Present Day
Aurora's POV
I carefully reached over to grab the HoloRemote without trying to aggravate the IV in my arm. I was currently on my second IV bag, as I was in that much need of fluids due to how bad my dehydration is. I spent the most of yesterday under medical observation from the doctors, and now I am under nurse observation. Every few hours, a nurse or a doctor would come into my room and apply an ointment to my neck to try and heal the burn the shock collar caused.
I hit the button on the remote to turn on the HoloNet to see the News Coverage of Ahsoka's trial that was going to begin later today. I had heard through a reliable source (and by reliable source I mean my most trusted informant in the infirmary, Caleb Dume) that Ahsoka was expelled from the Jedi Order and was to proceed with the Trial in the Courts. Caleb also told me that she was going to be represented by Padme, which was a good thing…at least I hope it is. I had also been placed under mental and psychiatric observation on the authority of some of the members of the Jedi High Council in response to me killing a Clone, as they wondered how much I tended to use the Dark Side when in combat…leading to the confiscation of my lightsaber until further notice. Honestly, I was just thankful my brother and Zara were not caught up in this mess, and not in trouble with either the Jedi or the Republic Military.
I sighed as I began to watch the News Coverage but was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw Anakin standing in the doorway to my room. He looked…hopeful, yet fearful…probably worried about which version of me he was going to get.
"I know you and I aren't on the best of terms right now." He began.
I scoffed in annoyance. "What makes you say that?" I sarcastically asked.
"Ro, I was just doing my job." He explained.
I rolled my eyes and pointed to the burn on my neck. "This was your job?"
"I didn't know they'd put a shock collar on you." He replied with a sigh.
I scoffed again. "Your buddy the Chancellor ordered it."
"I need your help." He explained. "Ahsoka's trial is later today, and I know she is innocent."
"Do you?" I ask with sarcasm. "Do you really?"
"Aurora, please." He begged. "We need to talk to Ventress…she's the last person Ahsoka talked to…and Ahsoka believes she's the one behind it."
I frowned. "No."
"What?" He asked in disbelief.
"I'm not helping you." I stated firmly as I crossed my arms."
"Are you kidding me?" He began. "After everything you and Ahsoka have been through, you won't help me."
"Not when the person who wants me to help them tried to kill me." I firmly state.
His expression immediately changed. "I told them, do not shoot to kill."
I shook my head. "For some reason, I don't believe you."
"Why?"
I sighed. "Because you trusted Tarkin and The Coruscant Guard more than trusting Ahsoka and I."
He frowned. "Ahsoka forgave me. Do you think I'm happy with her being expelled from the Order? She is on trial for murder and Tarkin wants her dead…do you think I'm happy with it."
My eyes widened. "I didn't know."
He sighed. "We need to get to Ventress today. Padme will hold off the conviction as long as she can but even then, it's not certain."
I sighed. "Anakin, I want to help you. Really, I do. But I can't."
"Why not?" He asked.
"I am under mental and psychiatric observation from orders of the Council. They want to make sure I'm not insane before giving me a lightsaber." I explained. "I'm not allowed out of this room."
Anakin smirked. "I've got some pull so that can change."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
He glanced down the hall and gestured to my door, and the next thing I knew Obi-Wan walked in.
"I can't believe your making me do this." Obi-Wan murmured to Anakin as he entered.
"Anything for your two favorite surroagate kids, right Master?" Anakin smirked making me laugh.
Obi-Wan frowned at Anakin before handing me my lightsaber.
I stared at him in disbelief. "You broke the rules?"
"Don't get used to it." He replied. "I bought you both some time, you best be going if you want to catch Ventress."
I immediately stood up from my bed and ripped the IV line out of my arm.
"I don't know what's better, the fact that Obi-Wan broke the rules, or the fact that the both of you could be expelled because you both broke a mentally ill person out of the insane asylum portion of the infirmary." I said in disbelief as Anakin, and I started to walk down the main corridor of the Jedi Temple.
"Honestly, I'm just as surprised as you are." He replied as we both started our journey to the lower levels of Coruscant.
Tracking down Ventress wasn't that hard. Because she was a Bounty Hunter now, I could easily find her in the criminal underworld due to my contacts that are still on my good list and not on my kill list. Anakin and I tracked her down in one of the crime infested levels, which wasn't surprising. To keep our location and presence hidden, we used the rooftops to stalk her, but eventually, we made our presence known, or Anakin did, when he jumped off the roof and landed behind her.
"Anakin Skywalker." She began with contempt as she turned to face him.
"I know you're behind this." Anakin began.
Ventress smirked. "Prove it."
She then jumped onto a pipe overhead, but little did she know, that I was waiting for her on the pipe, as I knew all of her tricks. I immediately kicked her down and ignited my lightsaber at her neck.
"Did you forget I know all your tricks?" I said with a smirk.
She immediately sat up and groaned in annoyance when she laid eyes on me. Just as she was about to reply, Anakin jumped up onto the platform and also ignited his lightsaber at her neck.
"Tell us what happened!" He ordered.
"When I heard your little brat was on the run, I thought she might bring a large bounty." Ventress began.
"You're a Bounty Hunter now?" Anakin asked in disbelief.
"You didn't know that?" I asked him in annoyance.
"You didn't tell me." He began making me roll my eyes.
"I was going to catch your pet and turn her over to authorities, collect whatever bounty was due." She continued.
"What stopped you?" Anakin asked as he deactivated his saber and I deactivated mine but aimed my right vambrace at her instead.
Ventress sighed before rubbing her neck in the spot I kicked her. "At first, I admit, I was just interested in the money and a little bit of revenge. But then I realized that your fallen Padawan and I had a lot in common."
"How dare you compare yourself to Ahsoka!' Anakin growled.
"It's true." Ventress snapped. "My master abandoned me and that's exactly what you did to her. You and your precious Jedi Order."
I faked a look of shock as I looked at Anakin. "Oh my god, that sounds similar to what I was saying."
"Shut up Ro." He murmured.
"How do you put up with her?" Ventress said looking at me in disbelief.
He shrugged. "I take a lot of her sarcasm."
"What happened next?" I asked ignoring the both of them.
"After I left the warehouse, after I Ieft your little Padawan alone, I was walking away, and I thought she came up behind me to talk more. But I was wrong. Someone came out of nowhere and hit me from behind. Not just anyone can sneak up behind me. It had to be another Jedi." She explained.
Anakin frowned. "I don't believe you."
"Believe it!" She snapped. "Whoever you're looking for has my lightsabers. That's how you'll know you've found the criminal."
I sighed as I leaned back against the railing and Anakin did the same.
"Great, another dead end." I said looking over to him.
"You're the only one Ahsoka talked to." He explained looking to Ventress.
Ventress shook her head. "That's not true."
"What do you mean?" I ask in confusion.
"Your Padawan contacted the temple. She spoke to someone named Barriss. That's why we knew to go to the warehouse in the first place. This Barriss told us to go there." Ventress explained.
I looked to Anakin in disbelief, Ahsoka and Barriss were close, if Barriss was the one behind this…why did she frame Ahsoka of all people?
"If you're lying, I will have her kill you." Anakin firmly stated before running off.
"Such promises." Ventress snidely remarked at us as we headed back to the Temple.
On the way back to the temple, Anakin and I placed commlinks inside of our ears so that we can surround Barriss, without it seeming like we are surrounding her. I was down the corridor overlooking the courtyard with that stupid force tree waiting for any sudden movements, and within a matter of moments, I heard lightsabers igniting.
"Showtime." I murmured.
I quickly grabbed my own lightsaber and continued to hide in the shadows as I waited for Anakin's signal to come and join the fight. From my position, I watched as Anakin and Barriss fought at each other with great fury. The only difference was that Barriss did in fact have Ventress's lightsabers, thus proving that she bombed the temple.
"Ahsoka trusted you, and you betrayed her!" Anakin said in between strikes.
"I've learned that trust is overrated. The only thing the Jedi Council believes in, is violence." She snapped.
That's when Barriss jumped out the window onto a platform above the courtyard.
"Now Ro!" Anakin spoke into the coms. I immediately ignited my lightsaber and while Anakin jumped in front of Barriss, I jumped behind her. She immediately turned around in shock.
"Miss me?" I smirked.
"I thought Tarkin would've had you dead by now!" She snapped as she began to block both Anakin's and my strikes.
"It takes a lot more to kill me." I growled.
With each strike Anakin and I were making at her, I could tell she was having a tough time blocking them. She felt weak compared to the two of us. At one point, Anakin kicked her into the courtyard, thus drawing the attention of the Temple Guards, who tried to close off the fight between the three of us. As soon as she fell open, I activated my taser from my left vambrace thus causing an electrical pulse to go through Barriss's body. Anakin and I immediately stood over her, lightsabers still ignited aiming them at her. She groaned in anger knowing, exactly what was coming next.
We immediately rushed over to the court. I was to escort Barriss in, and to make sure she didn't run, I put a pair of beskar handcuffs on her. Anakin immediately bursted into the chamber with fury.
"Chancellor!" He called out making Palpatine, Mas Amedda, and Tarkin all look at him in confusion.
"I trust you have a reason for bursting into our proceedings, Master Skywalker." Palpatine began as Anakin walked into the platform in the middle of the hearing chamber. I immediately start to walk into the chamber with my lightsaber ignited. I heard some gasps as I walked in, and some murmurs of disbelief.
"Come to give Aurora Kryze a fair and unbiased trial?" Tarkin said with pride. "After all, she is a war-criminal."
This caused more commotion causing Mas Amedda to bang his staff on the floor.
"Aurora Kryze, has done nothing wrong." Anakin began. "Her work with the Jedi Order has brought down various criminals throughout the galaxy. We are both here with evidence and a confession from the person responsible for all the crimes Ahsoka has been accused of."
I grab Barriss's shoulder and immediately push her forward to the center of the platform.
"Barriss Offee." I began. "Member of the Jedi Order, and traitor."
Everyone stares at all of us in both confusion and shock. Nobody knew what to believe.
"Barriss, is that true?" Ahsoka said in disbelief.
"Tell them the truth." Anakin ordered and I pushed her forward again.
Barriss sighed before taking another step forward.
"I did it." She began drawing gasps from the people present. "I have come to realize what many in the Republic have come to realize. That the Jedi are the ones responsible for this war. That we've so lost our way that we have become villains in this conflict. That we are the ones that should be put on trial, all of us! And my attack on the Temple was an attack on what the Jedi Order has become, an army fighting for the dark side, fallen from the light we once held so dear. This Republic is failing. It's only a matter of time."
I sighed before yanking Barriss back and deactivated my lightsaber. Anakin and I look up directly at the Chancellor who motions to us.
"Take her away." He declared making Anakin and I smile at each other as the Jedi Temple Guards escorted Barriss out of the chamber.
I look over to Tarkin on another platform. He is in shock that I am in fact not mentally tired or physically broken from the shock collar. As Anakin begins to walk out, I glance to Tarkin before looking up at the Chancellor who hasn't taken his eyes off me. I smirk wickedly at them before crossing my left leg behind my right, extending both of my arms out and bowing before the Chancellor, without taking my eyes off him. He looked…surprised to say the least that I was still in fact alive, and unshaken by the fact a shock collar couldn't break me. I then stand back up straight and give Tarkin a good side-eye before walking out of the chamber myself.
Instead of heading back to the Temple, I head back to my mother's old apartment. No sooner I walk in the door, I am engulfed into a hug by both my brother and Zara. I was so happy that the two of them were alright in this mess, and they were happy I wasn't dead. As we all sat down to tell them what happened, I realized that it was better late than never to tell Korkie what I found, the day our mother died.
"Korkaran, there is something you should know." I began as I pulled the small microchip out of my pocket. I kept it close to me all this time, as I didn't know who I could trust. I handed him the chip. "This was found on the back of my neck; the day Maul took over Mandalore."
"What is it?" He asked in confusion as he examined it.
"I think it is a chip that inhibited my force abilities." I explain making his head snap up.
"Do you think I have one too?" He asked. "Master Yoda said that my connection to the force is limited."
I nodded. "I am beginning to believe so. It is up to you to get it removed though, mine kind of came out by force."
He looked over the chip, then looked to Zara, then looked to me.
"I want it gone." He firmly stated making both Zara and I smile in response.
None of us were in the mood to hold back anymore. Our happy mood changed however when I got a call on the holoprojector from Anakin explaining that Ahsoka left the Jedi Order. He said that she couldn't trust the Jedi, and she couldn't trust herself anymore, thus why she left to try and find out who she was. Honestly, I don't blame her. If it weren't for my brother, I too would leave working with the Jedi. They've fucked me over too many times. But that's when I realized, if Ahsoka wanted to truly find herself, she wouldn't find it here, on Coruscant…she needed to go off-world. That's when I arranged for Alex to come get Ahsoka to take her to Correllia with him on a job, so she can see other parts of the galaxy and learn where she belongs. After all, they are two of the few people I trust.
"Are you sure going with him is the best idea?" Ahsoka said to me as she looked at Alex who we could see in the bay of his ship. I had him pilot to the shipping yards so we could go undetected without Anakin or the Jedi Order knowing.
I shrugged. "It's the best thing I could think of. You were too sheltered with the Jedi, it's time that you see parts of the galaxy that are not teeming with Battle Droids."
She laughed. "Fair point."
"Just promise me this." I began.
"What?" She asked in confusion.
I handed her a Mandalorian Royal Commlink that would give her direct access to call me, Korkie, or Zara.
"Call me if you need me." I explain. "That's an order."
She laughed again before giving me a salute. "Yes, sir."
I laughed in response before the two of us hugged. I held onto her tight. She was my little sister. I care so much about her and sending her off into the galaxy is almost like what I imagine sending a child off to university.
"Take care of yourself, ok?" I ask holding onto her shoulders as we pull out of the hug.
"You do the same and take care of Anakin." She replied.
I nodded. "I will."
"Ships ready to go." Alex called out from his position.
Ahsoka nodded before ascending the ramp into the ship as Alex descending the ramp to come and speak to me.
"Promise me you'll look out for her." I say with a somber look on my face.
He nodded. "I promise. I won't let anything happen to her. You'd castrate me if that happened."
I laughed and nodded. "Probably."
"But this is good for her. Allows her to grow." He said glancing toward the ship.
I nodded. "That it does."
"You owe me, Princess." He said with a smirk.
I smiled and rolled my eyes as he grabbed me by the waist, pulling my in for a kiss. I in response wrap my arms around his neck.
"I KNEW IT!" Ahsoka screamed making the both of us jump and pull apart.
We both look at Ahsoka who is literally jumping up and down like a child.
"I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS!" She said with excitement.
"You're never escaping it now." I said with a laugh as I gave Alex a shove towards the ship.
"You're lucky I love you Kryze." He called as he began to ascend the ramp.
"I know." I said still laughing as I crossed my arms.
"YOU LOVE HER?" Ahsoka said with disbelief as Alex got closer to her making him shove her into the ship making me laugh harder as the ship door closed.
I watched as the ship took off into the Coruscant atmosphere before I turned around and headed back to my mother's apartment, to spend time with my brother to prepare him for his procedure.
1 Week Later
I grasp my brother's hand and give him a warm smile as he laid on the infirmary bed. Today was the day he was getting the chip out, and while I was fearful for how he'd react without it, I was hopeful for the future.
"You ready for this?" I ask.
He smiled at me. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Obi-Wan put a hand on my shoulder as he stood behind me.
"We'll be here when you get out." Obi-Wan explained.
"All of us." Anakin said as he grasped Korkie's other hand and Zara smiled at him from her spot behind Anakin
"I'm glad I've got a good support system." Korkie smiled.
I gave my brother a hug before the doctors wheeled him into the operating room. As soon as Korkie disappeared my smile grew.
"You're smiling." Anakin said to me in disebelif. "I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time."
"There's a lot to smile about." I explain. "There's hope."
"Hope?" He questioned. "Hope for what?"
I turned back to look at the doors my smile growing even more.
"Hope for the future."
A/N:
Because I've got some PM's lately about faceclaims for everybody, here are the ones to keep track of.
Aurora Kryze - Natalie Dormer
Korkie Kryze - Alexander Ludwig
Zara Kryze - Katheryn Winnick
Alexsandr Vizsla - Chris Evans
Barron Zelle - Sam Claifin