Part 2
Author's Note: Yes, I know this has an open ending, but sometimes, those are nice, because you can imagine any future that you like. :)
~ Amina Gila
They continue to whittle down the list of suspects, and the further they get, the more concerned Cody becomes that their traitor is someone in the Chancellor's inner circle. It's the only thing that makes sense. It's the only way that so much intel could get leaked and so quickly at that. What that will mean for the Republic, he doesn't know, but now, his primary concern is what's happening in the Temple.
Barely over a rotation ago, the Temple hangar was bombed.
It's an attack that has shaken them to the core. Was it the Separatists? The traitor inside the Republic? Someone else entirely?
Cody doesn't know, and things only become stranger when Anika's padawan is accused. It doesn't make sense. Is the traitor onto them and trying to cast doubt on Anika so that no one will believe her when she comes forward with the truth? Also unknown, and the uncertainties are driving Cody insane.
He tracks her down almost immediately. Ahsoka ran, escaping her cell and disappearing into the Underworld. It makes sense that some might find that suspicious, and if Cody didn't know Anika so well, he might as well. Mainly, he just questions what's going on behind the scenes that they have yet to uncover.
"Anything I can do to help?" he asks, pulling her aside after she's given orders to Rex and the boys to begin the search. It must be killing her to do this. Cody can see the conflict and exhaustion in her eyes, but she doesn't back down. She never has, never will, and that's what he loves about her.
"No," she answers, shaking her head, strands of hair falling free into her face. Has she slept? She doesn't look like it. "I…" She hesitates, looking away. "She's being framed. No one is listening to me. I don't even know what happened when she went to see Letta except that Letta was murdered and Ahsoka was accused of it." She sighs, scrubbing a hand over her face, and Cody reaches out without thinking, lightly touching her wrist.
Anika gives him a small smile, though it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I need to go," she says reluctantly. "I have to bring her in."
Cody squeezes her shoulder. "Good luck," he tells her, knowing she'll need it.
He doesn't hear from her again, not even after the news is spreading about Ahsoka's capture and subsequent trial at the Senate. It's Rex who tells him, grim and shaken, that his commander was expelled from the Order to be put on trial.
"They don't even have evidence," Rex hisses through gritted teeth, pacing the floor of Cody's office. "It's not right."
"I know," Cody replies. "How is Anika?"
Rex scoffs quietly. "As you'd expect." His expression twists. "She's hunting for the culprit. I'd be out there with her but…" He trails off with a shrug.
He knows about the two of them. Cody and Anika told him what they want in the future, perhaps once the war is over. There's a certain comfort to knowing what they will be and taking the time to explore what they are. They still have time. There's no need to rush, and yet, sometimes, doubts creep in, and Cody wonders if they'll get to see the end of the war. He tries not to dwell on it, but he wonders. He's a clone, bred for war. He could die any day, and he doesn't want to leave Anika behind with nothing but regrets.
"This is too carefully orchestrated," Cody admits finally. "I don't like it."
Rex nods, coming to stand next to the front of his desk. "I know. Tarkin's the prosecutor. He's…" He pauses, picking his words carefully. "He seems very insistent on giving her the– the death penalty."
Stars. She's only sixteen, still older than Cody, older than any clone ever has been, but they're clones. They're different. They're not meant to live as long as natborns.
All they can do is wait, and Cody is tired of waiting. He contacts Fox to see what he can learn. Fox knows what they're searching for, and Cody trusts him to keep it quiet. He sends them what he knows about what happened in the prison. The recordings are glitchy which only makes Cody even more suspicious. Even Fox admits that he thinks something isn't quite right about the whole thing, but he doesn't know Ahsoka, so he can't say if she had anything to do with it or not.
Rex stays with Cody for a while before his responsibilities pull him away.
It's later that day when Rex contacts him to let him know that Anika found the culprit. Barriss Offee. Another Jedi. She framed Ahsoka because she believes that the Republic is falling, and that the Jedi are now fighting for the darkness. With what Cody knows about the traitor, he is inclined to agree. He cannot quite guess what the long-term plan is, but he knows it isn't good. Perhaps it's to bring the Republic to its knees and destroy it, but perhaps it is also more. Only time will tell… unless they can uncover the traitor's identity.
"That's good, right?" Cody asks, hesitantly. He doesn't understand why Rex looks so upset. Even over the transmission, he can see the visible distress on Rex's face.
"She– left," Rex answers. He sounds lost. "She decided not to come back." He shakes his head. "She's gone.
Shock hits him first, followed by disbelief. He's not as close with Ahsoka as he is with Anika, but he's seen how she was always so quick to defend the 501st. She and Rex are close, not as close as Anika and Rex are, but they're still close. And now…
What will it mean for the 501st to have lost its Jedi commander? He doesn't need to ask to know that Anika and Rex won't react well.
"How are you handling it?" Cody questions, deciding to handle his own emotional turmoil about it later. Rex comes first.
Rex shrugs, not answering. "I didn't know the Jedi could do that."
The and we can't goes unsaid, but Cody hears it clearly nevertheless. "Me either," he replies. He wonders how many of their brothers would leave voluntarily if they had a choice. The whole situation is such a mess. So complicated and thorny, and he blows out a breath, a sense of heaviness dragging him down. "Do you know where she went?"
Rex shakes his head. "She just– left. Anika came and told me. She's telling the boys now. I wanted to be with her, but she sent me to contact you."
Cody feels a warmth flicker in his chest. Anika knew that Rex needed someone to talk to, someone he could lean on before the grief of his men would demand his full attention. She's always so protective of Rex. Of all her boys. It's why he loves her. Because he knows that she'll always put them first over anyone else. They understand one another. There is no other Jedi like her, and Cody is proud to call her his friend.
"Tell her I'm free this evening," Cody requests. Rex will have the others, but he doesn't want Anika to retreat to somewhere on her own. If she won't stay with her boys, then she can come to him.
And she does.
The moment someone knows, he knows it's her, and he shuts off his datapad, going to greet her. She looks tired, and her eyes are red like she might have been crying even though her face is currently dry.
Cody steps aside to let her in, and he doesn't even wait until the door is closed before he's pulling her into his arms. "Rex told me," he whispers. "I'm sorry."
She's taller than him, just slightly, but somehow, as she curls against him, she seems so much smaller. Cody always thought of the Jedi as mythical heroes. Legends. But they're more than that. They're people, too, and it's easy to forget that physically, he and Anika are practically the same age. So young in a galaxy at war, forced to bear the harshest burden of all: being in command.
Anika doesn't take her men's lives lightly, nor does Cody. Theirs is a struggle that most of the other clones who are not in commanding positions can't fully grasp.
Her face is buried against his shoulder, and he rubs her back soothingly, hoping that he can at least offer her some measure of comfort.
"I asked her to stay," she whispers, voice muffled and trembling. "She– she couldn't. They didn't trust her, and she didn't know how to trust herself. I told her– I told her that if she felt that way, she should trust her instincts like I taught her. If she needed to leave, then she should go and not look back."
"It never gets easier to let them go," Cody answers softly. He's seen so many brothers die over the years since the war broke out, and every time he sends them out, it hurts. It hurts to know that he might never see them again. It hurts to see his little brothers grow up – and more often than not, die.
"No, it doesn't."
Cody can hear the same exhaustion in her words. The same pain. The same tiredness. The same resignation. She understands. "Stay with me?" he suggests. "Or do you need to go back to Rex? I can come."
"They need some time to process," Anika replies slowly.
She doesn't say without me, but it's implied. She recognizes that for all that she's one of them, she's also not quite, because she isn't a clone, and there are some of her boys who won't feel fully free if she's there. Maybe she doesn't want to cross that final line that keeps them apart, Cody doesn't know. She respects them, and they respect her, but she's their General, and that means there are certain things that always separate them. It's not so different from Cody and the 212th, he supposes.
"You're welcome here," Cody promises.
She stays.
They talk a bit, but the conversations inevitably lead back to Ahsoka which leaves Anika looking as though she might cry. She doesn't, but it's a near thing.
Eventually, they fall asleep in Cody's bunk. They're only cuddling, because Anika needs someone after losing Ahsoka, and yet, it's the first time they've shared a bed, and it feels like… a big step somehow. He tries not to overthink it.
Morning comes too quickly, but they don't get up right away. Anika admitted to him that the Council granted them two additional days of leave time to process what happened before they'll be sent back out. Cody intends to make the most of that time. He doesn't know when he'll see her again. Her or Rex. He could lose either of them at any time, and he – well, he's gotten good at not dwelling on it, but with Ahsoka having left, he's lot more shaken than he wants to admit.
"I'm not sure what to do now," Anika admits. She's still in Cody's arms, and he brings up a hand to brush back her hair.
"Pertaining to… what, exactly?" he asks.
Her expression tightens. "Rex took it hard. All the boys did. And we have to go back out there without her, and we still– we still don't know who the traitor is. It feels like so much."
"Grief isn't easy," Cody says. "Be gentle on yourself. You need time, that's all. Try not to dwell on it."
They stare at each other for a heartbeat, and he can see a softness in her blue eyes. "I love you." The words seem to tumble out on their own, and there's something that sounds like both fondness and wonder there. "Have I ever told you that?"
"No," Cody replies, and he can feel his cheeks heating, "but I gathered as much."
"I do," Anika tells him. "I love you. You're–" Her voice falters. Maybe it fails her, but she closes the distance between them and kisses him.
Cody goes still next to her for a moment, his mind screaming with incomprehension because what? He didn't expect this. Maybe he should have, but he didn't. Of course, he wants to kiss her, and – and she talked about marrying him. Of course. He just – he never thought they would – not now –
And yet his shock isn't great enough to prevent him from kissing her back, holding her even tighter as though his arms alone will be enough to keep her grief at bay.
They break apart to breathe, and she shifts to rest her head on his chest. "That was nice." Her voice is soft. "Now all we need to do is find the traitor and end the war so we can get married officially."
Cody snorts. He can't help it. It's better than laughing at her though, and it takes all of his willpower to swallow that laugh that bubbles up and tries to escape. "Indeed," he agrees, and more amusement colors his word than he would have liked.
Anika pouts. "Don't laugh at me! We can do it! I know we can." She wiggles, rolling over on top of him and staring down at his face. "We've come this far," she says, determination filling her words, and it's a far cry from the pain and grief of before, "and I'm not giving up."
Cody reaches up without thinking, cupping her cheek. "Of course not," he answers. "You never give up."
A small, shy smile flickers across her face, and she leans into his touch. She lowers her head, and their lips are only millimeters apart when the door to Cody's room slides open.
His heart skips a beat, and Anika scrambles off him to stand on the floor. "Master," she says, and her voice is too high.
No.
No, no, nono –
But sure enough, General Kenobi himself is standing in the doorway, staring at them with wide eyes. "Am I interrupting something?" he asks, and his tone is far too mild for Cody's liking.
Cody slides to his feet, and he feels a flutter of warmth at the way Anika shifts as though to step in front of him protectively. "No, sir," he answers when Anika fails to find words. He doesn't need to be a Jedi to feel her mortification and fear. Relationships are forbidden for Jedi, and it's not just anyone who found them. It's her master. And Cody's General.
Great.
"Good," General Kenobi replies. Cody can't read his expression very well, but there's something dark in his eyes. Disapproval mingling with disappointment, and he thinks that it hits him just as hard as it hits Anika.
"Master, it's not what it looked like," Anika starts.
"Relationships are against the Code," General Kenobi interrupts. There's a harshness to his tone. "You know that. You will be expelled from the Jedi Order. You're a Jedi, Anika. You need to let it go."
Though Cody can't see her face, he can easily imagine the hurt on it. The defiance. "Let it go," she echoes. Her voice breaks. "I love him! You don't know what it's like."
The General's face is a perfect mask, but Cody can see the flicker of what might be anger or perhaps frustration. "You met Satine. You know that I harbored feelings for her, but our duty, as Jedi, is to move past those feelings for the greater good."
Anika's hands curl into fists, and Cody knows she's getting upset. Both of them are, and if he doesn't do something, it'll only get worse. "General, it's my fault," Cody interrupts. He doesn't want them to fight. Though their relationship has never been the same after the General faked his death, Anika still cares about him, and they'll both be upset if they argue. "I let General Skywalker stay with me last night after what happened."
On second thought, that might only have made it worse. Did he imply something? He hopes he didn't imply something that never happened. "She was upset after Commander Tano left the Order," he continues. "I was only trying to help."
His General's eyes flick toward them, the blue-gray of them icy. "I appreciate that, Commander," he replies, "but I'm sure you understand that the rules for Jedi are different than they are for clones. Anika knows better."
"Why are you here?" she demands, undoubtedly trying to distract her master's focus from Cody, which he appreciates if not for the fact that he's attempting to do so the same thing.
"I was looking for you," he answers. "After yesterday…" He trails off. "I want you to know that I did everything I could to defend Ahsoka. The Council didn't listen to me."
Anika looks away. "Thank you." Her words sound stiff and strained. "Are you going to report us?"
Cody would like to disappear, but unfortunately, the floor doesn't heed his request to be swallowed alive.
"You're not planning to stop," the General realizes, disapproval lacing his words. "You know–"
"I know," she interrupts, "and no. Cody makes me happy. I– I'm not like you, Obi-Wan. I'm not like any of the Jedi. I never have been. I don't–" Her voice wavers. "I don't fit in there. You know it, even if you don't want to see it."
Cody feels his heart break for her. He knows she's struggled at the Temple, preferring the company of her men to those of the other Jedi. But hearing it laid out so simply hurts, and he doesn't resist when she slips her hand into his and squeezes.
"Can I talk to Cody alone?"
He pretends he doesn't feel a stab of fear at that. He isn't ready for whatever Obi-Wan has to say to him.
"Don't hurt him," Anika demands, letting go of his hand and moving to the door. She doesn't wait to hear her master's response, slipping through.
General Kenobi waits until the door closes before he straightens. "Cody, I know I asked you to watch over her, but this isn't what I meant."
"I know, sir," he answers quietly.
"She's a Jedi. You understand that she'll be expelled if the Council finds out."
Cody nods. "She knows, and so do I. The war has been hard on everyone. I won't hurt her."
The General sighs. "I won't tell the Council, but I… did not expect this. I had thought you would both avoid taking such a risk, even if…"
And just like that, Cody understands. "I never intended to betray your trust, General. It just– happened," he finishes helplessly. Anika is an incredible person. He doesn't know how not to love her. He's always admired her, and eventually, their friendship became deeper. He can't say when or how, but it happened, and he doesn't regret it.
"She has that effect on people," the Jedi admits with a small smile. "She's gone through a lot, and I don't want to cause her more pain, but that means you must be discrete if you insist on remaining together."
Cody can't say he expected his General to find out, much less for him to agree to cover for them, or at least not turn them in. "We will. I– I appreciate it, sir." It feels like he needs to say something more. "I only want her to be happy."
The smile grows more genuine. "You and me both, Commander."
**w**
Obi-Wan catches up to her before she can get too far, and reluctantly, she slows her pace when she hears him calling her name.
"I didn't intend to upset you further," Obi-Wan says to her. "I was merely surprised. I did not expect you and Cody to…"
Anika glances at him, an ache deep in her chest as she thinks back to the too-obvious disappointment that she sensed earlier. He's disappointed in her. She knew he would be, and that was part of the reason why she was so careful to avoid anything that might make him realize. She wants him to be proud of her – he's the only father that she's ever had. She wants to know that he cares about her, and maybe he does, but he'll always put the Jedi first. That's just who Obi-Wan is, and though she understands it, it still hurts.
It always hurts.
When she was still a slave, she knew that she was everything to her mom. She never doubted that. Shmi did everything for her, even sending her away into the unknown because it was safer than staying. And then she died, and Anika lost the only true parent she's ever had. Obi-Wan means so much to her, but she doesn't know that she means the same thing to him.
She waits for it, the inevitable lecture about the Jedi way, about how she's not being a good Jedi, about how she ought to be better.
It doesn't come.
"You don't need to say it," she says dully. "I know you're disappointed in me."
It's his duty to report them to the Council, and she half expects him to tell her so, as though she could have somehow forgotten.
"A little," Obi-Wan admits.
Well, at least he isn't lying about it. Bitterness comes with that, and she tries to swallow it down before he notices.
"You're upset with me," he notes, and there goes that hope.
Anika sighs. "I–" No use lying. She doesn't want to follow him down that particular path. "Not about this, and not just at you."
"Tell me," he requests.
She thinks that the only reason she goes along with it is because she's still so upset over losing Ahsoka. "The Council doesn't trust me," she blurts out. "First Hardeen, now Ahsoka. I don't know what I did."
Or maybe it's what she didn't do. She's always tried so hard to be one of them. She's always done her best to be a good Jedi, but somehow, it's never enough for them, and she doesn't know why. The Chancellor says it's because they don't appreciate her talents and because they fear her power. Maybe they do, but it's – it's just not fair.
Maybe she ought to go see Palpatine. It's been a while… and yet, when she sees him, she expects that her fear that Barriss is right about the Republic will come tumbling out. And then, she'll have to explain why, and she can't do that. She can't put a target on Palpatine's back, too, and should the traitor learn that the Chancellor knows, that's exactly what will happen.
"I apologize," Obi-Wan offers haltingly. "I know the Hardeen incident was hard on you. I just didn't realize…"
Didn't realize what? That she was still upset? That she has never forgiven him or the Council for it? That she can't trust any of them to be truthful with her?
When he winces, she belatedly realizes that she might have projected those thoughts too loudly. Oh well. She's too exhausted to be embarrassed or regretful.
"I don't intend to tell the Council about you and Cody," he tells her finally. "I can't force you to choose the Jedi way if you don't want to. You're no longer a padawan."
"My mother died in my arms," she says, "and then so did you. That's not something I can just let go of no matter what the Jedi say."
His Force presence flickers with something that might be regret but Anika cannot begin to guess what he might be thinking or feeling. Her own thoughts and feelings are too much of a whirlwind for her to understand Obi-Wan's.
"I made a mistake." The admission is so startling that she turns to stare at Obi-Wan with wide eyes. "Maybe you can never forgive me for it, but it's not because I didn't trust you."
Then why? She wants to ask, but she's too afraid of the answer. She doesn't want to talk about this on top of the aching grief of knowing Ahsoka is gone. She doesn't think she can handle both, not right now.
"I– can we not talk about it right now?" she asks tiredly.
Obi-Wan reaches out, touching her shoulder. It's fleeting, but it still warms her heart, the child in her endlessly yearning for a parent's affection. "Alright," he agrees.
She's relieved to slip away, and even more relieved to go back to Rex and her boys. That's where she belongs. With them. The clones have become her family.
She doesn't talk to Obi-Wan about it again, and she hopes that they can go back to avoiding the topic entirely. She doesn't know how to handle it, nor is she prepared to.
They keep looking for the traitor, though they seem no closer to finding him. Or her. There are so many people who work in the Senate and knowing that it could be anyone is… well, it's terrifying. And then, suddenly, after months of fruitless searching, the answer is hanging right in front of them.
Anika listens with growing horror as Fives tells her and Rex about a plot to destroy the Jedi, a plot that the Chancellor apparently knows about. Her instincts scream in protest no matter how much she knows that he's telling the truth. It breaks something inside of her. How did she never see? She should have sensed something.
When Cody contacts them with a warning that Fox is closing in, the three of them escape in the gunship she arrived in. They take Fives back to Cody, and together, the four of them talk about it.
It's him.
It's Chancellor Palpatine.
He's the traitor.
She doesn't know how to process it, much less accept it, but all the evidence points right to him, especially when Fives goes into more detail about the chips. All the clones have them. He tells them about what happened to Tup, about what his investigations on Kamino revealed. To say that she's shaken would be an understatement.
How did no one realize?
They can't keep this to themselves any longer. They need to inform the Jedi Council. If Palpatine is indeed a traitor, they need to deal with it as quickly as possible.
They contact Obi-Wan first. Once he knows, he can help them decide the next best course of action. He comes to the barracks, meeting them in a conference room. He pauses in the doorway, looking between Anika, Cody, and Rex. Fives is with Kix in the medbay, working on scanning for the chips to gain more proof and to also verify Fives' words. Time is of the essence now.
"What's going on?" Obi-Wan asks. He's nearly frowning. "Why did you call me here?"
Anika nods to Cody, and he flips on the jammer to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on them. That's not a risk they can take.
"You are not about to announce that you're pregnant, are you?" He sounds genuinely horrified.
Anika blushes furiously, gaping at him. "Master!" It's almost a squeak, and she doesn't need to look at either Cody or Rex to know that they're as appalled and freaked out as she is. "We haven't– we haven't even–" She stops there, scrubbing a hand over her face. "No, not– not that." Where does he get his ideas? "No, we– we found out that there's a traitor in the Senate. Feeding the Separatists with intel."
How is she supposed to say this? And why doesn't Obi-Wan look surprised?
"You knew?" Cody asks, surprised when she can't find the words.
Obi-Wan's lips press together. "This is confidential information, but the Council has suspected that the Sith is in the Senate."
Anika feels the blood drain from her face. No. No. It's not possible. It can't be. Palpatine would never –
He's not even Force-sensitive!
And yet, there's the uncomfortable truth that the clones were created to destroy the Jedi. Someone with Palpatine's position and leverage could pull it off. It – none of it makes sense, or maybe it all makes too much sense, and she doesn't know what to do. The galaxy as she knew it is crumbling from under her.
Her master, of course, notes her reaction. "What did you figure out?" The question seems gentler than it ought to be, or than it would be normally.
"We– Fives told us some things," she manages to say, and maybe it's because Rex bumps his shoulder into hers that she's able to keep speaking. "He– he said that the clones– they have chips in their heads. They're meant to destroy the Jedi." Their best friends, Fives had said. She feels sick with horror any time she thinks about Rex and Fives trying to kill her, when she thinks about Cody raising his blaster on her.
"It's–" she pauses, swallowing, her throat dry. "It's Palpatine," she whispers. "We think he's the one who's been feeding the Separatists with information. And if– if there's a Sith–"
Obi-Wan tenses. "How certain are you?" he demands.
"We're positive, sir," Cody replies. "There's no one else it can be. We'd already begun suspecting the Chancellor's inner circle, and with what Fives has told us, we can confirm that is more likely to be the Chancellor than not."
Obi-Wan nods. "Thank you for trusting me with this," he says. "I'll take it to the Council immediately. Anika, stay here with Rex and Cody. Protect Fives at all costs. If you're right, Palpatine might try to kill him." He pauses. "And if the information about the chips is accurate, we need to ensure that the clones cannot be turned against us."
Anika straightens. That she can do. She doesn't want to get involved in handling Palpatine. It's too new and too fresh. The betrayal is too sharp. But she can protect the clones. "I'm on it, Master," she promises.
Obi-Wan gives them one final look and then he's gone.
**w**
Cody isn't fully clear on the details of what happens after. He knows that General Kenobi goes to the Jedi Council and tells them what they've discovered. Before, the Council had been inclined to believe what General Shaak Ti told them about the chips, something that she had been told by the Kaminoans, but with the new information, they realize how serious the situation is. They don't know, for sure, that the Chancellor is a Sith, but they know he's a traitor, and that's enough.
They take it to the Senate, and the outcry is enough that even Palpatine can't talk his way out of it. The Council is given permission to arrest him, and Anika ensures that all transmissions are locked down so that Palpatine can't secretly find a way to activate the chips.
He's arrested and charged with treason against the Republic. If found guilty, he'll be sentenced to death. It throws the Republic into turmoil, and the Jedi most of all. They still don't have proof that he's a Sith, much less the Sith master, and that means the Jedi can't keep an eye on him personally. He's not kept at the Temple, but in the prison overseen by the Coruscant Guard. Two Jedi are stationed there to ensure nothing happens to him or with him, but if he chooses to reveal himself as a Sith and flee, they will not be enough to stop him.
Senator Organa is elected the new Chancellor, and though the Senate is as conflicted as ever about negotiating for peace, Organa is still able to push for diplomacy to take over.
The ceasefire is put into effect almost immediately, and it takes months before a deal is finally reached. The Separatists will be allowed to secede, and the Republic will be split in half. It almost doesn't feel like a victory, and Cody knows that he's not the only one who isn't fully satisfied with the end result.
And yet, maybe Senator Amidala was right when she gave a speech, trying to calm those who are upset by pointing out that at least this way, both sides had their voice heard. Maybe no one is fully content, but it's better than having one victor and one loser – who will never be able to accept that loss. That would only lead to endless war.
This way, she told the galaxy, they can find peace.
It takes an even longer battle headed by Senator Chuchi before the clones are given some rights. They're allowed to leave if they want – though the paperwork involved in doing so is overwhelming enough that most would not choose that path, and indeed, Cody suspects that many clones wouldn't want to leave anyway. This is the only life they have ever known.
The most controversial incident after the end of the war involves… him. Well, he and Anika. They make headlines when Anika leaves the Jedi Order so they can get married. The wedding wasn't supposed to be large, but after Senator Amidala gets involved to arrange it, and word slips out, it becomes a galactic affair.
It feels as though half of the GAR is invited. Senators are there, and Jedi are there, including several Council members. Ahsoka even shows up, and her tearful reunion with Anika is heartwarming for everyone who witnesses it.
Their wedding is one of the happiest days in Cody's life, though he feels so incredibly awkward about kissing Anika in front of everyone. Especially in front of General Kenobi. It doesn't matter that they're getting married and she's his wife now. It still feels… well, it still feels kind of weird.
They watch the sun rise in the morning on the balcony of their suite, just the two of them. Cody doesn't know where they'll go from here, or where life will take them, but he knows that so long as he has Anika and his brothers, he'll be fine.
The war is over, and though he doesn't know what it will mean, they can figure it out together.
One chapter in his life is over, and a new one is beginning.
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