#yes he did meet original yoda

[marvelstars]

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon

"Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan disagree about using what one would call in mythological terms "the guide" . One believes in the guide, the other one doesn´t . When you are walking down the street and the are beggars on the street , one character takes the beggar along and the other one says "Why are you doing this, this is not a wise thing to do" The other one says "Yes but beggars can be useful to us" It´s a classic mythological motif but at the same time it´s conflict.

The characters have to grow so what happens is that eventually the character who is agaisn´t doing this has the obligation trasnferred to them.

In this case we have Qui-Gon, the mentor who takes on Anakin and the Padawan who thinks this is a bad idea so we have got a dynamic between these two Jedi, at the end of the film Obi-Wan takes on the obligation to train Anakin, one he can´t really fulfill because it´s over his head. His inability to train this kid properly turns Anakin into Darth Vader and drives the rest of the stories. Not only does he lets his mentor down but it plays into the collapse of the Republic. This is why he feels the obligation to try to rectify the situation with Luke.

George Lucas on Qui- Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi in STAR WARS ARCHIVES, the making of the phantom menace.

Obi-Wan truly wasn´t meant to be Anakin´s master not because Qui-Gon was a lot better but because he simply didn´t have the empathy to understand the kids needs at the age he started training him, he also thought he could train Anakin as well as other Jedi like Yoda but he was wrong because his perspective was wrong from the beggining.

He saw Anakin as a burden at first, then as someone dangerous because the Jedi Council believed him to be dangerous and later as an obligation but he didn´t see the value in Anakin as himself, separated from the chosen one prophecy or Qui-Gon´s promise so he could not train him as a master would to help him guide him towards a good development and this is the origin of Obi-Wan´s guilt towards Anakin´s fall to the darkside and later why he tries to correct this by sending Luke to train with Yoda so he would be able to kill his father.

I wish fandom could understand this part of Obi-Wan´s character because it´s an essential part of the story, ObiWan isn´t a bad jedi in fact he is one of the best but being good in something doesn´t mean you can be good teaching it which was the case with Obi-Wan.

In Anakin´s case he had a really strong foundation towards goodness from his mother but once he went to the Jedi Council and was rejected, he needed someone who could care for him in a way he understood this wasn´t the end of the world and that his value as a person wasn´t compromised for this rejection and the choice was his on how he would grow up like Shmi and Qui-Gon did but Obi-Wan could not be this for him because his faith in the jedi order is first and he would always take the council side over Anakin, be it when he was 9 or in later years, we also see him doing this with Ahsoka in the clone wars and imo this was why their relationship, while did grow and change and had real love, was going to end badly even without Palpatine´s grooming. Without Palpatine I see them growing distant unless they confronted the origin of their problems.

In short I believe Obi-Wan is someone who believes in the need of the many overcome the needs of the few while Qui-Gon/Shmi/Anakin when he trained Ahsoka are like: Attending, caring for the needs of the one can help us sustain the needs of the many, because if we just support the needs of the abstract many over the few real individuals we meet, we are going to end failing everybody.

[dapurinthos]

more of the glass abyss:

SO THE REPUBLIC DOESN'T HAVE LAWS AGAINST CANNIBALISM THAT'S NICE.

('the flesh of sapient creatures was considered a great delicacy' on more than one world that mace windu has visited. 'frowned upon' but 'no law to stop out out [on] the rim', says the glass abyss. 'those damn tarkins and their fucking european colonial rule congo free state i mean their "carrion plateau"', squint i.)

t'ra saa is back! and n'kata del gormo, yoda's own master. not as the sole teachers of mace and yoda, respectively, but as teachers, still (i headcanon t'ra as cyslin myr's master, so it's t'ra > cyslin > mace). there's no gender assigned to t'ra here (that's me in the corner, making claws at the air, going 'why does a TREE have MAMMARIES?' @ legends)

metagos is definitely an interesting planet. not only is it crystal, but the radiation from the solar pulse that cooked the surface has caused some of the animals and plants to transform. it has its own special, see-through duraslug.

me, hearing there are worm-spiders: oh. great. (this was not great)

good thing this is a book not visual media.

the sa'ad: spiderworm-tending matriarchal silk-weaver culture. thank you for having a textile-prominent culture, steven barnes, though, uh, the whole 'they lived in peace and harmony with the world before the evil upper dwellers invaded' is giving me 'peaceful matriarchy until the stinky patriarchal indo-europeans obviously invaded' vibes.

'one of mace's hobbies was speculating on the origins of life from one planet to another' mace windu, evolutionary anthropologist ~sorry, sentientologist as sw says~ (should be sophologist, really, since anthro is greek and both sapient and sentient are latin)

once again, steven, i must talk with you about comparisons. saying that the floating palace has a 'series of personal chambers that rivalled those of the jedi temple: living quarters, libraries, kitchens, [...] the master bedroom suite [...]' implies that that the 'personal' chambers of this floating palace and the jedi temple are of a similar state and size.

'the mayor, a weak-chinned human named mignon fat' that is A NAME.

'qui-gon favoured precise and extended strokes, keeping enemies at a distance' why hello there, dooku's teaching.

STAR WARS HAS PANSPERMIA THEORIES. this is great. i love universe-building like this. the force must make doing science SO COMPLICATED. have you really figured out which combination of minerals makes that pea plant grow the best or are you accidentally using the living force to make it look like that's the best one?

there's a bit in here about mace attending military meetings over the years so i'm choosing to believe this is not just about the stark hyperspace war but ALSO about the yinchorri uprising.

we have a BIRTHDATE for mace windu: 7905.355, which puts his birthday as 04.20, if my way of doing the crc (judicial 10-month) is correct (which it is. once scum & villainy accepts that it made a typo that puts half of its years off by 1). i leave this without comment.

there is a lot in here about how much choice the jedi have to make that choice, since it's as a very small child (usually). mace's people on haruun kal have a lovely ceremony in which they put him on a blanket, with a fruit in one corner, a pyramid-shaped jigsaw puzzle that can be reconfigured, and an empty lightsaber hilt (borrowed from visiting jedi who had come because they were looking for community and sustenance because the force led them to baby mace windu) because they cannot decide his fate for him, he must.

it's all tied up in the dreams that mace is having (being sent) about his own infancy and the ability to choose (and choosing without realizing what was being chosen). (i did suspect where his dreams were originating and i was right)

'he knew more than he had said but was having trouble accessing it' hi yes that's it. that's how my brain works when it's having trouble.

during his evaluations, mace lets anakin fight him. HE RESPECTS THIS BOY. also, official confirmation that they knew about the slave chip and got it out. how many years since tpm has fandom been fighting over this? all of them.

PRAKITH LAVA CAKE. and did you get that recipe from darth andeddu himself?

of course everything tumbles along and there are two factions controlling the city, one by two people joined together, chulok: aka chu and lok, a farakai and a rodian, respectively. the farakai are a new species and apparently able to connect through a muscle, bone, and nervous system bridge between shoulders that connects them to another person (like a dyad but for non-force-sensitives?) and sybil, who is bigger than a hut and has many, many children who do her bidding. the conflict is inevitable and there's a seeding about 'under-dwellers', which of course are kept away from the population by ancient gates, have grasping tentacles, and generally have a dread cthulhu-esque vibe.

of course, they must be unleashed. and it's not just UNLEASH THE KRAKEN.

oh no

it's UNLEASH THE HORDE OF FUNGUS ZOMBIES THAT CANNOT BE KILLED IN ANY WAY THAT MATTERS BECAUSE THEY, TOO, ARE CONTROLLED BY THE PLANET

because the planet is alive and all linked in a web.

and the worm-spiders are the original inhabitants and are hooked into it, as well. and can instruct the zombie mushroom army.

so there's a zombie mushroom army. mace is just '... hm. are they all related somehow?' and i can HEAR him trying to draw evolutionary trees in his head.

'may the web be with you.'

alderaanian roses don't have thorns but have extrusions shaped like thumbs? sorry alderaan but that's the worst rose.

[iwannawritelots]

Heartbeat: Squish

Originally written April-May 2023

AO3 - I usually post here first!

Part 2

Human AU Masterlist

Characters Active: Solomon (14), Asmodeus (14)

Trigger/content warnings: none

Headcanons/notes from the author: I love writing about these dorks… -3-

Brief Blurb: Solomon meets Asmodeus for the first time in high school.

Taglist (feel free to ask to be added): @graveswrites

Solomon stared off into nothing, not knowing how approach anyone. He was often written off as the strange kid, and it seemed like high school wouldn’t change that very much. Everyone else knew each other already. He snapped his attention to the door when it loudly opened, and the thought he instantly had upon seeing the person coming through would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Damn, they’re tall as fuck.

He watched them sit down, not really realizing the entire time. Their backpack was bedazzled with jewels and pins. The skirt and high heels they wore complimented each other well. When the teacher called for attention, Solomon’s face flushed bright red. He finally registered that he had indeed been staring — at someone he didn’t even know! — for at least five minutes.

The teacher welcomed everyone and began to have students stand one by one to introduce themselves. When she began to call out last names starting with “M”, the tall person Solomon had stared at stood up. “I’m Asmodeus Morningstar.” They took a deep breath, smiled, then continued, “My pronouns are they/them today. I moved here with my siblings about five summers ago…” Asmodeus curled their hair around their finger, then uncurled it. “If I were an animal, I would be a bunny.”

Without another word, they sat down. Of all animals, a bunny? Solomon stared at his hands. What kind of animal was everyone else saying? Wait, what was he going to say?

Wait! They said they/them pronouns!

Solomon fumbled with his hands. He never wanted to be friends with someone so badly in his life. Another trans person, and someone who dressed so cool, and shared an interest with him!

Once introductions were over, the teacher told them to partner up. Solomon scrambled to Asmodeus. “Hi, Asmodeus.”

They flashed their beautiful grin at him. “Hello Solomon.” They hummed and inspected their nails for a moment. “Are you wanting to be partners?”

“Ah, yes.” Solomon nodded and grinned. “If that’s alright with you, of course.”

“I see no issue with it.” Asmodeus took the paper the teacher was passing out when she walked by. “We’re supposed to ask each other the questions on this list, it looks like.” They frowned at the bottom of the paper. “Some of these are going to show the ugly side of me.”

Solomon brought his hand to his chin. Having heard this, his anxiety simmered down a bit. “Oh? Whatever could be the ugly side of you?”

“Well… ‘something that bothers you’ is one of them.” Asmodeus gazed at Solomon for a moment, then set the paper down on their lap. “I suppose we’ll start with that one.”

“Okay.” Solomon raised an eyebrow. “What’s something that bothers you, then?”

Humming for a moment, Asmodeus stared off. “I guess… sand.”

Solomon snorted. “Sand?”

“Yeah. It’s coarse, and rough, and it gets everywhere.”

A fit of giggles erupted from Solomon, and he quickly covered his mouth in attempt to muffle it. “D-Did you just… reference Star Wars?”

“You have a Yoda keychain on your backpack. I thought you’d appreciate it.” Asmodeus bit their lip to stifle an obnoxious laugh, but it didn’t cover up the way they were beaming. “Plus… sand actually does all of those things and I hate it. Anakin has a point, y’know?”

Solomon nodded, unable to stop giggling. Maybe they wanted to be friends, too…

reblog divider story divider

[writingforfun0714]

Ok spoilers for the Bad Batch S2!!

So the new trailer has been out for a few days now and I’m surprised I haven’t seen a lot of talk about Cody. Like, yes, I’ve seen theories related to what will happen to Cody, but I’m specifically talking about Cody’s new armor.

In CW, Cody wore the traditional white and yellow/gold of the 212th. In the trailer, he wears white and gray armor. The only time we’ve seen an armor color change was the 104th (Wolffe and the Wolffepack). Master Plo Koon lost most of his original battalion during the Malevolence arc (in S1). They used to wear a rusty brown accented color but after that arc, they are shown to wear gray (in honor of those that died).

So what does that mean for Cody and his new armor? Is it gray just cuz the GAR is gone/disappearing or did something happen to the rest of the 212th?? They better leave the clone boys alone I swear. Filoni, you wanna mess someone up, use your new storm troopers—but leave the clones alone.

I don’t know anything about Legends/EU but do the clones keep their color after O66? I know the remaining 501st (those that stormed the Temple—not those w/ Ahsoka/Rex), after O66, is referred to as ‘Vader’s Fist’ or something. Do they still wear the blue of the 501st or do they wear gray like Cody in the new trailer?

Anyways, I was just curious about Cody’s armor. I hadn’t seen it mentioned (sorry if I missed something) so I figured I’d bring it up.

As for what’ll happen to Cody, I obviously hope he survives. Just cuz Filoni had plans for a Rex vs Cody thing/thought Cody would die doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll die this season. SW is pretty well-known for having characters disappear into hiding (Yoda, Obi-wan, Ahsoka, Cal, Ventress etc). SW also has brought back characters assumed to be dead like Gregor and Echo.

I’ve seen a few popular theories going around:

1: Cody’s gonna hunt down CF99 and Rex is gonna have to protect them by killing Cody.

2: Cody’s gonna hunt down CF99 w/ Crosshair and want to kill them. Crosshair, obviously not wanting his bros to die, will kill Cody himself.

3: Cody’s gonna have his ‘questioning moment’ like Rex did w/ Ahsoka during O66 (him hesitating and telling her to find Fives) and protect CF99 from the Empire/swarms of storm troopers, sacrificing himself.

What I’d like to see happen:

Cody and Crosshair hunt down CF99+Rex. The big group splits into 2–Crosshair+batchers and Rex/Echo/Cody. Crosshair has a convo w/ Hunter, Wrecker and Tech about the Empire while Rex+Echo talk w/ Cody, definitely bringing up Obiwan/Anakin/Ahsoka. Rex gets Cody to doubt himself/his loyalties to the Empire, but worries there’s nowhere to go/run. But it just so happens that Rex knows a certain senator (Bail Organa) that’s been helping remaining Jedi/clones/people still loyal to the Republic. Rex puts Bail in touch w/ Cody. Bail mentions a certain general on Tatooine and Cody starts crying cuz he thought he killed Obi and Rex and Cody HUG (like tight gripping/crying all of it). Cody’s relieved Obi’s still alive, but immediately thinks about Rex and Anakin and asks about General Skywalker and comforts Rex when he tells Cody ‘only Commander Tano survived’ or something (at this point not even Ahsoka knows Vader=Anakin, she doesn’t find out until Rebels).

Anyways, the episode/story would end and Crosshair decides to go off on his own (not w/ the Empire or w/ CF99–think Boba/Ventress in later seasons) and Cody (who gets his chip removed) decides to go w/ Rex to meet up w/ Bail (I imagine they would have talked through a communication device/hologram or something). Bail sets Cody up w/ a small ship that��s nondescript and ready to go to Tatooine. The last shot is of Cody’s ship heading towards a beige/tan planet w/ 2 suns with Cody’s voice saying ‘I’ll find you’ referring to Obi or something.

I also loved the idea that Dex (the diner owner from AotC) knows some of the 212th boys since he’s good friends w/ Obi and Cody walks in one day acting different (still chipped). Dex gets all suspicious and whacks Cody w/ a frying pan (think Rapunzel/Flynn from Tangled) and that messes w/ the chip (cuz Wrecker hit his head and made it worse). Cody gets it taken out and thanks Dex for helping and tells him if he sees any more clones, to ‘help them out’ so any time a clone comes in, Dex just smacks the shit out of them with a frying pan. Obviously this is more comedic/not really serious, but I saw that post going around and loved the idea. I loved that Obiwan had friends outside the Jedi/clones.

[owkse]

Little Kyber

Chapter 2

‘Always Master Qui Gon, goodbye Obi, I hope to see you soon’ you waved goodbye before wondering back into the temple, unaware that would be the last time you would see the older Master before they departed for Naboo.

…………………………………………………………………………….

10 Years Later

…………………………………………………………………………….

‘Ah Y/N, how did your first assignment go?’ asked Plo Koon as he found you signing the paperwork for you returned ship in the hanger.

‘It went well Master, I was able to come to a non-violent resolution, there was only so much I could do, so I simply helped them make their own choices’ you said bowing quick to your now former Master.

‘Excellent, now I need you to come with me to the council meeting I’m heading to’ said Plo Koon, smirking as you groaned.

‘Master I was really hoping I could just go and freshen up, not be thrown into another assignment after six weeks’ you whined slightly as you trailed after Plo Koon.

‘Come along’ chuckled Plo Koon, leading you up to the council room.

‘Wait here, you’ll be joined by two others’ said Plo Koon.

With a sigh you leant against the side wall, closing your eyes drifting into the force lightly just so you could rest up even just a little bit.

‘Anakin, Senator Amidala will be just fine, be mindful of your thoughts, we will take guidance from the council before anything else’ came a voice you hadn’t heard in so long.

‘I know Master, it’s just that’s two attempts in twelve hours alone, I just want to know who is behind this and why’ came a frustrated reply.

‘Anakin, be careful of your anger’ warned the familiar voice.

‘Yes Master’

‘Oh hello, I didn’t realise we had company’

‘Hello Obi’ you spoke softly opening your eyes taking in the now young man before you.

‘Y/N, oh my, look at you, a knight now I see’ grinned Obi Wan at you, strolling to you and embracing you making you giggle.

‘I passed my trials three months ago, I’ve missed you, I was sorry to hear about Master Qui Gon’ you said breaking the embrace.

‘No need to be sorry, he is with the force now, I’m just sorry we lost contact… who took you as a Padawan in the end?’ queried Obi Wan.

‘Master Plo Koon, I didn’t know he was looking for another to teach so soon’ you shrugged beaming still to have been reunited with your old friend.

‘I can’t believe you’re a knight already, I’m so proud of you’ grinned Obi Wan ruffling your hair.

‘Obi’ you grumbled good naturally.

Glancing over Obi Wan’s shoulder for the first time you studied the person whose force signature that originally been filled with anger was now projecting frustration.

‘Oh where are my manners, Anakin Skywalker, meet Y/N Y/L/N, I’ve known her since she was a Youngling’ beamed Obi Wan.

‘Oh hi, you must be the one Master Qui Gon found… it’s nice to meet you’ you said reaching your hand out to shake.

‘You to, how long have you been a Knight for?’ Asked Anakin shaking your hand.

‘Oh only around three months now, so tell me Anakin have you been keeping Obi out of trouble? He has a knack for finding it’ you said smirking as Obi Wan rolled his eyes.

‘I try, he doesn’t make it very easy’ smirked Anakin.

‘Yes thank you Y/N’ huffed Obi Wan making you giggle.

‘I want all the stories Anakin’ you said ignoring the man.

‘Oh I’m only…’ started Anakin.

‘Not another word Anakin’ huffed Obi Wan, making you laugh joyfully.

‘They are ready for you now’ said the announcement stood before any more teasing could befall the older Jedi.

Stepping back, Obi Wan waved you ahead of himself and Anakin. Entering the room, you gave your customary bow to the Grand Masters, then stood respectfully in the centre along with Anakin and Obi Wan who mimicked your movements.

‘Disturbing this is, not feeling the attack we did not’ said Yoda.

‘Y/N you will help Master Kenobi in finding out who is behind this plot’ said Plo Koon.

‘Yes Master, I sense the darkness is shrouding this though’ you said shivering slightly when you reached out, the council members feeling it also when you projected to them.

‘It is much stronger than we first thought’ said Windu, if it effected him, it didn’t show.

‘You will have to be careful, unsure of where this will lead the force is’ said Yoda.

‘And what of the Senator she will still need protecting’ said Obi Wan, shooting you curious glances out the corner of his eye.

‘Anakin, you will escort the the Senator back to Naboo’ said Windu.

‘Yes Master, however as leader of the opposition it will be very hard to get the Senator to leave voluntarily’ said Anakin.

‘Speak with the chancellor, she won’t ignore a direct order’ said Plo Koon.

‘Yes Master’ said Anakin with a bow of his head.

‘Good, go to the chancellor now, then we can get you off the planet as refugees’ said Windu.

‘Yes Master’ said Anakin bowing then leaving.

‘Start you should with the dart’ said Yoda.

‘Yes Master’ nodded Obi Wan, with that you and Obi Wan began to make your way towards the analysis station.

‘What dart did you recover Obi?’ You asked as you walked.

‘This, I’ve never come across one before’ said Obi Wan.

‘It’s… it’s surrounded by greyness in the force, it’s sinister almost’ you said stopping as you walked floating the dart in front of your eyes, as you slipped into the force.

‘What do you mean? Can you use the force to analyse objects?’ asked Obi Wan curiously.

‘And lifeforms, I thought you knew, it was how I always knew what you were feeling when I was little, only I didn’t realise that was what I was doing’ you shrugged, holding your hand out, letting the dart fall into your palm.

‘Can you show me? I mean about the dart’ asked Obi Wan making you beam nodding.

‘Sure, come with me, we can do it in the room while they look at the dart’ you smiled leading the way this time to the analysis droids.

Handing the dart through the slot, watching the dart in the window, you and Obi Wan sat side by side, carefully you projected what you felt surrounding the dart.

‘That feeling…’ said Obi Wan.

‘Makes you shudder’ you whispered watching the dart turn slowly in front of the glass.

‘We’ll figure it out little kyber’ said Obi Wan, branching out his signature to yours letting you entwine with it.

Little did you know, the bond that had started to bloom when you were little, began to fuse together like the perfect pieces of a kyber crystal.

[obiwanobi]

Catch me thinking about sith Anakin who got in a fight w/ Palps (did Palps cross a line? Did Anakin decide he had nothing to lose? Idk), barely managed to win and is now seriously hurting and a little freaked out winding up outside Obi-wan's quarters and Obi-wan doesn't have time to draw his saber let alone figure out how a sith lord managed to get so far into the jedi temple unnoticed and Force is that blood? before Anakin's passing out with only a murmered request for help.

LISTEN you can’t keep sending me perfect prompts, how do you know I can’t resist bloody men on their knees begging for salvation, how do you know me so well??? anyway here’s 2.3k of always-a-sith!Anakin who could have been the new ruler of the empire but said ‘no thanks, this is too much responsibility, I would like to be pampered by my favourite jedi now’ (with a bit of Ahsoka as Obi-Wan’s padawan!)

 He didn’t mean to kill him.

Well, not at first.

He didn’t mean to kill Sidious, but pulling his lightsaber from his lifeless corpse only felt like complete satisfaction. A weight on his shoulders he didn't know he carried disappeared, letting him stand up above the body of his master— former master, and gaze upon what was left of him. A shapeless form on the ground. A dark cape around an old man playing at being a god. A begging mess of futile promises when he realised it was the end for him.  

As mindless fury leaves him, his ragged breathing slows down and his fist unclenches around his saber. Sidious is dead. Now that the adrenaline rush is gone, his knees start shaking. His Master is dead. His face is wet with sweat and blood and tears. Dead and now Anakin has no one.

And then...  And then fear.

"You know," Ahsoka groans as the water starts boiling, "I don't understand how you got your reputation of Cool Jedi Master. Other padawans think I'm lying when I tell them you wear the ugliest slippers at home and gets excited by new tisanes."

"You gifted me those slippers."

"As a joke. And you still wear them."

"I'm not going to throw away perfectly good slippers." Obi-Wan wiggles his toes under the red and yellow fuzzy monstrosities, just to see his padawan rolls her eyes. "And they're really comfortable."

"So you're just going to stay there, then? Your whole battalion is out celebrating our first day of leave since forever, but you prefer to drink your tea alone and go to bed at 22:00?"

"No one wants an authority figure around when they're letting loose and celebrating, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan says, pouring hot water in his cup. He raises the kettle towards his padawan as a question, to which she shakes her head. "I thought you would be happy to see me putting sleep before work for once."

"I am, Master, but I thought it could be..." She trails off, fidgeting with the hilt of her sabers. For once, she looks like a typical padawan, just like he was at her age, dying to enjoy one night away from the temple and any kind of responsibilities.

"It's alright my dear," he sighs, "you can join them if you want."

Ahsoka suddenly perks up. "I can?"

"If you're old enough to be sent to the front, I think you can handle yourself for one night on Coruscant."

"Thank you Master! I promise I'll be careful and not come back too late!"

"You do that, and-- wait, Ahsoka," he adds as she's already halfway through the door, "make sure to stay around Cody! And no alcohol of any kind! And don't lose your lightsaber at sabacc again!"

"That was you!" she yells from the end of the corridor, "don't worry, I'll be fine! Don't wait for me to go to bed! Goodnight Master!"

Obi-Wan smiles, blowing on his cup. He already sent a message to Cody earlier to keep an eye on her, so he knows she's in good hands.

He has his herbal tea, his ugly slippers, no reports to read or write, and no immediate Separatist menace to plan for. For once, a perfectly good night to catch up on sleep and meditation.

So, of course, something has to be wrong.

The Force is bright. The Force is lighter than it has ever been for the past few years.

And Obi-Wan can't understand why.  

It's not just him that can feel it: Ahsoka has acted chipper since, more like the teenager she is, laughing with the clones and playfully teasing him the whole fly back to Coruscant. The temple has felt livelier than ever when they arrived, Jedi from all ages going about their day with a new spring in their step, greeting each other warmly in the corridors. Even Master Yoda has taken a few minutes during their Council meeting to note the shift in the Force. No Master could pinpoint the origin of this change, but all agreed that something good happened somewhere in the galaxy, and they were just feeling ripples of the effect in the Force.

Still now, the whole temple feels a bit more like it used to, before the war, and all Jedi are a bit happier without knowing why.

Only Obi-Wan feels like a noose tightening around him. Whatever it is, it's slowing making its way around his presence in the Force. Focusing on him and him alone. Doesn't matter how much Obi-Wan tries to hide himself, it's getting closer and never slowing down or losing interest.

Needless to say, Obi-Wan has a bad feeling about this.

But after almost three years of war, sullen faces and grim expressions, he doesn't feel like dampening the sudden good mood around the Temple just with a few words. He can probably deal with whatever it is by himself.

His tisane is cold when he finally emerges from his meditation. Nothing is clearer than when he started: the Force is deaf to his questions and inquiries, still light as a breeze. An airy unconcern for his restlessness. And yet, a thick pressure still looms around him, getting heavier each passing second now.

His fingers start pulling on his collar.

The clock on the wall indicates that he lied to Ahsoka when he said he was going to bed at a respectable time today. No diurnal Jedi would still be up right now, but he still considers going out to knock at Mace's door. Narrowed eyes and a very long sigh will be his first answer, but Obi-Wan knows that Mace would never refuse to hear him out. Yes, he finally decides when the pressure seems to creep even closer to him, it's worth waking up Mace.

He opens his door, wondering if he should take his robe with him, and instantly stops walking.

There, in the empty corridor of the Jedi Temple, at his door and on his knees, is a Sith. He knows it's a Sith only because he recognises this specific mass of hair, the large shoulders, the dishevelled dark robe. He knows it's a Sith because he has crossed path with this one enough times on the battlefield to recognise him anywhere. Outside of it a few times too. He isn't sure it's a Sith when the Sith raises his head up, bloody and bruised face torn in an agonizing expression, and his eyes are blue.

"I— I didn't know where to go," Darth Vader says quietly, with the kind of voice expected from a lost child. It gives Obi-Wan a second shock to hear his voice, making his presence suddenly real. "You said... You said if I ever wanted to, if I needed help one day, you would— I could—"

Obi-Wan remembers it. He remembers all the times he offered his help. His pleas for him to stop the violence, the appeals to reason, the multiple suggestions of a gentler path. His hand continuously outreached but never taken. He remembers the burning gold of the Sith's eyes too, and his black cape floating above the dead clones at his feet.

His laughter the first time Obi-Wan brought up the idea of lowering their blades and talking around a cup of tea. His sneer the third time Obi-Wan tried to change his misconceptions about the Jedi Order and play-flirt with him in the same breath. The silence the fifth time Obi-Wan asked him his name, his real name, the one a parent gave him.

The tears the last time he gave it to him.

"And you're always trying to save me," Vader adds more forcefully now, like the words anger him, "you're always here, showing up almost every time I'm sent somewhere with your stupid smile and stupid words, and you're always nice, and... and teasing, and disappointed when I kill someone, like you expect me to be better, and I don't understand you, but..."

Vader raises his hand towards him, and it's only this sudden move that shakes Obi-Wan out of his stupor. Before the Sith can touch his leg, Obi-Wan calls his lightsaber to him, ignites it in one fluid motion, half-expecting Vader to be up and swaying his saber in his face by now. But the Sith is still on his knees, and it's only now that the blue light of his blade is above him that Obi-Wan realises the state he's in. His face isn't the only thing bruised and battered: his dark tunic is stained with blood and ripped in more than one place, one of his arms is bent in an unnatural way, and it looks like a cut above his hairline is still bleeding, making his curls stick to his face in a mess of wet hair and burned skin.

"Vader," Obi-Wan says slowly, when his thoughts finally regain a semblance of coherence. A rapid investigation through the Force assures him that no other enemy is around and the calm and quiet of the night in the Temple isn't a prequel for a storm. "How did you get in here? What are you doing here? How—"

Vader's hand, stuck in the space between them, reaches once again for Obi-Wan. Foolishly, Obi-Wan lets him. His fingers twist themselves in the fabric of his pants.

"He made me killed them all.” Vader wobbles on his knees for a second, the hand on Obi-Wan's leg gripping it tighter. “No platoons, no battle droids. Just me. He sent me to the power station and I cut through them so easily, so quickly, they didn't even fight back, and I didn't think that..." he trails off, panting. "Until.... until I saw the electro-whips." 

"Are you talking about Naphtla?" he asks when Vader doesn't seem to be able to continue.

Naphtla. Outer Rim. Barely on the Republic radar until this afternoon, when nearby troops answered a distress signal and found a hidden Separatist power station operated by slaves. A third of them were dead, killed only a few hours before, and the survivors turned to the Republic for immediate support. Slaughtered like animals, the rescue team reported to the Council only a few hours ago, by one single man wielding a red lightsaber. According to witnesses, the darksider cut through the slaves like bantha butter, killing everyone in his path without discrimination, until he stopped for no apparent reason and abruptly left.

"You were the one who killed the people at the station there," Obi-Wan realises out loud, horrified, "the slaves from Zygerria."

Vader snaps his head up and his fingers tighten painfully around Obi-Wan's knee. "I DIDN'T KNOW!"

All Obi-Wan's senses and logical thoughts urge him to back out, put an end to this nonsensical charade, raise his lightsaber between them, get away from the dark, hungry void Vader generates in the Force.

But his eyes are looking up to him. Gripping his gaze with the same intensity as his hand on his leg. Bloodied face and pleading, on his knees. Full of tears.

Obi-Wan doesn't push Vader's hand away.

"I didn't know they were slaves, I didn't!"

"Vader."

"He never said! He sent me without telling him, he knows I don't—" A small noise sounding suspiciously like a sob swallows the rest of his words.

"Vader, who sent—"

"When I came back," he tries again, quieter. Obi-Wan opens his mouth to ask about this he, but Vader's head lolls for a second, too heavy to support, before butting gently against Obi-Wan's leg. Vader makes no effort to move, content to stay there, and after a second, a small, almost timid nuzzle against his thigh sends a series of shivers through Obi-Wan's spine. It shuts him up instantly. "When I came back, he looked at me for so, so long, before saying that he knew, he knew I was going to fail, that I was... just like them after all, and that I could never... And I was so mad, so angry at him, so I... I..."

The last words are muffled by the fabric Vader clings to. Hides into. There's blood on Obi-Wan's pants now.

"What have you done, Vader?" Obi-Wan asks, softer than he intended. "Vader," he asks again when no reply comes, without success. The hand not holding his lightsaber moves, hesitates for a moment, then settles lightly on Vader's hair, mindful not to touch any open wounds. His fingers nudge him to tip his head back, gently, carefully, and settle on his cheek to hold his face up, looking at him. "Anakin." His name, his true name, makes him blink a few times. "Anakin, what have you done?"

"I killed him," he finally admits, barely audible. He looks exhausted, more like a child in need of rest than ever.

"Who did you kill?"

"My master."

"Dooku? You killed Dooku?"

"No," Vader— Anakin frowns, like Obi-Wan should know better. "Sidious."

It's a bit much to process in one day. Another Sith Lord, Vader's master, concealed and kept a secret, now dead, killed by his apprentice —and does that make Vader the ruling Sith Lord now? Do Sith have rulers?— the lightness in the Force the same day, a half-dead Vader begging for help in the middle of the night in the Jedi Temple, and all of that while Obi-Wan is still wearing his ugly slippers.

He's so glad he sent Ahsoka away for the night.

Anakin doesn't let him time to feel the migraine coming.

"I can't do it, I can't be my master, I can't— and Dooku hates me, he will never help me, even if I let him have it all, he will never..." Vader seems to run out of steam, and lets his eyes close as his head falls once again against Obi-Wan's thigh. Closer. "You said you could help me. You said I could come to you at any time. You said you would always be there if I didn't want to... do this, anymore."

"I did," Obi-Wan assures him, his hand lightly petting his hair again.

Anakin lets out a long breath. His fingers tighten on the fabric of Obi-Wan's pants, loosen, and tighten again.

"You're the only one I trust," the Sith quietly tells the Jedi, and it's the saddest thing Obi-Wan has ever heard.

[leias-left-hair-bun-again]

I didn’t want to take away from any of your posts @gch1995​ XD but I was thinking about doctrine and tradition, and I ended up writing out my thoughts about what I mean when I say the prequel-era Jedi are good people while the prequel-era Jedi Order is not wholly good (tl;dr the Order follows traditions that don’t align with Jedi teachings).

As Star Wars fans, we all like the Jedi - Star Wars is about Jedi; it started with Luke Skywalker and it just wouldn’t be Star Wars without Jedi. That being said - the Jedi who are the protagonists in Star Wars don’t adhere to the rules of the Order as seen in the prequel trilogy.

Again, this starts with Luke, who does not do what Obi-wan and Yoda tell him to and thus saves the galaxy - and then goes on to establish a new Jedi school where the students remain in contact with their families and, according to Lucas’ own story for the sequel trilogy, where Luke himself has a romantic partner that he is in love with.

And then this pattern continues with Ashoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus. Even if you look at Obi-wan and want to say that he is a protagonist Jedi - sure, he is, in a way, and for the record, I really like him as a character. But that’s because he’s a flawed protagonist, that’s what makes him so real and so interesting. His arc in the original trilogy is half him being a mentor, and half him being in the wrong and someone that Luke has to break away from to a certain extent as he matures both mentally and as a Jedi.

The Jedi protagonists we all love have to make the decision to abide by the Jedi’s doctrine instead of the Order’s traditions. And whatever part you do or don’t like about the Jedi’s teachings - personally, I think there’s a lot of truth in them - there’s one glaring problem with the prequel-era Order that just can’t be ignored - they don’t give children a choice. The Republic, the Order, and the children’s parents all make the choice for them to become a Jedi and for them to be separated from their families. This happens as young as possible (usually as toddlers) and well before these children have the capacity to make that decision.

And yes, these kids can decide later in life to leave the Order, but - it’s not a fair choice. Let me illustrate: I’ve talked before about how I walked away from my religion for a few years. When I did that, I was still living at home - and I continued to do so. My parents still loved me, supported me financially, and involved me in their lives. I continued to hang out with the same friends, and even went to some of the same activities. The only way my life changed is that I stopped going to meetings on Sundays and some activities during the week.

Compare that with Ashoka’s experience after she left the Order - she lost her home, her family, and her friends in one go. Anakin and Obi-wan still care about her, but she can’t be a part of their lives anymore.

Whatever real-world monastic order you look at, the prequel-era Order isn’t normal. We like to say that the Jedi are most like Buddhists, so let’s look at that: Buddhist monks, can take vows when they’re 9 years old - the same age Anakin was when he was deemed too old. However, there is no obligation for Buddhist monks to devote their entire lives to being a monk - they can revoke their vows whenever they want without losing the support of their religious community, and only taking vows for a short while is actually more common than not. These child monks are also allowed to remain in contact with their families. Or, let’s look at Catholicism: Catholic monks are only allowed to take vows when they’re an adult, and then they have to go through temporary vows before taking permanent ones - because nobody wants them to be making decisions they’ll regret later on.

The prequel-era Order is just not a one-on-one equivalent to any real-life monastic order, and it’s...not healthy. The Jedi at that time didn’t deserve what they got - they were good people, most of whom were trying their absolute best to be good and do good - but unfortunately, the Order’s corruption was a parallel of the Republic’s. Both are institutions that are good at the core and are built on sound principles, but slipped into corruption under bad leadership.

And just to be clear - Yoda and Palpatine are not the same. Palpatine wanted power and he wanted to hurt people. Yoda did not want these things, but somewhere along the way he lost sight of what the Jedi were about. I think that’s actually one of the most important lessons of the prequel trilogy - you don’t have to be a bad person to make bad decisions. Apathy and complacency are just as important to resist as actual bad intentions are.

[newswcanonprompts]

Anakin is sent to negotiate with Gardulla the Hutt bc of the success of the Jabba mission (no one in the Council knows Gardulla used to own him)

editor’s note: there is actually a fic that came from this, by the lovely @primeemeraldheiress! here is the link

this one is SUPER angsty, sorry in advance, i missed the original conversation about this prompt and when i got back online everyone was yelling about it, when i read what they did i was in *shock*. like ow. anyways have fun

After being so helpful in rescuing Jabba the Hutt's son, Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan end up being sent on a mission to help Gardulla the Hutt because Anakin hasn't told anyone about his history with her

Possible reactions from Gardulla:

"Skywalker? I owned a human like that, her brat always caused trouble. Good riddance!"

What if she decides that since he's back in her territory that means he belongs to her again

.....gardulla hears him try to call obi-wan master and tries to buy anakin from him (Gardulla asking if obi-wan is anakin's master and anakin being in such a messed up mental space that he says yes, trusting that Obi-wan won’t let her buy him)

Obi-Wan wondering why Anakin is being so specifically arsey with this Hutt. "Force you're worse with her than you were with Jabba."

"Oh yeah, she bought me and my mother. I think I have a reason to dislike her."

The council meeting afterwards where obi-wan rails on the council...

Obi-Wan suddenly getting a horrible feeling whenever Anakin calls him master because he's known the contexts were different but now it is real and in his face

Like it's a different thing for Obi-Wan to know his padawan used to be a slave compared to looking his padawan's former master in the eye and seeing her current slaves.

Anakin manages to control himself in the throne room but the whole way there and back he can't help worrying that one of the really old lash scars that curls around his shoulder will be noticed, that his identity as a former slave will be exposed

anakin not being able to call obi-wan master on tatooine like. point blank. he starts addressing him as master and just. flinches.

anakin usually wears his heart on his sleeves right?? always shows his emotions, feelings, all that. Well, the closer they get to gardulla's palace the blanker his face gets

Ahsoka calls Anakin master and Anakin just grits out a "Please don't call me that, not here."

Obi-Wan suddenly realising why Anakin comes across as arrogant as times. He's spent his entire life trying to up his value because there's safety in value.

Anakin telling them not to use the name "Skywalker" while they're in the palace

Anakin's accent shifts so entirely to the point where it almost sounds like Obi-Wan's because he's so determined to not slip into old roles

Anakin having to be physically held back from getting into a physical fight. Not even using his lightsaber, he just wants to fight

Or, alternatively, all the fight just going out of Anakin because he knows, here, it'll just make everything worse. So he's almost.... compliant and it freaks everyone out

Ex. from @youngcreativenerdgoddess: Obi-Wan is terrified. His former padawan is the most resigned he’s ever been. He looks so....defeated. A look one would never expect on the vaunted “Hero with no fear”. All the fight was gone from him, and that scared him more than anything else in this force-damned war had.

Obi-Wan actually being the one about to lose his temper and then Anakin just puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him there's no point.

Consider: instead of anakin being angry he was sent on the mission, being resigned because of course he was, he knew Gardulla bes

Anakin comes across as an almost perfect Jedi for once in his life and in the context it is horrifying

Anakin’s report to the council is so matter of fact because he thought they knowingly sent him on the mission because of his past experience with Gardulla

Obi-Wan finds Anakin writing what he thinks is a CV then he sees the numbers next to it and it is his estimated value--"for the gardulla mission, if she finds out who I am she'll try to rebuy me"

After the mission, from @jasontoddiefor: "Failed you, we have," Yoda said, his voice full of grief, and Obi-Wan watched in horror as Anakin only titled his head, for once looking his age and not the years the war has aged him. 

"What do you mean?" Anakin asked, not understanding.

Examples of bits and pieces from this prompt:

Ex. from jasontodiefor: Anakin in the corner of her palace having a breakdown because he remembers memories he had thought gone, his mother's shouting and the tearful begging and the pain, pain, pain and he hadn't meant to break the vase, it had been an accident, please stop it hurts, Mom-

jasontodiefor: "A game of chance." 

"What?" 

Anakin doesn't look up from his hands, doesn't meet Obi-Wan's eyes. He hadn't since they'd arrived here. "I'd still be here like them if not for a game of chance. I'd be worth more than just a few credits too. Force-sensitive, young, good with mechanics, pretty-"

Ex. from Ro: Obi-Wan has never seen Anakin this silent before. There were nights before, when they were both younger, Obi-Wan himself still trying to heal from Qui-Gon's death and Anakin trying to get used to the temple. And Anakin would get quiet, but he was never this stone cold silent. Never this blank. He's so emotional, Obi-Wan's former padawan (his child), so open with his heart on his sleeve. There is none of that here, none of that bright boy. Anakin doesn't fight it, and that is the thing that worries Obi-Wan the most, because when Anakin doesn't like something he fights, he lashes out with teeth and sticks his heels in. But in this, he is resigned. (Anakin doesn't let Ashoka off the ship. She fights and argues but Anakin doesn't move, doesn't joke. He stands firm with it and Obi-Wan watches.

"Master, I—" 

Anakin flinches, "You're staying on the ship, Ahsoka, that's final." She huffs and leaves, and the only thing Obi-Wan can see is how relieved Anakin looks. There is something wrong here, but Anakin has never liked talking about Tatooine, and Obi-Wan has never pushed.) Obi-Wan has never hated a mission more.

Another ex from jasontodiefor: "But-" 

"You're young," Anakin interrupts her sharply. Ahsoka hates it when he cuts her off. It doesn't happen too often, mostly on the battlefield when he's barking orders at everyone. If anything, he lets her speak out of tune more often than he should or other Masters would, but right now his voice doesn't leave any room for agreement. "Young, underage actually, and female, that's the first 10K. Extra five if they don't sell you as inexperienced, and only stupid slavers would do that, but as a virgin."

Ahsoka pales. Anakin's voice is harsh, but there is an almost easy flow to his words, as if he had recited them in his head over and over again. "Force sensitive, that's next. Another 8K regularly, but you're a Jedi, so that's 20K. A Padawan, mind you, but you're a known face next to mine and Obi-Wan's. Obi-Wan would fetch 40 for his status as a Jedi and councilor alone. And you're a Togruta, you sell better than a human girl. I'd add another 6 for that."

You sell better. Not you would, there's nothing hypothetical about this, Ahsoka realizes. Anakin's narrowing down what would happen to her if somebody just managed to grab her lightsabers, to put a collar around her throat and cut her off from all that she had ever known. "Now, that's just your base value," Anakin continues. "You're also a pretty good mechanic and pilot, though the latter makes your flight risk much higher. Given how dangerous you are, let's say 10K. You're a strong fighter, so you could probably get another 8K in the arena, perhaps a little more depending on what planet you're sold on. Your political value also can't be overlooked. You fight at the front and know much more about the war effort as a whole and that's worth much more, probably another 15." Anakin holds up his fingers like he's counting apples and now how much people would be willing to brand her as theirs. "So we're roughly at 70. That's not bad at all. Not as much as Obi-Wan or I would get, but it's more than enough. You're not coming on this mission. End of discussion."

[marvelstars]

The Jedi Order in the Prequel and Original Trilogy

I think the way Lucas wrote the Jedi in the prequels was like a well meaning but flawed organization whose main character flaw, mentioned on Episode II by Yoda himself, was pride and arrogance but they definitely are not evil neither did they deseve to be taken out as an organization the way they were.

The Sith Order wins in the prequel trilogy because the Jedi expected an open war from them, like in the past, not the Sith using the Jedi disdain for politics and force null persons agaisn´t them. Palpatine in fact used the Jedi perjuices agaisn´t them.

The Jedi had the opportunity to discover what was happening behind the scenes, with the clones, with the republic, with Anakin but choose to ignore it in favor of the idea of who they were and their history, their previous victory over the Sith and their leadership in the formation of the Republic, it isn´t wrong to be proud of those acomplishments but it´s dangerouns to use the glorious past to become blind of what´s happening now.

Obi-Wan didn´t want to believe Dooku when he told him the Sith had taken over the Senate, they criticized the republic but did nothing to try to add their own output when it was clear since Episode I that the Senate cared more about their bussines than justice, even when a planet was literally invaded, they took the clone army and didn´t ask questions about how convenient a prepared army without rights but ready and programed to fight in a civil war was, yes Yoda lamented the decision but still took in the clone army and didn´t ask anything else.

They let Anakin alone with a politician since a young age, a kid who was supposed to be under their care and when he showed clear affection for the one adult who has been telling him his emotions are not evil and that it´s alright to care for his mother, they distrusted Anakin and blamed him for their closeness.

I personally think all this is meant to underline Yoda´s and Obi-Wan´s choices in ROTS and in the Original Trilogy.

Yoda says "War does not make someone great" because it was accepting war without question the thing that ended the entire Jedi Order.

Yoda chooses to give Anakin´s children to his family and to the Organa Family because he knows they went wrong in Anakin´s upbringing and hoped they grew up better with their family, this was also the reason why Obi-Wan respected Owen´s decision to keep Luke from training, even if he resented Owen for that, he could not deny Luke´s Uncle authority there.

Owen hostility towards ObiWan is perfectly understable, Owen knows the Jedi took Anakin from Shmi but stopped them from communicating for a decade, Obi-Wan personally stopped Anakin from meeting his mother again even when he had dreams of her in danger and dying, knowing Anakin was extremely force sensitive to the force, who also had premonitions, which Yoda mentions other Jedi also have.

Anakin and Shmi were Owen´s family, the first thing Owen tells Anakin when they meet "I guess we are step brothers" why? because Owen loved Shmi and loved Anakin from what she told him about him. So of course he would protect Anakin´s child from his father´s fate with the Jedi, because wether Obi-Wan told him about Anakin being Vader or about Anakin being dead, Owen had reason to think the Jedi didn´t made the correct choices when it came to Anakin´s training so how can he trust them when it comes to Luke?

Yoda and Obi-Wan decide at first to hide from Luke the fact his father is Vader so he would not have a hard time fighthing and killing him if neccesary but their bad knowledge of who Anakin was as a person shows up again, Yoda didn´t expect Vader to tell Luke the truth and isn´t it ironic the fact the Sith tell the truth even when it hurts and the Jedi hide it?, those character choices were made by Lucas as well, to show how the Jedi are indeed correct in wanting the light side of the force to win in the universe and to end the Empire because it´s a dictatorship and even to stop Vader because he´s contributing to that but they are also flawed people with feelings,who are still clearly mourning their lost society and have stakes of their own which leads them to treat Luke and Leia by proxy, more like means to an end instead of people, despite the fact they clearly care about them.

Yoda and Obi-Wan then decide to tell Luke the entire truth and allow him to make his own decision, because Luke is the future of the Order and he needs to be free to have choices. They can´t order him around as the Jedi Council used to do in the past and they accept that, they love Luke and they told him about Leia so he would not feel so alone but also because it was his right to know about his own Sister.

So when Luke is able to bring his father back thanks for his love and compassion, heritage of his family but also for his Jedi training, he doesn´t only brings back the Jedi Anakin used to be but also the Jedi Order gets a second chance to be reborn again.

Talking about this doesn´t mean it was right what Palpatine did to them or that it was alright what Anakin did at the Temple but we can´t have a character analysis made correctly if we ignore the choices the characters are doing in the story and how it lead to their end but also how lead to their rebirth, just like in Anakin´s case, the Jedi Order fell but also got back by learning from past mistakes and making a different choice.

I think we as a fandom could use more nuance in the discussion about a story that was written with clear moral complexities even if as Lucas said, it´s a fairly tale but fairy tales always teach lessons.

[jenstar1992-2]

Here with You

Pairing: Echo x reader/ Hunter x reader

Warnings: Mentions of nightmares/ trauma, reliving a traumatic experience, Order 66 (because it’s a warning in itself)

Word count: 7,103

A/N: Well, I knew it, it hasn’t been a whole day since I saw the Bad Batch premiere, and I’ve already gotten my first writing idea (yes, this took me like two days to write because I kept getting interrupted). I just couldn’t get the image of my poor baby Echo in that med bay and seeing the trauma those damned Separatists caused him out of my head. All I want to do is hold him and never let go, he deserves the world. This was originally just going to be an Echo x reader, but it turned into a Hunter x reader as well, because I just couldn’t help myself, I love them both, and wanted both of them to get some lovins. Also, I get the sense that Omega is a smart kid, and that she’s pretty well spoken, so I tried to write her as such, while still keeping that childlike innocence, so hopefully it comes across that way.

So much had transpired within the last few days and you were still trying to wrap your head around all of it. The jedi had been almost entirely wiped out in a single day, and while you were certain their had to be other survivors besides yourself, you were unclear as to what that number was. Luckily for you, you had been amongst friends when Order 66 was given, and your men turned on you. If it weren’t for the Bad Batch, you were certain you wouldn’t be alive right now.

As you sat in the cockpit of the Marauder, the memories began to flood your brain, which caused involuntary tears to fill your eyes.

You and your men had been sent to Kaller to aid Master Billaba and her troops. However, upon your arrival, you were greeted with a pleasant surprise. It turned out, Clone Force 99 had been on planet already and had taken out a large amount of the droids before you even landed.

You had worked with this group before and had even enjoyed the experience. While your men thought their tactics and unprofessional antics were unnecessary and even a bit annoying, you found the group to be, for lack of a better term, fun. You had been around stuffy, uptight individuals for so long, it was nice to have a change of pace, and while your men were great, they tended to be sticklers for the rules and rarely wanted to take risks.

You also got along with this team rather well, enough to consider them good friends, but you were especially close with their newest recruit. You and Echo had known each other well before he joined the Bad Batch, even before his accident at the citadel, and had been friends for just as long, although as time went by and you found yourself encountering him more and more in your life, you slowly realized you might feel more for the trooper than you should, more than you’d ever admit aloud. So, when you’d heard of his survival and rescue, you had been elated, and that happiness resurfaced at the thought of seeing him again.

You exited the gunship and saw the rag-tag group of clones speaking with Master Billaba on the now quiet battlefield. They turned as you and your men made your approach. As you got closer to the group, you scanned the faces of its members before you found him, smiling brightly as your eyes connected, he did the same.

You came to stand before their leader, raising your gaze to meet the man’s unwavering stare.

“Sergeant”, you greeted him, extending a hand formally, which he took without hesitation, shaking it firmly.

“General, good to see you again”, he said with a smile.

“You too”, you responded.

You’d always liked Hunter, from the beginning he’d always struck you as a respectable man, and you admired the fact that he could allow his men to be their reckless selves while also keeping them in line, but only when necessary, it seemed. There was something else too, something you hadn’t noticed right away, but after a few more encounters with the man, you put it together, coming to an all to familiar realization, one that brought butterflies to your stomach, while also bringing about a slight anxiety. How could you let this happen, it was bad enough falling for one man you couldn’t have, but two, you were sure the universe was out to hurt you.

“General (L/N), I’m glad to see your trip was a safe one, and better late than never I suppose”, Depa said, drawing you from Hunter’s gaze to hers.

“Sorry Master Billaba, we were assisting Masters Luminara and Yoda on Kashyyyk when we got word of your need for reinforcements, we got here as soon as we could”, you said, then looking around at the desolated droids scattered across the landscape. “Although, from what I can tell, you seem to now have a handle on things.”

“Yeah, thanks to these guys”, Caleb, Depa’s padawan, exclaimed, gesturing to the group of men before you. “You should’ve seen it, they took all those droids out in a matter of minutes, it was incredible.”

You chuckled. “Yes, I’m well aware of the marvel that is Clone Force 99, and they do put on quite the show”, you said, shooting a quick glance Echo’s way. “Incredible indeed.”

Your words caused the trooper to smile shyly at you.

“Yes, well, we’re still glad you’re here, we just launched a counterattack, and the more assistance, the better”, Depa said.

You nodded. “You need us, we’ll stay”, you said before turning to your troops. “Men, a counterattack has been launched, I want you to rendezvous with Master Billaba’s troops and aid in the attack, Commander Roran, you’re with me. Let’s move!”

With that your troops dispersed, leaving you and your commander where you stood. You turned back to face everyone.

“So, how can we help”, you asked.

“Actually, I don’t think we’ll be needing your assistance after all, in fact, this war might soon be over”, Tech spoke up, causing you to give him a confused look.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, according to the encrypted comm chatter, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi has found and engaged General Grievous on Utapau”, he responded.

“If he captures, or kills Grievous, the separatist command structure will collapse”, Echo chimed in.

“And most likely the droid armies along with them”, Tech finished.

“It can’t be that easy, can it”, you asked, looking to the jedi master.

“While it is an interesting theory, I would not bet our hopes on it, we should focus on the task at hand”, she replied.

“I agree, we should focus our energy on this attack, strike while we have the advantage”, you said.

Hunter nodded. “Any orders, or shall we do what we do”, he asked, directing his words at Depa.

“What do you think General, should we let them ‘do what they do’”, she asked you.

You chuckled and folded your arms over your chest. “Probably our best bet, what do you think Caleb”, you asked the padawan.

“I say we let them, but only if I can go with them”, he responded.

You looked to his master, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Very well”, she said, giving the boy permission.

“Ronan and I will tag along too”, you stated, then looking to Hunter. “Just in case you guys need a hand.”

“Hope that wasn’t a jab at me”, Echo said, coming to stand beside you while simultaneously lifting his cybernetic arm.

You immediately regretted your choice in words and stammered your defense.

“N- no, I didn’t mean, I would never.”

He let out an amused laugh. “I’m just messing with you General, sorry”, he said.

You then scowled at him before poking a finger at his chest plate.

“Not funny”, you said, but couldn’t keep the smile from forming on your face.

“I said I was sorry”, you heard him say as you began walking in the direction your troops had gone. He soon caught up and walked alongside you.

You chuckled. “Well, it’s nice to know you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

“Nah, but I did lose a couple other things”, he said, face turning slightly serious.

You stopped walking and just stood for a moment, a sad expression now adorning your features. Noticing your actions, Echo ceased his movements as well and looked back to you.

“What is it”, he asked.

You went to stand in front of him before you spoke your next words. “Echo, I am sorry for your loss, truly I am, but honestly, I’d rather you be here and missing a few limbs, then for you to not be here at all. I’m just glad your alive, and that I get to see you again.”

He stared at you for a moment with an unreadable expression before smiling and nodding.

“I guess you’re right, and I’m glad our paths crossed again, I…”, he began, clearly wanting to say more, but stopping himself. You caught on though and decided to voice it for him.

“I missed you too”, you said, giving him a warm smile, prompting one of his own.

You both began walking once more to catch up with your comrades.

“You know, I was actually surprised you recognized me, what with the countless differences and all” he said with a chuckle.

You shook your head. “You can change all you want, I’ll still know it’s you”, you said.

“Yeah?”

“Yep, you might’ve changed a lot on the outside, but inside, you’re still the same Echo I’ve always known and loved”, you said, saying the words before they fully registered with your brain, but once they did you nearly froze in your stacks, your face instantly reddening with embarrassment. You quickly tried to back track before he could respond. “I mean, uh, well, y- you know what I mean.” Smooth.

He chuckled, amused at your obvious embarrassment of your less-than-ideal choice of words yet again.

“It’s okay, I know what you mean”, he said, giving you a reassuring smile before seemingly letting the subject drop, much to your relief.

You nodded as you carried on toward the others.

Suddenly, a wave of emotions flooded your mind, and it was as if hundreds of voices were crying out within the confines of your skull. You stopped, placing a hand to the side of your head in an attempt to stop the dizziness that accompanied the voices.

Echo noticed and came to your side, placing a steadying hand to your back.

“Are you okay”, he asked, clearly concerned.

“S- somethings wrong, I feel… death, so much death, I don’t know…”, you began through heavy breathes, but you were soon cut off by the sound of blaster fire.

You both looked to see Master Billaba’s men attempting to gun her down as she deflected their blasts with her lightsaber. Before you could fully process the sight in front of you, you heard Caleb yell for his master, seeing him rush past you, saber ignited and ready to jump to her aid.

“Caleb, no…”, you shouted, but before you could run after him a burning pain in your left arm stopped you.

You grabbed your now wounded arm and turned to see Roran facing you, blaster raised and aimed directly at you.

“Commander”, you said in confusion, but before you could get another word out, he was firing again. You were able to deflect the blasts with your saber, yelling at him as you did so. “Roran, why are you doing this?”

Suddenly, the blasts stopped as Echo came to your aid, wrestling the blaster out of the commander’s hands before knocking him out cold. He then rushed to your side once more, seeing you kneeling and clutching your head.

“General, (Y/N), (Y/N), can you hear me? Say something”, he urged, but try as you might, you couldn’t form the words to respond.

Your head was swimming in a sea of pain, death, and betrayal, most of which you were certain weren’t coming from you, more like from the force itself. You’d felt disturbances in the force before, but none like this, it was all encompassing and soon you found yourself slipping from consciousness from the intensity of it all.

***

When you finally came to, you found yourself laying in a bunk aboard the Havoc Marauder. When you tried to sit up a hand caught your shoulder and gently coaxed you back down.

“Easy (Y/N), you don’t want to push yourself, you sustained a pretty bad injury, you should rest”, a familiar voice said softly.

“Echo, what, what happened… they turned on us, why would they do that”, you asked, looking at him with confusion and sadness mixing in your expression.

“I don’t know, we’re still trying to figure that out ourselves, but you’re safe now, I won’t let them hurt you again, you have my word. Now rest”, he said, trying to comfort you, but knowing it wouldn’t help much given what you’d just been through.

“No”, you heard someone say, the volume of it startling you slightly, and you looked to see that it was Hunter, who had just entered.

“What do you mean ‘no’”, Echo asked him, confused.

“I mean, she can’t stay here, it’s not safe”, he explained, and when you both gave him a befuddled look, he continued, “It’s Crosshair, there’s… something wrong with him. I think whatever happened to those soldiers is happening to him too, but I can’t be sure.”

“What makes you think that”, you questioned, finally sitting up and turning to place your feet on the floor.

He looked behind him, making sure you three were the only ones in ear shot before bending down to your level.

“He tried to kill that padawan”, he said, so low it was almost a whisper.

“Caleb, is he alright”, you asked, fear and concern thick in your voice.

“He’s alive, but other than that, I’m not sure. He ran off after…”, he began, but the words died on his lips.

You nodded in understanding. “So, what should I do, where should I go?”

“Stay here, on Kaller, find somewhere to hide. We’ll go back to Kamino and sort this out, once it’s safe, we’ll come back for you”, he said.

You nodded, agreeing to do as he said, knowing you really had no other option at this point.

Shortly after this conversation you readied yourself to leave, Tech giving you some medical supplies in case you would need to re-bandage your arm before they returned.

Echo ended up accompanying you in your search for shelter, telling the others he wasn’t going anywhere until he knew you’d found somewhere safe to stay. You had resisted the gesture, wanting him to get as far away from danger as possible, but he insisted.

You found a cave a few miles from the ship’s current location and decided it was as good a place as any to crash for, what you were hoping would only be, a few days.

“You sure you’re going to be okay here”, Echo asked, looking into the cold, dark cave.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve stayed in worse places. Besides, it’s the safest place we’ll find in the wilderness, and it’s dark, perfect for hiding”, you said in a poor attempt to lighten the mood, you didn’t know why, force of habit you guessed. Although, all this earned you was a sad smile from the trooper.

“We’ll be back soon, just stay out of sight until then, okay?”

You gave a small smile, bringing your hand up to your forehead for a two fingered salute. “Yes sir”, you said. This actually earned you a small laugh, which at this moment was music to your ears. You lowered your hand and looked into his eyes, taking on a more serious expression. “Just… be safe.”

“I should be telling you that”, he said.

“Yeah, well, I beat you to it”, you said, half grinning.

“I will if you will.”

You nodded. “Then I will.”

Suddenly your body was moving without you telling it to, and you found yourself wrapping him in a tight hug, closing your eyes to keep from crying, and soon the gesture was returned, leaving the both of you in a long embrace.

“Don’t forget me, okay”, you said, the threat of tears evident in your voice.

He squeezed you a little tighter. “Never.”

***

Turns out, you didn’t have to hide out in that cave long at all, as they had returned to retrieve you within two days’ time, with a new crew member, but without Crosshair. You two hadn’t been the best of friends by any means, and the man’s standoffishness really irked you sometimes, but you’d always known that deep down, he wasn’t such a bad guy. So, when the boys had told you what had happened between their return to Kamino and their escape from the planet, it put a surprising strain on your heart. You wanted to be angry with Crosshair for his actions, for attempting to kill Caleb and other innocents, but you just couldn’t, especially after you were informed of the inhibitor chips planted within every clone trooper. You couldn’t be mad at him, you couldn’t hate him, because it wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t any of their faults, they were being used just like the jedi had been, if not more so, and this knowledge extinguished any hatred that had grown in you since the day that order was given.

Thinking back on all of this had you shedding silent tears as you watched the streaks of light pass before your eyes, attempting to let yourself to be swept away in the beauty that was hyperspace. This always seemed to calm your mind, but it didn’t seem to be working this time, so you simply stared and let the tears run down your cheeks.

“Hey, you okay”, Hunter asked from the seat beside you, having temporarily taken over piloting the ship in order to allow the others to rest.

You were snapped out of your thoughts by his words and quickly wiped the tears from your face before answering.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, still just trying to figure all of this out”, you replied somberly.

He nodded. “I understand, we still don’t have it all figured out either and with every answer comes new questions”, he said.

You hummed in agreement. “I guess my biggest question is, why now, why did Palpatine wait so long to put this grand plan in action? I mean, he could’ve done it years ago, but no, he waited… waited for us to get close to those who would eventually become our executioners, and worse, he took away their free will to do it. Those troopers, they weren’t the men they used to be, it’s like they were brainwashed.”

“Tech said they were programmed and when the chips were activated, it basically took over their minds, so I guess, in a way, they are brainwashed”, Hunter said, looking back out at the blue glow of hyperspace.

“Those poor men”, you said after a moment of silence.

Hunter turned his head to look at you, an astonished expression over his features, he then let out an amused huff.

“You are truly a wonder, you know that?”

“What”, you asked him, confused by the comment.

“Even after everything you’ve been through, and after what they did to you and your kin, you still feel pity for them”, he explained. “You’ve always been able to see people for who they really are, and forgive them for their faults, it’s commendable, and it’s something I’ve always admired about you.”

“You admire me”, you asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning in amusement.

He gave you a single nod. “Always have”, he said, giving you a soft smile.

The way he was looking at you made your cheeks begin to heat as a light blush covered them, and you turned away in an attempt to hide it, but he noticed, and his smile widened a bit as he looked back out the view port.

“I think you’re right by the way, about Palpatine waiting so long to execute his plan. I think he wanted you all to build those relationships, that trust, with your men, so that, when the time came, he could not only take you all out, but destroy your conviction as well”, he said, his voice lower than before.

“That’s a bit ominous, given our current situation”, you said, only half joking.

He turned to you suddenly, eyebrows raised in mild shock.

“(Y/N), you don’t think we’d… we’d never hurt you, I’d never hurt you, we’re on your side, I promise”, he said, hurt in his eyes. Did you really not trust him?

Seeing his reaction made your heart squeeze, you hadn’t meant to hurt him, you were just confused and scared. You felt as if your whole world had come crumbling down around you, and you were still trying to resurface from the rubble. But you knew you were wrong for thinking, even for a second, that you couldn’t trust Hunter and his men.

“I know, I’m sorry. I do trust you, all of you”, you said, trying to sound reassuring, but it only came out as sadness.

It looked as if the sergeant was contemplating something, his hands reflexively grabbing at nothing as they opened and closed on his lap. You knew he wanted to do something, wanted to comfort you, but he also didn’t want to invade your space, worried that would be crossing a line. So, you took the initiative.

You reached over and took one of his hands from his lap, holding it softly before giving it a reassuring squeeze and sending a smile his way. This prompted him to smile back, and you both just sat like that for a minute.

Suddenly, you heard a commotion from the bunks, and your name being called out by a desperate voice.

Recognizing the voice, you jumped up from your seat. “Echo”, you said, concern in your tone, before looking back to Hunter.

He simply nodded. “Go”, he said softly.

You gave a confirming nod and let go of the hand you’d still been holding, before quickly making your way to the bunks.

When you entered the room, it took you a second to assess the situation before you. Echo was laying in his bunk, breathing heavy, head shaking from side to side, and body trembling, as if he were in a state of terror. All this while Omega stood by the bunk, watching with concern. She looked back to you when you entered, then ran to you.

“I tried to wake him, but it’s not working, he keeps calling for you, you’ve got to do something”, she said in a rush, voice and eyes full or worry for her new friend.

You bent down to her level and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, I know what to do, you go wait with Hunter, okay? Everything will be fine”, you told her, attempting to quell her worry.

You then stood and made your way to Echo, sitting on the edge of the bunk and looking over him with your own worried expression. You really didn’t know what to do, you’d never been faced with something like this before. He was clearly having a terrible nightmare, and you wanted to help, so you just acted on instinct.

You placed a hand on his shoulder and shook lightly, softly calling his name, trying to wake him as gradually as you could, as you figured startling him awake would be counterproductive. However, this didn’t seem to work, and hearing your voice only caused him to say your name more. Seeing him like this broke your heart, and for a moment you felt totally helpless, but then you had an idea. You moved your hand from his shoulder, bringing it to cup the side of his face, your thumb instinctually beginning to rub soothing circles on his cheek, and you bent down to speak quietly in his ear.

“Echo, it’s (Y/N). You don’t have to be scared, I’m here, I won’t let them hurt you anymore”, you said, gently grabbing his flesh hand with your free one and holding it to your chest. “I’m here for you, I’ll always be right here with you, it’s okay. Wake up Love. Come back to me.”

As you spoke you could see him slowly calm, and with your final request, his eyes fluttered open, finding yours instantly.

“There you are”, you said softly, a smile spreading over your face. You were just relieved that the nightmare was over, and he seemed to be calming more with each passing second.

As he took in your presence before him, he let out a relieved sigh, but then looked to you with a strained expression.

“(Y/N), I… I was back, back with them, back to that day, I… I didn’t know how or why, and I just…”, he said in a desperate rush.

You shushed him, and let your hand continue to stay where it was in an attempt to sooth the frightened man lying next to you.

“I know, it’s okay, you’re okay now, you’re here with me, you’re safe, I promise”, you reassured him.

This seemed to work, and he let out another sigh as he closed his eyes and tried to regulate his breathing once again, coming back to a steady pattern in no time. When he opened his eyes again, he noticed the position you both were in; you were sitting very close beside him, one hand resting on his cheek, while the other held his hand close to your heart, with his clutching yours in return, like you were his lifeline, which he had to admit, wasn’t far from the truth. You were the one he could trust without question, the one he could confide in, always had been.

You noticed this too and immediately went to pull away, slowly dropping his hand as you did, cheeks now burning. You didn’t get very far though, before he grabbed your wrist with his newly freed hand. “No”, he said, and pulled the hand back towards his head, coaxing you to return it to its previous spot. “Don’t stop… please.”

You stared at him for a moment with an unreadable expression, before finally giving him a tentative nod and continuing your earlier action of rubbing your thumb in circles on his cheek. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the pillow, relaxing easily under your touch, this causing you to smile, glad you could be of comfort to him. You stayed like this for a while before your curiosity got the best of you and you voiced the question that had been on your mind since you first heard him call your name.

“Echo”, you said in a questioning tone. He hummed in response, not opening his eyes. “Why, why me?”

He looked at you then, confused. “What do you mean?”

“When you were having your nightmare, you, you called out for me, I was just wondering, why me”, you explained.

“I did”, he asked.

“Yeah, quite a few times actually. Was I in your dream or something?”

He looked away, a bit embarrassed.

“Not exactly”, he said.

You used the hand that was still on him to lightly pull his head to face you, speaking once his eyes were fixed on yours once again.

“Echo, you know you can tell me anything. What is it”, you asked.

“You weren’t in the dream, technically, and it wasn’t really a dream, more like I was reliving a memory, the memory of the citadel, and…”, he explained, his words dying off as he found it hard to voice them.

You placed a reassuring hand on his chest and gave him a nod in understanding.

“So, you were reliving that day, I’m sorry, I know that can’t be easy. But I still don’t see what that has to do with me, I wasn’t there, if I had been, I would’ve taken that blow for you”, you said, suddenly feeling tears behind your eyes, but you fought them back internally.

His eyes widened and he quickly grabbed your hand from its spot on his chest, squeezing it firmly.

“No, don’t say that”, he said urgently, suddenly sitting up, causing your hand to slip from his face, instead falling to rest at the intersection of his shoulder and neck.

“But…”, you tried to say, but he cut you off.

“No (Y/N), I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, least of all on you”, he said, staring directly into your eyes. You could only nod sadly as you tried to keep your emotions in check, which was getting harder as this interaction continued. He then softened his gaze and let out a long breath. “You were there, in a way.”

You gave him a confused look, about to ask what he meant, until he continued.

“After the explosion, I just laid there for a long time, feeling everything and nothing all at the same time, I was basically just waiting to die”, he told you. Your heart squeezed at his words, as the tears threatened to rise. “But then, I heard someone’s voice calling out to me, your voice. You were telling me not to give up, not to leave you, to keep fighting, and so I did. I bared the pain and rejected the urge to just slip away, even after they took me, I fought through all of it, because I knew that if I survived, then there was a chance I’d make it back to you, and… I really wanted that.”

That’s all it took, his words hit you straight in the chest and flowed through you, causing the flood gates to release and the tears to fall. Echo looked worried then and released your hand, bringing his to cup your cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad”, he said, internally wishing he hadn’t said anything.

You shook your head. “You have nothing to be sorry for, and I’m not sad that you told me, I’m glad you did”, you said, wiping the tears from the other side of your face. “Honestly, I’m just happy your alive, and that you did find your way back to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life. When I heard what happened on Lola Sayu I couldn’t believe it at first, it didn’t feel real, but once I accepted it was… I had never felt true grief until that moment, and the sense of longing was almost unbearable. All I kept thinking was how I was angry with myself for wasting the time I had with you, lying. Lying to you, and to myself.”

“What are you talking about, lying about what”, he asked, sliding his hand down to hook a finger around your chin and turn your face back to face him after you’d turned it away during your confession.

You took a deep breath before speaking next. “I lied to you before, when I acted like that slip up was just a poor choice of words, I meant exactly what I said. See, the truth is, I was upset with myself because I never told you…”, you paused, finding this confession to be much harder than you had thought it would be to get out, “never told you that I…”

After another long pause, Echo decided to take the initiative, seeing as he knew exactly what you wanted to say, as it was the same thing he’d wanted to say to you all that time ago, still did. He used the hand that had a hold of your chin to pull you to him as he caught your lips in a kiss, one that while soft, was full of so much emotion it was almost palpable. You were surprised at first, but soon melted into the kiss, feeling completely content with staying there as long as possible.

Much too soon for your liking, Echo pulled away, but only to place his forehead against yours and let the long overdue words slip from his lips. “I love you too.”

Your smile reached your ears as his words filled you with untainted happiness, which prompted him to smile widely himself. Why had you both waited so long to do this, you didn’t know, but you were glad it was finally happening.

“Why did we spend all that time hiding, when we could’ve just done this”, you asked.

He chuckled. “Because we were both cowardly idiots”, he said.

You hummed in agreement. “I still can’t believe you did all that for me”, you said in a more serious tone.

He pulled back to look into your eyes. “Of course I did… I’d do anything for you (Y/N)”, he told you.

“Anything?”

He nodded in response and you smiled again.

“Kiss me again”, you said, it was more of a request than a demand.

He smiled and pulled you close so your face was mere inches from his.

“Yes Ma’am.”

***

It had been a good fifteen minutes since the cries had stopped and no noise could be heard from Echo’s bunk. Omega was no longer worried, knowing you had it handled, but her curiosity was starting to get the best of her.

“What do you think their talking about in there, it’s so quiet, maybe I should…”, she said as she got up from the co-pilot seat, moving in the direction of the bunks, but she was stopped by a hand grabbing her forearm, causing her to turn and stare at Hunter questioningly.

“Don’t, they’re fine, and it’s none of our business what their talking about, so just let them be, alright”, he said, giving her a warning look, one that wasn’t all that intimidating to the young girl, but she listened nonetheless and returned to her seat.

After a moment she spoke again, not being able to take the silence any longer.

“So, what’s the deal with those two, are they together, or is it some secret that everyone knows about except them”, she asked the sergeant.

Hunter laughed, this kid really was perceptive, not that anyone with eyes couldn’t see the attraction between you and Echo, it had always seemed so obvious to him, which is why he never spoke on his own feelings for you.

“Yeah, there seem to be… unspoken feelings between the two of them, but I’m sure they’ll get their acts together soon enough, especially now that they’ll be around each other more often”, he told her.

She thought on this for a moment before responding.

“I think so too… and what about you”, Omega asked him.

“What about me?”

“Are you going to get your act together as well”, she asked, raising her eyebrow and grinning at him.

“What are you talkin’ about kid”, Hunter asked, wondering if she’d somehow figured it out.

“Seriously, I’ve only just got here and I can see it”, she said.

“See what?”

“That Echo isn’t the only one who has feelings for the general.”

Hunter turned to the young clone, a look of surprise on his face. Very perceptive indeed.

“Why don’t you just tell her, at least one of you should pluck up the courage to do it”, she said.

He exhaled heavily as his features returned to a more neutral expression.

“It’s not that simple kid, there are just some things you’re not old enough to understand. Besides, it’s not reciprocated so there’s really no point, she’s made her choice, and I have to respect that”, he explained, hoping that would be that. However, he wasn’t going to be that lucky.

“Your wrong”, Omega said simply.

“What?”

“Your wrong, those feelings, they are reciprocated, yeah she likes Echo, but she likes you too.” She said it with such confidence that it made him wonder if the statement was true.

“Really, and how do you know that”, he asked, an almost sarcastic tone in his voice.

She shrugged. “Female intuition.”

He raised a suspicious brow at her but decided not to think too much on it.

“Hm, well, even if you are right, she’s still made her choice, and I won’t get in the way.”

“Won’t get in the way of what?”

Your voice made both of them jump a little. You had just made your way back to the cockpit and had clearly overheard the last bit of their conversation.

“Nothing”, Hunter said, watching you come to stand beside Omega, perching your arm on the headrest of the co-pilot chair and leaning on it.

“Really? Didn’t sound like nothing”, you said, raising your eyebrow in suspicion.

Omega suddenly perked up and turned in her chair to look up at you.

“Hey (Y/N), do you think it’s possibly for someone to love more than one person at a time”, she asked.

You were a bit taken aback by the question, but figured you’d answer, seeing as how you were being very honest today.

“Yes, I do, it actually happens a lot more often than you think”, you responded, purposefully avoiding Hunter’s gaze as you looked at the child.

“And what does that person do, you know, when they realize they have feelings for more than one person”, she then asked.

“Well, usually that person then has a decision to make, and they just hope they don’t break any hearts in the process. You see, love can be a tricky endeavor. However, I think if someone does fall for two individuals at once, then there are other options”, you said, rather matter-of-factly, given the topic at hand.

“Like what?”

“Those involved could always enter into a relationship all together, I suppose”, you said, wondering just how far she was going to take this conversation.

“And that would work”, she asked, seeming almost hopeful.

“It’s possible, yes, but only if all members involved are okay with it. They all need to know that’s what’s going on, and there can’t be any secrets”, you explained.

“Huh, I guess that makes sense”, Omega said, seeming content with your explanation. Then another thought seemed to hit her. “Hey (Y/N)?”

You hummed in response.

“Have you ever been in love”, she asked curiously.

“Omega”, Hunter said firmly, giving her another look of warning.

“No, no, it’s fine”, you informed him, not wanting him to reprimand the girl for just being curious. “To answer your question Omega, yes, yes I have.”

“With more than one person”, she continued.

You raised an eyebrow at her and crossed your arms over your chest.

“What’s with the twenty questions, am I being interrogated or something”, you asked, only half joking.

She shook her head. “No, just curious is all.”

“Uh huh, well why don’t you stow that curiosity away for later and go get some rest, it’s quiet now”, you told her.

“What did you do, I mean, how did you get him to stop”, she asked as she stood from her seat.

“I just let him know that he was safe, and that there was nothing to be afraid of”, you said, which wasn’t a complete lie.

“That’s it”, she asked.

You nodded. “That’s it.”

She gave you a look of suspicion but didn’t act on it.

“Okay”, she said, drawing out the word, and made her way to exit the cockpit.

“Sleep tight”, you called after her as she disappeared down the small corridor. You then turned back to the view port and took a seat in the now empty chair, sighing heavily before finally looking to Hunter. “Well, that was interesting, care to tell me what that was all about?”

“Not really”, he said, turning back to face forward.

You raised a brow. “Seriously?”

He shrugged and kept his gaze where it was.

You sighed again and leaned back in your chair. “Alright then, but I think it’s worth mentioning that the kid knows what she’s talking about, you might want to listen to her every now and then, she’s quite intuitive.”

He looked to you then, confusion on his brow.

“What do you mean”, he asked.

You laughed. “I mean, what she said about me is true”, you said.

His eyes widened a bit. “You, you heard that”, he asked, and you nodded in response. “How much of it?”

“Enough”, you said simply.

He looked away again as he spoke. “Then you know it doesn’t matter how I feel, you’ve made your choice, and I’m okay with that, I’ll have to be”, he said, trying to keep up this act of indifference.

You turned in your seat to face him. “You keep saying that, but, what if I don’t want to choose, because how you feel does matter, Hunter. At least, to me it does.”

He turned his head to meet your gaze. “What exactly are you proposing”, he asked.

“Nothing yet, just letting you know that, I know, and that the feelings are mutual.”

He smiled at this and nodded his understanding.

“What about Echo, have you told him yet”, he asked.

“We talked, and confessions were made… finally”, you said with a smile.

You both laughed then, happy to finally air things out a bit, all the pent-up emotions were wearing on all of you it seemed, and it felt nice to not have to hide it anymore.

“How do you think he’ll feel about your non-proposed proposal”, he asked with a grin.

“I don’t know, but we’re all adults, we can sit down and have a civilized conversation about this, and… we’ll figure this all out”, you told him.

He gave an amused huff. “You make it sound so formal.”

You nodded and gave a light chuckle. “At first, yeah, but I get the feeling that once this proposal is made, all persons involved will be… willing to give it a try”, you said, taking his hand and holding it in both of yours. “Then things will get more… informal.”

He smiled. “Yeah, how can you be so sure”, he asked, leaning toward you.

You smiled back and leaned in as well, your faces now only inches apart.

“Female intuition”, you whispered, your smile turning a bit smug.

He chuckled in amusement. “You’re ridiculous”, he said, before closing the gap between you.

The kiss was sweet and felt just as right as the ones you’d had with Echo, and just like those ones, this kiss ended all to quickly, but you were content to sit back and bask in the afterglow, you didn’t want to rush things after all.

You both sat there a moment, leaning back in your seats, staring out the view port, arms stretched as your hands sat, intertwined, between you. Maybe this really could work, only time would tell.

After what felt like hours, but in reality, had only been minutes, Hunter looked to you with a soft smile.

“I’m glad you’re here with us”, he said.

You smiled back and gave his hand a light squeeze.

“Me too”, you said, and you both stayed like that for a long while, enjoying a view you each thought was much better than the one outside the view port.

Little did you know, behind you Omega stood at the entrance of the cockpit, looking on silently and grinning from ear to ear, feeling quite pleased with herself.

[lesbianrobin]

What do you think are the good and bad aspects of each season of ST?

ok 1. thank u for this question omg and 2. this answer may or may not be a mess, but either way it’s long (almost 7k words lmao) bc i’m insane, which is why it’s under a cut. it’s still by no means an exhaustive list but these are the things that just kinda came to mind.

also i realize you asked “good and bad” and i wrote this whole post as “strengths and weaknesses” which um. is not Exactly what you asked. but close enough <3 i also ended up including a lot of au ideas ksjdckmn bc like i personally hate when people say a certain plot or whatever was bad without suggesting anything that could have improved it yknow so whenever possible i tried to provide Some idea for fixing the issues i had with the show!!

season 1

strengths (this is probably gonna be the longest section but that’s because a lot of these strengths also apply to s2/s3 by default)

nostalgia and authenticity

this one’s pretty simple, but i think that season one did a good job of blending classic eighties media homages (such as the many many e.t./el parallels) with explicit pop culture references (such as mike’s yoda impression, mentions of the x-men, etc) to create a show that’s essentially dripping in early eighties nostalgia without it feeling too forced. before st, i think the most popular depiction of the eighties in mainstream media was that overly exaggerated neon scrunchie aesthetic from the mid to late eighties, and it was usually done in a comedic sense first and foremost. st took a different approach, instead focusing on the early eighties, a time that’s often ignored in favor of going either Full Seventies or Full Eighties, and i think that this choice likely resonated with adults who lived through the eighties and hadn’t yet seen something that felt quite so accurate to their own adolescence. a lot of young people who watched st were totally unfamiliar with this period of time, unfamiliar with books/movies like “stand by me” that st borrows from heavily, and i think st lent more seriousness to the eighties than most young people had experienced so far, and this was refreshing and interesting!

the use of dnd in the show is also quite genius in a way i’m not sure i can articulate?? it isn’t something Everyone would have played at the time, but it’s something that existed within a different context back in the eighties than it does today, and it really lent a sort of authenticity to the naming of the show’s sci-fi elements. like, of course these kids would name parallel dimensions and monsters and superpowers after these similar things in their favorite game! it just feels so real and it grounds st in our reality moreso than you might expect from the typical sci-fi or horror universe.

utilization of existing tropes

almost every single character in st clearly originates from some popular trope. the plot itself is riddled with classic eighties movie tropes. almost every single element of stranger things can be clearly traced back to some iconic eighties film or just to, like, overused horror/sci-fi/mystery/coming-of-age movie tropes in general. this might sound like a bad thing, but it really works in st’s favor! starting off with familiar tropes gives st the ability to easily create a lot of complexity and make a big impact by selectively deviating from those familiar, comfortable tropes!! while el’s whole plot, hopper’s character, etc, are all examples of this in action, i think the steve/nancy/jonathan plot is the greatest example. even from the start, the fact that good girl barb dies while nancy is off having sex with her asshole boyfriend is an incredibly thorough inversion of the most well-known horror movie trope in the book. how often do girls in horror movies have sex for the first time, walk home alone in the dark of night, and live to tell the tale? nancy and jonathan’s dynamic at first glance is a sort of classic “good girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks, discovers he’s actually got a heart of gold” thing, but instead of following this well-trodden path, st diverged. nancy is brash, impulsive, and at times downright insensitive. jonathan is angry, bitter, and actually a bit of a creep at first. while they have the capacity to emotionally connect and support one another, they can also bring out each other’s darker side, which is not what we’ve come to expect from that initial tropey dynamic.

in addition, steve, the popular rich asshole boyfriend, is actually... a human being! unlike the cartoonishly evil jocks that we’ve come to expect (especially from eighties movies), steve has complexity. despite his initial immaturity and selfishness, he’s also kind to barb, he backs off when nancy says no, he’s gentle and sweet when they sleep together, his first big Dick Move of the season is in defense of nancy, he realizes the error of his ways after the fight and does what he can to fix it, he’s worried about nancy when he sees that she’s hurt at jonathan’s house, and to top it all off, he ends up saving both nancy and jonathan’s lives when he could have just walked away, and the three of them all work together to fight the demogorgon. like... steve began as the most stereotypical character of all time, and by the end of the season, he had one of the most compelling and unique arcs among the whole cast!

finally, at the very end of the season, instead of dumping steve for jonathan as expected, nancy ends up getting back together with steve, and they’re both on friendly terms with jonathan. i realize that i just kinda. summarized s1. but my POINT is that i don’t think the dynamics between the monster hunting trio would be nearly as fun and interesting had the characters of nancy, steve, and jonathan not been set up to follow certain paths that we already had charted in our own heads. like, within the first couple episodes of s1, it’s pretty obvious that nancy and steve are gonna break up, nancy will get with jonathan, and steve will either die or go full evil or just never be seen again. like, duh! you’ve seen this story a million times! you know that’s how it’s gonna go! so, when the story DOESN’T go that way, the impact of each character’s arc and the relationship dynamics become stronger due to their unexpected complexity and authenticity. 

distinct plotlines separated by age group

this one’s rather obvious, but the way that the adults in s1 were essentially in a conspiracy thriller while the teens were in a horror flick and the kids were in a sci fi power-of-friendship story and all three converged at the end... wow. brilliant showstopping etc. not only was it just really well done and unique, it also gave stranger things near-universal appeal. like, there’s genuinely something for pretty much everyone in season one!

casting

obviously this applies to every season sorta by default, but when i think about what made season one So successful, i always think about the cast, and not just winona ryder. yes, she’s absolutely amazing in the show and it’s very doubtful that st would be as big as it is today without her name being attached to it from the start!! however, i think the greatest determining factor in st’s success is the casting of the kids, particularly millie bobby brown. like... el is just absolutely incredible. she’s amazing. this has all been said many times before so i won’t harp on it, but millie and the other kids are all So talented and charismatic and i think their casting has been instrumental to the show’s success.

strong visuals

the way that multicolored christmas lights which have been around for decades are now kinda like. a Stranger Things thing. jesus christ. those lights are probably the biggest stroke of stylistic genius on the show.

atmosphere and setting

this is probably like. the least important one here for me sdjncdsc because i think s2 and s3 both had like Even Better atmospheres and shit but s1 was good too and it laid the groundwork!! i know a lot of people would have preferred st be set somewhere more Spooky with lots of fog or giant forests or whatnot, and while i do enjoy thinking about alternate st settings and how they might alter the vibe, i think hawkins indiana was a good choice. as the duffers have said, placing stranger things in a fictional town allows them more flexibility than if they’d gone with their original plan of using montauk, new york. besides that, i think the plainness and like... flatness... of small-town indiana just Works. like, the fact that hawkins is never really scary on the surface is a big part of the horror in the lab’s actions and their impact. hawkins isn’t somewhere that people just disappear all the time. it isn’t somewhere known for strange occurrences (prior to s1, that is). it isn’t somewhere shrouded in mist and secrecy. hawkins on its surface seems like the sort of place with no secrets and nothing to fear, and that’s the point! the lab is out in the open! it’s right there! everything is so close to the surface, yet so far out of the public eye, and i think that really works.

the byers family’s whole deal (specifically the joyce/jonathan dynamic)

this is going here bc i miss it so bad in s2 and s3. i’m not one of those people who believe The Byers Are The Whole Point of the show, because st is and always has been an ensemble, and el, hopper, and the wheelers are just as instrumental to the plot as the byers, but ANYWAY, i do think the byers were one of the most interesting aspects of s1. joyce’s difficulties with supporting her sons as a poor and (implied mentally ill) single mother, jonathan’s stress as a result of having to earn money, care for his brother, and keep the house in order when his mother is unable to do so, and the resulting tension between them when will’s disappearance and supposed “death” brings the situation to a tipping point? holy shit! it’s so good! that argument after they see will’s “body” is just incredible and gut-wrenching. their relationship feels so real and messy and i think it’s just... good. also winona ryder REALLY acted her heart out and she carried a lot of s1 which i think people often forget to mention so i’m saying it here.

weaknesses

pacing/timing

ok so pacing is probably going to go in each season’s weaknesses, to be honest, because i think they all had a blend of some good and some bad pacing. good pacing is invisible pacing, though, so i probably won’t be putting it in any of the strengths sections and will only be focusing on it in the weaknesses. i’m also probably not going to talk about weird day/night cycle things, just because i don’t want to get nitpicky on timelines because that would require going back and rewatching things to double check timing which i don’t wanna do at the moment lmao. anyway, when i think of bad pacing in season one, i primarily think of two things: nancy’s little trip into the upside down and subsequent sleepover with jonathan, and the sort of staggered nature of the climax in the final episode. the latter is simple so i’ll explain it first: while i understand that each group’s respective climax is like part of a chain reaction and that’s why each big moment happens separately and at different times, i think that st is strongest when the whole group is together, and i think that makes the stakes feel higher too, so i’m not In Love with the way s1 separated everyone and gave each group their own climax. 

okay, now on to the nancy/upside down thing! idk if i’ve ever talked about it before, but i think the worst decision made in s1 by far is the inclusion of nancy’s brief trip into the upside down, wherein she dives headfirst into another dimension with absolutely no backup, watches the demogorgon chow down, freaks out and runs around for a minute, and then leaves. like... what the fuck? even putting aside what an idiotic decision this was (because i do think nancy’s tendency to rush into things headfirst is an intentional and consistent character trait), it just kind of destroys any remaining suspense surrounding the demogorgon and the upside down, and it accomplishes basically nothing besides scaring nancy enough to have jonathan sleep over, which is lame. i will break it down.

like, first of all, nancy just getting to waltz in and out of the upside down and get a good, long look at the demogorgon makes the entire thing far less mysterious, and by extension far less scary. like... before this scene, we the audience haven’t got a good look at the demogorgon. we’ve seen its silhouette briefly and we’ve seen a blurry picture of it, but nothing more, and i think that is far more effective at building fear than this jaunt nancy goes on which gives us a full view of the thing and makes it into less of a horrifying nightmare and into more of a humanoid animal. like, maybe this is just me, but i found the demogorgon far less intimidating after that scene than before. it also lets nancy and jonathan know For Sure that they’re right without providing any crucial information that they need to fight the demogorgon (aka it’s unnecessary to the plot), which removes a very compelling story element (the faith nancy and jonathan need to have in order to keep going against a vague and poorly understood enemy, the doubt they might have about each other and their own sanity, the possibility that they might be wrong, the trust they need to have in each other) a bit earlier in the plot than i believe is ideal. at the end of episode 5, nancy goes into the upside down and jonathan doesn’t know where she is and it’s intense!!! you’re thinking like, oh fuck, not only is nancy missing and fighting for her life now too, jonathan might be implicated in her disappearance!! some people already think he’s the one who killed will and people know that he took creepy pictures of barb and nancy before they both disappeared, maybe this is gonna cause some serious problems for him!! maybe nancy will find will in the upside down and she’ll help him survive!! fuck, maybe she’ll actually die!! this is huge!! and then episode 6 starts and they’re immediately like oh nevermind jonathan found the tree and got nancy out and she’s fine. my point with all of this is that nancy entering the upside down could have done A Lot in the grand scheme of the plot, but all it did was just... get jonathan to sleep over so he and nancy could have some awkward romance moments and steve could see them together and pick a fight. which could have honestly happened at Any point while nancy and jonathan were working together to hunt down the demogorgon, without ruining the demogorgon’s and the upside down’s mystique. so yeah <3

weird behavior and dumbass decisions that make no sense (aka the whole camera thing)

gonna go off about the teen plot again sorry but: why was nancy so unbothered and quick to forgive jonathan for taking those pictures? girl what the fuck are you doing? why wasn’t that a bigger deal? why was jonathan’s motivation for doing it so weak and why did they just kind of forget about the whole thing? why did nancy TRACK HIM DOWN AT THE FUNERAL HOME while he was PICKING OUT HIS BABY BROTHER’S CASKET to be like hey can you tell me what’s in this creepshot you took? it’s insane. it’s so insane. i mean i think the funeral home thing is hilarious and i don’t mind it being in the show necessarily but like my point here is that i think a lot of character decisions in s1 just kind of.. happened because they Needed to happen for the plot. like, they wrote this plot that required jonathan to be secretly taking pictures of the party and required him and nancy to work together after seeing something odd in the pictures, but they didn’t like... really consider what that event would mean for their characterization and relationship. the whole thing was sort of just dropped with minimal discussion and i think it did both nancy and jonathan’s characters a disservice and was really mishandled.

lighting and saturation/color grading

i am literally begging horror/sci-fi shows to let me see shit. i GET IT okay i understand that when you’re doing cgi effects it helps to keep the lights down and i’m not mad at any of the lighting in the demogorgon/upside down scenes!! i’m really not i think the demogorgon scenes in s1 all look sick!! but like... dude. the colors. where are they. why does everyone look like a vampire. i know blah blah this was probably an intentional stylistic choice intended to mimic film at the time blah blah but dude a lot of old movies are very colorful!! please just let people have color in their faces so everyone doesn’t look like a sheet of paper!!! also i’m white and not a professional lighting designer so yknow grain of salt but i think lucas was kinda poorly served by the lighting sometimes in s1. not Hugely so, not to the degree that i’ve seen poc be poorly served by lighting in other shows, but there were some times where it felt kinda like the lighting setup was just not designed with darker skin in mind. 

horror

i just personally don’t find s1 very scary like... ever. i don’t think they were really Trying to be extremely scary yknow so i’m not counting this as a big deal, but i do think that each season has improved on the horror aspects. i think s1′s horror lies more in the mystery and the unknown than in what’s seen onscreen, and as i’ve said already, i think s1 kind of fumbled that suspense ball.

season 2

strengths

the possession plot

i’ll warn u rn this whole s2 strengths section is probably gonna be really short bc idk like. how much there is to really say i feel like it’s all so self-explanatory skjncmn. anyway yeah the possession plot!! eerie as fuck, and noah OWNED. so did winona tbh and finn and sean etc but like. noah. wow! i think the possession plot helped the show maintain a good amount of tension and suspense throughout the season, and a lot of scenes with possessed!will are flatout disturbing to watch. in a good way. i think the mindflayer and will’s possession were far more genuinely frightening than s1′s demogorgon, and it provided a new layer of depth and intrigue to the antagonist besides just “bad monster want eat people.”

tone and aesthetics

halloween season... literally halloween season. halloween season. that is all.

actually i will elaborate a bit and just say that i think s2 did a good job of having the sort of foreboding vibe that s1 was often going for, but without the annoying darkness and desaturation. so points for that.

also st2 is like one of the best Autumn pieces of media ever like it just. like steve and dustin on those train tracks with the fallen leaves all around them.... god. god the vibes are unparalleled. all of the halloween stuff also really contributes to the nostalgia st runs on yknow it makes you think about childhood and trick-or-treating and you kind of get transported like damn... i remember going to the rich neighborhoods to score the good candy..... idk i just think the whole thing is incredibly effective. 

“babysitter” steve

by sending nancy and jonathan off together, the show created a problem: what to do with steve? this problem pushed them to create the unconventional and unexpected duo of steve and dustin, and the world is so much brighter for it. seriously though we all know steve and dustin are great i don’t need to argue that point. all i’ll add is that i think allowing steve to grow in this way, serving as a mentor figure and becoming genuine friends with someone so unexpected, really took the originality of his character to the next level. no longer content just to defy his archetype, in s2 steve begins branching out in ways that never would have been considered in s1, creating an incredibly complex and interesting person from the sort of character that most shows would have simply written out or killed off for convenience’s sake. and it works and steve and dustin are such a joy to watch and i love them. <3

the lucas/max plot

so first of all max mayfield is the most perfect baby girl on god’s green earth and idk what i would do without her but anyway. i think lumax is the best romantic relationship in the show and not just because they’re the only ones with like an age-appropriate approach to the whole thing. it’s also because their relationship accomplishes more than just putting the two of them in a relationship!! lucas and max spending time together motivates billy to do his evil shit, providing more conflict in the narrative, and it also helps establish max as part of the group in a relatively natural way while giving both her and lucas a great subplot. lucas (and dustin) has a crush on the new girl, they start spending some time together, and lucas ends up needing to decide whether he’ll keep the secret of the upside down and lose her, or risk both of their lives by telling her the truth. that’s a pretty big, character-defining decision that he gets to make!! max has to choose whether to trust this boy she barely knows and endanger herself, or to walk away and stay safe, yet another great character-defining choice that also contributes to the sense we get as an audience of max as somebody who’s incredibly lonely and desperate for love and connection. this post is way too long already and i have a ton more to say so i’ll stop now but yeah i think lumax really Works in the show without ever distracting or detracting from the overall plot and narrative in the way that some other ships (coughjancycough) often do.

balance between the normal and abnormal

s2 i think did a pretty solid job of melding daily life with more fantastical sci-fi horror elements. i enjoyed seeing so much of the kids at school in the first few episodes!! you really get a strong sense of where they’re at in life, what their daily lives are like, and you get a sort of gradual shift into madness that makes everything feel more grounded than i think it would if they had just leapt straight into the horror shit, yknow? 

the el and hopper dynamic

go back and rewatch s2 and tell me that’s not one of the most moving portrayals of parenthood and trauma and growing up that you’ve ever seen. you can’t. or well you can but i won’t listen. i really can’t imagine stranger things without el and hopper’s relationship, and it’s my absolute favorite part of s2. their whole dynamic is so beautiful and complex, and gives them each amazing personal arcs in addition! the black hole scene is literally one of the show’s greatest moments of all time. any given scene between the two of them in s2 is just guaranteed to be heartwarming as well as heartbreaking, and i think that makes for an incredible show.

weaknesses

flashbacks

okay this applies to Every season they All have too many flashbacks but in s2 specifically... please stop showing me shit from season one. i watched it. i know what happened. you don’t need to spoon feed everything to me!! flashbacks can be a really helpful way of delivering information to an audience, but st has a bad habit of not only being kinda demeaning in how often they flash back to shit that the audience already knows, but they also have a bad habit of using flashbacks almost as a crutch to avoid having to deliver information subtly and naturally. 

you know i gotta say it... the lost sister

this is so sad. the lost sister really is like a great concept for an st episode, and i’m not mad about the idea of st taking a break from the normal action to focus on one story for a full episode, but the execution of it was just dreadful. kali and her crew feel very over-the-top and stereotypical, and its placement in the season totally kills the tension and excitement that was built in “the spy.” 

i think the lost sister honestly could have gone over far better, even with the stereotypical fake-feeling gang kali has, if they had just swapped it with “the spy” like... ok, the end of episode five has el setting off to find kali and will collapsing on the ground seizing. right? imagine if, instead of immediately following will to the lab, we’d followed el. we don’t know what’s happening with will, but it’s a very simple cliffhanger that leaves us on edge without making us feel cheated by the show cutting away. we follow el on her little journey, everything happens much the same as canon, and then at the end, el sees hopper in scrubs. she sees mike, screaming, sees that they’re both in danger. holy shit!!! what the fuck!!! what’s happened since we left will seizing on the ground??? we feel el’s fear and confusion. she decides to go home. and then... boom. “the lost sister” is over. now, we rewind, right back to will seizing on the ground, and “the spy” commences. we learn how they got into the danger that el saw in the end of “the lost sister,” and we sit on the edge of our seats all through “the spy” and “the mind flayer,” KNOWING that el is on her way back to save them but not knowing when she’ll arrive!! idk i don’t think that would have necessarily saved lost sister but i think it may have alleviated some of the issues that i and many others have with it, timing-wise.

the nancy/jonathan sidequest

once again, the idea of nancy going off on her own little mission to find justice for barb after s1 is like. amazing. genuinely i love that plot for her and i can’t imagine anything better for her to have focused on in s2. unfortunately though i think her and jonathan’s little trip to see murray was just kind of... lame. the whole thing just felt like an excuse to get the two of them alone together, yknow? which is fine i guess people contrive all sorts of situations to get characters alone together for romance reasons but in this case i think it just really doesn’t work for me because of what it’s juxtaposed with. like, will is POSSESSED, and jonathan is just off on a mini road trip and sleeping with his bestie, and jonathan never seems to communicate to joyce/will that he left town, and joyce never like... thinks to tell him that will is like sick and fucked up and they’re looking at him in the lab??? like it’s so weird i know joyce always forgets about jonathan when shit’s happening with will but jfc you’d think at some point in that like... 72-ish-hour period where jonathan was out of town she would have thought about him. like at least once. maybe i’m forgetting something and she mentioned him sometime and i missed it but even still, i hate the juxtaposition of nancy and jonathan just like cheers-ing at murray’s place and sleeping together and whatnot while everyone else is dealing with possession or trying to hunt down dart yknow? it feels really boring in comparison and i think it could have been done far better. like it was SO insanely easy for them to get into the lab and get an admission of guilt and escape with it!! i think it might have been a lot more engaging if maybe someone from the lab tailed them to murray’s place and they had to like lose the tail and race to get the recording out to as many news outlets as possible before they got caught, or something like that. the tension in their plotline is completely resolved in episode four!! episodes five and six are just them screwing around and addressing envelopes. while there were a lot of strong ideas in this plotline (i really enjoy nancy going out of her way to get justice, and the fact that they have to water down the story to make it believable), i just think the focus on nancy and jonathan getting together hindered it a lot without adding a ton to the plot or their individual characters.

season 3

strengths

starcourt mall as a setting

while i don’t think the mall was utilized quite to its full potential (something i could make a separate post about if anyone’s interested), i do think that starcourt was a genius addition to the series. i’ve said this before, but building a new mall is a literal Perfect in-universe justification for a significant leap forward in fashion and aesthetics, and it provides a great location for characters to just... be characters. idk how else to articulate this i just think that the mall is a great setting to let people interact with each other and to bring people together who may not have been otherwise (i.e. scoops troop). not to mention how sick it was to see the mall get wrecked toward the end kdjncdkm like they were able to do so much more with the mall in terms of like The Finale than they could with just the byers house or the cabin or the school or even the lab. i love all the back tunnels they run through it’s such a fun like acknowledgement of how this glitzy eighties mall is just a real place where employees get shipments and take out the trash and shit idk it’s all about the perfect facade and what’s hidden what’s underneath what’s hiding in plain sight etc etc i’m just saying words now. anyway. 

willingness to experiment and go against expectations

gay robin. neon aesthetics. giant fucking meat monster. i know some people hate both the neon and the meat monster but i personally think they were kind of amazing and like. yknow regardless of personal tastes i think it’s impossible to deny that s3 had a lot of incredible visuals, and they’re all visuals that just wouldn’t have been possible if the show were too afraid to stray from its s1 aesthetic. robin being canonically gay (and her resulting friendship with steve) and the season’s striking visuals are two things that most everyone (besides like homophobes skjncdknm) can agree were great, right? and they were both departures from where the show began and what we all expected!! so yeah i think while some of the experimentation in s3 wasn’t ideal it was also that experimentation that allowed for some of the season’s strongest elements to come about.

the hospital sequence (and the season’s action/horror scenes in general)

this one is fairly self-explanatory. while they may have underutilized the “body snatching” element of the season, the hospital sequence with nancy and jonathan fighting off their possessed bosses did an amazing job of building tension and creating a genuine sense of really intense and personal danger.

in general i think that s3 melded action and horror rather well, particularly in the sauna test, the hospital, and when the mindflayer busts through the roof of hop’s cabin. horror can come from many things, and in this case, st elicited horror largely from the feeling of helplessness, and it was really effective for me personally. i think it worked better for me than s1′s brand of horror because it doesn’t rely so much on a lack of knowledge or a sense of suspense that inevitable disappears upon a second viewing.

the body horror we got in s3 was also really fun! that’s it i just think all the blood and guts and slime were fun and i would like more of them. once again, the impacts of body horror are less dependent upon the viewer being in the dark or unsure as to what’s happening, and as such i think it tends to be a little more effective at eliciting reaction in the long term.

timing and mechanics of the battle of starcourt/finale

i think the battle of starcourt is just fucking awesome, and beyond that personal opinion, i think it’s the most high-stakes and intense finale of all three seasons, and this is for two main reasons! 1. el is out of commission, and 2. (almost) everyone is in the same cental location. this means that (almost) everyone is in danger all at once, and they are all working together at the same time to fight the same threat. s1/s2 have their groups more fragmented for the finales, and while i understand why in each case and i wouldn’t call either season’s finale necessarily weak, i do think the centralized nature of the s3 finale just Works on another level. in s1 and s2, large segments of the cast are already perfectly safe by the time el dispatches the primary threat. in s3, however, everybody save for dustin and erica is still in danger up until the last moment, and el is seemingly (you can def debate how much power she still had in her when she peeked into billy’s mind and whether the memory broke the mindflayer’s hold on him or if she was actually controlling him to some degree) completely vulnerable. this increases the tension and raises the stakes, making the finale a real crescendo to fortissimo as opposed to a series of little mezzo forte moments. i hope everyone reading this knows music idk how else to phrase that my brain is stupid.

emphasis on friendship and adolescence (but in a different way than s1/2)

this is definitely a controversial one but i think that s3 really did like... show a side of friendship that had been more or less unexplored thus far in the show. el and max were amazing, and i think it’s really nice that we got an opportunity to see the kids have some growing pains as well as see them support each other through Normal Adolescent Stuff like boyfriends and breakups instead of just like. death and trauma. this is maybe just a personal preference, but i think it can be really enlightening and provide a lot of depth when you get to see how characters respond to normal everyday conflict and not just how they respond to giant world-ending conflict!! letting el use her powers for goofy teenage shit like spying on boys and messing with mean girls at the mall is not only fun for her and the audience, but it also really emphasizes just how much those powers are a part of el, making it that much more devastating when she loses them at the end of the season. 

weaknesses

tonal dissonance

so this is like. obvious. but it must still be said! i won’t go on and on about it since we all know this so i’ll try to like talk about it from an angle people don’t usually? anyway. it seems to me like they were maybe a little worried about s3 being too dark. while the choice to really lean into humor was definitely driven by the sorts of eighties teen films from which s3 drew inspiration (like fast times at ridgemont high), i think it was also done in an attempt to alleviate the more troubling implications of some events in the season, particularly the russian bunker plot. like, yeah, st can be incredibly dark, but if they’d played the whole “children being stuck inside of a foreign military base, tied up, tortured, and drugged” thing completely straight without the humorous elements that exist in canon, it had the potential to be like... disturbing on a new level. steve and robin don’t have powers like el yknow their kidnapping/torture doesn’t have any sci-fi elements to sorta soften the blow. they’re just innocent teenagers being brutalized and traumatized by grown men. so anyway yeah i think maybe the writers were concerned about this storyline coming off as too dark and they wanted it to be a little more whimsical but they ended up pushing way too hard in that direction and creating extreme dissonance at times. this goes for joyce/hopper/murray/alexei too, but to a lesser extent. i think the ridiculousness in that group felt a lot more like... realistic. but still. 

newspaper plot

once again i feel like i don’t even need to say this skjdncmn we all know it was insane how the show basically ended up delivering the message “while misogyny is a serious problem poverty and classism are not” and i’ve said it on this blog a million times so i don’t need to repeat myself. i’ll focus on another weak point of this plot: the fact that it completely separates nancy and jonathan from everyone else. once again, the show’s preoccupation with j/ancy held them back! like... can you imagine a version of s3 where nancy and jonathan both worked in the mall? i have a lot of ideas about this possible au and like how the plot could play out differently if they worked in the mall but first of all it’s just more realistic, second of all it further utilizes the mall as a central setting, and third of all, it would bring everyone together. as it is in canon, nancy and jonathan were unnecessarily isolated from the rest of the group, and this isolation was detrimental to both of their characters. like, they only ever get to interact with each other! if they’d gotten summer jobs in the mall, they could have had more interactions with the kids/steve/robin, and they absolutely still could have had a similar argument! maybe in this case, nancy notices the rat thing (or something else odd) herself when taking out the trash behind the mall, and she wants jonathan to ditch work with her to check it out bc she thinks it may be related to the lab. jonathan doesn’t want to ditch work because he needs his job, nancy argues that they’re working shitty mall jobs anyway and who cares if they get fired, and we get more or less the same thing as s3 without the cartoonishly over-the-top misogyny. i mean honestly i think the rat shit could have been cut entirely it didn’t rly... accomplish much of anything. in my opinion. like imagine s3 without the rat plot you literally would not be missing anything except it would be more surprising when the dudes melted into goo at the hospital. so yeah i think it would have been better if nancy and jonathan had jobs at the mall, weren’t isolated from everybody else, and were maybe absorbed into the party’s plot or the scoops troop’s plot from very early on, allowing them to interact with more characters and have a less... dumb.... plot. like god splitting up nancy and jonathan between the party/scoops troop would have been So Much better i just. sdkjcnksdmn anyway yeah.

briefness of group reunion/separation of groups

remember in s2 at the beginning of “the gate,” where mike and hopper had a confrontation and max and el met for the first time and el hugged everyone and steve and nancy had their sad little moment together outside... where’s that energy? obviously the s2 reunion wasn’t that long either, but it made space for some significant emotional moments to take place. s3′s reunion had some hopper/el/mike resolution, but besides that... there was nothing, really. i just think that the whole group getting together in s3 was SO exciting and powerful the way they did it (with both the scoops troop and the adults having their own Big Moment reconnecting with team griswold family), but the emotional potential was more or less squandered. 

i also think in s3 at times they were really stretching to keep everybody separated even though it made no sense. and like... in s1 the separation worked bc nobody else knew that (x group) was experiencing weird shit too, and beyond that, each group (as i mentioned in the s1 section) was sort of operating within their own genre and bringing something unique to the season. they’ve stopped doing that though! now, the groups aren’t separate bc each plot is tonally/structurally different, the groups are just separate bc... they need to be, because it’s a big ensemble cast and you can’t just have them all be together for a whole season or it would be way too difficult to coordinate things and keep the show dynamic. all this is to say that i’m excited for s4 because the location differences make it so there’s a Reason for each plot to be separate at the beginning, and i think that’ll work better.

general ridiculousness

i dont mean like i think it’s bad that they made jokes this is just me lumping in all the dumb shit like hopper not worrying about el and not wanting to check on the kids, him and joyce bickering long after they both know they and their children are in danger, max seemingly forgetting that billy is a racist abuser, etc etc. i think many of these are just a symptom of the show 1. trying desperately to keep the groups split up a certain way even though it may not make any sense, and 2. trying to fit into a certain genre/trope mold when their actual characters are more complex than the tropes they’re imitating. this is so fucking long already i am not gonna elaborate further rn but i trust u all know what i mean.

soooo... yeah, that’s about all! i mean it’s not all there are definitely many more things i could talk about and i know i focused sorta disproportionately on the teens which is my bad :/ but i’m done for now. thank you for asking, and apologies for the delay in responding!! i’m sure some people reading (if anyone read this far) will disagree with some of what i’ve said and that’s alright like i’m not The Authority on st or anything i’m just trying to talk about like my own thoughts yknow? so yeah luv u all i hope someone enjoyed reading this!!

[ohmsjedi]

𝘞𝘢𝘺 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘞𝘦 𝘎𝘰

𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘧𝘧𝘦 𝘹 𝘎𝘕 𝘑𝘦𝘥𝘪!𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

Summary: Jedi padawan reader experiences the events before and after Order 66.  

Warnings: Angst, violence, death, injury. 

Word Count: 6,296

Today was no different from the others, but on this specific occasion you felt off. The lack luster of pride, confidence, and tranquility was no doubt obvious to the legion. You were just unable to correspond or focus normally as per usual.

You stood and observed the planet Cato Neimodia from the docking station. Soldiers were scattered around tending to transport ships and various other Z-95 Starfighters that needed more modifications before departure.

The whole reason to you feeling this way was because this was your last mission with the men, alongside master Plo. Your future afterwards would lye in the hands of the Jedi council.

You begged the stars that the Jedi council wouldn’t screw you over. Then again, anything is possible. Whether it be good or bad, there’s always an outcome to everything.

The sounds of beeps caused you to look away from the planet. Tilting your head down, your astromech droid, EV-9E, circled around you, making noises to get your attention. You smiled down at the chipped grey and white droid, then squatted down to be eye level with it.

“What took you so long?” You curiously asked the droid as it made unamused beeps. You placed a hand on its dome, and raised an eyebrow as the droid continued to make unsatisfied noises. EV then opened up one of its compartments where your hand was placed, causing you to retract your hand away. The droid broke out into even more angry beeps.

"I know, I know, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. I can’t bring you on this mission and that’s final" the droid wheeled back and twisted its head around, even teetering from one leg to the other, almost like a youngling having a temper tantrum.

"You've been around Artoo too much" you joked. EV stopped and wheeled up to you with a bit of force and bumped into your knees, nearly knocking you off your feet. You haltered the droid by putting your hand up in front of you and glared at it.

"Fine fine" you readjusted your position, now in a kneeling stance "You can prepare my ship-” EV started to beep happily “but I'm not promising that I'll need it" you gave EV a pointed look. EV ignored your words and continued to beep happily as it turned away from you and headed straight to the sector where your ship resided untouched.

"Blasted droids never’ listen" you rolled your eyes at the gruff voice and stood up from the ground, turning your whole body around, now facing an unhelmeted Wolffe.

"Not to you of course" you quipped, folding your arms and cocking your head to the side "I take it you're still not over the whole fiasco with Artoo and 3PO" you teased as you gave Wolffe a sly smile.

Wolffe scoffed and took his helmet from his right arm and switched it to his left. Keeping his eyes focused on the ground, he pushed his slightly cupped right hand towards you. You moved closer to him, eyeing the object in his hand curiously, he shook his hand a little, a sign to take it. With delicate fingers, you took the now obvious rounded pendant into your hand, the chain dangling down and grazing the back of your hand softly. 

Carefully, you untangled the chain and held it up in front of you, the chain swayed, and gleamed from the lights above. Your eyes softened, you rested the pendent in your hand, bringing it closer to your face for further inspection. The pendant had a small engrave of what you assumed looked similar to the packs logo. Your finger lightly traced over the engraved markings, the small pendent feeling cool underneath your fingertip.  

"An elderly native gave it to me as a thank you gift for helping them recover most of their belongings of what they presumed was lost during our relief mission." you looked away from the pendent and looked at Wolffe "They said it was made out of beskar, and recommended I gift it to someone who was worthy of having it" Wolffe met your eyes, and you smiled at him. For a moment, you felt like the luckiest person to coexist, then that quickly subsided. Your face faltered, having the mindset of being unworthy of a gift from him, especially something as rare as beskar. 

“It’s beautiful Wolffe...but I just can’t-”

“Cyare this gift is meant for you and only you” Wolffe froze, his eyes widening a little from the small slip up. He blinked a couple of times before clearing his throat “What I mean is...this is a gift of gratitude, from me to you. Take it as a thank you for allowing me to serve alongside you”

You opened your mouth before closing it, Wolffe gave you a sincere and honest look. You nodded and graced a small grin on your face.

“Thank you for this, and it was an honor serving alongside you” Wolffe felt his heart ache, feeling as everything was coming to an end so soon. 

Originally, he wasn’t planning on gifting the necklace to you this early on. A unsure master Plo had mentioned to him that you would take a separate ship to meet with master Yoda on Kashyyyk after fending off the separatists on Cato Neimodia.

Once Wolffe received this information, he had no other choice but to force himself to give you the necklace on short notice. He was just worried that he wouldn’t have another opportunity like this to give it to you.

“Wolffe I have to ask you something“ Wolffes brows raised at you, he examined your face noticing how you seemed hesitant. You fiddled with the necklace in your hand, now starting to feel anxious.

“That is?” He drawled as he gripped onto his helmet tighter. 

Confrontation was never your thing, out in battle it was different. Being faced to face with someone alone and away from prying eyes was more of a nerve wrecking experience then expected.

“I was curious about-“ The call of both of your names caused you both to turn your heads towards the direction of the recipient. Plo made his way across the hanger as he looked between the two of you. Wolffe was quick to stand at attention, fixing his posture and clutching onto his bucket.

Plo stopped in front of you both.

“Commander Wolffe, I would like you to begin boarding protocols to your men”

“Yes general” Wolffe placed his helmet on top of his head and made way towards his comrades that were wondering around. Your eyes followed Wolffes retreating figure, then soon you looked back towards your Master.

“Nervous I sense” Plo held his hands behind him as he continued to take in your force signature. 

“Just a little, but I’ll get over it” you shrugged and gazed down at the chain that was peaking out of your hand.

“No need to torture yourself with your worries of the Jedi councils decision. I for one know that you’ll make a fine Jedi knight” You bit the inside of your cheek and held onto the necklace a little bit tighter.

“But if they were to disagree, I’ll be sure to reconcile and talk with the Jedi masters in hopes of making them reconsider their choices, which I doubt is something I’ll have to do.” You nodded and kept your head low.

“Rest assure you’ll be just fine. Then again, if you can’t get over your nerves by the time you reach the bridge, just stick with the pack and if you have to, hold position till you feel okay, then do so” You took Plos words into consideration before mumbling a ‘yes master’.

“May I?” Plo pointed towards the Beskar necklace in your hand, you nodded and carefully handed it to him and turned around. Plo unclasped the chain and carefully placed it around your neck, in just a few seconds the hook was successfully secured into the eye clasp. He then let the ends go and backed a few steps away from you. You turned back around and thanked him.

“I’m surprised that you were able to do it so fast”

“Well, I did come to know two younglings who were very infatuated with necklaces during their youth” Plo grinned to himself, remembering both a young you and a young Ahsoka.

Plos comm link went off signaling that it was almost time to depart from the Venators hangar. Plo looked at you one last time and gave you a small nod.

“I trust you that the center bridge will be secured by the time we’ve finished off the separatists fleet?” Plo raised his brow bones up at you

“Yes master, we will be sure to secure the bridge and escort any remaining citizens to safety” you fixed your posture, now feeling a bit more confident than you originally were. Plo rested a hand on your shoulder.

“Good luck y/n, I’ll see you on the grounds before you know it.” Plo retracted his hand away from your shoulder “Be sure to watch out for the men” Plo turned around and walked the opposite direction to where the fleet and his ship were.

You brought up your hand and took the pendent in between your thumb and pointer finger, feeling the engraved logo. You looked over towards master Plo one last time before turning around and heading towards the LA/AT ships.

From a distance Boost eyes followed your walking figure, he turned his head to Wolffe who kept his head down.

“You didn’t tell them...did you?” Even if Wolffe couldn’t see Boost's face, he knew his vod was a bit disappointed.

“No...I didn’t. I just couldn’t bring myself to confess the way I originally planned to.” Wolffe said in a hushed tone. Sinker patted Wolffes back, providing a bit of comfort for his commander. 

“It’s alright vod, you’ll get your chance another time” Wolffe sighed and clenched his fists as he adjusted his posture. 

As you got closer to them, Wolffe was quick to move towards the LA/AT. Boost and Sinker shook their heads as they watched a retreating and irritated Wolffe bored the ship. Once you arrived, they were all quick to greet you while boarding alongside them.

You watched as the fleet took their departure, you blindly reached up and grabbed a hold of the handle bar. The ships blast doors closed slowly, the red emergency lights turned on, casting a red hue inside. You stared at the ship's door, it was too quiet for your liking. Only the sounds of your rapid heartbeat thrumming and a few feet scuffing on the ground.

Oh how you disliked these moments where everything felt so tense and the air seemed so thin. It was always you who started small talk with your comrades before and during transportation. But you couldn’t bring yourself to it.

You were just a mess.

The small rocking of the transport ship signaled that you were taking off. You clutched the handle a bit tighter to prevent yourself from losing balance, but also a way to keep you mentally grounded.

***

Entering into the Cato Neimodias atmosphere was a rough start. Explosions caused the ship to have minor turbulence, you all stumbled and clung onto the handles, even grabbing onto one another’s shoulder for balance. You quickly let go of the handle and latched onto the side of the ship next to the blast door. 

The door you were next to slid open, you squinted your eyes from the reveal of the harsh lighting. Once your eyes adjusted, you poked your head out, observing as launched missiles had either bypassed transport ships or exploded mid-air.

One particular missile headed straight towards one of the transport ships, reaching your hand out, you made the missile take a detour before it could strike down the LA/AT.

The closer you got to the surface, various Starfighters and separatist ships had zoomed past. As soon as the center bridge's ground was in view you turned your head and signaled to Wolffe with a simple finger gesture, he nodded and grabbed hold of his pistols while the others adjusted their blasters.

You moved closer to the opening, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. Adrenaline pumped full speed through your veins, your heart beating at an unnatural rate. With one last final examination of the battle below, you quickly jumped out of the ship and landed elegantly on your feet. 

Before any of the droids could turn around, you slashed through them with your blue lightsaber and pushed forward.

You continued to block blaster fire and as soon as you got closer to a few more droids, you raised your hand up, bringing the droids up with it and quickly formed your hand into a fist causing the droids to short circuit and crush into pieces.

Once the LA/AT ships landed, troopers were quick to get into fighting formation. Commander Wolffe, Boost, Sinker, and a few new recruits were quick to catch up with you as you deliberately blocked and slashed through various droids. The clustered together buildings on the bridge made the battle more difficult to move around and correlate properly.

You’re wondering eyes stopped on the sight of a tank moving foreword in the distance, no doubt preparing to strike. Everyone seemed to have noticed the distinct blue colored tank on the front lines of the separatists side.

You and your small group took cover behind a building right before a cannon blast had collided into the ground. You watched as a building crumbled, causing a few troops to yell out and take cover.

“So much for mild destruction” Boost shrugged his shoulders while Sinker snickered as he gripped onto his blaster rifle.

You peeked over the side of the building, glancing around for any potential advantage points. Your eyes landed on explosive barrels that were planted just near the active tank.

“Wolffe could you maybe fire a few shots at those barrels” you gestured your head in the direction of the explosives. Wolffe shifted in his spot, nearly leaning over you to get a look at the explosives.

Wolffe retreated backwards to avoid the possibility of being shot at “Will do” he nodded his head and positioned himself, focusing for a moment before firing a single blaster bolt, triggering the explosive barrels.

The tank exploded, alongside a few droids that were close by. With the tank gone, this gave you all a much greater advantage.

“I’m gonna lead first, I just need you and your men to cover me till I reach the center of the city” you turned your head towards the group of six. Boost and Sinker glanced at each other while the shines titled their heads in question. Wolffe raised his eyebrows slightly, his helmet raising up a bit which you instantly could tell he was about to scold you.

“Are you crazy? That’s suicide! You could-“

“I’m well aware Commander, but now is not the time to be arguing about this! Causing anymore destruction to the city, especially on a bridge, is the last thing we want to do” your eyebrows knitted together as you looked at his visor.

“Likewise, I trust you all with my life! Just this once, for the sake of the mission, follow my orders” Wolffe stared at you, he was indeed concerned for your safety, but he was a good soldier. Good soldiers followed orders.

He tilted his head down before nodding in approval “Fine. We’ll be sure to cover you” your face relaxed, you grinned at him before you turned away from the group and continued onward.

“That’s a Jedi for you” Boost half-heartedly joked while observing his commander who he could tell was internally worrying himself.

“Tell me about it” Wolffe grumbled before pressing down on the public comm link channel.

You heard faint orders from Wolffe telling the others through his comm to cover you as you proceed to clear out the rest of the way while they trailed behind you, making sure to finish off whatever you left untouched.

As the attack on the ground continued, the droids slowly started to retreat back, losing more ground as you and your men continued to take down all protocol droids, and various other commando droids. That high peak of adrenaline was quickly cut short

One of the various ships from the sky spiraled downwards causing Wolffe to yell out to ‘take cover’. You were quick to move out of the way of the crash landing ship. The impact caused a huge explosion, leading to various debris to fly around, damaging clustered buildings even more. After the explosion subsided, it was an obvious indication that the ship had caused a blockade, dividing you from the rest of the troops.

“Y/n are you alright?” You heard Wolffe shout from the other side of the crashed ship, you took a quick glance behind you and noticed droids coming your way. You snapped your head back towards the ship's direction, you cupped your hands around your mouth:

“I’m alright! Just find another way around!” You quickly ignited your lightsaber and heard a faint ‘yes sir’

Using your force sprint, you launched yourself off of a nearby crate. Having landed much closer to the enemy line, you reached your hand out and pushed half of the droids backwards, causing them to pile on top of each other.

You reached out to one of the battle droids and pulled it towards you, making sure to impale it with your blade. Once done, you discarded the battle droid by forcefully pushing it towards an oncoming group of droids, knocking them all off of their feet. You dodged multiple blaster bullets, before exterminating the remaining droids that were left.

You looked around, making sure there were no more droids. Sure enough there weren’t any around you. Looking briefly up at the sky you watched in awe as your master perfectly piloted his starfighter, taking out countless separatist ships alongside the fleet. You admired for just a moment, reminiscing on all the fond memories you had being raised and taught by Plo.

Emotional attachments were unacceptable in the Jedi order, but when it came to the people you truly cared about, it didn’t matter to you. You were not ashamed to accept that Plo Koon took on the mantle of a fatherly figure. If it weren’t for his kindness and his heart, you would’ve been nothing but a heartless, uneducated individual.

You were grateful for him being the man that you knew you could rely on.

Your body had suddenly flinched. A slow aching pain in your head started to form. You brought one hand up against the side of your head and pressed your fingers down. The sounds of incoherent yelling, conflict, and raw emotion was overriding your senses.

Suddenly everything stopped.

Your face was scrunched up in confusion as you wondered what that strange encounter was.

A shiver ran down your spine. The small act made you realize how unbalanced the force had become. Your eyebrows raised. You quickly looked up at the sky, and witnessed in horror as your masters ship was being shot at.

Your eyes widened and you started to panic as one of your own fleets pilot got a direct hit on Plos ships wing.

Your eyes stared blankly at the receding ship as it crashed into one of the cities towers right where the blockade was located. Your breath hitched, as you slowly walked backwards, now feeling terrified.

Your body shook unnaturally, unable to process the scene right before your eyes. Your bottom lip quivered, you looked down at your hand that was holding your lightsaber hilt, watching as it shook. Your instinct to fight and survive kicked in.

One faint nearby voice caused you to start sprinting towards the opposite direction. Yells had erupted and soon all hell broke loose.

You were stuck in a crossfire.

Pressing down on your comm link, you input your coordinates and sent them instantly to your droid. You brought your comm link close to your mouth and started urging your droid to start dispatching from the hanger.

“EV, I need you to autopilot the ship and come to my coordinates now!” You activated your lightsaber and skidded to a halt.

If it’ll take time for your ship to arrive, then you surely would make time.

The first initial sighting of one of the troopers, you quickly reached out towards a convenient stand and threw it towards the direction of the soldier. Knocking him and a few others that trailed behind him down.

Blaster fire soon erupted and you worked quickly by blocking and dodging. Every so often you’d notice a stray object at the corner of your eye and threw it towards their direction.

You knew you wouldn’t last for long with just continuously blocking blaster fire and throwing objects at them. You had to work quick before all odds were lost.

What worried you the most was how familiar they all were with how you fought and your infamous strategies. They knew how fast you could think and work which took them little to no time to adjust to your fast pace.

With your complete focus on the enemy in front of you, you completely casted aside your focus behind you.

A fiery graze against your bicep caused you to hiss and your hand holding your lightsaber faltered as another blaster fire grazed your wrist. You made a quick glance to the side and noticed Wolffe and a few other troopers forging their way towards you.

You backed up, continuing to dodge and block as much blaster fire as you could keeping hasty eyes to keep track of your vulnerable points. As soon as you nearly backed up into an abandoned barrier you gave yourself a boost with the force and did a backflip over it, landing right behind it.

Quickly gaining your balance on your feet, you threw both your hands out in front of you and forced pushed the barrier towards the troopers. The screeching metal against the pavement made you grimace at the ear-wrenching noise.

The ends of the metal barrier scraped against the nearby buildings; the buildings crumbled and collapsed into debris. The impact against the pavement caused a mixture of dirt and particles to fly in the air. One accidental inhale and you started coughing violently.

You wavered your hand in front of your face to shoo away the mixture, you scanned the perimeter and quickly turned around, continuing on your way.

You were nearly coming to the end of the giant rock arc, as it became more prominent in size. Fast winds soon started to pick up, now bringing in the atmospheres dense fog.

The motivation to survive turned futile. All you were doing at this point was wasting your energy, using up all your stamina. Everything in training felt like it was thrown out in space. You were unable to control your breathing, you continued to be reckless by using force techniques that were far more advanced and out of your radar.

The sound of your comm link beeping made you look down at your forearm. EV had sent a signal that the ship had just reached the atmosphere. You quickly imputed your new coordinates and sent the signal to your droid.

The fog had settled in, completely covering the whole area of the bridge. You listened around carefully, the sounds of the howling wind breezing by.

You clutched onto your saber, thumb already placed on the ignition pulse. You backed up slowly and carefully avoiding the rubble on the ground. The sound of metal scraping against the pavement made your eyes move around frantically.

You naturally synced into your fighting stance, preparing for the un-proclaimed attack. A gust of wind blew over your face, the cold stinging your skin. You continued to shuffle backwards cautiously, trying to pinpoint the enemy.

A sudden arm wrapped around your neck, causing you to gasp. On instinct you brought both of your hands up to the armored arm, and started to pry at the hold.

“Enough Jedi scum” the voice seethed, your eyes widened at the familiar gruff voice. Wolffe quickly brought his pistol towards the side of your head. You let one hand go of his arm, bringing it up towards his hand that held the pistol. You forcefully pushed against the pistols body, knocking it right out of his hand.

The small act caused Wolffe to become distressed as he struggled to maintain a decent hold on you. Making quick moves, you gripped onto his arm that was wrapped around your neck. You moved your body slightly forward, now handling his full body mass on your back, you body slammed him to the ground. His helmet had flung off of his head, discarded somewhere off to the side.

Wolffe yelped at the impact, he blindly moved his hand on the pavement, attempting to find his discarded pistol. You kicked the nearby pistol away from arms reach and stared blankly down at your commander.

He grimaced and glared up at you, distaste coursed through his system, his one good eye showing nothing but pure hatred. His chest rose up and down frantically.

In a situation like this, you’d feel proud of yourself. But this was reality.

He jutted up, quickly you stuck your hand out in front of you and pushed him back down to the ground with the force. Wolffe attempted to move his body, but to no avail he was unable to budge.

“I’ll kill you, I’ll kill each and everyone of you Jedi!” your hand that you were using started to shake. You felt the beskar pendent press against your chest, feeling as if it was burning a hole through your skin.

“Why? Why are you doing this to us? To me?” You whispered the last part to yourself. You studied Wolffes face, as his forehead creases became more prominent.

“Good soldiers follow orders” chills ran down your spine as you continued to watch Wolffe struggle underneath the force hold. The last strand of hope you held onto for dear life finally snapped.

You were mortified. Your stomach churned at the thought of how little time it took for them to change their motives on the both of you. Why? Why was this happening? You wished you could cry and scream out in anger, but now wasn’t the time.

The recognizable sounds of your starfighters engine became more distinct and loud. Looking up you noticed as your starfighter broke through the dense fog. You almost sighed in relief before gunships followed suite, attempting to gun down your ship.

In one swift move, you wavered your hand to the side, Wolffes whole body slid towards the direction your hand went. His plastoid armor scrapping against the duracrete.

Your feet moved on their own as you ran from the pilots blaster fire. Heat creeped up upon the back of your neck as more shots were fired down on the ground. Your frantic eyes observed as your starfighter had made a loop under the first bridge.

Your feet had sped up, your legs ached and the muscles burned.

Once you were close to the side edge of the bridge, anxiety and doubt started to cloud your mind. You shook the thoughts away as best as you could and dived off the bridge with no hesitation.

Falling felt so slow. The tension and the wind wavered against your body. You closed your eyes to calm yourself, keeping your attention on the distant engines coming closer.

You opened your eyes, and reached your hand out as your ship dived down with you, keeping a decent distances away from you. You pulled yourself towards the open hatch of the ship, your fingertips barely grazing the rim of the hatch. Continuing to reach, your fingertips soon got a hold of the rim; you laid your hand flat on the matrix armor and held on with a death grip as you struggled to bring your other hand to grasp the ring.

Maneuvering your body quickly, you got into the cockpit and closed the hatch. Pressing a few buttons you grabbed a hold of the steering handles and took over the starfighter.

Fighter ships soon trailed behind you, erupting in blaster fire.

“Shake them off of me EV” you flipped a switch and your droid whirled it’s head around and took over the small blaster cannon that was attached to the underside of the ship.

Your fingers quickly grazed over the small screen, blindly you input random coordinates to a random sector, one that you knew would be far away from the republic based planets.

Pulling back the steering handles, your ship pulled up fast. The dense fog soon engulfed your whole perimeter, small drops of water tapped violently against the viewport as the ship started to increase in speed. You’d managed to lose most of the enemy ships in the fog besides one.

Explosions erupted right next to your ship, shaking the entirety of the vessel violently. The flashing lights blinding you for a split second. Beeps started to alarm, signaling an oncoming missile was locked on your ship.

You embraced yourself and turned the stirring handles to one side, your ship soon started rotate at a fast pace. At the last minute, you made a loop over the ship that was in back of you and quickly went back in front of it. The tactic worked and the missile had struck the fighter ship that was trailing behind you. The impact had caused you to jolt forward and the ship shook while you successfully made it out of the planets atmosphere.

Those on the ground, were unable to tell if you were desecrated or escaped.

A now helmeted Wolffe stared up at the fogged sky, watching as a small flicker of light cascaded for a second before fading into nothing.

“Sir, there’s been no word from the piloting fleet as for the whereabouts of the Jedi’s ship” Wolffe looked towards Sinker before looking back at the foggy atmosphere.

“Tell the others to call off the search for now, we’ll be sure to hunt down the Jedi until they’re executed under Order 66” Wolffe walked off towards the remaining transport ships that were left unoccupied on the bridge.

Wolffe glanced over to the side, observing as his men inspected the remains of Plo Koons ship to assure the Jedi’s death was a success.

There was faint ache in his heart that he easily ignored. He turned away and continued to the transport ships.

****

You adjusted the rods of wood, and forced them down into the ground to keep them stable. The small fire crackled, the source of light wavering and illuminating the small shelter you made.

You landed on some unknown planet and were fortunate enough to have found few scraps of material near your location. You let out a soft huff as you sat down on the ground underneath the tarp. You wrapped your robes around you tighter, feeling a small gust of wind overpass your face and exposed skin.

The planet was cold and quiet, only sounds of a few chirps from birds in the distance and rustles from the trees. Your arm and shoulder blade hurt, all from the blaster fire that had managed to get a snag at your body.

You had no medical equipment, no bacta patches, nothing. You worried that your wounds would get infected if they weren’t treated anytime soon.

Carefully, you slid your robes off your body, alongside your top. You shivered at the contact the cool wether made with your upper bodies skin. The tank top that you left on did nothing to help with the cold.

You tore a long strip of fabric off your lose white ribboned tabard. You eyed the length of the fabric before wrapping it around your left side bicep. You winced at the uncomfortable contact the fabric made, it rubbed lightly against the blaster wound that was still oozing blood.

Tightly securing it with a decent knot, you ripped another piece with the same length and wrapped it around your dominate hands wrist. You grimaced at the irritating sting, your wrist hurt more than your bicep. You carefully put back on your robe, not bothering to secure it around you.

Letting out a shaky sigh you pinched the bridge of your nose. 

Your eyes gazed down at the small fire, heat barely radiating from the flames. You brought your legs up to your chest and hugged them. EV beeped more quieter as the astromech droid wheeled up to you.

“We’re not going home EV” your voice was hushed, nearly cracking. EV beeped lowly, shifting to stand on its two legs. “Yeah bud...it’s over. Theres nothing for us to go back to...not unless we want to be killed like the others” you turned your head towards EV, placing a hand on its dome before retreating it back to pull at your robes. You sat quietly for a moment, thinking over thousands of thoughts that were running through your head. 

“Everything we’ve been through...the losses, the near death experiences....we did it all for nothing.” You whispered to yourself, accepting your once overthought ideology that the Jedi were bound to fall to ruins at some point. But not in a million lightyears did you ever think the jedi would end like this. 

You gently rubbed at your temples to sooth the small headache. EV opened up one of its panels, outstretching one of its tools. A blue hue started to illuminate, broadcasting one of the voice files that your droid commonly used for decoding or recording private messages.

The conversation had started off quiet. You were almost incapable of interpreting the words correctly, which you guessed that during the time of the recording, your droid was far off in distance from whoever the recipients were.

“You plan on giving the beskar pendent to them?” Your head slightly perked up, relishing at the familiar voice you could pinpoint out of all the clones.

“Yes...may not be much, but it’s all I can offer” there was a faint cling. On instinct, you brought your hand up to the pendent that rested against your chest.

You shut your eyes, squeezing them before burying your face into your hands. Curling into yourself more, you adjusted your hood over your head, and laid down on your un-injured side. A small piece of cloth was the only thing separating you from the dirt and blotched grass.

“I’m sure it will be enough for them. Besides, what that pendent is made out of is worth more then our own lives.” your eyes stayed glued to the fire as you continued to listen to the voice memo.

“I’m just worried that the gift won’t...benefit the both of us” Wolffe sighed to himself, feeling frustrated and conflicted from however he was feeling.

“It takes time Wolffe, you just need to have more patience’s, be more understanding of people instead of getting irritated and irrational over the simplest things” Comet studied Wolffes face, watching as his features softened before his brows creased together.

“Still, what can you do? A clone and a soon to be jedi knight going against the republics law and having secret retaliations together? We could both get in trouble, even worse, we can both get exiled which is the last thing I want to do” Wolffe stared down at the ground, compressing his human emotions. Comet shook his head and glanced to the side before looking back at Wolffe.

“I’d recommend you give it to them, even if you’re heavily influenced by wanting to be the best commander you can be. Then again, most rules are meant to be broken to help you improve and grow as a person” it was silent for a moment before Comet continued on “Plus their droid may just as well confess for you” Wolffe looked at Comet, then turned his head, witnessing as your droid retreated back to the hanger.

The audio files soon stopped playing, everything fell silent, just the sounds of the wind and the fire crackling. You blinked away your tears and looked at EV who beeped sadly.

“So that’s why you were late and Wolffe complained about you?” you said softly, gracing a sad smile on your lips before the corner of your lips turned down once more.

The real meaning behind the gift felt like a punch in the gut. It hurt. Terribly. It was worth more than simple admiration or representation of a ‘thank you’. There was much more behind the necklace then what was explained.

But what hurt more was the horrendous heartbreak and betrayal. The only people that you ever trusted and loved were gone. Plo, the only man you’d ever cherished and looked up to was wiped out of existence. The men you worked alongside with that you cared for wanted you dead. And Wolffe, Wolffe was a much more sensitive topic.

You were alone. You were alone and you’ve never felt more useless your whole entire life.

“I just wish we had more time” you murmured quietly to yourself, feeling as your eyes watered in mockery. You shut your eyes and a warm tear slid over the side of your nose and fell. Your tired and sore body ached for rest. Distant thunder rumbled, the noises seamlessly getting closer every minute.

The muffled noise lulled you into slumber as you snuggled into your robes even more.

The least you could do for yourself is rest one last time.

A/N: i wanted to create an experience with a genuine order 66 approach. since not much of the planets city was described, i had to do a bit of tweaking and research during the time to get it as accurate as possible. as you can tell i tried my best to write some action and i hope it fulfilled the standards. overall i hope it made up for my absences and broke your heart.

with love,

- 𝔈 🤍

[writingwife-83]

Hi, just finished Attack of the Clones, tbh, had to do some googling to get my head around the finer points of the plot. I think I got it now, but still not sure about all the different names the film throws out. Hoping the answers will be in the next episode.

Darth Sidius - was that the hooded man at the end? Or is Dooku Sidius? Or will Darth Sidius be revealed later?

And who is Jedi Sifo-Dyas? Is he dead or not? And why did he commission a clone army, and without the Jedi council's knowledge? And how in Yoda wrinkle's did he pay for it without anyone noticing?

And Janga Fett - he appeared to be dealing with both sides? Are those clones early Storm Troopers?

Aaanyway, confusion aside, it started out like a detective noir movie with Obi and Ani chasing down an assassin into a club, and Obi talking to an old informant.

Ani and Padme!

Ani comes across as being a little possessive at times, he's quick to tell Padme that he dreams about her, fitting in with his slide to the Dark Side. I don't know what to make of their relationship. I am bit soft for forbidden love, especially forbidden love that blossoms after a near death experience.

It was so sad about his mom, and quite dark to see him carrying her wrapped up body into the house.

But, I loved Padme's outfits. A lot of them had a medieval, 16th cent look to them

But most of all I loved her wedding dress. It had an Edwardian look to it, and was beautifully detailed and made

the veil was amazing

Ohhh boy! 😆 ok, I’ll try to move in order of what you brought up.

Yes, Sidious is the hooded man. He will definitely be revealed more later, so stay tuned for that because it’s important! I’m trying to remember at what point certain things are explained between the 2nd and 3rd movies, so I don’t want to give things away too soon, but the real deal with Sifo-Dyas is explained at some point as well. (If anyone remembers that the truth is revealed in the 2nd movie, feel free to chime in and clarify! I’ll get better at answering questions when we get into the original and sequel trilogies! 😆)

Jango Fett is a Mandalorian and bounty hunter, so he kinda just doesn’t have any particular loyalty to either side, at least not morally. His involvement is more of a business move than anything else. At least that’s how I’d describe it, without having looked into a ton about the history of the character. Also, good question/thought about the Storm Troopers…that too shall be revealed! 😉

Aaaand the infamous Anidala ship! I don’t personally hate the pairing, but for me, the age gap (which is 5 years) is a little distracting, particularly because she knew him when he was little and he’s still barely a man when the meet again later. And age aside, I also have a tough time with some of Anikan’s behavior and the fact that Padme is so incredibly mature and wise but is somehow like, ok to overlook it? I spend a lot of that movie saying in my head, “girl, don’t do it. It’s not worth it.” 😂 It also doesn’t help that the dialogue is just… 😬, but that’s a whole other topic lol. But anyway, I do also have a love of forbidden romance, so their story that can’t help but tug at my heartstrings a bit, especially knowing everything that comes next.

And Padme’s costumes! Oooh I love them so. They are probably one of the best things about the entire prequel trilogy to me. Just so fun to watch all the pretty clothing!

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, because it’s fun to see the whole saga from the perspective of someone who’s experiencing it for the first time. Hope you enjoy the third one, it’s a doozy!

[c-dria]

The Hydra Healer

Chapter 3: Leaving Med Bay

Warnings: Flinching, mentions of past abuse, mainly comfort, a little angst and fluff

Over the next few days, Natasha and Bucky rarely left your side. Natasha gently explained everything that was happening, what all of the machines you were hooked up to did, and she answered all of your questions kindly. Bucky was always offering you food, which was different than what you had at hydra. There, you were typically only fed through an IV, and even then, only when they wanted you at full strength, like when you were needed to heal their soldiers or other kids who they were experimenting on. Bucky seemed to understand, and he was never angry when you couldn’t handle more than a couple of bites before getting nauseous. Bruce came in a couple of times each day to run tests, asking you questions and drawing more blood cultures. Natasha made him explain everything that he was doing to you and why it was necessary, which you greatly appreciated, not daring to ask him yourself. At hydra, if you asked what the scientists were doing to you, they would beat you or gag you just to shut you up, and no matter how many times Natasha told you that you were safe here, that no one was ever going to hurt you here, you only half believed her. After all, life at hydra is all you had ever known. For your entire life, you had only ever been talked down to, called X, for experiment, to dehumanize you. You were told over and over again that you were replaceable, so you had better comply or else risk violence. You wanted so badly to believe Natasha and Bucky, because they really did seem sincere, but how is this even possible? How does any kind of life exist at all outside of the hydra base you had been imprisoned on for your whole life?

Peter and Yelena also visit your room. After almost a week, Bruce tells you that you can leave the med bay.

“Really? That’s so great, because Ned just found a copy of the original Star Wars trilogy with the director’s commentary and he and MJ are coming over for a movie night tonight and you should totally come. It’s going to be so much fun!” Peter says excitedly.

Yelena gives him a strange look. “Why wasn’t I invited, Peter Parker?”

“I honestly thought you were planning on coming already. You were there when I said we were planning this. Of course you’re invited” Peter tells her.

“What’s Star Wars?” You ask.

“Oh my god, you’ve never seen Star Wars? This is so great! They are the best movies of all time, you’ll love them. There’s light sabers and Yoda and Han Solo and Chewbacca, Chewbacca is the best, he’s a wookie.” Peter explains excitedly.

Seeing the confused look on your face, Yelena interjects “It’s just a movie that Peter Parker really likes. He’s also going to have pizza, which is probably 70% of the reason I will be going.”

“Hey! 70% just for pizza? And you’re only 30% excited about Star Wars?” Peter asks indignantly.

“No, the other 30% is because I like MJ. The movie plays zero percent in my decision to come.” Yelena corrects him, smirking.

“I guess that’s okay, MJ is pretty amazing. Y/n, MJ is my girlfriend and she’s the coolest person ever, you’ll love her. Not like I love her, but like, I mean as like a friend, you know?” Peter excitedly trills.

Yelena laughs and turns back to you. “So you’re in for Peter Parker’s movie night.” She says this decisively, leaving no room for argument.

“Mr. Bucky is coming too, y/n, he loves Star Wars almost as much as Ned and I” Peter adds.

“Yes, that sounds fun” you smile, glad that Bucky will be there when you meet Peter’s friends. Bucky enters the room then, holding a plum.

“Mr. Bucky, guess what? Bruce says y/n can leave the med bay and she’s going to come to our Star Wars movie night!” Peter tells him excitedly.

Bucky’s head snaps towards Bruce, “Are you sure?” he asks.

“Yes. Y/n is completely healed, physically at least. She isn’t a danger to herself or others. There’s no medical reason to keep her here.” Bruce replies.

Bucky hands you the plum, smiling widely when you don’t flinch away as his hand gets close to you.

“Um, where can I go?” You ask quietly, rolling the plum around your palm nervously. Bucky looks at Bruce and then at you.

“You can stay in my room, if you want.” He offers. You smile, beyond relieved that they aren’t kicking you out of this safe haven.

“Thank you” you say, and bite into the sweet plum gratefully.

“I have to go call MJ, I’ll see you later y/n!” Peter says excitedly.

“Wait up, I want to talk to her too, Peter Parker.” Yelena adds, following Peter out of your room.

You smile as they leave. They have been nothing but nice to you. Even Yelena, who’s sarcasm spares no one else, is always kind towards you.

“So, you’re going to the kid’s movie night?” Bucky asks, sitting down in a chair next to your bed.

“Yeah, he said it’s about a wookie? I’m not sure, but he wants me to meet Ned and MJ, and he said you’re going too, right?” You ask.

“Yes doll, I’ll be there. I love the Star Wars movies. And Ned is great. It will be fun,” Bucky says, gently laying his hand on your knee. This has become normal. Bucky always makes sure to be touching you, always exceedingly gently, and slowly, so as to not make you flinch away from him. He knows how important it is for you to be shown, and not just told, that touches can be gentle and kind. Because like him, you spent over 70 years only knowing cruel touches, beatings, and pain. And it’s one thing to hear the words, to be told that you’re safe now, and another thing to actually be shown those gentle touches. When he was first liberated from hydra, he too flinched away from people reaching out towards him, convinced they were going to hit him. And it was Steve, who would put his hand gently on Bucky’s shoulder, Steve who would kindly rest his open hand on Bucky’s arm, proving again and again that not all touches needed to cause pain. And that helped Bucky more than everyone just saying that he was safe and that they wouldn’t hit him, so he wanted to help you the same way that Steve had helped him. So he made sure to be constantly reassuring you, physically, that everything was okay. Whether that was by holding your hand, or placing his hand on your shoulder, or your leg, or putting his arm around your waist to gently guide you where you wanted to go, he was always touching you kindly, gently. You still flinched away from him at least half of the times he reached for you, but that was significantly less than how much you flinched away from everyone else. Except for Natasha, and maybe Peter and Yelena, you were still downright terrified of everyone else. Bucky took great pride in the fact that you weren’t nearly as afraid of him as you had been when you first saw him on the jet the first day you had been freed from hydra. It was helping him to know that he was helping you.

[vanishedangels]

Clan of Warriors

Click here for First chapter

Summary: While rebuilding Mandalore, Mand'alor Din Djarin is questioned by his people because of his beliefs and origins. In the dawn of a civil war, the council resolves that The Mand'alor must join in marriage with someone close to Bo-Katan Kryze. He's forced to marry Koska Reeves and accept a loveless union. In the meantime, Din is having a secret relationship with his son's Master, Jedi Luke Skywalker, his dream of having his own clan of warriors is about to fade away.

I wrote this fic a year ago, that's why the TBOBF events are not considered.

Pairing: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker

Characters: Din Djarin, Luke Skywalker, Grogu, Leia Organa, Cara Dune, Koska Reeves, Bo-Katan Kryze, Axe Woves. OC. Peli Motto. Fennec Shand. Boba Fett, Paz Vizsla. Owen Lars. Beru Whitesun.

Rating: Mature (Rating will change)

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence.

Tags: Canon compliant, Post Season 2 Finale, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Friends To Lovers, Fluff, Angst, Demisexual Din Djarin, Top Luke Skywalker, Bottom Din Djarin, Top Din Djarin, Bottom Luke Skywalker, Protective Din Djarin, BAMF Luke Skywalker, Adorable Baby Yoda, Sassy Leia Organa, Gai Bal Manda, Sub Din Undertones, Fantasies, Jealous Luke.

Chapters: 14/?

Navigation: <- Previous Chapter • Next Chapter ->

Chapter 14: Happiness

"Did you find Koska?"

"I wasn't looking for her."

"Seems like you two are close." It didn't matter what the little Jedi was saying, Din could only focus on his lips.

"Right."

"How close?" Luke asked him taking another slice of fruit.

"Very." Of course Din was on autopilot.

The moment they heard the knock on the door, Luke pulled away from Din, ruining the magic.

"Who's there?!" Din sounded really annoyed.

"I'm sorry, Mand'alor. It's Reeves." Her voice muffled behind the door.

Din walked to the door. "What is it?" He asked as he opened the door.

"The council ask for a meeting with our Mand'alor." Koska bowed her head before him.

"Don't do that. I'm Din for you. Come on! Stop it, I'm serious." He said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

Luke was raising his eyebrows staring at them.

"But, the Master Jedi, Your Highness." Koska shifted her gaze, looking behind Din, where Luke was standing holding Grogu in his arms.

Din chuckled "He's a friend. No need for protocol."

Koska smiled at Din, touching his arm. "Alright Din, they're waiting for you, I can stay with the Jedi Master and the child if you think that's necessary."

Din looked at Luke and Grogu "Is that okay with you guys?"

Luke nodded.

When Din was leaving the room he could swear that little Jedi looked annoyed.

~

There he was, in front of the council again. They asked him about his negotiation with The New Republic, when he told them that the Senate was looking for an association between Mandalore and the Core Worlds, everyone looked very satisfied, even Bo-Katan. They really needed all the support they could get.

"Now, the other matter, Mand'alor." Shrune said leaning forward. "The child and The Jedi Master. I understand that the child is very close to you, Your Highness. Is that right?"

"Yes."

"Is he a foundling?"

"He was once a foundling, until we became clan. He's my clan." Din's mouth was dry all of a sudden. "He's my son." He added.

"So do you know his name as your child?" Shrune asked him.

"Yes." Actually no, Shrune was trying to know if Din adopted Grogu under the mandalorian ritual. Not yet, but he was doing it right away.

"Good. Our Mand'alor has a son. We're proud of you, Your Highness, and your clan." Shrune seemed truly proud of Din, like a father would be.

Paz was clapping his hands.

"And why did The Jedi come to visit our planet, Your Highness?"

"He's my son's Master. My kid, Grogu, he's... He's a youngling, he's force sensitive." That was the first time Din said that out loud, and he was worried about giving that secret about Grogu away.

"He's becoming a Jedi!" Shrune was now concerned.

"He's my son, he's a Mandalorian, that's all that matters." Din deadpanned.

"These are new times for The Galaxy, I think if we're working on an alliance between Mandalore and The New Republic, we could have good relations with the jettise as well." Paz tried to help Din.

Shrune looked at his sides searching for the reaction of the rest of the members, then he touched his beard as he frowned and nodded in silence.

"Vizsla is right." Bo-Katan said. Din couldn't believe it. That was a first. "We're writing a new story." She smiled.

Weird.

~

As Din walked to his bedroom, he was thinking about Grogu, now he truly was the Mand'alor's son. Not quite yet, tonight. He thought.

He found Luke and Grogu sleeping on the couch, cuddling face to face. Din thought that that was the most beautiful scene he had ever seen in his life. He kneeled beside them, and carefully petted Grogu's head.

Luke opened his eyes slowly, looking at his visor. Din was more attracted to the little Jedi than ever after that. "Din... I'm sorry, I was tired and..." He didn't move, it seemed like he didn't want to wake Grogu up. "How was it?"

"Good, they asked me about you two." Din couldn't stop smiling behind his helmet since he walked into the room.

"Oh, any problem?" Luke was looking worried.

"No, little Jedi, everything's fine!" Luke was narrowing his eyes the minute he heard Din calling him that. "Where's Koska?"

Luke looked surprised now "Koska? Uh, I-I don't know, I told her she could leave when I noticed I was falling asleep." Luke looked away from Din, frowning "Do you need her?"

"No." Fuck, where did the magic go? Din thought. Little Jedi was on a different page now.

Grogu woke up and Luke could sit on the couch, putting the baby in Din's arms. "Maybe, I should meditate. You stay with Grogu."

"I'll take you to your room." Din told him standing up.

"Don't worry, Koska showed me to my room when you were in the meeting." Luke smiled at them. "Enjoy your time, guys. See you later."

"Luke?" He looked at Din. "You tell me if anything happens, you come here and tell me, promise."

"I'm a Jedi, remember? But you're right, I'm telling you if anything bad happened." Luke was still smiling but it looked different, it left Din empty.

~

Din was sitting on his bed, Grogu was holding his shiny ball, cooing happily.

"Hey little one, I need to ask you something. Is that true? What you said to Luke, that I'm your Buir?"

Grogu smiled at him "Patoo".

"I want to give you everything I didn't have, Grogu, I think I can do that, not only me, but Luke too, you know."

Din's helmet was on the bedside table, he held Grogu close and pressed their foreheads together and while staring at the baby's big eyes he said "Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Grogu."

He felt his heart racing, Grogu smiled and then laughed, and Din's heart was full for the first time in his life. "I love you, son." Tears running over his cheeks. Grogu cooed and caressed his face, so soft, so warm. "I love you, ad'ika."

~

That afternoon Grogu was sleeping as usual. Din left his room and was standing in front of Luke's door. Before he even dare to knock, Luke opened the door. "Din!" The little Jedi said with a huge smile.

"Grogu's taking a nap. Would you like to come over?"

Luke considered it and then he agreed. When they were in Din's room, Luke sat on the couch, Din was staring at him.

"What is it, Mand'alor?" Luke was looking up at him.

"Get out. You know I hate it when you call me that." He said as he was sitting down next to Luke.

"I know. Din." Little Jedi was smiling at him with his head resting on the couch. Beautiful.

"Are you having a good time here?" Din asked him.

"Yes."

"If you want something, anything, just ask for it." Din was over the top.

Luke frowned "I'm dying for some fruit."

"Oh, they brought some food, let me see." He walked to the desk and took a bowl of fruits. "Here." He said walking back to the couch.

Luke was amused "Look at this! Where did you get these?"

"We're recovering the ground, you know. We're working very hard." Din stared at Luke who was resting the bowl on his thighs.

Luke smiled and took a slice of melon between his lips, Din was in trance. "Your lips..." He said without even thinking.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Nothing, just, a napkin! Here." He handed Luke a napkin.

Luke reach out to take it "Did you find Koska?"

"I wasn't looking for her."

"Seems like you two are close." It didn't matter what the little Jedi was saying, Din could only focus on his lips.

"Right."

"How close?" Luke asked him taking another slice of fruit.

"Very." Of course Din was on autopilot.

"She's a very interesting woman. Good for you, Din." Luke said, staring at the blow, with tense lips.

"Good for me?" Din woke up suddenly "What do you mean?"

"Good for you, you know, being in a relationship with such a fine woman." Luke said staring at his visor with cold eyes.

"What? No! She's not... I mean, I do care about her, but she's like a sister to me. She helped me a lot these past months. Paz is my right hand, and she's my left hand... I've never thought about her like that."

"Oh, okay." Luke's eyes were sparkling again. Juice fruit was dripping over his shirt. Din couldn't help but try to clean it by brushing his gloved fingers on it. "Din..."

"I'm sorry." Din was staring at Luke's chest, sitting next to him. "I shouldn't..."

Before Din could remove his hand from Luke's chest, Luke took his hand holding it gently "Why are you sorry?"

"I-I don't know." Din stuttered. His heart running wild at Luke's gentle touch, Luke's warmth and the intensity of his blue eyes boring into his soul.

"Then don't." He held Din's hand tighter. Din could feel the beat of Luke's heart going faster too.

"I've just adopted Grogu." Din said out of the blue, almost trying to escape from his own feelings.

"Oh!" Luke loosened his grip on Din's hand. "That's beautiful, Din."

"Thank you".

A knock on the door.

"What the kriff now?!" Din said and then sighed. Luke laughed.

"What is it?" Din asked as he opened the door.

Paz was standing in front of him. "Vod! I came to have dinner with you, I missed you a lot." Din looked at Luke who was laughing, still sitting on the couch.

"Alright vod, come in." Dank farrik, Din was cursing his friend under his breath, he thought that maybe this was the night little Jedi finally made a move on him.

Maybe not.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Who do you think would have been the best choice to train Anakin?

Oooh, excellent question @taulupis, and one I may not be qualified to answer.

About the Author

So, a bit of my background. I've seen the prequels, the original trilogy, the (sigh) sequel trilogy, Rogue 1, Solo, and Tartakovsky's Clone Wars (I highly recommend).

What this means is that I have no familiarity with the extended universe, with Disney's Clone Wars, Rebels, any of the video games, etc.

So a lot of characters that people know and love, I'll probably have no idea who the hell you're even talking about. I am at the level where Ahsoka is a vague concept to me and I might be able to recognize her picture if you showed it to me. Maybe.

Some Thoughts on Anakin

Something also to keep in mind is that I think Anakin Skywalker is doomed because I think the Jedi are doomed. The prequel trilogy are ultimately a tragedy, aided and abetted by the Force itself, with the destruction of the Jedi preordained.

Anakin Skywalker was the tool of both the Jedi and Sith's destruction.

No matter what master Anakin had, no matter if he made contact with Palpatine or not, no matter if he was a Jedi or not (or even a Sith for that matter), the Jedi were going to fall.

I don't think there's any escaping that.

Which of course puts a bit of a damper on the 'who should train Anakin' question. If he's going to raze the temple no matter what it simply becomes a question of how he razes the temple.

Right.

Back to Your Question

Honestly, of the prequel characters I know who were in a position to train Anakin, I actually am going to say Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Remember that no one, aside from Qui-Gon and later Obi-Wan, wanted to train Anakin as a Jedi. HIs admittance into the Order was an extremely reluctant thing and something Anakin chafed against for his entire Jedi career.

Did Obi-Wan make mistakes, miscommunicate with Anakin, and as a result fail to stop the assasination of the Jedi? Yes. However, he a) cared deeply b) genuninely put his heart into training Anakin c) didn't treat Anakin as a revered messiah.

Qui-Gon, had he lived, would likely have been a poor master per that last bullet. Qui-Gon genuinely believes Anakin will bring a peace unknown to the galaxy, to save the Jedi Order, and has many expectations for Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon does well enough first meeting Anakin, but I imagine Anakin would soon realize Qui-Gon's expectations were sky high and... I can't imagine that would go well.

Masters like Yoda and Mace-Windu were openly hostile towards Anakin and extremely dubious of his success. They expected him to fail and Anakin was well aware of that. Having a master like that would have been disastrous.

Obi-Wan was young, ordinarily far too young to be a master, but I think of the options available he actually was the best pick.