(AFE stands for After the Formation of the Empire)

Ahsoka's Saviour:

D185/3 BBY (16 AFE), Malachor

Ahsoka glanced over at the energy beam coming from the center of the pyramid, while she held back Anakin's red lightsabre with her crossed silver ones. The walls shook around her and sparks flew through the air, while the screaming of the beam was almost to the point of overwhelming. She knew in that instant that if she didn't do something drastic, they were both going to die in the explosion. The cracking floor gave her an idea that she desperately hoped would work. She flung Anakin back with a Force push and thrust both her lightsabres into the floor, further weakening it. She watched the cracks grow and spread in the next few seconds that felt like time had slowed to a crawl. Ahsoka glanced up just in time to see Anakin, glowing yellow and red eye peering at her through his broken mask, raise his sabre.

Time sped up again. She knew this was the end for her. If she had to die by the hand of her Master, so be it. She had sworn she was never going to leave him again of her own free will. Anakin would have to be the one to end their connection this time. Ahsoka bowed her head and waited for the blow that never came, while she left her sabres in the floor to weaken it as much as possible. There was still a chance for Anakin to survive. All she could do was hope. Hope that he survived the explosion and that one day, he might cast off the persona of Darth Vader and return to the Anakin that she loved. Her Skyguy. Her Master.

Instead of the burn of the red lightsabre that she was expecting, Ahsoka felt a hand on her shoulder pull her backwards.

And then her world went black.

D22/1 BBY, World Between Worlds

Ahsoka sat up as she tried to shake off the pounding in her head. What had just happened? And WHERE was she? She looked at the vast expanse of black with countless stars and glowing pathways and gateways, feeling extremely confused. A familiar voice called her name behind her. She turned around and stared at the young man in scout trooper armour with confusion for a second before his large blue eyes and his Force signature struck a chord of familiarity in her. "Ezra?" she asked. How was this possible? This Ezra looked at least two years older than the one she'd just Force pushed to safety not even two minutes ago. At least, she thought it was two minutes ago. Wasn't it? His hair was really short, and he'd obviously grown up a lot, if he could pull off wearing a trooper's armour without looking ridiculous. And WHAT was he doing wearing trooper armour? "You look..." the unbelievability of the situation made her lose her train of thought as she looked at her surroundings again. "Wait. What happened? Where am I?"

Ezra stammered out some sort of explanation about the gateway and her fighting Vader and how he'd just sort of grabbed her because Vader was about to kill her, and poof, here they were. Wherever here was. Ezra wasn't really clear about that either.

A gentle hooting distracted her from her thoughts, as the last moment she saw Anakin flashed through her mind again. Ahsoka looked up at the top of the gateway. "Morai! You're here." The little green convor bird flew to the arm she offered as a perch and Ahsoka stroked her chest fondly.

"Morai?" the still unbelievably older Ezra asked.

Ahsoka smiled at the little bird. "She's an old friend. I owe her my life." She looked over at Ezra. "And now I owe you that as well." Ahsoka had to ask the two questions that were whirling through her mind as she took comfort in the presence of Morai. "How did you get here? And where's Kanan?" She immediately felt the sorrow radiate off of Ezra at the mention of Kanan. The fall of his expression just confirmed her fears.

"You've missed a lot," Ezra said despondently.

"Do you want to tell me?" she asked. "The abbreviated version perhaps?" Ahsoka tried to lighten the mood with a hopeful smile.

Ezra gave a half hearted smile in return as he reached over and stroked his fingers down Morai's back, making the little bird chirp in pleasure. "Starting with Malachor?" he asked. Ahsoka nodded. Ezra took a deep breath as his eyes went far away. "Obviously Kanan and I survived, but Kanan was blinded by Maul."

"I saw that part, and I saw Kanan defeat Maul, even without his sight. He was truly one with the Force in that moment."

Ezra nodded, a hint of pride in his eyes for his Master. "Kanan learned to see through the Force all the time. It took months though. Months in which I almost turned to the Dark Side while I was learning whatever I could from the Sith holocron."

Ahsoka sucked in a surprised breath. She never thought that Ezra would go down that path. He'd always been so full of light. And looking at him now, he still shone with the Light side. No hint of Dark to be found. The complete opposite of her Master.

Ezra shook his head ruefully. "Not my best times, I know. But without Kanan to guide me, I turned to whatever I could, to grow stronger so no one could ever hurt my family again. Kanan eventually returned to himself, an even better version of himself actually, and we worked through the Dark side stuff. But then Maul came back. Apparently he's really hard to kill."

Ahsoka chuckled at the half hearted attempt at humour. "You have no idea."

"You'll have to tell me some day," Ezra said with a raised brow. "We did some sort of idiotic thing with the Jedi and Sith holocrons, making us connected to each other. Maul haunted me as we both searched for answers. It turns out we were both searching for the same person for different reasons. Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. We found him, or really, he found us, on Tatooine."

Ahsoka gasped. "Obi-Wan's alive?!" She felt almost faint with relief. All these years, she'd thought that he was dead. Just like she thought that Anakin was dead. In this case, she was glad she was wrong.

Ezra nodded. "Yes, he is. I got the impression that he had a purpose for being on Tatooine, but I don't know what. Maul and Master Kenobi had their showdown, with Master Kenobi winning in only a few moves. He had told me to leave, but I looked back and saw Maul fall."

"Is that all that happened in the last... How long has it been anyway?"

Ezra shook his head and smiled ruefully. "About two years. And not even close. There was lots of stuff going on with the rebellion. Everyone assumed you were dead. We got a new Fulcrum agent who turned out to be Agent Kallus." She raised a surprised brow at that. "Sabine found the Darksabre, Kanan and I taught her how to fight with it, and we temporarily liberated Mandalore and rescued her father. We had a few encounters with Saw Gerrera's version of the Rebellion." Ahsoka's eyes went wider with every word he spoke. It was like her past was coming back and Ezra was living it again in some strange twist of fate. Ezra continued, blowing her mind with every word. "Senator Mon Mothma officially resigned and started a formal Rebel Alliance. Grand Admiral Thrawn found Atallon and destroyed our base along with most of Phoenix Group. Jun Sato sacrificed himself and the command ship so that what was left of us had a chance at escaping."

"No," Ahsoka said sadly.

Ezra nodded and continued. "Phoenix Group moved to Yavin 4 with the rest of the larger Rebellion. I spent maybe a whole day there in total while we ran some missions. Finally got permission to do something about the Imperial presence on Lothal, due to a TIE Defender prototype that Thrawn was putting into production. It would have wiped the floor with us if we let them build them en masse. Hera, who's now a General by the way, led a squadron of fighters to attack the Defender factory. They made it past the planetary blockade but Thrawn had another wave of TIEs hidden in the smoke and clouds. Almost the entire squadron was lost and Hera was captured. We got her back, but we lost Kanan." Ezra's voice broke for a moment and he took a moment before he could continue. Ahsoka put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly for a minute. Ezra's haunted eyes made Ahsoka's heart hurt. "They took out their own fuel depot and shut down the factories when they killed Kanan. He completed the mission. Somehow, he knew exactly what was going to happen. That was two days ago. Then this massive lothwolf that feels kind of like Kanan talks to me, and he calls himself DUME. He tells me to come to the Jedi Temple here on Lothal and to restore the past to redeem the future. Sabine figured out how to unlock the gateway and I was led to you by Morai. I think you were the past. Which means that by saving you, I have now redeemed the future? I guess?"

Ahsoka's mind and chest were literally hurting from everything Ezra had just said, and this was the brief version. "Ezra, I'm truly sorry I wasn't there for all of that. But even if we get out of here, you know I can't go back to the past and change things. I could make things even worse. The Force must have a reason for me to not be there. If you hadn't pulled me through the gateway, I would have died anyway. But I'm here for you now. I sense that you don't really need a Master anymore, but you do need friends, and I will always be your friend, Ezra."

Ahsoka watched as Ezra seemed to draw strength from her words and stood just a little taller. His eyes met hers with a maturity she never thought he'd have so soon. "Thank you, Ahsoka. That means everything to me. I don't know much about what happens after a Jedi dies, but do you think it's possible that Kanan could be the giant Lothwolf? Or even just a piece of him? He called himself Dume, which is who Kanan used to be. Maybe the lothwolf is the part of Kanan that used to belong to the Jedi Order?"

"It is possible that Kanan's will is still at work through the wolf," Ahsoka said as she started to wander the pathways curiously.

"How could that be?" Ezra asked as he trailed behind her.

"Kanan is part of the Cosmic Force now. There are ways that those who have passed on can still guide and influence the living. When it comes to the Force, nothing is impossible." Ahsoka had seen some things that most people would never believe. This place. This world between worlds full of gateways and mind blowing empty space and practically invisible pathways, was just one more thing to add to her list.

Ezra got lost in thought for a moment. "If it WAS Kanan who led me here, then..."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I originally thought I was sent to here to stop the Empire, but now that I've saved you, maybe I can save Kanan too!"

"Ezra, wait!" she called after him as he took off in a run, frantically following the sound of Kanan's voice that had magically filled the air in the endless space. Morai and Ahsoka took off after him. He eventually came to a stop in front of a portal that showed a much changed Kanan holding a Force shield against an astonishing amount of flames. Ahsoka took in his shorn hair, clean shaven face and the heartbreaking scars across his eyes. He was barely recognizable as the Kanan she knew just half an hour ago.

"I can reach him," Ezra said as he watched his Master hold back the flames.

Ahsoka felt for him, she really really did. "Ezra. Kanan gave his life so that you could live. If he's taken out of this moment you'll all die."

"You don't understand what you're asking me to do."

Ezra sounded like he was being tortured as he said the words and Ahsoka knew that feeling well. She'd just left her Master in a Temple on the verge of exploding, with no guarantee that her gamble with the floor would have paid off. "Yes, I do! You can't save your Master and I can't save mine. I'm asking you to LET GO." Ezra reached towards the figure in the portal longingly for one endless moment before his shoulders slumped and he turned and walked away. "I am sorry, Ezra. But you must see. Kanan found the moment when he was needed most, and he did what he had to do. For everyone."

Ezra stopped. "That's the lesson. I didn't see it. But now... I understand."

Ahsoka walked up to Ezra and put her hand on his armoured shoulder again. "I learned that lesson too, a long time ago. And it doesn't get easier with time I'm afraid." Ezra glanced at her with resigned eyes. Like he already knew something else that was going to happen, and he'd just needed this moment to sort it out. Ahsoka was afraid of whatever that might be. She'd seen that look before in other Jedi eyes. And she'd felt it herself, most recently just minutes ago as she waited for death to strike her down. Ahsoka looked up as the endless black space seemed to rumble ominously. "We can't stay here. You opened the portal to this world. Do you think you can close it as well?"

Ezra nodded and started walking back the way they came. "Sabine will know. Everyone will be so happy to see you."

Ahsoka shook her head. "It's too much of a change. I have to go back to where I came from. I can't go with you."

Ezra sighed. "I understand."

They both stopped and whirled when they heard the ominous laughter from behind them. The Sith Lord stared at them greedily through the portal they had just left. "Perhaps I can. Ezra Bridger. Ahsoka Tano. Mine at last."

Ahsoka felt chills run up and down her spine at his creepy voice. The Sith Lord chanted over the blue flames beside him before he directed them through the portal and at them. Ahsoka immediately pulled together a Force shield but the icy flames were too strong. "I... Can't... Hold it!" she gasped. She felt Ezra come up behind her and add to her shield with his own. She was surprised by how much stronger his shield felt than hers. As far as she knew, he never had that kind of power two years ago. He'd grown up in more ways than one. The flames stopped, and Ahsoka collapsed to her knees, sucking in air.

Ezra helped her stand back up. "Are you all right?" he asked.

When the Sith Lord started that awful laughter again, she said "run!" And so they did. They ran for their lives as the icy blue flames chased them for what felt like hours. A tendril caught Ezra's foot and started dragging him back towards the portal. Ahsoka grabbed her lightsabres and cut through the flame, another tendril burning her arm in the process, making the Sith Lord cry out like he'd been physically connected to the Flame she slashed. Ezra got back up and they continued their run for freedom, while she held her hurt arm to her middle.

Just before they had to part ways at an intersection, Ezra called to her. "When you get back, come and find me!"

"I will. I promise!" she called back, before turning towards the portal she'd come through. Ahsoka leapt through the portal in the wake of Morai, icy flames at her heels.