Dance of the Sith

Chapter 7 - Taking It Higher All The Time

Author's Note: Resolutions are made. There's only one chapter left. :')

~ Amina Gila

Vader is not quite like Ahsoka expected if she's being honest. He does care about people, about... the things Anakin used to, even if it's changed. He's changed, and so has she.

But he's Fallen. He's a Sith.

The surviving Jedi aren't all better than that, though. Windu certainly wasn't after what he did. Maybe he was trying to help, but what he was doing could've caused something far, far worse. To be fair, he did cause something worse, because she doesn't know what will happen to the other Jedi who were still in there, if they're going to get off the planet safely or not, and there's nothing she can do about it. Obsessing over all the could haves and maybes won't change anything, though.

Ahsoka leans against the wall, panting, as the ship takes off. It's not one she's seen before, though. She doesn't recognize these people, but the shorter Inquisitor, if that's what she is, is probably Vader's... apprentice-something.

That hurts an unreasonable amount if she's being honest, and Ahsoka lets it go, because this isn't her Anakin, and she always knew they'd have to move on from each other anyway. But it's not like she was Knighted and Anakin took another padawan. He turned to the Dark Side, turned on everything they were, and took a Sith apprentice.

So yes, it does sting.

And there's Ventress, but what in the galaxy is she doing here?

"That was close," the girl says, panting a little and moving to Anakin's side, helmeted head turning to watch Ahsoka.

She should probably have gone with Kanan and Ezra for the Phantom, but there was so much chaos, and instincts told her to stick to Anakin's side the whole way through. She misses him, and she wants him back, even if she knows she has to let him go.

They've made different choices, followed different paths, but by the Force, she'd do anything to get him back. Anything, if it meant hearing him laugh again, anything to see him smile and feel safe and protected beside him.

"Are you alright?" he asks, hand resting on the Inquisitor's shoulder. That reminds Ahsoka even sharper of times long gone.

"Are you?" she replies. "I felt the disturbance."

"I suspect everyone has." Anakin turns to Ahsoka, and after a moment of hesitation, he pulls off his helmet. His eyes are still gold, and she can feel the Dark Side burning around him, but he looks so similar. His hair is the same, and he's older, but otherwise... It's so much like being thrown into the past. Just like seeing the girl he's with.

Ahsoka reclips her lightsabers to her belt, crossing her arms. She's not stupid enough to try fighting in here and isn't entirely sure she wants to, either. Anakin saved her life again. He didn't have to.

"What do we do with her?" Ventress snips, flicking her hand in Ahsoka's general direction.

Anakin ignores her. "Are you alright?" he queries, hovering back a little.

She aches to touch him, but she's also afraid to. Things have changed, and she needs to remember that. It's... she's not a padawan anymore. It's not Anakin's role to protect her any longer. He taught her everything he could. "I'm fine," she answers after a pause that's just as long and awkward as when they first saw each other again over hologram, way back right before the Siege of Mandalore. "Thank you."

Her head is still throbbing from the attempted possession. It could've killed her, and Anakin saved her life just as he has so many times in the past.

She killed Master Windu, even if there probably wasn't anything of him left anymore. That's not something Ahsoka cares to think about very much. It was a moment of panicked desperation, and she didn't entirely mean to, but it still happened. She still did it. He's dead now, and she's the one who did it. The last member of the Jedi Council. Yes, she did what she had to, but Ahsoka still didn't expect to have to turn her lightsaber on someone who was once a fellow Jedi. At least not a Council member.