Chapter Text
When Master Yoda had initially approached her to fill in as a commander while he and Padawan Tano helped a group of younglings along in their training, Adorsha had been more than happy to answer the call. She had worked with Anakin Skywalker in the past during his time as Master Kenobi’s padawan, recalled getting along fairly well with the now knighted Jedi, along with recollecting stories she had heard of the bravery of the 501st Legion which had been the ultimate catalyst in accepting the request.
They had all welcomed her warmly aboard the Resolute when she had arrived, with all the military honoring welcome a fellow Jedi could expect. Anakin had been just as friendly and cordial to her as he had been before, however she noticed the clones at first had been keeping their distance from her. She figured it had been a matter of respect, or perhaps she had just been away from the front lines of the war for too long. Being called “Ma’am” was what had strangely made her the most uncomfortable. It felt too formal of a title, too authoritative, like there was something that physically set her apart from the others aboard the ship.
Thankfully, that had all changed when Anakin had invited her to train with him in one morning, but instead of taking part in their own practiced training routines, Adorsha arrived early - and challenged the clone that stuck out to her the most in that moment. He had a huge tattoo that covered most of his face, and by that afternoon, she had not only learned most of the men in the Company’s names, but had them cheering in competitive spirit as she sparred with them. When she had hit the fresher that day, she was aching and sore, but the smile on her face at having earned the respect of the men and having a good time in the process had made it all worth it. Yet, there was something that did stick in her mind from that day.
She had been sparring with Fives, having voluntarily been the first to introduce himself after she'd challenged Jesse. He had introduced the whole group after her match against Jesse, before challenging her himself, and the two found themselves exchanging banter as the air seemingly crackled with energy in the training room. “You're starting to slow down Fives, don't tell me you're getting tired now?” She smirked playfully as she dodged another one of his strikes by stepping to the side and leaning right.
Fives just grinned at her “Maybe I'm going easy on you just to boost your confidence, Commander.” He countered, sweat dripping from his brow while his eyes sparkled mischievously.
Adorsha laughed in good humor “In your dreams, Trooper. I'll have you know I earned every victory fair and square!” She declared just as she attempted to feint left, only for him to bring his leg up to nail her in the side with his knee, sending her sprawling onto the mat from how low she had gone. Before he could drop down to pin her, she rolled sideways, using her arms to spring herself up into a couch and bring her leg out to sweep Fives’ feet out from underneath him. His momentum however still carried forwards, sending them both down together where they had rolled, gotten tangled, and she ended up astride his waist with his wrists pinned to the mat. Both of them were out of breath, her pulse racing just as quickly as his own from where she could feel it quickening beneath her fingertips as she grinned and said “Submit.”
Fives had no chance to respond before a very loud whistle from Hardcase had them both coming down from their battle high back to reality, and consequently, to their surroundings. When Adorsha had moved to get off of him, she winced, bruised from where his knee had nailed her - but he was already there, helping her up. “Are you okay, General? Are you hurt?” Fives asked, his eyes searched hers for any sign of pain yet was more shocked to see just how wide his pupils were, and just how flushed his face had become.
“No, Fives, just a little bruised-” Adorsha cut herself off seeing the look of concern flicker across his face, so she shot him a reassuring smile “I’m fine, you saw your shot and you took it, that’s good!” and thankfully things in the training room had gone back to the regular convivial atmosphere after that. When she had returned to her office that evening to fill out some paperwork and contact her former master, then paused before sitting down at her desk. Atop it, had been a bacta pad, a note, and a small, intricately decorated tea cake. The design certainly wasn’t anything too extraordinary, but it had frosting, and a simple swirl pattern with a small slice of fruit sitting on top of it. Picking up the note, Adorsha read the text curiously.
Cake always made me feel better.
Sorry.
- Fives.
The little cake had barely been three bites, yet that was all it had taken to make her smile.
By the time they had reached their intended destination of Rhen Var, Adorsha was on a first name basis with almost all of the Clones stationed aboard the Resolute. It had only made things all the harder during their initial push to establish a base of operations planetside from the Separatists who had been occupying the planet. As she and Skywalker had been spearheading the charge, she had been reminded as to why she had walked away from her former master on the front lines and turned her attention back to her training on Coruscant to become a knight.
Death was a natural part of life, a natural part of the force, she wasn’t supposed to fear death… Yet seeing so many die in the name of the Republic, under her command, carrying out her orders… They had taken the Citadel, but at what cost?
Skywalker had found her helping Kix and the other medics with the wounded. Kix knelt besides another clone who was wearing once shiny, white plastoid armor, now blackened from the blaster bolt he had taken to the chest. Adorsha was by his other side, kneeling and letting him squeeze her hand through the pain, until Kix stuck him with a bacta shot to the wound site which had the shiny clone crying out in awful pain. Adorsha quickly moved forwards and touched her hand to his forehead “Sleep!” she said, using the force to try and calm his mind, lulling him into the allure of a deep rest “Sleep,” she repeated, almost sounding like she was pleading with him to just rest. The clone’s eyes rolled back and he went limp on the ground, snoring softly. Kix nodded her a thank you just as she let go of his hand. Skywalker’s hand touched her shoulder in sympathy.
“I thought… I thought I was used to this,” Adorsha confessed to him “With the tactics of my old master, I thought this wouldn’t affect me anymore.”
“Good people don’t like seeing others suffer, you did what you could for him.” Anakin offered her a warm smile, and a hand to help her get up. Gratefully, the togruta Jedi took it only to sway on her feet a little, causing her hand to shoot out and have her lean on the ice cold wall of the Citadel’s stone. “Just how many people have you helped treat like that?” Skywalker asked in concern, knowing the feeling of overtaxing oneself in the force. Adorsha just looked at him with sad, questioning eyes.
“How long has it been since we took the spire?” Adorsha asked back, making Anakin’s eyes go wide.
“Adorsha, you need to rest,” Just as she opened her mouth to protest he cut her off “I’ll take over from you here, I know Rex has more or less got things up and running in the command center now anyway, some of the men have already started setting up sleeping arrangements, just head over to where we’ve got the supplies coming down from the transports and grab yourself a heater before the sun sets and it gets too cold.”
Sighing deeply, she knew that he was right. She could feel the fatigue seeping into all of her muscles and it was getting harder for her to think, to connect and feel the force around her. It was in her funk however, she made a terrible mistake going straight to the sleeping quarters the clones had set up for her so she could have some privacy. A mistake which she had only realized hours later, after sundown, when she had woken up shivering from the cold in her bed.
She had completely forgotten to get a heater from the supplies. Adorsha cursed herself for her earlier stupor and overexertion as the chill assaulted her now. Wrapping her blanket around herself tighter, she tried to use friction to get some heat back into her toes and fingers, to no avail. Her horns and lekku were not faring much better, the deep freeze giving her a headache, causing her teeth to start chattering and tears to bead at the corner of her eyes at the lack of moisture. Frost formed a thin crust around the metal supports of her bed, making her hiss when she accidentally touched it to get up. She couldn’t stay here, it was too dangerous. She was barely able to slip on her boots which she had taken off to get into bed, however her fatigue had her still not thinking properly, and instead of donning the rest of her cold weather gear, Adorsha instead took her blanket and wrapped it around herself for protection, reasoning that the walk to the supply caches was only a short walk and the effort of putting all of it back on and off again just wasn’t worth it.
What she hadn’t counted on, was having to navigate the open courtyard of the Citadel, nor the blizzard that was currently tearing past the building’s exterior. Adorsha’s fingers clutched painfully at her blanket as it billowed in the wind, snow assaulting her with the frost starting to creep all the way down into her bones making it all the harder to move and see. It was cold, too cold, the kind of cold that could kill . It felt like her airways were lined with ice crystals as she breathed, and with a defeated whine, she gave up on her quest of reaching the supplies and just started to head towards the nearest source of light and heat. By the time she reached the nearest door, she slammed herself against the wall near the keypad on the side, allowing her some shelter from the storm as she crooked a finger out to jab the security combination. When it beeped at her for her incorrect combination the first time, she whined loudly and tried again, her hand shaking from icy hot pain, only for it to buzz that the combination was wrong. The third time, she attempted to use the force to just feel for an imprint from a set of more abled fingers having entered the combination before, her purple skinned fingers now nearly blue from how little blood there was moving to the tips of her fingers. Yet one strong gust of wind knocked her forwards and completely out of her concentration, causing her hand to slam painfully into the wall where she could only cry out in pain.
The keypad flashed red and yellow at her multiple times, scoldingly, a warning for not entering in the right combination. Now the door was undoubtedly deadbolted. She wasn’t getting in unless she blew through the wall, which she couldn’t even do now with one hard force push. Not when she could hardly even feel her fingers anymore. Even then, what would such an act accomplish aside from exposing that room to the elements too? A deep, howling whine escaped from her throat as the strength was sapped from her by the storm as the blizzard beat at her back, crowding herself against the wall, as she weakly called out through the force, barely clinging onto consciousness from the extent of what she had been used it that day.
Suddenly, a light assaulted her eyes as the door in front of her slid open, and a pair of strong hands pulled her inside. A wall of merciful heat hit her, and her knees buckled, but thankfully those strong hands were accompanied by a pair of strong arms there to catch her.
“General?!” She gazed up into the concerned, wide eyes of the man she had seen gazing up onto her only weeks ago.
“Fives…” she wanted to weep in joy “S-so c-cold…”
“I’ve got you General,” Fives reassured her, and suddenly she was in a bridal carry, her head rolling to the side to rest against his shoulder “I’ve got you.” They had sparred together not even a week ago, and the bruise on her side was only just starting to heal, how was it possible she had forgotten just how strong he was?
He easily carried her over to one of the single, simple beds that were all lined up in a row with a heater between each bed. The rows of beds were empty, yet neatly made, as if anticipating their occupants. He placed her down as though she were made of glass, before quickly taking her damp blanket away and replacing it with a new, dry one that was remarkably warmer. Then, to Adorsha’s surprise, she could feel the weight of the cot shifting as he too laid upon it behind her. There was practically no space between them, which Adorsha thanked the force for the fact there was nothing between her and the heat she had so desperately craved moments ago. It was only then, as he settled in behind her, did Adorsha realize Fives wasn’t wearing his armor. The spongy black material of his undersuit hugged every finely honed muscle in his body as he pressed against her, tucking her back into his chest. His hands slid down her arms, Adorsha wondered if this was what icicles felt like when people touched them, before they came to surround hers. The clone cursed “Dank farrik, you’re freezing! What were you doing out there at this time of night? Where is your gear?”
“N-Needed a… a heater…” Adorsha managed to say between her still chattering teeth “Thought… I knew where… where…?”
“We moved the supplies hours ago to work on the Walkers.” Fives revealed, eyes still wide with alarm “That’s where everyone is right now, did nobody tell you? Never mind, don’t answer that. Let’s just… get you warmed back up.” There was a flash of determination in his eyes as he almost instinctively wrapped an arm around her to pull her closer. With gentle yet firm touch, he started to rub circles into the backs of her hands and fingers. He was being so careful, yet so thorough as he worked to generate the warmth that she so desperately craved. His breath was warm on her neck as he murmured to her soothing words when she stirred.
“Just relax… let the chill fade away…
Don’t worry, I’ve got you…
Focus on me, focus on the warmth, let it chase the cold away…”
Adorsha’s head rolled back against his pillow and his shoulder as his hands moved up from the backs of her hands to her arms, stroking her firmly, steadily, grounding her to the room and to his presence behind her.
“You’re safe here…
We’ll get through this together, I promise…
Just keep breathing, deep, in and out, just like that…”
He breathed in deep, and so did she, again, and again, until their breathing was even, deep and synchronized. Adorsha found herself starting to unwind, almost melting in the arms of the clone. His techniques, his touch, it was working wonders to not only get the blood flowing back, but Adorsha soon found herself being lulled to sleep by the sense of deep relaxation that was starting to nibble at the edges of her consciousness.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, I’m right here…” His voice was so low and husky against her horn, like sweetened honey butter slowly dripping against them as her eyes slipped closed.
His hand began to stroke up and down her side, slowly, almost hypnotically as she became completely relaxed in his embrace. He was an anchor in the storm that raged outside and inside of her, and all Adorsha could do was snuggle closer. She was safe, she'd never felt so safe in her entire life, not at the Jedi Temple or even with her Master. She wasn't sure her master had ever even offered her such close comfort during times of hardship. The most affection she had ever gotten from him was a hesitant pat on the back for a job well done.
Fives on the other hand, had been there for her the moment she had stepped aboard the Resolute. He had been the first clone to voluntarily introduce herself to her, he'd always smiled at her whenever they passed in the hallways, happiness always seemed to come easily whenever she was around him no matter where they were.
Falling asleep in his arms came to Adorsha more naturally than the force.