It took a mighty amount of convincing - as Mykle's rolodex of connections didn't include those in the media - but they finally were lent the ear of the executive producer. A disheveled man, apparently overworked as it is and it's easy to noticed he dealt with the stress by overindulging in sugar and salt. "This is something the entire Galactic Republic needs to see." A recently bandaged Mykle said, in the back of his mind hoping the wraps can quell the bleeding so he would not black out.
At first, the producer seemed disinterested, but was willing to give Mykle "five minutes." That's all Mykle needed, he popped in the data card and watched the evidence play out. A slender, but tall womanly figure came into the picture. Mykle noticed it was Barriss Offee, one of Ahsoka's friends. He talked to her once or twice and didn't really know anything about her other than she was a prodigy.
"This get interesting anytime soon?" The producer did a "get on with it" hand motion gesture. Mykle told him to be patient.
Barriss opened up one crate to see the nanotechnology perfectly placed inside. By the look of the tape she tries to contact the Jedi, only to receive a fatale slash to the chest for her troubles courtesy of Mijo. Mykle shakes his head. So many bloodshed, all needless, only serving to prove a petty point and to have the Jedi lose the battle in public relations.
Only up until this point it's worked. The Jedi were viewed as pariah for turning on their end so swiftly, sacrificing all of the capital they've gained from the hanger bay bombing. The Jedi came across as treacherous, aloof religious loonies.
Fire engulfed numerous street blocs and yet here Ahsoka and Cecily were locked inside a prison cell, all of the noise of the chaos the outside world had to offer almost nonexistent.
"I thought the Republic treated their inmates better than this. I haven't eaten in hours." Cecily complained. Finding an inane topic of conversation beat dwelling on their utterly bleak current situation.
"Only for POWs." Ahsoka tells her. "Wait, isn't this your first time in a prison?" Ahsoka couldn't have dreamed a poindexter like Cecily would have compiled a criminal record.
"Once before, as a inmate in a C.I.S internment camp. As part of the Separatists occupation of Lianos." Cecily remembers that time when everything oddly felt so simple, compared to now. Sparring Ahsoka from anymore moral dilemmas, she did not bring up the fact the soulless droids at least brought their prisoners one square meal a day (in case for the children, two square meals).
"Tano" Ahsoka picked up her head from her knees, hiding the fact she's been quietly crying this whole time. "You have a visitor." She didn't have to wait long to find out it was the esteemed senator from Naboo.
"Padme?" Ahsoka hadn't seen Mrs. Amidala for months, she worried her eyes deceived her.
"I've missed you, Ahsoka." Padme confesses, rushing to hug the closest thing she's had to a sister. "It goes without saying I wish it were under better circumstances."
"I'm real happy you're here, means a lot to have you by my side." Padme assures Ahsoka she'll fight hard for her and won't let the judicial system lock her up for a crime they have only circumstantial evidence of her committing. Ahsoka looks to her side, seeing Cecily happy that she is receiving proper representation. On the other hand, Cecily isn't so fortunate.
"Uhh..." Ahsoka clears her throat. "Padme, this is Cecily. A friend of mine I recently met. She doesn't have a lawyer for her day in court." Padme didn't need anymore hints. She could tell Cecily was of a good heart and like Ahsoka was unjustly dragged into this.
"Any friend of Ahsoka's is a friend of mine."
The footage hit the news cycle like an asteroid. Instantly gaining the attention of the average citizen, swaying public opinion towards believing the claim the Jedi was indeed framed to having validity. Mykle's plan to simply not rush to the Jedi Temple, somehow be granted the presence of the judge overseeing Ahsoka's trial, worked in spades.
His plan also had unintended consequences. The Jedi were already on thin ice with the people. The fact they let one of their own swing and seemingly went out of their way to punish her threw a grenade into whatever equity they had left with the public.
Mykle told Chester it's best they don't remain at the station and find themselves a quiet place to lay low. Knowing he's angered a lot of people during his shenanigans, it wouldn't be long until he earned a blaster bolt to the head for his troubles.
"What's wrong, Mike?" Chester noticed Mykle hadn't spoke in a while, only lighting a death stick, something he usually does when on edge.
"Nothing." Mykle lies, taking one big breathe of the sweet nicotine, coughing up a lung as a result. "You think she'll appreciate this?" Mykle asks, solely out of vulnerability. He speaks so quietly he hopes Chester did not hear.
"Appreciate?" Chester scoffs. "She'll love you for this!" He assures him. "You've done everything possible to clear Ahsoka's name."
"Love" Mykle thought, trying not to trick himself into falling into the same traps he did before. "Love" he said aloud this time. "A forbidden emotion in the Jedi Order. Said it'll lead to illogical decision making and make a pathway to the Dark Side." Mykle remembers Master Yoda's lone words of advice to him well.
"You don't believe that do you?" Chester knew Mykle as a bit of a closeted romantic before he left Lianos for good.
"If I did, I'd likely still be there." Mykle confesses. "I could never buy in fully."
"Buy in?" Chester didn't understand.
"I came to the Jedi because I wanted to see the stars. I never thought about the complexities of their religious ways." Chester nods knowing all too well.
"That and many people wanted you dead." Chester chuckles. "How things fail to change even in the slightest."
"I took my friends' place. None of this was meant to be mine."
"He would have wanted you here. If he couldn't convince the Jedi to let you come aboard as yourself, he'd pull the strings necessary to have you in the Agricorps."
"That's exactly where I needed to be" Mykle shakes his head "planing seeds and working the farms."
"The Force is all about getting closer to nature." Chester apparently knew more about the Force than Mykle.
"You would have made for a good Jedi." As Mykle said that, he was torn whether he meant that as a compliment on Chester's knowledge and openness, or as a negative for his lack of critical thinking towards such a rigid lifestyle. "I still have his lightsaber, you know?" Mykle figured it was best to change the subject.
"He would have wanted you to have it." Chester could sense Mykle's growing discontent.
"What's wrong?"
"I came to Coruscant for a fresh start. A little over a year later I'm in the same mess I was in back home. I squandered my second chance. I've lost friends and worse, I cost them their safety."
"We're never save, Mykle, you should know that." Chester tells him heartedly.
"I lied to Ahsoka and lost..." Mykle was about to allude to the fact he held feelings towards her, but thought better of it. "Never mind." He continues. "Elias... he had it all together. I wanted to be like him so bad."
"You've learned even Elias didn't have it so easy." Chester puts simply.
"Yes."
"It's hard work getting your life together."
"All too much."
News got around fast of Ahsoka's innocence, hitting the courts during proceedings like a tidal wave in a small town near the coast. Nothing was left for the prosecution, hastily they tried to rebuild their case only for it to fall like a house of wet cards. Within the hour Ahsoka and Cecily were cleared of all charges. Cecily was sent home, Ahsoka elected to stay behind.
"Are you really going to stay with them?" Cecily spoke scornfully. "After what they did." Ahsoka took a long look at the Jedi Temple standing in its glory as the sun set.
"This was the only place I've ever known... my home."
"Home is where your heart is." Cecily told her. "It's where the people you love and love you are. Can you honestly believe a place that defines the emotion of love as forbidden 'home'?"
"The Jedi are my life." Ahsoka resisted the temptation to give into her anger at someone ridiculing her dear Jedi Code. "This is my life."
Sighing, Cecily knew only one person knew what is best for Ahsoka. "Just know you always have someone to turn to in times of need with me and Mykle." Cecily tried to leave Ahsoka on the best of terms. Knowing she needed time to think by herself.
"Ahsoka, the Jedi Council wants to see you." Anakin went after her shortly after Cecily departed. "They want both of us."
"Master, I-" Ahsoka tried to talk to Anakin like a friend. Albeit, she couldn't blame him for not taking her hint since she greeted him formally.
"We really need to get going." He pestered, ushering her to his side. It was like she was being marched into the principals office. Except it was the Jedi Council doing wrong. Why did Ahsoka owe them a visit?
Anakin didn't say two words during the walk to the Jedi Council. All he wanted was to talk to his pupil like nothing had happened. Yet, he felt cold and would shiver whenever he tried to muster up a word to say. Before they entered the Jedi Council room, Anakin made a quick apology to Ahsoka for not trusting her.
"It's alright." She'd say. But it wasn't alright. Something bitter stewed in the pit of her stomach and it just reached the breaking point.
The Jedi Masters encircled her, their eyes all focused on her comparably diminutive stature. If Ahsoka were to sit on one of those chairs herself, she wasn't sure her feet would touch the ground. The Jedi did most of the talking - it is considered uncouth to speak out of turn, unless you are a Jedi Knight. Master Yoda expressed regret at how events transpired, even apologizing for his inability to see Ahsoka was in fact innocent. Plo Koon remains silent, the only one unable to look directly at her.
"We realize now this was a test of your loyalty to the Jedi and your strength in the Force. Safe to say, you passed." Shaak Ti, a Togruta like Ahsoka, same skin color, only longer montrals because of her more senior age.
"We're asking you back, Ahsoka." Anakin simplified.
"We like to bestow upon you the rank of Knight." Mace Windu added.
"I don't know what to say." She truly didn't. Her life's ambition a arms reach away. All she had to do was grab it.
"I'm very proud of you Ahsoka." Anakin tells her, holding out his hand holding her Padawan braid which had been roughly tugged off of her not so long ago after the Jedi hastily pronounced her guilt and turned her over to the Republic. Everything would return to normal if she accepts Anakin's hand.
"So you think she'll do it?" Mykle packed his bags, once again planning on leaving Coruscant. Cecily had the same idea, except they couldn't go to the same place. Another planet they have effectively ran themselves out of.
"I don't know. She seemed torn."
"One of the best features of being a Jedi is they taught you how to sense emotions embedded deep in somebody. I could sense every doubt and insecurity in any weak-minded individual." Mykle hadn't used the power in so long it was a great boredom killing tool.
"So what am I thinking? Cecily asked, never knowing the Jedi before had this ability. Putting his index fingers to his temples, rubbing in a clockwise motion.
"You're worries how you'll get around without me." Mykle breaks out a smug grin. Cecily responds by toss Mykle a pair of his dirty underwear he meant to wash.
"I'll get around just fine without you getting in trouble every second."
A knock on the door disrupted the banter the two were engaging in. They exchanged a brief look, Mykle peaked through the window hiding all of himself through the blacker than the dirtiest coal curtains. It was Ahsoka. Standing alone, shivering in the light mist. Without saying a word he rushes down the stairs and opens the door.
"Ahsoka." He made sure his eyes wasn't deceiving him. She really was standing there. He noticed there wasn't a braid on her montrals.
"I... I..." She fought off the urge to give into emotions once more, this time resisting the tears threatening to escape her. "Left the Order." Mykle couldn't believe you. He tells her to come inside.
"I don't know what to say," he confesses "You've lived in the Jedi Order for so long. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know!" She says.
"You can go with me?" Mykle offers. "I have friends that can give you work fixing speeders and starships." She looks at Mykle checking if he was indeed seriously offering this.
"You would do all of that?" Mykle nods.
"I know we've had a falling out. But you're my friend, I can't let you live on the streets." He got up and signaled to her he was about to wrap her up in a tender embrace. She didn't reciprocate, leaving Mykle to stand awkwardly his arms stretched out. He did this for a bit for comedic effect, despite not making her laugh.
"I gotta go get an extra ticket." Nonetheless, Mykle was giddy he's ever been. He was reunited with his best friend. Even though he was far from having her reciprocate his more profound feelings for her, he just wanted to be on her good side again.
When he left, Cecily made her presence known soon after. She would have come down sooner, but wanted Mykle to have one-on-one time with Ahsoka.
"So why didn't you-"
"I am not ready to talk about it." Ahsoka said. The wound still fresh.
"But you feel you're ready to go off with Mykle and start a new life?" Cecily questioned.
"At this point I don't know what I am ready for." She shows her growing insecurities, wrapping herself up in her arms.
"You have someone waiting for you." Cecily reminds Ahsoka.
Mykle stood with Ahsoka's ticket in his hand. For once his palms weren't a sweaty mess. He was happier than he can remember, waiting eagerly for Ahsoka to show up and for them to start the next chapter in their respective lives. Believing maybe, just maybe, he'd finally be able to break through her exterior and here the words he's always wanted to hear her say.
He loves her. Always has. For once he felt confident in the fact she did too. The rain continues to fall, growing stronger. But he knew Ahsoka would make it to the station to be with him. If he had too, he'd wait here all night for her.