Ahsoka POV
In the following days, Rex and I helped to train any people that volunteered for the rebellion. We rounded up as many blasters as we could find from fallen stormtroopers and gave them to the rebels. It felt just like the good ol' days, except there were no droids, which meant no trouble messing with droid poppers or tanks. I smiled and giggled remembering Lux and Saw's first attempt to take out the tank.
"What's so funny?" Lux asked breaking me away from my memories.
"Oh nothing. Just remembering the time you fell off the tank trying to take it down in practice, and the ensuing fight between you and Saw."
Rex laughed, remembering perfectly well what I was talking about. Lux blushed and turned away. "Not my greatest moment," he said sheepishly.
I patted him on the back. "Well at least you got it right when it mattered." I didn't wait for a response, as Rex and I needed to get back to training the people how to use the blasters. Some of them had never touched a blaster before, so it was a challenge for sure, but nothing Rex and I couldn't handle.
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Lux and I were just sitting in the throne room, working over different defensive strategies, when his comm beeped.
"This is Lux Bonteri," he answered.
"Lux it's Owex... He's here," we heard over the comm.
"Who's here?" I asked.
"Vader and he's... AHHHH." We heard a lightsaber slash, and then the comm went silent.
"Owex! OWEX!" Lux shouted, there was no response.
Panicking, I grabbed my comm and gave Rex a call. After a few rings, he picked up.
"Commander, there's only one, but it looks like he's a Sith Lord. He's cutting through us like we're nothing!"
"Rex abort! Get out of there! You guys won't be able to stop him!"
"But Commander, he'll come right to you!"
"Rex you guys are no good dead. Fall back to the fuel depot and protect it from a possible surprise invasion."
"But-"
"No buts Rex... this is an order."
"Okay... good luck Ahsoka." He ended the communication.
There was a silence between Lux and I as we both took in everything. Ana- no Vader was here, and he was no doubt here for Lux and I.
"Ahsoka... what are we going to do?" Lux asked.
"I-I don't know," I said defeatedly. For the first time in my life, I was lost. I had no idea what to do. Normally this is where Anakin would come up with some crazy plan, that no one thought would work, but it ended up working out. "I guess I'll have to face him."
"No Ahsoka! We can run, flee to the mountains!"
"No Lux, I must do this. Just stay behind the throne, and I'll handle it. Do EXACTLY as I say."
He nodded and without saying a word walked to hide behind the throne. I sat down, facing away from the door in a meditation pose. I was trying to gather all the strength I could in order to be at my best for the impending battle.
After a few moments, I heard a presence nearing, and finally the door flew open. I didn't have to look to know who it was. I stood up, still facing away from him. Slowly, I turned to face the mechanized man.
"So... the apprentice lives," he breathed out. I just stood there, glaring at him, not saying a word. "We need not be adversaries. Hand over the king and join me. I'm sure the Empire could make good use of your talents."
"I will never join you," I spat. "You know, I was beginning to believe I knew who you were behind that mask, but it's impossible. My master could never be as vile as you."
"Anakin Skywalker was weak," he replied, "I destroyed him."
I closed my eyes, blinking away tears, suddenly I heard a voice. I will always be with you Snips. A new fire suddenly shown in my eyes. "Then I will avenge his death."
"Revenge is not the Jedi way," he taunted.
"I am no Jedi," I said as I activated my lightsabers and ran towards him.
I tried to swipe at his head, but he easily blocked. I kicked him in the chest and spun to the right, attacking again. Again, he blocked and our sabers became locked. He pushed me back, and now he went on the offensive. His strikes were powerful, but slow. I was easily able to dodge them thanks to my small stature and natural quickness.
I used the force to push him back across the room. he placed his hand on the ground to help stop his slide, but as he rose, I was already in the air attempting to catch him off guard. He narrowly blocked my strike at the last moment, and as I jumped off, he swung at me.I ducked under the attack, and turned just in time to block another strike.
Our sabers became locked again, and I pushed him back slightly, giving myself some room. He quickly came back at me again, and I did a series of back hand springs to doge his attacks and regain my composure.
He was still coming on the offensive and I had to block blow after blow. I was beginning to tire as I had to block and dodge constantly, he never gave me a chance to catch my breath. Fatigue was setting in, and I knew I had to find a way to finish this quickly, or I was done for, so I went for it. I foolishly made a stab at his chest, which he easily blocked and force pushed me back into the bookshelf. the shelf broke and countless books and shelves fell on top of me.
I was coming in and out of consciousness, and felt a sharp pain in my side. I looked down to see that a piece of wood from the shelf had impaled me. This was it. I was going to die here.
Suddenly I heard the mechanical voice of Vader again. "Now it is time for you to die King Bonteri."
As soon as I heard this, a wave of adrenaline pumped through my veins. I placed my hands on the piece of wood that had impaled me, and quickly pulled it out. I tore off a legging from my leg and quickly wrapped it around my torso to apply pressure and hopefully stop the bleeding for the time being. All the while I could hear Lux begging for mercy.
I quickly stood and ran at Vader. He was so focused on Lux, that he didn't see me until the last second. He turned but it was too late. I jumped and put my knee on his chest, slashing at his head. He got just enough of it with his saber so that it wasn't a killing blow, but I knew I had made contact with his helmet.
I fell to the ground. "Ahsoka! Let's go, we can still escape!" I heard Lux yell. He began to move towards me, but I pushed him away, back to a safe distance. I struggled to my knees.
"Ahsoka," I heard from behind me, but it wasn't Vader's mechanical voice. No, it was a voice I hadn't heard since I left the Order. I slowly turned to face Vader.
He turned to me, and I could see that part of his helmet was gone. I could see his face, and I almost died inside. I saw the brown eyebrow, the scar over the right eye, and I knew that it was my master. Even though I knew it was him, I tried to deny it for so long.
"Ahsoka," he repeated.
"Anakin...?" I whispered out still in disbelief. I stood up to face him, and he slowly staggered to his feet. "I won't leave you... not this time."
For a moment, I could see his eye flash back to blue and his face soften, but only for a moment. His eye went back yellow, and his face hardened again.
"Then you will die," I heard the voice of my master, my best friend, my brother say to me. When he said that, a part of me died inside. He had always told me he would never let anything happen to me. Now, here he was standing before me, telling me he was going to kill me.
I shook my head. No, this isn't Anakin anymore. I musn't forget that. I will kill him and avenge Anakin.
He ran towards me and swung at me, I blocked and immediately went on the offensive. I swung at him multiple times, but he blocked everything. The adrenaline rush I felt was beginning to fade, and I could feel the pain in my side again.
Suddenly, before I knew what happened, he had knocked both sabers from my hands and force pushed me to my knees. I looked down, waiting for the killing blow. I had accepted my fate at this point. I would once again be reunited with my master. However, the blow never came.
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Lux POV
I watched Vader disarm Ahsoka, and I could feel my face flush of all color. If I didn't do something quickly, Vader would kill her, and then me. I felt my belt, and knew what I had to do.
I activated the saber Ahsoka had given me (thankfully she finally gave me some of those lessons she promised), and ran over to her and Vader. I blocked the attack just in time.
"So the boy wants to play Jedi now? Then you will die like a Jedi," Vader or Anakin or whoever, I didn't know at this point, said to me.
He immediately began attacking me, and I knew I didn't stand a chance. I was barely blocking his attacks, just hoping to buy Ahsoka enough time to get her sabers and rejoin the fight.
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Ahsoka POV
I looked up and saw that Lux had saved me. He saved my life, and now it was time for me to return the favor. He was barely holding on, blocking attack after attack. I quickly used the force to bring my sabers back to my hands. I ran and jumped at Vader, hoping to catch him off guard again, but he was ready this time. He used the force to push me back, while maintaining his attacks on Lux.
What happened next seemed like it was in slow motion. I looked up just in time to see Vader plunge his crimson saber into Lux's stomach, while I stood there helpless to stop it.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed as I ran at Vader. I was fueled by new emotions now: anger, hatred, pain. My attacks were quicker and more powerful than ever, so much so that Vader couldn't even keep up. I finally landed a blow on his respirator on his chest. He staggered back, barely able to breath, and I used all the force I could muster to push him out of the throne room, down the stairs, and into some furniture.
When I didn't see him get up, I deactivated my sabers and sprinted over to Lux. I picked him up and cradled him in my arms, tears streaming down my face.
"Lux... Lux you stupid idiot! Why did you do that?"
"To save you silly. You gave me a a chance to redeem myself, and I did. I feel free now from my sins."
"But... but this isn't how I meant! I just got you back, I can't lose you again," I said tears streaming down my face.
"Shhhh... it's okay Soka. You're going to do great things. Please, rule over Onderon. Be a good ruler like I never was able to."
"Don't say that Lux! You're going to make it through this!" I said through sobs.
"Ahsoka... we both know that's not true. I'm going to die here now, and I'm content." He started laughing. "It's funny. It took my death to realize how much I truly love you, and wish I had told you all those years ago."
"Lux... I-I love you too. I just wish I had told you sooner, we could've avoided this situation entirely. No matter how much I told myself I hated you, deep down I knew it wasn't true. I've loved you ever since we met on Raxus, and it took my this long to realize it." I said a single tear falling down my face. He shakily raised a hand to wipe it away. I grabbed his hand on my face, and kept it there.
Suddenly, without even knowing what I was doing, I leaned in and kissed him. It wasn't like our kiss on Carlac, not this was genuine. Filled with passion and our everlasting love for each other. We pulled out of the kiss after about a minute, both smiling at each other.
I held onto his hand still, looking into his eyes, tears falling from both of our eyes. Finally Lux broke the silence. "I love you Ahsoka Tano, please never forget me." And with that, Lux Bonteri took his final breath. His hand went limp in mine. I screamed for who knows how long and buried my face in his chest, bawling my eyes out. Begging for him to come back, praying that this was just a terrible nightmare and I'd wake up and see his smiling face again, but it wasn't. This was real life, and Lux Bonteri was dead. He had given his life for me.
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I'm not crying, you are 😭😭😭
Not gonna cap, this is the saddest chapter I've ever written. Cried the whole time writing the battle scene/Lux's death