Star Wars: Dawning of the Chosen One

Malachor

"I won't leave you ... not this time," declared Ahsoka Tano while the Sith holocron arced bolts of lightning in the temple on Malachor.

Across from her, Darth Vader slowly rose. The gleaming yellow eye and patchy flesh behind the damaged helmet glared back at her. The eye of Anakin.

Before he could say another word, Ahsoka extinguished her white lightsabers and lowered her arms. "Anakin, I love you. Please, you don't have to do this."

"You don't know the power of the dark side, Ahsoka." His venomous words slashed into her heart. "There is no place for love in the soul of a Sith."

"But you aren't, Anakin. You're the Chosen One."

"Obi-Wan believed the same as you do." Vader raised his blade over his head. "He was ... wrong."

Ahsoka's white blades sprang into action and fended off the blow. "I know you still love me, Anakin. I can feel the conflict in you. Just as you still love ..." She flipped her lekku over her shoulders and paused as she sidestepped in a circle. "Padmé."

"Don't you ever mention her name again!" Vader lunged at her once more, but the Togruta leaped further away.

"It was no secret Anakin. I could see the way you looked at her ... kriff, Obi-Wan suspected you two were sl—"

"You will not speak of her that way. It wasn't like that at all. She was too good for me—" His voice cracked now, and his eye glistened. He stumbled to the ground, his lightsaber clattering on the dark floor. Moaning, he gripped the sides of his helmet. "No—"

Ahsoka ran to his side and knelt beside her. "Anakin. I'm here. Fight it."

"I-I-I—" He moaned once again. "I killed her, Ahsoka. I killed my angel. I didn't even know what I was doing until she lay there ... dead." He roared. "I killed our child, too."

Still, Ahsoka clung to his twisted form, shuddering under the guilt.

"My wi-i-ife." His sobbing echoed around the quaking Sith temple. "I have no reason to live, Ahsoka." He reached out for his saber and lifted it above him, pointing it directly at his chest. One swipe, and he wouldn't have to endure the agony of guilt.

Ahshoka lifted her hand and caught his arm in the Force. "I know there is good in you, Anakin. Fight this. There is still hope."

"I must pay for my sins or go back to them. There is no other way, Snips."

"No. I believe in you, Anakin. Just like you believed in me. I won't abandon you. And I won't let you die like this."

Their hands strained, dark side against light side, fighting for control of the saber. But Ahsoka was no longer an apprentice. Fully grown into her Force powers, fully trained in the light, she called on it now.

From the depths of her soul, white light shot out from her hand snatching the saber from Anakin's and tossing it into the holocron reactor. Hissing and spewing energy bolts, the reactor dissolved the weapon. "Touch the light, Anakin. It's welcoming you back." She let it bounce on her hand. "Reach out."

The black glove slowly moved toward the ball of light the Togruta controlled, the pure light of the Force.

"Trust me, Anakin."

He shut his eye. "It's been so long since I could trust anyone."

"I will never leave you, Anakin. Never again." She bit her lip. "Remember Mortis."

"I—I can't."

"Yes, you can. Reach for the light. It will show you. Now is the time." She spoke in hushed, soothing tones.

His fingers inched toward the tendrils of light. One centimeter at a time, and then an audible click resounded through the temple of darkness. The holocron snuffed out, and a terrifying voice screamed through the chamber "Nooooooo!"

Anakin Skywalker, once Darth Vader, opened his blue eye and stared at Ahsoka. Warmth penetrated the Master/Padawan bond once more. She grinned at him and stroked his cheek. "So you and Padmé got married, hunh? Why didn't you invite me, Skyguy?"

He chuckled. "Oh, Snips, it was before The Clone War. I used to sneak out of the temple every night to be with her." Tears raced down his face once more. "How could I have killed her?"

Ahsoka's eyes glazed over as images assaulted her. Force-visions rarely struck, and they never gave her warning when they were going to. Her friend was in a Med Center. In labor. Two. There are twins!

"You didn't. She survived."

"I've been to her tomb, Ahsoka. She's dead. I killed her."

She comforted him once more. "She might be, but you didn't kill her." Ahoska helped him stand.

"Where are we going?" His breathing was staggered.

"To find your son ..." She smiled, a tear forming in her eye now. "And your daughter."

"What?"

Love beamed through, surrounding Anakin in a brilliant light. His eye widened. "I knew it was a girl!"

"But first ..." Ahsoka tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. "We have to get rid of Sidious."

His voice filled with dread, he muttered, "I know." He titled his head to look her in the eye. "Together?"

"Together." She clasped his hand and intertwined her fingers in his. A sly smile crept across her face. "But let's stop on Tatooine. I think you might want your lightsaber."