The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Eight

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Demise and Delirium

AHSOKA TANO

Under Ahsoka's worried gaze, Lux's breathing hitched, and he continued to cough and hack forcefully. He turned away from his spot on her lap, and spat blood, staining the pure white snow a vibrant crimson. She suddenly felt sick. Although she was no doctor, she had seen this before.

Lux had radiation poisoning.

She didn't know when or where it had happened, but now, his condition was deteriorating rapidly. Now, she doubted he could do more than talk to her. Moving was out of the question, and, in the fighting, her comlink had gone missing. She couldn't call for help.

"Ahsoka..." Lux whispered, reaching up to touch her cheek, gently stroking it with trembling fingers. She placed her own hand over it, silently enjoying the contact. "Ever since that time on Carlac... even though that kiss wasn't real... it meant something to me. I've been desperately in love with you ever since, and to this day... there's a part of me that wonders how you even fell for someone like me."

"But I did fall for you... And now I need you, now more than ever, Lux." She furiously wiped a tear into oblivion. "I won't let you go!"

"You have to... Otherwise you'll never find peace. You're making this harder on yourself, and on me. I–" He broke off in a cry of pain, pain that Ahsoka shared in. It hurt her that he was in such agony, and she couldn't do anything to help him...

"You'll be a great mother, Ahsoka... I know you will... Take care of out baby." The state of his breathing worsened, if that was even possible. Now, he hardly seemed able to force his lungs into inhaling the frosty air. But even so, his hand never left her cheek. "I... I love–"

"Lux, no," she said. "Don't leave me! Don't you dare leave me!"

"I love... you..."

And then, quietly, he slipped away. His head fell back, and he exhaled softly one last time, before... It was over.

Ahsoka's heat skipped a beat. She pushed the collar on Lux's clothes – it looked like he was wearing a heavy-duty flight suit over his regular outfit – and pressed two fingers to his neck. There was no pulse to speak of, no heartbeat, no signs of life...

He wasn't going to wake up again.

"NOOOOOO!!" she yelled at the sky. Her eyesight blurred with frozen tears and the snowflakes that covered her eyelashes. "THIS ISN'T FAIR! WHY HAVE YOU TAKEN HIM FROM ME? WHY?"

Her limbs didn't have the strength to support her anymore. She fell down in the snow beside Lux, with her head on his chest, muttering in feverish denial. "He's not dead, he can't be dead, I won't let him be dead, he has to be all right..."

Suddenly, she heard a cool and menacing voice, whispering to someone she couldn't hear. Goodbye, young one. We shall meet again soon.

She saw some sort of black and red mist swirling around her pregnant belly, before it shot over towards Lux. The stuff, which looked like some sort of molten smoke, covered him completely, before he seemed to absorb it!

But she hardly noticed it. As soon as the mist left her side, she was bombarded with a cascade of images, sounds, colors, feelings... She pressed her hands to her lekku, trying to filter them out. But it was impossible.

"Stop, stop! Make it go away!" she begged, tears streaming down her cheeks.

And suddenly, there were arms wrapping around her, trying to pull her away from Lux. She grabbed onto his flight-suit-thing, refusing to let go. Her vision was pulsating, and it was as if she were looking through wet red lenses. She was sinking deeper and deeper into delirium with every instant that passed.

"No! I don't want to go!" she shouted, trying to shake the arms away. "I can't leave him! He's going to wake up again! I know he will!"

Ahsoka, we're trying to help! A voice said. The voices were everywhere...

I can't hold her...

Get the medical sedatives!

Come on!

She's so unbalanced...

She's delirious! I don't know how this happened!

That's Lux Bonteri, isn't it? Oh no...

"LUX!" she screamed. Then, she felt something thin and sharp stick itself in her arm. A needle, probably filled with some sort of tranquilizer.

A moment later, she blacked out.

But, unknown to everyone else, as Ahsoka's unconscious form was being carried back towards the base and to safety by Amni, Christo and a handful of Rebel Troopers, something was happening within Lux's body.

The molten mist triggered his blood circulation, set his essential organs to work again, softened the effects of rigor mortis... His heart began to beat again, and the synapses in his brain recommenced transmitting information. His body, broken from the radiation exposure, was healing itself.

And suddenly, his eyes opened. But they weren't the soft, kind blue-grey that everyone had always known them to be; they were yellow rimmed with red.

He stood, but it wasn't Lux Bonteri controlling his actions.

"Now, Ahsoka Tano, it's time to end this little game, once and for all." Lux's lips were moving to make the words, but it wasn't his voice that passed them.

It was Darth Maul's.

*Lux Bonteri has disappeared into the Cosmic Force, dead to the galaxy as we know it... Or has he? Is there still some of the man that Ahsoka loved left, or is Darth Maul controlling an undead body? But what has become of Padme and Anakin? And how are the Rebels and the troopers holding out against this army? If it even is a real army... You'll find out in the next thrilling chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

Okay, I'm apologizing now, because I probably drove some of you insane or ruthlessly murdered feels... But I've been planning this sequence (so this chapter and the last one) LIKE FOREVER, and I wanted to make it as epic as possible. AND IT WORKED!!!! MWUHAHAHAHAHAA- *hack* *cough*

Well, that was a fail. Sorry about that. Another chapter is coming soon, okay? Bye!

Try to save your loved ones from dying by turning to the Dark Side and may the Force be with you,

Sharron

PS: Today's '...and may the Force be with you' contained a little foreshadowing... You'll see how in coming chapters...