Chapter Text
The World Between Worlds
"Ezra Bridger and Ahsoka Tano... Mine at last!" Sidious cackled.
Ahsoka was not having a good day, to say the least. Her problems had been escalating exponentially, and now she was in the presence of literally the most evil man in the galaxy. Her situation kept progressing from bad to worse.
To start with, on Malachor, she and Kanan had run into Eighth Brother, which soon turned into facing off against Eighth Brother, Fifth Brother, and Seventh Sister. Then Ezra had walked out of the temple with a Sith holocron and Maul, of all people.
Ahsoka would never understand that Zabrak's uncanny ability to cheat death.
From that point on, things had spiraled out of control. Ezra played right into Maul's hands by activating the temple, and after leaving a recently blinded Kanan to deal with Maul, Ahsoka had reached the temple's zenith just as Vader was about to kill Ezra. Ahsoka fought Vader to buy time for Kanan and Ezra to escape with the holocron, and in the process, she confirmed her worst nightmare: Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker. She barely had time to process the revelation before they were dueling again, but at least Ezra and Kanan were able to get away.
Ahsoka had resigned herself to her fate, determined to take down both Vader and the Sith temple with her, when the unexpected happened. She had stabbed her lightsabers into the unstable floor and watched Vader lose his footing and fall into the resulting opening, but instead of falling with him, Ahsoka was suddenly yanked backwards by Ezra—but not the same Ezra.
Picking themselves up from where they had fallen, Ahsoka tried to get her bearings. She could have sworn that she had just seen Ezra leaving with Kanan. Except the Ezra she knew was a bit shorter and had longer hair, and he had definitely not been wearing stormtrooper armor five minutes ago. Somehow, the Ezra in front of her was older, meaning that she had been... what, pulled through time? What was going on?
"Ezra? You look... Wait, what happened? Where am I?"
Having grown up in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Ahsoka knew what it was like to feel the maturity of something in the Force, but even the temple on Malachor hadn't been near as old as wherever they were now. Beyond that, Ahsoka felt like this place was both everywhere and nowhere at the same time. This place was connected to the universe in every possible way, yet it also existed as a separate entity entirely.
"You were fighting Vader. I saw you in there."
Ezra gestured behind him to some kind of... window? A portal? Ahsoka had never heard of anything like that, but she couldn't exactly deny what was right in front of her.
"He was going to... So I... I grabbed you, and I pulled you out of there."
Ahsoka would have asked how Ezra had reached across time and space, but it sounded like he didn't understand it either. Regardless, he had saved her. Prevented her death at the hands of—
"Anakin..."
Having been pulled away from the fight, her feelings now threatened to overwhelm her. This was all her fault. She should have never left. She could have stayed in the Order, stayed with him, but she had been selfish, wanting to find out who she was without the Jedi. She should have considered what her absence would mean. She knew that he struggled with attachment. If she had only stayed, she could have—
"Hoot hoot."
Ahsoka's thoughts were interrupted, her attention drawn to the ivory and emerald female convor perched on top of the gateway from which Ahsoka had been rescued.
"Morai? You're here?" Ahsoka stuck out her arm, and the convor gladly flocked to her and alighted on the proffered resting place.
"Morai?" Ezra asked, confused.
"She's an old friend," Ahsoka explained. "I owe her my life, and now I owe you that as well."
Ezra accepted her thanks with a nod and a smile.
"How did you get here? And where's Kanan?" She looked around to make sure she hadn't missed him.
Hanging his head dejectedly, Ezra replied, "You've missed a lot."
As he described all that had transpired since he'd last seen her, Ahsoka realized just how much time had passed for Ezra. He was older, yes, but he was also wiser and more sure of himself. He wasn't as brash, and she could tell how strongly he still believed in helping people, Lothal specifically. The Jedi would have likely criticized him for his obvious attachment to his home planet, but Ahsoka would do no such thing. In fact, she could argue that the Jedi were just as attached to their Republic and its politics. Besides, Ezra had faced and overcome trials that most Jedi wouldn't have at his age. Ahsoka saw Kanan's positive influence on him, and even though she had no claim to Ezra's development, Ahsoka was proud of him.
And now, Darth Sidious, the kriffing Emperor, was trying to capture them both.
So far, he was still on the other side of the portal, but Ahsoka didn't think it was a good sign when a Sith Lord was chanting in a dead language and waving his hands over magical blue fire.
Sometimes she hated being right.
As soon as Sidious finished whatever Sith spell he was conjuring, the flames grew and exploded in a deadly column towards Ahsoka and Ezra. No longer having Morai on her arm, Ahsoka reached out her hands to use the Force to push against the blue inferno, causing the flames to split to either side instead of engulfing them outright.
Ahsoka yelled over her shoulder to Ezra. "I can't hold it!"
Trying to copy her, Ezra quickly reached into the Force to help, but they wouldn't be able to withstand the onslaught for long. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Sidious withdrew his spell back through the portal, and Ahsoka fell to her knees at the unexpected lack of opposition.
"Are you alright?" Ezra immediately knelt and helped her to stand as she nodded her response.
She knew that Sidious was simply toying with her and Ezra, which left them only one option.
"Run!"
With Morai leading the way, Ahsoka and Ezra sprinted as fast as they could. Glancing back over her shoulder, Ahsoka could see Sidious's blue flames surging after them, and they were even more powerful than before.
"Ahsoka!"
Suddenly, Ezra wasn't running beside her anymore. From within the inferno, a single blue tendon of energy had wrapped itself around his ankle, and Sidious was slowly dragging Ezra back towards the portal.
"Show me the way, Ezra. Help me!" Sidious crowed with a sinister smile.
"Ahhh! He's coming through!" Ezra yelled as a lone, withered hand passed through the portal, guiding the flames while simultaneously reaching for Ezra.
Without hesitation, Ahsoka ignited her lightsabers and leaped next to Ezra. She cut through the energy line connected to his ankle, causing Sidious's spell to temporarily cease, and the Sith's hand recoiled as if he had been struck. She urged Ezra to take advantage of the brief reprieve to put more distance between them and their enemy, but they were only barely able to stay out of reach as the Lord of the Sith renewed his attack.
Ahsoka knew what she had to do. "Keep going! You can make it!"
"What about you?" Ezra looked sideways at her as they ran, bewildered.
"Don't worry about me. You saved my life. Now, let me save yours!"
Before he could fully realize what she meant, Ahsoka did the same thing she did for him on Malachor, pushing him with the Force towards safety.
"Morai! Go with him!"
Not willing to waste precious time to make sure Morai followed her order, Ahsoka immediately turned back towards Sidious and put every ounce of power she had into halting the oncoming flames. She only had to buy Ezra enough time to make it back through his own portal.
"No!" Sidious screamed, and that was all the confirmation she needed to know that Ezra was out of his reach.
Ahsoka allowed herself to finally collapse in exhaustion, but as her vision filled with blue and her mind slipped away, Ahsoka managed to whisper, "May the Force be with you, Ezra Bridger."