Chapter Text
The sound of blasters firing drowned out any noise from the otherwise loud facility near the valley. Darkness spread over the sky, limiting their vision. The red and blue blaster bolts now seemed like a comforting light source, and it would be comforting, if the separatists droids weren’t pushing forward at an alarming pace.
”Ahsoka!” You called out, quickly falling back to her position. Your hand held a tight grip around the hilt of your lightsaber, desperately deflecting the bolts flashing towards you. Green crashed with red, deflecting bolts back at the droids who fired them. Their screams were cut short as they collapsed onto the ground, only for another wave of battle droids to take their place.
”We can’t keep this up much longer. It’s getting dark, we need to fall back!” You tried reasoning with her, silently hoping she’d understand that we were being overrun. But Ahsoka being Ahsoka, she had a determined look in her eyes, jaw clenched as she seemingly ignored your pleas and desperately tried to push forwards.
”We can’t give up now, y/n. Not when we’re so close. We just need to-“ She paused for a second, gritting her teeth as she slashed her lightsaber through a battle droid.
”We just need to take down this wave.” Ahsoka’s voice was stern as she pushed forward. You tried to say something back, but your best friend was already way ahead of you, in the front lines with the clone troopers. You drew a sigh, cursing to yourself how she could be so stubborn. But you understood her, just like she understood you. So you gripped your lightsaber tighter before making your way toward the front lines.
Ahsoka seemed pleased to have you next to her once again, the two if you always did fight better by each other’s side. But something felt off. You couldn’t quite place what it was, but there was a knot in your stomach, twisting and turning, warning you. As it did, you heard it. The sound of a ship. You allowed yourself to glance up for a second, and the knot in your stomach grew tighter at the sight of the bombing ship. You needed to get the clones out of here, you needed to get Ahsoka out of here. But Ahsoka had already noticed the threat and was ordering the clones to fall back and take cover.
Seconds later bombs rained down over the battleground, the deafening explosions rolled like thunder through the valley. Dust exploded around you, leaving the air thick and dense and impossible to see through. Your ears rang and any sound was muffled and distant. You felt the panic kick in. You couldn’t see anyone, you couldn’t make out any sounds. But in your panicked state, you heard Obi-Wan’s words echo in your mind.
”Keep your calm, y/n. Let go of your fear. Feel the force; it’s all around you. Use it, let it flow through you and you will see clearly”
So you did. You took a deep breath, the smoke and sand tickling your throat. You reached out, feeling the force, letting it flow through you. Letting it spread throughout your entire body, lifting you up.
There she was.
Through the smoke, a couple hundred meters away, you saw her. As you opened your eyes again, you realized there were no more bombs raining over you, only an eerie silence, occasionally broken by the pained groans from dying troopers. The smoke still lingered in the air, thick and unwelcoming.
You coughed, rubbing your eyes to try and see more clearly as you made your way to Ahsoka. You soon spotted her, bent over a soldier, holding him in her arms. You kneeled down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t react, only looked up at you with tears in her eyes.
“He’s dead. They are all dead.” She whispered with a shaky voice. It was hard to miss the pain in her voice as she spoke. The feeling of guilt that washed over her. They had been her men, serving under her; And now their blood was on her hands, tainting them a crimson red. You could just watch her sit there, hugging the fallen trooper, as if she hoped he'd wake up any second now. But he didn't. He never did.
You sat with Ahsoka, arms wrapped around her in an attempt at comfort. Assured her that it wasn't her fault but she just dismissively waved a hand at you. You didn't move though. You had known her long enough to know that she didn't actually want you to move. So you stayed like that, for a few minutes.
That was until you heard the clanking from a patrol of battle droids coming your way. You tensed up as you heard blaster firing; they were here to eliminate any surviors. Ahsoka must've heard it too, because she reluctantly let go of the fallen trooper she had been mourning.
"We need to go," She said quietly, and you nodded in agreement. The two of you quickly got on your feet and slowly making your way back through the valley.
"Look! It's the Jedi!"
You clenched your jaw as you heard that silly, robotic voice. It was almost laughable, in an annoying way. But now was not the time to make fun of them, you had to focus on getting out of here first.
Blaster bolts flashed past you as you and your best friend made a run for it, heading for the hill leading out of the valley, hoping to escape through the dried out undergrowth. You'd have to be a fool take on these many droids without any clone troopers to assist you. Trying to lose them between the rocky cliffs on top of the hill was the only option right now. To be a soldier is to learn how to live to fight another day. That's what everyone had told you since the day the war broke out.
You neared the top of the hill, where the dead overgrowth started to be replaced by orange-tinted rocks building into a cliff. Ahsoka was right next to you, lightsabers in both hands and ignited. You held the hilt of your lightsaber tighly in your hand, deflecting blaster bolts as you and Ahsoka quickly covered more ground, increasing the distance between you and your enemy.
Ahsoka reached the rocky hillside first. She swiftly disappeared between the boulders, and you were right behind her. But, then you weren't. The blaster bolt burned your shoulder as it collided with you. You hissed at the pain and stumbled, grabbing hold of a rock beside you to not roll back down the hill. You were pretty sure the bolt had only scraped your shoulder, but it had caught you off guard.
Ahsoka's hand quickly grabbed yours, pulling you behind a giant boulder. She sait you down with your back pressed against the cold stone.
"y/n! Are you okay?" Her voice was worried as she brushed her fingers over your shoulder.
"I'll be fine," You groaned, hissing as she touched the burnmark on your shoulder. "We need to move,"
With Ahsoka by your side, you continued moving along the cliffside. The boulders hid you and provided cover from the battle droids, whose clanking and chatter became more and more distant. It was almost pitch black now, but the night sky was lit up by millions of stars.
You looked up at the sky, finding comfort in their distant light. You remembered your early childhood. Not your parents or your family, but your early days as a youngling in the temple. How you'd look up at the sky, but the constant light from the city making it nearly impossible to point out even a single star.
You had longed for the darkness of space, the peacefulness. You were always happier there. Obi-Wan had understood that during the early days of being your master. He always took you with him, onboard star cruisers away from Coruscant to missions on distant planets. He was a good master. Probably the best you could ever ask for.
Suddenly, Ahsoka dragged you aside, and you noticed an opening in the cliff. A cave, not much bigger than to fit the two of you. You squeezed through the slim entrance, dropping down on the cold ground once inside.
You groaned, the adrenaline rush had worn off and now you could really feel the burning pain in your shoulder. You leaned your head back against the wet cave wall, glancing over at Ahsoka who rummaged through the little bag tied around her waist.
She sat down in front of you, pulling out a hand towel and poured some cold water from her water jug onto it. The material from the cloth was soft as she dabbed it against your shoulder, carefully cleaning your wound while you clenched your jaw.
“This was one hell of a mission,” You muttered with a slight hint of amusement tugging at your lips. Ahsoka smiled, that damn addictive smile that you seemed to never get enough of. Even now, that smile seemed to carry your thoughts away from your wound and the pain.
”…you okay, y/n?” You must’ve been staring at her for too long because when you snapped back out of your string of thought, Ahsoka looked at you with her head tilted slightly and a concerned look on her face.
“I- yeah, I’m fine. Just… zoned out,” You tried to explained, leaving out that tiny detail of what you were thinking of. Ahsoka however, seemed to be satisfied with the answer as she finished up caressing the wound.
You caught yourself feeling a sting of disappointment as she removed her hand from your shoulder, as if you somehow missed her touch. No, that was ridiculous.
You had to get yourself together.