Assassin (A Star Wars Fan-Fiction) Book 2

Chapter Thirty-Seven

I am very sorry if this chapter seems choppy and very uneven. This is just a warning. It's mainly just talking, so bare with me.

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Chapter Thirty-Seven

"Master, we're so happy you're safe now!" Chewie roared his deep wookiee roar as he and Sekhmi wrapped their arms around Denali in a tight group-embrace. Denali did her best to hug the two apprentices back, even though her body and mind were still feeling a little fuzzy because of her previous adventure in the bacta tank. "We should've never let you go see Hondo in the first place, it was our faults that this happened-"

"Chewie," Denali interrupted him. He immediately stopped talking. "Don't blame yourself for this." Sekhmi took a towel from the medical droid in the room and handed it to her master. Denali took it and nodded her thanks, then wrapped it around her shoulders. Deciding to change the subject, she turned to her padawans and asked where Boba was. The frowns that appeared on their faces told her that he wasn't anywhere near at the moment.

"He's still with Danik, isn't he?"

They nodded.

"Does he know that I'm alright?"

They nodded.

Denali sighed with relief.

"Good. How long have I been healing?" The jedi master asked her students. The wookiee and the togrutian exchanged glances with one another, then answered her question.

"You've been out for a few days, actually." Sekhmi told her. Chewie nodded in confirmation. "You arrived with Masters Kenobi and Skywalker three days ago, I think. Three days at the most."

"Three days?" Denali asked in awe. She couldn't believe it. Had it really been that long? She tightened her grip on her towel. "Where are they now? Masters Kenobi and Skywalker? Are they still here? Or did they have to leave?" She really hoped that that wasn't the case here. Denali was desperate to talk to her husband, especially now after what happened with the pirates and Hondo. They needed to get some things sorted out as a couple. Immediately.

"The Council called Master Kenobi back to the Jedi Temple for another mission. They said it was urgent. But Master Skywalker was determined to stay until he could talk to you and personally make sure that you're on the road to recovery." Chewie replied. Sekhmi grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at her master. Denali rolled her eyes at her teenage padawan.

"Isn't that sweet, Master?" Sekhmi asked with a mischievous grin. "Master Skywalker is genuinely concerned about you...."

"And there is a code we all live by, Sekhmi." Denali cooed, even though she knew she was being a complete and utter hypocrite at that very second. Chewie nudged Sekhmi with his elbow.

"Yeah, Mi. Remember. The code." He extended the word out, adding extra attention to it. But before Denali could scold her padawan learners for their light attitudes on this serious subject, the metal door to their right slid open and two figures entered the scene. One was as familiar to Denali as her right hand, the other reminded her of her own padawan because she was of the same species. Anakin Skywalker and his padawan, Ahsoka Tano.

"Master Bleway," Anakin greeted with a friendly smile. "How are you feeling?" Something was off about his voice, the tone he was using. It wasn't like the usual cocky swagger he usually wore, it wasn't even close. Instead, it sounded like he was talking to a scared little girl, a porcelain doll that could shatter at any second if he wasn't careful. It was strange. He had never approached her like this before. It was definitely out of the ordinary. 

"I'm feeling a lot better, thank you for your concern." She replied politely. The door slid open again and a medical droid walked in carrying a white folded piece of fabric in its hands. It extended it to Master Bleway, and she took it with a thankful smile, then it left the room. Once realizing what the towel-like fabric was, she pulled it on and tied the cloth string around her waist. The soft white bath-robe covered her entire body, exposing only from the neck-up. Anakin cleared his throat, scratched the back of his neck, then spoke.

"Master Bleway, this is my padawan, Ahsoka Tano." He said, gesturing to the togrutian teenager standing by his side. She was small, nimble, and her head-tails weren't too long. Her dark orange-red skin made her blue eyes shine and her red lips were full. Ahsoka smiled and bowed respectfully to the jedi master.

"It's good to finally meet you, Master Bleway."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Padawan Tano." Denali said kindly and bowed as well. "It's great to finally know the face of Anakin's famous and noble padawan learner. I've heard so much about you."

"And you as well, Master Bleway. Master Skywalker loves talking about you."

All eyes in the room widened. 

"Really?" Denali asked with a cocky smirk as she looked from Ahsoka to Anakin, who's face was turning red. Ahsoka saw the look on Anakin's face and knew that she was going to be in some trouble later for dropping that bomb. "And what exactly does Master Skywalker say about me?"

"Uhhh..." Ahsoka started, unable to think of the right words to dig herself out of the whole she had so expertly stumbled into.

"Padawans, would you excuse Master Bleway and I? Just for a moment?" Anakin prodded. Chewie, Sekhmi, and Ahsoka all got the message crystal-clear and quickly made their way out of the medical room, leaving the two masters in a very awkward silence. Denali wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the floor while Anakin twiddled his thumbs.

"So..." The male in the room said awkwardly.

"Sooo, you talk about me?" She asked innocently, even though her smile was nothing but trouble. Anakin caught the mischievous tone in her voice and looked up from his hands, then mentally told himself 'Time to do some damage control'.

"Well, yeah.....kind of..."

Smooth one, Anakin.

"What exactly do you say about me, Master Skywalker?" 

"Well, nothing too important."

He mentally slapped himself in the face for that one when he saw her smile disappear and she looked back down at the floor. 

"Oh." She said, her voice deflated. He sighed.

"Look, I wanted to talk to you about what happened." Anakin finally got to the point. 

"You mean when you were drunk? And beat the living crap out of me til I nearly bled to death?" Anakin tried not to flinch in shame at her words, even though they were filled with poison and venom. And they had every right to be.

"Look, I didn't mean to-"

"To what? Try and kill me in a drunken stupor?" She took an angry step towards him, leaving less than a yard between the two jedi. "Sorry if I'm not exactly bursting with joy to start up this conversation, Ani, but that's really a memory I'd rather forget and never remember ever again."

"Denali, I know you're mad, but there's something I need to tell you-"

"What? What could you possibly need to tell me? That you're sorry? That you didn't know what you were doing? That you'd take back the things you did if you could? Well, it's a little late for that, hon." She spun on her heal and made her way to the door. Her hand reached up and was about to press the green button on the wall, when she was suddenly pulled back and spun around. Two arms wrapped around her, two strong, safe arms.

And two desperate lips pressed against her own.