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.

Medicine, Ahsoka Tano

I wake up slowly. Very, very slowly and I have to literally force myself to stay awake. There is no alarm clock this time and no Master Plo helpfully shaking me awake like he always does when I over-sleep and he senses that I am not yet up. I don't open my eyes at first because they feel far too heavy for me to open and then I keep them shut for another reason entirely. The smell of the place I am in is all too familiar for me because I cannot even remember the amount of times I have been here due to some prank with the twins or a short-cut to class that went very, very badly. That was the only time that Master Plo told me not to use any ideas that I had and that advice did not go very well for me when it came to my next class. Now that I think about it, that was probably one of the funniest moments of my life seeing Master Plo exasperated at me taking what he said so seriously.

So, I'm in the halls of healing. I don't put too much effort in remembering how I got here since it isn't exactly a rare occurrence and instead put all of my energy into forcing my eyes open. It takes way more effort than you'd expect, especially since my body hurts all over from something that I don't try to remember just yet. After many, many failed attempts which almost make me go right back to sleep I manage to open my eyes and jump ten feet in the air when I spot Barris watching me intently. Yes, I managed to be jumpy even in my layed down position. Rule one hundred and twenty-three of life's funny little tricks is that whenever you wake up to someone watching you there is something wrong. It is either with you or with someone else or you have to do something that will make your day boring.

"Um..." I'm not entirely sure what to say to her since the last thing I remember was her falling off a cliff.

Barris gasps as she sees I'm awake, must have been in her own world. "Ahsoka!" She exclaims. "You're awake! They said you would be unconscious for at least one more day."

I frown. "They... who?"

"The Jedi healers, of course." Barris explains. "Ahsoka, can you remember anything about what happened? Can you remember about the competition?"

I nod. "Of course I can. We ran off in different directions, I got chased by a nexu and met up with you and then Slimo nearly killed us."

"And after that...?"

"Uh... we climbed down the rocks and you slipped over the edge. Slimo caught up with me and then I got to the bridge and was cornered by both him and Pedro. They threw their training sabers at me at the same time and I jumped off the bridge just as they both exploded. Speaking of which, why did they explode?"

Barris shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not sure. Master Plo was talking to the healers about fuses and pressurised containers and so on... you were in a really bad shape when they brought you in, Ahsoka. First with the explosion and then that fall nearly killed you."

Nearly killed me? Well that's certainly a new one. I've been injured lots of times but I don't think I've ever nearly been killed before. To be honest, the explosion didn't feel like it did too much damage to me at first but after the fall I felt like I was about to die so what Barris said actually sounds really plausible. I look down at myself and roll my eyes when I discover that I am covered with a blanket; that does nothing to deter me though since I can both sense and feel where the bandages are on my body. Loads on my arms and legs, along with a cast on my broken right arm, and a very large on around my torso. Surprisingly, there are none on my head but I can feel that there used to be since bandages always leave a strange feeling behind once they are taken off.

"How long have I been out?" I ask Barris, who has a few bandages on herself but not nearly as many as I have.

"A whole week." Barris replies. "Everyone was so worried about you, they just couldn't understand why you wouldn't wake up even for a little bit until they diagnosed you with exhaustion."

"What do you mean by 'everyone'?"

"Hold on. Let me just go and get the twins, I have a feeling you'll understand more if they explain it to you." Barris says before standing up from her chair beside my bed and walking out of the door.

I'm actually rather surprised that I have a room all to myself rather like Katooni does, or did... I don't know I've been out of the action for a week. Then again, if everyone has been as worried about me as Barris says then it's no surprise that they would want to keep me in a room all to myself where they could monitor my health and so on and so forth. Barris walks back into the room with the twins right behind her. They look pale for some reason. I've seen them get ill and stuff because those would be the moments when the younglings of the Jedi temple could breath sighs of relief but they've never once gone pale before.

"Hey, 'Soka." Jay says in greeting as usual but without the usual merriness to it. "How do you feel?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Not that bad." I say truthfully. "You two look pale, are you okay?"

"They've been up for days worrying about you," Barris explains, walking back to her chair and sitting down. "It took a lot of persuasion from the healers just to get them to leave your room. There's two beds set up for them right outside your door."

I arch both my eye-marks in surprise. "You really stayed outside my room?"

"Well, you weren't waking up and we were really worried. That's not even including the fit that the healers had when they found out that you had been allowed to go into that competition with extreme exhaustion." Kay says. "Apparently the medical droid who did those check ups for you right before the competition 'forgot' to mention it to Master Yoda."

"Wait, you mean I have a case of extreme exhaustion and I didn't even know?" I ask. "How is that possible?"

"We don't know, Ahsoka, but it's a miracle that you didn't go down the moment the competition started." Barris comments. "Master Plo was absolutely furious that you didn't realise and he even signed you up for medical lessons for when you go back to classes."

I groan and rest back on the bed. Medical lessons are just so annoying to go to, that's why I dropped out. There are so many different illnesses and such that you can't even diagnose one thing without knowing that it could be three or four other things. Maybe if I'm lucky I can get Master Plo to change his mind and then I won't have to take that ridiculous class.

"So, what happened while I was unconscious? You haven't exactly explained why everyone was 'so worried' apart from the exhaustion thing. What was going on?" I question, looking at each of them in turn.

They all share a brief glance. "Well," Jay begins. "It was really weird, Ahsoka. They brought all of the others in on stretchers and they each got assigned one healer and so on but then you got brought in and... uh... we were waiting for you, you see, and when you were brought in there were two healers with you. We were about to come forwards and ask if you were going to be all right when loads of Jedi masters showed up."

"You should have seen it, Ahsoka, it was like they had gone mad or something. We were told to stand outside but, naturally, we eavesdropped on their conversation. I don't think I've ever known any Jedi's to go that insane before. The first thing that was said when they walked through the door was: 'That light was not a natural force ability.' Do you know what they were talking about?" Kay asks.

"Light? I don't know what they're..." Wait a minute, what am I saying? I can remember it now. Slimo was about to kill me and then that strange light came out of my hand. Master Yoda must have seen it on the hologram and called off the competition. "Oh, that light..." I trail off in deep thought.

Jay gives me a disbelieving look. "You don't mean that thing actually exists!"

"Existed, past tense. Besides, I have no idea what happened and nobody even taught me about it. Anyway, you were saying about what they did?"

"Oh yeah, right. So, they said that and we didn't know if they'd been hit on the head or something and then they kept talking. It started out with them coming up with ideas about what it might have been and then they started talking about someone training you to do it in a life or death situation just in case. Master Kenobi was called away from a meeting just to give some ideas about what might have happened but we couldn't hear much of what he was saying. Only little things like: 'He must be very concerned for her safety...' and 'I don't know if this was intentional...' It was really weird and we don't know who he was talking about."

No, but I do. This is a very bad thing, a very, very, very bad thing. I am going to be in so much trouble when they realise that I am awake and come in to question me, that's what they always do and I know they will. Okay, this is not the greatest day of my life but I've had worse. What can they do to me for just going to visit Anakin? On the bright side, Master Kenobi seems to know that I didn't actually plan on doing that impossible thing with the white light so things can't be as bad as I think they will be. I even out my breathing in an attempt to calm myself since the effects of both that news and the medication that I was so obviously given, judging by the taste in my mouth.

"He was probably just talking about a friend of mine," I mumble. "Did the healers say how soon I would be able to leave?"

"At least two days more after you woke up and they said that in all that time no Jedi are allowed back into this room apart from us since we don't go crazy and create so much friction through the force that it will disturb your recovery. Those were the words that the healers used exactly." Kay says.

I smirk at the idea of the healers telling it straight to the Jedi masters. It makes me wonder whether or not they left my room willingly or were forced out by two very annoyed Jedi healers with syringes for weapons, now that is a very entertaining thought. Although, I didn't know that causing minor disturbances in the force with things like going crazy over such a common thing like... a beam of light emitting from somebodies hand who walked right into a force wielders room one day and who's behaviour was more than suspicious. Oh dear force, I am so going to be in trouble for this. I have two days at least to get ready for whatever questions they throw my way so maybe in that time I can come up with a valid reason.

"Right... so what do we do now? There isn't much I can do when I'm like this, is there?" I ask rhetorically.

"Well... the healers did say that they wanted you to get used to walking again but they said it wouldn't be a good idea for you to even try until after they'd done a final check-up. That's going to be happening tomorrow and we really don't want to get caught doing something that would make the healers angry because those Jedi masters really got on their nerves. I never knew that five Jedi masters could be so much trouble." Jay comments.

Barris rolls her eyes. "I'll never understand how the three of you made friends," She mumbles. "Master Plo suggested that you do things to take your mind off what happened in the competition right before you won."

"Woah, hang on. Did you just say that I won?" I ask with wide eyes.

"Well, of course you did. Didn't you hear the beeping that signalled the end of the competition?"

I nod slowly. "Yes, but I thought that was just Master Yoda ending it because of what happened."

"Speaking of which, what actually did happen in there, Ahsoka?" Kay asks curiously. "What was that 'light' they were talking about?"

Oh dear, this is the exact subject that I wanted to avoid. What do I tell them? I can't very well just explain that one day I was running from the only three bullies who could rival Slimo's cruelty and that I walked right into a room housing one of the most powerful being in the galaxy, can I? Nope, not an option. Let's see, what are the best cover stories I can come up with? Something to do with a torch... no... something to do with the sun of Naboo... no... bingo!

"There was this strange light that came from the wall and blinded us both. I fell unconscious and didn't really see what happened to Slimo. Speaking of which, how is that slimy git?"

"He's... not so good. The healers paid as much attention to him as they did to you if not more. There was this really strange energy radiating off of him that stopped him from healing and then the healers were diagnosing him and noticed that you had the same thing except it was different. What they said in a simple way was that the energy protected you and nearly killed Slimo in a very quick way and that there had to have been something holding it back. It's still a big mystery to us though." Barris says.

"It's a mystery to me, too." I say truthfully. "Can we not talk about it any more? It's giving me a huge headache."

"You're not the only one," Jay grumbles. "The healer assigned to you said that you could play some board games with us to get your mind working more clearly."

I raise one eye mark. "How am I supposed to play board games with only one arm?" I ask before frowning. "Wait a minute..." Shifting my body around slightly, I manage to move my left arm up so that it is above the sheets and groan. It's bandaged at the wrist which means that I've either broken it or sprained it. "I can hardly use this arm either." I say sadly. "You do realise that I won't be able to win, right?"

Kay smiles mischievously. "Of course, why do you think we agreed to play them with you?"

Rolling my eyes, I put all of my energy into getting into the more comfortable of the seated positions and cringe at the amount of bandages on my stomach. It's that amount that's given to people who's stomachs have split open and I really hope that isn't what happened with mine. I am fairly certain that I would remember if I had any serious injuries like that and I definitely wouldn't have been able to make my way towards the HoloFlag if I had an injury that serious but I was covered in a lot of bruises and blood so maybe I just had one too many cuts on my torso and stomach.

"Let's play four player galactic life," Jay suggests. "It's really fun because of the dare cards."

"How am I supposed to do those dares?" I ask. "Wait, aren't you still hurt too Barris?"

She shakes her head. "No, my wounds healed a few days ago. I just have to get some bandages taken off and that's it."

Wow; a fall like that and her wounds are healed quicker than mine? What am I saying? Barris didn't have to go through a fall and an explosion and then have this freakish white light come out of her hand when she was about to be beaten to death by Slimo. I really needed to be more careful in the competition... even though I got caught in between two dorks who just wouldn't quit with their stupid ways. On another thought, I wonder what happened to dear old Pedro? It can't have escaped his notice that I had gotten as much attention as Barris and the twins said that I have unless he was caught in the explosion in an even worse way than me and Slimo. He can't possibly of been at the heart of the explosion since that was exactly where I was although I did manage to jump at Anakin's voice... that reminds me, I need to ask him about that when I see him next.

It takes a few minutes for the twins to run to their room, retrieve the game of 'galactic life' and come back to set it all up with another five minutes to get everything ready. As much as I hate the hastle involved with setting up a game like 'galactic life', it is one of the best games in the galaxy. The title makes you think that it is simply a game about the normal life of a normal person, except it's not. Think of it as the game where the person you play is a dare-devil who constantly humiliates themselves and much more. I can still remember the first time I played the game; I ended up hanging upside down from a rope in the gym for a dare when Master Plo walked in and I fell off in surprise. That was one of my worse moments in life.

Of course, this time around I can't do most of the dares which means that I can finally enjoy the humiliation of my friends without consequences. When it gets to only three moves in I am clutching my sides from laughter at a ridiculous dare that Kay is performing at the moment. I cannot believe my luck when I picked up a dare for him specifically entitled 'Blue Haired Hand-stand'. It is exactly what is says in the title, no questions asked.

"Oh dear force, bro. That is the best thing you have ever done!" Jay exclaims through his laughter.

Kay, who is also laughing at his own humiliation, replies. "You've already said that three times, Jay. Choose another catch phrase already."

Jay shrugs his shoulders. "Okay. That's the forceist trick in the book."

"What?"

"Next move! 'Soka, go!"

I smirk at how he changes the subject and roll the dice on the board. A four and three which means the my piece moves to... oh no. Casting a vicious glare at the twins who are smirking, I look back at the game board. Seven spaces means that I have to move to the ultimate dare space that I have only ever landed on once before in my whole time playing this game and that was the worst dare I ever did. Seriously, the twins are like the pranksters with futures that nobody else has since no other Jedi youngling that I know can prank Master Kota and get away without being found out or punished. That particular blame went on Master Kota's unfortunate padawan and I heard from the twins the very next day that the padawan had been assigned library duty for 'acting un-Jedi like'.

"Oh Ahsoka, what should we make you do?" Jay asks rhetorically with a mischievous smirk. "Hm... let me think..."

"This is going to be the death of me," I grumble under my breath.

Kay snorts. "Yeah, like you didn't do a good enough job of trying already." He comments sarcastically. "Let's see here, we've already had you make noises and really questionable faces... what else is there?"

I groan and lean back on the bed with my head resting on the pillow so that I may stare up at the ceiling in exasperation. For a few long and anxious minutes I wait for Jay, Kay and Barris to decide upon the dare that they want me to complete when the sound of muffled voices from outside the door reaches our ears; I don't actually have any ears but that's not the point. From the looks on my friend's faces they cannot hear the voices clearly enough to determine exactly who is talking but as a Togruta I have various enhanced senses and this includes my hearing. My stomach knots itself in my nervousness as the news of exactly who and what they're arguing about on the other side of the door sets in.

It's Master Kenobi and he's arguing with the healer about being let into my room... this is not good. Not good, not good, not good.

Whilst ignoring the three other's who are straining to hear what is going on, I inwardly curse at how persuasive and calm Master Kenobi is coming across as. The healer will surely give in at any moment since the excuses have gone from strong to weak and I can sense the inner turmoil now involved with keeping him out. So, instead of panicking in the traditional way, I start thinking up a million excuses and then discarding them one by one as I search for one to give the Jedi master when he eventually gets inside despite the healers' original orders.

Excuse number one: it was a trick of the light.

Excuse number two: I had a torch hidden in my hand.

Excuse number three: it was all Slimo and nothing to do with me.

Wow, I am so rubbish at coming up with excuses for things that have happened to me. Though now that I think about it, how many people have had to come up with excuses for something like visiting a force wielder against the councils wishes and then doing a strange thing involving beams of light coming out of their hands. I'm just going to have to either tell the truth or say nothing and let them guess which is the worst idea I have had yet. The council don't really have very good ways of filling in the blanks as it shows with how the twins' prank on Master Windu went down.

Then, to my relief, a second healer's voice spoke loud and clear: "I am sorry, Master Kenobi, but Ahsoka Tano must get some sleep right now and I was just about to go into the room to get her friends to leave. You may speak with her when we release her from the ward."

A murmured response that even I cannot hear and the sound of retreating foot falls makes me sigh quietly in relief. I have dodged the bullet again but it's obvious that I won't be able to do so for long. They don't call Master Kenobi 'the negotiator' for nothing.