Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Anakin’s already out of the Hall of Healing when Ahsoka and their men return. He sneaks in, not yet ready to face Ahsoka or his men just yet, but desperate to confirm that she's alive and, more importantly, okay. She looks more tired than he’s ever seen her, and Anakin is ready to go after the Council right now. That’s... good, actually. Familiar, even, and Anakin thinks he can do it without… revealing anything. He can be mad at the Council and nothing will be wrong to them except his failure as a Jedi.

So, here he is, asking for an explanation. It’s well within his rights, as Ahsoka’s Master, to chew out the Council about this, at least. (All the things that he will never tell them. Yes, he strays too close to the Dark, and he fails at every tenant of the Unwritten and the Written Jedi Code, but half of them are in direct opposition to either reality or each other. Anakin knows that he’s attached, that he couldn’t let go no matter how much he loved them, and he knows that that's wrong… but the selfless love he’s seen people like, say, Obi-Wan show… that should not be made as evil as his own... There are still so many pieces of the Code that he disagreed with, but he really doesn’t have time to rewrite the Unwritten Jedi Code. He wishes so much that he did.)

“I would like a very good explanation for why you sent Ahsoka on the kind of missions that I would never let her come along with-”

Ki-Adi Mundi interrupts him.

“We pulled her out of Umbara.”

Anakin laughed, humorlessly.

“Yeah, and how well did that go? My men lost brothers because you couldn’t even sense that Krell had Fallen, and then you send Ahsoka back to deal with that, and then to Kiros, and then you dragged Obi-Wan away. I survived two months with Dooku, you could have waited on me and given her, the sixteen-year-old Padawan some help there,” Anakin smiled, the grin not reaching his eyes, “Trust me, I’d trade Ahsoka’s safety for my life every day of the week, regardless of the Jedi Code.”

Now, more than ever.

“Skywalker-”

Now it’s Anakin’s turn to interrupt.

“At least tell me that that was the last thing you sent her on.”

Silence.

“Where. Did. You. Send. Her?”

“A peace meeting, on Mandalore. It was perfectly safe…”

Huh. Padme had seen Ahsoka recently. That was good.

“But?”

“She got involved with a boy named Lux Bonteri, and he was involved with Death Watch.”

Obi-Wan. Great, Obi-Wan could give him information, now. He’s coming here as Master, rather than a Jedi, and Masters are allowed to know the details of their Padawan’s missions. They aren’t allowed them immediately, because needing them immediately is attachment. (Not true. Inaccurate information about what Ahsoka’s dealing with has been… very dangerous, in the past. If he had his way, Ahsoka would be perpetually far from the war effort. It’s completely ridiculous that the Jedi willingly send 12 year olds to fight in this war, Jedi and Clone alike. (And isn't it funny that the oldest soldiers are the same age as the youngest Padawans?))

“Oh, great. She’s alright now, though. You’ll send her right back out with me in two weeks, and she’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Knight Skywalker!”

Anakin just let out another humorless laugh.

“Forget it, I’m gonna go talk to her myself.”