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Grim tried to let go of her worries and merge with the Living Force. She was alone with a lightsaber droid she had set to kill. Usually, only Masters fought the droid, and almost none of them put it on the most lethal setting. Her logic was that General Grievous would be trying to kill her – or Force forbid – Palpatine himself. The droid had many spiderlike arms, each equipped with a green saber. They rained down on her as she imagined a similar attack coming from Grievous or from Palpatine’s crimson blades. If she wanted to stop Order 66, she had to win. If she wanted to see Ash again, she had to win. Grim pressed her attack. Her violet blade whirled, zigged, and zagged through the night air as it met the emerald laser swords of her opponent. She let go and melted into the ocean of the Force. It was like looking into a crystal ball that showed everything at once. Some things she couldn’t escape. She saw Vader’s shadow by the burning Jedi Order. She saw Palpatine’s calm hatred choking the life out of the galaxy. But above it all, she saw a purpley-silver aura that was her love for Ahsoka. It was beyond everything, an endless horizon that was both breathtaking and perfect. She felt awed, but she also felt doubt. Her doubts snapped her out of her reverie, and the droid used her misstep to sizzle some of the skin off her arm.
“Ow!”
She was doubtful because even though she had spent Season One and almost all of Season Two with Ahsoka, Grim was still unsure she had known Ahsoka long enough to develop an infinite and timeless love for her. But then she felt doubt about feeling doubt, ‘cuz doubt leads to the Dark Side. But then again, if she went full throttle like her big brother Anakin, wouldn’t she be following in his footsteps down a path of attachment that leads into the darkness? She saw her love for Ahsoka as the road to sleep, to comfy warmth, and to feeling safe. Grim imagined them snuggling and drinking hot chocolate – because they have hot chocolate in Star Wars. With Grim preoccupied, the droid went in for the kill. She had the remote to deactivate it, but she couldn’t spare a hand. Her hands were getting slippery, her throat was getting tight, and she saw herself becoming one with the Force very soon. It was time for her to attempt something very important, something she had been working on for a while: a Prequel flip. Grim jumped over the droid and tried to slice it down the middle, but it slashed her ankle instead.
“Aw, shit!”
She flopped down and sprung up to one knee, but it was about to end as the droid brought all its lightsabers down on her. Faster than a bullet, Obi-Wan’s lightsaber came spinning and decapitated the droid.
“Grim!” Obi-Wan ran up, fell to his knees, and hugged her.
She tried not to cry. “Dad.”
“You almost died!”
“I know.”
“By the Force, why do you do these things?”
Grim shook her head. “I have to stop it, and to do that I have to get better-” Her voice broke.
“You need to alleviate your burden, Padawan, you must share what troubles you with someone you hold dear, like Ahsoka.”
“No! I can’t tell her about it, it might change things the wrong way. But there is something else I’ve wanted to tell her.”
“Then you should tell her, Grim.”
“What about the no attachments thingy?”
A shadow fell across Obi-Wan’s face as he thought of Satine. “You must do what you know is right, that is the Jedi way.”
“I know telling her would be right, but I’m afraid.”
“There is no fear; fear leads to the Dark Side.”
She smiled. “Well, when you put it like that…”
“Come, I’ll get you some bacta pads for those nasty burns.”
“And some cocoa?”
They laughed and went into the warmth of the Temple.
*****
The next morning, Ahsoka was practicing her lightsaber skills and thinking of Grim. She became lost in the flurry of her thoughts, her dance, and the neon haze left by her lightsabers. Ahsoka had the utmost respect for the Order, but her attachment to Grim was like a tattoo running across her thoughts, her heart, her very being. Grim had become a part of her destiny. The part of her that felt responsible for upholding the Jedi Code was troubled.
“What troubles you, little ‘Soka?”
“Master Plo!”
“I could feel your troubled heart, and so I came.”
Ahsoka looked away. “I’m not troubled, Master.”
Plo Koon contemplated the cherry blossoms on a tree in the pavilion. “There are many tests one has to pass to become a Jedi Master. One such test is the Temptation of the Dark Lords, during which a Knight opens themselves to the evil within a Sith holocron. I witnessed the holocron of a professor at a Sith academy who theorized that, on occasion, the Force recognizes itself through two people at one time. Those two people will forever see each other as an ideal and perfect being, for the Force has bound them together with a love that is pure and eternal.”
She was surprised, but it was also like she was learning something she already knew. “But that isn’t a Jedi teaching?”
Plo Koon walked up to the cherry tree and watched the pink blossoms ruffle in the breeze. “No, it is not. But is the Force not beyond the Jedi? Who are we to thwart what it has set in motion?”
She smiled. “Thank you, Master Plo.”
He looked towards something far away. “I believe she awaits you, little ‘Soka.”
Ahsoka skipped away, and under his mask, Plo Koon smiled.
*****
“Ash, I really need to talk to you!”
“Grim! I really need to talk to you!”
Anakin walked up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Tiny, Snips, you’ve gotta slow down. This is no time for girl flirting, we have a mission to Malastare.”
Grim squinted at him and slowly reached for her lightsaber. “Girl flirting? Girl flirting, you say?”
Ahsoka talked her down before heading towards the cruiser with Anakin.
“So close…”
Obi-Wan pointed upward. “I suggest patience.”
“Kark patience.”
“Grim!”
On Malastare, an electro-proton bomb was readied to drop on the invasive droid army. It dropped, and a giant EMP field approached.
Things went a little topsy-turvy, and Anakin shouted, “Hold onto something!”
Grim wrapped her arms around Ahsoka, who smirked.
“Not what I meant!”
Once the dust settled, the droids were deactivated and everything was calm.
“Looks like it worked.”
Grim groaned as the ground at the impact site imploded, engulfing some clones.
“Let’s get down there!”
In the pit, they quickly located the lost clones.
Obi-Wan kneeled down to speak to one of the injured. “What has happened here?”
“There’s something down here with us, General, and it’s not clankers.”
“Everything will be alright, trooper. You can rest now.”
Grim reluctantly joined the others walking on one of the arms of the slumbering Zillo Beast.
“There’s nothing down here but rocks and debris.”
“You’re totally right.”
Right then, the Zillo Beast awakened and looked at them.
“Try to make it to the ship!”
The Beast roared as the clones opened fire and Anakin tried to slash it. “What the heck is this thing?”
The gunship shot missiles at it while the Jedi jumped for it. Anakin grabbed a support in the gunship, Obi-Wan grabbed his leg, Ahsoka grabbed Obi-Wan’s leg, and Grim grabbed Ahsoka’s leg. The Zillo Beast tried to swat the human chain, but the gunship rose too quickly.
Back on the surface, Anakin flipped out. “What was that thing!?”
The representative of the Dugs, Doge Urus, answered. “A Zillo Beast. They’re supposed to be extinct, but we shall remedy the oversight soon enough.”
The Dugs began dumping toxic fuel into the pit.
Obi-Wan protested. “This is wrong! You are killing a unique life form!”
“The Zillo Beast must return to extinction. If you want your treaty, you will allow this to happen.”
“As Jedi, we cannot allow the destruction of an innocent life form.”
“Then there shall be no treaty.”
Urus left the Jedi squad alone.
“Master, are you sure this argument is worth it? It’s just one creature.”
Grim and Ahsoka were disgusted by his callousness.
“It isn’t the creature, Anakin, it’s the principal. Allowing the Dugs to kill this life form violates everything we stand for as Jedi.”
They reconvened in a strategy meeting with Palpatine present via hologram.
“Astounding.”
“I suggest we relocate the creature as soon as possible.”
“And what do the Dugs have to say in this matter?”
“They desire for us to help them kill it.”
“Then by all means, do so. This creature is of no import. All that matters is securing the treaty.”
Grim interrupted. “This is wrong. Jedi do not aid murderers. Not on purpose, anyway.”
Palpatine glared at her in annoyance and with a sort of suspicion, as if he could tell that she was different somehow.
Anakin spoke up. “And there may be another reason to keep it alive. From what I’ve seen, it’s scales are impenetrable. If we could replicate it for the clone army…”
“An impenetrable armor… tell me more Anakin, is there a solution you propose?”
“If our stun cannons can penetrate its skin, we should be able to put it to sleep and fool the Dugs into thinking it’s dead.”
“This may be the only way we shall get this treaty ratified while soothing the concerns of our model Jedi. Do it.”
The Zillo Beast escaped the pit and started rampaging. The stun cannons tried to take it down, but it tossed some of them away like tin cans. Anakin ordered more forward.
“Keep it comin’, come on, pour it on.”
Soon enough, the stun cannons worked, and the Beast collapsed. The treaty was signed, and the Jedi got ready to leave. On their cruiser, they spoke with Palpatine once again.
“Have you selected a planet for relocation?”
“There has been a change of plans, Master Jedi. Our scientists wish to study the creature in a controlled environment on Coruscant prior to its release elsewhere.”
“I suppose we are the escort, then?”
Back on Coruscant, Palpatine was awed by the Zillo Beast. “Such size, such power.”
Grim couldn’t help herself. “That’s what she said.”
Ahsoka clasped her hand over Grim’s mouth.
“This may be dangerous.”
“I didn’t make this decision lightly, Master Kenobi. The sooner we unlock the creature’s secrets, the sooner we can end this terrible war.”
*****
Later that day, Grim was in the Jedi nursery playing patty cake with Baby Yoda. He was even younger, smaller, and cuter than the Baby Yoda she had watched before entering the Star Wars universe. She had to lie on the floor to play patty cake with him, but she cherished every second of it. It was moments like this she was fighting for.
“Ash is busy right now, Baby, but as soon as she’s free I’m going to tell her how I feel.”
He cooed in agreement.
Grim took all of his baby noises as affirmations. “I’m still so nervous… Oh, Baby Yoda, how do I tell her?”
“Baby Yoda, his name is not.”
“Oh my Force, old Yoda is with Baby Yoda! I mean, I’m really sorry, what is his name?”
Yoda very gently laid a hand on his head. “Grogu, this is.”
Grim shook Grogu’s tiny hand. “It’s nice to know your name, Grogu.”
“Know what it is like to be from somewhere else, the child and I do. Gives one a unique perspective, it does.”
She looked a little sad. “Don’t you ever feel alone?”
Yoda gestured at the trio. “Alone, are we?”
Grogu squeaked.
“Definitely not alone.”
“A family, we are.”
“A family brought together by the Force?”
“Indeed.”
Her holowatch beeped. “It’s time to trust that the Force will keep us together.”
The green guys waved her good luck.
Soon, she caught up with Ahsoka. “Ash, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“I want to talk to you too, Grim, but I’m still in a hurry.”
“We don’t have much time!”
“Much time before what?”
“Ash, please listen to me, we might die, and I need to say this first!”
“Die? Grim, what are you talking about?”
Just then, the Zillo Beast came crashing through downtown.
Grim made her decision. “I love you!”
Ahsoka froze, then she looked down. “This morning, I was going to tell you-”
They said it at once. “I love you!” They kissed, and the Zillo Beast roared, and they cried because they finally found each other, and they cried because they could lose each other in the moments to follow. They contemplated each other, and the rampaging lizard, as their tears glistened in the electric lights of the Coruscant evening.
“We finally said it.”
“Grim.”
She gazed at Ahsoka and noticed how beautiful she looked against the skyline.
“It doesn’t matter that we didn’t say it before. The future doesn’t matter either. All that matters is that we are here together.”
“This moment is forever in the Force. I love you forever, Ash.”
“I love you forever, Grim.”
They kissed the kiss of a shared lifetime before their communicators beeped.
“Padawans! Anakin, Senator Amidala, and the Chancellor the creature has! Needed, you are!”
Holding hands, they ran to find Yoda.
“Soothe the creature, we must. Come!”
They boarded a gunship and flew in close to the creature.
“Focus, padawans, use your love to soothe the creature’s heart!”
Grim raised her eyebrows. “Wait, what love are we talking about?”
“No time is this for pretext, young Kennet. Open your hearts, both of you must.”
Yoda pointed his hands at the creature.
“This is kind of awkward with gramps here…”
Ahsoka gave her a kiss on the cheek. “We’re never awkward together, Grim.”
“Still open, my eyes are. Not deaf, am I, either.”
“You told us to focus our love.”
“I believe it’s working.”
The creature looked sleepy, then reared up again.
“Required, more is.”
“Grim, look at me.”
Grim looked at her and saw the love of her life.
“Remember.”
They connected through the Force, and it took them back to the moment it first brought them together. They watched their feelings bud and blossom. Their lightsaber ballets. Grim saving Ahsoka, Ahsoka saving Grim. Their fear of losing each other to death, the survival of their love. Every stolen moment and electric touch. Then, they saw what they could never remember, what had yet to come. The death of their family. The birth of a rebellion. Vader and the other red blades. But through it all, they were one.
“Do you see it, Grim?”
“Yes.”
Within the Force, a purpley-silver cloud of energy went out from the couple and into the Zillo Beast. Finally, it rested.
“Succeeded, we have.”
The gunship landed a safe distance away, and the group convened.
Grim thought she saw Palpatine’s eyes flash yellow.
“Now, we shall administer the poison gas in its sleep.”
“Not so fast, Palps.”
“Do you have something to say, Kennet?”
“Look over there.”
Some transports drove up, and a committee came forward from them.
“We are the Coruscanti League for the Preservation of Endangered Life Forms.”
“I recognize no such League.”
“You approved our budget at the funds allocation summit earlier this year. In effect, you allowed our charter to go forward.” The woman handed him a datapad.
Palpatine read it. “Take the creature, then.” He left seething.
“How did you know to show up here?”
Grim beamed. “I called them.”
For once, Yoda was surprised. “Did you, when?”
“After I left you and Grogu, before I did something else important.” She held Ahsoka’s hand. “You guys inspired me to look at things from my own unique perspective and find a path to the light.”
Ahsoka smiled. “A path we walk together.”
Grim smiled back. “Always.”
The End