By My Side

Chapter 16 - Denial

Ahsoka stares blankly at the viewport, mind whirling. Her master is... no. This can't have happened. It couldn't. Anakin Skywalker could not have died in a ship crash he made happen himself. The possibility is too absurdly ridiculous.

"No," Ahsoka whispers, eyes wide.

Master Kenobi spins around and strides out of the bridge without looking back, doors closing behind him with a loud hiss.

She feels lightheaded, shaky. She wants to run, to do something to – to – she doesn't know, but this cannot have happened. She was looking, she was, but she never saw her master leave that ship. She doesn't see him now, either.

Ahsoka runs. She doesn't know where she's going, just away. He can't be dead. This is what she feared from the beginning, why she didn't want to follow through with his plan, but it was her who insisted they go after Master Plo. Is it worth it though? Is it?

Rex – of all people – is the one who comes to fetch her from her quarters some hours later. She'd dozed off from exhaustion after working herself through her blinding panic. It'll be okay, Ahsoka desperately tries to convince herself. He could have escaped on the other side of the ship, but they didn't notice. He's alright. He must be.

"Commander," Rex calls, knocking on the door.

Ahsoka reaches up to rub her eyes, blinking a few times. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she must have. "Come in," she calls, dragging herself off her bunk.

He opens the door, standing inside the doorway, helmet tucked under one arm. "General Kenobi wanted to speak with you?"

Ahsoka deflates immediately. She is not looking forward to this. "Have you found Master Skywalker?" she asks.

"No, ma'am, but we're still looking."

Ahsoka nods, dismally, shuffling past Rex into the hall. It occurs to her, then, that maybe she should apologize. It was his general who might be lost, after all, and Ahsoka was the one who dragged him into it. What was she thinking? She could've refused to leave him, at least, and she didn't. And now Master Kenobi will be so mad...

"I don't believe our general was on there," Rex admits as they walk.

Ahsoka doesn't respond, because she doesn't know what to say. She doesn't want to believe it, either, but she's afraid her hopes will be in vain. Then what?

She held hope Master Plo would survive, but that was different. She'd known him far longer, and she knows what he's capable of. The same cannot be said for her own masters, but Anakin Skywalker is the Chosen One and that means a lot. She refused to believe Master Plo was dead, and she'll do the same for her own master until she hears otherwise. The only question that doesn't make sense is where he is if he's not here.

The Jedi Master looks none too happy when Ahsoka arrives. He's standing at the holotable, arms crossed, glaring in a way that would intimidate almost anyone with common sense, but Ahsoka's not afraid. Obviously. She's a Jedi.

"You should never have gone there," he snaps.

"I couldn't just leave Master Plo!" she protests, "I knew he was alive!"

"At the expense of your mission?" he retorts sharply.

"We destroyed the Malevolence!"

"Anakin destroyed it! And he's gone now because of it."

"He can't – he has to be out there!"

"He's alive," Obi-Wan replies curtly, sharply. "I can sense him. He is lost though. I suspect he's been captured." There's a whirlwind of fury around him that almost makes her retreat a few steps, but she doesn't. If there is one thing Ahsoka has always been, it's stubborn and fearless. She stands her ground now as she always does. "You should never have gone there."