(The people in the photo above are just hugging. Also just pretend they are on Coruscant.)
"Ashton," she breathed. Although he was at the top of the stairs and she was only at the entrance of the temple, she knew it was him. She could sense it, yet it felt like a dream. She was frozen from shock. She felt like her feet were stuck in quicksand, unable to move. She blinked a couple of times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Ashton was still there.
She ran towards him. She ran as fast as she could with her arm not being able to swing at her side. Her hair blowing behind her. He was growing bigger and bigger as they ran towards each other.
Tears started travelling down her cheeks with a smile that stretched from ear-to-ear as they grew closer and closer together. 'Man the stairs are far from the entrance!' she thought.
Once they reached each other they immediately grasped each other into the tightest hug. She was still about a head shorter than him, he was always tall.
She wrapped her able arm around his torso as tight as she could, not wanting to lose him again. One of his big, strong, arms wrapped around her back and the other holding her head to his chest, her head tucked under the crook of his neck, never wanting to let his little sister go again.
They hadn't seen each other in around 10 years but to both of them, it felt like forever.
"I-I thought you were gone," she whispered. He continued to rub her back, "I'm right here, Saash," he whispered, using the nickname he used since they were little.
Saasha wasn't an overly emotional person, but she couldn't help it, she was a mess. The tears of joy just kept coming. The side of her face was pressed against his chest, she could hear his heartbeat. This wasn't a dream.
A couple of minutes later they finally pulled apart from each other, Saasha wiping the tears from her face but the smile remained. Anakin had come up to the two to greet the new visitor.
"H-how did you find me?" she asked.
"Your Jedi friend here found me. I had tried to contact you and Ma after I heard what happened on Scarif almost every day, hoping I would finally hear something, but I didn't get any response for years. I assumed the worst." Ashton explained.
"The council has decided to give you the day off to let you spend time with Ashton, given you haven't seen each other in almost 10 years. Just be careful, your arm is still healing," Anakin said, smiling at the mile-long grin on her face.
Saasha wrapped her able arm around Anakin now, "Thank you," she whispered.
"You're welcome Squirt," he said returning the gesture. She pulled away, still expecting to wake as if this was a dream, too good to be true.
She had all her brothers back, her big, overprotective brothers. Ashton, Anakin, and the clones. Anakin and the clones weren't her brothers by blood, but it didn't matter. They felt like her brothers just as much as Ashton did.
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"This failure is most unfortunate. I should have known she would be harder to get rid of than this," Palpatine growled through the transmission.
"Would you like me to try a different bounty hunter, perhaps one more skilled?" Dooku asked.
"No. The chances of them succeeding are low. Send your Assassin out. Have her complete the job. There is no room for failure this time, it must be done properly. They will know it is us behind this if she messes this up."
"Very well. We will get on it right away. She will not fail." Dooku replied.
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This was probably my favourite chapter to write. I am such a sucker for brother/sister fluff!
Technology has evolved beautifully.
(Meme does not belong to me.)