CHAPTER 1: WEB OF LIES

This takes place during Season 2 Episode 11 "Lightsaber Lost", however I'm making it an AU because why not. Contains corporal punishment of a teenager, don't like don't read. This has no affiliation with my other story. I own nothing, except for the keyboard I'm typing this on.

"Lightsaber Lost"

Narration:

War creates opportunities for the criminal underworld! Ruthless mercenaries conspire with the Separatists to exploit the unstable situation within the Republic! Now Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano descend into the treacherous gangster havens in an effort to find a corrupt and vile arms dealer who is buying weapons on the black market and selling them to the Republic's enemies!

It is near dusk as we find Anakin and Ahsoka walking down a slum-like street. The air reeks of pollution and the civilians in the area reflect their environment as coughing and sounds of sickness echo in the background. As the two Jedi walk along the dirty street, Ahsoka takes note of a man sitting on container crates coughing violently. Anakin pauses and only glances at the man as he continues in his stride. Ahsoka feels a pang of sadness at his pain and grimaces as she moves to quickly catch up with Anakin. The Jedi round the corner of containers and come across an alleyway leading towards a bar. They continue in their silence until Anakin speaks up.

"Car Affa is an arms dealer selling Republic weapons on the black market" he says quietly so that only Ahsoka can hear.

"Who is he selling them to?" Ahsoka asks, also in a hushed tone.

Anakin stops and looks her in the eye, "The Separatists" he says coolly.

"According to Intelligence, he's inside this joint" Anakin says as he turns towards the bar in question. Ahsoka follows him as he presses towards the main door.

"You stay here in case he tries to escape" Anakin said sternly as he walked into the bar. Ahsoka merely nodded her head before responding, "Just like always" she said sarcastically. She crossed her arms over her chest and maintained a battle ready look on her face.

If I know my master as well as I do, he'll probably tackle him to the floor and hold his lightsaber over Affa's throat and force his compliance. She thought to herself. As she pondered what was going on inside, she noticed some thugs staring at her. She could tell they were checking her out and more importantly eyeing her lightsaber. She looked down at it and patted it as if to say Go ahead and Try.

What a bunch of sleemo's.

Her attention was suddenly drawn away from the raper-faced thugs as she heard a commotion and the familiar sound of blasters and more importantly a lightsaber being activated. She looked at the door in anticipation awaiting the possible escape of Affa. Instead the door opened and a dozen civilians came running out of the bar straight for her. They rushed passed her and a few bumped into her as they fled in fear.

"Ah! Hey! Ack!" Ahsoka said in a slightly annoyed tone as they continued bumping into her. She tried to get a glimpse of their faces as she was being rudely shoved aside by some of the civilians. After ten or so has passed, one of them bumped her hard enough causing her to fall down on her bottom.

What a bunch of nerf herders! She thought to herself. Ahsoka reached over to grab her lightsaber only to find it was gone from its clip. She gasped as she looked around trying to find it as quick as possible.

"My lightsaber!" she said in shock, as she turned her head in the direction of the fleeing crowd of barflies. She looked into the group and noticed a shiny object in the hand of one them. The short statured lowlife eyed her as he continued walking away with her weapon.

"Hey!" Ahsoka yelled as she got to her feet and gave chase to fishy looking man. She quickly arrived at the end of the alley and looked to her left and right trying to spot the short man.

"My master's gonna kill me!" Ahsoka said as the realization dawned upon her that she had lost her lightsaber. She continued looking through the swaths of people as they walked around her. She could feel her heart slowly sinking as she imagined Anakin's response to her carelessness.

"This isn't happening" She thought to herself as she began to have a mini panic attack. She knew just how important her lightsaber was. It was more than just her weapon, it was her life. Without her trusted weapon hanging on her hip, Ahsoka felt naked and vulnerable. Her mind jumped back to her Master as she realized he was walking out of the bar with Car Affa in custody. She quickly ran back to her spot where he had left her before she lost her lightsaber.

Anakin walked out slowly with Affa, his attention was drawn to his padawan who was running towards him. He looked at with a look of confusion on his face, and slight irritation.

"Where were you?" he asked bluntly. Ahsoka quickly formed a lie and told Anakin as even as possible her whereabouts.

"I-I was checking out a suspect…" she began a bit unsure of the validity of her lie. "I-I had a bad feeling about him." She said a little more confident in her answer. She threw in a smile just to keep him off her trail.

"And?" Anakin asked knowingly. His expression was that of impatience and annoyance.

"It was nothing…false alarm" Ahsoka said matter-of-factly. Her eyes slowly edged to the left as she hoped he wouldn't pick up on her deceptiveness, and most importantly, her missing lightsaber.

Anakin gazed at her carefully, weighing her words as he pondered whether or not she was hiding something.

"Are you sure?" he said with a condescending tone to his voice. Ahsoka's eyes widened minutely as he stared her down waiting for an answer. She chose to continue along with her lie.

"Yes Master" she said, a bit too enthusiastically. Anakin could tell that something was off and that she was hiding something, but with Car Affa in front of him, he chose to let the subject drop for now.

"Alright. Come on then" he said as he pushed Affa along. Ahsoka followed him, however she kept herself slightly out of his field of vision. She was ashamed of what had happened. She had lost her lightsaber and was now lying to her Master. Her thoughts were interrupted as Anakin called for a gunship to pick them up and deliver them to Jedi Temple. She looked over to her Master and tried to subtly look into his mind and figure out whether he was on to her.

As quickly as he had called the gunship, the familiar sounds of the LAAT echoed overhead as the red and white craft descended upon them. The two Jedi boarded the craft and the side door of the vessel closed as they ascended and made their way towards the Temple. Ahsoka, still worried about whether or not Anakin suspected anything continued to slowly probe his mind. Anakin noticed her peering and decided to let her look in vain.

She must be hiding something if she's trying to look through my thoughts. He said to himself. Anakin looked over to her and had a slight grin on his face. She smiled back, a bit sheepishly. He looked at her body language closely. Her hands were knotted together and shaking ever so slightly. Her eyes were twitching and she constantly fidgeted. He could sense her anxiety and her fear. What is she afraid of?

Ahsoka began having another panic attack as her Master was looking at her, almost silently interrogating her. She tensed up as his eyes were suddenly set on her hips. She felt her heart pump faster as she prayed to the Force that he didn't notice her missing-

"Ahsoka? Where is your Lightsaber?" Anakin asked, slight irritation in his voice. She could feel the anxiety burst through herself as she met his gaze. She was afraid of what he would say or do if she told him what had happened to her weapon. Ahsoka froze up and didn't speak a word. She could feel the growing impatience coming off her Master as he awaited her response.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin said with clear anger in his voice. "Where is your Lightsaber?" Anakin's anger continued to build as his padawan still remained silent. He could see the fear and sadness in her facial expressions as his piercing glare permeated her. Ahsoka could sense that Anakin was angry and that not answering him would only make things worse, so she decided to answer him with another lie.

"I left it at the Temple in our quarters" she said as convincingly as she could. Idiot! She chided herself.

Anakin's anger flared for a moment as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Why did you leave it there?" he asked in a deathly low voice. Ahsoka shrunk under his angry expression and quickly came up with another lie.

"I forgot to get it before we left…I'm sorry Master" She said hoping he would buy this one as well. Anakin set his jaw as he spoke to her.

"Why would you leave your lightsaber in the Temple when you knew we were going on a mission to the criminal regions of Coruscant?!" he said sharply. Ahsoka could sense that her deception was falling apart fast and that she was inching her way towards being caught in her lie.

"I-I made a mistake Master. I got caught up in our briefing and I wasn't paying attention to the fact that I didn't have it with me…I'm sorry." She said with a shame filled expression. Anakin simply stood there glaring at her. Ahsoka had the grace to lower her head and look towards the floor of the gunship. "I'm disappointed in you Ahsoka. That weapon is your life, you must always have it at your side. As soon as we get back, I want to see it on you at all times from now on. Understood?" Anakin said darkly. The young Togrutan only nodded her head as she continued to inspect the floor of the gunship. Ahsoka knew that now she would have no choice but to tell Anakin the truth about her lost lightsaber.

"I really am sorry Master-" She began as Anakin cut her off.

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be" he said as he turned away from her. Ahsoka could feel tears stinging the back of her eyes as she felt the sadness, the disappointment and oddly enough, fear coming off Anakin. She didn't notice the gunship land in the Temple hangar, nor did she notice the door opening. The inside of the bay was mostly empty as the nighttime crews were switching with the daytime crew.

"Move" Anakin barked. Ahsoka finally looked up and saw Anakin's retreating form as he took Car Affa to the Council for questioning. She quickly jumped off the gunship and made her way after him, careful to stay out of the way of maintenance crews as they moved about the hangar. By now the coldness emanating from him was causing her to shiver. She contemplated telling him that she had lost her lightsaber, but knew full well that she'd get an earful from Anakin. As she pondered this, Anakin spoke up.

"Go get your lightsaber. I don't want to see you without it again. If I ever do, I promise you the consequences will be severe Ahsoka. Am I clear?" he said harshly.

Ahsoka only nodded her head as she turned away from him and made her way towards their quarters. She was anxious now, there was no way she could hide from Anakin that she lost her lightsaber. Her web of lies had trapped her, and now she had no escape.

What am I going to do? I can't tell Anakin, he'll kill me if he finds out. She thought to herself. Ahsoka arrived at their shared quarters and sat on her cot. Her heart was racing as she tried to figure out how she would explain to her Master why she didn't have her lightsaber with her. She wrapped her arms around herself and let her head bow, a lone tear escaped her eye.

I knew I shouldn't have lied to him! He trusts me and what did I do with that trust? I have to tell him. He'll find out sooner or later and I can't wait until then. But if I tell him that I lied, will he even still want me? Will he still want a liar for a padawan?

She let another tear fall. It was becoming more and more obvious that she had gotten herself into more trouble now. Telling him the truth the first time around would've saved her from a lot of worry and fear of being dropped by Anakin.