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I have a very strange Master (Star Wars/SI) EPI-EPII

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If Shade doesn't end up with a broken nose by the end of this, I will be sorely disappointed. That came out a lot more threatening than I intended.
 
Was the gratuitous japanese necessary? Also, thank you so much for reminding of all those flanderized Akane fics. Could have done without it.
 
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EP II - Chapter Eleven
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    • Chapter Eleven

    The sun disappeared from view as Ahsoka gave even more gas to her speeder, dodging through the air the scattered debris of broken rocks, floating around the vortex of the Force that had its center in a coliseum, located within a mountain and in which her Master was battling two large beasts, one black and one white, while an old, bearded man stood at the center manipulating the Force to hold back a large, pitch-black oozing substance with a wicked smile.
    Her Master's plasma sphere came crashing down -the reason the 'sun' had disappeared- and with a scream, the white colored avian monster took the blow in place of the dark-colored bat-like creature. Her Master brought thunder to the play as the monstrous figure avoided the attack and lashed with its massive jaws at him. In that moment, Anakin locked the speeder and jumped, letting the thing crash against the monster's side and send it out of the way as he and Ferus landed on the ground, lightsabers drawn.
    Ahsoka realized her Master was flying only then, and as he recalled a blade of orange, sizzling light to his hand, he groaned. Blood was dripping along the left side of his vest, but he seemed fine. Well, he seemed relatively fine. The pulsing of orange light wobbled as he dropped down, landing in a crouch before standing back up.
    Master Yoda was nowhere to be seen -Ahsoka would have expected the Master to be there already, but as she landed down from her speeder, Knight Darra jumping off with her lightsabers drawn, she yelled a warning to her Master. Behind him, the brightly colored monster had stood back up -was that damn thing immortal!? It had taken a plasma sphere to the face! And yet it still stood, healthy enough to charge at her Master's back.

    Knight Thel-Tanis was there to take the blow, lightsaber drawn as she held her ground, feet digging in the cobblestone as she stopped being pushed back just inches away from Master Shade's back.
    "What do we say to the God of Death, my dear?" Master Shade quipped dryly, second and third lightsaber floating out of his sleeves.
    "Not today," Knight Thel-Tanis retorted with a grin and a bright smile. "Hurrah!" she roared, the scream empowered by the Force making the beast wince and take a step back. It was all Knight Darra needed to nimbly push through the creature's guard and slice at its side, a shower of sparks making the creature growl in annoyance and swat at the Jedi Knight with its paw.
    Ahsoka took that as the cue to jump down, twin lightsabers igniting as she dropped on the thing's back, trying to dig the point of her blades in the creature.
    "They have Force Armor on!" her Master quipped. "Meanwhile, steer clear of the old man!"
    "Shade!" Anakin exclaimed, his lightsaber's plasma blade held tightly in the teeth of the darkly colored monster. "Less talking, more fighting!"
    "I've been fighting until now! Can't a man catch his breath?!"
    "If you had told us, waited for us, and then let us help you," Ahsoka snarled from atop the lightly colored monster, "then maybe you wouldn't be tired, Master!"
    "I had to trick Abeloth on coming here! Couldn't pretty much wait for you. I did leave you the Ebon Hawk for a reason, didn't I? I knew the moment she was here, she'd break free from me to attack the old man. Dark Side villains...so predictable."
    He ducked to the side, avoiding a bolt of energy from the dark bat monster, whose crimson eyes glowed with power and light.

    "See? Predictable." He spun in mid-air as a tail came sweeping for his legs. "You lot are just annoying the two of them," he pointed out. "Totally not getting the DPS here, guys."
    He chuckled louder as he ended up having to use both hands to halt their advance, gripping at the Force like a father would a naughty child. Ahsoka had to admit her Master was right. Lightsabers weren't hurting them at all.
    She jumped off the brightly colored monster, and with a back flip, located herself on one side of the coliseum. She took a deep breath, and as she felt the Force, stronger than ever on the planet, stronger than she had ever felt it, so strong it even blotted out her Master's strength, she understood this planet was something more, something different.
    The Force answered her call with eagerness, slamming down on the Monster that was aiming at her Master's life, and stopping it on its tracks. Knight Darra jumped back, soon mimicking her. Ferus and Anakin took that as the cue to do the same, and, nodding as one man, both dropped away from the bat-like creature to slam it down next.
    Yet, Ahsoka could feel the strength from the beast already eat away at the Force. "M-Master," Ahsoka hissed. "I can't hold...it...down...much longer."
    "What are these things, Night!?" Darra exclaimed.
    "The bright one is the Daughter, the dark one is the Son. The bearded one is the Father, and Abeloth is 'The Servant' and 'The Mother' and 'The Bitch Who Couldn't Accept She Was Going To Die'."
    Both monsters roared at that.
    "Aw...did I offend your sensibilities? Man, what are you going to do? Kill me? You couldn't manage it on a two versus one, and you think now you have a chance?"
    Her Master's eyes narrowed. "Think again, because your time is up."

    In that moment, Ahsoka's eyes were closed due to the effort of holding the Daughter down, but when she felt the pressure relent, she opened her eyes immediately. Master Yoda had a strange, stone-looking sword in his right hand, and as he took the field with blinding speed, he sliced first at the Son, and then at the Daughter.
    "Let it be said," Master Shade remarked dryly as the scream of disbelief from both Abeloth and The Father rose in the air, "That I have the best master there is."
    "Concentrate, my wayward student," Master Yoda said with a gruff acknowledgment, as Master Shade nodded and spun his lightsabers.
    "My children," the Father whispered. "My beloved children..."
    "No!" Abeloth screamed. "No!" she stopped assaulting the Father, shock overtaking her. Her eyes, forming in the middle of the cloud, narrowed down to thin slits. She hissed at Master Yoda, and then at Master Shade. "You."
    "I." Master Shade remarked, taking a stance. "Won." He grinned. "Bitch."
    "My children were innocents!" the Father exclaimed. "They-They were waiting for the Chosen One! They-You had no right!"
    "He who seeks to control fate," Master Shade said, "Shall never find peace. On the other hand, He who surrenders hope, surrenders life. You can still save them both, I reckon. Of course, this will require a sacrifice."
    Her Master looked at Abeloth. "Yours."
    Abeloth trembled in indignant rage. "Mine. Mine? Why not yours!?"
    "I don't love them," her Master replied flatly. "And your sacrifice will restore balance. Then again, if you don't love them...I understand. You are afraid of dying, of no longer having your family. Understandable, acceptable even, but guess what? I'm not letting you devour the galaxy. You come inside of me, you die killed by the others. You come at anyone else here, you die killed by me." Her Master spoke coldly. "You could go inside Master Yoda, I admit. On the other hand, if you do, you are going to have a bad time with the rest of us aiming at killing you. This is checkmate, Abeloth. No one you can enter will be your victory pawn, and thus..." her Master kept only his orange lightsaber activated, deactivating the others, "You may choose sacrifice, or death. In the end, balance shall be achieved."

    Abeloth's form lost its haziness, assuming a form thanks to the Force of an old, weary looking woman. "You are a Wound in the Force," she said bitterly. "As long as you draw breath, you will bleed the Force. As long as you exist, you will hurt it. You will spiral events out of control until the moment comes where the Force will cease to exist. You spout of balance, but you are yourself an imbalance. One that cannot be fixed."
    "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure," Master Shade replied dryly, eyes twinkling with mischief. "I have my ways. Do the impossible, see the invisible, row, row fight the powah."
    "There isn't much time," the Father said, looking with pleading eyes at Abeloth. "If you truly love them, Mother, I implore you."
    "Now I'm the Mother," Abeloth snorted back. "I wasn't 'The Mother' any longer when you turned my children against me, was I?"
    "You know, amusingly as it would be to let you two talk it out," Master Shade added dryly, "You must understand something very important. Darth Traya's purpose was the death of the Force. She failed, but later, way later, a certain Luke would come to the exact same thought. The more unbalanced the Force, the more death happened and horrific events took place. See, he came to that conclusion after your death, Abeloth. Seriously, don't give me that wide-eyed look. You read the thoughts I wanted you to read from my mind. Yes, yes, that gaze! That's the gaze I wanted you to make. Look into yourself, and yes, Father, I have broken the laws of time."
    Master Shade chuckled. "Amusingly, I have done more than just 'break' them. I shattered them. I pulverized them. I broke the laws on their back and made them my-"
    "Ahem," Master Yoda coughed, and Master Shade sheepishly looked sideways.
    "Anyway," Master Shade continued. "Luke came to the conclusion that the Force had to be kept in balance, rather than destroyed, and that the Jedi should actively seek to balance it. So, you see, you have two choices: destruction, and death, proving Darth Traya's method the most effective...or creation, and balance, proving Luke's words the truth."
    Smiling softly, her Master inclined his head to the side. "And let me be clear, Abeloth. You can join with the Father, acquire power, and try to fight us. That will simply mean I will have to turn the Bond I now hold with you and devour you through it. I will die, but so will you."
    Abeloth stilled, her gaze glazing over as the old looking lady thought. Ahsoka didn't interrupt, she didn't exclaim how she'd try to stop him from doing something so dumb. She didn't, because while that was her thought, this was...this was different. Her Master was bluffing -she hoped- on sacrificing himself, and if he wasn't, and he really thought everyone would be willing to kill each other over this, then...did he really believe she, or anyone else, would eat their own words and promises and deal a striking blow to him?

    Didn't he understand how much it hurt, to hear his belief that all of their lives, his included, were but pawns willing to be sacrificed?

    Silence fell in the coliseum, as not even the wind dared to blow. The air froze. Ahsoka could hear her own breathing, the sweat from the battle prior dribble down her skin, and the beating of her heart.
    Abeloth's eyes snapped open again. "I can always make new children."
    "Now, now," Master Shade said. "You sure you don't want to reconsider?"
    Abeloth smiled. Her smile made Master Shade frown.
    "Watch out!" Anakin snapped the warning, and by the time Ahsoka turned her head to watch what the warning was all about, it was too late. The Son had been wounded, but apparently not killed. Thus, the creature had stood back up with blinding speed, and had rushed ahead for her Master's figure.
    Master Shade managed to bring his lightsaber to bear, but with a vicious snap, the creature's form morphed into a different creature that bit down on her Master's left arm.
    Her Master didn't hesitate.
    He sliced his arm off immediately, and then with a howl charged with pain, lifted his right hand and thunder struck at the creature's back, making the Son scream in pain.
    "THERE. IS. NO. SACRIFICE. TOO. BIG. FOR. ME." Master Shade snarled with fury, taking a step forward as the lightning increased in intensity from his right arm.
    "Stop!" the Father brought both hands forward, but in that moment, Anakin charged ahead with the stone dagger of Master Yoda, and with a quiet hiss plunged it deeply into the chest of the Father. The Father gurgled, his eyes wide in disbelief. Master Yoda stood back, lightsaber now lit in hand as he gazed with a pensive frown at the elderly lady who didn't appear to have moved from her spot.

    Ahsoka narrowed her eyes as she felt her tongue fritz. She looked around, and then gurgled.
    She was in a very big room.
    She was in a very big room, and a smiling Togruta looked down at her with an expression filled with motherly love.
    "Crap," Ahsoka mumbled out through her childish throat, lifting her tiny, baby-like hands and clenching her fists.
    Now she understood her Master's thoughts on the Force.
    She understood them, and she understood why he disliked it.
    This wasn't real. None of this was real.
    "What a silly baby," the older Togruta said gently. "Who taught you that word, uh? It must have been your father, I swear-better not say anything more, or you might learn other bad words." She touched Ahsoka's tiny nose with the tip of her index finger, and while still smiling, began to pull her up to carry her.
    Ahsoka narrowed her eyes and hissed, but the Force refused to obey her.
    Seriously, what had she done to deserve this?

    And...

    Where was everyone else?
     
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    • I have no idea what happened.

    Time Travel?
    Reincarnation?
    Soul Transportation?
     
    Hmm. Ahsoka turned back into a baby? Reminds me of the digimon dub film.
     
    Shade just told Abeloth that there's no sacrifice too big for him. Abeloth just called his bluff. Will he back up his words by killing Asohka? Tic toc, tic toc.
     
    EP II - Chapter Twelve
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter Twelve

    Ahsoka cried.
    She would have wanted to push the woman away, but she lacked the strength to do so, and the Force wasn't answering her call. The older Togruta smelled nice, but Ahsoka wasn't falling for that trick. She was warm, and while the Jedi could hear the heartbeat -quite the lulling sensation, she had to admit- she was not going to fall for it either. This was a trick from Abeloth, and there was no way she would let herself be ensnared so easily by it!
    "Rest now, my baby," the older Togruta whispered as she rocked Ahsoka back and forth, carrying her away from the crib and towards the door of the room -a simple apartment, typical of Shili and the Togruta's lifestyle. "Hush, hush," the woman said, patting gently Ahsoka's back.
    Ahsoka glared at the woman. She was a Jedi Padawan, not a baby. She didn't want to be babied. She didn't want to be fed with a spoon, or sit on a high chair, or get a napkin to clean her face. She wasn't going to eat the mushy meat thing in front of her, and she made that clear by throwing the plate off the table and letting it clatter on the ground.
    "Aw," the woman said with a sad face, "Ahsoka, what a mess. You've never been this grumpy before," she murmured. "Are you missing your daddy?"
    Ahsoka was missing her lightsaber and the Force. She was missing reality over this sort of bizarre fiction. Seriously, did Abeloth really think she'd fall for some sad eyes from an older Togruta? She wasn't going to fall for it! Nothing Abeloth could do would make her fall for it.
    "Don't worry dear, he'll be back," the woman said. "How much of a daddy's girl are you? Uh?"
    She didn't even remember her father's face. There was nothing to be a 'daddy's girl' of! Seriously, was Abeloth even trying?

    The older Togruta strapped a child carrier to her back and hoisted Ahsoka on it, before heading out of the house and starting to walk on a perfectly normal-looking wooden bridge, to cross a Shili-like village that Ahsoka kind-of remembered as her home village.
    Ahsoka tried to break free of the damn contraption, but she couldn't get a proper grip with her teeth on it, and her hands flailed around fussily and without managing to hit the latch. She didn't cry again. It wouldn't have worked, and she couldn't trust anyone else within this illusion. If only she had Mister Fluffles. He'd be capable of helping her out of there.
    She ended up having to be carried through the village, on one of those bright, summer days of Shili that made everyone and their neighbors act lazy or just outright sleep through them -unless they had a job to do, but even then, there was this somber air of peace and tranquility that characterized such a place.
    There was just a bit more of interest, and a crowd forming up near the large square of the village where sometimes some party would happen in honor of this or that festival. This time, the reason for the crowd's excitement was instead -judging by the murmurs that Ahsoka could hear- due to strangers. Of course, Shili was part of the Republic as much as any other planet who believed in democracy, and it wasn't rare for trade ships to soar over their heads -way, way up like twinkling stars- headed for this or that space port. However to her knowledge, there had rarely been a visitor from 'outer space' into her village.
    She had grown up among Togruta. It was thus with a sense of foreboding uneasiness that she realized the elder Togruta had hoisted her off her back and brought her between her arms.
    "Look Ahsoka," the woman whispered. "Those are Jedi."

    Those?

    Her eyes blinked and then her arms extended nearly immediately as she began to wail to catch their attention. No, more than their attention, that of a particular Jedi of the two.
    Master Plo Koon stood at ease, calm and reflexive as always. Near him, a young kid with dark hair and dark eyes scanned the crowd with purpose. Their eyes met, and in that brief instant Ahsoka quieted down. Her Master's gaze was scary. He didn't show happiness at having seen her, or sadness. He simply began to walk forward, his expression not faltering once as Ahsoka grew quiet when he neared her.
    "Is her name Ahsoka?" her Master asked to the woman holding her within her arms.
    "Y-Yes," Ahsoka could hear the stutter in the older woman's voice. "How do you know her name Master Jedi?"
    "Oh, I'm no master," her Master replied, as Plo Koon neared his side. "Master Plo, she is the one I spoke of."
    "I see," Master Plo turned thoughtful, gazing down at Ahsoka. "I do feel the Force in her. She is Force Sensitive."
    "My...my child?" the woman said with...did her voice crack? Why would it crack?
    "She has the potential to become a Jedi," Master Plo said kindly.
    Ahsoka giggled, happily extending her hands towards her Master for him to grab hold of her. He kind of looked disgusted, which made her pause for just a second. It was more the disgust of 'Oh gawd don't you dare' rather than the disgust of 'filthy alien don't you dare touch me'.
    "I-What if I say no?"
    What.

    No! Don't you dare, mother! I want to go!

    Ahsoka whimpered as she tried to touch her Master, who remained firmly stuck where he was, just barely out of reach.
    He was always out of reach, wasn't he? An arm's length away, hurting them all with his secrets, his lies, his deceitful schemes and maneuvers. He wasn't 'there'. He could be in the same room as them, but at the same time, he wasn't. He didn't treat them like people, like friends, or even as fellows. He was always doing what was best, not once caring if it was actually the best for everyone. No, he did what he thought was best, and if it wasn't, to hell with the different thought.
    "Gaga!" Ahsoka gurgled.
    "I will not force you to give up your child now," Master Plo said. "There is still time before she is too old, we can come by later."
    Master Shade looked up at Master Plo, and then back at Ahsoka.
    "The earlier they start, the better," her Master pointed out.
    "That is not always the case," Master Plo said kindly, looking down towards Night. "And there is still time, Padawan."
    Her Master rolled his eyes. "As you wish, Master-"
    "No!" Ahsoka stammered out, hands stretched and tears brimming at the corner of her eyes. "No!"
    "It seems the girl is fond of you, Padawan," Master Plo Koon said. "Are you doing something to her?"
    Her Master shook his head. "It must be her Force sensitivity." He neared her hesitantly, his right hand extending softly to reach for her cheek. She gripped tightly on his fingers and held them as firmly as she could.

    "Can I hold her?" her Master asked in the end, looking up to her mother -was that really her mother? Was that really her mother's face?- and as the older Togruta nodded, if sadly, Ahsoka found herself trading places.
    Her Master's hold on her was awkward to say the least. He really would have preferred to be anywhere else but there in that precise moment. She could feel it in the way his hold was kind of tight, as if afraid to drop her. He was probably afraid of dropping her. Still, it didn't matter. She was going to fight tooth and nail against being removed from that side. She clutched tightly her Master's robes, and firmly rooted herself against any invading forces -namely, her 'mother' arms.
    "If you really think it's best, Master Jedi...I-I just think this is too abrupt. Her father-he'd like to see her one last time at least."
    "We can come by tomorrow," Ahsoka heard Master Plo Koon say gently. "We are not in a hurry."
    No, no, no!
    This was all an illusion. She wanted to leave right that instant!
    Ahsoka refused to let go of her Master's robes, even as he tried to pull her off. She bit down on the cloth with her teeth for added grip, and firmly glared at her mother's incoming hands. It was to no avail. Her 'kid strength' wasn't working at all. She officially began to hate this situation. As her Master shot a puzzled gaze in her direction, she stuck her tongue out. How stupid was he?!

    She began to cry the moment she watched the two Jedi turn their backs on her, while her 'mother' carried her off, back home and into her 'prison', also known as the 'crib'.
    Well, the moment she was dropped, she wasn't going to stand for it. She was heading off, whether the older Togruta liked it or not.
    Very quietly, she waited until the older woman turned her back on the crib to start preparing dinner, and Ahsoka wobbled on her two feet with fierce determination burning in her soul. She grabbed the wooden upper side of the cage and pulled herself up, before carefully bringing her leg past the dreaded bars and finally the rest of her body. She hanged limp on the other side, until with a quick breath and a resolute motion, she dropped down on her legs. She fell, her back dulling the blow as she hissed quietly.
    Her mother hadn't heard, and that was good.
    Crouching -well, crawling was more apt a term- Ahsoka made her way towards the door. Finding it closed, Ahsoka clicked her tongue and looked around. Her eyes widened as a grin settled on her face. She had another way out. She just had to daringly reach for the wooden stool near the open window, climb over the ledge, and then drop herself off on the wooden walkway beyond it.
    Yes, it was the perfect plan.
    As Ahsoka quietly got her act together and moved to the wooden stool, she heard her mother gasp.
    "Ahsoka! Stop!" turning to give her mother a triumphant gaze of 'fuck you, Abeloth', she realized that her mother was faster than she had credited her with.
    She did manage to put her hands on the window ledge, but her mother's hands grabbed her by the midriff, pushing her back in.

    "NO!" Ahsoka screamed, "LET. ME. GO!"
    Her hands hurt as she dug her nails in the wood, but the strength from her mother was too much. Screaming and trashing wildly, Ahsoka began to punch and beat on her mother's chest.
    "Enough is enough!" her mother exclaimed. "What's gotten into you, Ahsoka?! It's the Jedi, isn't it? You've been like this since they arrived. Well, they're going to have a piece of my mind. You stay right here," she proceeded to place her back in the crib, only this time she also placed the baby carrier on her and strapped her to the wooden bars, preventing her from moving too far from it. "And wait for your father."
    Her mother then walked out, closing the door loudly behind her.
    Ahsoka screamed and tried to pull the thing off, but it simply increased her frustration. She screamed, she yelled, she cursed, she gripped with her hands at the wooden bars of the crib and tried to break them apart, but she failed. She failed and that made her angrier. Out there, Abeloth was still going on and on about-
    "Alice," a voice hissed from the open window. Ahsoka's eyes snapped to the ledge, where the Cheshire Cat looked awfully small, eyes barely glowing. "You're playing her game," he whispered as he jumped down from the ledge. The cat neared her with a bleak look. "You're actually playing her game."
    Ahsoka caught her breath and looked at him with pleading eyes.
    "She wants you to act like a baby," the Cheshire Cat hissed. "She wants you to mother and smother. Alice, come on. The more you will fight, the worse it will get. You still have to fight," the Cheshire Cat said carefully, "But fight smart. What does she fear the most? Use her fear, Ahsoka. Everything that hurts her, use it against her."
    The Cheshire Cat's ears twitched. "I have to go now," he hissed. "You're kicking your Master's butt quite hard," he winked. "Really should have trained more."
    The cat disappeared, only for the door to barge open once more.
    The 'mother' looked at her and exhaled in relief.

    Ahsoka closed her eyes.
    She had been stupid.
    She wasn't going to be stupid any longer.
    "Well, at least you calmed down, Ahsoka."
    Ahsoka remained quiet.
    "Say something to me?"
    Ahsoka didn't move, and breathed very, very slowly.
    "Are you hurt somewhere?"
    She didn't open her eyes, and simply meditated. Abeloth could take away everything from her. She could take away her senses, and make her hurt. She could take every single one of her memories and use them against her, but in the end, she couldn't take away her free will. She wasn't going to play her game.
    She wasn't going to become a fussy, crying child for her to baby or punish.
    "Ahsoka, are you feeling all right?"
    Ahsoka didn't move even as her straps came undone. She meditated, even as she felt her 'mother' try to elicit a response from her. She didn't move at all, even though she felt ticklish, or hurt. She didn't move when the pinches turned harder. She didn't speak when the pain began to rush through her body as if she was suffering from a lightsaber blow to the stomach. She didn't open her eyes, even as blinding light peeked through it.

    And finally, the Force answered her silent meditation with the torrential strength of a waterfall, finally freed from the dam holding it at bay. The ground trembled, or what felt like the ground. The pain disappeared, replaced with soreness. The silence became noise, as lightsabers collided one against the other, quite close to her.
    "Ahsoka," her Master's voice came quite softly to her ears. "It's fine this way too."
    Ahsoka's eyes snapped open just in time to watch her Master down on her knees, his neck surrounded by both of her lightsabers. Anakin Skywalker's body was limp against a wall, while Knight Darra was down on the ground, hopefully unconscious. Knight Ferus clutched his missing limb and was standing next to Knight Darra's body, and Master Yoda was holding his ground against the Father.
    "Now," Ahsoka's mouth moved even against her wishes, "Now I will use you to bring my children back."
    Ahsoka cried out -even though no sound escaped her lips- when both lightsabers came down against her Master's arms. He took that moment to tackle her midriff, forcing Ahsoka back and on the ground, before with a roll she managed to stand on top of him, and blinded by fury dig a lightsaber straight through his heart.
    Abeloth snarled as she plunged in the Force, grabbing hold of her Master's dying life to sustain that of her children, blinking away. It was only when Ahsoka realized her Master was truly dead, that she understood that the Bond with him hadn't really disappeared.

    If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.

    Abeloth was in the Force. She was in the rippling sensation of the Force. She was Beyond the Shadows, in a realm of Force and will. And she had just killed her Master. Only, her Master opened his eyes, even as the lightsaber remained plunged in his heart, and gripped Ahsoka's head with both of his hand.
    "Darth Traya," her Master growled, "Taught me betrayal." He pushed her off, even as Ahsoka's body remained lax, incapable of moving due to Abeloth's sudden fear striking and paralyzing her every limb. "Darth Nihilus," her Master walked forward with purpose, each of his steps a scream and a murder in the Force, "Taught me hunger." He lifted a hand, and Ahsoka felt something being ripped off her, being brought out through the Bond she shared with her master and towards him, drawn off together with her strength. "And Darth Sion," her Master snarled as he dropped her off, Abeloth securely within his body, "taught me pain."
    With a loud scream of fury, thunder cracked her Master's skin as the Dark Side of the Force held his body together, kept it alive, kept him through unimaginable pain and agony incapable of dying.
    With a terrifying shriek of agony, Abeloth's entire existence, the murky liquid that hung in the Force like oil to water, wavered and began to soften, lighten up, as if it slowly slipped away into a drain of sorts.
    Abeloth screamed, her scream reverberating with all probability throughout the galaxy. Yet, while it didn't stop, it began to grow less and less intense.
    "Sorry, Ahsoka," her Master said through charred lips, a last chuckle off his throat. "I'm bailing out of explaining."
    Ahsoka's eyes widened as she tried to stand, only to fail and fall face first. "M-Master!" she croaked, crawling forward.
    The Dark Side pulsed firmly, her Master now its embodiment. Yet, even as it did, it drained itself away again and again into a charring black hole that all devoured, and nothing left behind. The Force screamed and rose as a single beast, her Master's existence anathema to it. The planet, a conduit for the Force. Her Master, right there at its point.

    Darth Traya never came so close as him to destroying the Force. If he had but taken the power the planet offered him, he would have lived forever. He would have devoured the Force, becoming the sole, most powerful Sith in the galaxy. And he would have lived.
    He could have turned himself into a sinkhole, ripping the Force away from the Galaxy itself. And he would have died spiting the galaxy and the Force.
    He could have used the Force, manipulated it, to bring about an era of prosperity. And he would have died to safeguard it.
    He chose none of those options.
    He devoured the Son and the Daughter's remaining vestiges of life, their corpses turning into ashes. He chewed upon the planet's strength, shattering the prison of the Ones, making it just another planet. He cracked the conduit of the Force, letting it freely flow through the galaxy, with no choke point, and no 'Nexus'. And he gave back the connection to the Force to those beings who had lost it, flaring to life their presence at the edge of the Galaxy.
    And then, he ripped himself off the Force and turned his hunger against himself, against Abeloth, imprisoned within his body and whimpering for mercy.
    Her Master gave her none.

    Ahsoka watched her master fall, a charred husk with no powers, no life, nothing at all left to him.

    And meanwhile, the Father remained alive, defending against Master Yoda who looked all but unperturbed by the sudden events.

    "Enough," the Father said, bringing both of his hands up in surrender and defeat. "Enough!"
    Master Yoda, surprisingly, stopped attacking and turned to watch with a sorrowful expression the battlefield at hand. He called with the Force his wooden walking stick back, and began to wobble forward, to where Knight Darra was.
    Ahsoka finished her crawling right in front of her Master's burnt corpse. There was a horrible smell, a terrifying stench, it made her gag and feel sick, but she didn't move. She stared right into his burnt eye sockets, as if expecting him to stand back up.
    "I have lost everyone," the Father said, eyes clutching the ashes of his children's corpses -or what little remained of them. "Why did he not take me too? I am a fool. I am the greatest of the fools. What should I do now that I have lost them?"
    Ahsoka didn't answer. She just looked at her Master.
    She understood that she could move now, but she didn't want to. She understood she should do something else, something more than stare at her master. Heck, she could probably cry. No, scratch that. She shouldn't show emotions, wasn't that a key point of being a Jedi?
    What would a good person do?
    They'd mourn, and then move on.
    "You mourn the ones you lose," Ahsoka said. "And then you move on," she touched with the index of her right hand her Master's cheek, burnt away to nothing but black bone. The corpse took that as a sign to turn into cinders, which a breeze carried away.
    Ahsoka watched the breeze fly off, her face sad and her strength sapped away to nothing more.
    A meowing sound caught her attention as she was just about to stand up and leave, and from within the burnt robes of her Master's cloak, a tabby, orange cat emerged.

    "Mister Fluffles," Ahsoka mumbled as the cat neared her fingers and began to rub against them.
    Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes.
    "He's gone," she whispered.
    Mister Fluffles simply looked up at her, and said nothing.
    "My Master...is gone."
    Ahsoka looked up at the sky, brilliantly blue, and felt the tears flow down her cheeks and drop down from her chin.
    "He's not gone," Mister Fluffles whispered, his voice tiny and warm. "He lives on, inside our hearts and our memories."
    "That..." Ahsoka muttered, a smile cracking on her face, "That was cheesy...so...so...cheesy."
    Mister Fluffles meowed, and Ahsoka wiped the tears off her face, before managing to stand up firmly on her two legs.
    Master Yoda neared her, and looked down at the charred robes. He closed his eyes.
    "The worst of my students, he was," Master Yoda acquiesced with a knowing nod. "The strangest, he was." He opened his eyes and carefully used the force to fold the burnt clothes together in a sack of sorts. There was little else to properly bury, after all. His lightsaber clattered on the ground, Mister Fluffles holding on to it and bringing it closer. He dropped it right in front of Ahsoka's feet and meowed.

    When they left Mortis, they left with three knocked out knights, a Padawan who dearly wanted to wake up from the strangest of dreams, and a somber Jedi Master.
    The first to wake up was Anakin, and he woke up with a gasp and a worried expression. "Where's Night?" he asked. Ahsoka told him.
    The second to wake up was Ferus, and although he missed an arm, and Ahsoka suspected it had been her who had cut it, he asked the same question as Anakin. Ahsoka gave the same reply.
    The last one to wake up was Knight Darra. She had been stabbed in two different places, but none had been lethal. She asked the same question as Ferus and Anakin, and Ahsoka gave her the same answer.
    "That's a morbid joke," Knight Darra whispered. "Where's Night?" she asked again.
    Ahsoka told her.
    Knight Darra didn't head off like Anakin and Ferus.
    She neared Ahsoka, and then she hugged her tightly. Ahsoka returned the hug, and closed her eyes.

    When they arrived on Coruscant, Anakin received a holo-message addressed to him, and widened his eyes in surprise. His eyes hadn't been red before, but they did turn that color after viewing it -whatever the human woman on screen had told him, it had affected him greatly. He was smiling at the end of the message however, so it didn't have to be too bad of a thing.
    Ahsoka watched Knight Ferus and Darra brought off to the infirmary, and as Master Yoda wobbled away with her Master's remains, she didn't know what to do next.
    Well, no, that was a lie.
    She was her own person now, wasn't she?
    It was no use recriminating on the What Ifs, on the 'If only I had' and much more. She simply crossed her arms behind her head, looked up at the ceiling of the hangar, and began to walk away.
    Her Master was dead.
    He had lived a very strange, very puzzling life and many secrets remained unspoken and unknown.
    Yet...
    Why did she feel something was off?

    "I didn't think it would end this way."

    Ahsoka found herself walking into the room where a bunch of young initiates were reading, all around in circle, from a datapad.

    "End?" a young Duro spoke, next in line to read the Datapad. "No, the journey doesn't end here," he read from the screen dutifully, as if it were his life-long responsibility to do so. "Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it."
    The Datapad was passed, this time in the hands of a young Twi'lek boy who frowned at some of the words, but nodded dutifully, before speaking up. "What? Gandalf, see what?"
    It was pretty short for a line, but the boy had tried his hardest to make it sound important.
    The next in line was a human girl. "White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise."
    Ahsoka stepped forward there and then, and dropped down right next to the girl, startling the initiates as she took the Datapad in her hands.
    "Well," Ahsoka said. "That isn't so bad," she read from it.
    "No," her Master's voice reached her ears, even as she gripped the Datapad in surprise. "No, it isn't."
    But when she turned to look behind her, there was no one.
    Smiling one last time, she passed the Datapad to the next in the circle.

    AN: Annnnnnnndddddd we're done. Well, no.
    Actually. There's the Epilogue.
    I'm just going to put his here:
    "But Shadeee, Anakin was supposed to deal the final blow and restore balance!"
    "No plan survives contact with the enemy. Lesson number one."
     
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    • Congrats Shade, You have killed yourself in your own story. Another writer's achievement.

    Achievement unlocked: Suicidal author writes himself to death!
     
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