❝𝑪𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔. 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒊𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕...𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖.❞ – 𝑴𝒂𝒛 𝑲𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒂
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Another day of hard training passed, in which Marilyn pummeled Astrid to the ground with her lightsaber skills while Anakin kept distracting Astrid with his prompting, questioning looks as he silently asked her if she had talked to Master Kenobi yet.
When practice was finally over, Astrid rushed to where Master Kenobi stood beside Master Plo Koon on the edges of the training room. The two Jedi Masters gave Astrid questioning and concerned looks as she skid to a breathless stop before them and gasped out, "Master Kenobi, may I speak with you in private?"
His brow furrowed in confusion, the concern in his eyes deepening, and he nodded and indicated for her to lead the way. Astrid led them over to the corner of the training arena out of anyone's earshot.
"Master Kenobi," she began. "Is there any chance you can persuade the Jedi Council to allow me and a couple of other people-- perhaps you and Anakin-- to rescue Master Secura?"
Master Kenobi sighed tiredly and replied, "Astrid, I already tried yesterday. You saw me. The Jedi Council will not be persuaded. Besides, Master Secura is probably fine--"
"With all due respect, Master Kenobi, we both know Master Secura is in deep trouble," Astrid interrupted.
Obi Wan Kenobi sighed, and his caramel colored eyes lowered to the floor in conflicted contemplation. He rubbed at his jaw with an absentminded hand.
When he didn't respond after a minute, Astrid prompted, "Master Kenobi, help me, please. Don't let your same mistake with your master come to fruition through me. I don't want to lose Master Secura."
His eyes rose from the floor to meet her gaze. His gaze was steady on hers as he finally replied, "Fine. I can see what I can do." He paused before adding, "Let me guess; you and Anakin are going to go to Yavin IV even if the Council doesn't approve."
He stated it like fact rather than a question.
Astrid winced and replied, "If it wasn't for me, Anakin would've already left."
Master Kenobi pursed his lips before nodding as if this was no surprise to him. "Okay. I will see what I can do for you and Anakin." He dipped his head in farewell before he stalked off, his brown Jedi cloak billowing behind him.
Astrid couldn't tell if he was upset or not. She hoped Master Kenobi wouldn't admonish Anakin later. Anakin was already mad at his master. Another lesson from Obi Wan Kenobi would set him off again and probably fuel Anakin's anger against the Jedi Master.
Astrid sighed.
She sensed Anakin's approach from behind her. "How did it go?" he asked as he stopped beside her. "I couldn't tell if he was angry or not."
Astrid turned towards him and replied, "He said he would try to help, but he knows you and I are going to go after her anyways."
Anakin let out an irritated sigh as he looked skyward. "Of course he does."
Astrid only looked to the training arena's entrance through which Obi Wan Kenobi had vanished moments ago.
Suddenly, Marilyn and Ida popped up beside them, and Marilyn chirped, "What are you two doing over here? Why do I feel like you two are always together? It's as if you're conspiring."
Her eyes swiveled towards Astrid and narrowed before she looked to Anakin, her face transforming into a bright, wide smile and sparkling eyes.
"Ida and I were thinking we would go to a nuna-ball game this evening? Want to come?" Marilyn asked excitedly. She glanced at Astrid as if on an afterthought and added, "You can come, too, Astrid."
Astrid put a hand on her hip and asked, "What team are you pulling for?"
Marilyn smirked. "The Day Larks, of course."
Of course.
Astrid's smile grew, and she remarked coolly, "I'm in."
Marilyn gave Astrid a sweet, ridiculing smile as she replied disingenuously, "Oh, wonderful!" She turned to Anakin with a hopeful look, her eyebrows raised as she fluttered her lashes. "How about you, Anakin?"
His ocean blue eyes glittered as his lips pulled into a coquettish grin. He replied smoothly, "I'm in, too." He glanced to Astrid just briefly before returning his gaze back to Marilyn. "What time?"
Astrid resisted the urge to growl in disgust. So, he had turned down her invitation to watch nuna-ball, but he accepts Marilyn's invitation? She was pretty sure Anakin had only talked to Marilyn maybe three times.
Except, Astrid had left before Anakin and Marilyn's fight had ended. Maybe they had talked after the fight and had decided to hang out. The thought didn't sit well with Astrid, which mildly surprised her.
Since when did she care what Anakin did?
And hadn't Marilyn been talking behind Anakin's back to Astrid when they'd first arrived to Coruscant after The Gathering? She was two-faced, after all.
Ida answered with a warm, friendly smile, "Five o' clock?"
Astrid and Anakin nodded in tandem. "See you then," Astrid said, giving them-- including Anakin-- a wave of goodbye before she turned and began walking away.
She didn't want Anakin to see the hurt on her face because then he might realize how much she had begun to value their friendship. And that only made her vulnerable, which she hated.
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At five o' clock, Astrid exchanged her white and beige Jedi clothes for dark, nondescript clothing befitting of Coruscant's Underworld. She decided to keep her lightsaber clipped within the folds of her black cloak as a safety precaution.
When she emerged from her rooms, she found Anakin waiting leaned against the opposite wall from her door, wearing his usual dark colors.
He looked pretty much the same, except he wore the same cloak Astrid now wore-- a hooded, black cloak that fell to his feet.
Astrid startled at the sight of him and demanded, "How did you find my room?"
He smiled as he kicked off the wall and replied casually, "I have my ways." When she didn't answer and instead raised a prompting brow, he sighed and explained, "I used the Force. Your presence is easy to pick out with the Force, so it was relatively simple to find your room."
Astrid rolled her eyes and made to close her door behind her, but suddenly Anakin was beside her and shoving her door open with a hand. Astrid shrunk back against the doorframe as he leaned towards her to peek into her room.
He burst into laughter.
"What?" she demanded at his ear-splitting smile, and she yanked him out of her room as she quickly closed the door.
He turned towards her with a grin and exclaimed, "You have a nuna-ball poster in your room? And you're a Nite Owls fan?"
Astrid crossed her arms defensively and retorted, "Well, yeah. I told you I was a nuna-ball fan."
He threw his head back and laughed. "Why are you going to see the Day Larks with Marilyn then? The Nite Owls and the Day Larks are rivals. Why did you accept?"
Astrid turned away from his curious gaze and began walking down the hall as she replied over her shoulder, "Why not? It's still nuna-ball."
Suddenly, he was beside her, easily keeping pace, and he replied confidently, "Ah, I see now. You don't want to be replaced."
Astrid shot him a look and demanded, "What are you talking about?"
He gave her a knowing smirk as he replied nonchalantly, "You're worried Marilyn will replace you as my friend." He leaned towards her as he told her, "Well, you should know, nobody could ever replace you."
Astrid stumbled a little at his words, and she quickly rightened herself. She composed her face into a neutral expression and replied in what she hoped was a casual and indifferent voice, "I sure hope so."
Anakin only chuckled as if he could see through her facade. They walked down the hallways of the Jedi Temple, and Astrid's feet practically sunk into the expensive, plush, skinny red carpet that ran down the length of all of the temple's hallways.
They neared the entrance and found Marilyn, Ida, and Maddox waiting. Astrid hadn't known Maddox was tagging along, but she supposed it made sense since he was a part of their training group.
"Perfect, we're all here," Ida said with a smile. "Marilyn managed to score us a Senator's starship for us to use."
Astrid quirked a brow and remarked, "Don't we want to be a little bit more discreet since we're traveling to the Underworld? A senator's ship is hardly discreet." She folded her arms over her chest defensively.
Ida glanced to Marilyn uncertainly, and Marilyn scoffed, "We're Jedi, Astrid. We can handle ourselves if we get into trouble."
Maddox shifted on his feet impatiently and added, "Yeah, we'll be fine."
Now, this is what it feels to be Anakin Skywalker: Since being proclaimed the Chosen One since he arrived at nine years old, he has struggled to make friends. Many of his fellow Padawans often stayed away from him because of his status. As a result, he'd spent much of his time in the seven years he'd been at the Jedi Temple, alone in his room, tinkering with machines, or with Obi Wan, his closest friend, practically brother.
And now here he was with a group of friends who actually wanted to spend time with him.
Anakin knew Astrid was loyal, but Marilyn, Ida, and Maddox were only tentative friends with him. If agreeing to their stupid plan to take a Senator's starship to the Underworld made them like him or accept him more, then he had no choice but to agree.
So, Anakin replied evenly, "Yeah, okay. Let's just take the Senator's starship." He noticed Astrid's unhappy look, and he elbowed her playfully as he whispered to her, "It will be fine. You brought your lightsaber, right?"
Astrid nodded and replied smartly, "Of course I did."
Marilyn clapped her hands in glee at Anakin's support and exclaimed, "Alright then, hurry up!"
The group of five slipped out of the Jedi Temple, and Marilyn led them down the temple stairs and towards one of the several landing pads in the open space surrounding the Jedi Temple.
Astrid saw the words, Tantive II, scrawled on the side of the sleek, white and silver starship before they all hurried into the open bay door.
As they found their way to the front of the ship, Marilyn called over her shoulder coyly, "Anakin, I heard you are the greatest star pilot in the galaxy. Is that true?"
Astrid could feel Anakin's answering grin from beside her before he replied, "You would be correct." Astrid rolled her eyes, and Anakin added, "When I was nine, I blew up a Trade Federation battleship with my small starfighter."
At this Astrid whipped her head towards Anakin in surprise. The Trade Federation had been discovered to be a part of the Separatist group when they attacked the planet Naboo. He must've blown up their ship during that battle.
She couldn't help but wonder how he had come to be there at that battle.
Marilyn gave him a slash of a smile and indicated to the pilot's seat as she suggested, "Why don't you show us some of your moves?"
Astrid watched as Anakin moved towards the front of the starship and settled in the pilot's seat, practically radiating glee and excitement through the Force. Before Marilyn could claim it, Astrid quickly sat down in the co-pilot's seat.
Marilyn gave her a dirty look before she moved to the four seats just behind the pilot and co-pilot seats where Ida and Maddox already sat.
A moment later, the starship began to rise into the air, and Astrid's stomach gave a small lurch. Their ship rose to greater heights before Anakin guided them into the starship and airspeeder filled skylanes that wove between the towering skyscrapers.
Instead of shifting their starship into auto-navigation mode to allow the starship to travel through the preprogrammed routes in the skylanes (as the surrounding starships had already done), Anakin kept the Tantive II on manual control.
Their starship zoomed passed the other starships and airspeeders as Anakin increased their speed. Astrid's hands curled tightly around the seat's armrests at her sides until her knuckles turned bone white.
She didn't like this at all. There were too many starships around them to be going this fast; Coruscant was crowded and hectic enough as it was. And since Anakin had left the ship on manual mode, the chances of crashing were doubled.
"Maybe slow down?" she suggested as Anakin zipped between starships.
"Nah, we're good," he replied, completely at ease. "Besides, the Force is guiding me."
He cut left into another skylane, just barely swooping over a nearby starship, and the massive hole leading into the depths of the Underworld appeared into view before them. Anakin stirred their ship towards it and began to lower into the massive portal hole.
Only then did he switch their ship into auto navigation mode, and he relaxed into his seat with a blanketed sigh. The glowing lights from the skyscrapers above began to fade as they descended lower into the dark pit.
When Astrid leaned forward in her seat to peer down at the pit, she couldn't see the bottom. The gleaming steel walls of the pit turned to grimy grey metal, and along the edges of the pit at each level were scattered landing pads lit by artificial light.
"What level?" Anakin asked without looking back at the trio seated behind him.
"Four thousand and sixteen," Marilyn replied easily.
Woah, they were going one thousand, two hundred, and one levels below the surface. Astrid had never been so deep in the Underworld.
As they descended lower and lower, their group became quieter and quieter. Bright, white artificial light shown on the landing pads, and from each landing pad was an alleyway that led into the maze of alleyways snaking through metal dingy buildings that composed each level.
Gloom enveloped their starship and eventually, Anakin had to turn on some of the lights placed around the outside of the starship so they could be spotted by other aircraft.
Was it Astrid or was she sensing regret from Anakin through the Force?
They finally reached the four thousandth and sixteenth level, and the Tantive II docking machinery magnetized to the landing pad. As Astrid peeked out at the shady alleyway, she felt a sickening premonition that something bad was going to happen.
Once the bay door hissed open and the ramp lowered to the ground, the five of them filed out of the starship. Astrid glanced back at the sleek metal ship. It was so obviously expensive, and it wasn't even theirs. It was a senator's starship.
"I don't feel comfortable leaving this starship here," Astrid spoke out as Marilyn turned to headed towards the alleyway connecting them to the rest of the seedy, dark level.
Marilyn cast her an unamused look, her eyes moving up and down Astrid as she surveyed her. "Then maybe you should stay behind with it," Marilyn remarked coolly.
Astrid blew out an exasperated breath and waved with a hand at their surroundings as she countered, "Marilyn you can't be blind. These lower levels are riddled with crime. A starship like this is simply asking to be stolen."
Marilyn pouted and said, "Don't be a buzzkill, Astrid. We're here to have fun."
Anakin shifted uneasily on his feet from where he stood between Astrid and Marilyn. "Who's ship is this exactly, Marilyn?" he asked, his faltering voice revealing his discomfort.
Marilyn crossed her arms, and her mouth pulling into a pout. "Does it matter?" When nobody replied, she sighed heavily and answered, "It's Senator Bail Organa's starship."
Immediately, Astrid understood. Senator Organa was the senator of Alderaan, the allying planet to Naboo, where Marilyn came from. Marilyn must've pulled some major strings to get Senator Organa's starship.
But Marilyn was a Padawan, a member of the Jedi Order. She shouldn't harbor any more connections to her old planet. Coruscant and the Jedi Order were her home now. So how did she manage to get the Senator's prized starship?
Anakin sighed, and he sounded regretful as he replied, "We can't just leave it here unattended. I'll stay behind to watch it."
"No!" Marilyn and Ida exclaimed at the same time. Ida protested, "This is a group activity. We can't leave someone behind."
Astrid didn't bother pointing out that Ida hadn't seemed to have a problem when Marilyn suggested Astrid stay behind with the starship.
Astrid spoke out, "I'll stay with Anakin. You three can go to your nuna-ball game." Her mouth involuntarily pulled into a grin as she replied with barely reined in laughter, "I'm not much of a fan of the Day Larks. I much prefer the Nite Owls."
Marilyn let out a growl of disgust and spat, "Fine."
She gave Astrid a withering look before she began stalking into the gloomy alleyway. Maddox followed without another glance. Ida, meanwhile, gave them one last worried look before she hurried after Maddox and Marilyn.
"I hope they have their lightsabers," Astrid muttered as she stared after them with her arms crossed.
Anakin only harrumphed before he turned and headed into the starship. Astrid followed after him, suddenly feeling guilty as if she had somehow forced him to stay behind.
Anakin plopped down in the pilot's seat and pressed a button. The ramp began to roll upwards. Astrid lingered in the doorway of the open bay door, and she swallowed before saying quietly, "I'm sorry if I ruined your night of fun."
Anakin's azure eyes flicked up at the sound of her voice, and he frowned. "Don't be sorry. I've found I'm not a fan of the Day Larks either." A smile tugged at his lips as he continued, "The Nite Owls are definitely cooler."
Astrid quirked an amused brow. "Cooler?"
Anakin gave her a wiry grin. "Yeah." He crossed his arms as he told her, "I'll have to bring you to Tatooine one day so you can watch real podracing. Coruscant doesn't do the sport justice. Once you see the real thing, you'll find podracing is far more interesting than nuna-ball."
Astrid huffed a laugh and leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed, mimicking his body language. "Sure," she drawled.
Suddenly, her neck began to prickle in warning, the hairs on the back of her arms beginning to stand on end. Astrid whirled around towards the open doorway at the same time she whipped out her lightsaber and ignited it in front of her--
Just in time to block the red blaster fire that had been aimed directly at her chest.
"Anakin, close the doors!" Astrid shouted in a panic as she slashed down another blaster fire with her lightsaber.
As the doors began to hiss close painstakingly slow, Astrid caught sight of two figures hovering in the deep shadows in the alleyway nearby. Suddenly, they began sprinting forward onto the landing platform, blasters raised, and Astrid knew intuitively that they were going to try to blast the starship's engines so they couldn't take off.
"Anakin, come back for me!" Astrid shouted before she squeezed through the closing bay door and leapt the ten feet down to the landing platform.
She landed in a roll before shoving to her feet, automatically raising her lightsaber before her to protect against the blaster fire she'd sensed coming at her with the Force. The two figures both wore black masks around their mouths, so she couldn't distinguish their features properly.
One of them pulled out a dagger and slashed at Astrid, but Astrid managed to stumble backwards to escape the dagger's sharp tip. She suddenly dropped to her feet and swept a leg across her attacker's ankles.
The attacker lost his balance and fell to the ground. While he was on the ground, Astrid shot to her feet and spotted the second figure at the edge of the platform, blaster raised towards the fleeing starship above.
Astrid sprinted towards the second attacker and wrapped her arms around their waist as she tackled them to the ground. They both fell hard to the ground, and the attacker lost their grip on their blaster, the weapon skidding over the metal landing platform before coming to a rest at the very edge just before the drop into the dark abyss.
The attacker twisted onto their back beneath Astrid and managed to pull their knees up to their chest as they kicked Astrid in the stomach to shove her off of them. Astrid grabbed their cloth mask and yanked as she flew backwards a few feet away from the power of the attacker's kick, revealing the face of an older woman.
Astrid gasped for breath as she regarded the woman with wide eyes. Astrid's fingers curled around the woman's clothed mask in her fist.
Suddenly, someone grabbed Astrid's ponytail, and Astrid let out a cry of pain as they yanked her down to her feet. Her scalp burned in pain and involuntary tears pricked at Astrid's eyes.
Then, a man's gravely voice said near her ear, "We have a Padawan by the looks of it. She either doesn't know how to use a lightsaber, or she's too afraid to kill with it."
He grabbed her wrists roughly and pulled her hands behind her back. Pain shot up Astrid's shoulder at the sharp movement. Before Astrid knew it, the man snatched her lightsaber from her grip.
From a few feet away, the woman staggered to her feet and stalked towards Astrid and the man. The woman wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand as she spat, "Well, get on with it. Kill the girl. She's useless to us now without the starship."
Astrid's mouth thinned and before the woman could see the action in her eyes, Astrid brought her elbow back and buried it in the man's stomach. The man let out an oomph at the impact and automatically let go of Astrid's wrists.
At the same time, Astrid twisted around just enough to bring her foot back and kick him right underneath his jaw.
The man's head whipped back, and he crumbled to the ground as his eyes rolled back in his head. Her lightsaber clattering from the man's relaxed hand. Astrid reached out a hand and used the Force to reach her lightsaber.
The weapon flew into her outstretched hand, and Astrid whipped around just in time to block the woman's blaster fire with her lightsaber. The woman must've gone back for her blaster in the time it took Astrid to disable the man.
Astrid swung her lightsaber in a blur of blue and sliced the blaster gun clear in half, effectively destroying the weapon. The women's eyes widened in alarm, and she lunged towards the man, most likely to grab his knife. Except, Astrid stepped into her path and grabbed the woman's wrists, pulling them behind her back.
The woman let out a cry of pain as she stopped moving towards the man. One more move and Astrid could-- and would-- break the woman's arm. She had the woman trapped.
"What did you want from the starship?" Astrid demanded, yanking the woman's arm back more, forcing the woman to fall to her knees on the ground.
Her attacker let out another howl of pain before she seethed, "Money. We only wanted money. What did you expect to happen bringing that starship down here?"
Suddenly, there was a roar of an engine, and the stray hairs that had escaped Astrid's ponytail began to whip around her face. Astrid looked up to see the Tantive II begin to lower back onto the landing platform and magnetize onto the metal.
A moment later, the bay doors opened, and Anakin didn't even wait for the ramp to lower before he leapt to the ground with cat-like agility. He landed in a crouch before stalking towards where Astrid stood over the women on the ground.
Astrid turned to the woman and demanded, "Are there any others?"
The woman turned her head to the side so one of her cheeks was flat to the ground as she gazed up at Astrid out of the corner of her eye. She cackled, a wild, desperate gleam in her eyes, "Of course there are, Padawan. Welcome to the Underworld."
Astrid heard Anakin shout, "No! Stop!" and Astrid turned in time to see the man lunging towards her, knife in hand.
Astrid didn't have time to get out of the way before the man sunk the knife into Astrid's stomach.
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