Hi, I'm Lily, and as you all may have guessed, I'm the author of this story. I hope you'll have fun, but just a few sentences before we start:
First of all, I'm German, so don't kill me cause my grammar or spell sucks sometimes, but of course you can tell me about mistakes you find, I'd love to learn from them. I hope my English is going to become better soon with your help.
Even though it's Ahsoka's decision what's changing the timeline and the following events, I won't focus as much on her as on Anakin (at least I plan so, let's see how it turns out), but of course, a lot of events and persons are influenced by her decision and I'm going to change the perspective sometimes, so don't worry, I hopefully will give every person important some speech time, and if you feel like somebody is missing, just tell me.
One last point: Seeing it on a timeline, Ahsoka must have left the order maybe one till two months or so before the events of the third movie begin. Looking at Padme in the beginning of ROTS and the fact that she actually has to tell Anakin of becoming father, she is at most in the fourth month of her pregnancy at this point, so the third movie is actually taking place over at least 4 months (in this story, it's fine if you have other opinions about this: I know, the conversations in Star Wars: Episode 3 tell otherwise). This is just some thinking of mine about how to arrange some events in the year 19VSY, where our story now finally begins (it's something between spring and summer, I don't think they have seasons on Coruscant).
Oh, and if there is a sixth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars till now, just ignore everything that might have happened in it cause my story starts with the end of the fifth season, and I have also missed to read any books or comics in the universe, so excuse me if some stories do not compare with others written down (Or if they seem to be copied: It was an accident, no purpose!)
All follows, favorites, reviews, nice words, critics, ideas, wishes, suspicions and chocolate bars are welcome! So let's start and Cheesecake!
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Surprising news, aren't they ;) )
(And can anybody tell me if I have to put a Disclaimer in front of like every chapter?)
Ahsoka took a look at her padawan braid in her master's hand.
Did she actually want to come back? After everything the Jedi had put her though? How could she trust an order, who had distrusted her in such a way?
Could she even trust herself any longer?
She couldn't come back. Too much had been destroyed, too many people had accused her of crimes she did not do.
Ahsoka reached out for Anakin's hand, but for closing it, not taking her braid. It was hard, to say No. And how would he take it.
There was no other way.
Anakin. His eyes were fixed on her, begging her to stay.
No, she wouldn't. Her decision was done.
But then, she hesitated. If she left the order, she would certainly hurt the one person in the room most, who had trusted her. Who had tried to fight for her. And even though he had tracked her down at first, he had never lost faith in her and in the end, he had found the real traitor, the person behind the attacks on the Jedi Order.
Barris Offee. It still chocked her when she thought about how Barris had betrayed her. She had thought of her as a friend. As her best friend. But apparently, Barris had not.
However, her master had caught her. Anakin had believed in her. Anakin would have never let her down, even if she had bombed the temple, he would have broken into jail to rescue her. Should his efforts to restore her name be forgotten by Ahsoka? Should she let Anakin down?
Has it been the Jedi order's fault she had been locked up in jail?
Why did she lose trust in herself? She had managed something, maybe nobody in this situation could have. She had stayed on the light side of the force. It was Barris who had been weak, who had thought joining the dark side would bring justice. She was strong. She was Ahsoka, and she was a Jedi.
-/-/-
"I'm grateful you were able to forgive the order", Anakin said to his by the council again trusted padawan. There had been this slide painful moment for him when he thought Ahsoka might give her braid back to him, but then she had reconnected it with her headdress.
"The Jedi council acted only the way they thought it would be best, master. And even though they were proved wrong about their belief that I had planned these attacks, it wasn't their fault. I don't blame them for anything, so there's nothing to forgive."
Anakin looked at his apprentice in disbelief for a moment. In this split second, he couldn't help himself to admire Ahsoka for her complete unemotional and logical statement. Of course, it hadn't been the council's fault. But Anakin knew, if had been put in this situation to run and hide before his friends and fight against false charges without their support, he would have not forgiven the council. He wasn't even sure if he could forgive him for Ahsoka's trial, and if the council had done the same to him as to Ahsoka, he would have spit their pity right back in their faces. No, he wouldn't forgive the council. Or Obi-Wan.
How could even Obi-Wan let Ahsoka down? Out of the same reasons he hadn't trusted Anakin when he faked his death? What was wrong with him?
If he had been put through this, betrayed by the persons he trusted, he knew what he would have done.
But that would have been his reaction, while Ahsoka seemed to have chosen another way. Maybe Mace had been right about this being Ahsoka's big trial, even if it had sounded weird at the moment. By looking had his padawan, Anakin realized she was much calmer than a few weeks before. "Well Snips, then let's go back to the Resolute." From the corner of his eye, he saw a twinkle of a smile on her face. He hadn't called her by this name for a long time.
-/-/-
Obi-Wan watched as Anakin's and Ahsoka's shuttle took off to the Resolute. Even though overhearing other people's conversations was really impolite, he had, of course, listened to his former apprentice's and his padawan's dialogue.
My god, he thought, she has become so grown-up. Sometimes Ahsoka was so much more adult than Anakin, especially in the skills of forgiveness and mercy. These were abilities, Anakin wasn't fully aware of yet, Obi-Wan knew, but probably also ones he wouldn't learn to use ever. You were born either with the ability to learn them or without it. Depending on that, you would rather like revenge or act in mercy, it just lied within your character.
This differed from controlling your emotions. As you grew up, you shall learn this as a Jedi. Especially teenagers, like Ahsoka, could not deal with this particularly, so often their masters had to remember them to have patience and act for the greater good than for your own. But in the master-student-relationship of Anakin and Ahsoka, it was sometimes the other way around.
Obi-Wan began to wonder, what a girl of fifteen or sixteen (Ahsoka had never told him her birthday, probably because she didn't know it) years must have already experienced, if she had become like this.
His thoughts were darkening. It's the war. The war who's turning children to adults faster than they should grow up. Maybe Barris had been slightly right, even though her methods had been wrong of course.
Was the Jedi Order still the same as the one he had joined in?
Maybe he should have left it when he was on Mandalore… No, he couldn't think of Satine right now, the pain of her dead was just too much at the moment. He had already allowed his anger and pain of loss to take over him in Ahsoka's trial.
Satine.
Pain flashed through him, connected with deep anger. Anger against Darth Maul.
His precious Satine.
Dead.
How could he have let her down, let her being killed as he watched her…
-/-/-
Brought back to the Resolute, Anakin and Ahsoka walked straight onto the bridge. "Admiral," Anakin greeted Yularen. He had been quite relieved that they would work once more with the experienced Admiral, especially as he had feared they would have to work with Tarkin, who had brought Ahsoka into court at the first place.
"General Skywalker, Commander Tano, I heard about your trouble on Coruscant. It's nice to see your name's clear now."
"Thank you, Admiral." Ahsoka responded formally. "It's good to see you again."
"So, I heard you were backordered from Cato Namodeia. Why?" Anakin wanted to know.
"The Jedi order insisted on bringing the Resolute back to Coruscant for getting a new mission and taking a repair team aboard."
"Well Admiral, what's our new mission then?" Anakin had again his old enthusiasm for any kind of military adventure. Ahsoka secretly rolled her eyes and wondered one's more what her master would do without the war as a Jedi. She could hardly imagine him mediating for hours in the temple. Suddenly, she had to admit to herself, she wasn't sure what Jedi masters were doing the whole day when they were not discussing battle tactics, fighting in the first line or bringing medic supplies to overrun planets. If they were meditating all the time, maybe she should have better stayed out of the order.
"Well, the repairs on the outside have been finished, but we still have damage inside, which is including the upgrading and repairing of several systems like the canons. But as the Republic needs all forces out there, we will have to bring medical aid and food to Karoth, which has been freed by our troops like a month ago. The Seperatists have destroyed the harvest of the farmers living there, so we got to help them. After finishing our mission there, all repairs shall have been done and we'll meet up with Captain Rex and his 501. Legion on the Huspair-System's third planet."
"Well, I'd say we lose no more minute."
Okay, Ahsoka was a little bit disappointed as she would have preferred a fight before a help mission, but this was a quite important job as well and she would have plenty of time to mediate over the last days in Courosant.
-/-/-
The Sith was unsettled.
He had planned freeing Ahsoka from all charges, yes. The young Skywalker had brought up Barris before court right in time. He could not have made Ahsoka executed, this would have made Anakin angry against him. No, the time for Barris being brought up had been great. Everything had seemed perfect.
Only that it had just seemed perfect. He would have never thought that this everything ruining Ahsoka Tano would still remain in the order. Actually, she even was still the young Skywalker's apprentice, another unfortunate developing.
This trial had been meant to destroy her. That's why he had brought Padawan Tano into the prison and freed her again. Yes, Barris had choked Letta but had been unaware of Ahsoka's presence. Well, as she realized Ahsoka would be sentenced of all charges if she was caught, she had taken her chance, indeed. This girl was clever, and 'Had only wanted to fight for the truth'. The Sith silently loved about this. They all fell for the dark side, even if they tried to fight it.
Back to Barris. She had been clever. She had seen a chance to make Ahsoka look guilty, and she had been a good player indeed, faking evidence, making Ahsoka believe she was Ventriss… But he himself, Palpatine, chancellor of the Republic and Sith Lord, had imagined the plan, had made sure it would work as he confused Letta to give Ahsoka a reason to visit the jail.
Yes, he had planned every detail (except the one about Ventriss, but there are always missing pieces in every plan, aren't they?).
But he hadn't thought about Ahsoka being strong enough to stay in the order.
Could she sweep his plans? It was such a good plan he had made to bring Anakin on his side. Could Ahsoka stop this?
If she had left, Anakin would have lost even more of his trust in the council. Especially because it had been the order, who had handed Ahsoka over to Republic's court, including Anakin's master and friend Obi-Wan Kenobi. If the court had sentences Ahsoka then, Anakin would have hated her judge, Palpatine, forever, but if Ahsoka had been cleared and then left, he would only see the Council's fault in this affair.
Palpatine sighed. He would have to wait for further developments, but first of all, he would have to change his plans for the next two months. Dooku had wanted to attack then, but Palpatine couldn't risk that Skywalker might not come for his rescue or be strong enough to resist the dark side of the force.
No, he had to wait, he had to trick Anakin.
This was only possible, if Anakin was in fear. Maybe the fact of Padmé pregnant would still help him.
Well, and this was it, the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, the real story will begin next chapter which is taking place two months later. Just needed this for introduction and so you'd understand what motivated Ahsoka in my story to stay and fix the Emperor's plans.
Anybody you already miss?
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