Hello everyone! Sorry for my absence, I've been working on something else recently. This chapter is a tad short, but I'm pretty sure that the next one will be a little longer.

"Anakin, are you alright? You've been acting strangely recently," Obi-Wan commented as the stepped back from their parring. Both were thirsty and out of breath, so they silently agreed to power off the training sabers and take a break.

    "I'm fine," Anakin replied, though it wasn't very convincing. Obi-Wan raised his eyebrow and waited for his former padawan to explain further, but no more words came out of his mouth.

    "No, you're not," Obi-Wan argued. "You've been slipping up nearly twice a minute over our last practices and letting me win. Don't tell me it's about Exegol either, because you were practicing just fine the other day."

    "Seriously, nothing's wrong," Anakin insisted, moving to get up and head back to the cockpit. However, Obi-Wan wasn't contempt with this answer, so he used the Force to drag Anakin's butt back down and onto the bench.

    "I'm not letting you leave until you tell me what is going on. Last time you kept all your drama to yourself you almost turned to the Dark Side."

    Anakin opened his mouth to argue with the Jedi Master, but he eventually ended up closing it. He did have a point. He had gotten dangerously close to the Dark Side of the Force before Palpatine had been exposed to the public as a Sith Lord.

    "It's just..." Anakin wandered off as he tried to find the words to say. "It's Ahsoka."

    "I know you miss her," Obi-Wan placed a hand on Anakin's shoulder, "we all do. But you have to let her go. She's gone, Anakin."

    "I understand," the Jedi Master countered, "I just feel her presence."

    "She did spend many years here, so there's bound to be some residue from her Force signature. She'll always be with us, you know that right?"

    "It isn't like that," Anakin argued. "I mean, I feel her. I can sense her signature. All of it. I think she's alive, Obi-Wan."

    "Don't be ridiculous," Obi-Wan scolded. "If she didn't die from the entire planet collapsing, then she would've died from lack of oxygen. Don't let your imagination run wild, Anakin. I'm sure you're just hallucinating."

    "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Anakin cried out in frustration as he jumped up from the bench. He spun around and glared at Obi-Wan. "I'm not 'hallucinating'. I can feel her! Especially the day that her lightsabers were stolen. I wouldn't be surprised if it was her that took them!"

    "If that was her, then why wouldn't she come back to the Temple completely? Something sounds off in that scenario," Obi-Wan calmly pointed out.

    "Don't think for a hot second that I haven't been thinking about that this entire time," Anakin growled, but Obi-Wan could hear the soft pain in his voice. "Do you know what all those voices tell me? They're constantly saying that Ahsoka hates us now. She gave up on us. We're so stuck in our stupid code that not even her sacrifice could save us! Don't you see it, Obi-Wan? She's moved on from us."

    Obi-Wan let the words that Anakin had practically shouted at him sink in. He did have a point, but the Jedi Master refused to go along with that idea. "Okay," Obi-Wan relented. "Let's venture to say that it really was Ahsoka who took the lightsabers. I know she isn't the kind of person that would leave us in the dark without a reason. I know that you know that. Maybe she's chasing Sith or some dangerous plot?"

    "So you admit it? She really might be alive?" Anakin questioned with his eyes slightly more bright. Obi-Wan wanted to tell him that he still believed it was quite literally impossible for the deceased Jedi to be alive, but he couldn't take away the little light that the man had.

    "Maybe," Obi-Wan lied.

    "I think I like your idea of why she would keep quiet better," Anakin admitted with a tiny laugh as he returned to the seat beside Obi-Wan, all the while drying his eyes. "But what could be so important that she has to hide it from us?"

    "I don't know," Obi-Wan sighed. "It could be anything. I'm sure it's for a good reason though, so maybe it's best that you keep quiet with your secret. If the rest of the Council were to get wind of this, they might start trying to find her. If that happens, then all her efforts will be ruined."

    "Good idea," Anakin said with a nod.

    Outwardly, Obi-Wan tried to put on a smile, but inwardly, he wasn't as easy. He would need to have a discussion with the other Council members soon and inform them of Anakin's mental issues. It was hard for him to think that his former Padawan was truly suffering the trauma that badly, but that was the only explanation to how Anakin would come up with the scheme that Ahsoka was still alive. Obi-Wan still wasn't sure how that could possibly make sense in Anakin's head. Ahsoka had been standing on a planet that she collapsed with her own powers that was surrounded by a practically endless vacuum of empty space. Even if it was possible for Ahsoka to have survived the blast, then proceed to have abilities to breathe in space without any equipment, she would've been trapped in the middle of nowhere with minimal food and no water. She wouldn't have lasted this long without any backup supplies.

    A small rattle of the ship let Obi-Wan and Anakin know that they had arrived at wherever R6 was taking them. However, when they looked out the windshield, the only thing that met their eyes was the deadly Myto's Arrow.

    "You must be mistaken," Obi-Wan said as he turned back to the astromech. She whirred and whistled her response, to which Anakin translated.

    "She said that her master went through this passage."

    "But...why?" Obi-Wan groaned. "Why this stupid thing? Ignoring the fact that it shouldn't be possible for her to pass, the only thing on the other side is Dantooine."

    R6 sassily beeped and whistled, then waited for Anakin to tell Obi-Wan what she said.

    "She said that her master passed through it and stayed on Dantooine."

    R6 looked back down to the flashing light on her and let out a whistle, which represented a laugh. She was telling the truth, she just wasn't telling them that there was a much easier route that Ahsoka had discovered.

    You would be proud of me right now, Master, R6 thought to herself. She thought back to earlier and how Ahsoka had once again made the signal that she was alive. Oh, how she loved seeing that blue light. Of course, hearing the stories about that happened during the Battle of Exegol made the astromech wonder how it was possible for Ahsoka to be alive, but she didn't question it. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise her if the Togruta was immortal.

    "I guess we're going to have to turn back," Anakin sighed. "I know that neither you nor I can pilot us through that mess. I'm beginning to wonder what Ahsoka was really capable of."

    "You and me both, Anakin. You and me both."

            ±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-±-

    A little ways ahead of the Jedi's current position, a certain Gray Jedi was having a lot better luck and finding out what she needed to know. She had been meditating off and on for several hours, but she was finally starting to get a vision.

Unknown 1: Status report on Mission Jedha?

Unknown 2: Affirmative, sir.

Unknown 1: Excellent. He would've been pleased with your work. Status report on Mission Yavin?

Unknown 3: Successful as well, sir.

Unknown 1: Our objective is to carry out smoothly, I am impressed. We must make haste with our work though. Commander, what is our next line of order?

Unknown 4: Mission Utupau, sir.

    Everything cut off after that. Of course, Ahsoka would've appreciated a visual, but she made do with what she had. Although, she did have a feeling that the information she received left her with a lot more questions than it did answers.

    Ahsoka stayed in her meditative state for a bit longer as she contemplated everything that had just been revealed to her. Jedha had been the planet where the Jedi were killed, so this must be the same organization that was targeting the Light Side users. So, she was assuming, that the same thing had happened on Yavin.

    But who was 'he'? And why was the unidentified person number one talking about him in past tense?   

    Maybe, Ahsoka thought to herself, 'he' was Count Dooku. Perhaps these people were secretly training under him?

    This thought led her back to the main question of who these people were. They didn't sound like some rebellion that was thrown together overnight. From their language and references to different attacks, it sounded as though this had all been planned for quite a while.

    Suddenly the realization of the last comment hit her. This must be the reason she was informed of this information. It was her role to get to Utupau and prevent what happened on Jedha occurring again. Of course, if she could capture one of the assassins while she was on it, that would truly be the icing of the cake.

    Without further thoughts, Ahsoka quickly leaped up and began racing down the stairs and towards the front doors of the Gray Jedi Temple. As she was sprinting across the bridge and preparing to fly to her ship, a familiar voice echoed out behind her.

    "Good luck, Ahsoka!"

    The Gray Jedi turned around and flashed Aylile and the other Force spirits that surrounded her a smile, then proceeded to leap up and catch herself with her invisible powers. She took half of a second to actually breathe, then rocketed over the mountains and to her ship. Within moments, she had it running and was shooting into the cargo doors. With lightning speed, she took control of the steering and began to pilot the cruiser off of Dantooine.

    She had lives to save, and you can bet your butt that she was going to save them.

Do you think she's going to save them?