Ahsoka sat in the copilot's seat, the stars blurring around her as the Nubian cruiser jumped to lightspeed. For the first time since she landed on Mustafar, her heart rate steadied and her racing mind slowed.
She looked to her left, where Anakin sat. Her face lit up. "Master!" She jumped from her chair and into his arms as he stood up and gave her a hug. "You're alive!"
"Good to see you too, Snips," he said. "I knew you'd show up, eventually," he winked.
"How?" she asked. "How did you survive? I watched Nyx kill you!"
"You saw what he wanted you to see. He faked holograms for each person he killed and projected it over the body of someone else for the murders that involved you."
"Is that even possible? I didn't think tech like that existed."
"Me neither. I guess there was more happening on Mustafar than we knew about initially."
Ahsoka crossed her arms. That had been a pretty clever trick on Nyx's end, and she'd fallen for it completely. "That still doesn't explain why I couldn't sense you, though."
"He had all of us in bacta tanks, except instead of bacta, it was a solution made from ysalamiri blood."
Ahsoka thought back to some of her early teachings at the Temple. If memory served her correctly, ysalamiri were a species native to the planet Myrkr that had the ability to repel the force for a particular radius. That explained why Nyx had made a stop on Myrkr. They weren't widely known across the galaxy because their existence wasn't publicized to the masses. She had never come into contact with one until now. The blood alone wouldn't have the same effect as the entire animal would, but apparently it had been enough to shield her friends from her through the force.
"Next time, Skyguy, I'm letting you grill my boyfriend before we find out he's a psychopath Sith assassin."
Anakin laughed. "I don't think I'll have any trouble with that one. Senator Bonteri and I had plenty of time to talk before Padme got to us."
The thought of her master and her ex-boyfriend (now current boyfriend) forcibly confined to the same space for any length of time made her nervous. "Speaking of Senator Bonteri, I think I should go check on him. I haven't talked to him since he died... or, didn't die, I guess." She turned around and walked out of the cockpit while her master sat back down at the controls, a big grin on his face.
She walked through the halls of the ship, looking for Lux. When she passed a sitting area, she saw Ventress and a little Twi'lek girl sitting on the floor taking turns levitating a ball using the force. It was strange to see the former Sith assassin being so amiable with the child, and seeing them getting along reminded Ahsoka that small acts of kindness were just as powerful as some of the grand sieges and battles she'd led as the commander of the 501st.
She wandered around the ship until she reached Padme's quarters. She could sense that Lux was inside, and she had a feeling that Padme had just left.
She opened the door and saw Lux sitting on the bed in front of her.
"Ahsoka!" He exclaimed.
"Lux!"
She ran to him and tackled him on the bed, throwing her arms around him. She kissed him hard on the mouth, feeling the familiar sense of euphoria that washed over her whenever their lips met. He pulled her close to him, keeping up their steady stream of kisses as their limbs twined together. Ahsoka wanted to tell him how glad she was that he was still alive, how much she missed him, how much she loved him. As their kisses grew in intensity, any words she would've said left her mind.
Ahsoka had no idea how long it was before Lux pulled away and held her close. "I thought I was going to die, Ahsoka," he breathed, his voice shaking. "That guy—your boyfriend—made us fake those holograms or he said he'd kill you." Ahsoka had only seen him twice once before, once after their argument at the Amidala-Skywalker apartment and the second when Jaryn died. She wasn't prepared to see tears falling freely from his eyes as he spoke. "It hurt me to do it because I knew it would hurt you. But if I didn't do it, he was going to kill both of us."
"Shhh, it's okay," she said, wiping the tears from his face. "You're okay. We're okay."
"Thanks for coming after me."
"You're welcome." She kissed his cheek lightly. "I'm so sorry, Lux. I never should've left your side in the first place. Then, maybe this wouldn't have happened. We could be sitting in your apartment watching a sappy holo right now or swimming in the lake on Onderon."
He smiled weakly. "Yeah, I can't say I was fond of that Nyx guy." His expression hardened. "I'm gonna kill him if I ever see him again."
She could sense that there was something more to his words. "Aside from the obvious, why?"
He cupped her face in his hand, lightly massaging her cheek with his thumb. "For what he did to you. He... he pulled me aside when we first arrived on Mustafar. After the initial round of torture, he..."
Something was clearly bothering him, and Ahsoka wasn't sure whether to press further or let the subject drop. Unable to make a decision, she remained silent, and an awkward pause hung between them.
Lux sighed, his eyes brimming with tears again. "Ahsoka, I'm so sorry I let you go. Then, maybe I could've saved you from him. He told me everything about you two, in brutal, excruciating detail. Just when I thought he was done, he forced me to watch holo recording of him... and you... It was the night Master Skywalker found you in the back of the bar." Her face paled. Not only did he violate her, but he taped it, too? "I thought I was going to throw up."
She pulled herself closer to him and laced her fingers in his. Closing her eyes, she focused the way it felt to be in his arms again. It was comforting more than anything else, and she knew that as long as Lux was in her life, she'd never have to worry about living through something like what had happened in the back of that bar ever again.
She smiled against his chest. "It's over now. He's out of our lives for good."
Lux planted a tender kiss on the top of her head. "Are you ready to put all this behind us?"
"Yes," she said without hesitation. Before, she had been so focused on running from her past that she couldn't see how bad things were in the present. She wouldn't make that mistake twice.
There was something else gnawing at the back of her mind. A big "what if," really, but it was worth talking about before she decided what to do about it.
"If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it'll be that I can't deny where I come from and who I am. I tried that, and look at where we ended up."
"What do you mean?" Lux asked.
"The Jedi Order is just as much a part of me as anything else, and I can't keep living like this knowing that I'm meant to be somewhere else." The words sounded almost foreign coming from her mouth. For so long, she carried so much resentment for the Council. She could see now that there was so much more to her life before her trial that she missed, and because she was blinded by her anger, she didn't realize how much of an empty hole it left in her life. It would take a long time for her to trust the Council again, but it wasn't worth throwing away her entire life because she was hurt.
"You want to go back, don't you?" Lux asked, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Yes, I do."
He sighed. "I guess that means we're going back to friends, then. I really don't think either of us can go back to sneaking around again like before. It would destroy us."
She chuckled. "You mean to tell me I went through all this trouble to rescue you for you to drop me?" she asked jokingly. "You're gonna have to try harder than that to get rid of me."
"If you go back to the Jedi, there are rules, you know. You can't just--"
"I can, and I will. We're staying together, regardless of whether or not I ultimately decide to go back to the Jedi."
"I won't let you give up your future for me, Ahsoka. There's no way they'll let you back in if you and I are together."
An idea formed in her mind, and she kissed his cheek. "Not if I have anything to say about it. Trust me on this one, love. Master Skywalker has taught me a lot about how to get away with breaking the rules."
He shrugged and kissed her lightly. "If you say so, sweetheart."
A/N: One chapter left!!! I can't believe this book is almost done. I promise you're going to like the ending :)
I'm not sure when the next update will be, but it'll for sure be in the near future. Until then, may the force be with you!