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They’re on their way down to the planet when it happens. Fives, Kix, and the commander visibly jerk, the commander even crying out for a moment, and the General…
Well, he flat-out screams and collapses to the floor.
“What happened?” A brother asks. Commander Tano visibly holds herself straighter.
“I’m afraid this is gonna be a tough one for some of us,” she says. “This planet is null; the Force… it’s gone.”
Fives is grateful when Rex doesn’t say a word as he offers to carry his cyare out of the gunship. Sure, the jerking sense of loss had been a painful shock and he still feels off-center, but… the Force was inside of Anakin to the very core.
“Please wake up, cyare,” he whispers. “We need you… and I need need to know that you’re okay.”
Anakin comes to, feeling… empty, like something’s missing.
The Force!
Anakin struggles to fight whatever it is holding him. He feels blind !
“Cyare, stop!” a voice cries, and Anakin tries to focus enough to look at the voice and recognize it.
“Fives,” he whispers, going limp. “What… what happened?”
His love shrugs.
“Apparently, this planet is Force Null,” Fives says. Anakin nods. That makes sense. Kind of. It explains why he’s so utterly empty and unfocused. Most artificial nullifiers don’t affect him. But he’s honestly been running on nothing for quite a bit, so now, without the Force to back him up, he’s… really weak.
He shifts slowly in Fives’ arms.
“I can’t even fight droids like this,” he says. “I hate sending all of you out without protection.”
Fives just shushes him, petting his hair.
“We’ll figure it out, cyare,” he says.
Fives is still carrying a significant amount of his cyare’s weight when they get to the tactical meeting, but his cyare who’d panicked in his arms not ten minutes ago had already seamlessly fallen away, tucked in underneath his General.
“General Skywalker,” Rex greets. “Fives.”
The commander smiles.
“Glad you joined us, Master, Fives,” she says teasingly. Anakin rolls his eyes before turning serious.
“Have you contacted the fleet?” he asks. “To warn them?”
Rex nods, and Ahsoka replies “And we separated the men affected.”
Anakin nods.
“Great,” he says. “Now, let’s reword the plans to fit the limitations in troops and the fact that I am currently… really not fit for active fighting, and I doubt that you are either, Snips.”
Fives thinks that it’s kind of amazing watching his cyare in General mode while leaning onto him so much, and his General continues to even as the meeting continues.
Although, hopefully, the mission will end in less than a week.
Fives can’t wait to leave this planet.
The death of his men always weighs heavy on his mind, but the deaths on this mission feel like black holes. He feels as if he’s a failure to them. And he has no choice but to use resources anyways because he can’t even sustain himself with the Force. And he still feels like he’s slowly dying.
He’s empty and alone.
And he can see it on the face of Ahsoka and every clone affected. There’s an explosion, and Ahsoka almost jumps up, immediately. Plenty of men are risking their lives and going out anyways.
Anakin wishes he could do the same, but it’s enough work to just focus and hold himself up.
But, by some miracle, the mission lasts less than a week.
On their way back up, off the planet, Anakin is prepared for the return of the Force, but a small gasp still leaves his lips when he gets it back. They made it.
But there’s still mission briefing and paperwork. Great.
Fives heads to Anakin’s quarters almost without thinking, though he really isn’t surprised by what he sees.
“You never rest, cyare, I swear ,” he says, teasingly. Anakin looks up from the datapad with a smile.
“Someday,” he says. Then, looking down, he adds, “I’m sorry I was so useless. I don’t want you to think that I wouldn’t fight for and with you, all of you.”
Fives just sighs, stripping off his armor and sitting on the bed.
“Come here, cyare,” he says. Anakin nods, coming over and immediately nuzzling into Fives’ side.
“I love you,” the Jedi says. Fives just smiles and pets Anakin’s blonde curls.
“And so do I,” he says. “But you need to take care of yourself.”
Anakin just nods again.
“Okay,” he says quietly. “Are you okay?”
Fives laughs.
“I’m functional,” he says. “You were the one who was practically dying.”
Anakin somehow droops even more. Fives sighs.
“Look, Anakin,” he says. “It wasn’t easy for any of us. But we got in, through, and out with minimal casualties despite the change of plans. And I’m counting that as a win… tell you what, why don’t I grab a holofilm from Har— the stash, and we not do our work tonight?”
Anakin nods again.
“That sounds good,” he says. “Thank you.”
Fives frowns because that thank you sounded almost… guilty. But, whatever. They can have this moment before they’re separated once again.