Ahsoka Tano is a prominent character in this series, and as such, shouldn't she be mentioned in Episode III at least once? I understand that this is because the series was made after Episode III, but it creates continuity problems. Hopefully when Season Five reaches ABC3 I will finally know what many are asking: What happens to Ahsoka? There are many ways to get Ahsoka out of the picture, some more plausible than others. This is my take on Ahsoka's fate.
I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Rated T for violence and character death.
The Fate of Ahsoka Tano
At first she dismissed the twinge she felt in her chest. She glanced up from her mission report towards the door to the Temple's library. Empty. She went back to her work, slightly disappointed. Any distractions at that time were welcome. She'd been at it for three hours.
With her brain numb from work, she slipped out of her professional on-the-job state of mind, slouching back in her chair. She deserved a little break. Her thoughts drifted to her Master. Anakin had been so distant lately, ever since he rescued the Chancellor above Coruscant. He was either shut up in his quarters or off somewhere in the city. She had tried to follow him more than once, but he always shook her off.
She noticed that his aura was slowly changing; no longer was he the Jedi she knew, but a shadow of his former self. His emotions were more prominent; especially sadness and anxiety. Then he was put on the Council but refused the rank of Master Jedi. That, she figured, is when he plummeted. He was almost depressed, refusing to talk to her. He would turn in the opposite direction when he saw her in the halls.
She felt the twinge again, but stronger. A jerk in her core that said something is not right. She rose from her chair, one hand gripping her lightsaber through muscle memory, a memory spawned by two years of war. She made her way to the doorway, the twinge now becoming a constant ache. As she poked her head into the hall, she struggled to think of a reason for the feeling of trepidation settling in her stomach.
Walking down the hall towards her with long, purposeful, strides and a hood over his head was Anakin. Flanked on both sides by clones, he made an impressive sight. However, the sight was also slightly unnerving as clones were not needed in the Temple.
"Master!" she called and waved, for he was a fair distance from her and probably hadn't noticed her yet. His eyes locked with hers and she took it as a good sign that he didn't turn on his heel and stalk away, as was often the case. As he got closer, she noticed something different about his eyes. She couldn't put her finger on it straight away, but when he was close enough for her to see the whites of his eyes, she recoiled and audibly gasped.
Anakin's once blue irises were now a hideous shade of yellow. His eyes had been a portal to his soul, full of compassion and heart. Now, they were walls, not letting anything in or giving the slightest insight into his feelings. Not that she needed it. She could feel the hatred rolling off him in waves. Hatred, it seemed, that was directed at every Jedi in the Temple. Including her.
Her feet moved of their own accord, carrying her back into the library. Her mind was screaming at her to run, run and never look back because something was wrong with the man she called Master. Her body refused to respond, however, and Anakin rounded the corner, the clones still with him. His gaze locked her in place. Without a word, he signalled to the clones, a familiar signal she had seen him give numerous times on the battlefield. Fire.
If the clones had any misgivings about shooting the Padawan of their commander, they did not show it. They raised their blasters without hesitation and opened fire. Ahsoka activated her lightsabers – muscle memory – and deflected the bolts, doing her best to counter the unconscious act of reflecting the shots back to where they came from. Instead, the blaster bolts hit the holobooks lining the shelves, exploding in a shower of sparks. A small part of her brain wondered where the librarian, Jocasta Nu, was – the rest of it keeping her occupied with finding a reason for the sudden and very real attack. If it was some kind of exercise to keep her on her toes – a twisted joke – she wasn't laughing.
"Master, what are you doing?" she gasped. "Stop it!"
When it became obvious that the clones were not going to let up on her, she whispered an almost silent apology before reflecting their own fire back at them. They dropped, puppets with their strings cut. Anakin barely flinched as the two soldiers crumpled at his feet. They were expendable after all, but Anakin had always been one to contradict the clones whenever they said so. Ahsoka agreed with him. Although they shared the same face, the same skills, and the same body – they were as unique as anyone else. They had lives, personalities. And that was what made them, them.
Anakin tilted his head back slightly, looking down his nose at Ahsoka with those horrible yellow eyes in an expression Ahsoka disliked in a heartbeat. He drew his own lightsaber and the sound of it activating echoed in the empty room. He gave no warning, no indication of what would happen next. He attacked, swinging his weapon savagely. Ahsoka ducked the blade and blocked a second attack. In the first few seconds she realised that these were not the swings he used in training. He held nothing back.
They fought on, Ahsoka holding her own as best she could, scared out of her wits by her Master's aggressive nature. And even though he was clearly aiming to end her life, she would not – could not – raise her saber to harm. She imagined that this was how it must have been on Mortis when she turned on him.
Anakin swiped her primary weapon out of her hand and it clattered away. Ahsoka rolled under a wide slash of her Master's weapon and stepped up onto one of the large tables, knocking monitors onto the floor. Anakin followed her. Ahsoka leapt back, halfway up one of the gargantuan pillars holding up the upper levels. She ricocheted upward to the second level, Anakin reaching her in a single bound. The fight continued. Armed with only her Shoto, Ahsoka had a distinct disadvantage. Still, she soldiered on, redirecting her opponent's blade into the shelves, causing sparks to rain down on both of them.
Anakin smirked evilly as his blade swiped upward. Ahsoka pulled away just in time. The blade missed her flesh, but it was close enough to sever the armbands over her right upper arm. They drifted to the ground as Anakin swung again. He hit another shelf and the sparks flew straight into her eyes. She gasped in pain, twisting around Anakin and taking a blind running leap over the library towards the second balcony. Halfway across, she felt Anakin tackle her in mid-air. They hit the floor of the balcony, Anakin crushing her beneath him. Ahsoka wriggled out from under him and made a break for a nearby door. He grabbed her ankle, tripping her before bodily throwing her over the rail.
As Ahsoka fell towards the unforgiving floor, winded and battered, she caught sight of Anakin's livid face and felt something akin to acceptance. Acceptance of his betrayal. Acceptance of the attack. Acceptance of her death. Acceptance that she was going down fighting. Her head collided with the corner of a table and she sprawled over the ground. She felt blood, warm and thick, running down the side of her face. The world swayed as she staggered to her feet.
Just keep going.
Anakin leapt over the rail and descended with a powerful downward strike. Ahsoka dove out of the way, sliding on her stomach as his lightsaber slammed into where she had just been. Before she could recover, he gripped her with the Force and threw her through a wall.
Two ribs were broken. That much was certain as she rolled over and over before coming to a stop. Everything ached as she dragged her prone form off the floor. She was on another balcony, overlooking a wide hall of the Temple. Jedi were everywhere, lightsabers drawn and deflecting fire from what looked like the entire 501st Legion. This she would not accept. Anakin calmly stepped through the hole in the wall, advancing menacingly. Ahsoka supported herself on the rail, struggling to stand and keep her broken ribs from grinding. Pain flared every time she moved and she had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out.
She was in too much pain to even think of defending herself as Anakin kicked her square in the jaw. She fell over the rail and found herself falling for the second time that night. This time, she hoped she would not survive the landing – that she would die and not see any more of the tragedy that was occurring around her, even as she fell. When she finally felt the ground against her, her left shoulder dislocated. Again she kept her outburst in and stifled, not wanting to show weakness.
Despite two broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a bleeding mouth and head, Ahsoka stood shakily, swapping her Shoto from her now useless left arm to her right. A few clones broke off from the main fray and fired at her. And she killed them. She was beyond reasoning, beyond fleeing. More and more clones piled on, and she noticed the prominent absence of Jedi. They were gone. They were all gone.
The last of the clones fell. Ahsoka sank to her knees, exhausted beyond anything she had felt before. She was covered in blood – both hers and the clones. A few blaster bolts had grazed her and opened cuts. She noticed the prone form of Barriss Offee a few meters away but could not drag herself over to see if her friend was alive or not. She couldn't do anything, it seemed. She couldn't save the Jedi, she couldn't save Barriss, and she couldn't save her Master. Speaking of her Master…
Anakin silently walked up to her, lightsaber deactivated. He gave no sign of regret for the dozens of Jedi lying dead around him. Ahsoka wanted to move, to get up and run, but her limbs refused to listen to her. Her Shoto rolled from her limp fingers. Anakin gripped her throat in a sudden iron grip, lifting her and slamming her against a wall. That time she did scream, all the pent up pain and emotion escaping in a single, anguished cry. Her feet dangled in the air helplessly. "Master," she croaked. "Please."
Anakin pressed the hilt of his lightsaber against her stomach, the metal cold. Like the eyes that stared through her own. "Monster!" she shrieked, because if she was going to die, she would not be snivelling and pleading a man that had just laid waste to her home, her life.
There was a brief flash of remorse, a flash of Anakin Skywalker in the yellow abyss. Then it was gone. His lips formed the words "I'm sorry, Snips," before the lightsaber ignited. In the brief instant before the darkness clouding her vision swallowed her whole, Ahsoka knew that if there had been any chance – even a shred – of hope that he would come back, it was gone. Gone with her.
The Dark Side had him now.
THE FEELS!
Like I said at the beginning, this is what I think is the most logical end to Ahsoka Tano and also fits in with the continuity. What better way to take your final step towards becoming Darth Vader than to strike down your own apprentice? If anyone thinks this is too violent, please let me know so I can change the rating.
To address the issue of Ahsoka not appearing or even being mentioned in Episode III, I'm working on a fic that shows Ahsoka's moments in Episode III.
Please review and let me know what you think.
