「 star-crossed ⭒ anakin skywalker 」

chapter fifteen

"Alright, what's the problem? We're missing dinner," Anakin shouted the moment we stepped out of the elevator.

"We're not sure yet, sir," said Cody. "But there's—"

The high-pitched beeping of Anakin's astromech rang out, the droid whom I've heard many heroic stories about— R2-D2 is quite the asset, and friend, according to Ahsoka.

"Woah woah, slow down, buddy," Anakin patted the top of R2 to calm him. "Use your scanners. Together we'll find whatever's the matter."

The little droid flipped on his headlight and led us into the depths of the dark room; it appeared to be some sort of storage bay, filled with enormous crates that towered over our heads.

It was almost pitch black, so when R2 stopped suddenly, it took a few moments for me to see it. One of the mysterious crates was open, the inside completely empty.

"You think someone could've stolen the contents of this box?" asked Rex, with noticeable unease in his voice.

"Or maybe it got up and walked away," I suggested, hoping to all the stars that I was wrong.

Anakin turned around to face the squad of clones and I. "Fan out, everybody. Vienna and I will follow R2 to see if he can pick up anything. Report immediately if something happens."

"I have a bad feeling about this," I said as I began to follow the impatient astromech, who was already halfway around the corner.

The two of us jogged to catch up, venturing further into the darkness.

And at the end of the hall, to our surprise and relief, R2 shined his light on Redeye, the clone trooper that we had lost contact with earlier.

"Ah, there you are," Anakin said. "The boys and I were so worried."

He spoke too soon.

Redeye's limp body was hurled across the hall, forcing us to duck out of the way.
A large, spider-like droid emerged from the shadows, its dozens of glowing eyes fixed on Anakin and I.

We ignited our lightsabers just in time for the droid to launch itself toward us. The blue blades slashed at its legs, but clearly didn't do enough damage. The droid only grew angrier as it stumbled back, throwing several small crates across the room, knocking us both off our feet.

I landed with a thud, my head hitting the hard chest plate of Anakin's battle armor. I groaned in pain as I struggled to push myself up onto my arms.

"So you like being on top, huh?" Anakin said, looking up at me with that stupid smirk.

That's what he decides to say in a situation like this? Sometimes I wish I knew what in the hell goes on in that man's brain— second thought, no maybe I don't.

"Well you'll never live to find out if you don't focus and help me kill this blasted thing!" I warned sarcastically, whipping my head around to see, not to my surprise, that the droid was winding up for another attack. Leave it to Anakin to be a distraction and nearly get us killed— again.

Not having enough strength to get up off the ground in time, I reached for my lightsaber attached to my belt, but the sound of blaster fire stopped me.

Captain Rex, Commander Cody, and the rest of our clone squad blasted the droid to bits until they were sure its red, glowing eyes were dark and it lied motionless.

"Were you two planning on getting up and helping anytime soon?" Rex rolled his eyes and laughed.

I let out a small chuckle in response as I tried to balance myself, which was quite the struggle— maybe the Council was right about my wound needing more time to heal.
Anakin seemed to take notice and placed his hands gently on my hips, guiding me with him as he stood up off the ground.

I gave him a small, slightly awkward smile, as he searched my eyes to make sure I was okay. Only when I nodded to assure him that I was, did his hands release their grip on my waist. It was then that I realized I'd been holding my breath.

"You alright, Commander?" Rex asked, his hazel eyes flooded with concern.

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine," I said, "Thank you."

I can't stop feeling guilty that Anakin has to keep watching out for me like this. I was the one that begged him to bring me on this mission after all, even though he was probably right that I wasn't quite ready.

But I was grateful that he didn't make a big deal out of it, like everyone else has been. If there was one thing in this galaxy that boiled my blood, it was being treated like I was weak, like I wasn't capable of handling myself. And Anakin seemed to know that.

I soon snapped out of my thoughts when the eerily familiar clanking echoed from behind us. All of our heads whipped around in time to see a second droid pry the doors of the lift open with its creepy, spider-like legs.

We sprinted to catch it, but the droid was already too far gone. Anakin huffed, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

My mother. It's headed straight for her.

As if he read my mind like he always seemed to do, Anakin quickly spoke into his comm-link. "Obi-Wan, there's assassin probe droids down here. One made it up the lift. We'll try to hold the others here."

"Quickly, secure the lifts," we could heard him command to the guards.

"He's going to need help," I said, sizing up the empty elevator shaft. I would climb up it myself if it meant saving Satine from her fate in my nightmares.

"Obi-Wan can handle it. What we need is to take out the rest of these things down here," Anakin assured me.

"Who knows how many there are," Rex added.

"But you saw how easily it took down the both of us, Anakin. We can't just let it kill the Duchess. I won't let it."

"I understand, Vienna, but you need to trust that he'll keep her safe until we get there. And as soon as we find who's behind all this, we can help them," Anakin said

I lightly sighed and nodded my head— it wasn't that I didn't understand, but it's just that I can't get my visions out of my head. Every time I close my eyes, the flashes of pain and darkness nearly consume me, the feelings replaying over and over on an endless, torturous loop.

And every time I go against my feelings, my worst fear comes true.

But this time I was here, listening to the premonition's warnings.

And I wasn't here to fail.