⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Forget all that has passed.
Forget all you've heard.
Forget all your preconceived fears.
See me for who I am, not for who you thought I was.

—Jessiqua Wittman

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

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

Vacantly, she registers the blinking numbers of the sci-fi box descending lower and lower.

She is heading down to the Archives to—

She frowns, blinking blearily in confusion as she takes in her surroundings.

Wait.

Something's wrong. This isn't right.

She is yanked back to reality as a muffled explosion echoes out somewhere above.

She grits her teeth, holding back a yelp of fear as the turbolift shudders; the lights flickering in warning, before—finally—the sci-fi lift screeches to a stop.

Dread seeps through her bones at the scraping sound of the automatic doors sliding open.

She stares, pulse racing, as she takes in the yawning expanse of darkness outside.

It was bright daylight only a few minutes ago, her mind whispers to her.

But that doesn't make any sense, so she deliberately ignores this fact.

It's just the power resetting, she thinks dully to herself. Everything's fine.

She curses wildly under her breath, ignoring the terrible sinking feeling that twists in her stomach as she reaches over to slam her finger against the blinking buttons of the turbolift.

She has to get out of here—!

But it's no use. No matter how many times she slams her finger against the buttons of the sci-fi box, the turbolift refuses to budge.

Melanie squeezes her eyes shut in frustration.

Oh God, please no. She doesn't want to go through this again.

Another muffled explosion is the universe's answer to her internal pleas for mercy.

This ominous rumble of oncoming death finally snaps her out of her stupor.

She swallows down her growing terror, 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, not daring to turn one way or the other.

Her blood pounds in her ears as muffled bangs and angry shouts begin to echo from the right, filling her with a hopeless sense of horror.

No, no, no—not again—!

A small hand grabs her own.

"Are you here to help us?"

Melanie swallows down her tears, gradually turning to look towards her right.

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

And there, in the very front, is 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 somewhere outside the massive stone walls of the Temple.

Melanie stares down at them all, stomach pooling with dread as she squeezes the warmth of Reva's hand tighter.

"... I don't know." she says, tone filling with hopelessness.

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

She takes a shuddering breath as the stomping sounds of metal footsteps echo behind her.

Slowly, she turns to face the darkened archway to the left of the hall.

She stares numbly, taking in the terrifying sight of Anakin's form marching out of the shadows in a wash of blue; the familiar figures of the 501st following closely behind him.

"I'm not sure if I can." Melanie mutters, tone growing dull with a detached sort of horror as Anakin's looming figure draws closer.

She tries. She tries so hard to stand her ground.

But when Anakin's snarling form begins to slam the blue of his lightsaber towards her neck, she still flinches, squeezing her eyes shut in fear.

The last thing she registers is the warmth of Reva's hand.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie gasps awake, choking down a scream of terror as she snaps up to a sitting position.

She wildly looks around the room, searching for the sight of a terrifying dark-robed Sith Lord with the glow of a blue lightsaber.

Oh God, no. The children. Did he get the children—?!

Her chest heaves out ragged breaths of fear as she blindly begins to stumble to her feet—

Suddenly, she freezes, distantly registering the muffled sounds of male laughter.

She snaps her head to the left, gazing at the steel surface of the door leading out of her room.

Wait.

Her room.

She's not at the Temple. She's not in a horror beyond comprehension. She's in her room.

Which means that the muffled laughter coming from the other side of her door is—

The clones.

She blinks, muscles loosening from their earlier tension.

Yes. That's right. She's still on board The Resolute.

Melanie sighs, collapsing onto the soft surface of her bed in relief.

Fuck. She hates this feeling. She hates how this specter of a nightmare won't leave her alone.

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

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

Melanie shudders at the memory, feeling a chill settle over her bones.

Her mind races as she thinks over her horrifying nightmare; thinks about how real it all felt.

Reva's hand had felt so warm, almost as if she had actually been with Melanie in that moment.

But it was just a nightmare.

Just a realistic, horribly terrifying nightmare.

Her mind wanders, green eyes scanning vacantly around the room as she recalls the reason she is even on this massive hunk of a ship again in the first place.

After the incident with the Lurmen village, they had all gone back to stay at the Temple to allow Anakin the chance to recuperate from his injuries.

That length of time only managed to stretch out into three short days, before the Council had sent them off again to investigate growing rumors of Separatist activity in the Corvair sector.

As one might imagine—what with how massive a star sector actually is—the search for hidden Separatist bases is going by at about a snails pace.

It's been about a week since the 501st and the Jedi departed from Coruscant.

Barriss had seen Melanie and Ahsoka off in the hangar bay of the Temple with a wave of goodbye; the young girl already eager to return to her own Master.

She still remembers the pure shock that appeared on the Mirialan Padawan's face as Melanie walked over to firmly shake her hand before departing with Ahsoka onto the LAAT.

It was almost funny, to be quite honest.

But Barriss surprised her beyond belief at the battle to protect the Lurmen village, so Melanie decided over the course of the trip back to Coruscant that she would give the young girl a serious chance at friendship.

Anakin, on the other hand, is a different story entirely.

And honestly—Melanie isn't even particularly angry at Anakin over his snap of anger.

In fact, a part of her is almost grateful for it. It reminded her of who and what he is. She had almost forgotten that while he was so injured and delirious. She had almost allowed his... charm... so to speak, to cloud her judgement.

But his anger had reminded her, once again, of the familiar tale of The Scorpion and the Frog, and just why she has been so wary of him in the first place.

Why did you do it? We'll both die! The Frog cried out.

Because it is my nature. replied the Scorpion.

She shudders at the thought, rubbing at the rising chills on her upper arms.

She just... she just doesn't know what to do.

Honestly—even if Anakin feels remorse for the things he does—what does it really matter?

What does it matter, if he'll never actually change or learn from his mistakes?

He's dark, and genuine, and he can be sweet when he wants to be.

And he is dangerous.

She can never forget that. She repeats the thought over and over in her mind, trying to make it stick.

Because she has to remember it for when she'll see him again today.

It's been... strangely hard to keep an emotional distance lately from the dark-robed man.

It would be easier if Anakin had pushed. But he hasn't. He's been so gentle and patient with her that it's almost unnerving.

She still remembers the first day back on the ship.

She managed to evade his presence at the Temple. But once they were all back on the ship, she had decided to keep up with her routine of sitting with him and Ahsoka on certain days at lunchtime.

Anakin had been shocked, to say the least.

But he had said nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Melanie's heart pounded in her ears as she plopped down into the seat next to Ahsoka, distantly registering the way the two Jedi's conversation skidded to a stop at her arrival.

She purposely ignored the burn of Anakin's gaze, simply reaching down to pick up the familiar shape of the orange Shuura peach lying on the corner of her lunch tray.

She stretched her hand out across the table in Anakin's direction, still unable to meet his eyes as she wordlessly offered the same fruit to him as before.

On the edges of her vision, Anakin stared at her, appearing stunned into silence.

Melanie continued to say nothing, eyes lowered to the steel surface of the table as she waited for him to decide what to do.

A few lingering heartbeats passed.

And then calloused fingers brushed against the skin of her hand, the scorch of his touch all but burning as he reached across the expanse between them.

She held back a shudder of fear, struggling to not yank her hand away from him.

Anakin was so gentle as he took the fruit from her palm; almost like she had given him a gift greater than he could even comprehend.

As he finally pulled his hand back, Melanie released a quiet breath of air, shoulders sagging in relief as the tense moment passed.

Anakin swallowed, the baritone of his voice a low whisper of cautiousness. "Thank you."

Melanie gave him a quick nod, green eyes still locked onto the surface of the table. She could not even find the strength to look at the center of his chest today.

With that terrifying experience out of the way, she turned to the left, opening her mouth to begin talking to Ahsoka without further preamble.

"So, how have you been, Ahsoka?" Melanie asked, forcing her lips upward into an artificial grin.

Ahsoka blinked, orange features staring up at her in complete bafflement over Melanie and Anakin's interaction.

Melanie deliberately ignored the Padawan's confusion; feigning ignorance as she waited for Ahsoka to speak.

A tense beat.

And then—

"Uh, I'm doing good." Ahsoka said, shrugging her shoulders casually.

Melanie gave Ahsoka another too-wide smile, reaching over to pat at the young girl's wrist that laid out across the table. "That's great! How's the rest of your day been going so far?"

And so, that is how the next few minutes passed by, as her and Ahsoka descended into small talk.

Across the table, Anakin's eyes burn into her all the while.

She sighs, reaching up to rub at the back of her aching neck as she recalls that tense moment between them at the start of the week.

She had almost backed out of it, but decided at the very last minute that pulling back from the man entirely wouldn't necessarily be a good idea.

A part of her had worried that Anakin might get frustrated and try to corner her again, but he never did.

The whole week, Anakin never uttered a word to her, simply ducking his head and staying quiet if they passed each other in the hall.

And yet—even though they never spoke—she still woke up each day to a stack of Aleudrupe berries right outside her door.

In spite of everything, it had softened her heart.

Ugh!

This would be so much easier if he was overbearing and suffocating. But he isn't. He's being gentle and patient. And—and damn it all to hell, but his gentleness is slowly but surely thawing the wall of ice around her.

Fuck!

Polite distance. Polite distance. She just has to remember that.

She leans over, rubbing at her aching temples.

Unwillingly, she recalls her earlier nightmare; thinking about how real it felt; about how utterly terrifying Anakin was in it.

How the hell can she ever hope to get him on her side?

Plan A, which is convincing Anakin to help her take down Palpatine, is obviously out the fucking window at this point in time, considering Anakin's low level of morality.

So, Plan B—which is betting everything down onto the clones alone—is in.

Plan B also includes somehow talking the Council into putting Anakin on some random mission near the end of the war, star systems away from where the future carnage at the Temple is set to occur.

But that means nothing. Not really. A part of Melanie, deep down inside, knows this.

It doesn't really matter how far Anakin is from the Temple or from Palpatine. If he chooses the darkness, then he'll choose it no matter where he is.

Which means that Anakin is a massive hole in her plan, one way or another.

There is, of course, a simple solution for this.

Anakin can only become a problem if he survives long enough to be Darth Vader.

And so, the simple answer for this massive problem, is simply nipping the darkness in the bud before it can sprout into a horror beyond comprehension.

For Darth Vader to not become a reality—

Anakin would have to die.

Melanie instantly recoils away from the grim thought, all but retching at the idea of planning out a scenario of someone's death.

Anakin doesn't have to die. Not if she can arrange things enough to where he won't lose his shit.

But what if he does? Her mind whispers. What if you do everything you possibly can do to help him make the right choice, and he still fails?

Fuck. God, she doesn't want to think about this. She doesn't want to even consider it. As much as she remains terrified of him, she doesn't want Anakin to die. She doesn't want anyone to die!

But if Anakin makes the wrong choice—

Fuck, she cannot let Darth Vader become a reality. The lives lost in that scenario would be on her head. In another life, Obi-Wan had left Anakin on Mustafar, believing he would die. He didn't know that Anakin would live to become a horror beyond comprehension.

But Melanie—

Melanie would know.

If Anakin makes the wrong choice, she can't let him live to become what he will in the future. She just can't. She couldn't live with the guilt of all the deaths he would cause on her conscience.

She stares unseeingly down at the metal floor, leg bobbing underneath her as she buries her fingers even deeper into her hair.

So, that's it then.

Plan A is convincing Anakin to help her. Plan B is betting everything on the clones alone.

And Plan C—

Plan C is arranging Anakin's death, along with Palpatine's.

Melanie squeezes her eyes shut, swallowing back bile at the horrific thought.

God, she doesn't even want to consider planning it. She wants him to prove her wrong.

But everything so far has given her no indication that his morals are any different than usual.

She takes a breath, slowly blinking open her eyes as she raises her head back up.

She gazes around the room.

And then her eyes lock on the purple stack of berry packages that lay perched on the corner of her steel bedside table.

Anakin left them for her late last night at the foot of her door.

She had waited until his shadow was long gone from blocking the sliver of light peeking out from under the crack of the automatic doors, before finally stepping outside to retrieve them.

Her stupid fucking weak-willed heart softens at the sight; the icy wall around her thawing just a little bit more.

Unwillingly, her mind flashes with his shrinking shoulders and weak smile, thinking back to the very first time he had ever gifted the berries to her.

And then she thinks of him dead.

A wet lump builds in her throat at the thought, and she has to force herself to stop.

She huffs, blinking back growing tears as she stands up from the bed.

God, she can't think about this anymore. She'll deal with it later.

Besides, she needs to start getting ready for her training with Rex and the men anyways.

It's going to be a long day.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie lets out a wheezing oomph of air, back slamming roughly against the matted ground of The Resolute's combat room as Rex knocks her on her ass yet again.

She growls in frustration, opening her mouth to speak before Rex can utter the same damn phrase she has grown to despise.

"I know, I know!" she mutters petulantly. "Feet planted."

She stays that way, glaring up at the blinding lights of the combat room while continuing to lay sprawled out on the floor.

Chuckles of amusement come from the benches on the sidelines as the rest of her clone friends snicker quietly to each other.

Rex tilts his head, hazel eyes staring down at her in confusion. "Aren't you gonna get up?"

"Ugh, no." Melanie says, lips pulling down into a pout as she throws her arm dramatically over her eyes. "Leave me here to die."

The gaggle of idiots on the sidelines bursts into laughter at her words, the deep resonance of their voices trailing over toward her ears.

Above her, Rex rolls his eyes, lips just barely twitching upwards as he reaches down to offer her a hand. "On your feet, Shiny."

Melanie raises the weight of her arm from her face, blinking up at Rex in confusion as she takes his hand, allowing him to drag her to a standing position. "... What? Shiny?"

Why would Rex call her that? The clones only use that nickname with each other.

Rex releases her hand with a fond chuckle. "Yeah, that's right. Your armor is shiny and new. Just like you." he says, gently poking Melanie in the forehead to shove her head back a bit.

Melanie blinks up at him, baffled by the playful shove.

But then her lips gradually spread into a smile, a warmth filling her chest at the words.

Just as she opens her mouth to respond to his comment, the comlink on her wrist crackles to life.

Ahsoka's familiar high-pitched voice fills her ears as the young Togruta's words leave the speakers. "Mel, come in."

Melanie raises her wrist near her face, reaching down to tap a random button on her comlink to reply. "I'm here."

"Sorry to interrupt your training, but Anakin said he wants all hands on deck on the command bridge." Ahsoka explains.

Melanie frowns, stomach dropping in uneasiness. "We found the Separatists?"

Ahsoka gives a hum of confirmation. "Skyguy seems to think so."

Melanie holds back a sigh, already dreading the future battle to come.

But—since she has no other choice in the matter—she sucks it up; simply reaching down to tap the button of her comlink again to give Ahsoka a final response.

"Alright. I'll be there soon." she mutters wearily over the line.

Ahsoka—either not noticing, or not caring—gives her a cheery reply. "Great! See ya in a few!"

And then the connection ends.

Melanie tilts her head back towards the ceiling, letting out a quiet breath of frustration.

Across from her, Rex hums, squinting down at her in thought. "You look a little nervous there, sir. Excited to see someone?"

She blinks, brows furrowing in confusion. "What?"

Rex shrugs one of his broad shoulders, appearing to be fighting the beginnings of a mischievous smile. He turns, walking over and ducking under the rope enclosing the edge of the training ring to take a sip from his canister of water, before placing it back on the benches. "Well, I just figured you'd be wanting to see the Ge—"

Melanie freezes, green eyes widening as she realizes what Rex is about to say.

She scrambles over the side rope of the training ring; snatching up the towel she had thrown down earlier to help wipe lingering sweat from her forehead, before promptly beginning to smack Rex on the arm with it. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Rex bursts into laughter, raising his hands peacefully over his head in a gesture of goodwill. "Hey, I'm just saying! Maybe this'll be a good chance to get some one-on-one time—"

"—I already told you that it wasn't like that!" she hisses, leaning down to smack him again. "He thought I was someone else."

Fives's voice chimes in then, the man perking up at the implication of what his Captain is actually saying. "Wait, are you telling us that the sir has a crush on someone? On this ship?" He feigns a gasp, clutching at his chest dramatically. "Mel, you're not telling me I've got competition, are you?"

The crack of Hardcase's knuckles fills the air as he rises to a standing position from behind Rex. "Oh, do we need to have a little talk with him? I'll talk with him if you need me to."

Melanie throws up her hands, shaking her head rapidly in a gesture of dismissal to Hardcase's offer. "No, no, no. You don't need to do that, okay? I do not have a crush! Rex here—" she glares in the Captain's direction, "—just misunderstood the situation."

"Looked pretty simple to understand to me." Rex mutters.

"And I told you he was delirious!" she hisses, all but stomping her feet in aggravation. "He thought I was someone else!"

Rex crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow. "Alright. Who did he think you were then?"

The words are already on the tip of her tongue, before she suddenly snaps her mouth shut; very quickly realizing that Rex might not even be aware of Anakin's relationship with Padmé yet.

And besides, even if Rex does know about Anakin's forbidden secret marriage—nobody else on this ship is aware of that fact.

So—even if she could theoretically tell Rex the truth—she still can't do it with all of her other clone friends watching.

Fuck! Fucking damnit!

Rex smirks at her silence, appearing very pleased with himself.

A flash of irritation hits her at the sight.

She whirls around, stomping over to pick up her steel water container, muttering under her breath petulantly at this entire insane situation.

However—to her utter annoyance—the rest of the men are clearly not ready to let Rex's revelation go.

"I'll give you five ration bars if you spill the beans." Jesse says, leaning down from his sitting position behind Rex.

"Yeah, come on. Tell us, Rex!" Hardcase grins, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

At Rex's look of consideration, Melanie glares sharply in the Captain's direction, pointing at him with the tip of her water canister. "If you say a word, I will... hurt you!" she finishes with a stomp of her foot.

But her words clearly have no true weight behind them, a part of her irritatingly acknowledging that she could never actually will herself to injure any of the men on purpose.

To her growing uneasiness, Rex's look of disbelief seems to know this; the man appearing amused at her vague threat.

A tense moment passes as she wonders what Rex will do.

And then Rex drags himself up to his feet, giving the men around him a short shrug as he begins to walk towards the exit behind Melanie. "Sorry, boys. My lips are sealed."

Melanie releases the breath she has been holding in.

Thank fucking God.

She ignores the clones's loud groans of disappointment as she and Rex both turn to leave to the command bridge, grumbling under her breath at the ridiculous situation she finds herself in now.

As she and Rex walk out the door, Fives's voice travels over to her ears.

"At least give us a hint!" Fives whines.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie stares out into the yawning darkness of space, distantly registering the murmurs of Anakin, Rex and Ahsoka conversing with Admiral Yularen behind her.

They are all continuing to go over the logistics of what to do about the Separatist droid factory the Admiral had detected on his scanners over Kudon III, a terrestrial moon of the planet of Kudo.

According to Admiral Yularen, the Separatist base is massive.

Melanie pinches her lips in tension as she thinks over that information.

After all—a massive base also means that there is a massive hoard of new battle droids being built by the hour.

Great. Fucking perfect.

A flicker of a memory licks at the edges of her thoughts; something in her mind finding the name of the terrestrial moon outside the glass viewport of the ship strangely familiar.

But the memory won't surface. The fog of time clouds her vision, the echo of something her mother said to her years ago vanishing in the wind.

Melanie frowns, clenching her jaw in frustration.

Damnit! Stupid fucking useless memory!

She is yanked back from her rapidly seething thoughts as a snippet of the Admiral's words catches her attention.

"—I propose that we simply bombard the base with an orbital strike—" Admiral Yularen begins.

Melanie whips around to face the group gathered behind her, brows furrowing in confusion. "Wait, what?"

The Admiral turns in her direction, steel-gray eyes scanning over her with a look of appraisal, as if assessing her level of competency.

"As I already informed General Skywalker—" Admiral Yularen starts, voice clipped as he folds his hands elegantly behind his back, "—it is of my opinion that it would be far more simple to bomb the Separatist factory from orbit. It would save far more resources that way."

She frowns at the gray-haired man's words, not liking the way he seems too comfortable with thinking of the clones as "resources."

But she bites her tongue, swallowing down her flicker of irritation as she opens her mouth to reply to the man.

Anakin, however, beats her to the task; crossed arms flexing tighter over his chest as he takes a step toward the Admiral. "Would that not risk civilian casualties near the land around the factory?"

Admiral Yularen's features flicker with hesitation. He gives a curt nod, back straightening just slightly with authority. "Yes, that does remain a possibility."

Melanie gapes at the man, utterly shocked.

He can't be serious—

Anakin—shockingly—appears to have similar thoughts on the subject.

"I'm not sure that's the best course of action to take, Admiral." Anakin says, voice growing hesitant. "Something about all of this doesn't feel right."

Melanie quietly finds herself agreeing with Anakin's words.

And she can't explain it—she truly can't—but everything about this scenario feels way too easy.

Things are never easy with war.

It also feels like something her mom might have told her while they were both at the hospital waiting for another cancer test. But damn it all to hell, she can't fucking recall what the echo of a memory had been about.

She snaps back to reality as the baritone of Anakin's voice resonates through the command bridge.

"Advisor Bains, what do you think?"

She blinks, turning her head slightly to stare at the center of his chest, a part of her almost unsure of how to proceed with the dark-robed man speaking directly to her for the first time in days.

She licks her dry lips. "W-What?"

Distantly, she registers the sound of Rex choking down a muffled cough of amusement.

She curses the clone Captain inside her head; already planning out how she's going to kick him in the balls during her next training session.

On the edges of her vision, the burn of Anakin's eyes continues to focus on Melanie with an unnerving level of intensity.

There is an undercurrent of gentleness to his voice that cannot be denied as he repeats his statement.

"What are your thoughts on what we should do?" Anakin asks.

A beat.

Melanie shuffles awkwardly as the entire group's attention hones in on her face.

She deliberates; weighing the pros and cons in her mind.

Finally—

"I think we should investigate the base on the ground." she suggests, arms crossing over her chest in a useless attempt to shield herself from the intensity of Anakin's gaze. "A part of this all feels... familiar."

Anakin hums in thought. "Do you think if you saw the inside of the base, you'd be able to tell us something about why it was built here?"

Melanie hesitates, before giving an unsure shrug. "Maybe. I can't promise anything though."

On the edges of her vision, Anakin's lips twitch upwards into an eager smirk. "That's good enough for me."

Admiral Yularen appears baffled at Anakin's choice. "May I remind you, General Skywalker, that this... plan... is incredibly risky."

"You may." Anakin replies, barely paying the gray-haired man any mind as his blue eyes flicker around to the other members of the group.

The Admiral opens his mouth to give a retort, but the fight seems to leave him all at once. He raises his gaze heavenward, as if asking for guidance, before finally letting out a weary sigh of exhaustion.

Anakin—either not noticing, or not caring—simply begins to address Rex as he explains how the plan to infiltrate the Separatist base will go. "We'll take two squads to enter the factory on both sides. Once our boys get past the security droids, they'll sneak around the base, placing baradium bombs on each floor level. And then, once we leave... we'll blow the place sky high." he finishes with a wicked grin.

Melanie watches as Anakin turns back to face her.

"You'll be going with Ahsoka and Rex and I for a quick sweep of the base." Anakin tells her, voice filling with authority. "Your regular assigned clone bodyguards will also be coming with us too."

She swallows nervously, giving a curt nod at Anakin's words.

She can't explain why—

But something inside of her already dreads the mission to come.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The roar of the engines around the hangar bay swallows any words Melanie could have heard Ahsoka say next to her.

She frowns down at the young Togruta, raising her voice to try and be heard over the surge of noise. "What?"

"I said that I'm glad you're coming with us!" Ahsoka yells out over the screech of the engines.

Melanie smiles slightly at the words, opening her mouth to give a reply.

But a round of high-pitched beeps and whirrs crackle from behind her, cutting her unsaid words off.

She glances over her shoulder, green eyes taking in the familiar metallic form of R2-D2.

The blue and and silver droid waddles back and forth as he gives another rapid series of unintelligible beeps; already having rolled up the ramp on the transport ship sometime ago.

She laid eyes on the droid only a few short minutes ago. And—as one might imagine—it had been strange beyond comprehension to see R2-D2 in person.

Some lingering part of her kept waiting for the astromech to turn around, revealing the sight of some wind up nob on its back to prove to her that the highly advanced robot was simply a large toy in disguise.

This, of course, does not happen. The droid is as real as anyone else in this universe.

It's also weird as hell to know that plenty of the people on this ship can actually understand what R2 is saying, and yet she can't.

Beside her, Ahsoka grins fondly at the droid. "Yes, I'm glad you're coming along too, R2."

Melanie smiles awkwardly at the droid, reaching out to pat him gently on his metallic head. "Yep. I'm glad too."

R2 lets out another high-pitched beep, nudging against the side of Melanie's leg in curiosity.

She winces as the hard surface of the droid's body jabs uncomfortably into the side of her knee.

"Nice to meet you too." she mutters, clearing her throat in embarrassment at the attention of the droid.

The moment comes to a halt as Anakin's deep voice booms over the screeching noise barreling through the air around them.

"Alright, let's go, guys!" Anakin shouts, glancing over his shoulder at them both as he finishes his conversation with the faceless clone pilot in front of him. "It's time to head out!"

Melanie lets out a sigh, struggling to shove down the anxiety bubbling up in her chest as she and Ahsoka step onto the LAAT.

She ducks her head as she passes by Anakin, deliberately avoiding his burning gaze as she sits down between Rex and Ahsoka.

From the corner of her eye, she sees the way Anakin stares at her for a moment in quiet exasperation.

But then he sighs, lips twitching upwards as he gives a gentle shake of his head, before settling down into the seat across from her.

And then the screech of the ship grows to ear-splitting levels as the LAAT ascends into the atmosphere of Kudon III.

Here we go.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie blinks back the blinding sunlight trying to burn itself into her retinas as she peers out the open door of the transport ship.

Anakin, Rex and Ahsoka have already stepped off the ship; each of them glancing around at the large clearing of land Anakin ordered the clone pilot of the LAAT to drop them off at.

"We're all clear!" Rex says, motioning with his head for Melanie and her bodyguards to leave the ship.

Melanie nods, taking a step forward—

Before promptly coming to a stop at the sight of Anakin's cybernetic hand extending itself in front of her.

She blinks down at the appendage, a flicker of confusion washing through her.

"Need a hand?" Anakin mutters with a tilted smile, appearing very pleased at himself for his little joke.

The words yank her back to reality, and then it finally dawns on her what the dark-robed man is actually doing.

It's an olive branch. He's offering her an olive branch.

She hesitates, staring down at the dark glove of his metal hand, struggling to make a decision past the lingering terror in her bones.

But she's never been able to turn away from an act of kindness.

She swallows, cautiously reaching out to place her hand against his palm, holding back a shiver of fear at the burn of his touch.

It's strange how even his metal hand radiates the same searing heat as the rest of his body; almost as if molten lava flows through the wires and circuits to help the ligaments move more freely.

Her blood pounds in her ears, the thundering beat of her heart blocking out all other sounds as the sensation of Anakin's fingers gingerly wrap around her own.

His touch is feather light; as if he is holding a fragile piece of glass.

And hell—she might as well be a breakable piece of glass—what with the way she remains completely useless in a fight.

All internal thoughts leave her as Anakin begins to carefully help her down from the ship.

The squadron of clone bodyguards murmur behind her at the sight, making her embarrassment rise.

God, she feels utterly ridiculous doing this crap. She's not fucking Satine Kryze, or some shit—

But Anakin had offered her his help, and internally—Melanie realizes that it would be quite brainless to refuse his offer and get back on his bad side.

So, she bites her tongue, continuing to placate him.

As her feet finally touch the hard surface of the rocky terrain of Kudon III, she distantly registers the screeching sound of the LAAT flying away into the air.

Anakin's gaze burns into her as she stares at the center of his broad chest.

She's back on solid ground.

And yet—

He still hasn't let go of her hand.

"Ready for another adventure, Advisor Bains?" Anakin murmurs, low voice sounding exasperatingly fond.

Melanie swallows, giving a quick nod.

A heartbeat passes.

Anakin's metal fingers flex around her own for a moment, making her breath hitch in anxiety.

But then he finally loosens his hold, allowing her the chance to pull away.

And yet—still—Anakin does not move back.

She feels the weight of the rest of the team's eyes staring at them from the side, and—

And fuck, is he trying to torture her?

She doesn't know if she'll die from the rising embarrassment of this insane situation, or from the lingering fear rattling through her bones at his presence.

Either way, Anakin clearly expects her to make the first move.

And so, Melanie is left with no other choice than to slowly slide her hand away from the calloused palm of his own.

She lets out a shuddering breath of air as they finally separate, gradually pulling her hand back to hang down against her side.

On the edges of her vision, she swears Anakin's features soften into a look of endearment.

"Stay close by." Anakin murmurs again. "Okay?"

Melanie swallows, breath strangely lodged in the back of her throat for some reason. "Okay."

And then, Anakin's looming form steps back from her, finally giving her the space to breathe.

Her heart is still pounding from lingering adrenaline as he turns away from her to survey the group around him.

"Alright, guys! You know the drill. We get in, look around a bit for anything suspicious, and then we're gone before the Separatists even realize we've been there." Anakin reminds them, blue eyes flickering to each face.

"Sir, yes sir!" the clones all say in tandem, giving their General swift salutes of respect.

Ahsoka grins up at Anakin. "You got it, Skyguy!"

Anakin rolls his eyes at his Padawan's words, lips fighting the beginnings of a growing smile.

And then he turns, the dark-robes of his looming form billowing behind him as he stalks towards the tree line up ahead.

Melanie and the rest of the team fall in line behind him.

"It's not like that, huh?" Fives mutters under his breath as he nears her side.

Melanie glares over her shoulder at the ARC trooper, but says nothing in response, irritatingly realizing that she can't simply scream out that she is not shy, goddammit; she is terrified!

But she also can't tell Fives that; remaining frustratingly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

She stews, all but seething to herself as they all march into the tree line.

The faceless clone pilot dropped them off about two clicks from the Separatist base, and Anakin had estimated it would take them no time at all to make their way to the outskirts of the building.

The other two squadrons have already been deployed to the other sides of the factory.

Anakin had ordered the two assigned squads to comm him immediately once they finished placing the baradium bombs, explaining to Melanie and the rest of the group how it would give them a needed heads up on when to evacuate.

The thought of stumbling around in a droid factory that is an hour or two away from exploding into a heap of flames doesn't particularly sound very appealing to Melanie.

But she's also aware that she has no choice in the matter; sadly realizing that if there is anything out of the ordinary happening inside that building, then she's their best shot at recognizing what it might mean in time to give them all a chance to stop it.

She snaps back to reality as they all emerge from the thick stretch of trees, raising her gaze to blink up at the looming sight above them all.

A massive shadow of stone blocks out the light spilling down from the sky, and it takes Melanie an embarrassing amount of time to comprehend that it's the Separatist base.

That might sound silly, but—

But it's just so... massive.

No wonder there are so many droids in the war, she thinks dizzily, gaping up at the gigantic stone structure with open-mouthed astonishment.

Just as they all begin to take a step forward, the screech of an engine cuts through the air.

"Get down!" Anakin barks, extending a hand to gesture for them all to back up into the cover of the trees.

Melanie's teeth all but clatter in anxiety as a squad of Separatist speeder bikes tear through the sky.

The speeder bikes hover for a moment; the droids controlling the sci-fi vehicles glancing this way and that for hidden enemies.

But to her utter relief, the battle droids don't seem to see them.

She watches as the group of speeder bikes take off again, finally letting out a quiet breath of air.

"Well, that was kriffing close." Fives mutters somewhere from behind her.

Lead snorts. "You're telling me."

"Cut the chatter, boys!" Rex says, helmet tilting to look at the large stone wall looming above them. "It's showtime."

The group quiets down, beginning to follow after Anakin and Ahsoka as they all gradually approach the edge of the building.

"You ready, Snips?" Anakin asks, glancing down to the small figure of his Padawan standing next to him.

Ahsoka grins. "Let's do this."

And then the two Jedi ignite their lightsabers, before slowly beginning to cut a small hole through the wall.

A minute of silence passes by as the glow of their lightsabers burn through the thick layer of stone.

And then—finally—the shape of a circle from the Separatist wall tumbles to the ground.

"Remember, guys—stay together." Anakin says with firm emphasis, the blue of his eyes flickering around to each member of his team's faces.

Then Anakin turns, ducking down inside the makeshift entrance of the building.

They all fall swiftly in line behind him.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie grimaces, shrinking further behind the backs of Rex and Anakin as they all crouch behind the steel surface of the hallway.

Metal stomps sound out on the other side of the wall, making her flinch as a squad of battle droids comes about a hair's breadth from discovering their hidden location.

But—to her complete relief—the battle droids pass them by.

The entire group lets out a quiet breath of air, only slightly allowing themselves to relax at having successfully evaded another round of enemies.

They've been at this shit for nearly forty minutes now, and Melanie is already growing more and more nervous as they travel deeper into the heart of the building.

She has a horrible feeling in her gut about this place, almost as if blood has been ingrained in its very walls.

She is yanked back to reality as Anakin's comlink crackles to life.

"Still all clear on our end, General." a faceless clone's voice garbles out over the line. "The men only have six more bombs left to place around the perimeter."

Anakin raises his wrist up near his mouth to speak into the comlink. "Good work, boys. Keep it up. We'll meet at the rendezvous point once it's done."

"You got it, sir." the nameless clone over the comm channel replies.

And then the connection cuts off.

Anakin rolls back his shoulders, authority entering his voice as he turns to start walking down the hall again. "Alright, guys. Let's speed it up! We're on a deadline now."

Melanie sighs, holding back a groan of annoyance as they all trail after him.

Maybe this is a mistake.

They haven't found shit so far, and they're already beginning to cut it close as it is.

As if the very thought had called the scenario upon them all, Anakin suddenly freezes, his steps grinding to a halt.

"Snips, do you feel that?" Anakin asks, strands of brown hair falling in his eyes as he tilts his head in Ahsoka's direction.

Ahsoka squints, features scrunching in concentration. "Yeah. I sense... life forms."

To Melanie's left, Jesse's blue and white helmet glances over at them in confusion. "But this is a clanker factory."

"Exactly." Anakin mutters, tone growing dark.

The group is dead silent as they trail further down the hall.

Gradually, a distant thrum of noise begins to vibrate near Melanie's ears.

It almost sounds like—

Like the hum of an engine.

She swallows, a tingling feeling of dread traveling up her spine.

On a whim, she leans forward to bring her mouth near the shell of Anakin's ear.

"We need to be careful." she whispers, breath rustling the strands of hair curling near the nape of his neck. "I feel like... like this could be a trap."

Anakin's head tilts down slightly towards her. "Dooku?"

A flicker of irritation washes over Melanie, some part of her internally realizing that she's not recalling a certain important piece of information.

"Maybe." she finally concedes, although her tone remains uncertain.

Which basically means she has a whole lot of nothing to offer at the moment.

Fuck! She feels fucking useless!

Anakin, however, seems to accept her words without complaint. He gives her a firm nod, features pinched with tension as he turns back around.

A few minutes pass in eerie silence as they all take a few more twists and turns down the crisscrossing pathways of the building; carefully dodging the metal forms of patrolling battle droids all the while.

Finally, the group comes to a stop near the end of a three-way hallway, all of them staring up at the entrance of a massive metal blast door in growing uneasiness.

The low thrum of mechanical vibrations has grown to a hair-raising level, making Melanie's teeth clatter in anxiety as she stares at the blocked entrance ahead.

"This is it." Anakin mutters, lips pursing seriously as he stares up at the blaster doors. "This is where the life signatures are coming from."

Melanie swallows, shuffling nervously at the grim statement.

Anakin turns to the side, glancing down at the metallic form of R2-D2. "Alright, buddy. Do your thing. Just make sure not to set off their alarm system."

R2 gives his owner a shrill beep of acknowledgment, before rolling forward to begin hacking into the mainframe system of the blast doors.

It only takes a few seconds.

Then the massive doors slide open.

As they all step into the hidden room, the sight that greets her on the other side completely stuns her into silence.

It's a massive engine room to help build battle droids.

But metallic droid parts aren't all that remains in the room.

All around the factory conveyor belts—

Dozens of slaves are chained to the floor.

Horror ripples over her at the sight.

The rest of the group also begins to murmur to each other in shock.

Melanie can barely register the sound though; green eyes locked onto the alien-like features of the slaves cowering around the edges of the room.

The chained aliens have short snouts and pointed ears. They gaze over at Melanie and the group with fearful hesitation; the large, swirling horns protruding from the sides of their heads blocking out half of their expressions from view.

Melanie gapes back at them, a painful shard of heartache swelling inside her chest.

Oh God. She remembers now. She remembers her mother telling her about this place, and what Dooku had planned to do.

"He planned this." she whispers to herself in horror.

Ahsoka turns to face her, a look of confusion growing on her orange features. "What? Who are you talking about?"

"Dooku." Melanie hisses in fury. "That bastard knew we'd show up here to search for Separatist droid factories. He wanted the Republic to blow up the base from orbit. He wanted these people to die in the crossfire, just to make himself and the Separatists look good."

The entire group gapes at her words, completely disgusted at the scenario she just described.

In front of her, Anakin growls with barely concealed anger.

"Well, that kriffing sleemo is about to be in for a rude awakening." Anakin snarls.

Melanie watches as the dark-robed Jedi's looming figure starts forward, raising his arms up in a peaceful gesture.

"Don't be afraid." Anakin says, blue eyes flickering to the cowering aliens around the room. "We're here to rescue you."

A tense beat passes as the chained aliens exchange uneasy glances.

Finally, one of the larger males of the group steps forward.

"I am Kokon Lirosa." the horned alien explains, the clink of the chains around his wrists ringing throughout the room as he gives them all a slight bow. "We are Kudon, and I am the leader of my people. We humbly thank you for your help."

Anakin's features harden with rage at the clank of the man's chains, extending a hand forward to snap them off with The Force. "You don't have anything to thank us for."

The rest of the group quickly follow Anakin's lead, walking over to begin unlocking the chains of the slaves around the room.

Melanie stands next to the small form of R2, at a complete loss of how to help; knowing she's not strong enough to snap the chains from the horned alien's wrists.

She never gets the chance to try.

Before she even knows it, the entire massive group of Kudon have been freed from their chains.

They all converge near the middle of the engine room, each of the horned species huddling together in nervousness.

Anakin comes to a stop next to the leader of the Kudon, raising his arm up to speak into his comlink. "To the bomb squads still in the building; be advised that we have discovered a hidden engine room full of slaves in the upper levels of the base. We'll be heading your way soon."

A garbled faceless clone's voice crackles over the line. "Got it, General."

Anakin nods, features tense in seriousness, before reaching down to end the call.

"Alright, guys. Let's move it!" Anakin says, stomping towards the exit.

The Kudon follow behind him first, and then the rest of Anakin's group takes up the rear as they leave the hidden area.

As they step out into the hall, Melanie glances sadly at the weary figures of the Kudon around her.

"I'm so sorry your people went through this." she whispers to the leader of the freed Kudon.

Kokon gives her a tired grin. "Fret not, my dear. The Separatists can chain us, but they will never be able to break our spirits." He turns to gaze at the dark robes of Anakin's back stomping up ahead. "And now, thanks to you all, we shall be free again."

Melanie smiles halfheartedly, but her sorrow for the Kudon's plight still weighs her down.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Dozens and dozens of feet down the back of the hall, The Shopkeeper glares, seething quietly to herself at Melanie Bains's retreating figure.

That little speck has been a thorn in her side for far too long.

The Shopkeeper lazily waves her pointer finger through the air.

All at once, the alarms of the Separatist factory blare to life.

She snickers quietly to herself as the idiotic group of useless creatures up ahead of her begins to panic.

"Annnd... goodbye, Melanie." she mutters under her breath, lips twisting into a smirk.

She raises a hand into the air.

And then she crooks her finger forward.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie is all but hyperventilating as the group continues to argue with each other; voices descending into a rapid panic.

"How the kriff did the bombs start counting down?!" Anakin roars down into the comlink of his wrist.

"We don't know, sir! It doesn't make any sense. We just—" a faceless clone begins over the line, before being swiftly cut off.

"Just forget it!" Anakin snaps. "As your General, I am ordering you and your men to get out of the building. Now!"

Anakin cuts the call off with a frustrated curse, turning back to the Kudon and clones around him.

"We gotta leave this place right now, or we're all gonna be blown to kingdom come." he tells them gravely, before finally turning his gaze in Melanie's direction. "Advisor Bains, remember to—"

Melanie never gets to hear the rest of his sentence.

Her body is yanked unnaturally backwards, and then she is careening across the floor and through the open blaster doors they all recently walked through.

Melanie winces, the back of her skull slamming roughly into the metal floor, making stars burst behind her eyes.

"Mel!" Ahsoka cries out, already beginning to run after her.

Melanie barely has time to raise her gaze before the hallway blaster doors slam shut; instantly separating her from the group.

Panic chokes her lungs as she stumbles to her feet, slamming her hands against the surface of the doors.

The comlink on her wrist bursts to life; garbled voices of her team blending together as they shout in distress over the line.

"Mel! Mel, are you okay—?" Ahsoka's high-pitched voice calls out loudly.

"—How the kark did you all manage to lose her—?!" Rex barks in rage from the speakers; no doubt berating her clone bodyguards over letting Melanie slip through their fingers.

"—R2, open the blast doors. Now!" Anakin shouts.

A series of shrill beeps crackle over the comm channel.

"—What do you mean, 'They won't open?!'" Anakin sputters.

Finally, Anakin lets out a low curse.

"Forget it! I'll cut through." he says.

Melanie flinches sharply backwards as a burst of blue ignites through the space beside her head.

She watches in dizzying amazement as Anakin's lightsaber begins to burn through the thick metal separating her from the group.

Suddenly, metal footsteps begin to echo from behind her.

"Keep an eye out for any Jedi!" a high-pitched mechanical voice screeches out from down the hall.

She freezes.

Fuck!

She raises her wrist to her mouth, speaking shakily into her comlink. "Guys, battle droids are coming!"

Anakin's lightsaber is still only halfway done with cutting through the blast doors. He'll never be able to get to her in time before the droids see her.

Anakin's growl of frustration crackles roughly over the line.

"Run, Melanie!" Anakin orders her, tone almost seeming to carry a barely concealed level of panic. "Just try to make it outside. I'll find you!"

Suddenly—

"Hey, you! You're not supposed to be here!" a battle droid calls out from behind her.

Melanie snaps her head over her shoulder.

An entire squad of battle droids stand at the end of the hall.

Shit.

She takes off down the hallway to her right, promptly leaving the droids in the dust.

"Hey!" the nameless battle droid whines out. "A-After her!"

And then the squadron swiftly marches forward to hunt the intruder down.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

"Get the Kudon out of here!" Anakin orders the rest of his team behind him, gritting his teeth as he continues to cut through the blast doors.

"What?!" Ahsoka sputters in disbelief. "But, Master, I can help you find—"

"Do it, Snips!" Anakin snaps, finally managing to cut a hole through the rest of the metallic door in front on him. "I'll be fine!"

Ahsoka hesitates, but then finally gives a curt nod. "Get Mel back, Master."

"Yeah," Fives mutters soberly from behind the young Togruta. "Bring the sir back to us, General."

Anakin gives them all a determined nod. "I'm planning on it."

And then he turns, ducking his head through the makeshift hole in the blaster doors, before chasing after Melanie.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie curses wildly under her breath, feet thumping harder under her on the floor as she tears down the hall.

Behind her, the echo of metal footsteps grows closer.

"Come on! She went this way!" a battle droid's voice screeches out.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck—" she mumbles, blood pounding harder in her ears.

She skids to a stop as she comes to another four-way pathway.

She hesitates, but then darts to the left, running a few paces down the hall.

But then—for no particular reason at all that she can name—she grinds to a halt.

She stares down the empty hallway; legs beginning to tremble as a pounding feeling of impending doom washes over her.

A heartbeat passes. Then another. And another.

She lets out a ragged breath of air.

And then she whips back around, careening down the opposite side of the four-way hall.

As she does, a flash of red zips past her head, making her yelp in fear.

Shit! They found her!

She continues to run, somehow miraculously avoiding running into any other squad of droids.

All the rest must be chasing after Anakin's bomb squadrons.

Still—one squad of droids remains plenty deadly enough to kill Melanie.

But some luck must be on her side, because she spies the beginning rays of daylight up ahead.

It's a massive door leading to a hangar bay.

Fuck, if she can just make it outside—

Agony surges through her as the scorch of a blaster shot skims the side of her leg, making her cry out in pain.

And yet, somehow she manages to keep going.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Anakin grits his teeth, pushing his body to go even faster as he runs down the dull metal hallways of the Separatist base.

He slides to a stop as he comes to a four-way pathway, hesitating for a moment as he struggles to choose which direction to go.

Finally, he gives a sharp curse, before turning to dart down the left passage.

But as he does, a squad of battle droids stomp into view.

"Jedi! It's the Jedi!" one of the droids screech out, pointing at him in dramatic emphasis. "Blast him!"

Anakin grits his teeth, rage bubbling up inside of him as he ignites his lightsaber.

He cuts through the droids with ease, something in him twisting with dark glee at the way the metal of their bodies crunch under the weight of his strength.

Once the final droid tumbles to the floor, he takes off down the hallway again.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie curses under her breath, struggling to drag her injured leg behind her as she limps out into the open hangar bay.

The sunlight pouring in from the sky overhead all but blinds her; green eyes flickering around the flat expanse of the glorified landing pad as she trudges along.

She doesn't make it very far.

Another scorch of red sears into the side of her thigh.

Melanie cries out in pain, tumbling to the floor.

The muscles in her legs shake as she struggles to stand back up.

Very quickly, the horrifying realization settles over her that she can't.

She panics, snatching out her blaster while scrambling backwards.

Her blood pounds in her ears as she begins to fire.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Bone chilling fear threatens to choke the very breath from Anakin's lungs as he races down the hall.

Damnit! Where the kark is she?!

He'll never be able to forgive himself if Melanie dies today. Just the very thought of such a thing occurring leaves his heart wrenching with a dull ache of pure agony.

Anakin growls in frustration, raising his arm up to speak into his comlink. "Melanie, come in! Where are you?"

He waits.

Nothing but dead silence greets him over the line.

Dread rises up in his throat, and he has to swallow the bitter taste of the emotion down.

No.

Not like this. Not today.

He refuses to let her go.

Melanie has to be in this damn building somewhere.

But kriff, he can't sense her! She might as well be a black hole in The Force—

He freezes as his ears catch the muffled sound of blaster fire.

Melanie.

He takes off towards the noise.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie continues to crawl backwards as she fires blindly towards the squad of droids slowly approaching her.

Vacantly, the baritone of Anakin's voice fills her ears.

"Melanie, come in! Where are you?" Anakin calls out over the comm line, almost sounding suspiciously close to terror.

She can't answer him; barely able to keep up with dragging her injured body away from the approaching battle droids as it is.

She continues to blindly fire at the droids, but she can't seem to hit a single one.

Damnit, Rex was right! Stupid fucking adrenaline!

The droid in the front of the pack tilts its yellow and gray head at her in confusion, taking in the way the red blasts of her weapon just barely skim past its metal body.

"Huh." the droid says, exchanging baffled glances with the rest of its team. "Well... this is just sad."

Melanie clenches her teeth at the comment, continuing to blindly shoot her blaster with a trembling hand.

The leader of the pack of droids lets out a shrug. "Ah, oh well." It turns, pointing a metal arm in her direction. "Fire!"

The entire squadron nods at the command, raising their weapons to blast her to pieces.

Melanie's eyes widen in fear.

She squeezes her eyes shut, throwing her hands over her head to uselessly try and protect herself.

The thump of her heart.

The click of multiple weapons.

The shuddering boom of death.

And then—

Nothing.

She shivers, cowering further into the ground.

Fuck! She's dead. Fucking great. There goes the fate of the galaxy.

As she blinks open her eyes to view what the afterlife looks like, she is greeted with something completely beyond comprehension.

A cloud of sizzling smoke swirls around the looming figure above her.

She squints up at the sight, her blurred vision clearing.

And there, in the blazing heat of the sun, is the tall form of Anakin fucking Skywalker, who stands protectively above her like a goddamn superhero.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Anakin's voice rumbles darkly, an undercurrent of rage bubbling through his tone as he continues to use the wide width of his body like a human shield.

Melanie gapes up at him, completely amazed.

"Get behind me." Anakin orders her.

She doesn't have to be told twice.

Melanie scrambles, dragging herself up from the ground, before proceeding to cower behind the tall form of Anakin's back.

She just barely manages to curl herself against the length of his spine as the screech of blaster fire tears through the air again.

Anakin's blade deflects each flash of red that comes their way as they both begin to back up towards the open edge of the hangar bay.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spots the familiar form of a squad of Separatist speeder bikes flying rapidly towards them to attack.

"Get ready!" Anakin shouts over his shoulder. "We're gonna have to jump, because this place is about to blow!"

Melanie blinks, dread pooling in her stomach. "Wait, what?"

She flinches slightly as Anakin wraps his arms under her waist and legs to drag her against the radiating heat of his body.

Melanie stutters in anxiety as Anakin begins to run towards the ledge of the hangar bay. "No, no, no, no—"

"Too late!" Anakin yells out cheerfully over the wind, as if he is having the time of his life.

And then Anakin jumps off the side of the fucking hangar.

Melanie screams, latching her arms and legs around Anakin's muscular body without a care for how close they are.

The baritone of Anakin's laugh reverberates through her spine as his boots thunk down on top of one of the large speeder bikes that just flew by.

Anakin smirks at the droid piloting the vehicle, before Force-pushing its body out into the open air.

Melanie stares dully, watching as the droid careens down onto the ground that remains miles below.

Anakin pays the droid's destruction no mind; simply plopping down into the driver's seat of the sci-fi vehicle to escape from this horror show of a place.

She watches as he revs the engine, before finally feeling the wind whip past her ears as the speeder bike takes off into the tree line up ahead.

Melanie screams again as the heat of the explosion of the Separatist factory sounds out; arms wrapping blindly around Anakin's neck and face as she tries to burrow herself into his body.

Anakin's wide torso flexes against the weight of her legs as he blindly turns to try and calm her down.

"Can't see!" Anakin shouts over the whistle of the wind, struggling to tug her arm down from blocking his eyes.

He manages to maneuver her trembling limbs enough to where she might as well be choking him from behind. But Anakin is kind enough to allow her to grip onto him as tightly as she wants to from that point forward.

She yelps in shock as she just barely ducks under a thick tree branch, squeezing her eyes shut tighter as they fly through the air.

Something whizzes past her ear.

Her eyes snap open, whipping her head over her shoulder to see the remaining speeder bikes rapidly approaching.

"Anakinnnn!" Melanie warns, tone rising with a growing level of fear.

"I see 'em!" Anakin yells over his shoulder, gritting his teeth as he revs the engine faster.

A stab of fire hits her as the scorching heat of a blaster shot skims the length of her arm.

Melanie flinches, crying out in pain.

Anakin's head snaps over to her at the sound.

He stares at her wound.

And then his face darkens with rage.

Anakin's lips curl up in a snarl, whipping back around to rev the speed of the engine to hair-raising levels.

They zip through the forest, coming dangerously close every second that passes by on slamming into the hard bark of each tree that enters Anakin's line of sight.

But the droids behind them can't keep up.

Three explosions sound out behind them as half of the chasing speeder bikes slam into the wooden trunks of the forest.

As they approach another massive tree, Anakin reaches a hand out with The Force.

The tree in front of them shudders, and then promptly rips itself out at the roots from the ground.

Melanie yelps, just barely managing to duck as the massive tree flies over their heads after Anakin tosses the damn thing over his shoulder like it's a ball of paper.

She snaps her head over her shoulder, watching as the tree tumbles down to slam into the remaining droids chasing after them, who then promptly explode into a ball of fire.

Relief surges through her at the sight, her body all but slumping against Anakin's steady back.

Anakin's flesh hand leaves the handle of the speeder for a moment, reaching up to squeeze at the death grip she has over his neck. "You alright?"

Melanie's heart is still pounding as she wordlessly nods against the hard muscles of his back.

Anakin's thumb rubs against her wrist for a moment, before he finally releases her arm.

"We'll be with the others soon!" he yells out over the wind.

Melanie nods again, simply burrowing into his back harder.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

She only manages to pry open her eyes again once she hears the roar of the speeder bike begin to dwindle to a low hum.

She hesitantly peers past the broad plains of Anakin's dark-robed shoulder blades, taking in the massive crowd of clones and Kudons about thirty feet below them.

Makeshift tents have already begun being built to help give medical attention to the injured clones and recently freed Kudon slaves; the small structures spread out around the very edge of the large stretch of land Anakin chose earlier for the groups to rendezvous at.

As the speeder bike begins to lower down to the ground, dozens and dozens of eyes snap up towards the sound.

And there, in the very middle of the sea of white and blue armor, stands Ahsoka's bright orange form.

The young Togruta's features fill with a look of relief at the sight of her Master and Melanie safe and sound, shoulders seemingly losing a bit of their lingering tension.

A cacophony of shouts and hoots of joy reach Melanie's ears as the low rumble of Anakin's speeder bike continues to descend to the ground.

Anakin's muscles flex beneath her hands, the burning sensation of his body leaving her for a short moment as he leans forward to begin cutting off the engine.

She lets out a shuddering breath of relief as the speeder bike finally thunks down onto the hard surface of the ground.

And for a few heartbeats, they both linger; her and Anakin's breaths rising and falling in time with each other's own.

He inhales, hands gripping the handles of the bike tighter.

She exhales, teeth all but clattering as she struggles to calm her racing heart.

Finally—

She releases him, shakily untangling herself from the burning touch of his body, before promptly proceeding to collapse in a boneless heap on the grass beneath her.

She leans over to place her hands against the thick greenery, chest heaving out with another shuddering sigh of pure relief. "Ohhh, I love you so much, sweet ground."

She distantly registers Anakin's snort of amusement coming from behind her.

She deliberately ignores this, content to continue with her borderline worshiping of the grass in front of her; a part of her still absolutely astounded that she is still alive.

So absorbed she is of the task in front of her; she barely has time to get her bearings before an orange and white blur barrels into her chest.

She lets out an oomph of air, before blearily blinking down at the two blue and white points of Ahsoka's lekku that the young girl has buried into her collarbone.

"Mel! Thank Force you're okay!" Ahsoka bursts out, tone growing fretful. "I was so worried!"

Melanie blinks, hands hovering awkwardly over the Padawan's back.

But in spite of everything, her chest fills with warmth at the words. And so, she ignores her own self-consciousness, throwing caution to the wind as she wraps her arms around Ahsoka in a tight embrace.

"I was kinda worried for a minute there too." Melanie admits, clutching Ahsoka's small frame to her body. "Almost dying isn't fun. Definitely wouldn't recommend it."

Ahsoka chokes out a wet laugh at the words, something in her body seeming to lose the last bit of tension she still carried beneath her bones.

Melanie's heart twists at the tearful sound, burying her face into the young girl's shoulder in a show of comfort.

"Everything's okay now, Ahsoka." she says quietly.

Ahsoka nods, taking a final shudder of air, before forcing herself to pull back from Melanie.

They smile widely, before finally dissolving into muffled giggles at the entire insane situation; leaning slightly together as they grip each other's hands.

Finally—

"Sir!" a familiar voice calls out over the gathering crowd of people.

Melanie's head snaps up, gazing over Ahsoka's shoulder and past the sea of clones and Kudon mixed together in clumped groups.

Murmurs fill the air as the crowd parts to allow someone through.

And then her entire squad of clone bodyguards begin to rush over to her, with Fives and Rex leading the charge.

The group of men all skid to a stop in front of her and Ahsoka, armored chests heaving as they gaze down at Melanie.

"Mel—!" Fives begins, before he chokes the sound down, clearing his throat awkwardly as he tries to speak again. "Sir, I-I'm... we're so sorry—"

"—We have no idea what happened!" Jesse sputters out. "Before we could stop it, you were just gone—"

"Cut the chatter!" Rex barks.

All the men around the Captain instantly straighten up in respect at his command.

Rex clenches his jaw, features tense as he stares down at her. "Sir, I offer my deepest apologies that you were put in danger today—"

Melanie frowns at his tone, ears catching the way the Captain's voice trembles just slightly.

Slowly, she rises to her feet.

Rex ignores her movement, staring straight through her as he continues on. "It was completely avoidable, and as the Captain of the 501st, I take full responsibility for—"

His words screech to a halt as Melanie carefully wraps her arms around him.

Rex does not hug her back; arms remaining locked behind him as he seemingly stares ahead at some fixed point in the distance.

Melanie lays her head against Rex's shoulder, vaguely registering the way Rex's tone begins to thicken as he struggles to speak again.

"I... I take full responsibility f-for—" Rex starts, tone shaking with emotion.

"It's okay, Rex." Melanie mutters, squeezing him a little bit tighter. "It's not your fault."

Rex's chest collapses inwards at that, and then he is slumping forward to yank her into a hug.

Melanie ignores the dull pain of Rex's hard armor digging into her back, simply gripping the man tighter.

"Don't you dare do that again, sir." Rex orders her gruffly. "You don't get to die as a soldier. You're not even done with your training yet."

Melanie chokes out a laugh. "Oh, yes. How could I forget?"

"Exactly." Rex says, tone almost sounding fond. "Just think—dying to a single squad of clankers? We'd never let you live it down."

Melanie shakes her head in amusement at the words.

The touching moment is then, of course, interrupted swiftly by Fives's voice.

"Hey, come on now. Some others want a chance to hug her too!" Fives exclaims with a dangerously boyish-sounding whine.

Rex and Melanie roll their eyes, lips twitching upward as they both pull back from each other.

Melanie gives Rex a final squeeze of her hand, before finally releasing his arm from her fingers.

She turns just as Fives steps forward, green eyes taking in the way the goateed man's features twist into a wide grin.

Fives expands his arms wide as he steps up to embrace her. "There's my girl!"

Melanie huffs out a small laugh at the familiar teasing of the man, simply shaking her head in exasperation as she hugs him back.

This goes on and on as Melanie takes turns embracing each member of her clone bodyguard squadron.

Even Lead—to her complete surprise—offers her a quick hug; grumbling under his breath as he pulls back about, "paying more attention."

Finally, after the touching reunion has passed, her mind flashes with the reminder of Anakin.

She glances behind her as the group begins to walk towards the large crowd ahead, searching for Anakin's familiar dark-robed form.

But he's already gone.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Melanie stares into space, mind far away, as she tries to purge herself of the lingering adrenaline of a finished battle.

To her right, Kix sits with her on a random wooden storage crate; his eyes squinting in concentration as he looks over the burn on her arm.

Kix had taken one look at the scorching burns from her near escape with death, insisting to treat her wounds the second they landed back in the hangar bay.

Melanie had wearily relented to his request, not having the energy to fight the man at the moment.

And so—here they both sit.

Melanie does not even glance in the clone medic's direction; content to zone out as she thinks over his earlier words.

Kix had already warned her that the wounds could leave a scar, and while she isn't particularly thrilled with the thought, she supposes that things could have gone worse.

Like, you know—fucking dying.

So, she'll count her blessings where she can.

Her mind wanders as she recalls the moment she was mere seconds away from death.

Without Anakin, she would have been fucking blasted to pieces right there.

She shivers slightly at the thought, swallowing down the bile rising in her throat.

She thinks over the exact second she became separated from the group; thinks about how... how strange it all was.

She still doesn't understand how the blast door could have slammed shut between them all. R2-D2 had been there for that specific reason; to stop something like that from happening.

Hell—she doesn't understand how the alarm system could have gone off at all.

None of Anakin's men had whispered a word over the comm channel about being spotted. Anakin had questioned them about it afterward, but the squadrons had insisted they had been thorough in avoiding any cameras or probe droids while in the building.

But honestly, that isn't even the weirdest thing.

The weirdest thing was the way... the way her body had almost been dragged away from the group.

It had been subtle, but Melanie remains sure that she felt something drag her backwards.

But the only living thing that had been behind her was Lead, and she refuses to believe for even a moment that the clone had shoved her away from the group deliberately.

Unwillingly, The Shopkeeper's snarling face flashes through her brain.

Could it have been—?

No. No, no—it couldn't have been The Shopkeeper. The woman would have shown herself if it had been her.

Melanie repeats the thought over and over in her head like a mantra, trying to make the words stick.

From the corner of her eye, she spots Anakin, Rex and Ahsoka's figures gathering together to converse for a short moment.

She ignores this sight, deliberately forcing her mind to think about something else, trying to distract herself from the lingering pain in her arm and thigh as Kix begins to apply his bacta patches to her wounds.

She distantly recalls the alien-like features of the race of Kudon they had all rescued from the Separatist droid factory, remembering how the freed slaves had chosen to return to their abandoned villages that had been ransacked after their kidnapping.

Her heart twinges in pain at the horror they all went through.

She can only hope that the Kudon villagers will be okay.

She snaps back to reality as a dark-robed figure walks up to her and Kix.

"So, how's our dear advisor?" Anakin asks, deep voice lowering to a rumbling tease. "Will she live?"

To her right, Kix hums in thought. "Well, it was touch and go for a while there, General, but I think she'll make it."

Melanie lowers her head, lips fighting a growing smile at the playful banter.

Anakin nods at the confirmation, also appearing to be fighting back the beginnings of a growing smile. "That's good. I'll leave you both to it then."

As Anakin turns to walk away, Melanie finds her thoughts flashing back to the moment the Jedi had saved her life.

She hesitates, green eyes flickering over to gaze after his retreating back.

Unwillingly, the urge to call after him rises within her.

Alarm bells blare through her skull at the thought, and her brain screeches at her to turn away now—right fucking now!

But then—

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Anakin's voice rumbled darkly, an undercurrent of rage bubbling through his tone as he continued to use the wide width of his body like a human shield.

The memory makes her chest flood with an unwanted feeling of warmth.

And yet, she can do nothing to stop it.

Anakin had protected her. In spite of everything—in spite of all the times Melanie has pushed him away—he still placed his body in front of hers without a second thought.

She just doesn't understand him.

How can he be so cruel one moment, and then so kind the next?

It was a conundrum.

He's genuine and sweet.

But he's also dark and dangerous.

Unbidden, her mind flashes with the hum of a lightsaber cutting through screaming bodies—

She shudders internally.

He's done such horrible things already.

But... he also saved her life.

She continues to stare after him.

Anakin's form is already near the familiar sight of his yellow and grey starfighter; reaching down to gently tap the metal head of R2-D2 as he passes the astromech by.

Her mind twists and turns in deliberation, deeply aware that her next decision may very well change the remaining three years of her life in this universe.

She... she can't be Anakin's friend.

Can she?

After all—isn't this what she wanted? She wanted him to prove her wrong; to give her a reason to believe that he actually has the capacity for change.

And he did.

A few feet away, Anakin pauses for only a moment more to clasp a hand on Rex's armored shoulder in a show of camaraderie.

And then he starts toward the exit of the hangar bay.

Melanie's blood begins to pound in her ears as she struggles to make a decision before Anakin leaves the room.

He's a Jedi, he's a killer, he's Darth Vader, he's—

He's trying.

The realization slams over her, a part of her only just now completely comprehending how astonishing that mere fact is.

Yes; Anakin has done horrible things.

But he isn't Darth Vader. Not yet.

And that—

That has to mean something.

Right?

She swallows down her hesitation, finally finding the courage to call after him. "A-Anakin!"

A dozen feet away, Anakin's body freezes.

He slowly turns to face her, tone laced with cautiousness. "Yeah?"

Melanie slowly rises to her feet, ignoring Kix's halfhearted attempts to stop her as she limps over to Anakin.

She wrings her hands, beginning to stumble over her words as she struggles with how to proceed. "I-I wanted to—I just... I guess I just wanted to say—"

Finally, she stops.

She takes a shuddering breath, gathering up her remaining bravery.

And then she raises her gaze, locking eyes with him for the first time in months.

Anakin's face floods with disbelief, the blue of his eyes widening in shock.

She swears his breath hitches in his throat as she steps toward him.

But that idea is ridiculous, so she deliberately ignores the sound, some part of her believing she must have imagined it.

A few heartbeats pass as they both stare at each other in silence.

Anakin inhales, muscles frozen in place.

She takes another step forward.

Anakin exhales, the tendons in his neck flexing in a swallow.

A step closer.

He watches her approach, not even seeming to breathe, almost as if she were a wild animal that could be spooked at the slightest hint of movement.

She tilts her head, narrowing her gaze as she scans his features, ignoring the blood pounding in her ears.

She looks deep into Anakin's eyes, searching for the darkness; searching for the dangerous glint of a hidden scorpion that itches for the chance to place its sting.

But she can't find it.

All that's there is—

Hope.

Raw, vulnerable hope.

In spite of everything, Melanie's face softens at the sight.

And so, she ignores the alarm bells ringing through her head, slowly raising her arms up.

Anakin's face flickers with something like vulnerability as she gets closer to him; not even daring to breathe.

Melanie hesitates for only one second more.

But then she throws caution to the wind, carefully wrapping her arms over his broad shoulders to pull him into a hug.

Anakin's muscles tense under her hands, as if in shock.

But then, slowly, she feels it.

The molten heat of his palm hovers over her lower back.

Then his touch is burning into her skin, both arms wrapping around her waist to tug her tighter against him.

She has to stand on the tips of her toes just to reach the back of his neck, even with the way he leans over her in a close embrace.

She ignores the lingering fear, shoving the emotion to the side as she clutches her thankfulness for his actions in both hands; just the same way she clutches the hard muscles of his back tighter to her in a deeper hug.

"Thank you... for saving my life." Melanie murmurs against the skin of his neck.

She physically feels it as Anakin's chest heaves out a shuddering breath of air.

She waits, counting down a few more heartbeats, and then finally pulls back from him; hands sliding down the broad plains of his shoulders, before taking a step back.

Anakin's own hands flex against the side of her body, but he lets her pull away from him without a fight.

Anakin's face is amazed. He stares down at her with an open-mouthed look of complete awe.

Finally, he blinks, seeming to come back to himself as he gives her a soft smile. "All in a day's work."

Melanie huffs out a laugh, ducking her head at the words.

She looks back up, taking in the way his blue eyes are watching her every move.

"Well, I guess I should probably go back to Kix," she suggests, body still burning from the echo of his touch as she slowly begins to back up, "To... you know... let him make sure I'm not bleeding internally or anything."

Anakin's lips quirk up in amusement at her joke, watching as she inches further backward.

"... Bye." Melanie says, giving him a shy wave in farewell.

And then she turns, head ducking down in a strange show of embarrassment as she makes her way back over towards Kix.

Anakin watches her go, still completely astounded by what has just occurred.

He looks behind him to where he knows his Padawan has been leaning against the surface of her starfighter; the young girl waiting to join him on his trek to the command bridge.

He stares at Ahsoka, features flickering with a baffled look of amazement at Melanie's actions towards him only a few moments ago.

Ahsoka's grin is all but blinding as she gives her Master two thumbs up in a show of approval.

Anakin grins widely back at her.

Behind him, although he never sees it, Melanie glances back over in his direction.

And, for the first time in a long time—

Her eyes are hopeful.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Star systems away, Chancellor Palpatine sits at the elegant desk in his office, carefully studying the blue glow of the holorecording playing out in front of him.

"And you are certain that this... source... of yours is trustworthy?" the disguised Sith Lord asks, dark eyes flickering over to the side.

To his right, the holographic form of his apprentice nods.

"My personal slicer droid has assured me of the legitimacy of the recording." Dooku replies, bowing his head deeply in a show of respect. "Upon further investigation, it has been confirmed that there indeed was a woman with General Windu at the battle of Ryloth."

Palpatine hums in thought at the confirmation.

"Tell me something, my apprentice," he mutters, eyes gazing back over towards the blue glow of the recording, watching as the hologram loops back to the beginning, "Do you not find it... curious... that this woman has appeared to the Jedi, so quickly after the rift in The Force?"

A beat of tense silence passes, as Count Dooku takes in his Master's words.

"Well... yes, I suppose the thought did indeed cross my mind." Dooku admits, features flickering with uncertainty. "However, my source has already informed me that this... Advisor Bains... has no such power over The Force."

The Sith Lord hums in acknowledgment, chin perching regally against his clasped hands.

He watches as the holographic image of Melanie Bains leans over to place her hands on her knees.

The image of the woman takes a ragged breath of air.

Slowly, the blonde-haired woman turns her head towards the camera.

A heartbeat of a moment passes, where Advisor Bains and Chancellor Palpatine lock eyes.

The advisor stares at the camera, some unknown emotion flickering across her face.

And then the holographic image of the woman rises, deliberately turning away, as she begins to make her way over towards General Windu.

Palpatine narrows his eyes at the sight.

"We shall see." he murmurs.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

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☽

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A/N: Dun, Dun, Dunnnnn! 😱😱😱

What will happen next? Tune in next week to find out! Lol.

But seriously, this is so not good for Mel's plans. She's about to be way, WAY more than just a blip on Palpatine's radar.

Do you think she's ready to come face to face with him yet? 😬🥶

Anyways! Moving on to other things!

Anakin and Melanie FINALLY had a breakthrough! Mel hugged him! She looked him in the eyes again for the first time in forever! She's finally seeing past her fears a little bit more. ❤️

Mel wanted Anakin to prove her wrong, and he did! He gave her a reason to hope for the best with him.

Let's just hope her faith isn't proven wrong.

Anakin was shook beyond belief by that hug. Haha.

Now they've both finally moved onto the tentative friendship stage of their relationship! 👏👏 I was soooo happy to get here. Haha.

How do you think the next stage of their relationship will go? Will there be a few bumps along the way?

What did you think of Mel and Rex's interaction? What about her interactions with the rest of the clones? It seems like Mel has finally broken through a barrier with them.

She still has a while to go before gaining their full trust, but the breakthrough in this chapter is still a big deal. ESPECIALLY for the dark future that lies ahead.

Also, this chapter is kind of meant to confirm something about Mel that you may all have been curious about.

The Corvair sector and the Kudon species are an actual thing that comes about in a Star Wars comic. Mel's vague knowledge of the story comes from remembering a conversation with her mother, but she didn't actually read the story herself.

This fact is supposed to imply that Mel was a sort of "general audience" member of Star Wars.

Her mother, on the other hand, would be considered a Star Wars lore "nerd." Lol.

This fact about Melanie gives the story a bit of breathing room, because it means that while Mel knows a lot of what will happen; she still doesn't know everything.

And that could be a bit of a problem down the line. 👀

So sorry for the longer wait! 😅 This chapter was soooo freaking long.

I swear this story will be my magnum opus. I can't help but make it long, even if I try not to. 😩

But I've always planned things out for this story in my head as a kind of grand, epic tale. There was just no way it wasn't going to become something larger than expected. 😂😅

Great for you guys, but terrible for my hands. Hahaha.

See you guys 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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