this is a new addition published march 12, 2020

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"I DID NOT TAKE YOU FOR ONE SO RECKLESS," DOOKU SAID, HIS VOICE LOW AND UNAMUSED. "YOUNG ONE, THIS IS not your fight. Leave while your hands are clean."

Artie swallowed hard, heart beating so fast she could have vomited. Her eyes darted from Dooku to the bleeding red lightsaber he held languidly in his hand. Yes, the situation was far worse than expected.

"Artemis, get out!" Obi-Wan shouted, uncharacteristic anger in his voice. Or, was it worry?

Either way, Artie was deaf to his commands. She turned away from both of them and tore over to Anakin, dropping to her knees by his side. She lifted his head and gave his shoulder a shake. "Anakin," she urged, fighting to keep her voice steady; his skin was unnaturally warm to touch and his clothes were singed and smelled of smoke. Beyond her, Obi-Wan had engaged with Dooku, but from the sound of things, it was not going well. Blue and red light conflated and whipped through the shadow around them, lightsabers screeching as they bounced and parried off one another. Desperate, Artie thwapped Anakin on the cheek. "Anakin," she begged again, "please, get up." He seemed to come-to after a moment, seemed very shocked to see her, but at last, his eyes regained focus. He hissed in pain, teeth clenched tight, but he managed to sit up.

"I'm fine," Anakin said, one hand accepting her support and the other balled into a fist. "You have to get out, Artie, it's not safe."

"Clearly," she replied, this time unable to hide the tears in her voice. She'd been so sure she'd lost him. Suddenly, a cry broke the air. Her eyes snapped up and she watched in mute terror as Dooku slashed Obi-Wan's arm, then his leg, and Kenobi dropped to the floor, entirely at Dooku's mercy.

It was all the encouragement Anakin needed. "Stay here," he commanded Artie, and, propelled by the Force, he leaped between Obi-Wan and Dooku, emerald saber igniting and knocking the bleeding sword away.

Dooku sneered. "Brave, boy, but foolish. I would have thought you'd learned your lesson."

Anakin pretended to think. "I am a slow learner." And he shoved Dooku back, angling his blade so the Count was forced to parry him away, and for half a second Dooku was surprised.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan shouted. He tossed his lightsaber to his padawan and the blue blade broke the air, and Anakin charged with both blades, striking over and over, blocking and twirling so swiftly Artie could hardly make him out past the sabers' glows. But she gave herself a shake and darted forward, seized Obi-Wan, and dragged him out of the fight's way. Just as she got him to the perimeter of the hangar, a great crack! snapped through the lightsabers' whines and Anakin's sword flickered out, dismantled by Dooku's blade. With a frustrated snarl, Anakin discarded the canister and backed off, stalking deeper into shadow. His lightsaber arced close to the floor and severed a thick wire, and several lights died, plunging them all into near blackness. Artie felt her worry take a staggering upswing. Dooku had him completely cornered.

For a few long moments, they stared at each other, sabers lifted above their heads, neither striking first. But Anakin pounced, slammed his blade against Dooku's and met every onslaught, but each of Anakin's parries and offenses was met with equal, if not exceeding skill. He spun around and darted back into the open, but Dooku was ready. He met Anakin's attack and let it carry on, let their blades bounce off each other in a manner far too controlled. He was toying with him, and Artie realized it a second too late. Dooku dodged Anakin and so quickly she barely registered it, sliced off his arm at the elbow.

"No!" Artie screamed, leaping to her feet. Dooku sent Anakin soaring backward and he slid across the floor into Obi-Wan, right in front of her. This time, he was fully unconscious, face twisted in torment.

Dooku turned his black eyes to Artie. "You're still here, child?"

"What have you done?" Artie whispered, face white with shock. She stared at the two Jedi, wounded and undone at her feet.

"I gave you ample opportunity to leave," Dooku went on. "You have unnecessarily inserted yourself in this dispute." He seemed to study her for a moment. "You are Senator Amidala's student, aren't you? Miss Adhara, isn't it? Well . . . with a teacher so intelligent, I would have hoped you'd have wiser instincts."

Against every nerve in her body, Artie took a step forward. "You hurt people today. You let innocent people die."

Dooku lifted an eyebrow. "Stand down, Adhara, I do not engage with children such as yourself."

Artie's blood boiled. She watched him stride idly across the floor, saber at the ready, to finish Obi-Wan and Anakin off. In a flash of madness, a split moment of absolute instinct and fierce desperation, Artie threw out a hand and called upon Anakin's lightsaber; it flew into her open palm and ignited with a hiss, and the cool metal was familiar to her fingers.

Dooku halted and turned to her slowly; he and Obi-Wan wore nearly identical looks of astonishment, and in any other circumstance Artie might have laughed. Dooku surveyed her with nonplussed disbelief. "Quite interesting, I'll admit," he murmured. "But you've had no training—that is clear. This is not something you want to do."

"Just make quick work of me, then," Artie spat back, surprising herself with her hubris. What the kriff was she doing?

"So she has a death wish," Dooku laughed, glancing down at Obi-Wan. "Kenobi, you keep such reckless company."

"Artemis," Obi-Wan groaned, still immobilized on the floor, "don't."

Artie ignored him. She wasn't trying to beat Dooku, she was trying to stall him, at least until Windu or someone came to help. If he killed her before that . . . at the very least it could be said she made an attempt to save their lives. Artie raised Anakin's lightsaber, took in a deep breath, and did the last thing she ever expected herself to do: she asked the Force for help, not truly believing much would happen, but suddenly something seized her, something steady and powerful, seeming to tell her, I will be with you.

So Artie charged.

For a split second, Dooku seemed surprised. Artie slammed the saber down and blue met red again for a moment before Dooku thrust her away. "Left, Artemis!" Obi-Wan shouted from the floor. "Move left! Now!" She darted away, right as Dooku swiped where she had just been. She back off slowly, blade angled in front of her, fear thrumming through her bones. But accompanying the terror was . . . excitement. In some demented way, Artie wanted to fight. She liked feeling so . . . powerful, even if she was about to be sliced in half. She jabbed out and Dooku knocked her away. She dodged another swipe and was reminded of all the occasions on Tatooine when Lysander had come after her with a quarterstaff . . . actually, it wasn't so different. Except, if Dooku landed a blow, instead of a bruise she lost a limb. "Back, Artemis, step back!" Obi-Wan warned. She shuffled away, sweeping her blade, and Dooku leaped at her again. Artie ducked and rolled over her shoulder, narrowly avoiding offing herself. She jumped back to her feet and raked hair away from her eyes, delighted by the look of absolute outrage slapped on Dooku's face. His eyes blazed.

"Enough of this," he fumed. He threw out a hand and Anakin's lightsaber shot out of Artie's fingers to land thirty feet away. "There is anger in you, young one, and it is wasted. To align yourselves with these half-witted fools," he threw a mocking smile in Obi-Wan and Anakin's direction, "will prove hapless. The Force is new to you, is it not? But it has always been there, child. Perhaps you are smarter than your teacher and would abandon the ideals that will cost you your life."

Outrage burned in Artie at such a suggestion. "And be like you?" she said, voice lifting into a laugh.

Dooku's expression did not change. "One day, perhaps. You cannot believe the Jedi would have you."

Artie tried to ignore the pang in her chest at his words. "I don't need them. I don't need you."

"Then I shall assure your Republic your death was as ignorant as it was noble."

"No," Obi-Wan croaked, but he still couldn't move. Dooku advanced, lifted his blade, and Artie could feel the plasma's heat on her skin, its hum reverberating off her skull in time with her heart's pounding. She straightened and raised her chin, praying silent goodbyes to Padme and Anakin, mourning, all in a second, the rest of her life lost. Dooku swung.

"Do that," garbled a reproachful voice, "I would not."

The crimson saber halted in midair and doubt flickered across Dooku's face. "Master Yoda," he said slowly, lowering his blade; he seemed to have forgotten Artie entirely, and she wasted no time in ducking away back to the foot of the wall. She followed the Count's gaze and found Yoda, old and green and wrinkled as ever, but looking fiercely affronted. "You have interfered in our affairs for the last time."

"Powerful, you have become, Dooku," Yoda began. "The dark side, I sense in you." Artie could not help but think scathingly, Oh, do you?

Slinking over to Obi-Wan and Anakin, Artie kept one eye on Dooku as she checked their injuries. For Anakin, there was little to be done, but tears welled in her eyes nonetheless; his right arm ended abruptly at the elbow, the flesh marred and charred, his sleeve singing. He stirred but did not wake, so Artie pushed on and crouched beside Obi-Wan.

"Is there anything I can do?" she whispered, carefully moving aside the frayed pieces of his sleeve where Dooku had torn into his arm.

Obi-Wan hissed in pain and threw her an indignant look. "If you want to help," he began, voice strained and low, "don't ever do anything like that again, Artemis."

"I told you, call me Artie," she countered. Even as she helped him sit up, Kenobi's wry expression did not change. "And I was distracting Dooku, all right? I wasn't just going to let him kill you."

"You have the Force," he said, wincing, eyes flicking constantly to Yoda and Dooku.

"I do," Artie agreed.

"How?"

She scoffed, thinking it a ridiculous question both for the time and the person. "Kriff if I know, Master, how does anyone?"

"Why weren't you ever brought to the temple? Why didn't your parents—"

"My parents abandoned me when I was eight," Artie whispered, "And I can think of one time the Jedi visited Tatooine. I don't think it's the best time to unpack this, Master."

Obi-Wan's stare wandered off. "Force above, Artemis . . ."

Dooku's heavy voice arrested the room. "I have become more powerful than even you, Master Yoda," he said, and he thrust out a hand and forks of crackling lightning shot from his fingers. Artie watched, numb with amazement, as Yoda caught the lightning in his small palm and hurled it back at Dooku, who barely deflected it; it exploded in a plume of fire high above their heads. Artie had a feeling she was watching a legend unfold. Dooku's black stare seemed intent on burning holes in Yoda's head. "If you came here to duel," he said, lifting his saber again, "then let it commence."

Yoda straightened and let his little cane fall. He reached into his robes and produced his lightsaber, and it glowed green when he ignited it. "If you insist, my old padawan." With little warning, he leaped at Dooku, moving more swiftly, with more agility than Artie would have thought possible for such an old thing. Yoda never stayed on the ground for longer than a second, never once paused the almost maniacal swing of his blade. Dooku seemed hard-pressed to keep up, and Artie grinned as she watched his pride crumble. Cut off his arm, she thought savagely, trying to get the message across to Yoda, if that was even how the Force worked.

Suddenly, a horrible sound fille the air, metal ripping from metal, and Artie's gaze snapped up; she had been so enthralled by the duel she hadn't even notice Dooku's hand go up, his fierce concentration on the ceiling-high support column erected not ten feet from where she, Obi-Wan, and Anakin were stuck. Panic seized Artie; she couldn't get them both away in time. Anakin was still unconscious. The column tipped over and Artie braced herself for such a painful and anticlimactic end, but somehow it did not come. She opened her eyes and saw Yoda, face screwed up in focus, suspending the column an arm's length away--Artie could have reached up and touched it--then slowly moving it away and lowering it to the floor.

It took Artie a moment to realize that Dooku was gone. He'd fled after tearing out the column because he knew Yoda would not let them die for the sake of winning a duel. Artie was filled with an odd mixture of gratitude and contempt--she was humbled and thankful for Yoda's help, but no part of her wanted to be in debt to the Order, especially not after what Dooku had said.

"ARTIE!" cried a familiar voice, jolting her from her thoughts. Heart pounding, Artie climbed to her feet and turned around to find Padme, Rex, and two more clones charging into the room. Artie let all her tears fall unimpeded down her cheeks as Padme rushed to her and tackled her in an embrace. "I'm so glad you're all right," she said, her voice shaking. "They told me you'd gone in and I was sure—oh, stop doing things like this, Artemis!" Perhaps she expected Artie to protest, to justify, but Artie only clung tighter to her sister and cried quietly into her shoulder, thinking of how she'd nearly died and how Anakin was so badly hurt and how so many people were killed that day. She'd been holding those tears in since Lysander when there'd been no time to let them go because Anakin had been on the verge of breaking down. Padme seemed to understand in a way that only Padme could. "He'll be all right," she whispered, petting Artie's hair like a mother might. "You will be too. We'll get you home and taken care of and things will go back to normal."

But there was doubt in her voice and Artie did not miss it. She felt it, too. Something told her, good or bad, her life would never be the same as it was before they left Coruscant. She had a suspicion everyone's lives would be uprooted. If the world she had known was a tranparisteel pane, there was a new shatter point stabbed in its center. Can you not feel it? The Force wondered. But Artie could. The galaxy was at war, and she had witnessed its dawn.

• • •

THE JEDI TEMPLE WAS NOT AS COLD AND SOULLESS AS ARTIE HAD WANTED TO believe. To her surprise, as Rex led her down one of its vast, open hallways, it was almost like a home. Children and padawans alike darted through the rooms, some laughing, some intensely focused, but all seeming content. The Jedi that had survived the massacre on Geonosis had folded themselves back into their routines, distinguishable only by limps and bruises, some by new durasteel hands or legs.

The journey back to Coruscant had been silent and tense. Anakin had finally awakened fully and Artie did not leave his side once, rules be damned. It was only Yoda and Obi-Wan on their cruiser, anyway, and they seemed far too locked in their grim discussion to pay anyone else much attention. Artie had been treated at the temple Medcenter; the meddroids had worked some kind of magic on her ribs and now there was only pain when she breathed in very deeply. Artie had watched Anakin's entire operation, mesmerized by the whole thing. His new arm, beginning halfway down his bicep, was now durasteel and wire. Cybernetic but fully functioning. He'd be able to wield a lightsaber just the same as before, if not better because this arm was less likely to tire. There was synthskin being developed, but it wasn't ready, but he'd be all right without it for the time being. The meddroids had explained this all to Artie first, then Anakin had woken up and they repeated it over again. He had stared at his silver fingers, gleaming metal bones without flesh or muscle, examined the joints' flexion and extension limits, opened and closed his fist, practiced how it felt to hold Artie's hand and did not let go. Softly, he had said, "It's different," and went very quiet after that. Yoda had summoned Artie a moment later, and she had been forced to leave Anakin by himself on that cold table.

So there she was, standing outside the ancient Master's quarters, slightly flummoxed that he had quarters. For some reason, Artie had never thought of the Jedi sleeping or eating or doing anything mundane, and it was strange to realize that the oldest and most detached of them all had to do exactly those things.

The door slid open without her knocking. "Come in, young one," Yoda's voice carried through. "Linger, do not."

"Sorry," Artie mumbled as the door shut behind her. The room was almost empty, save for two round, cushioned seats, one occupied by Yoda. The space was not well-lit; Artie could barely see the old Master so shrouded in shadow. For a few moments, she stood, hands clasped before her, unsure what to do.

Yoda chuckled to himself. "Sit, you must. Much to talk about, we have."

Artie frowned but took her place across from him. What did he know? Would he ask about Anakin? If they'd left Naboo for reasons other than finding Obi-Wan? A sweat broke out on Artie's palms and she found she could not meet Yoda's eyes. "The Force, you have," he said plainly as if discussing the weather.

Artie swallowed. "I guess so. I don't know how."

"No one really does," Yoda agreed. "Midiclorians in the blood, yes, but more to it, there may be."

"Why didn't I know?" Artie asked, voice weak. "Aren't you supposed to show signs when you're young? Why didn't my parents--?" she broke off, unable to say more.

Yoda gave a harrumph that Artie took to be empathetic. "On Tatooine, you grew up. Yes?" Artie nodded. Yoda dipped his head. "On the Outer Rim systems, a mistrust of the Force, there is. For you to grow up in the Temple, your parents likely did not want. Kept you hidden, they did."

Artie barked in laughter, but her eyes misted with tears. "They left me," she whispered. "When I was eight. They didn't want to keep me for themselves--they didn't want me at all." She sniffed and suddenly it was like she was the only person in the room. "Why wait so long to get rid of me? And why . . . why leave me for dead?" Anger licked at her insides, burned through the hurt. Why leave her for dead?

"Afraid, they were," Yoda supplied, "of the abilities you possess. Often to fear, mistrust can turn. Unknown, a vast part of you would have been." He paused, ears wilting ever so slightly. "Happened before . . . it has. Younglings left behind. Overlooked."

Artie tried to adjust to his theory. Her parents had feared the Jedi and the Force and had abandoned their very child once they realized she embodied that fear. A fear so great they'd rather their daughter die than they have to face it. Artie made no attempt to staunch her tears, now. "How could anyone do that?" she whimpered, the words barely forming.

"Weakened, they were, by cowardice," Yoda insisted. He paused again and gazed upon Artie gently until she met his stare. "But pass this cowardice to their daughter, they did not."

Artie blinked, unsure if she'd heard him correctly. "Is that a compliment, Master?"

She thought she caught his smile. "Brave today, you were. A formidable foe, my fallen padawan is. A fine warrior, you might one day make."

Again, Artie wasn't sure if she had heard him right. "What do you mean? I'm not a warrior."

"No," Yoda agreed, "but could be, I said. With training and guidance. Help, we will need, in this war."

Artie couldn't stand his vagueness. "Are you saying I should train . . . to be a Jedi? Here? By who? No one wants a padawan so old." And I don't want to be treated like one.

"A padawan, you would not be," Yoda countered, "but a Jedi you can still become. To help you, Master Kenobi would be glad to, I'm sure."

Artie shook her head at once. "I couldn't ask that of him. He already has Anakin to look after--"

Yoda lifted a three-clawed hand. "A padawan, young Skywalker cannot stay forever. His own choices, he must soon make."

Artie struggled not to snort. I think he does that plenty. But she kept the opinion to herself. Instead, she began thinking of all the ways her life would be flipped around should she choose to join the Order. Hadn't she said, not a week ago, it was the last thing she would ever do? She would no longer be able to train under Padme, and any future career in politics would be shot. There would be another layer of challenges keeping her and Anakin apart. She would be thrown into war, real, bloody war, that risked her life constantly . . . and yet, as Artie waited for the fear, the doubt . . . they did not come. And what did? Determination. Strength. She could help people. She could be what she always envisioned the Jedi being.

And really, if she admitted it to herself, she had no intention of following their Code.

So, Artie straightened and met Yoda's patient stare. "All right," she said evenly. "I'll join." She could almost feel her center of gravity change, feel the expectations she was held to shift. But she let her words hang in the air, and she stuck by them. Oh, the explaining she would have to do.

"A noble thing, it is," Yoda warbled. "Tell Obi-Wan, I will, and help you from there, he shall." He said nothing after that, and Artie took it to mean it was time for her to go. She stood, offered Yoda a quick bow because it felt like the thing to do, and headed for the door. But before she left, she turned on her heel, one last question unanswered.

"Master?" she said.

"Hmm?"

Artie shifted her weight, unsure of how to begin. "Well . . . when Anakin was found on Tatooine, I would have been nearby too. Why . . . why was he discovered and not me?"

Yoda seemed to think for a long while. Finally, he said, "An accident, finding Skywalker was. A very unexpected thing. After that, very muddled, things were. Alert for another child, we would not have been."

"Oh. All right." Artie nodded her head quickly. "That makes sense." She didn't know what she had expected the answer to be, but certainly not that finding Anakin had been a happy accident. Suddenly, she wanted out of Yoda's quarters. She slipped through the door and back into the hall where Rex was still waiting.

"How'd it go?" he prompted as they began back the way they had come.

"Good," Artie said a little too lightly. She cleared her throat. "Um . . . I'm in the army, now."

Rex drew back slightly. "Oh," he muttered. "Well, I don't really know how to tell you this, but I don't think you're gonna fit in with us clones." He gestured vaguely to her. "Don't really have the right look."

Artie laughed, genuinely laughed, and kept smiling until they made it back to the Medcenter, where Rex declared it would be best if he headed back to his own barracks. He kept his helmet on in the temple, but Artie hoped he wasn't smirking beneath it. They didn't need anyone else getting suspicious.

They had released Anakin from the operating room and Artie found him standing in a small waiting area that was well-secluded, wearing a fresh tunic and pants and boots that seemed identical to his clothes before . . . maybe they were the same clothes, just cleaned. Could Jedi have more than one outfit? If not, it was another thing Artie would be ignoring. As soon as he saw her, Anakin swept Artie up in an embrace, holding her as tightly to him as he could. "What did he want?" he said into her hair, breath warm on her neck. Artie clung to him, so thankful to be there with him that she did not want to tarnish the moment by revealing what she'd done. So they stayed locked around each other for a full minute before Artie pulled away and took in a deep breath.

"He wanted to talk about me . . . about what I can do. He asked me to join the Order."

Anakin's brow furrowed. "And?"

"I said I would."

His hold loosened a fraction and Artie worried he was upset, but a second later he was gathering her to him all over again. "Are you sure? You said you'd never do it. Are they making you?"

"No, no," Artie moved so she could look him in the eye. "I know I said I would never join, and I don't want to for the reasons Master Yoda wants me to. If . . . if the Republic really is going to war, then I want to be able to help up close. I don't mind training as a Jedi if it means I can do good for the galaxy. I don't mind risking my life if I'm risking it next to you."

Anakin searched her face and smiled, teeth white against his bronze face. Oh, she could have stared at him for hours. "That's what got us into the Geonosis mess, Artie."

"Another adventure under the belt, Skywalker."

His lips twisted and he tilted her back slightly. "So, a Jedi, huh? Are you starting from scratch? Am I gonna see you in morning classes with the four-year-olds?"

Artie kept ahold of the front of his shirt. "Unfortunately, no, I am indeterminately ranked," she said with a laugh. "But I think Obi-Wan is technically in charge of me."

"But Obi-Wan is already technically in charge of me."

Artie laughed again and swung an arm around his neck. "Master Yoda seemed to think not for long. Mentioned it being time for you to make your own choices."

Anakin drew her closer to him. "Well, Force knows I never do that." He kissed her and it was a happy kiss, not born from nightmares or grief or goodbyes, but from rapture. If kisses had bottoms, Artie wanted to hunt for this one's. He was close, close, in a way unprecedented and it made her dizzy. His whole self was dizzying and undeniable and her head swam, all her insides twisting, in her belly especially, and the pull of his mouth was like gravity and Artie would have done anything to keep him this near, this happy, this devoted. It was an aching, vulnerable feeling, and she could only blindly hope Anakin shared it. He broke away, breaths deep and slow. He gazed at her beneath the shadow his eyelashes cast on his cheeks. "I love you."

All right, maybe not blindly hope.

The voices came. Liar, they whispered. He doesn't. He would never.

She leveled them in her mind. He does. He would. Artie claimed it all. "I love you, too," and she kissed him again.

But if the world was a glass pane, and there was already a punctuating shatter point in its center, another had just cracked by its side.

note.
and that's the end of part one!! thank you so much for reading. this chapter is a completely new, never before seen version and id love it if you guys shared what you thought!

stay tuned for part two! it'll be shorter, but completely new and all covering various events during the clone wars!