It's Two A.M.
Author's Note: This fic was basically born because I spent too long generating incorrect quotes and had to a fic based off several of them. xD
Yes, this is total crack so hopefully you weren't hoping for something serious. XD I do plan to do a serious version of this kind of plotline someday if I ever actually get to it but that is certainly not what this is... ;) Ahsoka's also being very snippy but she doesn't intend it to be mean so hopefully it doesn't sound that way lol
Warnings: Sidious-related horror so... detailed descriptions of slavery. Somehow that fit right in with crack. Don't ask.
Everyone being a bit OOC, if that needs a warning.
~ Tirana Sorki
"What is this?" Vader inquires, hands hovering over the oddly shaped box in front of him.
"It's a gift. I just told you that," Ahsoka replies with a dramatic eye roll, amusement dancing in her eyes as she watches him, arms crossed. She's so tall now. So different. She's not the child he once knew before everything fell.
A gift.
When was the last time someone gave him something? When was the las time he owned... anything? (It's not as though he even owns himself. If he ever has.)
"What for?" Vader asks confused. Why would she get this for him?
Ahsoka sighs like it's the most obvious question she's heard in her life. "It's for Life Day. You know that's what today is, right?"
Is it?
"I have not paid attention to the days in a long time."
Nothing has mattered since everything fell apart. All he ever knew was pain. He doubted that would ever change. And then he finally found the trail on Obi-Wan he's been searching for, for years. He just never expected that it would end the way it did – with his former master taking him by force on Jabi'im. Not that Vader was able to resist anyway and even if he could, what would he do? Fight to go back to Sidious who would unquestionably punish him severely for failing against Obi-Wan again? His master does not tolerate failures.
Vader didn't expect to have his injuries attended to, to be given some time to rest at the medical bay he was in, before he was... brought out here to Tatooine. (He doesn't want to be here. But he doesn't want to be anywhere. It's not as if being Obi-Wan's new slave, or whatever it is he's been kept here for, is worse than being Sidious'. At least he hasn't been hurt. Yet.)
And then Ahsoka showed up only hours later.
Vader finally opens the box. It's a –
"What is this?"
"A saxophone," Ahsoka replies cheerfully.
He doesn't think he's ever seen a musical instrument once in his life. "...What for?"
She laughs. "I don't know. It was the only thing I could find on short notice and you'll need something to do here, right?"
"Thank you," he tells her because even if he fails to see how he could use anything that requires blowing when his lungs would never have the strength for that, Ahsoka still gave it to him. It's his. The first thing that is his in ten years. (Until someone takes it away.)
"Unless you'd like something else," Ahsoka offers, "What would you have asked me to do?"
"...Please pray for Obi-Wan."
Her eye markings shoot up. "Why? What happened to him?"
"Nothing. He's just very stupid."
"I heard that," Obi-Wan calls from somewhere in the next room, wherever he disappeared too.
"Good."
Ahsoka snorts. "Well how about this. What if I froze time for everyone for one day but you. What would you do?"
What kind of question is that?
"I would mildly trouble everyone I could," Vader replies dryly. Actually, there's only one person around to trouble and that sounds entertaining. Not that he would dare.
"Alright," Ahsoka says, fighting a smile, "So what would you do?"
"I would shave a one-inch thick line in every beard I saw. And I would twist all the lightbulbs just enough so no one would know why they were not working. And I would tie everyone's shoelaces together. And at the end, I would snip a little hole in every tea bag I could find."
"...Alright, Remind me never to give you power."
Vader laughs even if the noise sounds choked through the respirator. It's the first time he's laughed in years but Ahsoka can have that effect on anyone. "That would be for the best."
For many reasons.
Never mind this being funny.
He still needs to figure out what to do with Ahsoka's gift.
**w**
Night comes.
Obi-Wan goes to the tiny upstairs of the hut that he moved his things too, to sleep. Evidently, he was living in a cave before he brought Vader here. Was having a tiny house instead intended to keep Vader more contained? It's not as if he can't open the door on his own. A lock's not going to keep him inside once he tries to escape. (And he hasn't tried to escape yet because – because.)
Vader stays up to prowl the main room of the house and just exist, as he has all this time.
"Why are you still awake?"
He looks up at the sound of Ahsoka's voice. When did she come back in the room? "I thought you were sleeping."
"I was but I heard you still moving around out here. And I came to see why."
"I do not sleep," Vader supplies because it's easier to say that than to explain that he can only do what his masters allow of him, no matter how personal those things are. That's how it was with Sidious and Obi-Wan hasn't been very clear on where the lines are supposed to be. It's safer to assume the rules are the same.
"Wow," she says, flatly, "I think that would explain your mood."
"My... mood?"
"If I randomly stopped sleeping for years, I'd be Falling too."
"Tripping and falling from exhaustion perhaps," Vader snips back, "I see little way you could fail as badly as I have." He can't imagine Ahsoka Falling. He doesn't even know that he would want her to – it would entirely change who and what she is.
Ahsoka's expression grows a little more solemn. "Anakin..." She sighs. "You know, sometimes I would like to understand what happened."
That is not something he cares to explain. Definitely not tonight. "All you must know is that I am totally useless."
She crosses her arms, visibly unimpressed. "You are not."
"I am."
"Not totally. You could always be used as a bad example."
Ouch.
"...That is fair."
She sighs. "I didn't mean that badly. I just – I don't understand. And maybe we should talk about this in the morning. What time is it?"
Vader flicks out a hand, calling the saxophone from the box to his hands. "I don't know but we can find out."
"How – "
He holds it up to the mouthpiece on his helmet just for a show. Because he has to push air through it with the Force anyway but much to his smugness, a loud noise blares from the instrument.
"Who the kriff is blowing a saxophone at two in the kriffing morning?" Obi-Wan yells from upstairs.
Ahsoka bursts into giggles.
Vader laughs. "It's two a.m.," he informs her smugly.
"Do that again," she requests, laughing.
Genuinely, why not?
He hasn't had this much fun in years.
He draws the Force around the instrument, forcing the air through it again at different speeds to see how low and high he can get it to go, but mostly just to make noise.
A certain vicious satisfaction flickers through him when he hears the sound of footsteps upstairs. He blows it even louder when he hears them coming closer.
"What are you doing?" demands a very disgruntled Obi-Wan, stepping into the room.
"If you were unaware, you would not have come down here," Vader informs him smugly.
"Come on, want to join?" Ahsoka asks cheerily.
"No, I don't. I didn't invite you here for this kind of idiocy."
"You didn't invite me here at all," Vader reminds.
Obi-Wan gives him a look. "That's beside the point."
Oh really? "Is there any kind of idiocy that you would be more comfortable with?"
"Perhaps some quiet," he huffs, "Silence is golden."
"Duct tape is silver," Ahsoka interjects.
"And placing duct tape on my helmet will not inhibit my use of the Force," Vader just has to add.
Obi-Wan's exaggerated sigh is almost enough to make him feel bad. Almost. "Why are you both still awake?"
"What else would I be doing?" Vader asks, because it's a genuinely fair question.
"Going to sleep, probably?"
But – "Why?"
"...What do you mean why? It's the middle of the night."
He can't tell if this is some kind of test or if Obi-Wan actually means it. Or if it's something else entirely. "Why would you... allow that? I have done nothing to earn it."
He's genuinely confused, okay? Sidious let him do that as a reward and he's been as frustrating as possible from the moment Obi-Wan captured him. Not that he has any regrets about that either but that's precisely the point.
Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are both staring at him.
"Earn it?" he repeats very slowly and Vader picks up on the traces of anger creeping into his voice. It puts him instantly on edge. "Is that something Sidious demanded of you? That you had to – "
"He is my master. That is his right. Or... it was." Is or was. Doesn't quite know yet. Depends how permanent his new situation is going to be.
"I'm going to kill him," Ahsoka speaks up fiercely, glaring, "He doesn't get to do that."
"He didn't let you rest when you needed to?" Obi-Wan asks, almost disbelievingly. "How did you ever – recover at all?"
Vader's hands clench into fists. "Why would that matter to you?" Obi-Wan wouldn't have done what he did if he didn't want to and – It's not as if Vader deserves any escape from pain. Why would anyone want anything else to be true?
"Anakin..." He breathes out heavily, something pained flickering through his gaze. "I'm the reason you're in this condition and that's something I would like to make right in any way I can."
But... that doesn't make sense. Why would it matter? Why would it matter to anyone? He already knows he deserves to be in pain. He accepted that a long time ago. He's so confused.
"I have questions about that," Ahsoka cuts in, gaze darting between them, "And I'd like to know what your condition is in the first place. Don't tell me you're wearing that ridiculously fancy armor for a reason." He can feel traces of shock and horror in her Force presence.
"Tonight may not be the best time to talk about this," Obi-Wan interrupts and Vader is almost grateful for that because he does not want to get into it. "Now come. You're going to bed and you do not need my permission to do so. Ever."
Vader hesitates, uncertainly. "Why would you give up a – a power like that?" Sidious controlled everything in every way he could. And it was effective at keeping him in line, so why...?
"Because that's not something I have a say in. You're not – You don't belong to me. You're not a slave here." Obi-Wan sounds appalled.
"You don't belong to anyone, Skyguy. And certainly not that old creep who calls himself Emperor," Ahsoka scowls though she looks like she's feeling downright sick for some reason.
What they're saying also doesn't make any sense. It's not as if he's free here. But he's never been free anywhere. He doesn't even know what that means.
But if he can finally rest, he's certainly not going to resist even if he's half afraid of what'll be demanded of him later for indulging in it. He awkwardly follows Obi-Wan and Ahsoka upstairs. There's only one small room up there from how tiny the hut is so he stands awkwardly in the doorway, unsure what's expected of him.
"Can you take any of that off to lay down or – ?" Ahsoka asks.
"No."
"Not even your helmet?"
"No. I cannot lay down like this." The only times he's slept are in his meditation pod or when he's in a bacta tank. Otherwise it's just a listless state of unconsciousness.
Obi-Wan's Force presence flares with guilt. "I have a possible solution to that."
The solution being to make a blanket-and-pillow pile on the floor that he can sort of lean against without having to outright lay down. Why Obi-Wan's putting so much effort into it, Vader can't begin to understand. Why would he want him to be comfortable? Vader tries it only on Ahsoka's insistence and it actually is comfortable, more so than any other attempt at trying to sleep he's had in the last ten years.
He doesn't know why Obi-Wan's giving up his things for this, though. He's so lost.
Ahsoka drops onto the floor next to him, twisting so she's half-climbed on top of him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"How is that relaxing?" Vader asks. The vibrations of his respirator must be driving her montrals crazy.
"It is because it's you," she informs him cheerfully. He hesitantly slips an arm around her shoulders and he can't really feel it but he's still getting to hold her and that's something.
Obi-Wan is still lingering there watching them and Vader eyes him uncertainly. Especially when his former master steps closer, draping the last blanket over them both.
The steadily growing lump in his throat is too much suddenly and his eyes sting with tears.
There's so much he could say, could ask, but he doesn't – want to right now.
"I'll be downstairs," Obi-Wan tells him, turning to go.
He's unreasonably grateful that he's not insisting on staying or he doesn't know if he would be able to sleep anyway, at least not until he passes out from exhaustion.
"Don't touch my saxophone," Vader calls after him, right before he disappears out the door.
Obi-Wan pauses. "Why would I want to touch that thing?"
"If he does, I'll just get you a new one. Or maybe I'll you a trombone and a drum too," Ahsoka adds brightly.
"Force help me," Obi-Wan grumbles.
"Those would be... useful," Vader says, only to be annoying. Obi-Wan hasn't threatened to cut his tongue out for backtalking him the way Sidious did once years ago, before Vader learned his place, so he's going to push it until he knows where the limits are.
"No, absolutely not. And how do you have so much on your mind when you're so exhausted?" Obi-Wan demands.
"Do you ever feel like exploding? Have you ever experienced the urge to enter the process of combustion?" Bad pun, actually, because he knows what that feels like. "Has your mind created a logical idea, known as thought, to disperse your body into thousands of particles suddenly?"
Ahsoka muffles her laughter against Vader's chest plate.
"It's almost three in the morning. Please go back to sleep." Obi-Wan wisely walks out of the room without looking back.
Vader settles back against the carefully arranged blankets, mildly surprised at how comfortable this actually is. He doesn't understand why Obi-Wan is being so nice. Especially when Vader is well aware that he's still angry. He's sensed it.
He doesn't understand why Ahsoka wants to be here either, honestly. But... he doesn't have the strength to fight it. This isn't a – anything he would've ever gotten from Sidious.
He does need to be sure to play his saxophone again in the morning. Especially if it's going to make Obi-Wan annoyed.
That's the last he has the mental space to think about before he does let himself drift off into the first restful sleep he's had in... perhaps since the night before he started dreaming of Padme's death.
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