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Ahsoka's running the moment her feet hit the ground. Blast it! When she’d gone to help Ventre- Asajj (and wasn’t that a weird thing that she still couldn’t fully process) she hadn’t thought she was leaving her Master alone to go and try to get himself killed .
(Only Anakin or Master Kenobi could ever cook up this much drama on Coruscant of all places. She loves her Masters, she really does, but they are absolutely ridiculous, sometimes.)
(She ignores exactly what the comm had said, forces herself to believe that Anakin wouldn’t do that, that he’d promised …
She doesn’t entirely believe herself.)
She makes it to Anakin’s room and practically throws herself on him. Anakin winces in pain.
“Argh!” he cries, “Watch it, Snips.”
Ahsoka forces herself to shift until she’s not on top of either of the heavily bandaged areas of his chest, even less ready to let go than the last time she almost lost her Master.
“You promised me,” she says, “You promised me. ”
Anakin sighs, but he puts his arms around her. She realizes that she’s crying.
“Hey,” he says, “I told you that I wouldn’t leave you again, Ahsoka, and I don’t intend on making that a lie.”
Ahsoka just grips her stupid Master tighter.
“Rex told me what you were planning,” she whispers.
Anakin sighs again.
( “Can we maybe have some privacy,” Anakin says to Obi-Wan over their bond. He really needs to talk to Ahsoka alone, and he wasn’t very impressed with their not-so-subtle interrogation. He still needs some time to sort out his own thoughts about… everything.
Honestly, he just… try as he might, he can’t think , and it’s… he doesn’t know what to do, and, well, Obi-Wan and Padme hold such huge parts of himself, but, at this moment, their attempts to get him to talk are the opposite of what he needs, even if he will end up talking to them about it soon enough.
He hopes it doesn’t have to happen too soon. Without something concrete to focus on, he feels like he’s falling apart at the seams.)
Behind her, Master Kenobi and the Senator Amidala leave the room. When they do, Anakin pushes himself further up, and Ahsoka scrambles to move with him. She’ll be taller than him one day, she knows it!
“You’re gonna have to let go of me at some point, Snips,” her Master says jokingly, and Ahsoka slowly sits up.
“I know,” she says, “I just… Anakin, you have no idea how terrible it was when you were gone. I just… do you have any idea how many people need you?”
Anakin just shrugs.
“I’m not that important,” he says, and Ahsoka doesn’t even try to hide her laugh.
“Master Kenobi and Senator Amidala fought over you ,” she says, “The men were a mess , the Republic propaganda teams were a disaster , and I… Master…”
She trails off.
“…Why?”
Anakin sighs.
“I… maybe… can I… can I show you?” he asks, and there’s a look in his eyes that terrifies her; he always tries to keep it from her when he’s hurt, but now …
She nods her head.
"I won’t leave you!" She sees… herself cry, "Not this time."
Vader sighs through his breathing apparatus (What had happened to him?), but Anakin Skywalker, he knows, is dead. He lights his red blade, lifting it up to his face, and watches as Ahsoka lights her own. (White. Why are they white?)
She should have agreed to join him. ( Never .)
"Then you will die."
...What?
Her thought must have shown on her face or her Force Signature because Anakin laughs, humorless.
“Mortis,” he says, “A small sampling of the barrage of memories the Son gave me to force my Fall. Locked up tight so that it would happen anyways, but not tight enough for Dooku.”
Oh…
“Master…”
Anakin smiles at her, and it almost seems real.
“I’m fine, Ahsoka,” he says, and Ahsoka decides to just stare skeptically until he crack. Anakin sighs, and amends his previous statement.
“I’m better than I was two days ago, anyway,” he says, “I… Ahsoka… I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Ahsoka finds herself caught between rolling her eyes and crying.
“Well you should have thought of that before you tried to kill yourself ,” she says, and, honestly, this conversation would look so weird, especially considering she hasn’t really let go of Anakin yet. Apparently, these sorts of things are a great way to start everlasting hugs just to make sure the other is alive.
Honestly, she wonders how she missed it because it definitely wasn’t Anakin suddenly not showing his expressions on his face like an open book…
Was it? Suddenly, she’s struck with a memory.
An occasion, in the middle of their last deployment, where Anakin’s face had been absolutely blank.
And now she’s not so sure.
“Why didn’t you tell anybody?” she asks, basically curled up in his lap, but she knows the answer.
“I… I thought it had to be done,” Anakin says, “To protect all of you… and I knew that you’d try to stop me.”
Now it’s Ahsoka’s turn to laugh.
“Of course,” she says, “You have no idea how much we all need you.”
Anakin sighs.
“I know,” he says, “And that’s the problem.”
And that… that hurts too much to think about. Instead she just sighs, trilling softly as Anakin strokes her lekku.
“Just don’t die,” she says, “Okay?”
Anakin pauses in his strokes. Ahsoka looks up at him.
“Okay?” she pressure, and her Master sighs.
“I’ll… I’ll do my best,” he says, and that’s not… that’s not exactly what she wanted, but it will do, for now.
He’s alive, and that’s enough.