Ahsoka became the rocks at her feet, like the dust carried on the winds between her and her former Master. She became the waters of Lake Naath some distance away and the air that encompassed the broad stretch of valley that contained them all. She became as a very force of nature, all in a suppressive effort to close off her thoughts and emotions to what remained of the man before her. She knew the man within suit was far more attuned to the Force around him than anyone had ever given him credit for, a skill that guided him throughout the very fabric of his own life, now used to further his own gain. “Anakin never had a son.” She said, knowing that saying nothing would be tantamount to the same betrayal as giving Luke up through thought or emotion.
Vader only responded with heavily regulated breaths, never peeling his helmeted gaze from her own.
Long tension filled seconds passed between the two as wafts of debris filled wind divided them, obscuring the images posed by one another as if specters in separate times and space. Detached from thought and emotion, Ashoka felt the very nature of the Force flow into her, comprising all aspects of itself bundled tightly with equal parts love and hate, compassion and indifference, solemnity, and frivolousness. She could sense the freedom her chosen path offered her as she embraced each one of the balanced facets the Force offered. She was the rock, the air, the water and even the fire that burned with severe intensity at the planet’s core.
“Obi-wan would have had me believe the same.” Vader finally responded, unable to penetrate her mind, unable to comprehend the practice she was enacting. “Yet he brought the boy to me nonetheless.” He finished with a noticeably quicker pace in his respirations. “An action that cost him his life.”
Ahsoka knew the truth of it, although she couldn’t rightly explain how she knew. She could sense Obi-wan’s presence within the Force she was strongly connected to in the moment yet knew there would be no interference on his part, what happened here was between her and Vader.
“If a boy exists, what interest would that even be to you?” Ahsoka said without reservation and with enough openness to remain elusive in the realm of conclusion. She had not moved one centimeter, her arms still locked before her chest and her waist canted slightly. The winds ripped at her head wrappings once more as if in a natural push to force the two closer.
Vader’s respirations ceased for a long moment as the winds subsided. The battle that hadn’t suspended itself continued to transpire in some version bereft of the sounds that should accompany it. “So that he may join me Ahsoka.” His respirator registering deeply with a quick cadence of rhythmic inhales and exhales before normalizing, “in my effort to end the suffering of the galaxy and destroy the Emperor.”
Ahsoka had expected all manner of euphemisms or stalling tactics but not the words that escaped the man’s vocater. She very nearly dropped her guard to dive into ferocious emotions and compelling thoughts that would have ranged from utter belief in what she heard to outright contempt. She was able to shield her mind through sheer will and concentration enough to contain the very aspects of herself that could convey what she so desperately wanted to keep from him. Although her thoughts and emotions remained safe, she felt her window to respond closing quickly, another aspect of this exchange which could also lead the man down the path of discovery. “His excellency’s loyal apprentice moves to remove the hand that feeds him….is that it then?”
Vader didn’t hesitate, “it is the way of the Dark Side Ahsoka.” He dropped his open hand finally to his side, closing thumbs over the rim of the belt at his waist.
“No Anakin, it is not. That. Is the way of the Sith.” Ahsoka responded just as quickly, “It shouldn’t surprise me that you do not know the difference. Yet I am just the same.”
“You don’t know the power of the Dark Side….” Vader began but Ahsoka cut him off before he could finish.
“...But I do Anakin, in ways you couldn’t even comprehend.” She said with ferocious conviction. “I will not waste time educating you on something you claim to own. That discovery is for you to make for yourself.” She decided to continue, “but I ask you ‘Lord Vader’” she enacted a mock curtsey, “why is it that you find yourself chasing after the same agenda you began twenty years ago.” She let him ponder the question for only a few seconds, “while your master chases immortality.” She knew it was only supposition in her mind, suspicions she held with only a modicum of proof in support, but enough of a dagger to let his mind wander further off topic. The increased cadence of his respirations affirmed Ahsoka that he was indeed thinking along those lines. His complete lack of verbal retort assured her that he held the same suspicions. “You see Anakin that you leave yourself exposed to your own emotion as your thoughts trail off toward topics that you always carry with you. Let go of your resentments. Let go of your anger and hatred and become the man you’ve been dying to be.” She knew precisely what she would say next but remained unsure of how it would be received. She’d gotten this far without interruption, “it is your turn to walk down those steps Anakin, put the temple behind you for the first time in decades and accept the freedom of being who you were destined to be.” She felt the welling of tears in her own eyes as she mentally prepared her next words carefully, “take my hand Anakin and we’ll descend those steps together. What is done is done, let go of the past.” For a moment she forgot where she was as she saw the mental images play through her mind, the shock in her Master’s eyes as she told him she needed to venture down her own path, alone.
The tears that threatened to betray her lack of emotion, finally getting their way as they snaked down her cheeks, soaking the wrappings that were slackening in the sustained winds. She watched through her blurred vision as Vader dropped his arms from their perch at his waist and his shoulders dropped slightly from the sudden weight of fate. Even his gaze dropped as she witnessed his head droop forward for an instant as he watched the eddying trails of dust and sands drift past his boots through the dark orbs of his faceplate. “I do not regret my actions Ahsoka, I will make that clear. The Jedi needed to be purged, but since, you and I have been pursuing the same agenda.” Vader said, lifting his helmeted head back up to face her, “your actions on Mustafar did not escape my notice.”
Ahsoka contorted her face in genuine confusion, ‘he can’t be referring to the fortress’ she thought in earnest.
“No.” Vader said in response at her failure to contain her thoughts, “the relay station.”
Genuine confusion gave way to genuine surprise at the revelation, “what of it?” Ahsoka asked in response.
“I have had numerous opportunities to turn Force sensitive children, younglings, over to the Emperor and have thwarted each and every one by destroying the information outright.” Vader said, his respirations coming in a hastened rhythm again.
“To what end Anakin?” ‘Why go to such lengths to deceive your own master’ she thought absently again, warry of giving him any further insight into the thoughts and emotions she would die to protect. Although she knew the question she posed in thought may as well have been said aloud, he let the moment go as she pieced together her own conclusions. A thought flashed through her mind, one that she was helpless to conceal from his probing. Ahsoka’s eyes flared wide at her sudden realization, “because you thought your supposed offspring may have been among them?” She posed, doubling down on her efforts to further conceal her emotions which were beginning to adhere to the darker side of the balance she had achieved.
“Reality is hardly supposition Ahsoka. I know the boy is alive and my motives remain unchanged.” His respirations were surprisingly quickening from their already frantic pace. “You threaten me without hesitation and continue to lie to me at every opportunity Ahsoka, yet you work to convince yourself that you are no Jedi. I will find Luke with or without your assistance, and together we will bring about the end of the Emperor, even he has foreseen this.” Vader said raising a hand to clench a mechanical fist before them both.
Ahsoka nearly lost control of the tether she precariously maintained over her emotion upon hearing Luke’s name yet felt strangely odd that his retort considering the Jedi had not registered the same response. She let the thought pass however as she regained her composure, “then the two of you work against one another amidst the suffering of trillions Anakin, do you not see how anserine that is? Why there is such significant effort to stand up against your Empire? Look around you Anakin, look at what you’re fighting against in the here and now…” She said splaying both arms wide open, “do you even know who they are?” He only stared at her, unwilling to be bated into a topic he cared nothing for, yet he knew the answer would be what his Generals had been warning against for some time. “Because, Anakin, I do not even know. This is what your foolishness has bred, and it will only continue to multiply until the Empire is a galactic footnote. Think Anakin.” She could feel herself resorting to pulling at the tethers of his own suppressed emotion as she contended with keeping her own in line. “You can choose, right now, which side of this continuing confrontation you will be a part of.” A sudden thought assailed her thoughts as if sourced well outside her own frame of mind, “the Jedi are gone Anakin. What remains is free from the very tenets that both you and I took exception to. Begin anew Anakin, redefine the narrative and let the Jedi return.”
He froze in place for what felt like eons, that very thought crossing his own mind on more than one occasion. For a fraction of a second he let his mind wander, untethered to his continuous rage, into the realm of imagination and fantasy, positing himself into the very seat Ahsoka had suggested. Becoming what for decades he had hunted. In that moment, he saw himself, free from the umbilical limitations of his suit, his armor, and the helmet. He saw himself showing a sandy haired little boy how to properly execute the first form of lightsaber techniques. He saw the boy, older, execute the combined routine of forms three through six flawlessly. But then he saw an image of Mace Windu, mocking him, an image of Master Yoda looking up at him with disgust. He saw Obi-wan scolding him and then he saw Padme dead at his feet. His mind reverted to the present, the winds blowing harder between him and his former apprentice as she slowly twisted her head from side to side, the wrappings about her face blowing free, revealing her facial features in their entirety. The disappointment registered in her eyes as she curled her lips inward with disgust.
“The problem you refuse to acknowledge Anakin is your lack of courage. Never in my life would I have found reason to utter those words...until now.” Ahsoka said as she continued to sway her head in disbelief. “All that you could imagine should have been possible had you the courage to let go of your anger. Yet here we are.” Despite trying to the contrary, her voice sounded mocking to her.
“My anger is my asset Ahsoka.” Vader retorted, yet Ahsoka was prepared.
“No Anakin, it is your tether. You know the truth of it yet refuse to accept it.” She finished shaking her head from side to side, the words coming slowly as she narrowed her eyes. Ahsoka felt the shift through the edifice of the Force, a paradigm shift that brought with it negative energies and she knew that any window through which to reach her former master had shuttered itself from her efforts. All that remained was the mechanical shell of the man she had only once known. “You will never understand the powers you seek Darth Vader, only the effects of the hatred you sow.” She blew out a breath and began to shift her feet to finish her arc around him, remaining cognizant of both his position and continuing threat, but unwilling to force an engagement of her own terms. Ahsoka completed her arc and began to wrap the cloth tightly about her head once more, removing her gaze from her former master, she looked toward her friends some distance away. Within three steps she heard him ignite his lightsaber once again, the static in the air levying the blade with chaotic discharges causing the hum of the weapon to vibrate within the spectrum of high and deep tones. She didn’t even pause to take her fourth step, then her fifth as she closed her eyes and pulled deeply within the Force, drawing from every current that was willing to acquiesce. She drew her right hand about her chest and motioned slowly with caressing fingers in a slow downward motion as she continued to distance herself from the Sith Lord, never once looking back toward him as she heard the extinguishing hiss of the blade in his hands punctuate the verbal exchange. She could feel the man shift from his tempest of anger, through the tendrils of the Force, to outright contempt at her audacity.
Ahsoka sensed the split-second exchange that was about to take place before he had even reignited his saber. Within seconds she casually dodged to the right as a white-hot blast from Kowani’s A-180 scorched over her left shoulder. She heard before she saw the reignition of the crimson blade as she let her momentum take her body into a side roll. She heard the deflection of the bolt of energy redirect itself from the blade he held before him. Before she could blink her eyes Ahsoka had called the hilts of both of her sabers to her hands, had them ignited and crossed them before her own chest, redirecting the bolt of energy yet again into the ground between them with a cloud of sand and dust.
The distance between them brought with it the sounds of battle that had been eerily absent earlier. Ahsoka stood fully erect from her quickly executed defensive stance and lowered both sabers in unison. “You’ve asked your question Lord Vader and I’ve given you my answer. We both know you will not be leaving with the clone so you’ve no other reason for being here.”
Vader found no words to speak through the incredulous comment, although guilty of treason for crimes against the Empire, CT-7567 was of no consequence toward his efforts here. He focused on the huddled trio forty meters distant, pinpoint reticles within the helmet focusing on each individually. Vader was taken aback upon seeing the clone, Anakin within staunchly correcting his own mind that the clone had a name but couldn’t remember it. ‘To whom do you refer Ahsoka’ Vader thought to himself amid a bright flash that threatened to steal his sight entirely before the visual compensator dampened its effects fully from within the helmet. The effect was instantaneous as he was able to distinguish a bolt of dry lightning slamming into the ground between himself and the Togruta, causing the hem of his cape to flare wide behind him. The reticle centered upon the Mandalorian that had fired the shot destroying his fighter. She had also fired the shot that had thwarted the lunge he had intended to make. Finally, he focused on Thanara, the name Barriss had taken as a study to his own master. He felt her gaze penetrate his own as she stare at him, unblinking, unmoving. ‘Whom Ahsoka?’ He thought again to himself, Anakin within screaming to be heard with a single phrase, “All of them.”
Ahsoka glared at Vader as the bolt of lightning slammed into the ground between them. An assault of grainy bits of rock and sand showered her as she shielded her eyes from their effects. The unnatural storm was becoming more menacing with each passing second, the very lightning taking on a life of its own as it crackled with burning intensity, parting the swirling debris clouds as it danced across the valley’s surface. She began to feel rhythmic tremors shake the very foundations of the ground she was standing on; tremors she knew had nothing to do with the storm. One solitary chord pierced its way through the chaotic sounds of battle that sent a shiver down her spine. A series of distinctive metallic clanks, footpad compensator, yaw strut and ankle pitch brake that only came from the Imperial armored behemoths. Seconds later the ground seized with yet another tremor. Ahsoka knew they needed to leave.
Vader felt the tremors through his own boots as he knew he would. Veers was close. His mind would not let itself wander beyond her statement however, no matter what form of distraction showed itself to him. “I am not here for CT-7567.”
“I know you’re not, if you were, we would have had a much different conversation Vader….a very one-sided conversation.” Ahsoka said in earnest, beginning again to close the gap, the winds blowing a sheen veil of sands between them. “I am referring to Nara.” Ahsoka continued, finding herself tormented by choice. She knew she needed to prioritize the safety of her friends yet the burning desire to deliver his fate to him right here and now evaded any form of suppression. ‘It’s this place Ahsoka…’ she said to herself as the veil of debris clouded her vision of Vader completely. She focused on the Force entirely to find him, unmoving, as she crossed her feet over one another, letting the folds of her cloth wrap drape about her fully. Ahsoka could sense Nara’s presence as if the woman were whispering in her ear, fingers spread wide as her hands waved slowly yet chaotically through the air before her. Ahsoka mimicked the motions she saw in her mind with her own hands as the swirling eddies of browns and yellows swam between her fingers, the tips of which guided the flows willingly. She felt herself become the winds themselves, dancing through both time and space, a natural elegance that concealed her entirely from his view. She could see him turn his head, searching for a sign of her. Ahsoka let herself drift through the ribbons of sand as they swirled up and down, left, and right. The billowing folds of her cloak mimicking the facets of the wind born natural chaos as, it too, blended in with the churning debris. She felt as if she were in deep meditation as she gave as much of herself to the Force as she let in, a consensual relationship that felt like home. It was the only way she knew she could suppress the anger that refused to be abated. Vader’s revelation had sparked a violent rage that she had successfully concealed from his probing but was beginning to take its toll. She felt the Dark Side well within her, waiting for her invitation to unleash itself through her actions. Ahsoka knew she could not allow herself to give in to it, her friends were here with her, and she would die to protect them before she would allow them to die over a moment of indiscretion.
“Nara?” Vader asked, his mind looking for a measure of purchase within the suddenness of the chaotic scene. “Thanara?” He asked again as the name drew the only logical conclusion. ‘That’s impossible’ he thought to himself, scanning through the storm with his optical enhancement as he swiveled his head. “Thanara is the former Jedi Offee Ahsoka.” He was certain of it, had been assured of it. He continued looking about him for a hint, a trace of the elusive Togruta without success, yet he knew she had gone nowhere.
“Why so certain?” She replied, Vader swiveling as his boot kicked a loose stone that scattered soundlessly across the rocky ground, knowing she should have been directly over his shoulder given the location of her whispering voice. “Because you’ve been told otherwise?” She whispered again, this time Vader swiveling to his other side.
“Show yourself Ahsoka, end this game.” Vader said as his respirations heaved his massive chest, his annoyance churning the ever-present hate within.
“I’ve gone nowhere Vader. I am where I am, where you’ve left me….and I you” She replied, her voice a reverberating echo within his own mind. Her whisper continued, “your hate, your rage, have blinded you my old friend. Search what remains of Anakin’s thoughts and feelings Vader and ask yourself why you would be deceived.” He paused for a moment, contemplating the suggestion for only a split second before the roiling anger renewed its grip over his senses, obliterating any doubt she was trying to sow.
“You’ve claimed to be anything but a Jedi, yet your lies remain consistent Ahsoka...a Master of lies.” Vader said, letting the ebbs and flows of his own emotions, those of rage, wrath, and deep-rooted resentment, fuel his reach into the Dark Side.
“Now who’s stalling Vader.” Ahsoka said, the swirling storm that had been her veil from his sight parted a meter before him as she slowly stepped through the sands. “You see how easily deceived you can become through your hate, now ask yourself how easily you can be deceived by your own reason.” She was certain he wouldn’t understand but she didn’t care. As her thoughts pushed forward, Ahsoka felt the encumbrance and immediacy of the decisions she would be forced to make in the next few seconds. She recalled her time on Dagobah, hearing the words of the diminutive Jedi Master echo through her mind, ‘you, Anakin, will be the architect of your own salvation.’ Ahsoka thought with sincere clarity, doing nothing to suppress it from Vaders reach.
“Obi-wan thought as you do. A sentiment he took to his grave.” Vader responded, an exacerbated hum adding a measure of finality to his statement as he raised his saber before him perpendicular to the ground. “I grow tired of the games Ahsoka. If you will not tell me where my son is I will find him on my own.”
Ahsoka shut her eyes tight to the comment, growing weary from the effort needed to hold the advancing anger within her in check. Every muscle in her body twitched in anticipation, yearning to be released from their temporary stasis as she fought through the intensive waves of rage, all centralized on the single course of action she had pledged to avoid. ‘Master, stay my hand!’ She shouted through her own mind, damning Vaders ability to read the thought with an even measure of her own seething wrath.
“Your thoughts betray you…..” Vader said unsurprisingly, yet trailed off suddenly which surprised her. “It is of no consequence Ahsoka, you will either answer to a new master or die by my blade.” He said as he began walking slowly toward her position. “I will fulfill my promise to you one way or another.”
The swirling winds increased dramatically as Ahsoka snapped her eyes open. Her pupils intensified their anger behind them as they constricted into small black specs within a sea of radiant blue. She turned her head slowly to look upon her friends, huddled closely together between rocky formations that disappeared into the swirling storm above them. She could feel each one of them nod the approval she wasn’t sure she wanted. Every instinct within seemed to be trapped within the exact same conundrum her mind was weighing. She could hear the vibrating hum of Vaders saber closing the distance between them, knowing he was preparing himself to end her. Ahsoka felt no fear as the moment seemed to stretch into an eon of hesitation, only the weight of the myriad consequences facing the man outright would conjure. ‘Whom would I betray if I ended him? Do I have the strength to resist the Emperor in his stead should I succeed? Do I honor the sacrifice of the Lars family, of Obi-wans? Padme? Can I turn him? Should I? The questions would stymie the collective Jedi counsel itself she knew, yet here she was, the soul possessor of the decisions to be made, yet only a solitary inheritor of the consequences that would result. ‘The fate of the galaxy….’ it was too much to digest in the fractions of seconds she had yet at her disposal, “then I will do as I must…” She said under her breath as Vader stepped into striking distance, his right arm raised to shoulder height. She drew in a deep breath, her chest heaving from the pressure put upon it by her contracting diaphragm and spun into a low crouch facing the machine her master had become. She had made her decision as she called her sabers to her hands, closing her eyes as she ignited them and swung them immediately up and over her back, crossing them to block the severe downward thrust Vader initiated. She swiveled in the crouched position with a deft foot over foot crawl letting his momentum slide down her primary blade, his saber burying itself in the stone at her feet. Ahsoka continued the crouched swivel carrying her own whirlwind form closer to his right boot. Vader countered with a reflexive spin that brought him out of her sabers reach just before she severed the appendage from the ankle down. She noted his own corrective foot planting itself behind his shoulder, giving her an unintended opening. She launched herself from her feet immediately as she extinguished her sabers, landing a full force kick to his right knee, then quickly rolling to the left to prepare for a follow up strike as she reignited the blades once more.
Vader stumbled backward, nearly falling to his left knee as his boot slid on the sand covered surface of the rocky valley but recovered quickly enough to form a defensive stance that prevented Ahsoka from taking advantage of the unexpected window. “Impressive. You’ve learned much it seems in my absence.” He said as he brought his blade up before him again.
“Vader...I’ve learned much in spite of you.” She responded, letting the Force flow through her entirely. “This doesn’t have to end the way either of us imagines it.” She finished with an exhale, watching his left hand with more curious interest than his dominant, waiting for him to flow predictably into the unexpected. Ahsoka didn’t wait as she followed the flows of the Force through, and into, anything close. Several large boulders, broken stone from the canyon in the distance, lay a few meters to either side. Again, she did not wait. She focused on Vader as her center as she brought a trio of them rushing forward toward him. Vader dodged the first, spun to split the second in half but ran out of time to contain the third as it slammed into his back, spilling him forward and directly toward the waiting white blazing sabers Ahsoka held before her.