Ash.

Blaster fire.

Smoke.

Her vision was hazy as the saber hummed to life by her side. The ship was in shambles. Her montrals vibrated with the explosions that shook the metal beneath her feet. She wasn't sure how she had survived this long. She'd lost track of Rex a long time ago and had been left to fend for herself. But she couldn't worry about that now. She'd sent Maul off to cause a distraction. And it appeared that he'd done his job well.

"Drop your weapon, Tano!"

The voice echoed through her head. It was so familiar. It was a voice that she knew too well. And one that carried heavy baritones of betrayal.

Dead.

They were all dead.

She felt their deaths as if it were her own, thousands of times over. Their lives were cut short, flames snuffed out without hesitation.

A scream ripped through the air. She wasn't sure if it came from her or from her boys. But it ripped through her heart nonetheless.

Smoke filled the air around her and she coughed, throwing her arm over her nose to fight the fumes invading her lungs. She hissed in pain as a blaster bolt tore through her shoulder. She lashed out to her right and was rewarded with a scream she knew all too well. She'd listened to too many of her boys fall with that scream. Ahsoka couldn't distinguish one sound from another. Jesse was screaming at her to put her weapon down, Kix was trying to drag his now one-armed comrade away from Ahsoka, and blasters were firing in every direction.

She moved on autopilot, her sabers swinging away to block the blaster bolts as she disregarded the pain that shot through her. She let out another pained yelp as a bolt struck her in the side, throwing her backwards and to her knees. Ahsoka coughed again, trying to rid her lungs of the invasive smoke.

I'm going to die here, she thought to herself.

And at that moment, she was fully at peace.

She looked up in time to see Jesse standing over her, his weapon pointed directly at her head. She closed her eyes and waited for the blow to come. Things continued to move around her, but she paid them no mind. Her head was throbbing from the pain, but even that was dulled as she let out a deep breath. It was a strange sensation, but one that she welcomed. She was calm. Finally at peace after a lifetime of war.

As Ahsoka surrendered herself to the darkness, she felt something.

It was small, almost like an annoyance poking at the back of her consciousness. But it was there.

And it was real.

Two golden eyes appeared out of the darkness, pupils blown wide as they stared at her.

"Hold on."

The voice that spoke within her head wasn't hers. She could feel the Force wrapping itself around her, almost like a blanket.

And when she opened her eyes, all Ahsoka could see was red.

It came from every direction, making her head spin with how fast it moved. It turned end over end and went spinning back down the hall to her left. The soldiers in front of her suddenly seemed to lose interest in her as they turned to face this new threat. Ahsoka felt paralyzed. She couldn't move more than her head as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

The red blade of the saber cut through the air with a shrill hiss, and if she were in her right mind, she would almost call it a scream. The clones continued to fight their new enemy. Ahsoka narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out where this sudden rescue was coming from. A dark figure strode from the shadows, emanating power. It moved fluidly, cutting down a clone or two with every move it made.

She let out a quiet gasp of pain as another stray shot landed square in her back, right between her shoulder blades.

Those golden eyes shone within her mind once again.

"Hold on, Ahsoka. I'm here."

Her grip on her sabers faltered, and the two durasteel cylinders clattered to the floor as she feel forward. She tried to regain her balance, to stop her fall, but her arms buckled under her weight and she went crashing to her side.

Moments later, she saw him. Her eyes settled on the boots that were in front of her face. She barely had the energy to lift her head. He knelt down in front of her, and she felt something brush against her cheek.

She had to blink a few times in order to focus on what was happening.

Those golden eyes were no longer hiding in her mind. Instead, they were real, in front of her, and full of life.

"Maul," she whispered. Her eyes were heavy as she stared up at him. He reacted to the sound of his name, reaching out and inspecting her wounds gently. She could see his lips moving but couldn't make out what he was saying. The smoke around them seemed to get thicker, and Ahsoka coughed once again. She groaned with the effort and pain and closed her eyes before she felt two strong arms envelope her body.

Too weak to do anything but barely open her eyes, she stared up at Maul. He looked down at her for a moment and said something indecipherable to her as her eyes slipped shut and she fell into the void once again.

"Save your strength, Lady Tano. You're safe. For now."

He carried her through the damaged ship, her body limp in his arms. His durasteel boots thudded against the metal as he stalked towards his ship. He paused when he heard something come from behind them. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see a clone staggering towards them, ordering them to stop. With a sneer, Maul drew his saber with the Force and sent the staff flying through the air. It cut through the chest of the clone with ease before flying back to its place at his belt.

Turning his attention back to the task at hand, he readjusted his hold on the fallen Jedi and began trudging to the ship once again.

He would glance down at her whenever she whimpered, the sound full of pain and loss.

As fire and destruction raged around him, Maul made a choice. Looking down at the Torguta in his arms, he made a choice. Hearing the Force scream with the voices of the fallen, he made a choice.

Of all those who had died that day, he would save one. He would save Ahsoka Tano.