I am so very sorry for the long lack of updates recently. School. Year 11. Busy! But I will try and make a more frequent use of spare time - if possible - for updates to make a good, enjoyable chapter for a good, enjoyable story! Again sorry for the lack of updates. I hope you noticed the note on my profile that stated I was taking my time with this fic. If not, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Now, on with the show!

Chapter 9. Two extra pairs of hands.

By the Force…What had he done? Obi-Wan's azure eyes snapped open, horror flashing brightly like the billions of stars in the galaxy in his iris. His breathing was harsh, and his heart beat furiously, pounding against his ribcage as his lungs constantly expanded and deflated, trying to suck some oxygen back in them.

He had killed. Killed Vizsla in cold blood.

The revelation of this dream or - dare he believe where his thoughts took him - vision frightened him terribly. He was a Jedi. And Jedi don't kill in cold blood. But he was a man - a man who, no matter what, could let his peaceful resolve crumble around him and just… snap.

The Jedi Master curled up into a ball, his back pressed firmly against the solid and cold stone wall. A sharp shiver that felt like a dagger of ice being dragged down his back shook through him as his hot and sweaty back touched the wall, making him shiver.

Hugging his knees closer to his chest, propping his ruffled, ginger beard upon them, he prayed, oh Force he prayed to the Force itself that he may never do such a thing.

Too engrossed in his silent weeping, he did not notice the woman he loved sitting at the opposite end of the cell, staring at him through her glassy eyes; nor the Force ghost that stood next to him, as silent as the dead.

Satine stared at Obi-Wan through her glassy eyes, the blue orbs filled with shrill agony. It hurt her to see him like this, like a dagger through the heart. Longing. Longing to find the will to crawl over to him and wrap her arms around him, his head against her chest, feeling their heart beats thump together as one. Finally, fear. It was fear that should she try to comfort him, he would only rebuke her efforts.

Just as she finished her thoughts, the rusty hinges on the cell door grinded, sending an echoing and high pitched, spine tingling screech throughout the cell. The young Duchess' fears intensified immediately.

"Come, duchess," Ventress' silky and seductive voice beckoned, Satine rising to her feet and slowly trudging her way towards her, her eyes not daring to look at the cruel smirk that painted the Sith witch's face.

Ventress stepped out the door, allowing room for the elegant and graceful woman before her slip out of the cell, spotting her eye one last glance at Obi-Wan, who only continued to stare at the ground before him.

'He's given up,' Ventress thought. 'Unusual.'

Her ice blue eyes stared at him for a few long seconds before rolling quickly to the spot Satine had been sitting in moments ago. From Ventress thoughts, the two had been sitting as if on opposite sides of a chess game, opposed to one another.

She removed her eyes from the now empty space before roughly grabbing the silent woman beside her shoulder, digging her long nails into the soft flesh, feeling bone underneath the now tense muscle. "Move," She growled as she fell into step behind the duchess.

Neither of the two women noticed the lone Jedi left behind staring at their retreating silhouettes.

Ahsoka Tano, Jedi padawan to - as she saw it - the legendary Anakin Skywalker. The Hero With No Fear, stood beside him in the turbo lift, her thumbs twitching nervously as she hopped on her feet, an uncomfortable look on her face.

The young padawan had aged a little since she first became Anakin's apprentice during the Clone Wars - which still raged uncontrollably across the galaxy. Her orange skin had turned slightly darker - whether from age or from being based on scorching planets - gave her a nice and darker complexion. Her blue and white striped lekku's had grown slightly longer, now just past her collar bones, and she had grown slightly taller since then, now up to Anakin's shoulders.

A loud, exasperated sigh from beside her caught her attention.

She turned her head to find her master staring straight ahead out of the window, a deep frown on his face. Ahsoka sighed very loudly back, noticing Anakin's frown deepen. He was annoyed.

"What's wrong with you, Snips?" Anakin said in a tone a little harsher than he intended, earning a death glare from is padawan.

"Master Kenobi, your master, is not responding!" Ahsoka said through gritted teeth, emphasizing 'Your master'. "Its been two days now and he hasn't given word, and he's overdue. What if he's missing? What if he's captured, incapacitated, or dead!" All of her predictions came out like a flood of wildly rushing water.

Anakin rolled his eyes as his folded arms over his chest expanded outwards. "Snips, Obi-Wan is a strong and wise man. I'm sure he's fine. He's probably tired or is in such a mess that he cannot contact us until its sorted."

"And what if it's not sorted? What if he is in actual trouble? Do you not care about him at -"

"Of course I care!" Anakin snapped fervently, and Ahsoka saw a gleam of fire ignite in his eyes viciously. "He's my friend. He's always been there for me; even if I didn't see it earlier. I want to know why he hasn't contacted us just as much as you do. But if we are sent after him and focus too much on the worst outcomes possible, then what chance will we have of finding him accordingly?"

Ahsoka just stared at her master; Anakin staring back at her with a softer look in his eyes. The teenage padawan sighed before conceding, letting the matter drop as she looked away to stare at the spires of the Temple and buildings surrounding it shrink down before them under their feet. The slowing ascent of the lift alerted them that they had reached the very peak of the centre spire. As the doors swished open, Anakin proceeded to let his padawan exit first, before stepping behind her to stop outside the council chamber doors.

"Now, Snips, remember: don't speak unless spoken to," Anakin reminded Ahsoka for like the millionth time. The lippy padawan sometimes didn't know when to keep her lips sealed, even in front of the Jedi council; nor Mace Windu.

The doors slowly opened, allowing the master, padawan team to enter the circular chamber.

Anakin and Ahsoka's eyes were currently transfixed upon the vacant seat adjacent to the doors, both knowing who would be sitting there had he not been sent on his current assignment. The team stopped their tracks in the centre of the room, both facing the Grandmaster and leader of the council, Ahsoka taking up her customary position a step behind and to the right of her master.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room for a few moments, causing Ahsoka to shift uncomfortably at the sound of nothing but the speeders zooming outside in the traffic, and the slow breathing of each of the eleven present masters.

Finally, the tension was broken by Mace, who gave the team a deadly serious look, a quick glance to Ahsoka that was enough to keep her from speaking out of term. "Master Skywalker, padawan Tano, you understand why we have summoned you," he said, his tone and facial expression a stoic mask of authority.

"Yes, Master Windu," Anakin replied as respectfully as he could. He did respect Mace for his skill with a lightsaber and the Force greatly; but the young Knight was sure the Master before him picked on him for his lack of patience or his issues of attachment. Anakin didn't really know if the man before him had a heart really made of stone or if he was just like a normal man hiding his emotions behind a stoic façade.

"Master Kenobi has not contacted us for two days now. He is overdue on his report and we feel a great unease in the Force,"

'Why haven't I felt this?' Anakin thought angrily, however, he continued to listen, taking calming breaths to control his anger in himself as not to damage his pride.

"We want you two to go to Sundari and investigate what the problem is," the dark skinned Jedi continued, leaning forwards in his seat so his back was bent and his elbows rested upon his knees.

Ahsoka couldn't help but let her mind wonder to the possibilities she had thought about earlier: Obi-Wan missing, captured, or dead…

"Padawan, Master Kenobi is not dead, he is immobilized," Kit Fisto said in his strong, rich accent, stopping her many turbulent thoughts in their tracks.

Ahsoka stared at the green aquarium master, not noticing the sharp and penetrating stare Anakin shot at the togruta. "He is very much alive, we sense that, however, we cannot contact him. We are beginning to fear the worst,"

"We would've sensed it!" Anakin said, biting back the rise in his pitch as he spoke.

"We are sending you two out there to locate him. We want him back immediately. His condition through the Force seems to have deteriorated," Adi Gallia said, for the first time entering the conversation, but also deliberately ignoring Anakin's remark.

Anakin nodded in her direction, his eyes already glazed over with a firm grasp of determination that was frozen like a solid sheet of ice.

Obi-Wan was like a father to him; the closest thing. And Anakin loved him for that. Even though Anakin sometimes complained that he had held him back out of jealousy; age and maturity had taught him that it was for his own skills to utilize. A Jedi's skill always grew, even when once a master.

"We will find him and we will bring him back, masters," Anakin stated confidently, as he bowed is head down in respect to them all, Ahsoka mirroring his actions with perfection.

"Yeah, we'll bring him back all in one piece, masters," Ahsoka couldn't help but butt in, however, she was surprised for once that she did not receive a scolding for speaking out of term.

"Very well," Mace concluded, now averting his chocolate eyes away from the pair and waving his hand dismissively. "You are dismissed."

The master, padawan team bowed again before strolling out of the chambers, their boots echoing off the marble floor, disturbing the tranquil silence that had once again filled the chambers.

"So, when do we leave master?"

Anakin continued onwards through the silent halls, his sapphire eyes never leaving what was ahead of him.

"Judging by the masters not giving us an actual time on departure, I say we leave… today,"

Ahsoka's lips parted slightly. That meant super fast packing; and super fast packing was not in Ahsoka's book for preparation… especially when one's room was littered with clothes, holo pads, and various other items! She nodded, however, regardless. "OK, master," She agreed, her voice rising a little unintentionally.

Anakin smiled, knowing by the tone she had tried to hide that she would be a while. 'That teen really needs to clean up her room. Its as clumpy as an asteroid field!'

After forty-five minutes of anxious waiting, Anakin finally saw the familiar silhouette of Ahsoka sprinting through the halls and out the shadows towards him, her breath ragged as she panted.

"Sorry.. I'm… late… master…" The young Togrutan padawan wheezed between breaths. Anakin stared at her in mixed worry and amusement. He was quite concerned that if she didn't catch her breath soon and her face didn't tone down a shade of red that she would collapse.

'I gotta stop letting her have sugary foods when she's on weekends.' Anakin made a mental note of this as he turned and began to climb the open ramp that awaited to swallow them in their ship: The Twilight.

Once Ahsoka had managed to even out her breathing, she rose from her bent over position and started up the ramp, the hamstring muscle in both her legs writhing in pain as she gritted her teeth; face contorting in small agony. Reaching the top of the ramp, the ramp itself slowly rose behind her, engulfing her back from view.

"Ahsoka?" She heard the familiar voice of her masters name, as she - after taking a few extra deep breaths - followed the sound towards the cock pit, where Anakin sat fumbling with the ships controls - probably checking in case anything else needed upgrading.

"Ships navi computer seems fine… thanks to my amazing mechanics," He smirked with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Ahsoka snorted at his cocky remark as she planted herself in the seat next to his and stared out at the beautiful orange and pink sky in silence. The mixed colours that evening looked like an artist's masterpiece - an array of two colours splattered together in strips, blobs and swells.

She came out of her daydreaming when she felt the ship roar to life as it hovered off the ground, slowly crawling forward towards the hanger doors which had now fully opened.

Anakin, always raring to go, thrust the controls forwards, making the Twilight jolt forwards. Pilot and co-pilots heads slammed into the padded headrests behind them as the G-Force shoved them forcefully back. The sky rushed towards them as the shuttle zoomed through and up further into the sky, towards Coruscant's atmosphere and into entering the black, silver dotted void, the pair saw many Republic shuttles scoured across the empty, non gravitational sky, lining up around Coruscant.

As a defence system, a fleet was sent to survey space traffic around Coruscant in case of any attack from space. This way the enemy would be met head on by a whole fleet of Republic space crews, each one armed and prepped for battle. Of course, this didn't fully prevent the corruption that managed to sneak past as innocent travellers, only to fill the underworld with its sinister crimes against justice.

"Crew, identify yourselves," The familiar voice of the once living Jango Fett buzzed through on the comm. Link.

"Republic fleet, this is General Skywalker and Commander Tano here. We are being sent to Mandalore by the Jedi council. Permission to proceed."

There was silence from the other end for a while as Anakin and Ahsoka waited patiently for a reply. "Permission to proceed granted," The clone said. "Proceed to make the jump to light speed."

"Alright then," Anakin said cheerfully as he switched off the comm channel. "Navi computers set?"

Ahsoka had began punching the coordinates in whilst Anakin had been on the comm channel; now she had finished them. "Just done it, master. We are free to make the jump in T-minus five seconds,"

The five seconds flew by as Anakin pulled the throttle towards him. Stars blurred and elongated as they mixed together in the pitch black sky as the Twilight vanished, leaving nothing but empty space in its wake. The blue vortex now swirled before them, and they had nothing better to do but sit together and worry for the safety of their friend, former mentor, brother and father. Silence fell upon the cock pit as the two just stared ahead.

"Do you thinks he's alive, master?" Ahsoka questioned, her voice barely above a whisper.

Anakin didn't turn his head to look at her. Instead he just sighed as he thought of his answer.

"I hope so, Ahsoka. I really hope so…"

He closed his eyes. 'Master, please be alright…'

There we go! Review, review, pretty please with a cherry on top, review. :D You get the cake with the cherry if you do! :D