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On that day, Anakin was summoned for mobilization in the middle of the night - the signal from his comlink woke both of you. Although you pretended to be going to sleep when Anakin left a quick goodbye kiss on your forehead, you couldn't fall asleep anymore.
You heard, as if through a haze, about an explosion in the city - even from the terrace window, you could see flashes emanating from somewhere behind the skyscrapers, quite nearby. However, in the place where you had handled many a call before, because the 'underground' life of Coruscant was thriving there.
You could try to fall asleep, but you needed to somehow release the tension that had been building up within you from the moment you woke up for no apparent reason. It wasn't the sudden summons that bothered you - it was something else... Something that was very close.
It was an easy stroll from Anakin's quarters to your favorite part of the Temple gardens, which you took advantage of as often as you could, whether meditating or simply taking aimless walks. Without further thought, you put on something warmer—or rather, anything at all, as with Anakin, you usually slept either naked or in minimal clothing—and left the apartment.
You took a few steps, surrounded by complete silence, but at some point, something unusual caught your attention. You heard the elevator doors opening, yet no one was coming out.
Thinking it might be a simple technical glitch, you continued walking, but the situation repeated itself, causing you to slow down, watching carefully to see if anyone was indeed lurking nearby. There was not a soul in sight. Your suspicious nature prompted you to move towards the elevator that opened again when you stood in its doorway.
"Well..." you muttered to yourself, noticing a black string wound in the corner of the elevator, which perhaps triggered the sensors and affected the system's movements.
Without hesitation, you stepped inside to remove the unnecessary element, but as soon as you crossed the threshold, the doors behind you closed, and the elevator started moving.
"What the hell?" you whispered under your breath, glancing at the electronic panel that indicated the descending floors.
You were going down. The elevator only stopped at the least frequented floor of the Temple, where mainly technical rooms related to the building's power supply, warehouses, and units ensuring the Temple's basic needs, such as access to water, were located.
When the doors opened, you immediately started hitting the elevator buttons to take you back, but the mechanism did not respond at all. As a last resort, you even tried to use the Force, but... How?
With no other choice, you decided to exit the elevator and use the buttons on the wall outside to trigger any response from the system – unfortunately, to no avail. As soon as you crossed the threshold, the elevator doors slammed shut, and none of the buttons elicited a reaction.
"Fuck... What's going on here?" you muttered to yourself when you realized you were left with nothing in a dark, unfamiliar room.
You didn't even have any weaponry with you – you had left Anakin's quarters wearing only a light, nightgown that you had thrown on, along with a long, oversized brown coat from his wardrobe. On your wrist was a comlink, which now seemed to be your only lifeline.
As usual, the first contact displayed on your device was Anakin, and you decided to try connecting with him. One signal—nothing. Second signal—nothing. The flashing lights on your comlink indicated that one of you was completely out of range, and you didn't have to think long to figure out who that might be.
"Damn… Maybe somehow…" you whispered when you decided to take a step further and chose Kenobi from the contact list, who, as far as you knew, was in the Temple. To your surprise, you managed to establish a connection, but the sound on the other end was incredibly unclear.
"e..nob..i spea…king…-hat's the pro…blem?" you strained to hear, and at almost the same moment, the comlink automatically transmitted your coordinates, even though you hadn't intended to do so yet.
"Finally! General, I'm afraid that…" you managed to shout into the comlink until you noticed that the electronics had completely shut down, and the connection was severed.
You sighed in complete resignation and decided to move forward to find any emergency exit, but you felt a strong grip on your shoulder, completely throwing you off balance.
"A-Anak…" you stammered nervously, and after a moment of freezing, you turned your head to look over your shoulder. There was no one in sight.
"Not this time…" replied a voice that literally echoed from nowhere. It was in a sense terrifying, and you had certainly never heard it before—you could say it was a female voice, but very hoarse and… witch-like? What frightened you more, however, was that you couldn't see its source.
"Either you do as I say, or we'll do it another way." it continued, and you were completely frozen.
"Who the hell are you, and by what right do you command me?!" you waved, but your movements amounted to nothing when your hands froze in the air.
"Yes or no." The voice took on a stern tone as you tried to break free from the grip.
"No! Leave me alo…" you tried to shout, but you interrupted yourself when you felt a strong 'stab' on the side of your neck.
"A-alone…" you finished, but your thoughts stopped connecting when your body seemed to collapse on the ground…
Or at least, you felt as if it had collapsed on the ground…
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As you slowly opened your eyes, your vision was completely blurred. At first glance, everything around you seemed like a typical Med Bay, but the clearer your sight became, the more unfamiliar this view seemed.
"Re… Rex?" you murmured to the captain, who stood with his back turned to you behind the glass.
"Rex? Wha… What happened?" you repeated, almost certain he hadn't heard you the first time.
"I'm afraid we're not allowed to talk." Rex replied, and for a moment, you paled, having no idea what was happening around you.
"Rex, how did I en… Oh!?" you tried to continue and get up from the hard bed you were lying on, but you just realized that your hands were immobilized by handcuffs.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am." added the captain when he turned around, seeing how futilely you tried to free yourself.
You had a right feeling. It was a hospital.
A prison hospital.
"What does this mean?? What the hell does this mean??" you desperately raised your voice, and you could swear you sensed a great sorrow from beneath Rex's mask.
"I couldn't do anything." he replied after a while, straightening up quickly as Obi-Wan and Windu approached you.
You wanted to break free with all your strength when you saw the two figures approaching, but you were helpless. It wasn't just ordinary fatigue – you clearly felt that something had affected you. You were drugged with something, but you had no idea what.
"Please… Someone tell me what's going on here?!" you raised your tone as the two Masters entered the room from which you had no way out.
"You don't have to pretend you don't remember. And if you have doubts, we'll gladly remind you." replied Windu as one of the guards in the room closed the door.
"But what am I supposed to remember? I don't remember anything… Besides, up until…" you desperately defended yourself against something you had no clue about.
"Up until…? Exactly, until when?" Windu added.
You would bet that Obi-Wan standing next to him looked skeptical. Well, he was skeptical – and seeing you in this situation hurt him deeply.
"What am I supposed to say? I blacked out, heard voices… I went there because…" you tried to connect the dots, but your memory was a bundle of completely illogical threads, and you could swear that everything that came to your mind was a nonsensical dream.
"Exactly, why?" Windu pressed on, and Obi-Wan finally moved from his spot.
"Sorry, may I ask for the removal of these?" he commanded to the guard, who did as Kenobi wanted and removed the handcuffs from your hands. Windu looked as if he were about to protest, but in the end, you sat with your hands free and felt relief, which would have to last you for a very short time.
"Since your memory is failing, we'd be happy to refresh it for you." Windu added after a moment of consternation and placed a hologram cassette on a stool next to you, covering a certain section of the room that you remembered as the last.
You didn't say anything, just stared at the image captured by the camera – there you were, in a situation you had absolutely no memory of – not drowsy, not lying on the ground; you looked conscious, sure of your actions.
In the recording, you saw yourself striding purposefully towards storage rooms whose layout you had no knowledge of, and you had a blaster with you, which, you could swear, you had never held before.
Finally, another frame showed the moment that mattered most to the two Masters. The moment of partially cutting off the Temple's power and attempting to detonate sensitive charges that would cause explosions in several places simultaneously.
A deathly pallor appeared on your face; you couldn't explain what you saw on the recording, and that only worsened your already dire situation.
"It… It's not possible… I didn't do that, I didn't…" you started to explain, only to be quickly cut off by Windu.
"I think, given this evidence, there's nothing to discuss." he interrupted, thereby turning off the holographic recording.
"But… Why only this much??? I mean… Where's the recording from the moment I entered?! I tried to get out! There's nothing of what I remember!" you desperately defended yourself, and tears began to gather in the corners of your eyes.
"Someone evidently took great care to dismantle those cameras. Answer the question yourself – who." Windu replied, and each of his words seemed like complete absurdity to you.
"I'm innocent… Obi-Wan, say something…" you pleaded, looking into Kenobi's eyes, who was conflicted like never before at this moment.
"Let the court decide that." said Windu, cutting off Obi-Wan, who was clearly about to speak.
"Court?" you exclaimed when Windu moved towards the door, and Obi-Wan approached as if waiting for a moment when he would be alone with you.
"Take this with you." he said discreetly, handing you your comlink, which must have been taken from you by someone earlier. You couldn't even manage a smile, although you knew that Kenobi didn't want anything bad for you at this moment.
"Where is Anakin? I need to see him." you asked, involuntarily drawing the attention of the second master, who was waiting for Kenobi behind the doors.
"For safety reasons, we didn't allow him to meet with you." you clenched your fists when you heard Windu's words, but Obi-Wan quickly laid his hand on yours in a calming gesture.
"You will see him, the Council does not forbid it, but you must go through this." Kenobi whispered, referring to your pending court case, and you felt the urge to collapse in helplessness.
Anakin wanted to see you, but he was not allowed, and you? You couldn't do anything about it. Absolutely nothing.
As soon as the two Masters left you alone again, you threw yourself onto the bed. If there weren't still people around watching you, you would have cried and screamed to release at least a bit of the awful emotions that were tearing you apart from the inside.
You were a prisoner. You were an enemy. You were… A traitor.
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"At this moment, your status as a Jedi Knight is revoked, and you lose all ranks and privileges in the Grand Army of the Republic." the words spoken in the courtroom echoed in your head long after its exit.
You couldn't pull yourself together; you stood unsteadily and couldn't see clearly when the verdict was pronounced – but above all, you couldn't defend yourself because you physically weren't capable.
Throughout the trial, only horrible sounds reached your ears – Anakin's screams, who was eventually separated from you and escorted out of the room, his protests against the state of intoxication in which you were presented before the court.
Both of you felt a conspiracy – a terrible conspiracy that came from someone who wanted to remove you from the Order – you still had no idea who.
Obi-Wan led you out of the courtroom, trying to fend off the guards who surrounded you. Rex also walked behind them, obliged to control the whole situation, but you didn't see someone who was most important to you at that moment. They took him away from you.
"Obi-Wan, tell me… Where is he? I need to…" you started to mumble, plunged into absolute shock after what had just happened.
"Easy… First, you should take your things… I'm sure you'll meet him." Kenobi reassured, leading you towards your quarters.
"My clothes, my weapon…" you lamented desperately.
"You'll take everything in a moment, but remember that part of your weapon will be confiscated." The confusion in your head didn't allow you to listen too carefully to Obi-Wan.
"There's nothing there... We won't find anything." you added after a while, and Kenobi looked at you with doubt.
"I left everything in Anakin's quarters… Even the clothes." You stopped after your words.
Obi-Wan looked at you, then at the captain on his left. You had nothing left to lose. There was no clause hanging over you – you simply cracked, and your former companions were confronted with the facts. There was no turning back. Kenobi sighed deeply, and you pulled yourself together when you heard the familiar voice you had been waiting for so much.
"Get out of my way." broke into your ears, and soon you saw Anakin running towards you, looking as if he had just struggled with someone.
Impulsively, he tore you from Kenobi's grip when he caught you with a strong hold on your arms and looked at you as if checking if you were in one piece – as if making sure that no one had hurt you.
"Anakin..." you murmured, and not having control over your emotions, you felt a single tear rolling down your cheek.
"I know, I know everything, I believe you... Really, I believe you." he began to speak to you, and in your eyes, more tears of helplessness began to appear.
"Anakin." This time it was Obi-Wan's voice that sounded from behind you. Skywalker lifted his gaze to his master and, in the meantime, glanced at the guards surrounding you.
"Take her where she can find her belongings. My role in this moment is over." he continued, and you didn't even need to turn around to feel the sorrow emanating from Kenobi. Sorrow not so much for you but for himself and his apprentice.
When Kenobi departed, you were left alone with the guards and Rex.
"Leave us alone. That's an order." Anakin commanded, giving Rex a meaningful look, knowing he could bend the rules for him.
When the guards finally withdrew, you walked slowly towards Anakin's quarters, nervously swallowing to hold back tears. Skywalker could sense your turmoil, and you could undoubtedly tell you weren't alone in this – Anakin's emotions and frustration were reaching their peak.
"I have nowhere to go." you whispered, glancing out of the expansive windows of the Temple as you made your way to the elevator.
"Don't worry about that." Anakin replied, pressing the button for the elevator to take you down.
"How can I not worry? I have nowhere to go, no home here…" You were on the verge of falling apart, but Anakin was quick to interrupt, seizing the moment of privacy as soon as the elevator doors closed.
"Listen, I have a place for you. Just please, do as I say until we leave the Temple. Don't worry about it, really." he spoke, leaning against the sides of the elevator wall on either side of your head, and you met his gaze, recognizing the entirely serious expression.
You had no doubt that Anakin had a plan.
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So, you did as he instructed. You collected all your personal belongings from his quarters, with Anakin assisting you in carrying them.
This time, accompanied by guards, you exited the Temple to pack your things onto a speeder waiting for you on the departure platform. Before you set off—wherever Anakin intended to take you—he first assured the guards that, due to your condition, he would personally transport you to your destination.
Instead of leaving you at the speeder, he mentioned using his small transport ship, a proposal to which none of the guards objected.
The journey passed in silence, your head constantly against the window, and your body attempting to control the tremors that had accompanied you since leaving the courtroom. Anakin kept his hand on your thigh, gently stroking it whenever he sensed emotional turbulence, providing a comforting touch as you tried to calm down.
You began to slow down as you entered a very secluded—practically deserted at this hour—district of Coruscant. Anakin easily found a place to land, and you, not knowing what would happen next, simply grabbed your luggage and stepped off the ship, looking around.
The small landing platform was attached to a low-rise apartment building tucked away in a discreet corner between office buildings, which were not particularly crowded at this time. Most of the small windows that usually gleamed in those buildings were now dark.
"Let me." Anakin said, coming up beside you and taking your luggage from you.
You didn't ask questions; you simply followed Anakin step by step, looking around. You were at the entrance of the building, and Anakin smoothly scanned his identification card at the entrance, which automatically opened the doors.
"I have a place here where I always find peace when going through a rough time." Anakin broke the silence as you walked through a wide corridor in search of the door leading to 'his place'.
You knew what he meant, but you had gotten used to the fact that he never named the issue directly. After the divorce, he often disappeared, and you never knew where or why—now everything began to make sense.
Soon, you stood in front of the door with a nameplate indicating ownership. The name engraved on it had nothing to do with Anakin.
"Is this…"
"Mine. No one here needs to know my true identity." Anakin interrupted, well aware of what you wanted to ask.
"Go ahead, come in." He opened the door, leading you inside, and your eyes were once again greeted by a breathtaking apartment—much more secluded and 'personal,' yet still inviting.
When you entered, you set aside your suitcase and nervously started looking around, picking at your nails. Anakin closed the door behind you, and you felt an incredible sense of gratitude but also a kind of guilt towards him. What Anakin chose to do wasn't just a simple favor—he offered you a piece of his privacy, a part that no one from the outside world knew about, and you couldn't ignore it.
"Anakin, I… I don't know how to thank you. I promise I'll find my own place soon. I don't want you to…"
"Stop. Don't say that." he interrupted without hesitation, approaching you and placing his index finger on your lips, signaling you to stop talking.
"Do you remember what you promised me that night? After your ceremony?" he continued, and you tried to retrieve memories from your worry-filled mind.
"You promised me you'd be with me. That you'd stay. It wasn't just about the Temple quarters." he continued, running his thumb over your cold, tear-stained cheek.
"I also meant this place, although you didn't know about it back then." You listened attentively and melted hearing the tenderness in his words.
"How is it that you trust me after everything that happened?" you asked, placing your hands on his chest.
"I know it was all orchestrated, and I know by whom… They treated you like garbage, and now I'll make them pay for it and then some." Anakin spoke the second sentence through clenched teeth—frustration and a desire for revenge buzzed within him, revenge that seemed to be slowly taking shape in his mind.
"What do you mean?" you asked, almost certain now that Anakin knew much more than you.
"It was her. The day after she left, she sent a woman to the temple who was supposed to store some secret documents… She insisted on access to the vaults, citing the highest clauses, and in the end, she left with nothing."
"You mean… Padmé?" you asked for confirmation, knowing he wouldn't voluntarily utter her name—the name that ceased to exist for him. Instead, he nodded and tried to divert his attention from tumultuous thoughts by scanning the details of your face.
"The only thing I don't know is the reason." he continued after a moment.
"I'm afraid I know." you suddenly added, and his gaze instantly shifted to your eyes, as if asking you to continue.
"She saw us." you began, returning to that night in your mind.
"She saw us kissing on the terrace. I… I… I was aware of it, but I had no idea she could be capable of something like this…" You barely knew how to navigate through all this, and you were afraid that Anakin would be frustrated by what you revealed, but his expression didn't indicate that.
"I don't care about that anymore… Whether she knows or they know… Let them know." he replied, and you couldn't hide your surprise at his reaction. You expected more of an outburst, disappointment, but Anakin accepted it with a calmness that was hard for you to define.
"Hold me." Anakin whispered, and you embraced him around the waist, maintaining eye contact.
"Give me your lips." he added after a moment, and his free hand caught your chin to support you in a sweet, tender kiss.
When your lips parted, you rested your head on his chest, listening to the beating of his heart. It always had a calming effect on you, and it worked this time too, helping your body return to normal and rid itself of all the reflexes from today's intense stress.
"How are we going to live now?" you whispered, feeling Anakin's hand gently circling on your back.
"Soon, normally. Together. Just give me a little time." he kissed the top of your head, gazing at the cityscape outside the window behind your back.
"Just give me a little time."