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The first thing Ahsoka and Rex saw was the fire.
Rex stared ahead open-mouthed and Ahsoka tensed at his side. The Jedi Temple was engulfed in flames and huge towers of smoke billowed from its openings. The young togruta could feel her vocal cords tightening.
"Looks like this landing's gonna be riskier than I thought," Rex mused gravely, steering their ship to the leeward side of the temple. "I'm gonna see if I can find any landing docks... but who knows what's going on in there..."
Ahsoka swallowed. "Well... it's like you said. They're out to exterminate the Jedi."
Rex took a moment to glance over at his friend, her eyes were full of worry. The light of the fire reflected off them.
"We'll find him, Commander. The General's never been one to back down from a fight."
Ahsoka remained a pillar of silence, hesitant to express agreement she wasn't sure she had.
Rex propelled their ship forward, looking for any kind of landing dock. As they drew closer to the Temple, he could spot the red blinking of blaster fire, and the sound of distant explosions grew louder and louder as they drew nearer.
By the base of the temple was a barren port with no visible troopers. Rex took the chance and began bringing them down.
Their ship landed carefully and Rex powered down the engines. Meanwhile, Ahsoka had retreated to the back of the ship to retrieve her cloak. She made it back to the cockpit just as Rex unlocked the doors of the shuttle. They hissed as they opened.
The pair stepped out, with Rex adjusting his helmet into position. The dock was being protected by the usual blast doors, which Rex immediately set his sights on.
He turned to Ahsoka. "Go find the General; I'll jam the blast doors to fend off anyone who tries to get in but I only can for so long," he said.
The Commander nodded. "Understood, I'll make it back as soon as I can," she told him, placing a reassuring hand on his arm.
After she'd let go, Ahsoka threw the hood of the cloak over her montrals and held her breath as Rex unlocked the blast door.
***
"Master Skywalker, there are too many of them! What are we going to do?" The little youngling had asked, looking up at Anakin in wide-eyed fear.
Yet all Anakin could think of was that infuriating title the boy had used.
Truthfully, he hadn't been looking forward to reaching the younglings. Even in his enraged state, the pieces of him that had yet to adopt the title of "Darth Vader" still pierced at him.
When he'd walked into the room, stoic and hurting, for a brief moment he'd wondered if maybe he should show the children to an escape route. But then he was reminded of why he even faced them in the first place.
The little youngling boy called him Master, and it was another reminder of the one thing he couldn't have. A justification for why he was so full of hatred for the selfish, jealous Order who refused to see his true potential. It made him seethe.
If anything, he was doing them a favor by destroying them. They wouldn't have to spend the rest of their lives as pawns.
The blue light of his saber filled the room as it unsheathed. The little boy flinched back.
After he'd slain the entire lot of them, he thundered out the doors of the youngling's quarters and strode down the hallway. If he hadn't felt ready before, now he truly felt like he could face just about anything. The dark side gnawed at him, itching for Anakin to find another victim.
That's when he stopped. He heard footsteps and sensed the presence of a fellow Force user. The new Sith was eager at this revelation, his hatred burning so deeply within him.
He could tell they would be coming around the corner, so he turned on his saber and pressed himself up against the wall.
The footsteps drew nearer and nearer. Anakin raised his weapon, gearing up to strike.
Just as the pacing rounded the corner, he made his move. He jumped out from behind the wall but stopped in his tracks immediately when he saw her.
Ahsoka gasped, although less at the fact he'd nearly struck her and more so in relieved happiness. She didn't notice his glowing yellow eyes, or the fact that they immediately disappeared when they spotted her.
Anakin turned off his weapon just as Ahsoka ran forward and threw her arms around him. She pressed her head against his chest, the sound of his rapid heartbeat ringing in her montrals. A reminder that he was here, and that he was alive.
"You're okay!" She exclaimed tearfully, her throat beginning to swell. "Anakin, I was so worried. I'd begun to think they might have gotten to you."
Her master stood rigidly as she embraced him, unsure what in the blazes he should do next.
Anakin slowly cupped her face in his hands, still registering the fact that she'd survived this long and found him at the Temple. He should be overjoyed to see her, but all he felt coursing through him was fear.
"What are you doing here? How did you get here?" He asked worriedly, one of his thumbs gently brushing back and forth across her cheek.
Ahsoka was still holding onto him. "To find you! I came here with Rex after our ship got overtaken..." she explained. "Something has turned the clone troopers against the Jedi. Their inhibitor chips are programmed with some mysterious order..."
Anakin looked over her head and down the hallway. The sound of blaster fire and explosions in the distance setting him on edge.
He looked back down at her.
"Come with me, we have to get you out of here," he told her, prying her arms off of him and grabbing hold of her wrist.
Ahsoka instantly stalled, confusion filling her face. "Wait, hold on, Rex and I have a transport. We're parked in one of the loading decks, I know where to go."
Even though she'd changed in their year-long separation her token stubbornness was still apparent as ever. He turned back around.
"Ahsoka, listen to me. It's not safe for you here," he explained. "You trust me, don't you?"
His former padawan stared emotionally at him. "With my life, you know that. I'm just confused as to-"
"Then follow me," he interrupted her, resuming their march down the hall.
Ahsoka didn't protest further; a million thoughts swam through her head as she and her master made their way through the Temple. Anakin led the way of course, his grip still firmly on her. The occasional boom and echo of clone weaponry sent chills down Ahsoka's spine, and it seemed Anakin was using them to judge how safe the paths up ahead were.
A whole minute of agonizing silence went by, enough time for Ahsoka to notice the obvious. His presence in the Force had changed. There were feelings, emotions, and above all, a strange aura that shrouded him. She was beginning to question whether or not he was all the same as before.
While on the Resolute, she'd felt him through the Force. A pain so violent and deep that she swore something must have happened to him.
They eventually made it to an elevator that Anakin wordlessly ushered her inside of. He turned to the keypad and pushed the button that correlated to one of the lower floors. The elevator entrance sealed shut.
They were side by side now, still deathly quiet as they felt the elevator begin its descent. Anakin had practically turned to stone, closing himself off through the Force as much as he could. Although being discovered by someone he loved so dearly amid his murderous rampage made it a little harder than usual.
Ahsoka glanced down at his hands that hung loosely by his sides. They trembled a little. She then looked back up at him.
"While I was on the Resolute... I sensed you," she said.
Receiving no reply from Anakin, she went on. "I sensed you were in great distress... and great pain..."
All the while, her master was silently begging that the elevator would just hurry up and reach the floor they were after.
Ahsoka hesitated a little. "...What happened?"
His Force shields were up, but teetering, he could feel his padawan on the other side of them, begging to be let in. He opened his mouth to respond, but there was nothing he could say to her.
Snips, as it turns out, Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith lord. I've joined forces with him to establish a new empire where everyone will be free, and no one will ever live in fear. But the Jedi are standing in the way of peace. In a terrible way, Bariss was right, all they care about is violence, and truthfully, you had the right idea leaving them in the dust.
Every war has casualties, and unfortunately, I will do what must be done if it means-
He felt her hand wrap around his flesh one. A gentle squeeze followed.
"Anakin, please..." She begged, her voice barely above a whisper.
He let his fingers close around hers, words still struggling to form.
"I..."
The elevator doors opened, cutting them both off.
Anakin refocused himself. "...I have to get you out of here," he said, leading her out of the lift, their hands still clasped together.
It was now that Ahsoka realized where he had taken her. A room full of escape pods.
"Master, won't all of these be disabled? They've cut off signal to the whole Temple," she told him, as they entered the first one they saw.
Anakin shut the door of the pod behind them and turned his attention to its control panel.
"Nothing a little hot-wiring won't fix," he reassured her, his tone still unreadable. "You said Rex came with you, correct?"
Ahsoka blinked. "I did. Which is exactly why I'm confused," she told him sternly. "Anakin, there's something you're not telling me. What are you even doing?"
He kept going, although her question bounced off the walls of his mind as he fiddled with the pod's system. What was he doing? So long as she was alive, she wasn't safe; if Palpatine found out that he was helping her escape there's no telling what he'd do.
The escape pod's systems finally booted back up. Anakin swallowed.
“I’m doing the only thing I know how to do... protecting you,” he spoke wistfully, typing something on the keypad.
Ahsoka’s heart gave a twist, although whether in affection or fear, she wasn’t sure.
“But that’s my question… protecting me from what?”
Once Anakin pressed enter, he let his hands rest momentarily on the screen. He looked down at them; they were still shaking.
The screen flashing changed his attention. A myriad of locations had been brought up; names of planets, cities, space stations; all possible destinations the Jedi Archives had to offer.
He selected Naboo and shakily typed in the address of Padme's lake villa. The place where the course of his life changed. The place where, Force willing, they'd have their child. The place where that child would grow up, never knowing war, or pain, or loneliness.
Ahsoka would make the best aunt; he could see it now. Her with his son or daughter running up and down the shores of the beach without a care in the world, sunburnt and out of breath.
A reality only Palpatine could make happen.
Once he'd typed in the address and set the pod's course for it, he turned to face his padawan. Ahsoka's eyes were glassy.
"...After I know you're safe, I'll go grab Rex. He's gonna follow you to Naboo."
His apprentice's brow lifted. Anakin continued.
"You're right... something... something did happen. But it's all very complicated to understand," he said.
"Things are going to happen that-"
"So, make me," Ahsoka interrupted, tears brimming in her eyes now. "Make me understand, Anakin."
Silence was quick to fill the pod. The sounds of blaster fire still came and went but were muffled.
A tear dripped down her left cheek. "I feel like everything's falling apart and no one can explain why..."
She wasn't shouting, screaming, or sobbing. Her tone was hollow, numb; tired even. In Anakin she often found comfort, but that warmth she'd usually get from him had been replaced with something else.
Her master stepped forward, placing his hands on her shoulders like he'd done countless times before. Only this time, he'd pulled her in a little closer.
"I wish I could make it make sense, Snips. I wish that I could say everything's going to be fine, and that soon we'll all be enjoying our newfound peace at Dex's over caf and cake. But it's never been that easy Ahsoka, you and I both know it. The Clone War has never been a straight line."
His apprentice studied his face as he spoke. She remained wordless as he kept going.
"But I know one thing, and that's that you're one of the best things that's ever happened to me," he went on, conscious of how vulnerable he was being. It felt odd, but not uncomfortable. Ahsoka's brow furrowed a little, tears still glittered in her eyes.
"You're gonna go on... and live a long, happy life where there's no month-long campaigns, or Separatist attacks, or watching men die on the battlefield. And believe me, I'm going to make sure of it," Anakin told her, the grip on her shoulders tightening.
Ahsoka looked deep into his eyes, another tear falling out of her own.
"Why does this feel like another goodbye?" She asked softly, as he reached to brush the drop off her cheek.
Because it was. No matter how much Anakin wanted to contest it. He genuinely wasn't sure when he'd see her again.
He was caught between getting her out of the Temple as fast as possible and trying to soak up every little moment he still had left with her. The sister he'd never had.
"It doesn't have to be," he answered, his vocal cords tightening a little. "Just... a farewell for now."
Ahsoka still looked perplexed. There really wasn't anything he could say to fully comfort her, and it killed him inside.
"When..." she swallowed back the lump in her throat, "when will I see you again?"
Now it was her master's turn to let his emotions spill, tears brimming in his own eyes. He gave a pained smile, chuckling ever so lightly.
He pulled her in and placed a kiss on her head, right between her montrals, as if she was seven and not seventeen. He let his lips linger there a while, holding onto her while he still could. The reality of just how young she was, being thrust into the heat of combat never left him.
"We'll meet again, Snips," he promised her, "I don't know when, but we will... I love you."
Ahsoka's eyes widened. Those three little words would have gotten him absolutely slammed by the Council; a complete violation of the Code. They would have lectured and chastised him for daring to show something far beyond the already taboo territory of attachment. Love. Selfless, wholesome love.
She smiled back at him: her honorary older brother.
"I... I love you too."
It wasn't long before they were wrapped up in a hug, Anakin resting his head on the side of her lekku and Ahsoka with her arms tight about his waist.
Unfortunately, Anakin forced himself to keep it quick. After he'd pulled away, he gestured for her to sit down and strap herself in.
He made his way back over to the keypad and set the pod's course. The engines roared to life and the automated voice went "30 seconds until departure."
Anakin made his way to the open door, taking only one step out before looking back over at his padawan.
Now she was fully crying, but she managed a smile. Her master reciprocated, his own smile far more poignant.
"15 seconds until departure," said the voice.
Anakin fully stepped out, one hand on the door he was about to shut.
"Trust me, Ahsoka. No one will ever hurt you again... not once I do what I must," he assured her.
The heavy pod doors clanged shut before she could even think to ask him what he meant.