"What I want to know is why they reacted the way they did to you, Skywalker. What did you say to them?"
"Told them I'd kill 'em if he didn't let the kids go... in a not very nice way."
"I see, but why were those men so scared of you?"
Anakin shrugs, "I'm big and I had a gun in my hand."
"Skywalker," Mace sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Stop being difficult, I'm trying to help you."
"You should be trying to find the Separatists," Anakin points out.
Mace grumbles, the kid is just as infuriating as ever, if not more, he'll give him that.
"I'm not going to ask you again, those men were only afraid of you after you said your name, why?"
"Because I'm crazy."
"Skywalker-"
"No, I'm serious, I recognize those guys from my early days imprisoned by the Sepies, they're probably just hired mercenaries, but I garnered the reputation of being kind of...insane, while I was there. I was just playing off some rumors that I'd figured they'd heard."
"That's it? They were afraid of you because they think you're crazy?"
"Pretty much. Are we done?"
Mace sighs, "We're done. For now."
Mace exits the interrogation room. Three other officers had gone before him, and Skywalker had yet to give them anything that is actually useful. He had been trying to rule out that Skywalker was a spy, for the sake of the case, but ten hours, all of them wasted because Anakin was talking circles around them.
Obi-Wan frowns from behind the glass, hand resting on his chin as he watches Anakin slump in his seat when Mace leaves.
Mace walks into the room and drops a stack of papers in front of him.
"That went better than I expected," He remarks dryly.
"You consider that going well?"
"Actually, yes I do. I thought for sure he would have gone ballistic after the first line of questioning. I thought he was being rather cooperative."
"He barely answered any of the questions, and you call this cooperative?"
Obi-Wan sighs, "We're just lucky you got any answers out of him at all."
"Do you realize how this looks for him, does he?"
"Yes I know what this looks like. It seems as if he is being difficult and petulant on purpose, and no I don't think he realizes that, even if he did, I doubt he'd care."
Mace sighs, "How does a twenty year old kid make out interrogations seem like a game. Not even Vos could get anything from him."
Quin comes through the office door holding a file, "Because it probably is a game to him."
Obi-Wan and Mace look up.
Quin waves the file, "I pulled a few strings and have found some valuable information from deep within the hidden archives," He says dramatically.
"Get to the point, Quinlan."
"Alright, alright, I'm just saying that you're wasting your time with Skywalker, he hasn't even done anything that's technically illegal."
"If the minimal amount of information we have from him is accurate he's our only lead."
"So you're just going to keep him at the station until he talks? If you actually wanted his help, I'd be setting him loose."
"Quin, what?"
"They finally finished the investigation and inventory on the place the Separatists held Anakin, judging by what I've read, we're lucky to have him the way he is now, and not some crazy madman."
Quin opens up the file and Obi-Wan has to look away. Months of wanting to know what happened to Anakin and-
"Uh, sorry Obi-Wan, that one wasn't supposed to be in here," Quin says breaking him out of his thoughts.
Quin slips the photo beneath the others, but that doesn't make a difference.
"Anyways, based on the mission reports I've compiled from his service, Anakin is either the biggest, luckiest idiot on the planet, or a tactical genius. He's tracked down and defeated more Septratist leaders in combat than anyone else, it's no wonder they made him a general."
"He was a general?" Mace asks.
"Seems so, looks like he'd been acting as one for most of the war, but didn't officially obtain the rank until...oh. Until hours before he disappeared."
"You're point Vos?"
"My point is, if we want to get to the bottom of this, if we want to catch these separatists that are very obviously still active, we want Anakin's help. He knows these guys better than anyone alive."
"I can't imagine Anakin would be happy to be back in this again."
"Maybe not, but it's obvious that he wants the separatists to be stopped, and I don't think we'll be able to do that without his help."
Obi-Wan flips through the file on Anakin, a lot of it is blacked out. What he does read doesn't make sense. He was a captive for six months, yet Anakin didn't have any valuable information, so why did they keep him alive for so long? If they had kept him alive why did they just leave him when the facility was evacuated? Unless...no this is Anakin, he certainly sees fault in the Republic, but he'd never turn traitor.
Obi-Wan flips to the back of the file, finding a CD. "What's this?"
"Security footage that wasn't wiped from the systems. The only footage actually."
"They wanted us to have it. What is it?"
"Well it's in Anakin's file, so probably parts of his interrogation. I haven't seen it."
"This could prove valuable in understanding the threats we're facing."
Quin shrugs and puts the disc in the computer.
The screen flickers and footage of a bright sterile room appears. Anakin is tied to a vertical interrogation table, his chin resting on his chest. His face is gaunt, his hair long and matted, his clothes in tatters.
"This is your final chance Skywalker. Join us."
Anakin barely moves, nothing left in him. He stares silently at the floor. Dooku grabs him by the throat.
"Join. us. Or everything you have endured so far will seem like child's play. You will be begging for death."
Anakin spits at Dooku, right in the face.
Dooku slaps him.
"Never...separatist scum," He croaks, his breathing labored.
"So be it."
Dooku turns on his heel, his cape whipping with him and marches out of the room.
The screen darkens for a moment, and then Dooku comes back on, standing in front of an unrestrained Anakin. Dooku hands him a serrated blade and Anakin looks back and forth between the knife and something off screen.
"Uh, hey Windu, I just got a ca- Anakin's eyes widen when he sees the screen. The days and weeks had all blurred together, but he still remembers this very vividly.
Everyone looks up and Obi-Wan jumps, immediately shutting off the screen.
"What is it Skywalker?"
Anakin stands in the doorway, his hand resting on the handle, staring at the black screen.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan says gently.
Anakin shakes his head, trying to stay in the present. "I got a strange message."
Anakin hands his phone to Obi-Wan and walks out the door without further explanation.
Obi-Wan glances at Windu.
"Send in Krell, he can take you place for the time being."
Obi-Wan nods and hurries after Anakin, passing by Krell, telling him to go to Windu's office.
A group of prisoners are led into the room by a group of troops. Civilians.Dooku follows behind, his hands clasped behind his back. He makes a motion and a guard grabs a woman, pressing a gun to her temple. Dooku brings out a blade, and twirls it in his hand. "You are going to cut your palm, or the woman dies." Dooku puts the knife in Anakin's left hand. Anakin looks back and forth between the woman and the knife in his hand. The woman has kind eyes, just like his mother. Anakin raises the blade, swiping it across his palm. Dooku studies Anakin. "Interesting, it seems my informants were right. You'd do anything to help others, even at the expense of yourself."The guards raise their guns and release a round. "No!" Anakin lunges and plunges the knife into Dooku's neck before the prisoners fall. The knife slips from his hand and he stares down at Dooku's motionless body.
Krell walks in, standing in for Obi-Wan and they resume the soundless footage.
The officers watch in horror as Anakin continues to mutilate his own arm. He flinches and then jumps forward, thrusting the blade into Count Dooku's neck.
"This is the man you call your Hero With no Fear," says a crackling voice.
"He is a murderer, broken by our interrogation. Count Dooku is not the first person he has killed in our facility. Shortly before this event, Skywalker went crazy and killed ten of our innocent civilian prisoners. They died without explanation. We have broken him, and have no doubt that he is a paranoid shell of the hero he once was. The Hero with No Fear, indeed."
The video cuts off, leaving Windu, Vos and Krell standing in silence.
"This footage certainly fits with what we know about Skywalker so far," Windu remarks.
"We obviously don't have the whole picture," Quin says.
"Even so, what we've witnessed of Skywalker, these are not the actions of a sane man," Krell says gesturing to the blank screen.
"Vos, your observations?"
"Judging by his appearance, these events took place shortly before his rescue, no more than a few days. There was something else in the room with them, per Anakin's distraction. As for his hesitation, I'd say that they were threatening a person, and Anakin was ordered to do this to protect them."
Mace flips through Anakin's file. "That certainly would fit with his character. It seems he'd go out of his way to protect civilians and his own men, at the risk of his own safety."
"Still, harming himself like that, just to protect someone, doesn't make sense." Krell points out.
Quin shakes his head. "From all the years I've known Anakin, very few things he does make sense. But...at this point he had been there for six months, we have no idea how that affected his state of mind."
Windu turns to Quin. "We might be able to get an idea. What was he like when he first returned home?"
"I don't know. I didn't see him until three months after. He was quiet and reserved, but nothing out of the ordinary for a young man returning from war."
"I suppose that question is better suited for Obi-Wan. Speaking of which, it's been twenty minutes, he should have come back with Skywalker by now."
"I'll find them." Quin leaves the room, heading for the records hall, the least used place in the station.
He finds Obi-Wan working on his report of last night, sitting against a wall next to a seemingly unconscious Anakin.
"What happened?"
Oh, he just made himself pass out from hyperventilating, that's all," Obi-Wan says cooly.
Quin sits down next to Obi-Wan, allowing his friend to ignore his anxieties about Anakin for the moment.
"Finished reviewing the footage?"
"Yep. I don't think Windu is going to make you watch it. Though Krell's comments didn't exactly help Anakin's case."
"What case?"
"That he's crazy."
"Ah, no need for that discussion then, Anakin has been well aware for a long time that he's insane."
Quin snorts. "I meant madman psycopath, gonna murder you in your sleep kind of insane, not an idiotic genius."
"That's...not good."
"No it's not, and Anakin isn't exactly helping his case here," Quin says gesturing over at Anakin.
"Windu wants to talk to both of you, ask you what Anakin was like when he first got home."
"Lovely, always wanted to relieve that part of my life," Obi-Wan says sarcastically.
"I'll stay with him, Windu won't like it if you avoid him any longer."
"Thanks Quin," Obi-Wan says, heading up the hall.
Anakin stands in the doorway. He's home, he's actually home. He didn't think he'd ever get to see it again.
"Anakin?"
He jumps, "Yeah?"
Obi-Wan frowns at him, "Are you going to come in?"
"Oh, right." He quickly closes the door behind him and sets his duffle on the floor. He kicks off his shoes and just stands there, like he's unsure of what to do.
Obi-Wan heads to his room, putting his jacket away. When he walks back into the living room Anakin is still there, looking lost.
Obi-Wan comes over and picks up his duffel bag.
"I'll help you unpack."
He walks down the hall, Anakin trailing behind him, completely silent. It unerves Obi-Wan, the boy, man now, was always talking, making noise, crashing into things, but never silent.
Obi-Wan sets the duffle on the bed and unzips it.
Anakin reaches in and painstakingly folds a t-shirt one handed. He actually folds it, instead of just wadding it up and shoving it in a drawer, though it's still very sloppy. He stands up and opens a dresser drawer, he opens two more until he finds the one full of shirts.
He repeats the process, folding his clothes and putting them away one at a time. Not saying a word.
Obi-Wan joins him and they work side by side, putting his things away.
"Since when do you fold your clothes," Obi-Wan tries.
Anakin shrugs, "Stuff has to be neat, its regulation."
"Ah...well, it's not anymore."
"I know."
His voice is still quiet and it gives out at random times, but he sounds more like himself, at least his voice does. He'd sound more like himself if he actually made sound.
Obi-Wan knows that it's going to be a hard adjustment but he wasn't expecting Anakin to seem like a completely different person. He knew Anakin had been tortured for six months, that was obvious, but he doesn't know anything! Anakin hasn't said a word about what happened, and Obi-Wan hasn't pushed it.
"Anakin?"
Hm.
"Are you..." Stupid question he's obviously not okay.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
Anakin stiffens, and tries to run a hand through his hair only, he can't. He drops his arm, and clenches the drawer with his left hand.
"I got caught, they didn't like me."
Obi-Wan snorts, "That clears things up. How were-"
Anakin slams the drawer shut, then he immediately steps back and turns to Obi-Wan, his head down, staring at the floor.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, sorry."
"It's alright," He responds, a confused frown on his face.
Anakin rocks on his feet. "When's Ahsoka get home?"
"Uh," Obi-Wan pauses, getting whiplash from the sudden change of conversation.
"She'll be home In two hours. We figured it would be easier to come home to a quiet house."
"Oh."
Anakin sighs. "I don't-" His voice gives out and he starts again, his voice gravely, "I don't know how to do this anymore."
"Do what?"
"Everything, nothing. It's...weird. Didn't think I'd ever see you guys again, let alone come home."
Oh. Oh, "Anakin." Obi-Wan moves forward to give him a hug in an unusual display of affection.
Anakin backs up and knocks into the dresser, his eyes wide.
Obi-Wan moves back.
"Please-Please don't."
"Okay, I'm sorry I didn't mean…"
"S'okay. M' sorry."
"No, no, it's...understandable, what-" Obi-Wan clears his throat, stopping himself from continuing the question.
"You want to know what happened, what it was like."
"Yes, I do, but only when you're ready."
Anakin sinks onto the bed. "I-I don't think I'll ever be ready to...to talk about..."
Obi-Wan sits down next to him, and slowly moves a hand to rest on Anakin's shoulder. He stiffens, but doesn't pull away.
"You don't want to know," He whispers.
Obi-Wan and Anakin sit in silence, Obi-Wan glancing at him occasionally, and Anakin just staring at the floor.
"I hate silence," He says.
"What?"
"They'd put something over my head, or knock me out and move me, but I'd open my eyes and I couldn't see or hear anything. I couldn't even hear myself breathing. Sometimes I thought I was dead, others...When the sound came back everything was so loud. I'd almost wish for the silence again, but every time it came back…"
Obi-Wan waits to see if he'll continue and speaks when he doesn't. "So, you'd rather have Ahsoka here, making as much noise as possible?"
Anakin tries to laugh. LMaybe not as much noise as she can possibly make, but yeah, I just...it's good to hear people talking, and just...normal noise."
Obi-Wan nods, "I'll keep that in mind."
Anakin blinks open his eyes.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Quin says jovially.
"No thanks," Anakin rasps, putting his arm over his eyes.
"Here," Quin sets a water bottle beside him.
Quin had been with Anakin a few times when he had panic or anxiety attacks, but they'd never been left alone before, Obi-Wan or Ahsoka, even Artoo was always there when Anakin resurfaced. As far as he knew Anakin had never made himself pass out before either, though there had definitely been a few close calls.
Anakin sits up against the wall and chugs half the water. He leans his head against the wall, his elbows resting on his knees.
Quin has seen enough people wearing that expression to know what Anakin is thinking.
You're not weak.
"I ha-" Anakin's voice gives out and he clears his throat- "I hate it when you do that." His voice sounds like it did when he first saw him again.
"Anakin," Quin says, "You are not weak. You are the strongest person I've ever met."
Anakin opens his mouth to protest, but Quin stops him. "To be able to endure what you have, let alone recover from, takes a lot of courage. I watched that footage," Quin says more gently, "And I'm guessing you did what you did to save people."
"I failed," Anakins says, his voice cracking.
"It's not your fault."
Anakin doesn't believe him.
"To be able to have that kind of compassion for people after all you've been through, it's incredible. You still value life and will fight for it, even after all the terrible things that people have inflicted on you."
"Just because there's some bad people in the world, doesn't mean other people don't deserve to live."
"Anyone else would turn their back, but not you, you still have the same compassion as you did when you were a little boy in mos espa. Valuing life the way you do doesn't make you weak, it makes you stronger that you can imagine."
"Thanks," Anakin whispers, looking down at the water in his hand.
"Just because you're strong though, doesn't mean you weren't affected by what happened, even though it's not always obvious."
Anakin snorts, "You can literally see how I was affected," Anakin says sardonically, lifting his arms.
Quin notices for the first time that Anakin is wearing a t- shirt, instead of long sleeves. He supposes that he hadn't noticed because it's nothing out of the ordinary really, but he hasn't seen Anakin wear one since before he was home for good.
"You're wearing a t-shirt."
Anakin tugs on his sleeve self consciously.
"Yeah, it's a thing Ahsoka and I are doing."
"That one I did notice, she's…"
"Proud," Anakin says with a soft smile. "Getting kinda cocky too."
"Why aren't you?"
"I'm already cocky enough as is," Anakin snarks.
"I meant why aren't you proud?"
"I don't...I'm not there yet."
"Yet," Quin emphasizes, getting a small smile out of Anakin.
"You know me Quin, always achieving things that seem impossible."
Quin barks out a laugh.
"How Korto?" Anakin asks.
"Absolutely adorable, best thing in my life, except for at night. Your kids are pretty cute too," Quin says, smothering a grin and side eyeing Anakin
"Yeah they're-" Anakin's face goes red and Quin laughs.
"-not my kids."
Quin scoffs, "Yet."
Anakin's face blushes darker.
"Shut up," he mumbles.
Quin just keeps laughing at him.
A/N
Updates are going to be unreliable for the next few weeks. I'll do my best to get something out every two weeks, but nothing is definite.
-rebel