Rising From Ashes

Chapter 15 - Looking Back

Author's Note: The family is coming back together... in time to face another challenge. :)

~ Amina Gila

Ahsoka Tano

The message from the twins has been ringing through my mind ever since I heard it. I can't forget their 'don't look back'. And how they said we deserve better than them. If anything, it only motivated me to try harder to bring us back together again. And for now, I'll do it the only way I can – by working on increasing the Rebel network across the galaxy, much the way they themselves had told me to do.

It's hard still being without Alema, especially now that I'm fighting again, but at the same time, it also helps distract me.

Still, the last thing I'm expecting to hear from Rex is that the twins just showed up, and they're currently hiding with Dooku. The Empire is collapsing now that someone dumped information about Sidious to the public, and I've never felt quite so smug before. Especially because so many clones, and even the newer Imperial stormtroopers, are all refusing to keep fighting for the Empire. It's falling into chaos, and I don't know what will happen, but... Mostly, that's going to be up to Bail if he can make a move soon.

I drop everything as soon as I can, instantly going to where the twins are. That I'm actually about to see them again doesn't truly sink in until I feel their presences for the first time. They feel much like they did in the hologram, with an underlying darkness to their brilliance, but it's still them, and that's all that matters right now.

It feels so much like an echo of the last time I saw them in person as I step off the shuttle, to see them waiting for me. And their eyes are blue. Somehow, that's the first thing I notice.

Except now, I'm even more at a loss for words than I was last time.

"Ahsoka," Anakin breathes, and for a moment, all I can do is stand frozen, looking at them. I still don't understand how they could've Fallen, but they don't feel of that same darkness all the other Sith do. Although... why do I sense someone so dark close by anyway? That's not Dooku.

"Did you really think I wouldn't come to find you as soon as I could?" I blurt, finally. Not by foolishly going to Coruscant of course, but...

The faintest hints of a smile, though it hardly looks real, appear on both their faces. "That's why we warned you to stay away, no matter what," Aniya replies.

I move a little closer, hating how hopelessly uncertain I feel about what to say or how to handle it, now that we're meeting again. It was the same when we met after the Outer Rim Sieges, but it's been even longer now. I want nothing more than to throw myself into their arms and just... rewind time to back during the war maybe, but obviously, I can't. "I did what you asked. With the Rebellion," I say finally.

Anakin moves towards me, until we're only feet apart. "You're tall," he states, dryly, and I let out an incredulous not quite laugh.

"I did hit a growth spurt, right after this... fell apart."

"You're my height," Aniya notes.

"And soon, I'll be taller," I retort, smirking, but the momentary lightness fades again. I just don't know how to... be, and it hurts.

"I'm sorry things came to this, Ahsoka," Anakin says, quietly, and something in me... cracks. I stop thinking and just act, darting forwards to wrap my arms around him. Aniya instantly joins the hug, until I'm practically being smothered between them.

"I missed you," I breathe, giving voice to it for the time since... that day on the Temple steps when I walked away.

"We missed you, too," Aniya whispers back, her hair tickling my lekku to a point that's almost annoying, but I ignore it.