"Ready to go, Snips?" Anakin asks lowly, glancing at his not-so-young Padawan.
She nods, her gaze heavy on the open casket on the other side of the room.
Anakin looks at Rex with despair. The Captain returns his own grim expression.
Since he landed on Onderon to take them home, Ahsoka hasn't said a word. She didn't even speak during the wake when she could have said her final goodbyes to Lux.
Her quietness isn't a good sign.
"Go to the ship," he tells Rex, "I'll meet you there in ten."
"Yes, sir." The clone leaves hesitantly- his worry for Ahsoka clear.
Anakin swoops an arm around Ahsoka's shoulders, subtly forcing her to sit on the bench behind them. She obeys without complaint- heightening his worry.
"Can I ask what's on your mind?" He asks, not knowing where her boundaries lie.
"That dead body over there."
Her tone is blunt from years of making humourless jokes about death with himself and the 501st boys. Sometimes, humour is the best way to get through a tough time.
"I'm sorry, Ahsoka." What else can he say besides that? "I know you cared about him."
They float into silence again. Anakin doesn't know how he can help. After he lost his mother, there was nobody to help him sift through the emotions that come with the death of a loved one. He wishes he could help her, but he just doesn't know how to.
"Lux knew Dooku was going to kill him." She says after a while, and then she scoffs lightly, "To be honest, I think he wanted Dooku to kill him."
Anakin frowns, "What makes you say that?"
She shrugs, her left arm completely refusing the movement. "Rex and I knew the Council would become more involved if Dooku killed me. Lux was smart enough to figure out that the death of a Senator would also cause some uproar."
Anakin goes quiet, mulling over her words.
The thought of Ahsoka fighting Dooku terrified him. Had the Sith Lord even scratched his Padawan, Anakin would've been on his way to Onderon in a heartbeat- screw the Council's wishes.
If a Senator had died at Dooku's hand, he doubts the Chancellor would let that slide. The Council would've sent a Knight to deal with the Sith if Dooku hadn't fled the system.
Ahsoka leans her head against his shoulder, her montral nearly poking him in the cheek. She sighs heavily, "I should've killed him, shouldn't I?"
"I would've."
Ahsoka tenses.
"But I'm not you, Ahsoka."
There's a beat of silence, then, "What do you mean?"
It's his turn to sigh.
"I rarely regret killing bad people." He admits, "If I had Dooku unarmed and vulnerable, I would've killed him, but your morals are purer than mine, Snips. You followed your heart and refused to give in to your emotions. That's what I was trying to teach you a few days ago."
He strokes her left shoulder, not knowing if she can feel him. Ahsoka responds across their bond with a pulse of appreciation. She may not feel the texture of his glove, but she can feel appreciate the gesture.
"You did what you had to do in order to avoid falling to the Darkside, Ahsoka." He whispers against her montral, "Dooku couldn't stop himself falling, but you did, so who's stronger?"
