For The Blood We Spill

Epilogue

Author's Note: I hope I didn't lose too many of my readers during my unscheduled break. Lol. I know a lot of y'all loved this fic and wanted to see how it would end, and HERE WE ARE! :D We're at the end! I never would have expected it to end this way when I started writing it, but I absolutely love the note it ends on, and I hope you will too! Feel free to scream in my general direction about your thoughts/feelings. I always love hearing from you! :) 

PS. It is a little bit sad to say goodbye to this universe, but eh... I've got a dozen or fifty other storylines in the works. Lol. 

~ Amina Gila

It takes Anakin longer to recover than he thought it would, and when he asks the healers, they tell him that if he hadn't lost so much weight and had trouble sleeping so frequently, combined with the Force-null prison cell Dooku put him into, he'd have been back on his feet already; he might not have even gone into a coma in the first place for that matter. And so, his stay in the Halls of Healing continues for a week after he wakes up. It's boring, and he's restless, and if not for Obi-Wan and Ahsoka who are almost always there, and Padme who drops by and stays every night, Anakin might have snuck out.

But he doesn't, because they're worried about him, terrified for him, and he doesn't want to make that worse. He focuses on getting better, instead, and on passing the time with two of the most important people in the galaxy to him. Three when Padme joins them.

It's been a week, and the healers are planning to discharge him soon with strict orders to rest when he senses the Jedi coming. Ahsoka is away, meeting up with Rex and the boys to discuss the infiltration operation that they're planning on Skako Minor to see what the algorithm is which Dooku used. Anakin won't be able to go – he won't be recovered, unfortunately – so he's sending Ahsoka instead. If his boys are going, he wants them to at least have one Force user with them to keep them safe.

The door to his room opens and Yoda and Windu enter. Anakin swings himself upright, setting his feet on the floor so he's on more even ground with them. He doesn't know exactly why they're here, why they came only moments after Obi-Wan was called away, but he doesn't think it's accidental.

"Pleased to see you recovering we are," Yoda states, looking up at him, and there's a strange approval in his tone which Anakin's never heard before. He wants to ask why they're here, but he doesn't know how, so instead, he remains quiet, just watching.

"You have done a great service for the Republic," Windu tells him, and his voice, too, is different. It's calmer, warmer even, and Anakin feels more than a little taken aback. "If you were still a Jedi, we would make you a Jedi Master."

He ducks his head at the words, overwhelmed. This is Windu. He's never made a secret of how little he trusts Anakin, always viewing him with suspicion, and to hear this now... it's not something he ever could have expected, especially given the depression he's struggled with for so long, the certainty that he's nothing close to the Jedi he ought to be, no matter what Obi-Wan said on the matter.

"I – thank you," he manages, "But I'm not coming back to the Order."

Windu and Yoda exchange glances. "Knew this we did," the Grandmaster replies. "Another life you have chosen."

"You... didn't just come here to thank me, though?" Anakin guesses, because his instincts tell him that there's more.

"No," Windu agrees, and somehow, he seems far more serious. "You are aware that Obi-Wan has Fallen." He waits for Anakin to nod before he continues. "We removed him from the Council, and he has indicated that he intends to leave the Order and go with you, wherever you intend to go."

"Yes," Anakin murmurs, "He mentioned it to me." Still, he can't help the tendril of wariness and unease. He doesn't know what they want from him.

"Keep an eye on him," Windu requests. "He has not actually harmed anyone, except for Tarkin, but we cannot have another situation like we did with Dooku."