POV: Anakin Skywalker

It's been a few weeks since I last physically saw Ahsoka. I've seen her all over the HoloNet. None of the reports were ever positive though.

Villages were decimated, people murdered…

There was nothing I could do about it because she was always gone long before the report was made. I've spent all of my downtime searching for some pattern.

Obi-Wan and Satine think I've gone crazy so they took the kids into their dorm. Who knows? Maybe I have gone crazy. My wife was a Sith and she was doing terrible things. I felt powerless and weak, but that was because I couldn't go after her.

I tried to track her down a few times, but, so far, I'd failed.

I was extremely upset with myself because I realized about a week and a half ago how much I'd been neglecting my children. Cayden's first word was Obi.

He was now roughly eight and a half months old and his first word was Obi. That just goes to show how much of a horrible parent I am. If his first word had been something relating to Ahsoka, I might've been a little more excited, but it had been related to Obi-Wan.

I sat in a chair and pulled my knees up to my chest. They were still somewhat injured, but that had been because I didn't want them to heal. I wanted them to be there as a reminder that I'd failed to save Ahsoka.

I glanced at the bed on the other side of the room. It had been left that way since the last time Ahsoka and I slept in it together. I couldn't bring myself to sleep in it because I knew her scent was on it.

My comlink beeped across the room. I sighed and levitated it into my hand. "Yes?"

"Master Skywalker, you're needed in the Council chambers."

"Okay."

I cut the connection and forced myself to stand up. Master Skywalker. General Skywalker. Grand Master. Those words had been floating through my head lately.

I'd failed as a Master. I'd failed as a war General. I'd failed as a Grand Master.

Nothing I did held balance in the galaxy. My emotions were tearing me apart from the inside out and people were beginning to notice.

I forced myself to walk across the floor and out of the dorm.

Raid on Utapau. Massacre on Nubia. Airstrike on Alderaan. Corellian Carnage.

Those were the headlines of the articles I'd read on the HoloNet. All reports involved a female Togruta slaughtering countless people on those planets. I needed some pattern to figure out where she'd strike next.

I stopped and closed my eyes, envisioning the map of the galaxy in my head. I'd memorized it because I'd wanted to visit every planet before I died.

She obviously went from Boz Pity to Utpau. Both were a short distance away from each other. To get into Nubia, Ahsoka would have to come into the inner core of the galaxy. Alderaan and Corellia were within the inner core as well.

My eyes snapped open. Coruscant.

I darted towards the Council chambers, bursting through the doors. "Master Skywalker?" Yoda greeted, staring at me with a confused expression. "All right, everything is?"

"Coruscant is the next planet," I gasped. "She's coming to Coruscant."

Obi-Wan stood up as my eyes met his. "Are you sure, Anakin? I thought you told me that you couldn't determine a connection between the attacks."

I explained the theory to them and I received several thoughtful glances. "Right, you might be…"

I took my seat and calmed myself, watching the rest of the Council. Obi-Wan sat with his left leg crossed over the right while stroking his beards. Yoda stared at the floor like he was asking it for all the answers. Plo was mumbling things in the corner, almost mirroring Obi-Wan's actions.

"What do we do then?" Plo spoke up.

An unwanted silence filled the room. I held my head in my hands, trying to think of something that might help us. Through the other attacks, I could see that when Ahsoka wanted to destroy everything the stood in her way, she would make sure it happened.

"I want Jedi stationed all over the planet," I whispered, lifting my head. "Everyone must be ready to take on Sith. I don't want Padawans or younglings involved, so do not bring them along with us. My daughter won't be joining this battle, so I intend to keep to my word. We need to do everything and anything to stop her. Ahsoka and the Sith need to be stopped."

I glanced around the room, watching the members nodding. "Dismissed."

Everyone stood and began to exit the room. Obi-Wan came over to me. "I haven't seen very much of you lately. Actually, the last time I saw you was almost two weeks ago. I'm really sorry about Cayden. You know I never meant for his first word to be –"

"I don't care about that," I muttered. "It made me realize that I'm not fit to be his father." I lifted my head to look up at him. "I can't take this anymore. We've tried to stop Ahsoka before, but this has to be the end of it all. We need to kill her."

"You can't be serious."

I frowned and closed my eyes. "I'm so serious."

"Anakin, do you know how much that will hurt you?"

"Yes," I whispered, nodding. "I trust that you'll lock me up in an asylum or put me through carbon freezing and take care of the children."

"I can't –"

"It's what you need to do. I can't let Ahsoka live like this. I can't live like this. Without her, I'm dead. I'm going to be the one to kill her, Obi-Wan. I need to end this myself."

He stared at me sadly, nodding slowly. I stood up and walked out of the chambers.

I didn't look back as I started running towards Padme's quarters. I knocked on the door pretty hard until she opened it. "Anakin, what's going on?"

She pulled me into her dorm, holding my hand. "Have you heard anything on the HoloNet, Ani?"

I nodded. "She's on her way here. Padme, I need to make sure you're safe. I'm sure there's a part of her that will want to hurt you, but I won't let that happen."

She nodded and stepped closer to me, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Thank you," she whispered.

"I'm going to kill her," I said, pain seeping into my voice.

She pulled back to stare up into my eyes. "Can you do that?"

"I have to."

Her hand reached up and stroked my cheek slowly. I closed my eyes and leaned against it. "I miss her, but I need to do this. She doesn't want to live like this."

"What about you? How are you going to live without her?"

"I've given Obi-Wan options for me."

I opened my eyes as both of her hands were placed on either side of my face. "Don't do this to yourself, Ani. She needs you, but you need her. Don't kill her. There has to be something else you haven't tried yet."

Tears brimmed in my eyes as I stared at her. "There's nothing I can do for her. I've tried everything I can."

Padme pulled my face closer to hers and pressed her lips against mine. The tears slid down my face as our lips moved slowly. Her fingers wove through my hair and I stood with my arms at my sides, hands balled into fists.

She pulled away slowly and stared at me. "I'm going to help you bring her back. That kiss held all of my emotion, Anakin. I can't tear you apart anymore. I'll always love you, but it's time that I realize you'll never be mine."

She kissed me one more time before smiling at me. "I'll lure her out for you."

"Padme…"

"I love you enough to want you to be happy," she whispered, rubbing my chest. "Ahsoka is everything to you. If she hadn't found you, you wouldn't be here. I'd be visiting your grave every year…"

"Would you really?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Your death would have been my fault. I've never drawn someone to the edge and I felt horrible about making you go that far. I loved you, Anakin. I really did. I just didn't know how to tell you the right way. Those men… they weren't like you."

I hugged her, kissing the top of her head. "I knew that."

"That I loved you or that they weren't like you?"

"I knew that they weren't like me. They gave you things that were costly and beautiful. They didn't tell you that you were beautiful, that you were their star, or that you were the only one they dreamed of spending their life with…"

She closed her eyes and smiled. "That's everything I loved to hear and you were the only one to give that to me. I loved you for you because that's all you could be. You weren't the type to buy things to buy my affection. You were the best and kindest man in the galaxy."

I put my hands on either side of her face and rubbed her cheeks with my thumbs. "I tried to be the best I could. I'm not perfect, but I try to make people happy."

She opened her eyes. "You don't have to try."

I leaned down and kissed her slowly. She reached up and pulled my flesh hand from her face, holding it in her hand.

I felt myself moving forward and she moved backwards. My body collapsed on top of hers and her hands wrapped around me, rubbing my back. I pulled back, breaking the kiss. "What's wrong with us?"

"I'm sorry, Anakin."

I sighed and pushed myself off of her. I sat at the end of the bed, holding my head in my hands. "I'm sorry."

She leaned against me. "One time was enough for us both, Anakin. Haven't you ever considered that we might be different now? I mean, Ahsoka and Kaydus –"

"That doesn't count!" I shouted, glaring at her. "He violated her! I couldn't stop that from happening! I won't cheat on her because of something that was done to her!"

I was now standing in front of the door. Padme's hands rubbed my back slowly. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry, Anakin."

I looked at her over my shoulder. "One time was enough for me. I can't do that to myself or to Ahsoka. She's my wife, regardless of what's going on right now, and I love her so much. No matter how much hurt I feel after I kill her, I'll never have sex with you again."

With that said, I stormed out of the room.

I balled my hands into fists and slammed them against a wall, closing my eyes. My knuckles on my flesh hand snapped, but I didn't care. I breathed slowly through my mouth. "Idiot," I growled at myself.

My comlink began to beep and I took my time, deciding whether or not I wanted to answer the call. After numerous beeps, I sighed. I pressed the button. "Skywalker," I said, frowning at the last name that I shared with Ahsoka. Perhaps I should change it to something else now…

All I heard from the other end was static. "Hello?"

I heard faint breathing and more static. "Hello?" I asked again. "Who is this?"

I panicked a little. I couldn't identify the person through their breathing. What if this was the same thing Jaele pulled on us before? He was tracking us through a transmission.

The static began to clear and I could hear small screams. Whoever it was sounded like they were being strangled or tortured. I was tempted to speak, but that might get the person into more trouble. The static finally cleared.

"Anakin, it's me."