𝘚𝘈𝘓𝘜𝘛𝘌→𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩

great armor.

ALORA NERO'S HEART fluttered momentarily—she had to place her hand over her chest and take a deep breath until it subsided. Since the incident, to no one's surprise, she had developed a great deal of anxiety. It was a strong feeling. It frightened her in ways, due to the fact that anxiety was something she should have been able to shake. Being a Jedi for about ten years of her life, she thought she'd be able to calm her nerves more easily. With the anxiety, it was new to her, she had never experienced it fully. She couldn't understand how horrible it truly could be, until she started physically feeling it. Her hands would shake, and a sickening feeling would fill the pit of her stomach. It was miserable for the girl, to say the least.

"I beg you to reconsider." Master Obi-Wan Kenobi pleaded. He and Anakin Skywalker were standing before her, in a blue-lit hologram. They were shocked to hear of Alora's planned departure from the Jedi Order.

"The Jedi Order is your life—how could you leave it? We are in a war, and you're just abandoning the galaxy?" Anakin questioned, slight anger hinting in his voice. Obi-Wan gave him a side glance, mentally telling him to ease up on the young girl.

Alora Nero felt that blow in her chest once more, and she glanced over to look at Sergeant Hunter, who was watching, but made sure to stay out of view of the two Jedi masters. He watched, as Alora's anxiety, obviously, began to worsen. He gave her an encouraging nod.

"I am not abandoning the galaxy." Alora said, rubbing her palms against her hips. "In fact, I continue to fight for it. But not with the Jedi."

All Anakin Skywalker did was scoff, but Master Kenobi said softly; "We are very sorry about your master, young one.. But you cannot let this overcome you. Search your feelings, you are acting irrational!"

At that, Alora felt a twinge of anger surge within her. "Nobody came to help. Where were you? Y-You abandoned my master, and n-now she is dead!"

Obi-Wan sadly looked down, his eyes closing for a moment. "I'm so sorry."

Alora shook her head, blinking a few times to keep tears from brimming her eyes. "I am not going to reconsider this. I am officially walking away from the Jedi Order and everything it stands for."

"Be careful." Anakin said, pointing his finger at the girl. "I sense the dark side already within you." He didn't mean what he said at all, he was upset, and speaking irrationally.

"Anakin, that is enough." Obi-Wan muttered, before looking back at Alora. "You are capable of making your own decisions. I wish to see you again, miss Nero. Perhaps after the war is over." He wouldn't look her in the eyes, before he leaned down, to shut off the hologram.

The blue light disappeared from Alora's eyes, and now she simply stood in the darkness that now consumed her.

Immediately, Hunter stood. "You okay, Alora?"

She nodded her head, looking up at the tall man. "I am. I feel relieved." She whispered. She herself didn't know if she meant that or not.

Alora noticed, in Hunter eye's, just how exhausted he was.

"I think the boys have fixed up your place to sleep, come on." Hunter nudged her arm, a small smile now daring to appear.

He led her back into the barracks, and Alora gasped. The room was clean! The clones had straightened up the room, and were all standing around with proud looks on their faces. Even Crosshair seemed pleased (though Tech claims the sniper never lifted a finger.)

In the corner of the room, the small area was now covered by what looked like a large curtain. Tech came up to her, smiling. "This is for you to have some privacy, of course." He reached out to tug the curtain back. "It isn't much, but we tried.."

There was a cot in the corner of the room, with a pillow and blanket. Beside of that, were a couple crates, with the Bad Batch's skull symbol on both of them.

"What's all this?" Alora said softly, she couldn't help but smile. She went to sit down on her cot, surprised at just how comfy it was. It could've been due to the fact that for the past few nights, she had been sleeping on the floor..

She reached down to open the first crate. "It's all of your robes and clothing you had brought onto the ship.." Tech said, anxiously watching her. When she looked up at him, she noticed that the red light from his glasses was now flashing.

She noticed next to the crate, were some plastoid plates. Clone armor. She picked up one, it was a chest plate, entirely too small for any of the clones before her. To add to it, there were two plates for arms. Alora looked up, a confused look in her eyes.

"We figured you wouldn't wanna wear the whole armor suit, but now maybe you can look more like us." Hunter said, casually nudging Alora again. "You can fit in better, oddball." He smirked.

Once Alora realized the armor was for her, she smiled. She felt honored to have some of her own. After a moment to admire it, she lifted it off her lap and placed it next to her on the mattress. In the second crate, was her very own case of weapons. "You gotta get handy with a blaster, kid." Echo had said quietly.

"Yeah!" Wrecker exclaimed, laughing heartily. "Maybe you'll get better than Crosshair! That won't take much!" He wrapped his arm around Crosshair's shoulders, pulling him in for a rough side hug.

Crosshair grunted unhappily, shoving the big man away as hard as he could, but all Wrecker did was laugh. "Grow up, Wrecker!" The sniper sneered, angrily straightening out his black sleeves. "There's absolutely no way she could be better than me."

Alora chuckled at the men, shaking her head. "I am not," she then changed her voice to mimmic Tech, "genetically capable of such a thing."

Tech squinted his eyes, though amused. Wrecker began to laugh more. "She's really gonna fit in with us!"

Underneath the blaster, were two lightsabers. She hadn't been carrying them around, but the boys still decided to place it into her weapons crate.

"Are you still going to use that lightsaber of yours?" Wrecker asked, his voice now softer.

She picked both of them up. Looking down at her own, she felt nothing. All it was, was a reminder of the tragedy she ran from. However, holding Lo'ree's, she felt a lot. The force was still flowing through her veins greatly, and Alora could almost feel as if her master was still there in that moment.

"Yes." Alora simply nodded, before igniting both lightsabers. "I just need to learn to fight with two."

The sound of the weapons sent chills up the spines of the five clones. The green and blue light gleamed in all of their eyes. All they could think about was how much they admired this girl.