The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Eight

Chapter Fifteen: These Dark Conversations/ The Secret Is Out

DARTH MAUL

On autopilot, Darth Maul's ship, the Unseen Enemy, flew down towards the surface of Moraband. The Sith Lord himself sat in the back room, meditating on what he was about to do, patiently weighing the benefits... and the risks.

There was a gentle fuzz of static in the background of his mind as he felt Darth Bane contact him. Over the course of the last few months, he had grown used to the Sith'ari inhabiting his mind for short periods of time to talk to him from beyond the confinement of his tomb.

Are you ready to do what must be done to fulfill the sacred prophecy, Maul of the eternal Sith Order? Bane said. But he wasn't asking the question in the most common respect; he was trying to determine just how strong the Darthomirian Sith Lord's will was.

And Maul was determined to surprise.

"I was ready a year ago, Lord Bane," he replied aloud. As sending a mental reply was tiring, he preferred to speak with his voice instead of his mind in theses dark conversations. It would conserve his strength. "I have just passed through the atmosphere. I will land on the sacred sands of the planet shortly."

Very well, the spirit said. I await your arrival with great... anticipation.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

A few hours after the New Jedi's depart for Onderon, Anakin walked into the common room of the New Hope for the second time that day, looking for someone to play holo-chess with. And a strange sight greeted him. There was Ahsoka, practicing several lightsaber forms, except that she was using... A Jedi training module?

It was almost exactly like when she had been his padawan. She was using her primary green lightsaber – as her shoto had been sliced in half by Darth Maul a few months before – to shoot the harmless golden energy blasts back at the training droid. She even had a blast shield on. But, however, she was wearing her cloak while doing so. That was something that Jedi rarely did when they were training.

"Ahsoka," he said, while checking to make sure that no one else was in the room. They were alone, probably because everyone else was watching the holo-chess game that was pitting Rex against Christo. People were even making bets on who was going to win. "Can I talk to you?"

She lifted the shield and took it off, casually tossing it onto one of the couches. "Hey, Master. What's going on?"

He sat down beside the discarded helmet, shifting his layers of Jedi robes until he was comfortable. "I wanted to ask you about something you said back in my room yesterday. How some things should stay buried, for everyone's sake? What did you mean by that?"

"Uh..." She stiffened almost imperceptibly, but then seemingly forced herself to relax. "Just a lot going on right now. We're on a rescue mission to meet people we haven't seen in years, and I don't know how they'll react to seeing me again, and–"

"You switched the subject," he said expressionlessly. It was time to ask the inevitable question: "Snips, are you... are you... pregnant?"

She sat down very slowly, her face ashen. "How... How did you know?" she asked, her voice hardly above a whisper, and trembling slightly.

"I kept track of Padme's pregnancy for months when she was expecting Luke and Leia, Ahsoka. I notice these things. And by the way the light was hitting you when you were leaving my room..."

"You were able to guess," she finished. She was quiet for a moment. "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone."

"Ahsoka, I–"

"Promise me!" There were tears shining in her eyes.

He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. "I would never. I kept the secret with Padme, so why can't I do it again?"

She was making a valiant effort to suppress her imminent meltdown. "Anakin, I'm afraid," she whispered, before standing up quite abruptly. "I just need to be alone..."

She was about to run from the room, but Anakin grabbed her arm, pulling her into a hug. Her face buried in his robes, sobbing near-hysterically. Anakin couldn't sympathize exactly, but he did know how it felt to be carrying a devastating secret that his conscience wasn't allowing him to tell anyone. And she must have been holding this in for nearly three months...

"Have faith, Ahsoka," he murmured. "Everything will soon be set right..."

And so, he gently rocked her back and forth in his arms, while she curled up half on his lap, half off. He looked down at the frail young woman he was currently sheltering from her inner demons, and remembered something that he had realized long, long ago.

That he would do everything in his power to keep his little sister safe.

*The secret is out... Anakin knows what Ahsoka so desperately tried to keep from everyone she held dear. But how long will it stay that way? Will Lux, Amni, Christo and the others figure out what happened? And if they do, how will they react? You'll find out in the next chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

More fluff. Hope you liked. But I must go, I have another chapter to post!! *puts on a Superman cape and flies away like a BAWSS*

Watch as the man you once called your brother burns beside a river of lava and may the Force be with you,

Sharron