On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter LXXXV

Luna looked as though she'd been through Hell and back. For half a second, Ahsoka felt a bit bad about how upset she was and what she had planned for the next however long it took to get answers.

"Ask," the human said. She sounded more exhausted than she had when the Grey Jedi had left. She was sitting on a chair, head in her hand, fingers massaging her temple intermediately, and eyes closed. Her free hand was petting the rather sizable head of the newest addition to the team.

"First off, the tuk'ata! What the hell?!" Ahsoka yelled, unable to believe that her partner had taken that creature of all things, as a pet.

"He decided he wanted me to be his master. He helped me out on Moraband, saved my life. He'll behave himself, promise. You can get a pet too, if you want."

"It's a Sith hound!"

"Ahsoka, swear on my life, Cerberus will behave."

"And what if he doesn't?!"

"He will," Luna pracitally sighed, even as the massive hound glared at the Grey Jedi, seeming displeased at the stress his mistress was under. "Surely that isn't all?"

The Togruta humored her with a change of subject to something that was probably worse, but had to be addressed. "You knew Anakin. Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask. And I'm sure you know why I wouldn't want to talk about him."

"You were there when.... When...." but Ahsoka couldn't say it, felt as though the breath had been pushed out of her. Unable to complete.

"When he turned," Luna finished for her. She opened her eyes, fixing the Grey Jedi with a look. It was tired, war worn. "Yeah, I was there. I knew Anakin. And I wanted to die when it all happened. Those memories haven't been pleasant things for a long while. Probably never will be again."

"What happened?" Ahsoka asked. Luna closed her eyes again, turning her head away. "Luna, I deserve to know."

Luna was silent. Too silent. For a few moments the Grey Jedi was positive she wasn't going to get a response.

"He was having visions," the girl said. "Visions of Padmé dying in childbirth. He was so scared. And Papatine approached him with a possible method that could prevent her death. He went for it. Tried to keep me out of it, but things didn't go so well, as you can imagine. Palaptine got me, and...." Luna dropped off, lifting the hand that had been stroking the head of her new pet and flipping it so it was palm up. Lightning danced across her fingertips for a moment. "I was the first false Force sensitive that worked. That's what the Hands are, you know. That's why there's so many of them, though the formula that made them is different. Different blood base. Different manipulations. The Force doesn't approve of them."

"But you worked under Vader's command. He would have—" Ahsoka cut herself off, trying to fill in the blank. There was no way. She worked somewhat under the Sith, hadn't she? Wouldn't have Vader recognized her?

And if he had....

"Vader's the one who rescued me," Luna stated, voice a murmur. And just like that, all the pieces fell into place.

"You're Eclipse," Ahsoka breathed, taking a startled step back. The girl opened her eyes once more, the exhaustion there, but the military leader the Grey Jedi sometimes saw was present now, calculating.

Watching. Waiting.

~*~

Masks, masks, masks.

She was wearing Eclipse now. Trying to look five steps ahead. Ignoring why she should care about what she'd accidentally let slip. Ahsoka was too smart not to connect the dots eventually, Luna was just a fool to let her exhaustion get the best of her.