While he slept his friends and family were just learning about what happened to their friend, brother, teacher, and husband. For the next three months every person who cared for Anakin the most continued to search for him and any avenue that could be taken in order to locate their friend. None of them were going to give up looking for him as long as there was a chance however slim that chance was that he was still alive.
Obi-Wan
Three months ago, Anakin Skywalker was sent on a mission by the council. A mission that I did not know of till the day my former padawan asked me to continue training his padawan, Ahsoka Tano. When I asked him where he was going all he could tell me was that he was headed to the Outer Rim territories. He felt that bringing Ahsoka along was an unnecessary risk.
The fact that I did not know his mission and the fact that he considered a risk to bring Ahsoka were two red flags that I could not ignore. Knowing my former student I knew that taking risks was daily life for him.
"Anakin, this isn't like you, what is going on?" He looked into my eyes and although deep within those blue spheres he wants to tell me a lot of things, he knows he cannot.
"I'm sorry Master, but I can't." passive anger and regret flowed around Anakin and I knew that he wanted so much to tell me, but he couldn't.
"I understand Anakin, However, something tells me that whatever this mission, you are about to undertake will challenge you in more ways than this war ever has, May the Force be with you."
"Master, please be safe."
"I will Snips, you don't need to worry. May the force be with you my padawan."
"And with you, Master" Anakin left to board a shuttle and that was the last time Ahsoka and I saw him.
Three weeks later, Ahsoka and I were called in front of the council, however, it was only Master Yoda, Windu, and Plo Koon. The three of them informed us that Anakin had gone missing on his last mission. The two of us were being sent to the planet Amuerus to investigate his disappearance.
"What was the mission, Masters?" A moment of silence was cast over the room before Master Yoda spoke.
"Overseeing secret negotiations between the republic and a few key separatist systems that no longer wanted to be under the tyranny of Count Dooku, Knight Skywalker was."
"Who knew about these meetings?"
"The three of us present were all in on the nature of the meetings. As well as Chancellor Palpatine and Senator Bail Organa who was representing the Republic's interest in the negotiations." Master Windu answered this time.
"Information we have on the attack itself is limited, all received from our last contact with Skywalker and consecutive reports from Clones stationed with him. Someone wielding a red lightsaber was the cause of the attack."
"Until this matter is solved the negotiations have been put on hold indefinitely until we can determine it is not an attack by one of the planet's seeking to leave the Confederacy."
"Skywalker's whereabouts clues there still may find you can, leave immediately you should."
"Understood, Masters"
"May the Force be with you." Leaving the Council chambers I knew that there was one other person who needed to know about Anakin, however, before getting in contact with them I needed to get Ahsoka to start preparing for our trip to Amuerus.
"Ahsoka collect your survival pack, then please inform Commander Cody to prepare the 212th."
"Of course Master Kenobi."
Obi-Wan sent a message through his comlink and headed toward a secluded part of the temple that only he and one other person knew about. He waited in the dark, his hood obscuring his face. He wasn't waiting long when another cloaked individual stealthy walked towards him. Judging by her force signature he knew that she was feeling a multitude of emotions and Obi-Wan wasn't sure what her reaction would be to his news. She was repeating mantras of the order over and over in her head and as she came closer he could hear them too.
There is Emotion, yet there is Peace
Ignorance can be overcome with Knowledge
There is no Passion, but there is Love
Chaos exists, but within it, we can find the Harmony in the situation
"You do know that those are not the way the code goes right." A half-smile alighted on Kenobi's face as the female removed her hood and immediately wrapped her arms around him to which he responded in kind.
"I do, but you know we've become quite all right with breaking the code in two. Besides, I like mine better and it is something that helps me keep calm." She gazed into his eyes taking in his worried expression. "Especially when I think I am about to receive bad news."
"You always know what I'm about to say before I even say it."
"Because I know you so well. What's going on?"
"Athena its Anakin you remember that I told you about him going on a mission in the Outer Rim"
"I remember, it is still weird that you weren't filled in on the mission your former padawan was undertaking. What was the council thinking?"
"Athena!" Athena turned her eyes to Obi-Wan now very worried about what he would say next.
"I was just informed that something happened on the mission." Placing his arms gentle on her forearms he continued. "Anakin is missing."
"What? How?"
"Right now all I know is that he was attacked by someone wielding a red lightsaber. I do not know who or even if he was a Sith. Ahsoka and I are headed to Amuerus to find out more. I will call you as soon as I find out anything I just had to come and tell you personally before you heard it from someone else."
"Obi-Wan, please find my baby brother and bring him home safe and sound."
"I will Athena, believe me, Ahsoka and I will not rest until we bring him home safe and sound. Cariña, I can promise you that I will return home to you and our son." Athena and Obi-Wan hugged each other and kissed their spouse goodbye before going their separate ways.
After making sure that all the supplies were gathered and the men ready to go Ahsoka and Obi-Wan left Coruscant traveling their maximum speed in order to reach Amuerus quickly.
A Week and 4 days later
Immediately upon their arrival they entered the base and looked around for anything that might tell them what happened. The entire place was a mess except for some of the places that had been disturbed where the clones had dug their brethren out of the rubble.
Captain Rex met them there along with some more troops of the 501st battalion. He informed that most of Anakin's men had only suffered from an acute case of hypothermia, many of whom had returned to help the investigation. However, numerous brothers were still unaccounted for.
As they continued to sift through the rubble they found more clones and quickly got them to the medical frigate. When they finally got the passageway cleared enough to walk through Obi-Wan and Ahsoka went in and after walking a fair bit they found the communication room.
At first glance, the room seemed to be the focal point of the attack. Large slash marks that were consistent with a major lightsaber battle all around the room. Fortunately, the communication station seemed unharmed with that Obi-Wan pulled up the last transmission to those on the Jedi Council aware of his mission.
Watching the recording closely Kenobi kept an eye out for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Considering that it was Anakin Skywalker he was watching that meant looking for something more than just offbeat, as uncommon things seemed to be his former padawans way of life. Every angle that was available to him was used allowing Obi-Wan to view the fight from a multitude of different directions.
Judging by the way Anakin was walking he seemed to be very out of it as if he'd not slept well in a long time. That got Obi-Wan very worried as soon as the fight broke out Kenobi knew that Anakin was a formidable warrior, but in this moment of weakness, he was at a major disadvantage against this stronger opponent. Especially when the former's lightsaber was forced from his grip. The instant he was vulnerable two electro-staffs collided with his back and the two rods sent substantial amounts of electric energy through his body sending his body into unconsciousness.
Reviewing the footage again, Kenobi didn't watch his former padawan, but the creature who was attacking Anakin looking for some clue as to his identity. Yet his attacker never showed his or her face however the council members were correct in saying that this individual was a master of the dark side.
"Ahsoka, download all transmissions from this station, we'll view the rest later."
"Yes, Master Kenobi." Ahsoka got to work splicing into the station in order to retrieve all the necessary intel. At the same time, the Master grabbed a flashlight from his toolbelt looking around for anything else that he may have missed from the recordings. Moving the light to and fro around the room his light alighted on a shiny object making his way towards it he removed it from the rubble. Looking down at it he immediately recognized it.
Obi-Wan
"Ahsoka" Anakin's young padawan turned towards me and I opened my hand showing her Anakin's lightsaber. She knew what it was just like I did and an immense wave of fear wafted over she was feeling the same thing I was.
"What do we do now Master Kenobi?" Sensing the immense waves of both anger and fear coming from Ahsoka. I knew that I needed to get her to take a breath.
"First and foremost, we take a moment to calm our thoughts and clear our minds. From the information that we've gathered from the recordings as well as from the room itself, it seems that Anakin was taken alive albeit unconscious. Even though he seemed extremely tired he did put up a good fight." Looking around the room I noticed that there were no noticeable blood splatters anywhere.
"Master we should contact the Council and share what intel we have; they may be able to fill in the missing pieces to this mystery."
"Anakin has taught you very well, little one." A small smile alighted on Ahsoka's face and I sensed a great deal of pride encompassing her before she focused her attention back on why we were here in the first place. As the communications room was not able to transmit to Coursant Ahsoka and I retreated to the Visioner. From there we made contact with the Jedi Temple, after informing them of all the new developments to Anakin's disappearance. We had a lot of questions to ask and even from this distance Master could sense our questions.
"I sense that many questions to ask of this council, you have."
"Yes, Master Yoda, first would be after viewing the recordings we see Anakin dressed in a similar to his men's uniforms. Why is that Masters?" Until he took off his helmet I couldn't discern him from any of the other troopers. They were all wearing the cold weather gear as Amuerus was in its cold weather cycle that it normally is in a third of the year.
"We were cautious of the overture made by the Confederacy so on advice from the chancellor we sent a Jedi in disguise as a member of the clone troopers sent with Senator Bail Organa."
"Who knew of a Jedi 'hiding in plain sight'?"
"A carefully guarded secret this was and the only ones besides the three of us were Chancellor Palpatine, Senator Organa, as well as a chosen member of the clone squad in order to maintain the secrecy of the mission." With that knowledge in mind, the suspect list became much shorter and although I was certain of a few that were on the list I still couldn't be sure.
"Thank you, masters, you've given us much to think about." After turning off the transmission Obi-Wan and Ahsoka decided to retire for the night and go over all the information they collected the next day. However, something felt wrong within the force so he and Ahsoka stopped in one of the cruiser's hallways. The two Jedi looked into each other's eyes, the other acknowledging what the other one felt. Even as soon as they recognized it an immense feeling of pain that only came from extreme torture as quickly as it came it disappeared just as fast.
The bound that both master and padawan had with Anakin stretched and contracted over and over again to the point of breaking. The two fell to the ground and slipped into unconsciousness. The clones had no clue what happened, but something told Cody and Rex that the two Jedi needed to be looked over by the medical team at the Halls of Healing.
"Ah, no I will never," Anakin screamed so much that his throat was so sore, however, he knew what he had to do to stop the pain. Nonetheless, he also knew the cost of that decision and for that, he decided to continue to endure it every day.
"One day you will join if just to end the pain that you are feeling."
"You cannot break me Sidious."
"We will see, how about if I make it harder for you by cutting you off from the one thing that is helping." Quicker than Anakin realized he had force binders on his wrist. Cutting him off from everything. In his mind, he could faintly see Obi-Wan and Ahsoka unconscious on the ground. Captain Rex and Cody were above them and somehow Anakin pushed into Rex's mind and gave him the motivation to get his master and padawan to the Halls of Healing.
After having the smallest connection with his master and padawan he returned to the reality he was in. Today had been the worst torture session and with the force inhibitors on Anakin's real wrist as well as one on his neck. These greatly limited the use of the force and compelled him to feel the real effects of his torture whereas before he would use his knowledge of the force to dull the pain to a semi manageable level. Once the tools of torture stopped falling upon my After the pain stopped Anakin was breathing hard and also leaning heavily from the chains that held him up.
"You will become my apprentice."
"No matter how many times you say it to it will never come true. I will never turn regardless of how much pain you put me through." An evil smirk appeared on Sidious' face.
"We shall see." He left the room taking with him Anakin's cybernetic arm, depriving the young Jedi of something that might give him hope of escape.
"Master/Snips/Angel please you're my only hope."
In the Jedi Temple Halls of Healing
Obi-Wan
"Master, please you're my only hope." Anakin's voice ranged in my head and I immediately opened my eyes and after taking a moment to reorient myself. I looked around quickly recognizing the walls of the Hall of Healing after spending so much time here over the years from my injuries to Anakin's to even Ahsoka's.
"Ahsoka!" leaning up in bed before some hands gently pushed me to the bed again.
"Easy there General the Commanders fine see." Cody pointed to another bed to the left of me where Ahsoka lay her eyes still closed. Rex was by her bedside as Commander Cody was by mine.
"What happened?"
"I'm not exactly sure General after you contacted the Jedi Council you and Commander Tano informed us you were turning in for the night. Next thing I knew Rex messaged me informing me that the two of you had collapsed in the hallways and that I should get the Visioner to the Temple as fast as possible. That was a week ago sir."
"So Ahsoka and I have been unconscious for three days correct."
"Yes sir, you were unconscious the entire time."
"Thank you, Commander, any updates from the investigation."
"Not to my knowledge no the Council sent Master Tarkington and her padawan were sent to continue your investigation while you were incapacitated."
"Understood Commander thank you." Cody left the room and as much as I wanted to go back to sleep I needed to get up.
"Ahh!"
"Ahsoka, it's all right you're safe." Rex gently pushed Ahsoka back to the bed. Getting up from my bed I went to sit beside Ahsoka.
"Master Kenobi, Rex what happened?"
"We've been unconscious for an entire week, padawan."
"Master, did you hear Anakin's voice just before you woke up?"
"I did as did you I'm guessing."
"Yes, the last thing I remember is feeling an overwhelming sense of pain coming through my bond with Master Skywalker then it was cut off does that mean?"
"No Ahsoka I felt the same thing you did, yet I know that Anakin is just cut off from the force which is dulling the bond you and I shared with him. All I know is that wherever he is, pain is a constant companion right now." Tears immediately welled up in Ahsoka's eyes Rex went to sit by her giving the support that she needed allowing her to be more comfortable.
"I'm scared Master." I tried to mask and control my turmoil, but she knew immediately that I was faking it. She knew immediately that I was as scared as she was.
"I know little one as I am, but right now we need to rest tomorrow we will begin and continue to look for our friend no matter how long it takes."
