do what I taught you." And to your surprise the knife actually hit the target. Maybe not the actual target per se, but it stuck into the oval plate, which was a much better outcome than the other tries before. You gasped surprised and looked up at Commander smiling widely. You were so excited about the outcome of your last throw that you didn't realize how close you were to the man. His hands were still on you, his body closer than before. "Good girl." He murmured and it was then you realized. The praise never left him before and it was so unexpected that you had to stiffen the little moan trying to escape. Was he doing it on purpose, did he know what he did to you? Could you even dream to think that maybe you had a small effect on him as well? "Now let's see if that would work on the blaster as well." He took a step back and removed his hands from yours, putting the practice blaster in the same place the knife was just seconds ago. "Just like you did before take a deep breath."

You tried your best to concentrate and remember the feeling just before you threw the knife. But your mind was blank,completely. Your body felt cold and stiff again and you missed it. Miserably. You looked away afraid to see disappointment in his eyes. 

"Again", you flinched a little bit, unsure if it was the Commander voice he used on you now, or you were just being paranoid. "Relax, Doc. You're stiff and awkward again. Take a deep breath, just like I showed you."

You weren't sure what it was that made you say it. Was it the overwhelming feeling or failure that you wanted to end. Or just a reminder of his hands on yours, the dream you know that would never come true. The reminder of him behind you, so close that could feel his heartbeat. The same heart you saved weeks ago. The heart of the man you were so desperately feeling in love with and you couldn't help it. 

"Would you remind me, please?" Cody's eyes widened, hearing your quiet and soft question. You still weren’t looking at him, but he was sure to see your cheeks getting this adorable color of pink. It's not that Cody isn't familiar with women, hell no. He had enough adventures with them when he went to the 79's. But these were emotionless, he always knew what to expect. A night of fun and release and a goodbye before the sunrise. A one night stand. Nothing more, nothing less. But despite it all, he knew when a woman flirted with him. And despite the women in the club being more forward, he was sure that little question was not innocent. Not when you yourself were so flustered. 

He felt divided when he stood behind you. He knew that he shouldn't, he didn't want to give you hope that anything could happen between the two of you. He knew he was becoming soft on you, but you weren't like those girls in the club. He didn't want to use those feelings of yours as a way to release his stress. You were so much to him already. So much more than he would dream to accept. 

But the other part of him was pulling him towards you. It wanted to be closer to you, to be touched by you and show the most vulnerable parts of himself, he never showed anyone, not even his closest brothers. He wanted to get to know you more and more. And not only on the physical level but the emotional as well, and as scary as it was it was most importantly thrilling. And the more time he spent with you the more time he realized the second voice always won. 

And so he grasped your arm in one of his hands, turned you around and pulled you towards him in a way that your back was pressed against his chest. The hand on your arm traveled down to your hand holding the blaster, changing its position to make sure you held it correctly. His other hand was hovered over your hip. "Relax, mesh’la" you shivered slightly hearing his voice so close to your ear. You swallowed hard and did what he asked, ignoring the Mando word you were sure you've heard before in your life. "There, good girl!" Now you were almost sure he was doing it on purpose. There was no way that he was as cruelest as that. You felt so warm and no matter how much you tried, you felt heat on your cheeks and your mouth was getting drier and drier. "Good, deep breath. Close your eyes for a second and relax." You followed his instructions and smiled, actually relaxing with his touch. He smelled amazing as well, like pinetree forest. So fresh and natural and so when you opened your eyes and shot, you actually hit the little disk not too far away from the target. 

He turned you around and smiled softly at you. The kind of smile you have never seen. You could see it in his eyes how proud he was of you right now. His other hand joined the first one in your hip and he pulled you closer, closing the distance between the two of you even more. His eyes shifted to your lip and you swallowed, unable to look away from this beautiful, amazing man. As you were about to pull him down by his neck, the loud beeping pulled you two away from each other. 

"General", his tone lacked the softness and he was back to being the Commander of 212th. "Yes, we are done here." You felt a weird twist in the stomach when he didn't look at you. "She'll manage when it's necessary", you looked away from him and put the gun away, the feeling getting nastier every second. "Yes, sir. I'm coming" He ended the call and without giving you even a look, walked to his armor and put it on quickly, including the helmet. "Practice what you learned alone. I will send Boil to supervise your progress" and he left, leaving you completely dumbstruck. Without even a glance back, the doors closed behind you and you felt tears in your eyes. 

What the hell just happened? There were so many questions in your head now and you weren't sure, you were able to find an answer to any of them. Were you too forward with the request ? If you were, why didn't he say anything? It was him, who pulled you closer, it was him that gave you that look. It was his hand on your hips and it was his smile that lured you towards him. And despite knowing it all, you still felt as if you screwed up. You were standing there searching for a reason why he just left, moving you to someone else, as you were an incompetent shiny. 

You cursed when tears started to fall. Why did he just leave? Did he hate you now ? Did you read the room wrong ? The more you thought about it, the more you felt your heart breaking. You thought, damn that, you hoped, that maybe you two were getting closer. You never expected him to return your feelings. You just wanted to be his friend. You just wanted him in your life. And somehow, not even sure how, you screwed it all up. 

It was stupid of you to think that someone like Cody would ever be interested in you. You were just one of the medics, working for GAR. There was nothing special about you. You weren't even able to use a blaster. How would you even think, the Marshal Commander would spare you any time. You should have been happy that he spent his precious time with you. Something you were sure that you have lost. 

And so, you followed his order. An order of the Marshal Commander of the Republic army. You calmed yourself down and practiced, to make sure that you wouldn't bother anyone. 

*** 

"You look angry" Rex was looking at his vod with concern in his eyes. "You seemed optimistic with the plan on the debrief." 

"It's a good plan." Cody answered shortly, taking a sip of caff, or whatever the hell that was supposed to be. 

"Then what's going on?" The Commander sighed and hid his face in his hands, unable to even explain it. He was angry at himself. So damn frustrated, that he let himself go when it came to you. He acted like a damn shiny. It was stupid, but he knew what he wanted at that moment. He wanted you, so damn much. He wanted to taste you in all the ways possible. He wanted to feel those soft hands on his skin, he wanted to hear you say his name. He wanted you. And that was the stupidest thing he did, even worse than getting drunk with Wolffe that one night, and that was stupid already. 

"Nothing. I just have to get my head straightened to focus on the mission", the captain raised his brow in surprise. Cody was always focused on the mission. Rex hasn't met anyone as serious about the War as Cody was. So whatever got him distracted must be huge. "I have to focus on what's really important." 

"You spend too much time with General Kenobi… you start talking in the same mysterious ways" the Commander chuckled softly and took another sip from his cup, hating it even more than the first one. What he wouldn't do for a cup of an actual caff. He would have to definitely go see Fox after that mission. The bastard was one lucky son of a bitch. Sure he had to work below Palpatine, but he had the best caff. 

"Have you ever thought about something more?" The question surprised both of them. Cody wasn't sure if it was the tiredness and lack of sleep that pushed him to start the topic, or just the fact that he felt worse and worse everytime he remembered the look on your face when he just left. 

"More than what? That piss they dare call caff? 

"You know what I mean Rex’ika" the captain of course knew what his brother meant. But he was still working out the surprise of the question itself. Cody was a dedicated soldier, one of, if not the best one out there. And here he was, asking about the alternative future. Something more than being a soldier. "What if there is more and we're just too afraid to take it?" 

"We're soldiers, Clones… we are at War. I won't lie to you and say that I never thought of what it would be like to have a family one day. To wake up to a nice warm body wrapped around me and not wonder about the awkwardness of the morning after." He chuckled nervously. "But I'm aware that those are dreams of common men, and we, my friend, are not common men." He hated to see the way Cody shoulders dropped a bit at his words. But he preferred to be honest with him straight away than to give him a false hope that would break him even more, later on. "So I'm guessing the training was eventful?" 

It was Cody's time to chuckle nervously, sadly even, which didn't go unnoticed by Rex. It wasn't a surprise to Rex about your feeling towards his Vod, and he may have heard of the rejection you got from the said man. So it was surprising to see when Cody has started to spend his time with you, more often than not. And he was more than surprised when it was the Commander that volunteered to train you for the upcoming mission. Rex worried it would only make things more complicated, but he never thought it would turn out like that. With Cody falling for the sweet Doctor. If they weren't Clones, during the War, he would have found the situation hilarious. If only. 

"Boil is going to train her that last day" Rex' eyes widened at Cody's words and tone. "I need to focus on the strategy and the briefing. I don't have time to babysit. "Not waiting for a response, the Commander stood and left the kitchen, hoping to get at least a bit of sleep. 

Rex was staring at the closed doors unable to comprehend what just happened. But whatever did happen between the two of you must have scared the man quite a bit, seeing how he decided that running away from his problems and putting down the emotional barrier was the only way to go. Rex only hoped that it would not affect you that much. 

***

Boil was an excellent teacher. He was patient and fun to be around. He gave you some tips for when you have to shoot and you don't have time to think. Or he gave you an idea to hold the knife differently. Of course he didn't make a soldier out of you in a day, but you were more than thankful to him for the support. You still felt nervous now, sitting at the briefing room, but you kind of felt like you would be able to do something. He also made sure you trained hard enough not to think of Cody.

Cody, the same man, who was standing near the table covered in plans, who was ignoring your presence. It was like you didn't exist. Like that little scene between the two of you never happened. Like all that relationship you worked so hard in maintaining just seemed to cease. It broke your heart, seeing how he bluntly ignored you, not even daring looking your way. 

"You with us, Doc?" You blinked a couple of times, turning your attention towards Kenobi, who was relying on the brief for the mission. 

"My people are ready, whenever you need us." You started, walking closer to the map, stopping as far away from Cody as possible. "My technical team will be stationed here", you pointed at one of the caves about half a click from the main medical base and about a click from the main battle front. “Kix' team will support my guys there and have some moving men between those two places." You circled around the spots you talked about. "This will give us a good flow of pace. Team Alpha and Beta will be placed under both you General and Skywalker as medical support for the Clones teams." You paused and looked at the two Jedi with nothing but seriousness in your eyes. "Please remember I put these men's lives into your hands, Masters. I trust I won't have to focus on writing any apology letters to their families." This was one of the points you brought up regarding the mission. Your men would be as safe as it was possible. "Ceavis and I will lead two small teams closest to the Generals and focus on first aid and logistics. Each team will consist of 4 men plus the leaders. What we say, goes. Understood?" You were sure you noticed a smirk on both Rex' and Ashoka's lips. But no one dared to say anything but to nod. 

This mission was one of the most important ones yet. Two objectives during one assault. One team would focus on the fighting and defending objective. Keeping the army as far away from the separatists' base as possible. And that mission fell on the more offensive 501st. The other one would be responsible for saving the political prisoners and getting the stolen information back to the Republic - fallen under the responsibility of the 212th. This was why the medic team was needed. There was no time to retreat and help the injured back in the base. The base would have to move with them and help those that would still be working, hoping to minimize the casualties. 

"Doc, you keep with me and Cody." You tensed a bit, unable to hide it away from the Jedi, who only raised his brow. "We will listen to you regarding the medical knowledge and expertise, but Cody here is responsible for you, so you listen to him. Understood ?" He mimicked your words with a lace of joke in his voice. You nodded looking at the Commander, who was still looking at the map, memorizing it to the last detail. 

You couldn't blame him, you knew that. He was focused on the mission and the War and keeping his brothers alive. But it still hurt you that he bluntly ignored you, like you were some kind of disease. It hurts you to be able to see the softness in his eyes and feel it on your skin and so absurdly be punished for it. You never expected anything from him, and you told him that, and for just one moment you felt so happy and full. So full and finally able to breathe when he looked at you with those eyes of his. Like you were the only thing in the world at that short moment, like you were a magnet pulling him towards you. And then it was over, it ended sooner than it actually started and he wasn't even able to look at you.

"Don't worry, Kenobi. I know my place." You didn't mean it to sound as hurt as you did, but it did make Cody finally look at you. He frowned, but didn't say anything. Putting his helmet on, he left the room, telling his General he's off to double check everything. 

"So…" you looked at Rex who walked to your side. You were thankful it was him and not Kenobi, or worse, Anakin. "Will you at least tell what my di’kut of a brother did?" You couldn't help but smile softly at the Captain. You weren't sure if Cody spoke to him about what happened… on the other hand you would like to know yourself what happened. 

 "Getting rid of any interruptions." The Clone raised his brow at that and sighed. He was afraid, whatever Cody started talking about, was more what he originally thought. And seeing the way you both reacted to each other, Rex knew that whatever you worked so hard to build, was somehow destroyed. And he couldn't get the feeling off his chest, that it was somehow his brother's fault. "It's my fault really. I was stupid enough to hope that whatever was building between us was something more than a typical professional relation." And before Rex was able to say anything, you left the briefing room, hoping he would have missed that single tear that dropped down your cheek. 

***

"I hope you know I don't like it one bit" Ceavis growled under his breath, preparing for the upcoming mission. Ceavis was your third in command and as much as you appreciated his work and knowledge, you and him were never truly friends. You both had too different characters and a completely different look on the world and your jobs. 

"Yes, you mentioned that once or twice", you rolled your eyes at his tone and sighed. You were in no mood to listen to his constant negativity. It was the last thing you and your men needed. You knew it wasn't a good idea, but the decision has been made. "I'm not sure which team would actually be a better and safer option." You stared at him for a while, waiting for him to at least start packing the essentials, but apparently he had all the time in the world, while you were repacking for the fifth time already. 

You didn't know how Kix did it. You were only allowed a small backpack, enough to keep you alive, but not enough to actually do anything productive. It scared you, the thought that you had to choose from the essentials, that the Clones had to choose like that every damn mission.

"Master Skywalker and the 501st's team will be much bigger, that's why I'm sending you there." You started, trying to control the annoyance in your voice. "You and Enya will focus on firming two formations. Let Enya handle the stay put one, while you take the teams and get the help directly to the soldiers. Your team got the basic training right ?" He nodded visibly, not happy with the way you still wanted to go with the mission. You wonder why he even agreed to come. "Anakin knows that the lives of my people are his priority. He wouldn't want to get under my skin, so whenever you feel like the mission is out of the hands of the 501st speak with Rex and Anakin." You got a nod from him and you turned to leave the room. "We are part of something bigger here, Ceavis, try to remember that", and not giving him any time to respond you left, going to meet up with your team. 

***

"Is there any reason for this weird energy between you and Doc?" Cody frowned at his General. He should have known Kenobi would have picked up any unusual behavior. "I thought you were becoming close."

"Too close", the Commander answered, before he was able to think of the words coming out of his mouth. He sighed at the Jedi's raised brow and continued. "We're at War, General. It would be irresponsible to get attached to anyone."

"You don't mind the relationship you share with me and your brothers."

"This is different, sir!" Cody murmured, knowing well enough what the man next to him was trying to do. 

"Well I hope so, I'm really not good at dealing with romantic feelings" Cody's head snapped at him, his eyes widened and mouth opened almost as if he was ready to fight with his General, but nothing came out. "Whether you're blind or really afraid. Frankly I never considered you a coward and for the success of the mission I hope there's nothing wrong with your eyesight." The Clone swallowed hard and the Jedi smiled. "What's really the matter, my dear ?" Cody hated it when he used these words of affection. He would never be able to say no to his Jedi, and he hated the fact that the general had such power over him. With nothing more than some words. 

"I don't really know myself. Before I knew it, I started to actually enjoy her company. She's smart, witty, interesting and…" He coughed awkwardly, playing with his helmet. "She's really pretty." He looked away, hearing the Jedi chuckle softly. "I felt bad at the beginning. I never had anyone declare their love for me and I didn't want her to get hurt. I hoped that if I tried to stay friendly she wouldn't feel bad. But the more time I spent with her the more I thought of her." He shook his head in annoyance and kept on playing with the helmet. "The last couple of days, when I trained her… I know not every Jedi believes we’re nothing but the weapon for the Republic, but it's still weird to hear it from civvies." He scratched his neck nervously, feeling his Jedi's eyes on him. "She sees us. Like really sees us and I can't help but wanting to see her as well. She cried angry tears because she thought she was a burden to me." He chuckled, but got serious again with the flashbacks. "I never felt such a pull towards anybody. I wanted to comfort her not as a Commander, but as a man. Her man." He clenched his hands around his helmet and closed his eyes. "I… you called when I almost …egh.. you know."

"Kissed her", Kenobi helped him out, laughing at the way his Commander stared at him. It was like he said something in a line of taboo. Obi Wan could not help but admit that it was adorable to see the always stoic Commander, all flustered with a thought of kissing someone. 

"I'm starting to realize why the Jedi opt for no emotions involved." Cody started again, making the Jedi frown again. "I asked Boil to train her after that and we haven't really spoken… I'm trying to ignore her, because if I'm near her, all I think about is her going on that mission with us. And the thought that something may happen to her paralyzes me to the ground. It's pathetic isn't it?" 

Kenobi smiled softly at the man and patted him on the shoulder. It wasn't a secret to him that you were utterly in love with the man, but it was new to see the Clone smitten with you, especially after he rejected your feelings in the first place. He knew the way others looked at the Clones, and he would lie if he said he wasn’t angry whenever someone said something bad about them. For the General, his Commander and his brothers were as much human as he or anyone in the Galaxy and they deserved the respect for protecting the Republic. So whenever he went out with his battalion to 79th, he truly enjoyed seeing them relaxed and flirty with the girls. And it wasn't a secret that he saw Cody as more than his Commander. He was happy to call him a friend and right now, he couldn't help the happy feeling in his stomach seeing Cody in love with his other friend. 

"It's not pathetic, Cody. It's childish that you ignore her, yes." He grinned at the angry look from the Clone but continued nevertheless. "But definitely not pathetic. We Jedi see more and feel stronger. So much stronger than anyone in the Galaxy. To control those feelings we opt for these no attachment rules. But it's not like we don't feel. Feeling makes you human. It makes you act faster and stronger to protect those that you care about. You are a great soldier, my dear, and there is not doubt in me that the mission will be a success, even when you worry so deeply for our Doctor." The Clone smiled softly and nodded. "Love isn't easy and it doesn't always end well, but running away from it may be the most stupid mistake you'd made in your life. If you care for her, talk to her. Tell her how you feel, but for the love of the Force, don't ignore her. You'll only hurt yourself and her even more." He ended at the same moment when your team was slowly getting hungry. "Trust me, my friend. Life is to short for regrets." 

***

"I want to set a camp of some kind in here" you stated, showing a place that was supposed to be abandoned, not too far away from the final destination, but far enough that the medics would have time to fall back. "If you need a medic to come with you, I volunteer, Boil and Commander Cody have trained me enough not to be a bother. Aila will stay and take command over the camp." The young girl nodded, already hearing the plan from you, before you presented it to the battalion. "Cath has also agreed to go if you decide to split during the mission. This would give a total of four medic in the move-in team, which is more than enough." You looked at Cath, a young man who, as one of few, had some experience with blasters. 

"Sounds good to me" Kenobi started, looking at his Commander who was still looking at the holomap, a frown on his face. He didn't like the fact that you so willingly wanted to go with them, but he knew if it was anyone else he would have agreed to a good plan. You were the best medic he knew and it would be a stupid ass decision if he declined your help, especially that it was what he trained you for. 

"It sounds good. Having a small camp will help in case we would need to fall out and go in a smaller group." He nodded, more and more impressed with your planning skills. It made him a bit at ease, when he knew you were prepared for that mission. "The entry to the building seems like a labyrinth, it would be a good idea to divide the teams right now, to save time later."

"I'll take the lead with the first team, you can have the other team." Kenobi started looking at Cody, who nodded in agreement. "I want to see what Cath is capable of." He didn't miss his Commander's eyes on him and he knew there would be a stern talking about it later on. He bit down a chuckle at that. "You and Doc work well together, are you OK with that ?" 

"Yes, sir!"

"Sure, Kenobi", both of you answered at the same time, not daring to look at each other. Working well with each other. You almost scoffed how untrue that was at the moment. You probably would if Cody would have enough guts to look at you… and well, if you weren't such a coward yourself. But this was a mission, no personal attachment was prohibited and you had to hide the hurt you felt. And shame. It was the second time you let the same man break your heart. He didn't even have to do much, his ignorance was enough for you to bring tears in your eyes at night. But it was in the past, nothing was more important than the present. And right now you had to work together to make sure the mission went smoothly. 

"Alright! We move out in ten, get ready!" Everyone around turned and was ready to follow the Jedi into the ship, already prepared for the upcoming mission. You did the same, turning to leave when you felt a hand on your wrist stopping you. 

"Can we please talk?" You raised your brow wanting nothing more to just walk away and tell him there was nothing to talk about. But your stupid heart made you stop and nod at the Clone. "I must apologize. What I did in the training room was a mistake." So two was not enough. He just broke your heart the third time. A mistake - that closeness, that softness in his eyes, the touch of his hands on you. It was all a mistake. "I should not have gotten so close. I… I mean there is a mission and I think we should both focus on that right now." He tried to make the last two words stand out, but the nervousness made it only sound harsher than he ever intended. 

"I understand", his eyes widened at your affirmation and he seemed to relax a bit, until he actually looked at you and his heart broke just a little. Your expression was emotionless, your eyes had no life in them, like you didn't care about anything. "You don't have to worry, that mistake won't happen again." He voluntarily flinched at your monotone voice and the repeat of his own words. Somehow, hearing them from you, felt foreign, painful. "The mission is a priority, Commander." And then you left him alone in that empty briefing room. Feeling worse than he has ever felt before. 

***

The planet was a nightmare. Whenever you stood, you could hear someone fighting. It was like a war zone on the whole damn planet. You tried to ignore the dead bodies of locals, just left there. Forgotten by everyone, like a bag of trash forgotten, when it wasn't needed anymore. 

"We divide here." Kenobi started, looking at your team, as if encouraging you. You sent him a small smile, which je reciprocated with a firm nod. "Cody, I will let you know when we get the data back, I'm awaiting your response when it comes to the situation at your sector." 

"Yes, sir !" The Clone turned towards your group and showed the small map from the holopad. "We will focus on that road here. It's a recon mission from us. If we can avoid the fight we will. 501 has that covered." You couldn't help but smile at his tired tone, when he mentioned Anakin's division. "We may encounter local forces there. If you have to fight, if you don't, capture them. Reckon! Everyone gets it?” A chorus of yes sirs was heard and the men scattered to get into the position. “Stay close to me, Doc.” You turned, after hearing his voice. Despite the command in the tone, you could see a vulnerability in his eyes. You didn't understand where that came from, but you nodded. 

You weren’t about to be a bother to him. You have decided. The moment that mission is over, you will come back to your hospital and regain that professional relationship Cody was so fixated about. The last thing you wanted was to make his life any more difficult than it already was. You desperately hoped to become his friend. Someone who would be able to help him whenever he would have been in need. But he wasn’t looking for a friend. You realized he was just being nice. A good, old Cody. Always the gentleman. All this talk the two of you had was some kind of an apology from him for turning you down. And that thought was making you want to break down and cry right here right now. 

“Boss” you heard Aila’s voice in your right ear and turned to commlink on. “The camp is set up and we have divided work throughout our stuff and the Clones.” You smiled at her words and nodded at Cody who looked your way, as if to confirm that all is fine. 

“Good! Make sure that you’re aware of both your surroundings and the medical stuff. Try to divide it into small teams as we discussed. Get Grail and Tylie focus on the equipment. The rest make sure you show off to those Clones. We can’t be worse than them.” You ignored the chuckle from the Commander and smiled at the one from the girl on the base. You believed in your men, your medics were the best and you weren’t being subjective. You trained them well, and you trusted them with your life. All you could do was boost their morale as much as possible. Even with some stupid jokes like that. “If anything happens let me or Commander Cody know.” 

“Boil and Waxer have already instructed us on the military shit.” The girl laughed at the two Clones that were left behind as a support. “You be safe, OK, boss? I need a raise and I won’t get it, if you don’t come back.” You laughed at that and turned off the comm, when you walked into the tunnel.  

“Focus now. Blasters out, get them into stun mode and keep your heads up.” Cody muttered, turning on the light on his helmet. “And remember we only kill the damn clanckers.” You followed his order, getting your blaster out. You could almost hear your heart beating, with how loud it was getting. You tried your best to control your breathing but it was getting more difficult the further you went into that tunnel. The damn gun was also much heavier than it was during the practice. You noticed how your hand shook a bit when you lifted the blaster slightly. This was ridiculous. You shouldn’t be this nervous, you knew what you were getting yourself into. It’s too late to change your mind. Survive this and you can come back to your patients and white walls of your hospital. 

“I won’t let anything happen to you.” Cody whispered softly, seeing the way your hands were shaking. He wasn’t surprised to see your nervous state. Despite being an amazing doctor, you were just a civilian, that was always as far away as possible from the battlefield. All this must be terrifying for you. Not only were you afraid for your own life, but knowing you, you were also thinking of your team. Always the caring one. “Do you trust me?” He didn’t know where that question came from. He wasn’t supposed to focus on any kind of conversation with you. His job was to observe and act as quickly as possible. Not have an existential dialogue, with the woman he was annoyingly falling for. This should be left for after the mission. And yet here he was, trying his best to make you feel better. 

“Yes”, the certainty in your voice made his heart skip a beat. He didn’t expect you to answer so quickly and with such confidence. He looked down and smiled softly seeing the way you were completely focused on your surroundings. ‘Good girl’, he thought to himself. 

“Good, then we have nothing to worry about”, she smiled softly and he felt lighter seeing that little lip quirk. He felt proud for making you feel at least a little bit at ease. 

“Commander!” He stopped, motioning to others to stand by. “Its Vice here. We are at some kind of door, about half a click from your position. We can check it out, or should we wait for you?” 

“Wait for us.” He commended, signaling others to move again. “All the medics are here with us, in case something happens no one will be able to help you. Stand down, and wait, Tropper.” A soft yes, sir was the last thing Cody heard and he took some extra, longer steps to get where his men are. He could hear how you already contacted the CLone medic for this team, to be ready. Well, there go the nerves. 

“Isn’t it too quiet, Commander?” If they were in any other situation, he would have hated the way you addressed him. But it was the mission, and he was telling himself you were just being professional. Something he should focus on as well. “I may be paranoid, but…” 

“It’s possible that the real action will start after we open those doors Vice told us about”, he answered but couldn’t get rid of the nasty feeling in his stomach. He actually did feel the same as you. You all walked for 15 minutes now and nothing was going on. Not only you haven't missed anything, but there was no one waiting for you. “General”, he finally spoke to his comm, when they stopped at the doors with Vice by his side. “Do you read me?” 

“Loud and clear, Cody.” hearing as Kenobi answered almost automatically it seemed that nothing was happening on his side. “Something doesn’t smell nice in here.” 

“Same here, Sir.” He murmured and signaled for his men to take position. “ We are at the doors. We will open them and see where it gets us. Has General Skywalker been in touch” 

“The 501st are having the time of their lives right now, from what I heard.” You couldn’t help but chuckle softly at his sarcastic tone. “But Anakin didn’t sound like he was complaining.” 

“Nothing new then”, Cody commanded and the General hummed softly. I will contact you in 15 minutes. If you don’t hear from me or anyone on the team, please assume the worst.” 

“Same here, Commander. Stay safe!” And that was it. No commands from the General to the Commander. There was no need. Obi Wan trusted Cody completely and the Clone Commander knew that well. That trust went both ways. 

“Ok, on count to three, Howl, open up that damn door.” raising his hand, he started to count down from three and when he closed the fist, you expected some kind of commotion, a boom or a blaster fire from the other side. But once again nothing was there. One part of you was happy that nothing has happened yet, but the second part knew that there was something fishy in here. “Move, move. Keep your eyes open, but let's keep on moving. Instinctively you moved closer to Cody, after his instructions, your fingers tightening on the blaster just a little more. 

“The sensor shows around 50 people a click away from here”, Guts reported, showing the screen to Cody. So the intel was correct. There were people being held captive. “There are kids as well.” He nodded and looked down at you. You nodded, understanding. The moment they got there, it was your job to get to those poor people and help those that were in need. Your other, free fist clenched around your bag, ready for the action. 

“General. We have sensed 50 lives a click away from us. We are ready to move in. We will meet you at the rendez-vous point, when we can.” He frowned when there was no response. He tried again, and again, but the line was quiet. “Howl, Vice, Doc, try your comms and contact the General.” You all did as he asked, but the outcome was the same. Silence. 

“Shouldn’t we help them?” You asked and he looked at you, shaking his head. 

“They may have encountered the enemy. We should finish our mission here and then help them.” You wanted to argue. What if they were ambushed, what if they needed our help but couldn’t contact us, what if… “You said you trust me, Doc.” You looked at him and frowned, when he took off his helmet. “Then trust me on this one. And let’s finish our first mission together.” You opened your mouth to respond, but couldn’t find any words. You did trust him. And his judgment. And so you nodded, closing your eyes to relax. 

“Ok boys, let’s get this done and go help the General.” They all cheered and you all got ready to storm the place down, unable to hear the quiet rumble from the General in your ear. A silent “it’s a trap” that would later on be a constant nightmare to those that somehow survived.

***

All you could hear was the ringing in your ears. You tried opening your eyes, but you felt as if they were all too heavy. The air felt polluted and heavy all of a sudden. Your head, and that damn ringing wasn’t helping the migrene that was forming,  quicker than you liked to admit. Something wasn’t right. But you were still too out of it to realize what was happening. 

“Doc!!” you must be dreaming, because you are sure, you hear that soft voice of the commander near you. But for some reason he sounded so worried, almost scared. If that was even possible. You so desperately wanted to keep on dreaming. To have him speak to you in that same soft manner. With his hand on your cheek. This dream was what you wanted for so long and so you closed your eyes and focused on sleeping. “No, no, open those eyes. Come on, sweet girl! Look at me!” He never called you that. Those sweet words were like honey to your ears and you wanted to listen. But you were afraid that if you did, you would wake up and be met with reality. “You have to wake up, damn! Come on!” The pain in your stomach, however, brought you back to reality. With a gasp you sat down and opened those heavy lids, squinting, when the dust was getting into them. “Thank the Maker!” 

You looked around and stiffened seeing the scene. If it was only biologically possible, you were sure, your heart just stopped beating right at that moment. You were used to blood and suffering and screams of pains, but what you were now surrounded by was more like Hell. It was how you imagined it to be. 

“Don’t look!” it made you look up at him for the first time, since you opened your eyes. He didn’t have his helmet, there was a trickle of blood flowing down his handsome face. There were cuts on his cheeks and his always well-kept hair was a total mess now. He looked awful, and yet you still find him so incredibly handsome. “Focus those pretty eyes on me, OK?” You frowned and tried to look around again, but he stopped your head with his hand on your cheek. His forehead resting on yours, making your breath hitch at the proximity. “I need to get you out of here.” 

“Cody”, you started but hissed when you tried to move. You looked down at the source of pain and your eyes widened. Your shirt was no longer white and one of Cody’s hands was pushing on the spot there, trying to stop the flow as much as he could. “What happened?” You asked quietly but he only shook his head and you released that he was shaking slightly. “Cody… Are you… Are you OK?” You were slurring a bit, but you had to make sure. He had a cut on his head. You needed to check on it, to make sure he didn’t have a concussion.

“I need to stop that fucking bleeding and I will be just fine, Mesh’la!” He said, pushing on that wound of yours, making you scream in pain. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please, please tell me what to do!” 

“I need to help others first. Need to take a look at your head!” You looked around again and a shocked sob escaped your lips, when you finally realized what surrounded you. Masses of motionless bodies, laying in the most bizarre positions. Some crushed by the rocks, some not even full. You weren’t sure if you were even able to locate the part of each of the bodies, to try to put them back together? What for? You didn’t know. Not like those Clones had families that would like to bury them. They all died here with their family. All of them, from what you saw. All these men that accompanied you here, were lying dead in front of you. And not just them. In the further part of the corridor you could see bodies of the civilians you came to save. Men, women, kids. Even babies. All dead, buried under the rocks, with blood pouring through the leaks of those rocky walls. 

You tried to look away but you couldn’t. Even Cody’s hand on your face didn’t work this time. Your eyes were following each of the bodies surrounding you. A young man holding a woman in his arms. A child separated from his mother. A young woman with dreams cut so drastically. And your whole squad. Those men you loved so much and cared for. You tried to scream when you noticed Vice’s body laying not too far away from you. But you couldn’t as no sound left your lips. He just laid there, still in his armor. If you truly wanted, you could imagine, he was just resting. If you only shook him a bit, maybe he would wake up and smile at you. 

You looked at Cody again, when you heard him calling you by your first name. You couldn’t remember if he ever did that? He did use your last name once or twice, but normally stuck with Doc. Until now, you weren’t sure he even knew your name. You chuckled to yourself, but caught when the pain was back, You gasped and almost fell back, if not for Cody keeping an eye on you. 

“I know you worry about everyone. But please, Doc. We have to take care of you first.” Oh, yeah you were bleeding. The adrenaline was wearing off and you did start to feel it all. You tried to take a deep breath and relax a bit. You knew that if you let yourself, you will get into a panic attack mode, and that was not good for your heart. And then Cody would have to take care of even more than he does now. Poor guy. He did not sign up for this. You weren’t supposed to be a bother. No to him. No… You shook your head slightly, trying to get back to the topic at hand. 

“As the bleeding isn’t exceeding, it means you did a good job and left whatever is there blocking it?” Speaking was getting more and more difficult, but you needed to instruct your commander what to do. You wouldn’t do it to him. You won’t just die, and leave him be. Alone in that Hell you found yourself in. “Don’t take it out even if I go into shock and ask you to do it, got it?” He nodded and still kept the pressure on the wound. “As I’m still able to actually think it means, I wasn’t out for too long and haven’t lost that much blood yet.” 

“No… It all happened about 5 minutes ago.” You nodded and slowly sat up, easing your breathing with every second. It all meant one thing. You were probably in the second class of hemorrhagic shock, which wasn’t that bad. You did feel anxious, but the total confusion hasn’t come yet. “I’m not sure if we're actually safe here, so I would prefer to move you…”

“No”, you stopped him, mid sentence, shaking your head. “Any sudden move will lead me to bleed out. We need to stop that blood coming out of my body before anything else.”

“And how do we do that?” You clenched your hand around something, which you later on realized it was Cody’s thigh, you were holding on. But he didn’t seem to mind at all, not even caring that you would probably leave some bruises there. 

“My bag”, you said softly, realizing that what you’re about to offer will be a hell on its own. But either that or bleeding out on your first ever mission. And that was just sad. “You will have to…” A cough stopped you and you cursed feeling a metallic taste in your mouth. Not good, very not good. “You will have to act fast. OK?” He nodded and he opened your back. To your surprise nothing broke there and you happily found what you were looking for. A pair of gloves, a bottle with a silver nitrate solution, you were so glad you decided to prepare. Some swabs, bacta patches and hemostatic dressings that should help the bacta to do the trick.

“Ok, some pay back for sticking my hands into your chest.” He raised his brow and smiled softly, happy to see you still had enough energy for some silly jokes. “First of all, put the gloves on. Then prepare some swabs and then after removing that thing in my body, you will pour the…” 

“You just told me not to remove it”, he countered and you sigh, giving him a stern look. You didn’t have the energy to do any of it. You were slowly getting into class three of shock that wasn’t good. 

“You will pull that out of me and pour that bottle’s continent on the wound. Do not stop even If I cry and scream. You need to pour at least half of it. You need to do that the second the thing is out of my body.” You looked at him and he nodded, understanding your implication. “You then put the dressing on and patch it up with some bacta. And hopefully it will stick till we get some help.” 

“Hopefully?” he raised his brow at you but put on his gloves and started to follow your orders. He has never done anything like that. He wasn’t a medic. He wasn’t trained to do it. Your life depended on him and he hated it. He was supposed to protect you and here you were, lying injured because you saved him. He wasn’t sure you even remember how you pushed him away, when the bomb went off. How without thinking you just jumped to action saving his sorry ass. 

He closed his eyes to relax and acted before he changed his mind. He tried. He tried so hard to ignore that hellish scream from you when he poured whatever there was in that bottle. He knew he would dream of nightmares of that scream and part of him knew he deserved it. But he kept on going. He did what you told him to do and when you laid there with your eyes half closed, breathing hard, your face covered in tears, but with the wound sealed somehow and no blood was flowing, he was fine with being the one to bring that scream out of you, if it meant you would survive it. 

“Hey, Mesh’la, you OK?” You smiled weakly and nodded. “Ok, I’ll clean that up quickly and we need to go, ok?” 

“I need to have a look at your injuries… We need to see if someone…”

“No-one survived.” It was like a slap to your face and you recoiled, feeling your eyes water at that. “It wa s a fucking trap. They knew we were coming and they used civilians to get us here.” He shoved the medical things into your bag, and took it on his shoulder. “I tried contacting the General, but no sign yet.” You looked around again, and sniffed looking at all those bodies laying around. 

“I’m a doctor, Cody… I was supposed to save them. I was supposed to do something… I can’t just leave….” 

“You couldn’t do anything for them… But you saved my life, if that makes you feel better.” You frowned, and gasped softly, when he lifted you up into his arms. He was so careful with you. It was such a contrast to the hardened soldier he was. “You pushed me away when the bob went off. I will always be in favor of you.” You looked up at his stoic face and hid your face into his chest, letting yourself cry. For real this time. 

***

“Have any of them answered?” Obi Wan raised his eyes on his former Padawan and sighed, shaking his head. “Rex has his team ready to go. We will take Kix and Cath with us and we can go search for them.” Anakin looked at his Captain who nodded, ready to go and save his brother. “You can take Rex and go save your men.” The Master smirked and looked at Skywalker, who shrugged. He was a good man. Kenobi knew that Anakin understood. If it was Rex buried there, the young Skywalker would not have been as calm as his Master. 

“I should have felt it in the Force much quicker. I should have acted sooner.” 

“It’s not your fault, Master!” Ashoka added, frowning at Kenobi. “I don’t think anyone out there would blame you for that, and so you shouldn’t.” 

“When did your Padawan become so smart, Anakin?” They both laughed softly and he sighed. “I hope she’s alright. It was her first mission.” 

“Cody is there, so there is nothing to worry about, Sir!” Rex said, making the Jedi master smile softly. Yet, the Captain was right. Cody was the best soldier Kenobi knows. If there was anyone who would survive that and protect you, it was him. And so he stood and took his lightsaber from Anakin, ready to save his friends. 

***

“I’m sorry Cody”, he looked down and your form crawled at his thighs. You looked so small, so adorable, if only those tears didn’t stain that pretty face of yours, he would be a happy man to hold you so close to himself. Almost losing you made him realize that he was an utter idiot. He should have been honest with you at the base. You two should have talked. And he promised himself, he would not leave your side. He would be your shield. Physically and emotionally. He would let you sleep on him, he would let you wet his armor with your tears. He would let you do anything to him, only if you felt just slightly better. “You lost so many of your brothers and I’m the one who’s…

“You cry for my brothers.” He ended for you, kissing your temple softly, making you freeze. You closed your eyes, enjoying the tender feeling of having him so close. You should not be enjoying it. It was selfish, and yet you couldn't help it. Despite the armor, you could feel the heat of his body. Or was it your body heat you felt? “Not many do that. Not many care enough to share a tear for them. And here you are. Your beautiful eyes puffy after crying so hard for those that were meant to die.” 

“I hate when you say that.” He chuckled sadly, and hugged you closer, his cheek on the top of your head. “I wish I would have done more.” And yet it was like a lighting shock. You straightened, hissing in pain. Cody frowned and looked at you in alarm. “Let me see if you’re injured!” He exhaled and couldn’t help but smile. 

“You should rest. I don’t know how long that patch will last…” You bit your lip and your hand slowly raised to go through his hair. 

“Please, Cody. Let me be useful.” His eyes widened and he once again leaned his forehead to yours. A soft touch, an intimate gesture of the culture he was raised in. A quiet plea and the feelings exchange, of all the things he’s like to say but couldn’t. And so he nodded. And let you. He let you step away from him, keeping a safe hand close to you, just in case. He just sat there and let your small, soft hands take his armor off. Slowly, almost afraid as if your moves would bring any harm to him. If only you knew how different it was. How he yearned to feel you touch. To be cared for by you, with that loving touch of yours. “Can I?” He nodded his head, afraid to say anything. Not sure if he would be able to. “Oh, Cody!” You gasped, seeing his bruising ribs. It was impossible for him not to feel pain. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“You were more important.” He murmured, not able to look at you. Such a strong Marshal Commander, unable to look at the woman he… yes, he loved, look in the eyes. What shocked him was how easy it came to him. Losing was like a spur for him to realize his feelings. “If I didn’t take care of me, who would save me like you could?” You blushed and smiled shyly at yourself, opening your bag. You carefully cleaned his bruises and the cuts on his cheek and head, making sure to bring him as little pain as possible. “I was scared I’d lost you out there.” You froze and his words, but stayed quiet, letting him say whatever was weightining on his chest. “I never wanted to hurt you. Never meant to be such a jerk. I…” He finally looked up and your heart broke a bit at his sad expression. It was like a mere memory of his actions that hurt him physically. “I was scared, because you were becoming someone so very important to me in such a short time and… I’m a Marshal Commander.” You apologized quietly when he hissed at one of the head injuries, when you put a patch of bacta there. “I’m… I’m supposed to only have War on my mind and yet here I am… I was so scared, when you laid there, unable to move.” You swallowed hard when he softly circled his fingers around your wrist. He brought your hand towards his lips and left a soft kiss there. A lingering touch, you will dream about when that mission is over. “I got scared when I realized that I cared so deeply for you. Back in the base. When I almost kissed you. You told me that love is when you can’t get someone out of your mind. And I keep on thinking of you all the damn time.” Your breath hitched at his admission. 

Your shaky hand lowered to take care of his bruised ribs. And you tried to ignore how he shivered at your touch. And you hoped deep inside, that you had the same effect on him as he did on you. You should be a professional, but here he was, half naked in front of you. You tried to focus on your job, but his words shook you. He just admitted that he was falling for you. You swallowed hard, wanting to say something, do something, but you couldn’t. And so, you just wrapped his torso and ribs safely and looked up at him when you finally finished. Happy to know that there was nothing critical. 

“Please don’t say all these things, if you’re going to ignore me, the moment we are back.” He flinched at your declaration, and you felt bad, but you needed to know. Needed to be perfectly sure, that if you let yourself dream, hope, then that won’t just crush after all this is over. “I have loved you for so long, so if you…” But you weren’t given a chance to finish. His lips were on you, before you were able to react. You froze, not sure if you were actually dreaming. His lips were softer than you imagined. It was kind of innocent and sweet, as if he was unsure of himself. When you didn’t move, he stepped back and awkwardly started to apologize, but you didn’t give him a chance. You crushed your lips to his, ignoring how your stomach hurt a bit with those sudden movements. But you didn’t care. You were finally kissing the man you have loved for such a long time. 

Cody didn’t waste his time. Calloused, soft hands cupped your face, pulling you forward even more. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss, licking the bottom of your lip asking for permission to enter. And you let him, because who were you to make him wait. And he doesn’t waste that chance. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was a way, a chance to show you how much he adores you. His tongue is gently messaging yours, sensually, taking the time to get to know you. 

He pulls away, but doesn’t waste any time, kissing your jaw softly, nipping at it softly, making you gasp softly at his touch. His hands grasp and your waist. Tightly, but enough to hurt you, mindful of your injury. He was so careful with you, so loving. You tilt your head back, wanting more. More of him, more of his warm and hot kisses. You feel him inhaling you and you can’t help but moan softly when he tastes you with his skillful tongue. 

“Cody!” You shriek and he laughs, when you playfully pat him on the shoulder when he bit and sucked your pulse spot at your neck, for sure leaving a mark there. “What if someone notices?” 

“Let them. They will know who you belong to!” Normally you would never let any man talk to you that way. But with Cody it didn’t feel disrespectful. It was like he was confessing, that at the same time he belonged to you and you almost cried with happiness. “But I have to stop now, cyare.” Your heart skipped a beat with the Mando leaving his mouth. “You are injured and I’m unsure if I would be able to stop myself if we go any further.” He softly kissed your forehead and you blushed at this innuendo. As you were about to say something even remotely flirtatious, a voice could be heard from Cody’s comlink. He quickly turned it on and you felt tears appearing in your eyes when you heard Kenobi’s voice on the other side. 

“Cody, report.” 

“General!” You could hear the Jedi relaxed sigh on the other side. “You have no idea how good it is to hear you.” 

“Are you OK? Is anyone injured?” Your smile dropped and you clenched at your shirt nervously.

“Doc will need medical attention as we had to make do with her injuries.” He held your hand and sighed, readening himself to tell his Jedi the bad news. “It was a trap, Sir. The moment we walked in, the bomb activated. All of my team, including the civilians are gone.” There was silence on the other side. Probably no one expected the news to be so devastating. 

“My sincere apologies, my dear. I did realize it was a trap, but…” 

“Don’t blame yourself, Obi!” You interjected, hugging into Cody’s (still) bare chest. He raised his brow and you were expecting a similar reaction from the Master on the line as well. It was the first time you said his name like that. “No one could have expected that. We can’t save everyone.” You sniffed softly and Cody, wrapped his arm around you. 

“It’s good to hear you”, you smiled when he used your name, instead of the nickname. “You both stay where you are. Rex has traced you, we should be there with two medics to take care of you.” And the line was off and you leaned into Cody, kissing his collarbone softly. 

“When we’re back”, he started before Kenobi and the team would come. “I will properly apologize to you.” You frowned, and wanted to deny whatever he thought, but he only kissed you softly at the top of your head and shut you up completely with that sweet move. It was a truly weird feeling. You were so very happy, despite being so devastated at the same time. 

*** 

It took you a whole month of rehabilitation and Kix’ nagging of you staying in bed, before he was remotely OK to let you leave the hospital. Cody was visiting you every day with some sort of a gift. A single flower, a chocolate, a cup of coffee, or a book, you could read to kill the boredom. You both talked, he apologized almost everyday and made sure that he bid you with the sweetest of kisses. You did have a serious talk about where you both saw this going. He promised you that he would do his best to open up to you, but he did ask to give him some time. He never even considered something as stable as a relationship and it was all new to him. And you were more than willing to give him all the time he needed. And so you both decided to take things slow. For the both of you. 

So when he didn’t pick you up from the hospital today, you were worried. He was on his leave and he promised he would a week ago. But here you were, walking to your apartment alone. There was this sick feeling in your stomach, which you tried to get rid of. There was probably something holding him up. Something important. 

You opened your flat doors and gasped, letting the bag fall from your shoulders to the floor. There he was awkwardly standing, in the middle of the room, with some flowers, a table ready for dinner. 

“General Skywalker and Ashoka helped me with it… “ He walked towards you, handing you the flowers. “I’m sorry I didn’t pick you up from the hospital. But I do owe you a first date, don’t I, Cyare?” He leaned forward and pressed a sweet, quick peck on your lips. 

“Oh, you are more than forgiven, Commander”.

Tag List: @loving-the-cambridges

#star wars #the clone wars #commander cody #star wars fanfiction #fanfiction #commander cody x reader #cody x you #idiots in love #idiots in denial #the clones #star wars the clone wars

[sunshinesdaydream]

7. Discovering they're force sensitive + rex please? 💙 honestly it was this or the tooka ... i had to roll my d20 for this cause i couldnt decide which i wanted to be a thing more lol

So I was also going to use my D20 to decide a few to do, and still might!

So for everyone's beloved Captain Rex -below the break because we get long.

7.Discovering they're force sensitive

-It's discovered when Anakin and Ahsoka "Throw" him. He slows his fall long before they do.

-Ahsoka is FREAKING out. She wants to take him to get his kyber crystal NOW big bro Rex with a lightsaber, sign her up for that. Is basically starting to talk about practicing with him.

-Anakin is on the com immediately trying to get the counsel. Golden boy is going to try to sweet talk them into not only taking a second padawan, but an adult clone trooper.

-"Sirs, we ARE in the middle of a mission..."

-Is very glad for his helmet because the amount of this kind of attention is not something he is used to. Very uncomfortable and very flushed.

-After they finish the mission they question him. "Why didn't you tell us?" "I didn't know."

-Poor guy had only been pushing himself to be a bit better than his brothers didn't realize that he was pulling on the force to do it.

-"He is too old" "Technically he's only 12" "Older than you were, Anakin,"

-Anakin "I do what I want" Skywalker teaches him anyway with Ahsoka's enthusiastic help and Obi Wan's begrudging help.

-Actually listens to Obi Wan more.

-His saber is blue (it has to be 501st blue, it's law)

Now, because I can

13.Being adopted by a tooka cat

-The small cat wandered onto one of the troop carriers while they were planetside and then wandered out into the corridors of the star destroyer.

-Ends up slipping into Rex's quarters when he enters without him noticing.

-It almost gets shot by him because it startles him while he is working on reports.

-"What do I do with you? I suppose I could give you to the Commander, she'll get you to a safe home."

-Hisses and throws a scratching fit when he tries to hand the cat to Ahsoka.

-The tooka calms when it is able to retreat to it's new favorite spot Rex's Pauldron.

-Is not named until the men start referring to it as Lieutenant Fluff.

-Follows Rex everywhere when they aren't able to be on his shoulder.

-Has to be put into a kennel so they don't try to follow Rex into battle.

-Sleeps curled up next to Rex's head

Thanks!! This was so much fun, I guess I made both more than a few and I probably could have added more to both.

Head Canon Ask Game

#star wars #star wars headcanons #the clone wars #captain rex #Sundhine's Headcanons

[cienie-isengardu]

Arla - Mandalorian name?

ARLA FETT was first presented as as unnamed Jango's sister in Jango Fett: Open Seasons comics mini-series

then properly introduced as Arla Fett in Republic Commando: Order 66 & Imperial Commando: 501st)

Jusik squatted down and resorted to a little mind influence, the most benign, to make her realize he meant her no harm. It was worth trying even if he was stretching their luck. Something told him he had to, and maybe it was simply that he'd walked by one inmate too many. "Ner gai Bard'ika," he said. "Tion gar gai? Gar aliit?" He'd told her his name was Bardan, and asked her name and her clan name. She stared at him. It was as if she didn't believe what she was seeing, or hearing. "Arla," she said. She glanced at the nurse as if the woman was eavesdropping. "Neyar gain Arla Vhett." It wasn't Mando'a, but it was close enough for any Mandalorian to understand. Jusik turned slowly, still squatting, to look at Skirata. The old sergeant's face was a study in suppressed shock. [...] "So who is it?" Vau asked plainly irritated. Mird watched the woman with head cocked tail slapping. "We'd better have a good reason for taking a psychotic killer with us tonight." "We have," said Jusik. "That's Arla Fett-Jango's missing sister." [RC:O66]

and who at some point became a member of the Mandalorian Death Watch (a group that killed her parents while hunting Jaster Mereel and True Mandalorians on Concord Dawn)

Jusik steeled himself to look. He was expecting worse. He wasn't sure if the dark brown mark was a tattoo, or a scar, or a branding mark, but he knew exactly what it was because he'd seen one only hours ago, or a version of it: the Death Watch emblem, the ragged winged W shape. It didn't surprise him. She'd been spoils of war as far as they were concerned, an animal to be used, and marked as their property. "A surgeon can remove that," Kina Ha said. "Would that help?" Arla pulled down her shirt again. "You don't get it. You can't guess because it's so bad." "Whatever it was, you were a child of fourteen, Walon tells me. When we're adult, we look back and judge our childhood actions by unfairly adult rules." Arla didn't turn around. "It's not a wound or a humiliation. It's a badge." "Explain." "After I was kidnapped, after it stopped being a nightmare, I stayed with them. I became one of them. I stayed. I could have run away. But I stayed." [IC:501st]

So whatever she was a direct descendant of Mandalorian Fett clan or she just "joined" Mandalorians, she can be count as one of them.

The newest sources material introduced two other Mandalorian women of the same name:

ARLA SHALE (source: SWTOR short story "Seeing Red", can be read here)

Ballag started picking fights and spilling blood to prove his strength. The latest and most daring trouble was with Clan Shale. They were an old and respected clan with the trophies and glory to prove it. The body on the screen deserved a better death with a better enemy. “What do you expect with Ballag running them?” Rass said. “He’s going to run Nerak into the ground if he keeps this up.” He scoffed. He didn’t like Ballag. Too stubborn to lead, too stupid to see it. “I’ve spoken to Arla Shale.” Jekiah said. “Fought with her during that raid on Darvannis. She’s solid but won’t let her people be treated like this. It won’t end without a lot more bodies. With Mandalore gone, we need to stand as one.”

and

“A duel?” Arla asked, her lined and scarred face betraying no emotion. Without a moment of consideration, she nodded to Jekiah. “As the Arbiter decides.” No hint of fear in her eyes, only steely certainty. Ballag hesitated. He stood a head taller than everyone. His eyes were an uncanny yellow and flicked from Jekiah to Arla, the tiniest hint of unease in his gaze. Arla was experienced- maybe not faster, maybe not stronger, but Ballag would have to be a blind to consider her an easy target. Arla arched an eyebrow at the pause.

ARLA HA'RANGIR (source: SWTOR)

The closer thing to ARLA in Mando'a dictonary I managed to find is the word MANDOKARLA which means to having the right traits / spirit for Mandalorian.

So I guess we can assume Arla is an old/ancient mandalorian name?

#star wars #arla fett #arla ha'rangir #arla shale #mandalorian names #seeing more characters named arla gives me the most crack-ish thought that Fett Senior that may or may not be part of #an ancient mandalorian clan Fett (which i hope he is from mando culture himself) #upon seeing his firstborn child gave the daughter an ancient mando name #and then named his second child just jango XDDDD #swtor #swtor spoilers #Cienie's take on Mandalorian culture #look i love arla fett but i'm furious about 90% of RepCom take on her #so i'm pleased swtor gives me more arlas making her name more common than jango XDDD

[lamaenthel]

Tivaevae | Chapter Ten: Bargello

Still struggling to emotionally recover from Master Obi-Wan's deception, Ahsoka discovers in the aftermath that twelve-year-old Boba Fett has been locked up among adults in the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center. After convincing Chancellor Palpatine to grant him a pardon, she manages to secure his release on the condition that she serve as his legal guardian. Now, with the help of Master Plo and the Wolfpack, she vows to help him track down what family he has left.

| AO3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |

Fandom: Star Wars Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, Plo Koon, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Kanan Jarrus, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CC-1119 | Appo, Dexter Jettster, FLO | WA-7 (Star Wars), Shaak Ti, ARC Commander Blitz (Star Wars), CT-6922 | Dogma, Original Clone Trooper Character(s) (Star Wars), CC-3636 | Wolffe, Clone Trooper Sinker (Star Wars), Clone Trooper Comet (Star Wars), CC-2224 | Cody, CT-5597 | Jesse, CT-4860 | Boost, Aurra Sing, Tobias Beckett, Null-11 | Ordo Skirata, Kal Skirata, Original Mandalorian Characters (Star Wars), Original Droid Characters (Star Wars), Original Jedi Character(s) (Star Wars) Total Word Count: 123,000 Chapter Word Count: 11,237 Chapter Summary: Ahsoka confronts Kal Skirata about his neglect of Boba, and a familiar face from Boba's past makes a shocking appearance.

Weequay Independence Week came around once a year; a year on their home planet Sriluur, that is, not a Galactic standard year, and Ahsoka was fairly certain that the holiday was actually just a massive in-joke played by Weequays that were wholeheartedly committed to the bit. Not only were there an inconsistent number of days between "years," but Sriluur had been under occupation by the Hutt Cartel for almost half a millennia and didn't have anyone to celebrate independence from. Fireworks in every color, including several she couldn't see, boomed over their heads; if she wanted to see them she had to wear the special glasses that simulated a Weequay's fourth ocular cone, and she wasn't willing to trade pretty colors for the ability to spot Kal Skirata or any of his sons creeping up on Boba.

The Cuy'val Dar sergeant had certainly told the truth when he had described the place as hopping. There had to be thousands of Coruscantis at the fairgrounds eager to forget the banality of war and lose themselves in good old-fashioned, pay-to-play fun. There was a different holoradio station blasting from every game booth, screaming constantly echoed from the nearby drop tower, the smell of a thousand different deep-fried foods battled for dominance in Ahsoka's nose, and most distractingly of all, the crowd of people meant that there were hundreds of auras for her to tune out.

If she hadn't already been struggling with her Ordo-induced headache, she might have been able to enjoy herself, but instead her skin crawled with overstimulation. She wanted nothing more than to go back to the barracks and tuck herself into a pile of her brothers with some silkworm puffs and a holoprojector. She was so behind on Princess For A Year that it wasn't even funny.

A montral-splitting victory bell started ringing from Boba's game booth. "Fucking right!" he crowed, his aura glowing soft gold with triumph. He threw his pellet gun down, raised his fists in the air, and bounced excitedly off of Jesse's side. "Three clears in a row, bitch! I'm getting that fucking bantha."

Jesse went chartreuse with annoyance and gave Ahsoka an exasperated look over Boba's shoulder. She shrugged and sent him a tendril of copper gratitude-affection. He'd somehow managed to squeeze twelve half-toasted members of the 501st into a single taxi – along with a nervous shiny from the 400th named Sterling, who was the poor soul who had been in the taxi when Jesse commandeered it and had been given no choice but to come along for the ride – and had made it to the fairgrounds ready to fight whoever had dared lain hands on his Commander before she and Anakin had even arrived. She'd spent a half hour talking him down from slaughtering Ordo where he stood cuffed at her side in his blacks, Rex and Cody had managed to pacify him by ordering him to stand guard over her and Boba, then they'd divided his entourage – including Sterling, who was very excited about his kidnapping/adoption and had already solicited Vaughn to help him transfer to the 501st – to scour the place for any sign of Skirata. Her hyper-competent boys had been scouting the place for an hour using the gridded holomap Ridge and Appo had rigged up on the way over from 79's, but so far there was no sign of the Mandalorian anywhere.

"He never used to swear that much," Ordo said hoarsely beside her, watching Boba pick up the pellet gun again and start a new game. The Zeltron gamemaster in his dark blue, crushed velvet top hat was looking increasingly disturbed by both Boba's mouth and aim. Jesse gave Ordo a silent promise of extreme violence with his eyes before turning back around to watch Boba.

Ahsoka heaved a huffy sigh. "I guess being thrown into the penitentiary at the age of eleven will do that to you," she snapped, rubbing at the bridge of her nose.

"Why'd you do it, then?" Ordo asked. His aura was still in that flat red box around him, resisting her passive Empathy and unreactive to her occasional prod in the Force. It was very annoying.

"I–" Fireworks loudly popped overhead and Ahsoka glared at him. "I didn't put him in there, I just arrested him. I had nothing to do with his sentence."

Ordo cocked his head. "Why didn't you follow up?"

Ahsoka stared at the Null. "Because I've been a little preoccupied with this thing they're calling a galaxy wide war?" she said sharply, trying to ignore the squirming worm of guilt in her stomach that enthusiastically agreed with him.

Ordo shrugged and cleared his sore throat. Despite applying a healthy glob of bacta gel to his neck after he had been stunned by Cody – because while Ahsoka wasn't in a mood to be nice to the shabuir who'd led her on a wild bantha chase so one of his brothers could steal Boba's beskar'gam, she wasn't a total jerk, either – the swelling hadn't completely gone down yet.

If Skirata cried about it, then tough. He was lucky Ordo was still breathing at all with how furious Anakin had been. Ahsoka was surprised it hadn't started thundering; storms seemed to manifest more and more whenever Anakin lost control.

Thunder cracked in the window behind her, even louder than her whine of pain at Anakin's hand tightening on her arm–

Ahsoka shook her head and breathed out her anxiety to the Force. Smelling Obi-Wan's blood and then gleaning the darkness that had been circling around Anakin had put her brain in a bad spot, but like Master Plo had said, she had to close up her wounds and not continue to linger on the pain. "Jesse!" she called. "We'll be right back. Don't let Boba out of your sight."

"Where are you going?" Jesse asked sharply, his aura roaring up like a bonfire with teal protection-wariness. He gave Ordo another death glare.

"Grabbing us a bite. We'll just be a minute." Ahsoka crossed her arms and gave him her best Commander eyes.

Jesse pursed his lips, gave her a disgruntled thumbs up, and continued to watch Boba annihilate a whole herd of blurrg holotargets. Tup stood on the other side of her vod'ika, grinning and practically bouncing on his heels in neon-blue joy-fun-delight.

"Come on," Ahsoka said, tugging on Ordo's cuffs. He shuffled after her, unable to walk properly with the second pair around his ankles. She was fairly sure that he could get out of them at any time and he was just humoring her, which only added to her annoyance.

The discordant organ music blasting from the nearby carousel of gilded varactyls felt like a bunch of razor-coated marbles bouncing around in her resonance chambers. She spotted a shaved ice stand and dragged Ordo to the front of it, then handed the Quarren behind the till her credit chit. "Five with shuura syrup, please," she said.

Ordo looked confused and surprised and maybe a little constipated, though that may have just been his face. She took her credit chit back and led him back down the midway towards Jesse, Tup, and Boba with the tray of shaved ice in hand, and handed him a cup.

"Thank you," Ordo said politely after he'd taken a bite.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Ahsoka wrinkled her nose at the sickly-sweet syrup and decided to save the rest of hers for Anakin. She didn't really like shuura, but the boys all did.

"Why'd you get me one?" Ordo asked curiously.

"Your throat hurts, right?" she asked shortly. "It'll help."

"But why would you care if my throat hurts?" Ordo asked. He was watching her curiously, like she was a zoo animal he'd never seen before. It was unnerving.

Ahsoka bit the inside of her cheek. "Because unlike you, I'm a nice person."

"I'm not not a nice person," Ordo frowned.

"Yeah, well." Ahsoka shrugged. "I don't like to see suffering when I can stop it."

"Because of your Empathy," Ordo nodded sagely.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes. "No, that's not why," she said sharply. "You don't know anything about me. Don't act like you do."

"You're Ahsoka of Clan Tano, granddaughter of Nita, born on Shili in the Cigonaa'agan Mountains under three moons," Ordo said. "You've been the Padawan learner of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker for almost three years. You're a natural-born Empath and have aural synesthesia. You primarily practice the Djem So variant of Shien form, wield two green lightsabers, and are trained in Fáng Shìlóng, Chambara, and Echani."

Ahsoka gaped at him. He knew her grandmother's name. He knew her moons. Even Anakin didn't know her moons.

"So is it because your buir is the reason my throat hurts, then?" he asked.

Ahsoka snorted, picturing Anakin's face at being called her father, and ducked away from a white Twi'lek in purple sequins spitting flames into the air. "You're the reason it hurts, di'kut. You're the one who decided to shoot Rex and run for it, remember?"

Ordo shrugged. "Just following orders. Nothing personal."

Ahsoka stiffened. "Why were those your orders?" she stopped and asked him, turning in the middle of the thoroughfare. "Why did Kal take the armor, why would he do that to Boba? Does he have some sort of grudge against Jango that he's taking out on him?"

Ordo looked offended. "No," he said stiffly. "He's not petty. Don't talk about him like that."

"I can't think of any other reason for him to let you beat on Boba all the time," Ahsoka snapped, barely resisting the urge to slap the shaved ice out of his hands.

"What did Boba tell you?" Ordo asked, his nose scrunched up in the universal expression of Fett annoyance. "I didn't beat on him. We fought, yes, but it wasn't any worse than what my brothers and I did to each other, and he was a spoiled brat. Everyone else was too afraid to put him in his place because he was the Prime's son. I wasn't."

"You tried to drown him in a toilet!" Ahsoka growled.

Ordo snickered. "You mean I gave him a swirly."

"I don't care what you call it, you shouldn't have picked on him!" Ahsoka crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Look, I'll admit that I have a short temper sometimes, but I eased up on him once Kal told me it wasn't fair. I was a child, too." Ordo turned away and took a big bite of his ice while Ahsoka gaped and tried not to drop her tray.

I was a child, too. Five little words that hit her like a scramball bat. Their bodies and minds may have developed twice as fast, there was no genetic tampering or flash training that could give them twenty years of social skills in only ten. Mental maturity didn't mean social maturity, they had to learn that the old-fashioned way. It had never occurred to her that someone wouldn't know that it was wrong to pick on someone so much smaller than them without being told that it was. It seemed like one of those things that a person should just… know. Rex certainly understood that.

But Rex had been raised alongside two brothers that were the same age as him and half his size. He would have been told to be careful with Boba and Cassus before he could even walk, and as both a first generation clone and a natural leader, he would have passed that on to the brothers who hadn't figured it out. It didn't make what was done to Boba acceptable or his trauma as a result of it any less valid, but Ordo treating him the exact same as his bigger brothers because he just didn't know any better did make more sense than him torturing Boba for no reason at all.

And she knew firsthand what a little brat he could be, so she couldn't even argue the point.

"Osik," she mumbled, walking again. Jesse made eye contact with her from where he stood vigilant and motioned at her to hurry up. "Why'd you go after Rex whenever he tried to stop you, then?"

Ordo shrugged. "Because he stepped up to me and I don't back down."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. She handed a cup to Jesse and Tup, then kissed Boba's stubbly head without interrupting his game. "Having fun?" she asked warmly.

"Two more games and that bantha is mine," Boba said, his aura dark blue with focus, very pointedly ignoring Ordo and doing his best to not let his hands tremble. He missed his next three shots.

She put the cup on the counter for whenever he was done and led the Null a safe distance away before Boba's streak was ruined. "When's your dad planning on showing up?" she asked Ordo irritably. She gave him a little shove towards a picnic table near the game booth then plopped down on the bench opposite of him.

Ordo shrugged. "When he wants you to see him you'll know."

"So he's already here?" Ahsoka asked sharply. "And he's what, just watching us and biding his time?"

"Probably. Like I said, you'll know." Ordo finished his cup of shaved ice and tossed it over his shoulder into a wastebasket ten meters away without looking. "You were right, that helped," he said with an appreciative nod.

Ahsoka felt a warm tingle on the back of her neck, smelled the citrus degreaser soap Anakin used on everything from his tools to his hair, then spotted him a few booths over carrying a paper bowl in one big hand and two drinks in the other. She also caught a whiff of t'bac smoke which made her frown, since as far as she knew he hadn't smoked in over a year.

"Quasar doesn't count as dinner," Anakin said, putting the bowl in front of her. It held a pile of ground bantha meat with spicy green oil and black vinegar drizzled over the top, and she could smell green tea through the drink's straw.

"I'm not hungry," she said automatically, pushing the bowl away.

Anakin's aura darkened to violet-red with hurt-guilt and his shoulders fell a little.

Ahsoka sighed and pulled the bowl back. "Thank you," she said, bumping her Master's shoulder once he sat down. She put the half-melted cup of shaved ice in front of him. "Trade you."

"Oh hey, shuura," Anakin said after taking a bite, perking up a little. He put an arm around her shoulders and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. "Thanks, Snips."

Ahsoka smiled and scooped up a bite of bantha with two fingers, her chest going warm and fuzzy.

"You two are very physically affectionate compared to other Jedi," Ordo quipped once both of their mouths were full.

They gave him matching glares. "She's a Togruta," Anakin said, swallowing first; he flushed pink in his cheeks and yellow in his aura. "Togrutas need physical affection or they get depressed."

"She gets depressed without forehead kisses?" Ordo's eyes flicked between them.

"Yes," Ahsoka snapped through a mouthful of bantha.

Ordo watched them curiously for a few more seconds, then shrugged. "Alright." He turned around in his seat to watch Boba.

"Thank you, by the way," Ahsoka said quietly once she'd swallowed. "For catching my saber. And me. But mostly my saber."

Anakin's eyes went soft and his aura flooded with copper and gold. "That's what I'm here for," he said with a small smile. "And thank you, too. For, well… all of it."

"That's what I'm here for," Ahsoka said fondly.

"No." Anakin looked away and went violet with guilt. "It's not, Ahsoka. That…" he glanced at the back of Ordo's head, then at her. "It wasn't the Jedi way," he continued in a low voice. "I need to be a better example for you. I will be better. I promise." He leaned his head against her montral and closed his eyes. She could both see and feel his exhaustion. If she was in a better frame of mind, she might have tried to ease it with the Force the way Barriss had shown her once, but as tired as she was she was more inclined to join him in a powernap and let Ordo shout when Sergeant Skirata finally decided to grace them with his presence.

"I'm a little offended you didn't offer to chew my meat for me," she said quietly after a few seconds, making Anakin snort. "No, really. I know I'm not as adorable as Taarak–"

"Oh, don't start–" Anakin laughed softly.

"No, I get it. He's all fresh and squishy and sweet. I'm a dried up old stick compared to him."

"You're sixteen!" Anakin laughed, flaring bright gold with humor.

"And a teen mother," Ahsoka sighed and rubbed her lek on his cheek to cover up the baby's annoying scent mark. "Taarak would never."

"Jealous, jealous, jealous," Anakin teased. He tipped his cup up and drank the melted ice. "You're gonna love him, Snips. He's from the south, like you."

"Oh yeah?" She raised a brow marking and her drink. "What's his clan name?"

"Na'Hane."

Ahsoka spat out her tea.

Anakin stared at her, his aura gone bright gold with humor-shock. "You've heard of it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ahsoka nodded with a grimace. Oh, fierfek, should she tell him or just let him live in blissful ignorance? Poor Taarak didn't deserve to be legally saddled with that clan name. Regardless of how not-miffed she felt about Anakin's clear fondness for the kid, she would have spoken up if she had known that the toddler was Na'Hane. He would never be able to go back to Shili with that–

She clapped a hand over the back of her neck as a shiver went down her spine. Ordo's head turned ever so slightly to the left, then returned to its original position. Over at the game booth, Boba raised a bantha plush that was the size of Artoo over his head and bellowed triumphantly like a Tusken Raider.

"What is it?" Anakin asked, his aura flaring with turquoise concern as she stood and started looking around. It took her a few seconds, but she spotted him; Skirata was sitting alone at a picnic table about twenty meters away, using a spoon to eat a massive, flat donut covered in powdered sugar and had blue custard oozing out of the center. She could just barely see his golden beskar'gam peeking out from underneath a brown leather jacket. His face was well-lined, shaved, and tanned from the sun, and his silver hair was cropped short in the same regulation cut shinies shipped out with.

Taarak's unfortunate clan history would have to wait. "Skirata's here," Ahsoka said softly, nodding in his direction.

Anakin followed her line of sight and his eyes hardened. "Let's go have a chat," he growled, moving to stand.

Ahsoka put a hand on his shoulder. "Master, let me speak to him alone," she said quietly. She wouldn't get the answers she wanted with Anakin glowering and dominating the conversation. "I don't want to give him Ordo right away, and you're the only one capable of keeping him in custody if he actually tries to get loose."

"She's right," Ordo said with a chuckle over his shoulder.

Anakin's aura went a sickly teal with concern-affection-protection but he nodded. "All units return to Lucky's position," he said into his commlink. "Target has been located. I want all eyes on him within the next sixty seconds."

Jesse spun on his heel and stared at her, asking her – or rather begging her – with his eyes to take him with her as protection. She shook her head and looked pointedly at Boba.

A chorus of Sir, yes Sir! overlapped on Anakin's audio. He put a sticky commlink disc on her montral. "Go," he nodded. "I'll watch you from here, but just say the word and I'll come and back you up. Be careful."

Ahsoa walked slowly towards the old Mandalorian while her heart did its best to escape from her chest. She wasn't sure what exactly was making her so nervous; he was just sitting there eating a donut, but he was menacing in a way she couldn't pinpoint. His pale lavender aura was locked down tight around him in a box the same as Ordo, but despite his easy smile and casual veneer, Skirata vibrated with danger in the Force. She felt like she was about to shove her head inside of an akul's mouth.

"Commander Tano," Skirata greeted her with a wide smile and a small double take, like he'd only just noticed her. He wiped his hands on a handkerchief that he tucked into his jacket pocket then offered her a hand to shake.

Ahsoka didn't take her eyes off of his face as she squeezed his hand. His eyes were mild – kind, even – but there was a predatory shrewdness behind them masquerading as pleasantry. It made her want to smack him.

"Grab a spoon and help me out with this," Skirata offered, sitting back down. "Plenty to go around."

Ahsoka let her fangs poke out from under her lips. "I'm a carnivore," she said frostily, taking a seat and crossing her arms. "Where's Boba's beskar'gam?"

"Straight to the point, eh? I told you, it's safe," said Skirata, giving her an up-and-down. Not for the first time that night, Ahsoka wished that she'd thought to stop by the Temple and get a change of clothing before going to the fairgrounds. He dug back into his donut. "I see you brought Ordo."

"You can have him back when Boba has his armor," Ahsoka replied.

"You really think you can hold him?" he asked, smirking a little.

"My Master can," Ahsoka answered, resisting the urge to add by the throat, at least.

"I was surprised to see that Skywalker had tagged along," Skirata said.

Ahsoka cocked her head. "Why wouldn't I?"

Skirata shrugged, took a bite of custard, and pointed at her with his spoon. "Well, you're a tough cookie, no doubt about that. Leading from the front as a Padawan Commander since you were fourteen, ye Manda. We let ours join the battlefield at thirteen, once they've passed their verd'goten, but not on the front lines. Not unless there's no other choice."

"And?" Ahsoka asked. "What does that have to do with my Master?"

"Well, ad'ika, it speaks to a lack of confidence on your part," Skirata shrugged again.

Ahsoka threw her head back and laughed out loud. "Really?" she grinned. "See, Sergeant, if you actually knew me as well as you think you do, you'd realize that bringing my Master speaks to a lack of ego on my part. What I care about is walking away tonight without losing any of my men and getting Boba's armor back, not proving that I have a bigger dick than you. I already know that I do."

She could feel Anakin radiating pride at her through their Force bond. Skirata's eyes changed, something in them cracking like spring ice floating on a river. "Did some research on you after you sprang Boba," Skirata changed the subject, wiping his hands on the handkerchief again before picking up his datapad. "Your service history is one thing – very impressive, by the way – but what I was surprised to see was how extensive your media presence was." The screen was tilted towards him, Ahsoka couldn't see what he was flicking through. "A real darling, you were."

Ahsoka felt something cold start to leak into her chest.

"Ah. This one's cute." Skirata smiled at the screen and flipped it; it was an early holopic from the campaign on Nacime, if she remembered right. She sat on her haunches between Rex and Denal in front of the ruins of a bombed apartment building. She was stapling a gash on the side of Rex's head shut, her tongue sticking out in concentration. Denal had her lightsaber in hand and was using it to light a t'bac stick.

Ahsoka smiled fondly at the holopic. "Denal," she said quietly. "We got in so much trouble for that."

Skirata's smile stayed on his face without reaching his eyes. He flicked through an assortment of propaganda pics taken by the GAR's publicity department; dragging Echo through a hip-deep mud pit back on her first Felucian deployment, perched on Cody's shoulders with a pair of macrobinoculars on Dantooine, following Anakin eagerly into battle with her single saber and her brand-new baby chestplate, arm wrestling with Rex in front of a campfire while a dozen of her brothers egged them both on. "So many of these," he said softly. "Holopic after holopic of you and the boys on… hell, at least twenty different planets. You, Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi… the camera loved you. Then they just stopped. There's nothing after this one. Why's that?" Skirata stopped on the last propaganda picture she'd ever unwittingly posed for; she was wrapped in her oversized brown robe and asleep on Rex's shoulder, both of them leaning up against a munitions crate. Rex's mouth hung open in shock at a small pink songbird that had landed on her propped-up knee.

That was after extracting the royal family on Nylkoor before the Seppies could invade. The Nylkoor mission was a week before her sixteenth birthday; a week before Dol Sylen had kidnapped her and Jesse, taken them to Xior-Cal, then tried to rape her. A week before she'd beaten his face in with a set of to'bevikse until there was nothing left of his head except his teeth and a few bits of brain tissue stuck to the chained sticks.

The spicy bantha meat she'd just eaten threatened to make a second appearance. Sylen had become obsessed with her because of those pics. He'd stalked her on the holonet for months before kidnapping her on the way home from her birthday dinner with Anakin, Padmé and Jesse. After she returned to duty, Anakin had made it very, very clear to the GAR's publicity department that she would never be used for a campaign again, and if he so much as spotted her profile on the edge of a holopic he'd be breaking both the holocam and the fingers of whoever took it.

"Just say the word, Snips," Anakin said quietly through the audio disc, sensing her anxiety. The fireworks booming overhead suddenly reminded her uncomfortably of thunder, of a hurricane strong enough to shake an island like an earthquake.

There is no emotion, there is peace. Ahsoka took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "We both know why," she answered Skirata after steeling herself. "Just stop. I have no interest in playing mind games with you."

Skirata nodded and scrolled again to a paused video. Ijaan Sylen, the only member of Clan Sylen to survive Xior-Cal, stared at her through the screen with hatred burning in his eyes. His long, gray braid had been cut off and he looked like he was in spice withdrawal. The Mandalorian throne room and several royal guards were visible behind him. "Did you see his sentencing?" Skirata asked. "I had to pull some strings to get the vid, but I thought you might want to watch–"

She shuddered at the unexpected eyes of a Sylen and her montrals started ringing like a flash grenade had gone off. "I said stop," Ahsoka snarled, smacking the datapad out of his hands and sending it flying to the ground.

"Say the shabla word, Commander," Jesse snarled.

She took another deep, shaky breath and brought her energy back to heel.

"You should be proud. The Sylens were all demagolkase. They deserved everything they got." He steepled his hands and watched her for a few seconds. "You came here tonight with a very… definite opinion of me."

"You're not doing much to improve it," Ahsoka snapped. Her skin felt like it was too small for her body. Her right lek throbbed where she had crushed the slave chip that Sylen had implanted in her.

Skirata shifted in his seat. "I became aware of you after you wiped out the Sylens, but in my peripheral. I never imagined you would take on Boba as your own."

"Somebody had to," she said bitterly.

Skirata paused. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Why didn't you take him after Geonosis? Or at least break him out of prison?" she asked harshly. "We both know Ord'ika could have done it over a midmeal break, so why didn't you help him?"

Skirata laughed. "Are you suggesting I should have broken the law, jet'ika?" he asked mockingly.

Disgust punched Ahsoka in the gut with a cold fist. Her fangs came out from under her lips instinctively. "What's wrong with you?" she snapped. "I may have been the one to arrest him, but the second I found out he was in supermax I started making plans to get him out. You knew he was there the whole time and you left him. And what happened to him before that, after Geonosis… you just let him drift. Do you know what he went through before prison? Do you care?" She wanted to hit him so badly that her hands trembled with it, but if she made a move, Anakin would be on them both and she knew damn well that Skirata hadn't come here alone. She had no idea how many Nulls were out there.

Skirata shrugged. "He's tough. Jango taught him how to survive. I knew he could handle it."

Ahsoka's vision went red around the edges. "You had no right to decide what he could or couldn't handle! He is a little boy! He watched his dad die, and then the people he tried to find safety with hurt him! What's the real reason, was it too inconvenient to have a kid around who didn't have all of the special snowflake Null skills? Was it because he's Jango's son and not yours, and this was one last way of sticking it to him? Keeping him in fucking prison? You abandoned him at every turn!"

The old Mandalorian didn't flinch. "Calm down before your Master does something stupid, kid," Skirata said softly.

"Or what?" Ahsoka snarled, and slapped her hands down on the table.

Skirata smiled coldly. "You know, the great thing about a carnival is how many vantage points there are," he said, then scooped up a spoonful of custard and held it in the air above his head with his thumb extended to the side. The spoon disappeared with a tiny clink! a second later. Not a single one of the hundreds of civilians that passed by them flinched; Ahsoka glanced upwards at the fireworks and tried not to tremble. A slugthrower used ammunition with the same propellant that was used in fireworks. It was impossible to hear where the shot originated from with the colorful explosions constantly going off overhead, and a bullet would explode into shrapnel if she tried to deflect it with her lightsaber unlike bouncing like a plasma bolt. It was a deliberate choice to use a slugthrower, one that sent a very, very specific message: I'm not afraid to kill a Jedi.

Ahsoka took a very deep, slow breath. There is no emotion, there is peace. All eyes were supposedly on her, and though the boys were doing a good job of staying out of obvious line of sight – with the exception of Sterling, whose foot was sticking out from behind a balloon wall – at least one of them would see her signing to get Boba to cover. She lowered her right hand behind her and rapidly tapped out /BOBA/ in dadita.

"Copy, Commander," Rex growled. "Jesse, Tup, get Boba under a roof immediately."

"You don't think–" Appo started, sounding horrified.

"Copy that," Jesse said grimly. "Come on, kid." She heard Boba's squawking protest and something about not being a fucking baby for fuck's sake over comms as Jesse led him away.

"Why didn't you help him?" she asked again. Frustrated tears burned in the corners of her eyes. "Do you truly care that little?"

Skirata glared at her and his fingers twitched. "I did help him!" he snapped, "I'm the reason he wasn't getting mounted every night, why he wasn't beaten to death the first week he was locked up. Maybe he wasn't having fun, but he was safe in there. I could keep my eye on him and not have to worry about him jumping systems the second I looked away."

"You're a bastard," Ahsoka whispered.

"I am. I am a bastard, but I'm a bastard who can see the bigger picture." Skirata leaned back and crossed his arms, visibly irritated. "Jango and I… we have a history. Had a history. And I've known Boba almost his entire life, but there's just too much bad blood there from Jango for him to trust me. So unfortunately he had to stay in prison, yes, but trust me when I say that it would have been a whole lot worse for that boy had I left him swinging in the wind like you think I did."

"What about before that?" Ahsoka asked heatedly. "Why didn't you do anything for him after Geonosis? Did you even look for him?"

"I had a lot going on at the time, kid," Skirata nearly spat.

"So no." Ahsoka shook her head. Her jaw ached with the desire to bite him. "Unbelievable. Boba was right. You really don't give a shit about anything other than your Nulls."

"Keep telling yourself that, ad'ika," Skirata snapped. "Like I said, Boba was safe in prison because of me. So imagine my surprise when I got the word that a Jedi waltzed into the Chancellor's office, got him a full pardon, and then took custody of him all in a single afternoon. Do you know how much I had to drop to come running back here? You think I would have done that if I didn't, in fact, give a shit?"

"Thank you for rescheduling your assassinations on such short notice," Ahsoka snapped. Her mouth was going cottony with the desire to bite and her lekku were starting to twitch and swell. Every second she sat there knowing there was a slugthrower pointed at either hers or Anakin's head she felt her nerves tie themselves up a little tighter.

Skirata snorted. "You're welcome," he said, shaking his head. "But when I saw that it was the Jedi that had wiped out Clan Sylen, I was intrigued. I could have had him taken that first night you were all snuggled up in the barracks, you know, but I gave you a shot."

"How gracious," she said bitterly. "Not to mention ironic, considering we're apparently the baby-stealers."

"I've been at this a lot longer than you, little girl." He picked up the extra spoon and dug back into his donut. "Let's cut the banthashit. You didn't bring your Master to handle Ordo– well, not just to handle Ordo. We both know that you brought him to protect you. You're scared, you're outmatched, you're in over your head and you know it."

Ahsoka fought to keep her lip from trembling. She was in over her head, damn it, she had known that since the moment she'd walked into the penitentiary and she hated Skirata for saying it out loud.

It'd never stopped her before, though.

"Don't get me wrong, kid. You're no coward, but you're young. Too young to take on a foundling." Skirata's eyes softened and went sympathetic. "I'll take it from here, ad'ika. Boba leaves with me tonight. He'll get his armor back, a safe place to rest his head with three squares, and you go back to being a Jedi and fighting your war. Everyone wins."

Ahsoka knew Boba couldn't stay with her forever; even now, she knew that the 'business' Plo was attending to was dinner with an old Dorin acquaintance of his who happened to be the Headmaster of a boarding school on Coruscant, but even the thought of Boba being taken away from her by a man like Skirata made her limbs seize up in panic, and she fought the urge to hold her breath. "And where are you going to put him this time?" she bit out. "Supermax again? Or will he get a room with a window?"

Skirata shook his head, exasperated. "A two-bedroom on Corellia, actually. He'll have to share a room, but I have a feeling they'll get along."

Something about the way he said it made Ahsoka pause instead of immediately telling him to go kriff himself. "A Mandalorian family?" she asked, her voice a lot steadier than she expected.

Skirata nodded.

Ahsoka bit her lip and thought for a moment. "I need to discuss it with Boba first," she said. "And I want to meet them before he does."

Skirata's spoon paused mid air. "That… might be a problem. They're not very fond of Jedi."

"Too bad," Ahsoka said coldly. "Boba's not staying with anyone I haven't personally checked out."

Skirata chuckled. "Kid, maybe I wasn't clear. I wasn't asking. This is me informing you of what's going to happen."

A feeling smacked Ahsoka on the back of her head, something that screamed wrongwrongwrong like a siren. "Is it now?" The words dripped out of her mouth like mercury, burning her tongue along the way. "Then I hope that your sniper is aiming for my head, because that's the only way I'm letting you take him."

"Ahsoka!" Anakin barked so loud that she heard it in the air and over the comm disc.

"You're not going to kill me, Kal'buir," Ahsoka said, watching the sharp edges of his guarded aura flex like a wiggling plastic sheet. "Not only because you would have done it already, but because even if you do take me out, your sniper isn't fast enough to take out Master Skywalker and all of my men, too. If they have to defend me, they might not kill you. But if they have to avenge me, then there's nowhere you'll be able to hide."

"I'm required to remind you that revenge is not the Jedi way," Anakin said wryly.

"Didn't think that revenge was something Jedi were much interested in," Skirata parroted softly a few moments later.

Rex stepped out from where he'd been watching over her behind the edge of a game booth. One by one, the clones showed that they'd arranged themselves in a wide circle surrounding her and Skirata, surrounding them – him – completely. "Ner vode ne'jetiise," Ahsoka said cooly.

She was pleased to see a flicker of shock dance across Skirata's eyes.

"Listen, kid–" he began.

The feeling of something very, very wrong hadn't left her, and she suddenly was afraid that it had nothing to do with Skirata. "Jesse, come in," Ahsoka spoke over him, turning her head away with a hand to her montral. Her heart began to pound.

"What's up, Commander?" Jesse answered immediately.

"Where are you? Do you see anyone suspicious?" Ahsoka glanced at Skirata, who looked genuinely puzzled. She still put one hand on her lightsaber. If he thought that he could pull the same trick on her twice…

"Drunk tent. Nobody's around, just a few–" Jesse's comms cut off, and seconds later the sound of blaster fire and screaming cut through the obnoxious organ music.

Ahsoka was already up and off the bench, with Anakin dragging a confused Ordo behind him in a sprint to the tent. Rex, Appo, Kix and Cody all converged as they pushed through the crowd streaming towards them, the scent of blood heavy in the night air. What should have been a distance covered in ten seconds took more than thirty because of the stampede; Ahsoka broke through first by pushing forward with the Force, then ripped open the tent flap. Jesse sat on the ground, blood streaming from his neck and quickly going pale, surrounded by a pile of dead Weequays and Niktos with long, ugly knives on the ground near their limp hands. Tup's cheek was gushing, sliced open from his lip to his ear, and he had his finger plugging Jesse's artery.

Ahsoka sank down next to Jesse and fluttered her hands around the gash, unsure of how to hold the sides of his neck together. Kix chucked a wad of sanicloths in her direction. "Keep pressure on it!" he barked.

She pressed down and made desperate eye contact with Jesse over Kix's frantic hands. "You're going to be fine, vod," she reassured him, wiping blood out of his eyes with a soothing smile while trying not to scream. Her heart felt like it might explode from the way it pounded. She pushed her fear away and surrounded Jesse's aura, a weak orange that throbbed in pain, with a warm copper blanket of safety-comfort.

"Stay," she heard Anakin order, then he shoved Ordo in Appo's direction and sank to his knees. He held his hands on either side of Jesse's throat and closed his eyes. "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me," he murmured, sinking into a focused trance.

Ahsoka put a hand on Anakin's shoulder and let calm-focus flow like a river through their bond. Anakin needed to have a clear, centered mind if he was going to save Jesse's life. Her Master had training in basic wound healing as all Jedi did, but he would be the first to admit that his battlefield healing had room for improvement.

And as Ahsoka could attest, if he wasn't focused, his results were less than optimal.

The troopers lined up around them shoulder-to-shoulder in a worried, plastoid wall, their auras all staticky and bright white. Tup's finger was forced out of the artery as Anakin sealed it. The skin and muscles knitted together and Ahsoka finally took a breath once she could no longer see the meat on the inside of Jesse's throat. Anakin lowered his hands and sank back on his heels once the skin had completely closed over, breathing hard like he'd just sprinted the length of The Resolute.

"Well done, General," Kix barked, his hands quickly moving over Jesse to check his vitals and for any other wounds. "He still needs a transfusion as soon as possible. Tup, how're you hanging?"

"Oh, you know," Tup said feebly, like the right side of his face wasn't cut in half. Ridge frowned and pressed his own wad of sanicloths down harder over the gash.

Jesse snatched Ahsoka's bloody hand and held it. "Aurra Sing," he croaked as soon as he could, pale from blood loss and clammy with his own cooling blood and sweat. "It… it was Aurra Sing."

Ahsoka's eyes bulged out. "She's here?" she asked, her voice cracking.

Jesse nodded weakly. "She… she had eight men with her. She dragged Boba off while they jumped us. He shot two before… before she disarmed him." Jesse looked past Ahsoka at something on the ground; she nearly sobbed to see Boba's WESTAR-34 lying next to the stuffed bantha in a puddle of black Nikto blood.

"Last time I checked, Aurra Sing was an ally of his," Skirata remarked, coming up behind Ordo and putting a claiming hand on his shoulder. "Why would she attack like this?"

"I thought you knew everything," Ahsoka snapped at him bitterly. "She's also a predator, and apparently she wants her favorite toy back."

The last ounce of warmth in Skirata's eyes leaked out and was replaced by granite. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked her, quietly seething. The edges of his guarded aura were fit to burst with the rage leaking through.

"Good thing he's tough and could handle it," Ahsoka snapped, taking a very un-Jedi-like pleasure from the guilt that suddenly swamped up in his eyes. She kissed Jesse's forehead before shoving her way past Skirata and out of the tent; he was stable and Kix had moved onto Tup, there was nothing more she could do and she was losing precious time.

Aurra Sing was back, and she had Boba. The worst possible scenario had somehow come to life and she didn't know how the odds could possibly have worked, but Ahsoka would turn herself inside out before she allowed that monster to ever lay a hand on Boba again.

"Men, spread out!" Rex bellowed from behind her. "Do not let Sing leave!" He put his hand on her shoulder. "We will find him, Commander," he said with complete conviction, his aura deep blue-green with determination-focus-protection, but around him was a narrow, staticky line of fear. He was afraid for his little brother. Ahsoka's heart broke at the painful reminder that he didn't even know why.

She couldn't think about it now. She closed her eyes and focused. She tuned out the frantic crowd peering around her to see what had happened in the tent, the noise of the rides and smell of Jesse's blood all over her hands and robes, and looked for her vod'ika in the Force. She knew his aura well enough to pick it out of the terrified tangle of colors overlapping and feeding off of each other in the crowd. He was a survivor; he would be scared but not panicked, rapidly forming a plan of attack and looking for any way out he could take from Aurra.

"Ahsoka?" Anakin asked warily, having followed her. He was sweating and still breathing heavily; without either decades of experience or a natural talent for it, Force healing was as strenuous as a three-hour saber spar.

Ahsoka ignored him and climbed a balloon stand to search the panicked, running crowd for Boba's aura. "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me," she murmured out loud repeatedly as she let her eyes and aura roam across the midway. She flowed between the ankles of panicking civilians, droids, and security guards, disregarding each as she passed. She turned her aura left at the corner down the thoroughfare where hundreds of people walked in complete, blissful ignorance of what was going on in their section of the fairgrounds, and rapidly caught up to a pair of gray leather boots soaked in blood scuffling their way below the beams of a roller coaster.

"Get off of me, you fucking hag!" Boba snarls, trying to wriggle free from the larval-pale hand wrapped around his arm like a vice. There are scratches and cuts all the way up to Aurra's shoulder, and Boba's fingernails are broken and jagged.

She turns and slaps him hard, the sharp crack of a slap echoes off of the beams of the roller coaster she's dragged him underneath. "Keep your fucking voice down or I'll blow it, understand?" Aurra hisses, and holds up a detonator.

Ahsoka gasped and pulled her aura back, then jumped down and turned to Anakin. "She's planted explosives," she whispered in horror. "I have no idea how many or where, but she has a detonator."

Anakin blanched to a bleach-gray unease-shock and swore under his breath. Behind him, Kal Skirata cleared his throat. "General Skywalker, I'd like to offer my boys' assistance in finding those explosives while Commander Tano secures Boba," he said.

Anakin raised his eyebrows at him, then turned to Ahsoka. "You got this?" he confirmed, and she nodded. "Then go. Be quiet, and be careful. Get that detonator away from her first. She will try to use Boba against you, so stay focused and don't let her make you angry." After a second of hesitation he looked at Rex. "Go with her," he ordered him.

Ahsoka nearly fainted with relief, and judging by Rex's vibrant blue aura, he was right there with her. "Yes, Sir," he said, snapping to attention.

Ahsoka turned and sprinted through the crowd, her Captain at her back, praying she wouldn't be too late.

"Get – off – me – bitch!" Boba dug his heels into the gravel like a stubborn orbak and pounded his fist against Aurra's wrist, trying to break the joint.

She backhanded him with a long-fingered hand and made him see stars. "Whiny little shit," she growled, and yanked him forward. "You're more trouble than you're worth."

"Then let me go!" Boba punched her in the liver. Aurra hissed and wrapped her fingers around the back of his neck, then slammed his face into the support beam of the rollercoaster. He fell to the ground refusing to scream, blood streaming from his nose.

"No." Aurra crouched down, all long-limbed and long-toothed like a big white spider under a log. "I told you, Boba, you're mine." She wiped her thumb through the blood coming out of his nose and put it in her mouth with a smirk. "I carved my mark into you. You'll always belong to me, no matter how far apart we are."

Boba spat a clod of bloody spit right in her eyes, his heart pounding. The knife. He'd completely forgotten about the knife in his pocket. Her fucking knife too, the same she'd used to carve her fucking mark.

She hoisted him up by his neck and shoved him up onto a pylon. "Climb," she growled.

Boba let himself go limp. "Fuck you," he snapped again, refusing to help her.

Aurra's lip curled up and she punched him hard in the kidney. "Climb, or I blow your new girlfriend up," she hissed over his wheeze of pain, sounding like a snake.

Boba reluctantly began to climb, cursing under his breath and going as slow as possible. "The fuck we climbing a ride for?" he snapped once they were twice Aurra's height off the ground.

"Tobias is picking us up at the top," Aurra said shortly. "Keep going."

Boba's foot slipped off the cyan-painted metal. "This is ridiculous," he panted, trying not to panic.

"Shut. Up," Aurra screeched at him. "This is happening. Either climb, or I cuff you and carry you. You prefer that?"

"No," Boba said sullenly.

"Then move your ass, you ungrateful little bastard." Aurra scoffed and slapped his ankle. "After everything I did to help you… everything I'm doing right now, you have the gall to act like this. Your daddy should have traded you in for a better model like you said the longnecks wanted him to."

Boba bit down the sob before it could escape. Of course she'd use anything he'd ever confided in her about against him, why wouldn't she? "Yeah, he should've," Boba choked out. "Cause I wouldn't be stuck here with your crazy ass."

Aurra laughed meanly. "You love my crazy ass," she simpered at him from below, then reached up and squeezed his thigh. "You still do. You missed me, didn't you?"

Boba slapped her hand away and almost fell in the process. "Don't!" he said, kicking at her head.

She caught his foot and held it, violence in her eyes. "You know, you'll survive a fall from this height, but you'll never be right again," she said, grinning evilly. Her eyes shone with her need to hurt someone, him, anyone. "Think your pecker will still work if your spine's broken?"

Boba shuddered and started climbing again while Aurra cackled. A brief streak of orange dipped in the corner of his left eye and immediately disappeared. He fought the urge to look, unwilling to draw Aurra's attention if it was what he hoped it was.

"So how'd you survive the crash?" Boba asked, forcing himself to sound as normal as he could.

"Oh, you know me," Aurra purred. "I never know when to stay dead."

"Tell me about it," Boba mumbled to himself. They were almost at the top, and the knife was burning a hole in his pocket. If he thought he could get it out and open it before Aurra could take it away from from, he would have put it in her throat like Jesse–

He choked down a sob. The last thing he saw before Aurra dragged him out of the tent was the last Nikto alive, slicing Jesse's throat in half. He'd thrown himself in front of Boba even though he hated him, all because Ahsoka had asked him to. Maybe he should just go with Aurra instead of trying to fight it. She'd never forgive him for getting her favorite cl– no, her best friend killed.

Boba pulled himself over the edge and his hand hovered over his pocket. He could stab Aurra right in the eye and shove her off, and then afterwards Ahsoka would probably give him to Kal and say good riddance. He was a fuckup who got everyone killed, even when he was just trying to win a fucking stuffed animal for her. It didn't matter, why try to fight it? Aurra would at least keep him from dying, and he could probably get away from her at a pit stop without too much trouble if he let her do what she wanted on the way.

A flash of orange darted across the right side of his vision around the bend of the neon cyan-magenta rollercoaster chassis. "Are we gonna get hit?" Boba asked Aurra warily as she clawed her way over the edge.

"It's out of order," Aurra rolled her eyes and slapped him on the back of the head. "Obviously. So you finally accept it? That your little experiment on the up-and-up side of things was a colossal failure?"

It hadn't been. He hadn't done anything wrong except for fucking exist, which he already knew was a mistake from the start. "Yeah," he forced out, and let his hand drift away from his pocket. "I shouldn't… I shouldn't've been such a pain. I'm sorry, Aurra."

"Oh, Boba." He closed his eyes and tried not to shudder as her long fingers wrapped around his neck. She crouched down behind him and licked a long, wet stripe along his bloody jaw before turning his head and kissing him.

His hand drifted to his pocket again. His breathing sped up and so did his heart, and not in the good way, not the way she tried to tell him was a good thing, it wasn't fucking right and Dad would have killed her for it–

The detonator in Aurra's loose hand was yanked away, flying through the air into an orange one. "Dalgaan," Ahsoka growled in two octaves, standing upright with her fist in the air. Her lekku had swollen up and started wiggling like snakes, and the one in the rear thumped against her back like a drum. She was covered in blood, her fangs were completely bared, and she fucking roared at Aurra like a raxshir as she crushed the detonator with one hand. "I will destroy you," Ahsoka snarled, drawing her sabers.

"I had a feeling you would be here, tailhead," Aurra grinned at her, pulling a cylinder Boba didn't recognize from her belt. "I brought this, just in case. It's been a while since I had to use it, but I think the occasion calls."

Boba gasped at the orange light blade that erupted from either side of the cylinder. "A lightsaber?" he asked faintly, backing up on his hands.

Aurra threw a smirk over her shoulder. "Didn't I tell you that I was raised as a Jedi?" she cooed at him mockingly, then shrugged. "Ah well. Surprise."

Ahsoka brought her longer saber up by her face and her shorter one in a reverse grip in front of her. "You won't find any complaints from me," she said, her bloodied lip curling.

Aurra lunged. Ahsoka parried it and sliced across Aurra's waist, nearly cutting her in half. Boba kept backing up, desperate to stay out of the way, and jumped a foot in the air when his hand touched a plastoid hand. Tiarek hauled himself over the edge, breathing heavily. "You alright?" he asked Boba, raising his voice to be heard over the sound of lightsabers clashing. His eyebrows went up. "A lightsaber?" he asked in disbelief, then shook his head and drew his deeces.

The narrow track meant that any shot Tiarek missed might hit Ahsoka. He aimed for Aurra's feet, driving them both towards a sharp bend that had a dropoff right behind it. Ahsoka caught one side of Aurra's blade in a crossed guard, kicked Aurra so hard in the crotch that Boba heard something pop from where he was, then cut the double-sided laser sword in half. One side went flying off the edge, but the wheezing Aurra managed to keep hold of the other. She pushed behind her at Tiarek with an open palm and a snarl, sending him skidding backwards. He spun his hands and tipped over the edge.

"No!" Ahsoka and Boba both cried out at the same time; Ahsoka reached out with her powers to catch him but was immediately forced to block Aurra's swing. Boba lunged for Tiarek and got his fingers around his belt just as he started to fall. He yanked him forward almost too hard and pulled them both down to a heap on the track.

"You okay?" Boba wheezed, pushing his brother off of him.

"Am I–" Tiarek laughed in disbelief, already firing at Aurra again. "Yes, Bo'ika, I'm okay. Good job." He fired a volley at Aurra's lower half and finally hit her skinny leg right below the knee. Aurra collapsed, howled, then dodged Ahsoka's strike and rolled towards them with her saber above her head.

Boba pulled the knife from his pocket, unflipped the corkscrew blade, and buried it deep in her guts as she came to a kneeling stop with the mutilated laser high above her head, ready to strike. It deactivated and fell to the track with a clunk. "Boba," she whispered accusingly, falling backwards. She landed hard on her ass and looked at her abdomen, more confused than anything. "Boba, why… why would you choose her?" she asked. Bright red blood bubbled up from her lips.

"Because she's not a fucking dickhead," Boba said, then spat at Aurra.

"I… I…" Aurra looked around desperately for the getaway that was obviously not coming. "I surrender!" she said frantically, then put her hands up. Blood dripped down her chin and stained her teeth red. "I surrender. Y-You're a Jedi, you can't kill an unarmed prisoner who is surrendering to you."

"She can't," Tiarek snarled, raising his blasters.

Ahsoka put a hand up to stay Tiarek's fire. "If you shoot her from this range it'll look like an execution," she said coldly, staring down at Aurra without an atom of pity in her eyes. She slowly raised a fist in the air, then extended her thumb out to the side.

Aurra grinned with what she thought was victory and started to cackle, then the side of her head blew out in an explosion of bloody chunks like a dead aiwha that had been floating in the sun. Her corpse slumped to the side and slid off the edge of the roller coaster without a sound.

Boba leaned over and stared at her crumpled body wordlessly. That… that was it? Just like that, Aurra was gone?

Ahsoka put her sabers on her belt and slowly crossed the distance between them. She sank down across from him onto her knees. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly, reaching out a hand.

Boba swallowed hard and stared at it. It was covered in dried blood. He knew there could only be one source. "I'm sorry," he whispered after what felt like an eternity of silence. "About… about Jesse, I'm… I… I'm so sorry. I promise, I didn't mean for any of this to happen–"

Ahsoka's mouth opened in a surprised little o. "Jesse's alive," she interrupted with a watery smile, "Tup too. They're okay, vod'ika, we got there in time."

Boba shuddered. "He's alive?" he whispered, his eyes burning with tears that refused to fall.

Ahsoka nodded. Her own tears fell freely and left streaks in the dried blood on her face. She rolled back to sit cross-legged and opened her arms in an invitation; Boba dove into her lap and realized for the first time why she kept doing that. She was giving him the choice. She was letting him decide if he wanted to be touched.

"They're okay?" Boba asked Ahsoka's neck, trying not to shake and failing. "They– he didn't–"

"I swear Jesse's okay." Ahsoka rubbed a firm circle on his back. "I would never, ever lie to you about that. He's okay."

Boba took a deep shuddering breath, trying not to cry again, and thought that he might actually hold it together until Tiarek's arms wrapped around the two of them and crushed them both against his plastoid chest. Ahsoka's chest vibrated so hard in a purr that he could barely hear himself bawling like a baby, but for the first time, he wasn't embarrassed about it. "I swear, it's like I never left Shili with the way you mother me," Ahsoka growled at Kix with no real venom.

"Yeah, yeah." He dabbed at a nick on her chin with an alcohol swab, then looked down his nose at Boba. "Well, the bone's fine but you're going to have a nice set of shiners," he informed him, tilting Boba's chin up with a finger. "Bacta gel won't help since it's from your nose, not your eyes. That's just where the blood pools."

Boba shrugged and rested his head against Tiarek's chest. "I don't really give a shit."

"I do," Ahsoka said wryly, looking him up and down. "I feel like I'm going to get the Bureau of Youngling Protection called on me if we go out to dinner now."

Boba snickered. The ambulance door swung open and Skywalker heaved his oversized ass into the brightly-lit vehicle, squeezed by to sit between Ahsoka and the wall, then held up a large, brown paper bag with handles. "Guess what I got," he deadpanned.

Ahsoka eyed the bag warily. "I'm afraid to, considering that you said you were meeting the coroner to take care of Sing's body," she said with a raised brow marking.

"Yeah, for like five minutes. Now guess." Skywalker gently shook the bag at her with a shifty little grin.

Ahsoka's stomach rumbled. "Please say food," she said hopefully.

"So much food." Skywalker started rifling through it. "I want you to thank me right now, because I'm the best Master ever."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and snorted, then froze. "Do I smell–" she whispered.

"Raw kybuck backstrap?" Skywalker tugged out a small polystyrene container that had something red dripping from the side. "Yes, you do."

"Master!" Ahsoka squealed happily in a pitch that could break glass; the entire ambulance winced.

"Don't worry, boys, ours is cooked. And I got some sides." Skywalker yanked a handful of fried tato rings out from the bag and shoved a handful in his mouth.

"Don't mean to keep you all from dinner, but, ah–" Boba almost knocked himself out on Tiarek's chin, jumping as he did at the sound of Kal Skirata's voice. He met the old man's eyes; they were older than he remembered. "Su'cuy gar, Bob'ika," he said to Boba quietly. "Ni ceta. Ni ru'nibra gar."

Boba swallowed hard and nodded, looking at his knees. He felt Tiarek's arms tighten around him.

"Where is his armor, Sergeant?" Ahsoka asked calmly, pushing Kix's hands away from her face. Her hand went down to her belt where her lightsaber hung.

Kal smiled and looked at Boba. "I sent it to your mother," he said gently.

Boba blinked for a few seconds, and it wasn't until Tiarek gently jostled him that he realized that he wasn't breathing. "She… she's alive?" Boba whispered. "But–"

"I expect that you have a lot of questions, and while I'd love to answer them for her, I think it's a chat the two of you need to have face-to-face," Kal continued. "But Cassus is also with her. They both made it out. They've been in hiding, and I expect you'll discover the reason why fairly quickly."

Ahsoka crossed the ambulance and went to her knees in front of Boba. "Just breathe, vod'ika," she murmured, lacing their fingers together.

Boba nodded wordlessly, his eyes burning with tears that he was afraid to let Kal see.

"You knew about Kaisa, didn't you," Kal stated more than asked, watching Ahsoka closely.

Ahsoka met his eyes without blinking. "Yes," she said calmly. "Why would you send the armor to her?"

"Well, as his widow, technically it goes to her until his children come of age," Kal said with a glance at Boba.

Children. Children. Boba clenched his fists so tight that he felt his nails cut into his palms. Cassus was the oldest of the three of them; technically, it belonged to him unless he passed on it, which Boba couldn't imagine happening.

He couldn't imagine that he was fucking alive until a few seconds ago either, though.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Ahsoka asked coldly.

Kal shrugged. "You know, my old man used to say that if you want to see what color a man's blood is, then you back him into a corner first. I needed to see who you really were. Not the jetii, the ori'vod."

Ahsoka slipped an arm protectively over Boba's shoulders. "And what color's mine?" she asked, her voice dripping with disdain.

Kal smiled. "Red as can be, ad'ika, not a trace of yellow to be found." His eyes flicked over to Tiarek. "I'll forward you her coordinates. Be prepared for a fight when you land. She really doesn't care for Jedi, and if I warn her you're coming, she'll disappear and I'll never hear from her again." Kal gave Ahsoka a final once-over before his eyes flicked to Tiarek again – and was that regret he saw in his eyes? – and finally rested on Boba. "Take care of yourself, little man," he said, quiet and sad, then turned. "You too, Reks'ika," he added over his shoulder, bridging the chasm that existed between the two names for the briefest of seconds.

Kix closed the ambulance door, and Skywalker's eyes darted between Ahsoka and Boba. "So, was anyone going to tell me that Boba had a mom and wasn't a clone, or was I supposed to just wait until I overheard it from a random Mandalorian?" he finally asked the silent cab.

Notes:

MANDO'A TRANSLATIONS Jet'ika: little Jedi/Padawan Ad/Ad'ika: Kid/Little kid (fond) Vod: brother To'bevikse: Mando nunchaku Ner vode ne'jetiise: my brothers are not Jedi Su'cuy gar: A greeting, but lit. 'You Are Alive' Ni ceta. Ni ru'nibra gar: I'm sorry (ultra grovel version). I failed you.   OTHER NOTES Say it with me everybody: death sticks = space crack, they are not cigarettes. Elan Sleazebaggano is not out there risking his life every night for you to think he is slinging tobacco in the club Also Anakin (all Jedi actually) canonically knows Force healing, it's in the comics 🤪 You didn't think I was actually going to let the pedo live, right? (I officially have the hc that Tobias' story about pushing Aurra off a ledge and it being the fall that killed her is from him seeing her body fall off the coaster and him nyooming tf out of there, later taking credit for her death because he can lol)

Taglist: @starwarsficnetwork, @soliloquy-of-nemo Dividers: @saradika-graphics

#star wars #star wars fanfic #tivaevae #lamaenthel #ahsoka tano #boba fett #captain rex #plo koon #commander wolffe #arc trooper fives #arc trooper jesse #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #tcw #clone troopers #starwarsficnetwork #star wars tcw #mandalorian #jedi #my writing #dngg

[sarcastic-sketches]

Force of Nature

In other news, have another AU because mixing Feral!Anakin and Amnesiac!Anakin is really fun.

If you’ve ever watched Genndy Tartakovskys ‘Primal’ series, know that I want that as a planet in Star Wars. Absolutely horrifying, feral planet, and everything is kill or be killed. Now I want Anakin to crash land on said planet, forget everything about who he was and rely heavily on the half of him that's made of the Force in order to survive. Then the 501st find him.

Can’t decide if I want this world to start similarly to my Bounty Hunter AU or to have him go missing somewhere just at the start of the Clone Wars. Maybe just before? Padawan Anakin gets especially fucked off with something Obi-Wan has said or critised him for and so he just jumps in a ship and blasts it through hyperspace to get as far away as possible to cool off before he goes back. He just wants some damn space (ha). Instead, he encounters a particularly hostile planet at the end of his random hyperspace jump and crashes.

The crash gives him amnesia and he comes to with no sense of identity, alone on an incredibly predatory driven planet. Which may or may not be cursed. Given his clear need for survival he leans hard into the half of him that's made of the Force rather than the half of him that’s Human. Even if he doesn’t know that’s what he’s doing. Everything he learns and does is entirely instinctual.

Obi-Wan doesn’t hear from him again. Not until he meets him as an adult on a planet that's been trying to eat him for 4 years and his former padawan has no idea what a Jedi is. Yes, actually this is far more painful than Obi-Wan having only met him briefly as a kid, this has the potential for extreme angst in the face of ludicrous shenanigans. My favourite.

#force of nature #sw #sw au #star wars #star wars au #feral!anakin