Explosions: anakin skywalker

chapter 21

three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. ...

WARNING: I'm not sure how this chapter is going to go quite yet, but it could get ~steamy~ so just watch out homies okay cool.

She is packing her things. It is the best she has felt in weeks. Elara can already feel the freedom running through her veins again.

Padmé will be safe. Elara feels she is not letting anyone down. She will stay under the radar for a while, off the grid so if they ever wanted to retrieve her...if Anakin wanted to find her again, it would be impossible.

And then, someday, she would emerge in her former glory, serving whatever master she pleased for the prize of riches and fame and respect. She would be so far gone that she would be untouchable.

And she would not blink or hesitate to face the Jedi Order if they ever came to find her again. She would stand tall and refuse being taken into custody.

Minor hesitation trickles into her brain briefly, but she shakes it off as Elara continues to pack the small amount of things she calls her own: her saber, her wristlets and other protective accessories, her gun, and her favorite dress from back on the last planet she was on.

It is the red one, maroon and glittering, the one she wore on her first night within that palace that doubled as a prison. She pauses a moment before stuffing it into her bag, not even sure why she would need it.

Memories, she guesses. Of what could of been. Of a life that didn't fit her, but some small part of her desperately wished it could.

She freezes when she hears a knock on her bedroom door, preceded by a whisper. She knows who it is before she even goes to answer it, and questions if she should open the door at all.

He could stop Elara's plan. One look at him could stop her, and she knows it. My god, when did she get so weak?

Elara realizes how long it has been when she hears another rap on the door. He's not giving up.

Clenching her fists at her sides, she musters her strength and throws open the door.

Anakin opens his mouth to speak, but she cuts him off immediately, "I'm leaving."

"What?" he replies after a moment, dumbfounded.

"You don't need me anymore," Elara says as she turns her back on him, going back to her bed to finish her packing, "You and Obi Wan. I found your man and I'm not even allowed to apprehend him. I cannot live in a world where I just...wait."

"Wait?" even with a restless heart, he does not quite understand, "What do you mean, wait?"

There is hurt in her blue eyes when she looks to him again, as if all she wants is for him to understand and to talk her out of it, even though every other part of her screams to run.

"God, for everything. Every bit of this life is a waiting game. Wait to find the bad guy, wait to save the princess, wait for another mission, wait for you. I'm tired of it. I left a life where I never had to wait for anything for this, thinking there's no other choice. But I'm not trapped here, am I?"

"I thought there would be something to stop you from feeling this way," Anakin responds, crossing the threshold into her room.