Fox nods at Anakin as he leaves the facility, a silent promise to clean up the mess and falsify a report or two. The Commander isn't the type to allow Jedi to kill prisoners within his facility, but he can see the look in Anakin's eyes. If he protests this justice, he'll end up in the same state as Hardeen.
He wants to tell the Chancellor, knowing the man will find forgiveness in his heart and help cover up the evidence, but he can't. Nobody, besides Commander Fox and the Jedi Council, know the real Hardeen is in prison whilst Mace Windu parades around in his skin.
Besides, the Chancellor has his own problems with his upcoming trip to Naboo; he can't carry Anakin's troubles as well.
He breaks down in sobs as he dials Padmé's frequency, even though he never ends up calling her. He can imagine her look of disappointment on her perfect face. Could she ever look at him again without seeing a man who murdered an unarmed prisoner in cold blood?
He wonders how his mother would look at him right now, knowing what he's just done. She'd probably fall to her knees, crying his name.
She'd be broken.
Walking into the Temple doesn't feel right. It isn't honourable to enter a holy place with so much blood on his hands- literally. He goes to his quarters, ignoring ever Jedi who tries to speak to him on the way there.
He turns the water up to scalding, pushing Hardeen's pain-filled grunts out of his head with the sound of rushing water. Anakin watches the bloody water swirling down the drain, tells himself over and over, the man deserved to die.
Hardeen deserved all the pain and suffering. Ahsoka didn't. Now, justice has been served. Anakin's got what he wanted.
Afterwards, when he's stopped shaking, Anakin sits on the couch; he doesn't know what to do with himself. He has to go to Naboo tomorrow, and if he doesn't have his head on straight, then more blood will be on his hands.
It'll be his friends' blood this time, not some merciless bounty hunter.
Anakin stands, runs a hand down his face and leaves his quarters, following Ahsoka's Force-signature to the Temple's courtyard. There's a metallic taste of blood in his mouth, and he knows red stains are hiding under his nails, but no matter how hard he scrubs, he doesn't think he'll ever be clean again.
He hasn't been clean since he killed those Tusken Raiders on Tatooine; what's one more murder under his belt?
///
"I don't believe you got all the way out here on your own."
Ahsoka looks up at Anakin as he walks over to them, arms crossed over his chest and wearing a cocky smirk. Tenderly, she presses on their bond, seeing if he's still feeling the way he did last night.
His shields are up tight, too strong for her to break. Ahsoka huffs inwardly; she'll have to ask him about what happened later.
"Rex is my witness." She tilts her head towards the Captain with a small smile before standing up. "We had to sneak around Master Che-"
Young one!
She overbalances, forgetting about her prosthetic. A split second of panic is all it takes for her to start falling.
Anakin's eyes widen as he darts forwards, catching her with two hands under her armpits. His grip tugs on her shoulder wound, but it's better than having her sore body crash onto the courtyard.
"Don't do that to me, Snips." She hears him mutter as he lifts her back onto the bench. "Does anything hurt?" He scans her body cautiously.
"I'm fine, Master." She says, trying to shake off the adrenaline that rushed through her when her leg gave way.
