THE ship shook from shots outside of it. Anakin lifted Obi-Wan around his shoulders. Elia watching carefully to make sure he didn't need help carrying him.
"We must get off this ship before it's too late." Palpatine told the two Jedi, rushing to the exit. Elia ignored him.
"He seems alright, just unconscious." Elia said to Anakin who nodded.
"Leave him, or we'll never make it." The Chancellor warned them, speaking in a rush.
"His fate will be the same as ours." Anakin spoke evenly to Palpatine, who seemed frustrated at this. They went to the elevator to discover that it wasn't working. "R2, activate elevator 3224." Suddenly, the ship was hit. Sending Elia sliding down the floor, Palpatine had a steady hold on a rail and grasped her arm to keep her from going anywhere.
Anakin pulled them into the elevator shaft, running down the side of the wall that was evened out as the ship turned over slowly. Palpatine followed him with Elia close behind.
"Anakin..." Elia called out, pointing out that the ship was beginning to level and they were beginning to slide down the wall. Anakin grabbed a loose wire from the wall and Elia reached for a small pocket in the wall. Palpatine hung from Anakin's leg with Obi-Wan still on his back. The Kenobi blinked lazily and then gasped, moving to cling further onto Anakin.
"Easy. We're in a bit of a situation." Anakin told his master, his voice strained.
"Did I miss something?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Just hold on." Anakin talked over Obi-Wan.
"What is that?" Obi-Wan looked up at the sound of the elevator making its way down.
"Uh, oops. R2. R2, shut down the elevator." Anakin tried, but Obi-Wan shook his head.
"Too late. Jump!" He instructed. Elia let go, as did Anakin. They free fell until Elia and Anakin took out their grappling hooks to pull themselves onto a floor. "Let's see if we can find something in the hangar bay that's still flyable." Obi-Wan told them.
"R2, get down here. R2, do you copy?" Anakin tried to get ahold of the small droid. They continued down the hall until they were trapped in a shield.
"Ray shields?" Elia questioned, frowning. She touched her finger to it and it reflected it away.
"Wait a minute. How did this happen? We're smarter than this." Obi-Wan asked aloud, his tone clearly exasperated. Elia shot him a look as if to say are we actually though?
"Apparently not." Anakin scoffed. "I say patience." He added, standing with his hands on his hips.
"Patience?" Elia and Obi-Wan asked together in unison.
"Yes. R2 will be along in a few moments, and then he'll release the ray shields." Anakin told them calmly. As if on cue, R2 came speeding into the hall squealing loudly. "See? No problem."
"No, I see a problem." Elia argued, gesturing to the squad of droids taking R2 hostage. She turned to Anakin. "Got a plan- B?" The Skywalker sent her a glare.
The droid army hand cuffed the Jedi and the Chancellor, taking them to the flight deck. This is where they met General Grievous.
"Ah, yes. The negotiator." Grievous greeted them upon their entrance. "General Kenobi, we've been waiting for you. That wasn't much of a rescue." General Grievous said to them, a droid handing him their lightsabers. He coughed thickly before starting again. "Anakin Skywalker. I was expecting someone with your reputation to be a little... older." The General stalked up to Anakin.
"General General Grievous, you're shorter than i expected." Anakin smirked, standing tall.
"Jedi Scum." Grievous wheezed, turning to Elia. "Elia... Stormborn, is it?" The human like cyborg narrowed his eyes at the woman. "From what I hear, you'd make a good addition to our side." He looked down at Elia, whose stony expression lit up.
"If I had a credit for every time someone said that to me, I'd be rich." Elia laughed in his face, to which Grievous recoiled away from her with yet another cough.
"We have a job to do, try not to upset him." Obi-Wan warned the two Jedi Knights.
Get R2 to cause a scene, then we can get our sabers back and get the hell off this ship. Elia locked eyes with Anakin who nodded subtly, turning to his Master.
"You lightsabers will make a fine addition to my collection." General Grievous pulled his cloak back, revealing extra arms and several other lightsabers.
"Not this time. And this time, you won't escape." Obi-Wan told the General.
"R2!" Anakin called out to the droid, who suddenly looked as though he was malfunctioning. Every slot opening up, every electrical arm sticking out.
Elia and Obi-Wan then turned their back to face Grievous, using the force to gain their sabers back. Elia turned to cut Anakin's and then he too gained his saber back.
"No! Make them Suffer!" Grievous demanded his droids, striding away coughing.
Elia found herself surrounded by droids, deflecting all their shots and cutting them to pieces in the process. She glanced over her shoulder and watched as Anakin was saving the Chancellor and Obi-Wan only fighting a singular droid.
"Don't worry guys, I got it." Elia shouted gruffly, trying to gain the attention of her companions. As she was taking on the most of the enemies. The Stormborn girl sighed deeply before using the Force, pushing her arms in an outward motion. The droids went flying backwards into walls and such.
"Looks like you got it." Anakin pointed out sarcastically, Elia shot him a glare. Obi-Wan was now fighting Grievous, Anakin and Elia vaulted over the control panel, blocking the General from leaving. Just as they were about to attack, the General spoke.
"You lose, General Kenobi." Grievous shot a loose pole through the window, shattering it. The gravity of space instantly spilling into the ship. All three Jedi grappled for something to hold on to. Elia pulled herself over the control panel and hit the emergency air lock button. The shattered window was then replaced by metal walls, everyone fell to the ground.
"You're welcome. Now let's get the hell off this ship before one more thing goes wrong." Elia spoke in irritation, tossing a loose strand of hair over her shoulder. The control panel beeped obnoxiously.
"All the escape pods have been launched." Obi-Wan announced to Elia and Anakin.
"What else could go wrong now?" Elia asked in exasperation.
"Can either of you fly a cruiser like this?" Obi-Wan looked between the two Jedi Knights.
"You mean can we land what's left of this thing?" Anakin scoffed, and moved to one of the piloting seats, Elia joining him in the one next to him.
"I can fly anything. Can you?" Elia teased her husband, mock hurt crossed his face.
"Well, under the circumstances, i'd say the ability to pilot this thing is irrelevant." Anakin said aloud, changing the flight mode to manual. Obi-Wan and the Chancellor looked at Elia as she strapped herself in.
"He means that we're going to crash land this thing in probably the most reckless way possible. I suggest strapping in." Elia told the two men. "Open all hatches and extend the drag fins." Elia told Anakin, who nodded simply while chewing on his bottom lip in concentration.
They began to pickup speed as they fell into the atmosphere. The cruiser broke in half. R2 made a noise that sounded a lot like uh-oh.
"I think we lost something." Anakin turned to Elia and then to Obi-Wan.
"Not to worry. We're still flying half a ship." The Jedi Master remarked lightly.
"We're entering the atmosphere. It's about to get hot. Grab that to keep us level." Elia gestured to the lever in front of Obi-Wan.
Pieces of the ship began to peal away from the burning ship, drops of sweat rolling down Elia's forehead as she tried to keep the star cruiser from falling into a dangerous crash.
"Almost there. Fire ships on the left and right." Elia pointed out, eyes scanning all around the area. The fire ships sprayed fire on the parts of the ship that were on fire.
"Landing strip, straight ahead." Obi-Wan pointed out. Elia's jaw was clenched hard as she was pulling down on her control wheel, trying to slow the cruiser down.
"We're coming in too hot." Anakin replied to his Master. The ship touched the landing strip, skidding to an incredibly slow halt. Knocking over towers and crashing into anything in its way. Together, Anakin and Elia were able to finally stop the ship from going any farther.
"Another happy landing." Obi-Wan pushed his hair out his eyes with relieved smile.
"Right..." Elia sighed, letting her head fall back onto the seat. Anakin chuckled.
"Who's ready to get off this piece of junk?" Anakin asked breathily, standing. He held his hand out to Elia, pulling her out of her seat.
The Chancellor, R2, and the trio of Jedi were safely transported back to the Jedi temple, where the council and fellow politicians awaited their arrival. The ship landed and the Chancellor was off first, followed by Anakin.
"Are you two just going to stand there?" Anakin turned to see Elia and Obi-Wan leaning in the doorway of the ship.
"Oh, no. Im not brave enough for politics. I have to report to the council." Obi-Wan replied simply.
"And you? What's your excuse?" Anakin asked Elia teasingly.
"If it were up to me I would already be in my bed asleep." Elia rubbed her eyes.
"Well, someone has to be the poster child for this operation." The Kenobi man sighed, looking from Anakin to Elia.
"Hold on. This whole operation was your idea." Anakin frowned at his Master.
"Let us not forget that you two saved me from those buzz droids. And killed Count Dooku, and you rescued the Chancellor, and crash landed a ship very gracefully." Obi-Wan reminded the duo, Elia smiled softly.
"All because of your training." Anakin replied to Obi-Wan.
"You're welcome." Elia shrugged, brushing it off.
"Today you were both the hero. Have your glorious day with the politicians." Obi-Wan was smiling mischievously, knowing that both Anakin and Elia did not want to be bombarded with questions by the politicians.
"Alright, fine." Elia sighed. "But you owe us one." She told the Jedi Master, following Anakin to the stairs of the transport.
"And not for saving your skin for the 10th time." Anakin added, holding his hand out for Elia to step down onto the ground. She took his gloved hand and stiffly went down.
"Ninth time. That business on Cato Neimoidia doesn't-doesn't count." Obi-Wan shook his hand at Anakin.
"Again, you're welcome." Elia smirked up at the older man, who shot her a glare.
"See you at the debriefing." Obi-Wan dismissed the Jedi Knights, as the transport ship stairs retracted and began to lift away.
"You made it back in one piece I see." Master Windu greeted his Padawan. Anakin got swarmed by the politicians.
"It's good to see you, Master." Elia smiled, bowing her head to him.
"I hear you and Skywalker were quite a team on this mission. Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea after all to pair you up with him." Mace said to Elia, walking behind the group of politicians. Her eyes fell to the back of Anakin's head just ahead of her.
"Skywalker and I just work well together, I suppose. He's the only person who seems like they can keep up with me." Elia told the man, speaking slowly, choosing her words carefully.
"I'm sure that comes with being able to know what the other is thinking." Master Windu remarked. "I will see you at the debriefing..." He paused. "Maybe you should think about taking a shower before attending." The man joked stiffly, Elia's jaw dropped.
"Was that a joke? Are you joking?" Elia laughed as Mace attempted to keep a straight face, walking away from her. "I didn't know you could joke. Let alone smile." Elia laughed loudly at her Master as he quickly strode away.
She looked around the massive room, looking for Anakin. Everyone had cleared out of the area, or so she thought. A gloved hand pulled her to the side of one of the large columns. Elia gasped in shock, on the verge of shouting until Anakin spun her around to face him.
"I've been waiting for this for months." Anakin pulled her in by the waist, lips brushing against hers.
"Ani, we can't do this here." Elia smirked into the kiss, her body leaning against the column for support. Anakin always had this way of making her melt at his touch.
"I don't care if they find out we're married." Anakin told her, kissing her again. The blonde girl pulled away.
"Don't say that. You know what will happen if they find out." Elia reminded him, taking his face in her hands.
"I want a life with you. I want kids. I want to love you everyday without keeping it a secret." Anakin confessed, but not for the first time. Elia bit her lip to hold back a smile.
"And one day, when this is all over, we can do all of that." Elia looked up at him, her blue eyes soft and genuine. "But for now, you're going to have to keep sneaking into my room at night and finding ways to secretly kiss me when no one is around." She smiled at her husband as she balanced on her tiptoes to place a soft kiss on his lips.
"I suppose i can do that." Anakin whispered into the kiss, snaking his arms tighter around her waist. Elia broke away after a second.
"I need to clean up before the debriefing. You know where to find me." Elia smirked, pulling her body away from him, already missing his body heat. Anakin watched as his wife jogged away, heading to get cleaned up himself.
—graci's notes
HOLY SHIT
i finally updated
i am so sorry for the wait, but ill be more active now that school is almost done for the year!!!! yayayaya