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“It’s large”
Ahsoka chuckled as she crested the ridge, just a step behind her former master. She was about to crack a joke about the size of his ego before her eyes finally fell upon the stronghold. Black and imposing, it was several stories tall, but nestled in a valley low enough that its peak was hidden from the ridge. She settled next to Anakin and pulled out her macrobinoculars. Zooming in, she watched as droids stomped around the perimeter, occasionally appearing or vanishing into the building. A lone droid headed for one of the turrets that dotted each tier and switched with the droid that had been stationed at it previously.
Anakin nudged her, showing her the datapad he had brought along, which flashed with a rough scan. What their eyes saw indicated nothing of what was truly present here. Underneath them was a labyrinth of tunnels, twisting and turning deep into the ground. The two Jedi stared down at the datapad, contemplating as they waited for it to send an encrypted copy back to the makeshift mission base a safe distance away. The thin outlines of the map eventually flashed in and out of existence, indicating that their recon mission had been a success.
Anakin nodded, tucking it into the folds of his robe, and they both began the walk back. “We better get back before Obi-wan needs us,” Ahsoka nodded, following not more than a couple of paces behind. She felt herself begin to smirk as she contemplated the map of the place.
“It’s still not as big as your ego”
“Hey!”
Ahsoka reached out with the force, simply observing, as has become normal for her when she finds herself needing to wait on another and there is nothing else to do. Anakin was different. Pacing back and forth about the room, he was becoming an increasing distraction. Finally, she sighed, saying goodbye to the peaceful meditation she had hoped she would be allowed to have before opening her eyes and looking at him. “Master, is something the matter?”
“I wish Obi-wan would call in already. I hate waiting” He folded his arms, pouting in a way that had grown on her.
“You always have, master.”
“That’s not true! I…”
Whatever Anakin had been about to say to defend himself was cut off as the holo-projector flared to live. Obi-Wan’s blue-tinted form appeared and he nodded in respect as his former pupil and the newest full member of the Jedi order approached the stand.
“Hello there, Anakin. Ahsoka, I see life as a Jedi suits you well. Congratulations”
“Thank you, Master Kenobi”
“You’re most welcome. Now on to business. I’ve studied the plans that you’ve sent over and I believe we have found the most likely places it would be located” He pressed a button, replacing his image as a map of the fortress zoomed in on a round room with only one corridor going either in or out. “First and foremost, we believe it’s a factory for munitions, entirely staffed by droids with only occasional visits from military officials to keep things running smoothly”
Ahsoka’s brows furrowed. “Why would the separatists steal something so valuable and then keep it in a factory?”
Obi-wan’s image replaced the map. “We can only assume they don’t know what they have. The Order was trying to transport it off Coruscant so that younglings training outside of the temple could have a chance to absorb its knowledge. They placed it on a transport ship for guns and ammo, hoping to make it appear unimportant. It worked too well, I'm afraid, and pirates stole the ship to re-sell to the separatists.”
Anakin raised his eyebrows. “It” was a holocron containing, among other things, the locations of multiple jedi temples and training grounds, some of which are still in use. “We have to get it back before they figure it out”.
Obi-wan nodded. “I agree. That’s why, after I arrive, I suggest the two of you enter here…” The map reappeared, flashing red to indicate where he was referencing. “... and cut your way through the walls before making your way in and out. I’ll be waiting on standby for your signal to extract you quickly, especially if something goes wrong. We don’t expect major resistance, especially if you maintain stealth, Anakin”
Anakin glared at his former master. He was about to prepare a retort about how he was perfectly capable of being stealthy when he wants to be thank you very much , but his trail of thought ended as the sound of laughter reached his ears.
His heart skipped a beat as he glanced over at his former padawan. Her eyes were crinkled at the edges, and her smile brightened up her face. All thoughts of a snappy comeback gone, his eyes softening as he watched her. He quirked an eyebrow once she finally noticed him staring. “Got something to say, Snips?”
Still grinning, she turned to an impatient Obi-wan, who was standing with his arms crossed. “20 credits says i’ll have to save him at least once”
Obi-wan, shaking his head, replied “50 credits says i’ll be saving both of you by the end of this”
The two Jedi repelled down the sharp cliff face, careful to stay in the blind spots that Obi-wan had identified based off of their earlier scan of the factory. Once they reached the bottom, they climbed up the building, careful in their footsteps to prevent a cascading echo in the canyon. They wasted no time in cutting into the wall, using their lightsabers to cut a circular hole to allow them entrance. The fabric of their gloves brushed up against one another as they connected their halves of the circle together.
Ahsoka tried to ignore the… tingling she felt where Anakin’s hand had brushed hers. He reached out with the force to prevent the chunk of wall material from smashing into the floor and alerting the enemy to their presence. He grinned at her, taking a half-bow, and gestured at the hole “After you”
She raised her eyebrow. “Me first? What if it’s dangerous?”
“Oh, I'm pretty sure you can handle danger, Snips. But if you’re scared…”
Ahsoka, having none of that, jumped down the hole and paused only to look up “Oh I'm not scared… I’m the first one to jump down here, after all.”
She started walking, and felt his presence beside her only moments later. She kept her senses open for the sight or sound of any droids approaching. Thankfully, Obi-wan, being the master strategist that he is, had them memorize the route least likely to be full of the clankers, and they received little resistance. Still, they were cautious, taking turns to peak around corners before walking into the sights of potential enemies.
At long last, they found the way to their destination. Anakin walked in first, checking the room for any security measures that wouldn’t have shown up on the scan, and then waved Ahsoka in. “We’ve made it. I guess you’re going to be owing Obi-wan 20 credits”.
She rolled her eyes as she walked past him slowly, still not totally sure that they were in the home stretch. “The mission isn’t over yet, Anakin”. She frowned as she looked around the crates in the room, and approached one before attempting to open it “Help me out here, Anakin”
Without question, he nodded, and they undid the locks of the crates before lifting the lids off. Inside were several cylinders that tapered at the end with some fins added for stability. The tips of each were painted a solid yellow. Ahosoka raised her eyebrows, and looked around, confirming that the room was filled with dozens of these crates. They were surrounded by bombs.
“Bombs, Anakin. This room is filled with bombs.” Ahsoka frowned, eyebrows furrowing as an idea was going to fruition in her mind. “Anakin, do you still carry those time-delay charges on every mission”
He chuckled, patting a pocket on the right hand side of his cloak. “Of course I do. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”
Ahsoka grinned, mischief dancing in her eyes “Only if you’re thinking that you set up those charges while I find the holocron”
And just like that, their plan was put into action. Ahsoka let the background noise of Anakin setting the charges fade away as she looked around, and her eyes fell upon a collection of crates marked with the symbol of the republic. She opened them one by one until she found what they were looking for: A small cube, glowing blue from within, with golden geometric ornamentation. Ahsoka placed it into one of the pockets of her robes before turning and seeing Anakin waiting, bored, at the entrance to the room.
“You could have helped me, Skyguy” Ahsoka rolled her eyes and shook her head as she walked past him into the corridor, the first step of their journey out.
Anakin turned and followed her as she passed by, saying “I could have, sure. But what’s the fun in that?” What he didn’t say was that he wanted the chance to be able to watch her as she worked… he always found it fascinating how, if you knew her well enough, you could always see Ahsoka’s mind working and formulating and scheming. She was made all the more beautiful by the fact that he no longer got to see her on a regular basis.
At first, the return was monotonous and nothing more than them simply leaving the same way they came in: slow and cautious. But suddenly, Anakin stopped and cocked his head to the side, pausing for just a moment before yanking Ahsoka back and into a hiding space.
“What are you doing Anakin?!”
“Shh!” Ahsoka, trusting him, held her breath. She tried to ignore how they were pressed together in what could only be described as a supply closet. He had pulled her in so that her back was against his chest, his hand still grasping her just a bit above her elbow. She focused her mind away from how such close proximity made her heart race and reached out, trying to identify the threat that put them in this position. She first recognized another heartbeat racing just as fast as hers… (Though Ahsoka assumed it was just because they’re in danger… right?). Then came the tell-tale coordinated stomping of droids… a patrol. Anakin must have heard them before she did.
The patrol walked right past the impromptu hiding spot and neither Jedi dared to breathe. Once they had passed by, the two Jedi (somewhat reluctantly) pulled themselves away from one another and stepped back out into the hallway.
Nodding at one another, they continued walking. However, they were abruptly interrupted as they heard the sound of a massive explosion coming from behind them. Ahsoka whirled in confusion, first looking behind her and then to Anakin.
“I thought ” Ahsoka snapped, “you said they were the time release charges?!”
“They were! But we must have started the timer by accident when I pulled you into the closet…” Anakin, slightly embarrassed, rubbed the back of his head.
Ahsoka slapped her hand to her forehead “Why do things always go this way with you?”
“Admit it, you wouldn’t have me any other way”
And then there was nothing more to say, because it was either keep bickering and get caught, or shut up and run. They used the force to launch themselves over the droid patrol that had doubled back to investigate the explosion and kept running, knowing that being spotted meant that they were now on a timer. Sure enough, a loud alarm began blaring throughout the factory, seeming to surround them.
They ran, stopping only to take a swipe or two as they passed by droids. They turned the final corner,
almost free
, but were stopped when they saw a legion of droids blocking them off from the hole they used to cut their way into the building.
Despite the arguably bad position they were in… two lone jedi in a separatist factory that knew they were there… Anakin allowed a grin to break out onto his face as he flicked on his lightsaber. “I bet I can kill more than you, snips”
Ahsoka turned her two lightsabers on as a droid came up to her, trying to whack her over the head with his blaster rifle, and cut its head off “Really, Anakin? You know I always win these things”
“What’s wrong with a little fun?” Anakin sliced through the torso of one droid and the head of the next in a single stroke of his lightsaber “That’s two against one. You better hurry up”
Ahsoka shook her head as she deflected blaster bolts from the platoon and launched herself into the action. Droid after droid fell, either being cut clean in half, thrown into one of his brethren, or having his head unceremoniously removed from the remainder of his body. It was an amazing feat as both Jedi dropped droid after droid, making progress towards the hole in the ceiling that signaled their freedom.
At one point, Anakin looked over, his protective instincts kicking in to make sure that Ahsoka was alright, and saw her surrounded by droids on all sides. His heart sunk as he saw her standing there, appearing to surrender. He was about to open his mouth and roar a battlecry when she spotted him staring and winked… then turned both her lightsabers on, twirling in a circle once before letting go of her sabers and using the force to allow them to fly out words from her hands and cut down dozens of droids in mere moments. Anakin felt his jaw go slack as she finished her final spin to look at him, looking no longer like his padawan but like a deadly accurate warrior surrounded by the remains of her enemies.
She smiled smugly as she caught his eyes “See something you like, Skyguy?”
He opened his mouth to reply, but the sight of 3 destroyer droids rolling around the corner cut him off. He charged forward, deflecting blaster bolt after blaster bolt, inching himself closer to the droids by the second. He seemed to ignore the fact that they now had an open pathway to the hole they had cut out of the wall and went right past it. The blasterfire got more and more intense as he got closer… until finally another 3 destroyer droids rolled around the corner. Meanwhile, Ahsoka was trying to get his attention…
“Anakin, stop. We need to leave. Anakin. Anakin!” Ahsoka practically yelled, but it was all for naught, as he didn’t seem to hear her. He used the force to chuck a deactivated battle droid towards one of the destroyers, but he was getting overwhelmed. Ahsoka prepared to spring into action to help him when…
“NOOO” Ahsoka screamed as a blaster bolt fired directly into Anakin’s body. It blew him backwards, causing his lightsaber to go flying from his grip. Her body moved on its own: She used the force to retrieve his lightsaber, picked him up and slung him over her shoulder, and flung as much of the debris of droid parts and smoking weapons towards her enemies as possible. It bought her just enough time to jump out of the hole and into open air.
She ran, moving as fast as she could with a groaning and injured Anakin on her shoulder. She kept an ear out behind her, but didn’t think that any droids were following her. As she scaled the steep walls of the canyon, she was careful to stay out of sight of any long-range guns on the walls. Once she made it to the top, she bolted, dashing in between rocky outcroppings so that she could avoid being spotted from the sky. She could see several ships flying around above them, and knew they had to be looking for her and Anakin.
“Snips… over there”. A weakened Anakin pointed to a cave just in the distance that she had missed. She made her way over there, quelling her rising panic as she felt Anakin’s breathing get more and more labored. Finally, at long last, she entered the cave and settled Anakin down gently, far enough inside that lifesign scanners wouldn’t be able to pick up on him through the rocks.
She then returned to the entrance just long enough to send off a signal to Obi-Wan their location, adding in that medical assistance was needed and that the droids are looking for them. As soon as it sent, she turned to run back to his side, but stopped short as she saw he was slouched against the wall. His hand was clutching where the bolt had hit him, and he was breathing heavily.
“Would you lay back down? You’re injured” Ahsoka’s worry grew as she took in how pale Anakin was.
Anakin weakly shook his head. “We have to send the signal”. He tried to take a step forward, but immediately had to follow Ahsoka’s suggestion and slid back down the wall.
“What do you think I was doing, Anakin?” Ahsoka kneeled down next to him, grabbing his hand to move it and get a better look at the wound. It wasn’t bleeding, thankfully, since the blaster bolt had cauterized the wound. But the droid had gotten off a lucky shot; it had hit him in one of the gaps of his armor and severely burned the skin. It was ugly, red, and raw. Based on how weak it had made him, she suspected it had somehow hit one of his internal organs.
She had seen Anakin injured before, yes. It was a fact of war. But something about this was different. She hadn’t seen him in months. Now, on their first mission back together, he goes and gets himself injured, and by… being overprotective? Showing off? EIther way, she felt panic build up in her. She wasn’t a trained medic; she only knew basic field medicine, and that wouldn’t be helpful for this wound. Her mind flashed back again to how he got injured, and she snapped.
“Anakin, do you know how dumb that was? Even Master Obi-Wan wouldn't take on 6 destroyers by himself!”
“They were going to hurt yo… us.” Anakin said through clenched teeth, trying his hardest to hide just how much the wound was hurting him. He was no fool and could see just how agitated she was and didn’t want to increase her stress.
“The way out was right there. You walked Right. By. It. For what, Anakin? Your ego? To win a stupid bet? To impress me? What were you thinking?” She crossed her arms, looking at him expectantly.
After a couple of beats, Anakin huffed. “I wasn’t”
Ahsoka rolled her eyes “A real answer, Anakin”
“That is a real answer. Just not the one you like” Anakin retorted.
“Anakin, you almost
died
. By the looks of it, you might still die before we can get you to a medical bay” Her voice broke as she voiced her fear outloud. “I need a real answer!”
Anakin’s temper flared as he yelled “I wasn’t thinking because I can’t think when you’re around!”
The silence that followed afterward made it hard for Ahsoka to breathe. Anakin was cursing himself as he looked away from her, not wanting to see how she’ll react to or interpret the words that just came out of his mouth. He didn’t see the flicker of cautious hope that lit in her eyes. “Anakin… what are you talking about?”
Despite the pain, Anakin took a deep breath, bracing himself for what he was about to say and what might come after. “I mean that it’s hard to keep my mind focused when I'm around you. You’re beautiful, intelligent, and that spinning trick you did back there? It made me realize how much you’ve improved your skills. It made me realize how proud I am of you… and when those destroyers came around the corner, I was so worried I was going to lose you. I had to eliminate that possibility.” His final sentence was timid and whispered, as if saying them too loudly would break the moment they were suspended in right now. “I mean that I can’t think when i’m around you, because I’m in love with you, Ahsoka”
Ahsoka placed her other hand on top of his, holding it close to her heart. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
He looked deep into her blue-grey eyes. “Because I couldn’t bring myself to. I was so afraid that you wouldn’t feel the same way and would ask for a different master and…”
He was cut off as Ahsoka smiled and placed her hand on his cheek. “You talk too much”.
And then she leaned in, placing a kiss gently to his lips. For a heartbeat, they both stayed still, simply enjoying the feeling that they had both dreamed of for so long. Then Anakin grabbed the back of her head, bringing her closer to him. The kiss was tender, a long-anticipated culmination of years of longing.
They were interrupted by the beeping of the communication device, signaling that Obi-wan was approaching and they needed to be ready to jump aboard the ship. They stole one last moment, touching their foreheads and smiling at one another. Then Ahsoka and Anakin stood, taking their steps in tandem, as they walked out of that dark, suffocating cave and into the freedom of the light.