⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

You speak of destiny as if it was fixed.

—Philip Pullman

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie stares at the glass windows of the turbolift, mind far away, as she waits to arrive on the Temple Archives floor.

To her right, she distantly registers the blinking numbers of the sci-fi box descending lower and lower.

She is heading down to the Archives for something. Something important.

But it doesn't matter. She'll never reach her destination.

She doesn't know exactly how she knows this, but she just does.

Vacantly, she hears a muffled explosion echoing out from somewhere above.

She ignores this; something deep inside of her already aware of what's coming.

Her hands are already reaching out to steady herself against the steel surface of the walls before the turbolift begins to shudder in warning.

The lights flicker ominously, making her stomach clench in dread.

Then the sci-fi lift screeches to a stop; the automatic doors slowly scraping open, allowing her to take in the yawning expanse of darkness outside.

Melanie swallows, pulse racing, as the void of darkness stares back at her.

As another muffled explosion echoes out from somewhere outside the Temple, she squeezes her eyes shut, gritting her teeth in frustration.

Fuck, she has to get out of here—!

Her hands twitch at her sides, itching to reach over and slam her fingers against the blinking buttons of the turbolift.

But she doesn't.

Because there are children down here. Children in danger.

She clenches her jaw, swallowing down her growing terror, before finally finding the courage to step out into the wide darkness of the hall.

She comes to a stop in the center of the hallway, staring blankly ahead at the stone column in front of her, as she waits for the same scenario to begin.

The warmth of a small hand grabs her own.

"Are you here to help us?"

Melanie gradually turns to look towards her right.

There, gathered all around her, are the cowering forms of Jedi younglings.

And there, in the very front, is the terrified face of Reva Sevander, who continues to grip Melanie's hand in frantic desperation.

Reva gazes up at her with wide, pleading eyes, the warmth of her small hand trembling in fear as another explosion sounds out from somewhere outside the massive stone walls of the Temple.

She stares down at them all, something rising up and bubbling just underneath the surface of her skin.

It feels—

It feels like determination.

"Yes." Melanie breathes out, tone growing fierce. "Yes, I am."

She squeezes Reva's hand tighter, before gazing back at the rest of the group of younglings.

"Follow me." she tells them all.

And then Melanie races towards the Archives.

Reva and the Jedi younglings's small statures barely manage to keep up with Melanie's long strides as she runs down the hall; the echo of the children's footsteps resonating ominously in Melanie's ears, making her teeth rattle in nervousness.

Distantly, she registers the sound of blaster fire drawing closer.

She takes a shuddering breath, before deliberately ignoring the sound; simply yanking Reva to follow along behind her as she takes off towards the small passageway to the right of the Archives that leads to a spiraling stone staircase.

Suddenly, she careens to a stop, quickly realizing that she has no idea what the fuck she's doing, or where to even go.

Behind her, she can hear the stomp of metal footsteps growing ever closer.

She curses wildly under hear breath, whipping around to face the cowering children that remain all but glued to her side.

"Where was your Master planning to take you all to escape?" Melanie asks.

To her right, Reva peers up at her with a barely concealed level of fear. "S-She said that she was going to take us to the tunnels."

Melanie freezes, eyes widening at the child's surprising words. "Tunnels? What tunnels?"

The small passageway floods with an eerie blue glow; the burst of light washing over the younglings's faces as Anakin and the 501st soldiers finally come upon them.

The yawning void of Anakin's shadow travels up the length of the stone wall behind the children, threatening to swallow them whole.

He will swallow them whole. He'll do it without a care in the world.

The hard surface of the stone floor digs into Melanie's knees as she kneels down in front of Reva, yanking the child's head to focus back on her.

"Reva! What tunnels?!" she yells, giving the terrified girl a slight shake to try and keep her attention away from the horrific nightmare approaching behind them.

She watches as the brown of Reva's eyes flicker with momentary confusion at Melanie's use of her name.

But she doesn't have time to process why.

Because death has finally found them.

Melanie flinches sharply as Anakin's snarl of rage sounds out from behind her.

She doesn't even think.

She throws her body over Reva's own just as the searing heat of Anakin's lightsaber slices down towards her neck.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie awakens with a scream of terror lodged in the back of her throat, shooting up to a sitting position.

Her chest heaves out ragged breaths of air, green eyes flickering wildly around the room.

Fuck. Fuck! The children. Oh God, they're all dead—

The soft surface wrapped around her keeps her from blindly stumbling to her feet, and she snaps her head down to take in the sight of a thick blanket tangled near the bottom of her legs.

The sight yanks her swiftly back to reality.

She slumps forward, placing her head in her hands, trying to force herself to calm down.

Her room. She's in her room at the Temple. Everything's fine.

So—

Why doesn't she feel fine?

She lets out a shuddering breath of air, squeezing her eyes shut to keep the burn of tears from filling her eyes.

"You're okay. They're all okay. They're not dead. It was just a dream." she mumbles under her breath, body just slightly rocking back and forth.

But that's the problem, isn't it?

It's not just a dream.

The Jedi might not be dead yet, but they will be. In only three short years, this entire Temple will be razed to the ground, if she can't find a way to fucking do something.

Melanie sighs, raising her head to gaze hopelessly around the darkness of the room.

At least Ahsoka and Barriss aren't here. Melanie would've been embarrassed beyond belief to have the two young girls witness another one of Melanie's meltdowns.

She's been at the Temple alone for about three days now, ever since the Council decided to put her on lockdown for the time being. Palpatine's little stunt with Reporter Kastle had done its job quite well. According to the Council, Melanie is apparently the hottest new topic among the Coruscanti population.

Which is great. That's just great. Completely fucking perfect.

Being the newest form of entertainment for the citizens of the galaxy isn't necessarily helping Melanie's levels of anxiety.

What also isn't helping her levels of anxiety is the new extra ray shield that was added around the balcony outside her room yesterday to keep out intruders.

Melanie swallows roughly, trying desperately to ignore the horrifying implications of that.

She carefully untangles her legs from the thick cover wrapped around her body, before perching on the side of her bed.

Her mind wanders, recalling what the Council had informed her of yesterday.

Apparently, the Galactic Senate is planning to have a type of "unofficial meeting" with her in a few weeks, to discuss her new job as an advisor of the Jedi during the war. After Palpatine's little stunt, he's caused quite a stir with the politicians.

Melanie grits her teeth at that, seething quietly to herself as she glares at the wall.

While the Jedi had assured her that her job as an advisor was perfectly fine to do, it's still considered "frowned upon" for the Senate not to be informed.

Obi-Wan had personally warned Melanie about that yesterday as well, accented voice lilting pleasantly throughout the Jedi Council chambers as he held a hand to her shoulder, softly encouraging her to not be fearful over the Senate meeting.

And while, yes—she probably should have expected that the politicians of Coruscant would jump at the chance to get their sticky little hands involved—the lingering thought still causes her to grumble in frustration.

She shakes the thought off, quickly moving on to the current problem at hand.

Her nightmares are getting worse.

Every fucking night—it's the same damn thing. She wakes in the turbolift, she steps out into the hall, the Jedi younglings beg her for her help—

And then Anakin marches out of the shadows, cutting them all down with a snarl of rage.

God, it feels so real. Every single time.

It's strange; every single time, she starts to feel more and more lucid.

Every single time, the grip of Reva's hand starts to feel warmer and warmer.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Across the massive city of Coruscant, Palpatine perches back in the large surface of his office chair, wrinkled hands clasped elegantly over his robes.

Beside him, the crackling sound of his apprentice's voice travels over to his ears.

"I must commend you for your work over the past few days with this... Advisor Bains, Master." Dooku says, bowing his head deeply in a show of respect. "Perhaps I was too hasty in wanting to be rid of her."

Palpatine chuckles. "Yes. I quite agree, my apprentice. She has grown to be quite the distraction for the public."

Dooku hums in thought, holographic features growing curious. "And now?"

Palpatine smirks, dark eyes focusing on the hologram playing out over the surface of his desk.

Advisor Bains's grinning face stares back at him.

To the right of the blonde-haired woman's picture, millions and millions of human faces are flickering by in flashes of blue light.

Under the pictures are four simple words:

Continuing facial recognition scan.

"Now... we wait." Palpatine murmurs.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Hours later, Melanie leans her cheek against a fist, staring down at the blue glow of a holobook.

She tried. She tried so hard to get back to sleep.

But no matter what she does, the tension in her muscles and the heavy weight in her chest just won't leave her alone.

And so—after wasting over half the night tossing and turning—she finally just decided to trudge down to the Archives.

If she can't get some goddamn sleep, then the least she can do is find something to read to help her pass the time.

She had decided to pick out something related to the history of The Force, and how it worked. She has always been fascinated by that particular aspect of the Jedi's culture. There is just something so... beautiful... to Melanie, about the idea of being able to connect with every living thing.

She's always wondered how it would feel to connect with an animal; reaching out to sense its emotions.

But—quite fortunately for Melanie—she was born in a universe without the threat of galactic annihilation by an evil Sith Lord.

You know what? On second thought, she can totally live without the magical Force powers.

Melanie sighs, blinking blearily to try and clear her vision; the words projecting from the screen of her chosen holobook already beginning to blur together.

Fuck, she's so goddamn tired.

It's so strange to not have any of her friends here, like Ahsoka or the clones—or hell, even Barriss.

Sure; her first few weeks at the Temple after the Battle of Ryloth had been spent mostly alone. But that was also before she had gotten the chance to grow close to people.

Things are different now. She knows the exact pitch of Ahsoka's laugh down to the smallest detail, and can pick out the familiar voices of Rex and Fives and Hardcase with her eyes closed, even in a sea of identical clone faces in The Resolute's cafeteria.

She's grown fond of this place. Of these people.

It's so inconveniently annoying.

A polite distance is safe. Polite distance allows her to remain objective.

And yet—slowly but surely—every single Jedi and clone she comes across seems to be gradually working themselves under her skin.

Ugh!

This—This growing fondness for everyone isn't necessarily a bad thing. But when taking into account her growing nightmares, it is becoming more and more clear to Melanie that—the more she grows to care—the more terrified she also becomes for the Jedi and clones's future fates.

Damn. Is this how Anakin feels all the time? Being utterly terrified of losing his friends to death?

Huh. How ironic.

Somewhere, she feels like The Force is laughing at her.

Well, screw you, Force! Because Anakin is lightyears away at the moment. So, ha ha—she doesn't have to bond with him over their mutual fear of their friends dying before their very eyes.

So...

There.

She nods to herself, before lowering her gaze back to the glowing screen of her chosen holobook.

She leans her chin against her fist, the weight of her elbow digging into the hard surface of the steel table, as she scans over the words projecting from the sci-fi screen.

The Force is an energy field created by all life that binds everything in the universe together. It is what gives a Jedi their power.

She lets out a puff of air, scrolling further down the list of facts.

While The Force connects all living beings, many Jedi and other beings throughout the galaxy see it in different ways. Some view it as a song, or a vast ocean, or even as a massive tree with deep roots that travels throughout the stars. Others view it as threads connecting all life together as one, or even as a gigantic glass surface with shatterpoints sprinkled out every few hundred miles.

Melanie hums, lips quirking up in interest.

She lowers her head closer to the holobook, reaching down to scroll up to read the next piece of information on the device.

Force-sensitives possess a strong connection to the mystical energy of The Force. Some more known Force powers are telekinesis, mind tricks, Force visions, Force speed, and precognition.

Some lesser-known Force abilities include: Psychometry, Force healing, suppressing one's Force-signature for a short amount of time, taming animals, and having the ability to detect shatterpoints—

"Bains?" a familiar gruff voice calls out.

Melanie snaps to attention, spine instantly straightening up as she spies Mace's tall figure walking in her direction with a holobook tucked under his arm.

Mace is one of the few Council members physically on Coruscant at the moment. The rest are some of the few she isn't as familiar with—like Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, and Adi Gallia.

So—it's not that Melanie is necessarily nervous to see Mace—it's just that she's just kind of confused over why he would even be down here in the Archives at this hour.

Based off the expression on Mace's face, the purple-sabered Jedi seems to be confused over Melanie's presence in the Archives as well.

"What in Force's name are you doing up at this hour?" Mace asks her, reaching up to rub at his eyes in clear bone-tired exhaustion.

Huh. It appears that she isn't the only one who's been having trouble getting some sleep.

Melanie shrugs, eyes lowering to the table in slight embarrassment at being caught. "Just decided to finally check out more of the Archives. I couldn't really get much sleep."

"Ah." Mace's features pinch with tension. "I know things have been difficult recently, what with the Chancellor's rather... blunt... announcement." He clears his throat, appearing unsure with how to proceed. "However, I can assure you, that as long as you remain in these walls, you will be completely safe."

Melanie's lips quirk upwards just slightly. "Well, I won't always be stuck in here."

Across the length of the table, she watches as Mace's shoulders slump forward just slightly. He seems to have aged a decade in the span of just a few seconds.

"Yes," Mace begins, tone growing even more tired, "I'm afraid that is true."

Something deep behind her ribcage aches with sympathy at the clear weary expression on Mace's face.

She shuffles in her seat. "I'm... I'm sorry that I can't help more at the moment."

Mace raises a hand, gently waving off her apology. "There is no need for that, Bains. You had no control over the situation that would occur."

A beat of tense silence fills the room as Mace seems to deliberate carefully over his next few words.

Finally—

"However... it could be helpful to have more information. It might help us have a more clear picture of the situation." Mace says, tone clearly implying that he wishes for Melanie to spill her guts out to the Council.

Silence swallows the room again; the air growing strained with the weight of the clear invisible elephant in the room.

Melanie hesitates, but then finally decides to just bite the bullet and come out with it. "You... you don't trust me, do you?"

A pause.

Mace's expression appears conflicted. "I... remain wary. I suspect you are not sharing everything with the Council that you truly could."

Melanie swallows, a heavy feeling settling over her chest at the words.

But she can't find it in her to blame Mace for it. Her actions probably do seem fairly suspicious to outside parties with no context.

Melanie takes in a shallow breath of air, before finally coming to a decision.

"You see shatterpoints, right?" she questions him bluntly.

Mace's shoulders tense at her words, peering down at her suspiciously. "... Yes."

She nods at his confirmation, even though she already knew the truth of his rare Force abilities beforehand. "Can I ask you something?" She leans closer, never looking away from his eyes. "What would you do, if one day you looked up and saw... millions and millions of shatterpoints... all in one place?"

It's amazing how fast Mace's face falls at her words; his dark features flickering with pure dread.

She says nothing; simply waiting for him to speak.

Mace swallows, tone growing uneasy. "I... I suppose that I would proceed with caution. I would assess the situation, gathering all the information I could before taking action." He nods to himself, as if he is recalling a memory from another time. "After all—the future is always in motion."

Melanie's lips turn upwards at the words, clearly recognizing the familiar advice of a little green Jedi.

She never looks away from Mace's gaze. "All of that—everything that you just said? That's what I'm trying to do now."

A beat passes as Mace takes in that information.

Then—

"And when you are done gathering all the knowledge that you seek?" Mace replies.

Melanie swallows, raising her chin higher. "Then I'll let you all know."

For a moment, the air is dead silent as Mace and her continue to stare at each other.

Finally, Mace's hardened features gradually soften into a look of respect.

She watches as the purple-sabered Jedi inclines his head at her in approval.

"Be well, Bains." Mace mutters softly.

And then he turns, leaving the way he came.

Melanie watches him go until she can no longer see the blue glow of the holobook Mace tucked under his arm before coming up to speak with her.

When the Jedi Council member has finally left her line of sight, she lowers her gaze back to read more from her own chosen holobook again.

The Force connects all living beings, and that includes certain animals from every walk of life as well.

Some known animals with the use of The Force are: Vornskrs, Jakobeasts, Ysalamiri, and Taozin.

Melanie widens her eyes in curiosity, scrolling down the sci-fi screen to read more.

Ysalamiri are arboreal lizards that create bubbles or voids in The Force to hide their energy from predators.

The Taozin, which are large annelids that can grow to the size of hovertrains, also have a similar ability, which allows them to remain invisible in The Force.

While some may find this difficult to believe, it is not unheard of. There are even whispered tales throughout the decades of a handful of rare Jedi that were born with this ability in the Old Republic.

Melanie blinks down at the words, green eyes widening further as a fascinated grin twitches to her lips.

"So cool." she mutters under her breath.

God, she could read for hours in this place.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie stares dully at the glass windows of the turbolift, waiting to arrive on the Temple Archives floor.

To her right, the blinking numbers of the sci-fi lift descend lower and lower.

Distantly, on some offhanded level, she hears a muffled explosion echoing out from somewhere above.

She purposefully ignores the sound. It means nothing. She's already aware of what's coming.

Her hands reach out to steady herself against the steel surface of the walls just before the turbolift begins to shudder in warning.

Above her head, the lights flicker ominously.

Melanie's chest expands, drawing in a slow lungful of air to try and calm her nerves.

The sci-fi lift screeches to a stop; the loud scrape of the automatic doors sliding open threatening to make her teeth chatter in anxiety.

She swallows the bitter taste of the emotion down, staring out into the yawning void of darkness outside.

A heartbeat passes. Then another and another.

Finally—

Her shoulders roll back, the length of her spine straightening in fierce resolve.

And then she stomps out into the very center of the hallway.

She turns her head to the right just before Reva begins to speak.

"Are you here to help us?" Reva whispers quietly, reaching up to grip Melanie's hand in frantic desperation.

Melanie doesn't even hesitate.

"Yes." she replies firmly, squeezing Reva's hand tighter, before raising her gaze to the other cowering younglings gathered all around her. "Everyone lock hands and follow me."

The children instantly obey her orders; each of them reaching out to grip each other's hands, forming a long chain behind Melanie as they all turn to race down the hall towards the Archives.

Distantly, she registers the eerie sound of blaster fire drawing closer.

Melanie grits her teeth, deliberately ignoring the sound of death rapidly approaching. She runs towards the small passageway to the left of the Archives this time, yanking Reva and the rest of the chain of Jedi younglings to follow along behind her.

"Where are the tunnels?" Melanie asks the children, glancing over her shoulder as the stomping sounds of metal footsteps begin to fill her ears.

They all race up the spiraling stone staircase, before coming out to another massive empty hallway of the Jedi Temple.

Just as Melanie turns to yank them all towards the right, Reva finally opens her mouth to speak.

"None of us know." Reva says, her small shoulders panting out heavy breaths of air, clearly struggling to keep up with Melanie's long strides. "Only the older Padawans know about the tunnels. We're not old enough yet. Our Master was going to take us to one to try and escape."

Melanie clenches her teeth at that revelation.

Shit! Fucking damnit!

Her chest heaves out ragged breaths as she finally screeches to a stop near a four-way passageway, before turning to peer down at Reva's short figure. "You guys have to have some type of idea. Your Master must have at least said something about where you were going."

One of the red-haired students behind Reva opens his mouth to speak up then.

"Our Master said there was a way to escape near the west area of the Temple, so the tunnels should be around here somewhere." the nameless Jedi youngling tells her.

Melanie nods once, looking wildly around each passage of the darkened hallways, trying to decide which direction to take. "Okay... so we have to be close."

But fuck, she doesn't know which way to go!

She stares. And stares. And then stares some more.

And for just one single moment—a flicker passes over her vision, and suddenly the entire structure of the Temple walls are a shrieking and wailing mass of darkened shadows.

Her blood pounds in her ears as she stares at the wriggling strands of darkness slithering across the surface of the walls, pure disgust rising up in the back of her throat.

Before she can even begin to comprehend the sight of her obvious hallucination, a dark voice suddenly snaps to life from behind her, yanking her swiftly back to reality.

"There you are." Anakin growls, making the hairs on the back of her neck rise in alarm.

Melanie snaps her head around just as the heat of a blue lightsaber flies towards the juncture of her neck.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

A scream erupts from her throat as her eyes snap open, pure bone-chilling terror making her muscles tremble uncontrollably.

She punches up towards the air in a useless attempt to try and defend herself from Anakin striking her down in a fit of rage.

But her knuckles don't strike their mark. The familiar scorching feeling of Anakin's skin isn't there.

She snaps to a sitting position, wildly looking around her room.

Fuck, where did he go? Did he manage to kill Reva? Oh God, please let Reva have at least survived—

She reaches down to untangle herself from the blankets, before blindly stumbling to her feet in the darkness of the room.

But before she can work herself up into a complete and utter panic attack, she finally spots the familiar glint of Straightshot's purple and white helmet on the steel shelf across the room.

The sight of the clone's helmet knocks her brain back to reality, making her shoulders slump in relief.

Her room. She's in her room. Everything's fine.

She collapses in a boneless heap on the side of her bed, leaning down to place her head in her hands.

These nightmares are going to become a big problem.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Two days later, Melanie sits on the cool surface of a stone bench in the Temple gardens, smiling softly down at the holographic sight of Ahsoka projecting from the comlink of her wrist.

"It's really good to hear from you, Ahsoka." Melanie admits, voice laced with a barely concealed level of exhaustion. "Things have been a little... difficult... without you all here."

In the palm of her hand, Ahsoka's small hologram warps slightly as the young Padawan crosses her arms over her chest.

"Aww, I'm sorry, Mel." Ahsoka's face clearly shows her level of sympathy of Melanie's situation. "I know it's hard staying at the Temple right now by yourself, but don't worry! We'll all be back together soon!" Her lips twist into a bright grin, before glancing towards something off to the side. "Right, guys?"

The booming voices of Melanie's chosen group of clone friends crackle over the comm channel; all of them blending together as they answer Ahsoka's question simultaneously. "Right!"

"Hang in there, Mel!" Fives says, his goateed face just barely popping into view beside Ahsoka.

There is a low scuffling sound heard from outside the view of the camera, before Fives's head is suddenly yanked back from the projection.

Melanie fights back a smile as she hears the clones all bickering to each other over the comm line, shaking her head in fond exasperation.

Ahsoka tilts her head to the side, shushing the men that remain just out of Melanie's line of sight, before turning back to face the camera. "But anyways, you're not missing anything much. We're all on a recon mission in the Quell System right now. And to be honest, it's pretty boring."

A bit of lingering tension leaves Melanie's body at those words, making her let out a quiet sigh of relief.

A part of her had worried that Palpatine's little stunt with Yoova Kastle would make her miss important events that happen in the timeline.

But from what she can gather from Ahsoka, Melanie has apparently not missed anything particularly important.

She blinks back to reality as Ahsoka's voice travels over to her ears.

"Hey, Mel?" Ahsoka asks.

Melanie hums in acknowledgment, glancing back down to Ahsoka's small hologram. "Yeah?"

Ahsoka's head ducks just slightly, face flickering with embarrassment.

Finally—

"... I miss you." Ahsoka tells her quietly.

A flood of pure warmth spreads through Melanie's chest.

"I miss you too, kid." she murmurs back.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie vacantly stares at the glass windows of the turbolift, waiting to arrive on the floor of the Archives.

To her right, the numbers of the sci-fi lift blink back at her.

Above her head, the muffled sound of an explosion rings sharply in her ears.

She ignores the sound. It means nothing. All of this means nothing. She might as well be an actress on a stage, what with how fucking little it all means.

The cool surface of the steel walls makes goosebumps rise up on her skin as she reaches her hands out to keep from toppling to the floor, just as the turbolift shudders in warning, before finally screeching to a stop.

Melanie watches dully as the automatic doors scrape open, revealing the yawning expanse of darkness outside.

She rolls back her shoulders, and then stomps out into the center of the hallway.

She doesn't even look over to her right this time; simply reaching down to blindly grip Reva's small hand in hers, before opening her mouth to speak.

"Everybody grab each other's hands and follow me." Melanie orders the children gathered all around her.

The children instantly obey her order; young faces flooding with relief as they all clasp hands to form a long chain behind Melanie.

Out of sheer habit, Melanie turns to race down the hall towards the Archives—

But then she stops, features flickering with hesitation.

She turns, yanking the younglings back into the cramped space of the turbolift on a mere whim, before reaching down to slam her fingers against the blinking buttons by the automatic doors.

It shouldn't work. The turbolift was broken only just a few moments ago.

And yet—somehow—the sci-fi box manages to flicker back to life.

Melanie's teeth all but chatter in anxiety as she waits for the turbolift to take them all to the Temple's hangar bay floor.

"How many tunnels are there in the Temple?" she asks, turning to peer down at Reva's small stature cowering next to her.

Reva shivers in barely concealed fear, burrowing into the brown cloak over Melanie's shoulders that drags near the surface of the ground. "I-I don't know. Our Master just said that there is a lot of them. Sh-She said that they hide in plain sight."

Melanie grinds her teeth, holding back a curse of frustration.

Great. That's just fucking great.

But she shakes the irritation of her insane situation off, forcing herself to suck it up and move on to the present problem at hand.

Which is, you know—

Fucking surviving.

As if the universe had somehow heard her internal thoughts, the automatic doors finally swish open in front of her eyes.

She yanks the children out of the turbolift, before taking off towards the massive hangar bay doors.

They all race into the large room, before making a break for the small group of steel skycars near the back of the hangar that the Jedi rent from Coruscant for certain undercover recon missions.

And honestly—this is crazy. It's completely fucking insane. They'll never make it.

But, hey—what the hell? It's worth a shot.

Their small group's footsteps echo eerily through the massive sci-fi aircraft hangar as they run across the wide expanse of the floor.

They barely make it halfway across the room before the sudden hum of a lightsaber resonates loudly through her ears, making terror rise up inside her veins.

"You can't hide from me." Anakin snarls darkly from behind her.

Melanie snaps her head around just as the sharp cry of one of the Jedi younglings echoes throughout the room.

Anakin has yanked one of the nameless younglings away from the group; the blue glow of his lightsaber washing out any warmth that used to remain on his face.

All that's left is pure ice-cold indifference.

Melanie widens her eyes in horror, arms reaching out uselessly to try and stop the dark-robed man from delivering the killing blow. "No!"

Her pleas fall on deaf ears.

Anakin's face twists in monstrous rage.

And then he slices his lightsaber toward the small juncture of the youngling's neck.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie snaps upward, a scream of terror bursting out of the confines of her chest.

She heaves out shallow breaths of air as she looks wildly around the room, searching for the horrific sight of a decapitated child tossed to the ground like a heap of garbage—

But then she freezes, green eyes focusing on the small package of Aleudrupe berries perched just on the edge of her steel desk shoved in the corner.

Gradually, her muscles unloosen as she finally realizes where she is.

Melanie's whole body trembles in lingering anxiety as she sits on the side of her bed, leaning over to place her head in her hands.

"Why is this happening to me?" she mumbles hopelessly under her breath.

The silence of the room doesn't give her back an answer.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Two sleepless nights later, Melanie sits at the steel work table of her room, staring down at the small holographic figure of Ahsoka that projects from the side of her comlink.

"So, things are about the same out there?" Melanie asks, leaning back farther against the hard surface of her chair.

The holographic image of Ahsoka's face warps slightly as the young girl gives her a nod.

"Yeah, things aren't much different. No new exciting missions, I'm afraid." Ahsoka replies with a bright grin. "We're all just scouting out the area around the Devaron system. Skyguy said that there's been rumors of Separatist activity."

Melanie watches as Ahsoka's head turns slightly to the side, glancing at something off view of the camera.

"Oh, here he comes now!" Ahsoka says, raising a hand in a wave of greeting. "Hey, Anakin! Do you want to talk to—"

The connection quickly cuts off as Melanie's finger slams against a random button of her comlink to hang up the call.

She stares down at the lifeless comlink in frozen horror at what she has just done, heartbeat pounding loudly in her ears.

Oh, God. What the fuck did she just do? Now Anakin will know that she doesn't want to talk to him.

Ice-cold panic washes over her.

She curses wildly under her breath, reaching down to rip off her comlink from her wrist, before throwing it on the floor.

The bottom of her boot stomps against the small device over and over and over—

Finally, the crunch of metal reaches her ears.

She stumbles backward, heaving out shallow breaths as she stares down at the shattered metal pieces of the broken comlink.

There. Now she has an excuse for why the call cut off. She can just tell Ahsoka that she accidentally broke it.

But now... that also means Melanie won't be able to talk to Ahsoka and the clones.

Fuck! Fucking damnit!

Ugh, fine. She'll just ask the Council for a new comlink in a few days. She'll tell them she broke it.

And besides—that's not exactly a lie. She did break it.

Purposefully.

But the Council doesn't need to know that.

Melanie curses under her breath, beginning to pace throughout the length of her room again.

She can't talk to Anakin right now. She just can't. Not like this.

Even though star systems separate them, Melanie still knows that Anakin would immediately hone in on any terror that lingered behind her eyes when looking at his holographic face.

Some vague part of her realizes that she doesn't want that to happen. She doesn't want to hurt his feelings.

It's... strange... to feel like that, when taking into account everything he has already done.

It's strange to be so utterly terrified of someone, while also still not wanting to hurt their feelings at the same time.

She squeezes her eyes shut in frustration, collapsing on the edge of her bed to bury her face in her hands.

Fuck! This is exactly why she wanted to remain politely distant! All of these stupid, annoying feelings of guilt make things far more difficult.

She already made the first move by reaching out to Anakin after he saved her life. She can't back out on it now. It wouldn't be fair.

But fuck, she just cannot get over this shit!

She wants to be free from this fear. But she just doesn't know how to get rid of it. It's not like she can go to a Jedi mind healer to talk about her feelings.

She pictures that in her head for a moment, trying to imagine how the sheer absurdity of that situation might go.

Hey, I'm utterly terrified of The Chosen One murdering me. What should I do about that?

She lets out a loud scoff, shaking her head in exasperation.

Yeah, that would sure go well.

No, no. She has to figure out something else. But what?

She can't just start trying to avoid Anakin again. Not only would that not be fair, but it also just wouldn't fucking work in general. There is no goddamn way that Anakin will let her go back to pulling that shit.

Besides, if she's going to try and do this whole "saving the galaxy" thing, then that means she has to get used to being around Anakin more.

... Okay, so that's easier said than done.

But at the very least, she has to get her terror back under lock and key before Anakin comes back to the Temple.

But how? How the fuck can she get her fear of him under control, when these stupid goddamn nightmares won't leave her the fuck alone?

She sighs wearily, raising her head to gaze unseeingly around the room.

Her mind races, recalling the same scenario that keeps happening in her dream.

She thinks about the younglings begging for her help. The warmth of Reva's hand. The murderous rage on Anakin's face as he swung his lightsaber down to end her life.

It's the same. Every single time, it's the same damn thing.

And every time, she continues to lose.

To die.

So...

Why doesn't she try to win?

Melanie furrows her brows at the thought, leg bobbing underneath her as she stares at the dull shine of Straightshot's purple and white helmet across the room.

That could work. If she manages to make it to the end of her dream alive—to survive the looming threat of a horrific Sith Lord hunting her down—then maybe she'll finally be able to get a good night's sleep.

Maybe, just maybe, if she manages to survive her dream—

She'll finally be able to bury her fear of Anakin in the ground.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The next day, Melanie finally finds the courage to make her way down to the spot where her dream has been taking place in the Temple.

She walks out of the turbolift, coming to a stop in the center of the hallway.

Slowly, she turns her head to the right.

The wide entrance of the Archives fills her vision; the bright lights of the massive library streaming down the cracked stone floor, before coming to a stop near Melanie's feet.

If she strains her ears hard enough, she can just barely pick up the sounds of muffled voices traveling from the large room.

Melanie stares at the entrance of the Archives; trying to imagine how many Jedi are in that room at this very moment.

And then she imagines them all slaughtered like animals.

The burn of bile rises in the back of her throat, and she has to shove the bloody thoughts of the Jedi Order's future genocide away before she has a fucking meltdown in the middle of the hall.

Her eyes flicker around the walls, mentally taking note of each of the entrances that lead to another room, or a spiraling stone staircase.

But there's nothing she can find that gives her any indication of where a section of "hidden tunnels" might be.

She curses internally inside her head, glaring darkly at the cracks in the walls.

Goddamnit! What the fuck is she even doing here anyway? Chasing down a lead from something she heard in her dreams?

Ugh! This whole thing is fucking insane!

For a few seconds, she vaguely considers the idea of simply going inside the Archives to ask Madame Jocasta about the tunnels.

But then, very quickly, she tosses that thought right into the garbage.

If she did that, then she'd have to explain to Jocasta why she even wants to know about the tunnels.

And she is so not interested in having that conversation.

For a moment, she tries to picture how a scenario like that might go.

Yeah, don't mind me. I'm just doing my own version of therapy, where I mentally map out the Temple to try and learn how to survive a deadly encounter with The Chosen One.

The Jedi would throw her in a sci-fi loony bin so fast, it would make her head spin.

A quiet huff of frustration leaves Melanie's lips at the thought.

She whirls around, preparing to stomp back inside the turbolift to go hide up in her room—

Before promptly almost barreling straight into the form of a small Jedi youngling.

Melanie blinks rapidly, careening to a stop before she begins to topple over.

She glances down to see the dark features of a young Reva Sevander peering up at her.

"Oh! So s-sorry, Mast—" Reva begins, before her words suddenly screech to a halt.

Melanie watches as the young girl's eyes narrow, taking in her features.

"Wait... " Reva says, brown eyes widening in excitement, "... you're the advisor! The advisor for the Jedi Order!"

Melanie holds back a wince, struggling to not let her growing feelings of exasperation appear on her face.

She forces artificial laughter to spill from her mouth. "Yep. That's me. Ha ha ha—"

Reva's wide eyes continue to stare up at her, appearing in awe of her very presence.

Which is just... hilariously weird.

Do these people really think she's that important? Melanie thinks dimly to herself, green eyes taking in every inch of Reva's face.

She shakes the thought off. It's not relevant to her situation anyway.

Suddenly, just before she begins to speak, an idea slams into her.

Maybe she can't ask any of the Jedi Masters about the tunnels, but she can definitely ask the younglings.

Reva's just a kid. Who would believe her if she decided to blab to the Council about their advisor's growing level of insanity anyways?

Melanie nods to herself, before promptly plopping onto her knees in front of Reva.

"Can I ask you a question?" Melanie mutters, giving Reva a too-wide grin.

Reva grins brightly back at her, clearly excited over getting to meet the "famous new advisor" of the Jedi Order. "Yeah! Sure!"

Melanie's face softens slightly at Reva's excitement, before she clears her throat to try and get back on track. "I've been hearing a lot about these 'secret tunnels' throughout the building. What's that all about?"

Reva reaches up to tug at her black braid hanging over her shoulder, brows furrowing in thought. "I don't know exactly where they are. Only the older Padawans get to see them."

Melanie's smile falters at the words, frustration bubbling up inside of her chest.

But then Reva opens her mouth to continue on.

"My Master says that there's symbols to lead the way though." Reva explains.

Melanie freezes, slowly taking in the young girl's revelation.

The pounding of blood begins to echo through her ears, making goosebumps rise up on her skin.

"Symbols..." she whispers under her breath.

Her mind wanders, thinking of a dark future that lies decades ahead. Of secret rooms made specifically to hide Jedi and Jedi sympathizers from the dark side's watchful eye.

Of the symbol of a lightsaber carved into the surface of a wall.

Her hands snap up to grip Reva's face, slightly smushing the young girl's cheeks together.

"Symbols!" Melanie exclaims, pure glee laced through her voice.

She yanks Reva into a short hug, before jumping up to begin walking down the hallway.

But suddenly, she comes to a stop, whipping back around to face the small child.

"By the way, you really shouldn't wander around by yourself. It's not safe!" Melanie tells her.

And then she turns around, ignoring Reva's baffled face, before taking off down the hall.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The next few days pass by in a blur as Melanie walks along the halls of the Temple, internally taking note of every secret tunnel entrance that she sees.

It's so goddamn obvious when you finally spot it. The walls of the Temple have always had swirling golden patterns against their stone surfaces, and the just barely there rectangular shape of concealed doors are easily hidden inside the artistic architecture of the building.

The thing that actually gives the entrances away is the small lightsaber carvings that sprinkle around certain parts of the walls.

The corner of a long hallway. The space behind a wide stone column. The dark area between two glowing rows of holobookshelves in the Archives.

It's utterly astounding how many hidden passageways there are—all right there in plain sight, for anyone to see.

She supposes that's what makes them all so useful.

The edges of her nails burrow into the jagged corners of the hidden entrance, before leaning back to begin heaving the stone door open.

She grits her teeth at the loud scraping noise the door makes on the surface of the floor; digging her feet into the ground to tug harder.

And then—finally—the hidden tunnel is revealed.

Melanie's chest heaves from overexertion, staring down into the yawing void of the dark passageway.

She ignores the confused murmurs of the curious Jedi around her; simply reaching down to unclip her glowrod from her utility belt to help light the way.

Let the entire Jedi Order think she's crazy. What does it really matter?

Hell—she might as well be crazy at the moment, what with her hearing the eternal shrieking shadows that are never very far from her eardrums.

Ah, whatever.

Besides, it's better to just do this stuff out in the open anyways, instead of sneaking around to try and not be spotted.

That could make people suspicious.

No, no. This way is easier. She just has to act like what she's doing is completely normal and not insane, and then nobody will think twice about the fact that she probably doesn't have the authority to be doing what she is.

She nods to herself, satisfied with her internal breakdown of the situation.

She turns around, giving the gawking nameless Jedi gathered around her a dazzling smile of reassurance.

And then she promptly slams the stone door shut in their faces.

Darkness would have all but blinded her without the small glowrod clutched in her hands.

The device helps guide her down the long and winding passageway as she stumbles around blindly in the dark, struggling to find the exit that will lead to freedom.

It feels like she searches for hours and hours.

But then, just as she is about to give up all hope, she spies the barest flicker of light up ahead.

She stomps forward, feeling along the edges of the cold surface in front of her.

Finally, the tips of her fingers come into contact with the jagged edge of the door.

Her muscles shake as she drags the heavy weight of the exit open.

And then she steps out into the blinding light of day.

The door leads out into a small space under a large balcony of the Temple.

She glances around, taking in the wide expanse of the city of Coruscant in the distance.

"Crazy." Melanie mutters under her breath.

And then she whips around to stomp back inside the tunnel.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Near the north side of the eighth floor of the Temple, Melanie digs her fingers into the barely visible outline of another hidden door.

Just as she manages to heave the jagged edges of the stone door halfway open, a dark voice snaps to life near her left.

"Time to die." Anakin growls, the baritone of his voice making terror rise up inside her veins.

Melanie jerks her head to the side just in time for the hum of Anakin's lightsaber to slice towards her wrist.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie surges upward, clasping at her hand with a scream lodged in the back of her throat.

For a moment, she swears that her wrist feels like it's burning.

She heaves out shallow breaths to try and calm her racing heart, head snapping to look wildly around the room.

Very quickly, as she takes in her familiar surroundings, the realization settles over her that she is awake.

A screech of pure rage erupts from her chest at her continued failure, making her snatch up her pillow and launch it at the wall.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

On the middle of week two of her lockdown, Melanie reaches out to begin dragging open another hidden tunnel on the fifteenth floor of the Temple.

Before her fingers can come into contact with the jagged surface of the wall, a gruff voice pointedly clears their throat from behind her.

Melanie freezes, slowly turning her head to gaze over her shoulder,

Mace's dark features stare back at her.

An awkward silence fills the air as they both lock eyes with each other.

Gradually, a flood of embarrassment washes over Melanie, making her shuffle from foot to foot at the entrance of the hidden tunnel.

Mace raises an eyebrow at her silence, clearly expecting an explanation. "May I ask what you are doing, Bains?"

A quick beat passes.

Then—

"Hide and seek!" Melanie blurts out with an artificial grin.

"Hide... and... seek?" Mace repeats in a flat voice.

Melanie nods. "Uh huh. I'm playing it with a little Jedi youngling named... Reva!" Her tone begins to rapidly increase as her nerves grow stronger. "Cute kid. Dark hair. About yay high." she finishes with an animated gesture in front of her, before pointing back in Mace's direction. "Don't tell her where!"

And then she sweeps a hand outward, before promptly slamming the secret stone door shut in Mace's baffled face.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The next week passes by in a flash of blue blades and pounding blood.

On the sixtieth floor of the Temple, Melanie began to stomp down another long and winding hidden passageway.

But suddenly, the weight of Reva's arm in her hand is yanked backwards.

She snapped to attention, squeezing the young girl's arm tighter to keep her from slipping through her grasp.

She whipped around to look behind her.

The tall outline of Anakin's shadow stood at the entrance of the tunnel; the bright glow of his lightsaber washing out any warmth of feeling that used to remain on his face.

And in his hand, was the wrist of one of the small Jedi younglings. He must have yanked the one near the back of the group away from Melanie.

Horror rippled over her.

"No!" she screamed, reaching out uselessly to try and stop the murder that was about to occur.

Just like always, her pleas fell on deaf ears.

The crunch of her ration bar rattles between her teeth as she stares up at the holographic mappings of the Jedi Temple.

Jocasta had been very helpful in directing her to the right section of the Archives to find what she was looking for.

Jocasta is such a sweet woman. Every time Melanie comes down here, the retired Jedi is always happy to help her out with whatever she needs.

Melanie continues to stare up at the glowing blue map of the Temple, numbly thinking to herself that she would really prefer to not see Jocasta murdered before her very eyes.

She ignores the distant murmurings of the other Jedi walking around the Archives, leaning forward to begin tracing down a map of the first floor of the Temple on a blank sheet of paper.

The stomps of her feet echoed eerily throughout the dark and narrow tunnel as her and the children all came out to the end of the passage.

She reached out to open the hidden door that would lead to the outside world—

Before quickly flinching backward as the burst of a blue lightsaber began to cut a hole through the wall.

Melanie leans down to press a new sheet of paper against the steel surface of a table in the Archives.

She reaches a hand out to her left to snatch up a new brylark pen that Madame Jocasta had gifted her a few hours ago, and then begins to trace the mappings of the second floor of the Temple.

She does this with the third floor. Then the fourth. And the fifth. And then on and on and on.

Melanie yanked Reva's wrist forward to bring the crying girl closer to her, before reaching out to heave open another one of the hidden tunnels on the eleventh floor of the Temple.

"Quiet!" she snapped over her shoulder; just barely registering the muffled sniffles of one of the nameless Jedi younglings following along behind her.

Distantly, she had the vague realization that she was being cruel.

She wasn't trying to be. She wasn't. It's just—

This whole thing was so horrible.

It reminded her of the stories of school shootings she used to hear about in the news all the time; about how utterly useless she felt that the shooter drills were for saving the kids or the teachers.

What would be the point?

The most likely person a school shooter would be, is a student themselves.

And that's exactly what Anakin was in this moment, wasn't it? It's why he's able to hunt them down so easily.

It's because he knew this place. He knew most of the areas in this Temple like the back of his hand. He grew up here.

But he can't know about all of the tunnels. There has to be at least one that he never found out about.

She heaved out a shuddering breath of air, trying to swallow down the boiling rage simmering just underneath the surface of her skin.

"If he hears you crying, you'll die." Melanie said, tone gentling the slightest bit. She turned around to face them, tugging the long chain of children inside the secret passageway. "Now, come on. Let's go."

The roar of rage that Anakin bellowed out down the Temple's long hallways chilled the very blood in her veins. "Melanie!"

She squeezed her eyes shut at the sound of death calling her name.

And then she slammed the passageway door closed.

A few minutes later, Anakin's blade cut her and the younglings down anyway.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

On the beginning of the fourth week of her lockdown, Melanie paces across the length of her room in growing frustration.

She stomps over to desk, mumbling to herself as she snatches up a pen to cross out another useless passageway on the map she's been making of the Temple over the past few days.

Fuck! Fucking damnit! No matter what she does—no matter what goddamn tunnels she takes—Anakin somehow always manages to find them.

Melanie stares down at the growing number of red X's that have been left on the map, feeling a sense of hopelessness wash over her.

"There has to be a way to get past him." she mutters under her breath.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The next day, Melanie aimlessly wanders around the halls of the Temple, mentally taking note of each small carving she spots on certain sections of the walls that show where more tunnels have been hidden in plain sight.

She grits her teeth, trying desperately to tune out the bone-chilling shrieks of wriggling shadows burrowing into the skin of each nameless Jedi that passes her by.

Deep down inside, she is aware that there is something very, very wrong with her.

She shouldn't be seeing barbed cords of darkness locked around the throats of the entire Jedi Order like an ever-ready waiting noose.

She's finally cracked. Her mind has broken open like an egg; allowing the insanity to slip inside the edges of her skull.

She is insane. She has gone fucking insane.

She quickly decides that this fact isn't important.

Yes; she might be crazy, but she's also a high-functioning crazy person, so she's still perfectly capable of doing her job as an advisor.

Melanie nods to herself, finally slowing to a stop in the middle of the massive stone hallway.

Hmm, maybe she should go to to the cafeteria to get some lunch—

Her internal thoughts are swiftly cut off as something runs into the back of her legs, threatening to make her topple over.

Melanie chokes back a curse, reaching down to rub at her now aching leg. "Ow!"

"S-Sorry!" a quiet voice stutters out from behind her.

Melanie blinks, quickly rising back to her full height, before turning around.

The nervous face of a young Reva Sevander stares back at her.

"I-I'm sorry, Advisor Bains." Reva begins, wringing her hands together in front of her beige robes. "I wasn't looking where I was going, and I—"

"—It's fine." Melanie blurts out, giving the young girl a slightly manic-looking grin. "It's good to see you again. You're Reva, right?"

Across from her, Reva's eyes widen in awe. "You know my name?"

A surge of fondness threatens to choke Melanie's lungs.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" she says, lips twisting into a more genuine smile. "You're pretty popular around here."

Reva ducks her head, letting out a slight giggle. "No I'm nooot..."

Melanie hums nonchalantly. "Let's agree to disagree."

Then she kneels down to Reva's small height, allowing herself the chance to look the young girl more clearly in the eyes.

"Since we're both so well known around here, we have to stick together, right?" she whispers conspiratorially.

Reva shrugs. "I guess."

Melanie accepts that level of response. It's probably the best one she's going to get. "So, since we have to stick together, can I ask you a question?"

Reva's face lights up in curiosity. "Okay."

"You know about the famous 'Anakin Skywalker', right?" Melanie whispers with a slight raise of her eyebrows.

Reva nods, reaching up to scratch at the back of her braided hair. "Yeah. Everybody knows about him. He's The Chosen One. He's not afraid of anything."

Melanie's grin slightly falters at those words, but she shoves the growing tension away before it can show on her face. "That's right. And I'm sure—since he's so famous—that all the Jedi know what floor he used to stay on as a Padawan."

Reva's dark features scrunch up in concentration. "Yeah. Everybody knows that. It's... um..." she trails off for a moment, before her brown eyes widen, finally recalling the answer, "... floor sixty-five! That's where Master Skywalker used to stay before his Knighting as a Jedi."

Melanie hums, mentally taking note of the number Reva said. "Floor sixty-five. Huh. How interesting."

She firmly pats the child's small shoulders once, before rising to her feet to begin walking away.

"Thanks for the help, kid!" she yells out over her shoulder, before turning down the corner of the hall.

Her mind races, thinking over the information Reva has just given her.

Okay then. So... floor sixty-five.

That's where Anakin spent most of his time while growing up in the Temple.

So, then it stands to reason, that he would only know about the tunnels near that section of the Temple.

Melanie quickly decides to basically chuck the idea of using any of the tunnels near the floors of Anakin's old Padawan quarters in the garbage.

She'll search farther below and above the Temple. There's over one-hundred floors in this whole damn building. There has to be at least one goddamn tunnel that Anakin doesn't know about.

There just has to be.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

"Stay together!" Melanie snapped sharply over her shoulder as the younglings started to slow down.

Vaguely, a lingering part of her was aware that the edges of her nails were digging into Reva's skin, what with how hard she was squeezing the girl's arm to keep her from slipping through her fingers.

She quickly decided that this fact didn't matter. Reva could deal with a little pain, as long as it meant the girl's head wouldn't be chopped clean off her body.

She nodded to herself, before yanking the chain of children to follow along behind her as they all finally came upon the end of another long tunnel.

She reached out, digging her fingers into the jagged edges of the hidden door, before dragging the exit open.

The icy chill of the outside air whistled in her ears as they all stepped out of the Temple.

To Melanie's utter disappointment, Anakin was there waiting for them.

She just barely managed to blindly shove Reva's small form behind her in the time it took for Anakin to snap a hand forward to crack her neck with The Force.

"Ugh!" Melanie yells, reaching down to swipe a hand across the cluttered surface of her work desk.

Pens and paper scatter across the floor. Two steel cups bounce off the wall beside her desk, before rolling under the small space under her bed. Half of the pages fly through the air from the force of her shove, and then finally float gently to the ground.

She stands in the middle of it all, chest heaving with pure fury.

She doesn't know how she'll ever be able to purge the rage boiling under her skin.

A part of her is starting to wonder if she truly even wants to.

Melanie shoved the group of cowering younglings further into the new passageway, before reaching out to slam the secret door shut behind her.

She barely had the time to pull her hand away before the burst of a blue lightsaber ignited near the space beside her head.

Anakin had found them again.

Melanie curses under her breath, paying no mind to the pens and paper and nails that remain scattered across the floor of her room; simply stepping across it all to make her way back to her desk.

She leans over, reaching down to snatch up a random pen and crinkled piece of paper from the floor, before beginning to scribble down the same map of the Temple that she has basically grown to memorize.

She mumbles wildly under her breath as she crosses off another fucking useless passageway that she tried to escape through in her latest dream.

And then she moves on to the next one.

She'll try again tomorrow.

On Melanie's thirty-sixth attempt, she decided to try her luck with one of the hidden tunnels near the very bottom of the Temple; just before reaching the ground floor.

She squeezed Reva's small wrist between her fingers in a white-knuckled death grip, continuing to stomp down the long and winding passageway.

Minutes later, when she finally managed to stomp out into the icy chill of the night air, a beautiful green garden filled her vision.

And it was completely empty.

Melanie screeched to a halt, staring at the blooming flowers and colorful looking plants with a look of complete awe.

There was no one here. None of the clones had managed to reach this area yet.

Which means...

She actually did it?

Melanie let out a choked sound of complete disbelief, a surge of amazement washing over her.

But then the small tug of a hand yanked her swiftly back to reality.

"What do we do now?" Reva asked her shakily.

Melanie blinked down at Reva, a dawning realization settling over her shoulders.

Fuck. Fuck! What do they do now?

They made it outside.

But how would they leave?

She never got the chance to try and figure it out.

Because the pounding sound of metal footsteps finally managed to reach her ears, alerting her of the looming threat of death rapidly approaching.

She had run out of time again.

Melanie let out a ragged sigh of exhaustion, before finally turning to look over her shoulder.

Anakin's terrifying form descended out of the shadows in a wash of blue; two men of the 501st following swiftly behind him.

Melanie watched Anakin's face twist into a snarl of pure rage at the sight of her and the Jedi younglings.

And then he stomped towards her.

"Fuck." she mumbled petulantly under her breath.

She squeezed her eyes shut just as Anakin sliced his lightsaber down to cut her in half.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie awakens with a shuddering gasp, snapping up to a sitting position.

She raises a trembling hand to her forehead, struggling to keep her heart from pounding out of her chest.

Fuck, she is so goddamn tired of this shit.

She squeezes her eyes shut, rubbing at the edges of her temple in rapidly growing frustration.

She can't keep going on like this. She's going to lose her fucking mind if the nightmares keep up at this level of intensity.

Her mind wanders, thinking about the end of her last dream.

It's not real. She knows that.

But some part part of her can't help but continue to hope that—just maybe—if she makes it through the dream alive, that her terror of Anakin might finally be buried in the ground.

She sighs wearily, blinking open her eyes to stare unseeingly across the darkness of the room.

God, she had gotten so far. She even managed to make it outside.

But in the end, Anakin had still found her.

Melanie grits her teeth, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

Okay, come on—focus. She made it outside. But how would she leave?

If she really was there the night of the Jedi Order's future genocide, what would she do to help the younglings escape?

The skycars. She could use the skycars.

Yes; that's what she'll do. She'll learn how to drive a skycar sometime over the next three years. It can be a backup plan for her, in the very likely scenario that she fails at what she has been sent here to do.

Hell—at the very least, she might be able to get a few of the younglings out of the Temple.

She'll park the skycar at the secret exit of the last tunnel she used, allowing her and any children the chance for a quick escape.

Obviously, that decision isn't entirely relevant to her dream. Her dreams, of course, aren't real.

But that's not the point. Not really.

The point is to trick her mind into believing she has a snowball's chance in hell of surviving an encounter with an enraged Anakin.

Melanie lets out a quiet scoff, shaking her head in disbelief.

Oh, please. Like that would ever happen.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

On the first day of week five of her lockdown, Melanie goes through the motions of the dream again.

She does everything the exact same way as her last nightmare.

She stares at the glass doors of the turbolift. Her hands hold the steel surface of the wall to steady herself as the sci-fi box screeches to a stop. She grabs Reva's hand, dragging the Jedi younglings in a chain behind her as they all race towards the same tunnel as before.

Minutes later, when they all finally come out the other side of the long and dark secret passageway, a skycar is there waiting for them.

Melanie doesn't hesitate for a single moment.

She yanks Reva and the children behind her, before roughly wrenching the steel doors of the skycar open.

"Everyone get inside right now." she tells them all sharply.

She doesn't turn to watch as the rest of the children crawl inside the backseat of the skycar; simply taking a step forward to get into the driver's seat.

The weight against her hand stops her in her tracks.

She whips her head over her shoulder, staring down at Reva's terrified face.

Empathy wells up within her, but she shoves the emotion down. They don't have the time.

She leans over to pick Reva's small figure up, before dropping the child haphazardly in the passenger seat next to her.

Melanie doesn't flinch as the stomping sound of metal boots travels to her ears. The looming threat of death will not reach them this time.

She reaches down to begin starting the sci-fi vehicle.

And it shouldn't work. She shouldn't know how to even turn the skycar on—much less drive it.

And yet, somehow, she does.

The engine of the steel skycar hums to life, before slowly ascending and taking off into the vast expanse of the sky.

The icy chill of the wind whips her hair back over her shoulders as they zip towards the invisible lines of traffic traveling throughout the night sky of Coruscant.

Her fingers hold the surface of the control wheel of the vehicle in a white-knuckled grip; some part of her waiting to get dragged backwards by Anakin's Force powers.

But nothing happens.

She glances back at the rapidly disappearing Temple over her shoulder, taking in the small figure that stands near the west side of the burning building.

The dark-robed figure stares back at her; the blue of his lightsaber but a pinprick in the darkness of the night now.

And then he turns, stomping back towards the burning Jedi Temple to continue his betrayal of everything he has ever known.

Melanie's whole body slumps forward in pure relief, before turning back around to face the oncoming traffic in the sky.

And as she does, the whole world begins to gradually slip away.

The soft weight of Reva's head on her shoulder is the last thing she feels.

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Consciousness licks at the edges of her mind, pulling her slowly back from the dark.

She blinks open her eyes, staring at the blue, holographic numbers projecting from the clock on her bedside table.

She stays like that for a moment, simply basking in the feeling of her victory over her nightmare.

She turns her body to lean back against the surface of her bed, staring up at the ceiling of her room.

Her mind races, recalling the sensations of her dream.

The warmth of Reva's hand. The chill of the air. The heat of Anakin's lightsaber. The shrieking shadows on the walls.

Her hands twitch at her sides at the memory of the wriggling cords of darkness, already itching for the chance to imagine ripping them out of the stone walls of the Temple.

Anything. God, she'd do anything just to make the shrieks stop—

She clenches her hands in the thick blanket wrapped over her middle, forcing her mind back to the present.

Something in her seems... lighter. She can't name exactly why.

Because the dream wasn't real. It wasn't.

And yet—

She still feels like she's just accomplished a feat far greater than she knows.

Melanie parts her lips, letting out a slow stream of air.

And then she rolls back onto her side, closing her eyes to return to sleep.

For the first time in a long time—

Her dreams are peaceful.

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☽

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A/N: Whew! 😮‍💨 That was intense.

So, as you all can see, Mel may be... slightly losing it. 😅😬

But only slightly! Lol. She's AWARE that she's kind of losing it, so somehow she's still hanging in there. 😭🤞☠️

What did you think about this chapter? There was plenty more horrifying nightmares to sift through. 😭😭☠️☠️ That definitely wasn't fun for our dear little Mel.

What did you think of Mel's idea to try and give herself her own version of "therapy?" 😅😭 Don't try that at home, kids. It's not the healthy way to go about doing things.

But can you also understand Mel's perspective of not telling anyone about her growing mental health problems? After all, she has a point; what would she even say? That she's afraid of Anakin killing her? That she's afraid of Palpatine? She couldn't even tell a Jedi mind healer half the things she's been having nightmares over, without revealing the things she knows.

Sadly, the simple solution, in Mel's mind, is to just deal with it alone. 😔💔

This obviously isn't totally helpful for her mentally, but it's also the easiest way to make sure Palpatine doesn't learn the information she knows. After all—you know what they say: the more people that know a secret, the harder it is to keep it.

Yes; the Council know about her being from "the future", but one secret is a whole lot easier to keep than multiple (ie: the chips, Palpatine, Anakin, their future Genocide, the war is a farce, etc).

Anyways, moving on! What did you all think of Mel and Mace's interaction? Did you like seeing them get to clear the air a bit? I really liked writing the scene with Mace, because he's one of the fewer characters that are still wary of Mel (besides Admiral Yularen). I liked getting to show that while Mace may be stern, it doesn't mean he's a "bully" like people make him out to be. He has a good heart, and just wants to protect his fellow Jedi and the citizens of this war.

What did you think of Mel's interactions with Ahsoka and the clones? I always love getting to write the scenes with them together. ❤️ 🥰

There wasn't any physical scenes with Anakin and Mel this chapter, but Mel... very purposefully... did a very specific thing to avoid speaking to him. 😬😬 What did you think about her thoughts on that moment? She still remains terrified of Anakin, but has also grown to not want to hurt his feelings. It's definitely a pretty strange situation to be in. 😂

And finally, we have Palpatine. 👀🚩 What do you think he's up to?

So sorry for the wait on the chapter! I always want to try and make them as good as possible for you guys. ❤️❤️❤️

See you next time, my little reader ducklings! 👋🥰

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"How can you win the game if you never make a move?"

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♜ ♞ ♚ ♛ ♝ ♞ ♜            ☾⋆☽            ♖ ♘ ♗ ♔ ♕ ♗ ♘ ♖
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