For The Blood We Spill

Chapter 10 - Underworld

Author's Note: This fic may or may not be half done after this chapter. I have Plans, but I have no idea how they'll play out. Lol.

WARNING: Self-harm, suicidal thoughts/feelings, blood, and general darkness!

~ Amina Gila

Anakin has no idea how long they've been running through the pipes, though the occasionally ankle-deep water, taking twists and turns as they try to lose their clone pursuers while finding an exit from which they can escape into the Underworld. A part of him can't even believe that this is really happening, that he and Ahsoka are on the run from the Republic, because they're being framed for a crime they never committed.

He doesn't think about it though, can't given that it'll make him come undone entirely. All he can do is take this one step at a time, like he has every single day since... since It started, since Obi-Wan shattered his trust and his heart.

Obi-Wan is close, though; Anakin can feel him, and he stumbles over nothing in the pipe when he feels his once master probing at their bond, getting increasingly closer. Anakin locks down on his shields, trying to close everything off, but he doesn't know if he's really succeeded at hiding in the Force, not when Obi-Wan is already so close. He can hope, but he... doesn't know.

Ahsoka glances at him, though she doesn't have the air to try and ask him anything. Instead, she sends a quiet wave of encouragement through their bond, an emotion that is still mingled with an underlying sense of despair and confusion. Neither of them knows who could have done this, who would be willing to go this far. They're missing important pieces of the puzzle, but even without proper resources, Anakin is confident that he can unravel it. He's done more with less and the Force is with him. It is always with him.

The clones nearly catch them once – they must have been drawn from the sound of splashing – so after they lose them, they duck around the side and wait, trying to simply breath.

It's then that Obi-Wan catches up with them.

"Anakin, Ahsoka, I know you're around here," Obi-Wan calls, his footsteps growing closer.

Anakin nudges Ahsoka's arm and they take off running again, sprinting around a corner and finally, finally seeing an opening. If they jump, they'll be free. They stand at the exit, looking down, looking into the Underworld of Coruscant. It could be so easy to lose themselves there, to hide and disappear among the millions, billions even, of people. That's what he wants. That's what they need. So why does he feel so... guilty about running?

"Anakin!" He nearly jumps when he hears Obi-Wan's voice, and he looks back despite himself, fear warring with shame when he sees the disappointment – and exhaustion – in Obi-Wan's eyes. "You need to stop this," he commands. "We need to go back to the Council. You can't run forever. You'll be caught eventually, and the longer you run, the guiltier you'll look. What were you even thinking entering the prison like that when you were barred?"

Anakin feels the air catch in his throat, and he doesn't know if he wants to cry or scream more. "I had to see her, Master," he blurts out before he can stop himself, stepping closer to Ahsoka. "I had to. She's my Padawan. I had to make sure that she was alright. They had no right to stop me!" He hardly even knows where this is coming from anymore. Perhaps his utter despair at the knowledge that the Jedi will never trust him anymore, that all of his hard work has been shattered because of a stupid mistake.

But Ahsoka. He couldn't have abandoned her like that in there. It would have been wrong, and he would have been chasing her now, hunting her down like she's no more than another common criminal. The mere thought makes him sick.