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Chapter Text

The Force, it seemed, did not want Ahsoka Tano to die. Not when she was sixteen on Mortis, when the Son had killed her after poisoning her with the Dark side, and not seconds ago on Malachor, when she had tried to pull the Sith temple down on herself. No, it seemed that the Force had other plans for Ahsoka, and wasn’t that an idea. Ahsoka wasn’t a stranger to the idea of the Force having a will entirely of its own. Even if the the idea that the mysterious will of the Force could allow so many bad things to happen sat a little bit uncomfortably in Ahsoka’s mind, one didn’t spend three years as Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice without figuring out that some things were a little too lucky to be happenstance. 

Not Anakin Skywalker, she amended. Darth Vader, the cruel and uncompromising Sith lord who had been trying to kill her for the better part of a year and who had nearly just succeeded. But the Force had had other plans, and now, instead of being cut in half by her former master, Ahsoka was… here. Gingerly, she sat up, looking around at the place. It looked like space, had that same vast nothingness feel that was always slightly disconcerting, but that wasn’t it. She could breathe, for one, and she was pretty sure that space didn’t have a ground. And she was definitely sitting on a ground. 

And she wasn’t alone, either. Movement caught her eye, and for a split second Ahsoka thought that it was Anakin - Vader - speaking to her, but the second passed and Ahsoka realized it was Ezra Bridger. An older Ezra Bridger. 

“Wait. What happened?” she asked. “Where am I?”

Ezra sputtered about having seen her fight Vader, and the portal, and pulling her out, but Ahsoka could barely hear him. She was looking around in amazement. The Force was strong here, like it was on Mortis, and Ahsoka kept thinking she heard voices, only for them to disappear when she tried to focus on them. There were pathways all around her, branching out and leading to strange doorways to nowhere. Ahsoka had the feeling that there was something she was missing about all of this, but she didn’t know what it was. She tried to center herself, but her head was still racing from her fight, and her mind as well as her body was exhausted. 

So she followed Ezra and saw Kanan’s final moments, and even though she could feel his pain - so raw, and so like her own - she told him he couldn’t save his master, just as she couldn’t save hers. And then, from across space and time, he attacked. 

Sidious’ blue flames licked at their heels as they ran, and as Ezra sprinted towards the portal he had entered with, Ahsoka knew she couldn’t follow him. The Force was calling her, telling her to turn back, to run down this pathway, and then that one, and on, and on until she came to a tall, triangular door. Whatever was behind it was shadowy, but Ahsoka didn’t have time to wait - Sidious’ fire was almost on her, and there were no other pathways to turn. So Ahsoka took a deep breath, drew her lightsabers, and stepped through the door.

She landed heavily to find herself on the bridge of a ship. It rocked, suddenly, and she looked outside to see a battle going on. It reminded her of the great space battles of the Clone Wars, but it was a big galaxy, and there were any number of battles going on at any given point in time. She could be anywhere, at any time. There was no use hoping she was somewhere she’d already been.

Ahsoka crouched down and looked around. The bridge appeared to be empty, save for a chair that was pointed out towards the windows, but Ahsoka could feel presences somewhere on the ship. She crept closer, hoping to catch whoever was in the chair off guard. 

“Now, this is very interesting, isn’t it?” a voice said, and Ahsoka’s blood ran cold. “Tell me, where did you come from?” The chair swiveled, and Ahsoka found herself face to face with Darth Sidious.

“You ,” Ahsoka snarled, and her lightsaber was ignited and pointed at Sidious’ throat in a split-second. Wherever this was, whenever this was, it was clear what Ahsoka was meant to do. She gripped her saber tighter. She didn’t see a weapon on him, but Ahsoka knew from experience that no Force-user was ever truly unarmed. And whatever the Jedi might have to say about killing outside of self-defense, Ahsoka was pretty sure that killing the Dark lord of the Sith was the right thing to do under any circumstances. She raised her blade to deliver a killing stroke, ready to end Sidious’ tyranny once and for all. She never got the chance. 

A door opened behind her, and for a second Ahsoka was caught off-guard, because it felt so much like Anakin, but it was Sidious, of course he would have his apprentice nearby, and she whirled and ignited her shoto, ready to continue her fight with Vader. 

Standing atop a platform outside the door was not Darth Vader, but Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. She gaped, but before she had time to say anything, Anakin pushed out, and Ahsoka flew through the air until she slammed into a support column near the window. She saw, dimly, as Anakin and Obi-Wan rushed over to Sidious, but she was rapidly losing her fight for consciousness, and before she knew it she was out cold.

Ahsoka didn’t know how long she was out, but she came to just in time to see Anakin fighting - could it be? Yes, there was no mistaking that perfect Makashi - Count Dooku. He was alone, Ahsoka noted, and glanced around to see Obi-Wan lying under the platform, which had partially collapsed.

She panicked and reached out with the Force just enough to make sure he was alive and in stable condition before returning her gaze to the duel that was going on. If Dooku was still alive, that meant she really was in the Clone Wars. And, as she now noticed, Sidious’ hands were bound to the chair. Which meant that the battle right now was the attack on Coruscant, and her younger counterpart was dealing with Maul on Mandalore. 

It also meant that the Jedi Order was going to fall in a matter of days. 

Ahsoka struggled to sit up, but her head was pounding. Going straight from fighting Vader to running away from Sidious’ fire to being tossed into a durasteel column was doing her no favors, it would seem. She managed to get to her hands and knees, wincing as she did so. She had hit the column hard on her side, and she would be lucky if she hadn’t cracked a rib. 

She picked up her lightsabers from where they had landed a few feet away. She wasn’t sure what, exactly, her plan was, but if it wasn’t too late for Anakin, then maybe she could convince him not to Fall. Together, she was sure, they would have the strength to defeat Sidious. They could prevent Order 66, end the war, bring peace - bring balance, like that Force-forsaken prophecy had foretold.

Dooku cried out, and Ahsoka looked up to see him kneeling before Anakin, cradling what were now the stumps of his arms. Anakin held his lightsaber and Dooku’s in a deadly V on either side of the Sith lord’s neck.

“Kill him.”

Although Ahsoka had been about to do the same thing, more or less, she wanted to scream out for Anakin not to kill Dooku. Hypocrite, she thought, but she shoved that away. She was not on the verge of Falling, and she hadn’t been about to kill on the orders of a Sith.

She watched as Anakin hesitated, and she opened her mouth to tell him not to, but by the time she spoke his name it was too late, and Dooku’s body fell to the ground. 

Anakin turned his head to her. He stalked over, still holding both his and Dooku’s lightsabers. “And who,” he said, “are you supposed to be?”

Ahsoka swallowed. Anakin was practically radiating Darkness already, the way his emotions swirled around him - anger, confusion, fear. “It’s me,” she said. “Ahsoka.”

“Ahsoka is on Mandalore,” Anakin said. He reached out with the Force, probing, and Ahsoka let him, though her guard remained up. “You might look like her, but you don’t feel like her.” His face darkened. “And Ahsoka would never try to kill the Chancellor.” He raised his lightsaber, holding Dooku’s to the side. 

“Anakin, the Chancellor is a Sith,” Ahsoka said, stepping back. If she were at her best, she might have a chance against him, but her fight with Vader had proven that even that was a slim one. And now, exhausted and with a bruised rib and probably a concussion, she didn’t stand a chance. 

“Maybe you’re a Sith,” he said, matching her step. “After all, I did just see you try to kill the leader of the Republic.”

Ahsoka clipped her lightsabers to her belt. “Please,” she said. “Just - hear me out.”

They were both thrown off balance by another shock to the ship, and an alarm started going off, somewhere. Anakin glanced worriedly at Obi-Wan, then back to Ahsoka. “We need to get out of here.” He waved his arm in the Chancellor’s direction, and the cuffs popped open. He hurried over. 

“Anakin, we aren’t safe here,” he said, the picture of a frightened politician who knew nothing of combat. “We need to leave.”

“I agree,” Anakin said. He tossed Dooku’s lightsaber aside and stuck his hand out to Ahsoka. “Lightsabers. Now.”

Ahsoka hesitated, and Anakin used the Force to pull them off of her belt and into his hand. He clipped them to his own belt and walked over to Obi-Wan, though Ahsoka noticed he made sure both she and the Chancellor remained in his line of sight.

“Anakin, we’ll never make it if we bring him along,” Sidious said, and Ahsoka glared at him. She looked over to where Anakin was kneeling by Obi-Wan, and saw his face fixed in resolve. 

“He’s coming with us,” Anakin said, and grunted as he slung his old master over his shoulders. He pointed at Ahsoka. “So are you, and don’t try anything.”

Ahsoka wanted to take her chances again with killing Sidious, but the likelihood that she would survive such an attempt were low, and she’d prefer a situation where she could explain herself to Anakin first. So she nodded, and they hurried down a hall, looking for an escape route. If they made it off this ship alive, she swore, she would figure out how to get rid of Sidious and stop Anakin from Falling.

The Force had sent her back for a reason, and Ahsoka would be damned to all nine Sith hells before she let the galaxy make all the same mistakes it had in the past. 

Chapter Text

All things considered, their return to the surface of Coruscant could have gone worse. Yes, Grievous got away, and yes, the ship broke in half, and yes, the landing was a mild disaster, but ultimately, they made it to a halt without blowing up or getting anyone killed. In Ahsoka’s book, that was a win. 

If only everyone was as pleased with the outcome as she was. When they finally managed to extricate themselves from the wreckage (no small feat, considering the doors had fused shut on re-entry) and board a transport to take them to the Senate district, Ahsoka found herself bombarded by questions.

“Who are you?” Anakin said it more like a statement than a question, and Ahsoka thought she felt a headache coming on. 

“Ahsoka Tano,” she said.

“No, you’re not,” Anakin insisted, and Ahsoka could definitely feel a headache coming on.

“Suit yourself.”

“Who are you working for?”

“Nobody,” Ahsoka said. That was true enough. If she had to get technical, the last person she was working for was Senator Bail Organa, for the Rebel Alliance, but seeing as the Rebel Alliance didn’t exist yet… “I’m here by myself.”

“Care to explain what you’re doing?”

Ahsoka glanced at Sidious. “Not in front of him,” she said, pointing a finger at the Chancellor. It was a childish gesture, but maybe there was something about being thrown back to a time when she was a child that made Ahsoka feel it was necessary. That, or her headache. 

“Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of the Chancellor,” Anakin said, glaring at her.

“I would prefer not to,” Ahsoka said. She closed her eyes, attempting to clear her mind. Being around Anakin again after a decade and a half of being around limited-to-no other Force presences was making it hard to focus on her own thoughts and emotions, and if she was going to have any chance of fixing things, she was going to have to calm down a little.

Easier said than done. A larger part of her than she was willing to admit wanted nothing more than to pull Anakin aside and explain everything that was going to happen, but she was becoming more and more aware that if Anakin had to choose between believing her and Sidious, he wasn’t going to believe her. Right now, he didn’t even believe that she was who she said she was. It seemed unlikely that he would believe her if she said that he was going to Fall and take the galaxy along with him. 

Although, if you knew where to look, the signs were already there. Anakin’s face was drawn and he had bruises under his eyes like he hadn’t been sleeping well for weeks, and his presence in the Force felt more charged than usual. He had never been good at keeping his emotions in check, but right now they were so near to the surface and to boiling over that Ahsoka was worried telling him what the future held would only make him Fall faster. 

Obi-Wan might believe her, but she would have to find a way to talk to him alone, and Ahsoka didn’t know how to do that, at least not right now. He was standing with his arms crossed and kept glancing between Anakin and Ahsoka. As ever, he was unreadable.

Sidious was keeping up the guise of Chancellor perfectly. Ahsoka had glared at him, but he had only returned her gaze with a passive look. At one point, when they boarded the transport, he had asked whether it was safe to get on board with her, to which Anakin had responded that if Ahsoka tried any funny business, he would handle it. Sidious had seemed pleased with that. It made Ahsoka cringe to see how comfortable Anakin was with him. Her last memory of the Chancellor was him declaring to the Senate that the verdict on her case was execution.

That would only have been a few months ago, now. She tensed as the transport sped closer to the Senate. She hadn’t been back to that district since she walked away from the Jedi temple all those years ago, and after the Empire rose, she never really expected to go back. But now, she found herself full of memories. She recognized all the buildings she was speeding past, even the ones she had never been to. There was the ornate Alderaanian Consulate building, white-stoned and elegant, the Coruscant Museum of Art, a garden that Ahsoka could never remember the name of. It was all here, just as it had been when she’d last seen it. 

From what she’d heard, the Senate District in her own time was not the bustling, colorful place it had been. Ahsoka had never stopped by to find out. 

They arrived at the Senate building itself and the transport slowed to a stop. When the door opened, Ahsoka could see a veritable swarm of Senators and aides, all eager to see the Chancellor safely returned home. A cheer went up as he exited the transport.

“Now,” said Obi-Wan, the first he had spoken to Ahsoka all trip, “I believe the three of us have a Council report to make.”

Ahsoka tensed involuntarily at the mention of the Jedi Council. She knew it couldn’t be avoided, but she still wasn’t sure how she felt about going in front of them. And it would do nothing to make her story seem more believable if she refused.

“Okay,” she said. “But I can’t tell them everything.”

“Oh, right, and you’ve been so forthcoming with us,” Anakin said. He rolled his eyes and stepped away from the door as it closed behind him. “Now that the Chancellor’s not here, care to explain any further so we’re not totally blindsided when you reveal all to the Council, Ahso - whoever you are?”

“I am Ahsoka Tano,” Ahsoka said.

“Right. From the future. You know, whoever you are, it wasn’t smart to choose Ahsoka to try and imitate. You’d have had a better chance of success if you picked someone we didn’t know.” Anakin sighed. 

“Is there… anything you can tell us to prove you’re Ahsoka?” Obi-Wan asked. 

“Come on, Master, you don’t seriously believe her. Do you?” 

“You have to admit, she does feel quite similar to Ahsoka.”

Anakin looked at Ahsoka warily. “Alright. Answer Obi-Wan’s question. What can you tell us to prove you are who you say you are?”

Ahsoka wracked her brain. “The first time we met,” she said, “was on Christophsis. You thought I had been assigned to Obi-Wan. After that, we rescued Jabba’s son. He smelled disgusting, and I called him Stinky.” There. That was something they had decidedly not put in the mission report. 

There were a few brief seconds of silence before Anakin spoke. “If you really are Ahsoka, why would you try to kill the Chancellor?” 

“I told you. He’s the Sith that’s behind it all.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Anakin said. “If the Chancellor were a Sith, I would have felt it.”

And Ahsoka didn’t really have a good answer for that, but it didn’t matter. The transport had arrived at the Jedi Temple.

“Here’s our stop,” said Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka took a deep breath. Anakin and Obi-Wan jumped out of the transport, but she stayed just inside, looking out at the immense building in front of her. If the other buildings in the Senate district had made her nostalgic, that was nothing compared to the sight of the Temple.

“Are you coming?” 

“Yes, it’s just - been a while,” Ahsoka said. Anakin’s jaw tightened, and Ahsoka felt a little better. Even if he was days away from Falling and still half-believed she was a traitor, Anakin understood Ahsoka’s trepidation at walking into the Jedi Temple. Oddly, that was reassuring.

She stepped out of the transport and walked with Anakin and Obi-Wan to the Temple. The three of them looked casual, but Ahsoka knew that from her position between the two Jedi, she was effectively prevented from making any attempt to make a break for it. Not that she wanted to. But it was even more of a reminder that she was here as a prisoner on an attempted assassination charge, not as a free woman.

It took all of her will to keep from looking around the Temple in wonder. The Force was so Light here, so full of life and hope. Ahsoka had missed that. 

They arrived outside the Council chamber. The guards stood at attention, impassive and impartial, and Ahsoka took a breath to steady herself. Obi-Wan turned to them. “I’ll make my report first,” he said. “I’ll call you when we’re ready.”

Ahsoka could sense a hint of irritation from Anakin at being left out of the initial briefing, but he bowed lightly. “Yes, Master. We’ll be waiting.”

As Obi-Wan stepped into the chamber, Ahsoka thought again about telling Anakin everything. The problem was that she didn’t know the details. She hadn’t been there when it had happened, which meant that she didn’t know exactly how to prevent it. But she wasn’t sure she could stop herself from telling all if she started speaking.

Fortunately, Anakin didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking. He paced just outside the chamber, glancing at the door every so often, and Ahsoka found herself wondering how often this scenario played out. She didn’t remember Anakin being jealous of Obi-Wan’s Council seat when she was his Padawan - more often than not, Anakin seemed glad to avoid additional bureaucratic work at any cost. And he was glad to have the chance to get to the ‘fresher as soon as they were back on-planet. What had changed?

You left, she thought, and an ugly memory surfaced of Anakin’s voice, twisted and angry, shouting at her from within the temple on Lothal. She pushed it away. There was still time. She didn’t know how much, but there was still time. 

Eventually, Obi-Wan returned and told them it was their turn. 

Standing in the middle of the Council, Ahsoka felt sixteen and on trial again. It was the same fear, the same feeling that she was right and nobody believed her. 

Yoda spoke first. “Explained the events of the mission, Master Obi-Wan already has. But more, there is, hm.”

Ahsoka bowed to the Grandmaster. “Master Yoda, I am Ahsoka Tano. I came here through a… portal, of some kind, from sixteen years in the future. I don’t know how, or why, but I was brought back to this time, and I think the Force wants me to make sure that the future I’m from never comes to pass.”

This time, Ki-Adi Mundi spoke. “What you’re suggesting is preposterous. Time travel doesn’t exist.”

“I didn’t know it existed either, not until I came here,” Ahsoka shot back. 

“Supposing you are Ahsoka,” came a voice from behind her, and Ahsoka turned around to see Plo Koon, “what is so bad about the future that you need to change it?”

Ahsoka hesitated. “I assume Master Kenobi has already informed the Council that I believe the Chancellor to be the Sith you’ve been looking for,” she said. Beside her, she felt a flash of irritation from Anakin.

Plo steepled his fingers. “Indeed he has,” he said. “You will understand that this is difficult for us to believe. The presence of a Sith is quite difficult to mask.”

Doubtless, Sidious would find a way of knowing whatever she said, even to the Council. And the last thing Ahsoka wanted was for him to find out just how much he had succeeded. And, she didn’t know how the Council would react if she told them all of them were dead, betrayed and killed by their own men. And, there was always the chance that by saying too much, Ahsoka could make the future even worse.

“I can’t tell you any more,” she said. “At least, not right now.”

There was a brief uproar at that idea. At least three different Jedi Masters were speaking at once, and Ahsoka wondered how they ever got anything done. Beside her, Anakin seemed to be thinking along similar lines, and, without thinking, she glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. He gave her an ever-so-slight eye roll before he apparently remembered he didn’t trust her and shut down. Ahsoka grimaced. It was a start.

Mace Windu called for order, and the Council room finally calmed down. He sat forward in his chair. “Ms. Tano,” he said, though Ahsoka got the sense he didn’t quite believe she was who she said she was, “you claim to be a time-traveller, but can provide no evidence other than accusations - severe accusations - against the leader of the Republic. Without anything to prove these allegations, I’m afraid we cannot let a would-be assassin walk free.”

Ahsoka felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. “I’m not a Jedi,” she said. “You can’t hold me for crimes I didn’t commit.”

“Jedi or not, as a Force user, you fall under our domain. Unless you’d like to be tried by the Senate?”

Anger flared up in her, but Ahsoka forced it back down. “No, thank you,” she ground out. 

“Then, unless you have more information you’d like to share with the Council, you are placed under arrest for attempted assassination. Do you deny this claim?”

“No.”

“Very well. All in favor?”

Ahsoka glanced around the room, hoping that someone would believe her, but she watched with dread as all twelve Council members raised their hands. Even, she noted with a pang, Obi-Wan and Plo. 

She managed to keep her composure as she was ushered down to the basement levels and into a cell, but as soon as the ray shields were up and the guards had their backs turned, she broke down. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. She had been so sure that she would be able to fix everything, but now she was just - stuck. Maybe it wasn’t possible to change the past, and in her own past she had been stuck in the bowels of the Jedi Temple, doomed to the same death as everyone else inside of it. 

She tried to reach out with the Force, but although she wasn’t cut off from it completely, her ability to feel the outside world was greatly diminished. With a shiver, she thought these cells were probably built for the Sith. 

After a good long while of a meltdown that was definitely earned, Ahsoka decided to come up with a plan. Maybe she couldn’t get out, but she was almost certain she could request to speak to someone, and when she did, she needed to know what to say. 

Thanks to Rex, Ahsoka did know about the chips. And if she could find a way to let someone know about them without the Chancellor finding out about it, there was hope that it could be looked into. Maybe not enough hope that Sidious would be killed before sending out the order, but if enough people knew about the danger, there would at least be more survivors than last time. 

She straightened up as a guard approached the ray-shield barring her from the outside. “You have a visitor,” he said, his tone even. Ahsoka frowned. It had only been a couple hours since her briefing with the Council; had they already come to a decision to ask her more questions? Maybe they had changed their minds about needing to lock her up? Or had come to the conclusion that she was telling the truth?

A voice floated to her from the hallway. “I do appreciate your offer, but I don’t think guards will be necessary. I have been assured the cell is quite inescapable,” and Ahsoka blanched. 

Dutifully, the guards stepped out of earshot, and a figure moved towards her cell. In the low light, it was difficult to tell who it was beneath his cloak, but Ahsoka knew that voice. 

“Hello, my dear,” Palpatine said, giving her a smile. “I don’t believe we’ve had the chance to have a proper chat.”

Chapter Text

Ahsoka glared at the man standing just outside her cell. “I won’t tell you anything,” she spat out, crossing her arms. “You can do anything to me, but I won’t talk.” Was this how it was going to end, then? 

“Oh, I don’t plan on doing anything to you,” Sidious said. He kept his tone light and civil, as though he were talking about the weather. “You see, Ahsoka, unlike your Jedi friends, I do believe that you’ve come from the future. And I want to know how.”

“Even if I knew, I’d never tell you,” Ahsoka said. She turned away from the ray shield. 

“I rather think you will,” Sidious said, and his tone changed, a bit of malice hidden just beneath the surface. “I think that, in this future of yours, I win. And so I think you know that I could play my hand at any moment.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ahsoka was glad her face was hidden from the Sith. She didn’t think he could read her through the Force, not while she was in the cell, but she was sure that a politician as crafty as Palpatine could read facial expressions just as well as Force signatures.

“Let me make sure I understand. You came back through time to kill me… because I failed? I don’t think so. So I will ask you just one more time, Ahsoka. Tell me how you managed it, or I send out Order 66 right now, and any hope you have of saving your friends is gone.”

Ahsoka whirled. “You think that’s going to work? I’m living proof it won’t work, Chancellor ,” she said, stepping forward so her face was inches away from the ray shield. “Order 66 fails, the Jedi destroy you, and peace is restored to the galaxy. I was just trying to get it done faster than last time.”

Sidious snarled. “Do you think you can keep things hidden from me? Your emotions betray you, girl. I will win. I have seen it. Now tell me how you did it, or the Jedi die.” 

He pulled a commlink from his belt and tapped a button. A clone’s voice sprang out of it. “Orders, sir?”

“Stop!” Ahsoka held her hands up to the shield. 

Sidious pressed the button again, and the comm shut off. “I knew we could come to an agreement,” he said. 

“I don’t know how exactly I came here,” Ahsoka said, choosing her words carefully. Maybe Sidious was powerful enough that the dampening effect of the cell didn’t stop him, but that didn’t mean she had to tell him everything. “But I was on Malachor, in the Sith temple there.”

Whatever Sidious was expecting to hear, that wasn’t it. “Malachor…” he said, a hint of surprise in his voice. He smiled again. “How very interesting. Thank you, Ahsoka, for this information. I can sense that you’re telling the truth, and so, rest easy. The Jedi will live for today. If, however, I find… less than satisfying answers, do not expect further mercies to be made.”

Ahsoka nodded. Shame crept up in her throat. “I understand,” she said. 

The Chancellor’s posture improved almost imperceptibly, and he turned and began walking away. “A pity,” he said, probably for the sake of the guards who were once again within earshot. “She must be insane.”

Ahsoka sat down with her back against the wall of her cell and pulled her knees into her chest, not caring that the guards could probably see her from afar. She had her own ideas about how one managed to get into that space between time, and they didn’t have much to do with Malachor, but she couldn’t shake the feeling someone had just stacked the odds a lot higher, and not in her favor. 

She was presented soon thereafter with food, which she welcomed. She might not be that hungry, but she hadn’t eaten since before arriving on Malachor, and that was over a standard rotation ago. The Jedi had also provided her with bacta - for her side, she assumed, though she didn’t remember mentioning it to anyone. Anakin must have done that, or perhaps somebody had asked if she got hurt when he’d thrown her into a durasteel column. Either way, it was a relief, and within a couple hours the bruises were fading. 

There wasn’t a chronometer in her cell, but Ahsoka’s internal sense of time had gotten good while working with the Rebel Alliance. That was how she knew that she fell asleep at approximately 2100 hours, and that when she was woken up by a commotion outside, it was not nearly morning.

“Visiting hours don’t start until eight hundred hours,” a guard was saying, with an exasperated tone that seemed to mean this wasn’t the first time he’d said it. “If you wish to speak with the prisoner, you must wait until then.”

“I’m a member of the Jedi Council. I can do whatever I want,” a voice replied. Ahsoka frowned. That was definitely Anakin’s voice, but she didn’t remember him being on the Jedi Council.

As if the guard was echoing her thoughts, he responded, “since when have you been on the Council, Knight Skywalker?”

“Since this morning. Take it up with Master Windu if you’re so upset about it, but let me through. I need to speak with the prisoner, alone.”

The guard seemed unwilling to have a standoff, and stepped aside. Anakin strode up to the rayshield and crossed his arms. “Ahsoka?” he called. “I know you can hear me. Wake up.”

As if she could sleep through the racket he was making. Ahsoka rubbed her eyes and walked over to her side of the shield, guarding her expression. If Anakin wanted to ask more stupid questions about her identity, he really was going to have to wait until morning. She was in a bad enough mood as it was, and she really needed to get some sleep.

“The guard is right, you know,” she said. “Visiting hours haven’t started yet.”

Anakin fidgeted. “I don’t have time to wait until visiting hours start,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to see how close the guard was standing. He lowered his voice. “I believe you.”

That wasn’t what Ahsoka had been expecting to hear. She raised an eye-marking. “What changed your mind?”

An expression that might be called a grimace passed over Anakin’s face. “I, ah… I just spoke with the Chancellor,” he said. “And I think you’re right. About the Sith thing, I mean,” he added, lowering his voice even more. Ahsoka could barely hear him. “And so, you know. I figured you were probably telling the truth about the other things, as well.”

“Glad you came around,” Ahsoka said dryly. “But on a more serious note, you have to get me out of here. Now that you believe me, we have to stop him. We can do it together, Anakin, I know we can.” 

Something twisted in Anakin’s face. “I said I believed you, not that I wanted to kill the Chancellor,” he said after a pause. “I came here because I have a question. About the future.”

“If I answer your question, will you break me out?”

He paused. “I can’t do that. I would be kicked out of the Order.”

“Trust me, Anakin, there are worse things than being kicked out of the Order,” Ahsoka said bitterly. 

Anakin winced like he realized he’d said the wrong thing, but he squared his shoulders. “Fine,” he said. 

“Then shoot,” Ahsoka said.

“In the future…” Anakin began, struggling to find the words. “Do you know if Senator Amidala is alive, in your future?”

Oh. Ahsoka felt stupid for not putting the pieces together before. She’d known that Anakin and the Senator had a… thing, for lack of a better word, but she never imagined it could have been weaponized against him. But if Sidious was threatening Padmé somehow, and convinced Anakin that the only way to save her was to join him… it didn’t answer everything, not by a long shot, but one more piece of the puzzle clicked together. 

Ahsoka looked down. Padmé had been her friend, too. “I’m sorry, Anakin,” she said softly. “She died. Almost sixteen years ago, for me.”

Anakin made a strangled sound. “Was she - do you know if she was pregnant?” he asked, his voice raising an octave. 

After the Purge, Ahsoka had stayed low and hidden for a long time, barely accessing the Holonet or any other means of communication except when necessary, worried that it could somehow be traced back to her. But after a few years, she’d had a bad day where she’d gone and looked for names of people she’d known - non-Jedi names, since she didn’t have any hope left for the Jedi - and Padmé had been one of the first people she looked up. 

For Senator Amidala, ex-Queen, Naboo had thrown a funeral that was so lavish it seemed more like a parade, and Ahsoka remembered watching it with tears streaming down her face. At the very end of it, the video had shown her open casket, and it was clear that the Senator had been pregnant when she died. At the time, Ahsoka had been too distraught to speculate about the identity of the father, but now she could have kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. 

“She was,” Ahsoka said softly. She put a hand to the rayshield as if she could comfort Anakin herself, but he just looked away. Ahsoka got the feeling that if she had more than the faintest grasp of the Force within her cell, she would be flooded with Anakin’s grief. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

Anakin didn’t respond, but he turned away, and Ahsoka was worried he wasn’t going to fulfill his end of the bargain, but he walked over to the guard. “I’m to take her with me,” he said. “The Council wants to speak with her.”

“At five hundred hours?”

“Yes,” Anakin said, and it sounded like a threat. The guard clearly thought the same, but he entered the keycode into the wall by Ahsoka’s cell nonetheless, and the rayshield fizzled into nothingness. 

Stepping out of the cell was exhilarating. The Force flowed back instantly, and Ahsoka released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders, basking in the ability to feel once again. 

“Thank you,” she told Anakin.

He pushed her in front of him. “Tell it to the Council,” he said. “I don’t want anything to do with you.”

It might have been an act for the guards, but it still hurt. Wordlessly, Ahsoka tried to send him the strongest feelings of comfort she could.

Once they were out of the lower levels, Anakin turned to her. “I’m going to be kicked out of the Order for this,” he said, “so I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I need your help,” she said, a plan coming to mind even as she spoke, “and I need you to trust me.”

Grudgingly, Anakin nodded. “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said. “You have to admit, it’s not a very easy thing to believe.”

“It’s fine. What matters now is that we get going, and fast, and preferably as soon as we can. We need a ship they can’t track.”

Anakin frowned. “A ship who can’t track?”

“The Jedi.”

“The Twilight was untraceable,” he said, a little wistfully. “Where are you going, anyway?”

“Anakin.” Ahsoka stopped walking and faced her old master. “I need you to come with me. I can’t do this alone, and I don’t have anyone else to ask.”

“I have to stay with Padmé,” he said. 

“Trust me, we’re going to have a better chance of saving her once we do this. I can’t tell you everything yet, but you have to trust me. Please.”

He seemed conflicted, but nodded. “If you say so.”

“Then we need a ship.”

“I’ve been making modifications to Padmé’s yacht,” he said. “It’s not a lot of good in a firefight, but it’s fast, and nobody will be looking for it.”

“Great.”

“It’s at her apartment. We can go there now.”

Ahsoka followed Anakin as he snuck out of the Temple - stopping at his quarters to get Artoo - and began a series of three distinct modes of public transportation, presumably to try and disguise where he was going. In a little under half an hour, they were outside the grand building that housed Padmé’s apartment. Anakin took a commlink out of his pocket - non-standard issue, Ahsoka noticed - and entered a long series of digits. 

“Ani?” Padmé’s voice sounded sleepy on the other end of the line, but she quickly became alert. “Are you alright? Is everything okay? Are you being deployed?”

“I’m fine, Padmé,” Anakin said. “I’m in a… very complicated situation. Right now, I need you to let me in to your building. I have a guest. You’re not going to believe me at first, but I promise what I’m going to say is the truth.”

Padmé sounded uncertain, but she let them in, and Anakin let out a sigh of relief as they took the elevator up. 

“So, you and Padmé, then?” Ahsoka said. “You know, Rex and I used to have a bet going about that.”

Anakin let out a snort. “If you would have stuck around, you’d have lost that bet. Rex walked in on a rather… compromising call, about a month after you left. He’s been good about it, though. Kept the secret.”

“Does anybody else know?”

Anakin sighed. “Obi-Wan suspects, I think. Other than that, no. Well, except for Artoo.” Artoo beeped in confirmation of this.

“Wait. You told your droid before you told me? ” 

Anakin put his hands up in defense. “He was at the wedding!”

“You’re married? ”

Anakin grimaced. “For a few years now.”

Ahsoka gaped. “The whole time I’ve known you, you’ve been married? And you didn’t tell me!”

“Hey, what was I supposed to do? The Jedi Code forbids it.”

“Like I would have cared. The Jedi Code can be a bit karked up at times. No offense,” she added, hastily. 

“None taken.” 

Force, this was a long elevator ride. “So… Council, huh? I never knew about that.”

This did not seem to improve Anakin’s mood. “Special appointment by the Chancellor. But even though I’m on the Council, they won’t grant me the rank of Master,” he said, his tone dark. “It’s ridiculous.”

“Oh, wow.” Ahsoka would be the first to admit that, for all its wisdom, the Jedi Council had flaws, but this seemed like a low blow even for them. “I’m sorry, Skyguy.” The nickname slipped out without her thinking about it, and Anakin did smile a little bit at that.

“I left your counterpart on Mandalore a couple days ago,” he said. “I mean, you’re here, so I assume she’ll be okay, but…”

“She’ll be fine,” Ahsoka assured him. “Maul is too paranoid to put up much of a fight.” It’s after Maul is captured that Ahsoka was really in danger, but if she’s lucky, they can stop Order 66 before it happens.

“Good. I wished I could have stayed, you know.”

Old wounds heal slow, and Ahsoka had always regretted the way they’d parted, but she smiled. “I know you did.”

“Anyway. Here we are.” Finally, the elevator dinged, and they walked out into a hallway. Anakin rapped rhythmically on the door, and a concerned-looking Padmé opened it, dressed in a nightgown and robe with her hair undone. 

“Ani! And-” Padmé looked at Ahsoka like she wasn’t sure what to say. “Ahsoka?” she tried. “I know it’s been a year, but… you’re taller than I remember.”

Ahsoka smiled. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m from sixteen years in the future,” she said, as gently as she could. Padmé’s eyes widened, but she didn’t question it. 

“Well… come in, both of you. Is something wrong?”

“We need to borrow your ship,” Anakin said, bluntly. He took one of Padmé’s hands in his. “There’s something going on that’s bigger than all of us, but if I succeed, I will save you. And our child.”

Padmé glanced at Ahsoka. “It’s alright,” Ahsoka said. “I know, and I’m not going to tell anyone. I’m happy for you two.”

“I’m sorry we had to come so suddenly, and I wish we could stay longer, but we have to go as soon as possible,” Anakin said.

Padmé took a deep breath. “Yes, of course,” she said. “The ship is out back. Does this have something to do with the Chancellor’s sudden leave of absence?”

Ahsoka looked up. Anakin’s surprise was clear in the Force, too. “The Chancellor is taking a leave of absence?” she asked.

“Yes, I had a meeting planned with him this morning, but he informed me he wouldn’t be able to make it. Understandable, given everything he’s been through, but still, we are in a war. Gods know the Holonet would fry me if I took a sick day.”

Malachor, Ahsoka thought. She hadn’t expected him to leave so soon. That gave them even less time. “Yes, it’s tangentially related to that. But you can’t tell anyone - especially the Chancellor, that we’ve gone,” Ahsoka said.

Padmé looked alarmed. “Of course,” she said. “If anyone asks, I’ll tell them I let Sabé borrow it to fly home. Her mother’s sick.”

“Good. We need to get going,” Ahsoka said.

“Okay. The ship is in the hangar up top,” Padmé said. She looked at Anakin, who was still holding her hand. “Be safe, Ani,” she said. “It will do our child no good if you get killed.”

Anakin leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I know,” he said. “But don’t worry about me. I’ve got Ahsoka back. We’re practically unstoppable.”

Ahsoka grinned at that. 

They made their way to the hangar and took the ship out, easing it into the Coruscant atmosphere. 

“Alright,” Anakin said. “Now that we’re on our way, can you tell me where we’re going and what we’re doing?”

“I can,” Ahsoka said, grimly. “Artoo, I need you to calculate the fastest course to Kamino.”

Chapter Text

R2-D2 beeped affirmatively, and Ahsoka sank down into one of the seats and rested her head in her hands. Her montrals were ringing - probably a letdown from the adrenaline of escaping, or maybe just her head telling her she really needed to get a good night’s sleep.

“Kamino? Are you out of your mind? That place has the tightest blockade in the galaxy,” Anakin said, just as R2-D2 made announced that they were clear to make their first jump. “Artoo, hold up. Ahsoka and I need to discuss this plan of hers.”

“Anakin, we don’t have much time. We need to get there before the Chancellor realizes I’m missing -”

“And that’s another thing I’ve been taking your word on. Is he on Kamino?” Anakin’s face suddenly paled. “Is he going to do something to the clones?”

“It isn’t what he’s going to do, it’s what he’s already done,” Ahsoka said. “There’s a chip in their brains that’s controlling them, and they don’t know it.”

“The inhibitor chip. Look, I have my problems with the implications of it, but it doesn’t do anything to hurt them.” Anakin sighed and sat down in the copilot’s seat. “A few months ago - right after you left, actually - there was an incident with Fives. We took the chip out, and he… went off the rails. It was horrible.”

“I know. But the chips are mind-control. Believe me. And they can be set off, and the clones won’t be able to control themselves. They’ll try to kill any Jedi they see.” Ahsoka turned away. When she spoke again, her voice practically vibrated with feeling. “I will not let that happen again.” She swallowed, thickly. “It happens in only a couple days, I think. I was on my way back to Coruscant with Maul. They all turned on me - Rex, Jesse - and they couldn’t stop themselves.” She paused again, looking out the window at the glowing city planet. “I got Rex’ chip out in time, thanks to a file I found on Fives. But Rex and I were the only ones who survived,” she said tightly, trying to focus on the amber lines that indicated the districts of Coruscant. “Rex told me how it felt, once. He said it was like when you’re dreaming, and your body won’t move even though you’re being chased, but you’re awake and you can’t stop your body from moving against your will. He said it was like being thrown into a lake and not being able to drown.”

R2-D2 beeped that they were going to need to recalculate soon if they didn’t take the jump, and Anakin glanced over. “Yeah - go ahead, make the jump,” he said, his voice shaky. 

They watched silently as the stars stretched around them and the outside world faded away. Ahsoka had always disliked hyperspace in a vague way. It made it much more difficult to think about things outside your ship, and it made her feel like the Force was buzzing, slightly. It made her feel out of control.

“Ahsoka, I’m sorry,” Anakin said after a pause. “That’s - I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine.”

“That’s why we’re going to Kamino,” Ahsoka said fiercely, finally turning away from the viewport. “Because we need to stop it.”

“I’m with you there. What’s our plan?”

That gave Ahsoka pause. She had been meaning to come up with a plan, but their escape from the Temple and subsequent frenzied meeting with Padmé hadn’t left much time for plotting. She grimaced. “How do you feel about more abuse of your new Council status?”

Even after he added some additions of his own, Anakin wasn’t happy with the plan. Ahsoka felt that was hardly fair; after all, her old master was not known for brilliant plans himself. That had always been Obi-Wan’s strong suit. 

They still had a few hours until they came out of hyperspace, so Ahsoka announced that she was going to go to sleep. It would be the first time sleeping in a real bed in several days, even if that bed was on a starship, and almost as soon as she lay down on it she drifted off. 

She was awakened by Anakin’s announcement that they were a couple minutes from coming out of hyperspace to switch lanes. Groggily, she rolled out of bed and splashed water on her face from the ‘fresher before she walked into the cockpit. Anakin, it appeared, had not gone to sleep, despite his appearance of sorely needing it. He was fiddling with something small and electronic, and looked up when she walked in. 

“Sleep well?”

“Never better. How long will we be in realspace for?”

“Shouldn’t be more than a few minutes. Think we’re being tracked?”

“No, no reason to think that.”

“Good. I was thinking, in case we get separated somehow, we should have paired comms. There was a spare set in the supply closet, and I’m working on encrypting them.” He held up the device he was fiddling with, which Ahsoka could now see was a comm similar to the one he had used to call Padmé. Unspoken was the fact that any kind of Force bond they should have been able to use instead of comms was missing. Ahsoka wanted to chalk that up to temporal physics, but she knew better. Vader had broken it, harshly, during their duel on Malachor.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

Anakin grinned. R2-D2 beeped that they were approaching realspace imminently, and Anakin and Ahsoka both strapped in for the drop. Padmé must have a very nice ship, or else Anakin had made some upgrades to the hyperdrive, because the drop to realspace went with hardly a jolt. Ahsoka was about to comment on it when Anakin’s other comm began beeping.

His expression darkened. “It’s the Council,” he said. “Probably wanting to know why I broke you out and didn’t show up for our morning meeting.”

Ahsoka raised an eye-marking. “Are you going to answer it?”

Anakin grimaced. Then, he shut the communicator off. “Not much good going to come out of a conversation with them,” he said. 

“If all goes well, they’ll have to understand that we did the right thing,” Ahsoka said, though her words sounded unassuring. “We just can’t tell them.”

“Not as if they haven’t been keeping secrets from me,” Anakin muttered. He took the controls and began to fly to the point of their next jump. 

And then, his non-standard comm started beeping. Anakin frowned. “Artoo, take the controls,” he said, and picked it up. “Padmé?”

“Guess again,” came the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He did not sound pleased.

Anakin’s face soured. “How do you even have this frequency?”

“After you missed all of my calls and weren’t in your quarters, I went to see Padmé to ask if she knew where you were. She said she didn’t, and after I mentioned that you weren’t contacting me and that I was deeply concerned, she gave me this frequency. It would seem she is also deeply concerned. Care to enlighten us as to what you’re doing?”

“What, so you can report me to the Council?” 

“Anakin, I’m not calling as a member of the Council, I’m calling as your friend,” Obi-Wan said. “I’m worried about you.”

That, at least, seemed to get through to Anakin. Ahsoka could feel the conflict in him, but he managed to keep his voice even to respond to Obi-Wan. “There’s something I have to do,” Anakin said. “It’s important - more important than anything. The less people know about it, the better.”

“I take it Ahsoka is with you? Or, her future self?”

“Hi, Master Obi-Wan,” Ahsoka said. Even though he was probably angry with her, Ahsoka smiled, hearing his voice. 

“I hope you two know what you’re doing,” Obi-Wan said after a long pause. “I’m being sent to Utapau. Reports indicate that Grievous was last seen in their system. I’m to leave within the hour.”

“You’re taking on Grievous alone?” Anakin leaned closer to the comm, and Ahsoka could sense his worry. 

“Well, you’re gone on an unsanctioned mission, and it isn’t as though we have anyone to spare,” Obi-Wan replied tightly. “But don’t worry. I’m sure I’m more than a match for him.”

Ahsoka wracked her brain to remember whether Obi-Wan had been successful in her timeline. She knew he had made it back to Coruscant and been the one to reverse the homing signal on the Temple, but she didn’t know whether he had killed Grievous before he had to escape from his own forces. “You got him last time,” she said, in the hopes she was right.

“See? Ahsoka believes in me.”

“I believe in you too, I just don’t like the thought of you taking him down without me,” Anakin said. 

“I’ll make sure to apologize to him for your absence. But in all seriousness, do be careful, both of you.”

“We will, Master.”

“I’m being hailed by the Council. May the Force be with you both.” The line cut out, and Anakin sighed. 

“That wasn’t so bad,” Ahsoka said. 

“I don’t know. Obi-Wan’s still on the Council, even if he’s worried. Things aren’t going to be pretty when we get back.”

“There may not be a Council to yell at you if we don’t get this taken care of,” Ahsoka reminded him. 

“I know. Artoo, are we ready to jump?”

Artoo beeped, and the ship gave another soft jolt as it sped into hyperspace. Ahsoka undid the safety restraints and stretched. 

“You know, there’s one thing about all of this I don’t understand,” Anakin said as he undid his own restraints. 

“What’s that?”

“If there’s this order to kill all the Jedi, why wait until now? The Outer Rim sieges have been going on for months, and the Jedi aren’t really getting spread much thinner. And with Fives and all - it seems like we were pretty close to figuring this out. So why wait and take the chance that someone does what we’re about to do?”

Ahsoka paused mid-stretch. “He’s waiting for something,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “Sidious believes he’s going to have a new apprentice. He’s waiting for that to give the order.”

Anakin’s face twisted. “Worse than Dooku? Do you know who he is?”

“I only met him once, right before I was pulled back. We fought. I lost. He was about to kill me when I wound up here.”

“We need to let Obi-Wan know that there’s a new apprentice floating around. Do you remember what he looked like? Anything we can use to try and figure out who he is and take him out before it’s too late?”

Ahsoka sat down. “We don’t need to worry about him yet, I promise. This is what we need to focus on.”

Anakin didn’t look convinced, but he let the subject drop, and Ahsoka was grateful. If she never had to tell Anakin about Vader, she would be happy, but something told her she wasn’t going to be that lucky. Either way, now wasn’t the time. As she thought of the masked monster who had tried to kill her, she suppressed a shudder. How could Anakin not see how close he was to Falling? And how could he become that thing? 

“You seem upset,” Anakin said.

“I’m just hoping we never have to meet Sidious’ apprentice,” Ahsoka said. “He killed a lot of my friends. He - he killed children,” she said. 

“He won’t kill anyone else if I have anything to do about it,” Anakin said, determination written on his face. Ahsoka could have laughed at the irony.

“You should get some rest,” she said. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you haven’t slept in over a rotation.”

Anakin sighed. “It’s too late now - I won’t be able to fall asleep for hours. I’ll sleep once we get back to the night cycle, but for now I may as well stay up.” He stood up and walked around the cabin. “Wanna play dejarik?”

“Only if you want to get destroyed,” Ahsoka said, and walked over to the table. She had never beaten Anakin as a padawan, but now she had sixteen more years of experience. She watched with narrowed eyes as he made the first move. “Interesting choice.”

The game went on for an hour or so before Ahsoka accused Anakin of cheating, which, she maintained, he definitely had done. Anakin replied that he had made an entirely legal move, and pretty soon they had both forgotten the game and devolved into bickering. Ahsoka felt more relaxed than she had in a long time, sitting there with him, and not for the first time she felt an intense sadness for the years that had gone by. Anakin must have picked up on that, because his next jab was pretty halfhearted, and soon he was just sitting with her at the table looking concerned. 

“Things went… really, really wrong, in my time,” she said after a too-long lapse in speaking. “Everything that could have gone wrong did. And I’m worried that I won’t be able to stop it.”

“We’re gonna do our best,” Anakin replied. 

“I know, I just… promise me something.”

“What?”

“If we aren’t successful, or if something happens to me, promise you’ll stop the Chancellor. I know he’s your friend, but you don’t know what he can do. What he wants to do. What he did, in my time.”

“Ahsoka…” Anakin sighed. “The Chancellor will be given a trial. But - he’s my friend. You can’t ask me to kill him. And he said he had a way to save Padmé.”

“It’s a lie,” Ahsoka said emphatically. “It’s all a lie, everything. He’s only acting as your friend because he doesn’t want you for his enemy. But he’s been the man behind the war. Every life lost, every clone, every Jedi, every civilian - their blood is on his hands. He’s not who you think he is, I promise.”

Anakin looked troubled, but didn’t respond. Ahsoka looked down at the dejarik table, where the holoscreen was still flashing your move. “He named himself Emperor of the Galaxy, and terrorized half of the systems by enslaving the others. After he ended the Clone Wars, he didn’t get rid of the GAR - he made it into something terrible. Thousands of star systems under martial law, and civilians killed for as little as refusing to be patriotic. I worked with the Rebel Alliance, trying to free as many people as we could, but we were no match for the Empire. There were no Jedi, and barely any hope. You can’t let that happen again.”

“Alright,” Anakin said, after another pause. He took a deep breath. “I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.”

Anakin nodded, and Ahsoka finally made her next move. They ended the game in a stalemate, which Ahsoka was displeased with, but Anakin had cheated.

“So,” Anakin said once they were finished with the game, “new lightsabers.”

“They’re not that new. They’re a few years old, at this point.”

“Still. New to me,” Anakin pointed out. “And they’re curved. You prefer Form II now?”

“No way. But I could be persuaded to spar, if that’s what you’re asking.” She grinned at him. “No cheating.”

“I’ve never cheated in my life,” Anakin said.

“Sure.” She walked out of the cabin and into the cargo hold. It was cramped - Anakin would have the edge in a small space, Ahsoka not being able to use some of the more acrobatic elements of her chosen Form, but it would be good to get rid of some of her nervous energy. 

“Low power,” Anakin said. “Padmé will kill me if I mess up her ship.”

Ahsoka turned her sabers to the lowest they would go, and assumed the ready position. Anakin did the same, and activated his saber. 

The first flurry of parries were straightforward, each testing the other’s strength and speed, but they quickly sped up, dancing and whirling so fast that, to an untrained eye, they wouldn’t have looked like much more than blurs of light and color. Anakin swung down, and Ahsoka caught his blade with her shoto, pivoting up with her main saber to try and catch him off guard, but Anakin leaped out of the way just in time. Ahsoka followed him, raising her saber in a blow that should’ve had his shoulder, but was caught off guard by Anakin’s lunge, only barely managing to catch it.

Anakin disengaged quickly and lunged again, this time aiming for her weak side - but it was a feint, and as she moved to parry, he changed his angle of attack, striking downwards in a blow that glanced off her shoulder. In the next instant, Ahsoka flicked up with her shoto, landing a hit on Anakin’s sternum. They both deactivated their shoulders.

“Tie,” Anakin said, rubbing his chest where he’d been hit.

“I don’t think so,” Ahsoka said. “You might have cut off my arm, but I definitely killed you.”

“In a real fight, you’d be in too much pain from having just had your arm cut off to think to make that move,” Anakin grumbled. 

“Want to go again?”

“Yeah. You’re dead this time,” Anakin said, mockingly. He attacked first, sparing no time for easy parries. Their sabers clashed again and again, and Ahsoka fought hard to keep up. 

Anakin Force-pushed her over to avoid one of her blows, and in an instant he was behind her, ready to strike. Without thinking, Ahsoka crossed her sabers behind her back to parry, then pushed off and turned to face him. It was the same move Vader had used, and the same parry Ahsoka had barely had time to make. Something churned in her gut, but she kept going, drawing on the Force for energy. She leaped to the top of one of the cargo shelves and looked down on him, just a few feet below, and caught her breath. 

“Getting tired?” he taunted, giving his saber a twirl. 

“Not on your life,” Ahsoka shot back, and jumped. Anakin caught her saber midair, but the force of her jump pushed him back, and Ahsoka pressed her attack, forcing Anakin into a corner. He parried her attacks, his saber swinging fast and accurate. 

With a grunt, Anakin twisted his blade, forcing Ahsoka’s shoto out of her hands. Instinctively, Ahsoka moved her main lightsaber to guard herself while she reached with the Force to grab her shoto. But the move cost her a few steps, and they were back in the middle of the cargo hold, Anakin’s attack having gotten him out of the corner. He pressed, and Ahsoka stepped backwards this time, until she was nearly against the wall. Anakin twisted his blade like he was attempting to disarm her again, but this time he used the leverage to force Ahsoka to move towards him, not away from him. As she darted past, she felt the buzz of a saber near her neck, and Anakin deactivated, smugly.

“I win this time,” he said.”

“Fine. Best two out of three?”

Their third duel was their shortest, and Anakin won it in under a minute with a lucky blow to Ahsoka’s arm that would have, he claimed, put her out of commission. She grumbled and grudgingly admitted defeat. 

After they both had a turn in the refresher and successfully made it to their third and by far their longest hyperspace jump along the Corellian Run, Anakin admitted that he was, actually, tired, and went to go take a nap. “Wake me up if anything interesting happens,” he said, and then dropped asleep.

Ahsoka sat in the cockpit, watching the blues of hyperspace swirl around her. She put a hand on Artoo’s domed head, and he beeped, lowly. Staring out into hyperspace could make you go crazy, she knew, but she wasn’t sure how much more damage it could do. She tucked her knees up to her chest and leaned back against the seat.

Before she knew it, she was waking up, and R2-D2 was announcing that they only had three hours left until their destination. The day cycle lights had turned on, and the chronometer displayed a time of 0700 Coruscant time. She went into the galley and hunted around until she found a few packets of instant caf. 

Anakin walked out of the cabin at the smell of caf, and thanked Ahsoka as she handed him a mug. The warm drink was soothing, even if it wasn’t amazing - Padmé, Ahsoka remembered, preferred tea, so the caf must be there for guests. 

“A little under three hours to go,” Ahsoka said. “Should we go over the plan again?”

Anakin nodded. As neither of them had actually been to Kamino, their plan was based largely on guesswork, but they had a rough idea of what they were going to do. Ahsoka felt her nerves begin to heighten as they got closer. Thank goodness Padmé kept a stocked galley, and they wouldn’t have to go in on empty stomachs. 

Soon enough, Artoo announced that they were exiting their final hyperspace jump, and Ahsoka and Anakin strapped into the cockpit as they emerged. There was the Republic blockade, in full force, shielding the watery world. Ahsoka turned to Anakin, who was fixated on the ship’s main comm, waiting for the hail they knew was coming. 

They didn’t have long to wait. As they piloted closer, the comm crackled to life. “Incoming starship,” a voice sprung out, “identify yourself immediately, or you will be considered hostile and fired upon.”

Ahsoka swallowed hard. Time to see if their plan worked.

Chapter Text

Anakin leaned in to the comm, his voice strong and steady. “This is General Anakin Skywalker, here by order of the Jedi Council. Transmitting codes now.” He typed in his clearance codes and sent them. Ahsoka held her breath, and she and Anakin made eye contact. If the Council had already sent out word that Anakin’s codes weren’t valid, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

“General Skywalker, you are cleared to land. Sending escort now.” Ahsoka released her breath. So far, so good.

Anakin eased the ship down as the two escort ships directed him to a landing platform jutting out over a stormy sea. He cut the engine. R2-D2 beeped an inquiry, and Anakin nodded. “Yeah, you’re coming with us, buddy. We’re going to need your help with the computer.”

R2-D2 beeped in a way that Ahsoka would consider to be smug, if binary could be smug. She and Anakin donned ponchos they discovered in the closet - Anakin’s fit perfectly, Ahsoka noted with some annoyance. Her own was a little small - Padmé was tiny, and the hood wasn’t nearly big enough to cover her montrals. Still, it was infinitely better than braving the rain without anything to protect her and her clothes from getting wet. 

Once inside the building, they were greeted by a tall, pale Kaminoan who introduced herself as Doctor Nala Se, Chief Medical Scientist of Tipoca City. She smiled and gestured for Ahsoka and Anakin to follow her as she walked into the facility. 

“I have heard much of your accomplishments, General Skywalker,” she said. “Do not think I have forgotten how you acted to save our medical center from the Malevolence.” She looked appraisingly at Ahsoka. “You as well, Commander Tano.”

Ahsoka smiled and nodded. She hadn’t told the Kaminoan her name, but she should have guessed that she’d be recognized. She could only hope that Kaminoans weren’t familiar enough with how she’d looked as a teenager to notice that something was off.

“Thank you, Dr. Se,” Anakin said. “We’re here to replace General Ti as the Jedi assigned to protect and oversee this facility. Unfortunately, she was killed by Grievous during his attack on Coruscant.”

Nala Se looked surprised and saddened by this, and bowed her neck. “I am sorry to hear that, as I know my colleagues will also be.” She straightened and gestured into the facility with her hand. “I take it you would have a tour of our laboratories?”

“Actually,” Ahsoka said, “we would like to see the information center right away, please.”

Nala Se’s look was guarded. “The Information Center is a highly sensitive and classified area, used to analyze and observe the clones’ behavioral patterns - it is highly unusual for anyone but myself and other medical professionals to access it.”

“Nevertheless, we would like to see it,” Anakin said, standing tall. “We wish to inspect it in order to make our report back to the Jedi Council.”

Nala Se frowned. “Very well,” she said. “Follow me.”

Ahsoka could feel Anakin’s relief as the two of them along with R2-D2 followed the Kaminoan down a series of white, tubelike hallways. They passed many clones along the way - some in armor, others in plainclothes uniforms. Some of them, Ahsoka thought, must not have been more than four or five years old, and even with their advanced aging looked like children. Ahsoka’s stomach churned at the thought of the Republic creating, training, and using child soldiers. 

“We’re nearly there,” Dr. Se said after they turned yet another corner. 

The sound of boots could be heard from behind them, and Anakin, Ahsoka, and Dr. Se turned as one to see a clone trooper in full armor jogging up to them. He saluted, then fell to ease. “Doctor,” he said, addressing Nala Se, “we’ve just received word from the Jedi Council. They’re sending someone over to replace General Ti.”

Nala Se nodded. She gestured to Anakin and Ahsoka. “Yes, the replacements have just arrived.”

The clone hesitated. “Ah… they said to expect General Plo Koon, doctor. A Kel Dor. He’s just won his campaign over Cato Neimoidia.” He looked at Anakin and Ahsoka, and although Ahsoka couldn’t see under his helmet, she could sense his suspicion. 

“There must be some mistake,” Anakin said. “The Council sent us.”

Nala Se narrowed her eyes. “Wait here,” she said to Anakin and Ahsoka. “I will go speak to the Council myself to clear matters.”

“That’s not necessary,” Anakin said. “I can assure you we’re correct. I’m on the Council,” he said, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms.

“Nevertheless, I shall go check. Please, remain here until I return.” She left the way they had come, following the clone trooper who had delivered the message.

“Stang,” Anakin muttered as soon as they were gone. “Artoo, see if you can find the quickest way to the Information Center.” R2-D2 beeped and plugged into the wall’s computer socket. Within seconds, he was able to holoproject a map indicating that the Information Center was just a short ways away.

“Let’s go,” Ahsoka said. She and Anakin hurried down the hallway with R2-D2, walking as fast as they could without attracting suspicion. Soon, they made it to the Information Center.

It was guarded, but Anakin gave them his Jedi Council spiel, and they were allowed in. It was a massive room, filled with holos showing biometrics and data that Ahsoka couldn’t dream of understanding. She turned to R2-D2, who was plugging into the main computer. “Artoo, pull up everything you can find on Order 66,” she said, lowering her voice. 

R2-D2 beeped, and soon information was spilling out onto the main holoscreen. Ahsoka grimaced at it. 

“Anakin, help me with this,” she said. “We need to find anything that shows an original command. All I see are references.” Anakin walked over and began sifting through data, and Ahsoka turned to R2-D2. “What’s the oldest documentation of this order you can find?”

A new holoimage appeared, dated some ten years ago, and Ahsoka drew in a breath. There it was, a list of 150 orders programmed into the biochips. She turned to R2-D2. “There. That file. Can you find anything that says how to delete or deactivate those orders?”

R2 beeped again, and turned in the computer socket.

Suddenly, an alarm went off. “Intruder alert,” a clone’s voice sounded, echoing off of the walls. “Two beings: a Human male and a Togruta female. These beings are armed and should be considered dangerous, but are to be taken alive if possible. I repeat: Intruder alert …” the voice said, beginning the cycle again. Ahsoka’s eyes widened. “We’re going to have company pretty soon,” she said. 

Sure enough, the door of the Information Center was burst open, revealing clones with their blasters up. Ahsoka stepped in front of Anakin and R2-D2, drawing and igniting her sabers. “You’re a better slicer than me,” she called to Anakin. “I’ll hold them off. You need to delete that order,” she said.

The clones began firing stun shots, and Ahsoka deflected them back as best she could. She kept them to the doorway, but more kept coming, and she risked a glance over her shoulder to see Anakin’s face pinched in concentration. “How’s it going?” she called over the sound of the blasters.

“Could be better,” Anakin said. Ahsoka could feel his frustration spike; he’d just tried something, and it hadn’t worked. 

“Well, hurry up,” she said, reaching out to deflect a shot that would have missed her but might have hit Anakin. “They aren’t slowing down.”

Ahsoka felt her heartrate pick up at the exertion of deflecting shots from so many troopers at once, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to keep this going forever. She only hoped she could last long enough to give Anakin the time he needed to delete the files or do - whatever it was he could do. Anakin was a genius with technology; Ahsoka had to have faith that if it could be done, he was the one who could do it. 

The clones, in their all-white armor, were reminding Ahsoka all too much of stormtroopers, and she gritted her teeth as she kept up her defense. It had only been a couple minutes, but her shoulders were burning with the effort. 

“Almost got it,” Anakin called out, and Ahsoka redoubled her efforts. Slowly but surely, the clones were gaining ground, and though Ahsoka was doing her best to deflect their stuns back at them, there were several in the room now, and they were beginning to fan out.

Ahsoka felt Anakin’s surge of satisfaction through the Force an instant before he said “I’ve got it,” and she sighed in relief as he ignited his lightsaber and began to fight alongside her. “Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Artoo, what’s our way out?”

R2-D2 beeped unhelpfully, letting them know that the door the clones were coming from was the only entrance or exit. Anakin cursed. “Ventilation shafts? Really thin walls?” he asked.

R2-D2 beeped again. Negative.

“Kriff. Well, we did what we came for,” he said grimly. “I got rid of the entire system. The Orders shouldn’t register anymore, even if they’re heard - they won’t trigger an override.”

“Good.” Ahsoka swallowed, coming grimly to the conclusion that there were too many clones for them both to make it out. And she was tired; she would only slow Anakin down. “I’ll give you a window,” she said, and ran at the clones, lightsaber flashing. For a second, their full attention was on her, and she felt Anakin use it to run through the door. She gathered all her mental energy and focused it into the twisted remnants of the bond she once had with him. Go take out the Chancellor, she said, crouching to propel herself for an aerial leap that would hopefully keep the clones’ attention. Get Obi-Wan and anybody else who will listen. RUN, she sent, hoping he would get the message. She flipped again, and sent a wave of Force energy out all around her, knocking down the clones nearest to her. She raised her sabers once again, but a shot clipped her shoulder, and she fell, blackness clouding the edges of her vision.

She thought she felt a flicker of acknowledgement from Anakin, but before she could confirm, her world went dark. 

Chapter Text

When Ahsoka came to, she could tell she was in hyperspace. That was the first thing she noticed. The second thing she noticed was that her wrists were in binders. The third thing was that her head really hurt, like she had fallen on it. The fourth thing she noticed, belatedly, was that she wasn’t alone. Hurriedly, she opened her eyes and struggled to move into a sitting position against the wall. Whatever room she was in, it was dim, and she couldn’t make out whoever was sitting in the corner. Tentatively, she reached out with the Force.

The figure dropped its shields slightly, and Ahsoka realized it was Anakin. She sighed. “I thought I told you to get away,” she said unhappily.

Anakin’s voice came back, though it was flatter than Ahsoka expected it to be. “I almost made it to the ship, but it got blown up just as I was about to board. Padmé will be furious.”

Ahsoka didn't comment on that, though she personally thought that Padmé would be more concerned with the fate of her husband than her ship. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know. They got me right after the ship blew up. I woke up a few hours ago.” His voice was careful, guarded. “Do you not remember anything since Kamino?”

Ahsoka frowned. “I just woke up, didn’t I? Did something happen?”

“It’s nothing - you have a concussion, I think,” Anakin said. 

“I can feel that.” Ahsoka sighed again. “I have a bad feeling about where this is headed,” she said.

“Me, too. When I first woke up, I tried getting out, but I can’t find the locking mechanism. And I can’t sense anyone else on the ship, meaning it’s probably being flown by droids. So I don’t think we can mindtrick our way out, either.”

“Great.” Ahsoka frowned. “Why are your shields so tight? If it’s just droids running the ship. You’re pretty bad at shielding, usually.”

Anakin’s shields dropped another fraction, just enough for Ahsoka to tell that he was conflicted about something. “You really don’t remember anything? Waking up a couple hours ago?”

“Not a bit.”

“You weren’t lucid,” Anakin said. “Anyway, you were - bothered by my presence. So I tried to tone it down so you wouldn’t notice. It was bothering you.” He sounded hurt. 

Ahsoka’s stomach lurched. “What did I say?” she asked. If she had told Anakin the truth while she was in some kind of concussion-induced state of confusion… “Show me,” she demanded, when Anakin didn’t respond. 

He looked hesitant, but nodded, and reached out with his mind. Ahsoka opened her own and let Anakin’s memory in.

Anakin had been pacing along one side of the room when Ahsoka woke up. He sensed it, and hurried to her side. Ahsoka watched through Anakin’s eyes as he leaned over her. “Snips? Ahsoka?” he asked, worriedly. He held up a finger to her face and waved it back and forth. “Can you follow this? You hit your head pretty bad.”

Ahsoka watched as her past self opened her eyes. She looked at Anakin with relief, but that quickly turned to horror. “You,” she said, and tried to get away, scrabbling at the floor and pushing herself towards the wall behind her.

Anakin frowned. “It’s me, it’s Anakin,” he said, reaching out with his own cuffed hands. “We’re on some kind of ship.”

Ahsoka felt herself reach out to confirm Anakin’s presence, then shrink away. “I won’t tell you anything,” she mumbled. 

"Tell me anything - Ahsoka, I’m not your enemy!”

Ahsoka saw her eyes focus for the first time, landing on Anakin’s face. Her face twisted into a glare. “Stop it,” she growled. “Stop pretending you’re him !” 

Ahsoka felt Anakin’s hurt and confusion. He raised his shields, though not as tightly as he’d had them when Ahsoka had woken up. “Is that better?” he asked, still confused.

“All the way,” Ahsoka said, clearly distressed. “You told me you killed Anakin Skywalker. You don’t get to be him,” she said, curling in on herself. “I have to avenge him,” she watched herself mumble. 

Anakin’s shields rose even higher and tighter, and he stepped back, away from Ahsoka and into the corner. 

“Better,” Ahsoka mumbled, half to herself. She settled against the wall, and slipped back asleep.

The memory ended, and Ahsoka found herself back in her own body, sitting across from Anakin. His expression was still guarded. “What were you talking about?” he asked.

Ahsoka didn’t meet his eyes. “I wasn’t lucid,” she said. “I didn’t mean it.”

“Clearly you meant something,” Anakin said, bitterly. “Who did you think I was?”

“Sidious’ apprentice,” Ahsoka said shortly. “I told you, right before I arrived here, I was fighting with him. He bragged about killing you.” 

“Not that I’m not - flattered you wanted to avenge me, but,” Anakin paused. “Why did you think I was him?”

“I told you, I wasn’t lucid. I wasn’t making sense. Clearly, I was confused.”

“Who is this apprentice? How have we never encountered him? He must be more powerful than Dooku, even, if he got the drop on me,” Anakin said, his anxiety bleeding over. “Who knows what he’s doing, right now?”

“I told you before, we don’t need to worry about him now. What we should be more concerned with is wherever this ship is taking us.”

“I’m more concerned with who this ship is taking us to,” Anakin said darkly. 

They sat in silence for a little while. “You got my message,” Ahsoka said. “Even though the bond isn’t there anymore.”

Anakin nodded. “Very faintly,” he said. He paused. “Did it break when I died?”

Truthfully, Ahsoka hadn’t realized she still had a bond with him until she started to realize the truth of Vader’s identity. After Order 66, when all her other bonds fell silent, she had tried to reach him, but it had been blocked. Ahsoka assumed that meant he was dead, as well. But then she had learned the awful truth, and realized that the threads that once bound hers and Anakin’s minds together weren’t broken, just twisted and marred by the Dark side. And then, on Malachor, Vader had said she would die, and he’d broken it, leaving Ahsoka with absolute certainty that whatever her former master had become, he really had killed the part of him that was Anakin Skywalker. 

So Ahsoka’s reply of “it broke when I realized you were dead,” wasn’t a lie, not really.

Anakin shifted uncomfortably. “Did anyone survive?”

“Yoda did,” Ahsoka said.

“Figures that old troll would,” Anakin muttered. His face grew apprehensive “Did- did Obi-Wan make it?”

“He topped the galaxy’s most-wanted list for years,” Ahsoka replied, “so at first, I thought he must be alive, but when I joined the rebellion, and he wasn’t there, I figured he must be dead. He wouldn’t just stand back and do nothing against that kind of tyranny. The leader of the rebellion confirmed to me that he was dead, when I finally got up the courage to ask.” Though, looking back on it, Bail could have lied to her to protect the information of Obi-Wan’s whereabouts, should Ahsoka ever be captured. If he was alive, Ahsoka wondered if he had known about Vader from the start. “But he was the reason why most of the survivors did survive,” she said. “He made it back to the Jedi Temple and sent out a warning. I didn’t know he’d done that until I met up with someone who’d survived and he showed me.”

Anakin bowed his head. “I thought he and I had learned our lesson about going after Sith lords alone,” he said bitterly. “But I guess I didn’t.”

She felt Anakin’s mind reach out again, and she locked on, going over the ghost of their bond until there was something small but substantive there again. I have a feeling we’re going to need it, Anakin sent, and Ahsoka agreed.

Suddenly, the ship shuddered and dropped into realspace. Ahsoka’s eyes widened. “Wherever we are, we’re here,” she said grimly.

A hissing sound filled the room, and Anakin cursed. “Gas,” he said, unnecessarily. Ahsoka began to feel woozy, and before she knew it she was out cold again.

When she woke up again, she was in a much better lit room. This time, she was suspended in a force field, with her arms above her. She couldn’t turn her head, but she could see Anakin out of the corner of her eye. It didn’t look like he had woken up yet. Wake up, she sent to him urgently. 

He blinked groggily before projecting pure panic. Ahsoka winced at the barrage. Anakin could be like a sledgehammer when he didn’t mean to be.

“Hello?” Ahsoka called to the room. “Is anybody there?”

It’s him! Anakin sent, his panic only growing. Can’t you sense it?  

Ahsoka frowned. I don’t sense anybody here other than you, she sent. Though, of course, that didn’t mean there wasn’t somebody who was doing a very good job of cloaking themself.

Anakin’s panic was tinged with horror. He- I have a bond with him, he sent. I didn’t even know it, but I do. Why would he do that? 

Ahsoka paled. Don’t let him in your head, she sent. 

He’s coming, Anakin sent. He knows I woke up.

Ahsoka steeled herself, but she still didn’t feel ready when Sidious walked in. He still looked like the Chancellor, but even though he felt harmless and nothing-like in the Force, the expression on his face was enough to make Ahsoka panic. She set about strengthening her shields as much as she could, and kept her mind occupied elsewhere. 

“You can drop the act,” she spat. “We both know what you are.”

Sidious raised an eyebrow. With the Force equivalent of a wave crashing down, his cloaking disappeared, and Ahsoka could feel the full weight of the Dark side pressing down from him. He was like a black hole, sucking in everything inside his event horizon and smothering it until there was nothing but simmering Darkness at the center. Ahsoka inhaled quickly. She could feel Anakin’s rage, but she kept her focus on the man standing before her.

“Very well,” Sidious said.

“You won’t get anything from us,” Anakin snarled. He was practically vibrating, and Ahsoka’s eyes widened at how angry he was. Calm down, she sent him. He can feed off of your anger.

Anakin did simmer down slightly, but not meaningfully. Sidious’ face turned sour, and he took a step closer so he was less than an arm’s length away from Ahsoka. “You will suffer for your attempts to destroy my plans,” he said, his voice deep and gravelly. “You will not be successful, but you will still suffer.”

Ahsoka didn’t doubt that one bit. She drew her shields even tighter, hiding herself beneath them.

Sidious turned to Anakin, and his expression shifted, looking more like the kind old man he masqueraded as. “And you,” he said. “My boy, you could have been great,” he said. At Anakin’s confusion, he cackled. “She didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Sidious turned back to Ahsoka with a smile. “Should I tell him, or would you like to?” he asked. 

“Tell me what?” Anakin repeated, his words laced with fury. 

Sidious’ grin widened. “I am sure your friend has spoken to you of her version of the future, has she not?” Without waiting for Anakin to reply, he continued. “One where my new apprentice struck down all of the Jedi who managed to escape Order 66? She never told you who he was, did she?”

Anakin’s mind churned, and the Force darkened. “Anakin, I’m sorry,” Ahsoka said, pleading. “I was going to tell you, but I didn’t know how to.”

“You are the person who killed them,” Sidious snarled. Anakin’s horror was making it difficult for Ahsoka to concentrate. 

“I wouldn’t,” Anakin said. “I - I couldn’t do that.”

Sidious grinned. “And yet you find killing easy, don’t you? You can feel the power it gives you. Even now, you draw on your hate to give you strength.”

“I will destroy you,” Anakin warned, and the Force swirled around him like a tempest. 

Sidious cackled. “No,” he spat. “You are no match for my power.”

The tempest swirled faster, and then in an explosive burst of energy Anakin was free from his restraints, lunging toward Sidious with murder written on his face. His left hand closed into a fist, and Sidious was pulled up into the air, gasping for breath. 

“Anakin!” Ahsoka called out. “Don’t! This is what he wants!” 

Anakin’s gaze flickered over to her, and in that split second, his focus faded, and Sidious unleashed a wave of energy that sent Anakin sprawling to the floor. Ahsoka gasped as Sidious stood over him and lightning poured out of his fingers. Anakin screamed, and the Ahsoka could smell burning. After some time, Anakin’s screaming died away, and Sidious used the Force to move his limp body back into the force field. 

Ahsoka reached out with the Force. Anakin was alive, just unconscious. Sidious turned back towards her, and she felt her muscles tense.

“I did not find what I was looking for on Malachor,” he said. “And I think you know that. But I will find answers.” His words were ice trickling down Ahsoka’s back, and she fought the urge to shiver. Sidious smiled again and walked out of the room.

Anakin, Ahsoka sent, prodding with her mind at the unconscious man next to her. She concentrated and sent a wave of calm to him, trying to urge his body to heal. Ahsoka was bad at healing, but she could try to help Anakin heal himself. It seemed to work, because the pain he was radiating even in his unconscious state lessened slightly.

After a while, she sensed him waking up. Anakin, she sent, are you alright?

“I had him,” Anakin said accusingly, his words thick and angry. “I had him, and you made me lose my focus.”

“Anakin -”

“And you lied to me!” Anakin burst out. “You said - Sidious’ apprentice wasn’t someone we had to worry about!”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Ahsoka began, but Anakin cut her off again.

“Hurt me? You lied to me, and then you made me lose my focus - if it weren’t for you, Sidious would be dead ! This is all your fault!” The Force began to twist around him again, and Ahsoka felt the beginnings of fear creep into her own head.

“He let that happen,” she said. “He still wants you to Fall. He’s using you,” she said desperately. 

“I can defeat him,” Anakin said with certainty. “I felt it.” He looked away from her, glaring intently at the wall. “He knows it, too.” 

“Anakin, don’t Fall,” Ahsoka said. “Don’t let my version of the future come to pass. It would have been better for my Anakin to really have died, rather than become what he did.”

“I will not let Sidious continue to spread his evil,” Anakin said, his voice a twisted kind of serene. “I will do what I must to destroy him.” He fell silent, and Ahsoka’s spirits sank. 

When Sidious came back into the room, he was happy, Ahsoka could tell. The black hole that he was in the Force was thrilled beyond belief by something it had just learned. 

Anakin could sense it, too, and his anger grew as Sidious walked slowly in front of them. 

“You have outlived your usefulness,” he said. He turned to Anakin. “Perhaps you were not destined to be my apprentice, after all.” He paused, smiling. “But I’m sure your unborn child will do well in your stead.”

The very room began to shake, and the stand that held Anakin in his force field crunched together, releasing him. Anakin lunged again at Sidious, rolling out of the way of the lightning that followed. Sidious flailed again, and Ahsoka watched as Anakin threw him into the wall with a sickening thud.

Sidious scrambled to his feet, apparently unhurt, and geared up for lightning again. This time, Anakin seemed to push the lighting away from him, though Ahsoka didn’t know how. The Force was spinning fast and Dark around both men, so much that Ahsoka was having trouble differentiating their signatures. She called out to Anakin, but this time, he paid her no mind.

Suddenly, an alarm went off, and Sidious fled, escaping nearly faster than Ahsoka could see. The door slammed shut behind him, and although Anakin slammed against it and used the Force to try and open it, whatever locking mechanism Sidious had put in place held fast. After several minutes of trying, Anakin gave up. The alarm continued blaring, and the light in the room flashed red.

Anakin turned back to Ahsoka, facing her for the first time. Ahsoka drew in a breath. At first, she thought it was a trick of the flashing light, but after several seconds there could be no mistaking it. Anakin’s face was contorted, the Force pulsing around him angrily. There were tears streaming down his cheeks. And, under his hair, his eyes were a brilliant yellow.

Chapter Text

Ahsoka felt more frozen than she already was. “Anakin,” she breathed, feeling the Darkness swirl around the young man. It made her feel sick. It was so much like Vader, but while Vader’s Darkness had been measured and schooled, that of the man in front of her was wild and unpredictable.

Anakin faced her numbly, his eyes dropping to the floor. He held up his hand and squeezed like he was crushing a can of drink, and the base of Ahsoka’s force field crunched together like a poorly-made droid. Ahsoka fell to the ground, catching herself in a crouch. 

“Anakin,” she said again, a little louder. 

He looked at her, and Ahsoka fought the urge to flinch as she made eye contact with him. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. He was furious - at Ahsoka, but mainly at himself. 

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of staring, Anakin looked away. “He’s going after Padmé,” he said. “And my child.” The Force seemed to gnash its teeth. “He’s going after my child, Ahsoka, and I let him go,” he said. His voice broke, and he ran abruptly up to the door again and slammed his fist against it.

Ahsoka didn’t really know how to console someone who had just Fallen, or if that was even something that was appropriate to do. But, as much as the Force told her Anakin was immersed in the Dark, it told her he was in pain, and Ahsoka had never been one to ignore it when someone close to her was in pain. “You couldn’t have stopped him,” she said, hesitantly. “You didn’t have a lightsaber, and you’d just been electrocuted to the point of losing consciousness.” She swallowed. “And, even though he got away, that must mean he was fleeing something.” She gestured to the light, which was still flashing with the alarm. “Maybe someone is here for us.”

Anakin turned, slowly, to look at her. “Here to kill us, you mean?”

“No, here to -”

“Here to destroy him? If I failed, the Jedi have no hope of succeeding,” Anakin said brazenly. His wild gaze again met Ahsoka’s. “Even if they are coming, what do you think they’ll make of us? An escaped prisoner,” he said, gesturing to Ahsoka, “and,” he gestured to himself, his face twisting, “whatever I am.” He put his hands to his head. “I - I need more power,” he said. “If I’m going to defeat him - I need more.” 

“That’s not you talking,” Ahsoka said. 

Anakin turned to glare at her, and Ahsoka’s breath hitched in fear. Sensing it, Anakin’s expression crumpled. “What can I do?” he asked. “What am I?”

Ahsoka didn’t have an answer for that. It was a question she’d asked herself often, right after she’d left the Order, but the answer was always a tricky one. For a while, she’d been happy to be a citizen of the Republic, but once the Empire had taken over, she’d had another crisis of identity. The Jedi were all but gone, but they were undeniably a symbol of hope - and badly, Ahsoka had wanted to be that, too. But try as she might have, it wasn’t a label she’d ever seen fit to use again. 

“I can’t answer that for you.”

Anakin was breathing rapidly. He began pacing their cell. “I don’t - want to be this,” he said, though he didn’t sound convinced. 

“Then don’t,” Ahsoka said.

He stopped his pacing abruptly, and Ahsoka’s hackles rose. “You don’t understand,” he said, nearly sneering. “It’s not - I can’t,” he said, finally. “I - without it, I don’t stand a chance against him,” he said. 

Suddenly, he looked up. Ahsoka sensed it a second later. Familiarity. A rescue, or a new prison. Whoever Sidious had fled from was arriving. 

Anakin’s face fell again, and he ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s Obi-Wan,” he said.

Ahsoka sucked in a breath. “That’s good,” she said. “He’s our friend. He’ll understand.”

“No, he won’t,” Anakin said. He swore. “Obi-Wan - he won’t understand. Not at all.” He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, sinking into the Force. Around him, the Darkness swirled less passionately, until it was more a rainstorm than a hurricane. Ahsoka could feel the Light inside it, fighting for control, but even when Anakin managed to tamp down the Darkness enough that he seemed in control of it, his signature felt metallic and tinged, like he was constantly struggling to keep it down. His eyes were back to their normal color, but anyone familiar with his presence would be able to tell something was wrong. 

Ahsoka didn’t comment. For her part, she tried to meditate, tried to project calm and light and balance. It was difficult. Whether it was Anakin or the Force itself, Ahsoka didn’t know, but she wasn’t able to concentrate. Frustrated, she opened her eyes and sat down, staring a hole into the door. 

They could hear when the facility was taken. Faintly, the sound of blasterfire echoed, and Ahsoka wondered how many people were going to get killed getting her and Anakin out. Anakin’s anxiety spiked as Obi-Wan got closer, but he didn’t say anything until a blue lightsaber sank through the wall next to him. 

“Stay back,” he warned Ahsoka, and she did, trying to project a warning to Obi-Wan, but Anakin’s churning presence was clouding the Force.

Obi-Wan finished cutting a circle in the wall and pushed in, causing the slab to fall forward and make a hole. He deactivated his saber and ducked his head to enter. Anakin stepped to the side, out of his line of sight.

As soon as Obi-Wan cleared the entrance, Anakin tackled him, knocking Obi-Wan off of his feet with a look of shock. “Ana-” he started, confusion clear in his voice and his Force signature, but then he grunted as Anakin wrested his lightsaber from his grip. The younger man sprang back, panting slightly, and lit it up.

“I’m sorry, Master,” he said, and Ahsoka didn’t know what it meant that he seemed to mean it,“but there’s no time to explain. Don’t follow me,” he said, and ducked out of the hole, leaving Obi-Wan on the ground.

“Anakin, wait!” Obi-Wan said, getting to his feet and exiting. Ahsoka followed on his heels, and the two of them ran down a corridor after Anakin.

Suddenly, Anakin whirled, extending his hand and sending a wave of energy at Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, catching them off guard and knocking the wind out of them. “I said not to follow me,” he growled, the Darkness much clearer in his Force signature now. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, “but you two will just slow me down.” As Ahsoka and Obi-Wan struggled to their feet, Anakin hurried away. This time, they didn’t give chase.

Obi-Wan looked at Ahsoka with dismay. “What happened to him?” he asked. “He felt - he was using the Dark side.”

Ahsoka nodded, grimly. “I’m sorry, Obi-Wan,” she said, as gently as she could. “Sidious has been encouraging Darkness in him for longer than either of us knew,” she said. “He threatened the people Anakin cares about the most, and - he Fell because he thought that would give him the power to protect them.”

Obi-Wan frowned. “Senator Amidala,” he guessed.

“She’s pregnant,” Ahsoka explained. “Anakin is the father.”

“Force,” Obi-Wan said. “I - I had no idea. I knew they were together, but - not like that. Not in a child-producing way. Force, does the man not know how to use birth control?” 

“Apparently not.” Ahsoka paused as she heard the sound of blaster fire from somewhere within the facility. “Where are we?” she asked. “And how did you find us?”

“You’re on the planet Mustafar,” Obi-Wan said. “After we destroyed Grievous, we found a record of a holocall he made to the Separatist Council, urging them to meet here. Utapau isn’t far from Mustafar, so I came directly from there. It wasn’t until we were nearly upon the facility that I sensed yours and Anakin’s presences.”

“Am I in trouble with the Council?” Ahsoka asked.

“No. After the stunt you pulled off in Kamino, we were prepared to believe you had allied with the Sith, but Plo Koon looked into the damage that had been done, and it confirmed that there was something we had missed. They have people working on that. And we’ve had our doubts regarding the Chancellor for a while - if anything, you claiming he was a Sith only added evidence against him.” He paused. “I am sorry we did not act sooner. We should have believed you originally, but I assure you that now, the Council is fully prepared to believe your story - as unlikely as that story may sound.”

“Good.” Ahsoka frowned. “We need to get back to Coruscant.”

“Cody and the rest of the 212th are rounding up the leaders of the Separatist Council as we speak. We should be able to leave shortly.”

“And then we need to go after Anakin.”

Obi-Wan sighed. As ever, his emotions were hidden, but if Ahsoka had to guess she would say he was afraid of something. “I agree. How is he expecting to find Palpatine, exactly? Goodness knows the man can keep his Force presence masked.”

“I have a feeling he isn’t going to make it hard for him,” Ahsoka said. “If he can convince Anakin to join him, he’ll be a powerful tool. And if he can’t, better to have the most powerful Jedi out of the way than trying to hunt you down.”

Obi-Wan frowned and stroked his beard. “I see your point. But how are we going to find him? He certainly isn’t going to make it easy for us.”

An idea started to take place in Ahsoka’s head. “I may have an idea for that,” she said, “but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“Well, let’s hear it.”

Obi-Wan did not like the plan. In fact, he vehemently disagreed with nearly every aspect of the plan, but after admitting that he didn’t have a quicker or better idea, he conceded. “I doubt the rest of the Council will see it your way,” he said, as they walked back to his ship. 

“Good thing you’re good at convincing them, then,” Ahsoka said. 

Cody jogged up to them as they boarded. “General,” he said, standing at attention, “we’ve secured the facility and taken the Separatist leaders into custody.”

“Very good, Cody. Have the men pack up at once; we’re shipping out sooner than expected. I need to get back to Coruscant immediately.”

“Yes sir. Two ships went into hyperspace before we could get to them, but the major leaders of the Separatists are accounted for.”

“We’re aware. I don’t guess you know where they could be headed?”

“Trajectory was towards the Core, but that’s pretty much the only way to go, from here.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Very well. Get everyone loaded up and ready to go.”

“Yes sir,” Cody said, and ran off to assemble the troops. 

Ahsoka hadn’t been on a Star Destroyer since Mandalore, she realized. The familiar layout of the ship sent a chill through her as she remembered running through the corridors with Rex, trying to evade the blasters of her own men. She firmly pushed that memory down and followed Obi-Wan to the bridge, where he made sure they were ready to go.

Once Obi-Wan had made his report to the Council and they were in hyperspace, Obi-Wan turned to Ahsoka. “I think you’d better tell me everything you can about this future of yours,” he said, his arms crossed. 

“I will,” Ahsoka promised. “Could I get something to eat first, though? I haven’t had anything since we were en route to Kamino.”

“Of course,” Obi-Wan said. “There’s plenty of food in the galley - I’ll make tea, as well.”

“Thank you,” Ahsoka said. They made their way to the galley, and she searched around for something edible before deciding on a packet of bantha jerky that looked good. She sat at a table as Obi-Wan made the tea.

She’d seen him do it before, of course. Obi-Wan making tea on long journeys was as predictable as traffic in Coruscant. But maybe it was her age, or the fact that Ahsoka had so rarely spent time around Obi-Wan without the presence of Anakin, but she never really watched him do it. He was very methodical. He took two heaping spoonfuls of tea leaves from a yellow jar on the counter and dumped them into the kettle. He then filled up the kettle about halfway full with water from the hot spigot. He brought that over to the table to rest. 

“So, Ahsoka,” he said, while he waited for the brew to steep, “I’m afraid I don’t know where to begin.” 

“I’ve been trying to decide that myself,” Ahsoka admitted. “It’s a long story.”

Obi-Wan smiled tightly. “It’s a two-day journey to Coruscant. I understand if you don’t want to talk about it yet.”

“No, I do.” She paused. “Thank you. For believing me, even if you didn’t at first.”

Obi-Wan looked off. “I didn’t want to believe you, but… stranger things have happened,” he said. He didn’t sound as though all of those stranger things were good.

Ahsoka realized suddenly that she and Obi-Wan were nearly the same age. It was a sobering thought. She was a leader in the Rebellion, to be sure - in the inner circle, but Obi-Wan was in charge of millions of Republic troops. She had always thought he was old and wise and capable, but seeing him now, Ahsoka thought that maybe she just hadn’t seen him as a person. 

“I don’t know a lot about the details of the Republic’s fall,” she admitted. “Rex and I had just escaped Order 66, and we were hiding out. When I finally managed to check the news, it was all propaganda. Even when I joined the Rebellion, the leaders who knew what happened never wanted to talk about it. I understood - I’d lost a lot, too. So I don’t have all of the answers you’re looking for.

“But I know a few things. One, the Jedi were destroyed. Myself, Yoda, and a few others remained, but off the top of my head I would guess less than ten of us escaped.” Obi-Wan drew a sharp intake of breath at that, but he let her continue. “Two,” she said, “Chancellor Palpatine became Emperor Palpatine, and he ruled with a durasteel fist. Hundreds of star systems were razed or enslaved just because he wanted to make examples.” 

Obi-Wan’s jaw was clenched, but he didn’t say anything. Ahsoka stared at the kettle, which was steaming lightly. “And three,” she said, “and this I didn’t realize until much, much later: Anakin Skywalker was the Emperor’s right-hand man. He was called Darth Vader, a - a terrifying spectre with a red lightsaber and no mercy.” She kept her eyes bored into the kettle. “I fought him, just before I came to this time. Any trace of Anakin was gone. I didn’t want to believe it, but - it’s true.”

Obi-Wan looked stricken. He didn’t say anything for a long while. “I - the tea,” he said, finally, and drew himself up. How his shields were so impeccable after the information he had just learned was beyond Ahsoka, but she didn’t mention it. Carefully, Obi-Wan poured a little of the brew into two mugs before filling each to the top with water from the hot spigot. “Sugar?” he asked.

“No, thank you,” Ahsoka said. Obi-Wan nodded faintly and brought the mugs over to the table. Ahsoka pretended not to notice the way his hands shook, slightly.

“Do you think he’s - become that?” Obi-Wan asked.

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka answered honestly. “He only Fell because Sidious threatened Padmé and his baby. He didn’t try to hurt us. Maybe he can still be saved.”

Obi-Wan stared into his tea like it was the reason everything bad had ever happened to him. “Do you really think so?” 

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka said again. She hesitated, hating what she was about to say. “But if he can’t - we have to be ready to do what we can to stop him.”

Obi-Wan looked like he’d rather jump out of the airlock than do that, but he nodded. “I understand,” he said. 

Ahsoka softened. “If it came to that,” she said, “if there were - any other way…” but she trailed off.

“He’s one of the best swordsmen in the Order,” Obi-Wan said helplessly. “We couldn’t send just anyone out after him. Mace, maybe, and Yoda, but other than them - I was his teacher,” he said. “I - I know his weaknesses better than anyone.” His face crumpled.

“We don’t know that it’ll come to that,” Ahsoka said firmly. 

Obi-Wan nodded miserably and took a sip of tea, though it didn’t look like it was soothing him. Ahsoka reached an arm out, tentatively, to his shoulder. He looked up at her. “I’m sorry,” she said. It wasn’t enough, she knew, and in the Rebellion it was a phrase too often said and never enough, but she meant it, and she knew the man sitting across from her knew that. “I thought he was dead for sixteen years,” she said. “When I found out what he had become - it was like my whole world collapsed. I joined the Rebellion partly because I thought it was something he would have done.”

Obi-Wan offered a smile, sad but sincere. “It is,” he said. “I’m sure of it. Anakin - our Anakin - he would have been so proud of you,” he said. 

Ahsoka felt tears threatening to show themselves, and now it was her turn to stare morosely into her tea. “I like to think so,” she said. 

“For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you,” Obi-Wan said. 

Ahsoka smiled tightly, a tear making its first appearance. She brushed it away quickly. “It was so hard,” she said. “And now I have the chance to change it, but - what if nothing changes? What if everything we have changed is undone?” She closed her eyes, letting another tear leak out. “I could have killed him - I had the opportunity to, more than once. But I was so sure that he wouldn’t Fall if only I was there this time.” She balled her hands into fists and let the tears run down her cheeks. 

Obi-Wan sighed. “If you failed him, so did I,” he said quietly. “There is plenty of blame to go around if one wishes, but Ahsoka - you did not push him to Fall. He chose that path by himself.”

Ahsoka nodded, but she was having trouble believing it. “I don’t want to lose him again,” she said. 

“I know,” Obi-Wan said, his tone heavy. “Neither do I.”

Chapter Text

Ahsoka spent much of the rest of the journey back to Coruscant trying to rest. She slept fitfully, when she did at all, dreaming constantly of Anakin and Vader and the blinding fear that she was too late. Eventually, after several fruitless attempts at a full night’s rest, she found herself curled up in a tucked-away cabin in the middle of the night cycle, watching the stars outside. 

A few minutes passed before she sensed Obi-Wan’s presence, and looked up to see him standing in the entrance. 

“Couldn’t sleep?” she offered, gesturing to the chair opposite her. 

Obi-Wan sighed and took the offered seat. “I’m afraid not,” he said. “I sensed you in here and was wondering if you might like the company.”

“That sounds great, about now. Anything to keep me out of my own head.” Ahsoka looked away from the window. “Do you want tea, or anything?”

“No, no thank you. It will only make it more difficult to sleep, and I would like at least a little rest before we reach Coruscant.”

Ahsoka nodded. 

“I was wondering,” Obi-Wan said, after a pause, “if you could tell me more about the rebellion you were a part of. I’d like some good news, if there is any.”

Ahsoka smiled. “It’s not much, but we’re a thorn in the Empire’s side, that’s for sure.” She hummed thoughtfully. “I guess the leaders of the Rebellion have already kind of started it, though they don’t know that yet. Senators Bail Organa and Mon Mothma are the leaders. In the last days of the Republic, they’d created a coalition of systems that were going to ask the Chancellor to give up his emergency powers once the war was over.” She frowned. “I think Padmé may have been a part of that as well.” 

It was Obi-Wan’s turn to frown. “She didn’t survive, then? Or her and Anakin’s child?”

“No,” Ahsoka said. “The Emperor threw a huge funeral for her - I think he blamed her death on the Jedi, though I don’t remember exactly what he said. More likely she was assassinated to stop her from opposing the Emperor.”

“If Anakin believed she was killed by the Jedi I’m sure that would have contributed to his Fall,” Obi-Wan said quietly.

“Probably,” Ahsoka said. The Force in the cabin hummed sadly. “Enough about Anakin,” Ahsoka said firmly. “Back to the Rebellion: it’s small, but when I left it was growing every day, and public support for us was on the rise, too.” She smiled. “As much as they tried to, the Empire could never totally extinguish hope,” she said. “You were practically a legend, you know. You and Anakin both.”

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “A legend?”

Ahsoka smiled wider this time. “You two were the most famous duo of the Clone Wars, and even after the official statement on the Jedi was that they were traitors, people didn’t forget that. It didn’t hurt that you were number one on the galaxy’s most wanted list.” Her smile faded, slightly. “I don’t know if you made it, though,” she said. “I assumed you had for the longest time because of the wanted list. Every so often, I would get word of a Kenobi sighting, and I would go searching around, but it was always a false lead. And when I started working full-time for the Rebellion, Bail told me you died, so I figured you either must really be dead, or you had a very classified mission, one that not even I could know about.” 

Obi-Wan hummed. “It wouldn’t be the first time I joined a rebellion,” he said. “When I was fourteen, I briefly left the Jedi Order to fight with one.”

Ahsoka’s eyes widened. “You left the Order?” Briefly, a little of the old hurt came flooding back. “I never knew that.”

Obi-Wan winced. “It’s not one of my fonder memories,” he admitted. “But - yes, I did.”

Out of all the Jedi in the entire Order, Obi-Wan seemed to Ahsoka to be about the last person likely to leave. She sighed. “That’s - wow. A lot to take in.”

Obi-Wan launched into the story, Ahsoka listening raptly. By the time he finished explaining, she shook her head. “I never would have guessed. You’re full of surprises.” She looked out the window again. “Here’s a story for you. Do you remember Hondo Ohnaka?”

Obi-Wan’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “Unfortunately.” 

“Well, one time an operative of mine was in a pinch on Bespin -”

“Hondo survived ? All of the Jedi were obliterated, but that pirate lived?”

Ahsoka laughed. “Not only that, but he smuggles for the Rebellion on occasion. He’s no friend to the Empire.”

“A future where Hondo is one of the good  guys? Now I know I never want your timeline to come true,” Obi-Wan remarked. 

The two of them continued to swap stories until the lingering fear surrounding their mission was all but gone. They talked until the night-cycle was nearly finished, but Ahsoka managed to sleep soundly for a few hours, and woke up feeling more or less refreshed.

At last, they dropped out of hyperspace and began the descent to Coruscant. Ahsoka was anxious; she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were already too late. They docked in a hangar near the Temple, and Commander Cody oversaw the procession of the Separatist leaders to a detention facility to await trial before the Senate. Once that was done, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan headed to the Jedi Temple. 

Obi-Wan had made a report to the Council while they were still en route, detailing the capture of the Separatists as well as Palpatine’s capture of Anakin and Ahsoka. He neglected to mention Anakin’s Fall, saying only that he had run after Palpatine in an attempt to stop him. This last part was at Ahsoka’s request; she maintained that what little chance they had to save Anakin would be dashed if the Council knew. Obi-Wan hadn’t been thrilled with that, but he had agreed after discussion at length.

Their first stop was acquiring new lightsabers, a process that unfortunately took some time. Ahsoka much lamented the loss of her sabers, and the crystals she ended up with from the Archives just didn’t feel right. But they would have to make do. After a hurried couple hours constructing, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan made their way to report to the Council.

When they entered the Council Chamber to discuss the plan to find Sidious, they were met with the expected level of outrage. Yoda, in particular, didn’t like the idea, and when Yoda didn’t like plans they tended not to go forward. 

“Councilors,” Obi-Wan said, keeping his voice level. “This may be our best chance at finding him. We cannot predict how long he will remain on-planet, and once he leaves, our chances of finding him become even lower. I have tried to come up with a better solution myself, but I do not have one.”

“And know, do you, that into a trap this plan of yours will not fall?” Yoda asked.

“Masters,” Ahsoka cut in, “there is no way to be certain of that. But even if it is a trap, hopefully the trap will lead to Sidious. We don’t have another option.”

Yoda sniffed, but he seemed hard-pressed to argue. After more conferring, it was agreed that Ahsoka’s plan would go forward immediately.

They walked out of the Council room. “Now,” Ahsoka muttered, “time to find my younger self. That should be fun.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“I don’t know for sure, but we know at least one person who has her personal comm,” Ahsoka said. They made their way to the clone trooper barracks. “He should be in - they arrived from Mandalore last night.”

They arrived, and Obi-Wan spoke to the trooper on duty. “Is Commander Rex of the 501st here?” he asked.

The trooper glanced at his datapad. “Looks like he checked in a few hours ago. Want me to get him for you, General?”

“Please.”

“Just a moment.” The trooper jogged off to one of the barracks while Obi-Wan and Ahsoka stood waiting.

“It’ll be weird to see him,” Ahsoka said. “Not sure how I’m going to explain everything, to be honest.”

“I’m sure he’ll take it in stride,” Obi-Wan said.

“Hm,” Ahsoka said. The trooper was back with Rex.

Rex looked at Obi-Wan, then, with confusion, at Ahsoka. “Sir?” he asked.

“Rex,” Ahsoka began, “I know this is going to sound unbelievable, but I’m Ahsoka, from sixteen years in the future.”

Rex opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then shut it. “Ah,” he began, trying again, “okay.”

“It’s true,” Obi-Wan confirmed. 

Rex nodded. “Well. Commander,” he said, looking at Ahsoka. “What can I do?”

“Why don’t we take a walk,” Obi-Wan suggested. The three of them exited the barracks and went back to the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan led them to his quarters, where they would be ensured some privacy.

“We need you to contact the younger version of myself,” Ahsoka said once they’d settled in. “It’s an emergency.”

“Right. Okay,” Rex said. “Do I get to find out what all this is about?”

“Once she gets here, we’ll explain everything to you both,” Ahsoka said.

“Okay.” Rex tapped his comm. It connected, and a tinny voice filtered out.

“Rex?” 

“Commander,” Rex said. “Unfortunately, there’s an - emergency,” he said, looking to Ahsoka and Obi-Wan to confirm. They nodded.

Ahsoka’s voice through the comm immediately sounded worried. “An emergency? Are you alright? What happened?” she demanded.

“I can’t tell you over comm,” Rex said. “Meet me at the Temple as fast as you can and we can explain everything.”

There was a slight pause. “I’m done doing the Jedi’s work for them,” Ahsoka said.

“Ahsoka,” Obi-Wan broke in. “It’s Anakin. I can’t tell you more over an unsecure comm. We need your help.”

“Fine,” Ahsoka said. “I’ll be there soon.” She disconnected the call.

Rex shifted. “This better be good,” he said. 

“Unfortunately not,” Ahsoka said. She paused and made a face. “I can sense myself,” she said, looking at Obi-Wan. “That’s… very strange.”

“I would imagine so,” Obi-Wan said. “Would anyone like something to eat or drink while we wait for Ahsoka to arrive?”

“No, thank you, sir,” Rex said.

“No thanks.” Ahsoka paused. “It’s going to be confusing with both of us,” she said. 

“I’m still having trouble understanding what’s going on,” Rex admitted. 

Ahsoka promised him again that they’d fill him as well as her younger self in on everything. She sat on a chair in Obi-Wan’s living space and watched as he made himself a cup of tea. 

After a brief wait, there was a knock at the door. Obi-Wan set down his mug and answered it. Eighteen-year-old Ahsoka stood in the doorway, looking nonplussed. “So,” she said, “what’s going on?”

Ahsoka stood up from where she was seated and walked into her younger self’s line of sight. “Hi,” she said.

Her younger self frowned. “That’s - what is going on?” she asked again. “The Force is telling you that you’re - me - but that’s impossible,” she said, looking to Obi-Wan to confirm. “Right?”

“You might want to take a seat,” Obi-Wan said. 

Ahsoka’s younger self did so, sitting next to Rex. She continued to look at Ahsoka apprehensively. 

“I am you,” Ahsoka began, “from sixteen years in the future. In my future, the Republic fell, and the Jedi were wiped out. I’ve been trying to prevent that from happening. But we have a problem,” she said. “The Sith Lord that you’ve been hunting for is here, on Coruscant, and he’s hiding himself very well.” She looked at her younger self. “We need to talk to Maul,” she said. “I know what he told you on Mandalore - we need to talk to him about revisiting that offer. Without him, we don’t have a chance of finding the Sith.”

Ahsoka’s younger self looked floored. She paused, then crossed her arms. “No,” she said. “No way. Maul is evil - you two of all people should know that,” she said, pointing at Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. “And what does this have to do with Anakin?”

Ahsoka struggled to maintain eye contact with her younger self. “Remember what Maul told you about Anakin,” she said. “It’s true.”

Ahsoka’s younger self stood up, eyes flashing. “It’s not true,” she said. “Whoever the hell you are, I suggest you drop the charade.” 

“Ahsoka,” Ahsoka said, and oh, it was strange to say that, “I’m not lying. You can sense it, can’t you?”

Ahsoka’s younger self looked away. “It can’t be true,” she said. 

“It is,” Ahsoka said, gently. “We need to find Sidious because Anakin’s going after him, and we need to stop him before he kills Anakin - or worse, convinces him to join him.”

Ahsoka’s younger self took a deep breath. She looked at Rex for a steadying moment, then back at Ahsoka. “Fine,” she said. “Okay.” She started for the door. “Let’s go, then,” she said. 

The four of them hurried down to the lower levels, where Maul was currently being held in a cell very similar to the one Ahsoka had been in just days earlier. When they arrived, the Zabrak was pacing the cell, looking for all the world like a wampa in a cage.

“Maul,” Ahsoka’s younger self proclaimed steadily. 

Maul turned to look at them. His mouth moved to snarl when he saw Obi-Wan, but then his gaze flicked back and forth between Ahsoka and her younger self, and his expression changed to one of curiosity. 

“Tano,” Maul said in response. “Pray tell, who is your… associate?” he asked.

“I am Ahsoka Tano,” Ahsoka said, and Maul’s eyes widened. Ahsoka straightened her shoulders and stared evenly at the man inside the cell. “And we need your help.”

Chapter Text

Maul grinned in a self-satisfied way. He gestured to his cell. “Well… Lady Tano,” he said. He projected an air of confidence that the occupant of a cell in the Jedi Temple certainly should not have. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We need your help to find Sidious,” Ahsoka said, ignoring the flare of anxiety she felt come from her younger self at the mention of the name. 

“How interesting.” Maul sat down nonchalantly. “And why do I get the feeling that’s not the only person you need help finding?”

Ahsoka fought to keep her expression neutral. Maul knew how to get under people’s skin better than most, but she couldn’t afford to rise to the challenge. Beside her, she could feel her younger self trying the same thing, with limited success. 

“Do you really think Sidious is going to be merciful if he wins and finds you here?” Ahsoka’s younger self snapped, stepping up to the ray shield. “Like it or not, we both have the same goal here.”

Maul closed his eyes. “I think I preferred when there was only one of you,” he said. 

Ahsoka’s younger self crossed her arms and stuck her chin up, and Ahsoka mentally startled. She must have picked that mannerism up from Anakin, though she’d never realized that before. “I think you’ll find yourself lucky we’re asking for your help at all,” she said. “This is the best outcome you can hope for.”

In an instant, Maul stood up as well, and with his cybernetic legs he towered over Ahsoka’s younger self. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he said. His tone was soft, but there was a threat barely concealed beneath it. Out of her periphery, Ahsoka saw Rex put a hand on his blaster. “What could be better,” Maul asked, “than to watch the downfall of everything you love?” His gaze flicked over to Obi-Wan. “You know all about that feeling, don’t you, Kenobi?” he asked. 

Ahsoka felt more than saw Obi-Wan stiffen next to her, but he didn’t take the bait. “If you can’t help us,” he said, evenly, “we’ll find another way.”

Maul smiled. “You think you can find my Master so easily? He’s good at hiding, better than you even know. No, without me, you don’t stand a chance.”

“Like kriff we don’t,” Ahsoka’s younger self spat. “I can’t believe we thought this was a good idea.” She turned around to give Ahsoka a look. “We’re wasting time here,” she said.

Ahsoka looked evenly at Maul. “Do you want to know what happened to you, in my future?”

Maul sneered at her. “No,” he said. 

“You eke out a miserable existence in hiding, just like I do,” Ahsoka said. “You have no friends, no life, no purpose. No power, even over yourself.” She looked at him evenly. “As far as I know, you spent nearly every day of the last sixteen years running from Sidious, and when he finally found you, he didn’t even bother coming himself - he sent his dogs to get rid of you, because you weren’t worth the effort.” 

“You’re lying,” Maul said.

“I think you know I’m not,” Ahsoka said, letting her tone slip cooler. “You want him dead just as much as we do.”

Maul positively growled. “Do you not understand anything?” he demanded, raising his voice for the first time. “We - there is no chance to defeat him if he already has Skywalker. Together, they are unstoppable - I have seen it,” he hissed. “It is part of his plan.” He glared at Ahsoka. “You came to me too late, Lady Tano,” he spat out. “I hope he makes your deaths slow and painful, and I have no doubt he will.”

“If you won’t help us find him, he’s already won,” Ahsoka said. “Do you think you stand a better chance against him locked up in here?”

Maul paused. “What are you proposing?” he asked. “Surely you wouldn’t let me out.”

From what Ahsoka sensed, none of her companions thought she should. It hadn’t been part of the plan, anyway. 

“If I did, would you take us to him?” Ahsoka asked.

“Uh, Commander?” Rex asked. “Should we - have a chat about this?”

“I agree with Rex,” Obi-Wan said.

“Let’s hear her out,” Ahsoka’s younger self said, surprising Ahsoka. She looked up at Ahsoka as if to say this better be good. “After all, if I could take down Maul one on one, it stands to reason that the four of us could do it easily, if it became necessary.”

“He could hurt someone,” Obi-Wan began, just as Maul snarled, “I went easy on you.”

“We aren’t going to turn him loose permanently,” Ahsoka said. “I agree that that’s too dangerous.” She turned to Maul. “But I can give you the chance to help us defeat Sidious,” she said. “If we lose, at least you get to go down fighting and not rotting in a cell. If we win, it can only help your chances with the Jedi to have helped take down the Sith behind everything.”

Maul seemed to think it over. “Fine,” he said, after a pause. “I will take you to Sidious.” He paused. “If and when we defeat him, however, I will not be waltzing back to the Jedi Temple to be imprisoned for the rest of my life,” he warned.

“Deal,” Ahsoka said. 

“Am I the only one who thinks this is a very, very bad idea?” Rex muttered, looking at the rest of the group with incredulity. 

“We took him down once, Rexter,” Ahsoka’s younger self said with more confidence than Ahsoka thought she probably felt. 

“Yeah, and I haven’t forgiven him for the damage he caused along the way,” Rex said. 

“None of us have,” Ahsoka assured Rex, though she could tell both Rex and her younger self didn’t quite believe it. 

Maul looked like he very much enjoyed the group’s discomfort at the idea of working with him. He smiled. “Well, then it’s a good thing we’re on the same side, isn’t it,” he said lightly. “Lady Tano, if you please.” He gestured to the side of his cell that held the lock.

Ahsoka swallowed hard and prayed she wasn’t making a mistake. With a wave of her hand, the lock came undone, and Maul stepped out. 

He stretched, positively basking in the new sensation of the Force. Ahsoka glared at him. “There are children in here,” she warned. “Keep your presence shielded or so help me I will put you back in that cell.”

Maul rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “Why of course,” he said. He turned towards Obi-Wan, who had shifted into an athletic stance. “Scared, Kenobi?” he asked, grinning that awful smile again.

Obi-Wan, to his credit, said nothing, though Ahsoka noted that he had shifted to be slightly between her younger self and Maul. It was a gesture that she probably would have found annoying, but she was glad to see it nonetheless. 

“Very well,” Maul said. “Now, then. We don’t have any time to waste.”

They snuck out of the Temple through a less-well-known back entrance, though Ahsoka warned Maul that it could only be used to get out, not in. It was meant as an escape route, and alarms would go off if someone tried to enter using it. 

“So,” Maul said once they were outside, “don’t I get a weapon? To defend myself with, in case we come across any… unsavory beings?” 

“You’ll get a weapon if we get to Sidious,” Obi-Wan said, his tone clipped. Ahsoka knew he was only barely going along with their plan; even if it worked (and that was a big if), he would probably be flayed alive by the Council. She was a little surprised he hadn’t called it off when she suggested they take Maul with them - after all, the Council had only just barely agreed that they could talk to him - but she thought back to her conversations with him on the Negotiator and decided to revise her view of him. Obi-Wan, she was realizing, could be just as hellbent as herself. Especially when it came to potentially saving Anakin.

“Very well,” Maul said again, harsher. “I certainly hope we don’t run into any problems getting there. The lower levels of Coruscant are not for the faint of heart.” His lip curled, and Ahsoka’s younger self glared at him. 

Ahsoka felt vaguely embarrassed by the way her former self telegraphed her emotions. Something else she picked up from Anakin, she thought. It had been something she’d quickly learned to stop doing once the Empire took over. Ahsoka remembered being eighteen, of course. She had already seen far too much violence and war for a lifetime, but she had insisted it didn’t affect her. She’d liked it, even, found it was easier to stay grounded in the middle of a battle than alone with her thoughts. And even after the Jedi had failed her, Ahsoka had had the kind of easy self-confidence in her own abilities that was hard to come by. As they walked through one of the midlevels, she found herself falling into step with Obi-Wan, bringing up the rear of their little party. 

“It’s strange, isn’t it,” Obi-Wan said, interrupting Ahsoka’s thoughts.

“What?”

“To see her. Your younger self, I mean.”

Ahsoka kept her eyes fixed on Maul, who was leading the group towards a lift. “Very,” she admitted. “She’s so - sure,” she settled on. “I mean, she feels like the Jedi failed her - which they did,” she added, “but she knows what she’s doing is good,” she said. 

“Don’t you feel that way about your Rebellion?” Obi-Wan asked, eyebrow raised.

“Of course! Without question, the Rebellion is good,” Ahsoka said. “I know the Empire is evil, and it’s not a question of fighting against them, it’s just - it’s harder,” she admitted, wishing she could find the right words. She sighed. “The Republic fell,” she said, “but in a lot of ways, it didn’t so much as fall as it did transform. In a lot of ways, the Separatists were right.” Saying it out loud didn’t make it easier, but she struggled forward. “I mean, they had problems, of course - but in a lot of ways, they wanted freedom from a regime that didn’t treat them as equals. It’s hard not to see the similarities between their fight and my own.” Not to mention that a sizeable portion of the Rebellion actually had been Separatists, and maintained that the Separatist cause had never truly died. 

“I guess what I’m trying to say,” Ahsoka said, “is that she - my younger self - she still believes that in its core, the Republic is what she’s fighting for. And I’m worried that it can’t be saved.”

They walked in silence for a beat before Obi-Wan responded. “I understand,” he said, finally, which hadn’t been what Ahsoka had been expecting. “That’s one of the reasons the Jedi have maintained autonomy - though it’s true that we have less of that every day. You feel that the Republic has lost the ideals that make it great, and so when the Empire came about nominally, for many people it was a barely-noticeable regime change. To borrow a saying from my Padawan: same poodoo, different phase.”

“Yeah. And I wonder how the Jedi got so off-course, and if that’s what led to their fall just as much as the Emperor’s order did.”

Obi-Wan reached up to stroke his beard. “I agree that the Jedi have fallen from what they should be - but I believe in the ideals of the Republic, even if it fails to meet them. I must. If I don’t, what else is there to believe in?”

If Ahsoka had been feeling particularly snippy, she might have responded with “the Force” or something equally platitudical, but she didn’t. Instead, she said, “I don’t know.”

“The Republic is far from perfect,” Obi-Wan said. “Anyone who has traveled outside their own front door can see that. But democracy, freedom, equality, justice - those are things worth fighting for. And I would be a terrible Jedi if I did not believe that.” They were almost to the lift, but before they got on, Obi-Wan paused and looked Ahsoka straight in the eye. “If we lose sight of why we are fighting, we are lost,” he said. 

Ahsoka wished she could see it that simply. The problem, she thought, wasn’t that she didn’t know why she was fighting, it was that the ideals she believed in were all too easy to mask. The Republic and the Jedi may have been founded on good ideals, but Ahsoka had seen enough of both to come to the conclusion that they were far from aligned with them. 

They crammed into the lift, all five of them, and Maul entered a number that was very, very far down. Not the furthest down Ahsoka had ever been, but near to it. As they descended, Ahsoka felt the anxiety in the lift ratchet up. 

Maul stood with his back leaned against the door to the lift, surveying the rest of them. He looked between Ahsoka and her younger self again. “I’m sure my Master would love to get his hands on whatever brought you here, Lady Tano,” he said, addressing Ahsoka. “There are mentions of a world between worlds in ancient Sith holocrons. Ways for the architects of the galaxy to move between their creations.”

“I didn’t come back here myself,” Ahsoka said. “I was pulled. I couldn’t do it if I tried.”

Maul hummed like he didn’t quite believe that. “I see,” he said. “That explains why you didn’t come back a little sooner.”

Ahsoka didn’t answer him, but her younger self looked up at her, questions written in her gaze. 

“Here we are,” Maul murmured after a few minutes of silence. The lift finally shuddered to a halt, and the door opened to reveal a barely-lit, dingy street. The usual Coruscant traffic buzz was quieter and came from far above, which unsettled Ahsoka not a little. Maul’s eyes gleamed in the near darkness. “Be on your guard,” he said. 

Ahsoka pulled out her lightsaber, though she didn’t ignite it. The group crowded a little closer together, walking stealthily. Ahsoka had the uneasy thought that Maul might be trying to get rid of them before he went off to hide from Sidious, preferring his chances by himself to a direct confrontation with the Sith. Still they followed him until he came to a deep crevasse. 

“After you, Lady Tano,” he said, gesturing for Ahsoka to walk across a pipe that traversed the crevasse. She looked down. Unable to see the bottom and sure that there was no speeder traffic below to land on, Ahsoka was sure a fall would kill her. Nervously, she stepped onto the pipe, feeling Maul’s gaze bore into the back of her head.

But she made it safely across. After her came Obi-Wan, who similarly had no difficulties. Then Maul himself came. He arrived and stood next to Ahsoka, looking at her as if to say don’t you trust me?

Next came Ahsoka’s younger self. She was fearless, striding confidently across. The Force gave Ahsoka a warning barely in time to react. Maul pushed, and the pipe snapped in two, falling down to the levels below. Together, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan barely caught Ahsoka’s younger self, holding her in the air. She was much closer to Rex’ side of the crevasse, so they floated her over to him.

By the time Ahsoka’s younger self was safely across the way, Maul had disappeared. Obi-Wan turned to Ahsoka. “We need to stick together,” he said. Ahsoka agreed.

“Rex, Ahsoka,” Ahsoka called, “stay close. See if you can get ahead and across to cut him off.” She reached out with the Force and was relieved to still detect Maul. “He’s not far,” she said. “If you find him, comm us.”

“Yes, sir,” Rex said, and Ahsoka nodded.

“Copy that, me,” she said, offering Ahsoka a two-fingered salute. “I can sense him too. He’s heading that way,” she said and pointed to her left, towards an even less-lit section of the city.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan ran towards Maul’s signature. They didn’t come across anyone, which Ahsoka didn’t like. Even in the seediest areas of the city-planet, there was usually someone lurking around. That she couldn’t sense anyone meant that someone had driven everyone else out.

Suddenly, Maul’s signature stopped running from them. Ahsoka frowned. She could sense the former Sith apprentice running towards them, which didn’t make any sense, unless - 

She reached out and her eyes widened. Sure enough, a familiar signature was hovering just beyond the limits of her ability to sense it. 

Anakin was shielding, but doing a bad job of it, and though the cracks Ahsoka could sense the Darkness, gathering like thunderclouds before a storm. She turned to Obi-Wan, who had an uncharacteristically unsure expression. “Can you sense him?” she asked.

“Maul, or Anakin?” Obi-Wan responded, tightly.

Ahsoka upped her own shields, though if she could sense Anakin, he could almost certainly sense her. She turned to Obi-Wan. “What do we do?” Meaning - was it better to go after Maul, who was getting closer by the second, or to let him run by them and confront Anakin?

“We have to do what we came here for,” Obi-Wan said grimly. He got on his comm. “Rex?”

“General,” Rex replied. 

“Have you found a way to get across?”

“Affirmative, sir. There’s another pipe not too far back.”

“Cross it,” Obi-Wan said. “Maul is coming to you. He’s running away. We’ve found Anakin. See if you can stay on Maul’s tail to wherever he goes, but don’t engage him unless you hear from me or you have to.”

“Understood, General,” Rex said.

“Good. Be careful,” Obi-Wan said, and cut the comm. He looked at Ahsoka, who nodded. Together, the crept closer to where they could sense Anakin’s presence. 

They finally arrived at an intersection of roads, one side of which backed directly up to the crevasse. Standing on the edge, his back to them, was Anakin.

“He said you’d come,” Anakin’s voice came, strangely toneless. 

“Anakin,” Ahsoka said, pulling her other lightsaber off of her belt. “Whatever he told you - he’s the enemy, remember?” She hoped her voice didn’t sound desperate.

“How could I forget?” Anakin turned to face them. His eyes, Ahsoka noted, were blue, though she thought she saw something simmering beneath them. “He has her,” he said quietly. “Padmé, and - our child.” He looked down. “I was too late,” he said.

“We can face him together,” Ahsoka said. “We can save her, and your child. We want to help you, Anakin,” she pleaded.

Anakin looked positively anguished. “I know,” he said. “But you can’t help me. You aren’t strong enough,” he said.

“Together, we are,” Obi-Wan said. “We promised never to go against the Sith alone again, remember?”

Anakin wrenched his gaze up to Obi-Wan. “There’s only one way for me to be strong enough to defeat him,” he said. He stepped closer to them. “I’m sorry. But I don’t have another choice.” He pulled out his lightsaber - no, it was Obi-Wan’s lightsaber, the one Anakin had stolen from him on Mustafar.

“You don’t have to do this, Anakin,” Ahsoka said, edging away. She turned so she and Obi-Wan were angled away from each other, a stance that would protect their backs. 

“I have to save her,” Anakin said. “I have to save my child. I have to defeat him. Can’t you see that?”

“The Dark Side is corrupting you, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. 

“No,” Anakin said. “The Dark Side is what will allow me to defeat him! You two are just holding me back!” His face twisted, and Ahsoka watched as his eyes flickered gold.

“Anakin-” Ahsoka started, but Anakin didn’t hear her. With a yell, he ignited Obi-Wan’s saber, and sprinted towards his friends.

Chapter Text

Ahsoka brought up her blade just in time to collide against Anakin’s. The lightsabers she had built in the Temple were green, like her first lightsabers, and the clash of green against blue reminded her too much of training sparring. She pushed back, but didn’t attack. Next to her, Obi-Wan had his guard up, but similarly didn’t attack. 

Anakin came after them again and again, and before long the three of them were engaged, fighting in the intersection next to the crevasse. In the low light, the brilliant glow of their sabers left impressions in her eyelids, and Ahsoka found herself relying more on her montrals to sense the presences around her than her eyes.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said, breathless, after rebutting Anakin’s attack and jumping back, “what do you hope to gain by killing us? We’re your friends; we want to help you!”

“It is my destiny -” swing, “- to destroy him!” Anakin swung his blade down in a move that nearly took off Obi-Wan’s head. 

“And how will destroying your friends help you do that?” Obi-Wan asked, finally getting Anakin into a saber lock. Both men were breathing hard, and a second later, Anakin shoved off in order to face Ahsoka, who was now to his right. With Anakin fighting Ahsoka, Obi-Wan breathed hard. “Anakin, we came here to help you take him down, not fight you!”

“Please, Anakin,” Ahsoka said. She let Anakin drive her backwards, knowing it would take the fight away from the edge and from Obi-Wan. 

“This is the only way I can become strong enough,” Anakin said, his conviction ringing loud and bright. “Only once I defeat you will I have the power to stop Sidious.”

Dimly, Ahsoka registered that Obi-Wan’s comm was going off, but she was too far away to tell who it was. All her attention was focused on Anakin, who was drawing on a seemingly endless source of power. More than once, Ahsoka saw a hole in his defenses - he was over guarding his right side, leaving Ahsoka room to strike with her shoto - but she didn’t take it. She didn’t think she could.

The problem was, even if it would be justified for her to kill Anakin in self-defense, a part of her couldn’t stop from thinking that he wasn’t fully gone yet - he hadn’t yet done all the unspeakable things that the Vader from her time had. If there was a way to stop it - even now - Ahsoka couldn’t kill him. 

“Where is he?” she asked, breathless. “Sidious. Is he near?”

Anakin didn’t respond, but his gaze flicked up to the building behind Ahsoka. It was as good as a confession. A grim idea began to form in her mind.

Anakin raised his lightsaber and brought it down hard, forcing Ahsoka to cross her blades in order to stop it from hitting her. With a grunt, she used the Force to push him off her, giving her the opportunity to jump to the side and miss his next stroke. Anakin was fighting like Vader and yet not; he was unhampered by Vader’s suit, but the raw power was all there. And he had so much power - Ahsoka was sure that if he had even a fraction more precision, she wouldn’t stand a chance. 

Thankfully, Obi-Wan chose that moment to return to the fight.

If Anakin’s style of fighting could be described as erratic, Obi-Wan’s was almost frighteningly in-control. He was shielding so much that his presence in the Force was barely perceptible, and his form looked like he was going through katas, not fighting an enemy. Ahsoka thought at first he must be handling the situation much, much better than her, but on second thought, perhaps he was going by muscle memory alone. One thing was clear: he had no desire to hurt Anakin. It was true that Soresu was a defensive form, but she hadn’t seen him attempt an offensive strike once. Instead, he parried like he was deflecting bolts, moving and disengaging his saber at a pace nobody could keep up for long.

Ahsoka gripped her sabers. “Hold him here,” she told Obi-Wan, and darted into the building. 

From the outside it wasn’t clear what the building had been, but it seemed to currently be empty It was low, a four-story rise, and each floor had a single hallway with rooms branching off on either side. Ahsoka tried the first door on her left. Unlocked. There was a rusted bedframe in there, as well as a small table and a refresher - the door to the refresher was broken and leaning up against the wall. The building must have been an apartment complex of some sort, then. Or a hotel? Either way, it was a good place to hide. With Sidious capable of hiding his presence so well, Ahsoka would have to check each room for him. She hoped Obi-Wan had the fight in him to give her the time she needed.

With a crunch, Ahsoka flung all of the doors on the first floor open. Sidious knew she was here, after all - there was no point in hiding her presence. She lit her sabers and used them to light the way as she checked the rooms.

None of the first-floor rooms held anything for her. When she got to the end of the hallway, she looked out the window to see Obi-Wan and Anakin, still fighting. They were arguing about something, it looked like. That was a good sign, Ahsoka decided. Maybe he was yelling some sense into him. 

That thought disappeared when Anakin delivered a trio of blows that by all rights should have cut Obi-Wan to pieces had he not sprung onto the top of a dumpster. She looked away and ran up the stairs to the second floor.

Again, she used the Force to throw all of the doors open, searching through each of them. Again, nothing. She sped up the stairs to the third floor, glancing out of the window to see Anakin, now also atop the dumpster, attempting to sweep Obi-Wan’s legs out from under him. Obi-Wan jumped, moving his lightsaber down as he did so. Anakin’s eyes widened, and he parried. It was the first offensive move Ahsoka had seen, and it seemed to engage a new fury in Anakin. Once more, she prayed Obi-Wan could hold him off, and threw open the doors to the third floor.

One of the doors didn’t open. Immediately suspicious, Ahsoka crept forward. She checked all of the other rooms, of course, but as she reached the room with the door closed, she moved her sabers into guard position before kicking in the door.

It didn’t budge. Ahsoka frowned. Sith magic, she thought. Her kick had enough force behind it to knock down two doors. She took a breath and sank her main lightsaber into it, holding her shoto up in case she needed to fight. 

Before long, she had carved a circular hole in the door, but when she tried to use the Force to remove it, it stayed where it was. Frustrated, Ahsoka left it be. She entered the room next to it and walked up the wall that separated the two rooms. Quickly, she used her sabers to cut a hole into that , pleased when she was finally able to yank the wall towards her to allow her to enter the room. 

“I was wondering when you would figure out a way to get in,” a voice said, and Ahsoka held up her saber.

“You won’t get away this time,” she said, scanning the room. It was larger than most of them - a corner suite, and had a window overlooking Anakin and Obi-Wan’s fight. In the corner, lying on a bed, was Padmé. She looked like she was sleeping. Ahsoka hoped she was sleeping. Sidious was clouding the Force, and Ahsoka couldn’t sense a thing. 

“That is not my goal,” Sidious said, stepping out of the shadows. “If I wanted to escape, I would already be gone by now.”

Ahsoka held up her lightsabers, trying to figure out a way to get between Padmé and the Sith. Unfortunately, it looked like he had the same idea. 

“Skywalker will make a fine apprentice,” Sidious said. “Already, he is more loyal than he knows. He would kill his best friends if it meant he had the power to defeat me.”

“That doesn’t sound much like loyalty to me,” Ahsoka said, refusing to look out the window. If Sidious was trying to get her to turn her attention elsewhere, he wasn’t going to succeed. Ahsoka had eyes only for the Sith.

“Isn’t it? He is loyal to power, to the strength that only comes from the Dark side. Once he realizes he cannot defeat me, he will have no choice but to learn from me or be destroyed.”

“Enough preamble,” Ahsoka said. She could feel anger rising in her head, the offer of the Dark to enhance her power, give her more of a chance… 

She shrugged it off. It was this room, this thing in front of her - he was poisoning the Force and she wouldn’t let him have her, too. With a rising sweep, Ahsoka attacked. 

It became clear after Sidious’ first few blows that Ahsoka didn’t stand a chance. For one, she hadn’t expected him to use Jar’kai against her, and for another, he was impossibly fast for a man his age. Even with all her acrobatics, Ahsoka was barely keeping up. 

Sidious came strong from her left, forcing Ahsoka to use her shoto to block his strike. He then stepped back and brought both blades down from above, forcing Ahsoka to crouch nearly to her knees to block them. She stumbled back, her arms aching. Sidious gave her no reprieve. Before she had the chance to get up, Sidious had attacked again, this time from the right, leaving Ahsoka’s left side defenseless while she used both sabers to stop him from landing a blow. Sidious pulled one blade around to cut her off, and Ahsoka rolled backwards just in time to save her life. As it was, Sidious’ blade cut a shallow gash into her lekku.

Ahsoka gasped in pain, trying to shove it out of her mind as she brought her sabers up. She was on the ground, now, blocking his strokes only just barely in time. Every second she still breathed seemed like a miracle. 

Then, when she thought there was no chance to save herself, a blue blade caught Sidious’ red one. Ahsoka looked up, expecting to see Obi-Wan.

Instead, Maul stood over her, glaring at Sidious. Behind him, Ahsoka’s younger self, holding only her shoto. Ahsoka looked between them in confusion, but she could ask how her younger self managed to convince the former Sith apprentice after they survived all this. 

“Rex?” Ahsoka asked, breathing too hard to formulate full sentences.

“Getting Padmé,” her younger self confirmed. She offered a hand. “Let’s go while he has him occupied,” she said. 

Maul was going to lose, too, Ahsoka thought. Especially if he only had one blade. She grimaced. 

“Maul,” she said, and threw her shoto. He caught it, just in time to use it to block Sidious’ overhead strike. 

She clipped her remaining saber onto her belt and hurried after her younger self to the hallway, where Rex was carrying Padmé bridal style. The three of them hurried down the staircase as quickly as they could.

When they exited the building, Ahsoka could see Anakin and Obi-Wan on the far side of the intersection, nearly on the edge of the crevasse. At their exit, Anakin gasped, clearly seeing Padmé. He began running towards them, but there was still a wild flash in his eye, and Ahsoka held up her blade to block his before he could cut Rex down.

“Give her to me!” Anakin ground out. “Where are you taking her?”

“Away from the Sith!” Ahsoka said. “We’re saving her!”

Obi-Wan caught up to them and stood by Ahsoka, saber raised. Ahsoka’s younger self was helping Rex with Padmé. 

That was when Maul fell out of the window with a loud enough crash to briefly catch everyone’s attention. He twisted, his borrowed sabers flashing, to land on his feet. After him leapt Sidious, who resumed his attack. 

Maul backed towards the small group - more accurately, Sidious forced him there. Anakin looked between the group and the Sith and then down to Obi-Wan’s lightsaber, which was still gripped in his hands. A horrified expression started to dawn on his face.

With a swipe that seemed almost casual for the Sith, Sidious took Maul’s right arm off. He fell to the ground with a yell. Ahsoka called the lightsaber to her and gave it back to her younger self. She made eye contact with Maul, and he threw her shoto. Sidious deflected it without looking.

Anakin stood in front of the group, his eyes darting between them and Sidious.

“Now, my boy,” Sidious said, “yield, and I promise to spare the life of your wife and child.”

Anakin gripped Obi-Wan’s saber tighter. “I won’t yield to you,” he spat. 

“Then you damn your family along with you,” Sidious growled, and leapt forward. 

Anakin met his blades in a crash of light. Ahsoka stepped forward to join the fight, but Anakin pushed her back. 

“You could have been great,” Sidious said, raining down blow after blow. “You are weak, Skywalker! And you will die because of it!” With a savage ferocity, Sidious kicked Anakin in the chest, knocking the lightsaber out of his grasp. Anakin lay on the ground, scrabbling to regain his weapon.

Sidious put his lightsabers away and raised his hands. Lightning poured out of his fingertips, hitting not just Anakin, but Ahsoka, her younger self, and Obi-Wan. Dimly, Ahsoka was aware of Rex putting Padmé down and firing a few shots, but then she saw him lifted up and scrabbling at his neck. Ahsoka tried to reach out to the Force, to get Palpatine to put him down, but she couldn’t. Her whole body hurt, and she was in spasms. She couldn’t have lifted a feather, much less break Sidious’ iron grip.

Sidious paused the barrage to gloat. “You will feel my power,” he said. He stepped over Anakin, who was lying prone on the ground. “You dared to try and oppose me?” he said, leaning over Ahsoka. “In under a day, the Kaminoans will have reversed the code. Already, the Separatists are captured. All that remains is for you to die, and then my Empire will be born.” He raised his arms to let loose another round of lightning.

“No,” Anakin said from behind him. He was staggering to his feet. “To get to them… you’ll have to go through me.” With what looked like a heroic effort, he held up Obi-Wan’s saber.

Sidious laughed. “So be it,” he said, and lightning poured from his fingertips.

Ahsoka still didn’t have the energy to get up, but she turned her head to watch. She opened her mind and poured every positive feeling she had towards Anakin, who had managed to catch Sidious’ lightning on his saber. He was shaking with the effort, but he took a step towards Sidious, and another, forcing the Sith towards the crevasse. 

“You think you have the power to defeat me, Skywalker?” Sidious mocked. “You are weak! You can barely hold me off, much less hope to win.”

They were nearing the edge of the crevasse, and Anakin’s steps were faltering. He held Obi-Wan’s saber aloft, but barely - Ahsoka could see that some of the lightning was sparking off and hitting him. 

“I don’t - need to win,” Anakin gritted out. “I just need - one more - step.” And then, Anakin dropped the saber.

Sidious cackled and unleashed his lightning, but Anakin pulled deep from some hidden well of strength, and - Ahsoka didn’t know how else to describe it - he exploded with the Force, sending Sidious hurtling off of the crevasse. Ahsoka could feel the shockwave wash over her, and she started. It was pure Light, not a trace of the Darkness she’d felt from him earlier.

Anakin swayed on his feet once, twice, then collapsed. It was almost like slow-motion: he fell to his knees, then sideways, like a paper doll. Next to her, Ahsoka felt Obi-Wan yell.

Vaguely, Ahsoka was aware of someone (Rex? Her younger self? It wasn’t Obi-Wan, he was screaming and he couldn’t get up) stumbling over to where Anakin had fallen, but there was darkness tugging at Ahsoka’s vision, and now that the battle was over, the adrenaline keeping her awake was wearing off.

The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes was Padmé, stirring awake.

Chapter Text

Ahsoka was unconscious for the actual rescue, but she was as unhappy as anybody to learn that it had been C-3P0 who had ensured they would be found. Evidently, there was a dinner that Padmé was supposed to host that evening, and she hadn’t gotten back to 3P0 about how to set the table, and the poor droid had just about gone mad with concern (over the Senator’s life or the dinner party, it was never quite made clear). So 3P0 had thought it necessary to ask around to see when Padmé would be done with whatever engagement she was currently in, which had led him to Senator Bail Organa, who had replied that Senator Amidala was not currently scheduled to be doing anything and should, by all rights, be preparing for the dinner. 

It was at this point that 3P0 had commed just about everyone that had even the slightest idea where the Senator might be, and at some point along that list had come to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan had been surprised to get a message from Senator Organa and a very distressed protocol droid in the middle of battle, but he’d done the sensible thing and told them they might need help and it would be a good idea to track his location. 

Which meant that, after they were all unconscious except for Maul (who ran off, leaving behind both his arm and both Ahsokas’ sabers) and a very pregnant woman who had a concussion, Senator Organa had enlisted the help of the Jedi, who were displeased but not surprised at the turn of events. 

All this was told to Ahsoka while she lay in the medical wing of the Jedi Temple, under enough sedation to ensure she wouldn’t be going anywhere or starting any more fights. That, in itself, felt like a blessing.

There was a heavy bandage around her lekku, and she was informed that although they had done the best they could, there would still probably be a scar. That was fine; Ahsoka (in the grand scheme of things) would have sacrificed all three lekku and more to have gotten to the Chancellor. 

“I think you should rest,” the Padawan-on-duty had told her when she asked about Palpatine. He was a tiny boy, probably thirteen but yet to hit his growth spurt, and at the mention of the Chancellor’s name he’d visibly panicked. 

Ahsoka wanted to press, but she also didn’t want to upset the Padawan, so she closed her eyes and drifted back off to sleep.

The second time when she woke up, she had a visitor. More precisely, her younger self was standing over her with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. When Ahsoka opened her eyes, her younger self leaned back abruptly, but not quick enough to escape looking vaguely embarrassed. She sat down on a chair that was next to Ahsoka’s bed.

“Hi,” she started, a determined look on her face that Ahsoka had seen far too many times in the mirror.

“Hi, yourself,” Ahsoka replied.

“I wanted to, um, thank you,” Ahsoka’s younger self said, and then she trailed off like she wasn’t sure how to continue. “And I wanted to ask for advice.” 

Ahsoka sat up in her bed. “Advice on what?” She raised her brow markings and smiled conspiratorially. “Is it a girl?”

Ahsoka’s younger self shot up. “How do you even know - well, you’re me, I guess. But no. It isn’t that. Or, well,” she sighted. “I guess it’s related to that, in a kind of roundabout way. But that wasn’t what I wanted to ask about.”

Ahsoka nodded. “I know.” She paused. “It’s the Order, isn’t it?”

Her younger self nodded miserably. “They - well, Master Kenobi told me the Council would reextend their offer for me to come back, if I wanted. Especially after Maul, and now Sidious.” She looked up at Ahsoka unhappily. “But I don’t know if that’s what I want.”

Ahsoka sighed. “After Mandalore, there wasn’t a Jedi Order for me to come back to,” she said, “so I never had to make the decision you’re facing. But even though they tried to kill me like I was a Jedi, I never really saw myself as one again, even when I had the option to.”

“Didn’t you miss it?”

“Of course,” Ahsoka said, with feeling. “But that doesn’t mean I regret my decision.”

Ahsoka’s younger self didn’t look any happier. “I wonder if they’ll kick Anakin out when he wakes up,” she said in a small voice. “Everyone knows about him and Senator Amidala now, and then there’s the whole - thingy,” she said, gesticulating as if to say weird Force-explosion-thing-that-may-or-may-not-have-killed-the-leader-of-the-Republic. 

“I don’t know if he’ll stay even if he has the option,” Ahsoka said. “If he has to choose between the order and his wife -”

“They’re married?” Ahsoka’s younger self squeaked. 

“They’re having a child together, but it’s more scandalizing that they’re married?” Ahsoka asked, though she was smiling.

“Two, actually.”

“What?”

“Two children. They’re having twins,” Ahsoka’s younger self said, sounding smug that she knew something Ahsoka didn’t. “I talked to Padmé this morning. Apparently she hasn’t seen a doctor in months, which, like, I thought she was smarter than that, and the last time she went they didn’t know it was twins. But it is. Twins, I mean.” She smiled happily. “They’re gonna have little Skykids,” she said. Then, she paused. “Or maybe Amidalas? I don’t know, honestly. I asked if Padmé had names yet, but she said it was bad luck to tell anybody the names before they were born. So I guess we’ll have to wait and see who they take after.”

“Wow.” Ahsoka smiled. “If they’re anything like their parents, they’re going to be a handful.”

“Yeah.” Ahsoka’s younger self rubbed the back of her neck. “And it’s like, seeing them - they’re going to be so happy, I just know it.” She looked down. “Even if Anakin leaves the order, or they kick him out, or whatever - he’s going to have somebody to go home to.”

“And you want that.”

“Well of course I want that!” Ahsoka’s younger self began pacing. “But - well, I don’t know. I knew Skyguy had a thing with Padmé, but they’re married, and having kids, and it’s like - I wish I could be a part of that,” she said in a rush. “You know all that, you’re me - Skyguy was like the brother I always wanted, even though he was technically my Master. And I thought that after Mandalore I could talk to him because I haven’t in so long, and we could start hanging out or getting lunch or something after the war ended, but now he has a wife and he’s going to have kids, and I feel like I just got shut out for the second time.” She bit her lip and sat down, suddenly looking much younger than she was. “I just don’t really know what to do.”

Ahsoka sighed. “I know,” she said. A thought ran through her head. “You know,” she said, “you should talk to Obi-Wan about it. I know we weren’t as close with him, but he knows Anakin better than just about anyone.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Ahsoka’s younger self looked up. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka said. “I guess - this is the past I wanted, all of the what-ifs that I used to obsess over, but there isn’t really a place for me here.”

“You should talk to Obi-Wan about it,” Ahsoka’s younger self shot back. 

“I don’t even have a place to crash when I get out of here,” Ahsoka said, frowning.

“Oh, that’s what I was supposed to come tell you!” Ahsoka’s younger self said. 

“What?”

“That’s why I was allowed to come visit you. Padmé wanted to tell you if you needed a place to stay you could stay in one of her guest rooms. Technically, I’m not supposed to be here longer than it takes to say that. You got very electrocuted,” Ahsoka’s younger self said.

“And you didn’t?”

“Well, you know, you and Obi-Wan really got the brunt of it. Rex and me were mostly okay, and Padmé is fine, just a little concussion. It’s Anakin that’s… not as good.”

Ahsoka sat up a little straighter. “What do you mean?”

Ahsoka’s younger self looked down heavily. “He’s in a coma,” she said. “Padmé convinced them to put her in the same room as him, so I’ve been to see them both, but he’s just barely there. He’s expected to wake up, we just don’t know when. It could be today or it could be in a month.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Ahsoka’s younger self grimaced. “I probably should have led with that, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Ahsoka was suddenly very tired. “I think I’m going to rest, now,” she said, and her younger self nodded.

“Okay. I’ll let you be.” She hurried out, and Ahsoka let herself sink down into her blankets and drift back off.

She was released from the medical wing two days later, and the first thing she did was go to visit Padmé and Anakin. The trauma of being kidnapped had thrown Padmé into a false labor, and the doctors were concerned that she would go into labor early, so she was on bedrest. When Ahsoka arrived, she was sitting up in bed with a mound of datapads on the table next to her.

“Ahsoka!” she said warmly. 

“Padmé,” Ahsoka said, smiling. “You’ve been busy, I see.”

Padmé sighed. “There’s more work than ever. I don’t know how much of this you already know, but since Palpatine vanished, the Senate has gone into an absolute fit. First, Mas Amedda was briefly the Chancellor in his place, but it came to light that he knew of Palpatine’s corruption and involvement in war puppeteering, and so he was voted out twelve hours after being instated. There’s currently gridlock over who’s going to be instated as the Chancellor until we can regroup enough to have an official vote. And, because Dooku was killed and the major Separatist leaders taken into custody, you can imagine there’s a lot of arguing over what exactly the role of the Chancellor should be. Politically, it’s a nightmare.”

Ahsoka grimaced. Present company and a few exceptions excluded, she had never been the biggest fan of the Senate, and she couldn’t imagine trying to work with the scope of what was going on. “What’re those for?” she asked, pointing to the datapads.

“Drafts for what’s going to happen now that the war’s ending,” Padmé said. “Myself, Bail, Senator Mothma of Chandrila, and several others had drafted legislation to ensure Palpatine would step down when it ended, but none of us were expecting what happened. In addition to all that, we’re working on three major bills: one to give the clones Republic citizenship, a mass relief bill to help former Separatist systems who want to rejoin the Republic, and a plan to help compensate systems that were hurt by the war. It’s - quite a mess.” She looked frustrated. “And they won’t let me leave even to go to my office,” she said. “Evidently, there have been several threats to my life - probably because I’ve been spearheading the attempts to bring former Separatist systems back into the Republic - and the Jedi are making up excuses to keep me monitored.” She looked at Ahsoka wearily. “And I’m absolutely craving Jogan fruit, but all I’m allowed to eat are predetermined nutrition bars.” 

“That’s a lot,” Ahsoka said. She sat down in the chair next to Padmé’s bed. “I’m not sure I can help with all the Senate stuff, but I may be able to do something about the Jogan fruit,” she said conspiratorially. “I know a guy.”

“That would be lovely,” Padmé said. She sighed. “I told - well, you - to tell you, but in case she forgot: if you need a place to stay, you’re welcome to my apartment. I’m certainly not using it right now, but even if I were, there’s plenty of room.”

“Thank you,” Ahsoka said. “I might take you up on that.”

Padmé smiled. “Well. It’s the least I can do.” She looked over to where Anakin was lying on a bed with an IV going into his arm. “Obi-Wan told me what… happened with him,” she said, stepping delicately around the issue, “but I wanted to get a second opinion. Is he going to be all right?”

“I hope so,” Ahsoka said. “We won’t know until he wakes up, but there at the end - it was all Anakin, nothing bad.”

Padmé nodded tightly. “I want him to be able to be there for our children,” she said. 

“I’m sure he will be.”

“Once this blows over, I think I’m going to take a term off of politics,” Padmé said frankly. Ahsoka looked at her in surprise; the Senate was practically Padmé’s life. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Padmé said with certainty. “I’ve already contacted the Queen about it; I’m going to take a year of leave and then work back on Naboo for a little while. Coruscant is nice, but I don’t want to raise my children in a place without water.”

Ahsoka paused. Even though they hadn’t been born yet, she could sense their presence in the Force: tiny, yes, but very bright. “Would you want them to become Jedi?” she asked.

Padmé frowned. “I wanted to talk to Anakin about it, but we… didn’t really get the chance.” She looked up at Ahsoka. “I want our children to be able to love without keeping it a secret,” she said. “And I don’t want them to be forced to lead an army as children.”

“You know,” Ahsoka said, “if you didn’t want them to grow up in the Temple, but still wanted them to be able to be trained, you should ask me - younger me, that is. I can’t speak for her, but I know she wants to be involved in your family, and I know she’ll love those kids.”

Padmé blinked like she hadn’t considered that. “I wouldn’t want to - to take her away from her life,” she said.

“Like I said, bring it up to her,” Ahsoka said firmly. “Just because she’s me doesn’t mean I can tell you what she wants, but believe me when I say that she isn’t very happy with all that she’s got going on in her life right now.”

“I… thank you, Ahsoka. She’s already like a younger sister to me, and I know Anakin has missed her terribly. It’s a good idea.”

Ahsoka smiled. “I’ll leave you to your work now,” she said. “If you need anything at all, comm me.”

“I will.”

Ahsoka made her way to Padmé’s large apartment and took a long, hot shower. She washed herself twice, feeling like she was washing more than just dirt town the drain. For the first time in a long, long time, she felt like she could relax. There wasn’t anybody trying to kill her, the Republic wasn’t at war, the Sith were mostly gone, and her family was alive.

She tried the word out to the showerhead hesitantly, feeling like her fourteen-year-old self practicing introducing herself as a Padawan. It was a silly thing to do, but it felt right somehow, in a way that Ahsoka didn’t know exactly how to put into words. It was the easy closeness coupled with the feeling that it was going to last, that she didn’t have to worry about any of them dying on any given day. It was a good feeling.

Despite Padmé’s insistence that she could eat anything in the apartment, it didn’t feel right to sit in her kitchen alone and eat her food, so she commed her younger self as well as Rex and Obi-Wan to see if they were free to get dinner out somewhere. Obi-Wan had meeting after meeting with the Council, but he agreed to show up as long as he got to pick the spot and it wasn’t too far away from the Temple. So, after a short but good-spirited argument, the four of them ended up in Dex’s Diner crammed into a corner booth, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan sitting opposite Ahsoka’s younger self and Rex.

Rex had the shadows of a bruise around his throat, the nasty reminder of what Sidious had done, but other than that he looked healthy and happy. He informed them all about the 501st’s current betting pool, which was about the names and genders of Padmé and Anakin’s children. How word had gotten out to the rest of them wasn’t exactly clear, since Rex seemed to insist that he hadn’t broken the news, but evidently keeping a secret was impossible with the lot of them. 

Ahsoka tucked into her dinner with gusto and mostly sat back and let her three companions do the talking. Ahsoka’s younger self told them all in detail how she was working on a modification for a speederbike that would allow it to reach new, unheard-of levels of speed, a project which both Rex and Obi-Wan seemed hesitant to positively endorse. 

“Besides,” Rex pointed out, “you don’t get exempt from speed limits anymore. Where are you even going to go that you need it to go that fast?”

Ahsoka’s younger self sideyed him and took a big bite of her dinner. “Just because I’m not a Jedi anymore doesn’t mean I’m going to suddenly start obeying stupid things like speed limits. Anyway, nobody obeys them in the underlevels anyway,” she said through her food. Rex wrinkled his nose at that.

“Ahsoka,” Obi-Wan said hesitantly, referring to Ahsoka’s younger self. “I know this isn’t the best segue, but I did want to talk to you about that.”

Ahsoka’s younger self stopped chewing. Briefly, she made eye contact with Ahsoka.

“The Council has been… going over a lot,” Obi-Wan began. “Learning that Palpatine was under our noses the whole time, plus - well, Anakin, and we’ve been considering making a few changes. We aren’t going to demand that you come back, and if you want I’ll never bring it up again, but… on behalf of the Council, and as your friend, I wanted to know if you’d like to return. You don’t have to give me an answer right now, just know - it’s an option.”

Ahsoka’s younger self swallowed her food and looked between Ahsoka and Rex for a few seconds before turning back to Obi-Wan. “I appreciate that, Master Kenobi,” she said, hesitantly. “I really do. But, even if you make a lot of changes… I just don’t know if I’m ready to come back. With the war over, I’m not even really sure what I would do, if I’m honest,” she said.

Obi-Wan nodded like that’s what he thought she would say. “I understand,” he said. “And I’m sorry. If you ever want to revisit it, come talk to me. But I understand.”

Ahsoka’s younger self squared her shoulders and nodded. “Thanks,” she said, a little softer than normal.

“Jedi or not, now that the war’s over, don’t think you’ll be getting off the hook for not comming us regularly,” Rex said, nudging Ahsoka’s younger self’s shoulder a little. She smiled at him.

Suddenly, all three Force-sensitives froze. Rex looked between them for a confused second before all four of their comms started beeping. 

“It’s Anakin,” Ahsoka’s younger self said. “He’s woken up.”

“Not just that,” Rex confirmed, having been the only one of the three to actually look at his comm, “Senator Amidala's gone into labor.”

Chapter Text

Obi-Wan paid for their food (and that was a testament to the hurry that they were in; usually there would have been an argument over it) and they hailed a speeder-taxi to get them back to the Temple. Soon enough, they were outside the Halls of Healing, where Vokara Che was telling them in no uncertain terms that no, they could not be present for Padmé’s labor because they were not healers or doctors or had any kind of experience with human pregnancy. 

Anakin, they were allowed to see. He had been moved to a different room and was sitting upright in his bed looking a wreck. There was anxiety pouring off of him in waves, but the Darkness that had been in him ever since Sidious had first captured them was gone.

As they trooped in, Anakin swallowed and looked at them before sighing and looking away. “I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I’m really sorry, I - Force, why are you even here?” he mumbled. 

“Anakin,” Ahsoka said, trying to keep her voice calm, “has anyone told you what happened?”

He looked up at her sharply. “Just because I Fell doesn’t mean I have amnesia,” he snapped, though there wasn’t any malice behind his words. “Kriff. Fuck, I’m sorry, I - there’s a lot going on right now,” he said.

“You need to calm down,” Ahsoka said. “We’re trained adults, and you’re giving me a headache. You need to calm down for your children.”

“I know, but - Force, it’s hard,” Anakin said.

Obi-Wan sat down on a chair next to Anakin’s bed. “Breathe,” he said. “It’s going to be alright. You’re going to be alright, Padmé is going to be alright, and your children are going to be alright.”

Anakin took in a shuddering breath and nodded. “I know,” he said, “but - what if they aren’t? What if he - did something to them, and they’re going to - to die, or I don’t know, something terrible?” He looked at Obi-Wan wildly. “I can feel them,” he said. “I can - Force,” he breathed. “My children.”

Obi-Wan put a hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “You’ll be able to see them when Padmé is finished,” he said. “But your presence would be overwhelming to them right now.”

“That’s why I woke up,” Anakin said, looking at the wall in front of him intently. “It was like I was in a dream, or an ocean, and then I felt them - I didn’t even know there were two, but then I knew - I knew it was time, and I woke up, but then they were taking her away, and I can’t be there for them.” 

“But you’re gonna be there for them soon,” Ahsoka said, trying to project calming feelings. “There’s nothing to be concerned about.”

“Yeah,” Ahsoka’s younger self said. She grinned. “Padmé wouldn’t tell me the names, can you?” 

Anakin smiled tightly. “Not a chance, Snips. Padmé would kill me if I told you. Some sort of Naboo tradition, nobody knows the names until after they’re born.”

“Well, then I’m going to go ahead and believe you’ve named them after me and Rex,” Ahsoka’s younger self said. “I gotta say, we’re flattered, aren’t we, Rex?”

Rex smiled. “Very flattered, sir.”

“Obi-Wan’s going to feel left out,” Ahsoka’s younger self said. “You’ll have to give the twins a younger sibling so his feelings don’t get hurt,” she said, raising a brow marking at Anakin.

Anakin huffed out a laugh. “I think we’re gonna have our hands full with two,” he said. 

“I agree,” Rex said. “Two more Skywalkers? The galaxy won’t know what hit them.”

Obi-Wan was rubbing circles into Anakin’s shoulder, and slowly, Anakin was calming down. “Children,” he said, numbly. “They’re gonna be so small.”

“Miniscule,” Ahsoka’s younger self said. “Microscopic.”

Anakin’s panic began to rise again, and Ahsoka frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“I - I won’t be able to be there for them, will I?” he said. “Because of everything I did - they won’t let me go, right?” he said. 

Obi-Wan’s hand stilled. “The Council has had… many discussions over this,” he said cautiously. “You may have Fallen, but you didn’t actually kill any of us, even though you tried to. Coupled with the fact that you killed Sidious, they’re willing to overlook it.” He paused. “However, given the situation with you and Padmé -”

“They’re kicking me out, aren’t they,” Anakin said, dully. “I knew this would happen.”

“Not exactly. It’s - bad form to kick out the Jedi who killed our greatest enemy. But they are putting you on leave. No more missions for a year, at least.” Obi-Wan paused again. “I told them what happened - how I remembered it, at least,” he said, carefully. “The Council is quite set on their belief that it was your attachment to Padmé that led you to Fall, but - also your attachment to us to bring you back, so to speak. This has caused quite a lot of debate.”

Anakin’s jaw was set, but he nodded. “So they aren’t kicking me out?”

“No, not unless you want to leave.”

“Oh. I - I have to think about it,” Anakin said. “I’m not sure what I want.”

“You don’t have to decide right now,” Obi-Wan said.

“Okay.”

They sat around in silence for a little while. Giving birth to twins, it turned out, was not a quick and easy process, even with the medical technology available at the Jedi Temple. Every so often, someone would come by to let them know things were proceeding as well as possible, but it was still very late at night before there was any news.

Anakin, of course, had been unable to fall asleep, but both Rex and Ahsoka’s younger self were snoozing against the wall of the far side of the room when a clearly exhausted Vokara Che walked in and said they could go see Padmé and the babies as long as they didn’t crowd them and were quiet. “And,” she added, almost like an afterthought, “Anakin, please try not to project so much.”

Anakin nodded and made a valiant attempt at tamping down his emotions. Hesitantly, the group trouped through the Halls of Healing until they arrived at Padmé’s room.

Master Che opened the door, and Ahsoka peeked inside to see Padmé looking thoroughly exhausted but smiling and perfectly healthy. She looked at Anakin and started crying, though she was smiling through it all. Next to her, two little wrapped babies were lying in a crib. One of them was fast asleep, but the other was looking around.

“They’re perfect,” Anakin breathed, walking over to pick up the awake baby. It gurgled at him a little, staring up at its father with big blue eyes and the slightest wisp of hair. Anakin was crying, too, looking down at his wife and children. “Oh, Padmé, they’re so perfect.” He dropped a light kiss on the baby’s forehead, then looked up, embarrassed. “Which one am I holding?” he asked in a stage whisper.

“That’s Luke,” Padmé said, her voice a little raspy but otherwise fine. “And getting her beauty rest is Leia.”

Anakin continued to rock Luke in his arms, cooing, but Ahsoka felt like the world had just dropped out from under her. The babies had felt familiar to her as soon as she’d walked in, but she’d chalked it up to their Force presences being similar to Anakin’s. But when Padmé had named the second baby, something clicked , and Ahsoka couldn’t breathe.

“Ahsoka?” Obi-Wan asked, frowning. 

“I need to sit down,” Ahsoka said. She walked outside of the room and sat in the corridor. Her montrals were ringing. 

How could she not have known? She remembered meeting Leia Organa for the first time about a decade ago, a year or two after she officially joined the Rebellion. Bail had commed her in the middle of the night in a panic.

It’s our daughter, he’d said. She’s Force sensitive. We faked her midichlorian test when she was born, and we hoped that would be enough, but - the Emperor is visiting Alderaan next month, and Breha just saw her levitating a doll. Ahsoka remembered the fright in Bail’s voice, and how much that had cut. There wasn’t much that could panic the Senator, and in her life Ahsoka didn’t think she’d ever seen him that concerned again. Please, he said, if there’s anything you can do - we can’t lose her.

Ahsoka had come as fast as she was able, and the Organas had welcomed her with open arms. Leia was precocious and wide-eyed; even at six she sat with the kind of poise reserved for royalty. When Ahsoka had come to see her, she had gasped and turned to her mother. She’s like me, she had said, and even though Leia had never met Ahsoka before, she’d run up to her and wrapped her little arms around Ahsoka’s leg in a hug. You are, aren’t you? she’d said. I can feel it. You’re all bright inside.

Leia had been sad, because Ahsoka had lied and said she wasn’t, and it had made Ahsoka feel terrible, but it was more important to protect the girl from Palpatine than train her. So Ahsoka had taught Leia to let go, to guard her mind and let the light of the Force flow through her without touching it. She remembered one of their first lessons, how she’d explained it using the windows of the Royal Palace.

See how the light goes through the window without touching it, Leia? Ahsoka had said, gesturing at the stained-glass depictions of flowers. You are like that glass. The light flows through you without touching you. It’s dangerous to let it touch you, okay?

Leia had been frustrated. I’m not fragile, she’d said, like she’d just learned the word and was proud of herself for using it correctly. 

No, you’re not, Ahsoka had said. You’re brave and very strong. That window is blasterproof, and so are you. 

In the few short weeks predating the Emperor’s arrival, Ahsoka trained Leia to let go of the Force nearly entirely, all while helping her build the start of shields, should she need them. Several times over the following years, Ahsoka had come back to help Leia with shielding, always telling her how important it was to guard her mind if she was to be a Senator one day. As the years went on, Ahsoka doubted Leia even remembered she had once used the Force, much less knew how to touch it. 

So she sat in the corridor of the Halls of Healing and sobbed, because how could she not have known? Leia Organa, so small and so bright in the Force that from the moment she’d met her at six Ahsoka knew Bail’s panic was justified, but Ahsoka hadn’t known the full truth, had she? Oh, she’d known Leia was adopted, but Bail had implied she was born to Alderaanian parents who died in the war. Ahsoka had never even suspected the truth.

Grief pounded on her. Would she have done anything differently, if she’d known Leia was Anakin’s child? Probably not - but it hurt all the same. A thought struck her. If Leia was alive, what did that mean for the other baby? Luke, who shone just as brightly as his sister?

An idea almost crazy enough to be believed started to form in Ahsoka’s head, and she started laughing through her tears. Vaguely, she was aware that Obi-Wan had come outside and was trying to talk to her, but she ignored him. They would have had to be split up, wouldn’t they? Bail and Breha took Leia, but who took Luke? Obi-Wan’s wanted poster swam before her eyes. Ahsoka had assumed he was dead because there was no way Obi-Wan wouldn’t fight, but what if he had an even more important mission? 

She ground the heels of her hands into her eyes and hiccuped. 

“Ahsoka?” Obi-Wan asked again, and she looked up. “What’s wrong?”

“They survived,” Ahsoka croaked. “Anakin’s children. They survived, in my time. And I didn’t know it.”

Obi-Wan sucked in a breath. “How do you know?”

“Because I met Leia,” Ahsoka said. “She - the Organas raised her as their heir. They asked me to help make sure she wouldn’t use the Force. But I never knew she was Anakin’s.”

Obi-Wan paled. “Then… Luke, you think…”

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka said. “I don’t know. I think - I guess - it must have been you,” she said. “Everyone else was dead.” She looked up at him. It was unfair, she knew, to blame him for the actions of his counterpart, but she couldn’t help it. “I thought you were dead,” she said. “Even if I didn’t know where you were, if I had known you were alive… Force ,” she said, with feeling, “why wouldn’t Bail have told me?”

Obi-Wan sat down across from her in the hallway. “They would have had to be kept a secret,” he said. “If you knew about them - even their existence would have been a threat to them.”

“I know,” Ahsoka said. She wiped her eyes. “I’m glad they get to grow up with their parents this time.”

“Me, too,” Obi-Wan said. “Do you want to come inside? Anakin looked pretty concerned when you took one look at his daughter and ran out crying.”

Ahsoka gave a shaky laugh and accepted Obi-Wan’s hand to help her to her feet. “Yeah,” she said. “I’d like that.”

When she arrived back inside, all five adults were staring at her. Rex was awkwardly holding Luke, who kept flailing one of his arms and whacking Rex in the face. Leia had woken up and was crying. Ahsoka grimaced. “Sorry about that,” she said. 

“I heard you,” Anakin said. He looked at Ahsoka and swallowed, hard. “What you said. About Leia.”

“Yeah,” Ahsoka said quietly. 

Anakin was struggling to compose himself. “Tell me about her?” he asked. “What did she do? What did she like?”

Ahsoka smiled. “She took after her mother,” she said. “She was a junior Senator at age sixteen, and already doing solo missions for the Rebellion.” She turned to Anakin. “But she had a temper to rival yours, I’d say. Very controlled, of course, when it had to be, but Force forbid she boiled over.” She swallowed. “You both would be proud of her.”

Anakin looked like he was about to break down again. “And I was standing in the way of everything she was fighting for,” he said, numbly.

“Stop that,” Ahsoka’s younger self said. “You can’t blame yourself for the actions of some alternate universe-future you. That’s just not fair.”

Anakin nodded. Luke threw up on Rex, who looked very alarmed. “Are they supposed to do that?” he said. 

“I think so,” Padmé replied.

Anakin reached out to take Luke while Rex used a wipe to clean off the spitup. 

Soon, everyone was exhausted, especially Padmé, and they agreed to call it a night. Anakin got to sleep in the room with Padmé and the babies, but the rest of them had to go their separate ways until morning (which was only a few hours away). 

Ahsoka lay in bed at Padmé’s apartment and thought about Leia and her twin brother. In her timeline, she thought, what would happen to them? Would Leia’s Rebellion succeed? Was Obi-Wan training Luke to become a Jedi on some far-flung planet? And what would happen to Vader, to the Emperor? She tossed and turned, but didn’t find sleep for a long time.

In the months that followed, Luke and Leia grew and grew. For the time being, Ahsoka lived in Padmé’s guest room and helped take care of the twins while Padmé worked. She was there for Luke’s first word (‘peeder) and Leia’s first steps (and subsequent fall). After a solid month of convincing, Ahsoka’s younger self joined them too. It took some getting used to, but eventually Ahsoka began to see her younger self less as herself and more as her sister. 

Meanwhile, Padmé and the Senate rearranged majorly. Bail Organa was elected Chancellor, and under his direction over half of the former Separatist systems were reorganized into the Republic. Padmé ensured that the Clone Rights Act was passed into law, meaning every member of the GAR was compensated as well as given a stipend for living expenses and the chance to go to university free of charge. They were a long ways off from working everything out perfectly, but eight months after the end of the Clone Wars and the galaxy was a much happier place than it had been a year ago.

After a year, Padmé decided that she was no longer vital to the survival of the Republic and stepped down from office like she had intended. Anakin’s leave from the Jedi was also nearing its close, so Ahsoka had been expecting a conversation like this for a while when it finally came. 

“We’ve decided to move to Naboo,” Anakin explained. Ahsoka and her younger self as well as Padmé and Anakin were sitting around a coffee table in Padmé’s living room, watching the twins play on a little rubber mat on the floor. 

“I’m stepping down for a while, as you know,” Padmé said, “and, well, it’s more peaceful there. My parents have only been able to see the twins a few times, and we want them to grow up being able to see them as often as they want. And when they get older, they’ll want to run around outside, and Coruscant isn’t ideal for that.”

“We’ve already told Obi-Wan,” Anakin said. He paused and sighed. “I’m going to leave the Order,” he said. “I’ve made up my mind. I can’t devote myself to it and my kids at the same time.”

Ahsoka nodded. She hadn’t been expecting it, exactly, but she’d seen Anakin play with his kids and watched his face light up in a way that the Jedi had never made it.

“We’re thinking about asking you both to come with us. You’ve been invaluable with the twins, and you’re every bit as much our family as they are.” Padmé paused to let that sink in. “I know it’s a lot to ask, and you can say no -”

“Yes,” Ahsoka’s younger self cut her off. “Yes,” she said again, firmly. 

Anakin broke into a wide smile, then looked expectantly at Ahsoka.

“I… don’t know,” Ahsoka said. She looked down. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and… I think they need me. My other time, I mean. Maybe it’s time I go back with them.”

Anakin deflated as quickly as he’d smiled. “Oh,” he said. 

Padmé gave Ahsoka a sad smile. “I understand,” she said. “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like you’ve made a big difference.”

Ahsoka nodded. “I made a promise to find someone,” she said, “and the Force keeps nudging me - I think I need to go.”

“Where do you need to go?” Anakin asked. “We can go with you as far as we can.”

Ahsoka smiled. “Lothal,” she said. “I think the answers are on Lothal.”

Three months later, after Ahsoka helped Padmé, Anakin, the twins, and her younger self into their home on Naboo, Ahsoka and Anakin left on a small ship to the far Outer Rim. Lothal was like Ahsoka had remembered it, tall grass and hills and beautiful, and when they reached the temple there Anakin set the ship down. 

“Well,” he said, his voice a little rough, “I guess this is it.” He paused. “Unless you’ve changed your mind.”

Ahsoka looked at him, trying to memorize the easy way he smiled. Even if she was successful, she knew she would never be able to bring her Anakin back. It would be easy to stop, get back on the ship and tell R2 to set a course back to Naboo, but Ahsoka couldn’t live knowing she was leaving her timeline to the Emperor. She smiled at Anakin, knowing it was a little wobbly. “I’ll tell your kids hi,” she said.

“You better make sure nothing happens to them,” Anakin warned.

“I won’t.”

Anakin paused, then abruptly pulled her into a hug. Ahsoka wrapped her arms around him in return. 

“And if you see that Vader sleemo,” Anakin said, muffled and into her lekku, “kill him for me, would you?”

Ahsoka held on tighter, refusing to let herself cry. “Okay,” she promised.

They broke apart, and Ahsoka turned to the temple. She reached out her hand and called to the Force, but nothing happened. She frowned and tried again.

“Let me help,” Anakin offered, moving to stand next to her. Together, they reached out, and with a low rumble, the temple began to move out of the ground.

“Master and apprentice,” Ahsoka said. “Even though I’m older than you.”

“Hey, some things never change,” Anakin said, smiling. 

They pulled the temple up until they could see a doorway. “Need me to come with?” Anakin joked. He was already walking with her towards the entrance.

The Lothal temple opened to a wide room, covered in paintings.

“It’s from Mortis,” she breathed. “Remember that?”

Anakin nodded. “Not all of it, fortunately.”

“Yeah, me neither.” She shuddered.

Ahsoka pressed the wall, knowing somehow what she had to do, and the image of the Daughter moved, revealing a doorlike portal. Ahsoka turned back to Anakin. “Goodbye,” she said.

“Good luck.”

Chapter Text

Ahsoka stepped into the wall, and at once she was again in that dreamlike, physics-defying world. She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see the portal she had just come from, but all that stretched behind her was an endless path, curving towards nothingness. Ahsoka straightened her shoulders. They would be happy, she told herself. They would have the ending they deserved. Luke and Leia would grow up with a family and so many people that loved them, and they wouldn’t ever have the burden of saving the galaxy placed on their backs.

The Jedi way was to let memories and emotions like the ones Ahsoka was currently feeling go, but Ahsoka stored it in the back of her mind like a treasure. She looked around the odd, glowing world, and walked forward, her steps echoing faintly. 

Around her, whispers of memories and lifetimes she didn’t know alike swirled and shivered. There was Master Plo’s voice, introducing himself to a young and scared Ahsoka on Shili - there was Yoda’s voice, telling her to go to Christophsis - Anakin’s voice, telling her to get up, to get going. She kept walking forward. 

The hiss of Vader’s respirator echoed hollowly in her montrals, coming from everywhere at once, and Ahsoka felt her hand clench involuntarily. A convor swooped down from somewhere in the above nothingness, and Ahsoka looked up in surprise. 

“Morai? Have you been here all this time?” She smiled as the bird perched on her shoulder. 

Then she heard Leia’s voice: almost-a-teenager Leia, sounding like Ahsoka remembered her from her last visit to Alderaan a few years back.

What if I want to be a Senator? she was saying, indignantly. I don’t care that it’s difficult, I like politics and I’m good at them, and I want to help people instead of just sitting around!

Ahsoka smiled. She remembered when Bail had told her Leia was going to be a junior Senator. He hadn’t been happy about it, and Ahsoka remembered him going on and on about how dangerous and difficult it was and how it would be so much easier if heir-to-the-throne were enough to satisfy her. She waited, expecting Bail or Breha’s voice to counter, but it wasn’t theirs.

But we are helping people! It was a boy’s voice, one Ahsoka didn’t recognize, and with a jolt she realized it must be Luke’s. She paused, listening to the twins. We’re learning how to be Jedi and help the Republic , Luke was saying.

No, Leia’s voice continued, we sit around and play-fight with laser swords while actual problems go unsolved -

What, you think Maul isn’t an actual problem?

All I’m saying, Leia insisted, is that just because I have different goals doesn’t mean they’re bad! 

You can’t give up on the Force, Leia!

Who said that? I’m not giving up on anything. Dad isn’t a Jedi anymore, and neither is Ahsoka - but they haven’t given up anything, have they? You’re being so… so narrow-minded!

A pause. You’re just jealous because Obi-Wan said he’d take me on as his apprentice.

Leia’s voice was sharp and cold when it came next. Well, I for one can’t wait for you to go off to Coruscant and train. Maybe I’ll finally get some peace for once. 

Ahsoka wanted to sit down and listen to the rest of Leia and Luke’s conversation, but she forced herself to move on. 

The next voice that she heard was Luke’s, again, but older and rougher. His accent was pure Outer Rim, not the mid-Rim she’d heard from him seconds ago.

You knew my father? he was saying, wonder clear in his voice.

Ahsoka quickened her pace. In the distance, she could see a portal glowing faintly, and she knew somehow that that was where she was supposed to be going. 

Somehow, seeing that it was Malachor didn’t surprise her. That’s where everything had begun, after all - it only felt right that that’s where it would finish. There was still knowledge to be gleaned from the remains of the Sith temple - paths through the Unknown Regions, tools, keys, secrets. And she heard Ezra’s voice again in the back of her mind. Find me, he had said. And Ahsoka would, she knew it.

She was almost to the door, but she heard the ghosts of a celebration, and she paused. To the New Republic, Leia was saying. The cheering faded away, and Luke’s voice carried through. There was good in him, at the end, he said. 

Ahsoka’s breath caught in her throat. She looked ahead, where the dark spires of Malachor loomed through the portal. She stepped forward.