Anakin scrambled to his feet, desperate to find his troopers before some evil trap ensnared them. He didn't know who the girl was, exactly, but no one messed with his men. No one. He would get her some other time. She was just going to have to get away today.

He burst through the door that the clones had gone through, and he followed the mess of severed and damaged battle droid parts down the abandoned halls, into the center of the building. He activated his lightsaber and raised it, expecting a fight, but when he ran into the lobby Obi-Wan, the 212th troopers and the 501st troopers were all standing around, waiting for him.

As it turns out, nothing had happened to his troopers. All of them had made it through the battle.

"Where have you been?" Obi-Wan asked, relaxing and crossing his arms. "Most of the fight is already over."

"Is everyone okay?" Anakin asked, slowing to a stop by his troops.

Rex did a headcount. "Everyone is here and accounted for, sir."

"I ran into someone, I'll tell you about it later," Anakin said, changing the subject. "Have you already swept through the building?"

"We were about to split up without you." Obi-Wan leaned in close to his apprentice. "Where you with that Dark presence I felt earlier?"

"Long story," Anakin said, not wanting to talk about it. "Watch for traps during the sweep."

He ran off, and his troopers followed him down a hall. Obi-Wan looked after him, somewhat confused, but he took the 212th down a separate hall all the same. He would talk to Anakin later.

The sweep of the Judicial Building was quickly conducted. No more droids were found, save in the newly set up command room. Anakin and his troops wiped them out and placed the bombs without suffering any casualties. Obi-Wan did the same to a storage room, and before long, both Jedi and their troops were back on the cruiser, flying back to Coruscant. All without losing a single clone.

Once the victory was reported, Anakin walked back into the war room, which was now deserted. He activated the HoloNet console and opened the site that listed all Separatist alliances and leaders. He opened the search bar and typed in 'inquisitor'.

Search unsuccessful.

Maybe there's a weird spelling.

Anakin tried every combination of letters he could think of to spell 'inquisitor'. He even tried some very silly ones, such as 'enkwisitour'. Still nothing. This new Force-user was, as far as the Republic knew, nonexistent.

He cleared the search bar again, giving up trying to find her via the HoloNet. He turned away, then opened the intergalactic search engine. Maybe someone outside the Republic had seen her.

'Inquisitor'.

Multiple tabs came up this time, but none of them seemed to line up with the girl he had fought in the tunnels. Anakin didn't try odd spellings this time. Instead, he rubbed his temple, cleared the search bar, and tried something new.

'Red and black togruta'.

A tab came up, offering to take him to a catalog of all red and black Togruta photos on the HoloNet. It was the first hit he had had, so he clicked it and gave it a shot.

Many pictures came up, but none that looked like the Inquisitor. It was a dead end. There was any real proof of her existence. Yet. As Anakin closed the search engine and turned off the console, he became sure that they would be seeing each other again, most likely sooner than later.

Obi-Wan walked in just then. As the door sealed behind him, he leaned against the hologram table projector and looked at his apprentice. "So who's your new friend?"

"She's not my friend," Anakin began defensively, although he knew his master was kidding. "It's a new Dark Force-user."

"Another Sith?"

"Not according to her." Anakin crossed his arms. "She said that there was already a master and an apprentice, and that 'she was neither'.

Obi-Wan stroked his beard. "That makes some sense. The Sith Rule of Two says that there can only be one of each. Who was she, then?"

"The only name I got was 'the Inquisitor'. We didn't chat for very long."

"No, I guess she didn't." He stood upright. "And she said she was a Separatist?"

"She never said that. She said she fought for the people, but that doesn't make sense." Anakin faced Obi-Wan. "She was waiting for us at a Separatist base, and she looks like a Sith-wannabe. if you were fighting for the people, why would you be on their side?"

"Oh, who knows. I'm sure she has her reasons."

Anakin thought back to her last words. "At the very end, she said something along the lines of 'Tell the Council the Sith are tired of waiting for surrender. In a few months, the Chancellor will have no choice but to bow to Darth Sideous'."

"She said that?"

"More or less. And then she...implied that something had happened to the clones."

Obi-Wan scrunched his eyebrows. "So that's why you were so worried. I thought something was off."

"Nothing happened though!" Anakin turned around and leaned his elbows on the console nearby as he sat down. "She was just playing with me, so I wouldn't go after her. She wouldn't have gotten away if I hadn't..." Anakin stopped talking.

Obi-Wan stared at the Knight. This person had really unbalanced him, but she just seemed like another enemy to Obi-Wan. He couldn't figure out what had shaken Anakin so much.

"What was her fighting style like?"

"Fast, really quick," Anakin answered. "She was very acrobatic, too. She was strong for her size."

"Red lightsaber, I'm assuming?" Obi-Wan prodded Anakin.

"Yeah, but it was.."

Obi-Wan held his breath. He didn't dare suggest the thought that had just come to his mind. No, it wasn't two lightsabers. It wasn't her.

"It was spinning."

"...what?"

"It spun." Anakin held out his lightsaber to show him. "It was double-sided," pointed to both ends, "and it had a circle going around here." He moved his hand around the handle of his weapon. "She did something, and the blades started rotating around the circle, and it spun."

Obi-Wan didn't speak but tried to comprehend what his apprentice had just said. "That's...unusual..."

"That's what I thought. Have you ever seen a lightsaber like that, or met an Inquisitor before?"

He shook his head. "I can't say that I have." He rubbed his forehead. "I'll bring it up with the Council. Maybe they will know something we don't."

Anakin turned away and mumbled something under his breath, but loud enough that Obi-Wan could hear it. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Obi-Wan didn't respond but felt a pang of guilt. "15 parsecs to go," he told Anakin and left.

Anakin didn't watch his master leave. Instead, after he was sure that he was alone, he undid the straps to his glove, the one that covered his robotic hand. He slid it off, and on his wrist, where no one knew he had it, was Ahsoka's old Padawan chain, the one she had left with him on that last day.

He hadn't told his master everything about the Inquisitor. He hadn't said that she was a Togruta, or that he had felt the thread earlier. It was gone now, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important about her, something he was forgetting.

Twice, she had denied that she was Ahsoka. Or rather, she hadn't said that she was. Technically, she never said she wasn't his padawan. Maybe she was Ahsoka, in disguise. Maybe...

But then what? Anakin thought. If it is Ahsoka, then she's fallen to the Dark side. What if I hurt her? What if she hurts someone else? What if I can't save her?

Anakin began to panic. Ahsoka would never go to the Dark side, not willingly. He hadn't felt a single hint of Ahsoka in the Inquisitor when he tried to feel her. It's probably a trap. She's using Ahsoka to get to me.

Which one was it? Was the Inquisitor Ahsoka, truly lost to the Light, or was is someone else, toying with Anakin to hurt him? Or was it really Ahsoka, trying to help them?

No, he thought. That would be suicide. It would never work. It's too dangerous, too risky.

Ahsoka would take the risk, his hopeful side told him. She could do it. Even I would try to infiltrate the Sith if I could.

She's not stupid. She knows how powerful they are.

She could gain their trust, and betray them at the right mome-

Ahsoka finally can live her life in peace. Why would she fight in this war anymore?

It still affects her.

She's a civilian now.

You haven't even seen her in months. Maybe she wants to help again.

By risking her life?

It's possible!

Anakin closed his eyes. It was possible. Ahsoka knew all about taking risks. If she thought she could do it, she would try.

But was it her? Anakin didn't even know. Maybe it wasn't true. Maybe he was kidding himself.

Anakin sat up and focused on the Force. He focused on the beads in his hand, and on the person they belonged to. He reached out, into the Force, and into the galaxy, and searched for his padawan.

His friend.

He found nothing. In all of the galaxy, he couldn't find Ahsoka. The only remains of her he could see were in his hands.

Anakin wrapped the chain around his metallic wrist and reclasped the glove around it. If he couldn't find Ahsoka, at least he could keep the last part of her with him, at his side.

Where she belonged.