That won't happen to you

Chapter 49

Anakin was immensely relieved when Obi-wan finally returned.

"Master!" he yelled out in relief, hugging the older man.

Obi-wan, who had been halfway out of the shuttle, was somewhat perplexed. He was not used to such stormy greetings.

Nevertheless he returned the embrace carefully. The younger one broke away again.

"I am so glad to see you Obi-wan. I'm despairing." he murmured.

The bearded one took him by the shoulder and led him out of the hangar. "What's wrong Anakin?" he asked when they arrived in a quiet corner.

"Ahsoka," Anakin commented. His exasperation clear in his voice. "Ever since Lou died, she's been completely closed off. She doesn't talk anymore... only eats when she's told to, flinches at our every move.... I can feel her fear wherever she is.... I don't know what to do anymore... please you have to help me... what have they done to her?" while he was talking, a tear flowed from Anakin's eyes.

He was also at the end. The mental condition of his little 'soka hurt him.

Every time he looked at her, he searched for the rebellious sparkle, the powerful fire. The bright hope and the unbreakable optimism. All the  things that shone in her eyes and made her who she was.  Used to make her who she was.

Obi-wan first took Anakin carefully in another embrace. He had never seen his student so distressed either.

"It's as if I hadn't freed her at all," he said. "She's still acting like a slave. As if the Ahsoka we know was left behind on Tatooine. As if... As if she no longer exists..."

But the bearded master did not agree. "If that were so... then why did she make this attempt to free herself on Tatooine?"

Anakin fell silent.

His former master continued to speak. "Ahsoka's fighting spirit isn't gone. It's just buried. Somewhere deep inside her. Lou managed to draw that core out. And even if her dead buried it deeper now, so can we. Ahsoka will be herself again. You'll see. At the temple, at the latest, when they give her back her memories."

And the young Jedi still remained silent. He didn't know if he wanted to say it. If he could speak it. But he did. "No. Obi-wan. Even if she gets her memories back. Even if she gets her fighting spirit and her hope back. She'll never be the same. Not quite. This... what she experienced is something you never forget...
and I'm afraid it's scarred her too deeply. She doesn't deserve all this. She's still half a child. She deserves to be safe at home on Couruscant and to learn. Without scars, be they physical or mental. Without a thought of whether she'll live to see another day, and without ever having experienced such pain. Do you understand?"