A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome back! Many thanks to everyone who read, followed, favorited, and reviewed that last chapter. You all keep me writing!

Believe it or not, we are almost out of this stage of the fic! Anakin's almost out of that room. Yay, I can't wait to move on to the rest of the plot.

MossyMeow: Thanks. :) I'm glad you caught the Wrong Jedi parallels. Yes… Anakin could unfortunately be compared to Grievous in more ways than one. I don't think he would appreciate a breathing comparison any more lol. Reader: Thanks! I have tried very hard to do my research and make this all plausible. Quick, easy, deus ex machina recoveries do nothing to point out how utterly needless his suffering really was. THEY HAD THIS TECHNOLOGY! SIDIOUS IS JUST A SADISTIC MONSTER WHO DID NOT SUFFER ENOUGH! HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT TO BURN TO DEATH. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Smp: Procedures first: The reason there was so much procedure talk in the last chapter is because we're almost out of the hospital room, and a lot of the treatment is going to move off-screen. I needed to establish what is being done, so we won't have to break plot to go talk about it later. Anakin will continue to improve, procedure may be mentioned if it somehow affects plot, but it doesn't have to be a focus at all. Hope this helps.

LUKE: I am terrible at writing him. This came to my attention as the fic progressed, and it is one reason that focus has shifted off of him somewhat. I am trying to get him better in my head, and when that happens I will likely go back and rewrite most of his lines.

There is no "mighty Ahsoka." What there is is a mid-to-late-thirties Jedi who was considered remarkable as a child, who received excellent training, and then survived in the Empire for 23 years on her own. She also continues in her Rebels role as far as her ability and impressiveness are concerned. I have a journey and a plan for her, and it's not going to be easy.

Luke is young, inexperienced, his training was barely started in comparison to everyone else, and Yoda's training was much more focused on quickly growing his ability and warning him off from the dark side than on combat skills. And yes, his head has indeed been turned by flashy lightsaber moves; thanks for noticing. And no, "flashy" does not mean "better" (Vader is evidence of that), but the skills he displayed in the escape from Jabba, his training on Dagobah, and in his two duels did concern me. His focus seems to usually be on the situation at hand, rarely on his surroundings, and his fighting suffers for it. In addition, his dueling skills do leave something to be desired. He swings his saber really wide for no apparent reason, even when doing precision work like repelling blaster fire, and he is slow partly because of it. He's used to slow duels because that's all he's seen or encountered, so he takes his time and thinks about his next move. In a fight with, say, Inquisitors, Maul, or Ventress, this would not go well, since he doesn't have the skills for that type of fighting. Lightsaber forms need to be drilled until they are almost instinct. Speed is vital.

I am NOT trying to portray Luke as weak. In fact, Ahsoka and others have repeatedly noted how good he is for the amount of training he has received. He is incredibly powerful and talented, and he has worked hard on his own. Not being as good at 23 as lifelong veterans are in their 30s and 40s is not shameful.

The training they were doing last chapter was a technique that Kanan, who was fifteen when his training was cut short, did not master until Rebel S4, and then only because he was blind and had to master it to function. By the way, I never said that Ahsoka was doing a good job of teaching it. It is not the same as the probe exercises. I think lots of Jedi teaching likely uses blindfolds; it's an easy way to force them to rely on the Force rather than their other senses.

He's not arrogant. He gets frustrated sometimes, like I said last chapter stress gets to everyone (Ahsoka is NOT BLAMELESS), and as far as showing off to Leia… he hasn't had an audience for training before. I'd show off too.

This story is not 'about' Ahsoka, or at least it wasn't supposed to be. She just has more going on right now than most of the supporting characters. I am trying to write Luke well, I am not good at it, and I do have reasons for most of the things I do. Please continue to criticize me and critique my writing. I really appreciate it.

Coolcatinspace: Thanks. :))) Have a chapter!

I do not own Star Wars or its characters.

Chapter 15

Ahsoka walked down the hall, by now accustomed enough to this walk not to need the room numbers. Besides, the intense feelings of distress made Anakin's location quite clear.

It had been two days since he woke up, and today would finally mark the first day of Force training since the surgery. She hoped that they could make more headway than they had before it.

Innocently, she entered the room, noting Anakin was asleep as she did so. He slept a lot these days, a combination of medicated drowsiness and the sheer boredom of bedrest.

Suddenly he screamed, jerking awake. There were a few seconds of calm as he assessed the room. Wide, feral eyes seemed to scan for danger, then his frightened gaze fell on her.

The togruta felt, rather than saw, the change. The pressure in the room instantly increased, trapping her against the wall. Then she felt herself lifting, an invisible hand wrapped around her throat matching the hand he had raised.

Ahsoka struggled to force out a couple of words, "Anakin… stop…"

She moved her hand slightly, reaching for him, all the plea she could manage under the current circumstances.

There was nothing but utter hatred in his eyes as the pressure only increased, "I'll kill you!"

She could do nothing but stare at him as her head pounded and the world went black.

Once more Anakin lay on the roasting gravel, pain more intense than anything he had ever felt slicing through him. It felt like he had lived this moment a hundred times since Palpatine's death, since coming to the Rebels, and yet his torment continued.

The same memory, the same dream. Burning as his brother watched, then abandoned him.

"Please," he begged. "Kill me. End this."

Once again Obi-Wan looked at the lightsaber in his hand, "You're right. To kill you now would be a mercy." Still dry-eyed and calm, he reclipped the weapon to his belt and looked back into Anakin's eyes. "I am not feeling merciful." Slowly he turned, starting to walk away for the hundredth time.

"Master!" Anakin pleadingly called out again, reaching out his remaining hand in supplication.

The other turned back momentarily, "You are only a master of evil now, Anakin. You did this to yourself. I cannot help you."

He turned away, making his way up the incline. Then he was gone.

"No! Please! I'll do anything! I'm sorry! Don't leave me!"

The flames had eventually died, and Anakin had dragged himself slowly and agonizingly up the incline out of their reach with his metal hand. More than ever he wished for his Master to help him, protect him, comfort him.

For he knew what happened next. His master was coming.

A dark figure appeared on the crest of the incline. In the vague manner of dreams, Anakin could not determine whether it was his master or Vader that stood there. In the man's hand was Obi-Wan's severed head, awful, burned and cauterized at the base of the neck from a lightsaber blow. The evil creature held it up, as if in triumph, then slowly tossed it down the hill. Obi-Wan could no longer help him. He had ensured that on the Death Star.

It rolled and bounced horribly past him, inches from hitting him as at made its grisly path toward the lava.

Sidious's growling, sadistic voice echoed around him. "Well, look what has become of you, my apprentice. Truly a spectacular failure." The figure on the hill resolved, now definitely his master.

"Master." Anakin lowered his head and raised one hand supplicatingly, in an effort to appear more submissive even in his current helpless position.

"You weak fool. Was one lone Jedi truly so difficult for you?"

"Master, please-"

"FAILURE!"

The blinding blue-white light of Force lightning filled his vision, Anakin's eyes flew open and he awoke with a scream.

But once awake there was still no escape. For there, standing near the door, was Sidious.

He didn't think, didn't reason. Panic, rage, and fear overtook Anakin, the pressure in the room spiked and in an instinctive fear response of aggression he lifted his hand to choke the man from across the room.

His master's face twisted in utter fury as he slid up the wall. "You would dare attack me, you spineless worm?!"

"I'll kill you!" He saw one hand move, as if preparing lightning and he increased the pressure on the monster's throat. He did not stop until the demon ceased struggling and went limp in his grasp. Then Anakin dropped him.

The threat dealt with and the panic subsiding, something seemed to clear in his eyes, and he saw the room clearly.

Instead of the hideous cloaked figure a young woman lay near the wall, her long blue-and-white lekku tumbled haphazardly across the floor, still. Too still.

"Ahsoka?" The man spoke into the silence, fear and horror rapidly growing as he realized what had happened. "Ahsoka!" This second word was cried out in alarm as he desperately struggled with the needles in his arm, frantic in his need to get to her. Finally they surrendered, he tossed them aside, and swung his legs off the side of the bed.

Okay. Just a few yards. He just had to make it a few yards to the wall near the door.

A wave of dizziness overtook him as he stood for the first time in six weeks, and he immediately had to place one hand on the wall for support. He kept it there as he stepped forward, hoping to work his way around to her without losing his balance.

One step. Two. Three. Four… down.

Anakin managed to soften the fall, leaning and sliding down the wall somewhat rather than simply collapsing. He remembered the dire warnings about fractures, but there wasn't time to assess his own condition.

Not Ahsoka. No. Please, no. Not her too.

Anakin cursed his current weakness and the confinement that had caused it as he struggled up from the floor. He kept moving, eyes fixed on his goal, crawling since he was too exhausted to walk, until he finally reached the woman and gathered her into his arms.

He sat leaning against the wall, Ahsoka cradled limply against his chest, mentally begging who-knew-who (The Force? Some unknown cruel god who gained enjoyment from making his life hell? Ahsoka herself?) for her to be alright.

He could feel life, dim and faint, barely alight within her. He knew this feeling. It was the way Padme had felt after…

No. He couldn't do this. He couldn't kill her too. If he did, he really was going to kill himself.

He spoke through their bond in the Force, pleading, feeling helpless to do anything meaningful. "I am so sorry. Please, Snips, fight. Come back to me. Wake up."

He heard a droid whirr into the room, pause, then reverse back out, but he still didn't move. His focus was entirely on his former padawan. Checking her over, she didn't seem to be truly injured: her neck, windpipe, and spine all seemed intact, and there wasn't any visible bruising. She had simply been without air for too long and passed out. At least, Anakin hoped so. He was hardly an expert in saving people from Force choking.

"Hands up!" The droid had fetched a security force, evidently. The small group fanned out in front of them, blasters raised and ready.

Please, Ahsoka. Anakin ignored them, panic mounting the longer she remained unconscious.

"Hands up! Or we will be forced to shoot!" They stepped closer for emphasis.

Afterwards, every one of them would swear that Vader's hands never moved, his gaze never even shifted from his victim before it happened.

"Get away from her!" The monster yelled, and they found themselves suddenly flung high through the air as if by a powerful bomb, finally landing against the far wall. Two were rendered unconscious by the force of the blow, the others quickly scrambled to their feet and raised their weapons.

Fingers slowly started to squeeze the triggers.

"STOP!" Luke Skywalker bolted through the door and planted himself between them and their target. "DON'T SHOOT! DON'T SHOOT!"

"He has killed Master Tano!"

Luke looked back at him, and Anakin couldn't help but be hurt at his wounded, betrayed expression, as if the boy thought he had done this on purpose, as though… as though his son doubted him.

Luke crouched in front of the pair, still being careful to position himself in the line of fire. "What happened?"

His father's voice was soft with emotion. He never looked away from her even as he spoke. "It was an accident. I thought… I thought she was the Emperor." He paused. "She is still alive. Come on, Ahsoka. Please. Come on, wake up."

Luke turned briefly back toward the rebels. "Go get a medic. We need-"

Soft coughing attracted everyone's attention, and the woman's eyes finally fluttered open.

"What's going on?" Her voice was quiet and raspy, and the question dissolved into more coughing, but she was finally awake.

The room seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief, and Anakin forced a small smile. "Not much, Snips." He paused. "I am so sorry. I didn't… I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. I'm okay."

Anakin hugged her, desperate for reassurance that she was indeed okay.