The Junkyard, Saturday Morning
Ahsoka
There were many reasons Ahsoka chose not to dwell on her time spent on Fandom Island.
Waking up slumped over a disassembled hyperdrive of a ship better suited as salvage instead of in the bunk of her personal shuttle was just a new one to add to the list.
Anakin
Now there was a presence he hadn't felt in a long time...
Anakin walked--more slowly these days, but still with purpose--into the junkyard. "Ahsoka?"
Ahsoka
"Master?" If it was anyone else, she might have used the Force to cloak the colour of her eyes and the ashy undertone of her skin, but there was no need for disguises between them. "Checking up on me? You shouldn't send me on missions if you don't trust me."
Lie to a guy about his kids for a few years to protect them because he'd barge in and ruin it for himself otherwise and he never let you forget it. So dramatic, Anakin.
Anakin
"I trust you," Anakin said carefully. "It's just been a while since I've seen you."
Ahsoka
"I haven't been gone from Coruscant that long," Ahsoka said, her voice going flat as she emerged from the scrapheap and got a good look at him. "Oh, it's you."
The other one.
Anakin
Anakin's shoulders straightened. "You were expecting someone else?"
He had a bad feeling about this.
Ahsoka
At least there wasn't any creepy giggling like when the Son had controlled her on Mortis?
"I thought my master might have decidd to come keep my company," she said, head tilted to one side. "He does get lonely when I'm gone."
Okay, Anakin might have preferred the giggling to what that implied.
Anakin
Anakin made a little face. "Um."
Ew.
Ahsoka
Ahsoka was going to be so glad she didn't remember any of this weekend.
"I don't see why you're surprised." She stepped into his space and reached up to chuck him under the chin. (So glad.) "You knew what I was going back to."
Anakin
Anakin took two hasty steps backwards. "Do I?" he asked.
Ahsoka
Ahsoka closed the distance again, her movements now sharp with tightly coiled anger.
"You told me you fell!" And forgot to mention just how far. "What did you think would happen? That I'd just abandon you again?"
Anakin
"Yes!" Anakin replied, glaring. "I wasn't worth this."
Ahsoka
Anakin, you had met your Padawan before, right?
"It wasn't just about you." Though neither version of him had exactly helped. "Or should I have traded Obi-Wan, or your children, or the galaxy, for the sake of a code you couldn't even follow."
Peace was a lie, but sometimes it mattered who the burden of falsehood fell on.
Anakin
Well, yes, but Skywalker also meant "giant drama queen", and so...
"The code was flawed," Anakin readily admitted, "but the Dark Side was not the only other option."
Ahsoka
You're right," Ahsoka said. "There was also death or madness, only you wouldn't let me die.
"And madness? Not with the secrets in my head." Some of which she still kept. "Do you really think he would have stopped if he knew what he could find here? Would you?"
Anakin
"Back then?" Anakin pursed his lips. "He wouldn't have stopped. Me? It would have depended on Luke being here or not. Or you."
Ahsoka
"I kept him from even starting," Ahsoka said, almost snarling. "I paid the price for it so the galaxy wouldn't."
Anakin
"I didn't ask you to do that," Anakin said, then frowned. "Did I?"
Because this version of the galaxy was craaaaap.
Ahsoka
For values of a galaxy ruled by Sith, Ahsoka's was actually in a slightly better place than Anakin's had been at the same time, given which Sith were in charge and who the subject of Ahsoka's early Force choking lessons had been.
"Does it matter?" The difficultly she was having keeping the two Anakins apart even Ahsoka wasn't sure. "I wasn't going to sacrifice younglings like that."
Unlike some people in this conversation.
Anakin
Anakin coughed. "Well. That was a bad decision no matter how you look at it."
Ahsoka
"I stopped it from ever happening again." Ahsoka was pacing now and it was debatable whether she was addressing Anakin or herself. "Because of what I did, no one else has to go to Mustafar."
What was one light getting snuffed out compared to that?
Anakin
"Well, I'd say thank you, but I really, really wish this hadn't happened to you," Anakin murmured.
Ahsoka
So did Ahsoka, but those were thoughts she couldn't let herself have.
"I don't need your pity," she snapped. "It's too late for that."
[Preplayed with the lovely sith_happened, and massive SP in the comments.]