Title: Silence Before the Dawn

Author: Emjen Enla (Fanfiction)/emjen_enla (Wattpad)

Teaser: "He hasn't said a word since it happened." –Ahsoka Tano

Rating: PG-13/T

Word Count: approx. 2, 400

Canon: Legends or Disney

Timeline: "Deception" (SWTCW S. 4 Ep. 15)

Dominant Characters: Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano

Pairings: Anidala

POVs: Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker

Warnings: character death (obviously), pretty heavy towards the end

Notes:

-Sorry for vanishing (again, this is getting to be a pattern). I gave up Fanfiction for Lent (40 days and I made it!) and then I was really busy with school. I wish I could promise things will get better, but I really can't.

-This story was requested by CommanderAhsokaTano (a user on Wattpad), who asked for something from the Obi-Wan undercover arc. I was actually pretty surprised that I hadn't done something from this arc before, because "Friends and Enemies" is one of my favorite Clone Wars episodes. I decided to write this story because I've always found the line of Ahsoka's I used in the teaser interesting.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.

When Skyguy realized Master Obi-Wan was dead, he screamed, and Ahsoka nearly jumped out of her skin.

It wasn't like Anakin was one of those Jedi who never raised their voice. He shouted all the time, so much that he sometimes lost his voice. Ahsoka had heard him cry out in pain once or twice too, though he normally did his best to make sure no one heard him in those instances.

This was the first time she'd ever heard him really scream, though, and the sound terrified her. It sounded like someone ripped Anakin's heart out and stomped on it.

Which, given the situation, probably wasn't far from the truth.

Anakin took Master Obi-Wan's body from her and cradled the Jedi Master to his chest. Ahsoka watched as her master pressed his forehead against Master Obi-Wan's. A strangled whimper escaped Anakin's mouth and tears ran down his cheeks, dripping onto Master Obi-Wan's.

Ahsoka had never seen Anakin cry. She'd never bought the whole "I don't need to cry" act, though, she strongly suspected he cried at night when he thought no one would find out. Now, when she saw Anakin's tears, a strange panic gripped her and she realized Anakin's tough act had become something of a touchstone for her. It had been a way of telling herself that as long as whatever had happened wasn't bad enough to make Anakin cry publicly everything would somehow work itself out.

What did that mean for this situation?

Police officers had started to turn up. She wondered who called them. The Underworld was so crime choked, a person falling off a building didn't normally draw cops. Someone must have either saw Master Obi-Wan get shot or recognized that he was a Jedi. She hoped it was the former, she didn't want people to realize one of the most famous Jedi in the galaxy had just been killed.

Unfortunately for Ahsoka, the police weren't the only people who are turning up. There were ordinary civilians, too. Like the police, they wouldn't usually notice something like this, but the police's interest must have tipped them off. They were gathering outside the hasty perimeter the police had created shouting questions and holding up datapads and holocams to try to get footage.

Fear flooded Ahsoka. They could be recording footage of Master Obi-Wan's body and the only emotional breakdown she has ever seen from Anakin. If that footage were to go viral—which it almost certainly would, just like everything with the Hero With No Fear and the Negotiator in it did—things would be very awkward for the entire Order. They needed to get out of here, fast.

"Captain!" Ahsoka stood up and waved for the attention of the lead officer. He moved towards her. He wasn't a member of the Clone Security Force, but he was human or near enough. His eyes darted from her to Anakin and Master Obi-Wan's body every few seconds. He was as blasted curious as everyone else. Ahsoka moved to block his view, but she was too small to do much good. "We need a ride back to the Jedi Temple," she ordered throwing all her knowledge of command into her voice. "Now."

The captain looked briefly put-off by being ordered around by a youngling, but she glared unyieldingly at him, and he eventually gave in. "Tula," he said into his headset. "Get a speeder over here now."

"Thank you," Ahsoka said infusing her voice with genuine but ice-hard gratitude. It was a trick she'd learned from Master Obi-Wan. The realization made her want to burst into tears, but she controlled herself, she couldn't afford to look weak in front of this man. "And if you have a way to make sure that crowd doesn't get videos of this on the holonet; it would be a good idea to use them. Your force would be in our debt."

"Yes…Ma'am," he swallowed hard, looking like using that honorific on a teenager went fundamentally against his entire being. "Can I ask what happened?"

It took all of Ahsoka's strength to stay neutral. More than anything she wished she didn't have to do the damage control on this one, but Anakin had never needed her to do something like this for him before. There'd been a number of times when she'd lost it over one thing or another and he'd covered things up, enveloping her in his inky cloak and shielding her from crowds—be they civilian, clone or Jedi—until they'd found a place where it was safe for her to show her feelings. Now Anakin needed her to return the favor and she wasn't going to let him down. "I'm not at liberty to say at this time," she said, professionally. "Is the car coming?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, looking disappointed. "Just give us a minute."

"One," Ahsoka snapped, none of them had time for this.

Tula turned out to be a Twi'lek woman a few years older than Anakin. She pulled her police speeder in front of the crowd so they were hidden from view and motioned for them to climb in.

Ahsoka went to Anakin's side. He was still cradling Master Obi-Wan's body. He seemed completely unaware of the chaos going on around him. She knelt down next to and put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't react, so she gave him a little shake. "Master…Master. Skyguy!" Slowly, he lifted his head to look at her, but didn't say anything. She took his arm. "Skyguy, we need to go. They're taking us back to the Temple in a police speeder."

For what felt like forever he just stared at her. His face was wet with tears, and his eyes…His eyes looked dead, like someone had sucked the life out of them. Slowly, he lifted Master Obi-Wan's body and walked towards the speeder.

He never said anything.

Anakin let Ahsoka report to the Council. He just stood next to her in utter silence.

The tiny sliver of his mind that was still somewhat rational screamed that it was cruel to make a teenage girl deliver news of this sort. Another considerably less rational part of him justified it as good practice, the ironic thing was that the justification didn't sound convincing to any part of him.

However, he couldn't speak. It wasn't that he was worried about breaking down. He was just too numb to speak. Obi-Wan Kenobi was dead. His whole mind and heart rebelled against the thought, screaming that it wasn't right. Obi-Wan couldn't be dead, he just couldn't.

It was a bit odd, actually. When his mother had died, Anakin had been devastated and outraged, but he'd never had trouble getting the reality of her death to sink in. He'd known without a doubt that she was gone. Why was Obi-Wan different?

That was a mystery to be pondered when he wasn't so numb. When he could actually think. He wondered, vaguely, when that would be.

Ahsoka had finished her report, Anakin found the eyes of the Council on him. He saw Mace Windu's lips move and heard the words as if they were coming from a long way away. "Skywalker, do you have anything to add?"

Anakin shook his head.

Windu shared a long look with Yoda, who leaned forward. "Then dismissed you are," he croaked. "Rest you should."

Rest. Anakin thought as he and Ahsoka left the Council chambers. Yeah, right.

They got into a turbolift and rode down into the lower levels of the Temple. Ahsoka stayed so close to Anakin their elbows almost touched. Annoyance flickered through him. She was looking for comfort now? Couldn't she see that he was too numb to help himself?

"Master," Ahsoka squeaked. She grabbed his arm and squeezed. "Master, it'll be okay."

She didn't believe it. There was no way she was convincing anyone while the frightened trembling in her voice still gave her away. The fact that she was trying to set aside her own fear in an attempt to help him was surprising, though. Anakin realized he'd underestimated her yet again. Ahsoka was a tough kid, pity everyone (himself included) forgot that.

The turbolift stopped and the doors opened. Ahsoka pulled him gently forward, her hand still on his arm. He gave no thought to where they were going, he just let her lead him. It was kind of nice, to let himself be out of control for once. Too bad Obi-Wan had to die before Anakin realized that.

Ahsoka didn't stop walking until they'd reached one of many identical doors on a dormitory level. It took Anakin a minute to realize it was the door to his own room. (His room not his home. Home was Padmé's apartment, his Temple quarters were just the place he slept when getting to Padmé's was impossible.)

Ahsoka was looking up at him. After a minute he realized she was waiting for him to open the door. She could have done it herself, all doors in the dorms were locked with simple Force-operated tumbler locks. They were very easy to crack, but Ahsoka was waiting for him to open the door himself, out of courtesy, probably.

Anakin waved his hand in front of the lock and the door opened. His room looked just as disorganized as it always had, but Obi-Wan wouldn't be around to lecture him about leaving it messy ever again. The thought hit him in the gut, almost piercing through the veil of numbness.

Somehow, though he had no memory of moving, he found himself sitting on the bed. Ahsoka sat next to him, hands twisted in her lap like she had no idea what to do next. Finally she took a deep breath. "It'll be okay, Skyguy. You're not alone, I'm still here."

She was, but she couldn't replace Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan had been his mentor, his best friend, his father, his brother. Ahsoka couldn't fill that hole, neither could Padmé, or Rex, or even Palpatine. Obi-Wan was gone and Anakin would never know anyone like his old Master again.

He didn't even want to think about trying to explain that to Ahsoka, so he just turned away and curled up on the bed with his back to her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," she said, she probably thought he was angry at her or something, but he wasn't. He wasn't anything, at least not right now.

They sat in silence for a long time, then Ahsoka took a deep breath. "Master, please, just say something. Even if it's just to yell at me, I want to hear you say something," she paused, and when she spoke again Anakin could hear the tears in her voice. "Please, Master, you're scaring me."

He hadn't meant to make her cry, he didn't want to scare her, but mostly he just wanted her to leave him alone. Ignoring her was the fastest way to accomplish that. He said nothing.

She lasted about five minutes, her near-silent sobs sounded deafening. They seemed to be reprimanding Anakin for not being able to set aside his own feelings—or in this case, lack thereof—like any normal Jedi, but he didn't move. Finally, Ahsoka got up and left the room, the door slid closed behind her with an eerie hiss.

Time passed. Anakin floated in a strange half-awake, half-asleep state. Numbly, he repeated the same unbelievable words over and over under his breath, "He can't be dead. He can't." The walls of his room seemed to press in around him, cutting off his air supply.

Finally, it became too much. He rolled off the bed and left the room. He hadn't been in the room as long as he'd thought, it was still dark outside. He wandered aimlessly through the dormitory levels until he found himself standing outside Obi-Wan's room. Anakin waved his hand in front of the lock and it unlocked. He let himself into the only tiny portion of the galaxy that could have possibly been called Obi-Wan's.

Instantly, Anakin was enveloped in his former's master's Force presence. Obi-Wan had been living in this room for years and his essence—his unique self—had permeated everything. Anakin looked over Obi-Wan few possessions, carefully arranged for the return of a Jedi Master who wasn't coming back

That thought was what did it. That thought cut through the numbness. That thought made it real.

Anakin collapsed to his knees and, for the second time in a matter of hours, burst into tears. Obi-Wan was really gone, just like his mother. Obi-Wan had been killed—murdered—and Anakin hadn't saved him. Anakin was supposed to be the most powerful Force user to ever live. What was the good having so much power if he couldn't save the people who actually mattered to him? How was that fair? If the galaxy was so bent on taking everything Anakin loved who was next? Rex? Palpatine? Ahsoka? Padmé?

Wait…

Obi-Wan had been murdered. That bounty hunter had killed him. A bounty hunter had taken down the great Obi-Wan Kenobi.

That could not be allowed. Bounty hunters couldn't just go around killing Jedi, somebody needed to teach them their place. And who better to be an example to the others than this bounty hunter who had no doubt just become the hero of all those lowlifes?

Anakin's eyes were dry now, he had a focus. He would find this bounty hunter and he would make sure that no bounty hunter thought of trying to kill a Jedi ever again. They would have Obi-Wan's killer as an example of what happened to those who tried.

Obi-Wan wouldn't have approved of this course of action. Obi-Wan would want his killer locked up some prison and reformed. Obi-Wan would say that what Anakin was planning was revenge, but it wasn't. This bounty hunter was a dangerous criminal, not a helpless noncombatant. He was the kind of scum the galaxy would be better off without. This wasn't revenge, it was justice.

The sun was beginning to rise. Light filtered through the shades, drawing lines on the floor. Anakin sat in the darkest part of the room, watching.

His rage rose with the dawn.

Hope you liked it!

Emjen