32 BBY

"They're at it again!"

"At this rate we'll never catch up to them."

"They're our padawan's, Master Kenobi, they can't be running amuck on our watch."

"Master Plo if there is one thing I have learnt it's that with Catelle there is no way to slow her down, you know that. And Anakin won't either."

"I know."

As the two Jedi began to scour the corridor's again in a desperate attempt to find their padawan's, a distant snickering could be slightly heard from behind a column. A childish snickering that appeared to be from two young children who didn't seem to have a care in the galaxy. Anakin Skywalker and Catelle Vereya. Force, what bet did the galaxy lose to put those two young padawan's on the same planet?

Hiding from their master's? Probably not the best plan.

Making their day a little brighter? One of the classic always went right plans.

They both had some rough days, that's to say the least. Anakin's days were often a lot worse than Catelle's, and that was never good for either of them. She cared for him, more than she would admit. They had become very close friends in the few months since they first met in the courtyard and that bond that first formed had only gotten stronger over time. Neither of them knew the significance of this or how important it could turn out to be. Anakin was powerful and with Catelle, well, that power had a possibility of growing...

"Okay okay, shh shh." Anakin whispered through small giggles. They both desperately tried to stop laughing to not give themselves away to Master Plo or Master Kenobi but it was proving more difficult for little Catelle.

"Okay- I'm trying- Just- Just gimme a second," Pushing her weight against the wall, she tried to compose herself. Her eyes closed during a desperate intake of air as she covered her mouth with the palm of her hand, sliding down the pillar and sinking down to the floor. Anakin swiftly joined her and rested his blonde head of hair against her shoulder, "Alright, I'm good."

"Good." Catelle couldn't see the boy's face but she knew he was smiling, she could feel it.

They had planned to do something, something exciting like they usually do. Sometimes it's running around the archives and annoying the force out of Madame Jocasta Nu. Other times it's messing around with speeders...and then having to fix said speeders that they messed around with. Today, they wanted to visit the younglings that trained with Master Yoda, much to the disappointment of their masters who had already planned a full day of training. And it wasn't the first time they pulled a stunt like this. Running from Obi-Wan and Plo had become somewhat of a hobby for the pair, not a great hobby but a hobby all the same.

But today was different. Catelle was tired, and Anakin knew it. Anakin often couldn't sleep, getting awoken by taunting nightmares practically every night. Normally, he would just lie in his cot staring at the ceiling just waiting until his eyes failed him but the previous night someone else's worries were keeping him awake. He hated it. He thought that he was the only person that could be sad in the Jedi temple because all the other Jedi seemed emotionless to him.

She was panting.

Her eyes were drooping.

She was yawning more frequently.

But most of all, she had no energy to properly enjoy their time together.

He had always known that his friend had a reputation for pushing herself beyond her own limits. He had seen it, Master Obi-Wan had seen it, Master Plo Koon had seen it, practically everyone knew that she was reckless when it came to her own health. Nevertheless, no matter how many times people would tell her to take some time she would never listen.

"You're tired." Anakin blatantly said, keeping his eyeline forward.

"Wow, thanks Anakin, you really know how to flatter a girl, don't you?" Catelle replied with a tired giggle.

"No, no. Cat that's not what I meant I just-" Anakin replied, smiling slightly in fondness and slight panic, "You work too hard."

"And you, my friend, don't work enough!" The young girl shot up from her seated position and began to run in the direction that they came from, being careful not to run into her masters.

"Cat! Catelle!" The boy said through an exasperated sigh as he shot up and chased after her.

30 BBY

It had been a long day of training for all the young padawan's in the temple. It had been a mix of physical strain and mental exertion, and everyone was tired out of their minds.

Including Catelle.

Everyone had dispersed into their own little groups, unintentionally excluding one person. Anakin had shied away to the corner of the room, not wanting to appear as a bother to anyone. Sure, he thought as 'The Chosen One' people would gravitate towards him more- but he never expected people to almost be afraid of him. They knew that his midichlorian count was high, they knew that he had attachments, they thought that he could hurt them. But he couldn't hurt anyone.

And Catelle knew that.

But she was with her other fellow padawan's. Not friends, because she didn't have many other friends other than him...?

"Maker, that training session nearly sucked the life force right out of me. Does Master Windu ever let you catch a break?" Anakin heard a young girl called Lizzie say to the rest of the group.

"Nope! Not one bit. It's kriffing annoying sometimes!" Jazzy spoke next, making sure to not speak too loud in case the mentioned master heard them.

"Hey! Language, Jaz. You don't want Window to make us do another one round of force-restrained press-ups because of your swearing!" Shaak Ti's padawan Gin warned her friend, lightly hitting the girl on the arm.

"If I have to do that again I will walk out, watch me." The other girl of the group spoke with a slight laugh.

"Emma, if you walk out you will never hear the end of it. Like, ever." Ashley laughed slightly, seriously considering joining Emma in the idea of walking out. It seemed reasonable?

"Just saying, she's got the right idea. Walking out would avoid doing more training." Sara added as Anakin continued to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Yeah, better that then doing more unnecessary exercise." Catelle agreed with her friend as the group laughed together.

"Well, Skywalker seemed to find it easy. Lucky him." Anakin's ears perked up as he heard his name mentioned by a girl who was separate from the other. Lorelei Keres. She'd never like Anakin, at least she didn't like him in the same that way that other's did. She wasn't afraid of his power, she was more jealous. Jealous of the attention he got from being 'The Chosen One'. The attention that he never really wanted.

Jealousy wasn't the way of the Jedi.

"What did you just say...?" Catelle turned her whole body around to face the girl that stood before her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that the Chosen One's girlfriend was stood in front of me." Lorelei taunted as the whole room fell silent at the mention of 'girlfriend'. Anakin looked at his best friend for a sign, any sign, that she wouldn't do something totally idiotic but all he saw was her fists clenched together, stopping her from doing anything drastic. Catelle took a deep gulp before speaking, making sure to not say anything that could worsen Anakin's (or her own) reputation among the Jedi.

"Listen, you intolerant piece of Bantha dung. I'm not his girlfriend, I'm his...his sister! And you, you do not get to pick on him just because you're struggling with with your own self-loathing. And if I were you...I would be struggling too." Vereya stared at the girl, her deep brown eyes piercing into Keres' soul. No emotion. No...anything. Just her words and her stare.

The glare could have lasted a lifetime, or at least that's how long it felt before Lorelei walked away. The room remained silent, even after the situation had diffused itself. Catelle, in a prompt decision, left the room shortly after Keres. It seemed that she needed some time. He wanted to go after her, Anakin really wanted to go. But his feet remained planted to the ground like his mind was running but his physical body wasn't.

"She'll be fine, you know? She's strong." Gin spoke to Anakin gently as she walked over to him.

"I know."

"It was nice of her to stick up for you like that. Not many people would have." Lizzie joined her by her side next to Skywalker. The rest of the group soon followed- minus Catelle: Ashley, Jazzy and Aelin. Soon, all the girls surrounded the young boy as they offered him about as much support as they could give him.

Anakin Skywalker would forever be grateful that he met Catelle Vereya.

29 BBY

Catelle nearly tripped over as she ran into the dining hall of the temple. Her and Master Plo Koon had been on a small mission to the lower levels of Coruscant to control some serious spice dealings. Stupid pirates and their stupid profit. The mission had nearly lasted a whole rotation which meant a lot of time was spent away from the temple. Young Vereya had stumbled in here, hoping to see Anakin sat on the bench eating as he usually would be at this time of night.

He preferred to eat at night when no-one else was there. And Catelle would always come and join him. Even if they hadn't seen each other for the entire day they would always, without fail, reminisce about the time that they had. And it was nice. For the both of them. They could talk for hours on end before they fell asleep on the very same bench that they had been having a conversation on minutes before and either Master Plo or Master Obi-Wan would come and bring them back to their respective rooms.

But today was different.

Catelle didn't see him sat in his normal place. Anakin always sat there, it was a thing of routine.

She scanned the room in slight worry, not seeing him anywhere at all. In a frantic panic, the young padawan rushed back to the dormitories where she thought he might be. So many thoughts ran through her head as her feet took her in the direction that she was so desperately speeding towards- not all of them positive. Her pace stopped a few steps in front of the room that Skywalker and Kenobi shared as she looked at the door, just waiting for either of them to step out and tell her that there was nothing to worry about. Hesitantly, she knocked on the door.

"Ani? Ani?! Anakin, this isn't funny anymore!" She paused for a brief moment as she tried to collect her thoughts. "Ben? Obi-Wan?! Please..."

Catelle stepped back as she caught a look of something just peaking out under the door that was next to the one she was stood by.

Her and Master Plo's dormitory.

Gingerly, the thirteen year old girl made her way to her door, crouching down to pick up the letter that had 'Catelle' written on it in scribbled letters. The letter was folded in a rush, that could be told from the rough edges. As she opened it, she began to scan over the tear stained words.

𝘤𝘢𝘵,

𝘪'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺. 𝘪'𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺. 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘪 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.

𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘪 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘪 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘪 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺.

𝘢𝘯𝘪

'What?'

The words slowly began to sink in as a sharp piercing pain overtook her heart. He left. And he didn't even say goodbye. Without even realising, Catelle fell to her knees as she re-read the letter over and over again to try and make more sense of it, but no matter how many times she read it- it would hurt no less. The pain that she was feeling soon overtook her force signature as the held the letter close to her heart.

What if neither of them made it back? She wouldn't be able to deal with that. They could have commed her? But no. They left her in the dark. As the hurt began to radiate out from her she felt a familiar presence trying to communicate with her through the force. Catelle knew who it was. And no. She wasn't going to let them reach her. Putting up her mental shields, she folded the letter up neatly and place it in the pocket of her robes as she entered the code for her room.

She pushed all feelings away about...them, entering her room and flinging off her outer robe onto the chair that sat in the corner of the room. Slumping down on her bed, she put her head in her hands and ran her fingers through her hair as she thought about everything that had happened in the day.

And the fact that she had no-one to talk to it about.

Across the galaxy, a young boy sat on his bed as he contemplated what he had done.

Anakin was never brilliant at expressing emotions, especially to those who he loved. He was sure that he did the correct thing, maybe leaving a letter would soften the blow. But he couldn't escape the feeling that he did something wrong.

She wouldn't let him in. He tried to contact her but she shut him out.

'What did I do wrong?'

Many thoughts began to rush through Skywalker's head, only to be interrupted by his master entering the room. The two looked at each other, seemingly sharing a mutual understanding.

"You shouldn't dwell on your decision, my young padawan. Elle will be fine." Obi-Wan attempted to reassure his apprentice, taking a seat next to him on the bed. Of course, he felt equally as bad. He saw Catelle as a younger sister and perhaps the way that Anakin and him left wasn't the best option that they could have chosen.

Anakin, instead of replying, simply gave a curt nod as Kenobi placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder just like he did for Vereya so many times before. So there they sat, they didn't speak, not a single word. But they didn't need to. Because they both understood how the other was feeling.

And it wasn't something that they needed to talk about.

Because they knew.

They knew that she would be okay.

She has to be okay.

{a/n: HELLO PARTY PEOPLE!! i am so sorry that this took so long to get out. i've been so busy with exams and that has just been draining all my energy and motivation. BUT IM HERE NOW SO-

i thought it would be fun to write a chapter that just develops anakin and catelle's friendship over time and i love it

also shout out to the people who i included in this chapter because they're too cool to live in one galaxy:

- m0mmat0rtle
- ThePianist06
- bumiaangs
- silksabers
- ashskywalker66
- queenstoll

ANYWAYS, thank you for reading lovelies!! have a great day !! <33}