「 star-crossed ⭒ anakin skywalker 」

chapter sixteen

"Get behind me!" Anakin shouted as we, much to our dismay, discovered the wave of smaller droids heading right for us.

We slashed as many as we could with our lightsabers, while the clones desperately fired their blasters, attempting to evade the oncoming attacks. Rex hollered as one of the spiders attached itself to his face, forcing Artoo to send a deactivating bolt into its center eye.

I offered Rex a hand and hoisted him up off the floor.
"Are you alright, Captain?"

"Yeah, thanks. And thank you too little guy," Rex said, patting the astromech, who looked a little too proud of himself. Yep, he's definitely Anakin's droid.

"I'm almost positive the Separatists are behind this. Who else would want the Duchess dead?" Anakin pondered.

"But the question is who— who authorized the shipment of these droids? This vessel is under protection of the Senate," I added.

"Unless," his eyes widened as he realized, "we have ourselves a traitor on board."

—

The door of the dining hall swung open as Obi-Wan stepped out. It appears he had handled the rogue assassin droid successfully. But clearly the danger hadn't passed us quite yet.

"I have an idea how to expose the turncoat," Master Kenobi said after we briefed him on our findings. "You two return to the hull of the ship. Make sure the last of the droids are destroyed. I'll report when I find out which of the senators is the traitor."

"Be careful," I lightly smiled, and he nodded in a way that assured me he would do anything to keep Satine safe.
But for Obi-Wan, protecting her seemed to go beyond a simple favor to the Republic, or even to me. His eyes held a hint of guilt— an obligation to fulfill his promise.

As Anakin and I turned back down the hall that we came, Obi-Wan disappeared into the dining room.

"I know you're thinking the same thing I am," Anakin said, breaking the thick silence.
"Obi-Wan has never been the type to talk about his past, so I'm as confused as you are."

"Well it's pretty obvious something happened between them, but I thought that was forbidden for a Jedi."

"Yeah and he's supposed to be the one that actually follows the rules." Anakin shrugged his shoulders. "How about your aunt? Has she ever mentioned anything to you about it?"

I sighed, searching my memory. "If she had told me, I would've probably been too young.... Wait. Hold on. I remember reading something about the Civil War on Mandalore. I believe two Jedi were sent to protect her."

"Maybe one of them was Obi-Wan?" Anakin guessed.

"I suppose it would have to be? She rarely ever talked about the Jedi, no matter how much I asked," I said. "And if I'm being honest, I don't think she'd even tell me if I asked her today. I mean, the Civil War... that was what— nineteen– twenty years ago?"

Wait a minute...

"Anakin! Vienna!" Obi-Wan shouted over the comm, startling the both of us out of our thoughts. "Senator Merrik is the traitor and he's taken Satine hostage."

Without a single ounce of hesitation, Anakin and I took off toward Obi-Wan's signal, now coming from farther down the corridor. My heart pounded through my chest— what if she's hurt, what if I failed her?

A temporary wave of relief washed over my anxieties at the sight of Master Kenobi as we rounded the corner.

"Where are they?" I practically yelled as we slowed to a halt in front of him.