The Ghost crew had just left on their mission, and with Ezra away, at least for awhile, peace had mostly been restored to the Tano family. Aidan followed Ahsoka around like he would when he was little while she listened in on meetings and monitored the progress of Hera and her crew.

At one point, Aidan was able to talk her out of working in order to spend some time training together. Still, she kept herself on standby, with her commlink close to her so she could be ready the moment anything went wrong.

When she trained with Aidan, Ahsoka always did so barefoot and without any of her extra armguards, vest guard, or any of the sort. She made herself as light as possible so she could be even more limber. Because of his half-Togruta gene pool, Aidan was just as limber or even more so, because of his youth. He could bend and purposely dislocate in places normal humans never would be able to.

But force, did he sweat like a human! She hadn't ever sweat like he did in a single workout,and that included her labor and birthing of him.

Ahsoka's personal theory was that one of the reasons he was so underweight was because any weight he gained, he sweated out, and he wasn't able to keep muscle on him in large amounts.

"You're too heavy on your feet."Ahsoka chided, circling him on her toes as he kept her in front of him in order to manage her every move.

"I'm not as flexible as you are." He tried to convince her, but then slid into a near split to get under her attack and make a would be strike to her solar plexus.

Good.Ahsoka thought with pride, but her face didn't show it as she focused on teaching him a lesson.

"Now the next defense."She ordered, stepping back and combing his sweaty locks out of his eyes.

"I don't remember the next one." He said hesitantly and then narrowly dodged her attack.

"Well, you'd better do something, then." She kept her arm outstretched and waited for him to react. He chose to wrap her in her own arm for a choke hold.

And now comes part two.

She countered in a way he'd never seen before to further try and train his awareness. Just as unprepared the second time, it resulted in him being forced to the ground with such force he even made an "oof" noise as the back of his head struck before his hands.

"You didn't land right, either." She chided as he growled and got up. "You know, back in my day, we had entire sessions dedicated to falling and rolling. I doubt you would like if I made you do that, would you?"

But Aidan wasn't listening. He had wandered off to the side and was taking a drink of water and wiping off his face. Ahsoka heaved a long sigh and walked up behind him.

"Don't become frustrated just because you lose." She reminded him for the upteenth time.

"That's not why I'm frustrated, I'm frustrated because I'm having such trouble focusing on the application to all these rules. I have to remind myself to not start thinking this is a waste of time."

"Well, I can give you application."Ahsoka pointed out as she also took a drink.

"I know, but-"

"When you were about six, you were kidnapped by Tarkin and some of his men. Remember what you did to him when he wouldn't let you go?"

A small smile crossed Aidan's face. "I bit him."

She nodded once, a proud look on her face."Indeed you did."

"But nowadays, it just seems like everyone uses blasters and I often wonder what the point of all this is." He gestured to the training room as a whole.

"Because it may one day save your life. Now-"

Whatever she was to say next was interrupted by a sudden, urgent, shout. "General!"

By wandering off to Aidan's side, Ahsoka had walked too far away to hear her comm go off as it had many times before. So, a courier himself had run all the way there upon the Ghost's landing to alert her himself.

"Son, I-" Ahsoka turned to apologize to Aidan for needing to leave, but he had dissapeared, along with any sign that he was there. She turned back and focused on the courier, her now current priority.

"There's something you need to hear." He explained, and then, she was running after him.

oooooooooooo

Ahsoka was ready and waiting alongside Commander Sato when Kanan, Hera, and the others ran inside the command center. Ezra looked especially spooked, in a way that Ahsoka could understand. They must have found another inquisitor. Or worse-

"A Sith Lord." Kanan announced gravely,making Ahsoka and Sato's eyes widen in shock.

"A Sith Lord? Here?" She asked for clarification.

"And it looks like he's followed us!"Hera cried, alarmed at the signal that had appeared on the holodesk in front of them.

"We're scanning a ship entering our sector."A lieutenant confirmed right as she the words had left her mouth.

Even as Phoenix squadron was ordered to intercept, Ahsoka was fighting a sinking feeling that this fighter was not somebody who could be easily defeated, even by as whole squadron.

Her conjecture was proven fact when the strange fighter began picking them off one by one. Hera was fighting the urge to join in, Ahsoka could tell, and soon was abandoning command in order to get involved. After asking Ezra's permission (she knew Aidan would be thrilled) she was going along too, because she was going to discover the identity of that Sith Lord, whether he liked it or not. Kanan seemed to have the same idea.

It became evident pretty soon that the Ghost would be one of the few, maybe the only survivor of this battle. Ezra,Sabine, and Zeb took control of the guns, while the three remaining adults remained in the cockpit.

With the Sith Lord after them, it seemed only logical to try and discover his identity. And so, that's what Kanan and Ahsoka sought to do.

His hand on her shoulder and the other outstretched, while she did the same. As Vader came straight for them, Kanan and Ahsoka focused, and-

Three terrible words was all it took.

Three terrible words to have Ahsoka's world come crashing down around her.

The apprentice lives.

She screamed and fell into Kanan's arms.

ooooooooooooooo

The dark was nice.

It was strangely comforting, just like a kind of sleep, and a reliving of her past all in one.

Snapshots of her life,with Anakin.

The day Anakin claimed her as her padawan, after he was on the brink of rejecting her.

All the times he had comforted her,trained with her, been injured beside her.

Geonosis- where he'd almost been forced to leave her for dead.

Felucia- where he'd refused to do so again.

The Temple bombing- where he'd not stop trying to prove her innocence. And then she had walked away from him, leaving him to believe it was his own wrongdoings that had caused it.

Anakin had not known about Aidan.Had never known of him.

"This is all your fault." A voice in the back of her mind insisted. "The darkness he suffers from is all your fault."

"You did this to him. The man you loved as a brother."

"You alone are the cause of his downfall."

Ahsoka knew that was the Darkness trying to claim her. And it just seemed so... right. Even if she knew it wasn't. But she couldn't fight back.

Couldn't return to the light.

Couldn't...

Until someone rescued her.

oooooooo

Ahsoka would never find out the identity of her rescuer, because when she woke up, she was alone.

Both Kanan and Ezra denied any involvement. Then, of course, Ezra had to pry into her personal life and ask if she knew who the Sith Lord was.

"No."She lied,"I don't. But I do know that they'll be coming. They'll all be coming now."

The rest of the crew entered as Kanan affirmed her acknowledgement-and Ahsoka did have to admire Hera's thoughtfulness in saying they'd be behind her. Because they couldn't be.

Ahsoka knew who that Sith Lord was. And she may very well have to make the ultimate sacrifics to stop him. She couldn't have anyone following her. Not her friends, or her family.

After their brief discussion, Ahsoka reluctantly followed the crew to the new command ship. Commander Sato and his deck officers were already there. But...

Ahsoka didn't see Aidan.

In any other situation, she would not have been so frantic. But with the command ship destroyed, and Aidan having been on it...

"Commander Sato, where's my son?!" She demanded, not caring that she was interrupting his current conversation.Bless his heart, as soon as he realized what Ahsoka was inquiring about, he focused solely on her.

"Are you sure he wasn't with you?" She insisted, drilling him with narrowed eyes.

The man in charge shook his head mournfully. "If he was anywhere other than the bridge, I will have no record of him."

Kanan and Hera exchanged worried looks. Ezra was alarmed as well, as he was force sensitive enough to feel the sheer worry radiating off of Ahsoka.

"He was not with my crew when we were forced to evacuate. I assumed he was somewhere else."

"Were there any escape pods?"

"I'm not sure."

Ahsoka began looking around wildly, face to face of everyone in the room as if somehow, Aidan was hidden among them,playing a trick.

It was Hera who took up the gauntlet when it came to comforting Ahsoka. "Ezra, find out about the escape pods. Kanan, help us look." She took a few steps toward the distraught mother, and gently placed a cautious hand on her.

"Ahsoka, you're tired. I'm sure Aidan will be here shortly after you rest."

"Don't talk to me that way, Hera."Ahsoka warned, trying to keep her voice level.

But Hera didn't back down. She may have been a mother figure to the crew, but still did not understand how Ahsoka felt.

Aidan was only sixteen years old. Ahsoka would not accept that her son, her only child, her only reminder of the man she loved and could never love again...

She didn't care if she made a scene. With Hera and a medic trailing behind her, she became a frantic search through the ship. Without Aidan answering his comm, there was nothing else to do.

If she hadn't been worried before, Ahsoka certainly was now. Aidan wasn't responding to his comm, her voice, anything, even as she searched wildly, calling his name.

Arriving at the same junction for the third time, Ahsoka finally paused to take a breather and allowed Hera to catch up with her. The Twi-lek pilot again tried reasoning with her, speaking in soft tones and and promising to find Aidan if Ahsoka would just calm down...

But nothing could stop a determined mother. Especially a Togruta, ex-jedi one. No amount of talking would do at this point unless Ahsoka saw Aidan unharmed and in front of her.

"He's mad at you, remember?"Hera asked,still in that annoyingly calm voice. "That's why he's not answering his comm."

Ahsoka wanted to punch her friend for her arrogance. How do you know??! She wanted to scream and run away, but at the same time could not muster the strength needed to strike Hera and escape. Then Kanan returned and was restraining her too. Onlookers were staring, and those who knew what was going on murmured and began to disperse.

"Aidan!" Ahsoka yelled, pulling away from Kanan, who had convinced Hera it was dangerous to try to keep restraining Ahsoka in her distraught state, as force energy was radiating off of her at an extreme level even he had trouble maintaining.

Tears were running down the mother's face as Aidan didn't step forward;and neither did anyone bearing news of him. She gave up and slid to the ground, her son's name still the only word on her lips as Kanan held her in the and tried to smother her dangerously dark-side thoughts with his own.

Ahsoka finally surrendered and didn't object when the antipsychotic drug was injected into her shoulder and the world went black again.