Rebuilding (COMPLETE)

*Episode 22 (6)

After the Ghost crew took off, Anakin went back to the Rogue. He wanted to see if the council had replied to his report or if they had even seen it yet. When he checked the Fulcrum frequency, though, nothing new had come in.

Anakin rested his chin on one arm as he logged out, watching the Fulcrum sign rotate on the projector a few times. Seeing Ahsoka's forehead marks almost made him want to reach out again, but she was keeping an eye on Ezra and didn't need to be distracted. She would check back in when she thought it was a good time.

"Did you get any rest?"

He sat up and turned around to see Rex standing in the doorway, looking at him. Looking one more time at the symbol, he went back and forth before answering. "A little. I was up late with Kanan last night, and I got up early to check up on Ezra before he and the others took off."

Rex nodded, walking further into the room. "How's he doing?"

"He'll be fine, but the medics doubt he'll be able to see again," Anakin explained, folding his hands on his knees. "I tried to help heal the injury, but it didn't restore his sight. The damage had already been done."

"You Jedi don't need eyes to see, though. I've seen you duel blindfolded before."

"And he did, but he had an adrenaline rush at the moment," he reminded him. "He's had some time to process, and I'm not sure it's helping him. A lot happened on Malachor."

Rex chuckled as he sat down across from Anakin. "Well, that's nothing new." He hesitated before asking, "What about you? Doing okay after everything?"

Rubbing his forehead, he groaned. "I haven't had time to think about it, really. It's a lot to process."

"What did happen out there? Other than the deal with Kanan?" he probed, hoping it would help to talk about it.

It was Anakin's turn to laugh. "How much time do you have?"

"Enough."

Well, if he had time, he might as well start at the beginning. "As soon as we entered the atmosphere, Chopper picked up a second ship. He couldn't identify it either, so we didn't know exactly who we were dealing with. We touch down and go out to explore, and it takes us about two minutes to accidentally fall through the surface."

Rex grinned. "Sounds like a typical mission for you. Confusing and crazy right from the get-go."

He rolled his eyes, but Anakin knew he was right. "We walk around for a bit and stumble across another Inquisitor, number eight. He throws a few bombs, and Ezra falls even further. Kanan and I go after the Inquisitor because we didn't think anything would happen to Ezra. It was a bad idea, but it's what we did."

"What'd he find?"

"Maul."

"Are you-" Rex facepalmed and muttered a few choice words under his breath. "Why isn't he dead?"

"From what I recall, Ahsoka let him out of his cage after the Seige," Anakin recalled, thinking back to the last they had heard of the ex-Sith Lord. "I never figured out what happened to him after that."

He shook his head. "No, I get that. I mean, why hasn't Jadis killed him already? Didn't she say that Offee wanted him dead too? Wasn't that why he was targeted?"

To be honest, Anakin had no idea. "Now that is a good question. What I do know is that Maul found Ezra down there somewhere, and the two of them were buddy-buddy the next time we saw them."

By now, it was clear the entire mission had been a giant mess. The story had barely started, and it was already chaotic. "Okay, so Maul more or less abducts the kid. What next?"