He's Not Our Enemy
Disclaimer: I own nothing, all credit goes to George Lucas and Lucasarts.
Summary: After vanishing from the Jedi temple ten years ago, Anakin Skywalker is found. The Jedi imprison him until he decides to tell them what happened to him. After getting lost after fleeing from some of her abusive class mates, Ahsoka stumbles into Anakin's room and discovers a side to the force she never knew.
Strange, Day Eight, Ahsoka Tano
Waking up is in a fashion that I have dreamed about since I was five, without an alarm clock. It feels quite refreshing to wake up of my own accord for once and it makes me wish that I was already a retired Jedi - I know it would sound crazy to anyone else, but they don't have to wake up at six o'clock everyday even when there's nothing that needs doing. My bed feels more comfortable than usual too, maybe it's because I feel so at peace and restful as opposed to my usual state of restlessness. When I open my eyes I frown immediately.
I am not in my room and I know at once why. I was ill, still am judging by how weak I feel, and it takes me a minute to regain my wits and look around to see where Anakin has gone. My datapad is still on the table, which does not surprise me, and there is a blanket around me along with a pillow beneath my head. The first thing I notice when I sit up is the stinging pain in my right arm. Looking down, I see that part of my arm has been bandaged for some reason and I can hear Anakin's voice from another room.
Frowning, I throw back the covers and stand on shaky legs. I know that it's probably not the best idea in the world but something is telling me to go and find Anakin. Hiding a yawn behind my hand, I walk towards the room where I can hear Anakin's voice and - strangely - another persons voice. Nervousness builds up inside of me as I wonder for a moment if a Jedi master walked in whilst I was asleep, but this quickly fades when I realise that I cannot sense any of them nearby. Slowly, I walk towards the room and listen silently to the voices inside.
"...that even possible? I've never heard of something like that." Anakin's voice says.
"It is a rare thing and makes the person that much more powerful." A second voice says, causing me to frown. "You must make sure that no one finds out about this, at least not until I have spoken with the prime minister ."
"I know that, but what do I do until -" Anakin falters and I cannot make out his voice, it has become quieter and down to the barest whisper.
Frowning, I press closer to the door when it opens suddenly and I step back out of surprise. Anakin is stood there regarding me silently with a look that is a mixture of concern, confusion and something else I can't quite make out. "What are you doing standing up?" He asks. "You're supposed to be asleep."
I take a step back out of reflex and fight down a wave of nausea that accompanies the quick movement. "Who were you talking to?" I question.
"No -" He pauses when I pin him with an accusing stare. "My mentor." He corrects himself. "Just asking about something."
"Something that makes the person that much more powerful?" I ask, watching him carefully. "What were you talking about?"
"It's nothing important," Anakin says. "Just stuff to do with the dark force wielder. You should be lying down, come on." I open my mouth to protest when he turns me around by my shoulders and steers me back towards the sofa.
"Hang on," I try to get him back into a conversation but he seems intent on not talking much. "If you were talking to your mentor then how come your still imprisoned?"
"It's complicated." Anakin says, making me sit back down on the sofa. "Now, go back to sleep."
"I'm not tired," I protest, putting my legs up onto the sofa none-the-less. "Why were you talking to him? What did you mean by saying you haven't heard of anything like it?"
Anakin seems to go paler and I frown. "I think you should really go back to sleep, you need to get better."
"What's wrong with me, then?" I ask.
"Reaction," Anakin says calmly. He pulls the blanket up and around me. "Now, go back to sleep."
"I'm not tired," I protest. "What do you mean by 'a reaction'? A reaction to what?"
"Injection, I gave you an injection to get better after you started to feel ill and you had a reaction to it." For some reason I have the idea that he is not lying to me but I am not satisfied with his answer.
"Can't you give a more detailed explanation?" I question. "That leaves a lot to the imagination."
Anakin sighs and gently pushes me back onto the pillow. "I can't give you a detailed explanation right now, okay?" He sounds exasperated. "Now, are you going to go back to sleep?"
"I doubt it."
"Then here," He reaches over to the coffee table and picks up the miniature planet before handing it to me. "I have to read up on something."
"Something about the thing you were talking about with your mentor?" My voice softens as I watch the land areas on my planet turn green with grass.
"Yes." Anakin replies. "Try to rest and whatever you do don't use the force."
I frown. "Really? Why not?"
"It will make your condition worse," Anakin says. "I need to read up on something and then I'll find out how long it is until you're all right again."
This does not make any sense to me but I do not question it. "Okay," I begin. "Will I get better soon?"
Anakin smiles. "Of course you will," He assures me light heartedly. "I'll be right back, I just need to get my datapad."
As he walks off I sigh and settle myself under the blanket. I have absolutely no idea what Anakin is on about and I'm not sure I want to - it feels as though I'm complete and that there's been a part of me missing for so long and now I have it back again, but I have no idea why. Putting the thought aside, I draw out an options tab and begin planting saplings on my miniature planet - why no one has any of these games I have no idea. By the time Anakin returns I have planted over a thousand saplings and closed the options tab to monitor the statistics.
"Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep?" Anakin asks me as he sits down on one of the chairs nearby.
"I'm not tired," I protest. "How long have I been asleep anyway?"
"Twenty-two hours," Anakin says casually. "I do think you should have been asleep for twenty-four, though."
Naturally, I start to feel nervous. I've been asleep for twenty-two hours when the Jedi council is repeatedly checking up on me; Anakin doesn't seem to be the slightest bit nervous about this for some reason, he just seems concerned about reading whatever on that datapad of his. Turning away from him, I just silently watch my planet floating in front of me and rotating slowly. My limbs feel unnaturally heavy and I know exactly why. It's not because of the reaction to the injection that Anakin gave me - which I will be asking him about later on - it's because I am getting drowsy and sleepy.
I can tell that Anakin has found what he's looking for on his datapad because I can sense his emotions through the force again before he puts up his barriers again.
"Oh kriff," He curses under his breath.
"What?" I ask.
"Don't worry about it," Anakin says. "I'll be right back. I just have to get you some water."
I frown. I may not be able to remember much of what has happened in the past twenty-four hours - for twenty-two of them I was asleep - but I definitely know that I did not ask him to get me some water. As he stands he drops his datapad onto the coffee table and then disappears off into another room which I think is the kitchenette. Curious, I shift on the sofa and lean forwards just enough to read the large words at the top of the page that have been highlighted in red.
"Dimidium Semino"
Tilting my head to the side in confusion, I try to lean forwards to read the rest of it when the datapad goes blank. Looking up, I see Anakin standing in the doorway doing his best to act calm when I can tell that he is not.
"Nosy," He comments, handing me the water and picking up the datapad, which turns on the moment it is in his hands. "You're supposed to be resting, not leaning over the side to try and look at something your not supposed to."
I do not answer, knowing his cocky tone is more annoying than he realises, and take a sip of my drink. Now, I am a person who knows what water tastes like and this does not taste like water. There is a faint taste of water but, mostly, there is something else that I have never tasted before. To be honest, it tastes vaguely like some kind of medicine tablet - believe me, they all taste the same - and I frown at Anakin.
"Did you put something in this?" I ask.
Now it's his turn to frown. "What are you talking about?"
"It doesn't taste like water, it tastes like there's a medicine tablet in it. At least, there used to be one in it." I explain.
Anakin smiles. "It's a tablet containing the nectar from a healing plant where I lived for ten years," He informs me. "It can heal anything, trust me. I've seen it regrow limbs."
My eyes widen. "Regrow limbs?"
"But in this case it's just to make you healthy again," Anakin says with a smirk. "Drink it, then you won't have to go back to sleep or keep resting."
To say the idea appeals to me is an understatement so I drink the rest of the water mixed with nectar from force only knows what plant and set the glass down on the table. It doesn't do anything right away, but I notice when I reach out to take the miniature planet from the air that I feel strangely energetic and much more healthy.
"By the way, it makes you a bit hyper - correction - extremely hyper. You should probably go and do something for the rest of the day or you're going to end up jumping up and down on the spot or something like that," Anakin says. "It wasn't my first idea to give you any nectar but now that I have you really should find something to zap your energy. I'll see you tomorrow."
I nod quicker than I usually would and stand up. Taking my datapad and stuffing both it and my miniature planet into my pocket, I quickly walk to the door and leave with a quick "Goodbye." I walk down the corridor in record time and reach out through the force to see if there is anyone about; in a quicker time than I had thought possible, I sense that the twins are in the ventilation shaft, again.
Smirking, I climb inside of the vent, replace the cover and rush off to find them. At first I think that finding them would be a good idea and that I would not be wasting all of my energy, but when I round a corner quickly and find them tampering with the water valve I know that this is a recipe for disaster.
"What are you doing?" I ask, walking towards them cautiously.
They both look at me and smile. "Hey, where have you been? No one's seem you since yesterday morning."
"I lost track of the time and thought I'd come and find you," I say casually. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to see if we can shut off the water," Jay says, pulling on a wire that I know is not a good idea.
"I don't think you should do that," I caution. "Especially not that wire."
"Really? Why not this -?" Accidentally, Jay snaps the wire in two and the valve bursts - sending water everywhere. But, the main place it seems to go is straight towards me and the twins.
What do we do? The natural thing.
We run like hell.
The twins swear, a lot, as we turn on our heels and bolt down the vents as fast as we possibly can. I resist the urge to call them a pair of idiots and instead use the force to help me jump up to one of the vents above us. As I do this, they follow suit and the water goes straight past us. Of course, stuff like this happens all the time when you have friends who live to cause trouble. One day you could be causing a fuss with name calling, the next you are hiding under a ship to evade a gang of thugs who want to murder you. I have said this to Barris many times but she always said I'm overreacting, until she spent a day with the twins and they almost blew up Master Plo's star fighter.
Believe me, it was not a pretty sight.
"What in force's name did you do that for?" I ask.
"It was an accident!" Jay protested.
I shake my head and roll my eyes. "Forget that, the water will flood every area in the temple that's on the ground floor and I am not taking the blame for this."
"The next vent cover is not that far away, maybe we could get over there and close it?" Kay suggests. "That way we won't get much of the blame."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," I comment. "Let's go this way, I know how to get to the next vent cover without having to swim in the water."
Careful to avoid falling back down into the vent filled with water, we rush forwards and slide down the sloped area of the vent. Quickly, I locate the next vent cover and cringe when I see that the water has already reached it. In war time supplies are low so when the council find out who did this the twins are going to be in so much trouble, but then I'm going to get into trouble for not stopping them. My hyperness has yet to wear off and I am looking for a way to close the cover when Kay slips on the floor and knocks into me, causing me to fall down and into the water.
At least, that was what was supposed to happen.
Instead, the water freezes and I land on ice. The twins jaws drop and I stare in shock at the ice I am sitting on. In case you don't know, standing on ice is almost impossible and I don't want to risk it. Slowly, the ice starts to crumble and eventually disappears completely. This would have been considered a good thing if I knew why it had happened or if all of the water had been frozen - however, the next second the rest of the water comes straight at me and I close my eyes to brace for impact.
The next thing that was supposed to happen was that I was meant to be swept away by the water, but I wasn't.
The water just moves around me like theres something blocking it and eventually disappears as it either flows down the vent or out of the open vent cover. Now my hyperness has officially worn off and I am frozen in place, my eyes wide, as I look at the space where the water used to be. I am brought back to my senses by the voices of several Jedi outside of the vent who just got drenched in water.
"Ahsoka, come on, we have to go!" Jay whispers frantically to me.
I know that it is serious because he said my name properly and I turn and jump up into the space where they are and follow them through many complex ventilation systems until we come to a stop a long way away from where the water valve is. They are both panting heavily, as am I but not as much, and they turn to look at me with shocked expressions. Neither one has forgotten about what happened and I have no idea what to say.
"What the hell was that?" Kay asks. "The water froze, then it went around you... how in the universe did you do that?"
I can only shake my head slowly. "I didn't, I mean, I don't think I did."
"You must have done it," Jay insists. "We didn't and there was no one else around."
"I don't know what happened," I say. "And neither do you. Besides, we can't ask anyone about it or they'll know that we were in the vents when the water valve burst and then they'll know that you two had something to do with it and I'll end up getting blamed even though I told you not to touch that wire."
They don't seem happy but nod in agreement. "Okay, let's get out of the vents and then find Pedro." Kay says. "I think you should go and ask Master Yoda about what happened."
"You want to get caught?" I ask.
"No."
"Then I can't, can I? We went over this a minute ago." I remind them. "Now can we just get out of here before anyone comes snooping around."
As we begin to walk to the next vent cover so we can get out, I can sense that they are trying to think of an explanation of what happened in their minds, which is odd. I've never been able to sense what's going on in people's heads before and I have no idea why I can now. Every Jedi has barriers around their minds that it takes a long time to learn how to sense things through and I haven't been taught anything like that.
Perhaps it was just a side effect of drinking that nectar that Anakin failed to mention. I can't think of any other explanation and it is one of the only options that I can think of aside from the fact that Anakin might be responsible. We make it to the next vent cover rather slowly and I can tell that we have been in the vents for an hour at least. Once again I am confused, my sense of time is not the best but for some reason I just know that an hour has passed. I am completely silent as we each clamber through the gap left by the now removed vent cover and the only thing I am focused on is putting the whole thing behind me, but the twins saw it and that means that it won't be easily forgotten.
"I'm going to lay down," I say to them. "I need to clear my head."
Before either of them can reply I have turned and walked around a corner into one of the more inhabited corridors. We had come out of the vent at a time when literally no one was around and now that I can see everyone they look like they've all been swimming in their clothes. Not one person looks happy and the moment they see how dry I am they know that I was somewhere vent free - except I was actually in the vents but they don't know that. I know instantly that they think I am lucky and when I turn into the corridor that my room is in I spot several members from my class who are soaking wet. They take one look at me and their expressions turn accusing.
"Where were you?" Katooni asks. "How come you're not soaked?"
"My mentors room doesn't have vent covers in it," I say casually, it is not a lie. "What happened to you?"
"We were walking about when a wall of water caught us off guard," Byph says, still looking me up and down with narrowed eyes. "Did you have something to do with this?"
"No," I reply. "But I might have an idea of who did."
They pin me with stares that demand answers and deliberatley block the way to my room. I sigh in expasperation. "Fine, it was the twins. Happy? Now can I get into my room, I need to lay down big time."
"Why? What happened?" Pedro asks.
"I was ill all night," I say casually. "I don't want it to happen again. Excuse me."
I gently push past them and enter my room. When I hear them all stomping off I know that it is to find the twins and, in their terms, to kill them but I am in no mood to be bothered with what they are doing right now.
My mind has been on what happened in the vent ever since it happened and as I empty my pockets and flop down onto my bed I cannot help but look at the bandage on my right arm. That must be where Anakin injected me to stop me from being ill, but then I got more ill because of it. Actually, I remember feeling the sensation of a pin in my arm yesterday - was that him? Shaking my head slightly, I sigh and walk into the 'fresher to get changed. This has been a long and confusing day which I would rather like to forget and pretend it never happened, which would be much easier if there hadn't been two witnesses.
As much as I hope it was Anakin, for some reason I can tell that it wasn't. This just makes me more confused and I lay back down on my bed and look at the chrono. It's just after seven and if anyone comes looking for me they'll know that I wanted to lay down because every time someone looks for me they ask my class mates, and I already told them about me feeling ill so I can't exactly get into trouble. Stifling a yawn, I close my eyes and easily drift off to sleep. Sleep comes easily if you're confused and it's basically a massive reprieve.