AN:Okay, I'm not sure if I want to kill Mai, because I sort of want Ahsoka to meet her again after Vader turned...so any help would be nice. :)
Mai chocked on the smoke that scorched her lungs. She was lying in bed, alone. Where was Aron? Ahsoka? Mai pushed herself to her forearms and got up, calling for her daughter. There was no answer, no scared cry. Was she dead? Tears streamed down Mai's face as she struggled to breath and get down the stairs. She turned to the small closet that she called Ahsoka's room, but it was in flames.
Mai turned and ran for the door, her hands sliding around the familiar worn handle. Just as she closed it and gathered in a mouthful of air to gasp down her exhausted lungs, the house exploded into flame. Mai was thrown limply through the air until she landed several feet in front of the door. She winced and closed her eyes. So far, it looked as though only she had survived. Aron and Ahsoka were gone.
Just as Mai slipped into unconsciousness, a dark figure blocked the moonlight's beam with his shadowy presence. He knelt next to Mai and ran a worn orange finger over her cheek, "Oh, isn't this a pity?" He whispered sweetly, "First, my poor daughter, that foolish child, now my wife." Aron smiled wickedly, "Don't worry, dear one." Aron knew that his wife was alive, but just barely. She was ill from the smoke and the depression with her loss. Aron just had to hope. It wouldn't be much longer. He stood, becoming once more one with the shadows and disappeared into the night.
Ahsoka saw him. She saw his cruel whisper, the tender, but oh so false way his finger trailed down Mai's cheeks, brushing her lekku. So she had been right. Ahsoka never wondered why, never thought about it. In her childlike mind, it was only what was. There was no excuses, unless she was ducking Mai's scolding eye. And now, now there was Mai, just lying there. Ahsoka could feel her in the Force. Even though Ahsoka didn't know what the Force was, it still rippled through her small body. She could feel each pained breath Mai gathered up, each wave of sorrow she released. Ahsoka crept from her hiding place in the bushes and crept over to her mother.
"Mama?" Ahsoka asked softly, kneeling beside her mother, "Mama." She repeated. Ahsoka touched her mother's shoulder expectantly. Her active mother now lay as still as Shilli plains on a windless day. But, no, Ahsoka thought. She couldn't let her mother die. They had to fight the traitor together. Tears slid down the baby Togruta's cheek and then, like any baby would, she howled and thrashed about. Soon, though Ahsoka was too preoccupied to notice, her mother stirred, groaned at the amount of noise the girl made.
"Okay, I get it." Mai murmured. She didn't wake up enough to realize that Ahsoka hadn't died, she was safe and sound...definitely sound, if you wanted to put that into a whole sentence. Mai's bleary, red-rimmed eyes blinked open painfully. Smoke still billowed from the destroyed house like grayish storm clouds, but she was alive. And so was her daughter, Mai could see that now. Relieved, Mai ran a finger down her daughter's arm and whispered, "Oh, Ahsoka. How did you know?"
Ahsoka didn't understand her mother's words at all, but she felt her relief, and even more, her confusion. Instead of her normal small, one-worded sentences like "Mama." and "No." (Ahsoka's favorite word, perhaps because she heard it so much.), Ahsoka, once more, added to her vocabulary, "Father made fire." She nestled in the crook of her mother's arm and closed her eyes, feeling the exhaustion of the past hour. Mai froze, and shook her daughter,"Did he? Is he alive?" Mai didn't know if she would actually believe what Ahsoka said, but she was so shocked, so angry at the murderer, she needed to know who would kill her. Even if it was her own husband.
Ahsoka nodded tiredly. Despite her fatigue, she could feel him coming back, ready to strike again if Mai and Ahsoka were not dead. Tearfully, Ahsoka leaned against her mother for comfort and protection. There was none to be given, for Mai could only fight as well Ahsoka in her weakened condition. Comfortingly, Mai tentatively stroked her daughter's shoulders. What would Aron do to them now?
And then he was there again. He paused, a frown hovering beside his mouth, "I was...getting help." He said lamely. "You didn't seem so well, Mai." Ahsoka felt her mother relax. But Ahsoka stood on her shaky feet, and spit out with fiery anger,"Liar!" Hands on her hips, Ahsoka would repeat it again and again until everyone believed her. Even if that wasn't now, wasn't ever, she was a fighter. She would survive this battle.
Even if it meant trouble. Ahsoka, like any other Togruta, was a predator. Which happened to mean that Aron was, too, but why should Ahsoka bother herself with that? She didn't know she was a predator. She didn't know Aron, even though he possessed several seen qualities, was a predator. But it was deeper than that, the simple predator versus predator battle. If it was, Ahsoka might well have been prey, being a baby. It was a "You-can't-beat-me-because-I-won't-let-you" battle. Did Aron sense his daughter's intentions? Ahsoka hoped not. She hovered near her mother, waiting. Mai stood up, and in the coldest tone Ahsoka had ever heard her use, said, "She's right, isn't she, Aron? You did it. Why?" Mai's hand hovered at her belt. Ahsoka grunted, straining to see what she held. She couldn't.
"Oh?" Aron asked, sweet and mocking at the same time. "Dear one, you said you loved me? Shall I believe that you're a traitor?" He stepped closer, ready to draw his wife into a kiss. Mai snarled low in her throat and jumped back. No. Ahsoka watched, wide-eyed and bewildered. Was her mother, the nervous, shaky woman, going to fight?
Aron saw her nervousness, felt it. He laughed at the way Mai's hands shook. "My dear wife, you were right. Those years in isolation weren't so good for you, now were they?" His hand came out, and a long metal pole floated up into them. He held it in his hands with a natural stance. "So where did you think I was for the past few years, dear one? Out killing myself in labor for you? I think not! It was your fault, you know?" Ahsoka was more than confused. Her mother was innocent, and so was she! They did nothing to deserve Aron's hate. And the way the pole floated into his hands...so she wasn't the only odd one?
"My fault?" Mai asked, a certain harshness in her throat. "So, when I believe that...what did I do?" Mai's eyes were on Aron, and he knew it. His gaze landed on the small bystander. Only Ahsoka saw his cruel grin, and she almost knew what was coming. Instead of struggling to get away, she froze, mouth opened to reveal two small, pearly white teeth. She couldn't move away from his dangerous hands, or the penetrating gaze.
"I couldn't keep her safe!" Aron snapped. His eyes flickered over Mai's small body and he said, "You don't know, do you?" Suddenly, Ahsoka felt herself being snatched up by rough hands, certainly not her mother's. The girl squirmed, hitting Aron's jaw. Ahsoka burst into tears, screaming for her mother, but Mai's hand curled around whatever object she had in her hand, and she hurled it at Aron. Poison gas floated into the air, billowing around them. Ahsoka began to cough violently as Aron's knees buckled. The two toppled to the ground, and Ahsoka was just saved from being crushed by Aron's stocky frame. Mai held her breath and grabbed Ahsoka, and she began to run, shushing her sluggish daughter. Ahsoka would be okay. The problem was that Aron would be okay. The poison gas couldn't kill him. It could easily kill a baby if she had been exposed enough, but not a full grown man.
Now Mai just had to keep her daughter safe...but in the silence, a roar of anger split the air. Mai began to sob, tears falling onto Ahsoka's lekku. Aron's revenge would mostly likely be her daughter's life.