Signature Bonds - Star Wars TCW

Chapter 44

Katooni and Petro huddled together between Ahsoka and Anakin, watching the doors anxiously. Obi-Wan and Luminara had been gone for some time, and while Anakin had wanted to help, they had both firmly stated that Anakin and Ahsoka needed to stay with the children as they were not council members.

"Master Skywalker?" Katooni's distinct voice echoed through the empty chamber despite how quiet she was. The young tholothian clutched her lightsaber in her hands, careful not to turn if on so she wouldn't scar Anakin's face. She was held against his side, his powerful presence calming. He reminded her of what she thought a dad should be like, even though she couldn't remember her own parents.

"Yeah, Katooni?"

He didn't look her way, still focusing on the doors, but even Katooni's lesser-trained force presence could feel his attention on her.

"What's happening?"

It was quiet then, and she glanced away from Anakin to see Petro pressed against Ahsoka, who had her own head atop his. She looked to Katooni and smiled wryly, nudging Katooni gently.

"Darth Maul is out there. Ahsoka had some questionable dreams about it, but it seems that at least part of them were actually visions."

Ahsoka's smile dropped, and she scooted over so she could touch Anakin without having to move to far. Katooni's own bond with Petro was rather weak, especially when it was compared to Ahsoka and Anakin's bond.

The four Jedi sat in silence for a little longer, drinking in each other's comfort until it became apparent that they would need to move.

Crashes sounded down the halls and they could hear footsteps in the distance. Ahsoka and Anakin stood, pulling the two initiates with them. Petro's green eyes slid open and looked toward Katooni's blue ones. The girl was silent, but he could feel her presence pulsing with fear. His own was unsteady, but Anakin and Ahsoka looked calm, used to the danger of the war zones by that time. Throughout the war, though, there had never been a battle in the Temple.

Katooni didn't think there would be another.

Anakin keyed open the door and peered out. Seeing nothing but feeling someone, he cautiously stepped into the hallway before tearing off down the hall in the direction that would lead to the council chambers.

A lightsaber ignited, and all four jedi turned to see a crimson blade unsheathing, fatal and unforgiving. A blade identical to that one had sliced open Ahsoka's calf when she was young. But then the danger had been a psycopath intent on Anakin's death at her pain. This time, it was a psycopath intent on the Jedi Temple and its inhabitant's destruction.

Ahsoka's twin emerald blades shot out of the canisters, Anakin's sapphire one following suit. Anakin shoved the initiate Jedi behind him, gently but firm enough that they knew that they were not to engage this dark force wielder. Katooni watched as Ahsoka suddenly seemed to be thrown off balance, three more figures moving out of the darkness. Two togruti females and one human male, two of which stood slightly behind the one they knew was Darth Maul. The other two blocked the only way out.

Darth Maul had killed Qui-Gon Jinn, Ahsoka's brain reminded her, surely he could kill them too.

He wouldn't wait for the children to get away. They were only pre-teens, eleven and twelve. Katooni and Petro had seen so little of the galaxy, and had almost only known the walls of the temple all their life. They would never know anything after that if she let them die.

With that in mind, she suddenly flipped over the two behind her striking at the togruta's legs, shutting out the small part of her brain that knew this was one of the younglings she had almost orphaned completely or killed. Anakin followed her, striking the man next to the togruta, ignoring Darth Maul and his accomplice in favor of getting the two initiates out of the Temple.

"Katooni!" Ahsoka's montrals caught Petro's frantic call before she heard a saber ignite and she saw it. Katooni had been grabbed with the force, held in a choke hold, and Petro was frantically slicing at Darth Maul. 

"Petro, get away!" Anakin yelled, slicing through the man, the one who looked exactly like him, severing his left leg completely. The clone fell, writhing in pain, and Anakin leapt at Maul and the other togruta, knocking them out of concentration, Katooni falling to the floor. She gasped for breath before hopping up and grabbing her lightsaber. 

Ahsoka had finished with the other togruta; she was now lying on the floor, unconscious. The clone had passed out from blood loss as well. Now only Darth Maul and his limping accomplice remained. 

Ahsoka caught Anakin's gaze, conveying a silent message, before they both let out a mighty blast of the force, knocking the formidable Sith to the floor.

"Come on!" Anakin yelled, and the two initiates scrambled past them, Ahsoka and Anakin hurtling down the halls after them. Dead Jedi were scattered around the halls. Katooni looked horror stricken, and Petro was a bit pale, but Ahsoka and Anakin just kept running. 

As they reached the hangar, it soon became apparent that something else was off.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands up!"

That was the voice of a clone - but it wasn't just any clone.

That... that was Cody.

Blasters were trained on them and it only took a second for Ahsoka to decide that no, they would not be dropping their weapons. 

Their hands would be up though.

The clones opened fire, and Ahsoka attacked Cody through the force, blocking all of the bolts of energy as she tapped into his brain.

It wasn't normal. It seemed void of anything even remotely Cody. Rex would have cried if he could feel it, Ahsoka knew. Rex.

She sent a burst of memories into his mind, Rex prominent in every one, his beloved brother and best friend. Suddenly, she felt Cody reappear in his mind and she shoved him up the ramp and into a ship, the one both younglings and her bond mate were in.

The ship took off, set out into hyperspace.

They would never be going back.

---

Okay, so I have been gone for a few months. I promised to have this done by Christmas, and now here it is May, and it's still not done.

The GOOD news is that there is only one more chapter in this story. And THEN.

WE GET A SEQUEL.

And maybe a rewrite of this one, because I kind of just want to kill off my OC's because they serve no purpose and just need to go away. :P

SO, comment, tell me what you think, and we will finish off next chapter!

See ya around!

-Flaming Starbird