T/W: Suicidal thoughts, detailed violence and dark, scary Anakin
///
Ahsoka sits up in the middle of the night with the sensation of someone's hand around her neck.
She feels like she's suffocating, and there are a thousand knives being stabbed repeatedly into her back. Gasping from the pain, she reaches out to hit the Healer's call button behind her bed when-
The door bursts open, and Master Che sounds more concerned than she's ever heard her, "Ahsoka!"
She's enveloped in the Healer's arms, and before she can struggle and scream, Master Che penetrates her mental shields like they're nothing, blocking out the pain from her skull.
"Master..." Ahsoka rasps out, leaning heavily on the older woman and clenching her eyes closed. "Help me..."
Master Che hushes her, "Quiet, child; I've got you."
"Shall I get a sedative, ma'am?" Ahsoka hears a voice at the door over the rattling in her skull.
"No," Master Che answers, "Leave us; I'll settle her."
This isn't the Doctor who's been treating Ahsoka for the past week. This is an entirely different person. Healer Che isn't compassionate or warm, and now she's projecting peace towards Ahsoka like it's her job.
"Hurts, Master..." Ahsoka moans, her head pounding. "I don't know where, but it hurts!"
It is not your pain, young one.
She scrambles from her commlink, feeling fire ignite in her lungs whilst an icy fist curls around her heart, "Anakin!" Her voice cracks painfully.
"Ahsoka." Master Che pins her arms to her side, holds her in a firm grip. "Try to relax, child. Your Master's fine."
"No, he's not!" She cries, desperate to break free. She can feel Anakin's pain over their bond; she needs to get to him.
Master Che puts a hand on her forehead and only has to say one word, "Sleep."
Then, all Ahsoka knows is darkness.
///
Anakin's sees pure red.
He feels like he's back on Tatooine, stepping out of that hut after closing his mother's eyes. Obi-Wan looks at him with the same fear those Tusken Raiders held in their goggled-eyes.
His comm beeps, Master Che's sharp voice echoing around his quarters, "There better be a bloody good reason why you just scared your Padawan awake, Skywalker. If she wakes up from the sleep suggestion I just gave her, I'll be knocking on your door."
Kriff, Ahsoka.
He quickly blocks his bond to the Togruta, knows she won't be able to cope with all the emotions going through him right now. Heck, he can barely handle it.
She may not be feeling his rage anymore, but his fists are still shaking, and his jaw aches from how hard he's gritting his teeth.
Obi-Wan's expression is impossible to read but Anakin easily senses guilt and sorrow swirling around his Force-signature. There's also fear.
Fear of him
The darkness within Anakin says, let him be afraid.
He takes a deep breath.
"You better have a kriffing good explanation or else I will be leaving this Order by tomorrow morning and taking Ahsoka with me."
He dares Obi-Wan to say he's bluffing.
///
Even as a Knight, the old 'I'm going to run away' trick is Anakin's go-to.
This time though, Obi-Wan's worried Anakin will genuinely leave. Obi-Wan has always told himself he would never force Anakin to stay in the Order, but taking Ahsoka away as well?
The Jedi Order is her life. She's never known any other family, home, or lifestyle. With her injuries, would she even be able to survive outside the Order?
It was the Order that gave her those injuries, wise one.
"Well?" Anakin asks, crosses his arms over his chest, his Force-signature pulsing like a grenade. "I'm waiting, and I'm not known for my patience."
He isn't.
Obi-Wan rubs the back of his head, feels like he's stood in front of Master Qui-Gon instead of his own Apprentice, "You're not going to like this."
Anakin raises an amused brow although he's anything but amused. "Really?"
Obi-Wan decides to just bite the bullet. "I volunteered for this mission because I knew my death could be convincingly faked by using your reaction to seal the deal."
It sounds so stupid when he says it out loud.
Anakin's right eye twitches, "My reaction?"
"Everyone knows how close we are." Obi-Wan emphasises, "I took a vital suppressor and wore the bulletproof vest. The plan was for Hardeen to shoot me and supposedly kill me. Killing a Jedi is a sure way for a bounty hunter to be accepted as one of Dooku's pawns."
He watches Anakin swallow hard before speaking, "You were going to fake your death?"
"That was the original plan, yes." Obi-Wan says, "Ahsoka was never supposed to be put in harm's way, that's why I told her to stay on the street."
"She takes after me when it comes to following orders." Anakin mutters before raising his voice, "Besides, she saw you were about to be shot! If I had been closer, I would've done the same!"
"I know." Obi-Wan keeps his voice low- yelling back at Anakin never works. "It was only after Ahsoka fell off the rooftop that I realised how flawed the Council's plan was."
"It wouldn't have been flawed if Ahsoka and I had been told what was going to happen." Anakin says, and he's absolutely right.
Silence follows, and Obi-Wan waits a while before pressing for conversation. Considering Anakin hasn't punched a hole in the wall yet, he's taking the news well, but he doesn't want to test him.
"As I said," Obi-Wan walks towards him carefully, as if he's a wild animal, "we didn't intend for Ahsoka, or you, to be at any risk-"
"What if he killed you?!" Anakin roars, making Obi-Wan wince. "What if you fell off the building after being shot? Ahsoka was kriffing lucky to survive!"
"You've had to hold your Master's dead body, Obi-Wan. Ahsoka is younger than you were when Master Qui-Gon died. Were you willing to make me- or her- hold your body?"
He remembers Ahsoka telling him about her visions where she finds him dead.
He feels sick. Why did he never consider how much his 'death' would affect two of the most important people in his life?
Anakin and Ahsoka are his everything, and he was willing to hurt them.
"Brother, I would never wish that on either of you in a million years. You and Ahsoka are... You two are the only family I have left." He takes a deep breath, feels completely ashamed, "Unfortunately, the Council had no other choice but to go through with this plan."
It's just an excuse, and Obi-Wan knows it.
"The plan didn't kriffing work." Anakin stands and paces to the window, "Ahsoka's going to be off the field for months, and you weren't exactly in the best health after Hardeen's attack, so who's going to save the Chancellor now?"
"Mace took up the mission as Hardeen." Obi-Wan says, not moving any closer to the Knight. "He's officially on meditative retreat."
Anakin scoffs, "That explains why I managed to get off Orondia alive."
He looks over his shoulder at Obi-Wan, "I guess nobody loves Windu enough to give a convincing reaction to his death, is that right?"
"I wasn't involved." Obi-Wan says.
"Here I was thinking the Jedi Order shuns attachment and yet they were relying on my reaction to confirm your death. Seems ironic."
It is.
"Where's the real Hardeen?"
Obi-Wan's face hardens, "I'm not going to tell you, Anakin. Killing him will not bring back Ahsoka's leg."
Anakin watches the rain drizzling against the window, "No, but it'll deter others from trying to hurt her."
"You can't protect her from everything." He walks over to the Knight and cautiously rests a hand on his shoulder, says, "I know this is a lot to take in, and I truly don't know how to apologise-"
"I'm not the one you need to apologise to." Anakin spits, whirling around and knocking his hand away, "I'm not the one with a spinal injury, amputated leg, paralysed arm and inpatient depression."
"Then again," he scoffs, "no amount of apologising will help Ahsoka right now."
He's right. Maybe Ahsoka would be better off if Obi-Wan did die.
His hand twitches besides his lightsaber, and for a second, Obi-Wan considers it.
As soon as he thinks it, the lightsaber is pulled from his belt and lands in Anakin's outstretched hand. Selfishness washes over Obi-Wan as his former student glares at him.
"If you did it, I would have to do it too. Right now, Ahsoka needs me here, and she needs you too."
///
Anakin feels himself trembling, and it's not from anger.
Keeping his eyes on Obi-Wan's blank expression, he tosses the lightsaber to the couch and then does the same with his own.
They aren't Jedi right now.
Without breaking eye contact, Anakin steps towards his mentor, feels cracks surfacing in his friend's Force-signature. He takes Obi-Wan's shoulders and lowers them to the floor before his brother breaks down in his arms.
Obi-Wan tries to pull away, but Anakin doesn't let him. He pushes his friend's head into his shoulder and starts to feel the sobs racking through his body. Anakin can only think of one thing to say.
"I would've been shattered if Hardeen killed you, Obi-Wan, even if you only faked your death. It would've broken me beyond repair."
He's already lost his mother. Losing someone else would truly destroy him.
He gently prods at Obi-Wan's mental shields as the great Negotiator falls apart. The guilt is overpowering like a bitter root whose taste can't be washed away with water or wine.
Beneath the guilt is a darkness which Anakin is familiar with; the same feelings he experienced in the time surrounding his mother's death.
Obi-Wan's mind has always been comforting to Anakin's internal storm, but now he's the one in need of support. Anakin gladly provides.
He may still be furious at the Council, but Obi-Wan is the closest friend he has, and he swore to himself the Order would never get between their friendship. Windu and Yoda- on the other hand- may be receiving different treatment from Anakin when he sees them.
They sit on the floor of Anakin's quarters- minds and bodies entangled in a secure embrace- for the rest of the night. Obi-Wan's cries eventually die down, but Anakin doesn't let him go.
He's almost afraid to.
///
"General."
"Captain." Anakin nods back at Rex, turning into the 501st barracks with him. "Just the man I was looking for."
"How's she doing?"
"Good." He says, smiling a little too widely. "She got on with her leg really well last night."
Rex's face brightens, "I'm glad to hear that, sir."
"I'm afraid I've come to ask you for a favour."
The Captain straightens, "Anything, sir."
"I've got an important meeting to attend," Anakin lies, "and I may not be back when Ahsoka wakes up. Could you take her for a walk outside her hospital room?"
Rex frowns slightly, "I'd love to, sir, but I thought you said the clones are banned from the Halls of Healing?"
"As per Master Che's orders, but it's her day off." Anakin says, remembering she was on the night shift. "There's nobody else I want around Ahsoka right now besides her Captain."
He means that; he can't trust any Jedi to keep an eye on Snips, and Padmé's already left for Naboo.
That settles it for the clone who nods, "Leave it to me, sir. I'll make sure she gets some fresh air."
"Thank you," Anakin sighs, feels a weight being lifted from his shoulders. That gives him about two hours to visit the real Hardeen and settle a few things.
Obi-Wan refused to tell him where the criminal is being kept, but Anakin has his sources. Turns out, Commander Fox has been aware of the entire plan since before it began, hence why the Coruscant Guard didn't put themselves through the trouble of tracking Hardeen down after Ahsoka was shot.
It doesn't matter if this bounty hunter was being played; he was paid to shoot a Jedi which nearly cost Ahsoka her life. Anakin has a few words to say to him. Well, maybe a bit more than a few words.
///
Fox is manning the central access point when Skywalker arrives. He knows Jedi are at their most serious when their faces are barely visible beneath the hoods of their cloaks, so Fox keeps his greeting clipped.
"General Skywalker, what can I do for you?"
Skywalker looks around, and the guards get the cue, shuffling back out of earshot. Fox doesn't let himself be intimidated; there's bulletproof glass between him and this hot-tempered Jedi after all, but he can't help the slight clench of his jaw when Skywalker's glare turns to him.
"I think you know why I'm here."
Fox isn't spineless, but he has to admit Skywalker's a scary guy. The Commander can see why he's such an effective General.
Really, he should've known why Skywalker came to the detention centre. When General Windu got brought in under disguise, one of Fox's medics had to patch him up for a snapped wrist.
Mess with Ahsoka Tano, and you better hope Anakin Skywalker doesn't find you.
His training makes him hesitate: prisoners will not be physically assaulted within the facility.
Technically, Jedi have clearance to visit any prisoner in the entire facility. Rako Hardeen might need a bacta patch or two after Skywalker visits him, but Fox doesn't really care. He heard about the state Commander Tano's in. Hardeen's two-month sentence is pathetic considering he disabled a teenager.
"I'll escort you myself." He says, finding the right key card and then exiting the office. He nods at his guards, "I'll be back shortly."
"Sir, yes, sir." They snap, making Fox smirk as he takes off his helmet.
"Thank you, Commander." Skywalker says as they start walking, and he sounds like a machine with how much he's forcing his words.
Fox thought Skywalker was unaware of Windu going undercover to play Hardeen, but he obviously knows the truth or else he wouldn't be here. Fox glances at the General, sees a deep frown on his face. He's glad he wasn't there when Skywalker found out this was all part of the Council's plan to protect the Chancellor.
Good intention, bad execution, Fox decides. He'd lay down his life for the Chancellor in a heartbeat, but faking a death to go undercover?
Seems a little excessive. Officially, Windu's on leave, and nobody has questioned that, so why did they feel the need to make such a big song and dance over faking Kenobi's death?
"The prisoner is being kept on the lowest level." He informs Skywalker, opening a lift for them and stepping inside. "I must ask, General, are you carrying any-"
A lightsaber is held out to him before Fox can finish. "I don't need it."
Fox attaches the weapon to his belt, "Thank you, sir."
The lift stops, and Fox lets Skywalker step out first. The Jedi glances around, "New facilities, Commander?"
"Um, yes," Relief floods him at Skywalker's light, conversational tone. Fox isn't much of a talker, but he welcomes this change of subject. "Built just a few months ago. Down here we have a new gym, trade school and even a swimming pool."
Skywalker hums as they walk down the well-lit corridor. "These dogs live better than I do."
Fox feels his jaw tighten, "The Senate believes rehabilitation is more sustainable than punishment."
"And what do you think?" Skywalker asks, looking his way.
This is why Skywalker's different from other Jedi.
He isn't prim and proper and orthodox. He cares about what clone officers think, and he knows not everything in the universe is as perfect as the Senate believes it is. Nobody has ever asked Fox what he thinks about the rehabilitation method of criminal justice.
"Depends on the crime and who the criminal is." Fox says, "We have a juvenile detention facility here, and most of those ankle-bitters will be able to live crime-free lives with good jobs and families if we can rehabilitate them."
Thorn's in charge of handling the young offenders, and they may be violent and bad-mouthed, but Fox knows a lot of them are decent people. Rough crowds tend to make rough individuals.
"I think some criminals don't deserve second chances." He stops outside the cell. "Our friend here, for example."
Skywalker nods in agreement, shrugging his cloak off his shoulders and allowing it to fall gracefully to the floor. "On Tatooine, crimes were punished with sitting in a pit for twenty-four hours. Nobody ever re-offended."
Fox scoffs, "Respectfully, sir, pick-pockets on Tatooine aren't the same as murders in the underworld. You could threaten them with the death sentence and they'd still kill somebody if the bounty's big enough."
"Trust me," Skywalker cracks his knuckles, the sound echoing through the corridor. "Hardeen's going to wish he was given the death sentence."
Prisoners will not be physically assaulted within the facility.
Fox won't have to say anything. He'll go back to his day-to-day tasks, and if anyone asks what Skywalker did to Hardeen, he can just shrug. Nobody will think he knows any different.
He swipes the key card, opening the door to Hardeen's cell. He isn't worried about getting attacked by the prisoner whilst a Jedi Knight is stood next to him. If anything, Hardeen should be afraid.
"Breakfast is in an hour, sir." He says, passes the key card over, "Try to make him look presentable."
"Don't worry;" Skywalker smirks darkly, "I'll make a meal out of him."
///
"You alright there, Commander?"
Ahsoka jumps at Rex's voice, looks up from fiddling with her armbands to see him standing in the doorway to her room.
"You don't even want to feel Master Che's wrath when she sees you here." She smirks, smoothing out her skirt. It feels good to be back in her normal attire. Granted, she can't pull her leggings over the prosthetic and she needs a bigger left boot, but it's a start. "She'll eat you for breakfast."
Rex lets out a laugh, unbothered by the threat. The banter is certainly more refreshing than the horrible sensation of something dreadful happening to Anakin the night before.
"Shouldn't you be getting the men ready to go to Naboo?" She asks, raising an eye-marking as Rex walks towards her bed.
"We haven't been deployed there." He says, resting his helmet on the end of her mattress, "Our invite must have got lost in the mail. Do you need a hand with that?" He nods to where her armbands are hanging loosely around her elbow.
"Please." Ahsoka waves her left hand, her fingers flopping around uselessly. "My fingers aren't cooperating."
Rex chuckles, lifting the bands into their rightful positions around her bicep. "I had the same problem after I got shot on Saluecami."
She presses her lips together- Rex rarely talks about Saluecami. "Cody had to help me with my armour for two weeks afterwards."
"At least it wasn't Master Che who had to help you put on your underwear." Ahsoka cringes at the memory of the Healer having to help her earlier.
Rex laughs again, stepping back once he's finished with the final armband, "Rumour has it, Fives gave you a peep show yesterday."
"It isn't the first time I've seen a clone naked, Rex." Ahsoka holds out her arm to admire the diamonds that her armbands form against her skin. "Remember, Anakin sends me to fetch you for debriefings. Did he send you here on babysitting duty again?"
She hasn't seen Anakin yet today, and she's curious about the experience she had the night before.
"The General will be here soon, littlun. Until then," Rex extends a hand, "I'm supposed to take you for a walk outside."
"Outside?" Ahsoka excitedly takes his hand and slowly stands up from the bed. Putting weight through the prosthetic still makes her nervous, but she trusts the Healers and Anakin's mechanics. Besides, Rex won't let her fall.
"With all due respect, sir, you've been cooped up in here for far too long." Rex waits until she finds her feet before cocking out his elbow. Ahsoka slips her hand in, gripping his vambrace tightly as she takes a few precautionary steps. "Nice skipper."
"Skipper?" She repeats, frowns. Rex nods down at her leg, "Oh, why skipper?"
He shrugs as they begin to walk- slowly- out of the room. "General Skywalker tried to get morale up in the 501st by getting the guys to come up with a name for your new leg."
Ahsoka can't help but laugh; Anakin's such a child.
"Skipper's the most promising name you have right now." Rex continues, "Everyone else's suggestions were just downright inappropriate. Fives' was so bad I gave him dish duty."
"Poor Fives." Ahsoka muses, smiling, "He's been getting in a lot of trouble recently."
"No Echo to keep him in line." Rex says, a little sadness in his tone. "Watch your step, Commander."
He helps her down three steps which lead out of the Halls of Healing. Ahsoka looks down at her feet, trying to focus on not falling, "Where would you like to go?"
"The courtyards should be nice," she suggests, remembering all the time she spent there as a youngling.
They stroll casually, enjoying the nice weather and the sound of birds singing in the trees. It's kind of surreal to see birds on Coruscant- it reminds Ahsoka of Shilli or some of the other grassland planets she's visited during her time as Anakin's student.
It's peaceful.
///
Anakin takes slow steps into Hardeen's cell, making sure his footsteps echo loudly. He wants Hardeen to fear him. He should be afraid.
The bounty hunter's slouched in the corner of the room, knees bent and elbows resting over them. His face is burrowed in his orange sleeve, eyes hidden even when he identifies Anakin, "Skywalker."
"Hardeen." Anakin keeps his tone low, not quite a growl but bordering on one. He stands over the prisoner, arms crossed firmly over his chest, "You've been expecting me, I assume."
He lifts his head, and Anakin can just see his eyes gleaming in the low light. "I was paid to kill Kenobi; I knew you wouldn't let that slide."
Anakin's features harden as he crouches, coming to eye level with this scumbag. "But you didn't kill Kenobi. You hurt somebody else. I don't think you actually know what you've done."
Calm yourself, Chosen One.
Hardeen grins, his breath stagnant in Anakin's face, "That little girl made quite a scream when she fell off the rooftop."
The Jedi overboils.
Hardeen grunts as he's lifted off the floor by his neck and pinned against the wall. With his metal hand which isn't gripping his throat, Anakin punches his stomach. Hardeen's groan is music to his ears. It sounds like revenge; it sounds like justice.
"Listen to me," Anakin hisses, leaning so close to Hardeen's face he can see the fear in his eyes, "Watch your mouth, or else I won't stop myself from killing you."
You must resist, Chosen One!
"Don't hesitate, Jedi," Hardeen gasps, trying to pry Anakin's hand off his throat but his grip is steel. "Killing me will only put me out of my misery; you'd be doing me a favour."
Anakin's grip around Hardeen's neck gets close to completely crushing before he throws the man against the far wall of the cell, smiling at the sound of his heavy body hitting the ground.
He puts his boot on Hardeen's head when the prisoner tries to stand up, and he applies a medium pressure, just enough to make Hardeen feel like his eyeballs are going to pop out. Reaching down, he grabs the man's arms and pulls them backwards, making them creak like an old set of wooden stairs.
Hardeen screams as his shoulders are pushed out of their sockets. Anakin chuckles, letting go only to kick the scum onto his side, annihilating his stomach with his steel-toed boot. Watto did this to him once as a kid, so he knows how much pain he's causing the bounty hunter.
"S-Stop!" Hardeen cries, trying to push him away.
"Never." Anakin growls back. He drops his knee onto Hardeen's chest, hears a few ribs split beneath his weight.
Hardeen's gargling now, all the air forced through his lungs and his throat too badly damaged to speak. "Nothing you do or say will make me stop hurting you. You're going to take this punishment like your life depends on it because it does. Protest again, and you won't see the next hour."
It's recited lines; things he's heard being said during his time in slavery. The threats haunted him as a child, but now he can finally put that fear into somebody else, and it feels good.
Hardeen coughs, blood splattering down his chin, and he feverishly gasps. Anakin smirks, the bastard's choking on his own blood.
"My, my, the predator has become the prey."
Hardeen stares up at him, rasping now. There's nothing but terror in his eyes, and Anakin wishes the Council were here to see how weak and pathetic this bounty hunter is. They should've never hired someone so spineless to do their dirty work.
"Got anything else to say, Hardeen?" Anakin asks, silently daring him to speak. If he stays quiet, Anakin will leave without causing him any more damage.
Hardeen turns his head to one side and spits blood onto the cell floor, "You care about that bitch like she's more than just your Padawan, Skywalker. What is she to you? A good time?"
Anakin doesn't hesitate. He grabs the sides of Hardeen's face, lifts it up and then throws it back to the ground.
No, Chosen One! You fool!
The crack resonates through the cell. Hardeen's eyes go glazed as blood starts to pool around his head. Anakin instantly knows he's gone too far, but somehow, this isn't enough.
Hardeen's in pain- it's clear in the Force- but he's not in as much pain as Ahsoka was in.
Anakin picks up his left arm and holds it in front of Hardeen's face. He wants the criminal to feel, hear and see this.
The half-dead man lets out a choked gasp when his forearm is snapped. The blood is everywhere, quickly coating Anakin's robes and covering his hands. The sight doesn't scare him like it used to; it's comforting to know justice has finally been served.
Hardeen deserved nothing less than death the day he accepted his mission.