𝗙𝗔𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗦 | anakin skywalker

✰ 79: aftermath

Swift. Simple. Quiet. Storm.

The calm before it. The quiet after it. Lighting. Thunder. Sheets of rain.

It was raining on Coruscant that night, but it was a light mist underneath the city lights, a quiet drizzle of water. Each droplet made an impact on the ground it hit, the surface of the planet pushing back on each one of the sky's tears with the same force it fell with. Akya felt each drop touch the ground as she limped toward the ship, her arm around Rex as he assisted her. The clones kept their helmets on and Akya kept her hood up.

Every drop of water seemed to call to her. It seemed to echo, "Look back," and she wanted to turn her head, hoping to see her husband closely behind. She trusted that he wouldn't leave. She knew he was alive. But she wanted him to be okay.

Even from here, deep in the city, she felt his anguish, his sorrow. He didn't feel sorry for Palpatine, no, he felt sorry for all the things he had done. No matter how much she reminded him of all the influence the Emperor had on him, he continued to blame himself.

The clones took the three injured Jedi back to the ship, patching them up under close supervision from Tech. The four Jedi would have to stay away from fighting for a while due to their injuries, but Akya didn't mind that. She hoped to stay away from fighting forever now that the war was truly over. She hoped she could settle down somewhere nice, perhaps help Master Obi-Wan rebuild the Jedi Order, then take a step back from everything.

"Tech," she said, her voice quiet as he scanned the wounds. He looked at her, waiting for her to tell him what she needed. "The baby." She put her hands on her stomach. "Can you check on the baby?"

He simply nodded and half-smiled, turning around to take another kind of took out of his pack.

Anakin came back only an hour after they left him— his undereyes were dark, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were dirty and ragged. She hadn't realized how much of a mess they were after all of that, tired, stressed, and injured. Tech immediately took out his temporary stitches and coated his wound with bacta, then fused the skin together with a special tool and wrapped it, waiting for it to heal.

He didn't look like he wanted to talk about what he just did, and Akya didn't want to bring it up. Both of them stayed quiet on their opposite sides of the ship as Omega wrapped Anakin's leg and Tech tended to Obi-Wan's head.  Akya's time to think had brought her to a few conclusions: one, that they needed to tell the Senate before they found out on their own, two, they needed to hide Anakin's actions from them, otherwise, they'd never trust the Jedi, and three, they needed to somehow offer a way to rebuild the government and the Jedi Order.  She didn't have a solid plan yet, and she wasn't the kind of person to plan so far ahead.  So she began with step one.

Akya stood up from her seat— her knee was still hurting her after that bang up, but she didn't care about it anymore. She took her bandaged arm and grabbed the walking stick that Echo had left for her by the wall. With it, her limp lessened.

The baby was okay— Tech had happily confirmed so, glad to get a smile out of the Jedi. Akya hadn't been scared— she was quite sure she'd know if something had happened to her child— but just to be safe, she had him check up on her. It was quite amazing, what the machines he had could do. "I modified most of them myself," he'd told her. "Most of them were originally simply vitals scanners. I added a few extra capabilities." He was a good person to have around.

Akya walked over to her husband and stood in front of him for a moment.  Without looking up at her, he moved over a little, leaving space for her to sit.  They sat in silence for a little while, her head on his shoulder. After a few minutes of silence, Anakin was the once to finally speak up.  "Are you okay?" he asked her, still staring at the wall across from them. 

"Yeah," she said.  "The baby is, too."

Anakin let out a breath, looking up.  "Thank the Force," he said. 

"Anakin," Akya said, her voice raising as she picked up her head off his shoulder. "We have to tell the Senate.  Before they find out."

He turned to her. "I know," he said.  "We can call an emergency meeting from his office."  Anakin didn't say Palpatine's name, nor call him 'Emperor' or 'Chancellor.' Just 'him.'  But Akya didn't need clarification.

"Good," she said.

"What do we say?" Anakin asked.

"We tell them the truth," she said.  "Their Emperor is dead.  He was a Sith Lord.  He orchestrated everything."

"Why would they believe us?"

"Because we'll have evidence," she said. "The cameras in his office, right?  He probably planned to wipe them after."

"Will that be enough?"

Akya sighed.  "I hope so."

— ★ ✰ ☆ —

Akya and Anakin changed their tattered clothes into something a little simpler and less Jedi-like, to perhaps extend sympathy from the Senate. They no longer had a leader, and they would have to elect one, choosing from one of the hundreds of planets in what was now called the Galactic Empire.  They left immediately, each carrying a metal walking stick on opposite sides.  Anakin had taken off his mechanical arm for the time being, as it didn't make sense to keep it on when it didn't work, and fixing it would take more time than they had.

They rushed to the Emperor's office, arranging an emergency meeting of the Senate through the Emperor's emergency systems. It was around 0300, too early for any Senator to be awake— but many of them would awake at the signal of an emergency meeting. Anakin and Akya then rushed to the Senate chambers, waiting until nearly all the Senators from the planets in the Empire to arrive before making their appearance. Once the room had filled in, the two Jedi made their appearance, turning on the hologram to project their voices to the entirety of the Senate.

Gasps, chatter, and outrage filled the room at the sight of them.  Most of the Senate knew the face and reputation of Anakin Skywalker, and though they did not know Akya as well, they knew her Master just the same.  But it didn't matter how many battles they'd won in the Clone Wars or how well their training had went.  They were Jedi, they were traitors, and they were supposed to be dead.

a.n.

now that I'm back in my groove I'm starting to schedule my chapters again so hopefully i keep remembering. over Christmas break i might forget again but i only have a few chapters left so who knows we might not even go that long.

i don't know what I'll do when this story is over :( 

(i literally have an obi wan and a Matt Murdock fic lined up)

anyway, i love you, don't forget to vote ♡

molly