A/N: I imagine this takes place somewhere in season three of The Clone Wars, probably before they updated the models. But tcw is not in chronological order so. Also, it doesn't matter. Have fun.
Once again, Obi-Wan Kenobi finds himself in the heat of battle on some hot, dry, Outer Rim world he can't bother to remember the name of, where Anakin and Ahsoka are buzzing excitedly in the Force beside him, and every second brings a barrage of blaster bolts and cannon fire and shrapnel flying towards him. It is all he can do to keep from being hit, and clones are falling and being dragged to safety by their frazzled, tired brothers. If he is having trouble staying focused on the task at hand, to bring down yet another droid factory somewhere else the Separatists thought the Republic would never find it, then he can't imagine how Anakin -who often gets too caught up in the battle to remember the true objective -and Ahsoka -who is after all, fourteen years old -are doing.
Better, apparently, than he is. He sees Anakin out of the corner of his eye, taking down any battle droid in his path, Ahsoka flitting ahead of him with marveling acrobatics. Another enemy cannon fires, destroys what is left of Obi-Wan's defensive line. Anakin and Ahsoka have seen a hole in the enemy's defense. He senses it from Anakin, across a battle field and so many lost friends –a hungry eagerness to get this done, to bring down a factory that's churning out droids faster than he can destroy them. While the enemy is focused on trying to drive Obi-Wan and his men away, off the planet, Anakin and Ahsoka can sneak through. Although, Obi-Wan must admit that their version of sneaking draws a lot more blaster fire than anyone else's. He suspects they've given up stealth in favor of speed.
Anakin tosses a charge to Ahsoka and she catches it gleefully, sprinting and leaping above the heads of shocked battle droids towards the factory the droids are spilling out of, Anakin covering her, destroying any droid who turns their attention away from him and their blaster towards Ahsoka.
The pair, master and apprentice, are a blur among the battle droid, but their movements are so fluid, so acrobatic and precise, and the Force sings between them and around them, guiding them, it's sure and right and heavy the way it always is around Anakin, Obi-Wan has a hard time tearing his eyes away from them, towards the battle. Dodging and leading the clones away from the heavy artillery is become more and more difficult as the battle droids realize that they are walking the line between winning and being destroyed. Obi-Wan searches the Force for the answer, the outcome to this battle, but between the battle and the uncertainty of the future, he cannot tell. It's all he can do to stay alive.
Rex is by his side and he sighs, relieved, the second he and Obi-Wan bring up the rear of the company into relative safety. Blaster fire flies above their head. "He's done it," Rex sighs. His blaster hangs loosely in his hand. Rex is still standing in the open, Obi-Wan behind him in cover. "General Skywalker's about to bring the factory down."
Obi-Wan looks where Rex is facing, sees Anakin and Ahsoka - little more than blurs in the Force –heading down the walls of factory, deflecting blaster bolts and cutting down every droid in their path, and a low rumble in the Force tells Obi-Wan that Rex is right. As soon as Ahsoka touches down beside her master, Anakin turns towards Obi-Wan, though Obi-Wan doubts he can see them, and gives them a thumbs-up before pressing the detonator. The ground shakes. The factory crumbles, crushing the droids that are coming out of it.
Anakin and Ahsoka appear in front of Obi-Wan, out of breath, covered in dirt and rubble and dust, but they look pleased with themselves. Or - well, Ahsoka looks pleased with herself, smug and proud and excited. Anakin's glassy eyed with excitement, freezing in the Force, hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and he's not out of breath because he ran from the droid factory to where Obi-Wan and the 501st are hiding for cover, waiting for the gunships.
"Master," Anakin pants, looking everywhere but at Obi-Wan. A cocky, detached grin is stretched thin across his face. Obi-Wan cocks an eyebrow that he is sure is lost on Anakin. "We...well. Okay. We acquired some information when we were inside the factory."
"When were you inside the factory?" Obi-Wan wonders, feigning exasperation. He didn't notice, but he shouldn't be surprised. He doesn't expect an answer either.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Master," Anakin tells him, finally looking at him straight on with laser-focus. Scary laser focus. He doesn't move a muscle. "But. Well. It doesn't matter. We've got..." Anakin breaks eye contact with Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan can feel the air start to move around him again when he does. "Tell him, Snip," Anakin says again, bouncing again.
"We went on a patrol last night," Ahsoka recounts from the beginning. "We discovered a piece of Separatist Intelligence. Not really a piece, but a -"
Before Ahsoka can finish what Obi-Wan is sure was a very clever and revealing one-liner, Anakin interrupts her. If this had been a year ago, or even three months ago, Ahsoka would have been angry with Anakin. Instead, she only rolls her eyes. "A spy, Master. We found a spy, and Ahsoka and I are going after it."
Ahsoka looks up at Obi-Wan for approval. As a Jedi Master on the High Council Obi-Wan has the authority to approve or forbid missions. Obi-Wan also knows that Anakin is not looking for permission. "Anakin," Obi-Wan grumbles. He knows it's fruitless, but he must at least try. "You cannot go after this spy. We are being evacuated."
"What for?" Anakin spits. He turns his attention back to Obi-Wan. His full attention. Obi-Wan sweats, and he knows it's not the heat. "This mission, my mission, was a success. And it will be even more successful when we find the spy that almost turned this into a disaster."
"We have no idea how many droids are on world, Anakin," Obi-Wan reminds him. "This spy is on the planet?"
"Yes, Master Kenobi," Ahsoka answers for Anakin who has gone from bouncing excitedly to bouncing with barely contained rage in a matter of seconds.
"Then, think," Obi-Wan insists, tapping his temple. "There are more Separatist bases on the planet, probably. And we cannot take any more casualties. We must leave and regroup, Anakin. Please, listen to sense."
But Obi-Wan has known Anakin for a long time, and Anakin has very rarely listened either to sense or to him. Especially when he's like this. The battle still racing through his blood, the Force gathered tightly inside of him, sharp and formidable.
"I cannot let this opportunity pass without doing anything," Anakin insists. "The Jedi -" He always says "the Jedi" with such contempt, as if he's not a part of them. "-are always telling me to look at the big picture. So I am. I stop a mole or whatever from feeding the Separatists information about the Republic's military and about the Jedi, then I can save more lives."
"Anakin, you can't -" Obi-Wan starts, but Anakin cuts him off before he can finish, and Obi-Wan doesn't even know what he would have said if he had been allowed to finish.
"You leave without us, if you have to," Anakin demands, turning away from Obi-Wan. "We'll go now, and we'll be back before the gunships get here. Come on, Snips."
Ahsoka, who looks exhausted, shrugs and follows Anakin. "We'll be back, Master Kenobi," Ahsoka promises. "I don't want get stuck on the dustball with only Anakin for company." Anakin is already back out in the open, and Ahsoka bounds after him.
Obi-Wan takes two steps after them, Rex close behind. "Be quick!" he calls needlessly. "And bring the informant back with you! Alive!"
Rex laughs, but it's humorless. "We can't wait for them," he reminds Obi-Wan dully, coldly.
"We'll wait for as long as we can."
Fighting breaks back out before Anakin and Ahsoka have been gone a half an hour.
(It starts when the droids spot Anakin and Ahsoka. They do not opt for stealth, which is all Obi-Wan can think about, though he has no idea whether the battle droid engaged with his two wayward Padawans. He has no idea if they are okay. If they have reached their destination. If they will be back before the Republic arrives.)
Obi-Wan and the 501st cannot take much more. They are holding up the best they can, though that is all they are doing. They know that if Anakin and Ahsoka are not back before the gunships arrive, then they will have to leave them here. Obi-Wan knows that. He does not know when or if the Republic will break through the blockade but he knows that it can't be long. They called for evac over a standard day ago. It won't be long now.
The battle rages on for hours. Obi-Wan is nervous that Anakin and Ahsoka have not returned. He is nervous that there has been no word from the Republic. But he puts it from his mind. Trusts in the Force.
Anakin and Ahsoka now opt for stealth. Anakin is still shimmering malevolently in the Force, but he takes a deep breath before facing Ahsoka, and he tries to quiet his mind, but it feels more like watching someone stuff a large violent dog in a kennel that is too small than releasing it to the Force like he's supposed to, to Ahsoka. Like they're taught. "Ready, Snips?" Ahsoka nods. He presses a finger to his lips. Ahsoka nods again.
Anakin takes another deep breath. He clamps down on the Force a little tighter. Opening a first story window, he rolls inside the building silently. Ahsoka follows him. "Where's the rat?" Ahsoka whispers with all the venom Anakin feels. Anakin indicates with his head down the hall and waits for Ahsoka to start towards the room where she feels a shaky presence behind the third door on the left. She steps aside. The door is wooden, on hinges. Old fashioned, like so many of the doors on these backwater, Separatist controlled worlds. The hallway is narrow, not enough room for Anakin and Ahsoka to stand shoulder to shoulder. Anakin nods at Ahsoka as she lets him stand in front of the door.
He kicks the lock. Guess that's all there is for stealth. The door swings open, splintering. Satisfaction leaks out of Anakin and he lets go of the vice-grip he's had on the Force since they spotted the house only twenty minutes ago, barreling into the room. There's the informant. A small wrinkled thing of an old woman. The Force gathers around Anakin like a storm cloud. It gathers around the woman, too, shaking, twitching. "Please," she cries. Ahsoka remembers Obi-Wan's desperate parting words. She touches Anakin's elbow.
The Force falls, slams against the floor. The woman relaxes, relieved. Anakin was holding her still with the Force and Ahsoka hadn't even noticed. Anakin probably hadn't noticed either.
"What?" Anakin snaps. He looks at Ahsoka sharply.
"Master Kenobi said to bring them back alive," Ahsoka reminds him.
"Yeah," Anakin mutters, his hand flitting awkwardly from his lightsaber to Ahsoka for a few seconds longer than normal. Anakin strides forward, picks up the woman by the collar of her shirt. "Are you the one who's selling our secrets to the Separatists?" Anakin asks, the Force pushing against her mind, compelling her to tell the truth. Though Ahsoka is pretty sure Anakin's fists are enough to do the job. His metal hand is pressing into the woman's scaly shoulder. His real one bunched up her in dress.
"Alive, Master," Ahsoka reminds him. Anakin is not paying attention to his hands. The Force is busy prodding away at the woman's mind. His grip loosens a little. Not enough that the woman can move.
"She has the Force," Anakin offers as an explanation.
Ahsoka jumps, searches with the Force where Anakin is searching. Mildly sensitive. Ahsoka's heart races. "Sith?" she whispers.
"No," the woman offers. "Nor Jedi. Like you," she says this to Ahsoka, ignoring Anakin. "Or your friend."
"The Jedi will want to...want to talk to her, Master," Ahsoka reminds him. "Now more than ever."
Anakin ignores her still. "Are you working for Dooku?" The woman does not talk to Anakin. She will not look him in the eye. Instead she trains her eyes on Ahsoka. "Tell me!" Anakin insists, his hands tightening. Her dress rips where he pulls it.
"The Jedi are evil and answer to a corrupt Republic," the woman tells Ahsoka. It's not new information to Ahsoka, the lies the Separatists are spreading. Ahsoka lets the comment roll off of her. Force sensitives abandoned or overlooked or taken advantage of or whatever by the Jedi Order always feel the most strongly about the issue. Anakin hasn't learned to let it go yet.
"The Jedi are good," he says. Insists. "We're doing good. That's what we do."
"I can use to the Force to seek out the Jedi and other Force sensitive. It is easy when they are as powerful as your friend," she tells Ahsoka, and Ahsoka cannot deny that. Wherever Anakin goes, there is no mistake. She can feel his Force signature from half-way across Coruscant. On a desolate planet like this, with Anakin still riding the high from the battle, the Force out of control in his hands, she would have known they were coming before Anakin even decided to find her. "It seems that Grievous and Dooku find this type of information useful. Which battles the Jedi will be at, where the more powerful Jedi are being directed." Anakin snarls.
"What do you get out of it?" he presses, letting go of her shoulder to reach for his lightsaber. Unlit, he presses it to her neck. She ignores Anakin. She doesn't even flinch.
Ahsoka snarls too. Anakin's anger is palpable, it fills the room, and the fearlessness of a woman millimeters from death and ignoring Anakin completely is trying Ahsoka's already thin patience. "What's in it for you?" Ahsoka asks.
"The destruction of your Jedi Order," the woman offers simply and Anakin relaxes a little, a little numb, a little angrier. Ahsoka steps between them, pulling Anakin gently backward by his elbow. He detaches himself from the woman, clips his lightsaber back on his belt, turns his back towards them, seething, anger rolling off of him in waves.
Ahsoka shoves the woman roughly towards Anakin and the door. "The Order will be very eager to meet you," Ahsoka snarls. Her lightsaber at the woman's back, placing her in binders, her hand around the woman's shoulders, she shoves her again. "Let's go."
Anakin is out of the building before Ahsoka is even out of the room. When she reaches him, he's staring up at the sky, his face scrunched up like he's trying to decipher the clouds. Ahsoka scuffs his boots on purpose. "What're you lookin' at, Skyguy?" she asks.
Anakin shakes his head. Doesn't offer an explanation. "We have to hurry," he says, and darts ahead of her, doubling back every few paces to make sure she's still following.
"What's the problem, Master?" Ahsoka asks, the fifth time he does it. Anakin shakes his head, and doesn't answer. A second later, Ahsoka hears the gunships entering the atmosphere. Anakin pales, shakes his head. Ahsoka calls to him, but Anakin is running ahead of her, he's too far away to hear. "They'll wait for us, Master. We're not far."
But they are far. Ahsoka knows they are. Anakin is too far to hear her, and so is Obi-Wan and Rex and the Republic. They're stuck here, on this dustball, with a woman whose whole life is devoted to destroying the Jedi, and there's nothing they can do.
Obi-Wan can't help but be relieved when the gunships arrive. The wounded are loaded on first and Obi-Wan gives them as much cover as he can. Then the rest of the clones divide themselves into the gunships. Twenty of them. Anakin and Ahsoka are nowhere in sight, and there's room enough for two more people to cram aboard. Cody is gesturing to Obi-Wan to come aboard, but Obi-Wan must wait. He must give Anakin enough time.
"There isn't enough time, General," Rex says somberly next to Obi-Wan. "They'll be okay, but we have to go. The wounded...my brothers..." Rex is right (he is rarely wrong). Anakin and Ahsoka can last a few days without Obi-Wan and the rest of the Order. "We'll come back, General," Rex reminds him. "We have to come back to retake the planet. But we can't stay here."
Obi-Wan scans the horizon, and he reaches out with the Force, across his bond with Anakin, but wherever Anakin is, he's too far. He won't make it in time. That's all Obi-Wan can sense. Anakin is an hour away, at least, and he knows it. He feels Anakin, or maybe he imagines Anakin, urging him to go on without him. Obi-Wan boards the gunship with Rex, pressed up shoulder to shoulder. A few clones take off their helmets, running their hands through their sweaty hair. They blink at each other with identical eyes.
"Where's General Skywalker?" one of them asks.
Rex shakes his head. "We had to evacuate without them. They went to follow a lead. They were late."
There's some murmuring in the gunship. Several of the clones want to go back. Adamant that Anakin would never leave a single one of them behind. Obi-Wan thinks that they're right. Anakin would risk all of his soldiers for just one of them.
Rex thinks so too. "They're Jedi, men," Rex says, taking off his own helmet. His blond hair is always startling to Obi-Wan. "They can take care of themselves for a few more rotations while we regroup."
Obi-Wan hopes Rex is right about that too.
By the time Ahsoka catches up with him, Anakin has already been sitting on the battle field for fifteen minutes. When Anakin arrived, there was nothing there except a few battle droids trying to clean up the mess. No clones, no Jedi, no gunship. Obi-Wan had left without them, and from the amount of battle droids still there -in pieces or otherwise -when Anakin arrived, he couldn't say he blamed him. Anakin made quick work of the remaining droids, and then, the warning in the Force that blared loud enough to keep him alert during battle died away, and he sat, exhausted, in the dirt until Ahsoka came with the witch who wouldn't talk to Anakin.
He's busy tracing his name in the dirt when Ahsoka gets there, teeth bared, lightsaber in the witch's back. He looks up at Ahsoka, but doesn't say anything to her. Ahsoka shoves the witch towards Anakin roughly, and wipes the sweat from her face.
"Did they leave without us?" she asks Anakin needlessly.
Anakin wipes his hands on his robes and looks around like he's surprised. "Yeah, Snips. We're stranded." The witch laughs. Ahsoka kicks her.
"You think they'll come back for us?"
"Of course they'll come back for us," Anakin snaps. The idea of being left on this planet forever is enough to set him off, the idea of Obi-Wan washing his hands of the two of them ("I told them what would happen if they didn't hurry," Anakin imagines Obi-Wan saying) for good sends a rush of ice through his blood -but he knows Obi-Wan will come for them. It's not like they're stranded and no one knows where they are. It's like they missed the bus, and have to wait for the next one. "Don't be stupid," Anakin repeats. "They're coming back for us."
"I mean, like, in the next hour or two," Ahsoka clarifies. "It's getting dark."
Anakin hadn't noticed. He shrugs and lays down in the dirt. They've been here for the better part of a standard month, enough time to know there aren't many people, not many animals, and not many places to acquire shelter in the case of inclement weather. They also know that it gets cold at night. As long as they had supplies, an entire company from the GAR with them, there was no fear of the cold. But camp had been torn down, and Anakin's coat and blankets packed up when they called for evac yesterday. All he had on him now was his lightsaber and maybe a ration bar or two. And the binders, currently around the witch's wrists. Ahsoka, Anakin assumes, is in the same position.
The witch tuts. "Jedi who can't see the future," she cackles. It makes Anakin's hair stands on end. "Imagine that." She laughs again. She laughs and she laughs and she laughs, and the sound of her laughter rattles on inside Anakin's head long after she's stopped laughing, and Anakin can't understand what she's so happy about. She's stuck out here with them too. It will be cold, and it might rain, and would the deaths or two Jedi really bring her that much joy that she would be willing to die too?
Anakin shoots up, stalks towards the witch, hand inches from his lightsaber. "How do you know where the Jedi are going to be?" he demands. Ahsoka watches him carefully. The witch doesn't answer –she hasn't answered him at all, Anakin thinks. Won't even look at him. He clenches his jaw to stop from yelling, his fist to stop from taking his lightsaber and putting it through her heart.
"Hey," Ahsoka snaps at the witch, shoving her again. "You answer my friend or we kill you."
The witch laughs. Anakin's blood boils. "I use the Force."
"You can't..." Anakin says, but he doesn't mean to say it out loud. The witch laughs at him, at what he assumes is a very stupid look on his face, slack jawed, pale, tired. "I mean...no one is that powerful that they can tell where every Jedi in the Galaxy is. That's..." It's like magic, is what it is. And the Force, Anakin knows since it's the only thing holding him upright lately, is a lot of things, but it's not magic.
"It is not a question of power," the witch laughs, now looking at Anakin. Anakin sees her eyes for the first time, and he's startled. They're glassy, swollen, unfocused. She's looking at Anakin –he can feel her looking at him, prodding him with the Force, taking in his prosthetic arm, his height. But she can't seems to see him at all. Anakin tries to block her out, but he's too tired to do much good. Too tired and too angry. "It's a question of focus."
"For all that you hate the Jedi, you sure do sound like a Jedi Master," Anakin snarls, reminded of Yoda in the woman's judgmental laugh and wrinkled face. The woman laughs again, and before Anakin even thinks about it, his lightsaber is in his hand, on, at the witch's throat. "How do you contact Dooku or whoever you contact?" he asks, lightsaber casting a blue shadow across the witch's face. Ahsoka is standing behind the witch still, arms crossed scowling. "Tell me, or die."
"You won't kill me," the witch reminds him. "The Jedi Code forbids it."
"I do lots of things the Code forbids," Anakin tells her. The lightsaber is against her neck, burning her. He can smell it, feel her fear flood the Force. As intoxicating as his own. "Tell me!" The woman laughs and the sound is earsplitting.
The witch's head is on the ground, still smiling. It didn't stop her laughing, but it made Anakin's headache subside somewhat. He's panting a little, lightsaber already clipped to his belt. Ahsoka rolls her eyes at him, drops the woman's body. "Great," she mutters. "Well, Obi-Wan is gonna be thrilled, Master."
Anakin doesn't have it in him to care.
A/N: This is approximately half of what I have written, for a short-story challenge, which is to write one short story a week. I'm probably a third of the way finished. I'll try to post the next section next week, and then we'll see from there. This may be perpetually unfinished. We will see.
The challenge was for Week Three which is a retelling of a fairy tale. It may not be obvious now, but it's turning out to be a very drawn out retelling of Hansel and Gretal.
