Ahsoka had been betrayed before, more than once. But never like this. Never in a million years had she thought that the Jedi Order, the people whom she thought of as her family, would abandon her and leave her to the mercy of those greedy, corrupt animals in the senate. And Barriss Offee, her close friend, whom she had literally trusted with her life, had spat on their friendship and gotten her expelled from the Jedi Order and nearly executed to protect her own skin. Ahsoka had never thought that a Jedi like Barriss could display such disloyalty, selfishness and cowardice. Despite Barriss' treachery however, Ahsoka agreed with her about one thing; the Jedi Order was corrupt.
She listened to the Jedi Council's apologies and excuses but was unmoved by them. She was half tempted to just beat them all up with her bare hands. She seriously considered doing so; they'd never see it coming. But she didn't. She wasn't like Barriss; no matter how corrupt the Jedi had become she wouldn't resort to being violent towards them.
"You have our most humble apologies Little Soka," Plo Koon said and Ahsoka knew the Kel Dor well enough to know that he was genuinely sorry, although she didn't think the rest of the Council were, apart from Obi-Wan and possibly Yoda, "The Council was wrong to accuse you." Despite his humility and use if her beloved childhood nickname, not even Plo Koon could soften Ahsoka's contempt towards the Council, or even towards him. She had looked up to him like a father, and when she needed him the most he just abandoned her. Anakin had explained that Koon had made half-hearted attempts to defend her but the word "half-hearted" told Ahsoka that he had at least been suspicious of her. After spending her entire life trying to make him proud, Koon had assumed she was a treacherous murderer, or at least shown weakness by giving in to the peer pressure of the rest of the Council. Ahsoka had never thought Plo Koon was a weak person until now; he'd always seemed so powerful, so strong. But she had seen him at her trial in the Senate just sitting there not even looking directly at her and making no attempt to protect her. That hurt more than any physical and possibly even emotional injury Ahsoka had ever suffered.
Other Council members complimented her and even implied that they wanted to make her a Jedi Knight, which would make her the youngest Knight in the history of the Order, but their words meant nothing to her; they were just trying to get back into her good books. Then Mace Windu said his piece and Ahsoka folded her arms struggling not to show her rage.
"This was actually your great trial," Windu said, "Now we see that. We know that the Force works in mysterious ways and because of this trial you have become a greater Jedi than you would have otherwise." Ahsoka was not flattered by Windu's words at all; she felt closer to insulted since Windu had implied that he hadn't previously believed in her abilities. She was tempted to tell Windu to go and die in a hole. He and the rest of the Council had put her through hell, and so had the clones and the Republic. That was no test, it was a nightmare and stone cold treachery from almost everyone she had once held dear. The Council were just trying to soften her up, to coax her to return to the Order. And then Windu claimed that her traumatic experience was the will of the Force. He was simply too much of an arrogant prick to apologise and wanted to place the blame on anyone except himself, even the Force. At least Plo had the humility to apologise to her. The whole damn Jedi Council should all be down on their knees begging for her forgiveness!
"Back into the Order, you may come," Yoda looked up at her. For the first time in her life Ahsoka truly realised how small the ugly, ancient little troll looked. The Jedi Grand Master had always seemed larger than life to her simply because of his power and, according to people who didn't know him so well, wisdom, but now he just looked like a feeble little creature who wasn't even worthy of having a name for his species.
"They're asking you back Ahsoka," said Anakin and held out her Padawan braid, the one that had been torn so callously from her only the day before, "I'm asking you back." Ahsoka considered the offer. Anakin, the only Jedi who had stood by her no matter what, said he wanted her back and that was almost enough to make her change her decision. But the rest of these hypocrites and cowards didn't deserve her loyalty after what they had done to her. Compassion and loyalty were two words often used to describe Jedi. The Council had shown neither towards her. They were no better than Barriss. Ahsoka wanted to spit in the faces of every single Council member, apart from Obi-Wan the only member whom Anakin had said had defended her, but she resisted the urge; she didn't want to let her anger turn her into a psychopath like Barriss. She looked back at her Master who was looking at her hopefully.
Her anger faded. She knew she was going to hurt him and it broke her heart. But she couldn't stay in an Order run by corrupt, hypocritical, judgemental, tyrants.
Tyrants. That was a word Ahsoka had never thought she would use to describe the Jedi Council. Despite Barriss' misguided, crazy, manipulative and downright evil actions, the Mirialan fallen Jedi had realised that the Jedi Council were as power hungry and selfish as a Sith Lord. They simply hid it better.
"I'm sorry Master," she said closing Anakin's hand over her Padawan braid, "But I'm not coming back." She turned and walked out of the room.
When Anakin caught up with her, Ahsoka explained that she couldn't stay. She claimed it was because she couldn't trust herself, but it was actually the Jedi Council she didn't trust. The Jedi Order was falling and they didn't even realise it. Ahsoka didn't want to witness the end of that fall.
Anakin said she was making a mistake and to humour him Ahsoka replied that perhaps she was but the Force was telling her otherwise. She had to walk away from the Order. She wasn't sure why but as soon as she left the Council Chamber she had realised that it was not only resentment towards the Council that was causing her to abandon the Jedi; she genuinely believed that her destiny would not be fulfilled if she stayed. She remembered the vision she'd had on Mortis and wondered if she had waited too long to heed the advice of her older self. It struck her for the first time that she was possibly the only Jedi in history, almost certainly the only one in recent history, who had their older self come and speak to them.
"I understand more than you realise," Anakin said as Ahsoka was about to leave, "I understand wanting to walk away from the Order."
"I know," Ahsoka said quietly as she thought about Anakin and Padme. She'd known for a while, not all the details, but it was so obvious. Anakin was terrible at hiding his feelings and it was a further testament to how blind the Jedi Council were that none of them, except perhaps Obi-Wan, even suspected that he was in love with the Senator. Padme was better at hiding her feelings but Ahsoka knew the Senator and she had seen the way Padme acted around her Master.
Or rather her former Master.
A tear slid down her cheek.
Ahsoka Tano walked away from her home and family without looking back. She had no weapons, no money, not even clean clothes but she didn't need them, not now at least. She may not be a Jedi any longer but her powerful Force connection would always be with her. That was all she needed for the time being. She would do what the Jedi Council had been failing to do for many years, ever since they started getting concerned about the opinions of the corrupt Senate.
She would let the Force guide her.
I want to say that The Wrong Jedi was an absolutely amazing finale and easily the most powerful and emotional ending to a season that the Clone Wars series has ever produced. It really showed how corrupt the Jedi had become and for the first time ever I can understand why Darth Vader thought they were evil. The Council were judgemental hypocrites who jumped to conclusions and the way they treated Ahsoka, as if she were just a piece of dirt, was absolutely appalling. The fact that they simply handed her over to the Senate just to preserve their reputations shows an incredible level of disloyalty, selfishness and cowardice that was reflected by Barriss Offee who was willing to sacrifice her best friend to save her own skin. The Council's actions showed that they were no better than Barriss and reflected her fall in a way that showed the Order was falling into darkness. Plo Koon especially disgusted me with his weakness and disloyalty towards Little Soka (he no longer has the right to call her that). He didn't make any serious attempt to stand up for Ahsoka, merely expressing doubt without actually trying to change the minds of his fellow Council members.
Anyway rant aside I must ask for reviews; I want to know your opinions not only of this story but also of the episode itself.