The Dark is Patient [a.s]

The Chosen One

  They walked into the training room and Ahsoka's eyes flicked around the large space. It was a circle, and along the entire wall was a viewing wall that gave mostly a 360 degree view of Mustafar's molten environment. The ground was the same stone that ran throughout the rest of the castle, save for what seemed like to be a very thin and very useless mat that had markings on it. She looked up and took in the domed ceiling that provided little light, seeing as the lava covered expanse of the planet kept everything lit in a hellish glow.

"Charming."

Anakin shook his head at her. "Snippy, as always."

She narrowed her eyes. His endearing term for her no longer brought the comfort it always had provided. Instead it just brought an uncomfortable chill to her spine, every time he said it it felt as though a creature was wearing the mask of Anakin Skywalker and was trying to lure her into a false sense of security.

Ahsoka bit her cheek and looked away from him, turning her gaze to the fire that reigned constantly outside. "What am I going to duel with?"

He reached into his robes and pulled out the painful reminder of her failure, her lightsaber gleaming at her tauntingly. He held it out to her, letting Ahsoka approach him and she began to feel as though she were being treated like a wounded animal.

Reluctantly but also hastily, she took her saber from his grasp before putting some distance between them again. The weight of the metal both comforting and damning at the same time.

Anakin cleared his throat. "I wasn't able to find the second one."

"Good. It should stay buried." Part of her had died there like the rest of them, anyway.

It was quiet for a moment and she bit her cheek before deciding to ignite the blade and blue-white plasma leaked into the air. It was blinding and beautiful, one of the most well crafted weapons she had ever held and it hurt to acknowledge the fact that Anakin had built it. For her.

"What happened on the Tribunal?" Anakin's voice was rough but it was obvious he was trying to be gentle with her. A notion she wasn't sure she appreciated or hated. He kept extending olive branches out to her and she was hellbent on cutting them down before they reached her.

She raised a brow at him though kept her eyes on her blade. "I thought we weren't sharing stories."

He crossed his arms over his chest and scoffed. "Pardon my curiosity. I just find it curious how a whole cruiser goes down and the only thing left is corpses of clones but no sight of you or a certain prisoner."

Clenching her jaw, she spun her saber and tried to get used to the weight of it again since it had been nearly a year. "I had no choice but to let Maul escape."

Anakin blinked at her. "You let him go?"

"It was complicated."

"How'd he even get out of confinement?"

Ahsoka spared him a glance and cleared her throat.

Anakin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You freed him?"

"That part was also complicated. I needed a distraction, and I don't say this lightly but he had gained a very, very small portion of my trust. I knew he wouldn't kill me."

He looked at if she had just punched him. "And how exactly did that happen?"

Ahsoka sighed as she twirled her lightsaber, thinking back to the throne room on Mandalore and the battle that had unraveled outside of it. How ignorant she had been.

"He warned me about you, you know. Wanted to join forces with me to take down both Sidious and you. He said you were destined to destroy." Ahsoka then looked at Anakin, at his war worn face and the heavy burden of prophecy on his shoulders that he had misplaced. "I didn't believe him."