Quite proud of this one. Sorry, guys, it's more angst. Got major inspiration from "Someday" from the Hunchback of Notre Dame Musical.

    Fox shifted. The cold from the durasteel walls seeped into his thin blacks. He looked over at his cell mate who appeared unperturbed by the chill. He couldn't tell if the chill came from the actual temperature of the air or the fact that the threat of death permeated the cell as they awaited their execution.

    There stood Senator Riyo Chuchi, a sliver of moonlight curling around her. She was regal and poised as ever, even in prison garb. Who cares that the Emperor declared her a traitor and stripped her of her position. She would always be a good Senator in Commander Fox's eyes. No, not just good, she was a great one, the best politician out there, though Fox was more than a little biased in his opinion.

    The deathly silence was getting to him more than he would've liked to admit. This wasn't the way he had been bred to go. Long ago, he had imagined his end coming in brilliant flash of pain and blood on the battlefield, not some darkened cell on the unbearable Coruscant. Yet... his gaze drifted over to Riyo. There was no one he would rather be with in this moment than her, grim though it may be.

    Fox's low voice cut through the stillness, pulling Riyo from her distant expression. "Credit for your thoughts?" 

    A sad smile played across her lips as she turned toward him, tucking a stray strand of her lilac hair behind her ear. Apparently, the guards found it beneath them to let her keep even a simple hair tie. 

    The commander was struck by how young Riyo was as her straightened posture sagged as if the planet's gravity had suddenly doubled. Unlike him and his accursed genetic engineering where he could only hope for about thirty more years before he withered away, Riyo was a natborn, meaning she had many more years ahead of her. She was supposed to have more time.

    But in taking up the plight of the clone troopers, she had cut her bright future short. For them. For him. Her words to him had left no room for argument when he had tentatively suggested that she drop the issue so as not to paint a target on her back.

    A tiny bitter piece of him whispered vehemently, 'She would have been better off never knowing you, never loving you.'

    He dispelled that thought, refocusing his attention on the one good thing in his life and awaiting her response.

    There was no doubt of her steadfastness, no questioning of her bravery, but it wasn't hard for him to see pain etched in her brilliant golden eyes. Whatever aloof front she had been keeping up since their arrest crumpled. She pulled her arms around her midsection, finally showing sign of feeling the pervasive presence of death.

    "I was thinking about the end of the Clone Wars," she replied.

    Resentment jumped into his tone as he grumbled,  "Some end."

    "When I was younger, I thought..." she began quietly. "I thought if I lived to see the war's end, I'd see everything would be set right, but..." Her expression grew pained. "The war is over and the galaxy has never been in worse shape."

    Fox couldn't stop the loyalist rubbish from spilling out. "The Empire has brought peace and order to the galaxy."

    Riyo sent him a pitying look and shook her head, knowing he didn't truly believe those words. "Tyranny is not peace. Palpatine is not my Emperor."

     Already labeled a rebel sympathizer, she had nothing left to lose by such treasonous statements.

    "Fox." Force, he loved hearing her call his name but hated the next words from her lips. "I don't—" she forced herself not to sugarcoat it "—they're going to execute me." 

    Fox wasn't the stupidly hopeful type but he stuttered out, "They could–there's still time. The trial..."

    He wasn't kidding himself or her. The outcome of the trial had already been predetermined. All dissidents were found guilty and swiftly executed.

    She held up her hand as request to let her finish and he fell silent. "I'm not going to be around, but you will." Her eyes gleamed with startling certainty, as though she had seen something so marvelous its brilliance still danced in her golden irises. "You will see the day the Empire falls and justice reigns."

    She could see the disbelief on his face. The Empire? After rising from the shadows with might unparalleled, it seemed impossible for anything to topple such an enormous regime.

    "I overheard the guards talking. They want to... recondition you." She spat the word in utter distaste. "They think you'll still be of use to 'his majesty'."

    It was as though an invisible hand had wrapped around his throat, constricting his airways. Not again. A sharp pain struck the side of his head. He couldn't be made a pawn again.

    Seeing panic setting in, Riyo stepped toward Fox, gently grasping his hand in hers.

    "You will live, Fox."

    He shook his head. It wouldn't be a life worth living without her.

    "I might as well be dead! They'll turn me into a mindless droid! I'd rather die with you."

    While Riyo's expression remained sadly sympathetic, there was a desperate edge creeping into her tone and she clasped his hands tighter.

    "No! Dying is easy, living is the hard part. You have the chance. I know some days you may feel more dead than alive, but please, live." She added in a softer voice, "For me. I can't die without knowing that you will do everything you can to live."

    Fox let out a heavy exhale. That was not something he could promise he could do. Not when he was mostly dead inside anyways.

    "Please, Fox," she pleaded. "It's the only comfort I have. That I know you will outlive me and see that life can be good."

    The former Marshal Commander wanted to argue. She was the good in his life. But instead, he asked in a manner akin to an uncertain, shaken shiny. "What if I lose myself without you?"

    "You won't," she said simply.

    Fox wished he had half the faith that Riyo had in himself.

    "My clever Fox," sighed the former Senator, sensing his doubt. She moved her hand from his and settled it over his heart. "I'll be with you here. The Kaminoans will try but they won't break you. They can't take what makes you who you are."

    She tugged him over to the window. One of the few benefits of the high security prison was that it was on the upper level of Coruscant, meaning that they got a magnificent view of the sky. Slivers of cool light from Coruscant's largest moons filtered into their cell. She pointed to the luminescent crescents.

    "If you need a reminder, look up. Wherever you go, may the Moon's light bless you."

    Fox gazed at the moons. He knew the Moon Goddess held prevalence in Pantoran culture. His heart squeezed painfully. She always looked out for him. She was always so giving. He had no deity, but now, here she was asking that hers watch over him.

    He looked from the moons to Riyo. His hands drifted up, hovering just above her cheeks as if he dare not touch. She leaned into his scarred hands, and he gently traced the golden arcs on her face, marveling at how they seemed to match the curve of the moons. 

    Her hands came up to encircle the back of his neck and he leaned down to capture her lips with his. They kissed with fervor, knowing this would be the last time they would hold each other close.

    When she reluctantly pulled away, Riyo's eyes bore into Fox's, blazing with courage and hope.

    "The Empire won't win. Someday, when the galaxy has become a little more wiser and a little more older, there will be peace. So please, Fox, live." 

~~~~~~~~

    A trooper watched in indifference as the firing squad lined up. Not a shred of remorse was felt as traitor after traitor fell. Most fell with shrieks of terror and tears in their eyes save for one. The petite Pantoran's gaze seemed to cut straight through his armor. 

    In spite of her current plight, facing down her own demise, Riyo smiled. A small, almost imperceptible upturn of her lips, but a smile nonetheless. Death did not have her attention, not when she saw her dearest Fox right there. She sent a final prayer up for him and the bright new millennium that was on its way. And her heart felt peace as the line of gunmen took aim.

    A sharp word from Fox's commander pulled him away from the execution but he could feel the woman's eyes on him as he turned his back. The blasters shots sounded, followed by an aching silence. Something terribly crucial had just happened but he couldn't place what it was.

    Time was irrelevant. He hunted down insurgents at the behest of the Empire. No emotion surfaced as he served... except, every so often, he would flinch at the moon's light. Something within him stirred, like swimming through murky waters. 

    He was to remember. Remember something of grave importance. But the thought, the feeling, always danced out of his reach just before he could grasp it.

    And then one day, the nightmare's hold was shattered. Smoke from fires of destruction no longer blotted out the sky. 

    And he saw. He saw all that Riyo Chuchi had hoped for come to fruition. It stole his breath away as she had when he had first seen her. Brothers freed, cities rebuilt, families mended, lovers reunited.

    Beautiful. Life could be beautiful.

    This is what Riyo had wanted him to see. And he had gotten a glimpse of it every time he stared into her golden eyes and listened to her captivating voice on the Senate floor.

    A lone trooper wept and shouted to the sky in the barren marshes of Pantora. His cries came in equal parts mourning and joy. He had done it. He had lived for her.

    And the Moon smiled down on him.