Clairvoyance

Chapter 37

A/N: I will have another update out next month, which should be more regular and back to weekly :) So that being said, take this for right now and I'll see you in October! Thanks for understanding! And please let me know what you think!

Carbonite, Lexa had decided, was her least favorite thing in the known galaxy. Getting into somewhere undetected was one thing, but getting completely frozen along with several top level Jedi and Clones in order to rescue some important intel from Master Piell was another thing.

The Citadel was something that had long been in the back of Lexa's mind. She had this irrational fear as a young Padawan that one day, one of her visions would get her locked up there. There was no logic to it, no context for such a thought, but it was something that plagued her.

Now though—it would have been more than fair if it had been used to imprison her. In fact, it was more of a surprise than anything else that she hadn't ended up there. It would have been the best holding cell for her. Impenetrable. Or so the Confederacy thought.

Upon being released from the Carbonite, Lexa found herself inhaling sharply and straightening out. She moved forward slightly, eyes still bleary as she blinked and took in her surroundings.

"Hey Snips," Anakin murmured.

Almost immediately, Lexa's features curled into a small smile. "So you took my advice."

Anakin whirled on the woman, frustration coursing through his veins. "Seriously?!" He demanded, staring at her with wide eyes. "You helped Ahsoka get here?"

"Help is a strong word. She was going to get here on her own either way." Lexa retorted in a firm tone, crossing her arms. He may have been much taller than her but if there was one thing she knew about Anakin Skywalker, he didn't enjoy her glares.

"I must have carbon sickness," Obi-Wan blinked a few times. "Ahsoka—"

"Now before either of you get too mad," Ahsoka started in slight annoyance. "I received official orders to join the team."

"Lexa doesn't count." Anakin deadpanned.

"Not from me." Lexa cut in innocently.

"Then who?"

"I discussed it with Master Plo," Ahsoka answered.

"He didn't tell me!"

"You were already in carbonite."

"Well I gave you a specific order not to come!"

"If there's one thing I learned from you, Master, it's that following direct orders isn't always the best way to solve a problem." Ahsoka said in a diplomatic tone.

Lexa let out a slight vindicated sigh. "And this is why you're my favorite. Stick with me, 'Soka."

Obi-Wan watched as Lexa and Ahsoka began to converse quietly. "I see your new teaching method is do as I say, not as I do," he murmured to Anakin.

In the low heat of the planet, the group started off towards the Citadel. It was dark here, with an eerie gold and green magma that decorated the lower valleys of the planet. There was a humid sort of heat that wafted through the air.

Lexa felt an odd sort of melancholy in her chest as she marched along the pathway. With the members of the 501st and the 212th there with them, she acutely felt the loss of her own Hyperion Squadron and each of the members that should have been there. That should still be here.

But they weren't. And the only reason was that they were collateral damage in some sick quest to heighten the Morellian reach. In some sick effort to help the Sith Lord along his quest of subjugating Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side.

What seemed like hours later, the Citadel loomed in the distance. Anakin knelt to the ground, pulling out his holoculars from his pack. "I see the entry point."

Cody glanced to the side at Lexa. "You were right, General. The wind conditions are too strong for jetpacks."

"Old fashioned it is." Lexa stretched her arms up above her head and glanced to the side. "Think you can keep up, old man?"

Obi-Wan scoffed. "I'm not that much older than you."

Still, she smirked. Before she could even make another comment, Anakin had shook his head. "There's nowhere to put a grappling hook at that height. If we hit one of those, then the mission's over." Anakin gestured at the sensors along the cliff-face.

"Like I said, the old fashioned way." Lexa stated.

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Surprisingly enough, free-climbing came rather easily to Lexa. Master Xerxi's rather unorthodox methods of teaching and training had prepared her for such endeavors—and though she was rusty, the skills remained.

Lexa and Obi-Wan brought up the lead, followed shortly by Anakin and the others. Lexa found herself slightly surprised by Obi-Wan, who seemed much more prepared for this than anyone else.

"Did you used to just...free-climb for fun, or something?" Lexa mumbled, carefully placing her feet into the next stephold.

"No," Obi-Wan answered with a slight chuckle. "I'm just competitive." Glancing down at the others, he called down to them. "The entry point is just a few meters away!"

Lexa made a gesture with her head and she and Obi-Wan split up. Obi-Wan went to the left and she went to the right, both climbing and holding onto the landing platform. There was a slight shift in the Force and she and Obi-Wan froze, waiting for the droids to retreat back inside.

It only took a few more seconds for the droids to retreat inside. "They locked the doors and they're ray shielded." Obi-Wan called down to the others.

"That wasn't part of the plan!" Anakin called.

"So we adapt!" Lexa insisted.

"There's an opening up there!" Ahsoka pointed upwards.

"Ventilation ducts—they're too small for us to gain access!" Anakin retorted.

"Too small for you, maybe, but I think I can squeeze through!" Ahsoka insisted.

"And the cards all fall into line." Lexa murmured pointedly. "Just be careful!" She advised the young Padawan.

Moments later, the group all stood atop the landing platform thanks to Ahsoka's handiwork. No sooner had they gotten up that one of the Clones slipped and fell—immediately triggering one of the emergency response alerts.

"Well...they know we're here." Obi-Wan grimaced.

The alarms blared loudly as they crept the halls on high alert. They couldn't risk another thing going wrong at this point. Either they got Master Piell and the soldier out with the information, or the mission would be a failure.

"Take out their surveillance!" Anakin commanded.

Captain Rex didn't waste a moment. Almost immediately after he took out the cameras, bolts began firing at them from either side of the hallway. Lexa's blue sabers were already drawn and she parried and blocked expertly, as if she had never spent time away from the war effort.

But it was the smallest thing that got to her. It was the sound of a blast colliding with a piece of armor that nearly shocked her to the core and sent something cold sprawling through the Force. Because standing there in the midst of the blaster-fire, Lexa didn't feel like a Jedi Knight or some decorated war General.

She just felt like a scared little girl.

She couldn't help it.

She felt as though she were drowning. Thoughts all frozen and jumbled together, lightsabers heavy in her hand and unable to even swallow a breath.

But she wasn't given time to freeze. No, Lexa was tugged on her arm by Obi-Wan, who seemed to have sensed what was going on. And she was certain she was going to hear about it later—but they didn't have time for that. Not here and certainly not now.

"Lexa—"

"We have to keep moving. I know." Lexa let out a heavy breath, sheathing her sabers.