"In Need of Wings"

Chapter the Twenty-Third

To say she had the worst hangover in the Outer Rim would be an understatement. Ahsoka Tano's head pounded so much she could hardly see ten feet in front of her. Somehow, she managed to leave the hotel, get on her speeder bike, and drive it, albeit very slowly, back to Sleight of Hand. Luckily she only had to stop three times when she was sick. Good thing she didn't know she looked almost as bad as she felt.

She had grown so used to Bane's presence in the Force that she knew he was gone the instant she pulled up to the ship. The Force felt odd around her. As if everything had been moved one inch to the left. He wasn't here. Ahsoka held her head and stumbled in the ship.

She missed when the Force used to do the same thing with Anakin's presence. But after some time, she just got used to it.

As soon as she saw Ventress, inside watching the holovision, she blurted out,

"Where's Cad? And please, please make some more caf."

"He left."

"I know that, but where is he?"

Ventress rolled her eyes as she got up to put on some caf. Ahsoka collapsed on the sofa, holding her head and moaning.

"To find Boba Fett. He's still pissed about being taken down on Nar Shaddaa."

"So he just ran off on a stupid mission because his ego got hurt by a kid?" She made a face.

"Typical men."

"Typical Cad," Ahsoka specified, rubbing her temples.

Right on cue, Vader was there to comment on the situation.

"He's probably fed up with you, Snips. No wonder he's walking away. This was inevitable, we both know that."

Shut up, Vader. Ahsoka fought the urge to snap at him aloud. She didn't need Ventress looking at her like she had grown two heads.

"Why do you keep defending the people who abandon you? The Jedi, and now the bounty hunter. Why, Snips? Do you enjoy being left behind?"

Ahsoka stood up and poured some caf, wondering how many pills she would have to swallow until she never heard Vader's voice again. Or how many girls she would have to fuck in a row so Vader finally shut up for good. She supposed, playing with the idea only lightly, that going back to meet him and do what he asked her to would also do the trick.

"Think he'll come back?" Ahsoka dared ask.

"This is his ship, so I'm expecting him to. Why?"

"Nothing. I'm just tired of everyone leaving me. I never thought you'd stay this long, you know."

Ventress glanced at her, and in that moment, Ahsoka felt something in the Force between them. She was reminded of the time she told Ventress they had a few things in common. It still rang true. Both of them knew what it was like to be cast aside and forced to fend on their own, rejected by the same people who held their full trust so delicately. And to think they had once been nothing more than enemies, that is, in a war neither of them were meant to win. The Dathomirian woman leaned against the counter facing Ahsoka, watching her carefully, as if trying to read her every move. Ahsoka looked back and bit her lip, pretending she had never found Ventress very attractive.

"Funny you say that. I didn't think I'd stay this long, either."

"Then how come you haven't left yet?" Ahsoka leaned a bit closer to her. Now her eyes were on Ventress' jawline, her cheekbones, her lips, her neck. What was wrong with her? Was it the hangover talking?

"They'll all leave you behind, Ahsoka. You know it. You're just reaching for something you know isn't there. Ventress will never make you feel the things you need to feel. The things…I can help you feel."

Ahsoka froze as she felt a slight pang in her gut at those words. Gods…Vader knew her. Not just who she had been when she left the Order, but who she was now. He could sense what she wanted. It was as if nothing she could feel was hers alone to feel anymore…

This wasn't Anakin. It was a creature that had been torn to pieces and rebuilt into this form of a monster.

"I guess it's because I'd rather fight with old enemies than fight alone," Ventress said quietly.

"But we're more than just old enemies, right? I mean…are we friends?" she asked, almost hopefully. In case her fears were real and Bane was going to drift away from her. She would not last by herself.

"Woah, woah, not too fast," Ventress laughed. "Who needs friends when you can just have old enemies?"

Ahsoka bit her lip. It might not hurt to remind Ventress that she was legally an adult now, in the happenstance Ventress even wanted to be with her. Probably not. But could be worth a try.

"Ever wanted to kiss your old enemy?" She tried on her cutest smile.

The question seemed to catch Ventress off guard. Her eyes widened and her jaw slackened a bit, and her eyes locked on the young Togrutan. She looked about to say something, but at the last moment, exchanged it for a response less out of emotion, and more out of reason.

"You should go lie down. You had too much to drink last night."

"Oh…I guess you're right." Ahsoka felt heat rush to her cheeks, realizing she had not been playing the role of a flirty young woman at all, but a hypersexual teenager with no self control. After all, she did still smell of alcohol and probably had lipstick stains on her clothes. Nothing appealing about that at all. Ventress actually had standards.

Humiliated, she went back to bed and hid under the sheets, aching for something she did not understand. Did she miss the girl she had sex with last night, the comfort of the Jedi Temple, Anakin's comforting words? Or just the way things used to be?

"She's going to leave you, too. They all do. It's just a betrayal waiting to happen. Everyone goes away and abandons you eventually. I would know. Even my own apprentice abandoned me!" Vader cried out in her head.

Ahsoka gasped as she felt the vibrations from his anger, his burning rage. And his agony. Leaving her wondering what had been going through Anakin's head as she walked away from him that fateful day, as both of them blamed themselves for everything.

Both of them dwelled on what could have been. The war they could have won side by side. The lives they could have saved. The memories they could have shared. Anakin could have watched her finish growing up, she could have watched him go on to become a Jedi Master and free the slaves after the war. The dreams they both used to have, one by one, shared through their connection in the Force, until Ahsoka could feel the things Anakin had wished for with her, and he could see her dreams as well.

But it was all taken from them. They had their chance and lost it all.

If the Council had not turned on her like that, maybe things would not have ended up this way. She could have been a Jedi Knight saving the galaxy, instead of a washed up mess hanging out with criminals. She could have had a future with Anakin by her side, not taken away from him. All that changed because of that false accusation, from a friend no less.

If it wasn't for the Jedi.

"You see, now, Snips? The Jedi took you from me. They made me who I am now. They were the ones lying to us, betraying the Republic."

Ahsoka shut her eyes. It hit her so hard she could feel it physically ache in her heart. Perhaps that part of her that tried to stay blissfully ignorant for so long had finally been broken down. It was time to give up on ever being who she used to be before.

Vader was right…

The Jedi were to blame.

"What happened to you, Master?" she whispered into the darkness, shaking uncontrollably. "How did you…become like this? Tell me what happened. I need to know."

Vader's rage slowly faded out until Ahsoka could breathe a little easier. His presence seemed calm again, but calm in the sense that a storm could strike at any given moment, and there was no way of knowing when. It was as calm as Vader would ever be.

"I will tell you everything. Just come back to me. Come to Mustafar."

Of course, he would want her to go there. The place that had been haunting her nightmares for months now. The Dark Side had always had a presence there.

"I'll be waiting, Snips."

Then her head was silent once again.

Mustafar. Where the Force-sensitive younglings had been taken, for whatever terrible fate awaited them there. Vader wanted her to meet him there. And probably suffer the same they would have if they hadn't been rescued…by her and Anakin, ironically. If she chose Mustafar, that would mean destroying any chance at an alternative path. No going back or changing her mind. Only farther down the dark path in her Master's footsteps.

Was that meant for her? Would it be easier to let the Dark Side win this time and do what Vader wanted her to do? Was it worth giving up her future for the answers of what happened to Anakin?

Could she even save him, much less herself?

Wanting to scream in frustration, Ahsoka sat up on the bed and hit her head against the wall, not having the slightest idea what she was going to do.

She needed help. But in that moment, Ahsoka never felt so alone.

Eriadu system. With its surprisingly small population, it still boasted a strong industrious culture. And it had become even more so since the end of the war. Which made it a breeding ground for new criminal work and an ideal location for the Bounty Hunters' Guild to make a new stance.

Meaning Boba Fett would not be far away.

It only took two days for Bane to figure out Eriadu was one of the most likely places he would find the young bounty hunter. Thanks to his connections to the criminal activity there, and how much he knew about Boba. When he arrived, he armed himself to the teeth and set out to the capital city.

In the underworld of the city, Bane found one of his old business associates, an informant who normally stuck closer to the Outer Rim territories, but had found different places to do work when the Clone Wars ended. He provided Bane with a lead on how to find Boba Fett, who, as it turned out, was working on his own again. In a region of the city being paid to clean out pirate activity.

As Bane prepared to find and confront Boba, he realized he had not been working alone in almost a year now. Maybe he thought he would end up feeling like his old self again. Returning to the old way of doing his job. But he had to admit, considering recent events, he doubted his old self would ever find its way back. Not that it really mattered.

Did Ahsoka even need him anymore? he had to ask himself.

She wasn't a kid anymore. And she had Ventress. Her own path to follow, too. Whatever her connection to Vader meant for her, Bane had nothing to do with it.

The more he thought about it, the more Bane realized that Ahsoka was probably better off without him, anyway. So if he just went back after taking care of Boba, gave them enough credits for a new ship, and took off, she would not have to worry about him any longer. It was probably for the best.

He sure did enjoy looking after the poor kid while it lasted. Almost gave him a sense of closure for his own past and the years spent not so unlike little Tano.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Boba Fett leaving his ship. Just as Bane knew he would. The Duros got up and began to follow him at a safe distance, but not before sending Todo his coordinates so they could be tracked by the droid. If all went according to plan, he might get an extra bonus besides taking down the young Fett.

Unfortunately, what Bane did not know was that Boba Fett was not alone. A masked figure, underweight and dressed completely in black, her facial diamond markings scarred by multiple electrocution burns, awaited the bounty hunter's return to Eriadu.