Author's Note: WELP. THIS IS IT! THE LAST. EFFIN'. CHAPTER😭😭😭 I'm not crying, *you're* crying!😭 Well, friends this has been a long, long journey since I started writing this fic way back in... *checks notes*... February 3rd (2022), are you kidding me? EIGHT FRIGGING MONTHS LATER here we are. Thank you everyone who's been following along. I hope you enjoy this last chapter💖

Ahsoka's report to the Jedi Council had been rough. Master Windu had put far more pressure on her than she had expected to name her contact, and keeping Ventress' involvement a secret had required quite a bit of pushback on her part. In the end, she'd managed it by the skin of her teeth. Though she wouldn't be at all surprised if Master Windu were ticked off enough at her "obstinacy" to put her on refresher cleaning duty for the rest of the time they were on Coruscant.

But for now, she needed sleep.

She opened the door to her Padawan quarters for the first time since she'd left for the lower levels with nothing but hope and took a deep breathe. It was the scent of home. The faint smell of incense still remained from her last meditation session and it mixed pleasantly, if a bit oddly, with the smell of the cleaner's disinfectant. Glancing around, curious, she wasn't surprised to see the distinct lack of her pleasure house disguise anywhere in the room. I'm sure the Masters had it burned.

She swept her gaze around. Everything else appeared to be just as she left it. Nothing's been moved. Nothing's been shif— Her eyes fell on her cot. Except for that. There were her new Padawan beads, just like she'd requested. But beside them was an item that certainly could not have been put there by a Jedi.

Moving carefully across the room, she picked up the Padawan beads… and the small, smooth stone that lay next to them. She smiled.

One hand went up to lightly trace her jaw just as her Master walked into the room.

"Ahsoka, I just wanted to– what's that?"

She glanced up. "What? Oh! Just my Padawan beads." She held them up, drawing his eyes to her other hand as she closed her fingers around the stone. Her feelings on what it meant or could mean were complicated at best, and she wasn't sure if Anakin would understand... or drag her to Obi-wan to get a lecture on duty to the Order. Please don't ask about the stone, please don't ask about the stone, please don't-

He stepped closer, taking the beads from her hand. "I actually meant the other thing."

Blast it. "Oh. This?"

He nodded at her open palm, stepping around behind her head to attach her beads back in place.

She shook her head, completely unprepared to explain. I don't even understand it myself. "It's… just a memory."

"Just a memory?" He asked quietly. "Ahsoka, memory is one of the most powerful tools we possess. Without the ability to remember, we'd have nothing. Imagine if you had to relearn how to use your lightsaber every time you picked it up. Imagine not remembering how to fly a ship, how to walk, how to breathe!" Click. The beads were in place. Instead of coming around to face her though, Anakin's hand fell lightly to her shoulder. She could feel the rumble of his voice in her lekku. "Imagine not remembering how to love. Who you love. Imagine not remembering what it felt like to feel compassion. Or empathy. And letting that feeling drive you to show kindness to others. To make their lives better, and to inspire the same in others." His voice trailed off. "Memory is powerful…"

His hand became a heavy presence, but not… uncomfortably so. It's presence was a warning to heed his words, an example of the love he was talking about, and a simple comforting touch all at once. She turned her head just enough to look up and over her shoulder at him, only to see him staring off into space. "Master?"

He blinked, looking down at her. For just a second, the fiercest love she'd ever seen pierced her soul, the strength of it in his gaze enough to stun her. The look disappeared in an instant to be replaced with his trademark goofy grin. "Imagine not remembering how to slice up droids!"

She couldn't stop the fond smile that tugged at her lips. "Master, you ruined it!"

He laughed, moving around in front of her now. "What I'm saying, Snips, is that…" A pause. "I… know the Order can seem strict sometimes—"

"Sometimes?" She interrupted.

"Good, you were listening!" He gave her a knowing grin and she gave one back. "Sometimes they're strict, it's true. And it's natural to have thoughts about what it might be like if you led a different life." A glance at the rock. "Whatever that life might be." His other hand reached up to join the first on the opposite shoulder. "If you, you know, want to… um, errr—"

Ahsoka took the hint with a grin. "…want to talk about it?"

"Yeah," he confirmed with a relieved smile, giving both her shoulders a squeeze. "I'm always here."

She smiled up at him. "Thank you, Master. But there's no need to worry." She reached up to touch her beads, his hands falling off her shoulder in the process. "I plan on being in the Order for a long, long time yet."

His face lit up with relief. "Glad to hear it, Snips." He turned back toward the door.

"I couldn't leave if I wanted too!" She called after his retreating figure. "Somebody's gotta stick around to save your skin!"

"Funny!" He called over his shoulder as he stepped into the hallway. "I was gonna say the same thing about you!"

The door slid shut.

She tightened her grip around the smoothness of the stone, feeling it's weight and heft like a warning. A reminder. Maybe even a promise of what could be, of what might be… if she made a different choice. If Ventress had ever been given a choice at all. Her new beads brushed gently against her lekku as she shifted slightly and she couldn't help but smile.

She took one last look at the pebble in her hand before placing it carefully in her drawer. Anakin was right. Memory was powerful. But not all memories needed to stay in sight all the time.

She turned out the light and lay down on her cot, falling quickly into her first deep, dreamless sleep in a long time.

In the shadow of a nearby landing platform, a lithe, cat-like figure watched as a very specific window in the Jedi Temple went dark. Putting down her binocs, she silently took in the image of the Temple as a whole, remembering her early years as a young Padawan running through its halls. She looked at it, wondering just how different her life might have been if so many things hadn't been what they were. If she'd had a different Master, who hadn't died. If she'd been born to a different species, one who didn't give away their children on occasion to keep the rest of them safe. If she hadn't been Force-sensitive.

She turned away.

Memory was a powerful thing, and Asajj Ventress no longer liked remembering things she couldn't change. Dooku's treachery, as well as her would-be apprentice and his brother, flashed through her mind. Well. Some things, anyway.

The darkened window of the Temple told her one thing though, so for now, she would remember everything she could about the pair of brothers who were currently making her life hell. For she had learned that the best way to move on was just that. Move on to the next thing. And hunting down her enemies had always been such an all-consuming task to Ventress, naturally though it came to her. And in her eyes, Savage Opress and, the once Darth, Maul were traitors to their kind. To her. She would hunt them as such.

She walked away, wondering if her and the Padawan's paths – and memories – would ever cross again. She hoped so. A flash of white and blue, striped in a particular way, made her turn with a smirk – or was it a smile? – already tugging at her lips. Perhaps the darkened window had only been a ruse- but no. It was merely a speeder floating by.

Asajj Ventress pulled up her hood and disappeared into the shadows, already beginning to put her foray toward the Light behind her. Though born on different worlds, and ending up down very different paths, there had been much that was similar between them. Both of them raised in the same place, the same manner, both practitioners of the Force... both women with a mission. She had hoped that perhaps that would have been enough.

She grimaced slightly as she took one last look at the Temple that had been her home. I should have known friendship between a Jedi and a Sith wasn't meant to be. They each had their own path to follow. Ahsoka Tano would follow her path and Ventress… Ventress would follow hers. Goodbye, little owlette, she thought into the Force. Stay alive, if you can.

The window in the Temple remained dark.

The shadows swallowed the figure whole.

The End

"It matters which side we choose. Even if there will never be more light than darkness. Even if there can be no more joy in the galaxy than there is pain. For every action we take, for every word we speak… it matters. I don't turn toward the Light because it means someday I'll 'win' some sort of cosmic game. I turn toward it because it is the Light."

– Qui-gon JinnThe End

"It matters which side we choose. Even if there will never be more light than darkness. Even if there can be no more joy in the galaxy than there is pain. For every action we take, for every word we speak… it matters. I don't turn toward the Light because it means someday I'll 'win' some sort of cosmic game. I turn toward it because it is the Light." – Qui-gon Jinn

Author's Note: Whether you joined partway through or at the beginning or whether you're just discovering this fic now, after it's been completed, thank you all so so much for joining me on this journey💖

And remember, if you ever want to know what I'm up too, or going to be up too, you can always check my bio to see what's coming up (even stuff that hasn't been published yet). And if you ever have ideas or prompts, don't hesitate to send them my way. I never know what'll get me in the mood for writing again! Take care, everyone. Hope to see you all soon😉