Judgment Day

Chapter 19 - In The End

Author's Note: There's only an epilogue left for next week. :D

~ Amina Gila

Ahsoka still doesn't know what to think of Luke. He claimed to be from the future to help, and he betrayed them. She doesn't know what happened, but he became a Sith, and he fought with Sidious against them. If not for that, maybe they could have killed Sidious before.

Maybe. She knows the only reason it was so easy this time was because they were in closed quarters, and he couldn't throw things or use the Force much, but still.

Being around him is... strange and admittedly uncomfortable. "You're going to be staying here?" Ahsoka asks, more to break the uncomfortable silence between the two than that she doesn't already know the answer. She can't avoid interacting with him forever.

He eyes her. "Of course."

"You're a Sith," she says, bluntly, "And we're going to rebuild the Jedi Order eventually." Sooner rather than later. They haven't talked about it yet, but if Anakin is going to help, Ahsoka will too.

"I'm here for Anakin, nothing else," Luke responds, but she notices the slight change in tone, like he's unhappy hearing the Order will be rebuilt.

"Then why did you join Sidious?" She doesn't bother keeping the accusatory note out of her voice. "You claimed you were here from the future to help."

Luke's expression hardens, his eyes bleeding yellow again – like they usually are when Anakin isn't around. She pretends it doesn't unsettle her. "I was here first and foremost to save my father however I had to, and I did."

He'd Fallen for him, Anakin had told her, but she didn't know what he meant, and he never wanted to talk about it again. "Save him from what?"

"Sidious," he answers, shortly, "I had to stop Sidious from turning or killing him, and it was the only way."

Maul's words echo through her head again. Luke Fell to stop Sidious from turning Anakin? She doesn't really get how that worked since the Sith certainly never lost interest, but it... is an answer. That doesn't mean she trusts him, though. "We could have defeated Sidious before, if you had joined us," she argues. At least there would have been a better chance. Or maybe Yoda would have survived.

"We would have failed," Luke replies darkly, "And had I left, Sidious would never have stopped looking for my father. He only stopped temporarily because I was his apprentice, and he knew that would lead him to Anakin eventually. And I know how Sidious fights. As long as he can freely use the Force, we could never defeat him. In that Senate room, all of us here would have still failed even if we'd fought him together."

It's the truth, she knows, but it still feels like he betrayed them. Rex had trusted everything he was saying back when they were on Mandalore.

"I didn't want us to meet on these terms, but it was the only way," Luke continues.

"Did we know each other in your future?" she wonders.

"No, but I know of you. You were a major figure in the Rebellion."

"Was Anakin... there, too?" She can't imagine leading a rebellion without him constantly near her. But trying to imagine things unfolding without Luke's presence, she suddenly has a very bad feeling about what would have happened.

"No. He was not."

And somehow, she just knows. She can't imagine that ever happening. Why would Anakin ever Fall? She can't ever imagine such a thing, and suddenly, she has to admit to feeling a grudging amount of gratitude. "I suppose I should thank you," Ahsoka concedes, "For helping Anakin, even if nothing else."