Third-person POV
"Are we really sure they were Jedi?" one of the soldiers trailing at the back of the group panted over to the front.
"A group of people with lightsabers trying to break out the prisoners of our empire detention centre, YEAH they're Jedi alright. Jedi scum." The captain spat back over her shoulder.
Eight soldiers of the empire trudged through the jungle terrain of Kashyyyk. Ducking under low-hanging trees and weaving through the tall spikey grass, in desperate search for the intruders spotted only minutes before. Blasters in hand. Confident facades hiding their more nervous emotions.
"How many did we see? did anyone manage to identify-"
"SHH" the captain leading the hunt stopped dead in her tracks, holding up a hand behind her signalling for the rest of the group to stop. "You hear that?" she whispered as her eyes darted and head snapped in all directions.
Silence. A few seconds passed. Nothing.
"Don't hear any-"
A branch snapped in the distance with a deafening crack.
(I recommend playing the song "Feeling Good" the Michael Bublé version for this next bit)
"Come out come out wherever you are Jedi" One of the men sung tauntingly, raising his blaster, burning with anticipation.
"Shut up!" one of the less brave ones hissed from behind him.
"What?" the bolder soldier stepped out of formation, heading to the front of the group, puffing out his chest with confidence "I've been waiting a long time to finally kill one of these Jedi, I've always wanted to see how many forms of torture they can endure before they finally die!"
He strode forward, holding his arms out and spinning on his heels "Come on Jedi! You scared?!"
Then with a rustle and a wail, he was gone.
Thrown up into the air and the treetops above like all of a sudden gravity had given up on him.
"WHAT THE...." hysteria and panic spread over the rest of the troops.
Everyone shuffled frantically, digging their toes into their shoes and their shoes further into the ground in fear they too would soon be flung into the air. They raised their blasters above them, pointing helplessly at the trees.
Only their rapid heartbeats pounding through their bodies could be heard now as they fell into silence again.
"THERE!"
Then they saw it.
Two purple lightsabers ignited from in the treetops and with one fell swoop, a figure leapt and flipped gracefully onto the ground before them.
"Hello there" she proclaimed, taking note to thank Obi-Wan for that line later.
She wore a sinister smirk on her face with such confidence, twirling two sabers in lazy circles with smooth movements of her wrists.
They were scared of her. As they should have been.
"So, since none of you seem very chatty I'll just hand you two options and all you have to do is pick one. Sound good?"
They were stunned, blasters ready to fire in their hands but too hesitant, too frozen to shoot just yet.
"You give me the code for unlocking the prison cells in the detention centre and I can be on my way...orrrr, we can go into more aggressive negotiations, either way is fine with me" she shrugged.
The captain looked the Jedi over once again, the fear now draining from her body as she straightened her stance. She needed to get herself together she reminded herself.
This was just a foolish girl. At least that's what she thought.
"Enough, KILL HER"
And then, all shots were firing at the clearly outnumbered Jedi.
"Aggressive negotiations it is then" she sighed under her breath. She crossed her sabers into an 'x' protecting her body as she prepared herself to attack. Before the empire even had time to react she was charging towards them, sabers now deflecting every shot with ease and hurtling back in their direction, just missing their heads when they ducked.
She was Ruthless. Relentless. Simply put, she was a badass.
"Oh" the captain breathed, now realising they were in fact very much in danger.
What had been a hunt was now quickly turning into a retreat as they all began to stumble backwards, away from the ferocious lightsaber wielding Jedi who was taking them out one by one.
Her every move was perfectly choregraphed into a dance of death.
Every stroke of her saber hit perfectly like this woman could make no mistake even if she tried. Not a hair was out a place. Not a foot was stepped wrong. She was terrifying. And loved it. She loved the rush.
Nine months with no action other than throwing up every morning can really leave some people hungry for excitement. And she was some people.
In the next few minutes, only three of the eight original soldiers remained.
"So..." she stopped, brushing a speck of dirt off her shoulder with a calm exhale "are you ready to surrender yet?"
The soldiers glanced at each other with frantic eyes. The captain, who was unfortunately still alive, noticed something appear in the corner of her view as she pivoted towards her surrounding troops.
Reinforcements. Dashing towards them, ready to assist in finally taking down this excruciatingly irritating scum.
Now it was the captains turn to smile at the Jedi with an arrogant grin "question is...are you?"
(y/n)'s POV
"Oh not good"
Maybe I could have turned down the arrogance down a few notches.
Ten, twenty soldiers were nearing, angry scowls across their faces and weapons already pointing my way.
I took a deep breath and shifted my sabers back to being poised in defensive position. I was ready to fight, no matter the outcome. Then Destiny flashed through my mind. Damn her annoyingly adorable face.
I could try and stick with my pride, fight off the numbers for as long as possible, but I knew deep down, I had to run. And so, I turned on my heels and dashed in the opposite direction with a huff like my feet were betraying the rest of my instincts.
"AFTER HER" one of the soldiers screeched as the footsteps resumed to chase after me.
My heart was pumping in my throat, one wrong step and I was dead. I kept to that mentality as I ducked under drooping branches and leapt over bubbling puddles of what I hoped was only mud.
So much for this mission being 'quick and breezy' as Obi-Wan had reassured me on the way here.
Just at that thought, the laser blasts intensified on my heels, they were catching up.
I deflected a few of them behind my back but heard them only veer off into the innocent jungle plants, not quite making it to my desired targets.
My eyes had been planted either on the troops behind me or on my footing for my next few steps but I found myself forgetting to look up. And when I finally did, the sight wasn't so welcoming.
The grassy jungle floor continued for about fifty more metres until it opened out to a clearing...and then stopped. Atop the edge of a cliff.
Shit.
My feet were moving so fast and my brain was racing with how I was going to get myself out of this one. Maybe a second attempt at the not so aggressive negotiations?
I managed to find my footing and slow myself down just in time before I went hurtling off the edge, my feet planted into the unstable terrain, I puffed a an exhausted breath and put my hands on my hips.
What now?
A few rocks and clumps of dirt detached from the grass that clung for life onto the edge and tumbled down cliff face as I peered over and surveyed my options.
Sunlight struggled to reach what came directly at the bottom of the fall, maybe I would be met with jagged, razor-sharp rocks or maybe blunt concrete or even just more flat grassland but either way, with no one to assist, it would hurt. A lot. Shatter all my bones maybe. Kill me?
I squinted, trying to look further into any sign that I could get out of this alive as I heard the footsteps surrounding and halting behind me. And then, my sign arrived and my lips curled into a smirk.
Hehe.
"Hands up, Jedi" A commanding voice broke me from my secret, smug smile of relief.
I bowed my head and reluctantly clipped my sabers onto my belt, then raised my hands in the air, interlocking them behind my head. I pivoted round slowly to face the mass troop of soldiers who sneered at me with victorious grins and pointed their weapons straight at my head.
"No where to run now Jedi, now step towards me slowly. I'm going to cuff you so that you don't scratch your claws at us when we torture you" she cackled, as the rest of the troops jeered along with her.
I nodded, sucking at my lips and keeping my eyes on the ground as I took shaky steps towards her. The soldiers grips on their blasters tightened as I neared. I was surrendering.
I stood a foot away from her now, hands held out, ready for her to take. Her eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down.
"Pathetic" she uttered before unclipping the handcuffs from her utility belt "on your knees."
My eyes shot up to hers "what? why?" I mumbled.
"Because I said so, that's why. It will make this more humiliating for you and therefore more fun for us. Now. Kneel."
I closed my eyes and with an intake of breath, lowered to my knees.
A few whistles came from the entertained men who watched with amusement.
I rolled my eyes. I wonder how desperate the empire had to be to recruit idiots like these.
The captain leant over to just meet my eye level, but made sure to position her eyeline so that she could look down her nose at me and assert her authority. She latched the cuffs onto my wrists and continued to snicker down at me. She leant over further to whisper into my ear "so...how does it feel to have finally lost?"
And then I saw it. A thin, silver metal card peeking out of her front pocket reflected into my view and glinted with triumph. Jackpot. It was the security card, the security card with the pin to unlock all cells in the detention centre and free the innocent prisoners. The very reason we were here in the first place.
The smirk crept onto my face along with the newfound confidence as I whispered back "pretty good actually" And with that, I leapt forward and stuffed my face into her pocket, catching the card between my teeth and scrambling to my feet, kneeing the captain in the face for good measure.
Then I dashed back to the cliff edge, hands still cuffed together and security card held between my teeth. I turned round one final time to see all of the troops shocked faces, unsure of what just happened or what they were supposed to do now that their captain was writhing around on the flood, cradling her broken nose.
I sent them a nod "see you around" and a wink.
Then I jumped.
A leap of faith.
Only minutes ago, when looking down into darkness of the drop, where I thought I would have to meet my end, I spotted something. Or someone. Two people in fact, locked in conversation below, waiting in the shadows. They had most likely been discussing who had taken out the most droidekas or who had saved the others skin the most times. They had no idea I was above them at the time.
And so I had begun to form a plan in my mind, distract the troops for as long as possible until eventually an opportunity would present itself and luckily it did just that as I stole it from the captains pocket. Not sure how good an idea the jumping off a cliff part of the plan was but I guess we were about to find out.
"ANAKIN" I screeched as I fell.
The air ripped against my skin, pricking at my nerves like a bunch of minuscule needles stabbing into me all at once. My hair flailed around me, refusing to fall in synchrony with the rest of my body.
"What the?!" I heard Anakin's confused voice and then "OH GOD (Y/N)"
There was only seconds left now until I was going to hit the ground, my muscles tensed and eyes slammed shut as I prepared for impact, I tried to curl my body into some sort of brace position and just prepare myself. UGH this was going to hurt.
But then, I was slowing down. There was a new hold on me, and it wasn't from gravity.
Arms from Anakin's use of the force wrapped round my body and lowered me down gently until its grip finally let go and was replaced with the physical arms of my husband. I pushed my eyes back open cautiously to be greeted with the confused and concerned expression slapped across Anakin's face.
"Oh, hi honey" I beamed nonchalantly, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before hopping out of his arms and holding out my bound wrists.
Obi-Wan sliced the cuffs off whilst still trying to process the previous thirty seconds "I- what- HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR MIND"
"Obi-"
"I don't know if leaping off a cliff is a normal occurrence for you but when we told you to meet us here we did not mean be by jumping to your almost certain death! I mean seriously (y/n)"
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms as he continued to lecture me on all the reasons why throwing yourself off a cliff unannounced is not a good idea. I zoned out for a moment, shifting my gaze to the floor where I spotted the security card that had fallen out of my grasp in the fall.
"hey! are you even listening to me, why-"
With a final sigh I grabbed his wrist, turned his palm upwards and shoved the card into his hand.
"That's why" I proclaimed, secretly proud of myself and the look I had caused on his face when he realised I had just secured the very object we most needed for this mission to succeed.
"Oh. Well done." he praised quietly.
"That's my girl" Anakin walked back over, scanning his eyes over me for any sign of injuries. "You okay though baby? are you hurt?"
"Me? oh yeah I'm fine! that was fun actually, getting back into the action, I missed the rush" and I meant it, I missed going out on missions with them, I had almost forgotten what it was like after not being able to properly fend for myself for so long.
I snapped from gazing into Anakin's eyes when I remembered we were in fact in the middle of a mission and Obi-Wan was standing awkwardly a few feet away.
I turned on my heels, brushing past them and calling over my shoulder "Well? what are you two standing around for? we've got a job to do!"
We arrived home the next evening.
The mission was a success.
We managed to free all thirty innocent prisoners from the empire detention centre on Kashyyyk with only a few more little obstacles on the way. Obstacles being one or two more guards greeted with our lightsabers. The usual.
Anakin unlocked the entrance to our quarters and opened the door for me to step through first.
"After you mi'lady" he grinned as I ducked under his arm.
"Hellooo? We're home!" I called out, kicking off my shoes.
I heard a door open and then Padme came bustling out of the nursery with a crying baby in her arms and an exhausted but smiley look across her face.
"Ah! so glad you're home! someone's been missing you. She's been crying for hours, I've tried changing her, feeding her, playing with her, everything!" she rambled, continuing to rock Destiny against her chest.
The agonising cries grew louder as I hastily ran over "oh padmé I'm so sorry, here, you go home, thank you so much for looking after her"
I was about to take Destiny from her when Anakin suddenly swooped in before me.
"Wait, wait let me" he offered, scooping his daughter into his arms carefully.
Padme and I shared a subtle glance and a smile as Anakin strolled off to open doors of the balcony with a now silent and happy baby in his hold.
"Well that's absolutely adorable" Padme chuckled, nodding over to them.
I followed her gaze to Anakin rocking Destiny, pointing to the far off buildings in attempt to entertain her and I couldn't control the cheesy grin that followed across my face. Yeah. She was right. It was probably the best thing I had ever seen, it beat a Naboo sunset by miles.
"I'll let you and your little family have your time alone" she whispered, placing a hand on my shoulder then leaving soon after
I took a few more seconds to look from inside at my 'little family' before I walked out to join them on the balcony.
It was a colder evening on Coruscant, the crisp air invaded my airways uncomfortably for a second then settled into a refreshing breath. A breeze from the speeders that swept past let my hair sway gently to its pull. I crossed my forearms against the railing and leant out into the night, surveying the activities bustling within.
Neighbouring and far buildings dazzled with lights and life. I wondered how many others were gazing out from their balconies, how many others were as happy as I was in this very moment?
"I can't believe she's two months already" Anakin's voice came from beside me.
I turned to face him as he peered down at Destiny with eyes full of awe. I stepped closer, nestling against him and following his view. When I did, a pair of (y/e/c) eyes were staring right back up at me. Her little hand emerged and tiny fingers grasped at the air in my direction. I let my hand meet hers and straight away she curled her grasp around my index finger, eyes never leaving mine.
I didn't know that Anakin had also been watching me the entire time until I took a second glance and caught his stare, his terrified stare?
Anakin's POV
I was terrified.
Terrified of how I could possibly love someone so much.
Terrified of how this leap of faith in love had turned out better than we could have ever hoped.
Terrified of how my entire world, my entire universe had been compacted down into one human being.
Her.
And now, the little bundle of life that we share, giggling up at her in my arms.
"You okay?" she asked.
I simply nodded, no words could make up a sentence of how much more than okay I was.
The moonlight from above and nightlife reflecting off the nearby buildings lit up her face perfectly, defining her every feature that smiled and cooed down at our baby.
"I can't believe she's ours...like we did that!" she beamed, her blushed cheeks letting her dimples peek through.
"We did that" I chuckled.
"Wait...shhh...look, she's falling asleep" She whispered, then gently took destiny from my arms and headed back inside, hurriedly drawing me along behind her.
This was always her favourite part of the day, getting to tuck the baby to sleep. I laughed quietly at her eagerness as she scurried into the nursery.
By the time I got in, she was already laying the baby down, leaning over to plant a soft kiss on her head. I crept up behind and did the same.
"Night night sweetie" I whispered, taking one last look at our bundle of perfection.
(y/n)'s POV
I took hold of his hand and slowly backed us away, creeping very quietly out of the room and shutting the door even more quietly.
I finally let out a breath and looked up to Anakin who was already watching me.
"And now...Mrs Skywalker, it seems it's just you and me" he smirked.
"It looks that way" I grinned, looping my hands round his neck and moving onto my tip-toes to reach in for a kiss.
Just before our lips met, his hands wrapped around my waist and he threw me over his shoulder. I had to stop myself from bursting into a loud fit of laughter as he held me by the back of my thighs and started carrying me over to our bedroom as I gripped and clawed at his back.
As soon as he had shut the door to our bedroom behind him, I let the laughs spill out.
"I haven't gotten a moment alone with you for awhile sweetheart" I heard him mutter.
He threw me onto the bed and I landed in a fit of giggles until he cut them off with his lips. He flipped me over onto my back, and pinned my wrists either side of my head, hastily interlocking his fingers with mine.
"I've missed you...all of you" he breathed into my ear. His lips trailed down from my lips to my jaw and found my pulse, sucking on it gently.
I sighed with bliss and knit my fingers into his hair. I brought his face back up to mine, his lips were puffy and eyes wild "let's shower"
I had slid out from underneath him before I could see the smile that spread across his face as I ran off into the refresher.
Minutes later I was dipping underneath the searing downpour, I rolled my neck from side to side as the water eased my tense muscles. Anakin stood close in front of me so that he could get his shoulders under the soothing stream, I traced my hands over them, massaging at the knots that had formed over the intense past few days.
He smiled back down at me adoringly. We surveyed each others scars and scratches, memories and traumas that made us who we were and still loved every part of each other for.
His wet hair splayed across his forehead and water droplets dripped from his lips, his eyes that bore into mine held that usual calming blue ocean inside.
Whilst I was caught staring into those eyes, he leant down and placed a drenched kiss on my lips then moved passed me briefly and returned with a bottle of shampoo in his hands.
I was about to take the bottle from him to wash my hair, when he batted my hand away "no, let me, I love your hair, I want to do it" he protested, squeezing a blob of shampoo into his palm.
I laughed and held my hands up in surrender "okay, okay, you've got to let me do yours then" I smiled, raising my eyebrows and taking the bottle from him before he had time to argue.
He nodded approvingly but kept a focused face on my hair as he started to massage his fingers into my scalp. He bent down a little to let me do the same. He didn't know it but one of my favourite things was when he let me run my fingers through his hair, whether it was as we fell asleep or waking up in the morning, it brought us both unimaginable comfort.
Our eyes finally met a few minutes into the hair washing session and we both burst out laughing at each others concentration faces and dedication to the job.
"Okay, rinse" He commanded, stepping back to let me get under the stream. I obliged, closing my eyes and tilting my face up into the water, appreciating the steamy, soothing downpour. When I opened them again, I noticed he was watching me, eyes fixated on my figure.
"You're so stunning"
I reached for his hands and pulled him under the stream so that he could have his turn at rinsing his hair.
"And your so handsome" I reciprocated his affection.
Twenty minutes later, we stood side by side, towels securely wrapped round our bodies, brushing our teeth. I watched him in the wide mirror above our sink with an uncontrollable smile.
His hair was drying now, forming perfect waves and his strong jaw flexed as brushed his teeth. With a final glance, I spat out the toothpaste, turned off the tap then headed over to the wardrobe, throwing on one of Anakin's shirts to sleep in, I found them much more comfortable than my pyjamas these days, and I loved being able to smell him on me all the time.
I slipped into the cold bed, shuffling around, trying to create friction to warm myself but nothing would ever be good enough like Anakin's hold to fall asleep with. So I turned over, watching the the bathroom doorway intently, awaiting for him to walk out any second and come hold me.
And sure enough, seconds later, Anakin appeared. "Come on! you take forever to get ready, I'm cold" I pleaded at him
He rolled his eyes with a chuckle "alright I'm here I'm here"
I lifted up the comforter and he followed suit, crawling onto his side. He stayed as far away as possible and turned over to face away from me, he loved to wind me up and he was so annoyingly good at it.
"Hey! that's not how this works, you're meant to hold me and warm me up"
"Sorry I can't hear you I'm asleep" he responded.
I glared daggers at the back of his frustratingly attractive broad shoulders, then with an idea and a grin, I ripped all the covers away from him, scrunching them up around me instead and turning over, switching off the lights with a flick of my wrist over to the switch and a satisfied smile across my face.
"Oh so we're playing that game are we?" I could hear the amused tone to his voice.
"You started it"
"UGH, come here you" he growled pulling at the covers, brining me over to his side.
As much as I tried, I couldn't conceal my laughter when his arms wrapped around me, squeezing especially hard.
"AH...I can't...breathe" I strained as my arms were pinned to my side. I wriggled in his hold until he eventually loosened it, laughing hysterically as I gasped back the air into my lungs.
"Oh, I'm sorry, was that not what you wanted?"
I huffed "You can't see my face, but I'm frowning at you right now" I grumbled. I was actually smiling. But he didn't need to know that.
"It's okay, I know you like it rough" he continued to laugh under his breath.
My jaw dropped. Bold. "You are just unbelievable Skywalker" I shook my head, turning onto my back.
He eventually calmed down "God I love you" he exhaled.
My face scrunched into a cheesy smile "Well...I love you too" I giggled.
His arm wrapped around my waist again but this time he brought me into him carefully and tenderly. I turned over to nestle my face against his chest, inhaling his scent and caressing his warm skin.
"Goodnight" I whispered.
"Night sweetheart" he whispered back.
And I fell asleep to the soft melody of his heartbeat.
Third-person POV
Little did any of them know, Anakin had left the balcony doors wide open..
Little did they know, someone was inside.
Little did they know, someone was making their way to the nursery.