It was too much at once. The visions were tormenting Barriss once again, resurfacing when she least expected it. It had been such a long time since she didn't experience one of her breakdowns that the feeling took her by surprise. She'd felt it creep up in the back of her mind all day as she was berating the death of her fellow Jedi, waiting for her to let her guard down. I won't let them get to me. They can't hurt me. They're dead. Fifteen years behind bars hadn't erased the deep connections she had formed with them despite herself and now that their spirits were visiting her beyond the grave, she felt guilty for trying to send them away and lock them up in a corner of her mind for good. Especially Ahsoka's, the one she had most cherished among the Order. Her old Master came close after, but Ahsoka was on another level entirely. Her mere existence had been a benediction to Barriss on quite a lot of occasions and she found that despite the terrible mistake she'd committed in betraying her, a mistake which led her where she was now and destroyed all her hopes to ever become a Jedi master, a dream she had entertained since she learned about the Order, she didn't resent her for that anymore. It was all in the past and Barriss was ready to move on and begin anew. Eventually, she would like to regain Ahsoka's trust. For that she was ready to do anything, even if it meant having to sacrifice herself and her honor in exchange for her recognition. I don't care if she's dead. I don't care if she can't hear me. I just want her to know that I still love her and that... I'm sorry.

Her girlfriend's corpse lay at her feet, her chest pierced by a laser blow. Her tunic was still scorching hot from the impact, a wisp of smoke still visible in the cold air but slowly dissipating in the shadows, and blood was pooling underneath her. Her eyes were wide open, fixing the ceiling and her skin appeared to be paler than usual, her veins made hyper-visible by its translucence. Even in death, she was a sight to behold, Barriss thought.

Unable to stay indifferent any longer, she let out a blood-curdling scream she hadn't known she'd been holding and let herself cry until all her tears had been emptied out and she could do nothing but let out a deep, hollow laugh. What have they done to you, my Soka? How could he let it happen, that vile creature you once called Master?

''How dare you take her away from me?'' she screeched at the top of her lungs, her cot snapping against the wall as she tore it off from it. She could feel the power radiating off her, the Force awakening in her at last and completely subjugating her, possessing her, stripping her of her will. The only thing that mattered was getting back at him.

Her last thoughts before passing out were of plans of revenge against the man who had hurt her friend so deeply.

XxX

Barriss waited until the Guards were asleep to activate the lightsaber the man had given her. At last, she thought. The sudden burst of energy made by the blade was akin to the one she was experiencing as she held the artifact - for such it was - in her hands, closing her eyes to let the Force flow in.

For the first time in ages she felt truly free, the wall she had built collapsing around her brick by brick as she executed a few movements to test the blade. It was perfectly balanced for her and suited her preferred form as well. It was just like she remembered it. Too bad I don't have the other one, she thought bitterly.

With that she turned around and stuck the lightsaber up the blast door, tracing a vertical line with it to melt it down. Just as she was about to deactivate the door's shield, she remembered what the man had told her before vanishing in the dark alleys of the prison.

''From the moment you break out of this cell, you will have exactly ten minutes to get out of the facility before they activate the shields.''

She pierced the shield generator with her saber and went up the corridor with as much stealth as she could muster in these circumstances. Her heart was thumping hard in her chest, fueled by the adrenaline release she had triggered as she'd set foot out of her cell. Her hands were sweaty and shaky and her thoughts were all over the place, keeping her from staying focused. Only one thing remained clear, and canceled out everything else: victory was near. She could sense it. Both in the Force and in her...

Gut? She didn't see them coming. As soon as she turned the corner, she found herself stranded by half a dozen battle droids. One of them had pointed its blaster to her stomach, alerting its superiors as it babbled on about its catch on its comm-link. ''We found her. She's still alive. Should we try to-''

With a wheezing sound, the droid was rendered completely useless. As she retrieved her lightsaber, Barriss Force-pushed the remaining battle droids against a wall and with a crushing sound their heads were all dislocated.

Before making her escape through the ventilation circuit that she'd conveniently cut open one week before, she kicked one's head as it attempted to shoot her and deflected the blasterfire that what she assumed was the back-up batch directed at her, effectively killing two out of the four of them.

Not bad, she congratulated herself.

''Shoot to kill,'' she heard one of them say as she sealed the ventilation circuit shut.

''Just as I predicted, they're coming after me. Great,'' she mumbled to herself.

She had managed to make it out of the ventilation circuit alive, which was an accomplishment in itself, but the worst was yet to come. The worst came in the form of three Crimson Guards armed with double-bladed lightsabers the same blood red as their cape.

One of them lunged forward at her as she landed gracefully on her feet before them and the other two stood nearby, positioning themselves around her like predators hunting their prey. After an awkward pause during which the three guards exchanged glances, the one who'd first stepped forward engaged her. She parried the attack easily and retaliated with a crushing blow to the chest, which he barely managed to dodge.

Their blades came into contact as Barriss charged once again, this time aiming for the head. Mercy is for the weak.

All of a sudden she decided to go for the sides, using every tactic she knew to distract him. She had always incorporated acrobatic movements to her form whenever she dueled someone and now that her life depended on her victory against some of the best trained Force-users in the galaxy, she didn't hold back and let herself be carried away by the will of the Force.

She didn't know why, but it told her to deactivate her weapon and just like that she obeyed, knowing that it would pay off. As soon as she saw the opportunity, she leaped across the room and as she passed one of the guards, she activated her lightsaber and planted it in his skull as easily as if it'd been made of butter. One down, two to go.

The second one revealed himself to be more of a challenge, striking at the most inopportune moments just as if he'd anticipated each one of her movements before she even thought of executing them. Thankfully they seemed to have reached an agreement that prevented them from attacking her at the same time, which allowed Barriss a little more leverage. Stay focused. You're almost there.

Gathering all her strength, she Force-pushed her opponent against a wall and turned around to take on the other one, more slender and agile than the other two. She kicked her in the gut, taking the guard by surprise. Barriss closed her eyes for a moment, letting the Force guide her.

The guard didn't stay stunned for long, since as soon as Barriss opened her eyes she was ready to fight, twirling her saber-staff effortlessly as she advanced towards her. Show-off.

She struck first, aiming for her chest. Just as the blade came into contact with Barriss' shoulder, she raised her other hand and began choking her. Barriss squirmed under her Force-grip as hot tears streamed down her face. The wound hurt so much that for a second she thought she had lost her limb. Alas it was not so, but the intensity of the blow had made her drop her lightsaber on the duracrete floor inadvertently.

As the woman tightened her grip around her throat, she heard the other guard get up and activate his lightsaber behind her, waiting for the woman's signal to off her. This time I die.

Just as she was about to give up and let her enemy crush her throat, a voice echoed in the back of her head, telling her to go on and be strong. Ahsoka. Is that really...you?

She kicked the woman in the face with all the strength she had left, picking up her lighsaber as the man prepared himself to attack her. As soon as she'd regained her weapon, he slashed at her and with more difficulty this time, Barriss parried the blow. The wound in her shoulder was painful and prevented her from getting back at him: she was forced to assume a defensive stance, protecting her shoulder from further damage.

Acting on a sudden impulse, she broke her stance and whirled around to distract her opponent, lunging at him from behind and sticking her weapon in his gut just as he was turning around to meet her with his blade. Now I escape.