Clairvoyance

Chapter 29

Lexa was in fact, wrong. Her day could and did get worse. Now, standing in a locked down bunker with Anakin's padawan and the 501st and having been exposed to the Blue Shadow Virus, she was sure that the universe wanted her dead or something.

For a moment, she shifted her weight. Being the adult in the situation, being the General—it certainly sucked.

"Alright men, no use in panicking. We all know Anakin is stubborn as kriff, so I'm sure he'll have this handled in no time." Lexa insisted in a pointed tone.

"She's right! We're not dead yet!" Ahsoka insisted.

Lexa's eyes washed over Ahsoka—how she was being so calm right now was insane to her. She remembered being 14 and on her first mission—Ahsoka had been thrown into a literal warzone and had been handling things with grace and dignity of those years above her.

Turning to Ahsoka, she caught the younger girl by the arm. "Have we heard from Padme?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure she'll check in soon." Ahsoka said, voice dying off at the end. Both her and Lexa's attention had been caught by two of the Clone Troopers who had their helmets removed earlier. They were coughing now.

"Okay, okay...symptom onset is quick. Because it's airborne, it might differ. But we have...48 hours? Max." Lexa murmured, trying to remember everything she had learned about the plague back during her days in the library.

"Great," Ahsoka murmured.

Sensing that the negativity wasn't helping the situation, Lexa moved into a sitting position. "Just sit down. No use in standing when we won't have energy for that soon enough." Lexa advised.

Silence was thick in the room, almost as thick as the air.

Ahsoka sank into a sitting position and positioned herself next to Lexa. She remembered long afternoons of lightsaber training and advice from the woman. "Long day, huh, Master Verace?"

Lexa let out a weak laugh. "I see Anakin has imparted his sense of humor to you. You've been busy."

"That's mildly putting it." Ahsoka smiled softly. "So have you though."

"Always." Lexa replied. "And the training?"

"When I actually get a chance outside of war experience, it's going well enough." Ahsoka murmured. "It didn't prepare me for anything like this though."

For a moment, Lexa was pensive. "Training is just that. It prepares us, but we don't know what we'll face until those moments come."

"That's wise."

"You will be wise and strong. And a wonderful Jedi Master one day," Lexa insisted, taking the young girl's hand in hers.

Ahsoka felt the burns and nearly gasped. "Master, you're hurt—"

"Oh I'm fine. Or at least, I will be, soon enough." Lexa said lightly. "I've had worse."

Ahsoka thought for a moment, gaze set on the floor. "I heard you fought your Master before. Is...is that true?"

"Yes." Lexa said quietly. "And that was much worse."

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With Padme securely at Lexa's side, she should have felt somewhat better. Instead, with the thin blue veins running up and down her arms and legs, Lexa felt like she had failed. She hadn't foreseen this. Hadn't even considered that this is how she would go down.

And to take Padme and Ahsoka with her—unforgivable.

She needed to find a way to make them well. To get them out of there.

Men laying coughing and dying—breathing in just barely and breathing out only to die. And they hadn't even experienced life. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

Padme wiped at one of the men's foreheads, dabbing at the fever sweat. "What a waste." She murmured.

"With all due respect, Senator, it's what these men were born to do." Captain Rex said, helping one of his men lay down.

"No," Lexa murmured from her place on the ground. "No that's kriffing stupid."

"General—"

"No, life—life is not just about existing and dying for a purpose. Life is meant to be learned how to live." Lexa said, looking at him with wide eyes. "And I wish you could see that."

"That's a Jedi philosophy—"

"No it's a me philosophy." Lexa replied. "You are more than this."

"We won't be until this war is over."

"Then until then, every sacrifice that is made brings us a step closer to peace. But they have lives. They have names. And they will not be forgotten." Lexa said sternly.

"I believe..." Ahsoka trailed off and Lexa narrowly managed to catch the girl, lowering her to the ground.

No, no, no, no, no, no—

Not her, not Ahsoka. What would Xaedra do? What would Xaedra do?

Holding the 14 year old girl in her arms, Lexa felt sick to her stomach and this went beyond the virus. Ahsoka was a child. She knew what Xaedra would do. She would take the darkness and use it. Twist things.

But Lexa was good. And she was light. And while she still had breath in her body, she would lend it to Ahsoka.

She held the girl's hand tightly, feeling energy seep out of her own being and into Ahsoka. The transferrence of energy was one that sometimes happened on the battlefield, but she had no idea if it would even work.

"What are you doing?" Captain Rex's voice was soft and concerned as he stared at the young unconscious padawan.

"Giving her some of my energy. I give some to my men, when they can't go anymore."

"Won't that kill you faster?" Rex asked sharply.

"If it does, then at least I bought her time. I take it and I bear things so others do not have to."

As Rex stared at the compassionate Jedi, he thought, for just a moment, he was beginning to understand why Skywalker liked Lexicla Verace so much.

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Lexa felt highly delirious as she was carried onto a shuttle, stopping for just a moment near Anakin and Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan just let out a sigh. "Lexicla—"

"Full usage of name. Am I in trouble with the Council?" Lexa murmured, a half-sleepy smile on her face.

"No, but—"

"You are with me." Anakin said pointedly. "You could've died."

"But I didn't." Lexa said warmly, eyes focusing in on him again. "Did you know you have a slight hint of—"

"Green in my eyes? So you've said. Twice." Anakin said, beaming at her. "You're so out of it right now."

"Which also means she won't remember any of this." Obi-Wan added.

"Stop hiding your pretty face—"

And with that, Lexicla Verace was taken aboard the ship. Obi-Wan just shook his head at her words. "She and Padme tend to attract trouble."

"I'm starting to think it's an us thing." Anakin said, referencing the four of them.

"Perhaps you're right. Hopefully Ahsoka will have better luck in the future."