AN: I'm sorry if ahsoka is a little out of character... And, as promised, a longer chapter. lol, they have to be somewhat longer if I want to make this story a reasonable size.
It was the next morning when Ahsoka felt something stir deep within her body, and she sat up worriedly. She had been awake, she hadn't slept in nights...thank the Force her master wasn't around. Her body lurched again, forewarning her of something. A warm, pulsing feeling of light flooded through her chest, causing her to let out a small gasp. Only one man could provoke such a feeling.
Kenobi. Her heart ached suddenly. Master Obi-Wan, fallen at the hand of Dooku. Begging the Force to deliver her of good news, Ahsoka's eyes fluttered shut, pleading that he live. She found Anakin, worried, angry. But Obi-Wan was alright. Ahsoka felt a quick surge of the Force cleanse her fears, rushing out of her in a dim, hollow rush.
The Force rushed and screamed with Anakin's dim fury, and then, after a few moments, Dooku's dying power. Injured in exchange for Anakin's arm, and Obi-Wan's pending death. Then, more anger nearly had Ahsoka plummeting to the ground, for this monster wasn't her master. He was going to kill Dooku. No. Be wary of the dark side, Master. Please. To her horror, Ahsoka felt Dooku's Force signature snuff out, forever gone. Decapitated mercilessly, the Sith lay upon the ground, dead. What had Anakin done?
Ahsoka didn't care that Jenx wanted her the next night, she needed to talk, certainly not to a Jedi. Before she rushed to her feet, hardly awake of her doings, she sought out Master Kenobi. He was alright, vaguely confused and muffled. He would be fine.
Ahsoka trotted away from her bare Temple room, hoping she wouldn't run into another Jedi, for instance, Master Yoda. He would press his gimer stick against her shoulders, ordering her to stay. She wasn't a Youngling. Master Skywalker wasn't ordered to stay when he attended his 'personal business' that left Ahsoka curious and hurt. It hurt that something mattered more than spending a few moments to talk to her. The thoughts left her barely preceptive of her settings.
In the daylight, she found her way to the bottom of Coruscant dark and without a ray of sunshine. Shivering slightly at the oddness of it, she walked the bar, doing her best to look like a wary dweller to the word of dusk and gloom
In their bar, at their table, Jenx was diverting a waitress droid, green eyes flashing angrily, "No, I don't want anything! Get out of here!" Ahsoka sat down beside Jenx, and when the droid gave her a questioning look, Ahsoka shook her head.
"Jenx, I have a problem." Ahsoka's voice was rushed, hurried, and a touch sorrowful. She felt like breaking down, she was so tired. She felt like running away, but not back to her master. He was more...adult, lately. More edgy. So dark and foreboding, like an recoiling sleeping dragon that no one dared to disturb.
Jenx looked up, his sharp eyes piercing. "What is it, child? You don't look so well. Sleep would be good."
"That's not it...it's my master. He's getting darker, more nervous and touchy." Ahsoka grumbled, sinking into a crouch as though escaping some hidden monster that would leap upon her and devour her. Rubbing her scratchy eyes, she murmured, "He isn't like most Jedi. He's different now."
"Your worried about him." Jenx stated softly, sadly. His eyes took a faraway look as he gazed at a wall. "Child, I owe you an explanation. You know something's different 'bout me." Ahsoka started to protest, but he held a smooth hand, a hand that looked well-taken care of, not the battered look from dingy street life. He wasn't all like a Jedi, and he wasn't all like a commoner. Ahsoka looked at him questioningly, sitting on the edge of her seat. This tale was bound to be good.
"You've heard of the Lost Twenty, the twenty who quit the order. I wasn't one of 'em. I was an exiled member, a member left out because of something I did. I had an attachment, an obvious one, I suppose. A wife. A member of the Temple herself." Jenx's breathing grew ragged as he struggled to remain composure, "The Council found out, gave me a choice. It was Amina or them. I was convinced that I could go about Jedi ways with my wife, and without the Council overseeing my activity. And I told them I was leaving, that I was sorry. I took Amina with me, only to have her die at the hands of a bounty hunter, hired by some man who wanted me to join him. But I wouldn't. So does attachment lead to the dark side?" Jenx's voice grew loud and uneven with an unmistakable pride, a pride that clearly said that he had defied the odds and won.
Ahsoka was shocked, so shocked she could barely sort the infomation and break it down her mind to observe, to take in and feel, to know. So simple, such a small story, but very moving to a Jedi. Very nerve racking.
Jenx, a former Jedi.
With attachments.
Without the darkside.
The Council.
Dead wrong.
It hurt to take it in all at once. Ahsoka had always thought the Council was wrong on many levels, but to put them in that light allowed her to realize that in some ways they were so arogant, but so frightened of the Jedi downfall from reoccuring that they ignored things that could possibly save the order. Jenx touched her arm, waiting for a response. Ahsoka glanced back at him, suddenly remembering his question
Ahsoka shrugged, her lekku brushing her shoulders comfortingly. Sometimes they were like a whole other being apart from her body - they got in her way, they were helpful, they comforted her. "Maybe it does. Sometimes if it extends so far, perhaps."
Jenx scowled at the younger girl, "I know what you mean, child. I know what you're saying. The true question you have to ask yourself is if you can let the person who you're attached to go. Amina taught me that, Force, the Council taught me that. And I'm picking up from you that you and your master are alike in some ways. But I also get a difference; I believe that if it were truly necessary, if it called for it, though you might find it impossable, you could let go. And he couldn't."
It hurt to agree, to find the truth in his words, no matter how true they actually were. She couldn't turn away from it anymore. Her master truly was the Hero with Many Faults, the Hero with Fear. There was fear, deep and serpent-like, resided in his body. It could break him, shatter his soul like glass so easily.
"Child?" Jenx whispered, leaning over to her. Ahsoka could feel his green eyes, sharp and perceptive on her small body, "What is it?" Quietly drawing in her breath, letting it settle of her body, she relived the feelings of Dooku's death. Shock, wary guilt from Anakin. And then, another being, satisfaction in his grim folds of feeling. Somebody close to Anakin, near her. Somebody to remove her master from Ahsoka's life. A snarl worked it's way out of her mouth, and Jenx repeated "Ahsoka?"
"He's gonna leave me. He's gonna turn to the dark side." Ahsoka cried out, the words torn from her lips. Shivering violently, Ahsoka's body retaliated from the sleepless nights, her worry, and her very desire to save Anakin.
Jenx took her petite hands into his arms, squeezing them hard for a moment, "Listen to me, Ahsoka. I never said he would turn to the dark side. I never uttered a word to even suggest that, Child. Come on, Ahsoka, listen." Ahsoka couldn't listen; she felt weak and weary, but she fought that to hear Jenx. "He can...believe that he will with all of your being...change."
"All right, all right." Ahsoka choked on the words, "I'm trying." Ahsoka sat up as though an electrical charge was emitted down her spine, coursing through her frail, fragile body. Her eyelids fluttered, and a deep, booming voice filled her body. "No." Ahsoka choked, No,
He's wrong, you know, Togruta; your Master belongs to me. That you, wrench. Not that woman...come on, admit it. He loves her and would rather spend a day with her than a week with you. So you can just come out now, say it loud and clear. Maybe your Master will actually like you if your power grows and you come with me. I mean, after all, you never were good enough. You know it, too. Don't you dare deny it
Ahsoka felt out of the chair and into a long, dark tunnel. Roots from trees scraped her face and blood dripped off of her lips, tasting metallic. Spitting, Ahsoka tried to stop her fall, and succeeded. She landed on a hard, silver floor, bruising several parts of her body. Wincing, she climbed to her feet and looked down.
Her heads tails were beyond her waist. Ahsoka twirled around, gazing with wonder at her torn body. She disliked the feel of her new body, however. Her head pulsed with headache and fatigue, and a black-cloaked figure stood before her.
"Padawan Tano?" His voice was confident as though he held the key to every problem in the galaxy. Ahsoka crept forward, pleased for the strong and secure feeling he wrapped around her. As though he could make her small again with a wave of hand. And he did so. Suddenly, Ahsoka was the way she was when she met Skyguy. She beamed up at that man, happy to feel so young, yet, oddly so wise.
"I can give you more, my young one. I can make you a daughter of a grand union so powerful you won't have reason to suffer for more...arrogant societies." Ahsoka felt like she should place what he meant, but she honestly couldn't. She gazed up at him with confused, blue eyes until she realized; the Jedi. How could she have ever forgotten? It was as though her Jedi teachings were swirling beneath her, yet she couldn't find away to relift them.
"Can you help me?" Her voice sounding small, unsure and unsteady. She walked closer to the robed figure, but he ducked further under his hood, hiding. Frustrated, Ahsoka spat out, "I need help! I will only be this daughter if you can help me."
"If it is help you wish for, than help you will receive. What would please you, young one?"
Ahsoka couldn't speak of her fears to the man, she just couldn't place it out into the open for him to snatch at and observe. She planted her hands on her hips and declared, "Something feels wrong."
The man rose slowly, his black robes unfolding to reveal a horrifying face. Wrinkled and pale, burnt, scorched and devastatingly bleak, Ahsoka gasped, regaining her Jedi state of mind. She found his Force signature, deep and stained with the Dark Side. Ahsoka was horrified, so afraid of what this powerful man could actually do, she couldn't speak. "You kriffing traitor!" she uttered forcefully, backing up quickly and fearfully.
Her body grew wrinkled and old, her lekku weathered and long. Ahsoka cried out for help, for somebody to draw this man away from her. Her hands rested on her hip, but her lightsaber did not appear. Where had it gone?
Ahsoka's back was pressed against the hard floor, a dry, salty feeling in her mouth. She felt fire blast her from all sides, and then the man disappeared. In his place stood a dragon, coiled and angry, "I am the most powerful man you have ever meant, my young child, and yet you defy me!" The dragon stood up and reared, and then came down next to her.
"You..." Breathing hurt so badly Ahsoka could hardly speak, "You betrayed me." Icy tears dripped off of her cheeks, and her chest began to freeze. Her skin was crystallizing, becoming hard and cold at the same time. Yet her head was on fire.
The dragon laughed haughtily at her distress, "Thought you could get away, didn't you? Well, Fool, think again." And he lunged for her disingrating body.
Ahsoka screamed and forced her way into an upright position. A wet cloth that clung to her forehead fell onto her lap, leaving droplets of water on her cheeks. She was on a bed, an actual bed, with a man beside her. Jenx.
"Where am I?" She managed to gasp out. She words were rattled and shaky, sickly. Ahsoka peered around the room, her wide blue orbs widening at the small, cramped house. Another bed across the room held a frowning woman, one that looked vaguely familiar. It took Ahsoka a moment, but then she realized that it was Yashaka.
Jenx groaned out loud, ignoring the woman's frown, "Force, Ahsoka." He didn't continue, though Ahsoka could sense his worry outright, and his pulsing shock. The mystery of the nightmares engulfed them both, that is until Yashaka cleared her throat.
"Dad." Yashaka growled, a low sound emitted from the back of her throat. Her eyes, Ahsoka finally noticed, were the same green, but they seemed to flash a bit more angrily, a bit more hateful.
"Right. Ahsoka, you must leave us now. You've got to return to the Temple before your master sends out a search party. I'm sorry." Jenx seemed regretful, the way he held Ahsoka's hand carefully, the sort, probing look in those green eyes. Hateful Yashaka, Jenx's daughter, snarled again. When Ahsoka's lips parted as though to quesation the older girl's anger, Jenx shook his head. A story for another time. When she's not here.
So Ahsoka crept out bed, her small body trembling with fatigue and aftershock. Steadying herself with the Force, Ahsoka made her way to the doorway, nodding softly to Yashaka as Jenx led her outdoors. He hesitated, "Listen to me, Ahsoka. If you ever need help, a place to stay, come to me. If you bring your master, it's alright."
"You want to meet him?"
"Well, I know who he is. I know who you are, given the HoloNet news. And I know he isn't the Hero with No Fear." Jenx murmured, stiking a cord in Ahsoka's body. Before he could say anything else, Ahsoka shook her head. The Hero with Many Faults. Her blue eyes closed for a moment, remembering her vision, her fate. Jenx's hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality, if just for a moment.
"But I can come back? You promise?" The promise of a place stay in case was so terribly desperate, but Jenx didn't turn her away. He nodded, eyes meeting hers steadily, the Jedi within him swelling.
"Promise." With that said, Ahsoka turned, gathering up the folds of cloth that made up her cloak, and walked back to the Temple, heart swollen with her destruction at the hands of who she was sure was Anakin. Or maybe that other one.
Just outside the Temple, the first person she was was Master Obi-Wan, who's gray eyes narrowed as he regarded the young girl. He had just returned, and immediately, all thoughts of dragons devouring her fled her. She crossed her arms, waiting for the examination to finish. Apparently, Obi-Wan approved of her condition, or decided not to speak of it. "Where's my master?" Ahsoka asked, trying to sound somewhat polite. Inside, a bit of fuming anger bit at her. Why? She wouldn't lash out at him, she swore that upon herself, but she wanted to at least see that he was still the same man he was when she last some him.
"With the senators." Obi-Wan's ashen face took a bit more color as he mulled through his thoughts. It was no secret that he disliked the senators, that he thought they couldn't be trusted. With an exception of just Bail Organa and Padme. Not Chancellor Palpatine, whom her master found a good friend, and spoke highly of.
Ahsoka allowed a teasing grin to show. Her blue eyes twinkled, "Well, I see you had your own share of amusement then." Her voice wasn't overly cheery, she was trying to keep a toned-down look. But she still gave a light jab, something that she hadn't been able to do to Obi-Wan when she became a Padawan.
"Yes, it was quite fun. Almost boring, however." Obi-Wan laughed, his general composition easy going, happy. No more of the stern-faced man who tried to follow the Jedi Code so precisely. He still followed, still was the perfect Jedi, but he was looser and relaxed.
"Can I go over there?" Ahsoka asked, no longer playing. She hadn't seen the brown-haired, smiling and welcoming Padme in awhile. She missed her, now that she thought of it. Obi-Wan nodded, murmuring that he had to speak with Yoda, anyway, and Ahsoka took off.
Not knowing, so blind, ran to Padme's apartment, and knocked. There wasn't an answer, just silence. Ahsoka walked slowly back down the hall, hoping she'd run into either Anakin or Padme. And then she heard Padme's voice, scared and soft. She couldn't make out the words, and ducked behind a pillar, and peered around it. There was Padme, beautiful and shaking, with her Master. Stern and forbidding, no longer the boy he had once been, he held Padme's hand as they walked down the hall towards Padme's home, and what Ahsoka realized, probably Anakin's, too. Ahsoka could pick up faint tremors of shock from him, but she could only register her own shock. Because when she concentrated closely, she found something that almost made her cry out.
Padme was pregnant. Anakin was the father.
Ahsoka backed away slowly, stumbling. She fell to the ground, hitting it with a sickening impact. Head reeling, she pushed herself up, sweat falling into her eyes. The couple looked up from their walk back to Padme's apartment, and Anakin's eyes met Ahsoka's with shock, "Ahsoka, wait! Don't run!" His voice was strong, and full, tinged with guilt. It didn't matter to Ahsoka.
She ran.