Star Wars: Balance of the Force (Anakin Skywalker Redemption)

22 - Old Friends

Serenno was once an incredibly beautiful planet but now it seemed...empty. Devoid of life and people, it was abandoned. It hadn't occurred to her to check what had happened to it after the rise of the Empire, but Ahsoka was starting to get an idea.

The planet looked abandoned. Cities were void of life, the buildings run down and ragged, and the rolling fields were overgrown.

Velaya guided the ship along the surface to a sprawling estate. It looked as though it had once been grand, with high spires and intricately designed windows, but now it looked like everything else on the planet.

Unconcerned with any potential threats, Velaya strode out of the ship confidently. The swish of her deep maroon robes was the only sound as they ventured outside. Ahsoka concentrated on reaching out through the Force, feeling a tug away from the building before them.

'Ahsoka? Are you coming?' Ezac asked, standing with Velaya near the doorway.

'I wanted to look this way, I'll catch up later,' she waved behind her, and they nodded. That was one thing she had missed in her time away from the Jedi Order - Force sensitives did not question your instincts or ideas half as much as those who couldn't feel the Force.

Making her way through the overgrown pathways, Ahsoka again reached for whatever was calling her forward.

It didn't take her long to find it, or rather, who.

'Good to see you, it is,' he chuckled, and Ahsoka stopped in her tracks, looking in disbelief at the small figure before her.

'Master Yoda,' she breathed.

'Ahsoka,' he smiled.

A million questions swirled through her mind, as she shook her head, unable to ask any of them, 'How?'

He laughed again, tipping his head to the side before gesturing to the ground beside where he sat. Ahsoka was getting antsy with all the distractions. She didn't want to let Anakin down, but she knew better than fighting the will of the Force.

'Well, you are?'

'Yes, thank you. Better now, a lot better.' Ahsoka hedged, relief still filling her at knowing that this might all be over soon, but it was tempered by fear. What would Yoda think of what Anakin had become?

'Nervous, I sense,' he smiled. 'For Anakin.'

She spun to face him and he looked down, 'Know his past, I do. Know his future, I do not. Powerful he is, unstable he is more.'

'You think he won't turn on Sidious?' Ahsoka's chest burned with something like terror, while her stomach dropped.

'A perversion, the Dark side is,' Yoda hummed. 'Powerful it is, when listened to. Yet, if anyone could defy it, him it would be.'

Ahsoka looked down.

'Powerful you are,' Yoda nudged her. 'His apprentice you were, strong your bond was.' Then he looked at her in a curious way, 'Changed you, Mortis did. Tell us what happened, Kenobi and Skywalker did not.'

Obi-Wan didn't tell the Council about it? She supposed it made sense, after Anakin's brush with the Dark Side, Obi-Wan was worried that it might lead to even more suspicion. It also didn't help that Ahsoka had...well, she wasn't entirely sure what happened on Mortis. She remembered fighting Anakin and Obi-Wan, she remembered the rush of the Dark side, and the knowledge that she would never...no, could never go back to the light. Not after that power. Then it all went dark, and she woke up in Anakin's shaking embrace, the Daughter lying dead beside her.

She rarely brought it up with her Master's, afraid that...well, she might learn something she didn't want to know. Anakin always got snappy when she talked about Mortis, so she avoided it as much as possible.