The Tragic Jedi | Anakin Skywalker

𝓢𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓮 𝟕𝟒

❈✱❉✤❈✱❉

Astrid lifted the trap door up, and light spilled downwards into the room, temporarily blinding her. Astrid blinked as she peered up through the opened trap door. Grasping the lip of the trap door, she hauled herself upwards with a grunt. She felt hands grasping underneath her arms, helping her up, and within moments, Astrid was standing on her feet. Astrid looked up to see her mother standing in front of her with Sarra just behind her.

"They're really after you, Astrid," her sister spoke worriedly.

Astrid merely threw her arms around the two of them as relief surged through her. "I thought they were about to kill you," she said, her voice cracking. "I would've exposed myself to save you."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't," her mother said shortly, but not unkindly as Astrid drew away. "It would've been more trouble if you'd exposed yourself to save us when Lord Vader ordered us to not be harmed."

"Yeah, I wonder what that was about," Sarra murmured as the three of them made their way to the living room. "That's quite unusual for the Supreme Commander to be merciful."

Astrid couldn't help but agree. Darth Vader must not want to disrupt the local population too much. It probably would've been "too much of a hassle" if he'd killed her family.

Astrid remained standing as Sarra and their mother sank down onto the cushions of their couch. As she gazed at them, she realized how much she'd already disrupted their lives in the span of the one and half days she'd been here with them. She'd put them in danger. They'd almost gotten killed trying to protect her.

Astrid couldn't stand the thought of putting them at any more risk, so she began reluctantly, "Well, I should go now. I don't want to put you in any more unnecessary danger."

The two of them both startled at her words, and her mother said, "No, stay here. You'll be safer here," at the same time Sarra asked, "What are you going to do now then?"

"I'll go back to Alderaan and tell Senator Organa and Mon Mothma what I learned in the time I was separated from my friends," Astrid told them. "And from there, I am not sure what I will do." She paused before adding, "I'm sure it's safe enough to leave now that Lord Vader has checked this house, and it's been a couple of days since the invasion of the base."

The two of them both wore sad looks on their faces, and Astrid's heart torn into two at the sight. She didn't want to leave her family. Truly. But she knew she had to leave. It wasn't as if there was anything for her to do here that was, well, possible to do. That base was indestructible, and she couldn't risk entering it again. The base security was probably on high alert.

Sarra rose to her feet and gave Astrid a hug, and a moment later, their mother joined them. When they broke apart, Astrid whispered, "I'll see you later," and then she gave them one last smile before she headed to the door.

It turned out flying out of Scarif was surprisingly easily. It appeared her and her friends' narrow escape had created chaos in the Imperial military ranks on Scarif, so their military security checkpoints were too disorganized to stop Astrid as she escaped the planet on her TIE fighter. But maybe it was the fact that she flew a TIE fighter that allowed her to leave the planet so easily. The military security checkpoints must have automatically assumed she was a part of the Imperial military and, therefore, didn't need to be stopped.