I have taken creative liberty in this next little snippet meaning Fives is very much not dead :)

Promised On Stars

You promised.

The words echoed in her mind, in her dreams, a reminder to what she was doing and why.

It was late, beyond second moonhigh when she felt it, the tickle against her consciousness that indicated movement in her small home. Wearily, she stood, padding silently out of her room into the main part of the abode. It was Fives, the sturdy ARC who had given her so many things to laugh about. He stood in front of her waist-high conservator, studying the contents within.

"What are you doing here, sir?"

He didn't move, but his head tilted in her direction, a small greeting of respect and acknowledgment. "Ma'am."

He straightened up and Ahsoka stepped back, waiting. "Routine inspection, ma'am. Got some new we may have visitors soon. Everything has to be up to par."

The words, the message, coded and eloquent, and Ahsoka allowed a small smile to curl on her lips. She didn't smile much, not anymore, but when she did it was around Fives, because of him. They had to careful, always, because people watched and listened and liked to talk, and while the Republic might not have operated based solely on gossip, the Empire seemed to, and they couldn't risk it.

"Do you know how many, inspector?"

Fives moved around the small home, running his fingers over wood structures and clay walls, rubbing woven wool and nerf leather, and she read his movements, read his fingers, gathering her information from all the words he couldn't say.

"A decent amount."

A decent amount. That was exciting and exhilarating and terrifying, and she closed her eyes and took a breath, aware that Fives was watching her, even if his back was turned, even if he wasn't. He was watching her because he knew, knew of her promise to him, knew of their farewell.

He knew of the kiss and of the stars, because he had done his duty as a soldier, as her soldier, and taken care of her. He'd made her tell him everything after they heard about Order 66, made her cry and scream, and he'd held her even as she writhed and clawed, he'd held her until she wasn't screaming, until she was just crying. He'd made her continue on, made her heal, and he made her build this small house which had become their base of operations.

And even if he knew everything of her, she knew almost nothing about him, but that was okay, because he had opened his mind to her, much like he had on the Temple steps that day all those years ago. Fives had opened his mind, and though his promise had been made to Echo, though he couldn't offer it to her, he still supported her and loved her in that very ARC-trooper way, and she reciprocated it in her own way, her almost-Jedi-but-no-longer way, and they made an odd team, a good team.

"Any news about Lord Vader, sir?"

Because they had to appear adequately scared of the Empire. Scared and docile and compliant, even though he was an ARC, and she a lost Jedi, and both deserters from their respective armies, and both entirely dangerous in their own way to an Empire that tried to smother them in their sleep.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, ma'am, though I've heard he's getting new troops added to his Fist."

So they'd lost troops then, enough for the movements of the replacements to be noticed. That could be good, or that could be bad, and thinking about either for too long was dangerous, so she simply didn't.

"Is there anything else you need to look at?"

Anything else you need to tell me? Anymore news to share? Fives didn't answer right away, not for many long moments, wandering around the small room, peering into her personal bedroom and the refresher that was barely big enough to hold a decent sized shower.

"I believe that the Fist lost one of their commanders and medics."

And Ahsoka stopped breathing for a moment, a moment of powerful memories and blinding smiles, and then she swallowed hard and sucked in a soft breath. Fives knew the affect his words had on her, of course he knew, even if he was across the room, beside the door while she stood in the protective shadows of her bedroom. A small smile curled on his lips, because he hadn't smiled much either, not since Echo's death, and when he did they were as small as hers, and just as roguish as ever.

He tipped his head slightly. "Have a good night, ma'am."

She sank to the floor, his words reeling through her mind, because there had been a deeper message hidden, one she should be able to decipher and wasn't able.

And then she was, and she did, and her heart stopped along with her breathing and she jumped up and hurried around her house, laying out blankets and pillows for all the men Fives had said were coming, pulling out food and preparing it because, even years and years later, she hadn't forgotten how much they ate.

It was the beginning of the first sunrise when Fives returned, banging her door open in greeting. And following him came men, men she knew and recognized and remembered, and men who remembered her if their faces were anything to go by when they saw her.

She ran and leapt, because she wasn't a Jedi any longer, and she could love these men as much and as hard as she wanted, and they caught her and touched her, with their hands and their lips and their minds. They loved her just as fiercely as she loved them, if not more, because she had been the first female for all of them, the first gentle flirt, the first feminine hug.

Kix came in, pulling a last man with him, and Ahsoka choked on a sob at the same time her arms came around him. He seemed dazed, but he returned the hold because it was as ingrained into him as it was into her, this hold of support and friendship and love that they'd shared after many battles.

Kix stepped back, grinning. "Told you I'd get him out one day, commander."

"Oh, Kix." Her voice was filled with tears, but her eyes were filled with sparkling laughter. She lunged at him, too, and he caught her and held her and squeezed her, keeping her off the ground and entirely on him. "Oh, Kix."

The tired medic ran his gentle fingers over her montrals and down her back, as much a doctor's touch as it was a friend's, and she leaned in and kissed him, and his mind glittered with a million stars.

He let her down finally, and she turned back to him. He was watching, an odd smile on his lips, confused but accepting, curious but not willing to question, and she pressed herself back against him, and her lips against his.

Their second kiss. Only their second.

But it burned, just like their first, and she saw his promise just as he saw hers. He leaned back slightly, brown eyes bright with smiles, one blonde eyebrow raised in that familiar way that said he wanted answers.

In her peripheral, Fives was settling his brothers, moving amongst them, with a small smile that was the biggest she'd seen since the death of his promise.

Her attention returned to the man in her arms. His expression hadn't changed and she laughed and gave him another kiss. "You promised them, commander. I did, too."

So this is the end. This one is for sure my favorite one hehe

Hope you enjoyed this little trip among stars and promises :P

Read, review.

Kisses!