Give Me Love

chapter fourteen

Before anyone could see that the three Jedi were in here, Anakin flicked the door locked from afar. He knew someone would be coming in to check on Sabè, who was hooked up to dozens of beeping machines and miles worth of tubes, but he couldn't have anyone seeing what he was about to do.

Anakin remembered what Palpatine had told him the last time he had seen him. They had gone to the opera and he told him the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise— how he found out the secret to eternal life but then was killed by his apprentice. What Anakin had gotten out of that, was that life could be manipulated if one was powerful enough.

And then he thought back to Mortis, when Ahsoka had been corrupted by the Son and had died, and the Daughter used him as a conduit to transfer her life energy into Ahsoka.

Was he not The Chosen One? Did that not make him powerful enough? Had he not done this once before?

He had to try, there was no doubt in his mind about that. Peering from Sabè's body, life force weak and slowly trickling away, barely holding on despite all of the help it was getting from the machines she was hooked up to, and then to you— cold and dead and given up on. He might regret this later, but he'd rather regret it with you by his side.

Resting one hand on Sabè's shoulder and one on yours, he closed his eyes. Ahsoka watched him do it, unsure of what he was planning to do and not knowing if she should stop it.

Obi-Wan had other ideas.

"Anakin, this is not the way of the force," he said, but even to him it didn't sound like he meant that. For once in his life, Obi-Wan doubted in the force.

"I can bring her back," Anakin sounded like a Padawan again, when he'd just lost his mother. Devastated, frantic, and barely holding onto the thin threat of control he had over his anger. "I-I know I can."

"It's not the will—"

"I don't care what the will of the Force is!"

His eyes had shot open and the weight behind them silenced Obi-Wan. They pierced into Ahsoka next. "Any other complaints?"

Ahsoka was gritting her teeth, clenching her fists, doing everything she could not to break down. She'd managed not to cry yet, but... Anakin was giving her hope. If anyone could bring you back, it was him, and the prospect of that is what tore down her walls and reduced her to thick, hot tears.

"I just... I just want her back."

That's all Anakin needed to hear. He closed his eyes again and focused all of his power into the two bodies beneath his palms. He tried to remember how he felt on Mortis, how he juggled the life forces inside him like separate flowing rivers, directing one here and one there and sealing them off.

But the Daughter wasn't here. Her raw power and guidance was something she had gifted him for that moment, and now he was left to navigate this by himself. Lucky for you, if there was one thing Anakin was, it was determined.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan watched in hope and terror as Anakin's eyes shot wide open, only they weren't his eyes. They were white, beaming orbs shooting that same light all around the room, his head thrown back, his hands now basking in that white light. The lights flickered and popped and Obi-Wan had to reach out and grasp onto Ahsoka to keep her from running to Anakin's aid.

It was the worst thing he had ever done, Anakin knew. Reaching into Sabè's dwindling life force, puncturing a hole in the fragile grip she had on life, and stealing it all from her. She wasn't going to survive anyways, but it still wasn't his place to finish the job like that.

But for you, he did it.

And for you, he let her life force slide up his arm, through his body, down his other arm, and into yours. He waited for the familiar feeling of your life force to come back, but it never did. You needed more.