Chapter 7

Anakin shot up out of the water and landed on the grasp edge, he was coughing violently spitting out water that had gotten into his lungs. After several minutes of couching he was finally able to his breath back to normal and looked around. He noticed that he wasn't in the grass land of the force but as he looked around he realized that it was almost impossible to see. A noise of what sounded like rocks shifting and falling to the ground drew his attention behind him. He turned around and saw a pile of rubble and a hand pushing its way from beneath the rubble.

In the depths of darkness Anakin could make out the sound of mechanical breathing echoing from the distance. The rubble before him continued to move until finally a hand broke through the surface grabbing onto the ground in front of him. The hand was covered in grayish dust and smeared with a red sticky substance but he could make out the color of Ahsoka's skin. He was about to reach down and help pull her out when he realized that he was still only a ghost and Ahsoka still had more to show him. Struggling the hand continued to dig into the ground and more rubble began to fall away as Ahsoka was pulling herself from underneath the weight of the debris.

He heard the ragged and exhausted breath of Ahsoka as she worked to free herself and finally her head broke from under the debris. Her other hand as well began to dig into the ground as she drug herself out inch by inch. Suddenly Anakin felt Ahsoka's exhaustion as if it was his own, her physical pain as if it was his and her emotional side as if it was his. Tears began to come to Anakin's eyes as the pain built both physical and emotional as he watched her pull herself from underneath was he realized was part of the temple that had fall on her.

She began couching as she tried to get the dust out of her lungs and succeeded as well as spitting up some blood. She rolled over onto her back as a sharp pain hit her side causing her a small cry of pain. She laid there for several minutes to catch her breath before looking at her side, she was bleeding. With a painful groan she sat up to examine her side, carefully she lifted up the side of her torn up top fighting through the pain she was in as best she could. She was cut pretty badly and blood continued to fall from the wound down her side. She tore off enough of her top off to wrap her wound trying to keep it as clean as she could, not that it really mattered at this point though.

"Ahsoka I'm so sorry…" Anakin whispered though the emptiness of the cave they were in it echoed off the walls. He watched in agonizing pain as Ahsoka struggled to pull herself up but soon fell under her own weight that her arms could not hold. Again he watched as she attempted to pull herself to her feet but yelped in pain the second she put pressure on her left leg. She collapsed back on the ground with a hard thud and laid there for several moments biting her tongue to keep from screaming.

Anakin looked down at her leg and saw that it was broken and the bone was sticking out of the side of her leg. Ahsoka slowly sat up and either do the adrenalin that was coursing though her or the emotional distress she was in didn't freak out or go in to shock. The adrenalin wouldn't last long Ahsoka knew this so she took one hand and griped the inside of her leg while the other grabbed the bone that was sticking out of her leg. Anakin closed his eyes as Ahsoka began pushing the bone back into her leg and loud cries of excruciating pain filled his ears. After what seemed like hours though only a few minutes the cries of pain stopped and Anakin opened his eyes once more to see Ahsoka laying back against the ground breathing heavily and shaking involuntarily.

He didn't know how she found the strength but some how she was able to sit up again and tear another piece of her top off wrapping it around her left leg and tying it to hold the bone in. Slowly the weary and beaten woman pulled herself to her feet putting all her weight on her right leg and began limping away from the rubble into the darkness.

Anakin followed behind a struggling Ahsoka as she drug herself through the temple blood still oozing from her broken leg. He didn't know how she did it but somehow she found the strength to keep walking one step at a time. You couldn't acquire this strength through training or practice, this wasn't a physical strength he was seeing. This strength was one that came from within that allowed the body to go past its limits and keep a person moving forward. This was the strength of a determined person one that wasn't willing to give up and just lay down and die. Each step was a challenge but still she continued on and on in the darkness with no idea where she was going.

By the time Ahsoka had reached the end of a long dark hallway she was struggling greatly to just stand. Almost all of her weight was placed on her hand that was placed against a wall to keep herself upright. Breathing hard and legs shaking weakly Ahsoka struggled to lift her head up into the darkness. "One more step…" she told herself weakly trying to will her legs to move. Slowly she picked up her unbroken leg and moved it forward but it hit something metal. Carefully she lowered her foot back down and reached down to her belt where her lightsaber rested. She wrapped her hand around the hilt, even the weight of the hilt was almost too much for her tired body to bare.

When the white blade came to life she looked down at what her foot had hit. It was long covered in dust, dented and very old. She brought the tip of the blade closer to the metal and was barely able to a white emblem on it. Using much of the strength she had left she was able to learn down and using her hand to knock off the dust. Her mind already trying not to give into the thought of just giving up and pushing away the pain took longer to recognize the symbol.

It was a old republic ship or part of it from what she could see. A sudden spark of hope lit up in her eyes, maybe there was a medkit in it. The raised the lightsaber higher up and found the rest of the ship was covered in rubble. She had to get the debris off and hope the medkit wasn't damaged. Taking her lightsaber in her other hand and leaning on part of the ship to take more weight off of her broken leg. Raising her right hand she pushed away the pain the best she could and reached out with the force. Slowly the rubble began to move as not strong enough to lift the rubble off she was able to push it off of the ship.

She continued pushing the rubble off, her breathing getting heavier and heavier and her body trembled more as her strength was quickly fading. Finally after what seemed liked an eternity she was able to push the last piece off. She let out a exhausted breath and tried to sit down but ended up losing balance and fall to the ground. She didn't have the strength to cry out in pain anymore but tears began to slid down her face and raspy weak breath continued to escape her mouth. She laid there weakly her lightsaber still in hand lighting up what it could of the dark room.

For a long time she just laid there breathing slowly but she knew she had to see if there was a medkit in the ship. She grabbed the wing with her right hand and groaned loudly as she pulled herself into a sitting position. Ahsoka turned around slowly and placed both her hands on the hull of the ship she pushed herself upward and drug the rest of her body up onto the hull. Now on top of the ship she realized it was a fighter, that was a bad sign as Republic fighters didn't carry medkits. Still though she had to look if she didn't then her leg would get infected that much faster.

Reaching forward again she pulled at the hatch release but it wouldn't budge. "Come on" Ahsoka said trying again but still it didn't move. Three, four more times she tried to get the hatch open but it didn't move. Frustrated and exhausted she collapsed back on the hull of the fighter. Looking up in the empty darkness she could feel herself drifting to sleep but she had to stay awake. If she fell asleep she mostly wouldn't wake up and die here on this dead planet.

"Don't give up Ahsoka I know you can do it" Anakin continued to encourage his former padawan. She laid there for a few more moments before finding the strength to pull herself up once more and reached out again to disengage the fighters canopy top. Finally the canopy's lock released and it rose slowly upward. She dragged herself to the cockpit and ignited her lightsaber looking around for a medkit. To her dismay but not to her surprise she found non but instead of letting her despair wash over her a idea began to formulate in her head. Maybe just maybe she could get this fighter to come on line and maybe be able to reach out to the rebels for help. Slowly and painfully she was able to pull herself into the cockpit.

The powercells she knew were drained so that would be the first problem. She needed a power source something anything she could use to get the ship online. She pulled part of counsel out and began messing with the wires. Her mind was slow and her body so weak she struggled even more so trying to remember how to reroute the power that is of course when and if she could get power to the ship.

"Power source I need something" she said to herself moving her lightsaber in her other hand to give her more light. Slowly her eyes shifted to the only power source that was producing the light. It seemed so unlikely but maybe there was a way her lightsaber could power the ship. Turning off the lightsaber and struggling to manually pull it apart not having the strength to use the force.

The only thing she took out was the focusing lens the reached forward taking one of the wires and put it into the top of the hilt. Then she pulled apart the base of the hilt and attached the other wire to the bottom of it completely the circuit. She took a moment to catch her breath before reaching forward to fire up the main systems. With her other hand holding the hilt she hit the activation stud at the same time to flip the switch to fire up the fighters main systems.

With sparks and snapping sounds lights slowly began appear in the cockpit. With a weak smile in triumph she began flipping switched to activate the comms. The smiled faded soon as the communication system on the fighter was fried. She sat back in the seat and let out another tired and frustrated sigh.

It was just a faint thought that crossed her mind but her hand reached forward and hit the ignition to the fighter. Her eyes widened in shock when she heard the fighter's thrusters sputter then burn and roar loudly to life. "Maybe the force hasn't forsaken me" she said and reached up closing the canopy. The hiss rang in her ears as an airtight seal around her and she grabbed a hold of the stick. Carefully she took her other hand and push forward on the throttle slowly and the fighter slowly and shakily lifted off of the ground.

Warning lights began flashing on the counsel as she continued to lift the ship further off of the ground. "Stabilizers are damaged" she said but there was nothing she could do about that and not even knowing if this ancient fighter would hold up in the conditions of space but maybe the force would grant her some mercy. "I can do this" she muttered hopefully as she pulled the throttle back and pushed the throttle further forward.

Slowly the fighter climbed and climbed higher upward as she continued to pray to the force that the fighter held up. Finally the fighter broke from under the cavern and into space. Slowly she continued to push the throttle further forward pushing more power to the thrusters. Breaking through the atmosphere the ancient fighter soared upward and away from the planet that had caused her so much pain or the man she fought that she once saw as a friend.

Trusting in the force she reach forward pulling on the hyperdrive and the ship shot forward away from the planet. Only then did the weak and tired former Jedi sit back into the seat and closed her eyes as the emotional turmoil of what happened the past several hours hit her. Tears began to fall down her eyes in pain knowing the truth, knowing what had become of her former master.