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WARNING: Violence.

A/N: I'm sorry for all the different scenarios, this is the last chapter of the Hoth arc, so I had to close a lot of things looool. This chapter is dedicated to Cupidonsouls- ! You're so sweet dear! Thanks for all your amazing messages!!! Love having you here <3

The pic is only inspo <3 I wish we could have seen that, but life sucks :(

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Y/n's POV

—Welcome home, master. —We both bowed to Qui-Gon as soon as he strutted his way to the end of the landing platform.

Qui-Gon smiled with his arms open, as an act of humbleness and pressed his palms together in gratitude.

—My dear apprentices! I'm glad to see you both here and alive! —Qui-Gon put his arms around and hugged us from each side. We walked out the hangar, with Obi-Wan following our trail as he finished talking with Commander Cody. —Were you alright alone in here? Any disaster I should know about? —He looked at both of us with a deadly stare.

I looked back at Anakin and he raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to answer and making Qui-Gon to focus his attention on me. I gulped very subtly, not able to handle the pressure of lying to Qui-Gon.

— No, nothing. —I smiled, playing it cool.

—Ha! Liar! —My body stiffened at the word and Qui-Gon's expression immediately fell, snapping back at Anakin. My eyes widened and I closed my hands in fists, my nails sank on my palms, knuckles white. Oh, I should've known this motherfucker was lying all along and he was about to snitch! —Phoenix went all psycho in the kitchen just because I poured myself a bowl of her cereal. —He rolled his eyes, in character.

In a profound exhale, all my worries and tensions left my body and I deflated under Qui-Gon's paternal embrace. Anakin still deserved to be kicked in the head for pulling a thing like that.

—Why did you have to grab her cereal? You don't even like to eat that sort of thing and her Chokko's are sacred. —Qui-Gon scoffed, siding with me. A big smile was drawn in my face at the hypothetical victory.

—I was on a rush. —Anakin shrugged his shoulders, acting all innocent.

Qui-Gon rolled his eyes tiredly and snapped him in the head, not hard enough to hurt him.

—Hey! —Anakin whined and I laughed.

—That's what your nosy ass deserves, Whineakin. —I sang triumphantly. Anakin squinted his eyes at me and before he could insult me back, Obi-Wan catched up to us.

—Cody will take care of the cruisers.—He indicated to Qui-Gon, to which he nodded. Then he looked at Anakin's pouting lips and my cocky smirk, going back and forth between us and then looked at Qui-Gon with an intrigued gesture. —What did I miss?

—Nothing much.—Qui-Gon sighed, giving us a last squeeze. —Everything seems to be exactly the same as it was.

Anakin and I locked eyes from afar, and I swear that the sentiment in his eyes spoke to me like real words. Trying to not call myself out, I fought my instinct of giving him a little smile when he winked at me.

—Okay... yes, let's say that. —Obi-Wan scratched his beard, his attention still fixated on both of us.

—So.. shall we proceed with the mission's report? —I smiled nervously, in an attempt to change the subject.

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After our little chat in the hall, we moved to Qui-Gon's office and we began our report presentation, just digging a little deeper into details, answering their questions, but leaving out the incarcerated Jedi in our basement, so Anakin could do the big reveal in person. He just had to be that extra.

We revised the data that I extracted, elevating my ego when Qui-Gon showed himself very pleased with the information. His enthusiastic grin when the rebel bases appeared on the map made me stand taller and prouder. I looked over to Anakin and opened my mind shields, my chin tilted cockily.

I can't show it to you, but I'm totally giving you the finger right now.

"You should put that into better use."

Like up your ass?

I giggled lowly, making Anakin roll his eyes annoyed. We redirected our attention to Qui-Gon, who was still checking the files with Obi-Wan.

—The biggest base was in Hoth... so that's good news. —Obi-Wan stood up straight and crossed his arms. —For what it looks like, and leaving aside the TIE-fighters loses... this mission was impeccable. Well done, guys. —He smiled towards us and gave us a big thumbs up.

—I think we can trust you guys with more missions, if this is an example of how great you can work if you put your minds together. —Qui-Gon grinned at us with approval. — But I don't believe that it went as smoothly as you're presenting... And I know for a fact that you didn't get along the whole time. —He raised his eyebrows and pressed his hands together on top of his desk. —Anakin and I both hummed confusedly, not knowing how much we should say.— Is there something you would like to share with me?

My gaze, against all odds, went to Obi-Wan, hoping that he would somehow indicate to me what Qui-Gon meant. I wasn't sure if he was honest or not, but he just raised his shoulders and shook his head, like saying he was as confused as I was.

—Humm... —I turned around to see Anakin and he stared back at me. —Something like what? —Anakin asked.

—Something like you totally diverted from the carefully crafted plan you made. Care to explain? —With the same inquisitorial face, he laid back on his chair and crossed his arms. Oh Force. How did he find out? Anakin gulped.—My source tells me that you, Phoenix, rised above the situation and used your anger to regain power. I'm proud of you. It makes me realize that you've been paying attention to my teachings.—I bowed to him, grateful that he would praise my efforts. —The Force shall free you.

—Thank you, Master. Through passion, I gain strength. —I bowed my head and he tilted his in response.

—My source confirms to me that it was because of that... inconsistency in the execution of the plan that you got those wounds. Wounds that Obi-Wan offered to force heal, something that I feel it's vital to do now, please. —Qui-Gon searched for him, who was standing right behind him. Obi-Wan nodded and moved around the big desk until he reached where I was. —Meanwhile, I would like to have a word with Anakin. — He finalized with a serious voice. My force sensitivity alerted me of Anakin's tension.

On one hand, I felt really bad for him to carry with the consequences, after all, we were okay. But on the other hand... my dark side wouldn't wait to show up and rejoiced at Anakin's reprehension. Being a Sith implied loving revenge and Anakin getting his ass whooped by Qui-Gon was enough for me to let that go for good.

—We could go to the medbay to check them up. —Obi-Wan suggested, pulling me from my mental commentary. I nodded and walked behind him slowly, trying to see if I could hear the last pieces of conversation between Anakin and Qui-Gon.

—Anakin, I know it's quite up to you to make it up as you go...and normally I'm okay with that, but this was not the mission for it. We spend weeks working on this. What happened?

—I had to take a little detour, we encountered something....unexpected. —Anakin commented confidently.

—And you haven't reported it? —Qui-Gon frowned.

—I think it would be better to see it.—Anakin smirked.

Qui-Gon's frown deepened.

—See what?

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Anakin's POV

—Once again, the Force fails to disappoint me. — Weak and tired, layed on the floor a beat up Jedi. —The brave and courageous Ki-Adi-Mundi... not so strong now, huh? —Qui-Gon laughed cruelly and stared down at the dirty Cerean.

With our entrance to the cell, we woke him up from his induced sleep. The medication we gave him would keep him knocked out for weeks if we kept suministrating it, but Qui-Gon wanted to see him awake, so we injected some substances to pump some energy into him. Now he was sitting in front of us, barely hanging on to the wall behind him. Trying to take in what was happening, he blinked quickly and moved his head side to side in slow motions, whining at the pain.

—So he doesn't know where he is?—Qui-Gon asked me, turning his head above his shoulder to face me.

—No. We have kept him like this since yesterday.

—Umm... it'll be hard to break him. He was one of the most stubborn Jedi when it came to the Code...—He scratched his beard.

—And yet he had four wives...What the hell was that about?—I grimaced.

Oh, sure, we weren't allowed to fuck, but he could have multiples wives and like 7 children? Great double standard, Jedi Order.

—His world had a low birth rate. —Qui-Gon shrugged his shoulders and kicked Ki on the stomach. —It's not like you followed rules that much. —He raised his eyebrow at me. What else was I supposed to do but agree? It was true. —C'mon, lazy bastard, wake up! —He chuckled when Ki made his attempt to stand up, but his knees buckled. —This is fun, you should try it. —And he kicked again, on the ribs this time.

Shamelessly, we spend a good ten minutes just beating the living shit out of Ki.

To be fair, he had a very punchable head and his screams of pain didn't help to stop us. The thing that made me step back from hitting was that a little drop of blood from his nose dripped on my boot. I couldn't damage them, they were really expensive.

—Do you have his lightsaber? —Qui-Gon asked and I handed it to him, after pulling it from a secret hideout on the wall. —Perfect, here you go. —And Qui-Gon put it in front of him, waiting for Ki to grab it. —C'mon, fight. Try to kill me, I bet you want it.—He mocked cruelly as he walked in circles around him, making fun of his fragility.

He was unloading with Ki.

Even with his respected position in the Order, Qui-Gon didn't escape the mean sarcasm and common dismissals of the Council; his ways were too radical to adjust the diplomatic structure of the Jedi. Even during war, they refused to listen to him over and over again, totally ignoring that our units were the most efficient ones. And every time I messed up (like a normal human being), Qui-Gon would be the object of mockery of the Jedi Masters, dropping egocentric and not-so-subtle "I told you so..."s as they shook their heads and glared at him. Not once did he let me alone in front of them, always standing right besides me, as a way of telling that he would always have my back.

—Well, Anakin, I must say I'm truly happy with this... finding. —Qui-Gon said while staring at him and fixing his hair, strings of hair loss from his hair tie. — And you took him all by yourself at the same time that you were leading the mission? You're turning into everything I hope you would be, son. I'm fortunate to see your growth. —Qui-Gon grinned and palmed me in the shoulder, staring at our bloody masterpiece. He then turned around to pick up a cloth from the floor and clean his dirty hands.

—It was Phoenix. —I spoke.

—Huh? —Qui-Gon frowned and turned to face, wiping his hands.

—It was because of her that we were able to leave Hoth... I got so focused on catching Ki that I neglected my duties. —I gulped and Qui-Gon his eyes widened surprised. —Phoenix was the one that handled the battlefront and that's why we were able to win...—I stared at him with a stiffened pose, uncertain of what his reaction would be.

—This is... surprising, to say the least. I wasn't aware of the extent of your actions. I thought your neglency was regarding extracting the data... —He confessed, still thunderstruck. —However, I don't blame you. You made the right choice, catching him... —and he nodded to the Jedi. —... was more important than knowing any location. I just wished Phoenix didn't have to get hurt.

Me too.

—But I must admit I'm more shocked by your confession. You didn't say anything yesterday, and neither did she. I could have easily never found out... Why give her credit? This was the perfect opportunity to mess with her. —Qui-Gon crossed his arms as he knitted his brows.

I responded with a shoulder shrug, trying to hide any sentimentality. I knew the act wasn't complete until I added a little smugness to it.

—I thought it would be the bare minimum I could give her... after all, I caught the Jedi, she can keep my crumbs. —I made a little gesture with my hand, like dismissing it.

Qui-Gon cackled and pointed at me while shaking his head humorly.

—You don't change, young one. —He approached me and put his hand on my shoulder. —I like this competition between you two, it's good for you guys. I have no doubt that what pushed her to break through the pain and take control of the mission was bragging about it to you and vice versa. Am I wrong?

I thought about it for a second. There was no way I would stop hearing about how she was the real hero in the Hoth mission for a while. I finally shook my head.

—In a perfect world, you two would get along and have a friendly competition, but as for now... Hell, I'll take what I can. —He chuckled. —You bring out the best in each other and you don't even notice. —He turned around, doing relaxed movements as he laughed it off.

Oh, I notice.

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Phoenix's POV

Obi-Wan and I arrived at the medbay, after gossiping the whole way there about what Qui–Gon was scolding Anakin about.

Once again in this horrible place...

I couldn't wait for him to get rid of this shit off me, so I wouldn't have to step here again. I laid on one of the medical stretchers as per instruction of Obi-Wan. He walked around and picked some stuff up to check the wound.

—Okay, Phoenix, can you please take the sleeve off? —I proceed to do it, removing the bandage as well. —Yeah, a pretty nasty cut...

—Hey! — I protested.

—I'm sorry...—He apologized while holding a chuckle.—But it is. —I pinched him on his arm. —Auch! Keep it up and you will stay barbecued forever. —I rolled my eyes and obeyed, resting my body on the stiff mattress as I waited for him.

In the process of force healing, I got really sleepy, my body's energy leaving as Obi-Wan started the ritual. His eyes turned yellow and his hands glowed on top of my skin, which ached profoundly. After a few minutes, the itching stopped and my energy returned like a big wave, splashing over me. Obi-Wan pulled back in his chair, giving me space to sit up. I felt brand new, that simple procedure cleaned over my aura, almost like the mission didn't happen.

—What the fuck is this? And why haven't I tried it before? —I scoffed, amazed, twirling my arm to confirm that it was, in fact, okay. The ugly scar was truly gone.

—You feel fine? —He questioned me and I moved my head up and down in an affirmative motion. —Great. Should we do the other ones? —Still marveled at my arm, I nodded without paying much attention to Obi-Wan and I laid down once more. —Can I lift up your shirt? —And I repeated my previous action.

I twisted, pinched, scratched the zone in my arm.It was like it came out of a factory, almost surreal that it didn't have a single mark. Obi-Wan truly knew what he was doing. I was in the middle of my tests when Obi-Wan interrupted me.

—Those rebels sure are savages if they mark you up like this.

I sat up so quickly that I almost hit him, but luckily he was fast enough to roll away from me, with his arms crossed and a mocking grin. I looked down and there they were, all the hickeys and bite marks Anakin left last night. Uselessly, I hurried to cover them, like somehow that would make Obi-Wan forget them. Not able to handle his gaze, I fixated my eyes on a machine in front of me as I regained some courage to face him.

—Y-Yeah- —I cleared my throat. Try harder, Y/n! It's not working! —Yeah, they were really aggressive! —I shook my head with determination. —When I tell you they jumped on me and held me against a table by the throat, it should give you a hint of how feral they were! With a chain! —I squealed, trying to sound indignated.

—Trust me, I have no doubt of that. —He answered and I turned around to see him, and he was laid back with his legs crossed. —So why don't you have marks in that area? —He had a challenging face.

—They were especially eager to hurt me around my already wounded area, the one you should be healing, thank you very much!—I spoke through gritted teeth and dropped myself in the stretcher, hurrying this whole nightmare of a situation up.

Obi-Wan laughed and force healed that area as well. Not before asking my permission, he unzipped one part of my pants to access the last injury, making my bottoms turn into shorts. I stared into the ceiling, not ready for what was about to happen.

—Humm, you know, the abdomen I can understand, but in the thighs? Did you even have the suit on? —Obi-Wan couldn't help his laugh. —Or were you naked? —He joked.

—Shut up and do your thing!

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—I'm just saying we should take special precautions if the rebels are behaving like that! Do you know how dangerous it is to bite someone? You only do that to people who are close to you... —Obi-Wan had been teasing me the whole time since we left the medbay and I was one comment away from waxing his eyebrows off so he would stop moving them at me insinuatingly.

—Don't be so sure about that, I'm really close to biting your fingers off, old man. —I glared at him when he poked me for the eleventh time. He cackled and clapped; he was having the time of his life.

—We should definitely have- —He stopped suddenly on his track when we arrived at the dungeon where Anakin locked Ki-Adi-Mundi. The door was open and we could see Qui-Gon's and Anakin's back and our captive on the floor coughing. I looked back at Obi-Wan who was left behind me. This way we all stared at him. —Ki... —He whispered, with a broken face.

The Cerean man looked up at the mention of his name.

—Obi-Wan... —He said with tears in his eyes, Qui-Gon immediately kicked him in the face.

—You okay, Obi? —Concern shot out of me. I tried to reach him and show him support by rubbing his arm.

—Yes, yes... Everything is fine, I just- I'm surprised, that's all. —Obi-Wan turned his face to not stare at the cell and I noticed his agitated chest. They put Ki to sleep once again and Anakin closed the door after Qui-Gon exited.

The cell was basically an old basement, rusty due to the passage of time, with a couple of metal rings and a dusty floor. The wall papers were peeling off the wall and it stank heavily. It was definitely not equipped to hold a Jedi.

Qui-Gon grabbed Obi-Wan by the shoulders and led us back to the top floor, where most of the rooms were. So yes, basically I walked all the way down just to come back up a couple of minutes after. But after watching Obi-Wan's state I didn't want to stay there... I guessed that man was someone important to him given his reaction. Although he quickly recovered and started talking to the guys about how they could make him talk, the melancholy never left him.

We strolled all the way to the main lobby.

—Anakin, we need something to hold him off. Do you think you can design it? —Anakin said yes without hesitation. —I'll take care of the construction of the new cell, he can't stay there. And until I say something different, we will keep this a secret. —We all demonstrated understanding.—Those were some rough couple of days, I think you two deserve the day off. —We sighed, pleased and grateful to have nothing else to do. Maybe we could resume our activities from this morning... —Before moving on completely from this, any last comment? —Qui-Gon asked with open arms.

—Oh! Yes! —Anakin raised his hand like a little kid. —We found out that Phoenix has a nickname amongst the rebels. —I rolled my eyes at his childish grin and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon looked at him curiously. —They call her... "the Shadow". —He made a dramatic hand gesture.

—What? Why? —The two of them looked entertained at the story.

—They knew that she worked for the Empire, but they didn't know who she was. She had a face that they hadn't seen before, not like Obi-Wan's or mine. So they came up with the name because of her black suits and apparently, apparently... —He did quotation marks next.— "She is so fast that you can't catch a glance at her".—He huffed that last part and I smiled funnyly.

—Well, that's a pretty cool nickname. —Qui-Gon agreed lovingly. —But I can't help but notice that we haven't properly introduced you to the galaxy as an active part of the Empire and I'm terribly ashamed of it. My apologies, Phoenix. —He put his palm on his chest and slightly bowed, as a sign of regret.

—It's not necessary, Qui-Gon. Seriously, I-

—Nonsense! You are part of this team and we should present you as such! —My heart warmed at that and I couldn't hide it; my flushed cheeks betrayed me. —Trooper! Bring a camera over! We are going to send an official announcement through the Empire's newspaper! "Darth Phoenix: The New Empire's Commander of Mission Strategy!"—Qui-Gon's hand moved like he was describing it on a huge marquee. The armored man sped to get the request.

I scoffed, not believing this wasn't a dream. Obi-Wan hugged me from the side and congratulated me, while Anakin stood from across me, with a coy smile and his arms behind his back, nodding proudly.

You deserve it, sweetheart.

I grinned at him and let happiness consumed me. The way I was surrounded by love washed over me; I never experienced anything like this. I was so overwhelmed in emotion that tears threatened to form in my eyes, but I let my emotion escape in laughs instead.

—We should make it official! Lightsabers, on! —Anakin made this little act of resistance, but in the end, we all ignited our blades to make them meet in the middle of us, lik doing a giant X. Sadness took over me when I saw that my saber was the only one standing out from the red glows, that barrier setting me apart. But they didn't care. They were too happy welcoming me in, to think about what made me different. —Here I pronounce, Darth Phoenix, official member of the Empire's team! ... And our little family.

Oh Force, I was already struggling to keep the tears at bay.

We said one last hurray and waved them up as a salute. Qui-Gon hugged me tightly and at that moment, the trooper came back, panting hard.

—Here Sir, are you ready? —He got in position to take the picture.

We organized in the next line up: Anakin at one side with his arms crossed, on his left Qui-Gon held him by his shoulder. I was next, towered by Qui-Gon's height, hugging him and Obi-Wan by their waists. I was almost hiding under Qui-Gon's left arm, which was resting on Obi-Wan's back. Obi-Wan was right next to me, returning the gentle gesture and resting his hand on my waist.

—Hold that camera right trooper! It has to be a cute picture! —Qui-Gon ordered and returned to smile widely.

—If you want a cute picture, then take Anakin out of it. —I talked through my wide smile.

Obi-Wan laughed through muffled sounds, but Qui-Gon hit me on the head this time.

—You sure what you're doing, Qui-Gon? We haven't made the announcement,we can still kick her out.—Anakin whispered.

And now Qui-Gon hit him.

—You had the ball in your court, son. —Qui-Gon sighed. —Just take the damn picture!—He scolded the trooper.

—Okay, 1, 2, 3... —We all came back to our smiling faces, Anakin doing his characteristic smirk, Qui-Gon smiling like he was the father of the year, Obi-Wan with a youthful grin and of course, me, who had the biggest beam on my face.

This was the happiest I've ever been.

—Cheese!

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A/N: Awwww, cutieeeees!!!

Did you understand the photo's line up? lol

Today I'm super busy but I got to finish this week's chapter!

Also,regarding the Kenobi group chat. According to popular demand, we could do it in Discord! I've never used it properly, but I downloaded it!! I made a group chat already. Look me up as Mina Skywalker #2408 ! Just tell me your user name when you add me to add you to the gc!

Sending lots of love, babes! Take care!

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