When You Come Home

-28-

"You're right, Obi-Wan," Ahsoka commented airily, stepping lightly around a pile of boxes in the long hallway, "this way is so much faster than the one I found."

"Yup," his voice sounded strained, "we're almost out."

"Where exactly will this end us up?" Anakin questioned, adjusting him for the seventh time. His back and shoulders were aching, but he knew how much more uncomfortable for Obi-Wan this would be. Having Anakin's bony shoulder digging into his rib cage added to the constant jostling of his injured leg would have been torture. Anakin thought he had slipped unconscious a couple of times, roused only by Ahsoka's cheery narrating. He hoped Obi-Wan would last until he had guided them out of the catacombs.

Anakin paused as Ahsoka tripped over a wooden board sticking up from the floor. Waiting for her to right herself, he spent a minute negotiating the uneven patch, keeping as still as he could for Obi-Wan. "We're almost there," he murmured, "hang on a little longer."

"Ask for ... Tala," Obi-Wan mumbled.

"Ask for who?!" It was all Anakin could do not to stumble. "You must be delusional."

"Which way next?" Ahsoka called from the room to Anakin's left. "It looks like there's an elevator in here! Is that the way out?"

"She's talking to you, bud," he prompted Obi-Wan, stopping outside the empty room. "Obi-Wan?" He squeezed his arm, but his body had gone lax. He had passed out again. This was getting serious.

"We'll take the elevator," he said as he followed Ahsoka. "I hope it's the right way."

"Why don't you ask ...?" Her face twisted in a way that made Anakin's gut clench. "He doesn't look good, does he?"

"Let's just take the elevator." He fidgeted as Ahsoka pressed the button, waiting for it to come.

"Is he going to die?" Her voice was small. "Should we have left him up there on the battlefield?"

"He's got the best chance of living when he's with us," Anakin responded with more confidence than he felt. The silver doors of the elevator finally opened, artificial light flooding the dark room. Ahsoka switched off her torch, then entered, waiting until Anakin joined her before she closed the door and selected the top floor.

The journey upwards was silent apart from the clattering and rattling of the old mechanism. The floor juddered as the cage rose, the shift in gravity leaving a churning feeling in Anakin's stomach. The white lights behind the buttons flashed as they moved past the first and second floor before finally lighting up the top one. All was still for a moment before the doors shuddered open. The saturation of sunlight blinded their eyes, forcing the teens into a sheet of whiteness. Wooden planks creaked as they passed through a small house with a door directly ahead and a window over the top. They exited quickly, their boots crunching on pebbles and gravel as they moved onto a narrow path. The home behind them was simple and unassuming, nestled in between a few other inhabited houses. Anakin would never have picked it as cover for a much larger secret.

They wound through the quiet streets, looking for a person or an information booth. The street was wide and calm, with an alleyway of willowy trees lining either side, but mostly empty. Aside from a couple of cyclists and someone jogging with a big dog, it was abandoned. A couple of children were playing in a front yard, so Ahsoka put on her sweetest smile and waved at them.

"Hi, guys! We're a bit lost. Could you give us some directions?"

They looked at each other silently, judging whether or not to run inside. Anakin shifted impatiently. Obi-Wan's heart beat was slow and breathing shallow; they were using borrowed time at the moment.