Can I get a refund on my real-life 'friends'? Like seriously. They've gotten on my last nerve.

ANYWAYS, enjoy the chapter! Next one should be out late tonight or sometime tomorrow morning.

[O N   E N D O R ,   L O C A L   T I M E   100]

The sense of deja-vu was almost unnerving for the Togruta. Every trickle of air that brushed against her nose to each crackling leaf underfoot reminded her of the fateful night that she had been captured. Even the feeling of the cold metal of her lightsaber pressed up against her palm sent shivers of anxiety down her spine. Hopefully, this mission wasn't going to crash and burn as her other one had.

"Three klicks out," she warned them, keeping her voice low and soft. "Watch for sentinels." A heavy, suffocating blanket of uneasiness settled over them; the group shared solemn glances,

Barriss and Rex wordlessly fell into pace behind the Gray Jedi and heeded her words. Their eyes nervously flitted about, nearly equaling the observant qualities of the Togruta. However, unlike them, the Togruta had already calculated their surroundings and determined a multitude of issues.

Their defense has gotten stronger, Ahsoka grimly noted to herself, pursing her lips in frustration. She could sense the presence of several enemies in the thicket ahead. Supposedly they had learned their lesson after her easy bypass of security, which didn't surprise her. Ahsoka's escaping meant one thing to them: someone living knew that they existed.

Tremors of terror raked through her mind as she imagined what would happen if they caught her. She had escaped once. They wouldn't let it happen again.

"-soka? Ahsoka," Barriss hissed, obviously perturbed by her lack of attention. "We're only a click and a half out! Get your head out of the clouds."

"Darling, I wish that was the case," Ahsoka shook her head with a sigh. Then, as Barriss' words replayed in her head, her feet dug into the ground and she skidded to a stop. Realizing her mistake, Ahsoka threw up a hand and indicated everyone to dodge behind some form of cover. She had completely forgotten about the sentinels, and according to her observations, one was smack-dab in front of them.

"Ahsoka," Rex admonished underneath his breath. Despite the overly-dark mood and current deadly situation, Ahsoka couldn't help but crack a smile at him using her real name. She quickly wiped the expression off of her face and pivoted her glance around, surveying her surroundings.

"One o'clock, second branch of the widest redwood tree. You get him, I'll take out the other."

With a nod, the two simultaneously rolled out from behind the fallen trunk and aimed at their target. Rex, with his proven marksmanship skills, easily aimed and picked the sentinel out of the tree. The blue ring of electricity crackled and popped as it sailed towards him, then cleanly overtook his body and caused the enemy to pass out. Ahsoka reached up towards a higher limb and jerked an opponent out of its leaves.

The sentinel that Ahsoka had taken on was much more nimble and skilled. Using its own enhanced Force abilities, it ripped away from her invisible grasp and landed on their feet. The enemy unsheathed a lightsaber from its weapon belt and ignited it. The blade burned a fierce orange, which vaguely outlined the tan and feminine features of its face. Before the Togruta could interpret what was going on, the enemy lunged with a loud hiss and violently swung her saber. Ahsoka easily parried it with her already-drawn right lightsaber, but she wasn't prepared for the onslaught of rapid strikes she was receiving. The sentinel fought as though it was a deranged scavenger, yet it somehow possessed the grace and analyzation of a ballerina.

The Gray Jedi had been on the defensive for the majority of the duel, but she forced herself to shift gears and pressed attacks on the opponent. Her eyebrow-like marking twitched in concentration as she found that the sentinel was just as well-versed in deflecting lightsaber swipes as she was in inflicting them. The Togruta whipped out her left saber and made a backhanded-strike at the enemy, but it swiftly ducked and reached up with its free hand and wrestled the lightsaber out of Ahsoka's hand.

A long slew of colorful words tumbled out of the woman's mouth as she watched the metal cylinder deactivate and go flying across the forest. Her previously calm facial features were replaced with an ice-cold glare and scowl. Ahsoka could almost see her enemy tremble in fear as she bared her carnivorous Togruta teeth, then lunged and strikes with the fury of a thousand Sith. Tolerance of her lightsabers being tampered with by an enemy was not permitted in her books.

The sentinel stumbled backward as Ahsoka fiercely slammed her remaining lightsaber blade repeatedly into the orange one of the enemy. The toes of her boots dug into the ground and she gritted her still-bared teeth, pouring every ounce of strength into her attacks. The enemy's feet finally slid out from underneath it and landed with a dull thud, triggering its lightsaber to deactivate and tumble out of its grasp. The Togruta quickly slammed down to her knees, allowing them to dig into the soft dirt on both sides of the sentinel. A small breeze that was emitted from her movement caught hold of the enemy's hood and whipped it off.

Ahsoka gasped, nearly screaming at that, from what was revealed.

There, lying beneath her, was the face of a young girl. However, what caused the majority of her distress was something much more petrifying.

It felt as though she was staring into her own face.

They say that the longer you live, the more you begin to see the same eyes, but in different people. Sometimes it will be a repetition of the weary, hardened glance an aged traveler emits, or a tint of fiery passion that lies within a love-struck being. In her wildest dreams, she never imagined that she would ever see the person that shared the same eyes as her own.

It began with the fierce glimmer of bravery that sparkled within her eyes. It whispered the tale of a true warrior that was born... or perhaps brought into war. Either way, it signified the heart of courage the child possessed within her, which she surely needed in order to stay alive in the dangerous life she was facing.

Then it faded into the flickering innocence that was in a losing battle. Something just as horrifying as the experiences that Ahsoka went through over her years was being inflicted onto this child as well, which brought both tears and anger to her face. Something so delicate- so precious, was being handled as though she was a weapon designed for the enemy's convenience.

She couldn't understand what had come over her. She knew that she wasn't supposed to harm the enemies, but she had still fought as though she was trying to slice the enemy like Meiloorun fruit. Even worse, it was simply a little girl! She was no better than the fallen Jedi that she had left in disgust.

Tears trailed down both of their faces when their gazes locked. In one swift movement, Ahsoka reached up and pulled her cloak down so she could try and show the little girl that she wasn't a threat. However, the sentinel... if you could even have the heart to call her that... still flinched and shuddered underneath Ahsoka.

Despite the vain struggles against the Togruta's grasp, Ahsoka stood and gingerly lifted the girl off the ground, holding her close. The enemy thrashed and punched, but she simply held fast and whispered soft words of her mother tongue into the girl's ear.

"Yihl nahgt du d'bhem," she hushed, caressing her fingertips across the muscular back of the young girl. Anger didn't bubble up from her as the sentinel called for her lightsaber in an attempt to drive it into Ahsoka's back. Instead, the Togruta dismissively raised a hand and gestured for the lightsaber to glide towards Rex. With a nod, the clone caught it and wrapped his long fingers around the icy metal hilt.

With one last shaky breath, Ahsoka leaned back and pressed her palm against the girl's head. She gathered waves of energy from throughout her veins and allowed it to phase through her hand and into the enemy's mind. With added calming vibrations, the Togruta allowed it to overtake the girl's mind and render her unconscious.

"We come back," she declared, her voice gravelly and slightly trembling as she rested the girl in a shallow gully hidden from view, "for her."

Neither of her comrades argued at her words. They left the sides of the sentinels they had disabled, falling into stride with the Togruta. It was almost unnerving how quickly Ahsoka had gone from soft and vulnerable to emotionless. She was once again cloaked with her head held high and determined.

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[ON  S A V A R E E N ,   L O C A L  T I M E   1250]

"-then the animal would lug all the scavengers' junk for them, right? I imagine that's why they're called Luggabeasts. Or maybe just because they wanted to have an awesome name for a huge animal that's part flesh and part metal? Hey, that's kinda like me! Get it? One flesh hand... one metal ha-"

"For the love of Force Skywalker," Luminara finally snapped, "shut the kriff up!"

Obi-Wan simply pinched the bridge of his nose. They had been hiking for the past two hours with the only sound being the constant, idiotic babbling of his prior padawan. If it was up to him, Anakin would have been hogtied and thrown in a ditch about eight klicks ago.

Apparently the cursing Mirialan was terrifying enough to silence the irritating Jedi, because for once out of the many years that Obi-Wan had known him, Anakin finally stopped running his vocal cords into the ground. It was almost enough for the blond to crack a smile.

Almost.

Anakin soon found another way to be the most annoying bundle of atoms in the universe. This time, it took the form of him drumming his mechanical fingers across his metal bracer.

"Stop."

"What?!"

"Stop being annoying."

"And how am I being annoying?" Anakin fired back in exasperation.

"By existing."

Anakin stared at Obi-Wan with a hurt expression that spelled out 'you want me to die?'.

The older Jedi simply shrugged. "If it means your existence can no longer torment me night and die, then, by all means, go right ahead."

Huffing and crossing his arms, Anakin resorted to allowing his mind to wander aimlessly in silence. His distraction caused him to not notice the halt of the Jedi in front of him, which resulted in him crashing into them and causing the three to tumble to the ground in a tangled mess.

"Get off of me you fat bantha," Obi-Wan hissed. Luminara couldn't help but send daggers in the form of a glare at Anakin as well. While feigning that he was hurt at his previous master's words, he scrambled up.

"Oh no," he gasped as a gritty substance began trickling down his tunic. "Oh no. Oh no no no no no."

"Luminara, evacuate the premises," Obi-Wan instructed, backing up in fright. He knew all too well what happened to the last person who got tangled up with Anakin and sand. And, quite frankly, he didn't wish to die like that.

Anakin began furiously stripping away his Jedi robes, clawing at every grain of irritating sand that was being rubbed up against his soft skin.

"Whoa whoa whoa Anakin, not in front of the lady," Obi-Wan panicked, racing forward and tugging the bottom layer back down onto the Jedi. "We don't want anyone scarred for life."

Anakin's attention was quickly ripped from the sand incident. With a mouth wide open and eyes squinted in offense, he spat back, "Ain't nobody gonna get scarred from this sexy little thang," he flicked his imaginary long hair and comically stuck out his butt.

"Force, please just let me die peacefully," Luminara muttered to herself, burying her face in her hands and walking away.

"Wait! Don't leave me with him!" Obi-Wan called out, chasing towards the Mirialan.

"Wow, I see how it is then," Anakin huffed and rolled his eyes. "Women before brothers! Fine then. I didn't need you anyway."

With the maturity of a youngling, the Jedi spun on his heel and let out an exasperated sigh. With his foot tapping in the sand, he awaited the other masters to come back and collect the Chosen One, but they never came. With a grunt of annoyance, he finally shoved past his ego long enough to see that they were tiny little specks on the horizon.

"You're joking," Anakin groaned, reaching up with his flesh hand and pulling at his hair. "Really? They'd just leave me like that?"

After a lot of mental persuasion, he eventually sighed and caved to their dominance. Albeit extremely irate, he hastened his pace and jogged towards the black silhouettes.

ay that was a nice, lighthearted ending

can't guarantee that for the next chapter 🙃