Equilibrium

by Surarrin

Ahsoka feeling abandoned, betrayed and disillusioned with the Jedi Order, decided to part ways. She left to find meaning and purpose in her life. She never expected it to come in the form of an enigmatic green eyed young man who had more than a passing interest in the past. She never imagined that learning about the history of the galaxy could be so dangerous—or magical.

2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

16:02:17 GrS

CORUSCANT, Core

The descent into darkness went quicker once they passed the busier levels and it wasn't long before Harry and Ahsoka found themselves swallowed up by darkness—the only break in which seemed to be the ship's internal lighting.

The only sign of progress was the display that showed how far they had gone down. It currently read Level 215 under a gratuitous amount of flashing red warnings.

The warnings said that the ship had descended too far into the depths of Coruscant, and that by continuing on, they absolved the Republic of any responsibility to rescue them.

At least, that was the jist of it. The actual warning had been several hundred pages long and had been dismissed by Harry the moment it came up without so much as a care or glance.

Ahsoka found herself staring across at the pilot beside her. He wasn't so much an enigma wrapped in a mystery as he was a peculiarity—an oddity. They hadn't spoken since somewhere around Level 1000 and had fallen into a silence that was neither amicable nor awkward.

Her eyes flickered down to the clothes he wore again and she found herself biting her bottom lip. They were definitely the same type of clothes worn by the Serenno nobles—by Count Dooku, except, they were far too small to be the Sith Lord's.

Harry was nowhere near as tall and imposing as the fallen Jedi.

In retrospect, it seemed far more likely that the young man beside her had gone to Serenno and taken them from a younger noble.

The ship on the other hand was another story. A few months ago there had been an uproar when a bunch of criminal syndicates had banded together and attacked Sundari, the capital city of Mandalore and the terrorist group known as Death Watch had swooped into aid their estranged home world.

Ahsoka hadn't been told the full details; they had been swept under the rug and the only Jedi that had been involved had been Obi-wan Kenobi, who had been tight lipped about the whole affair.

All she had known was that something terrible had happened, and that the Duchess Satine Kryze—a fervent believer in peace and pacifism—had been deposed by Death Watch and later on had been murdered in the middle of a power struggle between factions within Death Watch.

Finally, Ahsoka got sick of the silence and asked, "Were you there on Sundari when Death Watch took over?"

Harry didn't answer straight away, and for a few seconds, Ahsoka wasn't sure that he would. "I was."

"Could you…" Ahsoka hesitated for a moment, "Tell me what happened to the Duchess?"

She saw Harry still briefly, before he relaxed and turned his head toward her. "I could," he said.

Ahsoka bit down on her bottom lip. "Tell me."

"Alright." Harry nodded. "Officially, the Black Suns and the Pyke criminal syndicates invaded Mandalore, Duchess Satine did nothing, and Death Watch rode in to save the day, after which the Duchess supposedly ran away." His nose crinkled in distaste. "Only to return days later to kill Pre Vizsla, the leader of Death Watch. She was arrested and a few days later, under 'unclear circumstances' was killed in an attempt to flee with former Death Watch rebels."

"I kno-knew Duchess Satine," Ahsoka said with a frown. "She would never have killed anyone, it went against who she was. What really happened?"

"Since their exile from Mandalore, Death Watch had roamed the galaxy and during their travels, they came across two…" He fell silent and struggled for a moment to find the correct words. "Individuals who joined with them and together they began a crusade to bring together enough forces to stage a coup of Mandalore."

Ahsoka nodded slowly, stopping as she heard a rumbling groan of metal straining from within the darkness outside the ship. She glanced over to the display which told her that they had reached Level 150.

"Death Watch brought the organized filth of the galaxy to Mandalore and made a show about defeating and capturing them, winning public favour in the face of Satine, whose government had not been prepared for an invasion."

Harry gave a faint chuckle. "As despicable as an act as it was, I can't help but be impressed," he admitted. "I told you before, didn't I? That I had a history with terrorist groups with death monikers? I can't help but wonder what would have happened if they had attempted something similar back on my world."

Ahsoka seized on that. "Which is what?"

"A planet called Earth," Harry said with a smile.

"I've never heard of Earth."

Harry's smile turned a bit sad. "No, you wouldn't have. I don't believe it's known to either the Republic or the Confederacy." He shook his head.

"Death Watch swooped in and saved the day secretly imprisoned Satine, spinning a tale of her running away."

Harry frowned. "The… individuals I spoke of, they were double crossed by Vizsla and imprisoned. Unfortunately for him, they broke out and the leader of the two defeated him in single combat."

Harry regarded Ahsoka for a moment. "Do you know anything of ancient Mandalorian custom?"

Ahsoka shook her head.

"If you challenge a Mandalorian in single combat and beat them, their soldiers are honour-bound to follow you." Harry looked troubled as he continued. "They took over Mandalore and placed a puppet upon the throne."

"The two people you keep mentioning," Ahsoka said intently. "You never mention them by name."

Harry let out a faint chuckle. "Sorry, yes, I believe their names were Maul and Savage." He waved a hand. "Either way, through various circumstances Satine eventually managed to escape and sent out a distress call, to which a single Jedi answered."

"Obi-wan," Ahsoka murmured softly.

Harry regarded Ahsoka curiously. "That's right, do you know him?"

Ahsoka hesitated, before nodding. "He was the former master of a… friend of mine, another Jedi named Anakin."

"I see," Harry said with a slow nod. "Yes, Jedi Kenobi came to Mandalore to rescue Satine and defeat the two known as Maul and Savage. Except…"

"Except?"

"Except, it was a trap that had been prepared by Maul, who captured Kenobi and murdered Satine in front of him," Harry said with a grimace.

Silence fell.

Ahsoka stared at the green eyed human in front of her. It felt like her stomach had vanished into a black hole. She had known that Master Kenobi and Duchess Satine had been very close, she couldn't have imagined the pain he must have felt that seeing her killed in front of him—because of him—caused.

Ahsoka had trouble with straying from the tenets of the Jedi Order, which taught that rational thought, patience and benevolence were to be held and dark emotions such as hate, anger and fear were to be purged.

By her very nature she was a passionate person, something that had been encouraged by her once master, Anakin and made holding to the code hard at times.

That Kenobi had managed to hold his composure and had let no emotions show in the time since Satine's death, it showed a strength of will and commitment to the tenets that she could scarcely comprehend.

But then, perhaps that was why Jedi were encouraged not to form attachments. Such was the road to the dark side.

Ahsoka was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice that they had stopped moving.

"We've arrived," Harry said, his voice quiet.

Ahsoka looked up at the cockpit window and frowned. There was only darkness as far as she could see. A glance down at the displays showed that they, had in fact, reached Level 55.

"We're not at Level 1 yet," Ahsoka said, her brow furrowed. "We're not even close."

"This is as far as the ship can go down." Harry stated, and gestured toward the descend display which showed a greyed out section below the ship.

Ahsoka frowned and shifted forward in her seat, accessing the starship's diagnostics. "That's...that can't be right. According to the ship's sensors there's several levels worth of duracrete beneath us." Her eyes widened. "Not to mention… everything that's ever fell down here. I'm registering countless shipwrecks beneath a sea of sewage." Her nose crinkled. "Gross."

Ahsoka shook her head. "There's no way we could get through that even if we blasted our way through," she said as she looked over to Harry.

"If there is a will, there is a way," Harry disagreed with a smile. "Sometimes the way forward, requires a step back and observation."

Ahsoka just stared at Harry blankly. "Are you trying to be purposefully cryptic, or do you just have a talent for it? I've met Jedi Masters more straight forward than you are."

"What?" Harry blinked, and then let out a small laugh with a shake of his head. "What I meant was, maybe we should head back up and use a spotlight to check for access to the closest level and see if we can find a way from there."

"Was that so hard to say?" Ahsoka asked skeptically, unable to help but grin.

Harry considered. "Well, it took longer to say, so, yes?"

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the ship's controls. "Either way, it's a good idea." She thought it was a bit weird that Harry suggested using a spotlight instead of the ship's sensors to locate a way out, though she didn't say anything about it.

A few seconds later the ship's display showed a large corroded gap in the ventilation shaft a hundred or so meters above them, large enough for the ship to slip through. She relayed the information to Harry who beamed.

"Good work," he praised her and immediately engaged the ship's repulsor lifts, sending it rising up.

"It should be over there," Ahsoka said, pointing toward a large patch of darkness that was a tiny bit darker than the surrounding area.

"Got it," Harry said and glanced over the controls for a brief second before hitting a few switches.

Ahsoka squinted as a pair of spotlights came to life at the nose of the ship, burning away the darkness and revealing a massive gap in the side of the ventilation shaft, beyond which was empty darkness.

She glanced over at Harry. "Last chance to turn back," she pointed out.

Harry glanced toward her and grinned. "Not on your life," he said as he engaged the thrusters and maneuvered the ship through the gap in the ventilation shaft.

"That's what concerns me," Ahsoka said dryly before turning her attention back to the hole they were slipping through.

Darkness spread out before them. The powerful spotlights at the front of the craft they were in barely made a dent.

"What do the sensors say?" Harry asked, glancing over to Ahsoka.

A glance down told her all she needed to know. "It's filled with duracrete in here as well. Scans show that there are whole structures encased in the stuff," she admitted. "If you tilt the ship down you should be able to see the bottom, it's not too far down."

Harry didn't respond, and a second later Ahsoka felt the ship shift down, and to her surprise, the wings rise up, or rather, she realized, the fuselage was what had tilted, the wings themselves had remained parallel with the ground.

For the first time, she saw something in the darkness.

Instead of the inky black, she found herself looking at an endless plain of dark grey scattered with large mounds of varying colours of debris, broken up only by the occasional monolithic support structure that stretched up into the darkness above them to the support the humongous weight of the city above.

Harry let out a low whistle.

Ahsoka couldn't help but agree. She'd lived on Coruscant for the majority of her life, and though she had experience as far down as Level 1313, and though she had an academic knowledge of just how far down Coruscant went, realizing that she was seeing a level of Coruscant that had not seen the daylight in countless eons was humbling in and of itself.

A level that at some point the governing body of Coruscant had decided to seal off with enough duracrete to bankrupt a lesser planet.

It wasn't too long before they finally came across what they were looking for.

"There, up ahead," Harry said as he began to bring the ship down closer to the surface level.

Ahsoka peered out and found herself looking at a rather… impressively sized gap in the duracrete which, the closer they got was looking less like a hole that had been chewed away by the duracrete worms, and more like a gaping chasm.

"One small step."

Ahsoka looked at Harry. "Pardon?"

Harry shook his head and smiled. "Sorry, it's tradition." Without another word he pushed the controls forward and the ship swooped down nose first toward the chasm, the spotlights illuminating the way forward.

Unfortunately, the chasm began to rapidly taper, the sides getting tighter and tighter until it became a tight tunnel, leading further down into the Duracrete.

Ahsoka found herself impressed as Harry managed to navigate the duracrete tunnel. There were few pilots that she knew of that were capable of such a feat, and the majority of them were Jedi.

A sudden finding of steel against duracrete, however, ended that and she couldn't help but smile to herself as the young man beside her let out a sound of frustration.

Ahsoka tried to hide her smile, but to no avail. "You were doing pretty well there for a while," she complimented.

Harry's eyes narrowed slightly at her and he drew the craft to a halt. "You want to have a go?" Harry asked. "I'd like to see you do any better."

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow at the challenge and said nothing as she reached forward and transferred control of the ship to her. She took a calming breath and focused, drawing upon the force. A second later they lurched forwards as she kicked in the accelerator.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Harry's eyes widen and his body tense.

For her part, Ahsoka was barely able to hold back a grin as the ship began to twist and turn through the cavernous tunnels, at times, barely managing to squeeze through the gaps.

So engrossed in flying the ship and following the flow of the force, that Ahsoka wasn't prepared for the tunnel to end, and for the ship to fly out into open air once more.

The surface of the next level approached more rapidly that she expected, and it was only through reflex that she managed to pull up in time to avoid crashing the ship into the dilapidated ruins of the new floor.

Ahsoka let out a long breath and flashed Harry a smile. "Piece of cake," she said smugly as she pulled back on the throttle and brought the ship into a slow cruise.

Harry stared at her, his lips parted, and eyebrows risen. "That… was actually quite impressive," he admitted. "How the bloody hell did you do that?"

"Just a small force trick," Ahsoka said confidently, "Nothing really impressive."

Harry blinked, once. "You're a Jedi?" he asked, sounding surprised.

Ahsoka looked back at Harry, equally surprised. She hesitated for a moment. "You didn't know?"

Harry shook his head.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Over the course of the Clone Wars as Anakin's padawan, she knew that she had gained a certain amount of acclaim. Certainly her trial may have tainted some of it, but certainly she was known.

"Why… did you offer me a ride then?" Ahsoka asked.

Harry shrugged a shoulder. "Like I said, you looked lost and I figured I'd ask what was wrong." He paused and his brow furrowed. "Were you the Jedi that was on all those broadcasts a month ago?"

Ahsoka grimaced and nodded.

"Huh…" Harry leaned back in his seat. "Go figure." He shook his head. "Sorry, I thought you looked familiar, but I didn't want to presume," he said honestly. He paused, before confiding in Ahsoka. "I'm not very good at differentiating other species outside of individuals I know well."

Ahsoka stared at Harry for a long moment, before letting out a laugh and shaking her head. "At least you can admit it," she said mildly.

"I'm working on it," Harry said defensively.

Ahsoka smiled. "I'm sure you are, but aren't we getting side tracked?"

"Oh, right," Harry said and shook his head once, before turning his attention back to the world outside the ship.

Ahsoka's gaze held on Harry for a few more seconds before she turned her attention forward, sparing a quick glance down to the display. "It looks like we're on Level 35."

Beside her Harry nodded and a moment later the fuselage dipped down again, allowing them an easier view of the world beneath.

Under them a world filled with massive machines and pipes laid itself out. What was once sleek metal was now crusted in a thick layer of metallic sediment.

"Some levels on Coruscant are entirely composed of machines like this," Ahsoka explained to Harry as she saw his expression and gestured out the window toward a massive pipeline that rose up into the ceiling of the level. "I think that's a water pipe," she stated. "I remember reading that Coruscant's oceans were drained and stored beneath the mantle at one point in the past. "I'm not sure if it's still functional," she admitted, "But… if it isn't."

Harry looked aside at Ahsoka, surprised. "If it isn't," he continued, thoughtfully. "…If it isn't it'll lead all the way down to Level 1. You know, you're proper brilliant, you really are," he said admiringly. "I would never have thought about that."

Harry gestured to the controls. "Do you think the sensors can determine if it's still in use?" he asked.

"If we get close enough." Ahsoka nodded.

The ship realigned a moment later and took off toward the pipeline in the distance.

"You know," Harry remarked as the massive pipe overtook the cockpits field of view. "I'm starting to see a theme repeating here. Everything seemed to be huge on Coruscant. You know, back on my planet there was a place that claimed that 'Everything was bigger' there. If they saw Coruscant they'd have had an aneurysm."

Ahsoka nodded to herself and focused the ship's sensors on the pipe in front of them. "Looks… empty," she said after a moment. "Looks like there hasn't been any water in there for a few thousand years."

"Are there any holes we can use to get in?" Harry asked, glancing aside at Ahsoka. "I can't see any."

Ahsoka shook her head. "No, the entire thing is still solid. I don't think even a million years of wear and tear could compromise it." She paused and considered. "This thing has weapons on board doesn't it?"

"Probably," Harry said. "I've never used them, so I wouldn't know how to."

"Good thing I'm here then, isn't it?" Ahsoka said with a smirk. She lifted a hand up and pointed to a display that switched to a detailed hologram of the pipe in question. "According to the scans there are structural weak points that we should be able to blast through."

A few more button presses saw the hologram zoom in on a specific section that looked different from the surrounding area. "These parts here and here were shut at some point, but they're made of weaker material than the rest."

"By all means," Harry said, gesturing toward the pipeline.

Ahsoka took control of the ship without hesitation and primed the ship's laser cannons as she locked onto the target in front of them. "Fire away," she murmured out of habit as she pulled the proverbial trigger.

The front section of the ship responded with a burst of incandescent lasers that cut through the darkness. The lasers aim was true, and a moment later a muted explosion lit up the dark level before fading away in a cloud of debris and disintegrated metal particles.

The cloud slowly dispersed, revealing a fresh new hole into the pipeline, just wide enough for the ship to slip through.

Before Harry could return flight control to himself, Ahsoka grinned and pushed down on the throttle, accelerating forward and slipped through the gap and pushed the ship into a dive.

"By all means," Harry said with an amused smile. "Go ahead and take control. I insist."

"Well, if you insist," Ahsoka said levelly and continued the descent, keeping an eye on the depth display that began to quickly count down.

Less than a minute later, the ship came to a halt, the display reading Level 1, though the pipeline itself continued to go further and further down, the spotlights unable to traverse the full depth that they continued on to.

Ahsoka didn't hesitate to prime the laser cannons, and a second later a second explosion rocked the ship, more intense than the first due to the close proximity to the blast and the closed off space.

This time, Ahsoka didn't wait for the debris to clear and pushed the ship forward through the gap she knew to be there.

The ship shot out of the dust cloud as the debris rained down, out into the lowest level of Coruscant.

It was everything that Ahsoka thought it would be.

Dark, empty and ominous.

"…Welcome to Level 1," Harry murmured beside her as he took control of the ship and maneuvered it down to get a better look, directing the spotlights at the world below.

From out of the darkness, spires of ancient construction rose up in varying states of dilapidation ranging from completely collapsed to surprisingly intact, though they were few and far in-between.

Ahsoka stared out at the vast sprawling city beneath them as their ship quietly passed over. She could scarcely believe that she was looking at the original city of Coruscant. It was like a window into the past, a world that existed hundreds of thousands of years ago.

"Say, does the ship have a Holorecorder?" Ahsoka asked suddenly, looking up at Harry, only to find him staring intently out at the ghost city below, his eyes searching feverishly—desperately for something.

"Never mind," Ahsoka muttered as she began to look for herself. A minute later she found it and directed the capture device to the city below.

"I see something," Harry said suddenly and the ship began to accelerate forward, only to stop after several seconds.

"What is it?" Ahsoka asked, looking aside at Harry.

"The architecture here, it's different then the surrounding areas," Harry pointed out. "It looks more dated, like it wasn't ever updated along with the rest." He flashed Ahsoka a grin.

Ahsoka peered down at the area illuminated below, and sure enough it didn't fit in with the surrounding area. Whereas buildings around it were—despite the advanced state of disrepair—sleek and angular, the section in question was rather blocky and oddly shaped, carving a swath through the city section which seemed to continue on around it as if it wasn't even there.

"And," Ahsoka prompted him. "It's a bit odd, yeah, but what's special about that?"

Harry shook his head. "It's difficult to explain, but I need to get down there." He declared and peered out at the surrounding buildings. "Maybe we can land on one of them," he mused and glanced at Ahsoka. "What do you think, could we do that? Would they collapse?"

Ahsoka stared. "Are… you kidding?" She said in disbelief. "You want to actually get out of the ship and go down there? Remember the part about where we discussed the monsters down here?"

Harry waved a hand dismissively. "Come on, no one's been down here for a long time, and anything that was once alive is probably dead. Can you imagine anything surviving down here? I sure can't."

Ahsoka bit down on her bottom lip and glanced out of the cockpit at the world below them. "Still."

"Look," Harry said with a smile. "You can stay with the ship, but I need to go down there and nothing is going to stop me."

Ahsoka sighed. "Can you at least tell me what you're looking for?"

Harry shook his head. "Like I said—"

"It's difficult to explain." Ahsoka interrupted him. "Yes, you said that already." She looked at him for a long moment. "If you're going to go down there, I'm not going to let you go by yourself," she said finally.

Harry beamed at her. "Brilliant," he said, before gesturing to one of the surrounding buildings. "So, you think we can land on one of them?"

Ahsoka shook her head. "Not a chance, the ship's weight would crush any of the buildings down here. But that doesn't mean we can't keep the engine on and use the repulsor lifts to keep it hovering just above one."

"Could you…" Harry gestured toward the controls.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Sure thing," she said before once more taking control and directing the ship down to one of the larger building tops, carefully lowering the ship until it was scarcely an inch above the rooftop. "There," she said.

"Absolutely brilliant you are," Harry said happily as he hopped out of his seat and stepped around it, making his way out of the cockpit and down into the aft section of the starship.

Ahsoka shook her head, unable to believe what she was about to do. Coming this far down was suicidal enough, but venturing out into the darkness of Level 1—where who knows what laid in wait—was a whole new level of crazy, even for her.

"Wait up," Ahsoka called out. "At least find a glowrod or something before you run off!" she protested as she heard the ramp begin to lower.

Ahsoka quickly hopped out of her seat and gave chase. She caught up with Harry just in the cargo hold. She saw him holding a glass sphere in one hand—where he had gotten it, she didn't know, nor its purpose.

"Come on," Harry encouraged her and with a skip in his step, he headed down the ramp.

"This is a really bad idea," Ahsoka warned Harry, but none the less followed him down onto the ancient rooftop. Her nose crinkled as the oppressively stale air of Level 1 made itself known to her.

Ahsoka saw Harry standing by the edge of the building that they had 'landed on' and watched as he drew his arm up, and with a mighty throw, tossed the glass orb in his hand out over the peculiar area of architecture.

"Why did you…" Ahsoka trailed off as she watched the orb curve through the air, a spark flickering to life and growing bigger and brighter until it became blinding.

Ahsoka shut her eyes tight and looked away. After a few seconds the glow seemed to die down, and another glance revealed that the tiny glass orb had turned into a miniature sun and hung in the air where it had been thrown.

"That's a bit better isn't it?" Harry asked, turning toward Ahsoka and flashing her a smile and turning his gaze out over edge.

"What is it?" Ahsoka couldn't help but ask as she headed over to the edge where Harry stood, and peeked over the down to the now brightly lit ruins.

"Doesn't have a name," Harry said with a smile as he stared down at the ruins. "But if it did, Sun in a can would work, wouldn't it?"

"It wasn't a can," Ahsoka said. "Did you make it?"

Harry considered the question.

Ahsoka personally didn't think it was a question that needed considering.

"I suppose so." Harry said and shook his head. "But that's not important now is it? What's important is down there." He didn't wait for Ahsoka to respond and a second later he hopped over the edge, landing on a pile of rubble and quickly making his way down to the street level.

Ahsoka held in a choice few words as she watched the young human make his way down. She stepped over to the edge and hopped down, following after Harry before she lost sight of him.

Or, at least she tried to. By the time she touched down on the street he had already vanished into one of the buildings he had been so interested in.

"Great, just great." Ahsoka grumbled to herself, a scowl etching itself onto her face as she began to follow the footprints that Harry had left in the inch thick dust on the ground. As she did, she couldn't help but look around at the brightly lit ruins of what had, at one point in the long past, had been a bustling city filled to the brim with people.

A few feet away, Ahsoka noticed the gutted remains of an ancient aircar. All that remained was the frame that was caked in the same ashen crust as everything else.

She reached out and ran her finger down the side, revealing a rusted red colour beneath it. She wiped her dust covered digit against her pants leg, before continuing to walk up along the street.

"This building is a bust." Harry stepped out of the buildings window a second later, a disappointed look on his features. "You found anything?"

"I don't even know what you're looking for," Ahsoka said, her voice exasperated. "You didn't tell me."

"Oh, right." Harry said. "Never mind then." He made a beeline to the next building without another word.

Ahsoka glared at the back of his messy head of black hair until he darted into another building, before letting out a sigh. "Why did this seem like a good idea?"

Ahsoka snorted as she remembered. "Oh right," she said, her voice sarcastic. "It was this or try my luck not being drugged and sold by smugglers." She kicked at a nearby mound of dust, causing it to explode into a dusty cloud.

Ahsoka froze as she felt something move behind her and spun around, only to find nothing. She frowned and called out. "Harry, I think we should get out of here. Something's wrong."

She didn't get a response.

Ahsoka turned back around to the building that Harry had disappeared into and quickly made her way inside, alert and feeling on edge as she stretched out with her senses. Long shadows stretched out over the various shapes in the building, cast by the artificial sun that Harry had tossed up.

She slowed as she entered the building and stilled. Like all of those species, she had a pair of hollow horns atop her head that provided a passive form of echolocation that provided an enhanced sense of spatial awareness.

She couldn't sense any movement within the building which meant one of two things. Either Harry wasn't in the building anymore… or he was, and wasn't moving.

"How could this get…" Ahsoka stopped herself from finishing her sentence.

It didn't help.

The light illuminating the ruins began to begin to dim and Ahsoka began to feel things moving in the growing dark.

Ahsoka let out a soft sigh as the last light died away and she found herself in perpetual darkness. "This sucks," she muttered and turned around, heading back out of the building and into the streets.

A dozen or so meters away she heard glass shattering.

Ahsoka debated the finer points of not shouting out and trying to find Harry as she began to feel the movement grow closer.

She cursed herself.

"Harry!" Ahsoka shouted out as loud as she could. "If you can hear me, we need to get out of here! Where are you?"

A response came from the dark in the form of wailing screeches that sounded a lot closer than Ahsoka was comfortable with.

The former padawan shuddered as more screeching followed.

"Harry!" Ahsoka shouted out again a bit more desperately before spitting out a curse and turning toward the building where the ship was parked and breaking out into a sprint.

The things in the dark were upon her.

Though she could not see, Ahsoka could feel them, and hear them, the rapid movement and scurrying.

Ahsoka jumped up onto the top of the aircar that she had come across on the way, and drew upon the force, launching herself toward the side of one of the buildings, narrowly avoiding one of the creatures.

She heard a satisfying series of thuds as they crashed into the car, followed by more screeches, but she didn't stop as she continued to draw upon the force and launched herself off the side of the building, to another, and another—only for the buildings side to fall away under the force of her next jump.

Ahsoka let out a shout of panic as she tumbled through the air, the sound of it masked by the crumbling groan of the collapsing building and her unseen pursuers.

She was helpless to fight it as gravity took hold and brought her back down to street level. Her feet had touched the ground for less than a second before they were upon her. Cold clamy hands clawed at her, tearing at the clothes she wore and scratching her exposed skin.

"Get off me!" Ahsoka snarled as she lashed out violently.

The creatures let out screeches of pain as her fists and feet hit them with all the force she could muster, but it wasn't enough. There were too many of them and more were coming.

Ahsoka drew upon the force desperately before releasing it in a concussive wave with a shout, blowing away the creatures, granting her a brief reprieve, even as she felt more climb over the bodies of the fallen.

The last thing Ahsoka remembered was feeling something flying through the air toward her, a sharp pain against the back of her head and nothing.

Ahsoka had no idea how long it had lasted for, but eventually she found herself waking up to a horrid scent and pain.

"Ow," Ahsoka moaned out as the back of her head throbbed. She slowly opened her eyes and after a few seconds her eyes began to focus and she found herself looking at a large bonfire.

That in itself was not particularly peculiar, what was, however, was that the flames were interlaces with licks of green and that surrounding it were things.

Things with putrid, pale loose skin that resembled the flesh of bloated corpses. Their heads were no better, covered with scraggly, dirty tuffs of matted hair, lipless mouths filled with nightmarish teeth and what was more, where there should have been eyes, there were bulges, underneath which something was squirming.

Ahsoka recoiled in disgust at the sight, only to find that she couldn't move her arms. A glance at them informed her that they were currently bound by lengths of rope, and that she, in fact, was both suspended in the air and very, very naked. The last memories she had before blacking out surged through her mind and she let out a few choice words.

"About time you woke up," A voice said from beside her.

Ahsoka's head swivelled to the side, and she found, to her muted surprise, that Harry was beside her, in a similar predicament.

More memories came rushing to the surface and Ahsoka glared. "Where did you go?" she demanded to know heatedly.

A guilty look passed over Harry's features. "I had to use the rest room." He said. "I snuck out the back of one of the buildings and relieved myself, it felt a bit wrong to do so inside." He jerked his head toward the creatures. "They caught me with my pants down, quite literally."

Somehow Ahsoka doubted that was the whole truth, but now wasn't the time to try to call him on it.

Ahsoka's glare didn't let up for a few more seconds. "Either way, you should have told me," she informed him heatedly. "I told you that it was dangerous down here!" She said, her voice rising a few octaves as she did.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, looking suitably ashamed.

Ahsoka let out a huff and looked down at the creatures. "It's too late for that now. What has been going on? What have they been doing?"

"Oh that's simple," Harry said and nodded down toward them. "They've tied us up here as an offering to their Ma'kugargh, their god and lit the bonfire to attract his attention to us."

Ahsoka stared blankly at Harry. "How do you know that?"

Harry shrugged a shoulder. "One of the bigger ones was quite vocal earlier in why they weren't allowed to eat us."

"You can understand them?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

Ahsoka shook her head in disbelief, not willing to question such a ludicrous statement. "Tell them to let us down then! Try to bargain with them!"

"I said I understood what they were saying. I never said I could replicate their speech, or that they understood Basic." Harry shook his head. "I mean, have you heard their speech? I don't think I could even hit those notes on a good day."

Ahsoka scowled and opened her mouth, only to stop as the creatures below began to screech loudly at each other and scurry away from the bonfire, vanishing from her vision. "What did they say?" Ahsoka asked, looking back at Harry.

"The Great God Ma'kugargh approaches."

There was a thunderous rumble in the distance.

"I'm not a betting man," Harry began to say, "but if I was, I'd say that was Ma'kugargh."

Ahsoka's eyes widened and she began to struggle with renewed vigour against the binds that held her in the air. She pulled with all her might, attempting to snap them to no avail.

Ahsoka quickly noticed that Harry wasn't attempting to free himself, and looked rather pensive. "How can you be so calm?" she asked skeptically.

Harry blinked rapidly and shook his head. "Oh, sorry, zoned out there for a second. I was just thinking about how no one had tried to sacrifice me in a while."

The sound of the creature's screeches echoed off in the distance.

"Well now," Harry said. "I think that's our cue to get out of here as well."

"Oh NOW you want to get free?" Ahsoka snapped out as she twisted and writhed inside her binds, attempting to loosen them to gain even a little bit more room to move, or leverage to escape.

"Say, you were a Jedi right?" Harry said suddenly. "Can't you just, you know, use the force to get us out of here?"

"It's not that simple!"

"Why not?"

Ahsoka glowered. "Because… because be quiet and let me think for a second."

Ahsoka closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. When she opened them again, she began to look at their surroundings critically.

The ropes that held them weren't actually ropes. They were some sort of gelatinous cord that seemed to tighten the more she struggled. Brute force would do her no good, she needed something to cut through it.

Her eyes flickered to the bonfire and she squinted, trying to see what had been laid into it to feed the fire. She felt a rush of triumph as she spied a white hot jagged sheet of metal beneath the flames.

Ahsoka took another calming breath and closed her eyes, reaching out with the force into the bonfire and lifting the metal sheet. She opened her eyes and watched as it slowly floated up, metallic slag dripping off of it and hissing as it splattered the floor. With a twist of her wrist she sent it rocketing toward one of the ropes that suspended her in the air.

Ahsoka gave a whoop of excitement as her aim was true and it sliced through the blackened cord, freeing her left arm. She immediately reached over and gripped the gelatinous goop that clung to her right hand and pulled herself up against it.

"Uh, Ahsoka." Harry said from beside her. "I don't mean to rush you but…"

Ahsoka looked up from what she was doing and froze as, through the thick smoke from the bonfire, she saw it far down the street.

A Rancor.

A massive Rancor.

A massive Rancor with massive tusks.

A massive Rancor with massive tusks drooling what appeared to be bright green toxic sludge.

"That's one ugly bastard," Harry commented offhandedly.

Ahsoka snapped out of her shock and began to pull herself free with renewed energy. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she managed to free herself and dropped to the ground

Ahsoka barely touched the ground before she sprang into action, grabbing the closest thing with an edge. "Hold still!" Ahsoka called out to Harry as she turned toward him and with a little help from the force, launched herself upward, wrapping her legs around his waist to steady herself as she began to cut away at the thick black cords that held him up.

Harry was silent for a few seconds before he spoke. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful," he said. "But we're both very naked and—"

"Shut up!" Ahsoka hissed out, her face burning.

"And," Harry continued, his eyes looking over her shoulder. "I think it's noticed us."

With a vicious yank, Ahsoka tore Harry free of his binds and, clinging tightly to him they dropped down. She used the force to buffer their landing and quickly detached herself from him and turned away.

"Thank you Ahsoka," Harry said with a smile.

"How can you be so calm still?" Ahsoka demanded to know, rounding on Harry and thrusting her arm out toward the Rancor that was lumbering toward them. "Do you not know what that is?"

"It's a Rancor," Harry said with raised eyebrows. "I'm quite aware of what it is, and what it'll do to us if it catches us, which is why it's probably best if we get out of here," he suggested.

The Rancor in question let out a roar that caused the very ground itself to rumble and without warning it suddenly began to move faster toward them.

Harry reached down to Ahsoka's hand. "We should go now," he said quickly and broke out into a sprint away from the bonfire and into the dark.

"We need to get to cover," Ahsoka said quickly as she ran along beside him and pointed toward the nearest building. "In there!" She pulled him along, but as they got closer, the corpse-like creatures appeared from within, screeching at them and hissing.

"Maybe not!"

Ahsoka gritted her teeth and instead reached wrapped her free arm around Harry, drawing upon the force and then jumping high into the air with him. They landed on top of the nearest building she initiated another jump, taking them higher and out of the Rancor's reach as they stumbled onto the roof of the next one.

"Hopefully this will buy us some time," Ahsoka said with a shake of her head as she let go of Harry again. "We need to find the ship and get out of here, right now."

"I'm inclined to agree," Harry admitted and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes a second later. "The ship is over there," he said, lifting a hand up and pointing out into the darkness.

"How can you tell?"

"Magic?" Harry offered.

"This isn't the time for jokes!" Ahsoka snapped at him.

The building began to rumble, and Ahsoka looked up just in time to see the ugly head of the Rancor rise up over the edge of the building, its beady eyes staring right at them.

Ahsoka gritted her teeth and reached deep down inside her, drawing upon all the strength she could muster as she pulled upon the force and thrust her hands out toward the Rancor's head, unleashing the strongest telekinetic blast she could.

The Rancor's head snapped back and it briefly wobbled, before it rounded upon them with a toxic-drool belting snarl.

The thick globs of glowing drool hissed as they splattered the building and ate through the material it was made of.

"Oh… drat."

One of the Rancor's aircar sized hands reached toward them and Ahsoka reacted by pushing Harry out of the way and jumping up onto the outstretched hand.

She didn't miss a beat as she began to quickly run along it toward the tusk covered head.

"Get back to the ship Harry!" Ahsoka shouted out. "I'll distract it while you do!" She felt her heart thudding in her chest as she leapt up over the Rancor's other hand as it came for her and landed on one of the tusks jutting out from the side of its face.

"You would be so dead right now if I had my lightsaber!" Ahsoka shouted hoarsely at the lumbering beast as she continued to duck, weave and jump.

Her efforts were rewarded with a bestial roar as the Rancor managed to gouge its hands on its own tusks. The thrill of triumph that ran through her lasted just as long as it took for the Rancor to begin to erratically swing its head around, trying to get her off.

She underestimated the lumbering beast and in a surprise move, it slammed itself into the building.

Ahsoka let out a cry of pain as she went flying and collided with the side of another building—though she managed to twist in mid-air and avoid snapping her neck. Whatever relief she may have felt at that vanished as the Rancor moved impossibly fast for its size and its gnarled fingers wrapped around her naked body, squeezing her tight enough for her bones to creek.

She struggled, screaming as its fingers curled in on her. She desperately began to draw upon the force and tried to use it to push out against the beasts fingers to get free, but its grip was too strong.

Suddenly, without warning the force shuddered and twisted upon itself desperately, as if trying to escape something nearby.

"Confringo."

A massive explosion thundered nearby, followed by a howl of agony from the Rancor that held her in its grip.

The beast stumbled and Ahsoka let out a choked whimper as it slammed her against the nearby building and collapsed. Its fingers unfurled and she tumbled to the ground, hitting her head as she did as she rolled in the thick layer of grime and dirt that covered everything in the forgotten city.

The last thing she saw, through the blurred muck and the pain was Harry, floating down toward her, his silver cloak wrapped around him, flowing with a wind that was not there.