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      FEW things had ever made Araminta feel like she couldn't survive. One was her first time, an awkward nightmare even a teenage assassin could not prepare for. Second when she had been set up and brought in by Anakin and Obi-wan in the first place. And finally, when she had been surrounded in the arena mere minutes before.

But standing before Dooku, a powerful Sith who had easily fell two Jedi that the assassin herself had struggled to bring down, topped all those.

"And so a child has arrived to challenge me?"

Alone. She was completely alone, light with no real weapons or an escape route.

Dooku looked straight at her, calm and calculated, as Araminta fought to keep herself passive. She couldn't break face, no matter how terrified she was, because that would be weak. Even if she knew the odds, she couldn't act like she did. Octavian would've had her head had she showed how afraid she was of him.

Because this was suicide, guaranteed death. She had a better chance of outrunning the Jedi for the rest of her life than standing up to a Sith Lord. But she had no choice. No weapons or escape routes were left. She could only wait it out, and hope her stubbornness could keep her alive long enough for someone stronger to arrive or Dooku got bored and left.

Both were highly unlikely but it was not in her nature to lay down and die.

"I'd hardly be a challenge," Araminta said, voice unwavering despite the knot in her stomach. Obi-wan, face pressed against the ground, watched her, weakly. But she couldn't look at him, not now, eyes focused on more pressing matters for once.

"You demean yourself, girl," Dooku responded, holding his lightsaber low, the presence of the weapon reminding Araminta just how outmatched she was. "You belonged to Octavian. An assassin who runs with Jedi."

"I belong to no one," Araminta replied, firmly but calm.

"You are a slave to survival, are you not?" the Sith questioned, matter-of-factly.

Araminta scoffed. "Aren't we all?"

"Octavian has my respect," Dooku said, slowly. He had begun to advance, closing the distance between them, and Araminta could only swallow thickly and continue.

"You think he's right?" she asked, an edge to her voice.

"I left the Order for a reason. I'm under the impression that Octavian did, too."

Araminta only blinked at him.

"I know that you are stalling, and we both know you cannot win," he said, voice harder now. Araminta stayed quiet. "You are no Jedi. You are not a slave to their ideals and their forthcomings. You do not hold back. Consider surrendering to me and you can find freedom."

And Araminta considered it. She mulled it over– the chances of survival and the consequences of such a drastic shift, of leaving behind the last five months, of following a Sith's deal simply to survive. She was not a hero or a Jedi, she was an assassin who was raised in violence and given no mercy.

She had done worse, she had done whatever necessary. It was not below her, it simply was her. And in her situation, any chance of salvation should have been worth it.

But instead, the assassin found words falling from her mouth, dripping with conviction.

"The Jedi and the Sith are no different," Araminta declared. "You're just opposite ends of a scale."

"Then you shall die."

Stubbornness streaked through her, at the thought of being declared dead while she was still breathing, and she struck, hitting the edge of Dooku's jaw with her baton as his sabre streaked towards her from their proximity.

A moment later Anakin sprung forward, apparently recovered, sabre covering Araminta and meeting Dooku's. Araminta leapt back, pressing against the wall, as Anakin pressed forward, moving the duel into the middle of the room.

Her heart was racing, palms sweaty, knees ready to buckle. That had been too close.

Survive.

Her eyes scanned for an escape, a simple moment to move and hide while Dooku was distracted with Anakin and his virtue.

Survive.

Maybe the risk of scaling the cliff was worth it, if she could evade the sentry ships. Survive.

Her eyes widened, lips parting as Dooku went in for the killing blow, the assassin seeing the direction like a second sense. Her muscles, her brain, so accustomed to delivering such a blow, could see it from a mile away, predict it.

Protect.

Obi-wan's discarded lightsaber hilt flew into Araminta's hand, as she jumped off the wall, strong legs propelling her forward like a cat. The sabre lit up in her hand, responding to the power of the Force, as she slid in, deflecting Dooku's strike at Anakin, the noise tearing through the room.

Dooku's eyes widened slightly, not expecting the attack, as Anakin stared at her in mild disbelief. Even Araminta couldn't keep her face completely straight, as she registered what she had just done. The lightsabre felt sticky in her hand, an unfamiliar weapon that was held on such a pedestal, but it was what was necessary.

She pulled away, the opening allowing for Anakin to strike out and push Dooku away, as Araminta carefully raised the sabre, in the way she had seen others. Her unfamiliarity with the weapon was clear, but she held it firmly, as Dooku and Anakin duelled.

A slash, then another, a block, Araminta found herself using the Jedi's signature weapon, and she felt more and more unlike herself. Dooku held the pair off, and again Araminta could only hope reinforcements were coming, as Obi-wan was out of action on the ground.

Araminta met Anakin's eyes, and as she dodged a slash from Dooku, the sound flying past her ear, she deactivated the sabre. She flipped back, throwing the hilt to Anakin, who was far more useful with it. He caught it, just as Dooku's own sabre found the skin of the assassin's back. Araminta managed to manoeuvre herself to avoid being cut in two, but fell to the ground with a burning arch across her back.

She let out a hiss of pain, as Anakin continued to fight the Sith, as Araminta pushed herself onto her hands and knees, shaking from the wound across her back. And then, Araminta watched in horror as Anakin's body separated with his arm, his eyes rolling back as he passed into unconsciousness.

Dooku used the Force to carelessly toss him to Obi-wan's side, where he stayed still, eyes closed. Araminta felt the adrenaline fading, pain flowing through her from her wounds, as Dooku sighed. Any sort of hope Araminta had felt in the heat of battle had disappeared, replaced only with dread.

But the Sith's eyes went past her, and Araminta glanced over her shoulder to see a shadow coming from around the corner.

"Master Yoda," Dooku addressed, lips pursed.

"Count Dooku," Yoda grumbled.

"You have interfered with our affairs for the last time."

Araminta was familiar with the Force, but the way that Yoda utilised it and the strength he possessed was beyond her, as he deflected anything Dooku attempted against him, until he was forced to draw his sabre. Araminta had never underestimated the small Jedi, having had to take advantage of her own size over the years, she was well aware of the potential power.

And that was clear, as the elder Force-user ducked and dived, using his small size to his advantage. He had Dooku on the ropes, in a way Araminta could only dream to achieve. Amidst the chaos, she stumbled over to Obi-wan and Anakin, Dooku's attention far from any of them.

Anakin wasn't bleeding, the heat of the sabre cauterising it on contact, but the limb was still missing, a sight that should have turned anyone else's stomach but the assassin was unphased. Beside him, Obi-wan grunted, wounds all over.

Araminta herself was crouched over, back screaming at any movement, and the graze on her side from the flight over had begun to throb.

One of the nearby power cells collapsed, Araminta scurrying to escape, as Yoda struggled to lift it above them. Through the distraction, the assassin watched Dooku flee onto his ship, and then he was gone. It was over.

Yoda discarded the rubble, looking defeated by Dooku's escape, as Araminta heaved in tight, half-breaths. Anakin gasped awake from the impact, eyes flying open, sweat shining on his forehead. Araminta glanced at him, as he stared down at his arm in shock, registering what had happened, as the assassin hunched over herself from her own pain.

"Need a hand there, Skywalker?" Araminta croaked out.

Anakin looked at her, before choking out a laugh, which Araminta joined with her own, flushed from the very near-death experience.

Obi-wan looked between them as he helped his padawan to his feet. "Now what did I miss?"

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      THE DAYS following the battle of Geonosis felt like a fever dream. Araminta had been whisked away on an infirmary ship, treated for her injuries immediately. She had been separate from Obi-wan and Anakin, with no opportunity to talk to them further. Padme, it seemed, had also escaped with relatively little injury, and had even arrived with reinforcements just after Dooku had fled.

They were returned to Coruscant, where Araminta had been released and sent back to her makeshift room in the temple once she was cleared. None of her injuries would leave a scar, but she knew the consequences ran much deeper.

It was in the air, throughout the Order and the temple, everyone felt it. A darkness had crept up on them, and the droid army was far from destroyed. Araminta tried not to think too much about it, the sheer scale of the incoming battle.

The Clone Wars– that was what she had heard throughout the halls. That was what they were calling it, and she dreaded it.

Because she couldn't run. In the heat of the moment, she hadn't been trying to survive, she had been putting herself in harm's way. When it had come down to it, she hadn't been able to escape.

And so she knew she was doomed to the approaching war, because she had failed in the one thing she had always achieved.

Obi-wan had not come looking for her, and for once, she didn't feel the need to be glued to his side. She wasn't sure if she could look him in the eye– she had too much pride for that. She stayed holed up in her room, a tiny space that hadn't been decorated and had no character to show that she even lived there.

Two days after she had been taken off Geonosis, someone knocked on her door. Which was rare, as many of the Jedi avoided her, and she didn't particularly talk to anyone outside of Obi-wan or Anakin, as there wasn't a point. As Padme had heard, anyone outside of the council room that day believed Araminta to be a hired assassin, not Octavian and not an imposter.

Araminta, truthfully, shouldn't have been surprised when she opened her door to see Anakin, who looked far brighter than the last time she had seen him on the ground. Instinctively, her eyes darted down to his arm, where she could see flecks of silver gleaming from under his robe.

"They gave me a prosthetic," he answered without her needing to ask. Araminta only nodded. "Can I come in?"

"No," Araminta said.

Anakin looked a little taken aback. "Walk with me then?"

"Fine," she relented, slipping out of her room and closing the door behind her.

"The prosthetic isn't permanent," Anakin informed her as they navigated the temple. The assassin felt much more secure now, laden with knives in many places. The batons she had taken from Geonosis were hidden away in her room, still too recent for her to stomach past needing them for survival.

"I didn't ask," Araminta mumbled.

"I know." Anakin shrugged. "Padme left for Naboo today."

"How rude of her not to say goodbye," Araminta deadpanned.

"She won't be gone long," Anakin said. "Not with everything going."

"And what is everything going on?" Araminta said, stopping as they exited the temple. The sun was starting to dip into the horizon, the city coming alive around them, while simultaneously slowing down for the night. A beautiful contrast.

"The Clone War," Anakin said, heavily.

"I didn't sign up for a war," Araminta retorted, immediately.

"They won't make you fight," Anakin assured her.

"Because my mission is suddenly over?" she scoffed.

"Because it's war," Anakin said, exasperated.

"And? I'm still assigned to Obi-wan's life," Araminta told him. "I'm trapped."

"You could leave," Anakin said, softly. Araminta furrowed her brows. "You're skilled enough, if they won't let you."

Araminta stared at him in disbelief at what he was proposing. "You put me here."

"And you saved my life."

Aramina deflated. "Figured I owed you one."

"You never owed me anything," Anakin scoffed.

"I owed a debt and now it's repaid," Araminta said, firmly. Anakin looked perplexed.

"You don't," he said, and the pity was back. "You're the one who put this weight on it and then hated me for it. I know you hate it here, and that you hate the Order, so why tolerate us?"

"Because I'll be killed," Araminta argued.

Anakin shook his head. "You overestimate the Order. You've more than served your time–"

"I can't put my life on the line like that," Araminta snapped.

Anakin blinked at her, frowning. "That's why you stay?"

And, where once she would've bitten her tongue, Araminta let herself speak. "Do you know why I tried to run that day?"

Anakin's face shifted at the topic change, as they both thought back to the day that had changed everything, when she had had a mission that was against him, when he had been younger and softer, when Araminta had still represented the assassin king. Only five months had passed between then and the now-approaching war, but it felt like years to the assassin.

"No," Anakin replied.

Araminta bit her lip. "About two weeks before that mission I found out Octavian killed my family." Anakin's eyes widened. "He had asked my sister prior to join him and she rejected him, because of course. And so he killed them to give us no other option."

"The day I found out, I told no one. But I knew he knew. And he would try to kill me, because my loyalty was shaken," she continued. "The anonymous attack on you and Obi-Wan was a set up to get me killed, because it was too suspicious for him to kill me himself. Make it look like an accident, a mission gone wrong." She swallowed, thickly. "I was supposed to fail... and when I realised I turned and ran."

"I was supposed to die that day." She met his eyes. "And had I actually managed to escape, I would've been hunted down by the same man who trained me anyway. I would've stood no chance," she admitted. "But you saved me. And I owed you because getting away from Octavian – alive – is all I ever wanted after I found out what he'd done."

"You never owed me," Anakin murmured.

"I do," Araminta got out, voice tight. "It's partly why I can't stand you."

"I figured," he sighed. He stepped up to her. "You don't owe me. I did something good because I wanted to. Not because I wanted you to owe me or anything. I didn't save you to gain anything. I just did it."

"That's hard to believe," Araminta said, sharply.

"Because you're an assassin. Everything you do is to gain something," Anakin pointed out.

Araminta blinked at him. "Yeah." He had it on the nose. He understood, somehow, but not enough. And she found herself wanting him to understand– to understand how she thought, how much his actions had meant to her.

"You don't understand," she said, swallowing thickly, unable to meet his eyes. "We all viewed him as our saviour, our father figure when the world had somehow turned on us. We believed him to have taken us in to give us a new life, a better chance. Any of us would've done anything in his name. We had been brainwashed to believe that was tough love, but it was torture and humiliation. He never cared for us– we were just weapons to him." Her throat burned. "When I realised that, my whole world fell apart, and when he tried to set me up I guess it properly hit."

"Octavian wasn't my saviour or salvation, he was my destruction, after so long." And then she met his eyes. "You gave me a second chance but I have no idea what to do with it. And I hated you for putting me in a position I wasn't in control of, something I was so unfamiliar with. And I hated you for being so easy about it, while I agonised."

Her voice fell flat. "All I had ever been was an assassin. If I wasn't that then I was no one, and that's scarier than being a bad person."

Anakin looked down at her, eyelashes tickling his cheeks, as Araminta awaited a response to words she had kept to herself for so long. She felt so much lighter, her mind quiet, her lips turned down. She looked up at Anakin, golden eyes meeting his sky, and in that moment she knew.

Whatever twisted circumstances had driven them together and preserved their lives, she had come to trust him. Because in the glow of the dipping sun, he knew her better than anyone outside of the horrors. No one else knew by her choice, but she had chosen him. And it felt nice to trust, whatever that meant.

She'd never admit it, her pride was too much for that, but she knew he knew. And she knew he trusted her, too, with things no one else knew. Somehow. He had always seen her as something beyond the horror, beyond the violent truth, and maybe she could learn to live by that.

Maybe she wasn't doomed to be what Octavian had made her into, as she was so scared of. She could find a purpose, something to live for that wasn't just surviving. She wanted to– she thought. She wanted to be something far from him, someone undeserving of the brand. Whatever that meant.

She wasn't quite sure yet.

And, for once, that was okay.

"Well, you don't owe me anymore, right?" Anakin said, lightly.

"No. I guess not," Araminta said, wistfully, and she found herself feeling lighter still.

He was right.

Whatever debt she resented him for and held against him was fulfilled.

"So, just let me die next time?" Anakin remarked.

And the flip switched, Araminta shrugging. "Pretty much."

Anakin grinned, shaking his head, before looking back to her, voice barely above a whisper. "Why did you tell me that?"

"You deserved to know," she half-lied.

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[ edited '23 for family and timeline ]

i speedran the dooku yoda fight because unimportant dialogue but here's this conclusion! and the reveal for araminta's loyalty to octavian

also what other important changing conversation about leaving was had on that staircase at sunset HMM

i am adding a 1 year timeskip to when the clone wars starts, instead of the canonic few months because yuck that makes no sense

i'm still not 100% sure about where i'm going to start in the clone wars series, but the next chapter will see a significant shift in dynamics, characters + length because episodes

please leave comments of any sort and i'll probably be starting act two late this month as i have to update other stories that were ignored while i focused on this one <33