Chapter 1

I do not own Star Wars the Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels… (Unfortunately.)

She'd been down there for hours, slumped against a wall of the fallen temple. She was injured, burnt all over and bruised. Groaning as her fingers felt warm blood on her side, she pondered on Vader's fate. She'd survived the collapse of the Temple – had Vader? She didn't know, but she figured she'd find out as soon as she left this blasted planet.

Seeing that small part of Anakin's – Vader's – face had struck her hard. It really was him. How could Anakin have become that monster? For a brief moment she thought she had seen a small part of Anakin still there. As soon as he had declared that she would die, she knew that there was no Anakin left to save. Tears rolled down her face but she didn't care anymore. Anakin was gone – Vader really had destroyed him. Anakin Skywalker was no more.

Before she knew it her whole body was shaking as she sobbed uncontrollably. It felt as if her heart was breaking into a million pieces and she couldn't handle it. Anakin is Darth Vader. She knew she'd never get used to hearing that. Anakin to her had always been a hero, her brother, her best friend. Now he was her enemy, a Sith. He was once a Jedi, now all he wanted was to slay them all – not that there many left anymore.

The cold gust that howled around the ruins of the temple blew against her exhausted body harshly, causing the tears that streamed down her cheeks to become sticky, mingling with the blood that had dried on her face. It felt uncomfortable on her skin but she was too conflicted with her own emotions to even care about wiping away the tears.

She felt like she had lost herself all over again. When she was sixteen and had left the Jedi Order, she didn't know what to do or who she was. It broke her heart to feel so lost, so far away again. Seeing Anakin's face again had left her feeling a mix of emotions and she didn't know how she felt. Right now, after the battle and fall of the temple, she felt numb. She felt like she had no purpose, no real reason to fight again. The anger and pain had subsided and she felt empty and hollow now. She couldn't get the image of the golden yellow iris that stared at her with such anger, such fury.

She had loved Anakin like a brother. It hurt so much to know who he had become. To know what he had become. To know that one of the people who had loved her and cared for her for years hated her and wanted her dead – it was unbearable.

As a new wave of tears streamed down her cheeks, she startled when she heard a hushed voice echo from an opening on her right. Gripping her lightsaber and slowly rising from the cold floor, she called out in a raspy voice, "Who's there? Show yourself."

At first she feared it might be Vader coming back to finish her off. She couldn't feel his force presence however; she also couldn't hear his laboured breathing through his mask. She tried not to show her uneasiness to whoever was speaking to her.

"Fulcrum."

"I said who's there?" She ignited her lightsaber as a sign of warning.

"Jedi." The voice hissed.

"I won't ask you again. Show yourself." Ahsoka was beginning to get annoyed – she was tired and injured, all she wanted to do was rest and think about what she was going to do. After all, she was stranded on this damn planet.

"Padawan."

Extremely agitated, Ahsoka ignited her other lightsaber and held it in a defensive shien position. Suddenly she felt a gust of warm wind against her face. She was confused for a moment – the wind had been colder just a second ago, right?

The voice spoke again, however, Ahsoka struggled to hear it this time – it seemed further away. "Whoever you are, leave me alone." No reply.

Another gust of wind rushed past her. A moment later, a strong blast of air nearly knocked her down onto the dusty ground beneath her. She winced as she straightened her posture. She was sure she'd broken a few ribs during her fight with Vader.

"Ahsoka."

The voice came from the direction the wind was blowing in. Already bored of the torment, Ahsoka carefully crept around the corner. Her name was repeated again.

The darkness of the temple ruins made it difficult to see, even with the glow from her lightsabers. As she descended further into the temple, the voices seemed to come from all directions. So many echoed above her head, around her body, she could barely make out what they said. They seemed to be calling out to her, beckoning her to come closer, further into the darkness.

She could barely think straight with the voices bouncing off the walls, inside her head, everywhere. She felt as if she were going crazy. She was so dizzy and so disorientated that she had to extinguish her lightsabers and clip them back onto her belt, for her own safety.

The former Jedi lifted her hand to rest on the wall to keep herself up. "Jedi."

She felt like she couldn't breathe, like her chest was caving in and crushing her lungs.A few more steps forward and she collapsed onto her knees; her eyes scrunched shut from the pain. She opened them moments later to discover she was in the middle of a circular room, with multiple exists. She must have come though one of them but was too disoriented to realise. The voices seemed to be charging at her, rushing at her from all the angles, all the exits that could possibly lead to her.

Surely this wasn't how she was supposed to die? She'd faced Darth Maul – or Maul, she didn't really care what he liked to be called these days – Ventress and General Grievous. Force, she'd even faced Darth Vader and survived. This couldn't be the way that she died.

Black spots clouded her vision as the voices got louder. Her frantic heartbeat pounded against her chest as her throat closed up, her body refusing to let any air into her system. She let out a strangled cry of pain as everything went black.

….

There was a warm light shining on her face and she blinked.

"This was actually your great trial. Now we see that. We understand that the force works in mysterious ways – and because of this trial, you have become a greater Jedi than you would have otherwise." Master Windu stood before her in the Council room.

Wait. What?

"Back into the order, you may come." Ahsoka was startled a little when she heard the raspy voice of Grand Master Yoda speak beneath her.

What in the force was going on?

"They're asking you back, Ahsoka." Anakin stepped towards her, reaching into his pocket for something. He slowly pulled out her Padawan braid and presented it to her, "I'm asking you back."

Ahsoka had no idea what was going on. She had just been in the Sith temple a second ago, right? She looked down at herself. The Togruta held back a gasp when she saw she was wearing her old Jedi attire. Her headtails were much shorter than they had been in the Sith temple and while she was fighting Vader.

Vader. Her brow furrowed as a hazy flashback played in her mind – all she could remember was fighting a man in a black suit who couldn't breathe on his own. She remembered Ezra, a blinded Kanan and Inquisitors. Everything else was hazy and it frustrated her that she couldn't remember.

Was she dead? She could remember being in the Sith temple after duelling with that monster behind the mask and the temple collapsing. She could remember falling to her knees deep inside the temple and struggling to breathe.

"Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka was thrown from her thoughts when a concerned Anakin rested his hand on her shoulder. "Ahsoka, we're asking you back into the Order. You'll become a Knight, just like you've always wanted." He smiled at her and glanced down at the braid in his hand, a gesture that 'take it'.

Ahsoka was conflicted – she didn't know if she was dead or just dreaming. It was like she had gone back in time.

"Take it. This is your chance to fix everything."

Ahsoka looked around quickly – from the looks of the other masters, no one else had heard the voice. She glanced down at the Padawan braid again. Fix everything? What does that mean?

It seemed to hit her head on in the chest. If she really had gone back time – if this really wasn't a dream – she had been bought back here for a reason. If she had time travelled, the force wanted her here – in the temple, the Council asking her back.

She looked around the Council room again. They wanted her back. But they hadn't trusted her; it was one of the reasons she had left in the first place. How could she stay in a place where she wasn't trusted, despite all she had done for the Republic, for the Jedi. Her eyes were on the Padawan braid again – she wanted to leave all over again. Staying here, staying in the Order would be painful, to know that they couldn't rely on her, to know that they hadn't believed her. Had they even cared that they were going to sentence her to death? Did they really think that it would be so easy to just ask her back into the Order, after everything they had done?

But the force bought her here for a reason, she reminded herself.

She looked up into Anakin's soft, comforting blue eyes once more and without thinking, she gently took the braid out of his hands and examined it. She could feel tears well up in her eyes – would she finally find out how different things would've been if she had stayed in the Order?

Needing some time alone to think and to figure what was going on, Ahsoka bowed, "Thank you, Masters. If you don't mind I would like to do some thinking alone in my quarters."

Master Windu was about to step in and say something but was interrupted by Obi-Wan, "Of course, Ahsoka. Take as long as you need. When you're ready, report back here so we can discuss what's going to happen next."

Ahsoka nodded, appreciating Obi-Wan's kindness and understanding. She walked out of the doors and towards her quarters. She knew Anakin wanted to follow her but right now she seriously needed to figure what was going on.

She had never felt so confused in her entire existence. After she had left the Order, she had struggled to make a living for herself and was confused about who she was and what she wanted to do. The Jedi temple had fallen months afterwards. The Empire had risen and the Jedi had been killed. A new Sith Lord, Darth Vader, had risen. She joined the rebellion. She fought Darth Vader and had tried to kill him – if she had succeeded, she didn't know. Whenever she thought about him her memories seemed fuzzy and clouded. She didn't remember much about her duel with him, apart from the fact that he had excellent lightsaber skills and was determined to kill her. She could also remember her fierce determination to kill him too – but she couldn't remember why.

She stopped in the hallway as dread washed over her. The Republic would still fall… The Jedi would all die and the Empire would still rise. If she truly had gone back in time, no one knew. No one knew what was going to happen – apart from her.

She bought her hands to her face, trying to calm herself down. Her body trembled with worry and dread. Had the force bought her back to stop what was going to happen? Was that even possible?

She knew whatever it was; she needed to find out soon. She needed to find out who Vader was and kill him before he could aid the rise of the Empire.

She suddenly felt incredibly alone. She wanted to tell Anakin – there was no way she'd tell the Council – about what she knew was going to happen but as soon as she thought about it, a negative wave of force energy washed over her, as if it was warning her. She knew that if she told someone, things wouldn't go down well. The force had picked her for a reason, and by the looks of things, it was her job to fix it – her job alone.

….

I haven't been keeping with Rebels – I saw the season 2 finale with Ahsoka VS Vader though, so throughout the story, I apologise if I make any mistakes regarding Rebels. Obviously this is an AU and I thought about this story while I was in the shower and I made the plan for it when I was at work (totally productive, right?) I have no idea how fast updates will be, I have a job and I go to college so I don't actually have loads of time to write.

But, in case you're confused by anything, I'll try to clear up a few things for you. After fighting Vader, Ahsoka goes back in time right to where she is being asked back into the Order. She has been brought there for a reason. She doesn't remember everything; she doesn't know who Vader is or Sidioius, she doesn't remember other things either. She doesn't know of Padmé's pregnancy or anything – yet. But I hope I can keep you guys interested with this story? It's my first multi-chapter story in about 3 or 4 years. Thanks, please review?