She shouldn't be here. That was the consistent thought that ran through Ahsoka's head as she wandered the World Between Worlds. She'd told Ezra that messing with the past any more than necessary was a bad idea, and being in this place just kept the temptation there. With the knowledge she had now, she could change so much of the past, even when she knew it was wrong to harbor that desire. Yet despite Ezra making it out through back to Lothal, she couldn't find the portal back to Malachor.
"What would've surprised people was how kind he was. He cared deeply about his friends. He looked out for them until the end."
That was her voice echoing out into the endless abyss of empty space surrounding her. It was what she'd said to Ezra when she had first told him about her master. She winced at the realization, not wanting to think about Anakin. She still had a bit more until she came to terms with that.
"He is like no other Jedi. Passionate, impulsive, but I trust him with my life!"
"You're reckless little one. You never would have made it as Obi-Wan's Padawan, but you might make it as mine."
"Fighter crashed, I saved the day, you're welcome."
"You taught me well. I can handle anything."
It was all just snippets of conversations between them. Swirling around in the Force with no source. For a moment, Ahsoka felt like she was going to be overwhelmed by the memories of them. They had to be coming from somewhere. Because she had to make them stop.
Her answer came from one of the portals. Something about it almost felt as though it was calling to her.
"Anakin, good luck."
"But because of you I did survive."
"I knew you'd come looking for me." "I never doubted you for a second."
"I can't let you die Ahsoka."
Each memory that played out as she got closer to the portal was like a stab to the heart. She tried to ignore them, unable to face how much had changed. How the master who would sacrifice the world to keep her safe was the same person who had tried to kill her just hours earlier. She stopped in front of the portal and looked through it, determined to see what the Force wanted her to see, and ignore the voices from her past.
It was a moment she could never forget, the moment she had turned away from the path of the Jedi. She watched in silence as her younger, hurt counterpart continued down the steps away from the temple, and away from Anakin. Knowing what he had become, knowing this would be one of the final times she would see him, it was her biggest regret. She could have done more if she'd stayed in the temple.
For a brief moment, Ahsoka contemplated running through the portal and stopping her younger counterpart from leaving, but she quickly dismissed the idea before it could settle in her head. Even if she had succeeded in convincing herself to return, there was no guarantee it would fix the timeline. There was a chance it could make it worse. "Remember what you told Ezra," she mumbled under her breath, "You can't change the timeline."
She took a deep breath to try to keep herself calm, and continued to watch the portal. She watched as Anakin turned away once her montrals disappeared below the horizon. After a moment, almost as though for him it was sinking in that the young Ahsoka wouldn't come back, Anakin started for the temple. She remembered how he'd said he'd understood why she'd left, but the way he looked so deflated told her that even if he understood wanting to leave the order, he was still far more hurt than she could've imagined. "Anakin." He heard her as he passed by the portal and looked at her. Before he could respond, she reached through and pulled Anakin into the portal.
Anakin stumbled through, having been pulled into the strange world. For a moment, they stood opposite of each other, staring. She couldn't believe herself. Why had she done that? She hadn't even thought about it, just reacted. For a moment, they both just looked at each other. Anakin trying to figure out where he was and what was going on, and Ahsoka still attempting to process just what she had done.
Anakin gathered his bearings first as he looked at her as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Ahsoka?"
"Anakin." Her voice came out as hardly more than a whisper as she nodded.
Seeing the wide grin on his face hurt far more than she could ever say. "You grew up." Anakin, this Anakin, was practically throwing his pride for her into the Force, so unlike the Vader she had just faced moments ago. It just didn't make sense how in less than a year from this he'd fall so far.
"It has been a while." Ahsoka couldn't fight off the small smile on her face.
"How long?"
"Twenty years." She looked away, unable to bring herself to see how he reacted.
"You...twenty..." Anakin took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Is the war finally over? Did we win? How's Pad-"
"Anakin." The pain in her voice was more than enough to shut him up. He waited for her to answer. "Please, don't ask me. I can't...It could change the past." If he knew anything she knew, things could get better, or they could be so much worse. This was Anakin, and the knowledge that he caused so much tragedy could either drive him right over that edge he was evidently a lot closer to then she'd ever imagined, or it could cause him to go marching into the Senate right now, lightsaber at the ready to stab Palpatine in the chest and be done with it. Ahsoka wouldn't chance it.
He didn't respond right away. "No details then. Just...I need to know.. I need to know if everything is worth it."
"It's not." Ahsoka could offer that much. "The war changed the galaxy forever." She couldn't help the bitterness that seeped into her tone. It took away almost all of her closest friends. Even after everything, it would never be worth it.
Anakin hugged her. Whether it was an attempt to soothe her pain or stop his own Ahsoka wasn't sure, nor did she care. She hugged him back, relieved for just a moment to have him back. "I miss you, Skyguy." Almost as though he knew what happened to him, Anakin hugged her tighter the moment she told him, hoping he could give her slightly more support.
Anakin pulled away from the hug first, unable to look at her. "I die in the war, don't I?" She didn't respond. How could she respond? "Ahsoka."
"At the end." She knows that had to be when he fell. Darth Vader showed his face only a few months after the Clone Wars ended, and the Clone Wars ended the night the Jedi fell. It was technically true; while his body lived based on the cold reception she had received it was very obvious the Sith was not her master. Not anymore. "I wasn't there when it happened." She didn't elaborate why, he didn't need her to.
"Guess that just means you'll have to avenge me, doesn't it?" He let out a laugh, but it was clear that it was more for her sake that he was joking around about his own death than him finding anything to laugh at. "Well, the younger you will anyways. This you I'm sure has already done it with how well I trained you."
"I'm working on it. Not all of us have prophecy given powers to beat Sith Lords you know." The moment the words left her mouth, she winced. Anakin's joy fell silent.
"Dooku's master?"
"Dooku's replacement."
They fell quiet again, neither of them really knowing what to say to each other with the reveal. For Anakin, it was the proof that the war meant nothing in the long term for him if the Sith not only lived, but killed him. "Do you know how he did it?"
Ahsoka shook her head. "I don't, but knowing you? Padmé and Obi-Wan were probably in trouble and you rushed right in to protect them." Given that Padmé 's funeral had been broadcast for everybody to see and nobody had heard from Obi-Wan since the Clone Wars ended, it was her current working theory. They died and Anakin fell after losing everybody he had left besides her.
"Senator Amidala, why would I-" At the pointed look Ahsoka gave him, Anakin fell silent. She knew about the two of them back when she was still his Padawan after all. "Alright, maybe that theory isn't so unreasonable after all."
"It's completely reasonable." She nudged him lightly, and he laughed, unable to deny it. "Come on Skyguy, you and I both know she's your girlfriend."
"Wife, Snips. We've been married for two years now." Anakin smirked. They were married the entire time she was his Padawan? If it wasn't for the rules against attachments, and how Anakin probably kept it secret so he could remain her master, Ahsoka would've been hurt by the fact that he never told her. And then it seemed to sink in what he said, because the lightened atmosphere between the two once more darkened. "You said I probably went down trying to save Obi-Wan and Padmé ...was I at least successful."
"Anakin, I c..." Ahsoka let her denial fall silent as she noticed the look of desperation in his face. "You don't. I saw her funeral on the HoloNet, and nobody's seen Obi-Wan since." She didn't tell him about how Padmé had died pregnant. It would only hurt him more.
Not that the news of Padmé 's death didn't hurt him enough. Anakin crumped, leaning into her as though he'd gotten older by twenty years just from that statement alone. This had to be a hard day, between losing his Padawan and learning that the two of them would die. "Tell me, what happened? Maybe I can save her, stop us both from--"
"I don't know." Ahsoka cut him off before he could keep going. "I wasn't there, I just knew you were both gone. That it was just Rex and I left."
That brought a slight smile to Anakin's face. "At least you had Rex with you. If nothing else, somebody was able to keep watching your back."
"He's never let me down before." Ahsoka smiled back. "Just like you didn't either." It wasn't the full truth, but Anakin hadn't fallen to the dark side yet. This Anakin had done his best, had never failed her.
Even with the bond between them no longer present, Ahsoka could feel Anakin's relief in the Force. That she hadn't chosen to abandon him because he'd failed her. "Why did you leave then?"
"I needed to find myself, after everything." Ahsoka put a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "She needs to work that out too. I promise you, this isn't the last time we meet."
Despite feeling nothing but regret at how their last conversations had gone, Ahsoka knew telling him that was the right choice just by how much more at peace he seemed. She too felt more centered than she had since she'd learned the identity of the man behind the mask. "I shouldn't keep you here any longer. I have a Sith Lord to hunt, and you shouldn't waste anymore time with Padmé than you already have."
"Haha, very funny." The way the smile reached his eyes told Ahsoka he did, in fact, appreciate the fact that he would tease her like this. "But I suppose you're right, it has been a while since I've been on Coruscant, and my lovely wife did manage to save you from whatever punishment the Senate may have been forced to enact."
Anakin stopped teasing a moment later as he reached into his pocket and pulled out her Padawan beads. "I was going to hold onto them, in case you ever decided to rejoin the Order, but I can tell, even with the lightsabers, you're not a Jedi." She looked at him in surprise, but Anakin continued. "I can imagine given that, when I..." He stayed quiet for a moment. "When everything happens, I doubt you managed to have anything of mine. I know they're probably a reminder of the pain you've gone through, but they're also a symbol for every moment we spent together, training. You should have something to remember me by."
Ahsoka was silent for a moment. He was right, in that the beads were mostly a reminder of everything she had left behind, but they were also her tie to Anakin, and she knew he wasn't offering them to her lightly. "Thank you, Master."
Anakin dropped the beads into her hand, and she wrapped them around the hilt of one of her lightsabers. He went to turn around, but stopped for a moment, instead choosing to give her one last hug. "I'm proud of you."
She returned the hug briefly before pulling away. "I know."
With a wave and a stay safe, Anakin left to return to Coruscant in his time, and Ahsoka turned around to see Morai, sitting on the arch of the portal behind her. "So, that one leads back to where I need to go?" The bird nodded, perching herself on Ahsoka's shoulder. "Then let's go." With one last glance around her, Ahsoka exited the World Between Worlds to return to the Sith temple on Malachor.
She needed to get out of there as soon as possible, after all, she had a promise to keep.