Chapter Text
This was what she should have done all along. No Master to take orders from, no fear of betrayal. Being a bounty hunter had given her as much freedom as she could want. Asajj Ventress works alone now, she thought. There is no one to disappoint me anymore except... Ahsoka Tano.
How foolish she had been, to believe her enemy’s promise. Ahsoka had said she would advocate for Ventress’s pardon in exchange for her help. The shock of seeing Skywalker’s padawan on the run from the law must have interfered with her judgment.
I pitied her, and look what it got me. Nothing! What did she think she was getting? My charity?
She imagined her most recent betrayer begging for her life the next time they met: “ I’m so sorry Ventress…”
“Ventress!” Her imaginings gave way as the object of her fury called out to her. I wasn’t expecting my revenge so soon. It would have been more enjoyable if I at least had to look for her.
Igniting her sabers, she ran at the Togruta who had foolishly entered her domain. To her dismay, the Jedi offered no resistance as she pinned her against a wall, crossing her sabers inches away from Ahsoka’s neck. “You. Said. You. Would. Help me!” Does she expect my mercy?
“Let me explain. I-”
She really thinks she’s getting out of this. “I’m not interested in explanations.”
“Well you’re getting one: I left the Jedi Order.”
If she keeps surprising me like this, I don’t think I will be able to kill her, she thought, for she was beginning to feel her dismay overpower her fury, just as it had before. All she could ask was “Why?”
Ahsoka glanced warily at the lightsabers pinning her to the wall. Ventress deactivated them.
“I didn’t plan to leave, but after everything, I…”
I know why you left. I wouldn’t go back to Dooku if he wanted me. “The Jedi betrayed you. Why would you go back to them?” she added aloud. There was no longer any hostility in her voice.
I hated her. And now I pity her. Again. I’m going to regret this. Abruptly she realized that Ahsoka must have had a reason for coming. She certainly didn’t come for my pity!
“What do you want?” she asked sharply.
“Maybe I just came to say hi.”
Ventress snorted. “In that case, I have things to do,” she said, turning away.
“Alright! I did come to ask a...a favor.”
This was becoming an enjoyable conversation. How the mighty have fallen! “I don’t do favors.” How amusing that the Togruta needed something desperately, and she alone had the power to give it to her...or slam the door in her face.
“You helped me before,” Ahsoka pointed out, “And I think you understand something of my situation.” She said this casually, but there was a noticeable emotion beneath her words. “I need a ship,” she continued.
“ You’re not an outlaw now,” Ventress said pointedly, not wanting the Jedi- former Jedi- to forget her broken promise, “You can ask anyone for a ship. Your former Master even.” Her voice had become cold again.
For some reason, Ahsoka just smiled, a wiry smile with no happiness in it. It was that smile more than anything that drove home how much had changed. “No, I definitely can’t ask Anakin.”
“Oh?” She was legitimately curious now.
“Well…” she said hesitantly, but still with that smile , “I need it to go to Malachor.”
Who are you and what have you done with Ahsoka? “Why do you really need a ship?”
“I really need a ship so I can go to Malachor,” she said. “And come back,” she added hastily, no longer smiling.
Jedi don’t just go to Malachor and come back. “I have a ship,” she said finally. “That doesn’t mean I’m even considering taking you to Malachor. Why the kriff do you want to go to Malachor?”
“You aren’t taking me, Ahsoka snapped. “I’m perfectly capable of flying there myself, thank you very much.”
I guess she won’t just tell me why she wants to go, Ventress mused. But she’s not in any position to keep it a secret. “ I’ll fly you to Malachor, and you will tell me why you’re going there,” she told a nettled Ahsoka.
“Fine, you win. Beggars can’t be choosers I guess,” she sighed.
The pilot felt a twinge of concern in spite of herself. “Tano, Malachor is dangerous. ” She may as well have said that Yoda was old for all the usefulness of the statement.
Evasive again, Ahsoka retorted, “Since when are you concerned for my safety?”
“I won’t get my ship back if you go alone and die.”
“Fine.”
There is no way I am going to wake up screaming in front of my former nemesis, she had thought. She must have fallen asleep while meditating, though, because unfortunately, that was exactly what had happened.
“Ahsoka! What the kirff-?” demanded Ventress, with all the delicacy of a bounty hunter awoken by the screaming of her former enemy.
Her mind was still roiling, as though a spear had been driven through it, omitting all potential for coherent thought. A spear? No, a dagger. There was a dagger! She was too elated to have remembered something, anything , to care about her companion.
“I come in to tell you that we’ve entered hyperspace, and I find you screaming your head off?”
She wasn’t mad I woke her up. Was she...worried?
“It was nothing. Just a nightmare.”
“If you say so.” She started to walk away, then turned back towards Ahsoka. “Are you not going back to sleep?”
“Not if we’ll be there soon anyway.”
“Good. You can tell me why we’re going to Malachor.”
“ We’re going to Malachor because an interfering bounty hunter stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.”
“Why do you want to go to Malachor then,” Ventress asked impatiently.
“I don’t want to exactly.” She told the story, but since she wasn’t about to confess her nightmares and half-formed memories to anyone who had previously tried to kill her, it was fairly short.
“We’re doing this because a note told you to?” was the incredulous reply.
“Well when you say it like that, it sounds pretty stupid I guess.”
“It is stupid.”
“You didn’t have to come!”
“Can I see the note?” she asked, face softening.
Why not , Ahsoka thought, producing it. Ventress took it quickly, frown deepening as she looked at it.
“I can see why you were curious I guess,” she said slowly. “Dooku couldn’t have written this. I actually can’t see who in the galaxy could have.
“What do you mean?”
“Come to think of it, how did you translate this?” she asked, sounding slightly suspicious.
“Translate it?” And I was worried about my own sanity. “Ventress, I can read Basic.” She received a look .
“I’m staring at a note written in such an old form of Sith that even Dooku wouldn’t be able to translate it. If you don't want to tell me how you did, I don’t care, but don’t insult my intelligence,” she said, thrusting the paper back at Ahsoka.
“Ventress, I-I’m not lying. I really...it... I....”
I really what? Can read Sith? Force help me, no I can’t!
Ventress’ gaze was making her uneasy, it was no longer angry but thoughtful and calculating. “You really can’t tell?”
She shook her head, not trusting herself to say anything.
“Dooku once said something...he was talking about history, so I wasn’t exactly
listening
. He said...yes, he said that the fallen Jedi, Exar Kun, could read Sith after he embraced the dark side on Korriban.”
“I’ve never used the dark side! I’m a Jedi- er light-side adept!” she shrieked.
“Calm down, I’m not accusing you of anything. I was only trying to help.”
Oh, Anakin I wish you were here. Or do I? She wasn’t sure if she wanted to throw up or cry, wasn’t sure of anything. The universe had been upended and there were no words or thoughts that could fix it. I never should have left. That’s when everything became so wrong.
“Just take some deep breaths and try not to think too much,” Ventress suggested in her most reassuring voice, which wasn’t all that reassuring.
Try not to think too much! She needed to think, needed to figure this out. She looked at the note again, willing herself to see what her companion could. “Proposal,” the word was so clear . Or was it? The shape of the word and its letters seemed wriggly, like something fluid that wasn’t quite real. The idea of a proposal was there, but it wasn’t the word “proposal,” because of the letters, but because of the intention behind it. It said “proposal,” only because it meant “ proposal”. The meaning came to her first, and then the word, in a rather backward sort of fashion.
“Oh,” she exclaimed, “I can see it now like you can, but it’s...it’s...”
I really don’t want to stammer habitually, she thought, but also, I have so many bigger problems.
“Why though? Why me?” she asked desperately.
“How would I know? On the other hand, whoever sent the note must have known you could read it,” Ventress mused.
“Maybe they’ll just explain it to me and then let me leave,” she joked.
“I will never understand your humor,” she said for the second time with a resigned air, and then left Ahsoka alone with her thoughts for several minutes before speaking. “Ahsoka?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we still doing this?” she asked carefully.
Ahsoka hesitated a moment, but her thoughts were swirling too fast for her to consider the question properly. She only knew one thing: she wanted explanations, and there was only one way she might get them. She sighed. “I think we have to.”