Disclaimer: Nope. Nothing has changed since last time. *sigh* Still don't own anything…

A/N: Here is the 2nd chapter of Darasuum and I hope you guys will enjoy it. I decided to publish only if the visitor's number hit 100. It happened earlier than I expected so the new chapter is your reward. For now I change the game (I guess watching Saw movies has rearranged some circuits in my brain...) I'll wait till it gets at least...hm...15 reviews.

Ps: Rabbit Writer should get a huge applause for helping me! S.! You are the Best!

Bon appétit.


Ahsoka walked slowly in the holding room with cautious steps. The soles of her leather boots sounded loud compared to the buzzing of the force shield that cut the cell in half like a flat, deadly curtain. Darkness gloomed in every corner and the only light was generated by the brilliantly red shield itself. The young padawan remembered only all too well how it felt to touch the thin electrical wall, or to be captured behind one. Her expression hardened and she curled her fingers around the cold metal of her lightsaber in an attempt to find some sort of silent reassurance.

She closed the door behind, walked in a little further and stopped at a careful distance in front of the red force field. Her eyes flickered around, searching for the traitor. She could feel his presence and all of his hatred and acidic feelings seemed centered in one spot.

Finally, after a long moment of silence, a familiar voice whispered from out of the darkness.

"Welcome, young Jedi," her cold hand tightened on the hilt of her lightsaber.

Slick's black, skin-tight bodysuit kept him well hidden in the shadows, it was only until he bent forward from his sitting position, that his face was finally revealed in the flickering red light. Ahsoka suddenly felt a wave of venomous emotion shoot out toward her, but she kept her expression calm and settled.

"Trooper," she nodded slightly.

She didn't want to give Slick the satisfaction of acknowledging him by the name, but she also couldn't bring herself to call him by a number. "Respect every life" was her motto and she wasn't going to allow her principles to waver in the face of a little adversity.

"I see they have sent you to guard me," his voice sounded like dark silk wrapped around a sharp knife and his blazing dark eyes could have burned a whole through her skull.

Ahsoka knew he had no such powers or anything more real to threaten her with, yet she still felt a cold sensation settling into the pit of her stomach.

There's no need to be anxious, he's just a prisoner. Caged and handcuffed.

She kept repeating those small sentences like a mantra over and over in her head, as a way to fight the darkness and fear that threatened to overwhelm her.

"You know, looking at me like that won't change anything," she checked her small fingernails with feigned interest and put a hand on her softly-shaped hip in an attempt to downplay her anxiety.

She heard him stand up and Ahsoka glanced through her thick lashes at him. A quick look-over revealed that Slick had shifted his stance into something even more aggressive, so she tried put a little more authority into her next words.

"Look, I was sent to guard you and not to have small talk. You'd better behave until we reach Coruscant."

He kept looking at her as if she was a piece of meat and Ahsoka felt something disturbing change about his demeanor. His burning eyes took a lazy walk from the top of her small montrals, down to her feet, and then back to her tight-lipped face. Her nostrils flared angrily at his shameless leering, but she forced herself not to rise to his obvious bait.

"I think I know what he sees in you apart – from that delicious body and pretty face, of course."

Her utter shock and annoyance at his words had suddenly switched a button and her only reply to him was to cross her legs underneath her in a seated meditative pose and to place her slightly sweaty palms on her knees. His choice of words raised a wondering curiosity, but Ahsoka decided to turn her back and ignore him.

Slick was having none of the rejection and pressed on. His heavy boots thudded closer toward the force shield behind her sitting form.

"You might be pretty, but you're just as much of a slave-master to my brothers, as the rest of your two-faced kind."

His voice sounded much closer; he had crouched down behind her and Ahsoka had to fight the urge to bend her body away from so much hate.

She could feel it pressing down on her, like a physical force against her back. She kept breathing deep, her eyes closed tightly. She tried gallantly to shut her mind to him, but his slimy words found cracks in her meditative calm, like filthy water flowing through a broken sewer and poising the soil underneath.

"Don't you wonder why they picked you to guard me?"

Ahsoka felt her left eye twitch, but she kept the peace wrapped around her as firmly as if it were a blanket and tried not to let her own anger get the best of her. She was determined not get into an argument with the imprisoned traitor.

She had been sent to make sure that he staid in his cell and in his 'cuffs until they reach the galactic capitol - nothing more was asked of her. Conversation wasn't necessary or required.

Slick clearly had different thoughts in mind, though, and he kept trying to push her buttons. Ahsoka started to pray desperately to Force; if he didn't shut up soon, she was going to lose her temper and only pour oil on his fire.

"You're here because my beliefs are too dangerous for others to hear. I've discovered the truth – a truth that could change my brothers' views and the outcome of the War. The Jedi claim to be peace-keepers…but you liars are nothing more than heartless monsters, leading millions of my brothers into slaughter every single day" his words were hissed close behind her ears.

Ahsoka gritted her teeth but managed to still her body so she wouldn't move an inch. His words touched a spot inside her, though, and a single tear pricked the corner of her eye. She blinked it away rapidly and was thankful that she had chosen to turn her back to the clone.

"You Jedi aren't any better than slavers, who don't care at all for the loss of my brothers!"

Something inside her snapped.

The young Togruta jumped to her feet and was face-to-face with Slick in mere seconds. Her nose almost touched the Force shield and she had to raise her chin in order to deliver a harsh glare at the taller man.

"How dare you accuse me and the Order with such things!"

The grin on his face spread, a disgusting symbol of victory.

Ahsoka was fuming and her chest heaved with anger. Her heavy breathing pushed her small bosom to the hard fabric around her midsection. Cold blue eyes cut like steel into his grinning face and her dark orange skin flushed with anger, contrasting sharply with the delicate white stripes on her face.

Slick had to admit that she was quite a vision when pissed off. He leered slowly in admiration.

"You think I'm wrong, don't you? Well, you should take a closer look next time and see for yourself how your beloved Masters act after a battle, when my brothers die by the thousands!" he hissed through clenched teeth.

The force of his pure hatred turned Ahsoka's full lips into a thin line.

"We want to end this war as soon as possible! We want to give peace to the Republic and we want to stop the massacre of your brothers and other innocents!" she hissed back and fisted her hands, as if preparing to punch the force shield.

"Lies!" he spat the word as if it tasted bad in his mouth. "You dare preach about peace?"

Slick's hatred flared hot and vicious; the force of his emotions made him march from wall to wall like a caged panther. He fixed a predatory glare at the shaking padawan, as he stalked slowly back and forth.

Ahsoka was aware of her mistake, but in the heat of the moment she had felt compelled to stand up, and to defend herself and her masters. Dignity demanded that she couldn't turn back now, or apologize for what she had said.

Slick's words were causing more damage to her, than a viroblade or blaster shot ever could.

"Why don't you fight for peace with the people who crave it? Why does it have to be my brothers' blood that's spilled!" he pointed an accusing finger at her, as if she were a forgetful pupil who had failed to learn an important lesson.

"In the Old Republic, people were fighting for their freedom with their own hands. But, your 'Galactic Republic' has turned into a weak and rotting body that can't fend for itself! Cowards! Murderers! It deserves to fall apart and be destroyed, for using my brothers as expandable material! The Jedi were the ones who ordered us to be bred in Kaminoan labs! You had us created and we should be your responsibility! Our blood dries on your hands, Jedi!"

Ahsoka had to step back.

Slick's vicious words were like a whip being cracked cruelly against her bare skin. They were biting, torturing and painful…and she didn't have the strength to argue with him. She had never before felt so helpless in an argument. Her usual snippy and table-turning capabilities failed her when she needed them most, and Slick stopped his pacing to give her a spiteful glare.

"When the time comes, I hope he'll come over his stupidity and destroy you."

Her breath caught in her throat. She felt like being chocked with an invisible hand; images of slaughtered clones flashed in front of her eyes, followed by memories of Skyguy and Master Obi-Wan discussing those losses as if they were detached assets.

Something in Slick's tone caught her attention and she suddenly focused on his last words.

"W-what are you talking about?"

The pain on her face now mingled with confusion. Slick twisted his lips and put his hand on the wall next to the force shield. He bent forward, his demeanor suddenly still and almost deadly in it's pointed concentration.

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed yet," he shifted on his feet and the heated hatred of his words mixed with a contemptuous snort.

"Notice what?" she practically shouted; quickly losing her internal war with her anger.

Slick moved even closer to the cell's force shield, lowered his voice to almost a whisper, and give the padawan the answer she wasn't expecting.

"Rex, of course."

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed into slits and doubt found its way through the haze of her anger.

"I don't get it. Rex is a friend and…"

Slick's abrupt laughter echoed in the dark cell; Ahsoka stared at him as if he had finally lost his mind for good.

"You're more naive than I thought, cyar'ika," he started to project those disturbing feelings at her again, as his eyes turned a darker shade and roamed every curve on her body.

"You are no 'friend' to him." his gaze slipped back up to meet her wide, innocent eyes. "I know him just as well as any other brother. When he looks at you, it's written all over his face. And when he isn't looking at you…the rest of us can still tell what he's thinking."

His next words froze Ahsoka to the spot, with a clenching sort of feeling twisting inside of her.

"The good Captain Rex has feelings for you. And not the we're-just-friends kind, either."

Ahsoka just gaped for a second and then tried to put a coherent sentence together. She failed, miserably. Every logical explanation and reasonable argument died on her lips the moment she opened her mouth. She shook her head abruptly and risked one final note to Slick.

"You are crazy."

He gave a wicked smile.

"I might be," walking back to his stool Slick turned and sat back into the shadows. His voice was like steel. "But, I'm not wrong."

Ahsoka realized that Rex had been right about Slick all along.

She swallowed hard, but wasn't able to turn her gaze away from the face she saw day after day, on hundreds of others. Slick's eyes looked demonic, with the force shield's red light reflecting off them; she quickly decided to admit her defeat and leave the cell in order to save her sanity.

Slick had managed to hurt her, without ever once touching her.