Chapter 15
"Ahsoka, time to get up! I mean it. You're going to be late for school."
Anakin riffled through the post, noting that one letter had his name on it. Who was writing to him? Who did he know who sent letters by post?
He was about to open it when Obi-wan walked into the kitchen, already fully dressed. "Is Ahsoka ready yet?"
"Not yet," Anakin groaned, dropping the envelope. "She's not even out of her room yet. Ahsoka! If you don't answer, I'm coming in."
Ahsoka hated it when Anakin came into her room uninvited, but she wasn't leaving him much of a choice. Anakin rapped on the door three times before opening it.
Ahsoka wasn't there.
Her bed looked slept in, like she had just wandered through to the bathroom, but she wasn't in the bathroom.
"Ahsoka? Come on, this isn't funny. You're going to be late for school."
Nothing.
Anakin opened the closet and looked under the bed, not that he could fathom why Ahsoka would be hiding. No Ahsoka.
His heart rate started to creep up. Where was she? Her school bag was still here, and anyway, she wouldn't leave before having breakfast. Ahsoka needed fuel to get her going early in the mornings.
"Obi-wan? Ahsoka isn't here."
Anakin stood stock still, trying not to panic. Where could she be?
Obi-wan's steadying hands were suddenly on his shoulders. "Take a deep breath, sweetheart. Have you tried calling her?"
"Not yet." Anakin fumbled for his phone and dialed Ahsoka's number. "Straight to voice mail."
"Ok. I'm going to call the school. You start calling her friends. She can't just have vanished. We'll find her."
Anakin started dialing with numb fingers. For each friend who said they hadn't seen Ahsoka, it felt like another lead weight was being dropped into his stomach.
She was his responsibility, and she was gone. What had happened to her? How could Anakin get her back? Scenes from a documentary on human trafficking he had watched a while back forced their way into his mind. Ahsoka was young and beautiful. The things they could do to her…
Anakin clapped his hand over his mouth and made a dash for the bathroom. He made it just in time to empty his breakfast into the toilet bowl.
Obi-wan hurried in, rubbing Anakin's back sympathetically. "The school hasn't seen her. I'm going to call the police."
Anakin nodded numbly, his stomach roiling. He sat in the kitchen while Obi-wan talked to Luminara, who promised she would be over immediately. He started flipping through the post again, just to have something to do with his hands.
He opened the letter addressed to him, glanced at and did a double-take.
Anakin
If you ever want to see your sister alive again, I would recommend withdrawing your testimony.
There was no name signed, but Anakin knew who it was from. It could only be from one person, really.
Maul had his sister.
How? Maul was in prison. He must have hired someone to take her.
He couldn't imagine a worse nightmare than Maul or people like him getting his hands on Ahsoka. What could he be doing to her right at this moment? If he hurt her, it would be all Anakin's fault…
Anakin was barely aware of his knees hitting the ground. The letter slipped from his numb fingers. His ears were ringing so loudly that Obi-wan had to shout before Anakin heard him.
"Anakin! Just breathe, sweetheart, breath with me. Come on, now, in and out."
"Obi-wan," Anakin gasped, trying to reach for the fallen letter, but Obi-wan's arms were tight around him, holding him together even as he splintered apart.
"I'm here, I'm here. Don't worry, dearest, Luminara is on her way. We're going to find Ahsoka."
"No… the letter."
Obi-wan finally saw what Anakin was trying to get to and snatched up the letter. His grip on Anakin tightened as he read.
"I'm going to kill him," he growled. "If he's hurt Ahsoka, I'll tear him apart with my bare hands."
At any other time, Anakin would have appreciated how much Obi-wan had come to care about Ahsoka, but now, those words just sent him spiraling even further into panic.
"You – you can't! You'll g-go to jail. I c-can't lose you too, Obi-wan!"
Obi-wan put the letter aside and pulled Anakin into a crushing hug. "Alright, dear one. You won't lose me, I promise you. I'll keep things legal, but as soon as we're done with Luminara, I'm hiring a team to find Ahsoka and bring her home safely."
Anakin nodded into Obi-wan's chest, inhaling Obi-wan's scent and letting it calm him.
They stood there like that until the doorbell rang.
Luminara looked grim as she came in. "Obi-wan, Anakin, hi. I'll get straight down to business. Of the ten witnesses who have agreed to testify at Maul's rape trial, seven of them have gone missing. The remaining three, yourself included, have had people close to them taken. The theory is that when Maul's men came to kidnap you and the others, you weren't home so they improvised and took loved ones to use as leverage."
It was a good thing Obi-wan had his arm so tightly around Anakin's waist, because if he didn't, Anakin's legs may well have collapsed. He and Obi-wan had been out late last night on a date. This was all his fault. If he'd just been home, it would have been him who was taken, not Ahsoka. He leaned into Obi-wan, unable to stop the whimper that escaped him.
"They're dead. Maul's people would have killed them the minute they were safely away." He would never see Ahsoka again and it was all his fault –
"Not necessarily. At the very least, those he plans to use as leverage must still be alive. As for the witnesses… well, their prognosis isn't as good, but there's a chance that whoever Maul hired is willing to kidnap but not murder. The sentence for kidnapping is a lot less than the one for murder, so maybe they're still alive."
"How did this happen?" Obi-wan demanded. "How did Maul hire a team of kidnappers from prison without anyone noticing?"
"He has close ties with Sidious. We believe that it was Sidious who arranged the kidnappings."
"Then what are you still doing here? Go and arrest him!" Anakin nodded vigorously at Obi-wan's words, but Luminara was already shaking her head.
"Believe me, I want to, but we don't have any proof. It's just a theory at this point."
"You do what you have to do. I'm going to do what I have to do."
"Obi-wan, you'd better not be thinking of doing something stupid."
"Nothing you wouldn't approve of." Obi-wan pressed a kiss to Anakin's cheek. "Anakin already talked me out of doing anything illegal. But I am hiring whoever I have to in order to get Ahsoka back."
"It's not a bad idea. I can recommend a few ex-navy seals who do freelance work if you like."
"Yes, please."
Obi-wan led Anakin to the couch and sat him down while he arranged details with Luminara. Anakin knew that he was being useless, but he couldn't bring himself to move. It was all he could do to keep his breathing under control. His body felt numb, the complete opposite to his mind, which was in freefall.
The sound of the door closing registered but didn't do anything to bring Anakin out of his near trancelike state. He stared at the carpet, trying not to think about all the terrible things that could be happening to Ahsoka right now.
"Anakin? Sweetheart, can you look at me?"
Anakin dragged his eyes up to meet Obi-wan's worried gaze. Obi-wan ran a hand down his back. "You need to try to relax, dearest."
Anakin realized that he was holding his entire body tense and he was starting to tremble from the physical effort, but he couldn't bring himself to relax.
"Come with me, Anakin."
Anakin let Obi-wan lead him to the bedroom and settle him on the bed, lying on his stomach, with his face turned to face Obi-wan.
"Can you talk to me, sweetheart?"
Anakin managed to shake his head. It was the best he could do.
"Alright. I'm going to try to help you relax, ok?"
Anakin nodded minutely. He knew that there would be no relaxing for him until Ahsoka was home safe, but he couldn't bring forth the words to make that argument.
"I've already made the call. A team of trained professionals is hunting down Ahsoka and the others as we speak. They're going to find her. We just need to hold it together until they do."
Anakin didn't know how to hold it together. It was one thing having Maul hurt him, but the idea of him ordering his people to hurt Ahsoka… Anakin couldn't bear the thought, but there was nothing he could do except bear it. He felt impossibly helpless.
Obi-wan started running his hands up and down Anakin's back and the backs of his legs, lightly at first, then more firmly, kneading into the tense muscles.
Against all his expectations, Anakin found himself relaxing into Obi-wan's touch. He sighed in relief as his body finally went limp. Obi-wan kept massaging him until Anakin's eyelids were drooping. He fought them viciously. He needed to be awake in case Ahsoka's kidnappers called with demands – more than the original demand of not testifying, that was.
"Sleep, Anakin," Obi-wan urged.
"I just woke up," Anakin mumbled.
"And you're exhausted. Terror does that to a person. You just rest. My team has things well in hand."
Obi-wan started pressing soft kisses to Anakin's back, then moved to his neck. Anakin tilted his head to the side to give Obi-wan better access.
He sighed at the feeling of Obi-wan's lips against his skin. It was very difficult to stay awake when Obi-wan was murmuring soothing things between kisses, his hands still working Anakin's back.
As much as he tried to stay awake, he couldn't fight the brutal adrenaline crash he was having. His eyes fluttered shut and he drifted off.
When Anakin woke, Obi-wan was next to him in bed, but sitting up against the headboard, typing on his iPad.
"Obi-wan? What time is it?"
"Nearly one. I've ordered us some lunch; it should be here soon."
"I can cook," Anakin protested.
"Not today, dearest. How are you feeling?"
The knowledge of what had happened to Ahsoka was like a lead weight sitting in his stomach. Anakin felt like he might throw up.
"I've been better," he admitted. "Has there been any word from the team you hired?"
"They haven't found anything yet, but they assure me they will. Everyone leaves traces. It's just a matter of knowing where to look."
Anakin nodded miserably. That may well be true, but every moment Ahsoka was missing was another moment that someone could be hurting her.
"How long do you think it'll take for them to find her?"
Obi-wan grimaced. "I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I've been warned it might take several weeks."
"WEEKS? Obi-wan, they could be hurting Ahsoka right now! We don't have weeks!"
"If there was any way I could make this happen faster, I would do it without hesitation. I hope you know that."
Anakin immediately felt ashamed of himself. Obi-wan was doing everything he could to help, and here Anakin was shouting at him.
"I'm sorry. I know you're doing your best – more than most people would do. Thank you. I do appreciate your help."
"Ahsoka is your family, which means she's my family too. I'll do whatever I need to in order to get her back."
Anakin moved in closer so that his head was on Obi-wan's lap and he wrapped his arms around Obi-wan's waist. "Maybe this was a bad idea. If I never pressed charges against Maul, Ahsoka would never have been taken. If we call off the trial, do you think he'll release her?"
Obi-wan sighed. "I'm sure that's what he wants you to think, but he could just as easily kill her once the charges have been dropped. Mace is in an emergency hearing right now. We're going to try to get the trial date pushed back until the witnesses and their loved ones have been found."
"That's assuming any of them still want to testify after this."
"If Maul isn't put away for good, he's going to keep hurting people. All the witnesses know that; it's why they agreed to testify in the first place. I can't promise all of them will still want to testify, but I don't believe that they will all pull out. And I don't think you should, either. We can't let him get away with this."
Anakin was torn. He wanted Maul out of his life for good, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice Ahsoka to that end. Of course, much of it was out of his control. He could withdraw his testimony, but the case would likely go ahead regardless. Charges had been filed by each of the witnesses, so even if Anakin withdrew his charges, only the kidnapped victims would be able to withdraw their own charges.
In their absence, the case would go ahead without them, and if Maul won, there would be no trying him again. Their only hope was to postpone the case and find the witnesses before Maul's people decided to kill them. If they hadn't already.
"I know what you're thinking. If you withdraw your testimony, and Maul isn't put away, when he's free, he won't just be coming for you. He'll be coming for Ahsoka too. He's made it clear that your family is not off-limits, and he'll want revenge for sure."
Obi-wan was right, Anakin realized with rising panic. Ahsoka would never be safe. If Maul could hire people from prison to take her, there was no hope.
"We'll never be free of him," Anakin said dully as the hard, cold truth hit home.
"That's not true, dearest. Maul must have had help; I suspect his friend Sidious is involved. Once it becomes clear that Maul is going away for life, however, Sidious won't continue to pump resources into a lost cause. We just need to get through the trial and make sure Maul is convicted."
How could Anakin even think about that when Ahsoka was missing? All he wanted was to hug her tight and never let anyone hurt her again. Nothing else mattered. What good was he if he couldn't even protect his own sister?
He knew what he had to do.
