Hi everyone! Long time no see. Hope you've all been keeping happy and healthy. I'm in a bit of a rush to get stuff done today, so I won't waste too much of your time here. I will say that I had a little trouble writing this chapter. I'm not really sure why, I tried it from a few different angles and scrapped it every time. I'm still not 100% sure if I'm satisfied with how it turned out, but I figured I kept you guys waiting long enough.

Anyways... here it is (hopefully it doesn't disappoint?)

PREVIOUSLY:

The delightful bickering continues for the majority of the evening, and eventually bleeds into the night cycle. It's no use of course, because Tup's squad is stubborn, and he remains brushed off and ignored by everyone. Well, everyone except for one trooper.

The Captain believes Tup. He smiles quietly to himself as he continues to listen to Tup's insistences from his own bunk in the corner of the barracks. He'd been looking for her all day when she'd been reported missing, before she had come back to the medbay on her own after a few hours. Looking down at his datapad as usual, he quietly listens in as Tup attempts to recount the story of Ahsoka Tano to his unbelieving batchmates.

CHAPTER EIGHT - The Return to Coruscant

The journey back to Coruscant from the extraction point on Kadavo is around a day.

For the men on board the Resolute, it's a day of drills and combat training. It starts at 0600, running well into the day. They run until their leg muscles are reduced to nothing but jelly, and they shoot until their eyes don't focus, and by the time they finish up in the early evening, no one has the energy for anything other than their journey back to the barracks. It's strategic, planned by the Jedi to keep them busy. To keep the wandering eyes of the 501st away while they attempt to deal with the situation at hand.

Rex has to admit that it's clever, and probably for the best. No one runs the rumour mill quite like clones, and while it irks him to witness his commanding officers attempt to fix this mess quietly and blamelessly, he also knows it's for the best.

This means that for Rex, it's a day he spends away from where he really wants to be, where he needs to be. He's the men's captain, and as much as he wishes he didn't, he leads by example. He's in the training grounds sprinting with them and barking orders until his voice is hoarse. Still, it wouldn't have been enough to stop him from seeing Ahsoka if they didn't have her completely isolated on the other side of the ship with only Anakin, Obi-wan and Kix.

All he can do is train, work, and do his best not to worry about her.

It doesn't work. His mind still runs with constant worst scenarios. It doesn't matter if she's in good hands. In fact, from what he's seen, he's not quite sure if he trusts her around Anakin's volatile temper, and as much as he has faith in his medic's abilities, the last time he'd seen Kix with her he was scarily unsure of himself and how to deal with the situation.

At the end of the day, he retires to his office instead of the barracks.

He needs to finish up his paperwork, but more importantly, he needs to avoid the questions.

Fives and Jesse have been the most relentless. They're smart men, and they know that this isn't just scheduled drills. They know they're being made to kill the transit time with little incident. They know they're being kept away from Ahsoka. It's hard to tell them no when they beg to see her. In fact, it's hard not to demand that the generals allow all three of them to go, but he manages. Eventually, they settle for updates, not that Rex has any to give them.

And then there's Tup, asking for where the rescued Kiros colonists are on the ship. It's harder to be mad at Tup's persistence. He doesn't know what he's asking for, and he's only being driven by his kindness and his compassion, but when Rex tells him truthfully that they've been with the 104th on their way back to Kiros this whole time and Tup frowns in confusion, he just doesn't have the energy to elaborate.

Once he's finally alone in his office with a cup of caf, he tries to make himself useful. His antsy mind welcomes the work as he goes over mission reports and transcriptions. It doesn't take him as long as he wants, and when he runs out of work and finds that he still can't bear the thought of inaction, he digs out as many old files as he can and has them updated.

But it doesn't take for even those to eventually run out.

It's then that he realises the cups of caf were a mistake. If he couldn't sleep before, he sure as hell can't now.

They'll be on Coruscant in the morning. The morning couldn't come sooner.

Eventually morning does come.

It's madness for the next few hours, or at least that's what it feels like to Rex, as he tries to keep up with the string of new orders coming through in the wake of their descent.

Thankfully, he's trained his battalion to be diligent, and they get themselves in order without much prompting from him. By the time he's tended to more pressing matters and finds his men in the barracks, every single one of them are kitted up and ready to go.

He makes his way over to the bridge to inform his General.

When he arrives though, Anakin is by the holotable, arms crossed and shifting agitatedly as he addresses the images of the Jedi Council. It doesn't look like whatever they're discussing is going well.

Fives stands behind him in parade rest with his helmet tucked under an arm. When he catches his eye, he sends over a quick two fingered salute, which Rex returns to him with a nod, before looking around for Admiral Yularen. Fives is most likely awaiting his orders straight from General Skywalker, and Rex doesn't have the time to wait his turn.

He finds the Admiral standing in front of the viewport, observing the sight of Coruscant, and Rex makes his way over.

He clears his throat in greeting,

"Admiral, the men are prepped and ready for descent," he announces, and the admiral nods at him.

"Very good captain. We will finish our descent within the hour."

Rex hesitates for a second, pondering over whether or not he should ask about Ahsoka. Eventually though, he steps away. The admiral isn't the right person to ask. In fact the right person to ask is angrily approaching him right now.

"Rex," Anakin calls out from afar, "I need you at medbay 3 to stay with Ahsoka. Send Obi-wan here, tell him the council isn't listening to me."

"Yes sir," he barks before he turns and starts making his way to the back of the ship.

Haar'chak Rex thinks as he passes trooper after trooper in the wide corridors. He'd spent the whole of yesterday wishing he could see her. But now, he's nervous. Of what, he doesn't really know. Regardless, his nervousness has nothing on his anxiousness to see for himself that she's okay, that she's recovering.

His footsteps don't slow the entire way to the medbay.

He catches a glance at them from a window as he passes. Ahsoka is seated on the bunk, with Obi-wan sitting in a chair next to her, leaning forward slightly to speak to her. He doesn't know what they're talking about, but Ahsoka looks closed off, like she can't even hear him.

Both of them look his way when he enters. He meets Obi-wan's eyes first. He looks much better than when Rex last saw him. His robes hide the ropey scars on his skin that match Rex's, but the once angry burns around his neck look almost completely healed. The same can't be said for the sleeplessness under his eyes, or the heaviness in his shoulders.

When he spares a fleeting glance at Ahsoka, he's relieved to see that she looks much better too. She's no longer reclined on her bunk like she was the last time he saw her, but sitting up, her legs pulled towards her chest like she's trying to make herself small.

He looks back at Obi-wan.

"General Kenobi, you're being requested on the bridge," he tells the Jedi, who closes his eyes briefly and lets out a weary sigh.

"I assume Anakin isn't having any luck with the Council then," he says, already getting up from the chair by Ahsoka's bed.

Rex nods in confirmation. "No sir. I can stay with…" he pauses and looks over to her. He'd been about to say Commander, but not for the first time, he wonders if the rank still belongs to her. He decides to test it out, "...with the Commander until we finish our descent."

Obi-wan doesn't react to the title, but Ahsoks does. Her fingers twitch slightly around her knees.

"Very well Captain. Hopefully it won't be too long," is all Obi-wan offers, glancing at Ahsoka apologetically.

Rex nods, and Obi-wan makes his way out of the medbay, placing a brief hand on his pauldron as he passes. Rex waits for the door to hiss shut before he inches forward and slides into the seat Obi-wan was in.

"Hey Ahsoka," he says as lightly as he can.

She doesn't respond to him. Instead she tilts her head away from him and hides her face in the arms around her knees, and Rex tries his best not to feel hurt at the rejection. She's trembling, he realises then, and he hears her take a few shaky breaths.

He waits, daring to hope that whatever she needs, she'll know to trust him with it. After a while though, Rex sighs softly and resigns himself to the silence. If she doesn't want to talk, then he's not going to-

"Rex?"

Her voice is so soft that at first, Rex thinks it's his sleep deprived mind finally catching up to him. But her eyes are wide and expectant, and just a little imploring.

"Hmm?"

"The Council is summoning me to testify against the Zygerrians. They want to know what happened on Kadavo. Anakin won't be able to stop them."

Oh hell. Anakin's anger back on the bridge now makes a lot more sense. Even Rex can see it's a bad idea, how Ahsoka looks so fragile, as if she might break if they made her revisit the horrors.

He knew the Jedi Council could be insensitive to the point of cruelty sometimes, but this is something else. It isn't the first time Rex wished he could do something to make those stubborn self-righteous bastards see reason, but he's never wanted it more than now.

Rex also knows that the Council doesn't need her to decide what to do with the Zygerrians. They have him and Obi-wan for that. From the look on Ahsoka's face, it seems like she knows that too.

"They're going to decide what to do with me."

"I know," he tells her grimly. He wishes he could reassure her, but he doesn't know what they're going to do with her any more than she likely does. He doubts they'd send her straight back to the war, no matter how desperate they are for Jedi on the front lines. But he also doesn't know of many Jedi that have been spared from battle. Do the Jedi have a procedure for these kinds of things?

"If I asked you to, would you convince them to let me go?"

What? As soon as she says those words, he feels all the air leave his lungs. Let her go? When they just got her back? He feels like he might be sick at the thought.

He can't say no to her. He's never been able to say no to her. But he can bear the thought of saying yes to her even less.

"You're not a prisoner here Ahsoka," he says instead. There's a long pause, and he lowers his eyes to hide the conflict he's sure she'd be able to make out. But even without looking at her, he can already tell that she doesn't believe him.

"Then why won't they let me go back to Kadavo?" she finally whispers, and Rex snaps his eyes back to her in horrified confusion. To Kadavo? Out of all the places to go, why in the karking hells would she want to be back there? What could possibly be worth going back to on that damned slave planet?

The confusion slowly turns to dread. She's a togruta. And female. If she somehow finds herself back there, he'll lose her to those slavers just as quickly as he had found her.

"There's nothing left for you on Kadavo," Rex tries to tell her, a little desperate now. He's never been good at words, and the stakes have never been this high before. "They shut the whole facility down. We'd be sending you to an abandoned site."

"What about my master? He'll come for me when he hears about what happened," His mind confusedly goes to Anakin before he realises she means something entirely different. His blood runs cold.

She's going back to him. Whoever him is.

"I was there on Kadavo Ahsoka, I've seen what they did to you. I can't let you hand yourself back to a slaver," Rex fights to keep his voice even. "Not when we just got you back."

There's a long pause, neither of them saying anything more. Rex dares to look up at her again, and finds that she's staring right back at him. He tries to find something to say, anything that might convince her to give up the thought of going back.

But he's not quick enough, and after a while, the door slides open and Anakin walks back in.

"We're here. Rex, get the men to unload the supplies, and then get them unpacked in the barracks. Ahsoka…" he looks at her, and his eyes are full of disappointment and guilt. "I'm sorry Snips, they still want to see you."

Ahsoka nods meekly, and soundlessly slips off the bunk and onto her feet. Anakin leads the way out of the room, with Ahsoka following closely. But before she lets the door shut behind her, she pauses and looks back at him.

"Please Rex," she says one last time. It pains Rex to no end, because words are just words, but her eyes are just as pleading, and infinitely harder to ignore.

The door slides shut.

Ahsoka remembers her first few weeks on Kadavo, a time when she still owned a piece of her own soul, when she would try to imagine that she was back at the Jedi Temple to ease the pain of slavery. It was almost always during the night cycle, when she'd lie awake, desperately try to ignore the sobbing around her, and reincarnate her best memories.

There were times when Anakin would bring her back from the front lines to cover the theoretical parts of her padawanship, when his bored complaints were just as amusing to her as the tasks were dull. Obi-wan was almost always there too, in the corner of their joint quarters, making a cup of tea as he tried to convince them of the boring merits of learning. You can't always solve all your problems with a lightsaber, he'd tell her, and Anakin would give her a knowing look, silently mocking his old master from behind.

There were times earlier than that too, before she was assigned to the Chosen One, when it was just her and her clan friends, deciding which Jedi master would be the target for their practical jokes for the day. Master Windu was always her favourite option, and the most short tempered. She used to think that the anger was funny.

And Master Plo. Master Plo and Little 'Soka, sitting together in the Room of A Thousand Fountains.

The memories would slowly fade with every day she survived in the mines. They became harder and harder to recall, until they eventually became nothing but fleeting echoes of comfort from another life. But she had always remembered them as happier times, moments that she longed to relive in any way that she could.

And here she is now, standing in the middle of the Council Chambers in the Jedi Temple, finally living the dream of her younger self. She's even standing in her spot by Anakin's side.

But she's not happy. In fact, she's terrified.

Just as Anakin promised, he does most of the talking at the start. She lets herself zone out as he recounts whatever mission that had him and Obi-wan snooping around on Zygerria. She doesn't particularly care to listen in, only hoping that Anakin keeps talking for a long while more. Because as soon as he's done, she knows it will be her turn, and she can't do it.

She can't, because she's keeping her eyes firmly on the floor beneath her, and she can feel every single one of their gazes like they're whips dangling by the back of her head, buzzing threateningly where she can't see them, just waiting for a single mistake to strike.

Master Plo. And Master Windu, and Master Yoda, and… Master Tiin… and...

She used to call every one of them master. Now, she knows she won't be able to address a single one of them without choking on her own bile because there's nothing else she can call them.

Maybe it's a good thing she eventually gave up on those dreams. Her younger self would never have been able to survive her one last comfort being turned to poison so quickly.

"Padawan Tano?"

The words shock her awake. It's Master Windu. She panics, because it's been what felt like hours, and yet she still hasn't decided what she's going to call him yet.

"Padawan Tano?"

She decides not to call any of them anything for now, merely lifting her gaze to the bottom of Master Windu's shoes and begging him to accept it as an acknowledgement.

Thankfully, he does.

"Can you tell us anything about how you ended up on Kadavo?" he asks her in a voice which she knows is his attempt at gentleness, but to her sensitive montrals, it has a similar timbre to the tenor of her Master's deceptive calmness.

She twists her fingers roughly behind her back, using the pain to drown out the fear, at least for now.

Kadavo. She was on Kadavo because she's a slave.

No. She wasn't always on Kadavo. She was on Florrum first. She remembers that much.

"I was sold to a Zygerrian on Florrum by Hondo," she tells him.

Beside her, Anakin jerks and whirls around to stare at her uncomprehendingly.

"Hondo? The pirate Hondo?"

Ahsoka just nods, and tries her best not to react to the stares she knows they're all giving her. It takes a moment for Master Windu to ask his next question… or maybe he's only just realising that she isn't willing to elaborate on the story on her own.

"And do you happen to know why they kept you on Kadavo and not Zygerria?" he asks, leaning forward with a slight frown on his face. "From what we've heard from Master Kenobi, Kadavo was a place to condition their newer slaves. But he seemed to be under the impression that you were there even before the colonists were."

This question is harder than the last one. Not because she doesn't know the answer, but it's leading the questioning in a direction she desperately doesn't want it to go.

"I…" she struggles to keep the tremor out of her voice. "I was there for three years. They kept me on Kadavo to hide me. I was the only one… who had a master."

I have a master, she desperately wants to say. Not had, have. But she already knows that she wouldn't dare voice it out. As much as she thinks she needs to, she doesn't dare to imply that she doesn't also belong to these masters. Not when they're so many of them, not when they circle her around the room.

She can't do this. She doesn't want to do this. Her breath is picking up again, and when she digs her broken nails into her arms, it does nothing to lessen the panic.

She glances back at Anakin, silently pleading him to make them stop.

"Hidden? By-"

"Finish this conversation another day, we shall," another voice cuts in. Master Yoda. Ahsoka didn't even realise that she had been holding her breath, but now she lets herself exhale shakily in relief. But when she angles her body slightly to face the Grandmaster, he's leaning forward, watching her carefully. She's not quite sure why. "Perhaps, discuss what to do now we should."

Anakin steps forward quickly at this. "Masters, I'm more than happy to continue training Ahsoka," he says, looking around like he's daring anyone to challenge him. "Ahsoka was young when she first became my padawan. She's not even behind in her training."

No one says anything to disagree. In fact, Master Windu nods in consideration. "I don't see why not."

No. No, no, no. They can't make Ahsoka a Jedi. Your kind are the most fun to break, the Keeper's delighted voice rings in her montrals, as lays screaming on the ground by his feet. You're no match for me, Jedi. If I catch you waving your magic Jedi fingers again, I'll break every single one under my boot, another guard spits at her. Jedi skug.

Skugs like her don't survive by being powerful. Misplaced power only makes you a target. It gets slaves like her killed. And there's none in the Galaxy known more for their power than the Jedi. She's learnt this once. She won't go through this again.

She knows not to make a habit of asking for things, but she thinks this might be one of the things that is worth the risk.

Master Yoda beats her to it.

"Ahsoka," he says in a carefully light tone. "During those three years on Kadavo, severed your bond with your old master, have you?"

Ahsoka hesitates for a moment, knowing where this is leading to, and truthfully shakes her head no. Anakin startles at this, and looks at her confused.

"No? But…" his train of thought gets lost, and his mouth opens and shuts like he can't think of what to say. Then understanding slowly seeps into his eyes, and his face twists in sorrow. "Oh Ahsoka."

She didn't want to, she hopes that he somehow knows that. She remembers the heartbreak the day she first resolved to give up the last thing that she had. The day she had to give him up. But she did what she had to do to survive.

"Cut yourself off from the Force, you have." Master Yoda's ears droop low as he looks at her sadly. "Can you tell us why?"

Yes. This, she can answer. The words come easily, it's what she's been telling herself for the last three years after all.

"I'm not a Jedi," she tells him truthfully. Brokenly. "I'm a slave. I own nothing, not even the Force."

This time, she dares to look up. She needs to know for herself whether or not they'll let her go. And she needs them to look at her and see that this is… no, it isn't what she wants, but it's the only option that she has.

A part of her is glad that she can't feel the emotions that are rolling around the room. Most are shocked. Others are sad. Obi-wan in particular looks at her like he's been struck, like he's in pain.

"Padawan Tano," Master Windu says, "I believe it's best if the Council discussed this alone with Skywalker for now."

Hours pass.

Ahsoka sits by herself outside the Council Chambers, watching as knights and padawans come and go. She tries to ignore the stares that they send her, but by the time Anakin walks out of the room and sits by her side, she wishes she didn't make herself stay and wait.

"Ahsoka," Anakin says softly after a while. "Ahsoka, look at me."

Ahsoka raises her eyes to meet his slowly. They're soft and reassuring, just as they were in her dreams. Though in her dreams, his eyes were never glassy like they were now. She can't relax, not now and not here, but there's some comfort in the gaze, however small.

"Give me a month. Just you and me and the 501st and the Force. One month as my padawan, as my little sister. Give me a chance to make this okay, to make up for ever losing you in the first place. And if the month is up, and you don't want to stay..."

His tears don't fall. But it's a close thing.

"...I'll let you go."

There we go, chapter 8.

Let me know what you think. I'd love some constructive criticism if anyone has it. I don't know what it is with this one, but it just didn't hit the spots for me. Maybe it's just one of those necessary chapters where you need to vomit out plot without feel to get things going? Even then though... honestly I'm stumped. Who knows.

On a brighter note, I did heaps more plot planning for this story. I'm seriously looking forward to where this is going to go. I'm sure you'll all love it as much as I do.

I'll try to do better for y'all. Love each and every one of you lovelies. Stay safe!

See you for chapter 9!