Anakin stood anxiously in the hangar as the ship Ahsoka had taken younglings on glided in. It touched down, hissing, and moments later the ramp lowered. Six little younglings came stumbling down. They chattered lively– almost feverishly– and the human boy leading the group was especially energetic. He waved his arms about in huge gestures, nearly smacking his fellow younglings in the act.
He'd been informed that the younglings had encountered pirates during their journey and that they'd called for help, but they looked perfectly fine to him; All childish energy and adrenaline rush.
Obi-Wan and Cody, who'd gone off to rescue them, came down after the younglings looking drained. Anakin expected Ahsoka to trail behind them, dragging her feet and looking even more tired, but she never came.
The Force sent ripples of uneasiness through him and he stalked toward the group. "Where's my padawan?" he asked before he'd even finished approaching.
The younglings all turned to face him at his voice, and when their eyes fell on his face, they gaped stupidly up at him.
"M-master Skywalker," stuttered the human boy at the front. "Uh, what are you doing here?"
"I've come for my padawan," Anakin replied, irritation seeping into his tone. Children could be so stupid sometimes, didn't they just hear what he said?
They all looked terrified then, not just in awe of who they were seeing. Worry twisted Anakin's gut. What happened to Ahsoka? He would've felt if she died, but with a start, he realized that she wasn't there. Not on the ship or anywhere he could sense.
"Obi-Wan, where's Ahsoka?" Anakin asked through gritted teeth.
Obi-Wan held up a hand tiredly and asked Cody to take the youngling to the med-bay so they could be checked over.
"Obi-Wan."
"She's not here, Anakin."
"I can see that!" Anakin snapped. "Where is she?"
Obi-Wan dragged his palms down his face. "She was taken by pirates."
Anakin's heart dropped and his fists clenched. Why did he get the feeling that this had something to do with Hondo? When Anakin said it aloud Obi-Wan sighed.
"It was Hondo," Obi-Wan said, "but don't go rushing in or do anything stupid before– Anakin, no! Anakin, come back!"
But Anakin was already gone.
/
The second they touched down on Florrum, Anakin was sprinting toward the pirates' gathering. He heard the loud music and drunken cries of laughter before he saw anything.
He cut down the guards in the front, forced his way inside, and saw red. Crimson, scarlet, ruby red. Red and Tusken Raiders, ghostly and screaming as they raced away from him. He swung his saber, blinded by red.
The next moment, Anakin was standing at the head of the room, his puffing breaths slowing gradually and his back straightening. The Tusken Raiders had vanished and the red had seeped out of his vision. Pirates littered the floor. Anakin neither knew nor cared if they were alive or dead.
And in the middle of it all lay Ahsoka, curled and shaking with her hands bound behind her and her back facing him. Anakin's heart dropped.
Clipping his saber to his belt, Anakin's feet pumped the floor and he threw himself to his knees next to her. "Ahsoka," he breathed, tenderly moving his hands to roll her over.
Her previously squeezed-shut eyes flew open as soon as his fingers brushed against her arm. She jerked away with a cry.
"Whoah, whoah, whoah," Anakin said, sitting back on his heels. "It's just me, Ahsoka. Anakin. It's okay."
"No," Ahsoka whispered, eyes squeezing shut again. "My blood isn't blue."
"What?"
"It's red, I promise!" Ahsoka sobbed. "Like yours, you don't have to see!"
"I know it's red," Anakin said softly. "Please, Ahsoka, it's me. Anakin."
"Don't touch me!" Ahsoka shrieked as Anakin tried again to roll her over. "I don't want to dance!"
"You don't have to dance. I'm here to help," Anakin promised, releasing her.
A beat passed filled with only the sounds of Ahsoka heaving in the air. She shook and shook, trying to scrunch further into herself as if wishing she was so much smaller.
Anakin reached forward and tried to free Ahsoka from the ropes binding her but she cried out again.
"I'm sorry, Ahsoka, but I have to get us out of here," Anakin whispered. He pinned her down and somehow managed to maneuver the ropes from her wrists. He rolled her over and saw red again.
But this time, it wasn't flashing in his eyes. It was pooled around Ahsoka, smeared over her face and drenching her clothes. Crimson, scarlet, ruby red pouring from a gash in her abdomen.
Tiny cuts scrawled across her face, some even tracing her facial marking. But worst of all was one near the base of her montral, spreading black around the edges and oozing something thick and rancid.
"No, no, Ahsoka. What did they do?" Anger flared up inside of him. "What did they do?"
"My blood isn't blood," Ahsoka whispered desperately, trying to protect her head.
Anakin jerked his head up and scanned the floor of unmoving pirates. He hoped balefully that they were all dead, and would've made sure they took their last breath if Ahsoka wasn't in danger of that very thing.
How much blood had she lost? Too much. Kriff, it was everywhere. It was all over the floor and now it was on his hands and it was coating Ahsoka. So much red. So much crimson, scarlet ruby red.
"I'm so sorry, Ahsoka," Anakin whispered, and he scooped her up.
Ahsoka cried out sharply, thrashing with surprising strength.
"Ahsoka, stop, please," Anakin begged.
"My blood isn't blue! It's red! It's red!"
"It's me, Snips, it's Skyguy."
Her eyes shot open as she squirmed and she looked him straight in the face. It was as if a switch flipped and she froze in his arms.
"Anakin?"
"Yeah, yeah, there you go. It's me," Anakin said, puffing out a hopeful breath.
"The y-younglings?"
Of course she'd worry about them. "They're safe. Obi-Wan got them."
"Sorry."
"No, don't be," Anakin said. "There's nothing for you to be sorry for."
Ahsoka opened her mouth, looking ready to protest, but Anakin stopped her.
"Save your energy."
He started delicately for the door, comming Artoo to tell him to bring the ship around and pick them up.
The next time Anakin saw Hondo, he was going to kill the pirate. But he couldn't think of that at the moment. There were more important things for him to do.
But when Anakin had gone hardly a few meters outside, he spotted a cluster of specks drifting through the sky.
"Seriously?" Anakin groaned. He had the feeling that those weren't friendlies: they were Separatists. "I am so over today. Artoo!" he shouted into the comm, "get over here faster. Now!"
Artoo bleeped out something along the lines of sassy and a little crass. Ahsoka let out a sound halfway between a broken chuckle and a sob, and Anakin gritted his teeth.
"Just stay with me, Snips," Anakin pleaded. He added a step to his pace but couldn't go too quickly out of fear of jostling Ahsoka. The specks in the sky kept on growing and Anakin swore they were approaching faster now.
Anakin broke into an awkward, gimmicking run and Ahsoka squealed in protest, the sound slicing Anakin deeper than any knife could. "I know, I'm sorry," Anakin whispered. "Just a little longer." He scrambled into his comm "ARTOO! Where the kriff are you?!"
Just then the Twilight swooped upon them and Anakin could've cried with relief. But they weren't in the clear yet. They still had to sneak away.
"Get us out of here," Anakin said, slipping the squirming, glassy-eyed Ahsoka into a seat and strapping her in.
He took over piloting and tried to ignore Artoo's little lecture about patience.
"If you hadn't noticed, the longer we stay here, the more likely it is for us to die!" Anakin snapped, forcing the Twilight to speed up past its limits.
Artoo started bleeping again but Anakin had heard enough. "Shut up, I'm trying to drive!"
A few stressful minutes later, the Twilight barrelled into hyperspace and Anakin deflated into his seat, expelling a long breath. "Why can't it just be easy for once?" He swiveled his chair to look at Ahsoka and his heart stopped. Ahsoka's head rested heavily– uselessly– on her shoulder and eyes shut enough that he could only see a tiny sliver of white.
"Snips," Anakin muttered. "Stang, Ahsoka, open your eyes."
She didn't.
Anakin unbuckled her and hauled her from her seat, situating her against the wall. Artoo brought a med kit and anything else that Anakin could use.
But it wasn't enough, not permanently. Anakin could only hope that it would be enough to keep her alive until he could get her back to Kix.
/
Ahsoka hurt.
She couldn't remember what happened, but every single one of her limbs had lost circulation. With a great amount of effort, she rolled from her back to her side. She was lying on a medical cot.
Ahsoka blinked her eyes open, assaulted by fluorescent lights. But when she blinked her vision clear, she frowned to see a pile of sleeping younglings.
And then it all came flooding back. She was kidnapped by pirates.
Ahsoka shot up so quickly her head spun and she had to catch herself so she didn't flop right back down.
"Ahsoka!"
She would've whipped her head to the voice if the room didn't already look like a swirling blob.
"Are they okay?" Ahsoka mumbled into his robes, her voice like sandpaper.
"Who?"
"Younglings."
Anakin let out an incoherent sound and told her, "you already asked that. They're fine."
Ahsoka let out a breath of relief and Anakin released her. As she blinked the blurriness from her vision she spotted the tears rolling down his face.
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm sorry," Anakin whispered. "I was so stupid."
"What?" She couldn't remember.
"I rushed in without thinking. We almost lost you because of me."
Ahsoka was about to say that he obviously didn't kill her so it would be okay (what's new?), but Obi-Wan hovered in the corner with his chin tilted up in such a way that she knew Anakin had been lectured. It must've been bad.
So instead Ahsoka snaked her arms around him to offer any comfort she could.
"I'm okay," Ahsoka said. "It's okay."
Eventually, Obi-Wan broke them up. "You should rest, Ahsoka, you lost a lot of blood. And I get the feeling that a few younglings will be very happy to see you when they wake up." He gestured to the pile of peacefully sleeping children.
Ahsoka smiled softly at him, too tired to reply any other way. She let her eyes drift closed and tried to remember what had happened after she'd been captured and knocked out.
All she could see was red. Crimson, scarlet, ruby red.