Afterglow II | The Clone Wars

Worse for Wear

"I promise you we're almost there." Ava vowed over her shoulder, her small body sandwiched between the walls of the narrow, durasteel walls of the ventilation shaft.

"Yeah, you've said that. Four times." Dakota paused, catching a shaky breath. Sweat poured from her brow, slicked her palms. She hated to admit it with every fiber of her being, but maybe she was too big for this.

The shaft network toyed with her mind, seeming to stretch for kilometers, and the Jedi had long since stopped trying to remember the twists and turns. Ava crawled ahead with the complete and utter confidence that only a teenager could have in a dire situation.

Every movement made her battered leg whine in protest. The exposed servos in her damaged hand clicked and sparked against the metal ductwork as she dragged herself forward, inch by inch. At one point, she paused, putting her forehead to the cold floor. "Kid, I'm—"

"There!" Ava pointed ahead. A square of pale light shone through the vent grate. "We're here."

The Jedi didn't need to search for Mace's echoing command in that moment, she already knew it. Keep going. Keep moving.

Ava turned in the tight space and planted both boots against the metal, kicking once, twice, thrice. The grate burst outward with a loud metallic clang and crashed into the corridor below, earning a flinch from the Jedi.

Without hesitation, Ava wriggled through the opening. "Aah—!" She disappeared, falling. A second later, she called. "I'm okay!"

Dakota closed her eyes. Utterly hopeless child. Slowly, she eased herself toward the opening and peered down. The corridor below was empty, except for Ava and for one armored clone waiting directly beneath the vent. Captain Rex looked up, meeting her eyes expectantly.

Relief washed across his face so quickly it almost hurt to witness. He stepped closer, already reaching upward. "I've got you."

Dakota nodded once. She lowered herself carefully through the opening. For one heartbeat, she thought she had it. Then her damaged leg gave out and the world tilted. She fell, straight into awaiting arms. He caught her effortlessly, one arm circling her waist, the other bracing her shoulders before she could hit the deck.

Dakota didn't even try to steady herself in his embrace. The last reserves of stubbornness she'd been running on dissolved the moment she felt familiar armor beneath her trembling hands. She leaned into him, forehead coming to rest against the curve of his pauldron. Despite the grime and grit of this place, his smell alone eased her.

Rex's hand instinctively spread across the middle of her back, holding her upright, tight. He didn't care that Ava was standing three feet away watching. Didn't care who saw. He didn't care about anything except the fact that she was alive and in his arms.

His voice came quietly. "Please tell me you're all right."

Dakota managed the smallest smile against his shoulder, her fingers pressing into his armored chest. "Anything is better than Geonosis."

He eased her back just enough to look at her, his stomach knotted at the sight of missing cybernetic fingers. His jaw tightened at the torn housings where they had been ripped away, and his anger burned just as brightly as the burns crawling beneath her metal plating.