Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: The Clone Wars, only the OC.
Ahsoka laid the backpack down on the floor and examined Rotta. "He's asleep." She said. "Or unconscious."
Anakin sat down before he checked the Huttlet, too. "He's breathing. That can only be good." He mused in agreement.
"But he's burning up." His Padawan worriedly implored. Ahsoka had no fear of slime, it seemed, as she put her hand flat on Rotta's head. "Kids can run fevers, have fits, and then be right as rain in an hour. Well, human children can. Can't they?"
"Where'd you learn that?" Anakin queried.
"Same way you learned Huttese, probably. Jedi pick up stuff." She said. Anakin wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or defensive, but he suspected the latter.
"You're doing all anyone can, Snips. Don't beat yourself up." He gently encouraged.
"If anything happens to him, it'll be my fault." Ahsoka whispered.
"No it won't." Anakin countered, gently but firmly. "What are you trying to prove, anyway?" Ahsoka fidgeted with her hands for a moment, seemingly toying with the notion of telling the truth or telling a fib. If there was one thing Anakin remembered from Master Shaak Ti, Togruta were notoroiously bad liars.
"That I'm not too young to be your Padawan." Ahsoka confessed. Anakin cocked a brow.
"Oh, that? Have I sent you back to the Temple yet? No. Have I stopped you fighting? No. So I must think you're old enough." He mused, leaning forward and folding his hands together. "A very wise Jedi once said 'nothing happens by accident'. It is the will of the Force that you are at my side. I just want to keep you there in one piece."
Ahsoka didn't reply. But she managed a toothy smile and went on fussing over Rotta.
A sudden outburst from one of the Clones jerked both their heads to the main room, a single trooper standing jerkily in place, his hand clutching his throat as if someone was grabbing him by the throat but there was no one there. There was the sound of a break and the Clone fell to the ground, dead as others crowded around, the two Jedi leaping from their places and running over to check on things.
"Medic!" Rex snapped and one of the Clones quickly checked over his fallen brother.
"His neck's been crushed." The medic reported. "But by what?"
"By the Force." Anakin said with narrowed eyes as he stood and activated his Lightsaber. "Someone else aside from Ventress is here. Rex, defensive positions, now!"
"Yes sir! Come on you lot, weapons up and hot!" Rex ordered as the Clones scrambled to ready themselves. They worked to form a defensive formation when there was the sound of a Lightsaber igniting, though it sounded unstable when it did so. They sa wan illuminated red object before it came spinning at them. "Duck!"
They ducked but one of the Clones was unfortunate and was sliced into two pieces before the Lightsaber flew back into the darkness and deactivated.
"Who is that?" Ahsoka asked warily.
"A Sith." Anakin spat.
Suddenly something came rolling out of the darkness and everyone looked to see multiple grenades.
"Grenades!" Rex shouted just as they exploded, sending everyone off their feet, Ahsoka turning so she took the impact and Rotta wasn't hurt. Anakin got to his feet and helped Ahsoka to hers before they saw the Clones groaning as they tried to get their bearings back but everything went silent as they heard footsteps in the darkness.
Then a red Lightsaber activated.
"Crossguard?" Ahsoka said in surprise. She hadn't seen a Sith use that kind of Lightsaber before.
"He's here to kill the Hutt." Anakin growled as he glared at the Sith who walked out of the shadows, revealing a male, dressed in some kind of silver armour with no sleeves but silver gauntlets, and a red hood up as well as a mask covering the person's face.
The Sith twirled his Lightsaber before pointing it at the Jedi. "Surrender the Hutt."
Ahsoka backed up, knowing Rotta was a priority. Anakin glared. "I don't think so." He said before he leaped at the Sith who blocked Anakin's Lightsaber then used the Force to send Anakin flying into rex who had lifted his weapon to fire at the Sith.
"Light him up, boys!" one of the Clones shouted as the remaining Clones fired at the Sith who twirled his Lightsaber, blocking and deflecting their shots back at them, getting some fatal hits, some minor. The Sith then used the Force to bring a Clone in front of him, using him as a shield for the blaster shots before he threw him into several other Clones.
"Stab this, Sithspawn!" One of the Clones yelled as he ran up and punched the Sith in the mask, but that just caused the Clone to hurt his hand and clutched it before he was grabbed by the throat by the Sith who began to slowly crush his neck, causing the Clone to let out agonized chokes as he tried to fight back but didn't have a weapon on him to do so. The Sith then swung his Lightsaber and sliced the Clone in half.
The Sith then whirled around, stabbing his Lightsaber through another Clone's head, then cut off the arm of another, then the legs of another, before he decapitated two more.
Ahsoka stood frozen in wide-eyed horror, unable to comprehend the senseless slaughter unfolding before her. Such cruel depravity and wanton violence… she blinked as as the Sith grabbed a Clone and stabbed him through the chest, using his body as a shield for blaster fire then threw him into some more Clones before engaging Anakin in a Lightsaber duel, but then the Sith sent Anakin into the wall with a Force push before unleashing Force Lightning on him.
"Sir!" Rex shouted as he fired his two pistols at the Sith, the shots hitting the back of him. The Sith whirled around, deflecting the shots before he used the Force to choke Rex and approached him, raising his Lightsaber to-
"Stop it!"
Ahsoka's scream, wrought from fearful desperation and raw terror as she wanted this to stop, caused the Sith to pause and look at her.
Swallowing her fear, Ahsoka fought the rising panic. "Put him down!" She ordered as fiercely as she could, but her expression belied the truth. And she had a feeling this Sith could sense how she was truly feeling.
The Sith stared at her before he dropped Rex and stabbed a Clone sneaking up behind him without even looking. Ahsoka loosed a choked gasp, remaining in wide-eyed horror at the horror laid out before her.
Ripping his Lightsaber from the now dead Clone, the Sith stalked towards her, deflecting blaster fire from those still alive. Rex was shouting something but Ahsoka could not understand. Everything was fading out, replaced by this unbroken line of sight between her and this merchant of death. Death was coming for her. Her little body would join the pieces on the ground soon, she just knew it.
The Sith twirled his Lightsaber as he raised it when suddenly Anakin leaped out from the dark and unleashed a Force push so strong it half-buried the Sith in the wall.
Next thing Ahsoka knew, he was in her face, grabbing her shoulder in a painful grip. "Ahsoka!" He roared and the Togruta was shaken from her stupor. "Run! Run to the lower levels, get Rotta out of here! Come on, move!"
The weight in her feet began to alleviate and Ahsoka started moving, walking first then jogging. Soon she was sprinting as the panic and the fear set in, Anakin guarding her rear as he retreated alongside her. The girl barely heard Rex's final order to his men.
"Put some heat on this guy! We have to buy the General time!"
Jayden grunted as rifle shots hit his back or chest, but his attire was strong enough to take the hits as long as they didn't get his bare arms. The Clones were a nuisance, but they died easily like anyone else who can't match a Sith in combat. Jayden didn't have time for them, so he'll leave them for Ventress to clean up. he had a mission to complete.
"Die! Die! Die!" One of the Clones shouted as he fired relentlessly but Jaydene was just deflecting before he threw his Saber and the Clone's head fell off a second later. Jayden caught his Lightsaber and used the Force to knock the remaining Clones off their feet. Jayden then looked in the direction he saw the two Jedi run off in with the Huttlet and followed, his Lightsaber illuminating the dark corridors and rooms.
Half a dozen doors had been wedged shut by the Force, Anakin barricading them with whatever extras the lower halls could afford them. Only after the sixth clanged shut and was locked tight did Anakin allow him and Ahsoka a breather.
"So... that's a Sith?" Ahsoka asked, shaken from what just happened, the slaughter she witnessed.
"yeah." Anakin said quietly. "Only ever encountered Ventress and Dooku. this... this might be another, but there's only and will ever be two."
"Think Dooku or Ventress are training a new Apprentice?" Ahsoka asked, knowing the Sith's way is for the Apprentice to learn from their Master, grow powerful, then eventually kill their Master with their own secret Apprentice and the cycle continues.
"Perhaps." Anakin said.
Ahsoka let out a few shaky breaths. She seemed paler and he knew that the horrors of war were starting to settle in. "It just… Th-The men…" He placed a hand on her shoulder. Ahsoka just looked to him and he could see the fear in her eyes. "He just killed them... without hesitation."
"That's Sith for you." Anakin said darkly. "Look, it's not here now. We're safe for a moment. Taker a breather. Get it together, Ahsoka." It was softly spoken, but the command laced within his words was evident. Anakin knew they needed to get out of here but now time was of the essence, as if it wasn't already. Not only did they have to get to Tatooine before Jabba's limit was up but they had to survive and escape this place to boot. "We gotta get out of here. I need you focused."
Ahsoka managed the barest of nods. Anakin could tell she was shellshocked. A loose, trembling finger pointed towards the wall.
"I-If there's a way out of here, A-Artooie should be able to find it." She offered. She had found an old data terminal that, thankfully, had an astromech port. Nodding with the good news, Anakin turned to his faithful droid.
"Make it quick, Artoo. Find us a way out of here. We still have an objective to achieve." Whistling in compliance, R2 rolled over and plugged himself in, beginning the process of cycling through dozens of data channels and age-old files. After a few seconds, R2-D2 beeped frantically. He was triumphant. He'd found what he was looking for. Anakin and Ahsoka looked as R2 displayed a holographic plan, showing a network of passages leading out of the monastery. But even better than that was a landing platform jutting out of the sheer side of the cliff, set a little way from the top, and approached from the rear. "That's a great place to land a gunship. Artoo, you're the navigator. Lead us down there and I'll call for extraction."
They suddenly heard faint groaning and the sound of a Lightsaber cutting through doors. "I think that Sith is getting closer." Ahsoka said with dread.
"We need to move." Anakin said seriously. "Now!"
And so they did.
There was a door at the end of the passage, exactly as on the holoplans. It opened stiffly and an inrush of hot, damp air hit Anakin in the face like a wet washcloth. They were standing on a platform jutting out over a sheer drop. The trees beneath were still hazy with mist. Ahsoka inhaled deeply, and even the sickly Rotta whined with apparent relief at relatively fresh air. As Anakin assessed the approach to the platform, he saw huge insects soaring on thermals, glittering like gems, and they had to have wingspan of three meters or more to be visible from here. He'd warn the gunship about those. They'd make a mess of a drive intake.
"Skywalker to Obi-Wan. Mark my position." Anakin said on the comm. "I need a medical ship immediately. Do you copy?" He got no response. "Blast! i can't get a hold of Obi-Wan. I'll see if I can get a hold of Rex. Come in, Rex Do you copy? Rex?"
There was blaster fire on the other end. "Copy, General. We're pinned down in the courtyard."
Do you need help?" Anakin asked only to hear more blaster fire on the other end. "I'll take that as a yes, Captain. Stand by, we're on our way. Skywalker, out."
"Master, Stinky is really sick." Ahsoka said worriedly as she looked from the sick Huttlet to her Master. "He's turning every shade of green except the one he's supposed to be! Our mission was to get him back to Tatooine alive."
"Obi-Wan will get here eventually." Anakin told her. "Right now, we need Rex to help us find a ship."
Artoo suddenly whirred and whistled in alarm, causing the Jedi to look at the open door to see their Sith had caught up to them, Lightsaber ignited.
"Oh boy..." Ahsoka said as she took a step back.
"Artoo! The door!" Anakin shouted and Artoo quickly activated the controls that closed the door, but a second later, a Lightsaber stabbed through it and began making a circle in it.
Ahsoka neared the edge and went forward so she didn't fall. She looked to see Spider droids crawling on the rocky surface, shooting up at them.
"Master..." Ahsoka said and Anakin looked over. Rotta whined, his arms flailing. "No, not now, Stinky." But the Huttlet persisted and suddenly, his motions seemed a little more directed and Ahsoka turned to follow his line of sight. "Wait… What's he pointing at?" She asked.
"He's pointing?" Anakin repeated, trying to get a look over his shoulder.
"Over there." She insisted, turning directly behind them. Anakin turned to look, and spotted another landing platform. "Another landing platform!"
"With a ship on it!" Anakin realized and smiled. "Good eye, stinky."
Ahsoka looked back to see the Lightsaber was halfway done making a hole in the door. "Master, we need to find a way over there before the Sith gets through."
"Leave that to me." Anakin smirked before he jumped off the platform they were on and landed on one of the insects, using the Force to communicate with it and make it let him ride it.
With Ahsoka, she whirled around as the hole in the door fell down to reveal the masked Sith who walked forward, Lightsaber in hand. Ahsoka tensed, getting into a stance. The Sith tilted his head as if amused before he rushed forward as did Ahsoka and their Lightsabers clashed, red and green.
The Sith blocked and parried Ahsoka's attacks before he twirled and landed a heavy blow, knocking Ahsoka back and nearly sending her off her feet but she managed to stay up, blocking the Sith's Lightsaber before she parried and managed to prick his bare arm, causing him to grunt as he backed up and looked to the burn mark.
"Ha." Ahsoka smirked before it fell as she felt the Dark Side gathering around this Sith before she felt herself being choked by an invisible grip and lifted off her feet, dangled over the edge of the balcony. Ahsoka looked down and saw Anakin flying up on one of the insects. She glanced over at Artoo who seemed to know what's going on and used his thrusters to fly off the platform. Ahsoka then swung her Lightsaber, causing the Sith to instinctively release her.
Ahsoka fell but Anakin's insect managed to catch her and hover over the Sith who looked up at them before the insect flew off towards the other landing platform where a old rusted ship was.
Jayden was silent as he watched the Jedi leave and deactivated his Lightsaber. His eyes narrowed behind his mask before he silently turned and went back inside...
Jayden's not one to get angry and have a temper tantrum or unleash it upon whoever's nearby. He'll bottle it up and save it for the next round.