Unexpected

chapter forty-four: hope

Elara keeps her head down as she walks the lively halls of the Senate building. She gave up trying to fight back her tears, which have been consistently flowing down her cheeks since she heard the news, not caring anymore who sees or what they'll say.

All this time she thought she was fighting for the right side, for the good side, but now she sees that there is truly no good left in the galaxy. The only thing she's managed to accomplish in her time here was losing everyone she ever loved, and she can't stand for it anymore—she won't.

The commotion around her turns to dull buzzing as her anger builds. Elara zones in on the door to her quarters and clenches her jaw as she practically smashes the control panel when punching in the code.

Once she's in the safety of her quarters, her built-up anger is quickly released as she throws things around the room. Glass shatters, wood splinters, papers scatter, and clothes drop to the floor as she rampages through her belongings.

Her eyes land on a glint as she's pulling things out of a drawer and she freezes. Elara takes a deep breath as she wraps her hand around the slim detonator that Galen had somehow gotten to her back on Akiva. Her thumb hovers over the button as her hand begins to shake and her bottom lip begins to quiver. She relaxes her grip on the object and falls to the ground, her anger suppressing into sadness once again, as tears resume falling from her eyes.

Elara's sobs mask the sound of her window creaking open. It's not until a thud vibrates against the floorboards that her head lifts from her fetal position to glance around the room.

A faint whisper causes her to furrow her eyebrows as her sobs lessen to uneven breathing accompanied by sniffles, and she pushes herself to her feet. She rounds her bed frame to find a body lain across the floor as if hiding. The man lifts his head to reveal his pained expression, along with the distinctive tattoo on his right temple and Elara's heart jumps.

"Fives?!" She cries, crouching beside and helping him off of his stomach. "Oh my stars, what.. How.. Rex, he.. He said.." She begins to ramble as her tears return.

"I'm here, cyar'ika." Fives assures her, gently wiping her tears away.

Elara wraps her arms around him and squeezes the air out of him. Fives tries to hold in his groan but fails, leading to Elara quickly pulling away. Her eyes land on the blast going through the plastoid armor and widen.

"Help me get this off." He winces as he struggles with the shiny armor.

Elara moves closer to pull the armor off of him and tosses it into a corner. She turns back to him to find a metal plate covering his chest and furrows her eyebrows.

"Beskar." Fives knocks on the metal chestplate. "Like it?"

"If it's the reason you're sitting in front of me, then yes, I love it." She caresses his face with one hand as silent tears still travel down her face.

Fives pulls the rest of his armor off, along with the stolen beskar, and throws it into the pile.

"I still don't understand how all of this happened. The last I heard, you were on Kamino about to remove some sort of chip?" Elara says, pulling the blanket over Fives as they sit on the bed. She sniffles softly as she takes deep breaths to calm her racing heart.

A long sigh leaves his lips. "It doesn't matter. He'll do anything to keep this under wraps."

"Who?" Elara asks.

"The Chancellor." He admits. "He's involved in some sort of Separtist plot. That chip I told you about, the one we removed from Tup's head, every last clone has a similar chip in their head that allows someone to control them." He explains.

Elara clenches her jaw. "I knew it. I knew something was off about him, I told you!" She clenches her fists. "We need to tell someone."

"I already tried, and look where it got me." Fives points, looking down at his hands.

"He won't get away with this." She mutters.

Fives feels how tense Elara is beside him and looks up to find her seething with anger. He wants to stick it to the Chancellor just as much as she does, if not more, but he knows from experience that they won't even get close enough to try. The way he sees it, they only have one option.

"Cyare." He speaks up, earning her undivided attention. "Run away with me."

Elara's eyes widen a bit at his proposal.

"I don't belong to the GAR anymore, I'm not a soldier." He says. "You can resign and.. And we can find somewhere peaceful to live, in a neutral system." He suggests.

"Fives.." She speaks. "I.. I don't know if I can. I.." Her mind spins. She knows the system is corrupt, that her prediction of democracy's downfall is a very near reality, so why does she still feel like she needs to be here? "What about Kix and Jesse?" She looks up at him. "What about Rex?"

"What about them?" Fives asks, still bitter at how his own brothers betrayed him.

"If those chips will be used against them, don't you think we should at least try to save them too?" Elara asks.

Fives looks away from her. "Like I said, I've already tried. There's nothing more we can do."

Elara takes in the sight of the vulnerable man beside her and her heart clenches. A few minutes ago she was sobbing over his death and now here he is, sitting beside her. She'd be damned if she gave up her second chance at a life with him.

"Alright." She breaks the silence. "We'll leave just before sunrise when everyone asleep."

Fives looks up at her, slightly surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, really." She smiles softly at him.

Fives grins widely and smashes his lips to hers in a long-awaited kiss. "Have I told you that I love you?"

Elara blushes. "You might've mentioned it."