There was one remaining AT-AT. With the teamwork of starfighters and x-wings, the Resistance were able to blow up and bring down two more of the vessels that had gotten closer to the base. There was hope in the air, and Sol thought that she would be able to hide her Jedi status for a little while longer. The Resistance were skillful, and she was impressed at the support each member gave for the greater cause. The pilots were quick and agile, and R2 informed Sol that some of the best pilots in the galaxy had alligned with the Resistance. It made her think of how beneficial having another pilot with the rebellion would have been, and she was confident that all four of the AT-ATs would have been brought down within seconds if he had been on the offense.
But she didn't have long to ponder this thought, as a wave passed through the Force that Sol couldn't ignore. She felt a great pain, before a wail of grief followed. The ache that Sol used to feel when something awful happened within the galaxy burned at her chest, and she couldn't help but grip where the feeling centred. Her hand clenched at her Jedi robes and although hoots of support sounded towards the x-wing that fired at the last AT-AT, Sol couldn't look out to the wasteland any longer.
'Where are you going, Sol?' R2 asked as Sol headed back into the hanger. He swiveled his wheels around to follow the woman who wordlessly walked through the gathered crowd but found it difficult to continue in Sol's path.
The Jedi knew something was wrong. The Force didn't burn at her chest and alert her of a certain agony for nothing. Someone was projecting their emotions into the Force, whether it was knowingly or subconsciously. Sol suffered from the deep and powerful emotions that were received in the Force, and it was an ability that few had. Master Yoda was the only other Jedi that Sol knew of who was plagued with the curse, but he treated it as a blessing. To feel things in the Force across the galaxy helped Master Yoda in addressing issues as they happened, but with the Order gone and the Empire in control, Sol saw the ability as a nuisance and wildly stress-inducing.
Sol left the hanger and headed through the corridors. They were absent of the bustle that once occupied their cold lengths and Sol was able to turn corners without pre-empting someone being on the other side. As the Force thudded in her chest, Sol was able to keep half of her focus on the base's Force signatures and searched for the cause of her chest's searing pain.
She sensed Padme, whose pink flame was moving fast. From its panicked flaring and instability, Sol was made aware of the fear that Padme was in, and Sol knew that the Empire wasn't just attacking the hanger. They had two fronts, and the Resistance was in the middle of them.
Without hesitation, Sol reached for her lightsaber on her utility belt. After years of it hanging aimlessly at her waist, its silver cannister was finally in her gloved hand. She thought it would feel strange to have it in her grasp after so long, but when her thumb hovered over the ignition, Sol realised that she had missed her lightsaber. She missed feeling protected by its blade, and the confidence it gave her was unmatched. Even now, when she broke into a sprint through the base's corridors, Sol felt like she was her old self; heading into battle with the Force waiting for her call.
---
Revan didn't want to believe it, but his emotions had already influenced his actions. Orange blazed from his lightsabers and with his legs pumping, Revan headed towards where he last sawSerrina's signature in the Force.
As if someone held a magnifying glass in the sun's glare, a hole had begun to burn through his heart. It took its time in searing through the muscle and with every beat, the feeling would grow more and more painful. If Revan let the pain take hold and observed the obvious absence in the Force, his legs would have given way, and the cold floor would become his solitude. He would try to ice his heart that would burst into flames at the burn, but nothing would soothe the sensation.
In his delirious rage, Revan skidded around corners with his two lightsabers ready to attack. Ahsoka's calls for him to wait were ignored and he heard boots thud against the ice behind him. He wouldn't take even a moment to let the woman catch up, and if she paused in her pursuit after Revan, he wouldn't slow in his sprint. All that Revan cared about was seeing if the Force was fooling him, and to unleash his rage if it turned out to be true in its tellings.
The stormtrooper that was the first to turn the corner stood no chance against the Jedi. Revan plunged his right blade through the white chest plate and the trooper went rigid. He didn't care that an entire squadron of storm troopers turned the corner and began firing their blasters at him. Instead, Revan yanked his blade out of the chest plate and used his other saber to deflect the blasts into the walls around him.
Ahsoka arrived at the scene with her own lightsabers ignited. She heard the blasterfire and the undeniable hum of lightsabers before she turned the corner, and when she saw Revan battling a group of storm troopers, she didn't hesitate to help. Ahsoka raised her left saber to block a blast that shot over Revan's shoulder, before running towards him while yelling,
'Duck!'
In a crouch, Revan waited for Ahsoka to leap over him and plant her boot into the helmet of an advancing storm trooper. A pain-filled 'ugh!' was heard and Ahsoka took advantage of the troopers stumbling daze to slice a white blade across the white armour. The storm trooper fell to the floor and another one took its place, making Revan leap upwards and work with Ahsoka to slice off both the soldier's arms.
The two Jedi came to their last storm trooper, who had backed away from his squadron at the killing of his fellow soldiers. To escape or to prepare his final heroic attempt to kill the Jedi, the storm trooper stood at the end of the corridor. He could have turned and fled to his right, but the storm trooper waited for Revan to turn from his previous opponent. When Revan stone-like eyes rose, the storm trooper fired with a loyalist call to the prosperity of the Empire.
Revan staunched towards the trooper and after blocking his blasts, he cut from the trooper's shoulder to his waist. The orange blade melted the armour and cauterized the flesh underneath. While Ahsoka finished with the trooper at the opposite end of the hall, Revan watched the soldier in front of him crumble to the ground. But before the storm trooper could fall limp, Revan's attention was pulled up to the new presence that turned the corner.
With unbelievable power, Revan was thrown backwards. His body flew through the corridor and slid across the ice when his back collided with the floor. A squeak sounded as his robes created resistance against the cold and Revan let out a groan at the ache in his back. When he came to a stop, Revan couldn't even force himself to sit up and get to his feet without taking a moment to recover.
As Revan laid groaning, Ahsoka looked up at their new attacker. Her hands were tight around her lightsabers and her lowered stance straightened to square her shoulders. Ahsoka only now felt the raw flame that oozed power and hatred in the Force. The signature that had changed so much since her last encounter was difficult to look at, as anything within its reach was infected with a sickening toxin. And now that its origin was standing at the end of the hall, Ahsoka had no choice but to stare into the soulless mask of her ex-Master.
'Ahsoka Tano,' his voice was different from the distortion of the mask's vent. 'I should have known you would have been with the rebel scum.'
'Why? Because you taught me to never listen to the higher power?'
Ahsoka was surprised at her own boldness but stayed confident in her attitude. The sight of Darth Vader's black attire reminded the Tano that she was facing a man she once knew, only darker. But at his hidden face and distorted words, Ahsoka felt her confidence slipping away and her willingness to fight fade.
'Still just as infuriating as you were as a child,' Vader seethed while unmoving from the end of the corridor.
'I think the word you used to use was 'snippy'.'
'You are buying time. I am not here to converse with the pathetic minions of the Resistance. I have already been held up by the Mandalorian, and she was destroyed just as you will be-'
Revan had needed a reason to get to his feet, and Serrina's mention was enough. Before Vader could continue in his insults, the Shan leapt from his kneeling position and prepared to slice downwards with his sabers. The fury in his muscles powered his leap and the swing of his weapons aimed to cut at Darth Vader's chest and neck. But no matter how angry Revan was to hear about his wife's fate, his hatred could never amount to the power of the dark side within the Sith apprentice.
With a call to the dark forces, Vader raised his hand and pulled a chunk of ice from the wall to his left. It dislodged with ease and collided with the Jedi, causing Revan to be thrown into the opposite wall. The ice crumbled against his head and his ear rang with the impact. More ice fell to the floor as Revan's body slammed into its structure and when he fell to the floor for the second time, his vision blurred until black was all he could see.
Revan was knocked unconscious. Ahsoka gulped at the ease at which Vader wielded the dark side of the Force. To use the Force with such aggression and with the only aim to injure, was the aspects embedded in the abilities of the Sith. She dreaded to see Vader reach for the lightsaber that hung from his waist and knew that she wouldn't be seeing anything other than a red blade from its black and silver cannister.
'I sense your fear. If you will not surrender yourself to the Empire, then I will strike you down and move past your lifeless body,' Darth Vader said without any hesitation or care for who he once trained. When his thumb pressed the button on his weapon, Ahsoka's suspicions were confirmed as a red blade appeared.
The crimson from the lazer reflected off the hues of blue in the ice. From Vader's side, his alligence to the Sith was shown without shame in the colours of his trusted weapon. As if the lights implanted by the Resistance dimmed in fear, the hallway was doused in red and Ahsoka's white sabers did little to counteract the fierce shade.
'I suppose I should put up a fight, then.'
Ahsoka parted her feet and held her lightsabers at the ready. Their white beams bathed her in its protection, while Vader's crimson blade sat by his side and reflected off his black mask from below. Revan was abandoned to the side and the Sith barely took the care to step over him to advance towards Ahsoka. His cape skimmed over the Jedi's unmoving frame, and it wasn't until Vader's pace quickened, that the realisation of fighting Darth Vader dawned on Ahsoka.
Their lightsabers collided with a loud hiss. Ahsoka crossed her blades to block the first strike but was quickly met with another from the side. While the woman needed to swing her two weapons with agility and with a precise aim, Vader wielded his weapon in one hand of brute power and strength. Every attack he landed sent shivers down Ahsoka's arms and her shoulders ached struggled to hold a stable defense.
Darth Vader was powerful; even more powerful than he had been before he fell to the dark side.
---
Sol knew a battle had begun. The corridors seemed to go on forever, each more disappointingly bare than the last. But not once did the cold settle into Sol's unclothed arms or relieve the ache in her chest. The Force flared with the meeting of two sides and Sol recognised the signature that contained the black of a dying star.
She couldn't lie to herself. She knew Darth Vader had infiltrated the Resistance's base and it wasn't hard to conclude that either Ahsoka or Revan was attempting to stop his advance. But even though she prayed that they wouldn't be injured or killed in their attempts, Sol also shamefully hoped that Vader would resist in his retreat.
Satele may have been able to prevent Vader's communication through the Force, but she couldn't stop Sol from seeing him in-person. The rebellion had the upper hand with the Empire's AT-ATs falling by the minute, and Vader appeared to be on his lonesome judging by his single crimson flame in the Force. If Sol could give in to her desire to see him at least once, she would prefer to do it when the Empire wasn't over his shoulder.
Oh, how Obi-wan would react to seeing Sol running towards Darth Vader. While he remained on Tatooine with Luke and Leia, Sol was erasing her years of hiding. But once again, Sol was holding onto the little hope she had about the good that remained in Anakin. How could something as pure and light as Luke and Leia Skywalker be created if their father was as evil as everyone believed?
She sensed Ahsoka's weakening. As if she was concealed in the walls of ice of the corridor, Sol could see when Vader's red lightsaber collided with Ahsoka's with such strength, that the woman stumbled backwards. The next swing from Vader came with just one hand, and its momentum sent Ahsoka's left saber out of her grip. It spun while the white blade was sheathed and clattered against the ice-covered floor.
Sol was around the corner when Ahsoka fell with a thud The Togruta had no time to raise her singular saber, because Vader stepped over her and reared his arm back to prepare the final blow. Ahsoka let out gasps of panic and could do nothing when the red soared down from above. Her wide eyes looked into Vader's mask, and she prayed that Anakin's soul would atleast be aware of what his new self was about to do.
Red met cyan. Ahsoka flinched when her impending doom was suspended from another lightsaber. The hiss of lazer meeting lazer sounded and Ahsoka's flesh was saved from an excruciating burn. With a heaving chest and her hands holding her upper half up off the floor, Ahsoka craned her neck to follow the cyan blade to the handle and was met with her saviour.
Darth Vader was in shock. His blade was lifted from its victim, and he let the shove of the cyan send him several steps backwards. The power he once wielded diminished and the yellow eyes behind the mask shifted to a lighter shade of amber. It was a miniscule change of colour, but the sight of the pale skin and unchanged violet eyes that Vader had longed to see was enough for the dark to diminish for a single moment.
Stepping around Ahsoka, Sol took her stance against of the father of her children. Both of her hands clasped her saber in a raised position, and she did her best to appear strong. Nothing could have prepared her for what had become of her beloved Anakin. Her fingers moved along the grooves of her lightsaber from her nerves, and she pressed her lips together while taking in the sight of Darth Vader.
This was the father of her children. This was the man who Obi-wan left for dead on the riverbank of Mustafar. This was the man who was failed by the Jedi Order and who was poisoned by Emperor Palpatine. This was the man who lost his mother, his Padawan, his respect of the Order, and who lost sight of the good in the galaxy. This was the man who Sol had yearned to see, and now, she was appalled at the mechanical suit he wore and at the mask that covered his face.
'Anakin...' she found herself saying. 'You're nothing of what you used to be...'
Sol had so much more that she wanted to say. Why did you become this monster? Don't you remember our plan? What happened to getting married and starting a life together away from raging wars and restrictive rules? Did you sense the good in your children when they were born? Are you proud of what you have done and what you have become?
But much like Vader, Sol struggled to gather her words. Her voice had bounced off the iced walls of the hallway and when they transmitted through Vader's helmet, his eyes lightened even more.
It was just how he remembered it; harmonious and with the ability to keep him hanging on every word. Through the glass eyes of the mask, Vader was taken with the woman who had barely changed in five years. Her hair was short, and her robes were the same ones she wore every day of her Jedi life. The lightsaber in her hands was still as bright and mesmerizing as it had been the first day he saw it in the sparring courtyard of the Jedi Temple. As she stood in front of Ahsoka, Sol still held the elegance and grace of the gentlest flower, but it was a means to disguise her powerful ability to use the Force in ways Vader never learnt to master.
'You are... still as you always were... unbearably sublime.'
Ahsoka and Sol wouldn't have believed that the robotic-like voice had the capacity to sound soft and love-struck. Darth Vader's lightsaber hung slack by his side; it's purpose seemingly absent at Sol's appearance. The distance between the Jedi and the Sith had increased at Vader's doing, and to the two women, he now appeared as if he had no intention to fight.
He didn't know he was going to become weak at the sight of Sol. The connection of their lightsaber blades had been the extent of what he was willing to do in terms of a battle. With his squadron of storm troopers gone, Vader knew that today was not the day to present Sol to the Emperor. He had overestimated his strength after being cruelly kept from Sol's beauty and aura, and the base allowed for the rebellion's advantage. The AT-ATs were defeated, and a crowd was heading to his and the Jedis' location from the hanger. Vader had to flee, or his infatuation with Sol's presence would lead to a pathetic end to his reign as the Empire's leader.
'We will meet again, Sol. I promise you...'
With that, Darth Vader walked away from a battle for the first time ever. His lightsaber sheathed and his cape was the last thing Sol saw before he disappeared around the corner. Her jaw fell open and she let her raised saber lower to be by her side. She stared at where Vader had been and heard the rush of footsteps as Padme arrived at the hallway with members of the Resistance behind her.
'Is everyone alright?! Where is he?!' she heard Padme cry, and Ahsoka go to her feet from behind Sol in a similar state of shock.
'He's gone... Vader just walked away.'