I CHOOSE YOU: star wars¹

thirty-two

Maeve, Cordalia, Astrid, and Zarina stood side by side with handcuffs around their wrists for publicity seeing as the Senate knew of their allegiance to the Separatists and not to the Republic and not of their endeavors in the spy ring for the Republic. A large group of Separatists were there to greet the Chancellor when he arrived. "Are you coming, Master?"

"Oh, no. I'm not brave enough for politics." Obi-Wan smiled slightly. "I have to report to the council. Besides, these four will give me enough trouble on their own. And someone needs to be the poster boy."

"Hold on. This whole operation was your idea." Anakin interrupted his old Master.

"Let us not forget, Anakinx that you rescued me from the buzz droids. And you killed Count Dooku, and you resched the Chancellor, carrying me unconscious on your back."

"All because of your training." Anakin praised the older man who glanced at the Assassins.

"Anakin, let's be fair. Today you were the hero, and you deserve your glorious day with the politicians." Obi-Wan smirked at the Jedi Knight.

"All right. But you owe me one, and not for saving your skin for the tenth time." Anakin smirked knowingly.

"Ninth time. That business on Cato Neimoda doesn't- doesn't count." Obi-Wan stepped back onto the ship.

"Anakin, will you do me a favor and check on Rena for me? She should be with Zelena or Padmé." Astrid asked the young man.

"Of course, Astrid. You and I are still friends even if you did punch me in the face at the opera." Astrid smirked knowingly at the boy.

"Go on now. Our fate rests in the Chancellor's hands. Do what you can do." Maeve smiled at the boy, but it quickly faded when she saw Corvus in the crowd behind them.

"I'll see you at the briefing." Obi-Wan told Anakin as he shut the door with a small thud.

Astrid and Cordalia locked eyes once more. "Are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what?" Cordalia looked at her sister. "That Arya and Amalia left with Grievous to Utapau and that he has a daughter, and that all of you are married and most have a child?" Astrid looked at her sister's yellow eyes in shock.

"It's getting worse again, isn't it?" Cordalia scoffed as she stood alongside Maeve.

"When is it ever not getting worse?" Cordalia sighed heavily looking out across the skyline of Coruscant. "I fear that whatever this is may worsen and it will eventually consume me." She glanced over to where Obi-Wan stood and then looked at her sister. "That is what I fear."
******

Zelena stood in the shadows awaiting Anakin's return. She smiled slightly when he spotted her. She watched as he excused himself from the company of Senator Organa and walked briskly towards her. She moved behind a pillar and he launched himself at her into an embrace. Anakin swung his wife around with a smile. Anakin brought her into a desperate kiss with a blissful sigh.

"Oh, Anakin." Zelena murmured into his neck.

"I've missed you, Zelena." Zelena sighed happily as she let herself out of his warm embrace.

"There were whispers that you'd been killed." Zelena looked at him with concern.

"I'm all right." Anakin reassured her with a smile. "It feels like we've been apart for a lifetime. And it might have been, if the Chancellor hadn't been kidnapped. I don't think they would have ever brought us back from the Outer Rim seiges." Anakin desperately attempted to kiss his wife, but Zelena gently stopped him.

"Wait. Not here."

"Yes, here." Anakin protested quietly. "I'm- I'm tired of all this deception. I don't care if they know we're married."

"Anakin," Zelena chided the Jedi with a frown. "Don't say things like that." Anakin brought her into another embrace except this time Zelena was trembling.

Anakin pulled back from her slightly, hands still on her shoulders. "Are you all right? You're trembling. What's going on?"

Zelena swallowed as she prepared herself to discuss what had been truly wrong with her. "Something wonderful has happened. Ani, I'm pregnant." A smile broke out on Anakin's face as he digested this news.

"That's-" Zelena searched his face for what he truly thought. "Well that's won- that's wonderful."

"What are we gonna do?" Zelena asked fearfully looking up at Anakin.

"We're not gonna worry about anything right now, all right?" Anakin caressed her shoulders with his hands gently to ease her nerves. "This is a happy moment. The happiest moment of my life." The two met in an embrace one filled with love and joy, that was sealed with a kiss just as their marriage had been.
******

Arya and Amalia exited the ship with General Grievous who was wheezing and coughing the entire way. The general opened up a commlink between Utapau and Coruscant for Lord Sidious. "Yes, Lord Sidious?" General Grevious bowed in respect while Arya and Amalia stood looking at the hologram.

"General Grievous, I suggest you move the Separatist leaders to Mustafar." The hologram told the General.

"It will be done, my lord." The general bowed again causing the Assassins to roll their eyes.

"The end of the war is near, General."

"But the loss of Count Dooku-" Arya began

"His death was a necessary loss." Lord Sidious drawled causing the remaining Assassins to look at each other. "Soon, the Sith Knight will arise and I will have a new apprentice- one far younger and more powerful." Arya and Amalia looked at each other and turned off the transmission.

"He's going to awaken Cordalia's darkness. We cannot let that happen. She must go back to Naboo where she'll be safe and where she'll have peace." Amalia told the younger girl.

"This has gotten out of hand. Now, there are three of them." Arya laughed causing Amalia to do the same. "We must go to Coruscant."

"But if we are found-"

"Then, we will be. And they don't know what we did in those three years." Arya smirked at her mother figure before walking off to secure them a ship. "Hop in. We're going to Coruscant."