The Tragic Jedi | Anakin Skywalker

𝓢𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓮 𝟒𝟗

❝𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏.❞ -- 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒓

❈✱❉✤❈✱❉

Astrid stooped low to the ground as her and Anakin dashed behind a row of palm trees dotting the narrow island. They had landed their starfighters on one of the four islands chains branching off from the main island. All of the branching island chains were narrow and mostly composed of pure sand with a few palm trees dotting the beach, so it was hard to be sneaky. 

The main island, though, was completely covered in palm trees, but from what Astrid could see from this distance, it appeared as if the Separatist had torn down most of the palm trees to clear a space for whatever building they were constructing. 

Worry gnawed at Astrid at the proximity of her family to this growing Separatist stronghold. 

"We need to get closer," Anakin murmured as they peered around the crop of palm trees they were hiding behind.

Astrid spotted three skinny battledroids approaching roughly fifty yards away, probably making their rounds around the perimeters of the island chains to check for any invaders or spies. The two Jedi pressed closer against their respective palm trees, and as the battledroids made a loop at the end of the island chain, her and Anakin shuffled around the tree trunks to remain out of the droids' sight. 

"Our starfighters," Astrid realized with growing alarm as the droids began to approach the beach edge where they'd left their ships. 

Anakin's eyes widened, and at that moment, Astrid heard one of the droids exclaim in its whiny, nasally voice, "Hey! A pair of Republic starfighters!" 

Anakin and Astrid sprinted out from behind the palm trees towards the droids, and at the sound of their lightsabers igniting, two of the droids turned towards them, blaster guns raised. Astrid and Anakin slashed the two droids down like they were stalks of wheat. 

But the third droid had already lifted its skinny, metal wrist and was speaking hurriedly into a comlink, "There are Jedi on the island! There are--" 

Anakin sliced its bronze metal head off with a whirl of his lightsaber, cutting the droid off mid sentence. "We'll just have to do a brief fly-over now that the Separatist know we're here," Astrid said in a rush. "We can't stay on the island. The Separatist will trap us on here." 

"No," Anakin swiftly disagreed. "We need to get a closer look. What if they're building a weapon? We wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a building and a weapon if we do a quick fly-over. Not to mention they'll shoot us out of the sky if we fly overhead. Odds are they have some defense guns." 

They had a silent stare down, and Astrid crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes, refusing to budge. Anakin merely narrowed his eyes back at her. With a growl, Astrid looked away, realizing they were wasting time, and she hissed, "Fine! Come on then!" 

They began sprinting down the beach towards the main island. As they neared the main island, they had to slow their pace in order to listen for approaching droids. Oftentimes, they had to quickly fling themselves behind nearby palm trees to avoid being seen by the few droids who managed to sneak up on them unnoticed.