It was quiet. Anakin held his breath, waiting for the moment that Maul or the doctor would come into the room drag him out and inject him with force knows what. He could feel several needles in his arm along with monitors taped to his chest. He slowly relaxed when he realized several things. First, while he was still cold, the surface underneath him was warm and soft, as if he were in a bed. Second, his whole body hurt. He had gotten beaten up and taken captive more times then he would have preferred, but he had never been injured this badly before. He tried going through a mental checklist to make sure he could still wiggle his toes and that noting was broken, but the thought of moving just made everything hurt even more. He couldn't even identify the source of the pain. Third, someone was holding his hand.
Who was holding his hand?
Anakin tentatively reached out into the force, and his heart filled with relief when he realized that the person next to him was Ahsoka. Ahsoka… who had been there at the diner with him when they were attacked, and Maul had taken him. Who had screamed his name out as he was being dragged away and drugged. He wanted to open his eyes, sit up, and ask her if she was alright, if she made it out okay. He tried to muster up the energy to say something, anything, but found that the words died in his throat and all he could do was force his eyes open.
The room was dimly lit. Anakin blinked several times, trying to get his eyes to focus. He could see the nighttime sky of Coruscant in front of him, and the plain white walls and ceiling of the halls of healing. He felt Ahsoka shift her weight on the mattress and looked down at his side to see her turn her head slightly. Her hand rested on top of his, her fingers relaxed and uncurled as she slept. Anakin started at her hand for a moment before curling his fingers around hers.
"Ahsoka" He whispered, surprised at how weak his voice sounded. Her lekku twitched and quickly sat up, her eyes wide and huge smile forming across her face.
"Master!" She exclaimed as she leaned over to hug him. Anakin smiled, and tried to raise his arms to hug her back, but she had trapped his arms under her, and he didn't have the strength to try and raise them anyway. Ahsoka sat back down in the chair at his bedside and took a deep breath.
"What happened?" He rasped and then winced at how bad his voice sounded again. Ahsoka looked taken aback.
"What happened to your voice?" She asked while making her usual "what have you done this time Skyguy" face. Anakin rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"Well… what do you remember?" She asked him
"Not much." He responded.
"Well… Maul took you about 2 weeks ago, and you've been in the halls of healing for another week after we rescued you." Ahsoka began tentatively. "But for a while they didn't think…" She trailed off again.
Anakin raised an eyebrow. He could feel Ahsoka's emotions in the force. The sorrow, the worry, the fear. Something bad had happened.
"They didn't think you were gonna make it." She whispered and looked down. "Everyone was really, really worried. I've never seen Master Kenobi act like that before."
"Act like what? What happened?" Anakin asked, concerned at how his padawan was acting. Ahsoka continued to look down at the floor.
"I've never seen him so… angry." Anakin was taken aback. Obi-Wan was someone who followed and preached the jedi code more strictly than most other jedi. While the thought of Obi-Wan breaking the code humored him; now he knew the same pain that he and Ahsoka had felt when they went and pursued the bounty hunters, he also found that he maybe… didn't want to know exactly what happened. Anakin knew, from years of trying to push his former master's buttons, that it takes a lot to get Obi-Wan worked up. And since Maul was involved… well he doubted it was pretty.
"Where is he?" Anakin asked. The door to his room suddenly opened and in walked Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin had never seen his master look so tired, so worn down before. The anger that he had in his heart faded once he saw just how spent the man was.
"Master Kenobi" Ahsoka said and sat up straight. "He just woke up." She added on, her eyes darting between the two men.
"Anakin." Obi-Wan said, his voice full of relief. "How are you feeling?" He asked. Anakin looked at Ahsoka and then back at Obi-Wan, trying to think of a response that wouldn't send them running for the nearest healer in an instant.
"Tired." He said with a shrug. He tried to play off the fact that his voice sounded so rough or that he thought the room was too cold or that his entire body felt like he had been run over by several speeders. Anakin looked between the worried looks on Ahsoka and Obi-Wan's faces. Nice going, Skywalker. He closed his eyes, trying to not let his own frustration get the better of him. But when he closed his eyes, all he could see was red.
Lord Vader. Lord Vader. A voice called out to him. Anakin tried to look around, but no matter where he looked, all he saw was red and nothing else.
"Ahsoka?" He yelled. "Obi-Wan?!" He exclaimed.
Lord Vader. The voice repeated.
"Chancellor?" Anakin asked, now realizing who the voiced belonged to. He heard the voice laugh.
"My dear boy." The voice said. "It is almost ready." He said.
"What?" Anakin yelled, panic beginning to seize his heart. "What is almost ready?"
"The order." Sidious responded.
"What order? The jedi? I don't understand!" Anakin screamed, searching for the chancellor. Ahead of him, he saw a figure standing there. He ran towards it.
"Chancellor!" Anakin exclaimed, relief flowing through his body. The silhouette was undoubtably the chancellors, but as Anakin approached, the figured quickly spun around, an ignited lightsaber in each hand and sliced downward.
Anakin gasped and opened his eyes. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were looking down at him, worry filling their eyes.
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan said. Anakin winced at the volume of his former master's voice. Anakin tried to grit his teeth through the pain, but it felt as if his whole world was tilting sideways, and he was going with it. The next thing he knew, he was leaning over the side of the bed, throwing up right in front of his padawan.
"Ahsoka, go get a healer." He heard Obi-Wan say over the sound of his own dry heaving. He felt his master place a hand on his back, trying to steady him. Anakin tried to take several deep breaths and closed his eyes, but as soon as he did, he saw the sabers swinging towards him and he immediately opened them and gagged again. He could hear several people enter the room and the sensors he was hooked up to were beeping in alarm, but to Anakin, it all sounded like as if it were happening in another room. He couldn't think about how he was being forced to lay back down and someone was placing a mask over his face. The only though occupying his mind was why did the chancellor have a lightsaber?
And why was it red?