Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.5.4

"I remember that," he mused, thinking back to the day. "It looked like someone had taken the crystals from the handle, but I wasn't thinking about it. I was a little more worried about something else at the moment." He looked at her pointedly, and she bowed her head, resigning to the blame.

She turned them over in her hands. "The day my shop got attacked, I pulled these off of one of the thugs. A few weeks later, and I made these."

Her story processed in Anakin's mind. "So those are the same crystals you had as a Jedi?"

Ahsoka nodded, handing them both to him. He felt their weight and instantly recognized that these were a lot heavier than her first sabers. The design of the hilt had a few touches from her old hilts, but new touches had been added to make them much more decorative and personal than the Order would have approved of.

"I'm kind of surprised no one brought it up when I came in," she remarked, referring to the Council. "I thought for sure they'd say something."

"They were distracted," he said dismissively. "I think they were more shocked about you than your lightsabers." He turned them on, expecting them to be green or yellow, or maybe even red, like they used to be. He was not expecting to see white blades.

Anakin stared at them for a long time. "This...I've never seen this before. How did you do it?"

She smiled at his awe, just a little bit proud. "I purged the Darkness and the Light from my old crystals, to start over. Now the crystals are neutral, which makes the blades white, I guess."

"That's incredible," he told her, deactivating them and handing them back. "I wish I could have seen you use them. Unfortunately, I was..."

"Being tortured?" Ahsoka asked, but Anakin waved it off.

"It wasn't that bad-"

"Don't you dare, Anakin, I felt it."

"It was only fo-" he stopped mid-sentence when he realized what she had said. "You felt it? How?"

She tapped her temple, reminding him that, "Whatever this is decided that the closer I am to you, the more I know."

Anakin rested his head in his hands, leaning forward on the bench. When he did, Ahsoka saw the blood that stained his robes properly for the first time. No one had been given time to change yet, and even the dark cloth of Anakin's choice of attire couldn't hide everything. 

"I still haven't figured that out, you know," he admitted, not looking up at her. "I tried looking a few times in the library, but I haven't found anything so far. Whatever this is, it hasn't happened recently enough for it to be remembered."

Ahsoka nodded, not very surprised. "We'll figure it out on our own, then," she told him. "We'll find a way like we usually do."

He smiled, eyeing her lightsabers again. "I don't know, you seemed to do pretty well on your own today."

"Believe me, I did not do this alone," she corrected him. "Otherwise I would have done it sooner."

"You figured out how to eliminate casualties," he insisted, standing up. "There are a few Council members who still haven't gotten that one yet."