Present Day
Aurora's POV
As we continued farther away from the Citadel, we eventually all grew tired and decided to take a break.
"What's our next move?" Ahsoka asked.
"We're gonna have to fight our way off this rock." Anakin responded making me sigh in disgust before sitting down on one of the rocks.
"Contact the Council, see when the plan to rescue us." Obi-Wan suggested.
"If they plan to rescue us." I murmured.
"I'll handle it." Piell replied willingly before walking over to both Artoo and Geenine to establish a connection with the Council back on Coruscant.
I sighed in exhaustion as I slid down to the ground from my seat on the rock so I could close my eyes and lay on my back. Just as I closed my eyes, I heard someone sit down beside me, and by the weight of their traction, I knew it was Anakin.
"What do you want Flyboy?" I ask in annoyance not even bothering to open my eyes.
"How'd you know it was me?" He asked.
"The amount of weight you use when you walk…also I have enhanced hearing in case you forgot." I stated with a sigh.
"What's wrong?" He asked with concern.
I opened my eyes to sit back up, but this time with my back leaning against the rock.
I shrugged. "Nothing, I'm just tired."
He frowned. "Tired, you don't get tired."
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I do."
He tilted his head to the side. "Come with me."
He then got up from his spot next to me and started walking to an area where the rest of the group couldn't hear us. I sighed in annoyance before I got up and followed him. Once we reached an area far away from the rest of the group, he turned towards me.
"Alright, what's going on?" He asked as he crossed his arms.
I shrugged. "Nothing. I told you that. I'm not tired."
Anakin shook his head.
"Aurora," He began. "I've known you long enough now that I can tell when something is bothering you. Ahsoka and I have noticed it."
I frowned. "You've both noticed what?"
He sighed. "You haven't been the same since Mortis."
I sighed as I crossed my arms because I knew he was right. I haven't been the same. I've been avoiding the Jedi like the plague and have been ignoring Ahsoka's com calls. It wasn't the fact that I didn't trust them, but it was the fact that Mortis mentally scarred me so much, I almost felt like not working with them anymore. I almost died there…multiple times…it still haunts me. Even though it haunts me, I've always kept my emotions and thoughts to myself…it's how I stayed alive playing this stupid little game. It's why I can be such a bitch sometimes and scream at people when they make me angry.
I shrugged Anakin off. "Worry about me later, right now we have to worry about making it out alive."
I started to walk away but he grabbed my right wrist stopping me.
"Aurora," He pleaded. "Please, what's wrong? We're all concerned about you."
"We who?" I asked in slight annoyance.
"Me, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, Fox, Rex, Cody, Fives, Echo, Yularen…the whole Jedi Council. We're concerned that your powers are causing you to lose your energy for some reason, and we're also worried that Mortis is mentally affecting you negatively." He explained.
I rolled my eyes. "Ask me the question again after this mission is over."
I immediately walked away from him and shrugged his question off, all I wanted to do was get off this planet. After Piell got finished on his call with the council, he explained that we only have a short window to get off the planet, so we immediately all got up and started rushing to the extraction point where Republic forces would come to get us. We started coming up to a cliff, which is when more of the spider-like droids showed up along with more B1 droids coming up from behind us.
"We need to go now!" I shouted to the group.
"Lock in your cables." Anakin instructed and all of us attached our cables to the ground, because we would be descending the cliff.
"Artoo, Geenine, we need your droids to hold the enemy off as long as they can!" Anakin instructed to both mine and his droid and both droids beeped in response.
"Good, everybody follow me!" Anakin called out to all of us before grabbing Tarkin and descending the cliff.
"This is sheer madness!" Tarkin shouted in both annoyance and disbelief.
As we started to go down the cliff, some of us including myself turned around so we were facing the droids firing at us, so we could return the fire. It was difficult, but we all made it work…Artoo and Geenine's reprogrammed battle droids were lost in the fire, which was unfortunate, but thankfully, neither mine nor Anakin's Astromech were damaged. Once we were all safely down the cliff, we continued to move quickly towards the extraction point. Eventually, we were going parallel to a river that was full of the glowing yellow lava, but we had to be careful, as overhead, and from what I was able to hear, more droids were coming to look for us, as we escaped away from the last squad trying to capture/kill us.
"What if your Jedi friends are not there when we arrive?" Tarkin asked after a long period of silence.
"Copaani mirshmure'cye?" I asked aloud, knowing only the Clones, Geenine, and Obi-Wan would be able to understand me. What I just said out loud, basically meant 'Are you looking for a smack in the face?'
Tarkin immediately turned around and narrowed. "What did you just say?"
I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes back. "You really don't want to know." I practically gritted through my teeth. This guy was really starting to piss me off…I mean he already was doing that when I met him, but now, it was getting to the point where I was ready to decapitate the man.
"Princess, I don't know what they taught you in Pacifist School," He began. Which made me in response become more angered. "But in the military, you are to respect your commanding officers."
He then turned around and was about to continue to catch up with the group before I stopped him.
"I'm not in the military." I said with anger before walking towards him. "I did go to Pacifist School…I learned nothing. I am, and will always be a warrior, like my father, and my grandfather. Whether you like it or not, I am on this mission, and yes, none of my plans worked out well today…that doesn't mean I am not skilled at what I do, nor do I not know what I am doing."
He was taken slightly back from what I was saying but that was the point.
"I have been holding back my emotions about how you've been treating both me and Ahsoka all day…and make no mistake, if you piss either of us off one more goddamn time, I will make it so that you will be commanding Starfleet's from a hospital bed." I practically snapped in a low voice before pushing past him and continuing to walk with the group.
I ran slightly before I caught up to Anakin who was leading the group.
"You get all your anger out now?" He asked in amusement.
I sighed in annoyance. "No."
"When we get back to Coruscant, we can go a couple of rounds at sparing…no weapons." He explained and I nodded.
"I need a punching bag." I replied before stopping in my tracks making the rest of the group stop.
"Ro?" Ahsoka asked in confusion.
"Do you all hear that?" I asked and they all shook their heads…except for Obi-Wan.
"We need to move." He replied.
"We are going to have company?" Piell asked.
I nodded. "Eventually."
We continued to push toward the extraction point, even slower now because we don't know when the droids are going to strike. Just as we were moving at a slower pace now, a loud screech was heard up ahead, making all of us come to a stop.
"Based on the noises I hear overhead; I have a feeling like they are closing in on us." I explained loud enough so everyone could hear.
"And if they've caught our scent, they'll lead the droids right to us." Piell explained.
"We're gonna have to deal with them." Anakin replied.
"No shit." Ahsoka responded with an eyeroll. She was getting annoyed too.
"Really? We're going to have to deal with them?" I asked with sarcasm oozing in my voice. "I thought we'd all sit around a fire, and tell old-war stories, or maybe invite them to dinner so we can discuss a peace treaty, or maybe…"
Anakin put a hand up. "Alright, I get it, you two are annoyed. Since both of you are so annoyed, do you have any idea on how to get us out of this mess."
Ahsoka gestured to a cave near where we all were standing.
"What about using this cave to surprise them?" She suggested.
Piell nodded. "If we can get them to pass by, we can attack them from behind."
"Ok, but in order to ambush them…you'll need a pretty damn good distraction." I explained.
"Leave that to me." Anakin replied.
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin in question before coughing loudly to get his attention.
Anakin then gestured to Obi-Wan. "And Obi-Wan of course."
"The rest of you, follow me." Piell explained as we all took our positions whereas Anakin and Obi-Wan took their places in the open.
"Kaysh mirsh solus." I murmured.
"Who's an idiot?" Rex and Cody both asked at the same time.
"Both of them." I replied quietly back.
It wasn't long before what we were waiting for appeared. The sound that we heard were that of Anoobas, along with a bunch of droids coming in as well. The Anoobas went right past where we were hiding, as they had Obi-Wan and Anakin's scent, which I didn't know was better or worse. Once we were in the clear, we made our way out of the cave and head towards the position where Anakin and Obi-Wan were. Unfortunately, more of the Spider-like droids appeared over the cliff. Piell acted quickly, as he stabbed it with his lightsaber.
"Go! Ahsoka, Aurora, and I will take care of the droids!" Piell ordered as more droids appeared over the cliff.
As the droids continued to come at us, we fought them off to the best of our ability. Each of us were taking down the droids almost as quickly as they came at us. Eventually, it got to a point where there were no more droids coming in, but the ones that were around us were being difficult to beat. I had my back turned at one point and just before I turned around, I heard the slight sound of a gasp. That's when I quickly turned around to see Piell lying on the ground with a blaster shot through his chest. As Ahsoka destroyed the droid, I knelt next to Piell.
"You saved my life, thank you." I explained with gratitude as Ahsoka knelt on the other side of him.
He nodded, before I placed my hands so that they were hovering above his abdomen, as I was going to try to force-heal him…though based on what the Father told me when I was on Mortis, I may pass out from doing this. He quickly grabbed both my wrists.
"No Princess, I want this." He explained before I pulled my hands back.
It was right then and there that he told Ahsoka his half of the coordinates to the Nexus route, and she took the responsibility of memorizing the half. A few moments later the rest of the group caught up to us.
"He died honorably." Ahsoka explained. "He saved Aurora's life."
"Why didn't you heal him?" Anakin asked, even though judging by the tone in his voice he already knew why.
I shook my head. "I was going to…but he denied it."
"What about the information?" He asked.
"I have it." Ahsoka explained. "He told me just before he died."
The next few moments were a blur. We took one of the few fire blankets we had left in one of the packs the clones were carrying to wrap up Piell's body. Anakin and Obi-Wan then used the Force to push Piell's body over the ledge of the cliff and drop it into the lava. We all watched as the body sunk into the lava and disappeared.
"Verd ori'shya beskar'gam." I said quietly to Obi-Wan, which translated to 'A warrior is more than his armor.'
He looked to me. "Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la." Which translates to, 'Not gone, merely marching far away', which was a traditional phrase used for the departed.
"Come on." I said in a quiet voice. "We need to keep moving."
After Piell's funeral, we all started rushing towards the extraction zone. We moved in silence and eventually it came into view.
"There's the extraction point!" Obi-Wan exclaimed in relief.
Anakin and Cody fired their extension cables over to the extraction point, and everyone began the journey across.
"Go," I explained to the Clones. "I'll cover you."
Just as Fox, Rex, and Tarkin make it across the line, and just before I was to start across the line, I heard a shout.
"INCOMING!" Rex shouted from his position making me jump to take cover on the other side of the ravine, which is where we started in the beginning.
I quickly looked up to see Sobeck, and a whole squadron of commando droids coming in for an aerial attack, as they began to fire their laser cannons at us. Sobeck however abandoned his device and jumped down on the ravine, so he was level, and face to face with me.
"Dooku want's you dead Princess, for your betrayal and crimes against the Separatists!" He taunted toward me.
I glanced over to the other side of the ravine, I couldn't see the rest of the group because of all the smoke from the blasters firing.
"Ro," Anakin's voice came over the coms. "The extraction team is here."
"Go without me." I explained.
"WHAT!" He shouted. "Ro, stop being stubborn, and get in the ship."
"Go, I'll be fine." I explained before taking my coms device out of my ear and smashing it with my boot.
I looked up to Sobeck. "It's just you and me."
He said nothing but charged at me, and I quickly dodged his attacks. Surprisingly he wasn't armed with blasters, which made it somewhat easier for me, as if he didn't know, or hadn't read the file that Dooku had on me…I was damn good in hand-to-hand combat. Every punch he threw, every kick he tossed, I easily blocked, but it came to a point where my exhaustion was taking over…probably because I was using my hearing so much, I started to get sloppy. Eventually he knocked me down to the ground and aimed a blaster at me.
"If I can't have the information, it will die with you!" He shouted at me.
I smirked. "I already told you…I'm not the one who's dying today."
I quickly swept him to the ground before grabbing a small dagger that I always carried with me…in case of emergencies and roughly slit his throat. His blood splattered all over my face and covered most of my upper body. To make sure that he would die a painful death though, I also stabbed his abdomen multiple times to make sure that he would feel the torture that he did to the Jedi. As he was breathing his last few breaths, I leaned over him.
"Tell Dooku this for me…because I know he's watching your every move…Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade (Don't mess with Mandalorians)." I said in a very dark tone before standing up over the lifeless body of the man who caused all of us so much pain in the last few hours.
I sighed in relief as I placed my dagger away. That's when I saw the amount of blood on my hands…I probably was drenched in it at this point. I glanced over to the other side of the ravine and saw that the team got out safely. Thank the Force. Just then I heard an LAAT overhead and that's when I realized they sent a squad back for me, and judging by the symbol on the nose, I knew exactly who it was. Once it landed and the doors opened, I was met with the faces of Horror and Spyder.
"You really think we'd leave without you Princess?" Spyder asked with a smirk, and I rolled my eyes.
"I was starting to think that you were all sleeping." I explained as I got on the ship. "Where's everyone else?"
"About a half hour ahead of us. We're meeting them on Coruscant." Horror explained.
I nodded as the doors closed to take us back to the fleet. Once we were on the star-destroyer, we immediately jumped to lightspeed and were headed back to Coruscant. Eventually we arrived back on Coruscant and unfortunately, I hadn't had the time to take a shower or get checked for injuries as the star-destroyer we were on, was only carrying a few clones and a few commanding officers. Once we were in the atmosphere above Coruscant, Horror, Spyder, and I got back into an LAAT and headed down to the Jedi Temple. Once we landed, I heard Windu's voice ask:
"And what of Sobeck?"
That's when the doors opened revealing my current state. My blonde hair was now the color of rust, my face and hands were also covered in dry blood. Everyone, including the Clones, looked at me in a state of shock. I stood in front of Windu.
"I killed him." I simply stated before turning and heading into the temple to take a shower. I immediately stop in my tracks before turning around, walking up to Tarkin and punching him right in the nose.
A few officers gasped, the clones stifled laughs, Anakin looked at me in shock, and Ahsoka's face went from sad to happy in the mere matter of seconds.
"That's for making my day horrible." I stated before turning back around and walking toward the medical bay.
"I think she broke my nose." I heard Tarkin say in agony, making me smirk in response.
Once I was in the medical bay, they put a monitor on me when I took a shower, as they wanted to see if I had any internal injuries, as their scanners were having difficulty picking up any. Once I was in the shower, I looked down at my feet to see the red water going down the drain. As I looked up to stare at the wall in front of me, I started to become dizzy, and eventually, everything started to be groggy, before everything went black.
The next thing that I remember was waking up in a bed in the medical bay. No one was in my room, but there were two people talking to the healers and droids outside of my room, and from what I could tell, they were Anakin and Obi-Wan. I sighed as they came into my room.
"Good." Anakin began. "You're awake."
"What happened?" I asked in confusion.
"You had a panic attack while you were in the shower, hence why you passed out." Obi-Wan explained as he sat down in one of the chairs beside my bed.
"Panic attack?" I questioned. "I don't get panic attacks."
"Ro, based on your heart rate, it seemed that you had many panic attacks today. What's going on?" Anakin asked.
"Nothing." I said shrugging him off.
"Aurora, you yelled at both of us today more times than any other day…what is going on?" Obi-Wan asked and I sighed.
I was silent before a few moments as I glanced at my hands before looking at both of them. I felt tears welling In my eyes, but I knew this conversation was going to happen at some point in time.
"Nothing's been the same since Mortis." I stated making both of them share a glance with each other before looking back to me.
"Everything in my life is a lie. My family, my true purpose…even probably what I look like is a lie. My whole life I've been fed lies by every single person in this damn galaxy, and now I'm at the point where I don't know what to believe anymore. Every time I try to show emotion towards someone or something I can't, because I've been fed so many lies that I don't know who to trust. Hence why I keep everything in, and why I snap at people…I'm sorry I yelled at both of you." I explained.
"Ro, we're concerned about your mental state." Anakin explained. "You gutted Sobeck…destroyed his body, were covered in his blood, and punched Tarkin in the face. Ro, this isn't healthy to keep your emotions in and take them out on others."
I sighed. "It's just that…when I saw how they were being tortured, and how he tortured them…I…I re…I…"
I got a far off look in my eyes.
"You remembered when you were tortured?" Obi-Wan asked and I slowly nodded.
"How did they torture you?" Anakin asked making me snap my head to him.
"Anakin." Obi-Wan began.
"What?" He asked with a shrug before he noticed my expression going from quiet and meek to angry and rageful in the blink of an eye.
"Get out." I said in anger.
"Ro, I didn't mean…" He began.
"GET OUT!" I screamed at him before he walked quickly out of the room.
"I don't want you to relive your trauma, but it is unhealthy for you to be living this way." Obi-Wan explained. "Maybe it's time you seek medical help."
I tilted my head to the side. "Like a therapist?"
He nodded. "Aurora, I may not have known you all your life, but I know what it's like when someone is suffering Post-traumatic Stress…I had it myself when my master died."
I looked at him before he placed a hand on my left shoulder. "We don't need to tell your mother, but every time you come to Coruscant, meet with one of the therapists here in the temple…and soon enough you'll have your emotions down to a science."
"Promise?" I asked as he stood up.
He nodded. "I promise."
He then began to walk out of my room before stopping in the doorway.
"By the way, good job with your hit on Tarkin. I would've gone for the jaw if it were me." He said with a small smile.
"I thought about that after I did it." I said with a smile as he walked out.
I laid back down in my bed…maybe it was time to come to terms with the trauma that was eating me up alive since I was a child…and maybe that'll make me less of a bitch…though I highly doubt it.