A/N:Well here is chapter 3, and wow did it take me a while to write this one up. I kept getting writers block like no ones business, but I digress. Here it is folks I hope you enjoy, please keep all hands and feet inside the story coaster.

Meeting the Dark: Chapter 3

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Ahsoka POV

It had been five days since Ahsoka's encounter with Darth Teridonis and her vision of war. Five days of recovery, five days of near solitude. And in those five days Ahsoka had experienced everything from mental breakdowns to small fits of rage to paranoidic fear. Every night she was plagued by nightmares, each one completely different, sometimes she would see images of a giant space station that looked like a small moon, a city in the clouds of a gas giant, a world made of endless swamps.

But one thing remained a constant in each dream. A man in a black suit and mechanical breathing haunted each one, and each time Ahsoka began to feel a sense of familiarity with the figure. As if she knew them. And it frightened her. And the more she dwelled on it, the more she was beginning to figure out what the voice of Teridonis meant by "This is your fate if you deny me."

Ahsoka was laying in her bed mulling over these thoughts, "Maybe, maybe I'm seeing the future, but what the kriff does that voice mean by denying him? I would die before becoming a Sith."

She the yawned and blinked several times. She was beyond exhausted, the constant nightmares giving her no rest when she slept. She could feel the bags under eyes, her body was weak and fatigued, and she could barely muster the strength to eat. She felt like she was being tortured.

She laughed then, "Ha, torture doesn't even begin to describe how I feel." She said to herself rolling over in her bed.

She had tried meditating but that brought her nothing more than frustration and more soreness. She wanted to talk to someone, to talk about her nightmares, to figure out what they meant. But she was afraid. She was afraid that if anyone knew about her nightmares and what went on in them, that they'd think she was going crazy, or worse, that she was being an irrational coward. She couldn't have anyone think that. She couldn't let a single person think that she was being weak or a coward. Not after all the hard work she'd spent trying to prove herself to everyone. The clones; The Jedi; her, her Master.

Instantly her thoughts turned to her master. She could never let him down like that. By being a weakling. 'No,' she thought to herself, 'I'll bear this burden on my own. May-maybe then he'll see just how strong I am.' A small smile appeared on her lips at the thought of her master praising her strength.

But then her mind turned to the greatest nightmare she had, the nightmare that nearly broke her.

It was early in the morning, the sun barely in the sky. Ahsoka was in her bed, sprawled out, with the pillow on the floor and the sheet entangled with her body. She was awake, and had been for several hours. Once again she had another nightmare, this time was different from the others, this time she saw the man in the black suit on the bridge of a ship, looking out upon a huge construction of what she guessed was a space station. He was just looking out the window when suddenly he turned around and faced her.

She was paralyzed in fear. His skull like mask and mechanical breathing froze her, even when he began walking towards her she couldn't move to run, she couldn't even scream. He stopped about 5 feet from her, and stared at her for a long minute. His breathing the only sound she could hear. He finally spoke in a deep mechanical voice, "You can save me."

She had no idea what he meant by that. She had no idea who he was, or how to save him. But he carried on, "You can save me." She forced her voice to work and spoke, "I don't know who or what you are, how am I supposed to save you, I don't even know what happened to you."

He stared at her again, seemingly contemplating what she just said. It was then he took off the helmet to his mask and slowly peeled the mask itself off. She was horrified when she saw his face. It was burned as if he had stuck his head in a furnace; his skin was pale and white as snow. But what scared her most were his eyes. His eyes were untouched by whatever inferno engulfed him in the first place; his eyes were deep blue, an all too familiar deep blue.

He then began to speak. Though his voice was cold and emotionless, she knew it anywhere; it was a voice she had come to know perfectly. A voice that helped her push on during the most trying of times. It was the voice of someone she loved as a brother.

It was her master's voice. It was Anakin.

"You can save me."

She was in a complete and total confused shock. "H-how is this possible?" She stepped back only to trip and fall, when she looked up she saw what she tripped over. A jedi younglings body. But then she looked around and saw bodies everywhere, younglings and masters alike. A sea of bodies that belonged to Jedi, Jedi she knew.

She felt tears streaming down her face; her chest ached like she had been hit by a droid. It was death on the grandest scale and in the center was mound of bodies and standing at the top was the man in a suit, her master.

He was holding a woman, Ahsoka couldn't see her face but she could see the pain on her master's face.

"Snips."

Ahsoka cringed at hearing her nickname from this shadow of her master. It angered her to hear it, "Do not call me that, you don't have the right!"

"Snips."

She felt enraged, more so than ever in her life, "No! Don't call me that!"

"Snips." He still continued. The transition from fear to anger to hatred was quick, Ahsoka lost all control then. "I. SAID. NO!" She screamed with all the hate in her body.

"Snips."

She just clutched her ears and screamed, trying to block out his voice.

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It was the feeling of hot blood rushing down her arms that brought her back to the real world. The blood was streaming from her hands; she had balled her fists so hard that her nails had dug through her skin. The nightmare of her master crushing her.

'Master, I will do everything I can to save you, no matter what I will not let you turn into that creature.' She then turned her attention to the throbbing of her bleeding hands.

She simply un-curled her them and licked the wounds to make them seal up faster. She didn't care about the pain emanating through her hands. She didn't care about pain anymore, "It'll go away at some point, pain is for the weak and cowardly. I Will Not be weak or cowardly."

Ahsoka began to giggle uncontrollably as she came to a realization at what she just said, "I longer care, hehehe, I no longer care hehehe! It doesn't matter anymore! Hahahaha!" Her giggle exploded into full blown laughter. It meant nothing to her anymore, and it felt glorious to her. It was as if a thousand pounds had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt free.

Her joy turned to crazed excitement. She got up from her bed, disregarding her nightmares and the fact that she was naked and ran throughout the entire apartment laughing and bouncing. She had never felt more elated in her life, she no longer cared. Ahsoka was beginning to feel almost insane. But she didn't care. Not about a single thing. She picked up a lamp that sat on a small table threw it at the nearest wall for no reason at all.

She laughed almost maniacally as it exploded into thousands of pieces. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ahsoka was so lost in her lunacy that she didn't hear the door slid open or the footsteps that followed. She was so unfocused that she didn't notice them standing about 4 feet from her until they spoke.

"Umm, Ahsoka?"

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Barriss POV - Five Minutes Prior

Barriss Offee strode through the halls of the Jedi Temple. She was headed for the apartment complex in the Jedi Temples living area looking for her friend, Ahsoka Tano. Barriss hadn't seen Ahsoka once since she had arrived over two weeks ago. Except for when she visited her when she was in a coma. Barriss wanted to see her straight away when she heard she awoke but couldn't find her anywhere.

And that genuinely annoyed her.

"When I find that little Togrutan I'm gonna hug her till her bones snap." She laughed at her comment, she wouldn't actually break her bones, just give her the talking to of a lifetime for making her worry so much.

Barriss actually felt a little stupid for not having gone to the apartment Ahsoka shared with her master. 'Oh well, at least now I can talk to her about what all is going on. It's been so long since we've talked abo...'

Her train of thought was interrupted as she walked right into what felt like a wall and fell down. Sitting up she rubbed her head, "Ouch."

"Are you okay?" A deep male voice said.

'Oh great, I ran into somebody.' She opened her eyes to see a gloved hand in front of her. She grabbed it and felt herself being lifted up to her feet with little to no exertion.

Smoothing out her dress she raised her head saying, "Thank yo...," she saw who she had ran into, and it made wish it was the wall instead. "M-master Skywalker! I am so sorry for having run into you. Innumerable apologies master!" She had bowed her head in apology, hoping he wouldn't be angry.

She was caught off Guard by the chuckle that escaped his mouth and the heavy hand landing on her shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze. "It's quite alright young one. Just watch where you're going next time, believe me you don't ever want accidentally walk into Master Windu, hehehe."

Barriss looked up at him and raised an eye brow. 'Is he really being this cool about it?'

"Hey aren't you Ahsoka's friend? Marris right?" Barriss sighed, people always got her name mixed up with Marris Broods. "No Master Skywalker it's,"

"Please just Anakin, you're not my padawan you don't have to call me master." He interrupted.

"Anakin," she corrected herself, "My name is Barriss, Barriss Offee. And yes, I am friends with Ahsoka; in fact I was headed towards the apartment you two share to find her."

"Oh?" He asked raising an eye brow. "Well since you're headed that way would you mind giving her a message for me?"

She bowed her head quickly, "Of course Mast- Anakin." It was strange to her calling a Master by their name. He nodded to her in thanks, "When you see her tell her to meet me outside the council chambers 3 hours."

Nodding back in quick confirmation she said, "I will make sure she knows."

"Right, oh and see if you can get her out of that apartment. She's been cooed up in there for the past three days." And with that he walked off towards the hangar bay.

Barriss' mind was fluttering with questions. 'Why has she been in that room for three days? And why does the council want to see her? Could it be about the coma?' A dozen similar questions crossed her mind as she made her way to the living area.

When she finally made it to the door of the apartment she stopped before entering, she heard what sounded like laughter. Pressing her ear to the door she heard more laughter, "What the kriff is going on in there?" She mumbled to herself. When she heard something shatter she made her way quickly inside. And what she saw stopped her in her tracks.

Ahsoka was standing in the middle of the main room. Laughing; Yelling about not caring; Naked. She was completely nude.

"Umm Ahsoka?" She asked in bewilderment.

Ahsoka stood stock still and stopped laughing, she slowly turned around and breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh it's just you Barriss, you scared the kriff out of me." She said putting a hand on her hip. Ahsoka was now facing her fully and Barriss saw her whole naked body. She felt her cheeks heat up and looked away, 'why, why, why, why, why are you naked?'She thought to herself.

"Something the matter Barriss?" Ahsoka asked with mild concern.

'Is something the matter she asks.'

"Umm, Ahsoka you're umm." Barriss felt more awkward than she ever had in her life. "I'm what Barriss? Is there something on my face?" Ahsoka asked running a hand over her face to see if anything were there. It took all Barriss' self-control not to face palm herself. "No there's nothing on your face. In fact I don't know if you knew this but you're kind of umm, naked." She practically whispered the last word.

Upon hearing that Ahsoka's eyes widened and she looked down. "OH MY GOD IM NAKED! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?" She moved faster than lightning towards what Barriss assumed was her room. The young Mirialan held back a giggle at the reaction of her friend.

"Well I didn't quite know how to break it to you. You just seemed so happy in the nude." Barriss drawled in sarcastic humor. Ahsoka mumbled some that Barriss couldn't hear, but her attention was drawn to the shattered remains of a lamp by the wall.

She strode over to the pile and picked up a piece of it, looking at it in her hands, wondering why Ahsoka would throw a lamp. Barriss nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt something tap her on the shoulder, she spun around in less than a second only to see Ahsoka, fully dressed this time, "Why so jumpy freckles?" Ahsoka giggled at her little pun.

Barriss just glared at her, she hated that nickname with a passion. But when she was about to say something about it, she remembered the piece of ceramic in her hand and the remains of a lamp next to her.

"So did you get into an argument with the lamp?" Barriss said pointing to the pile next to her. Ahsoka laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head, "I uhh tripped and knocked it over? Hehe." Barriss let her face to slack and gave her the most disbelieving look imaginable.

Ahsoka grinned sheepishly before sighing in defeat, "Fiiine, I kind of threw it at the wall."

Barriss raised her eyebrow holding her expression, "And why, pray tell, did you throw the lamp?" 'I mean really, who throws a lamp for no reason.'

"No reason really, just felt like the thing to do." Ahsoka replied earnestly.

Barriss sighed, 'Never mind.' She pinched the bridge between her eyes and tried to comprehend the anomaly that is Ahsoka Tano.

Ahsoka cocked her head to the side then and asked, "Hey, why are you here anyways? As you can clearly see, I was exactly expecting guests."

It was then recognition hit Barriss, "Oh right, well I "was" coming over to talk to you; I haven't seen you in over two weeks after all. And to ask you if you're alright after what, you know, happened." Ahsoka crossed her arms and hunched her shoulders, drawing herself in. 'Something's bothering her.' Barriss thought to herself as Ahsoka began to speak, "Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired you know? Other than a little restlessness I'm golden."

Barriss noticed Ahsoka cringe at the word golden. 'Why would that have an effect on her?' She looked at her Togrutan friend and asked, "You sure 'soka? You seem a bit bothered."

"I said I'm fine!" Ahsoka snapped back at her, it was very much unlike the normal upbeat Ahsoka that Barriss knew.

"I'm just worried about you Ahsoka; you're my friend after all." Barriss said to Ahsoka with concern while placing a hand her shoulder.

Ahsoka jerked away from Barriss, the temperature in the room seemed to drop slightly, "Well don't, I can take care of myself. Do you have a real reason to be here or can you just leave already?"

The Mirialan Jedi was hurt by that, she and Ahsoka had been friends for a long time now and she never acted this way to her. It also upset her greatly. 'How can she be so, so cold?' She clenched her fists and decided it would be best to leave before things got out of hand.

"Well if you're going to be like that, then I suppose I will take my leave." She said passing Ahsoka who gave her a near death glare. "Oh and Anakin asked me to tell you that he wants you to meet him outside the councils chambers in 3 hours."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, "Is that it?"

"Yes." Barriss said in monotone.

"Then leave."

And Barriss did just that, she was hoping she would have been able to talk to Ahsoka but seeing how she was acting she guessed she wouldn't get the chance anytime soon.

As the door closed behind she barely heard Ahsoka through the door.

"I don't care anymore."

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A/N: No actual lamps were harmed in the writing of this chapter.