Luxsoka: A Love Story

Bad Things Can Happen

Ahsoka Tano's life was flashing before her eyes.

Her feet pounded a steady rhythm into the hard metal floor, and occasionally sent up splashes as she hurried through the shallow puddles of foul water that had collected here and there.

In less than a day, she'd gone from Padawan of the famed Chosen One to fugitive of the Coruscanti military forces. Those she had called friend up until very recently were now leaning towards the foe side of the spectrum.

She could still hear the shouts of her pursuers every now and then. Each yell made her fear escalate a notch, and Ahsoka had to force her tense muscles to relax. She would be able to run for longer if she wasn't straining against her own body.

She brought a hand carefully to her stomach. The new life growing inside her was so fragile... And although her baby was far too young to sense what its mother was going through (but she had, however, heard tales that Force-sensitive babies developed awareness early), she was happy to tap into her connection with its innate midichlorians for the strength to keep running.

Ahsoka just had to keep moving, and do her best to cloak herself in the Force. The most she could do was halfway with all the energy being expended running, but it would be enough to keep Anakin from locating her right away. If she was lucky, she might even find a way out of here before he found her.

But, sadly, she knew deep down that wouldn't be the case. She could sense he was gaining on her, and she was quickly running out of options for escape.

She darted blindly around a corner, and her eyes widened in shock. She managed to stop herself just before she fell, skidding to a halt just a foot away from a steep drop.

Breathing heavily as her lungs tried to catch up and reset, she gazed down into the abyss below her. She watched as ships and speeders flew slowly up and down the enormous portal down into the Lower Levels of the planet thanks to powerful repulsorlift technology, searching for a way out.

Footsteps.

Someone skidded to a halt a few meters behind her, and she whipped around to face them, even though she already knew who it was.

"Ahsoka," came a familiar voice in an uneasy tone. "What are you doing?"

Of course her Master would have broken away from the rest of his search party to look for her on his own.

"You didn't even try to come and help me," she called, masking some of the fear in her eyes with disappointment.

"They wouldn't let me in to talk to you!" he replied.

"You could have if you tried!"

"How would that look, Ahsoka, huh?" He began walking closer. "Forcing my way in would have made you look even more guilty."

"I'm not guilty!" She could hear the hysteria in her words, but there was nothing she could do. Talking was just making her even more scared, and she couldn't help it anymore if emotion started leaking through.

The pregnancy hormones weren't helping, either.

Anakin stopped walking. He could sense that she was unstable – her fear was bleeding out into the Force and swirling around her like a cloud. "We have to prove you're innocent! The only way we can do that is by going back."

"I don't know who to trust..."

That was a lie. She knew she could trust Lux, her fiancée, and she loved him more than anyone. She trusted Barriss – she was one of her dearest friend and would do whatever it took to keep her out of harm's way. She already had. She trusted Anakin... her brave, kind Master.