"Snips!"
"Master!" Ahsoka immediately whirled around at the sound of Anakin's voice. She saw the two Jedi approaching and sprinted down the landing strip to meet them halfway.
"Anakin! Obi-wan!" she said, clapping them on the shoulders enthusiastically, "It's good to see you."
Anakin grinned and patted his old padawan's hand. It was rougher than it had been when she'd first been assigned to him, they were both older now, war hardened and tough, but at heart Anakin knew that they were still the same people. The bond they shared could never be broken.
"It's been a while Snips," he laughed, starting to walk down towards her ship. Ahsoka kept pace with him as the two chattered on about recent happenings, but Obi-wan decided to lag a little behind.
The two of them were grown up, but despite that he had a sense that their problems were far from over. For now, though, he could at least enjoy seeing the two of them smile for a bit.
Ahsoka noticed his absence and looked back to check on him, "You okay Master?"
"Hmm?" Obi-wan said absentmindedly, his train of thought abruptly de-railed.
"He's fine," Anakin laughed, "He's just grumpy that you missed me more than him.
Obi-wan shook his head and Ahsoka smiled as she walked back towards him "Like I missed you at all Skyguy!" she laughed, "Come on Master Obi-wan, we have a lot to talk about."
They all sat down to eat, something they hadn't done in a while, or, ever before, now that Anakin thought about it.
The only time they'd really spent together was while they were on missions, which was an almost constant event during the war, and the brief intervals in between had been used for either training, or sneaking around to see Padme. He couldn't remember the last time he'd really been able to go out and have a sit down dinner. Most of the time it was just him and Padme eating takeout in her apartment.
This was nice, he thought, as Ahsoka theatrically described her travels. He'd like to take Padme out for a dinner like this, a family dinner. But the closest they could get to a normal life was Naboo, and he didn't even know when he'd be able to join her there.
"I can't believe we finally got Maul," a shadow fell over her radiantly happy face, as she came to the end of her tale.
Anakin shook himself out of his own thoughts just in time to see Obi-wan's solemn nod as he gently patted the padawan's hand.
She sighed, a frown of determination on her face, as she squeezed Obi-wan's hand back, "He already took one of our masters," she said, "I wasn't about to let him take another."
Anakin knitted his brows in concern, wishing he'd his he'd caught the rest of the conversation, "What do you mean?"
"Maul had to fight me in the first place because he was trying to get to you," A thoughtful frown passed across Ahsoka's face as she recalled the incident to them, "He said you were going to destroy us all, he wanted to kill you,"
Anakin cocked his head, prompting his Padawan to continue with her tale. She was animated in her words and expressions, and he gave her his full attention. But as she spoke, quoting Maul's words and actions, Anakin felt something grip his soul, something he'd pushed to the bottom since the birth of the twins. The unbridled terror came rushing back to him, though he wasn't quite sure why. Lies from a Sith were not unusual, as he had learned himself the hard way, but something in Ahsoka's statement had awakened the unvanquishable fear once more. Something in Maul's words rang true.
"You did good Snips," he said, smiling at her when she'd finished. But when Ahsoka looked up, she could see that the smile was only skin deep. She glanced with concern from Anakin to Obi-wan, the latter of whom responded with a knowing frown.
"Master..." she reached forward to squeeze his hand, "Is everything okay?"
Anakin's eyes widened in surprise, he was apparently unaware that his discontent was showing. He looked down, a troubled gaze clouding his eyes. He wasn't sure how to find the words, how to tell them exactly what he'd been doing on that night the war ended.
"Everything's fine," he said, squeezing her hand back. She smiled, a little uncertain, and continued the tale of bringing Maul back to Coruscant.
But everything was not fine, and Anakin knew it. All his anger was gone, but it had left him with a lingering sense of fear.
That night he lay awake for hours, reliving the memories in his mind, wondering, if things had gone differently, would he have been able to make the right choice.
A feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that what he'd done was not inherently good, that he was undeserving of the title hero, that perhaps he had intended to…
Padme was right, he thought as he rolled over and squeezed his eyes shut, sometimes bad dreams were just bad dreams.
He shuddered and pulled his sheets closer, the room seemed colder than when he'd first retired, perhaps it was just his restlessness, or Padme's absence from his side. Those were the only plausible explanations for the cold shiver that ran up his spine in the darkest hours of the night.
Bad dreams were just bad dreams.