You don't have to read the previous parts to understand this one, but of course it wouldn't hurt either. All you really need to know is that Ahsoka was captured and seduced to the dark side by Vader a few years after Order 66.
Enjoy!

Her Rightful Place

I

He couldn't quite stop himself from frowning while he and his charges, now including a newly rescued princess, made their way to the hangars.

The entire mission had gone much better than he had expected and then proceeded to be even easier than he could ever have hoped for. Not only had they managed to get aboard the Death Star without arousing too much attention, but they had also successfully freed the young princess with only minimal enemy contact. Not even an alarm had gone off yet!

If all that wasn't enough to tell him that something was very, very wrong, the odd silence he got from the Force would have given it away.

He had been half-convinced that this would be his last mission from the moment he had decided to leave Tatooine, and ever since then, he became more and more sure of it. He didn't like it, of course, and young Luke was still so unprepared to meet his destiny, but if it was the will of the Force, then there was nothing he could do about it. In the end, he needed to trust that the boy would be able to overcome every challenge on his path without him. It wasn't as if he would be all alone anyway, especially now that he was reunited with his sister. She would take him with her to the, more or less, safety of the Rebel Alliance, aid him with his troubles, and finally stand by his side when it was time for him to face Vader and Palpatine.

They were not just Anakin's children but Padmé's as well. They would be fine, he was sure of it.

Now though, seeing how easy everything was proceeding, he felt a tingle of hope grow inside his chest. Maybe he had been wrong, maybe the years of inactivity during his exile had made him paranoid, and maybe he would survive this awfully risky mission. No matter how tired of fighting he was, if he was given the chance to stay at the side of Anakin's children and help to guide them for a little bit longer, he would take it.

Vader hadn't felt either his or the children's presence up to this point, so what were the chances that he would do so before they reached the hangar and were able to escape? As far as he could say, his dark presence was a fair distance away, meaning he would need some time until he arrived here in person even if he suddenly noticed them. Only a few more minutes and they would reach their ship, and only a few more minutes after that until they would be gone. They could do this.

Then, in a sick parody of the events that had occurred on Naboo all these years ago, the blast door in front of them slid open and all his hopes were crushed as he watched in disbelieve who appeared in front of them.

A few minutes earlier

"I was made believe that most systems of this battle station were ready for deployment," the Grand Moff said in a calm voice that belied the storm of emotions he could sense from the man through the Force. "In fact, I remember quite distinctly that we actually used our hyperdrive system just hours before I gave the order to make for Alderaan. So, would anyone of you mind explaining to me why our perfectly fine hyperdrive isn't functional anymore?"

The technicians in front of Tarkin tried their best not to cower back from the man, knowing that the Grand Moff despised weakness, but most of them failed miserably. He took no small measure of satisfaction from the fact that his mere presence only amplified their discomfort and fear while simultaneously noting to himself those that managed to keep their cool.

They could become useful later on.

After a few tense seconds, one of the men stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Sir," he said. "We can't explain it ourselves. Every diagnosis we have made prior confirmed the station's operability, and no scan since then has shown any signs of our equipment being manipulated. We are trying everything in our power-"

"Then do so faster!" Tarkin interrupted with a cold voice. "You have ten standard hours to make the hyperdrive operational again. I will oversee your punishment personally should you fail, is that clear?" The group hastily nodded. "Then you are dismissed."

None of the technicians wasted any time in fleeing the room, many only saluting after they had already started to make their way out. He ignored them, though, choosing to instead observe Tarkin. This was one of the rare occasions where he was glad that he wore a mask, for he was sure the other man wouldn't like his smirk. Not that he cared too much about his opinions, but his life was so much easier when he didn't need to deal with an annoyed Tarkin.

"Tell me, Vader," Tarkin spoke up. "Did you get anything else from our honoured guest? With how much more time you had for her interrogation, you surely managed to learn something new?"

"The princess is in no condition for another session. Any further stress will only lead to her death, and there is no information to be gained from a corpse."

Tarkin scoffed. "Spare me your excuses. You should have broken her days ago. How hard can it be to break a little girl that's barely out of her teens?" He turned around to look at him, a tiny smile on his face. "But no worry, once the hyperdrive is fixed and we made our way to Alderaan, she will talk or risk the destruction of her home. The love for her people will be her undoing."

And your blind trust in this oversized deathtrap will be yours, he thought in the privacy of his mind. "As you say, Grand Moff," he outwardly agreed, mockingly bowing his head in consent.

The man looked at him for a few more seconds with an unreadable expression on his face. Fortunately, he didn't need to read his mimic to understand what he was thinking. The annoyance radiating from him was more than enough for that. "You must be happy with this turn of events, don't you?" Tarkin finally asked with an almost inaudible snarl. "After all, you were the one that warned everyone about how supposedly insignificant this station is compared to the Force" -the disgust in his voice was clear to gear while he said that part- "and reminded us repeatedly not to be too proud of it before it was even finished. Well, congratulations, Lord Vader. For a little while longer, you will be the Empire's greatest terror weapon. Enjoy it for as long as it lasts."

Not too long ago, such a comment would have enraged him. Maybe not enough to act on his emotions, especially not towards Tarkin, for the man held the Emperor's favour, but definitively enough to make him leave for the privacy of his quarters before he could do something he might come to regret later. Now, though, he felt only amusement and even a bit of melancholy. It was truly a shame that Tarkin stood so firmly in Palpatine's corner. Were that not the case, he might have attempted to bring him to his side a long time ago. But with how things stood now, there was no other choice but to dispose of him.

Well, to be fair, Tarkin probably would have died anyway. A person much more important than he wished his death, and who was he to deny her that?

Vader was just about to reply when he felt a disturbance in the Force. He tilted his head as he reached for the source, trying to decipher what it was trying to tell him, and soon he had his answer; the rebels had finally sent someone to rescue the princess, which meant his plans would soon come to fruition. They probably infiltrated through one of the many ships that got captured because their occupants had seen the battle station and then proceeded by stealthily getting the princess out of her cell. But all of this, even the fact that his plans which had been so long in the making were about to be kicked off, mattered little to him right now. More important was-

"Kenobi!"

"Excuse me?"

He returned his gaze towards Tarkin while reining in his bloodlust to keep a cool head. His last confrontation with his former master had shown the consequences of losing himself in his emotions and he couldn't afford to let it happen again. Not now when he finally had the chance to get his revenge.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said to the confused man in front of him. "He's on this ship, and if my senses are correct, he has just rescued the princess."

Tarkin looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "Obi-Wan Kenobi is dead. There is no way he has survived this long, not with how the remaining Jedi were hunted down in the years since the fall of the Republic." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Besides, there hasn't been a sighting of a Jedi in years. I doubt an old man, and that's what Kenobi would be at this point, will be the exception."

He only listened half-heartedly to what Tarkin was saying while spending most of his attention on figuring out where exactly his target currently was. "Don't be a fool, Tarkin," he said absently. "No matter your personal opinions, you have lived through the Clone Wars. You have seen what a Jedi and, more importantly, Kenobi is capable of. It would be wise to reconsider your thoughts on that matter."

Hangar 2406, he thought. That's their goal. If I hurry, I should reach it in about 20 minutes, but they will be long gone by then...

Before Tarkin had the chance to respond, a stormtrooper entered the room and rushed towards them. "My Lord, Sir," he said urgently. "There was a break-in in the detention sector, and the prisoner Leia Organa has been reported missing."

There was a tense silence during which Tarkin came to grudgingly accept that he had been wrong. After all, he had indeed witnessed first-hand what the Jedi could do. He had also seen what he, Vader, could do. The likelihood of him being correct about Kenobi, especially now with the princess' escape confirmed, was high, and doubting him would be nothing short of foolish.

There were many things he could say about Tarkin, but even he wouldn't go so far as to call that, his obsession with the Death Star being the only possible exception.

"Fine then," he finally said. "I suppose you already have a plan about how to recapture the princess and deal with the intruders?"

"Of course," he replied before swiftly turning around and making to leave the room to meet his former master. "Kenobi's death is long since overdue, and it's only right that he would die while failing to succeed on his last mission."

That only left the problem of how he could reach the hangar before they stole a ship to flee. Fortunately, the solution to that was surprisingly easy and, in his own opinion, rather fitting.

After all, he wasn't the only one that had looked forward to meeting Kenobi again, and just because he was too far away to reach them in time didn't mean that nobody else was close enough to stop them long enough for him to arrive.

It was just his luck that the one person on this station capable of stopping a Jedi besides himself was exactly at the right place to fulfil this job.

He could feel that something was off one moment before the doors slid open. He didn't know what it was, only that it had something to do with the Force, but considering the shiver that ran down his back, it couldn't be anything good.

Then, when the door finally opened, nothing he could see at first glance seemed to explain this feeling; there was no army of stormtroopers waiting for them or anything like that, only one lone woman. Although Luke had seen some individuals of her species before, he didn't know what she was called, and weren't it for her clothes that gave her away as an imperial, he would have thought she was an ally since the Empire viewed most non-humans as lesser beings. In this case, however, it was clear where her allegiances lay; she was clad in dark clothes, with her torso and shoulders being protected by black and silver armour, creating an interesting contrast with the white and blue of the lekku that fell over her shoulders on which the imperial crest was visible for everyone to see.

All in all, aside from her not being a human, she gave off a perfect impression of an imperial soldier.

Then he saw her eyes, and suddenly he knew that something was very, very wrong with her.

Her eyes were like two glowing orbs of fire, shining in a sick yellow colour that couldn't be natural. Kriffing hell, he was half-convinced that they would actually glow in the dark! For all that her species might technically very well have yellow eyes -it wasn't as if he was an expert in alien biology- Luke could somehow tell that this wasn't the case here.

"Master Kenobi," she said in a joyful voice that was so fake that it almost made him cringe. "What a pleasant surprise to meet you at a place like this. It has been far too long, hasn't it?"

"Ahsoka," Ben responded much more reserved, but even so Luke could hear the shock in his voice. "I didn't expect to find you here either."

"You know her?" Han asked. "Because if this is some old flame of yours, we can let the two of you clear your differences in private, no problem at all." Then he let his eyes wander over the woman once more before snorting and adding: "Although I doubt you would have been able to secure such a-"

To Luke's relief, Chewie interrupted the smuggler before he could finish what he was going to say for he found himself unable to open his mouth, much less shut the other man up.

"What?" Han asked defensively. "It's not like I meant any offence or something like that. I mean, look at her and then look at him!"

"I see you still like to surround yourself with a bunch of delinquents and criminals," the woman spoke up again, her mouth twisted into an amused smirk that showcased a set of sharp canines. "Should I be surprised that good ol' Hondo isn't part of this little mission of yours? A pirate would fit in perfectly in your group."

"Hey," Han exclaimed. "Who are you calling-" He then hesitated while thinking it over for a few seconds before shrugging. "You know what? Nevermind, I guess I technically am a criminal."

"Can you please just shut up?" Leia asked the smuggler with a glower. "She is Vader's right hand and made it into the news hundreds, if not thousands of times over the years! How can't you know her?"

"Sorry that I spent my time more wisely than wasting it on imperial propaganda, Your Highness," Han replied with an annoyed drawl. "Besides, there is more to it than that, isn't it? You seem to personally dislike her for some reason."

She glowered some more at him before redirecting her glare at the woman in question who watched the entire spectacle with amusement. "I never met her personally because I was too young, but I heard of her. She was known as Fulcrum and the one in charge of our intelligence network for a few years. A lot of our early successes were only achieved thanks to her work. Then she went missing after a confrontation with Vader almost 15 years ago and we assumed she was dead, only for her to reappear a few months later during Empire Day to be introduced as Vader's direct enforcer."

"She was a Jedi once," Ben told them, bringing the conversation back on track. "She left the Order some time before the Empire took over, but before that, we fought side by side in many battles. I didn't know she was still alive till now..."

"She fought in the Clone Wars?" Luke couldn't help but exclaim, finally finding his voice. "She doesn't look that old, though?"

The woman snorted. "Yes, interesting, isn't it? The great and distinguished Jedi Order, peacekeepers of the galaxy for over a thousand generations, had no problem sending children to war. Who would have thought, right?"

"We have made mistakes," Ben said. "No one disputes that, least of all me, but-"

"Oh, you of all people would know about mistakes, wouldn't you?" Suddenly her eyes focused on him, making him reflexively take a few steps back. "And what is this? A new Padawan? How very bold of you to take another student after what you have done to your last one, Master."

He didn't know what it was about this topic that made her angry, but he could feel the rage radiate from her even with his limited training. Even without the Force, it would have been obvious how agitated she became simply by looking at her eyes, for they were slowly starting to get darker and darker until they were more red than yellow.

"I have done what needed to be done," Ben said, sounding much more tired than he had ever heard him before. "I didn't want to do it, but he betrayed-"

"Don't you dare talk about betrayal," she interrupted him, and although she didn't raise her voice, it was obvious -at least to Luke- that something about this topic was very personal to her. "Not after what you have done!"

After what he had done? he thought, wondering what she was talking about. He didn't know Ben for all that long, sure, but he could hardly imagine him doing anything harmful to anyone. Not when there was another way, at least.

As if reading his mind, she returned her glare at him again. "Tell me, boy, did Obi-Wan tell you what he has done to his last student?"

He swallowed once and used the time to gather his courage, before replying. "He told me that Darth Vader betrayed the Jedi after he was seduced by the dark side of the Force."

She laughed. "Oh yes, that's definitively a way to phrase it. If you are willing to ignore his betrayal before that, that is. But more importantly, did he tell you what happened afterwards?"

He did not, and he hadn't asked. It was probably stupid to listen to the enemy, but he couldn't stop himself. Seeing that neither Leia, Chewie, or even Han were interrupting them he assumed they felt the same.

"I don't think that-" Ben started speaking but was interrupted once again before he could finish his sentence.

"Oh, keeping secrets now? Or should I say again? Not that I'm surprised, of course. It would be against the nature of the Jedi to learn from your past mistakes. Still, considering what happened the last time, you would think that you would try a different approach this time around." She laughed, but instead of being a happy sound, it was cold and angry. "Listen, boy," she addressed him once again. "If you know what's good for you, you should leave his side as long as you still can, for he is gonna betray and throw you away once he doesn't need you anymore. Just like he has done with my master, and with me before that!"

"No!" he shouted, starting to get angry himself. "He would never do that! That's not the Jedi way!"

"The 'Jedi way'?" she laughed almost pityingly before turning her gaze upon Ben. "Did you hear that, Master Kenobi? Tell me, where were these ideals when you threw me out of the Order the moment it became beneficial for you? Where were all the people I looked up to, who knew me, when I needed them?" She looked back at him. "You better stop believing in such principles or else you will suffer the same fate."

His mouth was open, but no tone came out of it. He didn't want to believe what she said, desperately wished it to be wrong, but the moment he looked at Ben, hoping that he would argue against these accusations, and saw that he not only stayed silent but also looked griefs-tucked, he knew that it was the truth.

"Is this why you joined him?" Ben asked silently. "Because you thought he would understand what you have gone through? Or maybe because you pitied him?"

The room temperature, which had grown colder and colder since she started to throw accusations at Ben as if it was a direct reaction to her emotions, rose marginally when her expression morphed back into an amused smirk. "I joined him because my place has always been at his side."

Old Ben actually smiled at that. "Yes," he murmured, but it was so silently that he doubted anyone besides himself had heard it. "That might very well be the case." Then he continued louder: "Is this why you are here, Ahsoka? For revenge? Or did he force you to turn?"

The woman closed her eyes for a moment and visibly restrained herself before opening them again, revealing once again yellow eyes instead of the red ones from before. "No," she replied coolly. "There is only one person allowed to kill you, and it isn't me."

"Alright, alright," Han stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "That is all very interesting, but we're kinda on a tight schedule here. We need to go now. Sorry to interrupt this little reunion, but he can't dawdle around her forever." He pointed his blaster at the woman, ready to shoot at her, and that was the moment everything went to hell.

Everything happened like in slow-motion. Luke saw Ben, who had been looking pensively at the wall to their right, widen his eyes in shock before reaching for his lightsaber, he saw Chewie ready his weapon, preparing himself to support Han, and he saw the princess reaching for the aforementioned smuggler to pull him back. But much more importantly, he saw the woman in front of them raise one hand, her smirk widening into a full-blown grin that would haunt his nightmares for years to come, before blue lightning shot from her fingertips and crashed into Han, throwing the man through the air like he had been hit by an angry Krayt Dragon.

The sound of a blaster shot rang through the air and he didn't even need to turn around to know that it must have come from Chewie. Unfortunately, the attack turned out to be useless, as in a move that shocked him more than it reasonably should -after all, Ben haf mentioned that she had been a Jedi once- the woman activated a blood-red lightsaber and deflected the shot effortlessly to the side.

The next thing he knew was that Ben stood in front of them, his blue lightsaber raised in a defensive position, and all Luke could think of was that he hadn't even seen him move!

"Luke," he said urgently. "You and the others need to find another way to the hangar. I will buy you enough time to flee, but you must hurry."

"I will not leave you alone!" he instantly replied, angry that Ben would even suggest something like that. Sure, he had learned things about the old man that he would have believed impossible less than an hour ago, but he hadn't even given him the chance to explain everything from his point of view. "You will die if you stay here on your own!" That alone was enough reason to not leaving him behind.

"There is no death," Ben said sternly but not unkindly. "There is only the Force. Do not worry about me, Luke. I will be fine."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!"

And suddenly there was little more than a clash of red and blue, the exchange of blows almost too fast to follow with the mere eye. Even so, he was pretty sure of two things: first, the woman had a second lightsaber now, matching the first one in colour, and second, Ben was clearly on the defensive. From the little he had told him about lightsaber forms, he knew that his style was a defensive one, so he wasn't sure if the fact that the woman was the only one attacking was normal or if it meant that she was actually winning, but he couldn't help but notice the clear age difference between them. No matter how good Ben was, he would tire much sooner than his enemy, wouldn't he?

The last thing he saw before Leia pulled him around the corner of the corridor they had first come from was Ben using his lightsaber to deflect the lightning that once again shot from the woman's hands.

Everything fell silent when he arrived, his mere presence enough to stop the fight between light and dark that had been going on for a while now.

Oh, he would enjoy this.

"I have been waiting for you, Obi-Wan," he said, taking satisfaction in the fact there was no way for his former master to run away now. "We meet again, at last. The cycle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master."

"Only a master of evil, Darth."

He felt a surge of annoyance at the fact that Kenobi appeared to be completely at ease rather than shacking in fear, but he supposed that was to be accepted. He had always been the perfect little Jedi, after all.

He turned towards Ahsoka. "You know what you have to do?"

A smirk. "Of course."

He had taught her well, and he knew she wouldn't fail.

If there was one thing he could be sure of, then it was that she would never fail him.

It was fitting for Kenobi to die at this point in time, Vader thought as he activated his lightsaber. First, he would kill his former master, and then, shortly after, his current one. He would finally get rid of two shackles that had kept him down for far too long.

Peace is a lie. There is only Passion.

Through Passion, I gain Strength.

Through Strength, I gain Power.

Through Power, I gain Victory.

Through Victory my chains are Broken.

The Force shall free me.

The time of kneeling before others had ended. Never again would he submit to someone else; never again would he be a slave.

At last, he would be free.

I hadn't planned to upload this story yet, but I decided to do it anyway because I haven't uploaded anything in months! My life is really stressful at the moment and I'm too exhausted in the evenings to sit down and write something, but this part was already finished for over eight months, so I thought: why not?

I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review and tell me what you think!