The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Eight

Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Truth Will Out

AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka stumbled through the snow, trying desperately to find Lux. There were tears, which were already beginning to freeze, stuck to her cheeks, and the snow was effectively blinding her.

"LUX!" she yelled, her voice hoarse from trying to make herself heard over the howling wind. She had been calling for him for what felt like hours.

She took another few steps, holding back sobs. The trail had gone cold a few minutes before, and she had lost track of his Force-signature. She was dangerously close to succumbing to the hopelessness of ever finding him.

"Please, give me a sigh, anything!" she pleaded. She didn't even know who she was asking. "Anything to tell me that he's alive..."

Suddenly, she felt something. I did it, Ahsoka. I saved everyone... I did it...

It was just the tiniest glimmer of a presence in the Force, but she recognized it immediately. She held onto it with all her might, using it to pinpoint a direction. She sped up her pace to a run, praying that she wasn't too late.

After a few moments of running in what she thought was a straight line, she caught sight of a dark silhouette, lying in the snow. Something told her that it was...

But her relief suddenly eclipsed by fear. Lux's familiar presence spluttered, weakened... before going out entirely.

"NO!" she shouted, before her voice sank to a frantic whisper. "No, no, no, no, no, no! No..."

Ahsoka ran towards him, sliding to a halt on her knees beside him. She dusted the snow off his face, her heartbeat speeding up. He wasn't breathing, there was no pulse...

"You can't leave me now," she whispered. Her voice shook with emotion. "Not now..." she choked off, forcing back a sob. "Not when I'm carrying our child..."

She bowed her head over him, half lying down on his chest. She was sobbing uncontrollably, her body shaking. She felt as if she would never be happy again. Her true love, the light of her life, was gone...

Suddenly, Lux gasped in a breath of the freezing cold air, coughing hard. She looked up, and their eyes met. He tried to get up, but his limbs didn't seem to have the necessary strength to support him. He collapsed back into her lap.

"Ahsoka..." he murmured, his voice weak. "You're... preg...nant?"

"Yes..." She nodded, a worried smile on her face. She couldn't believe how freeing it was to finally tell him. The secret that had been haunting her for months was finally off her conscience...

He sighed. "I understand... I get it now..."

"I'm sorry, Lux," she said. "I know I should have told you, but I... I was just so afraid. I didn't know what you would think, and I kept coming up with the worst possible reactions on your part..."

He shook his head. "No... I'm sorry..."

"What...? Why? You're–"

"I'm sorry that I... I won't be there with you... That our baby will have to grow up without a father..."

"No!" she cried, her eyes tearing up again. She suddenly noticed how flushed his cheeks were, and how ragged his breathing had become. His skin felt like it had been under the suns on Tatooine for a few hours; he was burning up with fever. "You're going to be okay, you – you have to be okay! I– I can't live without you!"

"But I won't be... I've gotten out of a lot of bad things before, my love, but I..." He broke off again, coughing. "I don't think I'll make it out of this one..."

"No..."

"Listen..." he urged her, before coughing again, far more violently this time. "I... I'm dying, Ahsoka. You... you know that. Promise me something, Ahsoka."

"Anything! I'll do anything!" she babbled.

"You have to promise me... If it's a boy... that you'll name our baby En... Enarion." He took her hand in his own, looking into her eyes. She could see how much effort he had to put into a simple gesture such as that.

"Enarion? Why? We... we have to name our baby after their father! I–"

"It was the name of my father – my real father. Ahsoka, please... Promise me."

She was torn for a moment, but finally, the side compelling her to do as he asked won over. She could see how much it meant to him. "I promise, Lux."

*Ahsoka has found her husband again, but he is terribly ill. What could be causing his coughs, his fever? Will he be able to heal, or is this the end of Lux Bonteri? And what has become of Darth Maul? Who was the mysterious person with whom he was conversing? You'll find out in the next amazing chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

WHOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEE!!!! MAN, I've been planning this scene for MONTHS now! It's great to finally have it written down on paper!! Er, computer screen...? Idk...

Picture something like that one time on Hoth when Luke is nearly passed out in The Empire Strikes Back for the settings and the cold and wind. Now, I must continue the next chapter RIGHT AWAYYYYYYY!!!! Bye!!

Tell your fallen lover's former Master that there is still good in them and may the Force be with you,

Sharron