The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Eight

Chapter Nineteen: What She Saw That Night

AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka was dreaming.

But, unlike most of the dreams that she had experienced before - such as Jedi premonitions, fears that manifested themselves when she slept - these ones were happy ones. They were gentle, kind dreams about her baby.

She was holding her baby in her arms, their tiny hands kneading her loose Jedi robe. This time, she was standing on the edge of a barren cliff overlooking a jungle-like forest. The view was spectacular, and, from the color of the sky and the proximity of the two visible moons, she was on Onderon.

It was a beautiful moment, but suddenly it became darker, and the sky looked as it did before a big storm. Her baby disappeared, and she was left holding on to empty air. She looked around, wondering where her child could have gone, but a flash of lightening forced her back.

Ahsoka stumbled a few steps, trying to regain her balance on the difficult ground. She could even see where the lightening had singed the cloth of her robe. But she paused from her examination when she realized that the lighting had changed. She looked up, and nearly gasped.

Mustafar. She was now on the planet Mustafar.

The shape of the slope hadn't changed, but the rock had turned from sandstone to volcanic rock. She was no longer looking at a beautiful forest, but a spitting, fiery sea of lava. It was dotted here and there with rocky isles, but there was no land in sight beyond them.

Where Jedi come to die, she heard a sad, whispery voice say. It chilled her to the bone. This was where Anakin had become Darth Vader, where Obi-Wan had lost his brother to the Dark Side, where Padme had decided to die.

It flickered back to the scene on Onderon for a moment, as if there were two opposing forces in the dream, each trying to show her something different. But the one fighting for Mustafar won. She could feel the blistering heat on her skin, the rumble every time a distant volcano erupted, smell the ash on the air...

There were two more flashes of lightening, each coming far too close to Ahsoka for comfort. In between the first and the second, she thought she saw the face of a Dathomirian with red eyes. It looked like Darth Maul, but it was gone before she could get a good look. Then, after the second flash, she saw a face that was both unknown and familiar.

It was a child, its features flickering incessantly between Human and Togruta, creating a dizzying hybrid. It also didn't seem to be able to settle on those of a girl or a boy, creating different lekku and montral shapes.

The apparition suddenly seemed to age, until it was about thirteen or fourteen. They stretched out a hand towards her, their expression fearful. Their beautiful blue eyes, a shade somewhere in between her color and Lux's, slowly turned yellow rimmed with red, the Dark Side flushing the pure sapphire away. Their veins burned like the lava fifty feet below them.

When it opened its mouth to speak, Ahsoka was amazed. Despite looking so much older, the specter still spoke with the voice of a three-year-old. "Mama..." they whispered.

My baby, she wanted to scream, but the words came out as a dry gasp.

"Mama," they said again, but suddenly seemed to writhe in agony. "Mama! HELP ME!!"

And then she woke up. But something deep inside her had snapped. This was officially too much stress for one day. Her best-kept secret had been revealed, and now this nightmare...

So she cried and cried. She cried like she had never been happy before.

*Ahsoka has just had a dream full of pain and suffering... But what is its meaning? Who sent it in the first place? Is it someone she knows, or someone she's never seen before? And how is she going to react when she realizes who it is? You'll find out in the next amazing chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

*grits teeth* One... More... Chapter... It's only one more...

And I have a funny feeling that it will make you all want to send me hateful PMs... And grab your blasters and head for my house, but please don't. Like I always say: it will get better in time.

Go from padawan to the Master of a youngling after your Master dies before you can say 'Separatist' and may the Force be with you,

Sharron