Consequences

Chapter 9 - Visions

The battle in the vision continues furiously until I'm thrown off a ledge. After a moment of recovering myself, I climb back up to see Vader trying to Force-pull something, that I get the feeling is important, away from the boy. There's another man with him now.

Igniting my lightsabers, I charge him from behind. Vader whirls around at the last moment, swinging his red lightsaber towards me. I leap through the air over his head, swinging one of my lightsabers to meet his, and the other one down across his helmet. Vader falls to the ground, and I land several feet away, lightsabers deactivating as I hit the ground.

I push myself up and turn around to see Vader still kneeling behind me. The boy and the other person use the temporary distraction to scramble back towards the waiting ship. Vader raises his head, revealing a crack in his helmet through which I can see a yellow eye.

"Ahsoka! Ahsoka," he calls. He sounds half like Anakin now, his tone somehow distinctly caring, even though it shouldn't be.

"Anakin?" I exclaim. I pull myself to my feet, staring at my brother. I can feel the sense of fierce determination in her, even if it's not me. "I won't leave you. Not this time."

He stares back at me for several long moments before his eye narrows and fills with anger again. "Then you will die," he snarls, activating his lightsaber again. He begins walking closer to me, but I don't move or react. I just stand there, accepting my death.

"Ahsoka! No!" yells the boy, running back down the ramp of the ship, trying to come for me. I Force-shove him backwards at the ship before turning back to Vader. Spinning around, I activate my lightsabers and block his blow from behind. The ship fully closes, and our battle continues raging.

A sudden explosion draws my eyes to the ceiling. The building is collapsing. On us. Our lightsabers continue clashing furiously. He's attacking me with the same intensity he was in the end back on Cloud City, except this time I'm doing a much better job fighting back.

We get trapped in a saberlock. Moments tick by as I struggle to keep his lightsaber from striking me. Suddenly, there's an explosion as the ceiling above us gives way. I shove him backwards with my lightsabers and then slam the blades into the floor between us. Instantly, the floor starts to crumble. I raise my head unflinching from where the cracks spread across the ground, watching as Vader raises his lightsaber.

Someone yanks me backwards just as Vader swings his lightsaber in what would have been a killing blow. Simultaneously, the floor caves in, and he falls through the hole.

It's the last thing I see before my older self reappears. I'm back in the vision. Or is it a vision, considering I think I'm actually still alive? It's hard to say. Maybe it's a communication through the Force.

"Anakin's still there," I insist. I know it.

She pauses for a long moment, pain clear in her eyes, before replying. "Yes, but your focus is the past. Not the future." True enough. Even though I don't fully understand what I have to change, at least I have an idea where to start.

"Why do you have white lightsabers?" I inquire.

"I got the crystals from an Inquisitor and healed them of the Dark Side using the Force, so they turned white." Interesting. I didn't even know that was possible.

Still, I get the feeling that there's something else I'm missing. "What else do I need to know?"

"I became a Grey Jedi after spending a long time meditating on what to call myself. I realized that there's a lot the Jedi don't understand. I finally figured out exactly what the vision on Mortis was telling me. That there was more I wouldn't see if I stayed as a Jedi; our destiny lies outside of them. And with the time here, maybe you won't have to leave to realize this." I really don't know what to say to that. After seeing the fight, I shouldn't be surprised to hear about this, but I definitely never expected it. After all, if I wasn't with the Jedi, where else would I go?