The Adventures of Babysitting with Ahsoka Tano (COMPLETE)

Part 19

"I was staked out undercover in a Separatist system when I received an emergency call from the Council," Ahsoka began, adding fake details to explain her side of the 'story.' "I hadn't heard anything for months, the only communication I've had are the reports I send every month. Master Plo said I needed to end my mission and come back to Coruscant. He said something happened to you."

"'Something' being this?" Obi-Wan predicted, gesturing to himself.

Ahsoka nodded. "From what I've been told, you were on a mission with Master Windu to the same laboratory we just attacked. The Separatists used the age ray against you, hitting you both at the same time. I met up with you, and we came back here. Originally, the only reason I came was that we thought the clones might need a bit of wrangling to take you seriously. It was more of a just-in-case thing."

Tilting his head, Anakin asked, "When did we start losing our memory? The memory regression Kix was talking about?"

"About five-ish hours after we jumped to hyperspace, nearly sixteen hours after you were initially hit," she remembered. "The second regression happened in the gunship, about... six hours later. The next one is in three."

"Great," he grumbled, clearly not pleased. Ahsoka didn't blame him. She wasn't too happy about it either.

"So we're chasing down the age ray," Obi-Wan summarized, looking to Ahsoka for confirmation. "The Council gave us permission to continue?"

She nodded, but not very eagerly. "With a few changes, yes."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. Whatever these changes were, they seemed important.

Ahsoka straightened up before speaking. "Kix has been sending reports to the Temple as we've learned more about your regressions. The Council has decided that because of your memory loss, it's best if I run the mission."

"That's... that's fair," Anakin admitted, shrugging. 

"The second was a condition: if I decide that sending you onto the battlefield is too risky, I have to pull you from the mission."

He seemed less complacent with that change. "You're kidding," he said, trying to laugh it off, but Ahsoka remained silent. "Are you serious?"

She nodded firmly. "That was Master Windu's condition: I have to put your safety above the success of the mission."

"Our safety- we compromise our safety every day!" he objected, shaking his head. "It's a war, Ahsoka."

"You're not listening to me," she reprimanded him. "This isn't up for discussion."

"Look at us! we're fine!"

"Right now, you are," Ahsoka corrected, "but this isn't over! You're going to go through more regressions!"

"So what?"

"You're slowing down," she told him, making fierce, unwavering eye contact with her master. "Every year that you forget, a bit of your muscle memory deteriorates as well. You're forgetting the mission over and over again. You're forgetting entire chunks of the war that have passed. If you go out there, I have to be sure that you won't get shot because no one can cover you and get this age ray at the same time!"

Obi-Wan wasn't sure if he should step in or not. Ahsoka clearly had her mind set on the subject, and Anakin was beginning to realize it too. He wasn't giving up yet, but his confidence was starting to crack. "We've been fighting this war for years, Snips. I think we'll be alright."

"For now, maybe," she admitted, "but not forever. In two regressions, you won't know what the Clone War is. You won't know where we are, you won't know what we're doing. You won't know who I am," Ahsoka emphasized, pointing to herself. "I'll just be some nobody again. You won't remember anything that we've been through, anything that I've done. And that's just you, what about Obi-Wan?"