Those words had left her lips hollowly, the punch she had intended to throw through them falling short and morphing into a weak attempt at a slap. The demon that stood in front of her had an aura of such darkness that it reached across the expanse between them, the sharp teeth of what it was threatening her with a venom that promised nothing but pain.

"My Master could never be as vile as you."

The syllables were sharp and marked with a quick flash of teeth. This thing was no longer her Master… and as much as it shamed her to say so, it brought her a modicum of peace.

"Anakin Skywalker was weak."

Her heart stopped at his name. How dare it speak his name.

"I destroyed him."

It was in that moment that Ahsoka lost track of the reality of time, her spirit revolting within itself to scream loud in her mind with a grief so profound that she couldn't find the words to describe it. All of those years she spent searching for something, anything, that gave a clue as to what had truly happened after the carnage that was Order 66. All she had found was a hollow tunnel whose depths led to nowhere.

That tunnel had taken her years to navigate, years to learn how to decipher and solidify, years to justify to herself as she wandered – and she had wandered alone. It had all started that night that Organa had called to her in the marble hallway, stopping her as she had just begun her journey.

"There was nothing that you could have done… for either of them."

He was probably right, she had bargained then. The walk back to her ship after shaking the tailing troopers was cold, lonely, and dark, so much like that tunnel in her mind that led to absolutely nowhere. She hid from herself for a long time after that, blending as well as she could into the damned souls of the now-Empire in some futile effort to not confront what ripped her heart in two.

She was alone, and at least being alone allowed her the reprieve of pretending that potentially some of those she viewed as family had lived. The galaxy was erupting all around her in a slow fade, what were once vibrant and exciting worlds were suddenly cold and grey. It took a conversation with someone she had thought was long lost to rally her again… to dig deep and find what reserve she had left.

When she finally chose to let the light in again it was hesitant. Slow. Marginal. A tentative reach here or there would allow her to reconnect with only a few of those that she once held so dear, but the one she worried most for was simply… gone. The Jedi were gone. Anakin was gone. And a part of her swore that it was all her doing.

Her younger self sought to free herself from Anakin's shadow. In time, she had learned to enjoy the shelter it provided from the hostile place they lived in, the selfish side of her knowing that he would be willing to drop anything and forsake any rule to help her or keep her safe. There was no safer place than at the side of her older brother and no more loving place than his shadow – until that shadow grew into a void, pulling all of the light around it in without being satiated. The day she walked away, she tried so very hard to understand how the soothing shade had turned into a tar pit.

She didn't feel that soul-crushing darkness again until that day she had reached out to find out what Vader was – and it had yet to leave her alone. She had spent the days since wondering over his fate: had he simply lost his mind in the Force? Was he truly determined to reshape the entire galaxy? Did he even remember who she was?

That last question had been answered only a minute ago as Vader had acknowledged her as if he knew exactly who approached. He spoke like they were old friends that were ready to reconnect after years apart, friends ready to share a piece of safety that she missed so very much. The thought of Anakin made her seek out his comfort, and she had almost spared it a thought.

That almost made it worse. That whispering voice was back at it again, hissing to her.

This was her fault.

"I have to figure this out on my own. Without the Council…and without you."

That day, she didn't look back. She had walked away with tears pooling in her eyes and devastation in her wake – the same devastation that consumed the void in front of her. Just how willing was she to face the demon she had made?

Incensed sapphire eyes opened sharply as she fell back into herself, staring down her Master's killer.

"Then I will avenge his death."

"Revenge is not the Jedi way."

He mocked her, she realized – and she knew that he didn't understand his own contradiction. What stood in this room was a simple balance of opposites: the Force on one side, the dark side on another. The dark feared the light, its power and bluster the only weapons it had in a fight that it was ultimately destined to lose.

"I am no Jedi."

Master Kenobi had sought to educate her once, and she had discovered then what the Code truly called for when it barred revenge. She didn't seek it then and she did not now. If she chose that revenge was called for in the death of Anakin, she condemned another to the same fate he had suffered, to be all-consumed by the inky darkness of that void that had removed him from existence. No matter how much agony she felt now, she could never bring herself or the light within her to pass that judgement on another.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness – only light could do that. And the darkness that was revenge would only seek to feed the darkness that raged within Vader, not hold the key to rebalancing the scales that had been overturned so long ago.

She chose instead to avenge. She would avenge her Master and hold the accountability for the rise of Vader squarely where it belonged: on her. And only she could see the ultimate end… and the duality of the events that unfolded in front of her face.

To avenge Anakin she remembered Anakin, his words loving and warm – the ultimate clash to the frigid threat sent her way.

"They're asking you back, Snips… I'm asking you back."

"I won't leave you. Not this time."

"I would never let anyone hurt you Ahsoka, never."

"Then you will die."

So when she was called to reckon and pushed the light that was Ezra to safety, she turned her back to Vader. To avenge her Master she chose to remember him, protecting the light and pushing back against the dark until the Force pulled itself to balance.

She was no Jedi.

Nor was she Sith.

She simply: was.

And as she was, she chose to avenge him. By her honor, she would see it through.