CHAPTER 2- ALTRUISM
"This is why I believe that the individual's most potent weapon is a stubborn belief in the triumph of common decency."
-Paul Rusesabagina, who saved the lives of 1268 Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide
AHSOKA
"Mina, I've got news!" a man's voice booms. "Big news!"
"I don't care who won the finals. And be quiet." an exasperated, tired-sounding voice replies.
"Actually, somebody's kicking at her blankets, and she's not crying for her parents. I think she's waking up."
"Do you want me to-?"
"I can handle it. You get some rest."
Sounds pervade the fog around my brain, getting louder and sharper. Someone pulls a heavy duvet up to my chin, and adjusts blankets wrapped tightly around my body, almost restricting my movement.
The memories come back in a flash.
Tossed from one pair of arms to another, taken to a cold room, shivering, beaten, threatened, slapped and soon to be tortured…
Someone is with me at all times. Saying sweet things, reassurances. He zips me into a coat, wraps me in a blanket, he even takes the time to spoon feed me and hold me close when I won't stop shivering.
A guard. Albeit an unusually caring one, but still a guard.
I'VE BEEN CAPTURED!
I open my eyes. It doesn't look like I'm in a prison. More than anything, it looks like a private home. Sitting on the edge of the bed is a middle-aged, graying man. The guard. Great. That does wonders for any hope of safety here.
He delicately lays a hand on my shoulder. "Easy!"
I scream something without words and wrench out of his grasp as I scramble away from him. Pumped with adrenaline, I put my feet on the floor; stand up.
A rush of pain murders my head.
"Mommy!" I cry instinctively, crumbling to the ground. No, no, no! I'm a Jedi, for Force's sake! I can handle a little headache. And Jedi do not cry for their mommies!
Strong arms grab me under my shoulders, catching me. "Upsy-daisy." The guard grunts as he lifts me back onto the bed, then holds me gently but securely by his side. "Too early to pull that stunt, kid."
Once I'm no longer suspended in the air I start squirming, squeezing my eyes shut in frustration. He holds me tight. But his grip is careful, delicate even, like I'm very fragile. It just doesn't add up. He could have killed me, but he put me in bed? He could have chained me up, but he gives me pajamas? This doesn't make any sense! What is going on here?
I manage a few fruitless kicks before my lungs go on strike and I'm coughing out air faster than I can breathe it in. The man adjusts his position, propping me against his shoulder while he pats my back to help me breathe.
"Take it easy." He says. I take a couple gasps of air and he stops patting my back.
"What do you want from me?" I ask plaintively. "P-please, let me go."
"It's all right, sweetie. Look at me, at least. I'm not going to hurt you."
It boils down to simple math: Person I don't know + pet name + strange environment=DANGER.
"Help! Somebody!" I scream, eyes popping open.
He clamps his hand over my mouth, still holding me tightly with one arm. "Please listen to me. I'm not gonna hurt you. Look at me, you're safe, but you have to be quiet, for your own sake. Don't cry, please don't cry…oh, I give up. Mina! I need help!"
Before I can get the air to scream again, a middle-aged woman with purple stencils on her arms bursts into the room. "What's going on? Oh, for the love of the Force, let her go. She's terrified! Is everybody okay?"
The man nods and releases me "She just got a little scared."
"No wonder, John. She doesn't know us." The woman responds. "Hello, dear. How do you feel?"
"Fine," I lie.
"Sure. That's why you're crying for your mother, isn't it?" she sits down on my left. And now I'm boxed in! Great. Just great. I'm stuck here. Even if I somehow get away from John, she'll grab me.
"My name is Mina. This is my husband John. We found you a few days ago. You don't remember, do you?"
I shake my head no and begin another coughing fit. Mina pats my back like a concerned parent. "You've been exposed to some kind of nerve gas, that's why you're sick. But you weren't in my five-star hotel forever." The coughing subsides and she switches to rubbing my back in a circle. "You were found, captured, and taken to the base John works at."
"S-Separatist military?" I stammer. Oh Force! This just keeps getting worse!
"Yes, but no," John says.
"What?"
"You were badly mistreated." Mina says. "Kept in a cold room, dehydrated, plans to torture you. We rescued you. You were terrified, thinking we were going to hurt you, so I held you to calm you down and you fell asleep that way."
I fell asleep in her arms?
"I tucked you into bed and here you are. Now, if I'm correct, Ahsoka…"
"I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong person."
Mina chuckles. "If John and I wanted to turn you in, we'd have left you with them. We're not huge proponents for the Separatists, anyway. Not after what that monster Dooku did to our children." Her face hardens at Dooku's name. Holy force, this explains why she's being so motherly. She's a real mom! "We aren't letting him take another child. Now, Ahsoka Tano, sixteen years old?"
If I can't stand up, then I'm completely at their mercy. They've got me figured out, anyway.
"Yes," I reply, taking a deep breath.
"All right," Mina says, gently squeezing my shoulders. "All right, Ahsoka."
JOHN
Mina pulls me into the hallway so Ahsoka can calm down.
"What are we going to do? The guys at my work are going insane looking for her. Especially Tor. We can't keep her here with us forever. And her master…if he thinks we've kidnapped her, we are so dead I don't even want to think about it."
"Don't worry," Mina says. "I'm going to feed her, and then we can contact Skywalker. But our first priority is getting something into her. She's parched."
I pour water into a glass, stick in a straw, and follow Mina into Ahsoka's bedroom. Ahsoka lies curled on her side, face crunched in a grimace. "Something's wrong," she says.
"Oh, why did I leave you alone after that panic attack?" Mina laments and sits on the edge of the bed. "Ahsoka, what's about to happen is going to hurt terribly. You can hug me, you can hug John, you can cry, you can do anything but please try not to scream. Nobody can know you're here."
"How terribly are we- oh, force!" She sobs, biting her lip to keep from screaming. Mina scoops her up and Ahsoka holds onto her for dear life.
"Take a deep breath, Ahsoka." I suggest.
"Y-you were right."
"Shh," Mina says, rocking her a couple times.
Eventually, Ahsoka relaxes her grip. Mina checks her over. "All over, love?" Ahsoka nods. "Good. The plan was to give you something to eat, and then call your master. But I think instead, you need to go back to sleep.
Ahsoka sighs. "I don't have my comlink, anyway"
Mina walks over to the dresser and opens a drawer, removing the comlink and lightsabers. "John stole these from the evidence locker when he broke you out of jail."
"Thank you," Ahsoka says, pulling the nightgown tighter around her small frame. I retreat. If this goes anything like trying to feed her when she was out of it, then I do not want to be anywhere in the vicinity.
"John Bonteri, you big oaf. You can't feed a person?" Mina jokes.
"I epically failed back at the prison."
Mina chuckles. Ahsoka pulls back.
"Ahsoka, are you okay?" I ask, air of comedy completely gone.
"B-Bonteri? Your last name is Bonteri?" She asks.
"Yes. Why do you ask?" I say.
"Like Lux Bonteri?"
Silence falls. I look at her hopefully, still walking on eggshells after how badly I scared her.
"Ahsoka…Lux is our son."
Ahsoka yelps and raises her hands.
Just my luck. I've scared her every time a word comes out of my mouth.
"What's wrong? What is it?" Mina asks.
Ahsoka lifts both of us with the Force. "Who are you?" she barks.
"We're Lux's parents." Mina explains, kicking aimlessly. Ahsoka isn't choking us, just holding us aloft, but it's an uneasy feeling.
"Yeah, nice try! His parents are dead!" She snaps.
Mina clears her throat. "On top of the dresser," she says. "Is a holopad. On it are pictures of us with Lux and his sister up until two years ago. You can check to make sure they're not doctored. But first, you need to put us down or you're going to have another fit."
Ahsoka doesn't budge, so Mina swaps to Mom mode.
"Young lady, I am serious."
Ahsoka sets us down, still holding us at bay, and grabs the holopad. She shifts through the pictures, looking at Lux through the years. After about three minutes, she drops the holopad, and lets us go.
Mina very cautiously approaches her. "Did you see the one where Lux is crying at a puppet show?"
"I don't understand." Ahsoka whispers.
My wife gingerly takes a seat on the bed. "Let's start at the beginning. Do you know of Padme Amidala?"
Ahsoka nods. "She's my mother."
Mina blinks in surprise. "I was her mentor when she was growing up." She says. "We were very close to her. And now she has a daughter. Wonders never cease."
"I think that one is on par with finding out Lux has parents! You were supposed to have died."
"Back to the story," Mina interrupts. "Padme smuggled herself over to John's and my old home to negotiate a peace treaty. The Senate agreed, and we began to negotiate…and then everything went downhill. Dooku took our kids."
Unable to ignore the thumping of my heart, I squeeze my eyes shut. "Dooku told us that the Republic had killed our kids, but an old friend told Mina the truth. Lux and Sierra had been at boarding school, and Dooku told them we were dead."
"Oh, Lux thinks you're dead, all right." Ahsoka mutters.
"Is he your friend?" I ask.
Pause.
"Oh, I see how this is. Don't worry. We won't tell." Mina jokes. "Has he gone to our gravesite?"
"No," Ahsoka says, rolling her eyes. "He went on a crazy revenge campaign with me sitting shotgun."
Mina facepalms. "He's just like his father…"
"Hey, I heard that!"
Ahsoka laughs a tension-releasing laugh. "Yes…you two are definitely his parents."
"Good we have that straightened out, because you need to drink something." Mina reaches for the glass, holds it out, and Ahsoka drinks it down. "All right. Now lie back down and rest. We can talk again later."
"Wait,"
Ahsoka levitates her comlink to her hand and presses a sequence of numbers.
"Who is it?" I ask.
"My master." She bites her lip. "My dad. He's probably going berserk."
"Oh, we've heard about Daddy." I say. "You talked in your sleep."
Mina rubs her temples. "All right, hon. Then rest."
ANAKIN
My evening at Padme's is completely unromantic.
Usually, we would have dinner together and catch up. I would tell her ancedotes of ship life, like how the clones marathoned "Family Affair" and to this day will not stop calling Ahsoka "Cissy" or me "Uncle Bill." She would tell me about Senate affairs, and her day-to-day life. We might watch the HoloNet, and then I would decide either spend the night or go back to the Temple and hang out with Ahsoka.
This evening, instead of talking about "Family Affair," Padme and I sit glued in front of the TV, not watching, but just staring at the sitcom. The thoughts of "I think this would be a funny story" are replaced by "Please force, let Ahsoka be okay."
She's with people. She's drugged or hurt, maybe both. I can't find her location. Just please, let her be all right.
My comlink rings. I ignore it. I don't care what Obi-Wan has to say right now. Right after my comm shuts off, Padme's rings. She sighs and grabs it. "I have to answer this. It's probably business. Hello?'"
"Hi, Mom!" A thin little voice cries.
Padme jumps in shock and turns on the speakerphone. "Ahsoka, where in blazes are you?
"Padme, is Anakin there?"
"Yes, I am." I say, shoving my way to the speaker. "What happened to you?"
Cough. "You know that gas the enemy's been using?"
Flames ignite in my gut. Oh, if I were the person who invented the gas, I would go somewhere Padme and Anakin couldn't find me. "Yes."
"Well, that's what happened to me."
"Snips, where are you? Who are you with?" I demand. "I'm coming to get you. Just hang on."
"No! You can't come. It's too dangerous, I'm still on the planet." Ahsoka says, punctuating her sentence with a soft cry.
"You're hurt! Just hang in there. I'll be there soon," I yell, grabbing my ship keys and coat. "Where exactly are you? Their base?"
"Uh, Master, this is kind of hard to explain. I'm not captive anymore."
"So you're by yourself?" Padme asks.
"No, Padme. I was rescued…hang on, I'm going to turn the phone over."
"No, Ahsoka-stay on the line!" No dice. There's the distinct sound of someone else taking the comm. I don't care. "Ahsoka, we will be doing some very difficult training if you don't get back on the line!"
"No, don't blame her. I made her give me the phone." A woman's voice says.
"You! You monster, what have you don't to my padawan?" I scream into the comm.
"Anakin, stop yelling!" Padme yells.
"Do you hear me? Oh, when I find her you'd better hope she's all right. I don't believe for a second you rescued her, you lying toad-."
"I would really appreciate it if you would stop yelling at my wife," a dangerously quiet voice says.
"Anakin, let me talk." Padme orders in The Wife Voice.
Like most husbands who hear The Wife Voice, I fork over the phone. Padme clears her throat and says, very calmly. "Hello. This is Ahsoka's mother."
"Hello, Padme. Remember me?"
Padme jumps a good foot in the air. "This is impossible. You're dead!"
"I had my reasons. John and I had to stay here to protect the kids. We can discuss this later, right now we have a more pressing matter to take care of."
"Why should I believe you? How do I know that you aren't pretending to be my mentor and holding my daughter hostage? Tell me, 'Mina Bonteri', why I should believe you." She grabs a pencil and starts doodling on the table, one of her annoying habits.
"Padme Amidala, stop that doodling this instant!" "Mina Bonteri" snaps. "Your voice changes when you're doodling- I can hear it a star system away. Drop the pen and listen to me."
Padme drops the pen is shock. "Unbelievable. Only one person can tell when I'm doing that."
"Yes, my dear. Is that enough of a test for you? Or do you want me to announce in front of Ahsoka every embarrassing incident that happened during our lessons, like the time your pen squirted ink on your new shirt? Or when you accidentally hit "reply all" on your HoloMail? And then there was the time you wrote 'I love Rush Clovis' on all your-"
Padme's eyes widen. "Yes! Yes, I remember, just please stop talking about it, Mina. Otherwise I may be forced to remind you of that one time when you were in college and you-,"
"Truce!" The male voice declares. "Ahsoka's getting wound up and Mina, you know we can't have that happen."
"True enough. Padme, we have to wait a few days for suspicion to die down, and then you can come and get Ahsoka. For now, you can call anytime you want. Please be aware she needs her rest- Padme, you know how I get when you wake up a sleeping person- and you can't rile her up, or she'll have a fit."
"I understand. John and Mina, thank you for helping her," Padme replies. "Ahsoka, do what Mina tells you." She hangs up and mutters "For the love of the Force, do what she tells you."
(A/N: First off, I would like to thank all 108 of you and counting for clicking in today. And special thanks goes to Laugh Until You Obitine, for the lovely review! You made my day.
How did this chapter go? I wanted to portray Ahsoka's reaction to her situation, and Anakin's to what has happened to her. Any reviews and constructive criticism are eagerly welcomed. Flames, however, are only good for heating my house in the winter. May the Fourth be with you all!)