Thanks for the reveiws! I do not own Star Wars.
Anakin glanced down at Ahsoka, wondering if his idea really could work. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to try...
Vokara came to stand beside him. "She doesn't have much longer," she said.
As if he had forgotten.
"I have an idea," Anakin said.
Vokara glanced at him. "You found an antidote?"
"No, not an antidote, exactly," Anakin said. "I was thinking. This is a Force suppressing poison, right? One that is deadly to Togrutas."
"That's correct," Vokara said, looking a little confused.
"Well, what if we used the Force as an antidote?"
Vokara finally caught on and her eyes went wide. "You're thinking of using the Force to cure her? Skywalker, if you subject her to any more trauma, it could kill her even faster!"
"Better than watching her die slowly," Anakin retorted. "This will work." It has to work, he added silently.
"I have never attempted to use the Force to cure this poison," Vokara admitted. "This is extremely risky."
"Then I'll do it," Anakin said. I've used the Force to do much more than healing a being...
Vokara nodded hesitantly. "Alright."
Anakin placed a hand on his apprentice's forehead and gathered the Force. He knew this would only work if he completely used the light side. The dark side was there as always, beckoning to him.
Choose the easy path. Remember what Dooku did to her and let that feed your anger...
Anakin faltered for a moment, remembering. The dark side swelled around him, but then he remembered Ahsoka's words. The dark side isn't stronger.
Anakin focused on the light side again. Maybe it was his imagination but it seemed some of the colour was coming back to Ahsoka's face. Perhaps if he could keep his anger down, Ahsoka would live!
The dark side is always present. She will not live1 Give into your hate, it is too late for her.
Anakin's anger rose again. He saw Ahsoka wince and realized his anger was affecting her as well. He forced himself to calm down.
"I don't think it's working!" Vokara said from behind him.
It was his fault. The anger in him was like a dragon, wild and untamable. He struggled to find the light side again, but Dooku's face kept surfacing in his mind. He tried to think of a good memory.
Ahsoka's 15th birthday. The day he had given her her shoto. The day he had taken her as a Padawan.
Those memories served to banish the dark side. But even through that, Ahsoka remained still.
Anakin felt the Force around him, it practically glowed around Ahsoka. He drew off that and tried again. Vokara and all the noise of the healing wing seemed to dissolve. Just Ahsoka, the Force and himself remained.
Ahsoka's breathing became better, colour returned to her face.
The dark side isn't stronger. Ahsoka was right.
Anakin reached out with the Force to check for any traces of poison. There were none. He broke into a relieved smile. She was going to live!
He turned around to see Vokara looking at him with a stunned expression on her face. "Are you sure you don't want to be a healer here?" she asked.
Anakin shook his head. She obviously hadn't caught his... dark moments. "Will she recover completely?" he asked.
Vokara moved in to study the Padawan. "Yes," she answered. "She will be fine in a day or so."
Anakin thanked the healer and used the Force to pull a chair closer to Ahsoka's bed.
Why is it so hard for me to resist the dark side? he wondered. He had battled against anger for as long as he had been a Jedi. And now he had an apprentice who had adapted some of his more... reckless ways. He wondered if that would be troublesome in the future.
Ahsoka awoke with a start. She blinked in surprise. The fog in her mind was gone and she felt much better. She struggled upright and looked around.
The healing wing? What am I doing here?
Suddenly, everything came back to her. Being kidnapped, brought to Dooku, remembering her turn to the dark side...
Her turn to the dark side. Ahsoka almost wished she hadn't remembered.
"Ahsoka!" her Master sounded relieved. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, Master," Ahsoka said softly, avoiding his gaze. "Just fine."
He didn't buy it. "What's wrong?"
"Why didn't you kill me during our fight on Mortis?" Ahsoka burst out. "It would have been better for everyone."
Anakin dropped his gaze. "How much do you remember?"
"Enough," Ahsoka said grimly. "I remember that I turned to the dark side and fought you. I remember how I didn't listen to you, even though you were only trying to help me. And I remember how I handed the Son the dagger that he used to stab his sister. Why didn't you kill me?"
Her Master looked her in the eye. "I think I need to clear something up. You didn't turn to the dark side. The Son turned you to the dark side. You had no control over your actions."
"How do you know?" Ahsoka asked. "You weren't there when I turned."
"I saw the signs of a dark side spell," Anakin responded. "And I haven't ever met a Sith that acted like that."
"Dooku told me that the Son offered me great power and I accepted," Ahsoka said. "Remind me never to listen to him again."
Anakin's brow furrowed. "What else did he tell you?"
Ahsoka thought for a minute. "Well, he allowed me to remember up until the Son stabbed his sister, then told me I didn't need to remember any more. He told me you were about to leave when the Daughter offered to give me her life." Ahsoka closed her eyes. "It was my fault she was stabbed in the first place. But then she gave up her life for me?"
Anakin shook his head. "I think you need to see what happened for yourself."
Ahsoka stared at him. He had been against her remembering from the start. Why would he let her now?
Anakin smiled slightly. "I shouldn't have kept this from you, Ahsoka. I see that now."
He waved his hand and Ahsoka fell into her memories once again.
She landed in the Son's courtyard and looked around. Ahsoka found herself right where she had been when Dooku... interrupted her. Her dark self lay on the ground and the Son's gargoyle form was disappearing into the clouds.
Anakin ran forward and dropped to his knees beside Dark Ahsoka.
A very weird feeling came over Ahsoka as she looked down at her own dead body. She looked up as the Father pulled the dagger out of the Daughter's back and laid her on the ground. He looked at the dagger as if it were contaminated, then threw it away. "My daughter, what have I done?"
The Daughter looked at him weakly. "Do not hate him Father," she said. "It is his nature."
Ahsoka was amazed that the Daughter could be so calm, even in a time like that. If she now had the Daughter's power, did that mean she would have to behave like that?
Her Master was speaking and Ahsoka turned her attention back to the events unfolding. "Can you help her?" he asked the Father, gesturing to Dark Ahsoka's body.
The Father shook his head. "There is no light. Evil has been unleashed and the dark side shall consume her!"
Ahsoka waited for her Master to give up and leave, like Dooku said. But that moment didn't come.
"You must help her!" Anakin insisted.
"I cannot undo what is done," the Father said firmly. "There is no hope."
"Yes there is! There's always hope!" Ahsoka had never seen her Master so close to losing control of his emotions and it slightly scared her. This wasn't the Anakin Skywalker she knew.
The Daughter brushed her fingers against her Father's cheek. Then, with the other hand, she pointed at Dark Ahsoka's body. A silent conversation seemed to go on between them, then the Daughter nodded.
The Father stood, then motioned for Anakin to kneel between the Daughter and Dark Ahsoka.
Ahsoka watched curiously. Could this be what Dooku meant about the Daughter transferring her life force to me? What does my Master have to do with that?
"Then let my Daughter's last act be to breath life into your friend," the Father said as Anakin placed one hand on the Daughter's forehead and one on Dark Ahsoka's. The second he touched Dark Ahsoka, all three of them seemed to glow with a strange light.
Ahsoka shielded her eyes and watched as the Daughter seemed to go dimmer and dimmer while Dark Ahsoka glowed brighter and brighter. The Daughter and Dark Ahsoka lifted off the ground briefly, then Anakin released them and they dropped down again.
Dark Ahsoka didn't move. Even Ahsoka, who wasn't even really there, could sense a tension in the air until finally, the other Ahsoka jerked upright, coughing.
The ground shook under Ahsoka's feet and she fell again. She looked up to see Anakin- the real Anakin- looking at her.
"You remember the rest," he said.
Ahsoka nodded, but she had a question. "If I was really, you know, dead, how could I still remember that?"
Anakin looked thoughtful. "I'm guessing its because the Daughter would have remembered, so therefore you would, too."
"About that," Ahsoka said. "Now that I have the Daughter's Force power, will it be my responsibility to represent the light side?"
Anakin shook his head. "I don't think so. That would mean that there would have to be someone to represent the dark side and the Son is dead as well."
"Dooku lied to me," Ahsoka said. "He told me you saw that I was dead, and were going to leave, but you really saved my life."
"There was only one way I was leaving that tower Ahsoka, and that was if you were alive," Anakin said. "I didn't care what the Father thought at that point."
"You didn't answer my earlier question," Ahsoka said. "Why didn't you kill me? I know you could have, but you weren't even trying to fight."
"Would you have killed one of your friends?" Anakin asked quietly.
"No," Ahsoka said. "Never." She suddenly felt very tired.
"Get some rest," Anakin said, standing.
"Promise me you won't keep a secret like that from me again," Ahsoka said.
"I promise," Anakin said, turning to go.
Ahsoka had one more thing to say. "Master?"
He turned back. "Yeah?"
She smiled. "I don't really hate it when you call me Snips."
No cliffhanger this time! Well, there are only one or two more chapters left. Please reveiw!