Disclaimer: I don't own anything Star Wars

There is an explanation of how the calendar works in the original 'Flame of Hope' if you're curious.

I Know

I'm Not Optimistic:

D83/20 BBY, Onderon

When Lux saw on the news that Ahsoka had been accused of bombing the Jedi Temple and striped of her status as a Jedi, he almost dropped the glass of water he was chugging as his fingers suddenly lost all feeling.

His first thought was, 'No way in the Corellian Hells would Ahsoka do that!'

His second was, 'How come the Jedi Council was throwing one of the best of their own under the proverbial transport?'

After watching the news long enough to hear that Ahsoka's trial was being held first thing in the morning today, Coruscant time, Lux dashed out of the training gym in the basement of his mansion on Onderon and up four flights of stairs to get to his suite on the top floor. He showered and changed in record time and was in his personal ship in ten minutes flat.

The flight from Onderon to Coruscant was only a few hours long, but it felt like an eternity to Lux. He knew there was no possible way for him to get there in time for the beginning of the trial, but he hoped he might get there before the end.

While on route, Lux commed the only person he knew of that might actually answer him AND know what was going on.

A hologram of his late mother's friend, Padme Amidala, appeared a few moments later, moving as if she was walking. She looked stressed, despite her efforts at appearing calm and in control. "Good morning, Lux. Now's not a good time. I have to be in court in two minutes."

"My apologies, Padme. I just heard about Ahsoka on the news. Please. Just tell me. Does she stand a chance of being cleared of the charges?"

Padme's expression filled with regret. "I honestly don't think so. The evidence against her is overwhelming. I'll do my best, but..."

Lux felt like he couldn't breathe. Ahsoka might die. He knew the punishment for multiple murders could be as harsh as execution. And for someone accused of bombing the Jedi Temple and killing fellow Jedi...

Feeling lightheaded, he gulped in air and got it together. Sort of. "I'm on my way. Can you please, just tell her that?"

Padme looked sympathetic. "I will, Lux, if I can. I'm going to stall as long as I can anyway. Anakin's out there right now, trying to find the real culprit. I'm going to give him as much time as I can get away with."

Lux felt a smidgeon of hope again. If anyone could make things happen, it was Anakin and Padme. He doubted there were two more determined people in the entire galaxy. "Thank you, Padme. I'll be there in a few hours."

Padme nodded once and the hologram disappeared. Lux slumped in his seat and stared out at the blue and white of hyperspace blankly. He considered Ahsoka to be one of the best friends he'd ever had, and he knew their friendship could easily have been so much more if she wasn't a Jedi. In a rather large corner of his heart, he knew he'd loved her since the first day he met her, but he'd made that corner stay silent so as not to put any pressure on her. Now that corner was whimpering in pain, knowing the person who suited him best was facing a terrible time in her life and he wasn't there to support her.

Even though it wasn't his fault, since he couldn't have known unless someone had thought to comm him about it, Lux felt like scum.

A flicker of a smile came and went as Padme tucked her holo device into a hidden pocket in her robe. She hoped Lux got here in time. The friendship between the two teenagers had always made her smile and hope that it might turn into something more, even though she knew she shouldn't.

It was hard enough for Anakin to hide a relationship. Ahsoka's much more open personality would find it almost impossible, and she'd quickly find herself severely chastised, if not expelled, from the Order.

Padme sighed as she remembered the sad truth that that had already occurred, but never for a reason you would expect.

Padme came to a stop outside the door to the tribunal chamber, waiting for her signal to enter and take her place as Ahsoka's defending voice. A million thoughts were trying to take precedence in her mind, but the one that dominated the most was Ahsoka's defeated words just before the troopers had come and taken her from her cell.

"Forgive me if I'm not optimistic. I thought I was part of that Order, but everyone except Anakin has abandoned me. And I'm not holding out much hope the Senate will treat me any better."

It was all Padme could do not to cry for her young friend. Ahsoka should have been supported by the Order, not thrown out of it. She never should have had to run to the depths of Coruscant. She never should have had to team up with Ventress just to survive. She should never have to stand trial for crimes Padme was positive Ahsoka didn't commit. Her husband's Padawan was the sweetest, most caring being Padme had ever met.

She was also one of Anakin's very few sources of calm and joy in an ever increasingly tumultuous war. He needed her. As much as Padme hated to admit it, Anakin needed Ahsoka in his life every bit as much as he needed Padme. More now than ever, since Anakin was finding it harder and harder to trust in Obi-Wan.

Padme couldn't blame him really. Obi-Wan faking his death, and now supporting the Council, or at least not going against them, in their decision to expel Ahsoka from the Order were just the latest in a long list of complaints Anakin had about his former Master. She knew it was killing him, too, because her Ani loved his Master, and he couldn't understand why Obi-Wan seemed so determined to throw proverbial stones at their bond.

She startled slightly as a small chime sounded and the trooper in white and red armour guarding it nodded and pressed the button to open the door for her.

Smiling briefly in thanks, Padme took in a deep breath, calming herself, and walked forward, ready to make this last as long as possible so that Anakin had as much time as she could give him to come up with a miracle.

Anakin left the Republic military base at a jog, heading for his speeder. He needed to find Ventress and he needed to find her NOW. He knew she wouldn't be on one of the upper levels, so the first thing he did was fly down. And down. And down a little further, just for good measure.

Then he came to a stop in a dingy alleyway, closed his eyes and opened himself up to the Force. It was Dark and malevolent down here, but Anakin didn't flinch from it.. He used it instead, feeling like it suited his mood perfectly. Obi-Wan would be appalled, but Anakin found that he cared less and less what Obi-Wan thought as the days went by. At least that's what he told himself so he could occasionally sleep at night.

Calling up repugnant memories of how Ventress' Force signature felt, he searched for it, sending out his senses in ever widening sweeps.

A fraction of a smirk curled his upper lip when he found her. Bursting into a swirl of motion, he pulled on his hooded robe and sprinted down the alley, leaping up onto a rooftop, across to another and so on.

One minute later, he dropped down in front of her where she stood on a narrow platform. The muted lighting down here did absolutely nothing to improve her looks. If anything she looked even more like a figure from childhood nightmares. His enemy didn't seem surprised to see him. Pity.

"Anakin Skywalker," her less than dulcet tone said mockingly.

He snarled. "I know you're behind all this." Then he attacked her, oblivious to the fact that she seemed weaponless.

"Prove it," she spat. Ventress picked up a couple of pipes and did her best to defend herself, but Anakin was in no mood to play. He swung at her viciously with his lightsabre, the blue glow illuminating the area and hissing menacingly through the air. Her metal pipes were taken care of quickly. "Leave me alone," she cried as her last defence was sliced through and thrown away.

Anakin more or less growled as he flung her back against a wall, leaving a dent in the bricks, and then he pulled her forward again with the Force and wrapped his hand around her throat, squeezing just enough to cut off her air. She gasped and choked in his hold and something in Anakin thrilled at finally putting this witch in her place. "Tell me what happened!" he demanded, loosening his fingers just enough so she could.

Ventress looked at him with something that wasn't quite fear, but might have been the beginnings of respect, covered in a thick layer of scorn. "When I heard your little rat was on the run I thought she might bring a large bounty."

"Bounty?" he hissed, extremely displeased with the idea of Ahsoka being hunted by bounty hunters. He held his lightsabre to her neck, eyes narrowed in hate.

Ventress gasped and paled, spitting out words as fast as she could to save her hide. "I was going to catch your pet and turn her over to the authorities. Collect whatever bounty was due."

Anakin let her go as he felt the truth of her words. She honestly didn't seem to be involved in the original bombing. He sucked in a breath as a sense of reason returned to his mind. "What stopped you?"

Ventress straightened her clothes like getting beat up was a regular occurrence for her. "At first, I admit, I was just interested in the money and a little bit of revenge. But then I realized your fallen Padawan and I have a lot in common."

The rage returned in an instant from the place where it bubbled just beneath the surface of his emotions more often than not lately. "How dare you compare yourself to Ahsoka!" His Snips was nothing like this lying, murdering, Sith wannabee snake of a female.

"It's true!" She practically yelled right in his face, making him rear back in shock. "My Master abandoned me and that's exactly what you did to her. You and your precious Jedi order." Anakin's first thought was outright denial. He hadn't abandoned Ahsoka! He'd fought for her with the Council. He'd fought for her with Obi-Wan. He'd done everything he could to get her out of a cell as fast as possible. He was still fighting for her. But Ventress' words struck a chord and it made him wonder. Could he have done more? Tried harder to find her? It's not like he couldn't track her down if he really wanted to; their bond saw to that. Maybe he could have hidden her. Gotten her off planet until the real culprit was found. Maybe if he had, she wouldn't be expelled now. He'd felt her pain as if it was his own when the Council threw her out and he knew that had been beyond devastating to her. (It was devastating to him too.) His poor little Snips.

"Explain to me what happened two nights ago. Ahsoka thinks you attacked her in the warehouse. I need to know how you're involved in all this," Anakin asked, sort of nicely.

Ventress huffed at him, but thankfully didn't give him anymore reasons to want to kill her at the moment. "At first, I thought I'd caught myself a good bounty. Then we talked for a few minutes and I found myself wanting to help your pet instead. We were caught by a squadron of your clone troopers, but we took care of them, without..." and she rolled her eyes at this, "killing any, because Tano asked my not to. We then travelled to a warehouse and she said she'd be alright, so I left her. I actually feel bad for that, now." Now Anakin was rolling his eyes. "After I left the warehouse, after I left your little Padawan alone, I was walking away, and I thought she came up behind me to talk more. But I was wrong. Someone came from out of nowhere and hit me from behind. Not just anyone can sneak up behind me. It had to be another Jedi."

This rubbed Anakin the wrong way. He snarled out, "I don't believe you."

She snarled right back. "Believe it. Whoever you're looking for has my lightsabres. That's how you'll know you've found the criminal."

That was the first time he actually noticed she wasn't carrying them on her person. He couldn't sense the sad whimper of their Kyber crystals at all. Anakin actually felt a moment of pity for her. Being parted with one's lightsabre was never pleasant, even if she had perverted her crystals, they were still bonded to her.

His shoulders sagged as he propped his forearms against a rusty railing and stared blankly into the perpetual night of the Coruscant underworld. "Well, this leads me to a dead end. You're the only one Ahsoka talked to."

He sensed her presence startle a little from where she was leaning on the other railing. "That's not true."

Anakin whirled around. "Whatayamean?" His words came out so fast, he lost the ability to separate them.

Ventress almost looked at him with sympathy. He wasn't sure if he wanted it. "Your Padawan contacted the Temple. She spoke to someone named... Barriss. That's why we went to the warehouse in the first place. It was this Barriss that told us to go there."

Anakin sucked in a breath at the truth he felt in her words. He thought he might just have the lead he needed to solve this. And please, Force, let it be in time.

Narrowing his eyes at her one more time, he warned, "If you're lying, your dead."

As he jumped off the platform, he heard her laugh. "Such promises."

Anakin snorted as a grudging modicum of respect for the vile woman passed through him. He had to admit that she did have spirit. He wondered what she would have been like if she'd been trained in the Temple instead of by Dooku. Would she actually have been a friend?

He shuddered and perished the thought to the furthest corners of his mind, never to be found again.

Five traffic law defying minutes later, Anakin pulled up to the Jedi Temple as close to Barriss' quarters as he could get away with. He still had to navigate a few million steps, but he jumped those, and sprinted to her door, ignoring the surprised exclamations from anyone he happened to pass.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed his racing heart and Force signature and knocked on the door.

"Enter," came the placid voice of Barriss from within. For the first time, Anakin realized he hadn't even thought to wonder if she'd even be in her quarters. Thank the Force for small miracles.

Anakin entered. "Barriss, I need to talk to you."

She rose gracefully from her meditation pose and faced him. (She always had seemed like the perfect little epitome of a Jedi. How appearances could be deceiving.) "Master Skywalker. How can I help you?"

Anakin glanced around her small, austere chamber and called her lightsabre to his hand from the little table it lay on. (And wasn't that interesting. It should have been attached to her belt so as to keep the Kyber crystal as close to her person as possible. Most Jedi didn't even like to take them off to go to sleep, but they did anyway for the sake of comfort.) He opened his shields slightly and felt the Kyber crystal in it. It sang happily enough, like a true Jedi's crystal should, but there might have been an undertone of concern in the song. He ignored how much his own lightsabre sang the same song of concern and instead focused on the familiar feel of Ventress' lightsabres. He wasn't surprised when he felt them near. Now he just needed her to confess so the open comm link in his pocket could record it.

On the way, Anakin had called one of the two unbiased people he could think of who wasn't already in the tribunal. The first was Rex, but he knew Rex was on a scheduled rest period and didn't want to disturb him. (Rex got so little down time as is.) Instead, he called Lux Bonteri. Anakin wasn't surprised to find out that Lux was on his way. He actually felt bad for not thinking of him sooner and informing him of Ahsoka's predicament and had apologized for the oversight; he knew very well how much his Snips and Lux cared for each other. Lux, being the truly nice person that he was, had said not to worry about it. Now he was making a recording of everything Barriss said over the comm link for evidence against her.

Anakin played it cool to the best of his ability. "I was told that you spoke with Ahsoka before she was arrested. What did you say to her?"

"We've been friends for a long time," Barriss evaded. "I was only trying to help her. I hope I'm not in any trouble."

Anakin huffed mentally. She was a smart one. "It's no trouble. I just need to know what you told her and if you told anyone else."

"No. I thought I had a clue for her, but I really couldn't tell her anything." Evasions again. Grrrr. "Who told you I spoke to her?"

Anakin brought out his trump card. "Ventress. She told me." Barriss' eyes widened fractionally, but that was the only sign she was alarmed. Yeesh, this girl was good.

"Ventress. Isn't she the one Ahsoka says is really behind all this?"

Anakin couldn't help but notice she was trying to unobtrusively get closer to the door and the ceramic pot on the floor he could feel Ventress' lightsabres hiding in. Still nothing useful in regards to a voiced confession, but he could feel her resolve gathering in the Force. It looked like he might have to go with plan B. He liked plan B better anyway. "That's what Ahsoka says, but I think she's wrong. Ventress thinks someone else is involved."

"And you believe her? Who else could it be if not her? Surely not Ahsoka?"

Anakin pretended to study her lightsabre nonchalantly. "No. I don't think it was Ahsoka either. I think both Ahsoka and Ventress were telling the truth. But... there's only one way to find out." He lunged at the lying Padawan who'd put his Snips in danger and attacked her with her own lightsabre.

The sense of vindication he got when she summoned Ventress' lightsabres from the pot was almost climactic. He curled his lip at her as the two red lightsabres hissed against her own blue one. "Funny. Those belong to Ventress. You should have gotten rid of them." Even he could hear the disgust in his voice.

"I think they suit me," she taunted back.

Anakin swung at her again.

Lux sat in his ship with wide eyes, breath almost held, and body as tense as a board as a series of lightsabre hisses, grunts and crashes took up the next few minutes as he listened to the battle via Anakin's pocket. This wouldn't be his first choice of how he found out how things were going, but it wouldn't be his last either. He wished he had a visual to go with the racket and muttered curses, but he figured he could make do with his imagination.

They didn't talk much, but he did hear Anakin growl out, "Ahsoka trusted you and you betrayed her!"

Barriss replied with an equally venomous, "I've learned that trust is overrated. The only thing the Jedi council believes in is violence."

Ouch.

And the sound of another lightsabre igniting and more clashing and banging.

"Cease hostilities," also came over the comm at some point in the background more than once. Lux figured that must be the Temple guards. He'd seen them once or twice. They were intimidating looking, but he'd always likened them to statues; there to be seen but not really do anything. Apparently they actually moved. Or at least talked. Good to know.

"Barriss!" Anakin yelled at one point, making Lux wince when he got some feedback from it. That was almost instantly followed by the sound of breaking glass. Now Lux was left wondering what had been broken.

More grunting and fighting sounds. Then Lux winced in sympathy as it sounded like Anakin was falling down a flight of stairs.

The voice of a boy yelled, "Look out!" and the fight was back on, lightsabre sounds going nuts once again. Wow, did Lux ever wish he could see what was going on. This had to be one hell of an epic fight.

Finally, the battle seemed to end and Anakin's voice growled out, "You're under arrest, Barriss Offee. You're going to regret ever framing my Padawan. I wish you could experience everything my Snips went through, but I'll have to settle for seeing you rot in a cell for the rest of your life, IF the Senate decides to let you live."

Lux felt a chill run down his spine at the pure hate he heard from Anakin. He was not a man you wanted to get on the bad side of, that was for sure.

He listened to the sound of marching feet for a minute before Anakin's hologram appeared. "Thank you, Lux. That should be good enough, I hope."

Lux smiled wanly. "I would imagine so. I should arrive within the hour and will bring the recording with me."

Anakin nodded slightly. "If this goes the way it should, you'll find us at the Temple. Ask for me and someone will get you wherever I am."

Lux smile became a little more real. "Thank you. See you soon."

Anakin made an attempt at returning the smile and then the hologram disappeared.

Lux leaned back in his chair and sighed in relief. The real culprit had been caught. Ahsoka should be safe now. He closed his eyes and just processed as all of the emotions of the last couple hours left him feeling exhausted. Until Anakin had commed him, Lux had spent his flight imagining all the dreadful things Ahsoka must have gone through and was going through right now. He couldn't even begin to guess how Ahsoka was feeling at the moment. Until Anakin arrived at the Tribunal with Barriss, Ahsoka would be under the impression that she was doomed. Poor, poor precious Ahsoka.

Lux's heart was still breaking for her and all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right. That he'd make sure that everything would be all right from now until the end of eternity. And maybe, if the opportunity presented itself, he'd tell her that he loved her. Life was so short; why was he wasting it just being friends with the person he adored more than life itself? She might turn him down, but at least he would have tried. He didn't care if she was a Jedi or not, he felt like he needed her to know that someone loved her. It felt vitally important right now, like maybe the Force was telling him that Ahsoka needed the words from him.

At least now, thanks to Anakin's determination, there was a really good chance of that happening.