Ahsoka's POV
As their ship hovered over the towering jungles of Onderon, Ahsoka was getting ready to jump down along with the rest of their group. She had been tasked with training rebels to overthrow the planet's separatist ruler. Yes, it was technically terrorism, but she was willing to do it. Especially because one of those rebels just happened to be Lux Bonteri, her old friend.
Anakin had come up with the idea. He proposed a plan to teach the planet's rebels some basic combat skills, so they could learn to operate efficiently on their own. The goal was to hit some minor government targets in the planet's capital, Iziz.
She didn't quite know why Lux was willing to risk his life for this planet, but she would do anything in her power to make sure he wouldn't be hurt in the process. Losing one's parents was painful enough, but dying on top of that would seriously suck. Ahsoka had only met him twice before, but she felt like they had a connection. In fact, he was the first and only person to have made her a bit confused with her emotions. She was always in control of everything she felt, except on those two occasions. There had been a time during their first and especially during their second meeting where she had been slightly worried if just thoughts were enough to break the Jedi code. Jedi weren't supposed to become emotionally attached to anything. Not objects, not places and not even people. According to Master Windu, she was already too close to Anakin, but the things she used to feel about Lux were very different and probably even worse.
But now she was here as a friend and as a Jedi, and she would focus solely on the mission.
As Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, and her jumped off the ship, she caught a glimpse of the planet's colossal trees reaching towards the sky. Their canopies formed a verdant canopy that stretched as far as the eye can see. She could sense how the forest floor was teeming with life beneath the towering giants. She had seen enough to say Onderon was a beautiful planet. The Force was strong here, there was lots of life and she felt strangely alive navigating the dense jungle.
She snapped back to reality when she heard Anakin talking. "It's alright, we're friends," he said.
Ahsoka jumped down from the branch she was standing on when she saw Master Obi-Wan do the same.
"Jedi," stated the girl in front of them. Ahsoka assumed she was one of the rebels. She was riding some kind of large, exotic animal. Ahsoka had never seen anything quite like it, so she assumed it was exclusive to Onderon. The girl, at least from what she could see in the dark, had turquoise eyes with black hair.
Ahsoka decided to speak next. "I'm Commander Tano. We're here to help you take back your planet."
"My name is Steela," the girl replied. "I will guide you to our secret base."
The sun had already gone up by the time they arrived at the rebel base. It was a surprisingly large area, but Ahsoka could see they were in desperate need of proper hardware. The rebels' weapons were scarce and they had barely any real form of transport at their disposal.
But when the rebels' 'unofficial leader', Saw Gerrera, lead them to the briefing area, Ahsoka was met with a surprise that more or less made her jaw drop.
Lux.
I might just have to break my promise, she thought. She knew she would be meeting him at some point, but this was nothing like what she had anticipated.
He didn't look anything like last time.
She had thought he was handsome before, but what in the hell was this? It hadn't even been that long, but Lux had grown a few inches taller. His gray-green eyes were the same, but they were now burning with passion and dedication she hadn't seen in him before. He had left his combat gear on a nearby rock, so he was wearing just a thin T-shirt and pants. Ahsoka had no idea how, perhaps it was all the work he had to do for the rebels, but he had developed someveryvisible muscles. What had happened to the somewhat snobby senator from Raxus? This did not help the situation at all.
She noticed other changes (for the better) as well. All remaining roundness in his face had disappeared, and his jawline was noticeably more defined. His hair, which had always been immaculately groomed, was messier now. Against her better judgment, she thought it looked super cute, but she felt a strange urge to reach her hand up and mess him up even more.
She felt like an idiot, observing him like they were in a fictional romance story or something.
Ahsoka was dragged out of her thoughts when Rex ended the meeting, and people started to disperse. She saw Lux (obviously, as she had been staring at him the whole time) turn around and walk away on his own, so she decided to use this opportunity to talk to him alone. She was fully convinced it was a horrible idea, but Lux seemed to just pull her toward him like a magnet.
"Lux!" she called, walking up to him. "It's good to see you again."
Lux quickly turned around, and slowed down to walk side by side with her. "It's good to see you too, Ahsoka."
Is his voice deeper? she wondered. I must be imagining things.
"I didn't realize you had such strong ties to Onderon."
"Onderon is my home!" Lux explained. "My mother represented it in the senate."
Then, out of nowhere, the girl from before, Steela, walked up from behind them. "Your voice is strong, like hers was." So much for talking to him alone.
Ahsoka sighed, but continued talking. "Have you reconsidered joining the Republic senate?"That way we'd be closer to each other! Wait, no, that's exactly what shouldn't happen.
"Even if we do take back Onderon, it won't change how I feel," he replied. "I'm not fighting for the Republic."
Ahsoka was a little disappointed by this, but knew it was impossible to change his mind once he decided on something. Instead, she tried to guide the conversation in another direction. "Well, what matters now is that we need each other's help, just like we did on Carlac."
Steela looked dumbstruck. "Carlac? What happened on Carlac?"
We kissed, bitch. Ahsoka didn't know why that was her first thought. It's just the tone of Steela's voice that made her sound extremely infuriating. Either way, no matter how much she hoped it wasn't the case, the short kiss they had shared was simply for show, and Lux had probably been disgusted afterwards. There was nothing to think about there.
Her train of thought was interrupted when Lux stopped to speak. "Ahsoka is the reason I'm here and not with Death Watch." He probably doesn't even remember the kiss.
After Carlac, Ahsoka had liked to think that Lux had wanted to kiss her. She had managed to shake those ideas, but they were now dangerously creeping back into her mind.
"Really?" Steela asked, still with a bitter tone of away.
"What he means is-" Ahsoka started, but Lux cut her off.
"She saved me from a huge mistake," he said, and resumed walking. Ahsoka tried to go after him, but was once again stopped by Steela.
"Lux obviously thinks highly of you," she commented, now with a softer tone.
"I guess so," Ahsoka replied absentmindedly as she watched Lux walk away.
Then, as if she had just been trying to get Ahsoka's guard down, Steela became her annoying self again, leaned uncomfortably close to her face, and scoffed, "Let's hope that respect is well founded." She walked away, leaving Ahsoka to process what just happened.
"Destroyers are blind from behind," Ahsoka was saying. "A distraction combined with a rear assault will give you a kill." She was now teaching the rebels how to eliminate destroyers. She sure hoped they wouldn't have any problems grasping this very simple concept, because practicing it would probably be the most boring thing they could do.
Like, seriously. If throwing a droid popper at a certain speed would become such a difficult task for some of the rebels that you could fill an entire HoloTV episode with nothing but footage of them practicing, she'd be really pissed.
"The trick is to get the right speed on the droid popper," she continued.
Rex tossed a popper to Saw, who was the first in line. From what Ahsoka had grasped so far, Saw seemed to think of himself as simply better than everybody else. He made fun of Lux for being a politician, and bossed everyone around despite never even having been elected as their leader. Ahsoka had become weirdly angry when Saw had insulted Lux before, but Steela had already gone between the two before she could interfere. As a matter of fact, Steela seemed to pop out of nowhere every time Ahsoka tried to interact with Lux. It was almost infuriating. Steela and Saw were similar in many ways, though Saw seemed to just hate Lux, while Steela, well, Ahsoka couldn't really tell how Steela felt about him.
"Watch and learn," Saw growled at Lux. He really took every opportunity to insult or make fun of him. Ahsoka was secretly hoping he would mess up the throw. He deserved it for constantly bullying Lux, who is a much better person than he could ever be, anyway.
Saw threw the popper too fast, and failed miserably. He growled, visibly shocked by his own .
"Quite brilliant," Lux remarked.
He was next in line, so Ahsoka tossed him a popper. Lux caught it, aimed, threw, and it went smoothly past the shield.
"Nice touch," Ahsoka complimented with a smile. She then realized her tone had sounded way too flirtatious, which she hoped no one had noticed. Obviously she meant it as a completely normal and friendly compliment.
Lux smiled back at her, which made her heart beat faster. "Thanks."
Their eyes locked for a few seconds before Steela, being the bitch she is, decided to interrupt. "Not bad," she teased, as she lightly punched Lux in the shoulder.
Ahsoka scowled, but gave her a popper.
Steela, just like Saw, threw it with excessive force. It bounced right off the shield as she mumbled something in displeasure. Ahsoka decided to give her another chance, hoping to see her continue to embarrass herself in front of Lux, and tossed another popper her way.
She instantly regretted her decision.
Lux came up from behind Steela, and placed his hands on her shoulder and wrist. "Here," he began. "Use your shoulder, let your arm swing, and keep your eyes on the target." His chest was up against Steela's back as he waved her arm around.
Suddenly something inside Ahsoka snapped. She had never felt such a sudden change in her emotions. Her head felt like it was going to explode.
She needed to get out of here for a moment. Yes, that was all she needed. She had to think logically and figure out what was happening. She needed to calm herself.
It's not my fault. I have been thinking only normal and friendly thoughts. It's just my... uh... brain...yes...that's trying to ruin my day.
She couldn't handle being there right now, so she decided to just slip away and hope no one would think anything of it. "Master," she whispered as she turned to Anakin. Much to her surprise, he was already staring at her with a curious expression on his no,she panicked inside her he sense my utter emotional turmoil?She decided to try and lie anyway. "I'm not feeling well. I'll be right back." She turned around quickly and began walking away as fast as possible, hoping to avoid further questioning from her master.
"Ahsoka!" Anakin practically yelled as he went after her anyway. The rebels, who had previously been occupied with Lux's and Steela's little 'show', were now turning their attention to Ahsoka and Anakin.
She didn't even turn around as she continued making her way towards one of the cots, but Anakin just kept following. He would certainly have lots of questions.