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Later that night, Anakin was walking about, inspecting things when he saw a little knot of clones gathered around the tree where Cassie normally slept. Anakin went over to find out what they were doing. He heard Rex give a muffled laugh and moved through the circle.

At the center, Cassie was lying on her side, her eyes tightly closed, whining and pumping her legs as if she were running.

"She's dreaming", said Rex. Anakin watched her, stifling laughs at her little sleep snarls and twitching legs. Then, Cassie gave a loud woof and woke herself up. All the clones erupted in laughter and watched as she looked around, sleepy and confused. Then, they slowly dissipated.

Anakin knelt next to his blushing apprentice and asked as his laughter died down, "What were you dreaming about?"

"Hunting", said Cassie bashfully.

"Today's hunt or a different one?"

"A different one", Cassie said, her eyes moving far away. "That one was glorious."

"Come on", Anakin teased, "What could be better then dropping some bloody who knows what on my head?" Cassie grinned.

"Why didn't you eat it", she asked, "it was delicious and I found out what it was."

"What?" Anakin asked.

"A uterus, or at least a part of one." Anakin gave her an amused smile.

"You had to tell me", he asked, "I mean, you ate it."

Cassie shrugged, "You're weird master", she said, lying down.

"I should get mad at you for that", Anakin said, "But I agree whole-heartedly. Anyway, continue on with your dreaming of glorious hunts, maybe one day you'll dream about me."

"I did", Cassie said softly as he walked away, "Last night I dreamt that you sent me away." Anakin stopped an almost pained expression on his face.

"Well", he said, without turning around, "dreams don't always come true." Then, he walked away, feeling a tingle go down his spine. As soon as he could patch a transmission into master Yoda, he was going to send her back.

Anakin hadn't told her, but she seemed to know anyway. He was almost growing attached to her, strange and reclusive as she was, but he still had his doubts. She didn't seem like a monster, at least not right now, but the way she had killed that deer. Anakin could almost see her ripping him up that same way, tearing open his jugular just like the deer and letting his blood spill all about. She seemed pretty reserved about hurting him, but you never did know.

"Ugh", Anakin said angrily into the darkness, "Why does everything in my life have to be so complicated." He got no answer, but the silence seemed to tell him something anyway. Still confused and conflicted, he walked back to his tent.

The next morning when Anakin awoke, the battle alarm sounded. He heard howling along with the alarm and laughed to himself as he thought, Cassandra.

He ran out of the tent after getting dressed and collecting his things. Then, he went to find Cassie. She wasn't very hard to find.

"Cassandra", he yelled over the noise. She looked at him curiously and nipped Atlas sharply, as he was still howling. He gave an indignant little snort and stopped howling. "What are you doing?", Anakin asked. Cassie shrugged and said, where do you want me. Her tail was beating back and forth furiously fast and she was practically rising off the ground in excitement. Atlas was just as excited, it seemed.

"You know", said Anakin, "I think you're more dog then girl." Cassie just wagged her long tail. "Alright," said Anakin, "come on with me." Cassie danced at his side.

They went over to the little table where people plan things for battles. Obi-wan was already there, planning and things like that. He looked up when he saw Anakin and Cassie. Anakin stood next to him and Cassie turned into a girl and stood silently.

"Have you ever been in a battle before?" Obi-won asked Cassie.

"Yes", Cassie replied, "several."

"Ok, have you ever directed troops?"

"Nope"

"All right, well for this first battle, I just want you to destroy as many droids as you can and not die."

"I can do that."

"Here, take this", Obi-won said giving her one of those little arm comlink things, "keep in contact."

"Gottcha", Cassie replied, "where do you want me?"

"Ride with blue squadron over there."

"Cool", said Cassie and she turned into a dog and pranced over to the ship, Atlas following.

"Are you sure you should take that dog into battle with you?", Anakin called after her.

"Sure", she replied, "he can take care of himself."

"I'm going to be worrying about her this whole battle", said Anakin, "imagine if I killed my first apprentice the first full day on the job."

"She'll be fine", Obi-won replied, though he hardly sounded convinced himself. Anakin watched her happily board the ship and wag her tail; she seemed to be unusually pleased for someone going off to battle.

"She'll be fine", Anakin said softly to himself as he boarded his transport ship. "The boys will take care of her, she'll be fine." Cassie jumped up onto the ship, turned into a girl, and reached up to hold one of the handles.

"Stupid delayed growth spurt", she muttered angrily. She stood on her tiptoes and finally managed to grip the handle with her fingertips. She gave a growl of frustration and finally gave up.

"Excuse me", said one of the troopers, "are you supposed to be here?"

"Why yes I am thank you", Cassie replied, "I'm just a bit height challenged. Can you lower these things by chance?"

"Yes", the trooper replied. He lowered it for her. "That's better", she said, "Thank you." The trooper nodded and Cassie gripped Atlas's collar with one hand and held the handle with the other. Then, they set off.

They landed in the back of the battle. They could see the Jedi already fighting. All the clones jumped off the transport immediately, but Cassie hesitated. She scanned the battle with distracted eyes until the pilot asked if she was getting off.

"Yes", Cassie replied, "sorry." Atlas turned into a horse and she vaulted onto his back. Atlas jumped off the transport and bugled a stallion cry. Cassie ignited her lightsaber and spurned him into a gallop.

They milled in among the droids as Atlas destroyed them with his sharp hooves and Cassie covered him with her lightsaber.

They did this for about ten minutes until Cassie said, "This is kind of boring, let's try something new." She stood up on Atlas's back, and then did a flip off it. Atlas turned into a very large dragon, scaring as many clones as droids. He flashed his tail around and knocking droids in half. The shots from the droids bounced off his scaly hide, but they seemed to hurt so he artfully dodged them.

Cassie turned into the large cat from the previous night and slashed at droids with her long claws. She changed forms quickly to suit her purposes and she flowed through her movements like she was dancing. Anakin contacted her on his comlink.

"Cassandra, where are you?"

"I'm next to the big dead droid ship in-between the two big towers with the creepy faces on them."

"Hold on, where?" said Anakin confused, "Can't you just give the coordinates?"

"How should I know what they are?" Cassie replied.

"Ok, never mind, if you are where I think you are, can you go pick up Rex, he's injured and I can't get to him right now."

"Ok", said Cassie. He gave her the coordinates and she whistled for Atlas. He was fighting a large droid cannon with a few clones on his back trying to help out. He blew flames at it until it fell, then gently dislodged the clones, turned into a horse, and raced towards Cassie. She jumped onto his back as he was running past and she turned him towards the coordinates Anakin had given her. She clung to his collar and held on as he galloped wildly.

Cassie saw Rex lying with droids surrounding him, seeming to wonder if he was still alive. She jumped off Atlas (she had been doing a lot of jumping that day if you haven't noticed), and destroyed the droids quickly.

"Hey honey", she said, "I'm here to pick you up." Rex groaned as she scooped him up and put him in front of her on Atlas's back. "Can you carry us both?" she asked him. Atlas whinnied indignantly as if the mere question was an insult to his strength.

He galloped out until Cassie saw the huge statue fall in front of them, blocking their path. They were still galloping towards the big statue because Cassie had seen it fall far in front.

"Leave me", Rex said, "You and the dog or whatever he is can climb over."

"Ohh please", said Cassie, "and let general Skywalker kill me for losing his best man, as if. Atlas, you know what to do." Atlas continued to gallop towards the statue thingy. At the last minute, he leaped into the air as if to jump over it, then turned into a dragon and spread his wings.

Atlas soared over the tower thingy and flew high above the battlefield, sending spurts of flame down at the unsuspecting droids.

"Where should we land?" Cassie asked Rex.

"Over there behind the battle please sir." Cassie motioned to Atlas with her legs where to go. He dutifully soared in that direction and finally landed. The medics were there to take Rex, so Cassie mounted Atlas and they soared over the battle once more.

Atlas landed on top of some droids trying to infiltrate their camp and proceeded to attack around the flank of the enemy. Cassie was left alone with a few mildly wounded clones. She revved up her lightsaber and danced about the battle. As she was turning to give some cover to a few clones, a bomb went off. Cassie was thrown back and into a crater. She blacked out.

Anakin was fighting a droid when he felt a surge in the force so strong, it knocked him to his knees. Waves of pain were coming off his apprentice and her life force momentarily dimmed. Cassie had been dying. Anakin felt cold, deathly fear. What had happened to her? Was she dead or living, he couldn't tell. Anakin cut down all around him and raced back to camp, leaving a trail of droid destruction in his wake.

Cassie came two in about a minute, with a few clones clustered around her.

"Can you walk sir?" they asked.

"Lets see", Cassie replied. One of the clones offered her a hand and hauled her up. She took a few wobbly steps and then was able to walk normally. She thought she was uninjured for a few moments, until she noticed a large piece of sharp glass in her arm.

"That looks bad sir", one of the clones said.

"Yes", she said thoughtfully, "it does doesn't it." She touched the glass with her fingertips. "It hurts as well, bad now that I have realized its there, thankfully however, I have a pretty decent tolerance of pain." She whistled for Atlas who came to her immediately. "I should probably go for a medic 'cuse I'm losing a lot of blood."

"Yes sir", said the clone.

"I suppose I can just deal with it for right now, I'm too lazy to go back anyway." Cassie continued to fight in the battle from a top the back of Atlas. It was awkward to fight with her arm in such a condition, but she had no choice. Finally, they were all given orders to return, that they had won the battle and the droids were in retreat. Cassie rode Atlas back to the camp, happy, but weak from loss of blood.

Anakin was just walking in circles. Cassie hadn't come back yet. She must be dead, he thought, she could not be alive after this. His heart beat in his chest like a frightened bird, fluttering and pounding. Then, he saw Cassie coming back.

The first thing Anakin felt was an overwhelming relief that she had survived. Then he saw the glass in her arm.

"What happened", he asked her urgently.

"I was thrown by a bomb", Cassie said, "but it's not bad."

"Lets get you too a medic, you look like you're going to faint."

"Its just loss of blood."

"Just loss of blood", Anakin said, "people generally aren't supposed lose that much blood." He dragged her to the med tent, his heart beating like a drum. What if she died right here? This was all too stressful. Well, to make a long story short, Cassie did not die, she lived happily ever after just so you know. Anakin however, made a very serious decision that night.