AN. Turns out that I literally cannot find a Palpatine or a Darth Sidious in the character thing, so I put OC instead. Just FYI. Also, trigger warning for some torture/abuse. This doesn't show anything, just shows the effects. Be warned.

And now, let the story begin. Enjoy!

Fox woke up to muffled shouts. His room was dark, and his clock told him that he had only been asleep for about five minutes. He sighed and got up. A frantic knocking on the door startled him fully awake. He grabbed his helmet, shoving it on, before opening the door.

"Thorn, status report. What's going on?" Thorn looked nervous.

"You'd better get to the Medbay, sir." Fox was slightly confused. but headed there as quickly as possible. He arrived to a chaotic scene, one that was almost comically silent. He went to the medic, Punch, who was standing next to a bed with a shiny on it.

The shiny, one of the newest soldiers from Kamino, was a nervous but friendly type. His name was River. The Coruscant Guard had collectively adopted him as the baby, each one looking out for him- more than they normally looked out for each other. He was lying on his stomach, groaning. He was only half-conscious, doing his best to hold back tears. A series of angry marks covered his back.

Fox bit back a gasp. He knew that pattern of marks.

"What's wrong with River?" he hissed, already knowing the answer. He was surprised when Punch told him,

"I think he's just sick, sir. It's going around." As he talked aloud, he quickly talked in the clone sign language. It was a mixture of Mandoa and Basic, filled with so many signs that they had made up that not even Palpatine could understand it.

I think we both know what it is. But we have to assume everything is bugged. Fox nodded.

Good thinking. Will he be okay? Fox asked, "Why is River in the Medbay at night, then?" Punch shrugged.

"You know how Thorn gets." He will be, if we can get him out of here. Fox nodded again. "Fair. Explains why he got me up."

As soon as possible tomorrow, we're taking all of the men to the Jedi Temple. We'll be safe there.

Punch winced. "Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to keep him from waking you. I said you needed sleep." Will they take us? Is it safe?

Fox shrugged. "I got a whole five minutes. It's fine, you're not even that blurry." They will. General Skywalker, Koon, Kenobi... brothers have all vouched for them. And their Commanders. We'll be alright. The medic sighed.

"Go back to bed, sir. We'll see you in the morning." he said heavily. Fox got the meaning and left. He headed back to his quarters, and sighed. They were ready, if they ever needed to evacuate secretly, but he hated the plan. He took a video of himself and sent it to the rest of the Coruscant Guard. To anyone else watching, it simply seemed like he was sending them a video. To the clones, however, it was a message. They saw him signing,

Tomorrow. Break of dawn. Move out to Jedi Temple. Say it's for a training exercise.

He sighed again and lay down. He didn't fall asleep until much later, and slept fitfully until dawn. He shoved his helmet on, and made sure that the rest of the Guard was up. They were. Once they were all gathered, he spoke.

"Move out." They dispersed into rows and marched through the building. Punch was next to River, to make sure he wouldn't fall. They were almost all of the way out when Palpatine's smug voice reached Fox's ears.

"Fox! Get back here." Fox dutifully turned, walked to the Chancellor, and saluted.

"Yes, sir?"

Standing on the steps, the artificial sunlight already burning, he felt completely exposed. Palpatine was dressed in a rich red robe, with long, trailing sleeves and a fancy collar. Fox bitterly wondered how many supplies the Guard could have gotten with the money it cost, before turning his attention back to the Chancellor.

Palpatine frowned. "Where are you taking them?" Fox only managed to not sigh because of two years worth of practice.

"I'm sorry, sir. I filed the report weeks ago. I'm taking the troops out for special training. We need to be prepared in every way to defend you, Chancellor, sir." Palpatine seemed to smile minutely before settling his face back to his normal, placid expression. Fox decided to take a gamble. "I have another unit coming in, sir, for your safety, but I made sure you didn't have anything for us to do." He didn't know if that was true or not, but he hoped it was. He was wasting time, standing here, while River was still in pain from the night before. Luckily, his gamble paid off, and the Chancellor turned away.

"Very well. But report to my office as soon as you are done with this 'training' of yours." He swept away, his long sleeves brushing the ground as he strolled, turning to talk to one of his many advisors. Fox winced, knowing what that meant, and saluted, though Palpatine had his back turned.

"Sir, yes, sir." He motioned to his men to keep going, and they made it to the Senate Speeder Parking. He took the official Guard speeder, and watched the other troopers file in. He pulled River to the copilot's seat. "Sit facing them." he muttered. River looked surprised, even with his helmet on, but did as he was told.

"Sir?" he asked, confused. Fox sighed.

"Just trust me. It hurts less. You want to keep pressure off your back." River took off his helmet, confusion written on his face.

"Wait, sir, you mean-" Fox cut him off and nodded as he piloted them toward the Jedi Temple.

"Palpatine went too far. It's going to be alright, vod'ika. I'm sorry." he said quietly. River put his helmet back on as they pulled up to the Temple. Fox led his men up the stairs. River, still weak, leaned heavily on Punch. Mace Windu met them at the top.

"Trooper, what is the meaning of this?" Fox sighed and took off his helmet.

"Look, General, I have an injured man, and the rest of the Guard is in danger too. I need a safe place to treat him, and somewhere the Guard can stay. I have to talk to the Council about Chancellor Palpatine. He needs to be stopped." Mace nodded and stepped aside. He pointed down the hall.

"The Temple Medbay is there, and quarters for your men are directly to the right of it." Fox sighed again, this time in relief.

"Thank you, sir." Mace nodded again.

"The Council is about to have a meeting. You can present your concerns now." Fox looked over.

"One moment, General." He walked over to Punch. "I need you to get River to the Medbay." He turned to Thorn. "Get the rest settled. I'll be back soon." Mace had just finished on his comm when Fox came back.

"I'm ready, sir."

AN. How am I doing so far? It's a little hard to write Fox, mostly because I just haven't seen a lot with him in it. It seems like he is incredibly devoted to the Guard, though, so I definitely tried to incorporate that. I feel like he's too scared for the Guard to rebel, but if he wasn't concerned about protecting his little brothers- for the purpose of this story, Fox is the oldest clone in the army. He's the ori'vod of them all- he would have fought Sidious a long time ago. Let me know if you have any criticisms or ideas, and I just always love reviews. And if you have any ideas for Star Wars: The Clone Wars One Shots and Happy Things, I would love to hear them. As always, PM me if you want to share an idea, or just fangirl over Star Wars.

May the Force be with you.

JediKnight501st