A/N Hello there readers, this is my first real fanfiction, I ask that you be gentle for like me it is fragile and has feelings. Enjoy. And drown me with reviews, so I know what I'm doing wrong and right.
*NOTE* There is a massive rewrite in the works for this story, I went back and reread through it and was like, "I wrote this? God I'm stupid." So with the help of my new trusty beta (Grim Reaper 225k) I'm going through and fixing any inconsistencies, spelling errors and even adding little bits and pieces. The rewrite will encompass all four chapters, and when I'm not fixing my stupidity I'm writing the fifth chapter, ya know, try and create some progression to this story. Anywho, have fun with this, and know that the other revised chapters will arrive soon.
Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas and or Disney, I wish I owned but I don't, once more say it with me, I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS.
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Meeting the Dark
Year 20 BBY - Day 83
Ahsoka POV
"But master." Ahsoka whined, she and Anakin had just returned to the temple after long mission on Felucia, a search and destroy mission for many newly made droid factories. All Ahsoka wanted to do was find Bariss and have some much needed girl time after such a long and extensive mission.
But her master had different plans. "Don't "but master" me snips, you haven't practiced meditation in over a month, it's time to get back to it." He said leading the way to the gardens.
Ahsoka just rolled her eyes and shot back, "And when was the last time you sat down and meditated for hours on end master, hmmm?"
Anakin glanced down at her and replied, "That's none of your business my young padawan, remember I am the master here, my need to meditate isn't as great as yours." He said with feigned arrogance.
Ahsoka only sighed, 'Well maybe I can take a nap while I "Meditate".' She thought with amusement.
Anakin had sensed her thoughts right then and decided to put a damper on that plan, "And no napping snips, I'll be watching you this time."
Ahsoka groaned at this but knowing that there was no way around it she accepted defeat, this time.
"Yes master, of course master." She said with heavy sarcasm. After a minute more of walking the pair had arrived at the gardens, Ahsoka wouldn't admit it but she always loved coming to the gardens, she didn't know what it was but she always felt at home when she was here.
She took no time finding her favorite spot, a small corner in the back that consisted mainly of tall grass that was always in the sunlight, it reminded her of the grasslands on her home world of Shili. She found the tallest and thickest part of the grass and sat down crossing her legs.
Anakin decided he'd rather sit on the edge of the grass than submerge himself fully in it. "Alright Ahsoka, calm yourself, feel the force flow through, breathe the force, lose yourself in the force, you are one with the force." He in a sage like manner.
Ahsoka had the feeling that he was saying that more to himself than to her. But she did so regardless. It was slow going at first, meditation had never been her strong suit, slowly but surely though she felt herself merging with the force.
The peace that washed over her was beyond soothing, but she started losing her grip on the connection, so she began reciting the Jedi Code to herself to maintain her hold.
"There is no emotion, there is peace."
"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge."
With each sentence she felt herself slowly merging with the force, she felt her awareness spreading out over the temple and even further, she had never gone this far before.
"There is no passion, there is serenity."
Now she felt Galactic City all around herself, she could see the bright lights of life and the force in the city. She could see the beacons of light that shone throughout the temple; the council chambers were alight like a star. But she cast her gaze on her master and saw the most blinding light she had ever seen, he was a beacon of the force that shone like a thousand stars. 'By the force.' She thought to herself, 'Hmm, how much further can I go.' She wondered.
"There is no chaos, there is harmony."
She felt her master's strength through the force, it was like a tidal wave of power. She unconsciously attached to it, letting flow into her, expanding her reach of the force tenfold.
"There is no death, there is the force."
And all at once like diving head first into a pool she felt herself fully fall into the embrace of the force. She felt her consciousness seep into every corner of the planet; she felt all of them, every living being on Corusant. It was the greatest feeling she had ever experienced. But then she felt herself slip further and further into the living force, her expanding further than she wanted, she started feeling pain, and sadness, she felt the turmoil of war across dozens of worlds. It brought tears to her eyes to feel all that pain, she tried to withdraw but it was like the force wanted her to see this, it had its grip on her and it wasn't letting go until she had seen what it wanted her to.
She felt her master shake her, she wanted to scream out to him to pull her back but the force would not let go and she was too deep. She felt herself being pulled through the inner core and all the way out to the outer rim. Now she felt not only her master trying to bring her out of her meditative stupor, but also several others, she sensed the old but blinding light of master Yoda reaching towards her, attempting to pull her back.
But the chains of the force had her tightly bound. She soon felt herself being thrown out past the outer rim and into the reaches of dark space, she could only wonder why the force would bring her out this far. She felt nothing, it was absolute darkness. It was cold and empty and Ahsoka felt more alone in this moment than she ever had in her life. She was stuck, she couldn't move through the force, she was completely cemented where she was and it was driving her crazy.
'Argh, there's nothing out... Wait, what was that.' She directed her attention towards a disturbance, it was so small at first, like a drop of rain on the surface of a pond. Ripples so tiny; that if it wasn't for the pure nothingness. She probably wouldn't have ever noticed it. But then it started to grow, and grow and grow.
She focused on the growing disturbance and all she felt was anger and hatred and fear and a dark power greater than anything she had ever felt. This power dwarfed anything she could imagine, it was so immense she was being crushed by it. The darkness, it reached for her, it lunged at her; she was ripped from the force like it was never even holding her. She was beyond afraid, she felt herself scream in horror.
The darkness, laughed at her. 'It... Did it just laugh?' She thought in barely contained terror. 'How can something this evil be able to laugh?'
And out of the Abyss a tendril of that horrible darkness forced its way into her mind and spoke to her.
"Hmmm, what have we here? A child? No; no there is something more, something... Powerful. I feel the force in you, and I feel the conflict that fuels you, Drives you. But how does one so young come so Far?" A deep voice boomed.
Ahsoka released a shudder upon hearing this cold malice filled voice. "Hehe, are you afraid little one?" It asked in asked in an amused tone.
The voice was a man's, but it was twisted, deep and dark and even older than master Yoda's.
She mustered her courage and tried to fight back the fear. "I am not afraid of you, whatever You are."
The voice laughed louder this time, the power in it resonating throughout Ahsoka's very being.
"So brave you are little one, to come here and have the courage, or perhaps it is ignorance, to both disturb and lie to me. Do you even know what I am, little girl?" The voice asked evilly.
Ahsoka was frightened by the voices raw power and darkness, but she was more annoyed by the voice calling her a little girl, so she did the stupidest thing she could do in a situation like this, she insulted the voice back. "I don't care who or what you are, I am a Jedi, I don't know fear or the dark, so you can stop "trying" to scare me." She said defiantly.
The most maniacal laugh imaginable emanated from him, it shook Ahsoka like thunder. "Your feisty, I like that and you have so much potential for power, and I feel the darkness in you, it's almost tangible, there's so much of it. Hidden within you, it builds you, it supports you; it forges Anger, and Hate, and Fear."
His dark words flooded Ahsoka's mind, filling her with a sort of dizziness. She felt him plunge deeper into her mind, rummaging through until he found something.
"Ah yes, there it is, the want, the need, you want power don't you, you want to feel known and feared for your strength. I could give you that, I can give you sooo much little one. It is only through passion and power that you can achieve what you want, what you Need." He said seductively.
Ahsoka felt something worm its way through her mind from the darkest corners of her heart. She did feel want for power, she did need power. She needed it like she needed air to breathe, the words that the voice spoke awoke something deep within her. It was as if he had dragged her darkest desires from the dark abyss of her heart.
He spoke again in a subtle and alluring tone. "Ahsoka the Invincible, Immortal Conqueror of All. To be remembered and worshiped by all for all of time, this is what I can give to you and more. But it is only through me that you can become The Ultimate Power; The Greatest Strength; The Unstoppable Weapon. Your name would be whispered and entire armies will turn and flee in fear. Join me, join the dark, join the part of you that begs for what I've said and offered you."
She liked the sound of that, she could finally show her master just how great she was. She could show everyone her true undeniable strength. The Republic, the Seperatists, the Jedi; All would know her power.
She could be Dark Master of the Galaxy and-
'Wait, no what am I thinking, I'm a Jedi, I shouldn't be having these thoughts.' She pushed away the thoughts and tried to steel herself from the seductions.
"No!" she yelled out, "You won't corrupt me, I know what you are, you're Sith aren't you? I am a Jedi, so you'll just have to try harder than that, you Sith trash." She screamed defiantly.
As she finished her scream, the Darkness grew heavy and saturated with an ominous hatred. "So you would spit my offer of power in my face? I am something far greater than anything you can imagine little one... I am Sith! I am the single greatest Sith Lord to have ever existed! I am Darkness incarnate, and through my darkness I have defeated the greatest enemy of all, mortality! AND YOU DARE TO REFUSE MY OFFER?! He boomed in a storm like anger.
"You have so much faith in your pathetic Jedi ways, in the Jedi themselves. I will show you the error of your belief. I will defeat your pitiful Jedi, I will crush them under my boot as I would an insect. I will come for you, all of you Jedi, and when I come there will be such unimaginable death in your galaxy, I will bring a war the likes of which have never been seen. I will lead an extermination upon your Republic, and I will forge a Holocaust for your Jedi. I AM DEATH AND PAIN AND YOU WILL ALL KNOW MY POWER!" He bellowed in berserk fury.
The fear that Ahsoka felt in that one moment was enough to steal her very breath away. She begged the force to release her from this hell, but all she was given was a vision of a fleet, a massive fleet with hundreds of thousands of ships, of worlds burning, of men and women and children screaming out in agony. And there stood a single man amongst the fires, a man wearing nothing but black, and he wore a mask with three yellow visor lines across it and in his hand a lightsaber colored pure gold.
She felt tears run down her face as she saw her home, The Temple, burning. She saw Corusant fall in on itself, her home world of Shili being turned to rubble. And it was the sight of her Master crying that finally sent her into sobs of terror.
"Tell them," he spoke in a quiet and vicious voice, "Tell them their doom is upon them and that my wait is ending. I will tear your galaxy asunder and all you know will be devoured by my vast darkness. But not before I make you mine. You will know my strength and you will fall to me and become my apprentice, and it will be you who leads the marches upon those you love. It is your destiny. Now go, tell them their end approaches. That I, Darth Teridonis, The Eternal Emperor is coming." And with that he withdrew from Ahsoka's mind and threw her, across the entirety of the galaxy, back to her body.
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Ahsoka POV
She woke up, not in the garden but in a bed. She had no idea how she got here. She looked around but the room was dark, and her head was pounding as if she had run into a wall.
"Master?" She said weakly and hoarsely. 'How long have I been out?' She thought herself.
"Master are you there?" She asked again, getting her voice back slowly. Her body was sore and stiff as if she hadn't moved for hours.
"Ahsoka?" A male voice asked.
The lights then suddenly came on revealing her master. He was scruffy looking, his hair was completely dis-shelved he had bags under his eyes. And a look of exhaustion covered his face.
She sat up and noticed that she was hooked up to a heartbeat monitor, beeping away with the indication that she's alive. That alone scared her and made her wonder. But before she could ask; her master interrupted.
"Ahsoka, oh thank the force your awake, you had me scared to death." He had run over to her and pulled her into a crushing hug that threatened to suffocate. Now Ahsoka was really starting to wonder just how long she was out of it.
"Master... can't... breathe." She squeaked through his tight embrace. He released her with a tired chuckle and sat on the edge of her bed.
"How long was I out?" She asked, after she caught her breath. His eyes saddened when asked she that. 'Oh boy,' she thought worriedly. 'I've got a bad feelin about this.'
He dropped his head and took a deep breath before speaking.
"Snips, I don't know how to tell you this but…you've been asleep for thirteen days." He said with a hint of guilt in his voice.
Ahsoka's mind blanked and her mouth hung open. She blinked several times; she could barely comprehend what he just said.
"Thir-thirteen days." She said in barely a whisper.
It was so mind boggling, how could she have been asleep for 13 days? The last thing she remembered was sitting in the gardens with her master, meditating in the tall grass before she...
The pain; the anger; the pure fear, all of it had collided into her like a tsunami. She remembered it all, The voice and the vision, it almost made her faint; but she held tight to consciousness and began to weep instead.
"Oh god master, it was horrible, the dark voice tried to seduce me, he tried to change me. He scared me so bad, the darkness was terrifying." She began to really lose it, she cried harder than she ever had.
Anakin had no idea what she was talking about, and he had never seen her break down like this; the only thing he knew to do was hold her while she let loose.
It took several minutes before she finally stopped crying, and Anakin decided now would be as good a time as any, to try and figure out what happened.
"Ahsoka, can you try and tell me what happened? I tried to wake you from your meditation after about 2 hours but you wouldn't budge, I had to call master Yoda to try and wake you, but when he tried he said you were "One with the force". I had absolutely no idea what he was going on about. So tell me, what happened?" He asked.
Ahsoka lifted her head from her hands and dried her tears and tried to stifle her sobs. With a deep, albeit shaky, breath she began recounting all that had happened, though it was through choked sobs that she just couldn't hold back.
She recounted everything, every moment from when she started meditated, to her expanding her consciencesness over the planet. She told him about her being dragged through the galaxy, feeling the war and all its effects on the lives of people. Her voice hitched with slight fear when she talked about her momentary solitude in Dark Space.
But it was her telling of the encounter with Darth Teridonis that made her start crying all over again. But she trudged on and she told him about the vision she had and of "Him" trying to bring her to the Dark Side.
Anakin took hold of Ahsoka again while she cried once more. She held his tunic tightly while she buried her face in his chest. Minutes passed before she regained control of her emotions. With one last snivel she looked at her master who had been silent the entire time. He had that look of deep contemplation on his face, the one that he wore whenever he was concentrating heavily on something.
Ahsoka could sense through the force that he wanted to leave, most likely to tell the council about what he just learned. But she also sensed guilt and worry as well. She smiled sadly.
'He never knows when to quit.' She thought with a grim humor.
So she poked him in the chest to get his attention, he started and looked down.
"Hey," Ahsoka began. "You can go, they need to know and you can't be in here forever, so put on your big boy pants and go." She said with a light chuckle.
He smirked at her words.
"Are you sure snips?" He asked concerningly.
"Yesss Master, I'll be fiiine." She said with a forced smile and some sarcasm.
Anakin smiled as he got up from the bed and walked for the exit. He stopped in the doorway and turned back to face her.
"Get some rest Snips. Oh, and don't get into anymore trouble while I'm away." He said almost warningly.
Ahsoka just rolled her eyes and said.
"I think I've had enough sleep to last me a life time, besides, what's the worst that could happen?"
Anakin just shook his head with a chuckle and left for the council chambers.
As Ahsoka laid there in the bed, trying to relax, she couldn't help but go over the situation in her head, again and again. She just couldn't cast away the fear from her encounter with Darth Teridonis. So she decided that she should meditate, but to make sure that she kept herself as far from merging with the force as she could. She didn't want a repeat of what happened. So she sat up as best as she could, brought her stiff legs into a crisscross and began her meditation. It was hard at first, but by reciting the code that she had memorized since childhood she was able to drift into the force, while keeping a hold on her body.
"There is no emotion, there is only peace."
'Peace is a lie, there is only passion.' A whisper in the back of her mind said.
'Who said that? I must be really out of it.' She thought to herself. But she ignored and carried on.
"There is no ignorance, only knowledge."
'Through passion I gain strength.'
It was louder this time, and Ahsoka knew something was wrong.
'Why am I hearing a voice now? I'm going bonkers, I'm going insane, I… No just calm down Ahsoka, breathe, and make the force to flow through you.'
"There is no passion, there is serenity."
'Through strength I gain power.'
Ahsoka's eye's widened once recognition hit her.
'Oh no, it's his voice, no, no, no, get out of my head!'
"There is no chaos, there is harmony" she said through clenched teeth.
'Through power I gain victory.' The voice of the Dark Lord spoke into her mind.
'Stop it, these are not my thoughts, I am a Jedi!'
"There is no death, there is the force!" She practically yelled in her raspy voice.
'Through victory my chains are broken!' The Dark Lord bellowed. The words echoing throughout her body. She wanted to ignore it but the words felt so right, the words fit in her soul in ways the Jedi code never did.
'But I'm a Jedi, this is my life, I fight for these ideals. But… why do I feel so, "Alive" with these words.' She struggled with her thoughts, an emotional tug of war going on in her heart and mind. Outwardly she looked like she was fighting a war, her face was set in a heavy grimace, her body was shaking and her fists were clenched heavily onto the bedsheet. Ahsoka felt like she was fighting an uphill battle against herself. She wanted so bad to give in to the voice and those dark and tempting words, she felt darkness wrapping itself around her. Like a shroud of evil and hate, she felt as if she was going to drown in it all.
In her panic she reached out in every direction with the force, looking to latch onto anything to save her. And she found her salvation in the form of a signature that felt like a billion stars in strength. It radiated the light side of the force like no other and Ahsoka drew on it without hesitation; filling herself with light and fighting back the dark. It was only when she had a level of clarity again did she realize who the signature belonged too. Her master. Anakin.
As the darkness was cast from her she felt a huge amount of relief. And thanked the force for the strength of her master. But then she heard "His" voice once more, not in her mind, but to her horror the voice whispered from the deepest crevice of her heart.
'There is no Light that can defeat Darkness.' His voice whispered with dark humor. Those words drawled throughout her body, leaving a sort of ominous feeling in her. But eventually she cast away the dark with every last bit of her strength and finally felt that she returned to the Peace of the code she had known all her life. She felt whole again, like she had just been put back together after being broken for so long. She smiled lightly and breathed in deeply to finish her code, the words that she by heart.
"Through victory, my chains are broken."
"The force shall free me."