*Kicks door open loudly again*
Heyo, human beings from outer space!
I'm laaaattteeee again buuuuuuuut I got these super cool and super obnoxiously ugly sunglasses from the dollar store. Now I've got my swag on 😎😎
Okaaaay but getting back to the whole reason you all are ~actually~ here, this is the third part to "Like an Animal" and "Pretty Little Pet" and was requested by I_am_Snips and foreverfanfic2020. YAAAAYY MY TAGS WORK!!!!!!!
Read on if you dare.
"Kix, are you–"
"Yes, sir," Kix sighed heavily. "For the seventh time, I'm sure that the Commander will be okay. She'll wake up soon, I promise, but she's tired. Let her rest, and you should get some rest, too."
The heart monitor beeped a few times in a moment of silence and the other machines hooked up to unconscious Ahsoka hummed as they worked.
"I can't rest. Not until she wakes up," Anakin said. He'd been sitting there watching over his padawan since they'd gotten back to the Resolute. He acted like he was guarding her life. Well, that was Kix's job, since Ahsoka was in his med bay.
"Then I'll sedate you," Kix said stubbornly. Two could play the stubbornness game. "You're in my med bay, so you can do one of three things. You can do what I say, you get punished, or you leave and still get punished. Understood, sir?"
It was Anakin's turn to sigh. "Got it, Kix. I'll go. Just take care of Ahsoka, okay?"
"Of course, General," Kix said.
Anakin pushed himself up from the chair and made his way to his quarters. He didn't feel much like sleeping, and now that he was away from Ahsoka, he could feel his anger bubbling up inside of him.
That kriffing fat scum of the galaxy hurt Ahsoka, and she could've died, all because he wanted to play some scientist games with her! Anakin's hand clenched tightly at his side. He could see the door to his quarters approaching, but he passed it. He had a new destination in mind.
The fat scum was being held in the detention block.
Anakin was going to visit him.
🪐🪐🪐
Anakin deactivated his lightsaber, breathing hard as adrenaline and anger coursed through him. It felt good– too good– to have one less living thing to worry about on the ship. Especially since Anakin was the one who ensured that this living thing would be an issue no more.
A living thing, a non-living thing, whatever the term was.
"I'll clean up after you, General?" asked the clone in front of the cell.
"That'd be great, thank you," Anakin said, still tense. "I kept it pretty clean."
"Laser swards come in handy right then, I'd assume," the trooper said with a chuckle. "No blood or gore to deal with."
"Very convenient," Anakin agreed. He relaxed a little with talking to the trooper. This man was a good man. Someone he could trust and who only wanted good for the galaxy.
"Oh, and no worries, General. I won't report this. 'Would'a done it myself if I'd been allowed to," the clone said.
Anakin grunted. After what that fat scum of the galaxy did to Ahsoka, he deserved every single thing that Anakin did to him in return. What goes around comes around, Anakin decided with a triumphant hum.
"Thanks again, trooper," Anakin said, and he left it at that, hurrying out of the detention block before anyone else could see him.
On his way back to his quarters, Anakin passed Rex, who turned and gave him a strange look.
"General?" Rex said, and Anakin mentally grimaced as he stopped to turn around.
"Yes, Captain?" Anakin asked.
"Kix told me you were supposed to be resting. What are you doing here?"
"I just dropped by the mess," Anakin said.
"The mess is the other way, sir."
Kirff. "What? No," Anakin said in a sarcastic voice. "Look, Rex, if you keep asking me questions, I'm never going to get to my quarters so I can rest."
"Of course, sir," Rex hesitated.
"Something wrong, Rex?"
"Kix didn't want to interrupt your rest, but seeing as you're not resting, I assume it's okay to tell you," Rex said. "The Commander's awake."
🪐🪐🪐
Ahsoka felt herself surface from an exhausted unconsiousness with a weak groan. When she could scrape up the strength do to so, she peeled open her eyes and blinked against the light.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Kix told her, and she shifted her gaze to the foot of her medical bed, where he stood. "How do you feel?"
"Tired," Ahsoka croaked. Her voice sounded horrible.
"That's expected," Kix chuckled, bringing her some water to help her dry throat. "Does anything hurt?"
"Better question," Ahsoka swallowed her water, her voice already sounding better, "What doesn't hurt?"
"Do you want more painkillers?"
Ahsoka shook her head, sipping her water. "My brain's a gas stove already."
"Well, in that case, your best bet is to get something to eat and some rest," Kix said. "I'll go grab you something. It isn't a choice," he finished sternly when Ahsoka opened her mouth. She shut it again.
Ahsoka looked aside as Kix disappeared from the room. She expected to see Anakin by her bedside, winding up to ask a million and one questions about everything, but she was both surprised and relieved to find Rex sitting there. Ahsoka didn't feel like answering a million and one questions.
"Whoah, Anakin, you've gotten... blonder."
"Glad to see you're feeling okay, Commander," Rex said.
"Yeah," Ahsoka huffed, her voice cracking. "Define okay."
"Noun," Rex said pointedly. "Not dead, aware, and with an intact sense of humor."
Ahsoka chuckled, but it turned into a short coughing fit, and she tipped her head back to breathe and recover.
"General Skywalker was told to go rest," Rex told her, and for a moment she thought he might be reading her mind. "But we both know that him resting is entirely unlikely. I'll go see if I can find him."
Ahsoka nodded as Rex left.
She found herself snapping awake from a light doze when Kix's steps echoed down the hall and he crossed into her room with one of those nasty protein and recovery drinks.
Ahsoka thanked him and took a sip, but she choked on it and decided to wait for a little before trying to down the thing. She instead washed the flavor out of her mouth with some water and wait for Anakin to show up.
Anakin indeed did show up, bursting into the room a few minutes later and practically diving for the chair at her bedside. And then he let off like a detonator with his million and one questions. Ahsoka snapped up her hand to silence him.
"I'm doing as well as I can, Anakin. Better than I thought I would," Ahsoka said in a thin voice, hoping that it would satisfy him. It didn't of course. "I'll recover, I promise."
"Do you remember what happened to you?" Anakin asked.
Ahsoka felt herself blanch. "I don't want to."
Anakin nodded slowly. "Okay."
A few beats of comfortable silence passed.
"I know you weren't resting," Ahsoka whispered. Anakin didn't say anything. "What were you doing?"
Still, Anakin didn't say a word. He couldn't lie to her, not now, and she knew it.
"You killed him, didn't you?" Ahsoka croaked, her voice cracking horribly, and the look in Anakin's eyes said it all. "Anakin, he– he knew things– lots of things– and it could've been useful– it–"
"I got what I need to know," Anakin said grimly. "I'm not stupid, Ahsoka, I interrogated him before I got rid of him."
"So you admit it?"
"He was the scum of the galaxy, Ahsoka, what did you want me to do?!"
"Killing isn't the Jedi way, and he could've been useful."
"Since when have you paid attention to the code?!"
"Anakin, you don't–" Ahsoka exploded into a coughing fit, closing the rest of the argument. Anakin grabbed her water, rubbing her back to calm her down. Ahsoka leaned forward and away from him so he waited until she was calm enough to drink.
The water soothed her as it ran down her throat and she reminded herself to breathe. Then a finger brushed against the side of her face and without even thinking, she dropped the water on the floor and whacked the hand away.
The water spilled and Ahsoka snarled, her voice filled with venom as she hissed, "Don't touch me."
Anakin, startled, backed off.
Ahsoka's eyes blew wide when she realized what she'd done. "Anakin, I'm sorry, I didn't– I didn't mean to—"
"No, hey, you're fine. I'm fine. It's hard, I know," Anakin said.
And then Ahsoka burst into tears, sobbing into her hands uncontrollably between frantic apologies.
Rex was wrong. She wasn't okay. But Anakin was there and she was alive and aware.
And she was going to be okay.
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Word Count: 1,416
Published: February 11, 2023
Well, I got more important garbage to do tonight so you probably won't hear of my existence for another forever and a half. but I have sunglasses from the pound store, so I'm cool now and I can do whatever I want 😎😎
I'm very scatterbrained right now if you can't tell already.
Requests are open, feel free to message me or make a comment if you have any ideas.
Bye, peoples!