Weight slammed itself down upon her head and Ahsoka groaned, her eyes remained clamped shut and she buried her head deeper into the soft surface it was residing on. Her skin felt warm and the smooth slide of silk comforted her as it wrapped around her body. Despite the fact that her head was pounding, she hadn't felt so rested in ages and this was probably the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in.

    Her thoughts slowly crept up on her, reminding her that the last place she was hadn't had a bed in sight. In fact, she had just gotten done fighting Tusken Raiders on Tatooine when her Master showed up. Faint whispers of a nightmare swirled around her before she remembered it hadn't been a nightmare at all.

    Ahsoka shot up and stumbled out of the bed, blinking her eyes rapidly to try to take in her surroundings in her half awake and panicked state. She was in a room, a massive one at that and the floors and walls were a dark gray stone that felt cool beneath her feet. There wasn't anything in the room besides the bed and on either side of it there was a hovering slab of rock that acted as nightstands. The lights were off, but there was a glow coming from behind her. She slowly turned around and realized the entire wall behind her was a viewing wall that overlooked a terrain leaking lava as if it were blood. The sky was dark and littered in dense clouds and smoke, so she had no idea whether it was day or night.

    She suddenly became aware she wasn't wearing the clothes she had been on Tatooine. Black linen cloth swathed around her and if she were being honest it was the most clean she had felt in months, but she shivered at the idea of who might've changed her. Hoping it wasn't Anakin and if it had been she would very much like to kill him.

    At the thought of her Master, her blood went cold as she looked back at the room. Wondering if it was his and if it was Anakin's bed she had just slept in. Her heart broke as she remembered their reunion. Something that should've been joyous but all it did was bring the taste of bile to her throat. Ahsoka felt as if she couldn't quite process it, even now, that he had committed such atrocities. Crimes she didn't even know the extent of, but she knew he had changed everything. He had changed and she didn't think she knew him anymore. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to know everything, terrified of the heartbreak she might find.

    Ahsoka's legs felt weak and she collapsed onto the edge of the bed, burying her head in her hands. What had happened to Padme? Was she alright? Surely she knew about Anakin. Ahsoka dreaded the idea of Padme finding out about what he had done, and she knew the Senator would not stand for it. Ahsoka knew the woman loved Anakin, but not more than democracy and the Republic. Senator Amidala was willing to die for her people if it meant protecting them from tyranny. Onl to then to find out her husband played a hand in the downfall of her beloved government? Killing children and friends?

    She didn't realize it but she was crying. Hot tears running down her cheeks and dripping from between the cracks of her fingers that pressed against her face. What about Obi-Wan? She prayed he didn't know because it would be absolutely devastating. Master Kenobi practically raised Anakin and they had such a special bond, Ahsoka was often envious of it.

    The door suddenly opened and Ahsoka shot up, wiping her tears away only to then glare at the person who stood in the doorway. It was a Lethan Twi'lek, her skin a dark red and littered in black patterns that gave an uncanny resemblance to Darth Maul's. She practically screamed Sith. She also looked incredibly unimpressed by Ahsoka.

    The woman's eyes glowed golden as she looked Ahsoka over. Her voice was flat and disinterested as she spoke, but had a heavy Twi'leki accent. "Sleep well?"

    Ahsoka clenched her jaw. "Do you care?"

    La'vena shrugged. "My Master obeyed me to be civil."

    She stiffened, feeling nauseous and the bile made itself present at the back of Ahsoka's throat again. "Your Master?"

    The Twi'lek smirked. "Looks like I'm your replacement."

    Ahsoka had the overwhelming urge to throw something at her but took a steadying breath despite the way her mouth went dry and her chest ached. She knew she was just trying to get a rise out of her, and Ahsoka hated the fact that it was working. She was furious and heartbroken by what Anakin had become. But the thought of being exchanged like some sort of tool nipped at her heart.

    "Where am I?"

    "Your room."

    Ahsoka narrowed her eyes, her relief at the fact it wasn't Anakin's being overshadowed. "I meant what planet."

    "Mustafar."

    Her brows furrowed and she turned back to the viewing wall. "Why am I here?"

    La'vena approached slowly and Ahsoka kept a watchful eye on her, as well as the double sided saber at her hip. She came to a stop beside her and watched the flow of the lava as if it was calming. "He has his reasons, though I don't understand. Why are you different? We're supposed to hunt down Jedi."

    "I'm not a Jedi."

    La'vena smiled cruelly, her eyes still on the horizon. "So he says."

    Ashoka crossed her arms over her chest. "You do know he's a Jedi Knight, right?"

    "Was. He's different."

    "You talk as if you know him."

    La'vena turned to look at Ahsoka now, one of her brows raised and a scoff left her. "And you talk of him as if you don't."

    Ahsoka clenched her jaw and looked away. Frightened by the idea that she may actually be right. Maybe she hadn't ever known Anakin at all. "Where is he?"

    A few moments of silence passed before La'vena turned and headed to the door. "Follow me."

-

    The room felt unnaturally cold to him as he sat on the throne, bent over with one hand resting against his chin while his other elbow rested against his knee. His eyes raked over the plan for the expansion effort of the Empire. His Master had always been good at navigating politics. But battle? Those skills resided with Anakin and the plan he was looking at now was nothing short of pathetic.

    When the Clone Wars had been raging throughout the galaxy, Anakin had always been on the front lines. Fighting with his men and coming up with the right strategies, meanwhile the Sith Lord was playing a puppeteer in disguise while sitting in his comfortable office as the Chancellor of the Republic. Not getting his hands dirty up until the last second and using Anakin as his beloved weapon to win him the war.

    Anakin would make adjustments to the strategy, though his Master wouldn't be all too pleased. But as he tried to put his thoughts into words he found it difficult. He was distracted, he had been for months if he was being honest but at the moment his mind felt scattered. Each image fitting into the hurt and fearful expression of Ahsoka and it dug into his heart painfully. Hating the way it made him both awful and powerful. Padme had looked at him like that right before... he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't afford to go down that road right now.

    The door slid open and he looked up, watching as La'vena walked in. A surprised expression took over his features when he realized Ahsoka was behind her. He hadn't expected her to be awake so soon and he wasn't sure if he was ready or not to have her confront him. He had rehearsed what to say to her for weeks, yet with her actually standing in front of him he found himself at loss for words.

    La'vena stopped a few feet away from his throne and knelt to one knee and bowed her head. "My Lord."

    Anakin's eyes flicked to Ahsoka, she was still standing by the door with her arms crossed and making a point not to look at him. With a sigh, he gestured for La'vena to stand up. The Twi'lek looked over her shoulder and gave a very unimpressed glare at Ahsoka and cleared her throat, signaling for her to approach. He could only imagine it was going to be rather tense between the two and he could only hope they wouldn't try to tear each other's throats out.

    When Ahsoka finally looked at him he offered a small, crooked smile. "I see you two have met."

    The two girls exchanged glances but didn't say anything and he sighed. "Leave us, La'vena. His apprentice bowed her head and turned to go, pettily bumping into Ahsoka's shoulder as she did so but his old Padawan didn't seem to care about that at the moment. Her eyes remained on his.

    Anakin stood and Ahsoka immediately took a step back and he attempted to show away the coldness that suddenly crept into his chest and burned him. He'd never hurt her, and the fact that she thought he would made him ache painfully throughout all of his bones. He took a steadying breath and clasped his hands behind his back. "I hope you slept alright?"

    She eyed him for a moment before looking past him. "Are we going to have that talk now?"

    "You should eat first."

    "I'd rather talk."

    "Ahsoka-"

"Don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"Sigh at me like I'm the one being difficult! What the fuck is going on? What happened to you?"

He bit the inside of his cheek and sat on the armrest of his throne. If he were to be honest right now, he was just happy she was talking to him right now. And he wanted to tread carefully so she would keep talking to him. But Anakin knew he owed her honesty. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning."

He took a breath and crossed his arms over his chest as his past flicked in his brain in a muddled mess of trauma and betrayal. Happy moments only being whispers that faded quickly. "My faith in the Order and Council had never been on solid ground, and neither was their trust or faith in me. I lived my life for them, Ahsoka. I always did what they asked of me, and I did it well. But the moment I didn't agree, suddenly I was a problem they didn't know how to handle. And with the war it only got worse. What they did to you. What they asked me to do. What they made me do. Yet they treated me like I was some sort of monster for doing it well."

Ahsoka clenched her jaw and tilted her head as she looked at him. "So you decided to prove them right and become one?"

"I am not a monster, Ahsoka."

"You are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths!"

His eyes narrowed. "And you're not?"

She staggered back as if he had hit her. "That was different."

"How?"

"Because we were-"

"At war? It had to be done? They were the enemy?"

She shook her head. "The Jedi Order wasn't the enemy. They had their faults but to kill them all? Anakin. The younglings. How could you?"

He rubbed his eyes and everything hurt but he knew he had to right to feel sorry for himself. Yes, he had been manipulated. Driven insane by the thought of Padme dying and it was a means to an end to saving her. She was his life, and without her, each passing day, he was dying. Of course he regretted it. Not like that mattered or that Ahsoka would find that answer to be acceptable.

"At the time, I believed what I was doing was for the greater good."

She let out a breathless laugh. "At the time? The Anakin I knew could never–"

"I was trying to save Padme's life!"

Ahsoka blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I told you about the dreams I had about my mother. Well, I started to have them again after my return to Coruscant. About her dying in childbirth and she was screaming for me. Begging me to help her. I couldn't let this dream become real, Ahsoka. I couldn't lose her."

Ahsoka had gone pale at the mention of Padme being pregnant. "But you lost her anyway." Her voice was bitter and Anakin looked away.

"She didn't understand."

"And I'm supposed to?"

"He promised me he could help." Anakin sounded broken and desperate and it felt as if his heart was caving in on itself.

"Who promised you?"

"I think you know the answer to that."

She shook her head and looked away from him, her eyes red and on the brink of crying. "Oh, Anakin." She wiped away a tear with one hand and sighed. "What have you done?"

He stood and began to pace. "But he lied to me. Used me. Just as with the Jedi, I was a pawn and too blinded to see it. But now, Ahsoka, I am stronger than any Jedi or Sith. More powerful. I can overthrow him." He then looked at her, his gaze intense. "We can."

"I won't work with you."

"You don't want to see the Empire fall?"

"And what? You take its place?"

"Would that be so bad?"

She stepped back, her expression stricken. "I don't know who you are anymore."

"Ahsoka, please."

"I won't. Give me a ship and just let me leave."

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

He clicked his tongue. "Sorry, let me correct myself. I won't do that."

"Anakin, let me go."

"No."

She raised her hand, reaching out to the Force to steal his saber from his hip but it barely budged. Anakin looked between her and his lightsaber with his brows furrowed. Not even mad that she was about to try and fight him.

"Ahsoka?"

"Let me go."

"What's wrong? Why can't you use the Force?"

"Anakin, let me off this planet."

He started to approach her and she turned and ran to the door but it wouldn't open, and he watched as she helplessly banged her fist against the stone. "Ahsoka, you don't need to be afraid of me." His voice was raw, hating seeing her like this. Now knowing she hadn't been able to reach out to him over the months because something was wrong with her connection to the Force. "Let me help you."

She whipped around, glaring at him. "Help me?"

"I'm sure I can figure out what's wrong."

"Nothing is wrong with me."

"Snips-"

"Do not call me that."

"Ahsoka, please-"

When he was now only standing a foot in front of her, her hand shot out and she took hold of his lightsaber. She stepped back into a fighting stance and ignited it, a flicker of horror passing over her face at the realization it was red. But she seemed to push this away and swung at him but Anakin easily side stepped her.

"Ahsoka, I won't fight you."

"I don't give a shit what you want. Fight me or let me leave willingly."

"I'll do neither."

"Coward."

"Ahsoka."

"Fight me!" She swung for him again and he caught her arm, twisting it into an uncomfortable position and he kept applying pressure. Willing for her will to give out and for her to drop the lightsaber. She was glaring at him, the red light reflecting in her eyes and she was crying. Rage and fear pooling in her gaze and Anakin came to the crushing realization he might've been the one to break her.

When she finally dropped the saber, it hit the ground heavily with a clang and she yanked herself away from him.

"I failed you, Ahsoka. I'm sorry, I wasn't the Master you needed me to be. But I want to fix that. Please let me."

"Why should I trust you? What if you try to kill me like you had killed everyone else?"

He clenched his jaw. "I would never hurt you, Ahsoka. Never."

Her shoulders fell and he wished he could hold her and wipe away her tears.

"Hurt goes beyond the physical, Anakin."

"I am so sorry, Ahsoka. I am. Please let me try to fix this."

"You can't."

He stepped closer, and the relief that crashed over him when she didn't back away nearly knocked him onto his ass. "Let me try."

Anakin held out his hand and watched as Ahsoka bit her lip, looking at his open palm.