Chapter 4: The Lies of Our History

Smoke furled around her, filling her lungs with nasty soot. She covered her mouth through the worst of the burning. A crashed clone trooper ship laid on one of the landing pads to the Jedi temple. The scorch marks of a lightsaber ran through it, telling how the ship met its end.

She had separated from Lux, left him in the hands of his guards from Onderon. Men she knew she could trust. Lux headed towards the Senate building to find the Chancellor where as Ahsoka... She headed for the last place she ever wanted to step foot.

Walking up the landing pad and towards the temple she heaved a sigh of regret. Her mind buzzed from the mixture of adrenaline and exhaustion. The place was nearly empty, except for the dead bodies of jedi. She wanted to run to them but instead she found the contents of her stomach in her throat.

Ahsoka collapsed to the floor. She fell silently unsure of what to do. Unsure of what had happened. Then she heard steps. They were slow at first. They were accompanied by the thrum of a lightsaber. Then they stopped all together both the steps and the lightsaber.

She looked up through her bleary eyes to see Obi Wan Kenobi. He stared at her, in a pile of vomit and tears, as if she were but a ghost.

"Ahsoka... Is that you?" He stepped forward cautiously.

Ahsoka stood up and looked him in the eye trying to regain her pride. She looked and Obi Wan and smiled. He ran towards her. Perhaps to hug her but as he came at her. Anakin's words rang in her head:

"I do not know where his loyalties lie."

She used the force to shove him back, not enough to throw him but to stop him. Obi Wan looked confused and hurt.

"What happened here?" Was all she could choke out, she wasn't even sure it was loud enough for Obi Wan to hear. Yet his eyes grew sad, almost with guilt or shame. Ahsoka wasnt sure. She was paranoid in her exhaustion and the longer they stood there the more she felt her trust dissapear.

Before he could respond the sound of a ship arriving distracted them. It hovered close, the ship she had fondly referred to as the Twilight. She turned to see Obi Wan start his lightsaber. There was nothing but pain in the mans eyes.

The platform of the ship lowered as it hovered and Anakin appeared!

"Ahsoka! Get over here now! Obi Wan turned against the Chancellor!"

Ahsoka's heart dropped into her stomach. She turned to look at Obi Wan only to see the man start to charge towards Anakin. Murderous intent in his eyes. Ahsoka desperate and confused jumped in front and her lightsaber met his.

"Ahsoka! Listen to me! Anakin is lying! He-" Obi Wan didn't get to finish as he was thrown back by Anakin using the force.

"Hurry Ahsoka!" Old training kicking in she ran towards him, like the good soldier she was. Jumped onto the ship using the force to propel her and landed roughly as the fatigue in her legs caused them to give out. She banged her head hard against the floor. Anakin swooped her up and carried her as she was starting to lose consciousness. As soon as she hit the bedding in the Twilight she was out.

Ahsoka didn't wake up till much later. To some shouting outside the ship. She didn't know what was going on. She only heard Anakin's voice from the distance.

"You killed her!"

Ahsoka tried to move but found herself dizzy. A small bump from where she hit her head had formed on her forehead. She tried to clear her thoughts only for them to become muddled. Once she gained awareness of her surroundings Ahsoka crawled out of the sleeping quarters and slowly off of the ship. She wasn't sure how long she had been sleeping but when she got outside she wished she still was. The nightmares of her dreams would be less painful than the nightmare of her reality.

Padme laid on the ground several feet away from her. Dead. Ahsoka screamed, it was shrill but short. As fear of her killer absorbed her. Anakin's voice she heard blearily came back to her. Someone killed Padme... Off in the distance she heard lightsabers clashing and she knew one of them was Anakin. She could feel him through the force, his anger growing. The other she was unsure.

She ran in that direction hoping to find the culprit. She heard more yelling, and although she couldn't tell what they were saying she recognized the voice of Anakin... And that of Obi Wan. Her heart broke as she approached them. Ahsoka watched painfullg as they fought from a distance. Then... Then Anakin fell towards the lava. And she screamed and used all her might with the force to grab a hold. Inches before the lava Anakin stopped. With all of her dwindling strength Ahsoka threw him out of danger. He was out cold on the pavement. Using what was left she forced pushed Obi Wan away from Anakin's body as she ran towards it. She force pushed him but she wasn't sure what happened to him. All Ahsoka remembers is crouching over the body of Anakin as her blood thrummed through her ear and the light of her lightsaber light her face with its white glow.

Ahsoka wasn't sure how long she stood there. Minutes felt like hours before a familiar soft voice broke her. Lux approached her. Followed by a man cloaked in black, along with some clone troopers.

"Ahsoka..." Lux said, "Your safe now."

"Lux..." She disarmed her lightsaber and stood but then the stress of events hit her, and she fainted in his arms.

Soft beeping woke Ahsoka up eventually. She woke up to a hand upon her own. Slowly she opened her eyes to find someone she did not expect. Anakin sat at her bedside. Dark ringlets had formed around his eyes. She squeezed his hand softly to let him know she was awake. A soft smile came to his lips, and a look or relief.

"Hey Snips."

She smiled softly back but it faded as memories of the past came back to her.

"Where-"She looked around, "Am I?"

"You're on an imperial destroyer with me. They rescued us off of Mustafar."

"Mustafar... That was Mustafar? Why were we there? Isn't that where the radical separatists were holding up?"

"Yes, when we arrived they were already dead. The Jedi council took it upon them to be judge and jury. They were dead when I arrived."

"I saw... Padme... Oh my god, Padme." Ahsoka felt her chest contract and tears slip down her face. Through her blurt vision she saw Anakin's face darken and felt the purity of his hatred. A lamp and several objects started floating off the tables. Noticing this Ahsoka placed a hand upon his shoulder and the objects fell to the floor and in the case of the lamp, shattering it to bits. Despite this they were both unperturbed.

"Padme being the brave and kind woman she was. Attempted to warn the separatists ahead of time, she went with him. Believing that he was on her side but it was a lie. He killed them and waited for me to arrive with you. While we went to look for her, she found her first. Then he choked her Ahsoka, he choked her. And he thought it was the right thing. He was so sure of it in the moment. That's what they had taught him all his life, loyalty to the order!"

"Anakin!" She yelled trying to break him of his increasing rant. Her voice then turned soft.

"Who?"

"Obi-Wan."

She was silent. She simply couldn't believe that was true.

"I cant believe that. Obi-Wan loved Padme!"

"Obi-Wan can't love! Jedi don't love! You know this Ahsoka. They took you from your family as a baby. They force fed you all this crap about right and wrong. As if there is even such a thing. I got lucky! When Qui-Gon took me I was older. Older than normal. I was never truly brainwashed like the rest of them. Like you would have been if we hadn't been brought together. My teaching must have rubbed off on you because you are not like them. You're better."

All Ahsoka could feel in that moment was confusion. Only part of her understood what Anakin was talking about. Anakin realized this and stopped speaking.

"Ahsoka. You and I were both taught that the sith were evil." Her stomach churned at the name of the sith. "We were lied to. We were told to be unemotional and to never love a human being or experience a family. They never wanted us to be able to protect those we care about, nonetheless have people to care about. Can you even say that any of that is good?"

She wanted to. To fall back on her teachings. But she felt conflicted. So she remained silent as he spoke. He noticed her discomfort and let out a sigh.

"Lux... He is alright. He is here on the carrier. He has been by your side this entire time but I sent him to his room to get some sleep." Her eyes widened slightly. "Don't worry I didn't use the force on him. Never again Ahsoka, I will never use the force on him or you. You have my word."

Her eyes closed in comfort at his words. Anakin then stood up to leave the room and let her rest.

"I will let Lux know you are awake. Get some rest Ahsoka."

Anakin then left and only after he left did she truly feel herself fall apart. Tears ran down her dace uncontrollably. She wished she had never left Onderan. She wished that she could go back to that garden. Anakin would never let her go, and with Padme dead... Part of her didn't want to leave Anakin's side ever again. He was a part of her now. She just wished she could have it both ways.

It was 10 mins before Lux arrived at her door. Upon seeing her distraught face he broke down also. He ran to her side and gathered him in her, cradling her. Lux controlled himself but he couldn't help it as tears slipped down his face anyways. He stayed there till she slept, and didn't leave the room till she would be ready to.