The screen flickered back to a Temple, whicj was only illuminated by a purple, sparking light that showed an elder Ahsoka Tano standing behind Lord Vader, as her two companions scrambled to leave the area.
"This is...", Anakin spoke, but his breath was taken away when he realized what the screen was showing them now. "No..."
Plo Koon, Obi-Wan and Yoda had seen it too. They were sent back as to where they had left off, right before they watched the second Holotape.
As for the former Padawan, all she could do was watch in abject silence and fear of what is to come.
"Ahsoka...", a voice called back to her.
The former Jedi turned back, looking over the Dark Lord whose head was facing the ground with his mask having been damaged from her recent attack. He looked back at her, revealing a partially exposed right side of his face, and a yellow eye looking right at her in fury.
The audience remained quiet, their thoughts directed at the former Padawan's impending fate. Ahsoka's face turned into an ugly grimace, as did Rex who held her shoulder while sharing the same fears that his General and the others have.
"Anakin...", she called out his name, her body freezing in place and her sabers remained deactivated.
From the sides, Anakin's heartbeat increased tenfold, finding himself in a horrid scenario that he desperately wished that would never happened. "Ahsoka, no...just run...", he begged her.
Is he going to watch himself murder one of the people who still believed in him?
"He is the key to everything."
"To bring balance to the Force?"
"To destroy. He has long been groomed for his role, as my master's new apprentice"
She paused, memories of old came down the former Jedi Knight's mind. And how Maul had been telling her the truth all the this is time. She didn't believe him.
"He had been telling her all this time...", Kit Fisto muttered in disbelief. "But we didn't take his word for it..."
"For words that came from a Sith, even a former one, would we even believe him if we haven't known better?", Luminara further added.
Ahsoka bit her lip, the feeling that had been building up within her reached a boiling point.
"I wont leave you!", she cried out to him. "Not this time..."
Once more, the emotional barriers within the Jedi Knight broke, having seen that his apprentice never gave up on him after all that has happened. He covered his face with both his of hands, unable to even look at her or at the screen.
"General Skywalker is still there...", Rex spoke, remaining determined that Ahsoka's future self could make it out. "He wouldn't do this..."to
The Dark Lord stood still, his movements slowed as he heard her proclamation to him. The exposed portion of his mask revealing his eye and scorched face have calmed and his yellow eye shifting into a calm, blue one.
"Has she...gone through him?", Plo Koon spoke, his voice lingering with hope. At this point, he latching on the possibility of Ahsoka surviving this encounter with her former Master, when numerous others did not.
Anakin looked up once more, seeing himself pause his onslaught and as if he were taking her words to heart.
But it was not meant to be. And the portion of his exposed face shifted into a glare, with his blue eye shifting back into its hateful, yellow one.
"Then you will die", he declared, igniting his crimson saber once more.
"No...", Obi-Wan fearfully uttered, facing the dreadful conclusion himself. The rest of the Jedi.
Anakin could no longer hold it, he never would have wanted to see this continue before him. "Ahsoka, just get out of there!", he shouted at the screen. "You don't have to do this!"
Her face, filled with pain, remained firm to hold her ground at all costs. Ezra looked back at the former Jedi, making the move to try and get to her. But she extended her hand, pushing him out of harm's way.
Yoda closed his eyes in reverence. "The safety of others to herself, she mind first", he spoke, sadly. "Indeed, the apprentice of Skywalker, she is"
"It is a thought, that we all share, Master", Shaak Ti added.
She quickly turned her sabers behind her to parry an incoming strike from the Dark Lord, as the massive door had finally separated them.
"Nooooo!", Anakin cried out helplessly as reached out a hand, watching as the doors finally sealed shut and the screen faded to black.
It was already clear to them as to what truly happened to the former Padawan. Most could not comprehend what they had just saw, and Anakin only lowered his head in grief as to what he had done.
Without another word spoken, it adds another truth about the fate one of those who were watching the future.
Plo Koon felt his barriers breaching, holding his chest as he realized the worst that had come. "Little 'Soka...", he muttered. It was too much for the Kel'dor Master to think about it, and for a rare moment, he allowed his grief to be shown as he wouldn't normally do.
Anakin, however, wouldn't accept this, not to what he just saw. "Ahsoka...", he moaned profusely. He had done so much that, it was one of the few deeds that he desperately hoped wouldn't happen in any circumstance. "I'm so sorry..."
Ahsoka approached him and placed a hand on her master's shoulder. "Anakin, it's not your fault. We can still change things the way it was shown. And it's not too late to turn back.", she consoled him
"How could you even say that, after all that you saw?"
"Because I know that it is, as long as we believe...", she smiled at him.
Those who could hear it, could not help but be brightened at her proclamation. They do have the answer as what to do. All they needed was a little more push to reveal the bigger picture what lies before them.
"Well said, my Padawan", Yoda complimented the Togruta, then looking over at Obi-Wan.
"We still have one more tape remaining...", he looked over to the holoplayer. "As she had said, it's not too late"
Before they continued, the holographic forms of the hooded male and female appeared to them once more, their holovids activated by queue. "Now that is over with, you can now begin...", the man said in a monotone voice.
"Of the final truth that lies ahead..."
They disappeared, and the screen opened to reveal a few words that was accompanied by the familiar tone of multiple intruments that pierced through the heavens.
RETURN OF THE JEDI
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"The final truth...", Mace spoke out from the side, remaining firm in his expression all the while trying to hide the anticipation within him. "But as to what they are speaking of?"
Mundi looked down. "The end perhaps? How the Empire and the Sith will continue to grip the galaxy with the iron fist?", he dejectedly spoke, the memory of future fall still fresh within his mind, as did the rest of the audience who have seen it.
Obi-Wan, gathering whatever hope he still had within him, spoke. "As we have said before, Masters. We cannot place our doubts and our fears in a future that is not set in stone".
His words resonated with the rest of the audience. "Moments of doubt, fear, uncertainty, indeed come upon us", the Grand Master then spoke from his chair. "But in these moments, have faith. As is the greatest weapon we carry now, it is"
Faith. That is indeed what they need right now. After all the despair, fear, anger and the feeling of losing hope, they knew better than to give in to any of these emotions. They have to believe from then out. Especially if the opportunity to change the way things were are presented to them.
What more should I expect from here and out?, Anakin looked at the screen with outmost uncertainty. After everything he had seen and realized, he was almost becoming used to the fear, frustrations and anger that he had to let out.
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