Anakin slowly opened his eyes with a groan. He blinked rapidly against the harsh light of the overhead bulb, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. His memory was fuzzy, he couldn't remember where he was or how he had gotten there. Instantly, he searched for his lightsaber's weight, finding his person alarmingly empty. He then looked at his surroundings, trying to determine what exactly had happened.

He was seated on a cold, steel chair with his hands cuffed to the rungs on the table before him. Anakin studied the locking mechanism, cocking his head to the side as he contemplated using the Force to unlock it. He shook his head in annoyance and turned to his left, his dark hair bouncing in front of his eyes. Unlocking the cuffs would be pointless unless he could find a way to deactivate the plasma shield that stood between him and freedom.

His thoughts suddenly turned to Val. A dull ache encased his chest as he tried to remember when he had last seen her, if she had been okay. The last thing he remembered was her eyes rolling back into her head as she fell to her knees, collapsing instantly. Anakin recalled a similar sensation in his own blood, though its effects acted slower on him than they did on her. It then occurred to him what had happened; they had been drugged.

At that moment, the plasma screen deactivated and a woman stepped into his holding cell.

Anakin straightened, instantly sizing up his apparent kidnapper. She was a formidable woman with dark skin that seemed to make her eyes even more piercing. She spared no niceties, merely coming to stand on the opposite side of the table.

She placed a deactivated holoprojector on the table before him, before straightening again and stepping back. "I am Commander Lyran Modal. Head of the Outer Rim Crime Division Task Force, and Chief of Taris' planetary security."

Anakin raised an eyebrow, a tilted smirk on his lips as he figured out which facet of his personality would unsettle this woman most. "And I'm Chancellor Palpatine."

Commander Modal didn't budge, barely reacting to his quip. "No, but you're close enough."

Anakin faltered as she leant forward and pressed a button on the holoprojector, causing an image of Anakin's face to appear in the flickering blue light. Beside it was written his affiliation with the Jedi Order and with the Republic military, detailing his rank and clearance — which, as a General, was just about unrestricted.

"What is a Jedi General doing on Taris with a known felon?"

Anakin looked up instantly, a new ferocity in his eyes as he answered her question with one of his own. "Where is she?"

"Detained. Now answer me, why were you consorting with a criminal." The Commander replied, standing tall with her hands behind her back.

"Where is she?" He said again, a long pause between each word as he grew visibly angrier. The woman didn't answer him, simply waiting.

Anakin narrowed his eyes, but chose to play her game until he could concoct a plan. "It's Jedi business, classified. And she isn't a criminal."

He couldn't help adding it as an afterthought. The woman raised an eyebrow, switching to a different projection on the screen. It was a mugshot of Val, her face bruised but her eyes bright with fire. Beside her image was the name Seaflyer in bold and a list of offences that continued on beyond the scope of the hologram, sorted by severity. Only the petty crimes were stated near the top, but Anakin could only imagine what was listed further down.

"Seaflyer," The woman began, speaking as though she had rehearsed it — as though she had been waiting years to bring Val in. "A pirate with known ties to the crime syndicate codenamed the Reaper. Wanted in over 300 sectors for charges ranging from theft to kidnapping to incitement of violence to murder. Singular and mass murder, I might add. And you expect me to believe she's not a criminal?"

"Yes." Anakin replied immediately, before his mind could come up with a reasonable excuse for his friend's past. "She had her reasons, it's much more complicated than you know."

The woman gave him a slightly smug look, as though the conversation had arrived exactly where she had been leading it. "How so?"

Anakin realised he had boxed himself in, he didn't have a believable answer to give — not one that Val would approve of at least. Commander Modal seemed to sense his hesitation, because she added. "If you can't give me a reason why she's not one of the most dangerous criminals currently alive, then she's headed straight for a galactic maximum security prison and she'll be there for a very long time."

Anakin was out of options. He either told this truth, or Val went somewhere far away from him and he wouldn't be able to save her this time. He kissed his teeth, before sighing. He indicated the holopad with his head, "Search for a Valerie Aurez."

The woman did as he said, typing in the runes and bringing a new projection. The image was severely outdated, but Anakin couldn't help but stare in fascination. It was undoubtedly Val, the same mischievous spark shone in her storm-blue eyes, she was simply younger than he had ever seen her. She was grinning broadly with a gapped tooth smile, the whites of her eyes lost in the glee on her face. Beside her image was listed her rank as a Jedi padawan and the name of her Master.

Just below that, was written the word deceased and a timestamp dated from four years ago. Anakin's heart fell but he breathed deeply, waiting for the woman to finish her inspection of the projection.

She also seemed to recognise the similarities between the young girl and the Val that existed now. She turned back to him for a further explanation. Anakin began speaking, letting the lies — what should have been the truth, in a kinder life — flow from his lips like water.

"Val has been on an extremely sensitive deep cover assignment for the past four years, earning her place in the large crime syndicates and climbing the ranks so could feed information back to the Republic. She did what she had to do for the mission."

She raised an eyebrow, "They sent a child to infiltrate a pirate crew?"

Anakin stared blankly at her, refusing to acknowledge her disbelief. "Her Master had died in battle just prior, she was also widely thought to be dead. Val volunteered for the operation, and the council believed she could handle it."

The woman nodded, not quite convinced but no longer entirely skeptical. "And where do you come in?"

Anakin sighed, relieved that these next words were some semblance of truth. "We uncovered what we believe to be a widespread smuggling operation in the Outer Rim. I was sent to extract her so we could investigate, and put an end to it."

The Commander began pacing in front of him, his words seemed to have struck something in her.

"So one of the most notorious felons in the galaxy is actually a Jedi in deep cover, and you've come to Taris following a lead on a smuggling ring." She was speaking lowly, almost to herself. She shook her head with a half-smile. "This is too good to be true."

She said the last part with a half-hearted chuckle, before turning back to Anakin with her previous sobriety. She moved back to the plasma bars and deactivated it, speaking to him over her shoulder. "If she confirms your story, then we all have something very grave to discuss."

She turned and left, the blue shield flickering back into place. A panic infiltrated Anakin's chest. There was no chance Val could corroborate his fiction on her own, and then he would lose her. Anakin pushed the fear aside, tapping into the one skill the Order had truly instilled into him — the ability to block out his emotions.

There was only one course of action he could think of that had the slightest chance of succeeding. Val's connection to the Force had been severed at the bone, but there was still hope to be found within it. A metaphysical manifestation of their bond that he didn't quite understand, but that he thanked the stars for now. He reached inward, to that bridge of light that resided within the most sacred depths of his soul.

He would admit, since he had felt their connection strengthen and grow the closer they became, he had been scared to reach across that divide — to consciously feel the presence of her soul beside his. He could never bring himself to reach for her, but he would often look across that vast expanse of stone and see her on the other side. It was not always Val's face he saw, oftentimes he merely felt the presence of her true self — a kaleidoscopic being that smiled and shifted and swelled in devastating shades of blue and white. She was beautiful. He wondered what she saw when she looked back at him.

Anakin shook his head, closing his eyes and calming his mind. He entered a meditative state as best he could, feeling the world slow and tilt around him — but his heart would not cease its reckless pace as he took his first step onto the bridge. Nothing changed and, as he moved further away from himself and closer to her, he realised why. There had never been any barrier between them, other than the one his fear had created. She was half of his soul, nothing could change or alter that. And as he reached her on the other side of the divide, the two broken pieces fused together.

He could see her.

She was sat on a metal chair in a dark room, her arms tied behind her back. In the dim light, he could barely make out her face as her head hung low and her eyes remained closed. She couldn't sense him. Concern pierced his chest as whatever form he currently occupied crouched before her. He reached his hand up to her face, gently pressing his palm to her cheek.

Her head snapped up suddenly and her eyes flew open. As she looked up and the sparse light illuminated her features, Anakin's heartbeat froze within his ribs. Her lip was split, dried blood crusted against the skin. The side of her temple was bruised purple, her left eye partially closed due to the swelling. Her chest moved in ragged movements, straining to breathe as though her ribs were beaten in. Her eyes flickered rapidly around the small space, searching for something.

"Who's there?" Her voice was coarse, rough like gravel as though she had been crying. Or screaming.

An intense anger filled Anakin's body, like nothing he'd ever felt before. Violence sang in his blood as he swore to end whoever had put their hands on her, whoever had put that fear in her eyes — slowly, painfully. Darkness filled the room, writhing at his back, and he knew Val could feel it too, because she shrunk into herself — limiting her breathing as though it would mask her presence from whatever evil had come for her.

Anakin forced himself to breathe deeply, letting the rage go for her sake. For now.

"Val," He said softly, watching as she looked around in recognition. "Val, it's me."

A broken sigh left her cracked lips as her chest sank in relief. Her eyes roamed around the room, not settling on any spot in particular. Anakin's eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he realised she couldn't see him as he could see her, but she could hear him.

"Val, I'm right in front of you." He said, watching as her eyes settled near his form — slightly to his left.

"I can't see you." She said shakily, swallowing agonisingly.

Anakin's chest caved in at the pain underlying her voice. "I know, it's going to be okay. I'm going to get you out of this, but you need to listen carefully."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Anakin was anxiously tapping his fingers on the desk before him when the plasma door disengaged and Commander Modal entered, accompanied by a shaken Val. Anakin shot to his feet in an instant. He tried to reach her but his hands were restrained to the table; he turned to the Commander, a fury so bright he could feel it sizzling beneath his robes as he glared at her. The woman nodded once to a figure beyond the door, and an armoured guard entered the room and unlocked his wrists.

He was moving immediately, causing the attendant to shrink back in fear as Anakin stood in front of Val. Anakin wrapped his arms around her tightly without a word, holding her against him as she shuddered a breath. She might have been crying, he couldn't tell, as she pressed her face into his chest. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and Anakin could feel she was shaking. She made no move to return his embrace, and Anakin didn't need her to. She needed a shield from the world and he could be that, he could be whatever she wanted.

As he held her in his arms, felt her breathe against him, the anxiety instantly left his body. He then turned his focus elsewhere, feeling the anger resurface in its place as he looked to the Commander.

"What did you do to her?" He said slowly, feeling the room turn cold as Val became still in his arms — as though she could sense the darkness in his veins, red as his blood. Anakin forcibly reined it back, allowing light to take its place — if only for her.

The Commander stood stagnantly, artificial remorse in her voice as she answered. "Seaflyer was a notorious criminal in the Outer Rim, much of my task force personnel have personally lost people to her or her crew. Next time, I will ensure less volatile guards are on duty."

Anakin held Val tighter, his fingers digging into her shoulders as though he thought he could piece her back together through will alone. He knew her, knew her mind; she would always mourn every innocent life she had ever taken and he knew, though she would never admit to him, that this pain felt like repentance. Blood for blood.

Anakin would spend a lifetime, spend an eternity, telling her otherwise. If that was what it took.

He clenched his teeth, seething through his anger. "There won't be a next time. And if any of your men ever come near her again, they lose their lives to me."

The woman somehow went even stiller, though the men outside the room shakily placed their hands on their weapons — it wouldn't save them, not from him.

"Is that a threat, General?"

"It's a promise, Commander."

They locked eyes for a long moment, neither breaking away. Anakin needed that woman to know, needed everyone to know that Val was with him, that she was his — and it was a fury unlike anything the galaxy had ever known when the ones he loved were hurt. For a moment, his anger was superseded by his shock.

Love.

The word infiltrated his veins like acid. His instinct was to recoil, to hide from the truth like that would save him — it never had before. But he knew it was true, knew it in his bones, knew it as he knew the rising sun. Knew it as he knew her. His fear was not worth losing her, and even if she did not bleed for him the way he bled for it, it did not matter.

He didn't expect her to love him in the same visceral, all-consuming way that he loved — he just needed her to be alright. And if holding her this tightly could weld her broken pieces in any way, then Force be damned, he would bleed all his light for her. He knew deep down that he was throwing himself into another hurricane, praying there would be someone to catch him before he hit the water — but even further down, he knew he truly didn't care. As long as the people he loved were okay, as long as she was okay, then it was enough for him.

Even if he could never hold her closer than that.

He and the Commander finally broke eye contact as she gazed at him with a sort of appreciative calm, and moved back over to stand before the holopad. Anakin glanced between the woman and Val, shuffling backwards towards the single chair. He gently pried Val away from him and she sat down wordlessly; the quiet shifting as she made contact with the cold chair was the only indication she was still conscious.

Anakin took his place beside the chair, his arms by his side but within reaching distance of her at all times. The Commander spared a curious glance between them, before she shook her head and inputted several commands into the holopad, causing a new projection to appear. A shadowy outline flickered before them, with the word Crusade in Aurebesh runes above it.

"We've been tracking a smuggling ring that has its base on Taris for almost two years now," The Commander began, her hands behind her back as she narrated. "To this day, we know very little about them, how they operate or who leads them. We do know that they have extensive ties to the criminal underground, and that they traffic all throughout the Outer Rim territories."

"What do they smuggle?" Anakin inquired, feeling as though he already knew the answer.

"Spice, weapons, people. Anything that's worth a credit." The woman replied.

Anakin crossed his arms, an unimpressed look on his face though he secretly wondered why the Republic had done nothing about this. "What does this have to do with us?"

The woman fixed him with a hard stare, "The only lead we currently had was that something was being smuggled onto Taris, with a drop point on dock 17. When we identified Seaflyer, it was only logical to assume that she was the contact. If not, she was still a wanted felon, or so we thought."

The two both turned to look at Val, who seemed no more in touch with the world. Anakin gazed at her worriedly, before shaking his head and turned back to Commander Modal.

"It sounds like we were following the same lead." Anakin said, catching the woman's attention. "We foiled a kidnapping on Lothal. A woman had been paid to smuggle a young girl to Taris, and she was meeting an unknown organisation for the exchange on the dock where you grabbed us. They gave her a passphrase to establish herself to them."

The Commander nodded, a hand to her chin. "Well, it seems like your kidnapper's employer could be in league with our Crusade."

"Or they could be the Crusade itself," Anakin added.

Commander Modal nodded again, "So, it seems we have a common mission."

Val suddenly looked up, a spark of attention flaring in her eyes. She gazed at the screen, her gaze roaming over the little information known about the shadowy organisation.

The woman gave her a strange look, but Anakin was the one who spoke to her. He placed his hand gently on her shoulder, "What is it, Val?"

Val seemed to emerge from whatever daze had gripped her, her eyes becoming more alert as she breathed deeply. "I've heard of the Crusade. The crew and I had run-ins with them over stolen goods all the time."

A quiet ache still clung to her soul, Anakin could feel it, but she was talking. That was enough for now. Val shook her head with a scoff, putting her palm to her forehead. "I should have realised sooner. I knew there was a smuggling ring that operated out of Taris, I should have known the Crusade was who we were dealing with."

Anakin squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, "It's alright. Neither of us knew, it's not your fault."

Val sighed, absently reaching up and placing her hand on top of his. Her hand was cold as ice against his, and Anakin immediately moved to take off his coat and drape it over her shoulders. Val folded her arms into it, giving him a small smile. Anakin, standing tall in his dark Jedi robes again, gave her a lopsided grin before turning back to the table.

Commander Modal inclined her head to the projection, deep in thought. "Do you have a contact within Crusade? Anyone we might be able to use for information?"

Val shook her head, her hair shifting around her face and casting shadows against the bruises on her skin. Anakin felt only a blaze of anger before she spoke. "No, Rolfe refused to trade with them even before I joined. He never told me why, it was like he knew something I didn't. I just assumed that there was bad blood between our... organisations."

Val gazed at the steel desk, darkness flashing across her face. "But I've crossed blades with them enough times. They know who I am."

The woman nodded, her face empty of judgement. "Perhaps, that can still work."

"What can still work?" Anakin asked confusedly, looking between Val and the Commander who seemed to be on the same wavelength.

Commander Modal tapped the holoprojection, causing a map of the lower city levels to appear. She reworked the frame until dock 17 came into focus. "If we believed Seaflyer to be the anonymous contact, then chances are they're likely to believe the same thing. If only long enough for us to capture and interrogate whoever arrives to meet her."

"But Val said the Crusade and the Reaper won't do business together, why would they agree to meet a known member of a rival syndicate?" Anakin asked, choosing to ignore that the woman kept referring to Val by her pseudonym despite the fact that it made his shoulders tense in annoyance.

Val shook her head, looking up at him with bright eyes. "Half of the criminal underworld knows I've left Rolfe by now.

She turned back to the projection, a resolved expression on her face. "And if they didn't, then they're about to find out."

Anakin looked at her, dumbfounded. "Hold on, I feel like we've skipped a few steps here. We don't even have a plan."

"The plan is simple." The Commander explained, "Seaflyer will act as the contact and wait at dusk by the meeting place. My men will be stationed nearby to intercept when the handler arrives."

Val shook her head, unfolding her arms as she sat forward. "It won't work."

Modal raised an eyebrow, "And why not?"

Val smirked, though her face held no humour. "Criminal code 101. Never reveal your hand without confirmation of the package. If they don't see their target with me, they'll never expose themselves."

The Commander seemed to consider her words, gazing down in deep thought. "Then I guess we need something to bait them with. A package they couldn't refuse."

She gazed between Val and Anakin, an unreadable expression in her eyes. There was a long silence in the room, barely a breath to be heard. Suddenly, Anakin felt Val tense beside him.

"No."

He looked around suddenly, trying to ascertain what she was so ardently refusing. The Commander crossed her arms, giving the former pirate a hard stare. "It would work. And you know that."

"Yes, it would work." Val said, a biting venom to her voice — it was the most emotion he had felt from her since she stumbled into the room. "Which is exactly why I won't let it happen. If this goes south-"

"What is going on?" Anakin asked loudly, scoffing when he was ignored as the two women kept exchanging harsh secret words.

"I was under the impression you two had a Republic-sanctioned mission to complete. At any cost." The Commander shot back.

Val stood, planting her palms on the desk. In the flickering blue light, her bruises seemed to mimic ocean waves as they crashed and shattered against the shore — turbulent and frightening. Her eyes darkened.

"Some costs are too high."

Anakin wrapped his hand around her wrist, forcing her attention to him. "Val, what is happening?"

She gazed into his eyes silent for a long moment as she traced his features. Val sighed, as though she knew these words would seal their fate. "They want you to be the bait."

Anakin slackened, his mouth drawn into a flat line as he comprehended her words. Anakin immediately realised Val's thought pattern, why she had stated so strongly against it. He couldn't lie and say the same revulsion, the same fear, didn't also consume him. He swallowed hard, straightening his spine — as though to shield the nine-year-old boy who stood in his shadow.

"If it's the only option we have." He said, a strange emptiness to his voice, as though someone else was speaking through his body.

The Commander nodded curtly, as though she were glad one of them could see reason. "I'll prepare my squad, leave you two to discuss."

She beckoned to an attendant waiting beyond the door, who scurried in with a tray. He placed it on the desk before hurrying out with the Commander steps behind. Despite the looming presence of Modal departing from them, guards still remained beyond the door.

Val sat down in the chair again, putting a hand to her temple — the side that was marred by streaks of angry blue and purple. He wanted to ask her about the marks, to demand the name of whoever had put their hands on her. But he watched the way the pads of her fingers pressed into the broken flesh, watched as she winced at the sting but kept her hand in place — feeling the pain in a continuous stream, like she was drowning in it but would make no effort to reach the surface. Anakin knew there would be no point in trying to get any answers from her. He could try later, but there was no guarantee time would mend these wounds.

The tension between them seemed to grow with each breath, neither saying anything for a long moment — Val was lost in her own thoughts, and Anakin was lost without her insight.

Anakin stepped towards the tray, finding their confiscated equipment within. He retrieved his lightsaber, clipping it onto his belt, glad to feel its familiar weight. He picked up the flame lily, the glass sphere cold in his ungloved hand, and Val's sheathed swords, passing them back to her and watching as she silently pocketed the flower and strapped the swords to her back again.

Now, all that remained in the tray was Val's broken lightsaber.

Anakin had never held it before, if her lightsaber meant anything to her like his meant to him then it was likely too personal a memory. Still, she made no objections as he held the battered blade in his hand. The craftsmanship was slim and flexible, fashioned for an agile duelist rather than the raw power his lightsaber was intended for. His eyes drifted over the faded runes that spelt out Lightbringer. Anakin smiled, it was a fitting name for her.

He passed it back to her, watching as she quickly pocketed the hilt — putting it out of sight as though its presence was molten lava on her skin. Anakin bent his fingers inward, stalling for time whilst he thought of something to say — something that would console her, and perhaps himself.

"It'll be okay, we can just conceal our weapons-"

Val shook her head, cutting him off. "No, they have machines that can detect that from far off distances. If they see a lightsaber, they'll immediately know it's a trap."

Anakin paused, sighing as he realised she was right — likely because her own crew had used similar technology.

"Still, we've survived worse dangers than this." Anakin remarked, turning to lean against the desk with his arms crossed.

Val stood, turning to pace the length of the room. "I know that, but-"

"What is it?" Anakin interrupted her, searching for the source of her inhibition. He, of course, understood it at the base level — it was just the humane response when faced with slavery, to turn away in disgust or horror. But she, of all people, knew the importance of their mission, and this was the only lead they had. "What's wrong, Val?"

Her head was angled to the ground but Anakin could see her eyes were inclined towards him beneath her hair. She sighed, desperation that she masked as anger in her tone as she said. "I won't let you be treated as something to be sold. Even if it's just for this. I- I can't do it, not to you."

Anakin's chest sank as he gazed at her with a quiet sadness. In truth, the same panic was lying, barely restrained in his blood. Even the mere thought of returning to that circuit where beings were treated as commodities to be sold both enraged and terrified him all at once. He wanted to tear the world apart with his bare hands. He wanted to hide from the glaring light — and, if it meant never returning to his darkest memories, he would run from those twin burning suns forever.

He breathed deeply; Val had chosen to be the fatalist between them, which left it up to him to be the voice of reason. Obi-wan would be proud, he thought with a flash of pride, before returning to the matter at hand.

"Val, we have a job to do. This mission is more important."

She turned and faced him, roiling anger on her face but with an underlying panic beneath it. She was scared, he realised, scared for him. "But what about you? I don't care about the mission, Anakin. Not if it means choosing between it and you."

Anakin tried to interject but she continued on, burning through her words like they were scalding to speak. Anakin thought there may have been tears in her eyes as she gazed at him; tears of anger or tears of pain, he wasn't sure. "You would never ask me to return to Rolfe, not even if there were lives at stake. Not for any mission, would you ask that of me. How can you expect me to stand idly by while you face this?"

No words came to him — no defence or counter to her point existed. She was right. He would sacrifice the world to protect her from the man who had caused her so much pain — no mission was worth the emptiness in her eyes when the Captain was near. He would find another way, any other way, to spare her from that. Then, a new emotion bloomed in his chest; warm and glistening, like dawn light on still water. Like the feeling of her hand in his.

"I'm not asking you to stand idly by. I'm asking you to face it with me."

Val's anger dissipated in an instant, replaced by a quiet reverence as she contemplated his words. Anakin gave her a gentle smile, his heart beating whole and unbroken in his chest. "It'll be okay. As long as we're together."

Val's arms fell to her sides as she stepped towards him, a soft smile on her face as she looked to the ground. "We walk out of this together?"

Anakin barely thought before he drew her closer, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. This time, Val returned his embrace, encircling his waist and pressing her hands against his back. Anakin rested his chin on top of her head, and whispered with the resolve of a thousand burning suns. "Together."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Anakin was beginning to doubt the assuredness behind his earlier statements.

Standing beside Val on dock 17, his hands restrained with plasma cuffs in front of him, Anakin resisted the urge to tug at the shock collar that was clamped tightly around his neck. He knew what he had been agreeing to, and he'd tried to keep that same assuredness when the Commander returned to the holding room with the proper restraining equipment.

"This needs to look good." She'd said, leaving them again to fit the restraints — it was the intimacy of being sent to one's own grave, he thought, as Val's slightly trembling hands connected the mechanism around his throat. He watched as she ensured several times that the circlet was deactivated, as she did all she could to ensure this would not end badly.

Anakin had never worn one of the standard restraining collars donned by slaves, he had been too young for Watto or the Hutts to bother. He had seen his mother chained in one often, working tirelessly despite the desert sun that sent rashes like fire ants burning across his skin. It'll keep Watto happy, she often said, and Anakin had quickly learnt that if Watto was happy then they were safe. At least for a moment.

He didn't feel safe now, Anakin thought to himself as he and Val waited anxiously for the contact to arrive. He knew the Commander's men were stationed within nearby buildings and on rooftops, ready to intervene should this go awry, but their shadowy presence did nothing to calm his fear. It was too risky to speak in this open area, too easy for anyone to be watching or listening. Since the moment they had been directed out of the Crime Division's headquarters, they had been dutifully fulfilling their warring roles of pirate and Jedi once more.

He wanted desperately to speak to her, to hear her voice. He knew it would quell the screeching voice in his mind that cried danger, to hear assurance that she was with him. Knew that if he could just hear her laugh, or see her smile, then the panic in his chest would subside — if only for a heartbeat. But the Val he knew was gone, lost beneath the nebulous mask of the infamous Seaflyer that the criminal underworld knew her to be.

He tried his best to play the part, as she did. Tried to appear disgruntled and sullen and moderately frightened at the prospect of being sold — he didn't have to try exhaustively to embody that particular emotion. Truly, he tried, but Obi-wan had always professed that Anakin wore his emotions like a second skin; they were hard to fabricate and even harder to conceal.

He had always laughed his Master off, but now he saw it was true. His mind couldn't seem to overcome the change in her, to look past the persona she so artfully crafted from fragments of her past — he couldn't help but search for the cracks in her facade where the true Val, his Val, could bleed through.

There was a perpetual look of boredom on her face as she leant against the wall, cleaning under her fingernails with a dark metal dagger. She had crafted the illusion of impatience, tapping her foot and glowering at the ground, despite the fact that anyone surveying them would know they only arrived minutes ago. She was playing her part perfectly; he barely recognised her. She was nothing like he knew her to be, nothing like how she was with him.

Anakin felt a strong temptation to call the mission off; she would in a heartbeat, if he asked. He could feel an anxious swelling in his chest, as though his ribs were going to burst. They'd been forced to leave their lightsabers behind at the command centre, lest their ruse be uncovered by this Crusade. Anakin felt its absence like a phantom limb, cleaved at the bone.

Anakin felt a wave of intense anger whenever he thought of the shadowy organisation. He had dedicated many valuable hours to toppling smuggling rings and freeing slaves, hours that the Republic claimed could be better spent on the war effort. In those moments, Anakin questioned whether the Republic was worth defending. Though he had pushed it to the depths of his memory, he had not forgotten the apathy on Master Qui-Jon's face when he had remarked that the Jedi had not come to Tatooine to free the slaves — only to free him. He had left his mother behind on that forsaken desert world, a choice that had proved fatal for her. And for him.

A piece of his heart had been buried in the sand alongside her that day, and he would never forgive the Order, the Republic, the whole damned universe, for not saving her. For failing her. For failing them all.

In moments like these, when all the pain came flooding back like tidal waves, he could care less if the world burned. Perhaps he would light the match himself.

A quiet chittering suddenly reached his ears, and he and Val both turned their attention to the open alley as a hovering probe droid approached them. Val immediately reached for her blade, and Anakin found himself, once again, wishing for his lightsaber.

As the droid neared, a robotically emulated voice sounded. "The empire will lie in wait."

Val and Anakin exchanged a glance, before Val pushed off the wall and stood in front of the droid. "Until the Brezaks soar again."

There was a mechanical clattering from the droid, and then a shift in tone, still robotic in nature but now it sounded as though a being was speaking on the other end. "This is not the bounty we agreed upon, smuggler."

"There were complications on Lothal. I've brought you something much better." Val replied, folding her hands nonchalantly into her coat pockets and appearing unbothered and arrogant.

"Identify your bounty."

"A Jedi Knight." She answered, her voice losing a fraction of its mischievous lilt. Anakin wanted to smile; a crack in the facade. Though there had never been any doubt, it was confirmation she was still in there. That he was not alone.

"Identify yourself."

"Seaflyer." She replied with a smirk, the name itself carried a lifetime of carnage. It needed no explanation, and she offered none.

There was a long calculating pause, before the robot voice continued. "The Crusade finds this transaction acceptable."

The voice disappeared, and the probe droid turned and continued back the way it had come. Val and Anakin shared a confused glance, before warily following after the droid. Concern was making a home in his chest as they journeyed deeper and deeper into the underground of level seventeen. This was not part of the plan, he thought as he slowly lost sight of familiar buildings and routes. He prayed the Commander's men had caught on and were following them through the metallic labyrinth.

Val walked several paces behind him, still entrenched in the role of the profit-hungry pirate watching her bounty to ensure they made no attempts at escaping — Anakin wished their way out of this situation would be so easy. As they followed the droid further into the abysmal concave city, Anakin felt his breaths come shorter as the air turned acidic and stale.

Val shot him a veiled concerned glance, before she took three large bounds forward and stepped past him. She came to a halt in the middle of a long dark alley that was overshadowed by two inward leaning buildings that reached upwards to the manufactured sky. There was minimal light, but Anakin could see as she crossed her arms in annoyance, speaking in an impatient drawl. "Where are we going?"

The droid paused as she did, turning slowly so its blazing crimson eye faced her. Anakin felt as though its camera eye was roving over her, savouring the last image of sanctity before the slaughter.

"I suppose here will do."

The voice that spoke was distinctly organic, a jovial charisma that was the eternal opposite to the prior robotic tone. Anakin barely had a moment to compute the development, before a searing pain penetrated his skin, lancing in a white-hot fury through his veins and bringing him to his knees. He collapsed on the grime-covered alley floor, convulsing from the cascading agony that ran a circuit through his body.

From his hazed vision, he could see Val looking at him in terror but she was unable to reach his side as a dozen men emerged from hidden crevices between buildings and from within shadows. Val drew her blades instantly, holding them in a defensive position as the dark-clad assailants encircled her in a wide berth.

The sea of darkness parted as a lone figure strolled through them, stopping several feet in front of Val. Anakin rapidly blinked, trying to clear his vision and to overpower the effects of the collar. The figure inclined his head towards Anakin's collapsed form, watching as the Jedi struggled to rise. The figure sighed, before pressing down on something gripped within their hand.

Electricity poisoned his bloodstream again, in a torrential wave that seemed worse than before. Anakin curled into himself, groaning in pain when the current subsided a moment later.

Val looked between the hooded person and Anakin in quick succession, her eyes wide with horror. "How did you-"

"Come now, you of all people must know these collars have universal operators. Control one, you control them all." A distinctly male voice explained with condescending amusement. "I suppose I should thank you for saving me the trouble of fitting the collar on your friend myself."

"Who are you?" Val said, holding her blades in a standard reverse grip as she anticipated the fight to come.

The man before her flung his hood back, revealing a boyish face with dark curtained hair and a sabre-toothed smirk.

"We're the Crusade. And we've been waiting a long time for you, Seaflyer."

Anakin's last sight before the current took him to unconsciousness, was Val seizing up before falling to her knees, her swords clattering to the ground beside her, and the sharp-smiled man standing over her with his hands tucked into his pockets.

author's note:

...welp

i told you my (probably) last update before exams would be good!! heartbreaking, but good right??!

how are we feeling, my guys?? what are our thoughts?? just how much do you hate me (do i need to go into witness protection)??... the valakin was cute at least, right

i promise they're (mostly) fine, but you'll just have to wait and see for the next update *evil laughter*

like i said, year 12 is kicking my ass so bear with me !! i love you all and hopefully i can update again soon