Alina quickly sat up in her bed with a short yell, breathing heavily. Several moments passed before she finally calmed down, forcing herself to slow her breathing. Another night, another nightmare, another restless sleep. She should go back to sleep, she knew it.

She couldn't afford to be exhausted as she was when she was on a mission yet sleep seemed to be the enemy just as much as the bounty hunter they were tracking. Her mother's screams rang in her ears. Every time she closed her eyes, even for a brief moment all she saw was her mother's face. Beaten, bruised and cut.

It felt like the visions were getting worse every day. Becoming clearer. 'Closer to becoming reality' Alina thought grimly. She wanted nothing more than to forsake the mission and go to Tatooine. Obi-Wan and Sylvie were more than capable of handling the bounty hunter by themselves. 'The council will never allow it' she thought bitterly.

She hardly ever did what the council asked. At least not until the day her Master threatened to send her to the service corps. She had no issue believing him, Master Yoran had never wanted her. He acted like she was just a thorn in his side. She had yet to figure out why he even chose her. 'Because he needs to train atleast one Padawan to get on the council'

Sick of getting wrapped up in her thoughts Alina moved one leg off the bed, testing the floor with her toes. Cold. But not that cold, she could handle it. She moved her other leg to hang off the bed, pushing the blanket away which caused a sudden rush of cold to hit her. Even after all these years away from Tatooine she was still sensitive to cold weather. She slipped her boots on before exiting the room. She didn't see reason to take her lightsaber, most of Kamino would be asleep at this time.

She headed down hallways with no real direction in mind, just hoping the cold would be enough to distract her mind from thoughts of her mother. She was going to keep those very far away. To her surprise some of the cloning stations were still running. She found herself on the glass bridge that Lama Su and Taun We had taken them on when they'd arrived. She paused, watching the clone birthing pods.

Her mind flickered back to what Sylvie had said about the clones and their numbers. A lump gathered in her throat. 384. The red welts on her hands made by Watto every time she would fail. Her mother, dark eyes sunken in exhaustion, trying hard to have heart for the sake of her children.

The Hutt's bloated forms and booming voices. A thin whip cracking threateningly. The time Anakin had nearly died after a pod race, blood flowing trickling from his wounds. The small scars littered around her body, each of them a result of the times a toddler had proved her uselessness.

Was this what the Republic was going to be? The Republic that she'd sworn to serve without realizing the true weight of her oath? She didn't realize the tears forming in her eyes until one of them fell. 'Kriff' she wiped it away and rubbed her eyes furiously. Walking around aimlessly was no help. She'd need a real distraction.

She attempted to follow the path she'd taken previously to find her way to the target range and only succeed in getting herself hopelessly lost. She looked around the hallways for signs of things she'd seen before, wishing she had brought the blanket or something else to keep her warm.

She was relieved when she sensed a presence in the next hallway over. "Hello?" She called. She saw a person in blue hunched over as they mopped the floor. Alina saw their face when they looked up at her. It was an elderly man with pale skin. Their face shape was similar to that of the clones but his skin was too pale and his eyes too light. "What are you doing here at this time of night?" He asked, not unkindly. "I'm lost" She admitted "I went for a late night walk and I can't find my way back. I was hoping you could point me in the right direction"

"What is your room number?" He asked. "Actually I was looking for a shooting range" Alina said. The elderly man blinked in surprise but didn't question it "I'll take you there myself little one but I think you should get warm first" he said. She knew she should probably decline, the less time she had to her thoughts the better but the idea of some warmth was much too tempting.

"I'd like that but I think my room is halfway across the dome by now" she said. "I have some spare blankets stored in some of the closets" The elderly man offered with a kind smile. "That would be great, thank you" Alina returned his smile, trying not to pace around for the sake of being polite. "Wait here, I'll get one" The elderly man said, turning to go "Do you mind if I come with you instead?" Alina asked "Moving around will do me good" He nodded "Alright then, follow me"

He turned down a hallway to the right with Alina trailing after him. "So what's your name?" She asked after a few moments of silence. "Ninety nine, and your's?" he asked. "Alina Skywalker" She responded "'Ninety nine' are you a clone?" She asked. "I am" Alina tilted her head "You don't look much like the other clones. Uh, no offence" 99 didn't seem to bothered by her statement "I'm a... defective clone" he admitted.

Alina frowned lightly, picking up on the hint of sadness in his voice but had no idea how to comfort him. The wasn't much conversation between the two after that. Alina took the blanket from him and wrapped it around herself, glad for the warmth it gave her. "Thank you" she said gratefully.

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

One shot after another fired. She tried to picture faces on the target to keep her going. Watto, Gardula the Hutt, The Sith who killed Qui-Gon and really anybody else she had a slight against. Most missed their mark. At times the force was on her side and they landed. Other times she grew so frustrated she used the force to make them land.

The Jedi Council wouldn't approve of such feeling or actions and she knew it but if they had just given a bit of their time and money into freeing her mother she wouldn't be plauged by these constant nightmares. She still remembered one of the first thing Master Ki-Adi Mundi had said to her and Anakin when they arrived.

'Your thoughts dwell on your mother' 'Ofcourse they dwell on her she's still a Slave to a ticked off Toydarian on one of the worst planets in the galaxy so if you could just send somebody with payment Watto would actually accept' she thought bitterly, if only she wasn't too frightened of the council back then.

She kept firing. Her limbs ached, she wasn't sure how long she'd been here but she was determined to get rid of the anger before Obi-Wan, Sylvie and her went to question the other bounty hunters. Half because she didn't need either Jedi knight reprimanding her and half because she didn't want to mess up the questioning in her impatience.

Hearing the shuffle of feet from behind her Alina didn't think, she just turned and fired. The shot didn't land, if struck the wall near the person's head. "Boba" she muttered in greeting, eying him warily. Sylvie's warning rang clear in her head.

"Jedi" Boba responded, staying in his spot in the doorway. "Alina" she corrected. "Fine, Alina. What are you doing at a shooting range at this time?" He asked. "I could ask you the same thing" She responded. "You first" Alina stayed silent for a few moments, she considered reaching for her lightsaber when she remembered that she'd left it back in her room.

"Couldn't sleep. Had nothing better to do. You?" She asked. "Target practice. Don't have anything better to do" He said. Moving forward to grab a blaster "You didn't even turn it on" he said. "Like you said. I'm a hopeless shot" she shrugged, hoping he hadn't taken note of the absence of her lightsaber. She watched as Boba turned on a portion of the targets, leaving a few deactivated for her.

At first they ignored each other's existence, shooting their own targets. Eventually the silence was a bit too much for Alina. Her first few attempts at starting a conversation were ignored. Eventually she managed to annoy him enough to get him to humor her. Despite Sylvie's warning she found herself enjoying his company.

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

99 <3

I hope I did him justice. My guy had only two episodes and we haven't seen him interact with ppl who aren't clones (battle droids not included) but I think we can all agree 99 is just the sweetest.

I'm sorry to anybody who hasn't watched the clone wars. Stuff might get slightly confusing if you haven't but I'll try not to have it be anything too major.

Sorry about the timeskip too. I couldn't think of anything else to put without making it awkward.

Angry Alina. Spoiler alert but it gets worse. With Alina & Boba's bitterness it's really no surprise Thalia and Valera don't like the Jedi Council. (For people who haven't read Masked, they're Alina and Boba's daughters)

And a moment of silence for my upload schedule