A Padawan No More

*BEEP BEEP BEEP

Ahsoka groaned. The young togruta woke up every day far too early for her tastes, 0500. She needed to be out of the room she was boarding in before the sun was fully risen, as per her agreement with her landlord. Not that it was a particularly nice place. It was your standard room, a bed, a desk, a chest of drawers, and a fresher. Speaking of the fresher, after she finished up, she grabbed her bag and headed out. She only had a few possessions, and she liked keeping them with her at all times in case the dayboarder's hands started itching. None of them were especially valuable monetarily, mostly just clothes, a bit of money, a map, a knife. But among them was a picture, hidden away in the folds of a spare cloak. Anakin's cloak. She pulled the picture out now, fingers lightly brushing the 2 faces. It was an off guard picture of her and Anakin in between a mission, traveling in space to their next destination. His arm was around her, a look of pride on his face, while she looked up to him with the respect and adoration of a padawan. Sometimes she found herself missing those days. Her gaze wanders over to the cloak, worn to a lighter brown in a few places but still wearable. It was a good cloak, with a good memory behind it.

After the incident on Mortis, she'd had trouble sleeping at night. Often she'd have nightmares about what happened when she was there; the Son torturing her, fighting Anakin, betraying him , and dying. She'd wake up screaming, crying, and flailing, but eventually the episode would pass. This time, after an especially terrifying nightmare, someone's arms encircled her, wiped her tears and quieted her screams. Her hands ceased their movement after catching on their robe, and she held them close. Her eyes opened to the same caring blue eyes that she saw when the Daughter brought her back to life. He never says anything during those nights, but holds her tight and sometimes when she describes her nightmares in detail, sheds a few tears with her. It was on the first one of those nights that he gave her his cloak. He'd found her curled up in a corner, shaking and crying in to her fist. Unclasping his cloak, he wrapped it around her shoulders and pulled her into his lap like a child, pressing a kiss onto her forehead.

"It's okay to cry sometimes Snips, just not alone."

She fell asleep against his chest that night, listening to his heartbeat. She woke up still wrapped in his cloak, and Anakin never asked for it back. True to his word, he was always there when she needed him to be, till the very end.

Shaking herself from her stupor, she put the picture back, hefted her bag onto her back and began the trek to the city.

"I miss you Snips", she could have sworn she heard the words of her master through their bond.

"I miss you too, Anakin."

A Master No More

The first few months had been hard. They were lonely months, full of the absence of his padawan. He missed everything about her, from her biting remarks, to the way her even breaths lulled him to sleep every night. Her very presence had made his life more bearable.

Nowadays, the pain was dulled, and he didn't feel it all the time. But he felt it at night. Kriff, night times were the worst times, where all of his fears came to haunt him. He had no means of keeping tabs on Ahsoka, and had no idea whether or not she was safe and well. His dreams were full of her, be it the times they had in the past, or the fears he had for her safety now. Tonight was no different. It started off with just her, but when he looked close, he couldn't make out the specifics of her face anymore, or the exact pattern of her lekku. She started to fade, and when he reached out to her, his touch alone made her dissolve into mist. He woke up with fear in his heart and her name on his lips. Scrambling out of bed, he clambered over to his drawers, where he kept something hidden in the folds of his spare robes.

It was a picture Rex had snapped once while they had finished a particularly trying mission. He'd just defeated The Son on Mortis, and things seemed back to normal for the moment.

For awhile after Ahsoka had been brought back to life, she would suddenly get tired, and the weariness of death would seem to creep back into her. She was better afterwards, but at first she was tired all the time. One such time, she passed out while sparring with Anakin. He caught her, and led her over to the side, where she promptly fell asleep against his shoulder. Mesmerized by her sleeping face, he'd seen a glimpse of an Ahsoka he'd never known, one that didn't have battle worn lines in her face or a constant worried expression. She looked younger in her sleep, and at peace. Smiling a little, he put his arm around his padawan, rested his head on hers, and fell asleep as well. It seemed as though Rex had happened upon them, snapped a picture of the moment, and left them in peace. He gave Anakin the picture the day after Ahsoka left.

Looking at it from time to time made him feel like her presence hadn't completely left him.

He gazed at it now, smiling fondly at the memory.

Returning to bed with the satisfaction that he'd remembered the parts of her that had become fuzzy, he stared at the ceiling and thought of his little padawan.

"I miss you, Snips" he whispered into the night

Before he drifted off to sleep, he could have sworn he heard an answer.

"I miss you too, Anakin."