Shock tears through his knees, resulting in several cracks and pulses of pain as he brings the limp girl into his lap. Ahsoka's eyes are closed, tear tracks on her cheeks which match his.
Trembling, Obi-Wan reaches for her neck and begs.
"Master..." her voice is as weak as her pulse.
He presses a hand against the lightsaber wound and smiles down at her although it probably comes out like a grimace. The wound is hot, and her skin is cold. "It's alright, Ahsoka."
"No, Master..." she shuts her eyes again, her head lolling into the crook of his elbow. "I don't... have long..."
"No, Padawan, keep your eyes open!" He says sternly before lifting his head to address the civilians of Naboo who have started gathering around them. "Call the Senator! Get a medic!"
"Master!" He hears Anakin jump down behind him- he hasn't called him that in days. His former student is soon looming over his shoulder, "Ahsoka..."
"Anakin..." Ahsoka rasps, her body weakly squirming. "Please.... I'm sorry..."
"Snips." Anakin drops to his knees on the other side of her and although he's trying to sound confident, they both know her life is slipping through their fingers. There's no point holding on too tight. "Don't apologise."
"I..." Ahsoka reaches out, her fingers brushing the silka braid hanging on Anakin's belt. She's rasping now. "I never meant to..."
"Relax," Anakin encourages, taking the braid and attaching it back onto her headdress- where it belongs. "It's okay."
His voice cracks.
"I never... imagined..." Ahsoka tries to laugh- somehow- and it erupts into a cough. "Dying like this... Isn't how I pictured dying..."
Anakin leans forwards to tell her she isn't dying, so Obi-Wan puts a restraining hand on his shoulder. He gives him a look, silently asking if they want to lie to her again.
They don't.
"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan looks down at the girl who's struggling for every breath. He can't save her. "You know there is no death-"
"Only the Force..." she finishes, looking up at the night's sky, "Dying isn't as... scary as... I..."
Anakin runs his flesh fingers down the side of her face, drawing her attention back to him. "You're fearless, Snips, you always have been."
She huffs a laugh; her whole body seizes and Obi-Wan uses the Force to get her to relax. He uses the power internally, forcing her cells to stop fighting this inevitable death. It's mercy-killing.
"We're sorry, Ahsoka," he says gently, "for everything."
"For everything." Anakin confirms, half-holding her on his own lap.
Obi-Wan spies the Nabooian medics dropping down in a speeder, rushing towards them. He wants to keep Ahsoka's send-off as peaceful as possible. There's no saving her, even with the Force.
"I... forgive you..." she starts to wheeze, "I... you guys are... the best..."
With a sob, her head falls back, and her eyes close. The medics swarm them, starting to push needles into the back of her hand and tinkering with machines that are hooked to her head and chest.
It's too late.
///
Your time is not up, young one.
Her soul fights against her body, begging for release. It wants to feel no more pain, it wants to be free, but something's stopping her.
It isn't her body stopping her soul from leaving. Her heart has stopped, courtesy of a lightsaber wound to her chest. Her brain hasn't had fresh oxygen pumped to it in over a minute, no matter what the Nabooian medics are doing to force oxygen into her lungs.
