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She pushed, struggling against the weight of his one saber. The fight had left her, leaving just the need to survive and protect. She wouldn’t leave him, if she could, she would save him. Ahsoka had to save him.
The temple closed with a thub, reverberating throughout the now closed off room.
The moment it had shut, Vader stepped back, turned off his lightsaber and greeted, “Hey, Snips!”
“Wh-”
She stumbled back, bracing her lightsabers in front of her in case he decided to attack. This had to be a trick. There was no reason he would suddenly change like a flip was switched. And, how dare he call her Snips, after everything. He didn’t deserve the right.
“What do you want?” she growled out, desperately hiding back tears at the familiar posture.
“Well, we were supposed to catch up later weren’t we? It’s later now. Let’s catch up!” he said, and he almost sounded amused. He shifted, leaning back with his arms crossed against his chest. Vader’s eye was still that sickly shade of yellow, but it no longer held that murderous rage that had been there a moment ago.
Shocked, she only stepped back, letting her lightsabers dip towards the ground. She remembered that moment, nearly 16 years now, when she had promised to catch up later. They never ended up getting the chance, not with everything that had happened.
“So, Snips, how have you been?”
Switching off her ‘sabers, Ahsoka attached them back to her belt, carefully eyeing Vader. “Fine…” she started off slowly, stepping slightly closer.
The building rumbled, reminding them both of how it was moments away from collapsing. They needed to make this quick, she needed to make this quick. Either he would kill her or the building would, if she wasn’t careful.
“How…” she paused, cleared her throat and continued, “How are you? How have you been?”
She experienced such cognitive dissonance in seeing the sith lord shrug . “Meh, fine, I guess. I mean, as well as you can be when you constantly want to kill your master. What have you been up to?”
Honestly, it got to a point where her life is so crazy, she figured that this might as well happen. Ahsoka might as well sit there and talk to the monster that had used to be her master. Maybe something would come of it, maybe she would learn or help, or, bring him back. Yes, then they could go to Obi-Wan together and figure out what to do.
“Trying to stay alive,” she admitted, crossing her own arms. “It’s a little hard when Inquisitors and Stormtroopers are hunting you down. But I’ve made do. Made new lightsabers.”
He gasped, reaching into his belt, “Look! What I found! It’s your lightsaber! The one I gave you? Or at least one of them. I found it with a bunch of helmets in the snow, and figured I’d keep it, ya know?”
He ignited it, startling her by the brilliant blue blade. It made her think back to memories she had long since buried, cracked battered helmets on sticks. Tears down a friend's face, and a crashed ship.
Instinctually, she flinched backward from it, letting her eyes shut.
“Oh shit, sorry,” Vader cursed, followed by the sound of the lightsaber turning off.
The half robot stepped closer, yellow eye piercing through the cracked mask. The whole building heaved again as it shifted, sending them scrambling to maintain a hold on something to steady. Ahsoka really needed to think out a plan of escape, she needed to. There were people counting on her to get out and make it back.
“So, Snips, you could come with me, back home to Coruscant, and we could finish catching up there?” Vader finally offered, looking up at the ceiling. “It’s really lonely without you and I miss you. We still have a lot to talk about and catch up on! And look at you! You’re so big now! Anyway, just come with me.”
She shot him a look, mouth quirked up in an unbelieving look. With one fluid motion, she whipped out her lightsabers in order to cut an opening out.
“You know, Sky Guy, if you really want to catch up,” she responded smirking. And for a second, it was almost like they were right in the thick of it again. “Maybe come back to the light and then we’ll talk. It’s hard to be in the presence of yet another Sith Lord.”
Without waiting for a response, she jumped out the opening taking off in a sprint. As she bolted away, she almost thought she had heard Vader say, “We’ll see little one.”