Its Anakin everyone worries
about as they make their way to the lavish apartment that belongs to
the Chancellor, Anakin’s entire body vibrating with certainty
as he can hear Obi-Wan, his hand often finding his saber and the
Force fluctuating around him.

And
he is a danger, a worry for sure even
with Qui-Gon having meet up with them with four judicial
officers who get explained that they are there because of Skywalker
and his mating instincts leading him directly to his mate.

It
apparently softens something in the woman leading them as they watch
Anakin’s vibrating body in the elevator, blue eyes focused on a
single spot above them that must be where Obi-Wan is.

And
yes, fire flickers his body as they move to confront Palpatine, the
man’s grandfatherly visage turning terrifying and dark.

But
they’ve forgotten something.

Obi-Wan
is a starbird too and his mate is within range, breaking the bonds
that holds him captive.

Qui-Gon
sees Anakin’s head snap towards the wall, blue eyes widening before
the knight calls out. “HIT THE FLOOR!”

Grabbing
the closest Judaical,
Qui-Gon drags the man down to the floor while seeing Kit do the same
with the two closest to him and Stass dragging the last one with her
even as Palpatine makes his way closer to the window and balcony of
the apartment.

The
next moment Qui-Gon just holds his breath as heat washes over them,
the smell of burning hair and the shriek of metal confirming that
fire is indeed washing over them but not directly touching them.

It
pulls back finally and Qui-Gon dares to lift his head and holds his
breath once more because there’s a hole through several
walls, melting metal and burning fabric right into a bedroom where
there is a ball of fire and barely through the flames he can see a
shape.

“Obi-Wan!”
Anakin scrambles off the floor, jumping through the holes, avoiding
dripping metal even as Qui-Gon glances towards the balcony.

Palpatine
is gone.

‘Bastard
saw his chance and escaped.’ Qui-Gon lips pulled into a taunt
grimace before pulling himself up and following after Anakin quickly
but the closer he got, the warmer it got, metal dripping and running
down from ceiling and walls from Obi-Wan’s heat.

“Stay
there master!” Anakin stopped, glancing back at him. “Obi-Wan
isn’t going to… he’s wrapped up in a protective fire and I need
to… I don’t think anyone else can get close to him!” He called
out over the roar of the fire before glancing at his powered down
saber and then throwing it at Qui-Gon.

Then
he made his way through the last hole as Qui-Gon watched his two
former padawans, listening to Anakin trill and chirp at Obi-Wan.

There
was a shift beside him, Mace joining Qui-Gon at the fourth wall while
grimacing at the heat pouring out. “Palpatine got away, we need to
put the entire GAR and order on alert.” He murmured quietly as he
watched Anakin trying to approach the ball of fire, his tabards
already catching fire and his boots leaving behind marks as the soles
melted.

But
Anakin himself was fine, no fire would damage a starbird who were
reborn in novas. ‘But what about their first birth?’ Qui-Gon
glanced worriedly at Obi-Wan who had yet to respond to the chirps and
trills. ‘Does the first birth entail that same nova?’ He
swallowed nervously
even as he nodded in agreement to Mace words.

Finally
though there was an
uncertain, answering chirp from within the fire that
had Anakin moving into the fire as fast as he could.

On
a cue from the Force, Qui-Gon summed his fight discarded robe and
watched Mace do the same, understanding in each others eyes as the
other council members joined them in listening to the chirps and
trills that were soothing and questioning in nature from within the
fire.

Slowly
the fire retreated, leaving behind two bare humanoids, Anakin wrapped
around his very pregnant mate in a tight embrace.

Breathing
out, feeling exhausted as adrenaline
was finally letting go, Qui-Gon moved through the still dripping hole
in the wall towards the two before stopping as he felt his boots
stick to the floor that bore the same signs of melting as the ceiling
and walls. “…Anakin?” He called out, watching Obi-Wan jerk in
panic and look up, his face going frightened to relief when he saw
who it was. “Hello Obi-Wan.”

“Hi
master.” Obi-Wan rasped out, smiling meekly before yelping when
Anakin stood with Obi-Wan in his arms, the blond quickly moving
towards them to get out of the melting room.

‘This
is going to be one hell of a report.’ Qui-Gon noted to himself even
as he wrapped his robe around Obi-Wan’s bare form.