Author's Note: Alright, I've had a couple of extremely lovely comments from you guys (over on AO3), several of which mentioned how sad this story is (in a good way). And as I always like to "reward" you guys for comments if possible, here's a bonus chapter! And ironically... this has gotta be the saddest, and simultaneously best thing I've ever written. That probably sounds really braggy, but I don't care😆 To me, this whole chapter is so, so good. I can picture the whole thing in my head, especially the last little bit (you'll see what I mean), and it's just so... cinematic! Maybe that's just because I love Anakin and Ahsoka together so dang much. Anyway! Read on and decide for yourselves😈

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER ENDS ON A CLIFFHANGER (it's not atrocious, though).


Chapter VII

She whirled into action, spinning around and aiming a kick at the guard's back. He whirled at the last second, quickly bringing his wrist up to his mouth. "General Skywalker! Sir, Commander Tano is - " She cut him off with a kick to the gut, sending him flying back into the wall. Faintly, the sound of a response began frantically lighting up his comm. She took off.

She was far too close to her goal to be stopped now.

"Commander!" she heard right before the sound of his pursuit started, heavy footfalls echoing all around her.

She passed the first junction, pushing her aching body harder as the footfalls and shouts began to creep closer.

She was almost to the second junction when she heard, "Ahsoka! Stop!"

She chanced a glance over her shoulder. Anakin was now in pursuit as well, and somehow he was outstripping the trooper faster than she would've thought possible.

"Please wait!"

She turned back toward her prize, coming up fast on the last junction. There was no way they could stop her now.

Her eyes went wide as alarms started blaring, and suddenly the blast-door in front of her began to slide shut. Oh, blast! She thought, putting on a burst of speed.

She could hear Anakin's sharp breath just steps behind. Felt the brush of his hand on her shoulder as her feet pounded on the floor. Wrenching her shoulder away - his hand missing her by an inch - she dove through the small opening left in the door. It shut with a clang right behind her.

Her body tried to meld with the floor, as her lungs heaved in and out. Wearily, she thought, by the time I'm through with all these gymnastics, I'll have all my old injuries back.

Blue light suddenly erupted through the blast door, and she jumped almost a mile, feeling her eyes go wide as a laser-sword started cutting through the metal like it was butter. You're not out of this yet, Ahsoka, she told herself, scrambling to her feet.

She rushed at the door of the escape pod - only to be blocked. "Locked?!" she cried. "Passcode required? How is that safe for an emergency?" She glanced back. Anakin had almost cut through the whole door. She was out of time.

It flashed through her head out of the blue, and she punched in numbers as fast as she could. 8 - 1 - 0 - 8. Anakin's own passcode. Don't ask her how she knew.

Beep! The pad flashed green and several things happened at once.

First, the door opened. Second, there was a thunderous clang from behind her and she heard Anakin call, "Snips!". Third, blue bullets were suddenly whizzing toward her, one of them finding a mark on her right leg. She cried out, falling to the ground just inside the escape pod. "Hold your fire! Hold your fire! Ahsoka, are you al - " Too late. She had just enough presence of mind left to reach up and slam the lock button on the control pad.

The door shut, sealing off everything but the sound of her ragged breathing.

Clutching a chair, she pulled herself up wincing and groaning. Her newly injured leg did not appreciate being jostled.

The whole lower part of her leg was on fire now, but she had exactly zero time to give it another thought. Mashing buttons as fast as she could, the ignition sequence started blaring.

There! She punched in the last set of coordinates, sagging with relief as the autopilot started counting down. I'll just… I'll just rest here a minute. Her arms folded themselves on the console, and she didn't stop it when her head decided to join them. Deep breathe in. Deep breathe out.

Bang!

She jerked awake, spinning around to see Anakin pounding on the window. He was mouthing something, but the transparisteel stopped any noise from getting through. Not really knowing why, she started to drag herself out of her chair.

Ahsoka, what are you doing? You don't owe him anything, you're not going to like what he says and you're just going to ignore it, why are you even - !

And then she was at the window, staring into the sad eyes of Anakin Skywalker.

"Ahsoka, please," she could hear faintly now. "Please, open the door, and - and we'll talk about this. We'll get your leg fixed up, I'll explain everything, anything you want to know! Any question you have! Just please. Open the door."

He had one hand pressed against the glass, his eyes full of pleading. Funny. She barely recognized the emotion in anyone other than herself. It was that moment that Ahsoka realized she wanted to say yes. Why do I feel like I know him? Like, know him like… She didn't have any frame of reference for relationships other than a master and apprentice. But knowing this man didn't make any sense. He was the reason that she was no longer with her Master.

Of course. That's it! She almost laughed out loud, not understanding how she hadn't seen it before. Of course. This is all a test. Her Master had let her be taken in order to test her loyalty, and right now… a large part of her was failing.

Her face turned to stone and she drew herself up as tall as she could manage. "I'm going back to my Master. I see now that this was a test of my loyalty, and I will not fail further by listening to any more of your lies! I have no reason to listen to you!"

She couldn't decipher the look on his face, but she heard his words loud and clear.

"Yes, you do, Snips. Dooku's not your Master. I am."

Time stopped. It was like someone had managed to wipe a small spot clean in the grime that was Count Dooku's story, and she knew deep down, down where she could pretend it didn't exist… that he was right. A name jumped out at her through the spot as the escape pod counted down. "5… 4… 3…"

"Skyguy?"

The name left her lips, and Anakin's excited, hopeful expression was the last thing she saw as she heard, "2… 1.".

The pod jettisoned. It took a few seconds to get enough distance away from the ship, and then the white and black of space turned into blue.

Anakin? But… Dooku?

As Ahsoka collapsed back into the pilot's seat, it wasn't hyperspace that she saw.

All she saw was the face of her Master.


Author's Note: Well? What did you think? A couple of things in particular I'd like to point out:

1. Anakin's passcode is actually an easter egg to TCW Season 7, when (not a spoiler) Ahsoka's trying to get back control of the ship. Which in itself is actually an (unconfirmed?) easter egg of the first time Anakin and Ahsoka "met": 8-1-0-8/August 1, 2008... the day The Clone Wars movie came out!

2. Who did you picture when you read the last line? I actually intentionally tried to keep it vague (who knows if it worked out that way though😂). As I wrote it, I pictured Dooku. But then after a second, I realized she might've been picturing Anakin. And as I pondered how to word it so it would be more clear, I realized... why does it need to be? People could draw their own conclusions, or even be confused! Just a cool little writer's moment I thought I'd share with you😊