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The agitation that spread throughout most parts of the galaxy began to slowly fade. The gush of blaster shots decreased and alarm systems that sounded in the whole galaxy and on every Venator which had been in action until hours ago ceased bit by bit. Though it all was far from gone. And everything seemed as if that circumstance wouldn't change for a whole while more.
Arisen by the alleged treason of the Jedi to the Republic and its chancellor. And by the ensuing conversion of just this Republic into the so-called Galactic Empire by the latter and everything this official act caused.
The message spread in lightspeed through the galaxy. People were disappointed, furious at the Jedi Order and some even said to have always known that it wasn't what it told the public to be.
Others simply couldn't believe it.
Yet, about noone actually knew, what exactly and really happened to the Jedi. They were left in the dark without any knowing about the current status of the Jedi Order or their members. And certainly not the truth.
News spread that most of them were already eliminated, but also that there were still some out there hiding or trying to execute their plan in overthrowing the Republic. A big apprehension developed in many folks with the uncertainty of that and the worry about how the whole situation would continue.
Tantive III was landed on Naboo, a planet that -apart from everything- seemed to be rather safe for the time being. Inside the ship, people who knew more about the current happenings than most of the population did. Bail Organa, as one of the few members of the senate and people in general who knew the truth about the fate of the Jedi and their innocence in what very much seemed to be a twisted conspiracy against their Order. Or...what was left of it.
Like the two Jedi he was just now talking to in a solitary room in the ship, safely hidden from possible spying eyes. About how it was supposed to continue and two children's future.
Bail knew that he would take care of the girl as it had been a wish for him and his wife for a longer time now. And he would return to Alderaan where he would also eventually have to find out how many people didn't trust the chancellor or even knew the truth like him and then discuss the next steps and everything further with the ones who were willing to take action.
And the boy had something special too... Obi-Wan would keep his eye on him when him and Yoda would go into exile to hide on different planets...
So far the plans. But only time could tell what would come...
The doors to different rooms of the ship passed C-3PO as he made his way through its empty aisles. A strange feeling accompanied him, as if the joints in his legs were stiff and less easy to move. Normally, the protocol droid would have complained about it already and tried to have it fixed. But...he knew that this time, it wasn't an actual physical problem and more something his processors were responsible for, so he let it be. Not to mention that he really didn't feel like it at the moment. His processors were working hard to sort out a lot of information and sensations. So much that he noticed his energy reaching a low point and his motions increasingly beginning to be initiated automatically.
C-3PO only met two people in the aisle a few turns ago and spotted about a handful of others who were busy with tasks in one of the rooms he passed. Other than this, it was unusually quiet all around. Unusual but not odd, regarding the current situation. The people were probably busy with important matters, like the talk Bail and Yoda as well as Obi-Wan had in this moment.
After another turn around a corner, C-3PO's walk slowed down and he stopped in front of one of the doors of the aisle. The door which hid the room of his destination behind it until it opened with a hiss, revealing said room to the protocol droid.
There was a darkness presenting itself in front of him when the door opened. The room's lights were turned off and C-3PO's visual sensors weren't able to register much of what was inside.
Except for...the light of a monitor on the other side of the room and a smaller one right next to it. It might've been hard to make out anything in the room other than this, but C-3PO noticed two silhouettes surrounding the two lights.
And -as impossible as it would seem for any other person or...droid- C-3PO didn't need a second to recognize that small light and the faint silhouette surrounding it, knowing that it was R2-D2.
He didn't anticipate that the astromech would be here too, but if he was being honest, was already wondering where his partner was at. C-3PO's systems were (despite his suppression and denial) unwittingly occupied with the astromech after their talk with Bail. When C-3PO needed to stay a little longer while R2-D2 excused himself and left before him.
And...it was strange, but...somehow it felt like there was a light weight taken from him when he spotted the other inside the room. Or...as if a drop of lubricating oil fell onto the joints in both of his legs? In any case was it something that -even though he planned on doing so anyway- also contributed to the fact that his legs finally moved to enter the room.
Inside, C-3PO's visual sensors were able to register more than they did before. The room was still dark, the usually white walls now a very dark grey, but more silhouettes appeared in the darkness surrounding him. He was a few steps into the room and a few away from R2-D2.
The astromech however didn't move or even make a sound. C-3PO's visual sensors scanned him and registered the wires that connected the astromech to the machine next to him. A power generator, as he was able to see now. It seemed as if R2-D2 was just in the middle of recharging, just like C-3PO was about to do. It only made sense. After all that happened in the last hours, R2-D2's energy must've been just as low as C-3PO's.
But C-3PO also saw that R2-D2 wasn't fully turned off, only in energy saving mode. A rather unusual fact during the action of charging. This circumstance however had C-3PO notice a flash of power lighting up his wires for only a second when he realized that he didn't have to be alone in this room.
He ignored this feeling instantly however, an action he was very familar with, and decided to just speak, testing if the other could hear him. "Artoo.", therefore he said, silently, only to himself and the droid in front of him. And there was no accusing or offended undertone as it had been many other times. His words were soft. You didn't even have to pay that much attention to them this time to even perceive a melancholy, almost anguish voiced by his vocalizer.
A very soft buzzing sounded next to C-3PO as the other was put out of his static state. R2-D2 started to move his dome around to now register C-3PO with his visual sensor as well. A second passed and a few other ones where the astromech kept his view on the protocol droid. Then he answered. Though he didn't do much more than emitting a single quiet beep in response.
C-3PO kept his gaze on the other. R2-D2's behavior was...unusual, but not so when considering the situation he-...they were in.
And even though the droids didn't show it often, wouldn't have had the time to do so...C-3PO knew that R2-D2 was feeling quite bad. And that the other must've had the same sensations running through his wires that...he did. There was just so much to process in only the last hours...
The whole conversion of the Republic and along with it most probably their lives. The change of so much they knew and were used to, the uncertainty of how things would continue. How...where...if they would be needed in the future. Everything...and everyone they lost and shouldn't be here anymore. The latter was...undeniably the worst.
When the astromech had to watch Anakin change into someone he didn't know, had to watch him leave and not come back in this terrible place full of lava. Anakin, C-3PO's maker and the one for who R2-D2 had been a true companion in the Clone Wars. And a friend. Just as it had been the other way around. And who was now gone.
And that they had no break to even have a chance to register all this before they lost someone else -especially important to C-3PO- with the former Jedi's wife. Padmé had been at the protocol droid's side during the Clone Wars just like he had served at hers and it was save to say that he had been not just an assistant, but a good friend to her. And it had been this way the other way around too...
And as if that all wasn't bad enough, there was about no time to process all this. Things were being asked from the two droids or they were part of discussions directly after all that, without having any break from the events. And while during this all they had to keep their systems from letting anything show to the outside.
C-3PO's visual sensors focused back on the other. He supposed that this was the reason why R2-D2 wasn't completely turned off. So that the smaller droid's processors could continue sorting everything out while he charged.
C-3PO moved again and approached the other. "Oh, Artoo...", he uttered, a mixture of sympathy and the expression of his own feelings. And there was something else, like a silent plea for advice on how to escape this situation. As if asking for help from the other like he did so often, just that this time it wasn't really intentional and he knew that he probably didn't have to expect an answer.
The astromech had his visual sensor fixed on the other, watched him intensely as his golden frame came closer and bend down next to him. Though there was no reply coming from R2-D2. It was clear that he just didn't know what to say, even though he might've wanted to.
C-3PO didn't mind. It wasn't any different for the otherwise eloquent and talkative protocol droid. Even though there were so many things running through his systems and there was definitely not a lack of topics to talk about, he just couldn't find any words.
So when he finally sat down next to R2-D2, he only did what he could do very well. Voicing his distress in one single sentence. "I suppose...we...are just made to suffer...", he said. But...the amount of self-pity in his words was lower than usually. It was more of a conclusion which was noticeable voiced with the last bit of energy savings he had. Maybe even something that happened half automatically and unintentionally.
R2-D2 didn't answer to that, had his visual sensor on the other before he turned his dome away again.
For the next minutes it stayed silent between them. In that moment the silence somehow just felt better than any possible conversation. Even C-3PO noticed that and decided to not talk for a while and just start to recharge as well. Apart from that they both still needed the time to finally let their processors do their work.
But...directly when C-3PO connected himself to the power generator...a spark of electricity shocked the machine. Just the tiniest bit, but it was still running wild through the generator and therefore also the two droid's circuits. C-3PO nearly escaped a surprised sound to this, but could hold himself back in just the last moment. And save to say that he was thankful for his systems to not betray him even in the state he was in, because the sound would've probably been more than just surprised. Judging by how...nice that actually felt, the other would probably have heard that in his voice.
Their circuits must've gotten connected through the generator in the first second in which C-3PO connected himself to it, making their currents interfere and share the same energy for just a flash of a second, though it seemed as if the generator was able to seperate their circuits within the fraction of a second.
A tiny amount of each other's electricity stayed in their currents though, since the generator wasn't able to sort, just disconnect and divide. And so, they continued to feel this other kind of sensation running through their wires along with the electricity of the charging machine and all the negativity.
It was as if their inner components warmed up by a few degrees, not hot or uncomfortable but rather pleasantly warm. And, it was hard to describe, but there was also a brightness developing in and around them. Nothing their visual sensors could perceive. Figurative, but...still there. Internally. A contrast to the dark veil that continued to wrap around the galaxy, covering it in more and more darkness in exactly that same moment in which this brightness developed. It felt almost as if it was fighting against it. And,...what was even more strange, as if...it could succeed.
None of the two droids addressed it, just stayed like this for some moments. Their processors having to sort out even more sensations than before. But it didn't feel like that. On the contrary, it was rather as if these new sensations helped with sorting out the other ones or...as if they...softened them. Made them less heavy in their systems...
Suddenly R2-D2 heard the other droid move next to him and, just seconds later, his golden metallic frame against his own.
It was not the first time C-3PO searched for the other's closeness like this, but R2-D2 was surprised nevertheless in the first second, as it was still something uncommon for the other to do. But the surprise faded pretty quickly under the other things R2-D2 felt and he emitted a quiet, content sound.
And even though this was something that usually would oppose the protocol droid, he allowed the strange sensations he felt and that these closeness broght to fully run through his wires. Normally, he would supress any sensations that came along with it skillfully, but he didn't care about them in this moment like he would normally do. They didn't bother him. If anything...it was quite the opposite.
But again...neither of them commented on that, not during or after it. They just took in the new sensations and stayed like that until they were fully charged.
Later, Bail gave Captain Antilles the responsibility to take care of the two droids. For some reason this other change in their lives didn't cause as much negativity to form in the droid's systems as they thought it would. And the one from before had already faded to somewhere in the background during their recharging...
Even when Bail added to his speech that C-3PO's memory should be deleted, it didn't cause much agitation in their emotions. Well...at least not for R2-D2 who could even manage a stuttered amused laugh at C-3PO's typical disbelieving and offended reaction.
Seeing the other like this, back to being himself, was just...nice. But...it might've also been for the fact that R2-D2 knew, if it would really come to this, he would definitely keep a copy of the golden protocol droid's memory with him until they were safe to return to him...
And even when the future stayed uncertain...even with everything that changed, it felt like there was a big part of their lives that was still there and they really didn't lose everything they had. What had been despair just hours ago changed into something entirely different. Hope.