A/N: This work was revised on 13/11/2020 - Comments may not align.
Trigger warning (T/W): Strong language, graphic injuries and dark themes of regret and guilt. All other trigger warnings will be in bold at the start of chapters. Please take care whilst reading.
Thanks for all the support, and I hope you enjoy!
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"This is impressive, Padawan," Master Yung says, examining Ahsoka's work with a sceptical eye, "I had much lower expectations from you."
Ahsoka forces a smile, "Thank you, Master."
Right now, giving her physics teacher an attitude won't get her out of this evening class for 'struggling students' any faster.
Actually, the fastest way to get out of this class is probably to just do the work, but Ahsoka can't get her head around all these numbers and equations the way R2 can. Like Anakin, she's much better at practical work. Sitting around and thinking has never been her thing.
Master Yung looks up from her work with a smug smile, "I haven't even taught you about Quantum Electrodynamics yet."
Busted: thanks, R2.
Ahsoka quickly comes up with a lie- which isn't hard considering Anakin's her teacher. "I researched it, Master."
"Really? Ahsoka Tano researched something?" Master Yung looks amused, and she definitely doesn't believe her.
Someone knocks on the classroom door and Ahsoka sags with relief when she sees Anakin poking his head through. Master Yung frowns, "Knight Skywalker, what are you doing here?"
"I've come to collect my Padawan, Master." He says, and Ahsoka can tell he's trying to keep a straight face, "It's an emergency. Ahsoka, get your things."
Ahsoka jumps up before Master Yung can reply, giving her teacher a quick smile before jogging out of the room. Anakin throws her a discreet wink as he holds the door open for her.
"Thanks for the save." She says once they're in the corridor, "What's the situation?"
Ahsoka's favourite part of leave is the occasional adventure she and Anakin get to go on, usually in the lower levels of Coruscant, working alongside Commander Fox and his men.
"Dinner." Anakin replies, casually strolling along.
"Dinner?" She frowns, "We're going out? I thought you were cooking tonight..." she halts in her tracks, "please, tell me you didn't set the kitchen on fire again."
"That was one time." Anakin says, takes her bicep to tug her along, "We're going out because your Grandmaster is also on leave and we all deserve some decent food."
"Master Obi-Wan's here?" She runs to catch up with him excitedly, "I thought he was on a campaign for the next month."
"The Council called him back yesterday." Anakin says as they reach the landing platform. "Something about the Chancellor's upcoming trip to Naboo."
Ahsoka easily spots his speeder, and to her delight, the great Negotiator is sat in the passenger seat. Ahsoka feels warmth spread through her chest when Obi-Wan raises a hand to give her a little wave, which she shyly returns.
"I'm terribly sorry to pull you from your class, Ahsoka." Obi-Wan says whilst she climbs into the backseat. "I'm afraid I'm on a rather tight schedule this evening."
"She was glad to leave that classroom anyways." Anakin teases, pulling the speeder out of the bay and into a lane of traffic. "We've all been working hard lately. A nice, lazy evening is well overdue."
Technically, they should only eat out for special occasions, but this is one of the few times that all three Jedi have leave on Coruscant, so Ahsoka isn't complaining about the quality time she gets to spend with her Masters.
"Really, Anakin? This place?" Obi-Wan looks discouraged as they enter the restaurant- the same one where Anakin and Ahsoka always go when they're on Coruscant.
"Master, you haven't lived until you've tried this place's pulled nuna!" Anakin exclaims, ushering them inside. Ahsoka inhales deeply, relishes in the scent of Corellian barbeque.
The first time she came here with Anakin, she was practically a youngling, still exhausted from Teth. Now, she's someone different. No longer naïve, she knows the price of war, and the clones call her 'Commander' because they respect her, not because she's a Jedi.
Anakin's even hinting that she needs to start preparing for her trials.
Obi-Wan frowns at her state of complete adoration, "The Order shuns the desire to overindulge in rich food, Ahsoka."
"She's fine," Anakin defends her quickly, "The Order also shuns the refusal of food."
Obi-Wan rolls his eyes at Anakin's attempt to twist his words. Ahsoka grins, watching their banter. The worsening war has separated the three Jedi a lot, so seeing her Masters interact so fluently- even after time apart- gives her so much hope for the future. She can't wait for the war to be over so she can be a teenager again.
They walk through the bustling restaurant to a circular booth where her two Masters sandwich Ahsoka between them because Obi-Wan thinks this restaurant is 'a zoo for lowlifes.'
Honestly, she wonders how he has been living on Coruscant three times longer than she has, but still thinks everyone is a criminal.
They're the loudest party in the restaurant, and it's a good thing their lightsabers are well-hidden or else the Order would have its name smeared across the HoloNet if they saw three famous Jedi acting like a normal group of friends in a shabby restaurant.
Oddly, Obi-Wan remains fairly quiet throughout their meal, only occasionally putting his cutlery down to input into the conversation. Ahsoka brushes it off as stress; he probably has a million things on his mind. The Chancellor's upcoming trip to Naboo surely can't be helping.
It's not like Anakin and Ahsoka let anyone get a word into their conversations anyways. Other patrons in the restaurant keep giving them funny looks whenever they interrupt each other to tell their own anecdote or give their opinion. It's normal though, for them.
"I'm absolutely stuffed." Anakin groans, leaning back to unclasp his belt. He sighs in satisfaction as he can finally exhale.
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan exclaims, mortified.
Ahsoka giggles, "Anakin has a food baby."
Everyone seems to think Anakin is in top shape- especially civilian teenage girls- but Ahsoka knows the man can eat like an animal when he wants to.
"I suppose you'll skip dessert?" Obi-Wan asks, acting like their parent again. She supposes the 'dad' voice works on them because Anakin never met his father, and she doesn't have any clear memories of her own. "I don't think you have room."
Anakin scoffs, "There's always room for dessert, Master. What do we say, Snips?"
She takes her cue, "Dessert doesn't go to the stomach; it goes to the heart."
"Of course, it does." Obi-Wan sighs, "Very well, then. Order more food if you must."
Their dessert comes, and whilst Anakin devours his like a savage, Ahsoka takes her time. She wants to enjoy every second of this evening. She can't explain the warmth she feels from sitting in-between her two Masters, bathing in their undivided attention, even if Obi-Wan's smile doesn't quite reach his eyes.
"What's on your mind, Snips?" Anakin asks, swooping his fork to steal some of her cake.
"Hey!" She reaches out, but he's already eaten the sweet sponge and is now grinning at her. He's downright evil sometimes. "I was just thinking we should go out for dinner more often, but now I'm not so sure."
"Eat up, young one." Obi-Wan says tightly, and when Ahsoka looks over at him, she notices one of his knees is shaking.
Weird.
"Got somewhere to be, old man?" Anakin asks, also catching on that's something's not quite right.
"No," comes the curt reply, "just aware there's a lot of work waiting for me at the Temple."
Ahsoka snorts, "Tell me about it. The war will be over by the time I'm done with all my schoolwork."
"Don't count on it, kiddo." Anakin says, "Just wait until the war's over and the Jedi have to go back to boring tasks like diplomacy and reviewing the Code."
"They can change the Code?" This is the first she's heard.
"Not quite." Obi-Wan says before looking at Anakin, "I'm not sure what part of diplomacy you find 'boring', but it remains an essential part of the Jedi Order's role in the Republic and we must-"
He's cut off by a singular beep from his commlink. Anakin frowns when Obi-Wan ignores the incoming message and instead calls over the alter to get the bill, "Who was that, Master?"
"Oh," Obi-Wan hardly looks at the device on his wrist, "it's the Council; we should see what they want."
His tone is flat, and Ahsoka may be unenthusiastic about facing the Council, but Obi-Wan isn't supposed to be. She gives Anakin a confused look as they stand and start shuffling out of the booth, practically running after Obi-Wan.
Anakin puts a hand on her shoulder before she can make her concerns known, "Leave him, Snips; he's under a lot of stress."
"I know." She replies, catches a glimpse of Obi-Wan putting a fist to his lips and then swallowing something. He looks at her and smiles- it's forced.
"Come along, Ahsoka." He says, clearing his throat a few times. He's certainly not acting like himself, maybe he's ill.
"So, what's the big rush?" Anakin says to Obi-Wan whilst Ahsoka scans their surroundings wearily outside the restaurant. Something doesn't feel right.
It's like the feeling she gets seconds before a bomb is about to go off.
"The Jedi Council has called an emergency meeting." Obi-Wan explains as the trio walk across the landing platform. Whatever the Council needs, it's apparently more important than sic-six-layer cake.
Anakin sighs, "I can see it now. Another long, boring debate."
Ahsoka shakes off the feeling of someone watching them and looks up at Anakin with a smile, "Would you rather they called you in to train younglings?"
It's a weak attempt at easing the sudden tension, and Anakin catches on. He smirks down at her, nudging her arm, "Are you crazy?"
Watch out, young one!
She senses the shot before it's fired, and doesn't hesitate from grabbing Anakin's arm, pulling him away as a red bolt zips between him and Obi-Wan. Immediately, the Jedi spring into action, darting behind a nearby stack of crates.
"Any idea where that shot came from?" Obi-Wan asks, narrowly dodging another bolt that scores the edge of the crate he's hiding behind.
Ahsoka squints- her eyesight being much better than a human's- and spots the dark shadow on the top of the building. She points, "A sniper. I see him up there."
"Alright, here's the plan." Obi-Wan says, ducking as he's fired at again, "Anakin, you flank him on the right. Ahsoka, you cover the lower streets." She nods in acknowledgement, "I'm going after him."
She ignores the voice in the back of her head that tells her Obi-Wan shouldn't be the one going after the sniper as they stand, igniting their lightsabers and charging out from their cover.
Ahsoka runs through the streets, hearing blaster bolts ring out above her. Anakin's voice comes through her commlink, "I lost him! Obi-Wan, do you have anything?"
She comes to a stop when her Grandmaster doesn't respond. She sees Obi-Wan above her, his back pressed to a ventilation pipe, but he doesn't ignite his lightsaber. Does he want to get killed?
Save him, young one!
A white-hot warning flashes through the Force, and Ahsoka jumps to the rooftop without hesitating. Whatever Obi-Wan's reason for not defending himself, she can't allow the sniper to kill him. She wouldn't be able to live with herself.
Everything happens so fast.
She lands on the edge of the rooftop, halfway between Obi-Wan and the sniper. Before she can pull her lightsabers into a defensive position, a shot splits through the air.
"Ahsoka!" Someone shouts- possibly Obi-Wan; it's too much of a blur.
She feels the impact on her shoulder first, so hard it sweeps her off her feet. Ahsoka braces herself to feel her back slam against the rooftop as fiery pain spreads through her left shoulder.
The rooftop is no longer beneath her. Panics consumes her thoughts, and she scrambles to get a grip on anything solid, her fingers grasping at thin air.
Then, she feels herself falling.
"Master!" She screams to neither one in particular as she feels her limbs against the wind. She's falling fast. It's too late to use the Force to catch herself.
"Ahsoka!" That's Anakin. Maybe he can catch her, or at least slow her down.
The ground is coming closer and closer, and she tries to land on her feet until- CRACK!
Her left leg lands flat-footed on the floor and crumbles from the force. There's an audible snap as her knee gives way and she falls hard, hitting her lower back hard against the floor. The back of her head smacks into the ground, and she stops falling.
Pain alights in her body like alcohol near an open flame.
///
Anakin moves faster than he's ever moved in his entire life when he sees Ahsoka fall off the rooftop. Time slows down, and he speeds up.
A fall from a distance like that is usually nothing to a Force-user, but he knows how difficult it is to use the Force when injured.
He lands in the street, hoping to see Ahsoka sitting up and cradling her shoulder. Hopefully, her training kicked in and the muscle memory made sure she landed on her feet.
He's wrong.
Ahsoka's laying on her back, her face scrunched up in pain. He can feel her agony, and it makes him feel dizzy. He sprints forwards- feeling like he's running through wet cement- and realises this isn't an injury a bacta patch can fix.
Her left leg took the brunt of her fall, judging by the bone protruding through her shin, letting blood pool around her. The girl pushes herself up with one arm, whimpering like an injured animal, before her eyes land on her leg.
She pales.
"Stay down, Ahsoka." He orders, dropping to his knees beside her. He takes her hand, squeezing it as tight as he can. "It's alright; I'm here now. You're going to be fine."
He's saying it to reassure himself more than her.
"A-Anakin...." She swivels her head to look at him as he lowers her back to the ground. She winces, and fear courses through his veins.
"Where does it hurt the most?" He asks, terrified she's bleeding internally.
"My.... back..."
///
Obi-Wan feels the breath leave his lungs as if the shot hits him.
One moment, he's prepared to step out from behind the ventilation pipe, putting all of his faith into the bulletproof vest beneath his tunic. Then, his Grandpadawan's in front of him, already getting knocked off her feet by the force of the blow.
Obi-Wan freezes to the spot, unable to move fast enough to break her fall. This was a mistake. He should've never signed up to this Rako Hardeen mission.
The Child has paid the price, wise one.
Hardeen fires again, barely missing his head. Obi-Wan's half tempted to stay put and wait for one of the stray shots to hit him until he hears Anakin shout, "Obi-Wan, call a medic!"
Ahsoka and Anakin need him more than the Chancellor and the Council right now.
Landing effortlessly in the street, he approaches the two younger Jedi, and the sight makes his stomach clench.
Ahsoka lays flat, her left leg disturbingly bent and the bone sticking out beneath her knee, the wound oozing blood. Open fractures are bad.
That isn't the worst of her injuries. Anakin's knelt at her head, his arms outstretched and hands supporting her neck. Spinal injury. Obi-Wan's blood runs cold as the severity of the accident sinks in- if it can be called an accident.
This was a planned attack, after all.
He stands at Ahsoka's feet, but he can't go any further. The guilt is threatening to swallow him whole, and his chest starts to ache. Is the vital suppressor malfunctioning?
What has he done?