And this is chapter two, everyone. I'm eternally grateful to those who left me reviews on the first chapter, they made me unbelievably happy. Please excuse me for not replying to each of you individually, but I had a full schedule over the weekend, with only minutes of free time and I used those to write. We'll see how that turned out. I'll post a new chapter as soon as I can. Till then have fun reading this one.

P.S: There may be some points that remain unclear here, but we'll get to them soon.

Disclaimer: The Star Wars fandom in not my sandbox, I'm merely playing in it.


One didn't have to be Force-sensitive to feel the negativity of his emotions roll off of Fives in tangible waves. He slept fitfully and as Ahsoka sat next to him on the floor, holding his hand and trying to project some semblance of peace towards him her heart broke for the man.

She'd been in his situation before, hunted for crimes she didn't commit, but even so she couldn't possibly imagine what it must have been like for him to be on the run, constantly watching over his shoulder lest his own brothers should catch up to him.

It was not fair.

After she'd left the Jedi temple she'd felt lost for a while, aimlessly walking the streets of Coruscant, trying to decide what to do with her life. Everything she had known before was lost to her, the whole foundation of her existence vanishing because of one decision she'd made. But at least she had friends she could turn to; friends that could help her adjust to life without the order, away from the front lines of the war.

Lux had been one such miracle, never questioning her judgment when she explained her predicament to him in a hasty call. He offered his Coruscanti apartment to her without a single moment of hesitation, having no use for it anyway as these days he'd spent most of his time either traveling between Onderon and Coruscant or in a Senatorial meeting somewhere.

And it was lucky he did so, else she wouldn't have had anywhere she could take the unconscious ARC now thrashing violently on the couch before her.

Her musings ended here as she was brought back to reality by a flailing hand, coming dangerously close to hitting her in the face as Fives turned suddenly in his sleep to face her, swinging his fist towards the Togruta. He was fighting some imaginary foe and Ahsoka's forehead creased, her facial markings drawing together in concern.

"Fives." she gently snatched his hand out of the air and gave it a squeeze, hoping to wake him from whatever hell he was trapped in. Alas, her efforts remained futile, because just like every single time she'd tried to rouse him before he only sank further into his feverish nightmares, now whimpering softly as a teardrop made its way down his cheek.

That single drop of moisture had startled her. She'd never seen a clone cry before. They were always so though, sheltering their emotions as much as possible, pushing through the pain the loss of their brothers must have caused them without expressing their grief in any way.

Therefore, to see Fives cry, even in his sleep, was so heart-wrenching to the young woman curled up on the floor next to him that she gave up on her attempts at waking him and rested her forehead against his, her thumbs gently circling over the backs of his hands in soothing motions.

Her slowly falling tears met his as they crawled towards the clone's chin, only to disappear in the small pillow under his head to leave a darkened patch of fabric as a tribute to their shared misery.

The small words of comfort she murmured over and over like a mantra, intended to ease Fives' troubled mind, slowly lulled Ahsoka to sleep. She was not sure she herself believed that everything would be alright, but she would try her hardest to make it happen, if only for the sake of this man who, along with each and every one of his brothers, deserved it more than anyone.