Ahsoka closed her eyes waiting for it all to be over. She heard a shot and opened her eyes to see the ground beside her singed. Rex was already walking toward the other troopers. "There, it's done," she heard him say. "Let's Go."
It took Obi-Wan longer than he would have liked to get to Najiba. The chaos surrounding the rise of the Empire had already spread throughout the galaxy, even to the Outer Rim. He landed in the Northern Hemisphere, but hated that he had not paid more attention to the precise location given when Ahsoka was assigned the mission. Obi-Wan remembered Master Unduli speaking about the situation and asking for ideas as for whom they could send. Though it was a routine mission, they couldn't send more than one jedi with a group of clones, since the order had been spread so thin. Obi-Wan remembered the pride on Anakin's face as he suggested his padawan receive the mission. He thought she was more then capable of handling the mission, and Obi-Wan did too. Anakin almost seemed relieved when Master Yoda agreed to it. The joy on Ahsoka's face when she received the mission with the Torrent Company made Obi-Wan smile. Anakin later remarked that it would get her out of the slump she was in with her studies. Obi-Wan never thought that this would be what it led to. He reached out with the force, and thankfully felt her weak presence a couple of miles away.
"Hold on, Ahsoka."
Ahsoka was numb. She couldn't yell for help even if she wanted to. Besides, no one would hear her. She wondered if maybe Anakin had felt her distress and was coming for her. She had tried reaching out with the force to him, but was too weak to keep focus. She kept trying to stay positive. If she wasn't going to make it through this, maybe he could help stop whoever was doing this to the galaxy. With that faith, she closed her eyes and waited to be one with the force.
She thought she was hallucinating when she heard footsteps behind her. "Ahsoka," she heard a familiar voice call, but she couldn't place who it was. She could hear the person kneel beside her. "Ahsoka, can you open your eyes for me," the voice said soothingly while placing a hand on her forehead. She managed to gather the strength to open them.
"Very good, my dear," Obi-Wan praised, taking his hand off of her forehead and glancing over her wounds.
"M…Master?" Ahsoka tried to say but all that came out was air.
"Shhh…little one," Obi-Wan replied. "You're going to be alright. Let's get you out of here."
Ahsoka winced and clutched at Obi-Wan's tunic as he lifted her off of the ground bridal-style. He couldn't imagine what pain that simple action inflicted upon her. With her wounds he was surprised with how she was able to hang on so long, and he was determined to get her safe and healed.
As much as it hurt, she was comforted to be in Obi-Wan's arms. She felt her consciousness fading again, but managed to muster up the strength to ask one question.
"Is Anakin dead?" she asked breathily.
"Yes," was the sad reply she heard as her world grew black.
It was dark. She slid up against the wall and looked back at the clones waiting patiently behind her. Then, she force-scanned the corridor for any remaining droids. When she gave the all clear the clones follow her through the hallway, guns pointed in all directions, using the green light of her lightsabers as a guide. They stopped at a single door with a tiny handle. Just as she reached for it, two super battle droids appeared out of nowhere trapping them. She raised her saber, and the clones split up in a V-formation behind her- Rex guarding her back as always- but the droids didn't move. For minutes they waited in silence, but the droids didn't stir or make a sound. Just as they were about to declare them defective and move on, the droids started firing. "Blast 'em!" Rex shouted and a rainbow of red and blue started flying through the air. She commanded the troopers to take on the one to the back of them as she took the front one head on. It went on for a long time, but eventually she finished off the first, as Rex and a few others were in the process of destroying the second. Just as they were delivering the final blow, the droid leaped over them. Instead of firing bullets, it started shooting electricity. It was no ordinary shock either. 'Force lightning!" she thought. She had never seen anything like it before. 'How did the Sith even figure that out?'
Terrified, she quickly yelled at the clones to take cover as she force-jumped and redirected the lightning back at it. She met the droid in the middle of the corridor. She raised her lightsabers, preparing herself for an intense battle, but they flew out of her hands. She risked glancing behind her to see her troopers gone, replaced by more battle droids. She saw her lightsabers had landed only a few feet away. She reached out with the force to get them, but was shocked when they flew the other way. The droid had used the force to retrieve them right before she could. 'How is this happening?' she thought. The droids started moving close, surrounding her, as the one with the force slowly extinguished her lightsabers, eliminating the only source of light. She heard some fidgeting and a click.
'I'm dead', she thought as she braced herself. 'It's over.' All of a sudden, bright lights dazzled against the now gray walls. She opened her eyes to see the droids were gone. There wasn't even a trace of them. Deathly confused, but thankful her life was spared, she headed back down to the door at the end of the corridor. She shoved it open to see many Jedi just standing, talking, and laughing. The room looked as if it was one of the ones in the temple. 'What are they doing here? Did they not here the fight outside?' Why didn't they help her? "Masters", she started. "What in the galaxy is going on?"
"Join the party, Snips." She noticed Anakin was standing right in the middle of things, hands folded behind his back and a warm smile on his face. She got the urge to run up and hug him, but knew she couldn't with all the others around, so she just walked over. She had so many questions, but decided to start with the most basic one. "Master, where are we?"
He just laughed. "That's a silly question, but we're in the High Council Chamber."
"They're having a party in the High Council Chamber?" she asked. If it was possible to be anymore confused, she was there.
"Of course", Anakin replied as if it was a normal thing. He grabbed a tray one of the servant droids had and held it out to her. "Here, take one." She looked at what appeared to be food-colored sugar cookies: green, blue, and red. She took a blue one and noticed everyone seemed to have the cookies in their hands as well. She was just about to take a bite when she noticed Jedi Master Aayla Secura drop to the ground dead. Ahsoka froze, not believing her eyes, but she was the only one. The other Jedi just continued on. They didn't even seem to notice. Then Master Luminara fell, Mace Windu, Shaak Ti Master Plo, and all the other Jedi just dropped like dominoes. Anakin was the only one who seemed to be fine. He had moved away from her, and was now standing in front of one of the center windows, talking with a creepy looking man that had a black hood covering his face. She heard loud footsteps, and the warmly colored walls of the Jedi Temple started turning dark gray. Men in sparkling white uniforms came marching into the room. The bodies of the fallen Jedi disappeared, and she suddenly became very cold.
Anakin and the other man were still in their place. "Come on Ahsoka", he encouraged.
"Yes, young one", the other man said in a snake-like voice, "Join us."
"Yes", Anakin said. There was something different about him, but she couldn't quite place it. "Join us. Join us!"
Ahsoka gasped as her eyes shot open. She was surrounded by water.
Obi-Wan knew he had to hurry if Ahsoka was going to make it. He could feel her presence fading by the minute. He began running through the forest, attempting to keep Ahsoka as still as possible. He was about a mile away when he heard a growl behind him.
'Please don't be a nexu. Please don't be a nexu,' he pleaded to the force.
He turned to see the creature was not a nexu, but a long-necked gundark.
'Fantastic!' he thought sarcastically.
He tried to outrun it, but it was no use. The creature's tongue shot out as it chased them, trying to catch its supper. He knew they would be caught soon if he didn't do something. He spotted a pond on the outskirts of the woods.
'Hang on, little one,' he thought as he clutched her tight and jumped in.
Once they were submerged, the long-necked gundark turned and began searching new grounds. Obi-Wan quickly climbed out and noticed Ahsoka awake and coughing up water.
'Sorry,' Obi-Wan sheepishly apologized. 'We had a bit of a situation.'
Ahsoka just gave a small nod and leaned back against his shoulder, breathing heavy. Obi-Wan spotted some clip beetles crawling by the pond. He knelt down and scooped some up before bolting back to the ship.