A continuation of Morality, this takes place one year after the fall of the republic. You left the Jedi order a few months beforehand so you never directly witnessed any of the events of order 66, and you really have no idea what happened to any of your former companions, including Plo Koon, Anakin Skywalker, and your captain, Rex.
As you roamed the streets of Naboo, you wondered how it would change now that the empire took over. Since you left the Jedi order a few months before everything changed, you moved to Naboo with a few funds provided by the Jedi.
You were able to purchase a small apartment in the city and you were leading a quiet life, working at a cafe and studying in your downtime. You had left the Jedi order, but you did not renounce all of its values and teachings. You still felt like a lot of the teachings of the light side were valuable to you, and you wanted to keep in touch with the force even if you weren't a Jedi anymore.
You felt that the order had grown too reliant on politics and rules. That is part of the reason why you decided to leave. The masters on the council didn't much argue with you when you told them you wanted to leave the order, and you took this as an invitation to go.
After you heard that Anakin's Padawan Ahsoka Tano, with whom you had been acquainted with for some time, left the order because she was accused of a murder and treated unfairly, your distrust for the order only grew. That was the breaking point for you.
But one of the hardest parts for you was leaving Rex behind. After the two of you confessed your love for each other, both of you met a lot in private and you had no problem venting to him about your problems with the Jedi order, and he completely understood why you wanted to leave. It was heartbreaking to have to leave the love of your life on the front lines of the battlefield, but you needed to do what was right for you. Plus, you had a feeling the war would end soon.
And end the war did- only to create another problem. When the empire took over, all mention of the Jedi order and the clone army ceased. While the war was still going on, you would receive a few transmissions from Rex from time to time, but now it had been a whole year since the dawn of the empire, and there was no sign of communication from Rex. You were beginning to lose hope that he was still out there.
You had heard a few rumors that the clone army turned on the Jedi and massacred them, but you were never able to confirm anything. But you never heard from your old master Plo Koon, who had also kept in touch during the war for a little while. You were beginning to believe the stories. You only wished Rex was able to make it out of that mess.
But it had been a whole year.
You had been roaming the streets during the sunset because it was nice outside, but it quickly became dark and you decided to go back to your apartment and rest. After all, the world didn't stop because you wanted to sit around and think.
...
The next morning
...
You arrived at the cafe right on time, as you did every day, and fastened your apron.
"Good morning, Bela," you called into the seemingly empty cafe. You knew your boss was always in the kitchen when you arrived.
You heard a few pots and pans fall on the ground as Bela muttered a few curses under her breath. "Good morning, dear." You could see the older woman stand up in the back and make her way to the front where you were.
Bela Fidoli was a wonderful lady who gave you a job in Naboo without many questions. She didn't know anything about your past, and she didn't need to. She enjoyed your work ethic and the two of you got along well. She didn't like droids, and that's why she wanted to hire a person to do the work a droid could. But she did own a working droid. You counted this as insurance in case you ever needed to make a quick getaway if your past decided to catch up with you. Bela would be able to get by if you suddenly had to leave.
"After you left yesterday a handsome gentleman came in here asking for someone by the name of (Y/N). Said he was positive she was around here and that he needed to meet with her. Do you know anyone with that name?"
You froze. You panicked for a second, thinking someone from the empire knew your past as a Jedi and came here to snuff you out. It's a good thing you went by a fake name here, so Bela wouldn't have given away your position.
"I haven't really lived here that long... I don't know anyone with that name." You said.
"Alright dear." Bela said, giving you a pat on the shoulder. "I told him he could come back this morning if he had any more questions. Lots of a folks come in here who know a lot of people."
That's not good. I'm going to have to find an excuse to get out of here.
Bela turned around and went back into the kitchen to prepare for the workday to start, and you tried to come up with a plan of action as you went through the mundane tasks of opening the front of the store. You hoped whoever was looking for you wouldn't show up until around peak time, which was a couple of hours into opening, so you thought you had a little time to come up with something.
The last of your opening duties was to unlock the front glass door and switch the closed sign to open, letting the first few regular customers come in. Pretty much all of the customers who come this early aim to get their caf and get out. One man, however, walked right in the place and sat down in a corner booth, but he had his head down, so you couldn't really investigate until you had served all of the early customers first.
After the first batch of customers was out the door, you checked on Bela to see if she needed anything before trying to see who the mysterious man was. You started wiping a few tables closer to him to try and see what kind of person this was. He was wearing a long black cloak with a hood, but you could see his hands leaning on the table, and the weathered armor that was on them.
White with a large blue stripe... it couldn't be. You thought. Your heart jumped and you retreated back behind the counter where you could watch the man from a distance without being noticed as much.
He brought his hands back onto his lap and lifted his head and turned to look out the window at the streets of the city. Once he did this, you could see the familiar profile of the man you've been longing to see.
But the memories of the rumors flooded into your brain. What if he was like all of the other clones, and turned against the Jedi? What if he was sent here to kill you?
Your thoughts caused you to panic and you ran back into the kitchen to talk to Bela.
"Bela?" You asked. She looked up from the pastry dough she was kneading.
"Yes dear?" She said with a smile. Her warm presence eased your discomfort a little.
"That man out there in the corner... is he the one who came yesterday asking for a (Y/N)?" You asked. She leaned over a little to be able to see him from the kitchen.
She nodded "Sure looks like 'em. Have you spoken to him?"
"No. Bela... when he asked you about this person yesterday... what was he like? Did he seem to have good intentions?" You asked nervously.
"Hmm... I don't know if I can quite put my finger on it." She started, going back to kneading the dough. You found that she was able to focus more when she was doing something with her hands. "It was as if he was searching for a long lost friend or relative."
That was the answer you had hoped for. If he was sent here to dispose of you he probably wouldn't have been sentimental about finding you.
Slowly, you came back out of the kitchen and into the front of the cafe again. You remembered that he didn't even order anything when he came in, and he must not have ever looked at you either, or he would have said something right away. You tried to come up with a way to get his attention.
As you poured a cup of caf, you noticed your hands were shaking vigorously. You hadn't felt this nervous since your Jedi knight trials, and at that time it was extremely discouraged to have those feelings. But now you were hoping for a little nagging from Jedi masters to stop freaking out.
You put the mug on a little plate and started making your way to the man in the corner. He was still looking out the window as you approached his table, and you tried to put down the caf without spilling, seeing as you were shaking so much. As you put it down he turned his head toward it.
"Oh, no. I don't need any caf, thank you. I was just here to look for someone." He said, still not looking up to see you. Your heart melted at the sound of his voice. For a whole year you had been starved of that sweet sound, and you relished in every word he spoke.
"I think you found them." You said, tears starting to form in your eyes.
Finally Rex looked up at you. The few moments of shock on his face was quickly replaced by pure happiness as he quickly stood up and enveloped you in an embrace, lifting you up off the ground by your waist and hugging you tight.
"(Y/N)!" Rex said, his voice filled with joy. "I knew you'd be here. I just knew it!"
You laughed and let the tears of happiness roll down your face as you tightly hugged Rex back, channeling all of the longing you've had for him over the past year. It's been even longer than that since you've been able to physically be with him, and nothing was going to get in the way now.
The two of you pulled away for a second, only to connect again with a kiss that would make up for the deprivation you've gone through. Feeling a little bad that your boss was practically in the room and that you were still on the clock, you didn't let this become a full-on make-out session.
"I've been looking all over for you, (Y/N). A couple days ago I had a feeling that I should look on Naboo, so here I came. I asked the lady who runs this shop if she knew you, and she said no! But I still came back anyway."
"Fake name." You said, gesturing to your name tag that was clearly not your real name.
"Of course." Rex said, with a light chuckle. "I should have known."
You couldn't help but hug Rex again, burying your face into the crook of his neck as his arms wrapped around your waist.
"I'm so happy I found you, (Y/N)." Rex said. But then his tone shifted. "I have a lot to talk about."
"I've heard rumors." You said.
"It's probably worse than what you've heard."
"I have all the time in the galaxy to hear about it." You said, taking off your name tag and apron, leaving them on the counter. "Bela, I have to go!" You shouted as you grabbed Rex's wrist, making a quick getaway through the door before Bela had time to respond. She'll be fine.
As you walked the streets back to your apartment hand in hand with Rex, it felt like a part of your life had come back to you. Things felt a little less empty. And though you were unsure of the future, you had him with you.
But nothing would prepare you for the news Rex had for you.
End of part two! I've been thinking I could even continue this story maybe.... a part three where you and Rex talk about order 66 and everything that happened. Let me know if that is interesting to you.
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Thank you for reading!