#next part

Slowly… slowly… You look up at him.

There’s a very rare expression on his face. “…Don’t laugh,” he says flatly.

Your lips press together. It lasts all of two seconds. Then you laugh. “…Rafayel, you’re hungry,” you say. Rafayel exhales through his nose, dragging a hand down his face. “…I crossed realities,” he mutters, “not basic biology.”

Grrr... He closes his eyes briefly. “…Traitor,” he adds under his breath, clearly referring to his own stomach.

You're still smiling, but something softer settles into your expression now. “…When was the last time you ate?” you ask gently.

“…That’s… a good question, cutie.” He brings his hand up to his head and begins to tap with his index finger.

“Okay,” you say, stepping back slightly. “Well, we’re fixing that.”

His hand lingers where yours had been, like he notices the absence immediately. “…Fixing?” he echoes, one brow lifting.

You nod, already moving. “Sit. Or... actually, no... you look like you need a reset.” Your gaze flicks over him, “…Take a bath.”

Rafayel blinks. “…A bath? How did you know I... wait... the game.”

You turn, already halfway toward the kitchen.

“Yes, a bath. Warm water. Bubbles. Relax. You’ve been… through a lot.”

He watches you for a moment. Then huffs a quiet, amused breath. “…You’re giving me orders now?”

You glance back over your shoulder, just slightly. “Do you want food or not?”

“…Point taken.” By the time the bathroom door closes behind him, the space feels different again.

You exhale softly and turns fully to the kitchen. The normalcy of it feels surreal. Hands moving automatically... filling a pot, setting heat, gathering ingredients. Something you know he'll love.

Seafood. It just… makes sense.

Steam begins to rise. The scent builds slowly... garlic, butter, a little spice.

The soft bubbling of water. The quiet rhythm of preparation. The kind of peace that feels almost fragile after everything that’s happened.

Until you pause. There’s a faint sound from down the hall. Water running. And beneath it, a subtle shift in the air. Like his presence is still everywhere. Even behind a closed door. Even out of sight.

Your fingers tighten slightly around the spoon in your hand. “…He’s really here,” you murmur to yourself. The thought settles deeper this time.

You continue cooking. Adding seasoning. Tasting. Adjusting. The scent grows richer, filling the apartment. Warm. Inviting.

Behind you, the water stops. A few seconds pass. Then the soft sound of movement.

You don't turn around right away. But you feel him before you see him. “…That smells good.” His voice is lower now.

You turn.

Rafayel stands there in your pink bath robe, hair still damp, a few strands falling loosely over his forehead. His eyes are still on you.

His gaze flicks briefly to the pot then back to you. “…You made this for me,” he says.

You shrug lightly, trying to play it off. “You were starving.”

He steps closer. “…You didn’t have to,” he murmurs.

You meet his gaze, “I wanted to.”

“…Good. Now, where do you keep the plates?” he asks while looking around.

And the food? It’s ready.

The dark waxing, crimson moon hung high above the murky waters in a hypnotic way. The horde of silver-tainted Ribbon fishes circled and miraculously seemed to sliver around like a merry-go-round multiplying in quantities. They flashed their intriguing glimmering skin across the surface of the deep-end pond mysteriously. Smoke danced along the coarse breeze, twisting into different shapes and forms with such melancholy. The trance of dizzying night birds screeched fluke notes into the arid desolate blackriver trail. Tall, mingles of birchwood, oak, and acacia trees, impaled, and bare leaned against the Earth’s axis. The limbs of the evergreen stretched and cut into the atmosphere in a twisting way. It reeked of gunpowder essence, bitter cigarette smoke, and honeydew drops. The air was a sickening warmth, slick with heat and stuffy despite the moderately blowing breeze. 

“Lei Zhang”. Some called him Tai Yang, if they knew him that well. Deep in this elegant, yet grotesque paradise, was his modern house, with thicket bushes shrouding the window with a slight half-moon lit view towards the eerie lake. It had a marble archway with cobblestone balconies, translucent creamy curtains, chandeliers dangling from the main dining and multi-purpose room, quartz-lined encrusted staircases, and high-end lapis carpets lining every hallway. Tai Yang’s house was the definition of modern-antique in contrast to the dreamy nightmare outside. He was a detective sworn to bring justice to any crime he was tasked with. And with that, a very good one too; which explained his wealth.

He was trying to piece together evidence on the disappearance of his victim and client in the modern living room when suddenly, his phone started to ring. It vibrated in his formal dress pant’s pocket as he took it out to answer the, perhaps important call. The complexion glinted off the screen, and silver-edge of the blocky metal. It was the chief of the police department, which only ever happened whenever he had a new traumatic occurrence to deal with, or if there was new information concerning his current manifestation. He answered the phone, and on the other side of the line was Mateo Rodrigeuz, who was as stern as he always was. “Tai Yang, I know you are currently working on the case of the abduction of the citizens, but a few of our police officers have found multiple similar occurrences these past few days. I have a new task for you to look at detective, it’s about the kidnappings, disappearances, and killings of our VIPs, and fellow comrades who’ve all gone without a trace. We think that this case is bigger than we thought. I’m sure you’ve been watching the news, correct?”. Tai Yang didn’t spare a second and responded swiftly, “Yes Chief, I’ve seen the news, I was wondering if you were going to send me out to investigate or not. As for the new information, I’ll take note of that.”. In a husky voice Mateo continued the conversation by explaining the details, “That’s good to hear, I’ve sent someone to deliver to you the files on all of the suspects directly to your confidential mailbox in the garden. I’ve also provided a classified instructions booklet along with it. Study it as much as you can, tomorrow I need you to be at the police department at 5:45 AM, sharp. Have a good rest of your day detective.”. With that, Mateo hung up, and the call ended. Tai Yang didn’t waste any more precious time, and headed to his rather large private greenhouse. Lotus flowers were speckled everywhere, a stone pathway, lavender bushes releasing powerful fumes of sweet sugar, grape vines dangling like snakes, and shrubs taller than himself surrounding the layout. Tall iron frames with reflective material covering them completed the look. He went straight towards a blue orchid flower, and opened a gap in the shrub right next to it; which was where the mailbox was. It was painted with a pale, baby blue paint that was slightly peeling off, a mellow orange post lifted upwards, and black lining that made the edges seem to be non-existent with the shadow being casted on it. Tai Yang entered the sly pincode, and opened the lid to see the file booklet and suspect analysis. Once he pulled the dispatch out of the mailbox, he closed it and re-entered the passcode once more to lock it shut. The booklet had a small urban-red clasp with a leather front, and in big bold font: [Classified Information]. Just as he was about to leave the vast greenhouse, he felt an ominous presence of aura around him. When he turned around, he found a ruby-encrusted bracelet on the rock pathway. {What the fuck-...?}. Cautiously, Tai Yang picked up the piece of jewelry and examined it for a moment before heading back, wary. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching him from afar, but he wasn’t sure if his mind was just playing tricks on him. After all, he was sleep deprived for the last few days.        

When he entered the modern-antique house, a more cooler air hit him; still very balming, but not searing. Tai Yang still found it uncomfortably stuffy, but he couldn’t find out what was wrong with the air conditioner, and what was wrong with it. He didn’t have time to worry about it though, he had an important job to do. He was now pondering on his new case, the Кровавая ворона Mafia and アンカーされた criminal gang organization. They were the currently most dangerous groups in the region- along with the Erste Erwachen mob group, known mostly because of their good looks and lethality. The press was always looking for eye-catching news- or something that would catch people’s attention, so naturally they glorified their godly masculinity– praising them instead of actually warning viewers about the dangers with any kind of contact between them. Tai Yang sat at his chaotic office in a sturdy wooden chair. He never really had the time to decently tidy-up the place, so he just left it like that. The work-papers were grimy with coffee stains, paperclips wandering lost underneath the cabinet, and piles of high-stacked files looming menacingly over the already disordered area. He pushed his black, half square-rimmed reading spectacles up to his nose, looking through some of the profile trait files of the mafia and the gangsters on his teak wood table. His sticky sweat made the milky-white collared shirt stick to him, clinging like a second skin. His hair was moist from the evening sun, and the clammy feel of his inky dress pants were slightly getting intolerable. Even with the air-conditioner on, the refreshing winds were in no way comparable to the summer heat; it was like a heat wave, and Tai Yang was practically swimming in his own sweat.

Tai Yang carefully examined each one of his suspects’ traits, personalities, abilities, connections, and relationships; paying especially close attention to their leaders, “Tsuki Chi” and “Igor Sokolov”. He read the descriptions on the crisp pages- there were a total of nine members in the Кровавая ворона Mafia; The four known members: Igor Sokolov, Luke Travis, Matthew Princeton, Yaniel Acosta, and the five unknown acquaintances. Tai Yang read through the transcripts, [Name: Luke Travis, Age: 17, Gender: Male, Native Country: American/USA Strength: Hacking, Weakness: Ego, Personality: ESTP, Status: Caporegime, Name of Business: Кровавая ворона Mafia], [Name: Matthew Princeton, Age: 20, Gender: Male, Native Country: British/UK, Strength: Archer, Weakness: Likely a hot-headed person, Personality: ISPT, Status: Consigliere, Name of Business: Кровавая ворона Mafia],  [Name: Yaniel Acosta, Age: 18, Gender: Male, Native Country: Cuban/Cuba, Strength: Gunner/Weaponist, Weakness: Still very young and prone to nativity, Personality: INTJ, Status: Mafia Henchmen, Name of Business: Кровавая ворона Mafia], and [Name: Igor Sokolov, Age: 23, Gender: Male, Native Country: Russian/Russia, Strength: Artilleries/Explosives, Weakness: Slightly Impulsive, Personality: ENTP, Status: Mafia Boss, Name of Business: Кровавая ворона Mafia]. In the アンカーされた criminal gang organization, there were also nine members; The three known members were Tsuki Chi, Ashur Ardolf, and Borai Seang. The rest were unknown. Tai Yang also read their transcripts, [Name: Tsuki Chi, Age: 22, Gender: Male, Native Country: Japanese/Japan, Strength: Swords master/Knives Specialist, Weakness: Physical Hand Injury, Personality: ISFJ, Status: Gang Leader, Name of Business: アンカーされた criminal gang organization], [Name: Ashur Ardolf, Age: 21, Gender: Male, Native Country: Syrian/Syria, Strength: Drugger/Artilleries/Explosives, Weakness: Stiff, Personality: ESTJ, Status: Soldier-Member, Name of Business: アンカーされた criminal gang organization], and [Name: Borai Seang, Age: 19, Gender: Male, Native Country: Cambodian/Cambodia, Strength: Medic/Hacker, Weakness: Vulnerability due to lack of offense skills, Personality: INTJ, Status: Medical Aid, Name of Business: アンカーされた criminal gang organization]. 

So Ahsoka is a little surprised when Fives is actually able to (semi) keep up with her. General Skywalker finds them and Ahsoka does her little, “I’m not going to take the fall for something I didn’t do,” speech with Fives just standing behind her a little awkwardly.

Ahsoka then jumps as the other troopers appear. Fives looks at Skywalker and asks, “Permission to follow her, sir?”

Maybe it’s the way he says it or maybe it’s something Anakin senses because the General nods, although he is confused on how Fives is going to find her--

--then Fives jumps out the tube and falls after her, landing on a ship, then jumping to another and another before landing next to his Commander, blaster in hand and the Force with him

It’s safe to say that both Anakin and Ahsoka are extremely shocked and confused. Rex is just facepalming in the background while Hevy and Droidbait have a mini panic attack.

Fives convinces Ahsoka there’s no time to explain so they retreat into the lower levels of Coruscant. The episode’s continue pretty much the same, but Fives is following Ahsoka from a distance as a safety net. He almost intervenes when Ventress shows up but before he can really do anything, Ahsoka has already convinced the ex-Sith to help her.

When Ahsoka is attacked by “Ventress” (Barriss in disguise), Fives intervenes and manages to help Ahsoka take the attacker down and Fives stuns them just as Skywalker and clones arrive.

Barriss is the one cast out of the Order and then put on trial but Ahsoka is still shaken bu the fact that her friend tried to set her up. So she does the sensible thing and takes a break from the Jedi, the war, etc. Just needs to find herself, if you would and Anakin wholeheartedly allows it (as long as she calls weekly, which she agrees to)

Neither say anything to Fives. Not at first.

Then, on a simple mission, something felt off with Tup.

The second Tup lifted his gun towards the Jedi, Fives knew something was wrong and reached out, slamming Tup to the ground and making him miss. The Jedi sliced his gun in half before Fives let off a stun shot, immobilizing Tup.

Of course, it was now impossible to ignore the fact that a clone just force pushed another clone into the ground. When the battle was over, Fives was taken with the unconscious Tup to see all three (living ) Jedi and Captain Rex.

When Tup comes to, he has his little mental freak out about “good soldiers follow orders” and Fives ignores everyone, grabbing his brother’s head and diving in deep.

What he finds is... shocking. Tup’s thoughts are confused and almost have a program like feel. The problem feels like it’s coming from somewhere in his mind (and it feel man made) and Fives begs the Jedi not to go to Kamino but do their own investigation as Tup did try and attack a Jedi.

It takes some persuasion from Hevy, Droidbait, and Rex but Anakin agrees to look into it without informing the GAR. However, the exchange it Fives goes to see the Council. 

Hevy and Droidbait go with him.

*this is getting really long so let’s sum it up like this*

Jedi find the chip inside Tup’s head, Tup doesn’t die this time around and gets to actually tell his “nightmares” to the Jedi

These nightmares are various visions of the various orders from the chip

Jedi now aware there was a conspiracy behind the clone’s creation and are now looking into it. Fives and his clone brothers are released from the temple

((Fives received some direction from the Jedi and a little bit of training, mostly to prevent him from diving into the Dark side because dang, this clone is pretty strong for not having any “proper” training.))