A/N: Welcome back to Anna's tonally confusing Star Wars Fairy Tale, the next installment in Anna Tries To Do Too Much with Star Wars and her 1k word fic turns into a 10k word fic. When will she learn? Stay Tuned.
It's growing darker and colder by the minute, and Anakin and Ahsoka are still just there, a few yards away from the dead body of the Separatist Spy, and Anakin has grown distant. His Force signature is buzzing and cold and erratic, but Ahsoka can't really get a read on what's going on in his head. He's still lying in the dirt, Ahsoka standing over him, both of them watching the sky. Finally, Ahsoka, who is fourteen after all, grows tired and lays down next to him. Anakin, surprised, looks at her.
"Hey, can we get out of here?" Ahsoka wonders. "Find some cover or something, at least? I hate being out in the open, especially when there might be some more Seppies around the corner."
Anakin shrugs and pushes himself up into a sitting position. "We should probably do something with her body," Anakin remarks, gesturing casually to the decapitated woman Ahsoka has reminded Anakin several times Obi-Wan asked for them to bring back alive. She's sure he would be twice as angry that Anakin executed her, but she's not planning on informing him of all the gory details.
They don't do anything fancy, but they burn the body, and wait until it smolders out until they leave. As Anakin is lighting it with whatever he finds in his utility belt that's good for lighting things on fire, he turns to her, his eyes glinting mischievously, which Ahsoka thinks is totally inappropriate. "Any final words, Snips?"
Ahsoka rolls her eyes, but says, "I've never seen Anakin so easily baited before, and Obi-Wan makes it his life's mission. Congratulations." There's a twinge of irritation from Anakin in the Force beside her, but it's not far away like whatever else he's trying to hide from her.
Anakin clears his throat. "You were the creepiest witch I've ever met," Anakin says with certainty. "And I've met a lot of witches."
"She wasn't a witch, Skyguy," Ahsoka reminds him.
Anakin shakes his head, lights the body up. "I've met witches. She was certainly one."
It's already dark by the time they get underway.
Ahsoka's stomach growls a second before Anakin groans. "We should stop, Snips," he suggests. "I'm hungry."
They have a little tree cover –whatever vegetation manages to grow on the planet grows tall and far a part –which makes Ahsoka feel better about being attacked at any moment. Anakin sits, resting his back against the trunk of a slim wispy tree and gestures for Ahsoka to sit next to him. She does, folding her legs, slipping a protein pack out of her utility belt. She munches on it tiredly. The exhaustion of the day and dealing with Anakin while he comes down from the battle washes over her all at once. She peaks up at Anakin. He's not eating, not moving. If Ahsoka didn't know any better she would think he's meditating, since he's clearly still awake, but Ahsoka does know better. His eyes are closed, his breathing even, his face screwed in concentration. Ahsoka knows that Anakin feels her watching him, but he doesn't move to acknowledge her and doesn't move at all. From the Force there is that cold nothingness that Ahsoka has come to understand as a warning sign from Anakin –a warning that not all is well with her young master and a warning that she should absolutely not ask him about it.
Ahsoka clears her throat, asks him anyway. "You're the one who wanted to stop, Master," Ahsoka reminds him. "Are you gonna eat something?"
Anakin opens his eyes slowly, and stares at her like he's never seen her before. "Oh," he says, surprised. "Nah, I'm okay, Snips."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Ahsoka laughs humorlessly. "That's convincing." Anakin closes his eyes again, pretends that he's sleeping or meditating or whatever, but Ahsoka knows he's doing neither. "Master, seriously. What's the matter?"
"I'm just...I'm trying to conserve our resources," Anakin admits without looking at her. "I don't know how long we'll be here, and we only have so much food. I can go without food for a few days if it means that we can eat later."
Ahsoka stops, her protein pack still in her mouth. "Should I not...?"
Anakin groans. "Everything will be fine, Snips," he promises. "I didn't want to scare you. If you're hungry, you should eat."
"Aren't you hungry? You said you were."
"I'm not," Anakin promises, looking at her in the eye, all the focus in the Galaxy directed right towards her. He shakes his head, leans it against the tree. "I'm not."
Obi-Wan gets some bad news.
It's once they're through the blockade, and he's speaking with the council over fuzzy comm-channels. Master Yoda is blinking in and out of the picture. Obi-Wan can only hear every other word, but it doesn't take the Force to figure out that Yoda is saying "To Coruscant, return you must. With or without your Padawan."
"I'm worried for him, Masters," Obi-Wan says, in spite himself. He hopes the connection is as fuzzy for the Council on Coruscant as it is for him. "We cannot abandon him."
"We will not abandon Skywalker or Padawan Tano," Master Windu says. "But you must return home before we can allow you to retrieve him."
"A capable knight, young Skywalker is," Yoda reminds Obi-Wan. "Not your duty, anymore, is it to protect him. To the Republic and the Jedi, your duty is."
"Yes, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan concedes. "But they will not know when we are coming until we take out the blockade. The Separatists are jamming our communications."
"Take care of that, the rest of the fleet will," Yoda says. "For when you return."
The holograms fizzle out one by one.
Obi-Wan casts out, searching with the Force for Anakin and Ahsoka. They're alive, at least, successful in their mission, if a faint glow of smugness that he can feel from Anakin across their bond even from here is anything to go by. Anakin seems to notice, prods him back with the Force. Seems to try to assure Obi-Wan. We'll be fine, Master. Don't you trust me? A hint of a smirk across an un-severed training bond that does nothing to put Obi-Wan at ease.
Anakin and Ahsoka sleep fitfully that night, and Anakin is already up when Ahsoka awakes. He casts her a sidelong look as she clips her belt back around her waist, weighs her lightsaber thoughtfully in her hands. Anakin is looking ahead of them, distractedly, but otherwise, not doing much.
"So," Anakin says at last. "Should we keep going or head back?"
"Why can't we stay here?" Ahsoka wonders.
"What's the use? It's not very comfortable here," Anakin reminds her. "I say we keep going. Obi-Wan won't be back to pick us up for at least another week."
"How do you know?"
"Because, Snips, the Force and I…" he offers as an explanation, trailing off like he always does when he talks about the Force. "I outrank you, of course, but if you have a good reason for going back today, then I would like to hear it."
"And risk getting caught by Seppies? No thank you!"
Anakin smiles broadly. "You should eat and then, we'll get going," he decides.
"I'm okay," Ahsoka decides, thinking about the conversation they had last night, about how they know for sure they'll be stuck on this planet indefinitely. "Conserve our rations and all. I can eat later."
"Sounds like a plan," Anakin says. They set out.
After three days, there's no word from Obi-Wan and no sight of any other living being, sentient or otherwise. There are bugs, flies mostly, that Anakin spends hours swatting at irritably, and the occasional droid every few miles, there's the smoldering remains of someone's home, but other than that, and the trees that don't have more than a few leaves on them, there's nothing but the endless horizon.
"Do you get the feeling we're moving farther away from civilization, rather than towards it?" Ahsoka asks Anakin, on day three. She's tired and hungry, and she's not sure that Anakin has slept or eaten since the day they destroyed the droid factory.
Anakin grunts in reply, swatting at the flies near his face. "Makes sense," he says. "I wouldn't want even loyal Separatists to know I was building a huge kriffin' war factory. And the people on this planet –wherever the kriff they are – are not loyal Separatists."
Ahsoka sighs. "You didn't answer my question." Anakin is a few paces ahead of her, and she feels like she's dragging the entire system behind her just to keep up. "Can we stop for a second? It's not like we're really making any progress."
"Yeah, sure," Anakin says, slowing his pace to a stop, the tension in his shoulders dissolving, and, at last, falling to the ground right where he stands, exhausted. Ahsoka sits next to him, reaches into her utility belt, pulls out a ration bar. It's bland, and three days ago, she would have rather eaten anything else, but she's grateful for it now. Anakin watches her hungrily, but he doesn't say anything, doesn't move except to put his head in his hands.
"Are you all right, Master?" Ahsoka wonders. "I mean…have you been eating and all that?"
"Don't be stupid, Ahsoka," Anakin says from inside his hands. "Of course I've been eating."
"Oh yeah?" she presses. "Then eat something right now."
Anakin lifts his head high enough to scowl at her. "I'm not hungry."
"That's poodoo and you know it," Ahsoka accuses him. Anakin doesn't say anything at all to that. Ahsoka reaches into the Force, across their bond, but Anakin's shields are sealed tight, so except for a slight twinge of annoyance that she's trying to invade his mind, Ahsoka gets nothing, not weariness, not hunger, not worry for her or Obi-Wan he's clearly trying to hide. But she doesn't have to be a Jedi to tell that Anakin is exhausted. "Seriously, Skyguy, what's the point of conserving rations if you're just going to collapse anyway?"
"I can take care of myself, Ahsoka," he growls, a little more than irritation sneaking past his shields.
Ahsoka sighs, breaks her ration bar in half, hands the part she hadn't already chewed to Anakin, who takes it skeptically. "We can share, Master. You need it more than I do."
"I can't…" he protests weakly, nibbling the corner of his half cautiously. "I have to protect you, Snips."
He eats his half, and Ahsoka eats hers. She's still hungry, and Anakin doesn't look much better off, but at least her feet don't hurt as much and a little bit of color has returned to Anakin's face. His shields have loosened a little and he sends a wave of gratitude across their bond, gratitude mixed with weariness, exhaustion down to his very bones.
Neither of them have moved since they sat down. Anakin looks around him with the air of a man who has already made up his mind but feels like he has to do his due diligence anyway. He looks even more tired than he did when they sat down. His eyes are dark, heavy with sleep. "That's far enough for today," he decides, unnecessarily. He's already mostly asleep, sitting up, across from Ahsoka. "Get some sleep."
"You too, Master," Ahsoka presses, though she's pretty sure he doesn't hear her, because he's already asleep.
Anakin wakes up, the ground hard beneath him, his lips dry and chapped. Every breath hurts to draw, every bone in his body aches. He's hungry like he hasn't been in years. He's no less tired than he was when he fell asleep, and the Force is thick and groggy around him. Next to him, he can feel Ahsoka, luckily as bright and clear as always, breathing steadily. A little hungry, a little thirsty, very tired, but otherwise fine. Sleeping well because she knows Anakin fell asleep and because Obi-Wan isn't going to leave them here.
Well, sure, Obi-Wan wouldn't leave them here, unless something happens to him, or if the Jedi Order thinks this is the best chance they have to get rid of him and Ahsoka. But what if something does happen to him? He thinks he felt Obi-Wan's presence somewhere beyond the blockade before they propelled him into hyperspace back to Coruscant, where, Anakin thinks Obi-Wan was trying to inform him, he would be reassigned before he would be able to come pick Anakin and Ahsoka up. And maybe that's the Jedi Council's round-about way of getting Anakin out of their hair. He's pretty sure they wouldn't abandon a Padawan, not even Ahsoka –or, well, especially not Ahsoka –but, well –Anakin imagines Master Windu's serious face, shaking his head, saying something about regrettable but necessary casualties of war.
Anakin groans. He tries to orient himself to the world with the Force, but it's curling dark and heavy in the spaces between his thoughts, and it's slipping through his fingers, dissipating like smoke where he tries to grasp it. And he's hungry. Hells, he's hungry. He tries to push that thought, feeling, whatever it is, down, focus on the Living force around him, flowing through him and Ahsoka, sound asleep, and whatever life is stubborn enough to exist on this planet, but it's cold and insistent enough that it takes all his will and all the will of the Force to get him to sit up.
Ahsoka gets up almost immediately, looking like she's considerably more rested than Anakin, who can't think through the smog of the Force and his hunger. She's saying something to him, her Force signature bright and even –a little too bright for Anakin to even look right at her, a little too bright for him to be within twenty feet of her without his head pounding right out of his skull –but her voice is far away, or maybe Anakin is, thinking about the last time he ate and coming up blank, and thinking about the last time he was this hungry, which was…well…
He was still on Tatooine the last time he was this hungry. Ahsoka's right, he thinks to himself dully. You're no good to her like this. Why don't you just eat something? He reaches for where he keeps his rations, nodding to whatever Ahsoka says to him, and comes up empty. His heart stops, dread rushing back to him, sends shivers down his spine. He left them, or ate them, or lost them, or someone stole them –it doesn't matter. His rations are gone, and they –Anakin and Ahsoka –are stuck on this planet until the Council does or does not decide to come rescue them, and it's only been three days and Anakin is tired and cold and hungry. And he's trying very hard not to panic because he's the one who got them into this mess in the first place.
"Master!" Ahsoka snaps sharply, prodding him roughly through their Force bond and also with her very real, very cold hand.
Anakin looks at her, fighting through the urge to go back to sleep. "What?" he snaps back.
Ahsoka's lips are twisted into something that looks like a snarl, but Anakin's known her long enough now to know that she's concerned about something. Him, probably. "You're not listening to me," she says needlessly. "And you look awful, frankly." She's sitting across from him, her face scrunched up like she's trying to figure out what to say next. "You look worse, somehow. From last night. I know that half a ration isn't much, but I thought it would help."
Anakin does his best to crack a smile, but it feels wrong, like he's grimacing or maybe scowling. "Whaddya mean, Snips?" he means to say lightly, but he knows it comes out like a growl. "I'm better than ever."
Ahsoka rolls her eyes, stands up and offers him her hand. He takes it, staggers to his feet, sways slightly. "If you live, Obi-Wan is going to kill you," she tells him matter-of-factly, and Anakin is too busy trying not to fall over that he can't even process what she's saying. He's trying to sort it out, trying to figure out what exactly he's done that would warrant that kind of response from Obi-Wan, when Ahsoka's jabbing him through their bond and pressing one of her ration bars into his hand.
He looks at it for a few seconds before he can put together what she wants him to do with it. "Ahsoka," he says at last. Ahsoka looks at him skeptically, like she can't believe he's trying to argue with her. "I can't take this. You need it. You need to…" he can't figure out the next word, how to make her understand that she has to eat, how to make her take it back, especially since her arms are crossed against her chest and Anakin can't focus to see anything with the Force except for how blindingly and distractingly bright she is.
"No," Ahsoka says. "You need it. Master, I'm hungry, but I'm not about to collapse. You need to eat the whole thing and then take it easy." Anakin looks at it, his stomach churns.
"I can't, Ahsoka."
"Fine, don't," Ahsoka concedes. "But we gotta get going." She casts him another wary glance. "Stop me if you feel like you're going to faint or something, Anakin," she says, and starts off, in a direction that is either further from or closer to the battlefield Anakin is not sure, and it takes him a few seconds to get his feet working to follow.
They are moving really slowly, and slowing down, Ahsoka notices. She also can't help but notice that Anakin still hasn't eaten, stopped, or collapsed, so in spite of his slowing movement, in spite of the fact that Ahsoka can feel the Force, thick like molasses around him, impelling him forward, Ahsoka does not stop either.
They're heading back to where they came from in the hope that by the time they get back there, Obi-Wan will have arrived. She hopes they can make it back in three or four days, but with how much Anakin has slowed down in just the last hour, she's doubtful.
"Can we stop for a second, Snips?" he says weakly, about midday, when they've made so little progress Ahsoka feels like screaming, but she does and Anakin drops, the Force spinning around him.
"When was the last time you ate?" she wonders. "This isn't three days without food, Master."
"I…" Anakin shakes his and closes his eyes. "With the battle. I don't…" he shakes his head again. "Sometime last week," he decides. "I'm fine, Ahsoka. I'm just…tired."
Ahsoka sits down next to him. "Can you eat please?" Ahsoka pleads. "Obi-Wan will be here eventually, but he really will kill you if you die first."
"I'm not going to die, Ahsoka, stop being dramatic."
"You haven't eaten anything in over a week, Master," she reminds him. "You just told me that. Don't worry about rations. It's not like Master Obi-Wan is just gonna strand us here forever."
"I've gone longer without food, Ahsoka," he says in a way that makes Ahsoka's blood run cold. Whenever he talks about his life before the Order, Ahsoka's skin crawls, even if she doesn't know why. Whenever Ahsoka tries to find out more about his past Anakin growls and the Force grows stormy, thunderous, and without even having to say his six favorite words ("I don't wanna talk about it" –a classic, never gets old) Ahsoka knows to back off. "And I can't take your rations, Ahsoka. I just…I can't."
"Fine, but if you faint, I am not carrying you," Ahsoka quips, trying to push the icy dread building beneath her skin away, release it into the Force. Trust the Force and Obi-Wan to get them help before Anakin heroes his way into an early grave.
Anakin nods sleepily. "I need to rest…we can get going in a minute…I need to rest…" His eyes are closed, the Force thinning between them. He's slipping into sleep, still mumbling that he's okay, he needs…just a second, Snips.
Ahsoka sighs. "I saw a stream yesterday," she tells her sleeping master. "I'm going to get water, and then you will drink it." Anakin, who is really asleep, nods a little, still sitting up, his head resting on his arms resting on his knees.
By the time Ahsoka is back with both of their canteens filled, the water purified, Anakin is awake again, looking pale, his hair sweaty and plastered to his face, his eyes bloodshot, his hands buried in his robes like he does when he's nervous, but not looking any worse than he did when he went to sleep. Ahsoka hands him his canteen, which he accepts gratefully without a word. Takes an appreciative and cautious sip. Chugs the rest.
"I feel better," he says after a moment.
"I feel worse," Ahsoka says curtly. Which is true. Her back and legs ache, her exhaustion from the last few days and the battle catching up to her. Anakin may have gone longer than three days without food, but Ahsoka hasn't.
"Here," Anakin says, handing her ration bar back to her. "Really, Ahsoka, I'm okay." She takes it hesitantly, reaches into the Force. He does seem at least as okay as before, if not better. The Force isn't so thick and heavy around him, not as frantic either. And she is hungry. Really hungry.
"Well," Ahsoka says, standing up, much to her joints protest. "We don't have all day." She offers Anakin her hand again, like she did that morning, but he doesn't take it this time. If he sways when he stands, Ahsoka pretends not to notice.
They've been walking for about an hour when the fatigue starts to set in again and the Force starts to cloud around Anakin. He's keeping an eye on Ahsoka, mostly to make sure he's keeping up and not wandering away from their path. He thinks, somehow, things will be better when they get back to where Obi-Wan ditched them, but unless Obi-Wan is there when they get back, there is absolutely no reason to believe that. Ahsoka, he supposes, hopes that Obi-Wan will be there, and it will cut back time that it takes for the Republic to rescue them, but Anakin can't help but feel like every second they've spent on this planet has been futile. Ahsoka keeps looking back at him, like he might collapse (he might) or he might have just disappeared into the thin air (also a possibility, he thinks bitterly), but Anakin is always there to grin back at her, even though his limbs feel like they weigh a ton each and his head feels like it might just fly away.
Ahsoka stops suddenly. He barrels into her before he even realizes, and Ahsoka scoffs, placing a hand on his chest to keep him steady, and he pretends like he doesn't notice, but Ahsoka's hand is firm, solid on his body that otherwise feels like it's more part of the atmosphere than anything corporeal.
It takes him a few seconds to get why she stopped, dead in her tracks, and hasn't said a word to him yet. He follows her eyes to see what she sees, and he understands at once the feeling of relief that washed over him the second Ahsoka stopped. It's not Obi-Wan, but for now –this would have to do.
A cottage, different from whatever dilapidated structure they found the witch in, is sitting in the middle of the trail, off to the side, shaded by a few flimsy trees. "Oh, thank Force," Ahsoka mutters quietly enough that Anakin is sure he wasn't meant to hear.
"This wasn't here before," Anakin says dully as Ahsoka starts to move towards it.
"I could have gotten us lost," she mumbles. But Anakin doubts it and follows Ahsoka to the door. "Or we probably just weren't paying attention. I know that's never happened to you before," she snips, shooting Anakin a wicked grin. Anakin manages to roll his eyes. Playing along with her banter makes it easier for the both of them to feel like nothing's wrong.
"We're probably lost," he says in way of reciprocation. Ahsoka grins at him again, a little looser, a little more like she means it. They walks up the path, gray gravel against gray dust, their boots crunching and step up to the door. Ahsoka takes a deep breath and knocks, and then steps back so her shoulder is digging into Anakin's chest. She feels nervous, alert, but her discomfort is the only sense he's getting from the Force. He wonders what Ahsoka senses that he can't.
Before he can ask, the door swings open and an old woman blinks at them for a few moments before she smiles. "What can I do for you two?" in the warmest voice Anakin has heard in a long time. It washes over him, her friendliness, her willingness to help.
"Um," Ahsoka stammers, as taken aback as Anakin. "We…" Ahsoka clears her throat. "I'm Commander Ahsoka Tano and this –" She gestures to Anakin dully. "–is General Anakin Skywalker with the Grand Army of the Republic. We don't…we're not here to cause any problems. We've just been stranded here. And we're looking for any place to buy food, supplies. A way to contact our friends. If you could just point us in that direction, we'll be out of your way in no time."
The old woman smiles again, her eyes hidden in the wrinkles of her old face. "Oh," she sighs. "I'm afraid that there's no one else around for a long way. Almost the other side of the planet. Anyone in this hemisphere has been driven away by the droids." The woman pauses and looks over them again. "But your friend looks like he's about to collapse," she observes, looking pointedly past Ahsoka to Anakin in a way that puts him at ease; this woman doesn't mean them any harm. She just wants to help. "Why don't you come it, rest?" Ahsoka tenses, her bony shoulders rigid against Anakin's chest. But the idea of rest leaves nothing but the image of a warm bed, or at least anything better than the dusty ground, to lay on for a second, no threat of droids, and a chance to clear his head –reset so he can do his job and look out for Ahsoka like he's supposed to do.
"Come on, Snips," Anakin says weakly, and Ahsoka turns around so fast that she whips him in the face with her lekku and Padawan beads. She looks at him sharply for a second before turning back to face the old woman, who's standing, smiling, perfectly innocent, in her doorway, and Anakin thinks that Ahsoka is being very rude, and, frankly, impractical. He wonders, again, if there's something in the Force that he's blind to. "She's being kind. Just…" He sighs. It's taking all he's got to stay upright. All he's got, and also, the support of Ahsoka's shoulder and her bright presence in the Force. "Just a second." He's not begging, but he's pretty close to it.
"Okay," Ahsoka concedes. She dips her head awkwardly out of habit to the woman. Not enough for anyone but Anakin to notice. "Just for a minute."
The old woman leads them inside, and Anakin follows Ahsoka into a front room. It's larger than he expected, and off to either side are rooms –a kitchen and a living room. The old woman motions for them to sit in the living room, and Anakin and Ahsoka sink into plush armchairs, opposite each other. The cushions are musty and cough up dust when they sit. The old woman smiles. "I don't have company often. Make yourselves comfortable. I'll be right back."
Anakin's not paying attention to her, except to how warm and comfortable the room is. How the woman's voice is soft and even. There's a painting hanging over the doorway, abstract, or at least, abstract enough that Anakin is mesmerized by its swirling patterns and colors. But when the woman says this, Ahsoka, who had been starting to drift comfortably into sleep a moment before, snaps back into alertness, startling Anakin.
"To do what?" she asks, cautiously.
"You two look hungry. I thought I'd bring you something to eat." Something in Ahsoka buzzes suspiciously, but she looks at Anakin, who is reminded immediately how hungry he is. So hungry he forgot, so hungry he thinks he could eat his own left hand or throw up or both. So hungry that even if he wanted to leave –and why would he, someplace warm and comfortable and safe?–he doesn't think he has the energy to stand back up.
"We can pay you," Ahsoka offers. "We don't mean to impose."
"I wouldn't think of it," the woman offers. "You are here to liberate our planet. It is the least I can do."
Anakin nods, though Ahsoka seems strangely insistent. But the woman leaves again, and Ahsoka sinks back into the cushions, watching Anakin warily, before she closes her eyes. Once Ahsoka is asleep, her presence calm, dimmer, less suspicious of their situation, Anakin lets the warmth of house wash over him and has the first restful sleep he's had since they landed on this planet.
A/N: This is just about the end of what I have written, so whatever is next will probably not come for another month, or so, because I hope to do some work after midterms. which. who knows when I'll actually have the time. Anyway, I'm actually really excited for this to come together so I hope you will stick around, because it's getting published anyway.