"One more time, please. I'm having a hard time grasping this."

Val rolled her eyes but obliged her clueless Jedi as she relayed the events of the temple once more. "Valerie told me that to get back to the light, I need to go to the heart of the darkside."

Anakin hummed, "Valerie told you this? Valerie as in little Val?"

Val hung her head and sighed deeply, "Yes Anakin, for the fourth time, I spoke to my younger self and she told me-"

"To go to the heart of the darkside, I got that part." Anakin cut her off, fidgeting with the lining of his glove while he thought. "What I'm not understanding is the part about the explosion on Krownest."

Val faltered for a moment, her heart kicking in her chest as a flash of agony ripped across her torso. She winced, inhaling sharply before answering him. "I don't understand it myself, but whatever happened that day after... after my Master died, it's connected to this. It may even be its source."

"So what you're saying is," Anakin asked, his face falling, "We have no choice?"

Val smiled half-heartedly, "Pretty much. It's either this or watching me die a slow and painful death."

Anakin winced, pain flashing across his face, and Val realised her mistake. Her eyebrows creased as she murmured an apology, reaching for his hand. They lay side by side on Val's bed in the cabin quarters, neither bothering to remove their boots or outer layers. Their hands lay joined between them, Anakin tapping a senseless beat. She had begun to find a rhythm in his mindlessness, a pattern he tended to repeat — she wondered if it was a childhood lullaby, a distant memory of home. The opening notes of Mirrorbright sang softly in her head once more, and she remembered her mother.

Her memory failed her more than she cared to admit, for she could not quite fathom how she had forgotten that song — or the woman who had sung it. Her mother had been gentle, loving, at home by the sea — and she had raised her daughter to be the same. A dull ache still pounded in her chest when Val thought of Alderaan, of the love she had buried amid the salt and sand. She wondered if they missed her. She wondered if they'd forgotten her face like she had forgotten theirs.

"Val?" Anakin spoke her name and she came back to the moment.

She shook her head, clearing her pain away. "Yes?"

Anakin smiled sadly, likely deducing her thoughts like he always did — he didn't press her though, simply closing his eyes and leaning back. "I asked if you have any idea where this 'heart of the darkside' is?"

She sighed, rubbing her tired eyes with her free hand. "I have no idea. Master Alden and I visited scores of darkside infested areas but I'm not sure any of them could be considered the heart."

Anakin pursed his lips, scrunching his eyebrows in a manner that caused Val to stifle a giggle. He rolled his eyes with a smile, "When I was a padawan, Obi-wan used to tell me about this planet that was the ancestral home of the Sith. It was supposedly darkness incarnate."

Val rose onto her elbow to meet his gaze, intrigued. "You're talking about Moraband."

He nodded, "It makes sense. And if it's not the right place, we could gather clues for where to go next at least."

Val thought for a moment, but she could find no fault in his logic. She nodded her agreement, settling back down onto the bed and turning onto her side. "Moraband it is, then. After I sleep for the next week."

Anakin huffed a laugh, shaking his head as he sat up. "I'll plot a course while you catch up on your beauty sleep."

Val raised an eyebrow with a scowl, "Are you saying I'm not beautiful right now, buzzard?"

Anakin smiled softly, pressing a kiss to her brow. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, seaflea."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

More time passed than either of them had planned, and Val only awoke when a sharp jerk rattled through the ship as they touched down on a solid surface after hours of gliding freely through space. The ship shook as the engines disengaged and Val rubbed the sleep from her eyes, yawning as Anakin appeared by the door.

He watched her with a grin, snorting at the way her hair had compiled into a bird's nest atop her head. She stuck her tongue out at him indignantly, flipping her hair forward and securing it together with a strip of cloth — Anakin's grin faded to a smile and she knew she had succeeded in taming the mess.

"Are we on Moraband?" Val asked, reaching for her swords by the bedside.

Anakin shook his head, coming to help secure them across her back without a thought. "No, the engine is fried, clearly not as well repaired as the commander thought, and running on empty so I made a stop on Ossus. We're still about a day's journey from Moraband."

"Ossus?" She questioned in confusion, "Isn't Ossus currently under Separatist occupation?"

"Yes it is, I already had to dodge a cruiser stationed in the atmosphere on entry," Anakin replied, his fingers brushing against the nape of her neck as looped the cords of her sheath together. "But we don't have much of a choice. It's the only populated planet on our route."

Val listened silently as he finished adjusting the straps, his hands flitting across her shoulder blades and she suppressed a shiver at the gentle touch. She sighed, turning to face him. "So what do we need?"

Anakin simply stared silently at her for a moment, his eyes caught on the lower half of her face. She could see another answer in his eyes, the reply he truly wanted to give her. We need to talk. Her mind flashed back to the dark cells beneath the Crusade's base, to the kiss she had almost given him.

Want flashed through her, hot as a burning star, and she almost reached for him once more. The black veins along her torso pulsed harshly and she grimaced, almost doubling over and coming back to the moment. She cleared her throat harshly, wincing at the pain.

The flash of agony across her face seemed to centre him as well, as he breathed raggedly. "We need a new engine compressor, shouldn't be too hard to find."

Val nodded, pushing all thoughts of him, of his hands, his lips, from her mind. "Let's make this quick, before more trouble can find us."

Anakin grinned suddenly, "But isn't that half the fun?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The streets were crowded and teeming with unrest as the pirate and the Jedi ventured through the heart of the Ossus capital. The pair pulled their hoods up without a thought, instinctively blending into the shadows as they continued towards the parts dealer across the market square.

It was plain to see how the war had affected this place; there were droid squadrons that patrolled through the streets every few minutes and the people of Ossus seemed to keep to the shadows almost as much as they did. The Separatists had made this planet a battleground, one of many in this war for the aeons.

Val clutched the sack of credits tightly in her left hand, whilst her other remained firmly in Anakin's grasp. They reached the run-down junk shop a few minutes later, neither settling their nerves until they were safely within the stone slab walls. She flicked her hood back but Anakin kept his drawn as she signalled the attendant who stood with their back to them.

The figure turned, revealing an old man tinkering with a small cylindrical tube, flashing with red and blue lights. The man saw them at once, and signalled with exaggerated hand motions to the store room. "Tamar! Customers at front!"

"Coming!" A far away voice called back, and a moment later a young man rounded the corner towards them in a half jog. He grinned fully, his face littered with oil smears and stray welding shrapnel. His eyes settled on her immediately, the grin turned to a warm smile. "What can I do for you?"

Val fumbled with wide eyes, caught off-guard by the stark contrast of his joyful demeanour with the palpable tension outside. Anakin threw his hood back in that instant, stepping to her side. His voice lowered, a chill entering his tone as he spoke. "We need an engine compressor for a S-161 XL Corellian Gunship."

Val gazed oddly at him over her shoulder, not understanding his hostile tone. The attendant, Tamar as the other man had called him, looked warily between them, a cautious smile on his face as he spoke to Val. "I think there's a few in the back, I can help you install it if you like?"

She nodded and moved to follow him as he proceeded towards the storage room but Anakin held her back, his hand tightening on her bicep. She gave him an incredulous look, completely baffled by how strange his behaviour had become since they entered the store. He offered no explanation as he wordlessly followed after Tamar, ire trailing him like a plume of black smoke.

Are you alright? She asked, standing worriedly at the gates of his guarded mind.

She felt the question skirt off him as he pushed her concern away without a second thought, turning his mind away from her. She scoffed audibly, her eyes wide. She was half a thought away from following after him and demanding an answer when the ground trembled as a distant explosion sounded.

She turned towards the disturbance, one hand already on the hilt of her sword as she sprinted outside. A nearby military compound had gone up in flames; civilians were running blindly away like scattering ants from the destruction as the ricocheting echo of blaster fire sounded.

Val ran towards the carnage as fuel cells began to explode from over the high walls of the compound, flinging fiery debris down on the scrambling residents. She rushed to loop her arm around the waist of a small child whilst grabbing the arm of another, pulling them out of the way of a large sheet of steel that would have crushed them.

She deposited the children in the safety of the nearby concrete structure's shadow, before sprinting back into the fray. Val pulled countless people out of the path of the debris, shielding them from the streams of fire and smoke that infected the air as she escorted them to relative safety.

Blaster fire sounded to her distant left and she wasted no time discovering its source. The metallic clanking of droids reached her ears and she watched as a rogue squadron took aim at various civilians scattered around the entrance to the decimated military complex. A droid took aim at a figure, collapsed on their knees with their back to her, and she jumped into action.

"Hey!"

The machine looked up at the sudden noise, and a moment later, a dagger had found a home in its core processor. Val had another blade in hand instantly as she ran to the person's aid.

"Are you alright-" Her words lodged in her throat as she looked down at a girl, the lower half of her face covered by a black scarf, leaving only her dark eyes visible. A blaster was clutched in her left hand, seemingly jammed when she had tried to fire at the now mutilated droid.

All at once, the truth of what had occurred clicked in Val's mind; but by then it was too late.

She heard a distant voice scream her name, at least she thought it was her name, as the droid battalion began to process her as a threat. She turned her eyes slowly to the woman on the ground, barely moving so as to not antagonise the thirty-odd droids with blasters trained on them.

"Do you know how to use that thing?" She mumbled, her lips barely moving.

The girl nodded slightly, her hand tightening on the hilt and her finger hovering over the trigger.

Val's eyes skirted around, and her eyes landed on the fallen weapon of the droid she had felled. The echo of a plan formed in her mind — a growing habit that she was deeply uncomfortable with and blamed Anakin for entirely — and she took a deep breath. "When I say go, run to cover and try not to get shot."

"Ready." The droids all spoke in an eerie unison voice, "Take aim. Fire-"

"-Go!"

Val and her improvised partner dodged the barrage of blaster fire, the girl taking a strategic position behind the corner of a nearby building whilst Val dove forward to secure the blaster beside the collapsed golden shell. Her fingers found the safety and disengaged, taking immediate aim and firing repeatedly at the unit.

She sprinted to the same corner as the woman, firing off-centred shots over her shoulder as cover. She skidded behind the building, her feet slamming against the adjacent wall. Pain spasmed through her torso at the aggressive jolt but she pushed it away. She clambered to her feet again, taking vantage behind the corner and firing return shots to keep the advancing droids at bay.

"You shot first, didn't you." It was hardly a question, as Val fully realised that she was incurring the wrath of the Separatists for a rebel assailant.

"What business is it of yours," She replied, her voice cold and thick with the accent of the land.

Val paused for a moment, scoffing in disbelief. "I saved your life, and I'd like to know what I'm now risking mine for."

"I would've been fine." Was all the woman replied before dashing out of their cover to encounter the droids head on. Val blinked slowly at the sheer audacity, before groaning loudly and following after her.

She rolled to the side instinctively as she sensed the blaster bolts pegged in her direction, coming up in a crouch and returning fire. The sun burned brightly on her back and she didn't need the force to know who was sprinting toward her.

Anakin arrived, lightsaber blaring like a neutron star and quickly dispatched the remaining droids, taking down one after another, before the previous had even hit the ground. She watched the quick work he made of the ordeal, a small smile on her face. Her shoulders tensed as a weight fell on her, and she looked up to see Tamar, his own blaster in hand.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concern in his dark eyes as he smiled at her earnestly.

Before she could answer, another did for her. "She's fine."

She locked her eyes onto Anakin as he stalked towards them; even though he was still nearing, she could sense how tightly his cybernetic arm gripped the hilt of his lightsaber, still alarmingly ignited despite the danger having passed.

Val was a mere breath away from scolding Anakin like a child; she couldn't fathom why he was acting so hostile towards a man who had been nothing but kind. However, her words were halted by another exclamation.

"Tamar!"

The woman from the ambush walked towards them, pulling down her face covering and staring at them with cold, hard eyes. Val looked to Tamar for his reaction, attempting to gauge the relationship between the two — and wondering whether to expect another fight.

Tamar's eyes hardened as he beheld the woman, his stance tensing as disappointment entered his expression. "Q'Karai, what in the maker were you thinking? You just rained destruction down on our people."

Q'Karai, as he had called her, barely suppressed an eye roll, before her eyes flickered warily around them, to the civilians who had begun to peek out from behind their barricaded doors.

"Not here," She pulled her scarf back over her nose. "This way."

Tamar followed after her with a heaved sigh, and Val and Anakin shared a glance before hurrying after them as well. They walked deep into the heart of the broken city, pasted the seemingly presentable outer sectors and into the dilapidated inner districts.

Despite his earlier annoyance, Tamar seemed to know exactly where they were headed as Q'Karai weaved them in between pressed together buildings and enclosed alleyways; eventually, they arrived at an alcove set against a dark stone wall. She triggered a concealed mechanism and Val realised with a start that the wall had been hollow, as a section popped open with an audible click.

Q'Karai ushered them all in before sealing the passage again, enclosing them in the darkness. A flare burned to life as Tamar and Q'Karai cracked open cylindrical torches and led the way into the underground of Ossus. Val walked a pace ahead of Anakin, buffering between her friend and the man he seemed to despise for a reason she couldn't quite understand. Fingers threaded through hers and Anakin pulled himself forward to her side, his shoulder brushing against hers.

She ignored the flutter in her chest at having him near, forcing herself to maintain her annoyance at his behaviour.

Are you alright? His voice, warm like a volcanic spring, entered her mind. She could sense his guilt over what had occurred in the square, and relented to her anger. Val opened the door into her mind, and felt his presence envelop her like the arms of the ocean.

Don't worry, I'm fine. Are you alright, Anakin?

He seemed puzzled at her words, and yet strangely relieved, as though he had something he desperately wanted to say. She could sense as he was about to speak, before he was cut off by a shrill mechanical beeping emitted. They looked back to the front as Q'Karai finished inputting a long code into a key panel, allowing her to heave the steel blast door they'd stopped at open. Val blinked in surprise, suspicious of how elaborately this place had been hidden.

Bright fluorescent lights flooded the small hallway as the door opened to reveal a vast underground military bunker of sorts. Maps and charts filled with patrol routes and supply convoy channels lined every available wall, with trunks seemingly filled with weapons and ammunition stacked in the back corner. A large twenty-person table was situated in the centre of the room, and a handful of people were currently sitting there, seemingly waiting for their arrival.

A stoic, bearded man stood to attention as they entered the room, his dark eyes that seemed to be shared amongst every citizen of Ossus were expressionless. He looked between Tamar and Q'Karai exasperatedly, as though the hostility between them was nothing new, before his eyes settled on Val and Anakin. Instantly, his expression changed as he beheld them, one hand going to the blaster on his hip as he glared suspiciously.

Tamar raised his hands, calming the occupants of the room. "Peace, they're friends."

"No off-worlders are friends, you know that." A seated woman replied, twirling a knife through her fingers.

"Well, these two are," Tamar insisted, crossing his arms over his chest. "They saved Q'Karai after she almost decimated the Sheenia district."

The man from earlier seemed shocked, his mouth falling open. "We heard the explosions but didn't know it had been one of ours."

He turned to the woman, his eyes blazing with anger. "What were you thinking, Q'Karai? Running an assignment without backup and without consulting anyone? There is more at stake here than your pride-"

Q'Karai wrenched her scarf off, her whole body tensing in annoyance, and Val blinked in surprise as the similarities between the three people before her came to life. "At least I did something! You sit here planning all day but nothing ever gets done. Ossus will never be free at the rate you're going, father."

The man, her father it would seem, sighed deeply before sitting back in his chair. "That is not for you to decide, child. Next time you pull a stunt like this, you'll be suspended from duty."

Q'Karai's mouth fell open in shock, but Tamar put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her away to the far corner before she could inflame the situation further. Val and Anakin stood awkwardly as the table occupants then turned their eyes towards them.

Anakin instinctively shifted to stand slightly before her, his hand resting on his lightsaber hilt at his waist. The onlookers watched the action, their eyes widened once they realised the weapon he carried.

The man leaned back in his chair, pure disbelief on his face. "You're Jedi."

Murmurs broke out amongst the group, and Tamar and Q'Karai turned towards the commotion. Val didn't feel the need to correct his statement this time, instead tuning into the whispers that flew about. She caught a hushed conversation between the nearest people, "The Republic sent Jedi, they didn't abandon us."

Her heart wrenched as she realised what was happening, as she realised who they thought they were. She turned her eyes to Anakin, fragile like glass. We have to help them.

Anakin stared down at her, confounded. Before he could refuse, the leader turned to them again. His voice was soft, almost disbelieving as he asked. "Is it true? Are you the reinforcements we requested when the Separatists first arrived?"

Val had already decided prior to that moment, and she smiled slightly when she felt Anakin's resolve crumble as he sighed deeply and took her hand, squeezing once. She nodded to the gathered rebels, straightening her back. "Yes, we've come to help."

author's note:

pls don't get excited, this story is very much still on hold, i just managed to finish the last few paragraphs of this chapter finally and thought i'd give you all a treat.

jealous anakin will always be my favourite anakin lmao, he's just so stupid

anyways, tell me what you thought and ill see you all later!