Hi everyone, thank you so much for reading! Currently, I only planned for this story to be 20 chapters long, and we are on chapter 19. However, I have realized, and this will depend on your feedback, that I should strongly consider continuing the story. Either by writing a sequel, or I could keep adding chapters onto this story. Leave a review with what you think I should do! I hope that you are all staying safe, healthy, and practicing social distancing and/or self-quarantining. _
Ahsoka looked away from Master Kenobi and down at her lap. She knew that he could feel it as well; the absence of the intensity of her master's presence in the force.
"Ahsoka," He called out to her gently. She took a deep breath.
"He has blood poisoning. The med-droid took a sample of his blood to determine what was going on, and from what Senator Amidala and I were able to figure out, it slowly shuts down his lungs and heart… along with everything else until…" She stopped talking and looked up at the stars passing by them in hyperspace.
"That's not all, is it?" Master Kenobi asked her.
"No." Ahsoka replied while trying to hold back tears. "We're pretty sure that… whatever Maul injected Master Skywalker with also was a force inhibitor." She turned to look at him, confusion and fear in her eyes.
"Master, do you know anything about them?" She asked him softly.
"Not that much," He replied while stroking his beard. "Although I do know that they have been used by the sith and other darkside users before, I haven't seen one used in person, until now." There was a heavy pause between the two of them, until Master Kenobi spoke up.
"How are his vitals?" He asked her.
"Bad." Ahsoka responded. "His breathing is shallow, his blood pressure is too high, his body temperature is too high, his heart rate is too high…. It's not good, Master. The med-droid estimates that if we don't get some kind of antidote within the next 24 hours, he…" Ahsoka paused, covering her eyes with her hands.
"He won't make it." She whispered.
"He'll make it." Master Kenobi responded quickly, unable to stomach the thought of having to continue the war without Anakin. He couldn't lose Anakin, not after everything that they had been through, and especially not to Maul. "I know he will." He said through gritted teeth.
"R2, how far away are we from Coruscant?" Ahsoka asked the astromech. He beeped in binary and she looked over at Master Kenobi.
"We still have six hours left until we arrive." She said while crossing her arms
"He will make it, Ahsoka." Master Kenobi reiterated.
"I know." She replied, her voice hollow.
"Lord Vader," A voice called out to him. Anakin looked around and reached for his light saber, and realized with a start that it was gone. He looked back up and found himself in the chancellor's office. Only something felt very, very wrong.
"Your excellency?" Anakin called out to the empty room. He walked around slowly, looking for any signs of a struggle. As he made his way over to the front door, dread filled his stomach as he looked at several suspicious lumps laying on the ground. Anakin quickly made his way over to them.
"No, no no no." He whispered to himself as he recognized the jedi robes. Anakin turned the body over, and was staring at the face of a dead Master Fisto.
"No!" Anakin yelled as he looked around and saw the bodies of other jedi masters
"Who could have done something like this?" He whispered in horror. Anakin looked around the room, noticing that the large windows behind the chancellor's desk had been broken, and there was a breeze blowing in from the outside. He approached the window slowly, his senses heightened by the force, which was currently yelling at him to get out of there and run as far away as possible. Anakin continued to approach the broken window, when he heard a strangled groan coming from the ledge. He quickly made his way over to the window, and recoiled in disgust at what he saw.
Before him lay Chancellor Palpatine, his face so disfigured that it was hardly recognizable. A lightsaber was on the ground next to him. The force screamed at him to back away, and Anakin paused. Why would the chancellor have a lightsaber? He isn't force sensitive! Anakin bent over and picked up the saber. He could feel the dark side of the force radiating out of the crystal, and permeating the rest of the room. Anakin had never seen a saber hilt like this before. It had a simple and elegant design, and was made out of some of the most precious metals in the galaxy. Anakin ignited the lightsaber, its red blade illuminating his face. He looked back down at the chancellor; whose eyes were now open. They were a sickly yellow, the same color of Maul's eyes. The chancellor looked at Anakin, his face still. Anakin opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Chancellor Palpatine smiled.
"Obi-Wan!" Padme yelled as Master Kenobi ran into the medical bay. Sensing that something was deeply wrong with his former padawan, he and Ahsoka left R2 in charge of the ship, and quickly ran back to the medical bay. He could hear the monitors alarms going off, and hoped that the worse hadn't happened yet. There, he saw Padme with the med-droid, hovering over Anakin's body.
"His heart has stopped." Padme said while looking at the two of them, her voice full of fear.