Trust and Torture

By StarwarsRocksMySocks

Chapter 1: A Beginning

Ahsoka Tano, a young togruta padawan, was walking to the training room. She was meeting her mirialan friend, Barriss Offee. Barriss was Luminara Unduli's padawan. Ahsoka was Anakin Skywalker's padawan. Anakin was the chosen one, and most younglings and padawans were jealous of Ahsoka. Ahsoka walked into the training room, seeing Barriss leaning on the metal wall. Youre late" Barriss said while smiling. "Sorry" Ahsoka apologized "It's all right. So what's your excuse this time?" Barriss asked playfully "I don't have one" Ahsoka admitted "Come on, let's just train" Ahsoka tossed her lightsabers in the corner, and got 2 training lightsabers and a shoto out of the cupboard, and threw one of the lightsabers to Barriss. "Hey! How come you get 2 lightsabers?" Asked Barriss "Because I always use 2 lightsabers now" Ahsoka replied "You only need to use a shoto because you're small" Barriss teased "Hey! I'm not that small! I'm taller than you!" Ahsoka said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Well technically I'm taller than you. You're only taller than me because of your montrals" "Oh shut up!" Ahsoka said playfully as she lightly punched Barriss' shoulder. Ahsoka ignited the two lightsabers she was holding and held the longer one above her head and the other held in the reverse grip in front of her. Barriss ignited her lightsaber "I see you still use the reverse grip" Barriss teased Ahsoka smiled then lunged at Barriss, smashing her lightsaber into Barriss' lightsaber, and then used her shoto to knock Barriss' lightsaber out of her hand. "See, I bet you wish you had a shoto now don't you!" "Let's not duel today, how about tomorrow? We will have more time to duel. That is, if you aren't late again" "Whatever. So what shall we do today? Practice deflecting blaster bolts?" Ahsoka suggested "Sounds cool, but you have to use one lightsaber" Barriss said as she walked over to the cupboard and took out the 2 Training droids. She pressed a button and they set to level 1. "Fine" Huffed Ahsoka "O.K, the rules are: You can only use one lightsaber and whoever misses or gets hit by bolt first, losses" Barriss explained The droids started firing at a slow pace, but the more the bolts the jedi deflected, the faster the little flying droids would fire. Level 10..Level 25.Level 37.Level 50 Barriss and Ahsoka were both panting and sweating like crazy, but they still kept going. "Level 51" The training droid said. As Barriss was deflecting blaster fire she felt a sharp sting in her leg. Then she realized she had lost the game. 'Oh well' She thought 'I'll beat Ahsoka at this someday' Barriss' droid had stopped firing, because she turned it off with the remote. She looked over to Ahsoka, was struggling to deflect the very fast blaster bolts. "So what level did you get too?" Someone with a fairly deep voice said from beside her. Barriss turned around to see Ahsokas master, Anakin Skywalker, standing there. "Hello Master Skywalker" Said Barriss quietly so she didn't distract Ahsoka "I

got to level 51" "Wow, that's a pretty high level for a padawan" Anakin exclaimed "Thank you Master Skywalker" "So what level is Ahsoka on?" Asked Anakin "Oh she is on level 52 now" "Wow, that's the best has ever gotten with one lightsaber" "Why what's her best with a lightsaber and a shoto?" Asked Barriss "With one lightsaber it is 44 and with a shoto is 77" "Gosh, that's really good!" Barriss exclaimed "Well she did learn from the best" Barriss smiled as they continued to watch Ahsoka struggle with the blaster bolts. Ahsoka was exhausted, but she still kept on going. She spun around, and blocked another bolt. Then she jumped in the air and twirled around, blocking every bolt that came towards her. "Level 53" The tiny floating said As soon as Ahsoka landed on the floor he legs buckled and she collapsed from exhaustion. Barriss turned the droid off with the remote and her and Anakin ran over to Ahsoka. "Snips are you alright?" "Mmm hmmm" "You sure?" Anakin asked. Ahsoka nodded her head in reply and said "I wanna go sleep" Anakin chuckled and picked up his little padawan and carried her out of the training room. Barriss smiled and then cleaned up the training room and went back to her shared quarters with her master. Anakin laid his padawan on her bed and went to get her a glass of water. When he came back into her room, she was already asleep. She had he right arm above her head, and her left hand resting on her stomach. Her breathing was deep and even. He placed the glass of water on her bedside table and opened the window because the room was quite warm. Also Ahsoka had been training so she must be roasting. Anakin looked at her sleeping face and smiled. Ahsoka looked so cute when she was sleeping. If someone walked by and saw her sleeping, they would probably mistake her for a ten-year-old even though she was sixteen. Anakin then turned off her lamp, and left her to sleep. She needed the rest because they had a mission tomorrow.

Chapter 2: The Mission

It was a warm, sunny day on Coruscant. The perfect day to sit in the sun and relax. Ahsoka's alarm clock went off. Keeping her eyes closed, Ahsoka rolled onto her side, and slammed her hand on the button to turn the horrible ringing noise off. Unfortunately she could still hear the noise buzzing in her montrals. As soon as the alarm stopped, Ahsoka smiled and rolled back onto her back. She could hear the birds tweeting outside, and the quiet hum of speeders flying by. She was still a little tired from her training with Barriss the previous day, so she wanted to sleep in. Her bedroom door opened and someone walked in. "Come on Snips! Time to get up!" Said Anakin cheerfully "No" Ahsoka groaned as she turned over onto her stomach "You need to get up because we have a mission" "Well you could have told me yesterday" Ahsoka mumbled "What was that?" "I'll be ready in half an Hour." Ahsoka said quietly "O.K, meet me in the cafeteria" Said Anakin as he walked out of her room and closed the door behind him. Ahsoka nodded her head and climbed out of bed. She stumbled slightly when her little feet hit the ground, but she recovered quickly. She yawned, stood on her tip-toes and stretched. She grabbed her normal clothes and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. About 10 minutes later she walked out of the bathroom felling clean and refreshed. And luckily, she didn't feel very tired anymore. She was still a little drowsy, but she would be alright. She walked back into her fairly small room, and picked up her lightsabers off her bedside table. She put them on her belt, and checked that she had her com-link with her; she did, so she set off to the cafeteria. When she arrived her master was already there. "You're not late!" Her master said in a surprised tone, but Ahsoka could tell that he was only teasing her. "Whatever" Ahsoka replied as she walked into the cafeteria and grabbed something random off the shelf. Then she walked over to the fridge and took out a cold glass of jawa juice. She sat down at a table with Anakin and they started eating in silence. "So" Ahsoka started "Where's the mission gonna be?" "Oh we are going to Felucia" "Felucia again? What is it with that planet? How many times have we been there already? 3! Do we really need to go again?" "Stop being a child!" Said Anakin. "I am a child you idiot!" Ahsoka laughed as she playfully punched Anakin's shoulder

While the master and padawan pair finished their breakfast they just joked and laughed. Something they rarely did with all the missions and everything. "Come we have to go see the council" Said Anakin They dumped their plates and glasses in the sink and started walking to the council room. When they reached the council room door Anakin stepped forward and knocked on the door. "Enter, you can" Said an old and deep voice from behind the door. Anakin opened the door and the pair walked into the middle of the room and bowed respectfully to their masters. "You will be shipping off to Felucia in 1 standard hour" Said Master Plo Koon Ahsoka and Anakin both nodded "Padawan Tano" Said Mace Windu, as Ahsoka looked at him "I believe you can speak Kel Dor?" "Yes Master Windu, Master Plo taught me when I was very young" Ahsoka replied "On your mission you will be traveling to Felucia to rescue a captive that General Grievous has captured. He has hidden the blue-prints for a top secret republic weapon, and he is the only person who knows where they are. The only problem is that he speaks Kel Dor, so we decided to send you and Skywalker to rescue the hostage and pick up the blue prints and then deliver them to us" "But why wouldn't you send Master Plo on the mission instead of us? I mean, Master Plo speaks Kel Dor better than I do" Said Ahsoka "Master Plo is going on a mission soon, and your mission should take several days to complete." Said Shaak Ti. She was also a togruta. "So what's this guy's name?" Asked Anakin "His name is Korno Abist" Anakin and Ahsoka bowed and walked out of the room. "Rex" Said Anakin into his com-link "Get the men ready, we are setting off in 1 standard hour" "Yes General Skywalker" Rex replied "We will see you then" "So Ahsoka, and how well can you speak Kel Dor?" Ahsoka looked up to him and thought. "Um, quite well, but defiantly not as good Master Plo" "What other languages do you speak?" Asked Anakin. "Well I speak basic, Kel Dor, togruti and I can understand wookiees. But I can't speak Togruti very well; I speak Kel Dor a lot easier than togruti What about you?" "Basic and Tatooine" Said Anakin "And how can you understand wookiees? That's a really rare ability" Ahsoka smiled as they continued walking. "You did really well in your training with Barriss yesterday Snips" Said Anakin "Thanks Master" They saw Rex walking towards them. "Hello General, Commander. We are ready for the mission." Said Rex "Thank you Captain. Come on Snips" Said Anakin.

Chapter 3: Hunting On Felucia

The ship had just landed on the planet Felucia. Felucia was a fungus-covered planet that was fairly inhospitable. "So you say that General Grievous is here, with a hostage?" Asked Ahsoka as her and Anakin walked out of the ship, onto the overgrown grass. "Yes, I didn't we tell you that earlier?" Replied Anakin The ship that had just dropped off Anakin, Ahsoka and a couple of clones, closed the doors and lifted off the dusty ground, and started to fly back to Coruscant. "Oh whatever. Will that overgrown trashcan have an army of droids with him?" "We expected him to, but our scanners say that there are only a few droids with him. Most likely magnaguards and assassin droids" "So what do you reckon this 'Republic super weapon' does?" "I don't know, but it must be pretty important" Said Anakin, scratching his head a little. "We are going camp out here for the night, and carry out the mission tomorrow" Said Anakin "What? Why did you have to wake me up so early? I could have had a few more hours sleep!" Anakin sighed and said "Ahsoka, we had to come early because we have to walk to safe camping spot" Said Anakin, irritated. "Why couldn't the ship have dropped us off there?" "Because, like most of the planet, it is covered in trees, so we can't land there. This is the closest we could get to the camping spot, and we need a lot of rest before the mission, so we better set off now" Ahsoka groaned and Anakin motioned Rex and Coric to come over. "Come on, we have to get to the camping spot" Anakin said while slinging a back-pack over his broad shoulders. "Yes sir!" Coric and Rex said in unison The two clones and the jedi started walking. "So how far do we have to walk?" Asked Ahsoka "About 3 miles I think" Said Anakin Ahsoka groaned in reply she really couldn't be bothered today, all she wanted to do was to sleep-in, and have a nice day and Rex couldn't help but laugh a little at her groan. "I take it you don't want to go on this mission, eh Commander?" Said Coric. Ahsoka grunted and Coric smiled. Suddenly Ahsoka's head jerked upwards. She had heard something. "Something wrong Commander?" Asked Rex, stopping to look at the young togruta, who had stopped in her tracks. "No," She said quietly "You just go ahead, I'll be there in a minute" Rex shrugged and continued walking.

Ahsoka frowned, and the jogged to catch up with the others. About an hour later. "Are we nearly there yet?" Asked Ahsoka, still acting like a child. "We are about half way, and will you stop whining? It's quite annoying" Anakin answered Ahsoka rolled her eyes. Ahsoka heard something again, but this time it was louder. Her head shot up. Her predator instincts kicking in. She heard a low growl, like an animal of some kind. A predator. Anakin and the troops didn't hear anything she didn't expect them to they didn't have advanced hearing like Ahsoka did. Ahsoka fingered one of her lightsabers, ready for an attack. Suddenly, a huge creature with six legs came rushing out of the trees. It was an acklay. But Ahsoka was expecting it. She jumped straight in front of the creature and ignited her longer lightsabers and stabbed it in the chest. When Anakin heard the snap hiss of a lightsabers, he whipped round to see Ahsoka stabbing an Ackley in the chest. He was quite surprised that he didn't hear the beast coming. Ahsoka took her lightsabers out of the animal's chest and deactivated it then clipped it onto her belt. The acklay collapsed onto the now blood soaked grass. Ahsoka trotted up next to Anakin and the clones as if nothing ever happened. "How did you know that that Ackley was about to attack you?" Asked Anakin in a sort of surprised tone. "I heard it" Ahsoka replied "How come I didn't hear it then?" "Maybe you're starting to lose your touch Master?" Ahsoka giggled. "Ha ha very funny" Anakin said sarcastically "Hey Master, can I have a drink please?" Asked Ahsoka. "Yeah sure, Snips" Anakin said, taking a flask of water from his bag "Catch" He said, throwing it to her. Ahsoka caught it easily with her predator instincts "Thanks" She said as she took a swig from the flask. "Hey, can I have that after you Commander?" Asked Rex. "Yeah, sure" She replied, putting the lid back on, the tossing it to the Clone Captain. Rex had a drink, then Coric, then Anakin. At the camping spot.. "Whoo hoo! We're finally here!" Cheered Ahsoka, who had her arms in the air and spinning around in circles.

"Don't get to comfortable yet, we still have to put the tent up, and get water and food" Said Anakin. "Wait," Ahsoka interrupted him "We haven't got any food or water? "Nope" "What kind of food can we get on this planet?" "Probably mushrooms and lots of vegetables. But I do not trust the plant life, they could be poisonous, so I vote hunting for some meat." "I second that" Rex said, raising a gloved hand. "I third that" Coric agreed with Rex. "Whos going to get it then?" Asked Rex "Two of us will have to pitch the tent, and the other has to get water" "Ahsoka is going hunting!" Anakin volunteered Ahsoka. "Why me?" Ahsoka asked, as if she was being accused of a crime. "Because you are a togruta and you are descended from predators so you're perfect for the job and I just can't be bothered to do it" Anakin joked slightly. "Me and Coric are pitching the tent!" Rex shouted "Oh fine! How much meat do you want?" Said Ahsoka "About enough to last for a couple of days" Said Anakin Ahsoka started walking off; then Rex shouted "And don't forget to use your little poisonous teeth!" Ahsoka rolled her eyes; Rex usually teased her about that. Togrutas didn't really have poisonous teeth, it was just a belief that the outsiders of Shili thought. Ahsoka was about 8 minutes away from camp now. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a fury creature. It was about a of a meter in height. She turned her head round slowly to get a good look at the fuzzball. Ahsoka kept her head still unnaturally still and quietly crept towards the creature. When the moment was right, she pounced on the creature, igniting her shoto on the way. She drove the short lightsabers into the creatures back. The fuzzball tried to flee, but Ahsoka was too fast for it. Ahsoka smiled at her achievement and deactivated her shoto. Ahsoka had an idea: She would leave the dead creature there, and wait for some more animals to feed on it, and then she would make her move and kill them too. Ahsoka was enjoying hunting; it was something she had never really done. She had tracked down animals before, but that was for safety and things like that. Hunting reminded her of the time she killed her akul; when she was 12. She was the youngest togruta to ever kill an akul single handed. But this was different; she was actually using her natural hunting skills for food. Like she was meant to. About half an hour later Ahsoka came walking back to the camp site, dragging a load of dead animals behind her. It was starting to get dark. The tent was up. Rex walked up to the padawan.

"Whoa! Didn't expect to bring this much food back!" Rex exclaimed, glancing over her shoulder to see how much she had caught. "I wanted us all to have a variety, plus I'm pretty hungry" Said Ahsoka "Hey Snips!" Anakin called, he was sitting next to a roaring fire "Bring all that meat over hear so we can eat!" "O.K!" She yelled back "Hey Rex, can you help me with all this? It's pretty heavy" Rex nodded and took a few animals from the pile. About half an hour later "Wow!" Said Coric looking at all the cooked food "I don't know which one to try first!" "If I were you I would try that one there" Said Ahsoka, pointing to a piece of meat. Coric took a bit, and spat back out "Urrggh! That is disgusting!" Ahsoka and Rex stared giggling a bit. "What's so funny?" Asked Coric "That was one of the little rodents that I found!" Said Ahsoka between giggles. "So Snips" Anakin asked, trying one of the meats "How did you get all this anyway?" "Killed one, used it as bait, attracted others, got them too" Answered Ahsoka "Well done. All this could last us a life time!" Anakin joked. Ahsoka smiled. "So kid," Said Rex "Did you use your little killer teeth?" "Nope, why did you want me to?" Said Ahsoka. Rex was teasing her again. "No no, just asking" He smiled As they all grew tired, one by one, they went to bed. Except one. Ahsoka was sitting in front of the fire, on guard duty. All four of them would take it in turns to guard the tent. And Ahsoka was first. Anakin figured that, with Ahsoka's terrific hearing and awareness, she should be on guard first. And he didn't want to wake her up when she was sleeping; because last time she was grumpy. Ahsoka chuckled to herself slightly. She was quite moody in the morning.

Chapter 4: The Dream

It was today. Today was their mission to confront grievous and rescue the hostage. Ahsoka opened her sleepy eyes, and stretched out. She yawned and put a gloved hand over her mouth. She turned her head to the left, and looked at the two sleeping clones. She chuckled to herself; Rex was snoring loudly, and Coric was mumbling in his sleep. He was muttering something about Cody stealing his helmet or something. But something was missing. Ahsoka frowned 'What's missing?' She thought to herself. She looked around. 'That's it! SkyGuy's missing!' She looked around again. But, she still couldn't see him. She reached out into the force, searching for his force signature. She sighed in relief when she found it, then relaxed again. He was close by. Maybe only a few meters away. Ahsoka figured, since Rex and Coric were fast asleep, that she could relax too. Ahsoka turned onto her back, and rested her left hand on her stomach, while the other hand found a comfortable place just above her montrals, so it rested on the pillow. She snuggled into the thin sheets of her make shift bed, and closed her eyes. She quickly drifted off to sleep. Ahsoka was running down a hall way. No, she was sprinting. Sprinting as fast as she could. The walls were plain metal, and the floor was slippery. It had only just been cleaned. She had a sharp stinging pain in her left leg. Though the pain was excruciating, she still didn't stop. "Where are you?" She asked, but to herself. The young padawan skidded around corner, yelping a little as pain shot up her leg. She was holding something. It was a lightsaber. But it wasn't hers or her masters, it was quite unusual. The hilt was thick, and had two ends. But it was too short to be a saberstaff. Ahsoka whirled around another corner, and ran straight down the hallway. She skidded to a halt when she got to a big, metal door. She started to pound on it with her fists. "Let me in!" She yelled as she pounded even harder on the door. "I SAID LET ME IN!" Her anger was bubbling over. She stepped back, stretched out her hands, and gathered all her force strength. She pulled her arms back, and thrust them forward with a massive force push.

The huge door was sent flying back, smashing into the wall opposite it. Ahsoka slowly walked in, ready for a surprise attack. Her predator instincts kicking in. Three magnaguards dropped from the ceiling, their electrical staffs ready. Ahsoka took her lightsabers of her belt, and ignited them both. She held them behind her in a shein grip. She placed the strange object into her boot. It should be safe there. "Come on then!" She taunted the droids "Give me all you've got!" The magnaguards charged at her, but she flipped over them easily, despite the pain in her leg. She landed behind them, leaning most of her weight on her good leg. She quickly whipped round, and blocked one of the droids strikes. Ahsoka started attacking one of the magnaguards by parrying its strikes with her longer 'saber, then cutting quick with her shoto. About a minute later, the magnaguard was a pile of scraps. Ahsoka sensed a strike directed at her head, so she swiftly ducked and cartwheeled out of range. The other magnaguard thrust his electro-staff forward, only for Ahsoka to dodge it. She quickly swung her longer lightsaber towards its head, cutting it clean off, then separating it's body from it's legs. Just one more to go. The last remaining magnaguard took a swing at Ahsoka's bad leg. She didn't have enough time to jump, but she did move a step forward. The electro-staff knocked Ahsoka off her feet, landing hard on the cold, metal floor. She took a step forward so she wouldn't get electrocuted. The end of an electro-staff had a high voltage of electricity stored in it. The wind was knocked out of her when she hit the floor. Gasping for breath, she force pushed the droid away then struggled to her feet. She jumped onto the fallen magnaguard, and stabbed in the chest with her shoto. Then she heard a masculine yell of pain, a yell she recognized very much Ahsoka looked at the defeated droids, and then ran to the next door. She, once again, force pushed the door open and sprinted inside.

But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw General Grievous laughing, and Anakin on the floor, lying in a pool of blood Ahsoka shot upright in her make shift bed, breathing heavily, and eyes wide. She was covered in sweat, and she was extremely hot. "Littl'un?" It was Rex speaking, and he sounded worried. When Ahsoka didn't reply he took hold of her small shoulders, and shook her

a little.

"Coric" Said Rex "Get the General" Coric nodded then climbed out of the tent. "Ahsoka? Kid, listen to me, it was just a dream OK? Just a dream!" Rex said desperately. This seemed to calm Ahsoka down a little. He breathing became more even and she seemed to have cooled down a little. She looked up at him. Rex smiled and removed his hands of her shoulders, sighing a little. "You OK?" He asked softly "Yeah" She answered quietly "Ahsoka!" Said Anakin as he climbed into the tent, and sat down beside Rex. "I'm all right Master, just a nightmare, just a nightmare" She trailed off slightly. "Are you sure you're OK?" He asked, sounding deeply concerned. Ahsoka nodded and let out a little a little sigh, collapsing back into the pillows. Anakin took his glove off and rested his large hand on Ahsoka's tattooed forehead. She was quite hot. "How do you feel?" Asked Anakin, as he motioned Rex out of the tent "Hot,

dizzy?"

"I just feel hot, don't worry, I'm not ill or anything" She replied weakly, closing her eyes. "Oh, OK. We are leaving in about 2 standard hours. I want you to stay here and rest for a little bit OK? You look quite ill. I'm not really sure if you should be on this mission" "No! I don't feel ill; I just had a dream OK? Just a dream" Ahsoka protested; she really didn't feel ill; it was just that dream. That nightmare.

"You sure?" "Yeah" Ahsoka nodded "I'm sure" "Well then" Said Anakin, standing up "I'll leave you to rest for a bit. I'll be back in about an hour" Anakin left the tent, leaving Ahsoka to think about her dream. Was it a vision? Or just a plain nightmare? She thought to herself And if it was a vision, then what did it mean? And, when would it happen? Ahsoka remembered her visions about Padme, and how she was meant to be assassinated by Aurra Sing. One of the most dangerous bounty hunters. She remembered how she saved Padme from the first attack, but unfortunately Padme got shot in the shoulder. The she remembered how Aurra confronted both Ahsoka and the injured Padme. Ahsoka blocked most of the shots, but ended up getting shot in the arm. Luckily Padme saved her though, she saved Padme, and then Padme saved her. They were like sisters, both close to Anakin, but both close to each other as well. Ahsoka then realized something, what if her dream was a vision of the upcoming mission! If it was, she hoped it wouldn't happen, and that it was just a simple old dream.

Chapter 5: Finding The Base

Anakin walked around outside the tent that Ahsoka was resting in. He was dressed and completely ready for the mission. They would move out in about an hour. He climbed into the tent, catching site of padawan, lying on her side and facing away from him. Her breathing was deep and even, so he could tell she was asleep. But something didn't seem right. Something feltoff. He could tell something was wrong through the force. And, he knew that the negative feeling was based on Ahsoka. He had a bad feeling. The force was warning him about her. He had had this sort of feeling all week, and it got stronger and stronger every day. The jedi knight ignored it at first, thinking it was nothing. But as the feeling grew more powerful, he got more worried. Something was going to happen to his padawan. And he knew it would happen soon. Anakin was torn out of his thoughts when he noticed Ahsoka stir. She flipped onto her back, then onto her other side, still fast asleep. Anakin sat down on his bed, which was next to Ahsoka's. He watched her sleep for a few minutes, noting how different she looked from a human child. Her orange skin was a deeper shape of orange, and her white tattoos stood out more. He had watched her sleep before, like when Kit Fisto had rescued her and Luminara's padawan, Barriss Offee, from freezing to death. He had sat at her bed, until she finally woke up, shooting upwards, wondering where she was; still thinking she was on the run from the parasites. But her skin seemed to be an even deeper shade than when she was in the med-bay. Maybe she was ill. But she hadn't started to feel ill yet. Maybe she shouldn't go on the mission; maybe he should send her back to the temple to rest. But he knew she would want to stay on the mission. They hadn't been on one for a while. He took his glove off and felt her forehead; it felt perfectly normal. Maybe she wasn't ill. He took his hand off Ahsoka's forehead, putting his glove back on. He grabbed Ahsoka's shoulder, and gave her a gentle shake, trying not to startle her. He whispered "Hey Snips wake up. We have to complete our mission" He took his hand off her shoulder, and lightly tapped her cheek with his fingers. She groaned quietly, and then flipped onto her back, pulling the sheets over her head.

Anakin laughed a little when he noticed her montrals sticking out of the covers. "What are you laughing at?" Asked Ahsoka sleepily, as she pulled the sheets off her head, revealing her face. "Nothing. I'm just glad you're finally awake" He replied, trying not to laugh at her rudeness. But this was Ahsoka. He had gotten used to her rudeness, snippy come-backs, and her foul mouth Ahsoka groaned and started to get out of bed. Once she had stood up, Anakin asked her "How are you feeling?" "Fine Master, why do you ask?" Asked Ahsoka, stretching out. "Nothing, you just looked kind of ill earlier, and I was just a little worried" Anakin shifted his weight, he wasn't a little worried, he was extremely worried. Something was going to happen to her, and he knew it. Ahsoka yawned, showing her little sharp teeth. "Tired?" Asked Anakin "Yeah" "Well, I'll know what'll wake you up!" Said Anakin "Oh really? What then?" Asked Ahsoka, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'll show you" He walked out of the tent, smiling at Rex and Coric. They smiled back and stood either side of the tent entrance, each holding a water bottle. Ahsoka walked out, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Rex and Coric pointing their water bottles at Ahsoka, squirting jets of water at

her.

"Hey Rex, Coric! Stop it!" She yelled as she shielded her face so it wouldn't get wet. They stopped squirting their water bottles and started laughing. "Are you feeling awake now?" Asked Anakin, trying to hide his laughter behind his hand.

"Yeah, and I'm also feeling soaking wet!" Ahsoka flicked some water at the clones and Anakin, pelting them with little drops of water. They all started laughing together. Anakin wiped his face clean then said "Come on, we better take the ten t down then get going" Everyone agreed, and then they started to take the tent down. About half an hour later, they were all ready to go: Food was safely wrapped up in case they got hungry; they had plenty of water, and they were all rested for the mission. Ahsoka didn't look sick or tired anymore, and she was enthusiastic about the mission. They set off walking, well; Ahsoka was climbing and leaping from tree to tree, enjoying the sensation of the wind whipping against her face. While Ahsoka was jumping through the trees, she once again, thought about her mysterious dream. She wondered what had happened to her Master. Just thinking about the horrible dream made her shudder. Ahsoka also thought about what it would be like to fight General Grievous again. Last time didn't go so great; but she escaped, like she always did. She jumped down from a fairly high tree, and used the force to cushion her landing. The others were still quite behind her, so she leaned against one of the luminous trees, and listened to her surroundings carefully; she didn't want to be captured again. Anakin walked up beside his padawan, and nudged her slightly. "Go and check if you can see the base" He said, as he nodded his head towards the tree. Over the 2 years Anakin had known Ahsoka, he had learned that Ahsoka had much better hearing and eye sight than humans, so whenever they were searching for something a long way away, such as the base, he would use Ahsoka to try and spot it. But her being a togruta had its weak spots, such as very loud noises, and her temper. You should never get on the wrong side of a togruta, and that one in particular. She nodded in reply and force jumped into the tree, once at the top, she squinted her eyes to get a good look around. In the distance she saw a huge metal, base. That was it! She could see the base! She jumped back down from the tree and landed beside her master. "Have you spotted anything?" Asked Coric "Yup, I see the base!" "How long a walk do you think it is?"

"I would say about a mile away" Anakin smiled and patted her on the head. "Well done Snips" "Let's move troopers!" Anakin ordered "Yes sir!" The two clones said in unison Anakin and Ahsoka walked in silence for a few minutes, while Rex and Coric talked about blasters and other weapons. Ahsoka decided to break the silence "Master, I sense you're uneasy" Said Ahsoka, without looking at her master. "What's wrong?" "N-nothing Snips. Nothing at all" "You sure?" "Yes I'm sure!" Anakin snapped at his padawan. Ahsoka looked taken aback; she only asked him if anything was wrong. Even the clones were startled at Anakin's sudden outburst. "Look," Said Anakin, taking hold of her shoulders, looking down at her "I'm sorry for snapping at you, I justI'm just a little worried about the mission OK? I have a bad feeling about it." "It's all right Master, I've had a bad feeling about the mission too" She smiled at him, and he smiled back. They took off walking again, chatting about random things. "Who's the Smartest!" Said Ahsoka "Defiantly not Coric!" Laughed Rex "Well I'm the m-" Coric couldn't finish, because he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a spy droid, hovering an inch off the ground. It was facing the way of the base. They hid behind a bush. "Shush!" Whispered Ahsoka, putting a finger to her lips "Don't move a muscle! I'll get it, don't worry" "Wait! What if it notices you?" Anakin whispered back, grabbing her wrist when she was about to go. "Trust me OK?" Anakin hesitated for a second, then nodded his head yes, a confident smile on his face.

Ahsoka quietly crept up behind the spy droid, crouching down slightly, keeping low. When she was right behind the droid, she took her shoto off her belt, ignited it, but at the same time stabbed the droid in the head with it. She would have used a force push to crush it, but because they were so near the base, it might pick up the loud sounds of clattering metal, so she had to kill the droid as quiet as possible. Ahsoka jogged back over to the bush where her Master and the clones were

hiding.

"See? Everything was completely fine! I had it all under control!" Ahsoka sent a cheeky grin towards her master. They started walking towards the base, more quickly, but more carefully, so they wouldn't be spotted. They could see the base perfectly now, they could see the huge metal walls, the patrolling droids, and windows and the doors, each having a large amount of droids guarding them. They hid behind a large tree. "Right Ahsoka and Rex, you're gonna take the back door, while me and Coric take the front" Said Anakin Ahsoka and the clones nodded a determined look on their faces. "We will meet back at the front door when the droids are taken out" Ahsoka and Rex quietly scouted through the trees and bushes, trying not to get spotted. They got ready to attack, blasters out and lightsabers in hand

Chapter 6: Inside The Base

Ahsoka ignited her lightsabers, and pounced high in the air (Not high enough to get spotted by the droids guarding the top of the base) and came hurtling back down, landing on one of the droids. Rex started shooting some of the weaker droids, while Ahsoka fought the assassin droids and the magnaguards. Ahsoka deflected blaster bolts, sending them back to the droids who fired them. Ahsoka stood in front of Rex so he wouldn't get shot. Ahsoka dashed towards an assassin droid, and then slid on her knees, cutting the droid in half as she slid past it. She got back up, dodging an electro-staff as came towards her. She grabbed the electro-staff and wrenched it out of the droids grip, making it weapon less. She threw the electro-staff over to Rex to defend himself with, should any droids get close enough to attack him. Ahsoka back flipped over a droid, then dashed forward and sliced the droid in two. Ahsoka threw her shoto at a droid nearing Rex, killing it. While Ahsoka was distracted by a magnaguard, a super battle droid came up behind Ahsoka. It raised its arm ready to strike, but when it bought it down, it was on the floor, and so were its legs. The rest of the droid collapsed in a heap on metal. Ahsoka had heard the droid. Rex shot the last droid, and then walked over to Ahsoka. "Do you reckon Coric and General Skywalker are finished with their droids?" Asked Rex, putting away his blasters. Ahsoka listened for any sounds she heard no blaster shots, so they must be finished. "Yeah I think so" She answered, starting to walk over to the front door. When she walked around the front, she saw Anakin leaning against the door. "What took you so long Snips? I thought you were meant to be the fast one" Anakin mocked, and grin on his face. "It was Rex!" She pointed to Rex, who was walking round the corner "What?" Rex asked, looking completely confused. "Nothing. Come on, we have to break in" Said Anakin Ahsoka nodded. "OKI sense that there is lots droids on the top floor, probably where they are holding the hostage" Said Anakin, pointing to the top of the base. "So what's the plan?" Asked Coric, crossing his armored arms over his chest "Do we justbreak the door down and fight the droids?"

"No, we will jump up to the middle floor, then take out the droids, and travel up to the top until we find the hostage" "Easier said than done" Said Ahsoka, leaning on a tree. Anakin glared at the padawan, but she just shrugged and smiled, showing her teeth a little. "Right, since you're the fastest, you'll jump up through that window and quickly take out the droids before they set the alarm off" Said Anakin, gesturing Ahsoka. "And we will make sure that no other droids attack from here?" Asked Rex, finishing Anakin's sentence for him. Anakin nodded his head, a bit of sandy blonde hair falling in front of his face. "Right then, here I go" Said Ahsoka taking her lightsabers off her belt. Ahsoka force jumped onto a tree, and then leapt through the window igniting her lightsabers in a reverse grip on the way. The battle and super battle droids started firing at the young padawan. Ahsoka twirled her lightsaber around, blocking the blaster bolts, and leapt forwards, cutting droids into two on the way. The Togruta ducked a blaster bolt, and drew a battle droid towards her with the Force. She thrust her lightsaber forward, stabbing it in the chest. She took out the last of the droids, and deactivated her lightsabers. The comlink on Ahsoka's wrist beeped, flashing a bright blue colour. Ahsoka pressed a button "Yes Master?" "Ahsoka" Anakin said through the comlink "Have you taken out the droids?" "Yes Master. You can come up" Anakin jumped through the window, the gestured Ahsoka over to help him force pull Rex and Coric up. "So which way do we go?" Asked Rex Anakin reached out into the force, searching for the hostages force signature. When he found it, it was weak. He was in pain, and he wasn't force sensitive. "We go up, and right to the top floor."

"No, we go up and right to the bottom floor" Ahsoka said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Anakin slowly turned his head around to glare at the Togruta, who smirked cockily in reply. "Hey, cut the cheek" Anakin scolded slightly. Anakin jogged up to the wall, drew his lightsaber, and cut a perfect circle in the wall. He used the force to gentle pull the metal block out from the wall, and let it flop onto the floor with a thud. Before Anakin could climb through, Ahsoka dived through the hole and ignited her lightsabers. Ahsoka perfectly landed on her toes, and held her lightsabers still in the reverse grip in front of her in a defensive position. Her eyes skimmed the wall, the dusty, worn away floor, and the door. She couldn't sense anything through the force, and she couldn't even the quietest sounds. The coast was clear. She deactivated her green lightsabers, and hooked them onto her belt. She turned her head to look over her shoulder. "The coast is clear!" She called to the team. Anakin climbed through the hole, ducking his head so he wouldn't whack it. When he stood up straight he dusted himself off. "You need to be more alert Master." Ahsoka teased "You never know what could be behind the next door. Or, in this case, wall" Anakin ignored the enthusiastic Padawan, and walked straight past her. Ahsoka smirked to herself, she enjoyed annoying him, she found it very entertaining. Anakin walked cautiously towards the next door. He had his lightsaber in his hand, while the other rested on the old fashioned door handle. He slowly opened the door, gently pushing it forward. "Master wait!" Ahsoka whispered sharply "What?" He whispered, his voice quiet and a little irritated. "Listen" The Jedi Knight closed his eyes and blocked out all sound, but focusing on any of the sounds he might hear from next door. He stained his ears. He heard someone talking, it sounded like a droid. Then he heard lots of other droids. "Rex, Coric. Get out your blasters, there's some droids on the other side" The clones pulled out there blasters, and aimed at the door. Ahsoka clipped her lightsabers off her belt, and tightly gripped them. Anakin tightened the, already strong grip, on his lightsaber. "OK, ready?" Whispered Anakin. Everyone nodded and moved closer to the door "ThreeTwoOneNow!"

Anakin shoved the door open and ignited his blue lightsaber. Ahsoka lunged forward and started slicing up some super battle droids. The clones charged forwards and open fired. "Rex! Coric! Get behind us!" Anakin ordered Ahsoka and Anakin stood in front of the clones, protecting them from the heavy blaster fire they were under. Rex and Coric started shooting. The blaster fire started to die down, so that meant the numbers of droids was going down as well Anakin sliced through the last droid, and ran straight to the turbo lift. Anakin pressed some buttons, and the doors opened. Anakin stepped inside and motioned Ahsoka and the clones to join him. The Padawan and the clones did as they were told, and joined Anakin in the turbo lift, still alert and ready for an attack. The turbo lifted up, and finally halted when they were at the top of the building. Ahsoka and Anakin sensed the hostage Korno on the other side, accompanied by some droids. "This is so easy!" Rex stated "Yes" Anakin agreed, crossing his arms over his muscular chest "Too easy"

Chapter 7: Grievous And The hostage

Anakin and Ahsoka gripped their lightsabers. There were droids on the other side of the turbo lift door. Lots of droids. And one of them was General Grievous himself. But, the Council said that there weren't going to be many droids the Council were wrong. Dead wrong. Ahsoka gulped; she wasn't afraid of Grievous. No, she would never be afraid of him. Like her Master stated, she was fearless. But her bad feeling the bad feeling she had had for about a week - had just gotten ten times worse. It sort of made her feel nauseous, and she sensed Anakin was feeling uneasy as well. "Everyone get ready" Warned Anakin, glancing at the clones; but his attention was drawn to his Padawan. She had paled slightly, and he was sure he saw her gulp. "Something wrong, Snips?" Asked Anakin, gently nudging Ahsoka in the ribs. "Yes Master, just feeling a bit dizzy" She replied, snapping out of her trance. "Good. Ready everyone?" Everyone nodded, and got the weapons out and ready "Yes, Sir!" Said Rex confidently. The turbo lift door opened and standing there, in the middle of the large room, was General Grievous, and lots of assassin and magnaguards, all ready to fight. There was even some battle droids and super battle droids. Anakin and Ahsoka ignited there lightsabers, and the clones raised their blasters. "Well, well, well. Look who we have here." Said Grievous "General Grievous" Anakin snarled, tightening his grip on his lightsaber. "Yes, Skywalker. And look, you've bought you're little Togruta pet" Grievous growled, scowling at Ahsoka. Ahsoka snarled back, baring her tiny, sharp teeth. "Where's the hostage Grievous?" "Hostage? What hostage?" Asked Grievous, sounding like he knew nothing. Ahsoka and Anakin easily sensed it was a lie. Grievous threw his long off his long cloak, revealing his strong metallic body. He separated his two arms into four, and grabbed his lightsabers. But they weren't his lightsabers, they were lightsabers that he had taken from the so many Jedi he had slaughtered. Ahsoka, Anakin and Obi-Wan, were one of the many few Jedi who had survived an encounter with the horrific cyborg.

The cyborg ignited his four lightsabers, and got into a fighting stance. The two Jedi did the same. "You can't win, Grievous, I've grown a lot stronger since our last meeting" Said Ahsoka, switching grips with her lightsabers so that they were both behind her in the reverse grip. Grievous laughed, before falling into a fit of coughs. "Well let's see if that's true then" Grievous lunged at the Padawan, who darted to the left and blocked a strike coming for her head. Anakin dashed forward, swinging his lightsaber at Grievous' legs. Grievous jumped over the powerful strike and Ahsoka Force-Pushed him to the ground. The droids started shooting. The Clones hid behind some crates, and started firing. "Ahsoka! You handle the droids! I'll get Grievous!" Anakin called out "Right!" Ahsoka jumped high in the air, and onto a crab droid. She raised her lightsaber and plunged it deep into the droids back, causing it spark and then collapse onto the rusty floor. The Padawan cartwheeled across the floor, and sliced three droids on the way. "Ahsoka! Try and sense where the hostage is!" Anakin yelled, flipping over one of Grievous' strikes. "Right" Ahsoka mumbled. She deflected some blaster bolts and then ForcePushed the droids away. Reaching out into the force to sense where the hostage was, threw her lightsaber around her, watching the green lightsaber flash by as it cut and sliced through droids. Ahsoka gasped. That was it. She knew where the hostage was. "Master! I know where he is!" "Great! Now go find him!" Ahsoka stopped for a second. Her Master couldn't fight Grievous and a load of droids. Could he? But she had to believe in him. If she believed he could defeat Grievous and hold off many droids while she was gone, he could. He was Anakin Skywalker after all. The great, almighty 'Hero with No Fear'. The Chosen One. "Ahsoka get going!" Anakin barked. Grievous metallic hand connected with Anakin's chin, and sent him sprawling to the floor. "GO!" He shouted. He tried to get up. Grievous roughly pushed Anakin back down to the floor by kicking him in the chest. The cyborg lifted a lightsaber. "Now, Jedi, prepare to die!" He spat. Anakin squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the horrific pain that was about to come. But it never came. The Knight opened

his eyes again to see a green lightsaber blocking a blue one. Ahsoka's green lightsaber. Grievous then started attacking Ahsoka, using two lightsabers to block her quick strikes, and the other two for offence. Grievous parried Ahsoka's strike and sent her shoto flying out of her hands. He then did the same with her lightsaber. Ahsoka was now weapon less. Sure, she very fast and very agile, but she couldn't dodge four lightsabers. Grievous swung a lightsaber out, hoping to take the Padawan's head off, but Ahsoka kicked it out of his hand. Grievous' fist came hurtling down and hit Ahsoka square in the back. Ahsoka was sent tumbling to the floor, next to her Master. The droids stopped firing, and the Clones held up their hands, as if they were surrendering. "Now" Grievous clamped his hand around Ahsoka's neck, and pulled her to her feet, then lifted her off the ground. Ahsoka's feet dangled helplessly in the air and Grievous held her own lightsaber dangerously close to her face. What a wonderful way to die, by the hands of your own lightsaber. A very honorable way die. "No! Let her go!" Anakin pleaded, reaching out a hand towards Ahsoka. "Fine then" Grievous replied simply. He lifted Ahsoka even higher off the ground and sent her hurtling through the air and straight though a glass window. Anakin's anger bubbled over, and he called both his and Ahsoka's lightsabers towards him with the Force. He started attacking Grievous with very powerful lightsaber moves. When he had pushed Grievous back slightly, - sensing Ahsoka was still conscious and OK - he threw Ahsoka's lightsabers through the window she had smashed. "Now go get the hostage!" He yelled, calling his own lightsaber over to him with the force. He and Grievous started dueling again. "OK!" Ahsoka called out weakly. "Follow her!" Grievous barked to some droids. The droids did as they were told and chased after Ahsoka. Ahsoka was lying on the floor, flat on her back, surrounded by glass. She groaned quietly and sat up, using her arms to support her. She saw two metal cylinders flying through the air, and then land close to her. She frowned and picked them up. They were her lightsabers. She heard Anakin shout. "Ok!" She called out weakly. She then heard Grievous order some droids to follow her. The Padawan grunted then pulled herself to her feet. He back was stinging, and the tiny glass shards were digging into the soft flesh of her back. She took off running, using the Force to guide her. She skidded around the corner, and then dashed forwards. She came towards a turbo lift, and then skidded to a halt. She pressed the flashing buttons. The door open with a swoosh noise, and Ahsoka quickly

stepped inside. She could see the droids racing towards her. She rapidly pressed a yellow button, begging for the door to close. Too late. The droids got close enough for short range shooting. Ahsoka activated her lightsaber, the making the walls look bright green. Ahsoka deflected every blaster bolt, until the turbo lift doors finally closed. Ahsoka sighed in relief when the doors closed, the de-activated her lightsaber and clipped it onto her belt. When the doors opened again, Ahsoka darted out, keeping alert the whole time. She stopped when she was outside of a door. She opened it and cautiously stepped inside. In the middle of the room, was a man sprawled out on the dusty floor, unconscious. He was human, but Ahsoka had expected him to Kel Dor, considering that he spoke Kel Dor. The hostage Ahsoka thought. She crouched down next him, and lightly tapped his shoulder. He stirred, and rolled over onto his back. Ahsoka gasped when she saw his face, it was badly cut, swollen with purple and blue bruises, and dried blood all over his face and chest. He groaned, and opened his eyes. Ahsoka frowned when she saw the colour of them; they were an extremely pale green Ahsoka had never seen a human with eyes that colour before. "'Are you OK?'" Ahsoka spoke in Kel Dor while helping Korno sit up. He groaned groggily in reply, and rubbed his head with his bloody hand. "'Yes'" He replied "'Who are you?'" "'It doesn't matter, all that matters is getting you out of here'" Ahsoka put his arm over her shoulder, and helped him stand. He seemed strong enough to stand on his own, so Ahsoka removed his arm from her shoulder, and stood up straight. Korno flashed her small smile, and Ahsoka smiled back with a toothy grin. Ahsoka started walking, until Korno grabbed her shoulder. "'What are you really here for?'" He asked Ahsoka sighed; she needed to get back to Anakin so she could help him. "The blue prints for the super republic weapon that's what I'm here for.'" "'Ah, and they sent a child to collect the blueprints for a very important weapon'" Ahsoka felt slightly offended; most people underestimated her skills, and she was getting quite fed up with it. She sighed again, letting out her irritation. "'I'm with my Master, and he's in a fight at the moment, so we better be getting back to him'" Said Ahsoka through grinded teeth. "'Right'" He replied running his hand through his messy black hair "'I'm gonna trust with this'" He reached behind his back, and pulled out something from the back of his shirt. It looked like a lightsaber, but it was thick, and long; similar to a

saberstaff, but it wasn't. He handed to Ahsoka, and she examined it in her hands, twirling it in her hands. "'What is it? And how did you hide this from the droids?'" "'It's a key. It will help you get into the base where the blueprints are hidden. And those droids are stupid; they didn't even notice that there was a big lump in my shirt.'" He laughed a little. Ahsoka laughed weakly, and mumbled in basic "'I didn't even notice'"

Chapter 8: Found

Korno and Ahsoka walked around a corner. Ahsoka had her hands resting on her lightsabers, ready for an attack. The key was also on her belt. "'So'" Said Ahsoka quietly, "'Where is the base where the blue prints are kept?'" "'The base is on the planet Kashyyyk, in the village called Waseebah'" "'Waseebah? I've never heard of that village before, and I've learnt about Kashyyyk in my studies at the temple'" Ahsoka frowned, rethinking about her studies at the temple. Maybe she had learnt about it, but just not listened to her tutors. She was always goofing around with other Padawan's, and usually playing pranks and jokes on her tutors and the other students. She got into trouble for it, but at least she had a laugh. "'No, you probably wouldn't have. I found that village. It was deserted. So, I decided to give it a name.'" "'Oh, OK.'" "'And, why is the key in the shape of a lightsaber?'" "'I had a friend who was a jedi, once. He died. But, when I went to his funeral, a jedi gave me a lightsaber. It was my friends. The Jedi said that my friend said that had wanted me to have it if he died. So, I decided to make his lightsaber into a key. His lightsabers had saved so many lives, killed so many droids. And this key,'" He held up the former-lightsaber "'Will be the key to a weapon. A weapon that can save many lives'" "'He sounded like a great Jedi'" Said Ahsoka "'He was. He was.'" Ahsoka reached behind her back, and rubbed her shoulder blade, wincing as she pushed a shard of glass deeper into her skin. "'You OK?'" "'Yeah'" A noise buzzed through Ahsoka's montrals. She frowned. "'Did you hear that?'" The Padawan asked, ignoring the Human's question. She took her lightsabers off her belt. "'No'"

Suddenly, a loud, deafening screech filled the room. Ahsoka covered her sensitive montrals with her petite hands, and dropped to her knees. Korno cried out, and fell against the wall, trying to block some of the sound out with his hands. Droids dropped down from the high ceiling, and landing in front of Korno and Ahsoka. The noise had died down, and Korno had recovered. But Ahsoka hadn't, she was still on her knees, and still clutching her montrals. To her, the screeching noise was still there, still causing her great pain. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she was grinding her teeth. She felt something cold and metallic grab her arms, and then roughly pull her up. The Togruta grunted as she was pulled to her feet, though her eyes were still clamped shut. She felt her lightsabers and the key being ripped off her belt. Great, now her only defense was the force. The Padawan opened her eyes, seeing Korno also being yanked to his feet. Korno was shouted demanding that the droids let him go. Ahsoka groaned in pain as the droids hooked their arms under Ahsoka's, and started dragging her, her boots scraping the floor. Her headtails were throbbing painfully, and her vision was blurry. Ahsoka turned her head to left, her clouded vision making out the shape of a Human man. "'Korno'" Ahsoka whispered. Lucky the droids couldn't hear. "'Yeah?'" "'I'm gonna try and escape. Well, once I can see properly'" Korno was shocked; she couldn't possibly try to escape now. She was only a child; she couldn't think she was powerful enough to fight these magnaguards with no lightsabers, and blurry vision. Just the Force. "'What? You can't do that! You'll get killed!'" He hissed. "'You underestimate my abilities'" 'Just like everyone else does' Ahsoka thought bitterly. "'Fine then! Go get yourself killed!'" Ahsoka frowned. Why did no-one think she was capable of accomplishing anything? She wished a few more people believed in her. Sure, Obi-Wan, Plo, Anakin, and even Rex trusted her, but she wished she had a few more people. The Togruta took a deep breath, focusing the rest of her energy. She wrenched her arm out of the magnaguards vice-like grip, and then sent the droid crashing towards the wall with a powerful Force-Push. She sensed a blow coming for her head, but swiftly ducked. "Argh!" She cried out (In basic) and collapsed onto one knee. A magnaguard had struck her on the leg with its electro staff. A droid ordered some of the others to take Korno to Grievous. Ahsoka climbed to her feet, using the wall to support her. She put most of her weight on her

right leg. She lifted a droid off the ground with the Force, and smashed it into the wall. She took the key out of its hands, and kept a tight grip on it so she wouldn't lose it. While ducking and dodging attacks, Ahsoka searched for her lightsabers. They were nowhere to be found. Kriff! Ahsoka thought the droids what took Korno must have taken my lightsabers as well! Ahsoka jumped over a droid, and then bounced off the wall, sending the droid tumbling over. When the fell Ahsoka noticed to silver objects fall from under its cape. Her lightsabers. Ahsoka grinned broadly and snatched them off the ground before the fallen magnaguard could. She ignited the lightsabers and sliced the droid in half, then turned the other tinnies to scrap. Breathing heavily, she deactivated her lightsabers, and slumped against the wall. Through the Force, she felt terrible pain. She gasped. Master she thought. He was in trouble. She knew it. She had to get to Anakin. And fast. Ahsoka took off running, sprinting down the plain, metal halls. For some reason she couldn't sense where Anakin or Korno was. She could sense them, just not the location. "Where are you?" She asked, but to herself. The young padawan skidded around corner, yelping a little as pain shot up her leg. She took the key off her belt, and gripped it tightly as she ran. Ahsoka whirled around another corner, and ran straight down the hallway. She skidded to a halt when she got to a big, metal door. Sensing that there was someone or something on the other side, she started to pound on the door with her fists. "Let me in!" She yelled as she pounded even harder on the door. Why was she so angry? "I SAID LET ME IN!" Her anger was bubbling over. She stepped back, stretched out her hands, and gathered all her force strength. She pulled her arms back, and thrust them forward with a massive force push. The huge door was sent flying back, smashing into the wall opposite it. Ahsoka slowly walked in, ready for a surprise attack. Her predator instincts kicking in. Three magnaguards dropped from the ceiling, their electrical staffs ready. More magnaguards? Seriously? Ahsoka took her lightsabers of her belt, and ignited them both. She held them behind her in a shein grip. She placed the key in her boot where it should be

relatively safe. Unless, she had her leg cut off. But she wouldn't let that happen. Not in a million years. "Come on then!" She taunted the droids "Give me all you've got!" The magnaguards charged at her, but she flipped over them easily, despite the pain in her leg and back. She landed behind them, leaning most of her weight on her good leg. She quickly whipped round, and blocked one of the droids strikes. Ahsoka started attacking one of the magnaguards by parrying its strikes with her longer lightsaber, then cutting quick with her shoto. About a minute later, the magnaguard was a pile of scraps. Ahsoka sensed a strike directed at her head, so she swiftly ducked and cartwheeled out of range. The other magnaguard thrust his electro-staff forward, only for Ahsoka to dodge it. She quickly swung her longer lightsaber towards its head, cutting it clean off, then separating it's body from its legs. Just one more to go. The last remaining magnaguard took a swing at Ahsoka's bad leg. She didn't have enough time to jump, but she did move a step forward. The electro-staff knocked Ahsoka off her feet, landing hard on the cold, metal floor. She took a step forward so she wouldn't get electrocuted. The end of an electro-staff had a high voltage of electricity stored in it. The wind was knocked out of her when she hit the floor. Gasping for breath, she force pushed the droid away then struggled to her feet. She jumped onto the fallen magnaguard, and stabbed in the chest with her

shoto.

Then she heard a masculine yell of pain, a yell she recognized very much Ahsoka looked at the defeated droids, and then ran to the next door. She, once again, force pushed the door open and sprinted inside. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw General Grievous laughing, and Anakin on the floor, lying in a pool of blood Korno was in the room also, but Ahsoka was still staring at Anakin. Her eyes went wide. It was true. Her dream wasn't just a dream. It was a vision of the future

Chapter 9: Surrender

Grievous was still laughing, but Ahsoka barely took notice of it. It felt like her heart had stopped. She stopped breathing, her blue eyes wide with horror. "Ah-A-Ahsoka" Anakin choked out, lifting his head ever so slightly to look at her. He tried to say something else, but all that came out has coughs and wheezes. "Master" Ahsoka whispered, her lips barely moving. Ahsoka tore her eyes away from her Master, though it took a great deal of effort to do so. "What did you do to him?" She growled, glaring at Grievous, her baby blue eyes flashing with anger and hatred. "Well, why don't I show you?" He shuffled a little closer to Anakin, and kicked him hard, making him roll onto his back. Anakin cried out quietly as he forced to move. Ahsoka gasped. Anakin had a lightsaber wound slashed diagonally across his chest. Ahsoka didn't know why it was bleeding though, lightsaber wounds usually didn't bleed. Maybe Grievous had slashed something important. Rex and Coric were standing next to Korno, all being held by some guards. Korno was completely oblivious to the situation because he couldn't understand anything. "Let him go" Ahsoka growled, baring her teeth. Ahsoka glared at the cyborg, frowning and still baring her tiny, sharp teeth. "Any why would I do that?" Grievous laughed, kicking Anakin again. Ahsoka stopped frowning, and looked at the floor, "Take me" She whispered. "What was that? Sorry, I couldn't hear you" Grievous put a hand to the side of his head, tapping the place where his ears would have been if he were human. "Take me instead! I have the information, he doesnt" She shouted, clenching her fists until they were white. "N-n-no" Anakin stuttered, once again lifting his head to look at his apprentice. "Tempting." Said Grievous Though it was hard, Ahsoka ignored Anakin, and glared at Grievous, "If you let them go, you can have me"

"N-no" Anakin ordered weakly. Grievous thought for a moment, lifting a hand to rest on his chin. "Throw them all in the cell!" Grievous barked at the droids. The droids roughly pulled Anakin to his feet, who was unconscious. As everyone was being led out by guards, two assassin droids came up behind Ahsoka, and held her thin arms in a vice-like grip. "No! I said let them go! Keep me!" The Padawan yelled, trying to wrench her arms out of the droids large hands. Grievous just simply laughed, admiring Anakin's lightsaber in his hands. Ahsoka grunted when a droid pushed her arm up into her back, making her shoulder hurt. "Shut up laughing you kriffing sleemo!" The magnaguard raised a hand, and struck Ahsoka round the head with it. Togruta's lekku were very sensitive, so when Ahsoka was hit, she was knocked out straight away. "Guards!" Grievous snapped, just before they could leave, "Put the child in

sell 4"

The unconscious Padawan was thrown into a cell, crashing heavily to the floor as the droids let go of her arms. A young Twi'lek woman, about the age of 20, was sitting in a corner, her knees tucked up to her chest, and her arms wrapped around them. After seeing an unconscious Togruta being thrown in, she quickly got up and rushed over to her. The Twi'lek gently shook Ahsoka's shoulder. Ahsoka groaned quietly, but still stayed unconscious. The woman turned Ahsoka over, so she was lying on her back. She looked at Ahsoka's waist belt, which had two clips on it, probably for something important. Judging by the size of her lekku and montrals, the Twi'lek could tell that the Togruta was only a child. She lightly tapped Ahsoka's cheek, causing her to stir slightly. "Come on, child. Please wake up" She tapped Ahsoka's cheek a little harder. "Urrggh, my head" Ahsoka slowly sat up, with help from the Twi'lek. Ahsoka rubbed her back lekku, which was extremely sore. "W-where's my Master?" Ahsoka asked. "Master? He's not here Are you a slave?" The blue Twi'lek asked, thinking carefully about her question. "N-no. I'm a Jedi. Well, a Padawan. Who are you?" "My name is Zara. Are you all right?" "I-I dunno. My head It hurts really badly." Ahsoka started to rub her lekku again, but this time more vigorously. "Stop that, you'll make it worse" Zara gently slapped Ahsoka's hand away, holding it as Ahsoka stopped rubbing.

"What happened to you?" Zara asked, concern filling her young voice. "General Grievous, he attacked me, my Master, and some clones. He captured my Master and the clones, but I went to help the captive. How long have you been here?" Zara sighed sadly, "Two months. It's been horrible. We barely get fed, when we do, it's usually disgusting slop. If you do something you shouldn't, you'll get beaten. Or, if they're bored, you'll get beaten anyway. You lose either way." Ahsoka winced slightly, gazing at all Zara's bloody cuts and bruises "Looks like you've been through hell." Ahsoka said, glancing at the particularly large cut running down the Twi'lek's arm. "This is nothing compared to what I've seen It's horrible. About a week ago, the droids dragged half dead Mirialan out H-he had three missing fingers, he also had a huge hole in his back, probably were they ripped a chunk of flesh out A-and so much more Cuts, bruises, burns, broken bones The screams and shouts, it's unimaginable to think about what they're doing to them I guess I'm lucky" Ahsoka was speechless She had been tortured before When she had to pretend she was a Togrutan princess It didn't go to well, because she got tortured by a shock collar, but a shock collar sounded like nothing compared to what she had just heard Suddenly, an ear splitting scream filled the air, and Ahsoka had an idea about what was happening Clone Captain Rex ripped off a bit of Anakin's torn rope, and placed it on the Knight's chest, applying pressure. Anakin winced, and tightly clenched his fists. "I'm sorry General," Rex apologized, "This is the only way I can stop the bleeding" Korno completely oblivious to the situation sat quietly in the corner, an occasional sigh escaping his mouth. Coric, who was looking for a way to get out of the cell, let out a frustrated noise, and flopped down next to Rex. "Coric, it's a cell, it's not like there's going to be an emergency exit" Said Rex. "Well how are we going to get out? We're stuck in a cell with our injured General, a human who can't even understand us, and our Commander is missing!" "All right, brother, calm down, we'll think of something." "Our comlinks!," Coric exclaimed, "We can contact The Resolute!" "Coric," Said Rex, "My comlink's fried, and by the looks of it, so is yours" Coric pulled an angry face, the glared at his forearm, where his smoking comlink laid. "Blast!" He cursed, slamming his armored fist on the floor.

"R-Rex. I-I have m-my comlink." Said Anakin, between ragged breaths. Rex and Coric both shared excited looks, and then Rex gently took the comlink off Anakin's wrist, and pressed a few of the small buttons on it. General Grievous must have forgotten to take Anakin's wrist comlink after he beat him in lightsaber combat. No sparks. No smoke. No odd noises. The comlink worked. Rex held the comlink to his mouth. "Come in. This is Clone Captain Rex of the 501st." A voice answered, saying "Rex? Rex are you all right? Where's Anakin?" It was Kenobi. Anakin's former Master. "The General's injured. Send a ship to break into the base, and bring a medical ship too! And please try and bring General Plo, we need a Kel Dor to talk to the hostage! At the moment, me, The General, the hostage and Coric are in a cell" "So where's Ahsoka?" Obi-Wan asked, worry in his voice. "I don't know, Grievous ordered the guards to take her to another cell. I think it was cell four. And we're in cell ten" "Okay, four and ten We'll come as soon as we can!" Obi-Wan cut off. "Thank you, General Kenobi." The screaming had been going on for fifteen minutes now, and Ahsoka couldn't take it. That person was in so much pain. She could feel it through the Force. It also rang painfully in her sensitive montrals. When the screaming finally stopped, Ahsoka sighed in relief. She moved her hands down away from her head, and let them rest on the floor. "Is your head still hurting?" Zara asked, her green eyes soft and caring. "My head feels even worse after that" Said Ahsoka. "You'll have to get used to it." "I won't need to. The Jedi will notice that me and my Master are missing, and they'll send a search party out for us. I know they will." "I guess you're the type who doesn't give up easily." She said, and Ahsoka was sure she heard a quiet chuckle after what she said.

"If you have faith, then anything can happen. If you don't lose hope, then you'll be rescued. I am positive someone will come." "My friend's a Jedi. Who's your Master?" "Anakin Skywalker" "Anakin Skywalker?" Zara exclaimed, "So your Ahsoka Tano?" "Yeah, what's so great about that?" Ahsoka asked, raising an eye marking. "I've heard so much about you! And your Master! You and him are like famous over the holonet!" Ahsoka's lekku turned a darker shade, due to her embarrassment. "I-I never actually knew." Ahsoka grinned sheepishly as she tried to cover her darkened lekku with her arm. "You should listen to the holonet more often! You and him and that Obi-Wan Kenobi are on daily!" "Well, I will listen to it more often" Obi-Wan walked out the Council Chambers, his pace quick. He, and Master Plo now that he was back from his mission were flying to Felucia immediately. It was strange. Obi-Wan could feel something in the Force, and he didn't like it. Something was going to happen. And soon. He had a bad feeling. He could feel that this bad feeling was centered around Anakin's Togruta Padawan, Ahsoka. Later, when Obi-Wan met up with Master Plo, he could sense that the Kel Dor was also uneasy. But with Plo being closer to Ahsoka, knowing and looking after her longer, Obi-Wan could sense that Plo could feel this disturbance a lot more than he could. Sure, Obi-Wan was close to Ahsoka, they saw each other daily, trained, and joked around together; he was like her uncle in some ways. But Plo rescued Ahsoka, and raised her. He had watched her grow from a little toddler, into a powerful, beautiful young woman. He was her Father in every way but blood. Similar to Anakin. Anakin was just about as close to Ahsoka as Plo was. They would save them. And together, they'd figure out what was going to happen to the Padawan, and prevent it from happening.

Chapter 10: Rescue

Ahsoka and Zara sat silently, none of them moving or making a sound. Zara was leaning against the wall, and Ahsoka was sitting down, but shifting nervously every few minutes. The Padawan's stomach rumbled loudly, breaking the eerie silence. Ahsoka laughed sheepishly and placed a hand on her growling stomach, "Sorry; I haven't eaten in a while." "Well you'll have to get used to being hungry." The Twi'lek replied stiffly, folding her thin blue arms over her chest. Ahsoka wondered how her Master was. She could feel him through the Force. His presence was weak, but still visible, like a candle in a pitch black room. If he kept fighting, he would survive. He always did. The awkward silence was back again. Ahsoka hated silence; silence meant that there was nothing to do, and nothing to say. Ahsoka, being bored out of her mind, decided to start a conversation. "I have a friend who's a Twi'lek," She started, "Her name's Aayla Secura. You ever heard of her? She's a Jedi Knight." "Yes," Zara replied, "I've met her. She's a nice person. Very friendly." "Yeah, she helped me and my Master when he was injured." Zara didn't reply, instead she leant back, and closed her eyes. "You know, I've met lots of Togruta, but I've never seen one with blue eyes." "Yeah," Ahsoka crossed her legs, "It's quite rare. From what Master Plo told me, none of my parents had blue eyes. But then again, none of my parents were midgets either. You could only tell that they were my parents because of the facial markings." Ahsoka laughed a little at what she had just said. She wasn't a midget, just small for her age and species. And she looked younger than she was. "Which are also strange. I've never seen a Togruta with markings like yours either." Ahsoka was about to say something else, but a droid barged in, and roughly pulled her to her feet. "Hey! Whoa! What the kriff are you doing?" Ahsoka yelled. "You're coming with us." The droid said while struggling to keep the squirming Togruta in its grasp.

Ahsoka hurriedly looked at Zara, who was still sitting in the same position. Why wasn't she trying to help? She just sat there, a blank expression on her young blue face. As Ahsoka was being dragged out of the small cell, Zara looked up to her with sad eyes. When Ahsoka was dragged out the cell, another droid slammed the door shut and locked it. When they were moving again, Ahsoka struggled more than ever. When the other droid noticed his companion was struggling, it took one of Ahsoka's arms and helped drag her along. .. "When do you think they're coming?" Coric asked while pacing around the small room that was their cell. "Look Coric, I know you're worried, as am I, but they will come You just have to have patience." "Ha! You sound like a Jedi!" Coric laughed a little. "I've heard that saying too many times. General Kenobi says it to General Skywalker, and he says it Commander Ahsoka. I've heard it way to many times." Rex and Coric both shared a small laugh. "Speaking of General Skywalker, how's he doing?" Coric crouched down beside Anakin. "Sleeping," Rex replied, "I think he'll be all right though." "I sure hope so." . .. Ahsoka was in a different cell; this one was slightly bigger, and had lots of old blood stains splatted on the wall. That made Ahsoka worry. What if this was a torture chamber? Anyway, why would anyone want to torture Ahsoka. And who would even think about torturing sweet, little Ahsoka? Ahsoka let out a frustrated groan, and tugged on the chains that held her to the wall. She had been in this situation before, hadn't she? Oh, yes, Mortis. When the son had captured her, and turned her to the dark side. She had been horrified when she found out she had turned to the dark side. She had overheard her Master and Obi-Wan talking about her turning. So, being the immature child she sometimes was, she barged in and demanded to know what happened to her. She was even more horrified when she found that she died. At least I can move my legs Ahsoka thought bitterly, giving her leg and small swing then stretching it out.

She wondered why Zara looked at her the way she did. Why did she look sad? Was it because she had been stuck in that cell. Or was she sad for Ahsoka? Though the Force collar she was wearing prevented her from using the Force, she could still feel people's Force signature. With her excellent hearing, Ahsoka could hear a steady clang noise, getting louder as it got closer. It could only be one thing; General Grievous. The clanging noise stopped when it got to the cell door. Just when Ahsoka thought it might just be a guard, General Grievous walked in, his long, black cape flowing behind him. "So," Grievous stopped walking when he was standing in front of the Togruta, "What are we going to do with you?" Ahsoka didn't answer, she just snarled in his face. When her snarl turned into a feral growl, Grievous stepped back and laughed, "Looks like we've got a feisty one here." He said. Grievous gave no time for the Togruta to snap back by shouting for his droids. Two magnaguards came in, both gripping their electrostaffs. While one of the guards stood silently next to Grievous, the other slowly walked towards Ahsoka, who was preparing herself for the pain that was about to come. The guard stopped then roughly jammed the electrostaff into Ahsoka's stomach. Ahsoka bit her lip to stop her from crying out in pain as electrical volts raced through her small body. When the guard removed the staff from Ahsoka's stomach, she slumped down and took a deep breath. Before the Padawan had enough time to recover properly, the elecrostaff was once again thrust into her stomach. She bit her lip again, her sharp teeth digging into the soft fleas of her lip. The droid electrocuted her again, but this time on the shoulder. When droid finally pulled away, Grievous spoke, "You will be a tough one to break. But it will happen, and it will be enjoyable." Just before the cyborg turned to leave, he gave a strong punch in the ribs. Ahsoka whimpered quietly; quiet enough for only her to hear. When the metal fist made contact with her ribcage, Ahsoka was sure she heard a crack. With that Grievous and his droids left, leaving the injured Togruta alone. Ahsoka's breath came out short and ragged. The Padawan groaned quietly while she stretched out her legs and back. She looked down at her sore stomach; she was sure that there would be some burns there. Ahsoka moved her shoulders around, wincing a little when her shoulder blades pressed in the sore skin. She was so tired. Tired from all the battling, and exhausted from the torture. She could feel her consciousness slowly slipping away Plo Koon felt Ahsoka's pain through the Force. He glanced over at Obi-Wan, who had also felt it. They shared looks, then Obi-Wan went off to tell the pilot to fly quicker. Plo thought about all the great times he had had with Ahsoka. It was nearly 14 years ago when he had found that little, abandoned, 3-year-old Togruta. He

couldn't believe that she was nearly 17 now. He had watched her grow and mature, for what felt like only a few months. She got taller but still smaller than the average Togruta her age her lekku got longer, and her montrals got taller and more pointed and curved. She was now a beautiful young woman. Plo knew attachment was wrongbut who wasn't attached to sweet, little Ahsoka? Ahsoka groaned when she awoke. She moved her arms up to rub her pounding head. Wait, I can move my arms? And, her head was lying on something somewhat soft. She opened her blurry blue eyes to see a blue face. Aayla Secura? No. It was that lady. That woman she met in the cell. Zara! Yes, that was her. Had she moved cells again? It looked like it. Ahsoka tried to sit up, but a small cry escaped her lips when she felt pain in her ribs and her stomach. "Shh." Zara laid Ahsoka's head back down on her lap, "It'll be okay. Just rest." She spoke softly as she rubbed Ahsoka's temple with her thumb. "Where am I?" Ahsoka asked, her cloudy eyes searching the room. "You're back in our cell. They just took you to the torture chamber." Zara spoke quietly. "Ugh. My ribs hurt. And it feels like someone's cooking a nerf steak in my stomach." The Togruta moaned. "Well it feels like you've gotten two or three broken ribs. Just go to sleep okay? You'll feel a lot better. Trust me." Ahsoka nodded her head and then closed her eyes. When the exhausted Padawan started to fall asleep, she felt a gentle hand softly stroke her cheek .. Plo and Obi-Wan raced down the ramp of the ship that had just landed on Felucia. "Follow me, Men!" Plo ordered his troops. In reply he got many "Yes sirs." As the squad, Obi-Wan and Plo trekked through all the trees, and the strange plant life, they started to form out a plan. "Surely we must be near the base now General." Said Sinker, who was standing in-between Comet and Boost. "Yes, Sinker. We are close to the base. But we need the reinforcements. So now we just have to sit and wait." Obi-Wan sat down next to the Kel Dor, and held up some sort of plant then said "Tea, anyone?"

 BANG! Anakin's eyes flew open, and he looked around, "Rex? What Was

that?"

"I don't know, maybe it was the reinforcements." Rex smiled. "I sure hope so. Andwe need to find Ahsoka." Rex stared awkwardly at the Jedi. She's inpain." He said. "She's strong. She'll be all right." Rex said. .. Ahsoka was roughly awakened by a massive bang. Zara looked down at Ahsoka, who's head was still laid comfortably in her lap. "What was that?" The Twi'lek asked, worry but also excitement filling her voice. "I have no idea" Ahsoka was about to say something else, but was cut off by an alarm. It hurt her montrals a little, but it wasn't a very loud alarm. "An attack Someone must have come to save us!" Ahsoka exclaimed excitedly, "Can you help me up?" Zara nodded her head and gently lifted Ahsoka's head off her lap. She scrambled up, then slotted her arms under Ahsoka's, and slowly hauled her to her feet. Ahsoka's legs were still a little weak, so Zara would have to support her. "Looks like I'll need to support you. Is that all right?" Zara asked. "Fine by me." Ahsoka answered, "It won't be too hard; I don't weigh much." Zara smiled then wrapped an arm around Ahsoka's waist, then pulled Ahsoka's arm over her shoulders. "Can you hear that? Blaster bolts! Some reinforcements must be here!" With her brilliant hearing, Ahsoka could hear metallic foot stepped coming their way. "Go over there!" She pointed towards the side of the door, "I have a plan!" "Okay If you say so." Zara said before helping Ahsoka over to the door. "Now, we wait." .. "I can sense where Ahsoka is." Said Plo.

"And I can sense where Anakin is." Replied Obi-Wan. "Comet, Sinker. You're coming with me to help Ahsoka out." "Cody and Boost, you're coming with me to assist Anakin. We'll all meet back here later." "As for the rest of you, I trust you to guard this spot until we get back." "You can count on us, General." Said Commander Wolffe. .. The guard droid opened the door, and stepped inside. It looked around the cell. Where were the prisoners? "Now!" Ahsoka whispered sharply. The Twi'lek and the Togruta hobbled out of the cell. "Shut it and lock it!" Zara quickly set Ahsoka down, the shut and locked the door." "That's it, well done." Ahsoka smiled up at Zara. She smiled back then helped Ahsoka up. "Thanks." Said Ahsoka once she was up. As they started walking again, they were knocked clean off their feet by what seemed to be an earthquake. Ahsoka, who was lying flat on her back, looked up and saw two clones running towards them. From the patterns on their armour, Ahsoka could tell it was Comet and Sinker. "Ahsoka, are you okay?" Comet crouched down beside Ahsoka. Comet, Boost and Sinker were good friends with Ahsoka. Whenever they had a mission together which was pretty often she would talk to them and tell a few jokes. "I'm all right thanks. But I can't walk." Plo ran up to Ahsoka and crouched down next to Comet, "Little 'Soka, how are you?" "I feel like I've been hit by a speeder." Ahsoka smirked playfully at him. Plo slid his arms under Ahsoka's back and thighs, and lifted her off the metal floor. As Plo started to walk off, Ahsoka said, "Wait, where's Zara?" "Would that be Zara?" Sinker pointed over to the Twi'lek lying on her stomach. "She must have taken the fall harder than I did." Ahsoka mumbled. Comet gently shook Zara's shoulder. She woke up, and then asked groggily "What happened?" "We're here to help you." Said Sinker, "Can you walk?"

"Yeah." She stood up and walked over to Plo and Ahsoka. "Feeling better?" "No. I feel like I've been hit by a speeder then been stamped on by a Wookiee." Plo chuckled and said, "Yeah, you'll be fine."

Chapter 11: The Real Nightmare Begins

Plo and his squad had just met up with Obi-Wan's."How is Skywalker?" Plo asked his fellow Jedi Master. "He should be okay if we get him to the medbay. And what about you, little one?" Obi-Wan knelt down beside the small Togruta. Plo went off to talk to Korno. "I'm fine thanks, Master Obi-Wan. What about my Master?" She asked, sounding worried. "If we get him to the medbay, he'll be all right. Do you want that collar off?" Ahsoka felt the collar on her neck. She nodded, then Obi-Wan unlocked the collar with the Force. Ahsoka smiled gratefully at him, and he smiled back. Commander Wolffe stood beside Plo and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt General, but, we really need to get going." "You're right Commander, we should get going." Said Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan and Sinker supported the half-conscious Anakin, while Plo carried Ahsoka. When they were walking, the ground started to rumble and shake. "What's happening?" Zara asked worriedly. "I have no idea" Suddenly, a burst of orange and yellow flames came flying down the corridor. "Get down!" Rex yelled. Everyone dived for the ground. Zara, who wasn't trained or experienced in this kind of situation, fell flat on her face. The small explosion flew straight over them, leaving a trail of fire behind it. "Is everyone all right?" Coric asked as he stood shakily to his feet. He took Zara's hand and helped her up. One by one, they all stood (Not including Anakin or Ahsoka) and brushed themselves off. "Hello? Any help down here?" Ahsoka asked who was on the floor, close to Anakin. "Of course." This time Obi-Wan swooped down and gathered the tiny teenager in his arms. "Thank you." Ahsoka gave Obi-Wan one of her famous cheeky grins, and Obi-Wan smiled back. "What was that?" Asked Wolffe. "They must know were here! We must hurry!" They all took off running, but Obi-wan, Sinker and boost where slagging behind a little because the where helping

people. When the raced around the next corner, they stopped. Around the next corner, they could sense that there was lots of droids around that next corner. Lots of them. Just waiting for the Jedi to come around corner, and then shoot them down. "We need to find another way!" Cody whispered. Korno whispered something to Plo. "He's say's there's an exit at the top of the building. We could travel up there, and get the ships to come over, and then they could pick us up!" Said Plo. "Sounds like a plan." Said Boost. "Then let's go!" Zara said. They moved quickly, skidding around the corners, blaster and slicing droids down when she needed to. "We're here." Said Plo. They kicked the door down, and stepped out into the atmosphere. It was windy and leaves and other plants were blowing around. Ahsoka could hear Obi-Wan panting a little, "Tired, Master Kenobi?" Ahsoka asked, staring up at his face. Obi-Wan looked down at the small girl lying in his arms. "Of course not, young one. I've just been running around a secret base with an injured teenager in my arms. Of course I'm tired." Obi-Wan smirked friendly at the Padawan. Ahsoka smiled, "You can put me down if you want." Obi-Wan crouched down and set Ahsoka comfortably on the floor. Plo noticed the rescue ship and said "The ship is here!" As the ships hovered beside the building, most of the clones hopped on. Sinker, Boost and Rex loaded Anakin on the ship, and then jumped on themselves. When Obi-Wan was about to jump on with Ahsoka, vulture droid shop past the ship, making it rock a little. "Get Ahsoka on the ship!" Obi-Wan shouted. He tried to pass Ahsoka to Plo, but another vulture droid zoomed past, and shot the ship with a red bolt. The ship rocked violently, and Obi-Wan just managed to hop on. Plo nearly fell over when the ship moved and just barely caught Ahsoka in his arms. Once everyone was on the ship, it started moving. Plo gently put Ahsoka down next her Master, and told her to hang on. While flying through the skies, clones leant out of the ship and blaster the incoming vulture droids. Another ship just a little bigger than a Jedi Starfighter came shooting toward the ship. Obi-Wan squinted his eyes at the ship. He couldn't tell who was in the fighter at first, but he studied the metallic frame, and the huge size It was General Grievous. He must be after Korno, because he knew where the blueprints where. But he didn't know that Ahsoka did as well . .. .. ..

Darth Sidious otherwise known as Chancellor Palpatine, sat in his chair, deep in thought. A hologram of Count Dooku popped up in front of the Sith lord. "My Master." Dooku bowed down, "The hostage escaped But, we have another plan" "Go on." Palpatine was getting interested, and leant forward slightly in his seat that over looked the busy planet that was Coruscant. "Skywalker's Padawan rescued the hostage, and a spy droid caught the hostage telling her the location of the blueprints. But unfortunately the droid didn't hear what they said to each other" "Well capture Skywalker's Padawan!" Sidious snapped his voice raising as he got angry. "General Grievous is already on the case, my Master. We assure you that she will be in our clutches soon." "Do not fail me, Count." Sidious growled as he ended the transmission. Sidious leant back in his chair and put his fingers together to make an arch. This was perfect. They would capture Skywalker's Padawan, torture the information out of her, and then kill her once they had it. And the death of his beloved Padawan would send him closer and closer to the darkside. It was all perfect. .. Grievous ship zoomed past the rescue ship. A hologram popped up; it was Dooku. "Capture Skywalker's Padawan and bring her to me." Those were Dooku's only orders before the hologram flickered off. Grievous did a U-turn and headed straight for the escaping Republic ship. The cyborg commanded his vulture droids to shoot at the ships wings. Commander Wolffe shot a vulture droid and it came spiralling towards their ship. It smacked into the back of the ship, and one of the engines exploded into flames, as did the vulture droid. Grievous took his chance; he flew below the ship, and thrust upwards. The already unsteady ship was sent soaring to the left. Ahsoka felt herself slipping to the left. The clones where holding and leaning against the walls to stop them from tumbling out. This was now about a metre above the trees, and any further damage would make it just drop to floor, and likely explode. Grievous bashed the side of the ship once more. The ship was still luckily flying.

Ahsoka fell sideways out of the ship, just as she tumbled out, a large hand a large hand with claws shot out and grasped her wrist tightly. It was Plo's hand. "Hold on!" He yelled. Ahsoka was in some pain, being knocked about with broken ribs hurt. The ship was so badly beaten up, it wasn't even flying straight anymore. "Master let go!" Ahsoka shouted up to the Kel Dor. Plo grasped her wrist tighter, "No! I'm not letting you go." "I'm slowing you down! If they catch me, then they'll leave you alone. It's me or Korno they want. We know where the blueprints are. Choose wisely Master, it's me, or the whole squadron and my Master. Let. Go." Plo hesitated, he didn't want to lose Ahsoka, but he didn't want all of his squadron and Anakin and Obi-Wan to be captured too. Plo was literally hanging off the ship now. "You have to let of my arm Master. I'm sorry." Ahsoka could feel her wrist going numb for Plo gripping it so tightly. Plo slowly let the grip on her wrist loosen, and she fell about two metre's to the ground. She fell unconscious when she hit the ground. "No" Plo whispered to himself. He looked over to Anakin, who was just staring at where Plo had just been trying to save Ahsoka. She could be gone? Could she? She could, and she was. Just like Ahsoka had said, the droids stopped attacking the ship. As they flew further and further away, they noticed a Republic Cruiser coming to their rescue. .. .. .. Ahsoka woke up in another cell. She groaned groggily and rubbed her back lekku, which was really sore. It was freezing in there. The Togruta's whole body was shivering. Where was she? Hoth? No, it wasn't that cold, but it was cold enough to make you shiver. She sat up slowly, ignoring the protesting of her neglected limbs. Where was she? She felt something on her neck. She tried calling on the Force, but an electrical shock stopped her. So it was shock collar what stopped you from using the Force. Great. Just great. "Ugh! I'm not gonna try that again." Ahsoka mumbled. A shiver ran down her spine, and she wrapped her thin arms around herself, "Why is it so cold in here?" Then, Ahsoka remembered everything that had happened; the torture, Plo finding her, Zara, falling out of the ship. She wondered if they got off the planet all right. She was sure they did. No, she was positive. Count Dooku walked into the cell, "Ah, so we finally meet, Padawan." He said.

"Count Dooku." Ahsoka growled, her lips lifting into a snarl, predator teeth gleaming. Ahsoka pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the shooting pains in her ribcage, "What do you want?" "I want you to tell me where the blueprints are, and you will tell me." Ahsoka snorted, "Fat chance! I'm not gonna tell you!" "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. It's your choice, Padawan." "Get stuffed!" "Don't make me lose my patience, Padawan!" Dooku hissed. "I do have a name, ya' know." Ahsoka snapped back. Dooku lost his patience with the Togruta, and thrust his hands forward, lightning bursting from his fingertips. Ahsoka knew it was coming, and braced herself for it. The lightning hit her full force, and knocked her straight off her feet. The pain was unbelievable; it felt every cell in her body was on fire. Though, she still didn't scream, or cry. No. She held them in. She writhed around on the floor. When the lightning finally stopped flowing from his fingertips, Dooku said, "Grievous was right; you will be a difficult one to break. But you will give in eventually. Farewell Padawan." He swept out of the room, leaving the semi-conscious Togruta to shake and twitch on the cold, durasteel floor . .. .. "We have to find her!" Anakin said, lying in a bed in the medbay. He had bandages wrapped up from his torso, to just below his collar bone. Anakin tried to get up, but Obi-Wan gently put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down. "Calm down, Anakin. We will look for her, but we have no idea to where she is yet. She won't still be Felucia. Once we have some information we will look for immediately. But first you need to rest. "Fine." The Jedi Knight growled. Plo Koon swept into the room, and sat down beside Obi-Wan. "How are you doing, Skywalker?" Even though Plo's face showed no emotion because of his face mask and goggles, Anakin could sense he was hurting. Very few people could read Plo's facial expression, one of them being Sha Koon, Plo's niece, and the other being Ahsoka. Anakin felt a pang of guilt. If he had thought harder, and better, he would have been able to defeat Grievous and save Ahsoka. He couldn't even do that. He felt really sorry for the Kel Dor, he had known Ahsoka a lot longer than he had. He had pretty much raised her. Just like a father. Suddenly Ahsoka's force presence disappeared. It was justgone. She couldn't be dead could she? No, Ahsoka didn't give up. She never gave up. Once, about a month ago, Anakin made Ahsoka walk up and down the Temple steps, on

her hands. She couldn't do it without falling over on the first 15 steps, but she never gave up, and eventually, she did it. She must be still alive she must be

Chapter 12: Electricity Hurts

Ahsoka was still lying in that same position. She could still feel the horrible burning inside of her. She hated Force Lightning. Hated it. Lying in the foetal position was quite uncomfortable after a while, but the Padawan didn't dare move. When the pain finally started to fade away, like pen on your hand after being there so long, Ahsoka uncurled herself a little so she was lying in a more comfortable position. She still ached from the force lightning. She felt cold again, but inside was burning. Burning like a raging fire. So the separatists were after the blueprints. Ahsoka heart was beating in time with her pounding head. Fortunately she was lying on her good shoulder, not the one that got electrocuted. Ahsoka pushed herself to one elbow, and examined her cell. The cold grey walls, the old durasteel floor, and the strong metal door. Everything was grey. Well, except for the orange Togruta lying in the middle of the room. She sat up, though it was extremely difficult, and stretched out her aching legs. To make herself a little more comfortable, she slipped off her boots. She wriggled her toes around, and then took off her gloves, showing the white markings on her wrists. She stared at the scar on her forearm. It was quite a long scar, starting from the palm off her hand, then running all the way down her forearm. She got that scar in a lightsaber duel with Assaj Ventress. Both she and Ventress were down to one lightsaber, Ahsoka managed to slash as Assaj's back, leaving a huge gash. But that was before Assaj got a lucky hit and sliced all Ahsoka's forearm open. Assaj didn't die unfortunately but none of the Jedi knew what had happened to the Sith Apprentice. Ahsoka just hoped she was dead. The Padawan shivered again, and laid back down, curling up into a tiny ball again. .. Obi-Wan sat down next to the sleeping Anakin. He sighed then watched the rise and fall of his bandaged chest. He remembered that little 9-year-old boy from Tattooine. It was so strange; Anakin was nearly 23 now. Obi-Wan thought about how much more responsible Anakin was now that he had his own child to look after. Well, he still wasn't very responsible. Obi-Wan chuckled to himself quietly watching Anakin and Ahsoka bicker was a pleasure to watch, and very amusing. Just last month, he saw the pair shouting and screaming at each other. Anakin was teaching her about balance, so he made her walk up and down the temple steps on her hands. They were alike in so many ways. They were both reckless, over confident, cocky, and at times, immature. They needed to find Ahsoka, or Anakin would be a wreck. Anakin's problem with attachment was bad And he needed to learn to let go. But to he have to learn by losing Ahsoka? Anakin loved Ahsoka like a daughter, and Ahsoka loved his back like a big brother, and a father. Obi-Wan had also grown to care for Ahsoka. Whenever Anakin was away or on a mission, Obi-Wan would train and teach her. He had even taught her the Soresu grip, which she used quite often now, but still not as often as her unorthodox Shien grip.

While Obi-Wan was thinking, a med droid was buzzing around, checking Anakin's temperature and bandages. Anakin was going to all right, and would make a full recovery. The bed droid said that Anakin might be in the medbay for a month or so before he could be up and walking again. But knowing Anakin, he would be out of that bed in a week. Obi-Wan yawned quietly; it was late at night, and he needed to get some rest himself. He gave Anakin's shoulder one last squeeze. In his own quarters, Obi-Wan stared outside the window, gazing at the brightly lit stars. He or Anakin would sometimes catch Ahsoka looking at the stars. She said that it just passed the time away nicely. He turned his blue-grey away from the shining stars, and onto the speeders that zoomed by. Coruscant looked boring during the day, but by night it looked like a whole different planet. . .. .. On the other side of the Temple, Plo Koon lay on his bed, the covers tossed aside and forgotten about. Why couldn't he sense Ahsoka? She wasn't dead, she couldn't be. But he couldn't sense her, so, surely she must be gone. But deep down He knew she was still alive She was .. Sleep evaded her tonight. Lying in the middle of an uncomfortable cell was bad enough, but trying to sleep while injured and starving made it worse. She was also afraid about the droid; if it came back and took her to another torture room. Well, she wasn't 'afraid', the Togruta Padawan was fearless. Thinking about her Master for what seemed to 100th time lately, Ahsoka sighed. She wished he was here or at least reassuring her that she would be okay. But, Ahsoka knew she wouldn't be. They wanted information. And they would torture her for it. Ahsoka's head shot up when she heard a small squeak and a quiet crack. The room was near pitch black at night, but Ahsoka being a Togruta meant she had good lowlight vision. She focused on a small fluffy creature in the corner. It was some sort of rat. The same kind she saw on Christophsis. Thinking about her first mission made her forget about the coldness of the room. Christophsis. The planet where she first met Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, and all the other brilliant clones. Her first mission. Ahsoka sighed. She couldn't believe that it was nearly three years ago. Her Master wasn't impressed, but soon they learnt to trust each other. After seeing the fluffy creature scamper off into the hole in the wall, Ahsoka laid her head back down on her arm. Just when the Togruta started to relax a little, another creature bigger that the ball of fluff she saw earlier squeezed through the small hole, and laid down next to the Togruta. Ahsoka frowned a little at the creature, but smiled softly when it snuggled up to her. The cat-like creature nuzzled it's head up to Ahsoka's neck, and snuggled even closer to her. Ahsoka scratched behind it's pointed ears. The fluffy

animal was extremely warm. The creature was sharing it's body heat with the cold Padawan. Ahsoka had always been good with animals, unlike her Master, who took an interest in machines. Anakin had taught his Padawan everything he knew about machines, and she was brilliant at machinery, but still not as good as him. Sure she was a great mechanic, as were many Togruta, but that was only because of their amazing vision. Fixing the Twilight on Mortis was a difficult task, but she managed it eventually. .. Dooku bowed in front of a hologram of his Master, Darth Sidious. "Master, we have Skywalker's Padawan." Said Dooku. "Very good, Count." Sidious replied, putting his slender fingers together. "We have begun her torture, but she seems stronger than she looks. She may be a tough one to break." "Well, she is Skywalker's Padawan. He has trained her well. But she will break. Continue her torture." "Yes, Master." Dooku ended the transmission. The Sith Lord smiled evilly. He would enjoy torturing Skywalker's little Padawan. "Droids!" Dooku barked at the droids standing silently in the doorway, "Take the Togruta down to room seven" .. The Togruta Padawan woke to the sound of hissing. She opened her eyes, noticing that her feline friend had disappeared. She looked in the direction of the hissing. It was the creature, standing tall on its four slender legs, with its back arched and its tail and fur sticking upwards. Ahsoka looked from the animal, to the three droids standing menacingly in the doorway. As the droids started walking in, the creature lunged for the, it's sharp teeth and claws gleaming. A droid just simply kicked it out of the way, sending the animal crashing to the hard floor. It stood, and then scampered behind Ahsoka, whimpering in both pain and fear. The droids grabbed Ahsoka's arms, and dragged her out of the cell. She didn't bother to fight, because she would just end up getting hurt more. Plus, her tiny body was no match for the droids. Ahsoka just stared at the floor. When entering the new chamber, Ahsoka stared in horror at the torture table in the middle of the room. Ahsoka whimpered slightly when she was roughly strapped onto the table. When the droids left, she thought she was alone, until someone stepped out of the shadows. It was Dooku. He walked around the table slowly, taunting her. "So,

Padawan. What you are lying on, is a torture table." He stopped behind a control panel, "And if I get an answer I don't like, you'll get electrocuted. Think of it as a game." Ahsoka snarled and bared her sharp teeth. "Stupid, pathetic, old man!" Dooku just smirked, and then pressed a button. Electricity shot through Ahsoka's small body, making every cell inside her burn. Ahsoka held back a scream by biting her lip. After fifteen seconds, the electricity stopped. Ahsoka's heart pounded against her chest, and her breathing was quick. "Now, where are the blueprints hidden?" Dooku asked. "Up your wrinkly ass!" Ahsoka shot back. Dooku frowned at the child's rudeness. "Anymore foul words and I'll cut your tongue out!" He snapped, threatening to press the button that Ahsoka already dreaded. "Well, if you do cut it out, then I won't be able to tell you where the blueprints are, stupid." Ahsoka smirked to herself. But that smirk was wiped straight of her face when the electricity raged through her body again. But she didn't scream. Not yet. "No tell me where they are." "No, never." He set the electricity onto a higher level, and then pressed the terrible button . .. The electricity wasn't working. Just electricity wouldn't break the child. Over four days, he had tried the shock table, electrostaffs, and Force-lightning. And the child hadn't even screamed once. The only thing he got from her was bad language and insults. He would have to try something else Ahsoka groaned when the eletcrostaff was pulled away from her chest. Most of her body was covered in small burns from the electrostaffs, and her wrists and ankles were bleeding from when she writhed about when she was being electrocuted. She was absolutely starving, and she only got a little bit of water every day. "That's enough!" Dooku barked, holding up his hand, "Take her off the table." The droids unlocked the binders, and Ahsoka fell to the ground in a heap. Dooku left, leaving the droids alone with the frightened Togruta Padawan ..

Padme Amidala sat beside her husband in the medbay. "Padme!" Anakin exclaimed. "Hey, Ani." She spoke softly, and then held Anakin's hand. "I'm so sorry I didn't come sooner. I was in a meeting with Senator Organa when I found out. I'm sorry, Ani." "Don't worry, Padme. As long as you're here now." Anakin smiled at her. But Padme could see hurt in his eyes. Blue locked with brown as Padme studied him. "Anakin What's wrong?" Now the senator was getting worried. "It's Ahsoka" "Oh dear, she's not injured too is she?" "Worse. Dooku has her, and he wants information" Padme gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand, "Oh, Ani I'm so sorry." Anakin sighed sadly, "We're looking for her, but so far We have nothing." people she cared about were in trouble. Padme cared for Ahsoka. Just like her own daughter. Whenever the Padawan was troubled, she would come to Padme. She remembered how scared Ahsoka was when she was having visions all those years ago. They were just like sisters. Sometimes Ahsoka would come over to play holochess with her. Ahsoka had taken a liking to the game after she played with Padme on the way to Alderaan. Or sometimes she would just come round to talk and have a bit of a laugh. She just hoped no prayed that Ahsoka was okay

Chapter 13: Pain

Ahsoka was a crumpled heap on the floor. She was bruised all over from where the droids had beaten her. Her nose was bleeding though she couldn't tell if it was broken and a large black and blue bruise has forming around her eye. The kriffing droids had just plain beat her kicking, punching, hitting, stamping and she couldn't believe how unbearable the pain was. She looked down at her ankle, which was twisted into an awkward angle. She knew a few of her fingers were broken, or fractured, as were many of her ribs. She had no idea how long she had been there a week? She didn't know. It felt like forever. But she had stayed strong, because she hadn't screamed yet. She hadn't pleaded them to stop. She came close to screaming many times, but resisted it. Moaning loudly, she flipped onto her back, crying out weakly when her neglected limbs were forced to move. A battle droid walked in holding a tray. On the small tray, was a mouldy loaf of bread, and bowl of murky water. The droid bent down and placed the tray in front of the shaking Togruta. Though the bread tasted foul, she still scoffed it down her throat, finally eating after what felt like forever. Ahsoka greedily drank the dirty water, enjoying the feeling of the cool liquid on her burning throat. After finishing her 'meal', Ahsoka laid her head back down. She saw something dart across the shadows, and then she felt something wet lick her face. It was that creature! It sat down on Ahsoka's chest and continued licking her face. Ahsoka laughed and gently pushed it off her. It curled up beside her just like it did a week ago and snuggled into her side. "Good boy." She tickled its tummy and it growled playfully. Ahsoka had had barley any sleep during her captivity. But now the creature was back, sharing it's warmth, Ahsoka felt less alone. . . .. Anakin climbed out of the medical bed, and walked out of the white room, pushing the protesting med droid away. He put on his Jedi cloak and hopped into his speeder. When he got to Padme's apartment, he was warmly greeted by C-3PO. "Oh welcome, Master Skywalker! Oh, it's so good to see you! How are you? Oh, Mistress Padme will be ever so pleased to see you!" "Thanks, Threepio. Where is she?" Anakin asked. "In the living, Master Skywalker." "Hey, beautiful." Anakin said when he walked into the living room.

"Anakin!" Padme exclaimed. She got up and hugged him tightly. He winced a little when Padme threw herself at his chest. "Oh, sorry, Ani." "No problem, beautiful." He kissed her passionately, and then slid his arms around her waist. "Is there any news on Ahsoka yet?" She wrapped her arms around his neck. Anakin sighed and then flopped down on the couch. "Nothing yet, but we're working on it." Padme laid down next to her husband and rested her head on Anakin's shoulder. "I just hope she's okay." . .. .. Ahsoka was back on that dreaded table again. The feline creature came to visit her every time Dooku and his droids left the room. It was what? The 12th day she had been there? Yesterday had probably been the best day for her she had no torture at all. No Dooku, no droids. Well, except the droid who came and bought her the disgusting water every day. She was sure her Master was looking for her She was positive He was looking for her. Once the electricity had stopped raging through her body, Ahsoka growled then said, "You're pathetic! What kind of sick, twisted monster tortures a child for information? It's shameful!" She spat. He just ignored her and walked up to her. He entered her mind. She tried to fight him, tried to push him out, but she didn't have the Force to help. It hurt a little, having someone search through you. He searched through her mind, looking at her past, her memories. He found one what had been pushed right to back, hoping to be forgotten. The long grass was red and white, and in the grass, were two Togrutas. One was about thirty, and the other was a toddler, only about three. The looked similar, their facial markings had only a few differences. It was a cold day, and it was raining heavily. The older Togruta was carrying the child, whose blue eyes were twinkling as she stared at droplets of rain that landed on her hands and arms. The older woman set the younger one down under a small tree, and just walked off. The child stared at her retreating mother, tears swimming in her large, baby blue eyes "Get out of my head!" Ahsoka yelled, her eyes scrunched shut, holding back the tears. Somehow, the child managed to force Dooku out of her mind. Dooku was thrown out rather forcefully, and stumbled back a little. Ahsoka still lay on the table, panting and sniffing. Dooku was surprised at what she had just done, and frowned. Ahsoka closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Ah, so that was how Master Plo found you. You were abandoned by your family." Dooku smirked evilly, and then forced his way back into her mind. He saw everything. Her screw ups, her doubts, her failures, and things she regretted. He made her relive them all: Ryloth, Felucia, Cad Bane, everything. When he withdrew from her mind, she was shaking slightly. "Well," He said, "You are a stupid, little failure. Clones and innocent people have died because of you. And you call me pathetic!" "Shut up! That's not true!" She shouted, trying so desperately to get out of the binders that held her to the table. "I hate you!" Dooku smiled, "That was rude." "Oh, I'll show you rude!" She snarled angrily, baring her sharp predatory

teeth.

Dooku, not being intimidated at all, stepped closer to the Padawan. Ahsoka lent her head forward, and spat. She managed to hit Dooku in the face with a mixture of saliva and blood. Dooku's anger brewed like a kettle. He unlocked the binders with the Force, and then threw the Togruta against the wall. Ahsoka felt bones shatter when she made impact with the wall, she felt her back bruising. She cried out weakly, but still, it wasn't a scream. Steam was literally coming out of Dooku's ears. How could Skywalker put up with such a cheeky and rude child? It seemed impossible. He would have killed her here and now, but he needed that information. "Droids!" He barked, "Put her back on the table." They did as they were told, and put the Togruta back on the table. Ahsoka scrunched her eyes shut in pain, holding back the tears that threatened to spill down her bruised cheeks. Ahsoka's back arched uncontrollably when the electricity started again, this time on a dangerously high level. "Stop Please." She panted. "Then tell us where they are." Said Dooku. Ahsoka thought. She so desperately wanted the pain to end, but she had to do her duty to the Republic. She couldn't, and she wouldn't. "No." "Fine then." The Sith ignited his lightsaber, and held it dangerously close to her stomach. She could feel it burn through her clothing, and graze her stomach. The count bought his lightsaber down a centimetre closer to her stomach. If she hadn't of sucked her stomach in, that lightsaber would be touching the skin. He bought it down more, so the blade rested on Ahsoka's stomach. Ahsoka whimpered loudly, as the lightsaber burnt her skin. When the Count removed his lightsaber, it left a horizontal line on Ahsoka's stomach. It was bleeding, but not badly. The cut

was shallow, but extremely painful. It felt like being stabbed by a thousand boiling needles. Dooku left a moment later, turning off the dim light and leaving Ahsoka alone in the dark. Ahsoka was so hungry She had only eaten a loaf of bread. She was so thin Ahsoka had always been small and scrawny, but this was ridiculous. You could count her ribs through her skin. She felt sick she was that hungry. .. .. .. . .. Anakin walked into the small plain room. Ahsoka's room. The little bed was messy and unmade, the covers creased and tossed to the side. The whole room was just full of junk: training holocrons, things off her belt, electrical gadgets she had made, and clothes just slung on the floor. He smiled, she was just like him, but his room was filled with droid parts. Amongst the junk of the floor, he saw a can of something. He picked it and sprayed it. A tiny bit of foam came out, showing him that it was empty. He remembered this can. He had been sprayed with it when Ahsoka had leaped out of his closet and sprayed it in his face. He didn't know why, but his missed Ahsoka's pranks. She must of pranked every Jedi, because he kept getting complaints about Ahsoka's pranks and jokes. Once, she had even dyed ObiWan's hair purple. He was NOT a happy man that day

Chapter 14: The First Scream

"Anakin!" Said a familiar voice from behind the Jedi Knight. Turning around, Anakin saw ginger hair, and a beard. Otherwise known as Obi-Wan Kenobi. "Anakin, what the blazes are you doing out of the medbay?" "I went to see Padme. She wanted to know how Ahsoka was. Plus she wanted me to help with moving some stuff." That was a slight lie. She had wanted to know how Ahsoka was, but if Anakin just said that, he might suspect something. "So what did you tell her?" Obi-Wan asked. He obviously hadn't picked up that lie. "We're looking, but we haven't found anything. Yet." "Well," Obi-Wan stroked his beard. Anakin had never known why a man would want so much facial hair. Once his Padawan had said to him, "Gosh, I don't have any hair, but Master Kenobi," She laughed a little, "Has enough hair for both me and him." "We have searched Felucia." Obi-Wan continued, "She not there." Anakin sighed, running his flesh hand his favourite hand through his hair, a habit he had picked up while Ahsoka was being stubborn and reckless. Being like me. Anakin thought. "Anakin, you have to try and sense Ahsoka." Anakin tried to protest, but Obi-Wan continued, "I know you can't sense her, but if you want to find her, you'll have to try. It will help us a great deal." Anakin nodded and sat down on the floor, slowly, so he didn't reopen his wound, or injure himself further. He closed his eyes, and concentrated hard. He felt it. Crippling pain, everywhere, in every cell of his body. He felt cold, like her had just been dropped into a bucket of ice. He scrunched his eyes tighter, in both pain and concentration, and searched deeper. "Ahsoka, can you hear me?" He said through the Force. .. . "Ahsoka, can you hear me?" A voice said in her head. "Master?" Ahsoka whispered to herself. She would of replied to him, using the Force, but she knew too well that the shock collar would stop her. "Ahsoka, answer me!" Anakin's tone was demanding yet soft. Ahsoka took a deep breath, and quickly sent back to him, "Can't talk. Shock collar." She was then shocked.

"Where are you? What planet?" Ahsoka prepared herself for another painful shock, and said back "I don't know, but it's cold." Anakin could feel her pain from the shock, and he didn't want to hurt her anymore. "Okay, thanks, Snips. I'm looking for you Stay strong." . .. Anakin opened his eyes and stood up, no longer feeling Ahsoka's pain. "What did you see?" Obi-Wan asked, placing a gentle hand on his former Padawan's shoulder. "Nothing. But I can feel Ahsoka's pain. She's hurting so much; she's in so much pain. She's wearing a shock collar, so she can't use the Force without being shocked. And she said she feels cold. I have a feeling she's on Hoth." "Maybe, Anakin. Maybe Zara might know where other Separatists bases are located." Anakin just stared sadly at the floor. "Hopefully." "We'll ask her tomorrow, because you look like you haven't slept in days." . .. Anakin was falling. Falling through the air, the wind blowing in his face, making his hair messy. He could smell something foul, something that made him feel queasy and ill. It smelt like blood. The pitch black room or where ever he was seemed to get lighter as he got closer to the ground. Well, if there was a ground. Suddenly, he stopped, floating in mid-air. Through the darkness, he could see a shape. It wasn't a shape though, it looked like a figure. Focusing closely, he squinted his eyes to focus on the figure. As his eyes grew used to the darkness, he could make out more. The figure lying on the floor or floating in the air had a petite frame, and something sticking out of the top of their head. No, not something, they were headtails. The person was a Togruta. Anakin knew a little Togruta. Anakin gasped quietly as he started to move downwards, getting closer to the petite Togruta. He found himself standing next to the figure. Kneeling down, he could see the gentle but uneven rise and fall of her chest. At least she was alive. He couldn't really see any facial features, just the shape of her small body. Suddenly, the room was blindingly bright, and Anakin covered his eyes with his arms. When he put his arms down, he could see the figure clearly. The clothing, the skin the colour, the facial markings.

"Ahsoka!" He gasped and put a hand on her cheek. He felt something wet soak his glove. He frowned and brought his hand back up. It was covered in blood. "Ahsoka!" he said a little louder. He lightly tapped her montrals, thinking the small vibrations she would feel should wake her. She didn't move. "Ahsoka! Snips, wake up!" Then the dream warped and span, and he found himself on Mortis. The place where Ahsoka died. He watched as the Son tapped Ahsoka's forehead, and collapsed to the ground, dead. "NOOOOOOOO!" .. "NOOOOOOOO!" Anakin shouted as he shot up in bed, panting and sweating. The covers had been tossed aside, and the bed was creased and drenched in his own sweat. He put his hand on his forehead, "It was just a dream. Just a dream" . .. Ahsoka's head jolted as she was roughly awakened by a nightmare. In her dream, Anakin, Plo, Obi-Wan, all the people she cared about were being tortured to death, each of them dying one by one while she just watched, crying and screaming for the tortures to stop, or take her instead. But what made it worse was that it her fault they were dying. That was what she feared; everyone dying because of her stupid and reckless actions. It had happened before. Actually, many times before. She hated herself for that; being so reckless and headstrong. Her behaviour always had consequences. It wasn't fair, why couldn't she be a great Jedi? Like Anakin? Or Obi-Wan? She had been called pathetic many times before, by Masters, by other Padawans, even by younglings. She wasn't really very popular She was the Padawan of the 'oh so great chosen one'. Most Padawans were jealous of her. She was also known as the cocky know-it-all. She didn't really have many friends. Ahsoka's montrals picked up a sound; chuckling. She glanced over to the side. Of course, Count Dooku. "So, youngling, what kind of torture shall you endure today?" Ahsoka blinked, her sleepy drooping. When she blinked again, the Count violently jabbed a needle into her arm and injected her with a bright green liquid. The Padawan immediately felt awfully dizzy and queasy, and her stomach started to ache painfully. She felt something hot rise up in her dry throat. She coughed and spluttered, spitting out blood. The blood trickled down her chin, and dropped onto the floor. Her vision started to blur and everything seemed to get hazy. Soon, everything went black. . .. Ahsoka yanked gently on the chains that were painfully wrapped around her sore wrists. She was suspended in the air, her little feet about three inches from the floor. She was hanging in the middle of the room. He arms and shoulders were

aching terribly, and her shoulder blades were tightly pressed together. Taking deep breaths were painful for the teenager, but she was struggling to breathe anyway. She prayed for someone to come, find her and take her home, where she would safe, protected. Even though she was sure the Republic had the blueprints, she still needed to protect the location. Because if she told them, the Seppies might get there first. She couldn't let that happen. She would protect the information, guard it with her life. But she still wished that the pain would go away, disappear, just anything for it to go away. Ahsoka jumped when droids marched in, led by Dooku. The teenager tried to look over her shoulder as a droid walked behind her, but that movement hurt, just like the rest of her body. She felt something small and cold touch her left shoulder blade, but she assumed it was just another drug they were going to inject into her. She suddenly felt searing hot pain, burning, it felt like fire. No, it was fire; she could feel the skin and flesh melting away. She screamed. The pain was too much this time. It hurt so badly, it was excruciating. Ahsoka started kicking out her legs, even though that hurt her too. But she would do anything to get the pain away. "Hold her legs." She heard a voice say. She couldn't tell if it was Dooku, but she could barely hear anything, not even her own screams. She felt two metallic hands violently grab her ankles, and screamed louder when it grabbed her broken one. Suddenly losing the energy to do anything, Ahsoka slumped; amazed that she had stopped screaming. She scrunched her eyes shut, tears leaking out and sliding down her bruised cheeks. Why couldn't someone just end the pain? Take her back home, to the Temple? She watched as the droid walked in front of her, and stand next to Dooku. Ahsoka's breathing was fast and ragged, trying so desperately to get more air. She hadn't even realised that the droid had stopped, because the horrible, painful burning was still there. "Now tell me. Where. Are. The. Blueprints." Dooku sneered. Ahsoka didn't answer, she just continued to shake and cry, her tiny body wracked with sobs. She had never felt anything more painful in her entire life. She had broken bones in battle; she had been shot multiple times, but never like this. It was too much, and she knew that she was dying. Her left arm and shoulder were twitching uncontrollably. Dooku nodded towards the droid again, and said, "Again." The droid walked behind the crying child again. Ahsoka felt it touch the middle of her back, this time it was a lot warmer than last time. "No, please. No." Ahsoka whimpered with tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt the burning again, and she screamed, screamed as loud as her lungs would allow her. It seemed more painful than last time, and it went on longer, it seemed like forever. Dooku just watched, smiling and enjoying the show. Ahsoka was in so much pain, she didn't even notice that the droid had finally stopped. But the pain still remained, like it was stuck there, glued onto her skin, burning and stinging madly. The smell of her burnt flesh hung in the air, but luckily Ahsoka couldn't smell it, the dry blood on Ahsoka's nose being the only thing she could smell. Dooku pulled out a short, silver knife from his robes and held it to Ahsoka's tear stained cheek. He slowly drew it across her cheek, making a shallow cut that

Ahsoka didn't even wince at. The Count then stabbed it through Ahsoka's hand, making blood stream from the wound and drip onto her head. She tried to scream, but her voice was hoarse from screaming earlier. He slashed at her upper arm, making her groan in pain as cut through the skin. Her head was knocked back as a fist collided with her face, smashing her lip against her teeth. She spat out more blood, hating the coppery taste it left in her mouth. Dooku chuckled, and said, "That will be enough for today."

Chapter 15: Tarrial

"What? No, she isn't on Hoth. I know every planet they have a base on; the stupid droids need to learn to be quieter." Zara sat up in the bed. She looked a lot better, all her cuts and bruises had cleared up nicely, but some left faint scars. The med droids insisted that she stayed in the medbay longer though, saying that she needed to catch up on sleep and let her body fully relax. Her bright blue skin looked healthier and she had gained a bit of weight, not being so thin anymore. "So where is she?" Anakin slammed his hand down on the edge of the Twi'lek's bed. "I don't know. Maybe Laskia? No, no. She won't be there" She trailed off into mumbles and mutters. "Wait," Anakin butted in rudely while Obi-Wan shook his head, "Laskia is a cold planet, why won't she be there?" "Because Laskia is cold, but not that cold. And anyway, Togrutas run several degrees higher than humans. Maybe Zasheke? That's a cold planet, with all of its ice and snow. UmTarrial! They have a base on Tarrial!" Tarrial. Anakin had been there once before, with his cocky little Padawan of course. Ahsoka had as always gotten herself into trouble. She and her clones had been ambushed by droids, but she had managed to lead the clankers into a cave, and then make it collapse on top of them. After the mission, when the pair were relaxing, Ahsoka said "If we ever go to Tarrial again, I'm gonna remember to bring a spare coat because somebody slashed mine in half with his lightsaber!" Ahsoka had been referring to Anakin at the time. He could feel itshe was on Tarrial. Anakin snapped back into reality when Obi-Wan tapped his shoulder. "ObiWan, I've got a feeling she's on Tarrial. I'm sure she's there. I justshe has to be there. Zasheke is cold butTarrial is colder. She's there Obi-Wan, I know it." "Very well, Anakin: We will head to Tarrial right away." Obi-Wan told him. "I'll come too." Zara started to get out of bed but Obi-Wan pushed the Twi'lek back down by her shoulders. "Sorry, Zara," The bearded master said, "But you're still recovering, and I can sense that you don't know anything more than we do about the base." "Well, the only other thing I know is that it's in the north, the coldest part of the planet. I think it's near a village, but I'm not positive." "Thank you, Zara. We appreciate your help with finding Ahsoka." The young Twi'lek smiled and said, "She helped me get out of the base of Felucia, it's only fair that I help her. It's the least I can do."

Anakin and Obi-Wan gave Zara a grateful smile and left. The pair arranged to meet at the Twilight in ten standard minutes. . . . .. Anakin burst into his quarters and yanked open a drawer, which kept his winter coat in it. Before leaving he went into his Padawan's bedroom. Stepping over the heaps of stuff, he opened the wardrobe and clothes came tumbling out. Searching though the mess, he found her winter coat and put it over his shoulder, the fluff of it tickling his neck slightly. He dashed through the halls, running quicker than he ever had in his life, but still, it wasn't enough to match to Ahsoka's extreme speed. When he got to the Twilight, he powered up the engines, flicked some switches, and was ready to go. Anakin's old Master, Obi-Wan, came running up the ramp, looking a little out of breath. The Jedi Master said nothing, he just down next to his former Padawan in the co-pilots seat. He placed his winter coat next to Anakin's, noticing a much small coat next to his. Ahsoka's coat. "Let's go." . . . .. .. Blood covered the ground. Blood stained the wall. Blood coated the Padawan. The knife that had caused the child incredible pain clattered to floor when the Count dropped it, the crimson blood splatting on the floor, landing in another pool of blood. Ahsoka's foot was left twitching; the chuck that had been cut out left the sight of her thin bones. Ahsoka's sensitive lekku was badly bruised, making her hearing difficult and her vision blurry. Her once bright, orange skin was now a sickly grey, drained of any healthy colour. "Where are they?" Dooku ground out through clenched teeth. "I-I'mN-no-nott-tellingyou." Ahsoka struggled to speak, her sore lips bleeding from biting into them when she tried not to scream, trying not to show weaknesses. The Togruta's rib cage was completely crushed, each rib either broken or cracked. She knew she wouldn't last much longer, her hope and faith was fadingno one would come for her. She wasn't worth the trouble, because she always caused. She would prank the Masters, always be late for classesshe was bad example for younglings. The tiny teenager suddenly felt searing pain in her headtails, a horrible, screeching sound. "Ugh!" Ahsoka cried. The buzzing stopped, though it still rang painfully in her headtails. "W-wh-whatw-wasthat?" Ahsoka whimpered, her montrals sending shooting pains all the way through her headtails. The Sith Lord held up a shiny object. It was a small, pocket-sized and had a little hole in it. "A whistle that only your species and those of the Twi'lek race can hear. It's like a dog whistle except it causes you great pain." He blew into the whistle

again, and Ahsoka felt the terrible pain again. Ahsoka felt like her head would explode if it went on any longer. If she was human, Ahsoka was sure that her eardrums would have burst. To human beings and other species without lekku, the sound was a quiet buzzing. But to her, it was agony. Pure agony. The little Padawan tilted her head to the side so her headtail was pressed against her good shoulder, trying to block out some of the sound, but unfortunately, it didn't help the slightest bit. "Tell me, you worthless brat." Dooku scowled, pulling another short, silver dagger out of his robes. Ahsoka hesitated, but kept a straight face. "No." . . . . . After a long, six hour flight, the Jedi finally landed on Tarrial. Anakin shivered slightly as he walked down the ramp and out into the freezing atmosphere. The strange, ice-covered planet with no snow. Just a massive block of ice. It was very rare that this planet had snow. Obi-Wan walked down the ramp slowly with his hands clasped behind his back, his thick, furry hood shielding his face from the harsh winds. "Come on, Obi-Wan!" "Patience, Anakin." Obi-Wan told him. First we need to find the village. On the flight, I did a bit of research. The village is close to some sort of factory, but it didn't say what kind of factory. So maybe, it's not a factory at all. Maybe it's a Separatist base. But first, we should see if we can get any information from the locals." ... . . .. Obi-Wan led the way into the old, run down bar. He and Anakin each sat down on an old, torn seat and lent against the stained table. A scruffy looking human stood behind the bar. "What can I get ya'?" He said in his deep voice. "Just two glasses of water please." Obi-Wan said, handing the man a couple of credits. He grunted in reply, nodded, and then walked into the kitchen which didn't smell too good to get the drinks. "Obi-Wan, what should we say to him? Do we just ask him what the factory is?" Anakin said, his quiet and low. Obi-Wan didn't answer because the man came back. He pushed two glasses of murky, brown 'water' towards them. "Thank you." Obi-Wan said. "Excuse me?" Obi-Wan said, "I believe that there is a factory nearby, is that true?" "Who wants to know?" The bar man said. On his rusty nametag it said his name was Aaron. "We want to know." Anakin snarled darkly, rising from his seat.

"Sit down." Obi-Wan ordered his former Padawan. Anakin grunted and muttered something under his breath and sat back down on the filthy seat. He figured he should let Obi-Wan do the talking. He was the negotiator. "I'm extremely sorry about my son, he's very impatient. We need to know because we are picking up a friend from there." Obi-Wan had to say that Anakin was his son because if it was a Separatist factory, and he knew if it was, they'd be in trouble if they found they were Jedi. "Hm. I'm honestly not sure what it is. I don't know if it's a factory or not. We never get people like you two, asking where and what it is." He made his voice quieter now, so the other few people in the bar wouldn't be able to hear. "Some people say that when they are close to the 'factory', they can hearscreaming, crying. Obi-Wan and Anakin shared a worried glance at each other and then looked back at Aaron. "Screaming? Crying? W-who told you that?" Said Anakin, leaning forward ever so slightly. "That shady character over there." Aaron pointed over to a Rodian man who was sipping a large glass of alcohol. "Thank you very much." Obi-Wan said. Anakin just nodded. The two Jedi sat down opposite to him. "Whatcha' want?" He snapped. Such a nice character. "Information." Obi-Wan said quietly. "Maybefor a price." He made a gesture of credits. "Please. We want to know if that building near here is a factory, and if it's not, then we want to know what it is. Please tell us. Is it true you've heardscreaming?" When Obi-Wan mentioned screaming, the Rodian's body froze. Letting out a shaky breath, he said quietly, "Y-yes. I heard screaming and crying. Once me and some mates where walking by, and a scream just came out of nowhere. We just ran off, we didn't know what it was. I went back a few days later to investigate and I heard it again. People say it's a factorybut I don't think it is. You don't drag people into a working factory." "What? Dragging? Who?" Anakin said, leaning forward, struggling to keep his voice down. "Uh, I don't remember much, I was a little bit drunk But it was a girl, she was unconsciousA Togrutaa tiny little thing."

Chapter 16: What A Padawan Does

"Ahsoka! She's here!" Anakin stood up as soon as the Rodian finished his sentence, and ended up knocking over his drink. Anakin dashed out the bar door, and into the cold atmosphere. "Thank you. Oh, and I'm ever so sorry about your drink here take these." Obi-Wan handed the Rodian some credits to pay for Anakin's 'damage'. He thanked Obi-Wan and said he was glad he was useful. Obi-Wan walked out, finding his former Padawan standing impatiently, literally jogging on the spot, bouncing on his toes. "Anakin," Obi-Wan laid a comforting hand on Anakin's shoulder, "Ahsoka is herebutyou may not like what you find." Obi-Wan softly. His eyes were downcast, clouded with some sort of sadness. He knew how much Anakin's apprentice meant to him. He found it hard to believe that he didn't want Ahsoka at the start. They were like brother and sister now. The bickered like brother and sister. They played and messed around like brother and sister. They probably would have been brother and sister, if Ahsoka was human anyway. They were so alike, but sometimes Obi-Wan didn't know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. "Obi-Wan, this is Ahsoka we're talking about. She's fearless, she never gives up. Never. She has to be alive. I won't give up on her." When Anakin said that, he sounded so proud of his Padawan. Ahsoka knew that he was proud of her, but he never showed it. "Anakin, we have to make a plan first. We can't just waltz in and announce that we are taking Ahsoka. We can't just cause a fight and get Ahsoka out." "There's no time for a plan! Remember what happened last time? She was turned to the darkside. For what we know, she could be being tortured right now!" Anakin snapped furiously, blue eyes narrowed. Softening his harsh gaze, he said quietly, "Obi-Wan, she's dying. We have to save her now. She's suffering so much." Obi-Wan stared sadly at his former Padawan. He had that look in his eyes; the young Knight somehow knew that Ahsoka was alive. The ginger-haired master looked from Anakin, to the large building in the distance. "Very well then, Anakin." "Anakin pulled out some binoculars from his fluffy and warm coat. Searching for the best way to get in, his breathing grew sharper as images flashed through his head. Images of him and Ahsoka messing around, pranking other Masters and each other, training. He remembered the look on her face when she first learnt how to Force-Dash. She looked happy, but she had a mischievous look in her eyes, and a childish lopsided grin to go along with it. Oh dear, another way to set up pranks and escape from them. Force-Dashing was brilliant in battle, but in the Temple, not so good.

She was alive, and he was positive about thatbut, he knew that she was also dyingand that her time was running out. Fast. .. Ahsoka stirred in unconsciousness, feeling something slightly painful prick her arm. A second later, she was a crumpled heap on the floor. A droid or whatever it was, not many things had cold and metallic arms slotted it's arms under her fragile ones, and pulled her over to the wall so her back was leaning against the wall. Ahsoka moaned when the cuts and burns on her back pressed into hard, jagged rocks. We'll it seemed like she was in an underground cell. She had never noticed before, because it was so dark. The back of her head slammed into the wall when something probably a fist or a foot collided with her face. Ahsoka felt a small, trickling sensation run down her back lekku. She was way too weak to cry out or scream. All she could do was moan. Her dry throat only let her do that; it wouldn't allow her to scream. Stars clouded the Padawan's vision as her head started to throb and hurt more. Over the past few days, her torture had been drugs. A body full of drugs. Terrible drugs that made her body burn, gave her the most horrible headaches. She felt ill nearly all the time now; her starved body making her feel terribly ill. The droid stuck another needle in her arm, pushing the sickly black liquid into her bloodstream. Seconds later, Dooku marched into the room, looking evil as usual. Ahsoka kept her eyes scrunched shut, feeling the slight pain of the black liquid traveling through her bloodstream. She could feel it run down to her fingertips, up her arm and through her shoulder. The little Padawan cried out weakly when the drug passed through her chest. When it had invaded her whole body, a horrible burning shot through her. The sudden pain made her vision slightly blurry, but she could only just make out three droids stepping towards her, their electrostaffs raised and ready After another painful beating that had seemed to last forever, Ahsoka finally passed out because her tiny body couldn't take it anymore. 'SnipsI'm comingI promise you. Please Ahsokajust stay strong. Me and Obi-Wan are close' A familiar voice said in her head. She groaned slightly in unconsciousness. "M-Mast-er. He-hel-p." She squeaked. 'M-Mast-er. He-hel-p." He heard a small, broken voice said in his pounding head. Looks like she got my message. But that was impossible, right? She was wearing a Force-Collar. Maybe her little call for help wasn't on purpose, like she didn't mean to say it. But how did she say that? He couldn't sense her, she was still wearing the collar. How did she make contact with him? Was it possible to call on the Force when it was being blocked? Was Ahsoka that strong in the Force? No, she was strong, stronger than the average Jedi Padawan, but could she seriously do that? Maybejustmaybe

Ahsoka's Force-Presence was different to other Jedi. Hers wasstrange. He knew why it was different, as did Obi-Wan and very few other Jedi. She died. She was technically dead. She died on the planet, Mortis. But Anakin refused to give up on the little Padawan, and he bought her back to life. But ever since that mission, her Force-Presence was different. "Don't worry Ahsoka. I'm comingI'll save you. I promise." Anakin whispered. "Obi-Wan, we need to go." He said louder. "Okay, Anakin. I think I've figured out a good route for us to go." Obi-Wan put his binoculars to his eyes. "We go to the behind of the building, take out the guards if there is any make our way to the control room, and see where the cells are. We find the cell that has Ahsoka in, and get out of here." Obi-Wan struggled to keep up with his former apprentice; he was walking fast, almost running. "Anakin, please slow down a little. I know you're worried and sad and angry, but you need to calm down! Anakin you-" "What Obi-Wan?" Anakin snapped, whirling around, "What? Are you not worried about Ahsoka? Because you sure do sound like you're not! Do you even care that she's been missing for a month? She's suffering, and you want me to slow down? She's dying!" Obi-Wan stared in shock at the younger human. This reminded him of the time Padme, Ahsoka and some clones had been infected by the Blue Shadow Virus. He had snapped at him then, but this time, he was ferocious, more vicious. "AnakinI'm sorry. I do care about Ahsoka, you know I do. I'm just trying to this in a better way. If you just rush in, you'll be killed or get captured too. I'm trying to do what's better for all of us." Obi-Wan said in a soft tone that Anakin had never heard him speak in before. Anakin bowed his head, "I'm sorry, Obi-Wan, I justcan't lose her. She's my best friend ever, and she's too youngfor any of this. She's too young to die; she's too young to fight in the war. The warit destroys everything." "It's okay, Anakin," Obi-Wan laid a gentle hand on Anakin's shoulder, "I understand. I don't want to lose Ahsoka either." Anakin nodded. He squeezed his eyes shut when they started walking again. His eyes stung a little; it must be they icy cold wind blowing in his face. His eyes feltwet? Was hecrying? Anakin realized that he was. He didn't want to lose Ahsoka; he couldn't let go of her. He couldn't lose his Padawan, his friend, his sister. She meant too much to him. He cared about her too much. This is what having a Padawan does to you. It gives you someone to teach, someone to laugh and play with. Someone to love. Someone to lose.

Chapter 17: His Mission

Ahsoka's eyes snapped open. She was slumped up against the wall. That terrible, dreaded wall. The Togruta swallowed hard, gulping down a mouthful blood, making her gag. For the first time in her captivity, she had had a dreamless sleep. Of course she was in pain while she slept, but she had no nightmares. Her eyes stung, her lack of sleep making her eyes droopy and bloodshot. Ahsoka knew she was going to die soon, because her body couldn't take the pain anymore. She could literally feel herself drifting off into the Force, feel the life drain out her. She just wished that she could say goodbye to her friends and her Masters. She didn't want Dooku or some rusty droid to be the last person she saw. She wanted to see Plo, Rex, Padme, ObiWan and Anakin. She wanted a last goodbye. She remembered all the special times she had had with her friends. When she and Padme took Anakin shopping, his face filled with embarrassment as they dragged him into a clothes shop. Rex and all the clones playing Boloball with her, and her team winning, Rex playfully storming off and fake pouting. Watching a scary holofilm with Barriss, both sat closely together, clutching a tub of popcorn. Sitting with Obi-Wan, telling jokes to each other (Ahsoka's were way funnier than ObiWan's) and the many, many times Plo Koon had got the young girl out of trouble. She remembered when she had found out she was going to be Skywalker's Padawan. She was so overwhelmed, gobsmacked. She, Ahsoka Tano, was going to be the chosen one's Padawan. She was two years younger than the average age to become an apprentice. She was excited, literally bouncing on her toes. But she was worried scared. What if he didn't like her? Didn't want her? What if her rejected her? She wasn't sure if she was the right Padawan for him. When she had blown up the energy force-field on Christophsis, and he yelled at her, she was sure he was going to send her back. She had almost gotten him killed more than once because she was so desperate to prove she could be his Padawan. She had set off the droid senses, defeated one droid, and set off more. Then she toppled a wall on top of him, though she knew it wouldn't hit him if he stayed still she still could have killed him. But now, ever since that moment where they sat down and accepted each other, they had formed a very strong bond. An unbreakable bond. He was the person she would probably miss the most. She loved him like a father, even a playful and mischievous brother. He wasn't 'just her master' like he was supposed to be, he was like family. Ahsoka flexed out her toes. They cracked painfully, but that didn't matter, it's not like it hurt that much, plus it was nothing compared to the rest of her body. Her back ached terribly, all the cuts and injured done to it prevented her from moving, so she got a horrible aches there. Her dream was to become a Knight, a powerful, strong Jedi Knight. Like Anakin or Obi-Wan or Plo. But right now, she was sure that that was never going to happen.

Even when she was a youngling, she shunned. Ignored and looked down on because of her 'advanced abilities'. Picked on because she was different. While being alone, the youngling used about her future. Think about when she would become a Knight, what her clone troopers would be like, what enemies and battles she would face. She had already seen and done things other teenagers shouldn't. She had seen death, witnessed it. She had killed others herself, Osi Sobeck, Dar, Garmac, and many other Trandoshans. She had felt the horrible guilt of someone dying because of her. After that mission, the one over Ryloth, she never wanted to fight again. She didn't want others to die because of her. She had had injuries, ones that left terrible scars and marks. Normal teenagers didn't get shot by battle droids, they didn't have to fight in epic battles, didn't have to worry if they would live or die on the next mission. Another icy chill ran through the child's body, making her shiver. Why couldn't the stupid droids at least bring a blanket down or something? She was freezing her ass of at the moment, and she couldn't curl up or anything because she couldn't move. Her body hurt and ached so badly it was hard to even breathe. She wasn't as cold as she was when the clones and Barriss had been infected, no, that was actually freezing, even her skin was covered with frost and ice. But it was cold enough to make her shiver. If it was any colder Ahsoka was sure that her breathe would become foggy. Her weak hands lay limp either side her, but an injured finger gave a twitch every now and again. Her finger nails were sore from scratching at the floor when she couldn't grip something to help forget about the pain. The chemical that she had been injected with had worn off hours ago, they usually only lasted for an hour or two. The shallow lightsaber wound that ran horizontally across her stung like a million daggers stabbing into her. The torn clothes she wore literally hung or her and were stained with blood. Ahsoka wondered what had happen to her little cat friend. She hadn't seen him in ages and she missed him. She missed his warm, fluffy fur. He had a way of making her feel better only slightly but still, anything to better than what she felt now. Ahsoka's thoughts drifted to Master Plo Koon, the friendly Jedi Master that had found her and bought her to the temple. If he hadn't of found her, she wouldn't be in this situation. But of course, if he hadn't of found her, she would have been dead, she was sure of it. Why couldn't someone just come and save her? Or at least kill her. No one deserved to suffer like this; probably not even Dooku. Even he was once good; he used to Qui-Gon's Padawan. Ventress used to be good. Savage Opress was turned bad. Everyone had good in them, just some more than others. Ahsoka was a fearless Padawan; she'd faced Ventress and Grievous a few times, and she never flinched once. But the one thing she was scared of was losing the people she loved and cared about. She couldn't bear to lose them; because they were the only things she had. The tiny Togruta couldn't feel her hands or feet because they were frozen, shaking from the cold. What planet was she even on? Hoth? It was kriffing freezing. . ..

"Obi-Wan, hurry!" Anakin ducked behind a crate, keeping his voice low as Obi-Wan approached, crouching down low like a predator. It reminded Anakin of Ahsoka, who crouched down like that when she was about to attack. Two battle droids walked past, holding their blasters in defensive position. "It's harder than it looks, Anakin, remember, I'm getting old." Obi-Wan hissed back to his former apprentice. Obi-Wan's ginger hair blew into his face as a strong, icy gust of wind howled past. Even though the planet had no snow, it was still freezing. Anakin was about to spring up, but he stopped dead. His eyes widened. His jaw dropped slightly. "She's underground" He whispered so quietly Obi-Wan couldn't hear him. "What was that, Anakin?" Obi-Wan shuffled a little closer to him. "She's underground!" Anakin darted over to the wall, igniting his lightsaber and shoving it into the wall. He cut a quick circle and yanked it out carelessly with the Force. He bolted inside, not bothering to check for droids. "Anakin how do you know?" The ginger-haired master hissed. "A voice! It was Ahsoka's voice!" "Anakin, Ahsoka can't use the Force!" "No! No, she can, but she doesn't realize it! She's done somethingbut she doesn't know. I don't know what it isand she doesn't. I don't even think she knew she was saying itNo one knows." Obi-Wan didn't answer, but he frowned thoughtfully. The pair kept their steps light and steady, hoping to not set of any alarms. They flung themselves down some steps. Anakin was pretty sure that he had never ran this fast before. Poor Obi-Wan was out of breath. The walls were grey, but they seemed to get darker and darker as they ran down the hall. They skidded around a corner, diving behind a crate when two magnaguards walked by. Anakin stared at them; they were covered in a red liquid. Blood. "Anakin, they came from the left, which must be where the cells are!" ObiWan exclaimed quietly, pointing to where the droids had come from. Anakin gave a quick nodded and sneaked over to the corner, keeping close to the wall like a ninja. There was one door. One room. It had a presence inside it. A very weak yet strong presence. This was it.

Anakin came with a mission. He swore he would save his Padawan. He vowed. And he was about to succeed that mission.

Chapter 18: Rescued

door.

"Obi-Wan, this is it, she's here." Anakin stood directly in front of the old, rusty

He'd found her; she was here. Finally, after all the searching and looking, he'd found his lost apprentice. He put a hand over his still slightly wounded and bandaged chest feeling his heart hammer against his ribcage. He ignited his lightsaber again and thrust the blade into the door, cutting out a perfect circle. He used the Force to pull out the block. He climbed through the hole, ducking his head so he didn't whack it. The first thing that hit him was the smell; it smelt like burnt flesh and blood. It was so strong he could literally taste it in his mouth. The next thing he became aware of was that it was dark, almost pitch black. Even though his lightsaber provided light, it wasn't enough to illuminate the whole cell. Obi-Wan climbed in a moment later, his blue blade ignited also. Obi-Wan wrinkled his nose at the foul smell, but didn't cover it up. "Anakinlisten" Obi-Wan shushed gently. They held their breath and listened carefully. There was a faint, ragged sound of uneasy breathing, and a slight, quiet whimper. Anakin's eyes grew wide as he waved his lightsaber around, looking for his lost Padawan. "Obi-Wan, hold this." Anakin practically shoved his weapon into his former master's free hand. He held the lightsabers in a position that illuminated a small, broken figure. "Snips" Anakin collapsed beside her on his knees and put a hand on Ahsoka's swollen cheek. Ahsoka seemed to lean into her Master's hand, wincing as she did. He could feel how cold she was, even through his gloves. Was she awake, or unconscious? "Ahsoka, can you hear me?" Anakin whispered softly to her, rubbing her sore cheek with his thumb. His heart screamed at him, telling him that all this was his fault. He shouldn't have bought her on this mission. He knew he should send her back home. No of this would have happened if he had just listened to that nagging feeling he had. He should have listened to Ahsoka when she said that she had a bad feeling about the mission. She whimpered, "M-Mast-e-r." "Snips, I need to move you. You're safe now, I promise." He honestly didn't know what to say. The girl in front of him was pretty much half dead. Obi-Wan knelt down beside Ahsoka and put a gentle hand on her forehead. "Obi-Wan, help me move her." Anakin slotted his arms over his Padawan's bloody back and legs and ever-sogently picked her up off the floor. Ahsoka made quiet, pained noise. She groaned in pain and scrunched her eyes tightly, tears slowly leaking out. She tightly clutched his robes, her weak hands trembling. "Shh, shh, Ahsoka, it's okay, you're safe now." Anakin hushed gently, lightly pressing his lips against her forehead. She wasn't exactly safe, anything could happen at the moment. She let out a long, shaky breath and whimpered. Being carried must be really painful for her; all her broken bones

and wounds were being moved and rubbed against Anakin's clothing. She made a tiny sob, her shivers becoming shakes. Anakin held her closely to his chest. After all the years of fighting and pain, he had never seen his Padawan cry before. He had seen her close to it before, quite a few times. But to see her finally breakdown was heart wrenching. Obi-Wan was staring woefully at the child, his expression full of sadness and pity. Anakin suddenly felt another Force presence. It was dark and twisted. Dooku. Anakin growled darkly to himself, narrowing his eyes. "Obi-Wan, take Ahsoka." He moved next to the ginger Master and attempted to put Ahsoka in his arms, making Ahsoka wince and moan in pain. He pulled her back to his chest again, noting how cold her normally warm skin was. "No, Anakin! I can sense him too. We need to get Ahsoka out of here. Is that what you want? For Ahsoka to suffer longer and get revenge on Dooku? Revenge is not the Jedi way. You know that Anakin. You're just angry and sad, but our mission was to get Ahsoka out of here, and that's what we're going to do. You're better than this. Ahsoka need us. She needs you." Anakin looked down at the dying girl in his arms. "You're right." He felt that strange moisture in his eyes again. Tears. Tears of sadness from the state of his Padawan. He felt kindaguilty. He hadn't saved her until now; and she was a mess. She was covered in large gashes, cuts, blue and black bruises, burns and so much more. From the funny angles of some of her limbs told him bones were broken. She must have gone through hell. She was a mess. "I can sense a way out. There shouldn't be any droids that way." Anakin nodded to end of the corridor. They jogged around the corner. Anakin tried not the move his upper body, in case her made Ahsoka worse. The tiny Togruta seemed to be unconscious. Her head lolled against Anakin's shoulder and she quiet. Her ragged breathing had quietened down a little, but it hard to breathe when she was curled up against Anakin's chest. Suddenly, a blaster bolt flew past them, smacking into the wall. Obi-Wan whirled around, his safire coloured lightsaber ignited. A few battle droids and a couple of super battle droids we're running full speed at them, there metal feet clanking on the metal floor. Looks like Dooku hadn't seen them yet, but they were sure he had sensed them. 'Kriff! I've got Ahsoka, I can't fight!' Anakin cursed inside his head, taking a quick glance at Ahsoka. "Obi-Wan! Cover me!" Anakin grunted as he shifted to the side to narrowly miss getting shot in the head. Though Ahsoka barely weighed a thing, he still couldn't move his upper body without hurting her.

Obi-Wan stood in front Anakin, swinging his lightsaber around, blocking the bolts. One by one the droids collapsed from a hole in the chest, their blaster bolts being sent back to them. When Obi-Wan destroyed the final droid, they were at the end of the corridor. They ran up the stairs from where they flung themselves down them earlier, their feet moving fast. Obi-Wan was slightly ahead of the younger human and his Padawan, his lightsaber now un-activated and hung on his belt. "Anakin, we have to go to the place where we came from. Through that hole you cut." Anakin could sense where the exit was. They were close to it. Very close. All they needed to do was to turn round this last corner "And where do you think you're going?" The two Jedi swung around, meeting Dooku's eyes. His crimson lightsaber was draw, it's bright red glow illuminating his face like sunlight. His face was scrunched up in anger and hatred, directed at the three Jedi. Ahsoka suddenly jolted in Anakin's arms, probably sensing the Sith's dark presence. She opened her glassy blue eyes and stared at the fuming Sith Lord. "Stand down, Dooku. You can't beat us." Obi-Wan stepped forward, standing in front of Anakin and Ahsoka. He had a determined look on his face, his forehead creased with a frown of bravery. 'Anakin, get Ahsoka out of here. I'll hold Dooku off until you get out of the building, and quite a distance away.' Obi-Wan said through the Force. Anakin really wanted to fight and help Obi-Wan. He wanted to kill Dooku, get revenge on him for hurting his Padawan, making her suffer. He wanted to torture him, listen to his screams and pleas for him to stop. But he had to get his Padawan to safetyshe needed him now, she needed medical attention immediately. One last glance at Obi-Wan told Anakin that Obi-Wan was willing to give up his own life for safety of his former apprentice and his Padawan. Anakin darted around the corner just as Obi-Wan and the Count clashed blades. Obi-Wan will win Anakin thought He's strong, and he's smart. Dooku is just clouded by the darkside. He won't win. He trained Qui-Gon, a great man. So what made him so corrupt? Anakin jumped through the hole in the wall, nearly slipping over when his feet landed on the icy ground. Ahsoka gasped a little when the cold air hit her. She started to shiver madly and shifted the tiniest bit in his arms. Anakin would have put her down and wrapped her up his cloak, but he didn't have time for that. He started to run not running, but a little faster than jogging across the slippery surface of the ground. He would have rather ran across a foot of snow than an icy floor it would have made it a bit easier.

An icy gust of strong wind nearly knocked him over; Tarrial was known for its strange change in temperature and wind. Some days it was quite warm and had calm winds, but the ice never melted. And it never snowed. It was almost as strange as Mortis. Well, not as weird as Mortis, you didn't see three 'Force-Wielders' walking around with names like 'Son, Daughter and Father' and having visions. And you certainly didn't see sweet, little Padawans with yellow eyes attacking their Jedi Master. After that incident on Mortis, Anakin had become even more protective over his apprentice. He didn't want to lose her. And now when she recovered if she even survived he wouldn't let her out of his sight. He knew she was a strong, capable woman, but he couldn't bear to lose her. He couldn't lose anybody else. He had already lost Qui-Gon and his mother. He didn't need didn't want to lose anybody else. Dooku clashed blades with Obi-Wan, scowling as he did so. "Qui-Gon would be disgusted with what you've done. You didn't deserve to have such a great man as an apprentice." Obi-Wan snarled darkly in his face, pushing more weight his lightsaber. Their lightsabers were now dangerously close to each other's face, but they didn't back away. Obi-Wan was surprised at his tone; he sounded dark and angry. He didn't know why he was acting like that, but it was just a little spark of angry that had been hiding under the surface. He used the Force to let go of that emotion, let it fly off like a butterfly on a flower. Obi-Wan pushed Dooku's lightsaber back and kicked out his foot, aiming for the stomach. It collided with the Count's ribcage, and sent him sprawling backwards. This was his chance. Dooku was on the floor, and Anakin was quite a distance away from the factory. He sped off, running as fast as his legs would take him. Launching himself through the hole in the wall, he rolled on the ice and recovered quickly, still running at full speed. That was a little acrobatic move Ahsoka had taught him. He had used it only a few times before, but he found it very useful. Sometimes the apprentice taught the Masters. Because Obi-Wan was running much faster than Anakin, he started catch up a bit. He was still quite a way away, but he was gaining. Looking back, he saw a figure, just standing there. It was probably Dooku. But Obi-Wan didn't really care about that right now; he just wanted to get off the planet and help Ahsoka. He was getting closer to that little village and the Twilight. If the small, run down village had a hospital, they would have taken Ahsoka there. But the temple had a much better medical bay than any hospital. They had supplies for any kind of mission, and if it was just a broken bone or something, you didn't have to wait three hours just for a check-up. . Obi-Wan stumbled into the Twilight, looking around for Anakin. It looked like he had set up all the controls and the engine had started. He sat down and lifted the ship off the ground, and spread out the wings. They were on their way to Coruscant now.

He put the controls on auto-pilot and walked out. He found Ahsoka sitting on a bed with Ahsoka clutched close to his chest. He was gently rubbing her cheek with his thumb, trying to comfort her, let her know she was with him, and going to be safe. She was wrapped up in his cloak, her head resting against his shoulder. They didn't have long now; if Ahsoka could hold a little longer just a few hours she would be sent straight to the medbay, where the droids could hopefully heal her. Obi-Wan didn't say anything, but he sat next to Anakin on the bed and gave him a reassuring look. He smiled sadly and said, "If you believe she will survive, she will. Remember, Ahsoka's a fighter. Just keep believing and have faith in her. If you do that, she'll be okay." With that Obi-Wan stood and left, giving Anakin one last, sad glance as her walked off to pilot the Twilight. ..

Chapter 19: Safety

Ahsoka awoke, lying in some lush, green grass. Like the gardens in the Temple on Coruscant. She was lying flat on her back, the grass tickling her back and legs. It was so amazing, just relaxing in the grass, doing nothing but lazing around. The young Togruta didn't know where she was, but she already loved it here. It was sunny and warm, a gentle breeze howling past. Ahsoka sighed happily to herself, bringing her arms up behind her head and resting her lekku on them. The Force told her that this place was so peaceful, no war, no nothing. It was all peace and goodness. Something flew past her something she couldn't identify and made a slight buzzing sound. Ahsoka frowned and propped herself up on her elbows. The thing flew past her again and circled around her a few times. It stopped when it was facing her, and at eye level. It was a small ball oflight. It was bright blue like a blue lightsaber crystal and was shining like the sun. Ahsoka squinted her eyes at it. What was it? The ball circled around her one more time, and then took off into the distance. Ahsoka, feeling curious and a bit adventurous, hopped up and ran after the light. The trees rustled when the light breeze blew on them, some leaves falling off and blowing into the wind. All different colours of leaves melted together in a beautiful collage of colours. Pinks, greens, yellows, it was breath taking. Through the storm of leaves, Ahsoka saw the little light take off in the same direction as it did before. The more she ran, the darker the sky seemed to get. As it was getting darker, the light looked like a small spark coming from a lightsaber. Though it was getting darker, Ahsoka had a feeling the light would guide her. She just had a feeling that this light would help her. She used to Force to accelerate her speed, making look like an orange and red blur. As she got closer and closer to the light, she extended her hand and reached for the hovering light. Her fingers lightly brushed it, and it sent a strange sensation through her fingers and hands. It didn't hurt, it just felt weird. When Ahsoka touched the object, it dashed forward, as if it didn't want Ahsoka touching it. After the touch, the room started to get brighter and brighter. Ahsoka saw the trees come back, and she could see the blades of the long grass. The blue skies matched the colour of her beautiful eyes. There were no clouds, just an amazing, clear sky. The warm sun seemed to match the shade of her orange skin, but with a bit of a red hue. She was directly behind the ball of light now and she could practically feel the strange electrical pulse it gave off. Taking a glorious leap, Ahsoka cupped her hands around the light and tumbled to the ground, the light still trapped in her hands. She landed hard on her stomach, her arms still outstretched in front of her. She bought

herself up to her knees and held her hands close to her face. The ball in her hands wasn't struggling or trying to escape though. It sat calmly in cupped hands. Ahsoka slowly opened up her hands. The ball was still glowing and shining. But it hademotions, like it was a real person. It had many emotions: concern, sadness, worry, guilt and love. Just as she felt those emotions, everything turned pitch black again. She could feel the trees, the grass, the flowers start to wither awayfading into the blackness. This place whether it was a planet or not started to lose its peacefulness. Everything felt evil and dark, like a Sith Lord. The light grew dimmer, and finally faded out. Ahsoka around for the light, but it wasn't there. It had just disappeared, faded away into nothing. Suddenly, feeling the most horrible pain she had ever felt, Ahsoka collapsed on the ground. She felt like she was being tortured. Her whole body hurt so much. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears slowly leaking out and dripping on the dry ground. When she finally opened her eyes again, she saw a cut on her hand. Glancing down at her arm, she noticed that that was her arm was covered in bloody cuts and bruises too. She was too weak to even raise her head and look over her shoulder. She was suddenly starving, feeling incredibly thin and skinny. She found it hard to breathe; her breaths came out in exhausted wheezes. She felt terribly ill. She looked straight ahead of her, seeing that light again. It shined brighter than ever, nearly blinding her slightly blurry vision. But she blinked and then kept her eyes open. The light started to mould and take a different shape. It looked like it was turning into a human or a humanoid. As it started to look more and more like a human, Ahsoka started to realize who it was. The emotions matched the figure perfectly. The figure was muscular and tall, standing in a way that made him look legendary. Those emotions match him perfectly. It was Anakin. Right after Ahsoka figured out what the ball of light was, everything came back. The beautiful trees flashed back, the lush grasses sprung from the ground. All the peace came back. But Anakin's negative emotions stayed. Anakin crouched down in front of her, placing two fingers on her forehead. Ahsoka felt power surge through her. She started to feel better, her queasiness went, and her cuts weaved back together, leaving no marks or scars. The blue and black bruises started to fade, bringing back her orange skin. Her lungs felt completely open, letting in as much air as they pleased. She felt like she had been remade. She felt like new, feeling better than she ever had. She pushed herself up off the ground, standing in front of her Master. He was still just light, no facial expression, because he was just the shape of a man. But it

was Anakin. Her master, father and big brother. She looked up at him and said in a quiet and grateful voice, "Thank you." The light flickered into nothing, leaving Ahsoka standing in the grass. Wait. Why did she have a nice, pleasant dream? She was only in pain for a minute or two, but why wasn't she in pain for the whole of the dream. Why was Anakin there? Surely he thought she was dead? Then something in her head clicked. Her master knew she was alive. She didn't have a nightmare because she wasn't in Dooku's clutches anymore. She was with Anakin. He had saved her. Anakin stared at his Padawan's face. Her eyes weren't scrunched up in pain anymore, and she looked a bit morepeaceful. He could she was still in pain, it was like a neon sigh in the Force. But she looked the slightest bit better. He and Obi-Wan had used all the medical supplies on the Twilight to try and help her the best they could. They didn't have many medical supplies on the little ship, but they had used everything. She had a few bacta patches placed over back, where the burns were, and few placed over some of the other serious wounds. She was extremely pale; most of the colour had drained from her face. She was in his arms again, being cradled like a child. Looking at her now somehow remained him of that tiny teenager that had hopped off that ship on Christophsis, claiming that she was his Padawan. She really had grown up a lot. She was still cheeky, and, of course, snippy. She still annoyed him, but sometimes he enjoyed arguing with her; it gave him something for both of them to do. Sometimes they argued about stuff, but within a few days, they would be friends again. Obi-Wan seemed to enjoy it when they argued; he found it entertaining too. Anakin hadn't left the petite Togruta's side ever since he had found her. He didn't know how long he had been sitting with her, but he wasn't sure if he could leave her side. She needed him to be strong for her, and she needed to be strong for herself too. He was sure she would survive; his girl always fought her way back. She always came back to him. But deep down, he had this horrible, nagging feeling that she wouldn't make itthat her tiny body wouldn't be able to take the damage done to it. He thought about what Obi-Wan had said to him, about believing in her. He did believe that she would survive, but he wasn't sure if she could. Speaking of Obi-Wan, he walked in, sitting down next his former apprentice. "How's she doing?" He put a gentle hand on his shoulder. Anakin sighed, "Not much better. I think she's got a fever." He didn't move his eyes to look at Obi-Wan, instead, he kept his eyes on that adorable face he had been staring at for hours.

Obi-Wan shifted a bit and took off his gloves. He put his gentle hand on the teen's forehead and frowned deeply. "Anakin, that's not normal. You're right, she's got a fever, and that's not good. Not good at all." Obi-Wan sounded worried now, more worried than he had been earlier. "Are we nearly back home?" Anakin sniffed, as if he was holding back tears. Obi-Wan smiled warmly, at both him and the unconscious Padawan, "Yes. We're less than a standard hour away."

Chapter 20: Healing

They were almost home. Just ten more minutes. Anakin had laid the lower half of Ahsoka's body on the bed, so she wasn't tucked up in his arms anymore, and the upper half was leaning against Anakin's chest. His arms were wrapped around her, trying to give her some warmth and comfort, cradling her. She had stopped shivering, now out of the icy winds of Tarrial. Her sickly grey skin had regained the slightest bit of colour, its lovely orange only just visible. She was a complete mess; stained with her own blood, black and blue all over and limbs at funny angles. They would be home soon, so Anakin decided to get ready for when they would arrive back at the Temple. Anakin stood up slowly, Ahsoka still clutched close to his chest. She whimpered quietly, making a little squeak of pain. She took in sharp, quick breaths. It hurt being moved about. He walked slowly out of the room, careful to keep his upper body completely still. Obi-Wan was sitting in his seat, staring blankly at the controls. They were nearly there now. After a long, horrible flight, it was nearly over. Obi-Wan sensed Anakin coming through, and he sighed. Anakin was hurting. A lot. Ahsoka was his best friend, and if not a daughter, his little sister. She was his little mischievous partner. Obi-Wan sighed again. Giving Anakin Ahsoka was a good and bad idea. They were reckless, headstrong, and cocky. Anakin had trouble with controlling his anger, and Obi-Wan usually reminded him about it. Anakin always complained about Ahsoka's aggression, but Obi-Wan would always remind him that she was a Togruta, an aggressive hunting species, and therefore had an exception. Most of the time anyway. Sometimes the child's anger would get a little out of hand. But Obi-Wan found it hilarious seeing them arguing, it was like having a Comedian in your own home. Though sometimes their arguments would get more extreme, and there would be yelling, insults thrown at each other, and more yelling. And it was always ObiWan who had to sort them out. Obi-Wan leant back, giving Anakin a quick glance as he sat down carefully. They sat in silence, both listening to Ahsoka's breathing. It didn't sound as bad as it did when they had first found her, but it didn't sound too good at the moment. They sat there until Coruscant got closer and closer, eventually getting close enough to see the all the tall buildings. Anakin stood up without a word and waited at the exit of the ship. The ship hovered down to the large landing pad, and gently touched the ground. Obi-Wan had contacted the Temple and told them to have a team of medics waiting for them when they arrived. On the landing pad, waiting, were a team of medics, Master Yoda and Plo Koon.

Obi-Wan heart clenched a little when he saw Plo; he must so worried and scared. It was hard to read the Kel Dor's expressions, only a few could tell what he was feeling by expressions. Yoda's large, yellow eyes held great sadness. He was standing next to Plo. A stretched hovered beside the medics and the two Jedi Masters. The shuttle door opened, and light filled the dull ship. Anakin didn't bother to shield his eyes though. He practically ran down the ramp, yelling for the medic. When the stretcher came close to him, he dropped to one knee and lowered the tiny child onto the stretcher. He wiped his bloody hands on his dirty robe, which was also stained with Ahsoka's blood. Ahsoka whimpered quietly. Obi-Wan walked down the ramp a moment later, his eyes on Plo, who was standing next to the unconscious Padawan. His clawed hand was holding her tiny one, and he was staring supposedly sadly at Ahsoka's face. "Little 'Soka" His deep voice was barely a whisper, nobody but him heard it. Anakin felt great sadness coming from the Jedi Master. He had known Ahsoka about eleven years longer that he had, so they had a very close relationship with each other. He had watched a tiny baby turn into a beautiful young woman. As the stretched hovered away with medics fussing over the Padawan, Anakin and the other Jedi Masters followed it. Plo had stayed silent while walking. Yoda hobbled behind the others, eventually coming to a stop, watching the others walk off into the distance. .. Anakin sat with his head in his hands, staring at the floor, an occasional sigh of sadness and irritation escaping his lips. He had absolutely no idea about how long he had been sat there, but it was long enough to give his back a terrible cramp and for his shoulders to ache. He didn't know where Plo was, he was probably waiting to see Ahsoka somewhere else. Obi-Wan said that he'd comm Plo when they were allowed to see her. He could feel Ahsoka through the Force, and slowly, her weakened Force presence was getting slightly stronger. Their bond seemed to be mending. He could feel her pain as each wound was cleaned and stitched up. Obi-Wan sat down beside the Knight, "You've been sitting here the whole time haven't you?" He said, a light and playful smile on his lips. "Remember what I told you, Anakin? Just believe that she'll be all right, and she will be." Obi-Wan wasn't sure that that was exactly true. Ahsoka's condition was far from bad, it was terrible. He wanted to believe that she'd be okay, but something told him that she wouldn't make it. Anakin nodded. The healers were still with Ahsoka. She must have been worse than she looked, if that was even possible. Anakin had never seen anybody so hurt and damaged before He'd lost his arm, he'd seen clones get caught in the most horrible explosions and still come out alive. But Ahsoka was too damaged, too hurt. If she lived, she'd have the most terrible scars Suddenly, the door swung open, a Jedi healer covered in blood came out, a sad expression on her face. Anakin shot up and whizzed over to the healer. "How is she?"

A tiny smile, one that was barely noticeable, was on her face, "She's going to be all right. She just needs time for her wounds to heal. But she's still alive. It's a miracle really, grown men probably wouldn't have survived all that. Something must have kept her fighting." "Can I go see her?" Anakin looked at the healer with hopeful eyes. She smiled again, "Of course. She's just ahead." She pointed to the door from where she had just come from. Anakin raced off, crashing through the large swingy doors. He sat down in one of the seats that surrounded the bed, and then shuffled his chair so that his knees were touching Ahsoka's bed. She was lying on her back with her hands rested at her sides. He held Ahsoka's bandaged hand and rubbed it. He looked at her face. He facial features were relaxed, as if she couldn't feel any pain. Anakin knew she could feel pain, because he could feel it through the Force. She was wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Though you couldn't see them, bacta patches had been placed on her back and stomach for the worst of the wounds. A light blanket had been draped over her lower body, keeping her warm but not too cold. Some of her fingers had been taped together, they were probably broken. He would have thought she was dead if it wasn't for the gentle rise and fall of her chest. He really wished she'd wake up. He honestly never thought he'd miss Ahsoka annoying and pestering him all the time. But without her, life was no fun. He had his wife, yeah, but she was always at meetings and he was always on missions. The same healer sat down next to him. "She will have some dizzy spells, because she had some serious damage done to her lekku. Her hearing won't be too good for while either, but it will be back to normal in a few months. She will have a few twitches in her fingers and a few other places, but other that, she'll be all right." "Thank you for all the help." Anakin said, smiling friendlily. "It's no problem, Master Skywalker." She got up and left without another

word.

Just as the healer left, Plo walked in. He looked calm, unlike Anakin when he came in. The Kel Dor sat next to Anakin. "You know, Skywalker, you've taught little 'Soka well. I truly believe that you were the right Master for her." Plo said, not taking his eyes of the sleeping Togruta. "Thank you, Master Plo." Anakin was kind of surprised by Plo's words. He was usually telling him that they were too much alike. Anakin knew that they had much in common, but Ahsoka wasn't all Anakin. She had her moments, when she all wise and powerful. She was a mixture of him, Obi-Wan and Plo. He remembered the time she had tricked Ziro The Hutt into telling them some answers, and he was sure she had gotten that off Obi-Wan, plus she used Soresu quite often. Plo had taught the Padawan the Shien grip, which he did use, but definitely not as much as Ahsoka did. Anakin hated Plo for teaching her that grip. She was wise, and that was off Master Plo.

Now, she was Anakin in so many different ways. Reckless, headstrong, cocky, competitive, and argumentative and the list went on and on and on

Chapter 21: Apologies

Ahsoka opened her eyes, delicately and slowly. The first thing she became aware of was that she couldn't see out of her left eye, it was just white. But that didn't really matter right now; what mattered was that the room she was in was white as well, but it had shapes shapes that moved and they were a kind of grey colour. As her eye adjusted, all the blurry objects turned out to be droids. The looked like medical droids. The next thing she was aware of was the figure sitting next to her. Seriously, where was she? She didn't remember anything; except pain, pain and more pain. But she remembered this dream, a ball of light in a garden or something. She opened her eyes fully and could make out the figure. It was Anakin, her Jedi Master. She was so happy that she was alive. She thought she was going to die in that cell, Dooku or Grievous being the last things she saw before she died. She groaned and attempted to pull her blanket up, but she stopped because when she moved, all she could feel was pain. "Ughhh." She grumbled as she leant back into the soft pillows. She was lying down, flat on her back. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. That thing what was covering her left eye was a bandage or bacta patch, Ahsoka assumed. Anakin sleeping soundly in his chair was resting is cheek on his knuckle, which would probably leave an imprint on his face when he awoke. His hair was all messed up, like he had ran his hands through it a million times. Ahsoka giggled quietly, smiling a little. She could sense that he was having some sort of horrible dream. It felt amazing being able to use the Force again and Ahsoka was so relieved that she wasn't in a pitch black room where she needed the Force to see instead of her eyes. Anakin seemed to have heard the Togruta's giggle, because he made a small snorting noise, and opened his blue eyes. He looked around a bit, before finally meeting Ahsoka's eye. "Ahsoka!" As soon as Anakin saw she was awake, he shot out of his chain and knelt down in front of the small Togruta. He grabbed one of her bandaged hands and gave it a little squeeze. "Hey, Master." She whispered, her voice quiet and raspy. She gave a gentle flick of her wrist, trying her best to wave at him. "Ahsoka, I am so, so, so sorry. It was all my fault, I knew that you shouldn't have been on that mission, b-but I let you come anyway," His voice broke slightly as he ranted on, "And I'm just so sorry." Ahsoka looked at him through sad eyes. Why was he taking all the blame? It wasn't his fault that she was captured. "Master, it wasn't your fault; you couldn't have stopped what happened." She smiled weakly at him. The Padawan tried to sit up, (And she barley lifted her back off the bed and her head off the pillows) but Anakin pushed her back down by her shoulders. "No,

Snips. You're hurt really badly." He kept his gentle grip on her shoulders, "You're gonna be in the medbay for a while. It's gonna take some time for your wounds to heal." He looked over her again, seeing how thin she was. "Thank you." Ahsoka stared at her hand, the one which Anakin was holding. She didn't look up to meet his eyes, just stared. He let go of her hand and put it on her cheek instead, "Thank you for what?" He asked. "For rescuing me. You saved my life, and I'm grateful for that. If I wasn't dead, I'd still be there, being tortured." Ahsoka would have given him a hug or something, but she couldn't exactly do that right now. She leant into his hand and smiled. "I'd save you any day, Snips. You look tired, get some rest, and I'll have something for you to eat when you wake up." He smiled at her. Ahsoka nodded and snuggled down into the sort pillows. She closed her eyes and relaxed fully. "Master," She said with her eyes still closed, "Could you please put the blanket over all of me." Anakin looked at the blanket that covered her legs and most of her stomach. "Of course." The young Knight pulled the thin sheet up to her neck. She muttered a small, raspy 'thanks'. He watched her until she finally fell asleep, her breathing becoming a lot deeper and more evened out. He sat there, watching her for about ten minutes. His little Padawan was still here. Still alive. Was it even possible to survive all that damage? Anakin wouldn't have believed it if someone told him that a sixteen year old girl had lived through all that. But now, he knew that it was possible, because Ahsoka was still here. Her fever had died down completely, so now it was just the wounds to heal. Plo Koon had left just over an hour ago, just before Anakin grew tired and fell asleep. He had been sitting in silence, staring over the young girl he liked to call a daughter. He was coming back to visit her soon, Anakin thought. He still held her tiny hand with his flesh one, rubbing her palm. It wasn't very often he saw Ahsoka without her gloves on, so it was kind of strange to see her with bare hands. It was also quite rare he saw Ahsoka with bare feet too, she didn't believe in all that 'Togrutas have a special connection to the earth' thing. She either wore boots or socks, but she would sometimes have bare feet. His stomach growled. He was hungry; he hadn't eaten in a while. But, he didn't want to leave Ahsoka's side. She was going to be all right, but Anakin felt like he needed to be there, by her side until she got better. Suddenly, the doors of the medbay swung open, and a beautiful brunette woman rushed in, dumping her bag on the floor and then went flying into Anakin. Luckily no other Jedi were around to see Anakin get nearly knocked out of his chair. Anakin could recognize this woman from a mile away; it was Padme, his lovely wife.

After she pulled away from the hug, she sat down in the chair next to him and looked at the sleeping Togruta. "Oh Ani, I'm so sorry." She bowed her head. "It's okay, Padme." Anakin smiled warmly at her. He suddenly felt a lot better now that Padme was here. She'd understand him, she always did. Padme stroked the side of Ahsoka's face. "Padme, I'll be back soon, I'm just going to go and get something to eat for when Ahsoka wakes up. Will you look after her while I'm gone?" "Of course, Anakin." She answered. As Anakin left, Padme stared at Ahsoka's sleeping form. What had happened to her? Ahsoka was the strongest girl she knew, but to see her lying in the medbay, unable to move and covered in bandages, she looked so fragile and weak and broken. Padme considered Ahsoka as a little sister, or even a daughter. She always came to the older woman for advice, or whenever she was feeling lonely. Sometimes they would play holochess and Ahsoka had yet to beat Padme at it. Ahsoka as too young to go through all this pain and suffering, and it broke her heart to see Ahsoka coming back from a battle, looking exhausted and beaten, looking like she would collapse. She had once, when Anakin and Ahsoka were assigned to protect her. Ahsoka had chased a bounty hunter for hours, and she would have lost him if Anakin hadn't have sprung in, saving the day. Ahsoka stirred a little in her sleep, but didn't wake up. She groaned when she shifted her body to the right. Anakin was back five minutes later, carrying two plates of food. He sat down next to his wife. "Oh, Ani, I am so, so sorry that this had to happen to Ahsoka." He didn't answer. He could sense someone coming; probably Plo or Obi-Wan. But instead of them, it was a tiny, green figure with large yellow eyes. He walked through the doors and hobbled over to Anakin and Padme. Anakin hoped Yoda didn't expect anything; you know, seeing him and Padme together, sitting very close to each other. But Yoda knew that the Senator was close to the young Padawan, and expected her to visit her. He climbed onto one of the seats that surrounded Ahsoka's bed, and sat. "Sorry, I am. Brave and powerful, young Ahsoka, has been. Surprised, I am, that she survived." He said in his mixed up sentences. "Perhaps, more powerful than we expected, she is." Anakin frowned at his words. Maybe he was right. Padme looked at him and nudged him. "What are you saying, Master Yoda?" Padme said, leaning towards him. "That maybe, special and gifted, Padawan Tano, is." ..

Chapter 22: The Fate Of the Universe

14 days after Ahsoka's rescue... Ahsoka frowned thoughtfully, calculating her next move. She smirked widely and pressed the button on the table next her. The little holographic monster moved forward, stopped, and then smashed the other creature off the board. "Yes!" Ahsoka exclaimed. Padme smiled and lent back in her seat. "Well, Ahsoka, it's took you two years to finally beat me in holochess. Well done." Ahsoka grinned broadly; that toothy kind of smile that all Togruta had. Her face had no healed completely, leaving no scars or marks. The patch on her left eye had been taken off, so now her vision was back to normal. She was still covered in bandages, and would need to stay in the medbay for a long while. Ahsoka was frustrated and mad, because she hated the sick bay, but it wasn't all bad when you have visitors most of the time to keep you company. Ahsoka was propped up against her large pillows. It felt really nice to sit up after lying down for ages. Though it took her a while to actually move with the help of some droids she was glad she had moved. She honestly felt better. A medical droid made its way in and gave Ahsoka a quick check up. Ahsoka answered with short, clipped answers, hoping to get the blasted droid away as soon as possible. "Finally." Ahsoka muttered under her breath. Padme chuckled. The same droid was back a few minutes later, carrying two steaming hot mugs on a tray. Ahsoka frowned in confusion. What was in the mugs? She already had all her medication today. The droid placed the tray on the holochess table, and walked off, not saying a word. Ahsoka lent forward a little, wincing quietly, and stared at the mugs. The liquid inside was brown, and had steam coming off it. Ahsoka eyes widened in realization. "That's hot chocolate!" She exclaimed. She hadn't had the rich drink for a long time, the first time she even tried it was when she and Padme were relaxing on Alderaan, just after the capture of Aurra Sing, when the Padawan was getting her arm looked at by an annoying medical droid. "It's a little present for you." Padme smiled and passed her one of the steaming mugs. Ahsoka took it and took a tiny sip. It tasted lovely. Ahsoka would have just gulped it all down, but she didn't want to burn her mouth. "So, where has my Master gone?" Ahsoka asked. "He's just going to do something with Obi-Wan I think. He'll be back soon." Ahsoka had gained a small amount of weight, but she was still extremely thin and fragile. Ahsoka wrapped her arms around her tiny frame and shivered. She pulled the covers up to her shoulders with some difficulty, but she managed it.

"What another game?" Padme asked, smiling. "For me to beat you again? You're on." Anakin Skywalker sat in the mess hall with his former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan was sipping a cup of tea and Anakin was staring at his half eaten food. He wasn't hungry. "So, Anakin, how is Ahsoka today? I went to visit her yesterday, but she was sleeping." Obi-Wan said. "She's fine. The droids have let her sit up for while so she won't get cramps in her back and stuff. Padme's with her at the moment." Obi-Wan nodded. Ahsoka would be perfectly fine with Padme. Anakin had a close connection with the Senator, so he knew Ahsoka would too. "Plus," Anakin continued, "Ahsoka's recovering a lot quicker than they expected her too." "That's what I want to talk to you about Ahsoka's force presence is different to everyone'sI'm sure you've noticed, even the younglings have, but I believe that that has something to do with Ahsoka's survival. Even grown men wouldn't be able to survive that." Anakin sighed, groaning to himself and blinking hard. He hadn't slept much during Ahsoka's captivity, and he had been sleeping better since she had been rescued, but he still had nightmares, horrible, terrifying nightmares. "You're right. But shesheher force signature changed after shedied." "Her signature isn't more powerful or weakit's justshe feels like she's dead. Are you saying that it was because of that that she's still alive?" "I don't know, Anakin," Obi-Wan stood up, "I don't think we'll ever know either." Anakin sat down next to his wife. Ahsoka was fast asleep, tucking under the light blankets. "Anakin, earlier on Ahsoka said something about a key. Do you know what it's about? She said that Dooku has it, and it has something to do with the Republic super weapon." Padme looked worried. "The keywell Korno the man we saved had a spare key, so even if the Separatists have got the key, it won't matter, because we have the weapon now, so the Sep's can't get it. It's a good thing Ahsoka didn't tell themotherwise they would have the weapon." Anakin glanced over at the slumbering Togruta. "She was very brave"

Since no one was around, Anakin held Padme's soft hand, intertwining his fingers with her more delicate ones. When Anakin sensed someone coming, he took his hand away and rested it on his lap. Plo Koon walked in and sat next to Anakin. "How is Little 'Soka today?" He asked without taking his eyes off the teenager. "She's fine, Master Jedi." Padme said, her soft brown eyes gazing at the Kel Dor, "We played holochess earlier, and I bought her some hot chocolate. She fell asleep about an hour ago." Plo nodded. Ahsoka's eyes fluttered, then opened, her blue eyes twinkling. They had probably woken the child up. Plo immediately smiled and greeted her, saying "Kohtoh-yah, Little 'Soka." Ahsoka closed her eyes again and moaned as she stretched a little on her bed, "Koh-toh-yah, Master Plo." She opened her eyes again. "Hey, Master, Padme." She smiled. "Heya, Snips." Anakin said, grinning. "Master Plo, is it all right if I have a word with my Master?" Ahsoka asked, sitting up the tiniest bit in her comfy bed. Plo gave Ahsoka one of looks, but then nodded, "Of course." He and Padme stood, then left with a short goodbye. Once the Jedi Master and the Senator had left, Anakin turned to his Padawan, frowning when he saw her troubled expression. "What's wrong, Ahsoka? I can sense that you're troubled." He said, shuffling his chair a bit closer to her bed. She looked around, her eyes not meeting his as if she was trying to avoid his gaze. "Ican sense that something is wrong, and it has something to do with usbut not just us, the Jedi, all of us. Soon. I think something bad is going to happen to us alland I don't know what to do. I just started to get this feeling after you rescued me" Anakin sat on the edge of her bed and she shifted a bit so he would have more room. He put a gentle hand on her good shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it Ahsoka, I'm sure it's nothing." He smiled reassuringly, but Ahsoka could tell it was fake; she could sense Anakin's emotions too, plus she could see it his eyes, he was worried. "Get some rest, Snips. You look tired." He moved his hand from her shoulder to her forehead and sent warm, comforting waves through the Force. She closed her eyes and soon drifted off into sleep. Anakin sat there, watching her while he thought. So he wasn't the only one who was having bad feelings about the near future. But why had no one else sensed it? Obi-Wan and Plo seemed fine, but Master Yoda seemed troublednah, he was always like that, always saying things about the

future. But this feeling seemed to have more of an effect on Ahsoka, she seemed more troubled than he did, and he was always troubled. As Anakin stretched out his Force senses, he gasped; Ahsoka was right, something was going to happen soon. And it had something to do with the fate of Jedi and the fate of the war. And the fate of the universe. ...