Candlelight

Chapter 15 - Alone

Author's Note: Aaaaand we're done! Enjoy the ending! Thank y'all so much for reading, voting, and/or commenting on this story! :D

PS. Yes, I'm quite certain that Anidala will get back together though it'll probably take them many years before they do. :)

~ Amina Gila

Finding somewhere to stay on Coruscant with the credits Padme gave them is... not exactly easy, perhaps because of the high prices partly thanks to war refugees. It's harder when he's never had to do something like this before. He has no idea what the prices of these things ought to be.

And Anakin has never been alone like this before. It's far more terrifying than he thought it would be. How did his Ahsoka survive this? He has no idea if it was more her fearlessness and inability to see ahead, or sheer stupidity and rashness that she learned from him. Or maybe they were always there, and he was unable to help her with them, he doesn't know, but out here, he's... questioning their decision to leave. Walking away from the place he grew up a second time was hard. He'd wanted to go back there for so long, he hates himself for leaving – this is where he grew up, where Obi-Wan raised him.

Even if it's also the place that bears so many of his worst memories.

It's still hard to leave it behind. At least it's not like before, and at least Ahsoka isn't alone. That's the only solace he can find in all this.

The place they're living in is small, with only two bedrooms, but they don't need anything bigger. They were both raised with few possessions beyond necessities, and there's no reason for that to change now. They don't need anything except whatever to live with, anyway.

Anakin is... used to living in an unnecessarily huge place. Though being fair, everything on Coruscant is connected somewhere on the way down.

"I keep feeling like we should be doing something," Ahsoka nearly whines, when they get back to their apartment for the day, after finally finding a temporary job that they can do. Truthfully, Anakin just feels lost out here. He definitely has no idea how to do this anymore. When he was younger, and remembered Tatooine with more clarity, it wouldn't be so hard, but now... he's never had to concern himself with these things.

"We will... grow accustomed to it," Anakin offers finally. At least he can hope so. It doesn't really feel like he's helping people the way he should be, though. There has to be something else he can do – but the Force will answer that in time, he knows.

"Maybe," she sighs, "I just don't know how. I don't know if I want to."

"We have countless places in the galaxy we can help," Anakin reminds, "The question is whether we... will remain here for an extended period or not."

Living on their own is something they'll have to figure out wherever they go, though. He doesn't think he'll ever be part of... any Order again, and he still finds that prospect terrifying for long-term. Especially when there's no one he has to... answer to anymore.

He doesn't know where to start. That Ahsoka is here is hardly a relief – he'd much prefer if she was somewhere safe. Somewhere that his mistakes couldn't hurt her again.

For a moment, he thinks of Obi-Wan. He misses him, but it's something he's so used over the years. Still, after the nearly half a year they've spent near each other after the time travel, he was getting used to having him nearby again. He doesn't know when he'll see him again, either. Maybe it's better this way, but it hurts.

Ahsoka sighs, leaning forwards after a moment to eye what he's doing. "Since when did you... know how to fix clothes?"

Something he long since forgot, but apparently, a part of him still remembers from the days he and his mother would do it together. "I did once. Years ago."