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“Follow me closely, keep your eyes on my bike, don’t lose sight !” Rex shouted through his commlink. “Yes sir !” you heard several members of the squadron answer.
You had been deployed on Orto Plutonia after all contacts with the Republic’s outpost established on the cold planet were lost. You knew that what you were about to find there was going to be awful, and it was. The building had been attacked and there wasn't a single living men left in it.
But the whole situation turned even worse when the Pantoran Chairman that was accompanying you decided to declare war to the native alien species living near the outpost, after you found out that they were responsible of the attack.
You, Obi-Wan, Anakin and Senator Chuchi had done your best to calm him down and make him drop the idea, but nothing had worked, he was too entitled and aggressive, and the three of you, as Jedi, had no rights to go against his will.
Unfortunately, even if the Senator was able to resolve the situation in the end, your troops still were forced to engage into a deadly fight, leading to the death of a lot of your men as well as the Chairman himself, and of several poor aliens that didn’t ask for nothing but keep living their peaceful life on their own. It was a complete and preventable disaster.
And to worsen the situation, on your ride back to the outpost after the confrontation, a snow storm decided to broke out. It took you all by surprise, and it appeared to be very violent. The wind suddenly blew stronger, making your race harder by slowing and throwing your vehicles off balance. The snow that was only seconds before peacefully falling was now forming big opaque whirls, blurring your vision and making it impossible to see past a few meters in front of you. You could feel the motor of your bike struggling and sputtering to keep the pace of the ride.
“We’re never gonna make it !” Jesse’s voice burst. You were riding close to each other already, but you had gathered even more after Rex’s call. “The engines are not gonna support that weather for too long !”
“We have to !”, Obi-Wan answered him, “We can’t stop or we’re gonna get completely lost, we’re on the right way to the outpost, it won’t be long anymore ! We cannot compromise the safety of the Senator, we have to make it back !”
“Stay as close as possible from one another, it’s gonna be ok !” Anakin added.
You had a very bad feeling about this, and you probably weren’t the only one.
Only a few minutes later, what was obviously going to happen finally happened : one of the bike on your left started to badly misfunctioned. Smoke started to escape from its hood, then you heard a crack, soon followed by an explosion, and the man next to you was no longer here. You were so close that you felt the warmth of the explosion through your clothes despite the cold.
“Dogma ! Captain, we lost Dogma !” you heard Tup desperately screams.
You didn’t hesitate a second and broke the formation, braking abruptly and turning around.
“(Y/n), what are you doing ? We can’t stop here, come back !” a confused Obi-Wan addressed you.
“And I can’t let one of my men in the middle of nowhere to freeze to death ! Go on, I’ve got the map on my datapad, I'll get him and I’ll catch up with you at the outpost !”
He couldn’t say much, he knew how deeply you cared for your troops, and even if your move was highly dangerous and unreasonable, he knew he couldn’t do anything to stop you.
“Alright then, be careful, (Y/n) !”
“I’ll do my best.”
You had a hard time finding him. He got ejected several meters away from his bike when it hit the ground. Said bike was now reduced to a fuming mess, half buried in the snow. You were able to locate him thanks to his force signature, the only one you could perceive from miles around. When you finally reached him, he was unconscious, lying face down.
“Dogma !” you called to him, picking him up and holding him in your arms.
“Dogma, can you hear me ?” you tried again. No answer came from him. It was clear that he couldn’t hear anything.
You hesitated for a moment, but you finally decided to remove his helmet, as his special anti-cold armor wasn’t allowing you to check neither his breath nor his heartbeat. You knew it wasn’t something to do with someone wearing a helmet after such a violent shock, but you had to make sure he was still alive before attempting to do anything more.
You carried him toward your own vehicle, settling him down, his back against the still warm metal, then carefully took off his piece of armor. His eyes were closed and he wasn’t reacting to the manipulation, his head falling straight on the side as soon as it wasn’t supported anymore. You were completely frightened, but you did your best to stay focused, removing one of your gloves and slipping your fingers under the turtleneck of his blacks to search for a pulse. You let out a sigh of relief when you felt his heart still pumping under his skin. He was still breathing too, but it was so subtle that you hadn’t notice it at first, for it wasn’t even strong enough to create steam in the cold air.
You gently cupped his cheek with your bare hand, calling his name again and brushing your thumb against his skin to try to wake him up.
Suddenly, his head twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes, his eyelashes fluttering a couple of times until his eyes were adjusted to the luminosity. There still was a bit of sunrays piercing through the clouded sky, but you knew that night would soon be falling upon you.
“Ho thanks Maker !” you breathed out.
“Where are we ? What happened ?” he groggily asked.
“Your bike got a bad engine problem, it crashed, and you got ejected, I don’t think we can save it … We’ll had to reach the outpost with mine, I hope it’s gonna support the weather this time …” you did your best not to sound too worried.
“How do you feel ?” you then added in a softer tone.
“Fine, I guess …” he answered, looking at his legs and arms, trying to move them, “My limbs are still functioning, so it’s gonna be ok, just got a little headache, but nothing much.”
“Good …” you smiled at him before handling him his helmet. “I think you’re gonna need this !”
“Thanks General !” he put it back on quickly, trying to hide the blush creeping on his cheeks due to your unexpected closeness.
You noticed it anyway, but put the blame on the aggressive cold. You stood up on your feet and offered him your hand. He took it without hesitation, but stumbled a bit on his feet once upright. You caught his arm to prevent him from falling and helped him regain his balance.
You were wearing a pair of transparent snow goggles and a big furry hood was framing your face, and when your eyes met his at that moment, the concerned look you gave him make his heart melt and his cheeks burn even more.
He would never have admitted it, but you always had that effect on him. Of course, he was admiring you as his General, as he was admiring every of his superior at first, but quickly, it became something more. A lot of his brothers caught him blushing or getting all flustered after speaking with you on several occasions, even though he was putting all of his energy into hiding it. He got teased about that a couple times already. So of course, having the chance to spend some time alone with you was very pleasing, although he would have preferred doing it in other circumstances. He was a very professional and dedicated soldier, but when you were near him, he couldn’t help his mind to be attracted by your presence.
“We have to go, we don’t have much time until dawn, Kix will examine you once we’ll arrive, are you gonna be ok until then ?” your voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
“Yes, yes sure !”
You hopped on your speeder, gesturing him to sit behind you.
“Hold on to me” you said, starting the engine. He hesitated for a second, but finally wrapped his arms around your waist. It was the sign you needed to move forward. He was a total blushing mess at that point and was very glad to have his helmet on to cover it.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the motor to start weakening and for the vehicle to start shaking and dangerously get closer to the ground. You could feel the resistance of the wind pushing against the metal panel and the struggling of the engine.
“Ho kriff !” you grumbled when you noticed the smoke filling your field of vision.
You slowed down but it was too late, you felt the temperature of the mechanism increase under your feet, and you prayed for it to hold on a bit longer, before a violent cracking sound ringed in your ears, ruining all your hopes.
All you could do was clench your teeth and try your best to land it safely. When it finally stopped moving in a last hiccup, you just stood here, handlebars still in hands and eyes widened, completely still, processing what had just happened.
“Ho kriff ….” you muttered again.
It was now really getting darker, and the storm seemed thicker than before. Things can always become worst, you thought to yourself.
“What are we doing now ?” a huffed and nervous voice emerged from behind you.
You let your hands slipped off the handles and looked around you.
“I think we need to move” you picked up your datapad from your coat’s pocket and opened the map of the area. Dogma loosened his grip around you to look over your shoulder, the remains of his headache still tickling him.
“I don’t exactly know where we are, but according to that map, we must be near some ice cave. The outpost is too far for us to reach on foot, the night is falling quickly, and the weather seems to get worse. We don’t have any other choice but to find that cave, it’s our only chance to survive.” You jumped from your seat and turned toward him. “Is that ok with you ?”
You couldn’t hide your anxiety anymore, and he felt bad for you. After all, all of this was his fault, you could have just left him here in the snow and you would be perfectly safe and warm by now.
“Yes, General, don’t worry, we’re gonna make it !” he tried to reassure you.
You smiled at his positivity.
“Of course we will, Sergeant.”
Before you started to walk, you tried to contact Obi-Wan with your commlink to inform him of your situation. When he picked up the call, you knew at his voice that he was very worried about you, even if he was trying to keep his tone as calm as possible and a bit moralizing.
Soon, Anakin threw himself in the conversation, quickly joined by Ahsoka. They, too, were worried, but weren’t even trying to hide it. After telling them that Dogma was safe and that you were planning on reaching a nearby shelter, it was decided that you were going to spend the night there, and that a rescue unit will come and find you in the morning. But for now, it was just the two of you against the sky unleashing his rage and darkness on the little planet.
The search for the cave was very difficult and exhausting. You were blessing your electrobinoculars right now, you would have been doomed without them, although you knew that their battery was running low. You held Dogma’s hand the whole time, for you couldn’t clearly hear each other with the wind, and your eyes sight was very short. Getting separated would mean getting lost, and probably dying all alone in this mess of a weather.
It was completely dark outside when you found the cave. Fortunately, the entrance was wide enough for you not to miss it, and you didn’t hesitate a second before rushing in.
As you were going further and further down its galleries, you finally stumbled upon a large cavity. It was the perfect place to establish a makeshift camp, the space was wide enough for the two of you to lay down, and there was no sign of potentially dangerous creature.
“Finally, we’re safe” you sighed in relief, taking off your backpack. You felt all the pressure of the previous race against time disappearing from your shoulders, and Dogma took off his helmet to look around him, sweeping the ceiling of the space with his torchlight.
“Don’t worry” you reassured him with a soft smile, “if it’s been strong enough to support all of the ice and snow from above, we have nothing to worry about.”
You turn on your commlink again to give Obi-Wan an update on your situation. As previously, Anakin and Ahsoka stuck their noses in the conversation. But this time it seemed that there was a lot more peoples around them. They were, indeed, right in the middle of taking their diner with the rest of the company.
While you were talking, you heard some kind of bustles in the back, people laughing and whispering to each other. Dogma noticed it quickly too, and as you told them to enjoy their meal, he couldn’t help but think about all of the teasing he’ll be greeting with when you’ll both come back about spending a night alone with his “favorite General”, as they say.
After describing them the path to get to the cavity, they asked you once more to be careful and stay safe, and made you swear to not get out of that cave until they found you, which you, of course, agreed with. You wished them good night and hung out the call.
“Well, let’s light a fire!” you told your comrade with all the enthusiasm left in you.
You had two emergency backpacks in your possession, which was a blessing since each one was filled with a fire starter package, rations bars, basic medical equipment, and a survival blanket. You used yours to start the fire, Dogma’s one will be used to extend its life later.
The fire wasn’t big, but it was enough to keep you warm in that confined space. As the draught from the wind raging in the principal tunnel was ventilating the space, the risk of suffocating wasn’t a problem.
You didn’t talked much at first, focusing on starting the fire. Once the flames were vigorous enough, you both sat in front of them in silence, tired but relieved, waiting for your freezing bodies to catch up some warmth.
After a moment, you finally found the courage to remove your coat and armor, much to Dogma’s surprise, whose eyes widened when he realized what you were doing, quickly looking away.
“Hu, General ? What are you doing ? You’re gonna catch a cold !”
“Actually, we’re wet to the bone because of the melting snow, and our armors are just retaining that wetness in our clothes, we’ll never get rid of it if we don’t allow the fabric to dry … I think that removing them can only help … It’s by keeping our armors and that kriffing wetness against our skins that we’re gonna catch a cold in my opinion … And to be honest, I can’t stand the shivering anymore, it’s exhausting …” you let out.
Every inch separating you from the fire was an additional loss of warmth. The perimeter on which the heat had an incidence wasn’t that large, so you tried to get undressed as quickly as possible.
At the sight of your body only covered with your blacks, the soldier started to blush heavily again. It wasn’t the first time he had seen you like that, of course, you had to share the same barracks as your men a couple of times during missions. But this time, it was different.
It was just the two of you.
He tried his best to keep his eyes focused on the fire, he had way too much respect for you to allow himself to stare.
When you sat back near the flames, you pulled your pieces of armor within your reach so they could dry too. You were cold and still violently shaking at first, but you knew it was gonna get better soon. You curled your body up in a thigh ball as near from the flames as possible. You had to wait for your blacks to dry before covering yourself in an emergency blanket, or your efforts would have been vain.
“You should try it too”, you told him, turning your head toward him while keeping it settled on top of your folded knees, “I don’t want you to get sick.”
You saw him hesitate, and you couldn’t blame him, it wasn’t looking very comfortable. You gave him an encouraging smile, for you were already starting to feel warmer yourself, the shiver disappearing slowly.
“Please, Dogma, get out of that armor, we’re safe here, you’re not gonna need it, trust me, you’re just gonna freeze to death with it, I saw that before and I don’t want it to happen to you … Can you do that for me ?”
He finally gave up, unable to resist your words. Standing up on his feet, he turned toward the wall of the cave, moving away from a few steps, then started to remove his armor as well.
“Thank you” you whispered, looking back at the fire to give him more privacy.
When he came back next to you, you felt his embarrassment floating in the air, even without looking at him. You kept your eyes locked on the flames and didn’t say anything to let him some time to calm down. You stayed like that for a moment. He was shivering at first, but soon became steadier. You were right, the warmth had acted on him just has it had on you, and he was finally starting to relax.
After a few more minutes of hesitation, he finally spoke.
“You ... you were right General, I feel better now …”
“Good” you gave him a small smile, which he, most to your surprise, returned to you.
Everything in that cave seemed to be out of time. You weren’t aware of the exact weather outside since you were only hearing the constant and distant howling of the wind but nothing else, you had no idea of what time it could have been for your data pad had run out of battery a moment ago, and the warmth of the fire was the only thing your body was perceiving.
You were safe now, the fighting and the negotiations were far away, and still being alive in the morning was the only thing that mattered anymore. And to be fair, none of you were seeing that as a big challenge at that moment.
You eventually started to talk to each other, and the more you were sharing with him, the more he started to open up to you. You had always been close to your men, you knew each of them very well, so you were aware of Dogma’s shyness and tendency to stay quiet, as well as his fierce and inflexible habit of strictly following the rules.
He was one of the latest recruits in the 501st, and like for the other before him, you had been attentive and careful with him at the beginning to help him adapt correctly to the company’s habits.
Needless to say that the 501st was … one of a kind of a battalion. He had some hard times getting used to it at first, but with some patience, he finally made it. Even if he was still arguing with his brothers (often) about their way of following orders and internally cursing his general for his reckless leading sometimes (often too, in fact).
But your presence was easing his mind. In the middle of all of this chaos, and even thought you were part of it most of the times and even encouraged it sometimes, he trusted you blindly. You were the one who gave him courage and hope in the hardest, most uncertain times, the one who restored his strength to keep fighting on battle fields that seemed already lost, the one who brought light when his mind was clouded with the darkness and pain of losing a brother.
You had always supported, protected, and held your men dear in your heart, always treating them as equals, as human more than weapons like other people usually did. You treated them kindly, and you had created more bonds with them than most of their superiors have ever done, and it meant a lot to him, even if he had never showed it.
Even if he was a solitary one, you and the rest of the company still managed to make him come with you at the 79’ a couple times, and although he didn’t want to admit it, it was always good times for him. It made him felt a bit more part of the group when he was the lonely one most of the time, minding his business, never going sideways. He could, in those moments, finally relax a bit and think less about his burdening soldier’s duties.
In the middle of your conversation, you both realized that you were getting hungry. Reaching for your bag to grab your rations bars, you joked about getting some ice cream for dessert, since there was plenty of ice around you, making him chuckles at your silly words. He was rarely amused when his brothers were joking, especially on missions, and he was usually trying to keep a straight face at them. But here and now, there was no reason to be that serious at all.
“To be honest, I’d rather have a hot cup of caf right now if I could choose.”
You suddenly remembered that you had, in fact, brought a thermos of caf with you before leaving the base. There were water bottles in your emergency backpack, but you were afraid that they might be frozen by the time you’ll get thirsty, and as expected, they were now.
Your smile widened as you search further in your bag, and when you found it, you proudly pulled it out.
“Tadaaa !” you exclaimed.
The clone was so surprised he remained speechless for a moment, eyes wide and glimmering. You offered him the bottle and he looked at you with confusion.
“Don’t you … want to keep it for yourself ?”
“That’s more than enough for the both of us, don’t worry”, you reassured him with a soft smile, “and, I’m happy to share it with you, sincerely.”
His heart skipped a bit. He knew that you were a very kind person, and it was one of the reasons he fell for you in the first place, but it was still touching him every time he witnessed your benevolence. He found himself absent-mindedly looking at your lips, struck by a sudden urge to taste your mesmerizing smile. If he was brave enough, he would have kissed you without hesitation right now, but he quickly pushed away the inappropriate thought.
“Thank you, General …” he whispered, stretching out his arm to take the metallic container.
You were now only a few inches apart. It seemed that you had unconsciously got closer from each other while talking.
It wasn’t much, but it was still more than comforting and truly heartwarming for both of you to have some hot drink after such a rough day. You shared it straight from the bottle while eating your ration bars.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances, you really were appreciating the moment. You were both safe and none of you had been injured in the process, there was no apparent dangers around, you weren’t hungry anymore, and all that was left to do now was to rest and wait until the next morning for your comrades to find you.
So you just stood here by the fire, sharing memories of your previous missions and of funny moments spent with the rest of the company.
You were now closer as ever, shoulder to shoulder, nearly leaning on each other, speaking quietly, and bathing in the warm light. You were so concentrated of the dancing flames that you didn’t notice all the small glances Dogma was dreamingly throwing at you from time to time.
But after a moment, and despite the fire heat, you both started to shiver again, and decided to reach for the emergency blankets that were supposed to be part of your packages. Dogma quickly reached for his and wrapped it cozily around his body, but as you were searching your backpack for yours, you suddenly remembered that it wasn’t in your possession anymore, for you had gave it to Senator Chuchi earlier in the day.
You didn’t say anything and simply sat back at your place but not as close to him as before, accepting your fate without a complain. But he still caught a glimpse of your disappointed expression.
“What’s wrong ? Are you okay ?”
“Yeah, don’t worry, it’s nothing, I just forgot that I gave my blanket to the Senator … She was starting to get cold and shaky after the battle, and I didn’t want her to get sick. I know that Pantorans are supposed to support that weather better than us, but with all the stress she had gone through lately, no wonder that her body must have been exhausted and shocked …” you muttered, curling up on yourself once again.
After that, a silence fell between you. You were starting to feel sleepy, but you couldn’t relax, you were still shivering, and even with your mind focused on the fire, you couldn’t get rid of the unpleasing sensation.
“General ?”
The Sergeant’s voice suddenly pulled you out of your thought, and your eyes let go of the distraction in front of you to land on him.
“I … I’ll be happy to share mine with you …” he shyly let out, with a soft smile, opening one of his arms in your direction to offer you a corner of his blanket.
“Are your sure ?” you asked with wide eyes, surprised and a bit taken aback.
“Of course, I’m sure … Please, come in …” he whispered, gesturing to you to join him under the fabric.
Without hesitation, you closed the little gap between you, and once your body was pressed against his, he gently wrapped his arm and the blanket around your shoulders, enveloping you with a most welcomed warmth.
It felt strange at first, for you weren’t used to be that close to someone, but soon relaxed, and without even minding it, you ended up with one of your own arms wrapped around his waist and your head rested on his shoulder, to which he answered by gently tightening his embrace.
You stayed like that for a moment, cuddled against each other, his head rested on top of yours. You weren’t talking anymore, just enjoying the closeness. As the time passed by, weariness really took over you until your eyelids started to shut on their own and a yawn escaped your mouth, making Dogma internally melt with how cute you were when being all sleepy.
“Maybe we should … try to sleep …” you mumbled, trying to fight against the invasive numbness.
“Yes, I think it could be a good idea …” he whispered.
You both agreed that the best way to stay warm during the night was to stay close to the fire to take advantage of its heat until it ran out and eventually die, but also to stay close to each other to share your body warmth as much as possible.
You put down your cloak on the iced ground to use it as a makeshift mattress, and emptied your backpacks to turn them into pillows. Then you both laid down, covering your bodies with the blanket. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed you’ve slept on, but right now, it was a more than a satisfying alternative.
You were both a bit nervous at first, just looking at each other shyly. But quickly, he came to crave for your contact so badly that in a sudden rush of courage, he wrapped his arms around you again to pull you toward him, pressing his entire body against yours, conscious that it will probably be his only chance to feel you that close to him.
You slowly curled up against his chest, entangling your legs with his and burying your head in the crook of his neck. You closed your eyes, focusing on the steady beating of his heart as you felt your mind helplessly drifting off to sleep.
“Goodnight, Dogma …” you breathed out weakly before your brain became too misty to allow you to talk anymore.
You nearly immediately blacked out, but you still got the time to catch what seemed like his answer.
“Good night, mesh’la ...”
It sounded like a very distant echo, and you weren’t sure whether you were dreaming his words or not, but they kept ringing in your head for the whole night like a sweet lullaby.
***
It was Captain Rex and General Skywalker’s voices calling your names that woke you up the next morning.
When you opened your eyes, the first thing that you saw was Dogma sleepy face. He was struggling to keep his eyes opened at first, still lost between dream and reality. But when he noticed that you were still here, even if he wasn’t asleep anymore, he suddenly felt relieved.
He was afraid that all that happened the night before was just in his head, but now that he was seeing you, so close and smiling at him, he understood that it was all real, and that what had begun like a stroke of bad luck really ended up like one of the most pleasant nights of his life.
You were now both perfectly awake, looking intensely at each other, but completely unable to move, for none of you wanted to break the comfortable embrace. In fact, all you wanted by now was for it to last forever, even though you perfectly knew it was impossible.
When the rescue team finally reached the cavity, they found you tightly cuddled under the emergency blanket, fearing that you might be dead at first, but more than happy to discover that you were both safe and sound.
Nobody dared to say anything in your presence, but as soon as Dogma ended up alone with his brothers, he was, as expected, buried under more teasing he ever had to suffer from. But he didn’t care much about it, for he was too lost in the memories of that night to bother answering them. All he was hoping for after that was to get the chance to spend another one with you, but in a more comfortable bed, so he could enjoy your closeness even more.