Ahsoka couldn't sleep. Then again, she knew that no one else could sleep—this was the kind of thing that always happened before the bombs and blaster fire gave way. So she waited in the dark silence, her hands resting over her grimy knees. Listening instead to the quiet, just barely labored breaths of those around her. In the earlier days, she would sometimes pretend that they were actually just back at a base or a cruiser. But eventually, she realized that it was difficult to block out absolutely everything around her. Like the smell—she could smell the sweat and the ground and the ash that dusted over them all.

"You should be sleeping."

Ahsoka looked up.

Anakin was sitting across from her, his face streaked with sweat and dirt like everyone else. "Go to sleep," he said, nodding to Ahsoka. "While you can."

"I'm not tired," Ahsoka replied.

"You will be, if you stay up," Anakin said.

Ahsoka made a noncommittal sound. She lifted her head up to the sky. There was too much smoke for her to see the stars.

"It's just too quiet," she said after a while.

Anakin didn't respond right away. But even before he nodded, Ahsoka knew that her master felt the same way, which was why she said, "Sometimes I think I might fall asleep easier actually hearing things."

Another small silence. Ahsoka thought she saw Anakin nod again.

"Just close your eyes," Anakin said. "Sleep will come eventually."

"Like it does for you?"

Anakin paused.

But before he answered, a chime split the air. A few of the troopers around Ahsoka jerked awake, but then that chime sounded again—and then another, and another, and Ahsoka and the others came to the realization that the sounds weren't those of cannon fire, but—

"Are those bells?" Ahsoka asked.

Everyone was quiet.

And there again: the chimes of bells that rang through the air.

Then, quietly, Anakin said, "There's your noise, Snips. Now go to sleep."

Ahsoka tilted her head back against the earth. She listened to the breaths around her. And she listened to the bells.

A/N: as always, reviews/follows/favorites are greatly appreciated!