Saga Lie to Me (Rebels, post-The Siege of Lothal, SPOILERS)

Title: Lie to Me
Author: AngelQueen
Timeframe: Rebels, post-The Siege of Lothal
Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Bail Organa
Summary: He’d known this day would come. He didn’t have to be a Jedi to know that the Force would eventually lead her to this point.
Status: Complete
Notes: OMG OMG DID YOU ALL SEE! POOR AHSOKA! *flail*



He’d known this day would come. He didn’t have to be a Jedi to know that the Force would eventually lead her to this point.

He’d known it the first time she made contact with him, after nearly three years of him sending out tentative searchers, hoping she had managed to survive the holocaust of her people. He’d known it when she had insisted on taking part in his activities to undermine Palpatine’s Empire.

She may have left the Jedi Order before it had come crashing down, but she was a Jedi still. It was not in her to stand by and do nothing while others suffered at the hand of tyranny. She had learned her lessons too well.

That was how he knew she would find out eventually. He had prepared himself as best he could, braced himself for the unpleasant duty of informing her of her beloved Master’s true fate. She had never asked before if he knew what had happened to the man, even when he told her of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s continued survival. The question had been there, in her eyes, but she had not put it into words.

She had not asked, and he had not offered.

But now the time had come.

The reports from the fleet were disheartening, to say the very least. Their command ship was lost, their fighter squadron decimated, and the survivors utterly demoralized. All at the hands of a single Imperial fighter.

It was terrible, but perhaps the worst, the most heart wrenching, was the recording of what had occurred on the Ghost.

It was merely an audio recording, as Captain Syndulla had no visual recorders installed in her cockpit, but it was enough.

“The Force is strong with him… Kanan! Let’s find out how strong!”

“How can I help?”

“Just remember your training."

Their training, Jedi training. Such training had not saved the rest of the Order.

He could hear the sounds of battle going on, of Captain Syndulla coordinating the desperate counterattack against the Imperials, but then there had been something else. Young Ezra Bridger, the Padawan learner of Kanan Jarrus, gave voice to what was now hunting every Rebel in the Empire.

“There’s something familiar… I feel… cold… I think I know who it is! Back on Lothal, I felt something. Kanan did too. The fear, the anger, the hate… it’s the Sith Lord we faced!”

“NO!”

That shrill cry chilled him to the bone. The denial, the grief, the despair…

She knew.

So now here he sat, looking at the Togruta who sat on the other side of his desk, her fists clenched tightly in her lap. Her skin was pale, almost ashen, but her back was straight. She was still in shock, he thought, but clinging tightly to every bit of self-control she had.

“Tell me it’s not him, Senator.” The words were barely more than a whisper, but they still had all the impact of thermal detonators. She stared at him unblinkingly. “Tell me it’s not him.”

She was practically begging him to lie, to tell her that what she had sensed in that battle wasn’t real. She wanted him to tell her that the monster in that black suit was just that, a monster, and nothing more.

She wanted him to tell her that Anakin Skywalker was dead and beyond all of the horrors that had destroyed everything he had once fought to preserve.

Bail Organa was many things, but he was not a liar.

“I wish I could, Ahsoka.”

A shudder swept through her body, and she seemed to swallow a small, hitching sob, refusing to actually give voice to it. She suppressed the grief he could easily see trying to break free, and he could not help but wonder what it would be like if and when another girl sat in that same chair. A brown-eyed girl who was every bit as strong and fierce as the woman before him.

Would she react like this? Or would she scream, howl a denial out to an unmerciful galaxy?

He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know.

“What… how?” Her voice brought him away from those terrible thoughts and back to the situation he currently faced. She stared at him, clearly wanting answers. “What happened?”

He sighed. He and Obi-Wan had long debated on what to say to anyone who made the connection between Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. Obi-Wan even now clung to the belief that Anakin was dead, and that there was nothing left but Vader. In the years since that initial discussion, he had come to disagree. It was not that simple. Vader’s actions were utterly reprehensible, there was no arguing that, and at the same time, he could see the underlying selfishness and arrogance in his behavior.

Traits that Anakin Skywalker had displayed in all the years he had known him.

No, Anakin Skywalker was still very much alive and aware. That he went by another name did not negate that. This was Anakin Skywalker who had no one left to restrain his more undesirable qualities. No wife, no brother, no apprentice.

But how to explain that? He looked into her sharp, pleading eyes and opened his mouth to speak, though he had no idea what was actually going to come out of his mouth.

 

Brilliant! Heart-tugging! As one who has recently found Hera and Kanan and glomped onto them with pleasure, doubly so.

 

^ What does that have to do with this story? I'm slightly confused.

Great one-shot! What comes to mind is the following...

"When your leader's gone
He only meant to make you stronger
Cause what you need, you are."

...and since, in some way, Anakin indeed is gone and Ahsoka has matured greatly since the days when she was his apprentice, I am positive that she will be OK. But the initial shock and the feeling of betrayal have been pictured here so well. I also love how you stated Bail and Obi-Wan's different stances on this.

 

This was great! Bail had some 'splainin to do, but his anguish at doing so was very well realised.

 

Wow, this was great, AngelQueen! I especially loved Bail's thoughts about having to actually tell Ahsoka that the man she looked up to so much is now a monster. It has to be so hard for him to have to be the one to shatter that heroic image in her head of what Anakin once was. I also loved how his thoughts went to Leia, and how he imagined having to tell her about her real father. I can easily see this moment as one of the key reasons why Bail chose not to tell Leia anything about her family before Alderaan was destroyed.

Anyway, great job! And I'm really glad you've come back to SW fanfiction. It's been a while!

 

Nyota's Heart - Thank you!

Ewok Poet - I quite agree. Ahsoka is strong, and she will be okay soon. Her early reactions were exactly what I was going for. My headcanon is that she assumed that Anakin died in the initial Purges on Coruscant or shortly thereafter, and that while she mourned him deeply, she also took comfort in the idea that he was one with the Force and, thus, at peace. The galaxy's troubles could no longer weigh him down. Now she's had the truth of it shoved down her throat and she's doing some serious flailing, which is perfectly understandable. But once she talks to Bail and takes the time to truly process this (meditation ahoy!), she will get her sea legs back and carry on the good fight, because that's what the Anakin she remembers would want her to do, regardless of what he's become now. Thanks for replying!

JadeLotus - Oh yes, Bail has some serious talking to do, definitely.

Specterace - Thanks! Bail comparing the situation of having to explain things to Ahsoka to having to one day tell Leia about her biological father was one of the things I was going for. I'd say Bail is smart enough to know that this situation is a mere taste of what could possibly be in his future. Ahsoka was Anakin's apprentice and she cared deeply for him. Now he has to be the one to explain what he knows about Anakin's fall - and likely what Anakin did to Padmé, someone else Ahsoka cared a great deal about. As for why Bail chose not to tell Leia anything about her biological family, I think that may have been pre-arranged between him and Obi-Wan. My headcanon is that Bail and Obi-Wan weren't going to tell the twins anything until they were adults and well settled into their own sense of selves. Obi-Wan likely figured that he wouldn't be alive to tell the twins, but knew he had his training with Qui-Gon to fall back on and so probably figured he'd be there as a ghost. The destruction fo Alderaan and Bail's death along with it was probably something neither of them ever figured on. They probably figured that Bail would be there for both Leia and Luke when the news was revealed, and might have been able to soften the blow for them at least a little. Alderaan going boom courtesy of Tarkin and Vader's complete lack of tact completely threw that plan out the window.

 

This is great!

I love the way Ahsoka confronts Bail about the matter of the truth. It's a telling moment in how both of them would respond to this sudden confrontation/revelation.

 

I love how you show Ahsoka's heartbreak at the revelation! Poor Bail, being put in the position of being the one to confirm the truth. Great work!

 

leiamoody - Thanks! I'm glad you found the characterizations realistic. I can't see Ahsoka being angry at the others for keeping this quiet. It'd probably be a huge blow to anyone who looked at the Jedi and the Republic with any positive feelings. The idea that the Republic's great hero went completely insane and has been terrorizing the galaxy for fifteen years now would probably break a lot of people. She might be a little upset that she wasn't told, but eventually she might conceed that it was better that she didn't know for as long as she did. In the early days of the Empire, when things were probably really bad for her (feeling the Jedi being slaughtered in droves, etc), knowing that it was her beloved Anakin who was doing all of that might very well have broken Ahsoka back then.

skygawker - Thank you! Ahsoka and Bail really are in sucky positions now, having to deal with the sins of Anakin Skywalker. So glad you enjoyed!

 

I was telling my sister about the events of The Siege of Lothal and she told me that she could see the brilliance of Anakin in the strategies that Vader was employing and said that what he ordered might have been something that Anakin might have ordered if he didn't have morals.

While my personal jury is still out on whether or not Ahsoka knows the truth or not and if Bail would or did reveal things to her this is a good piece of work. I liked the end since it reminded me of a very loosely planned one-shot I'm brainstorming that would take place after the beginning of S2 of Rebels where a Seer tells the Rebels that they can claw at the Empire all they want but it won't do them any good since the Chosen One doesn't care about what happens to the galaxy right now. He is too full of pain, hate and grief to care; in fact he would rather watch it burn.

 

Lady_Misty - Your sister makes a good point. I actually had a similar thought or two concerning Vader's tactics and feats throughout the episode. When I watched Vader go up against the entire Rebel convoy by himself, I couldn't help but say to myself, "Yeah, that's totally what Anakin Skywalker would do." Heck, he did some similar things during the Clone Wars, which makes it kind of disturbing, seeing Skywalker's tactical skills being used against people he once fought alongside and/or for.

I love your one-shot idea! It's an interesting idea, a Seer pointing out that the fate of the galaxy and freedom being restored is dependent on the Chosen One getting over himself and doing the right thing. For all that, though, I still think that the gang can make a difference in helping others fight the Empire. Even if the big picture depends on Anakin Skywalker taking out Palpatine, the smaller details are just as important. So while the Rebels won't be able to win on the big picture, that doesn't mean that they give up. When victory is had at Endor and the Alliance moves on to attempt to restore/rebuild the Republic, then they're going to need the locals' cooperation. If there are local Rebel cells who have been fighting the good fight and doing what they can to stand up to the Empire, then things will be that much easier. It's all part of one big puzzle - each piece is important.