I'm back, but just for a hot minute. I also don't recommend listening to your liked songs on Spotify on shuffle and then the WAP coming on at school with GoGuardian watching you, and it flagging you and notifying the scary-square faced technology teacher. Gonna be completely honest, I was sweating the entire time because he looks slightly like a child molester. 

o_O

Also, this picture above is what I keep imagining Tal to look like. The picture DOES NOT belong to me, I just found it one day and it got buried in my saved pictures and I recently dug it up while going through my saved files and shit.

Anakin's POV:

Here we go.

Ameir weaved the Falcon through the hyper lanes that trekked through the atmosphere of Coruscant with smooth movements full of precision and accuracy. She had a neutral expression, her eyes focused on the landing pad full of clone battalions and Jedi generals. It looked as if she were completely calm, but her heel kept rotating, making small circles in the dust on the side of the chair base, and her mental walls weren't high enough to block out the waves of anxiety pounding through her. I reached over and squeezed her shoulder, but she flinched away. I immediately pulled back, fearing that I had stepped too far, but she sent me a look of reassurance. 

We both knew that coming back here would be hard for her. 

She had left a lot of people behind. 

And she was terrified. I felt it through our bond, and I felt her trying to push it away and stop me from knowing how she felt. Pushing forward calming waves of peace, I tried to ease her anxiety, but she pulled her walls up quickly. "Stop." Ameir ordered, completely serious. Her eyes were an impenetrable dark blue and harbored so many emotions that it overwhelmed me just to keep eye-contact her, but I didn't look away. "Please stop." she sighed. 

I pulled back and leaned back in my chair, leaving the subject to hang in the space between us. Ameir sighed again and rubbed a hand down her face. I didn't say anything, but I knew that she understood what I was silently asking. Are you going to be okay? 

"I don't know what's going to happen," Ameir admitted, breaking the dreadful quiet. "I just know that whatever is said and whatever is done, I deserve it." 

I nodded, but on the inside I was fighting my urge to curl around her and not let her go. 

The landing gear shot out and we jolted a little as the Falcon landed on the metal platform. Clones and Jedi watched us land and I saw Obi-Wan walking slowly towards us with a small smile on his face. Cody was beside him, and the 212th and 501st were walking in behind them in perfect lines. Well, almost perfect lines. In the very back of the group I could see Hardcase jabbing his elbow into Tup's side, breaking the formation. Dogma stood on the other side and I could almost see the glare that he was giving the other two behind his mask. A smile made its way to my face and I stood up, brushing off my dark robes. 

Ameir looked up at me with a solemn gaze and I stretched out a hand to her, which she took. I pulled her up and we exited the cockpit. We walked down the halls, the only sounds made were the thick soles of our boots hitting the metal paneled floors. After a turn, we came upon the large lounge, where Rex, Fives, Echo, Kix, and the new guy, Tal, were sitting. 

It was almost silent in the room. The only sounds were Kix's occasional quiet snickering every ten-ish seconds. Ameir stuck her head in and I saw what she was looking at. Fives and Tal were staring at each other, not blinking, and I swear that I could see tears starting to swell up in the clone's eyes. His bottom eyelid twitched slightly, but Tal sat with a completely neutral expression, not showing any emotion or physical pain. Fives started to bite his lip, widening his eyes as they threatened to close. Tal just leaned forward in his chair, resting his forearms against his lower thighs, folding his hands and staring straight at Fives' twitching eyes. 

I saw a smile start to form on Ameir's face, and I smiled too. 

Rex, who was one of the "officials" of the game, sat next to Five's watching his eyes to make sure that they didn't close. Echo on the other hand, sat next to Tal, a look of awe on his face, but he also watched Tal's eyes. 

Fives was starting to sweat and small tears were forming in the corners of his eyes and one slid down the side of his face, his eyes squinching (Is that even a word? Well it is now) up. They didn't close though, and Rex leaned a little bit closer to make sure of it. 

Ameir walked over to Kix and stood next to him, holding the edge of the table and leaning forward slightly. "How long has this been going on?" She whispered, slightly leaning closer to him. 

Kix didn't look up to her but leaned a little close to her as well and whispered back, "Three and a half minutes. Fives' record is two minutes and fifteen seconds, and nobody's ever beat him at this game though."

Ameir let out a low whistle and glanced back over to me, a slightly impressed look on her face. 

About five seconds later, Fives' eyes slammed shut. "TAL WON!" Rex shouted. 

"NO CAPTAIN! IT'S NOT FAIR! HE MUST'VE CHEATED! ECHO TELL HIM!" Fives cried back, rubbing his eyes with bottoms of his palms. 

Echo looked up sheepishly. "Sorry Fives. Tal still hasn't blinked," he said in a sorry voice. 

I saw Tal pump his fist in the air and stand up in the corner of my eye, and a little admiration passed across the back of my mind. But I brushed it off and focused on the more important task on our hands. "Yes, yes, good job Tal, but we have to get out there. If we don't there's going to be clone troopers and Jedi alike storming this ship in minutes." 

The men grabbed their helmets and Ameir reached for a blaster that was stashed behind one of the miscellaneous crates. She tucked it into the empty blaster holster on her left leg and headed to the doorway. 

"Come on boys. Time's a wastin'." She shouted back to us, although I knew that she wanted to get out of her as fast as she could. But that wasn't an option. 

We all gathered in front of the landing ramp and Ameir clicked a few buttons. The sound of the ramp jets hissing out their smoke was heard through the thick metal door, but was slightly muted. My attention drifted back to her blaster that she had strapped to her leg. Why did you need to grab a blaster? I asked through our newly renewed Force mind-link. 

Ameir shot me a snarky look but answered me anyways. In case there's trouble. 

But what if there isn't any? I shot back, wondering what her answer would be this time. 

There's always trouble, Anakin. 

Well, she wasn't wrong there. 

The landing ramp finally hit the ground and settled. I glanced over at Ameir and she waved forward, gesturing for me to go down first. "Ladies first," I teased. 

"Well in that case, after you." Ameir replied with a layer of amusement laced into her tone. 

"You know what, don't mind if I do." I shot back and waltzed down the ramp. I made it to the bottom but just as I was getting ready to step off, the toe of my boot caught on the edge of the ramp, and I fell. Right onto my face. 

And damn  did it hurt. 

I heard laughing behind me and I grimaced as I pushed myself up off of the ground. When I turned over and just sat on the hard ground, I saw Rex's shoulders shaking slightly and Kix suppressing a smile. Tal stood behind the two holding a fist up to his mouth and coughing, trying to cover up his laugh, and Echo chuckling underneath his breath. But then there were Fives and Ameir. 

The two were laughing so hard that it hurt to watch. Ameir leaned up against the side of the ramp and pointed down to me and Fives bent over clutching his stomach, one of his hands on Ameir's shoulder. Just watching them made it a little bit funnier, but my face still hurt. 

Ameir caught her breath and blew a piece of hair out of her eyes. She walked down the ramp slowly and carefully. "Yeah, take your sweet sweet time Ameir," I mocked. 

Ameir raised her eyebrows at me, like she was scolding me for being stupid. "Well yeah, you asshole. I'm not falling on my face like you. I'm not that dumb." She held her hand out to me and I took it. She pulled my up in one fluid motion and I noticed how easy it looked for her. I mean, I'm 200 pounds, and she's what, 140? Ameir's a lean person, but I guess that she worked out while she was gone. She couldn't pull me up that easily before she left. Huh. 

Anyways. 

I dusted myself off and began walking towards Obi-Wan, who was standing a ways away. He had a grin on his face, and had his hands folded behind his back, formal and polite, yet mockingly at the same time. Cody looked at me with a playful look, and I could tell that they had both enjoyed my little performance. 

Brushing it off, I greeted my master. "Hello Master. Sorry for the delay. We got a bit caught up." 

Obi-Wan shook his head and waved his hand. "Don't worry Anakin. I completely understand, though the Council is not as pleased with your detour." 

"Well the Council can shove their opinion up their ass." Ameir looked down to the ground and muttered under her breath. 

I smothered a snicker and jabbed my elbow into her side. "Don't say that. They could hear you." I cautioned, but I didn't really mean it. Ameir had already stood up to the Council so many times before, I bet that they would probably just let her get away with it. They couldn't stop her. She knew what to say and how to say it and had plenty of supporting evidence to prove her points. 

"Oh I am completely aware." She responded matter-of-factly.

Obi-Wan greeted her. "Hello again, Ameir. It's been a while." 

Ameir shallowly bowed to Obi-Wan. I was surprised, to say the least, but he had made such an impact on her life that I should've assumed that she would still show such a respect. 

"Yeah. It's been a while," she responded solemnly, fidgeting with a ring on her finger that I hadn't noticed until now. 

"What have you been up to?" Obi-Wan pushed.

Ameir looked up, almost as if she was thrown off by the question. "Uh, well, actually now that you mention that, I gotta go."

She made gestures with her hands towards her ship. Ameir attempted to weasel around me, but I wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her up and pulled her back, her legs kicking but hitting nothing but air. I turned her around and set her back on the ground, facing Obi-Wan and the clones. She had a pout on her face and her eyebrows were scrunched up together in the middle. Ameir glared at me with a passion. "I hate you," she growled. 

"I know. Love you too." I smiled cheekily back at her. 

Ameir gestured back to the Falcon with dramatic movements. "Do you really want them to starve in there? Or kill each other? I won't get any money if they're dead."

"Who?" Obi-Wan asked. He glanced back and forth between the two of us, and then it hit him. "Wait, are you bounty hunting?" 

"You know what, yes," Ameir nodded. "Yes. I. Am." She punctuated each word, spacing them out. "And there isn't anything that you can do about it." She smiled a snarky smile and turned to me. 

"I have to get out of here and go deliver them to the Boss or I don't get my money." Ameir said to me. 

"You're not leaving. You just got here. They can wait." I deadpanned. 

"Look, I just saved your sorry ass and I'm trying to reason with you dammit! I can't just sit here, Anakin. I've got to go get this done." She kept pushing. Now we were facing each other and Obi-Wan was standing between the two of us a few feet away. Her hands were crossed across her chest and mine mirrored hers. 

"I can't let you. It could be dangerous." I said, and realized how stupid those words sounded as soon as they left my mouth. 

Ameir rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well that's where you're wrong. It will be dangerous. Proabably so much that I won't make it out alive and the information that I carry will die with me, but that's all part of the job." Ameir started walking away, turning towards me and walking backwards. "And well, Anakin, if you didn't notice, I run with a dangerous crowd. One that I never want you to have to meet."

She turned back around and walked up the ramp. So let me do this, while I still have chance, she said through the Force. 

I knew that I wasn't going to win this battle. I nodded and watched the ramp slide up. Be safe.

....

I will.

AND THAT'S A WRAP.

I really hope that you liked this chapter. It was kind of shitty ngl but I worked pretty hard. It took about 4 hours to completely finish and a whole crap-ton of editing. 

Thank you for reading, my Breadsticks. 

I love you all. 

Stay safe.

Be happy.

Make someone smile today.

And most of all, 

fricken love yourself.

You're a king, you're a queen, you're a ruler.

You are a fucking masterpiece

Believe it.