Tomorrow I am going to post the final chapter around this time. It may be a few hours earlier though. I want you all to know that I'm sorry too. Just-I'm sorry. Disclaimer- I don't own Star Wars the Clone Wars or any of its characters.


Chapter 30

Ahsoka POV

Ahsoka didn't cry when she first found out that she was going to die. Part of her wanted to cry but another part of her stayed strong. In the end it came down to the fact that no tears came to her eyes. She wasn't able to cry.

She was only able to cry once she told Anakin.

After Ahsoka stormed away she went back to her room and cried. Once the tears started they couldn't stop. She cried nonstop for half an hour until she heard a faint knock on her door.

Ahsoka tried to wipe away her tears before the person outside came in. When she saw it was just Anakin her attempts to cease her crying stopped. She just looked down and avoided his gaze.

Anakin didn't speak. He just walked over to the bed and sat down next to his friend. "I'm sorry."

Ahsoka just started crying harder at that. Tears fell down her face like it was nothing.

In an attempt to comfort her Anakin put his arm around her. "I'm not going to let you die Snips. I'll find a way to save you." He looked at his former Padawan. "I always do."

Her hands wiped away the tears on her face as she looked up at Anakin. "But don't you see? I don't want you to save me." Ahsoka saw he was about to interrupt her so she kept going. "I know you don't understand and explaining it to would make no difference."

"I don't want to die. But even more than that, I don't want to feel like I'm dying. I can't tell you how awful I'd feel if my last minutes were spent in a hospital bed with wires hooked up to me and everyone around was just looking at me like I'm some dying puppy. I can't do that." By then she was crying again.


Anakin POV

Anakin understood. He hated that he understood.

Ahsoka didn't want to be treated like a weak dying person. She was just like him in that way. Anakin had to put himself in his friend's shoes. He would be the same way.

Still that didn't stop the voice inside his head from telling him to run off to his ship and search the universe for a cure. He couldn't accept that there wasn't a cure. But for Ahsoka's sake, maybe he could.

"So what do you want to do?" He looked down at his friend once again.

Slowly she lifted her head and caught his gaze again. "Do you want the truth?" Anakin nodded and Ahsoka sighed. "All I want is to pretend like this isn't happening."

Anakin slowly nodded. "Alright. We can do that." Anakin stood up and held his hand out to Ahsoka. She wiped the tears from her eyes and took his hand; he helped her up. Together the two of them left the room.


Ahsoka POV

Anakin led Ahsoka to the hangar and positioned her in front of a starship.

"What are we doing here?"

Anakin started to walk on board the ship but stopped when she spoke. He turned around and looked at his friend. "We're going on a mission. Now come on." He waved for her to follow and boarded the ship.

Ahsoka hurried to catch up with him.


Ahsoka followed Anakin into the main briefing room and sat down in an empty chair. She raised an eyebrow at him as to ask what they were doing here.

In response Anakin handed his friend a file and said, "Read it. The squadron will be here in 15 minutes for a briefing."

Ahsoka smiled. Usually Anakin would never let her brief a mission, even after she became a Jedi Knight. He liked the sense of control it gave him and it was leverage for him. Now all he was trying to do was make Ahsoka smile again. Well it was working.

She took the file and read over it a few times. By the time she'd gotten a good grip on it the squadron entered the room. They all took a seat and Ahsoka started the briefing.


Anakin POV

Ahsoka was dying. She didn't want to acknowledge it. She didn't want Anakin to acknowledge it. And there is no cure.

These are the facts.

Anakin hated those facts. He hated everything about them.

The only thing he didn't hate was Ahsoka.

Part of him had to stay strong and put on a show for his friend. She was the one who was dying. He couldn't make everything about him. Still it was hard to keep a smile on his face when at any moment he could lose her.

This was one of his closest friends and it hurt him so much that there was nothing he could do to stop her death. Not only was there nothing to do, Ahsoka didn't want him to do anything. She just wanted to act as though nothing was happening. Anakin hated that; yet he still understood it.

That's why he put everyone on the mission in danger and acted out.


Ahsoka POV

The mission was going all according to plan. Well it was, until Anakin ran off.

He abandoned the group he was leading and just ran off to chase after someone.

Ahsoka's com rang. "General Tano, General Skywalker has left the group."

"What do you mean? Where did he go?" Ahsoka snapped back at the clone on the other end of her com.

"He asked if we were alright without him and started off towards the west side of the ship. He's headed towards the engine room."

"Do we retreat General?"

Ahsoka sighed. "No, continue the mission." She turned to her group. "Fives, take the bombs. Tell Rex that he's in charge until I get Anakin back."

Then she took off running towards the engine room.


What was Anakin doing? He was putting the entire squadron at risk not just himself.

When she got to the engine room she quietly snuck in just in case there was anyone else in there.

It was dark and quiet. She couldn't hear a single noise. It was suspicious. Slowly she rounded a corner and-

"Hello little one."

Ahsoka was pinned against the wall. She was held above the ground by a mechanical hand that was wrapped around her throat. She struggled to breathe as she got a look at her captor. She already knew who it was the second she heard his mechanical voice.

"General Grievous."

"Ahsoka Tano." He marveled. "I never thought I'd see you again little Padawan, but by the looks of it you've gotten an upgrade. A Jedi Knight now?"

Ahsoka would've given some witty comeback if his grip hadn't tightened around her neck.

"You escaped me once, don't think you'll do it again." His eyes nearly tore into her soul with the gaze he was giving her. "It'd be an honor to add your lightsaber to my collection."

In the second that Ahsoka had to think about it, she thought she'd much rather die this way than having her heart give out because of the torture she'd sustained last year. This way she'd die in action. She'd die because she couldn't beat General Grievous, not because she'd lost control of her own body. She'd prefer to die this way.

It didn't work though. The mechanical man was torn away from Ahsoka and she fell to the floor. There she curled up into a small ball and watched the scene going on next to her.

It was Anakin. He was fighting General Grievous. The two of them slashed their lightsabers at each other with absolutely no mercy.

"Ah Skywalker, I see you've found your Padawan again." Anakin ducked as General Grievous swung his lightsaber at him. "Truthfully I doubted that she could've been put back together after what I did to her."

Anakin frowned and viciously swung back at Grievous. He was silent except for the angry grunts that escaped as he attacked.

"I see you're still angry though." General Grievous was just trying to intimidate Anakin. "Tell me has she ever been able to look at you the same way? I wouldn't think so the way you were as a hallucination." He swung again at Anakin and this time knocked the lightsaber out of his hand. General Grievous hit Anakin with enough power to knock him into the far wall.

He started to walk over to the nearly unconscious Skywalker but was stopped when Ahsoka stood between the two of them. There was something in General Grievous's eyes that seemed odd to Ahsoka. It was even stranger when he took off running out of the engine room.

Ahsoka didn't go after him. She planned to live to fight another day. Instead she went over to Anakin.

"Are you alright?" She bent down next to him.

Anakin put his hand to his head and groaned in pain. "Yeah I'm fine."

"That's good. Now, what were you thinking! You could've gotten everyone killed!" Ahsoka spat.

Anakin slowly stood up. When his head was clear again he looked down to see that Ahsoka had her arms crossed. She was frowning up at him.

"I was going after General Grievous. Now that I think about it afterwards it doesn't seem like such a good idea."

"You're damn right it wasn't a good idea!" Ahsoka yelled again. She was going to continue until a loud boom echoed throughout the ship. The ground shook underneath them. "That's our cue. We have to get back to the ship."

Anakin looked smug due to his avoiding Ahsoka's reprimanding. She turned to him, eyes narrowed once again. "Don't think we're done having this conversation."


Later, as Ahsoka promised, she finished the conversation. Ahsoka met Anakin in the briefing room where he was sitting. She stood in the doorway and frowned at him.

"I assume we're finishing that conversation from earlier?" Anakin guessed.

A sigh escaped Ahsoka. "Why did you run off Sky-Guy?"

"That's why." His voice rose a bit. He saw Ahsoka's confusion and clarified. "No one is going to call me Sky-Guy anymore after you're gone, and I'll have no one to call Snips. You'll be dead." There was weakness in his voice and he probably hated that. "I know I can't be selfish right now because you're the one who's dying, but I still…"

Ahsoka could've sworn she saw a tear fall down his face. "I'm sorry."

"But it's not your fault Ahsoka. You shouldn't be sorry. It's not your fault, it's mine."

"Anakin, it's not your fault either. You can't blame yourself for what happened to me. No one would blame you."

"If it's not my fault then why do I feel guilty?"

Ahsoka's face softened, "Because you're my friend. Now I need you to promise me something."

"Anything."

"When I'm… dead, I don't want you to get reckless. I don't want you to lose it and run around risking your life on every mission. I need you to promise me that you're going to be alright or at least close to alright."

It was hard but somehow Anakin was able to say, "I promise."


A/N- I'm sorry its been a few days. I'd keep this story going on forever if I could. I love it that much. But it can't go on forever. Tomorrow I'm going to post the final chapter and... well we'll see. -Saraphine