Author's Note: I see we're picking up a lot of new readers lately. To those of you reading this, welcome! I do hope you enjoy. I understand that this story is not for everyone, and I'm okay with that. Regardless, thank you for giving this a shot and thank you also for your honesty. I'm open to both praise and critiques... just try to be nice about the latter. Anywho, hope y'all enjoy!
-Chapter 69: Sleep Medication-
Location: The Dauntless/The Behemoth
"It's okay to admit you need help with something."
With Ahsoka recovered that morning, Wraith was picked up later that evening. He was surprised to see it was a Subjugator-class cruiser that had come to get him, quite visible even in low-orbit over the planet. A crew of droids manning a lone Sheathipede-type shuttle had made plantefall to pick him up. Entering the ship and taking off, Wraith was glad to be in the company of droids again.
"Tell me, which cruiser are you from?" Wraith asked the pilot.
"The Subjugator-class Behemoth, sir." The droid answered. "We were dispatched in the middle of exercises over Raxus." Wraith understood what that meant, knowing the Subjugators were waiting for proper captains to be dispatched until beginning practice runs in preparation for the upcoming invasion high command was planning.
"So your assigned captain has arrived. Good. The one I was escorting wasn't so lucky." Wraith mused, mournfully recalling the loss of Captain Umar... he still had to report that...
"Affirmative. He was already deep in our territory so the transfer was no issue." The droid responded.
"Good to hear." Wraith nodded.
"Actually, he wants to see you." That surprised him.
"He does...?" He wondered, trialing off. Now he was quite curious as to who was at the helm of this cruiser.
Arriving on the Behemoth, Wraith was escorted to a turbolift by a pair of commando droids and taken to the ship's bridge. The layout of the Behemoth was identical to the Dominance so the super-soldier was able to find his way around easily and soon found himself at the entrance to the ship's bridge. Straightening himself out as best he could, Wraith tried his best to look presentable despite having been stranded for a week and a day. Clearing his throat, the doors slid open and Wraith entered, standing straight as he laid eyes on the shorter being before him. Clad in a blue coat and sporting telltale brown hairs, Wraith immediately knew who this was.
Cybernetics might make up half of his body, but he was still recognizable in spite of them.
He was a member of the Harch species and Wraith knew him to be a legend in the Confederate Navy. Dooku couldn't have picked a better choice to command this ship, for this was no ordinary naval officer...
This was Admiral Trench.
"I understand you wished to see me, sir?" Wraith announced, the Harch turned around, revealing the full extent of his cybernetics as he did. Through one mechanical and multiple normal eyes, the Harch appraised the super-soldier as one of his normal hands stroked his natural chelicerae, his mechanical ones holding a crop.
"Ah... the super-soldier. Pleased to make your acquaintance Wraith." Trench cordially greeted. In the presence of such a great and famous admiral, Wraith couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
"Likewise, Admiral." He replied with a quick salute. "It's an honor to see you in person. Though I had heard you were killed over Christophsis, sir."
"Reports of my demise may have been slightly exaggerated to put the Republic at ease." Trench responded. "But my experience at Christophsis has humbled me, somewhat. I know now to never act so foolishly again." He stated, clicking as he finished.
"Any opportunity to learn is a good one, sir." Wraith concurred with a nod.
"We will be returning you to the Dominance shortly. For now, I have had quarters set aside for you. Feel free to make yourself comfortable." Trench informed him.
"Thank you sir." Wraith affirmed with a quick nod. Trench turned back around, but Wraith had one last question on his mind. "If I may... how are you enjoying the ship?" He inquired.
"I shall very much enjoy bringing its full potential to bear against the Republic." Trench simply responded.
Elsewhere in the galaxy...
Having had a very relaxing shower and cleaned herself of a weeks worth of dust and dirt, Ahsoka was more than ready to sleep in a real bed that night. Anakin had given her some time to recuperate from her 'stressful' venture and Ahsoka was taking full advantage of the pseudo-time off. She hoped she could get some decent sleep tonight... a dreamless sleep at that. Enough sweat-inducing dreams involving Wraith and no scream-causing nightmares. Just blissful, peaceful slumber.
Crawling into her bunk in an oversized shirt, Ahsoka stretched out with a contented sigh. Using the Force to dim the lights in her quarters, Ahsoka pulled the covers up around her and settled in. Her breathing evening out, the Togruta closed her eyes and-
Suddenly felt a presence in her room.
Opening her eyes, Ahsoka tested her senses and felt a familiar heat. Like a warm and cozy fire. She'd felt this before and knew exactly what... or who it was.
"Wraith? Is that you?" She wondered aloud.
"Ahsoka?" Came the answer. Looking to her right, Ahsoka saw another portal had opened, allowing her to spot Wraith in bed. He sat up a little to see her better, the sheets sliding down to reveal his shirtless body. "Hey." He greeted.
"H-Hey." Ahsoka replied, suddenly feeling a war herself at seeing Wraith's chiseled body. His muscles looked so firm and taut...
"Don't you look cozy." Wraith observed with a grin.
"A tent was fun and all, but I'm glad to be back in a real bunk." Ahsoka replied.
"Same." Wraith nodded. Leaning back and stretching out, Wraith exhaled loudly. "Well now I'm wide awake."
"Same. These connections happen at the weirdest times." Ahsoka agreed.
"Hopefully they don't get awkward." Wraith mused. "Now... what does one do to fall asleep? Count nerfs?" He wondered aloud.
"Talking seems to work for me." Ahsoka suggested, remembering last night.
"I guess you do a lot of napping when the Council carries on." Wraith joked. Ahsoka couldn't help but chuckle at that too.
She'd sat through some looooooong meetings...
"Will you... tell me a story?" She asked.
"Hm... Like a bedtime story?"
"Yeah." Wraith hummed thoughtfully as he wracked his memory, looking for something to entertain his sweetheart with.
"Let's see... I know many stories... but something to make you fall asleep..." He thoughtfully said aloud, pondering the many tales he'd read and histories he'd studied in his spare time. After a good deal of thinking, in which Ahsoka partly wondered if he'd fallen asleep, Wraith spoke up, "Have you ever heard the tale of Ashara Zavros?" The name was unfamiliar to Ahsoka.
"No." She replied. "Who is that?"
"I'm not surprised, the Jedi don't like to tell stories like hers." Wraith mused. "She was a Togruta, like you, who lived thousands of years ago." He explained. "She was once a member of the Jedi Order, a Padawan, actually. When Darth Nox of the Eternal Empire came to collect the power of an client Force ghost, she was so impressed by his power and his words and his desire to reform the galaxy, she joined him and his crew, he becoming her new master. They worked together for a long time and their relationship slowly grew romantic. They became lovers and strong partners, joining together to become leading figures in the Eternal Empire." Wraith paused, his story coming to a close. Ahsoka couldn't help but listen with quizzical interest as Wraith regaled her with a story she'd never eve heard of until now. She could understand why the Jedi wouldn't want to talk about a person they deemed a failure or traitor like Ashara. But she did have to wonder about Wraith's ulterior motives for telling this, since it was about a Togruta Jedi who switched sides.
"Is this one of those... parable stories with a lesson?" She inquired.
"No. It's just the first one that came to my mind." He plainly answered. Ahsoka nodded, sending his truthfulness through the Force, though did have to marvel at the coincidence.
"... got another one?" She wondered at length.
"I see that one didn't go over well." Wraith observed with a breathy chuckle. After some more thinking, he had another answer. "I know, how about I tell you about a myriad of things?" He suggested.
"Okay." Ahsoka readily agreed, snuggling deep in her covers and turning to face Wraith. And so the super-soldier began, bouncing from one topic to another with seamless fluidity as one led to another. He talked about strategy and famous battles of the past, about mechanics and ship design, covering a very broad spread of topics. Ahsoka listened with rapt fascination until the information started to blur together and her eyelids grew too heavy and she drifted off to sleep.
The stench of smoke and burning flesh was overwhelming... and familiar.
The ground was pockmarked by massive craters, some still smouldering after the recent barrage. The Republic advance had been halted completely, decimated by Separatist cannonfire.
Ahsoka stood in the midst of a horror scene. Bits and pieces of Clones lay strewn all over the place, all of them lying on blood-soaked ground littered with innards and chunks of corpses. Some larger pieces of what had once been men lay in broken, splayed-out postures on the ground, blank eyes gazing infinitely at nothing, their faces forever locked in an expression of horror.
She knew how this had happened. As she stood alone, horrified by her surroundings, she knew how this had come to pass. She'd scouted this route just the other day, finding it nowhere near Separatist artillery. She'd convinced her company that it was fine and perfectly safe, and they'd listened to her. But during the night, the guns had shifted positions and were in the perfect place to shell the advancing Clones. They never stood a chance. Designed for recon and distance ops, they had no equipment to help them withstand the barrage that rained down on them. In droves they were slaughtered, blown to pieces by the Separatist guns. Ahsoka alone managed to survive... but every Clone under her command had died.
The Togruta took a few heavy steps forward, the destruction around her weighing heavily upon her very soul. She couldn't believe this. It couldn't be real! Stories like this don't happen, they don't!
She felt something grab her angle and looked down to see a Clone, blood streaming down half of his face and half of his body reduced to a trail of bloody innards.
"We trusted you... Commander... And you failed us... you failed us all!" He rasped, glassy eyes locking with her petrified stare. As he finished, the remains of the other Clones started crawling towards her. One by one, the corpses came to life and started moving, moaning and groaning in never-ending agony as they berated Ahsoka with broken words. The young Padawan looked back and forth with horrified glances, seeing some Clones missing whole portions of their heads while others had only an arm to crawl with. She tried to move, tried to run, but the Clone's grip on her ankle was like iron. Then another grabbed her boot, trying to claw its way up her leg. The rest did the same, grabbing Ahsoka and trying to drag her down into the bloody abyss. Ahsoka cried out as the hands of the dead clawed for purchase on her body, wishing for her to join them. She felt powerless to fight back, rooted in place by her fear. So she did the only thing could do.
She closed her eyes, covered her head, and screamed.
"AAAAH!" Jerking awake with eyes wide with horror, Ahsoka bolted upright in her bunk, a cold sweat matting her brow and dripping down her neck. Her eyes darted around her quarters, seeing only darkened durasteel walls. Whatever connection she had with Wraith had vanished, leaving her completely alone.
Catching her breath, Ahsoka drew her legs up and hugged them to her body. That nightmare had been just as bad as the others, if not even worse. She was thankful it was over... but the lingering memories were still there. The depiction in her nightmare was unique, but not unlike dozens of previous experiences. Portions of all of them stitched together to create the horror she'd just endured.
Summoning the Force, Ahsoka endeavoured to calm herself down and even out her breathing, but the raw emotions were too much for the young Togruta and not even her training was enough to stop the flood that was coming. Her next exhale came in a shudder as Ahsoka fought back tears brought on by her welling emotions. Burying her face in her knees, her next breath turned into a sob as the welling tears started to flow. It wouldn't be the first time this had happened to her, this being another sleepless night full of helpless tears. The sobs started coming in earnest as Ahsoka broke down and cried her eyes out. She was tired of this. Tired of the sleepless nights and constant nightmares. She was tired of how this was affecting her mind.
Ahsoka hated living like this. Hated the constant reminders, the nonstop anxiety and self-loathing. But she couldn't escape it.
"I just want it to stop!" She sobbed. "I just want it to go away!" Her tears fell like the rain, wetting her knees as the young Togruta sobbed uncontrollably. She wished the Force would actually do something for her and whisk all of this away.
For all she put in, for all the Force demanded of her, she didn't get much in return.
Feeling cold and alone, Ahsoka wallowed in her familiar misery, crying and sobbing without an end in sight...
"Ahsoka?" A voice suddenly speaking jarred Ahsoka from her despair. She knew that warm, deep tone and looked up to see Wraith standing in her room. There was no portal allowing her to see his room. It were as though he was here with her.
"Wr-Wraith..." she greeted with a sniffle, quickly wiping her eyes in an effort to hide her tears, "h-hi."
"Hi." He softly whispered, approaching her bunk and sinking to his knees. He was wearing a t-shirt now, in addition to thigh-long shorts. The soft glow of his eyes in the darkened room shifted frequently as Wraith examined her. "What's wrong?"
"It's... It's just another nightmare." Ahsoka sniffled in response.
"'Just'." Wraith repeated, using the back of his finger to wipe a few fresh tears from her cheeks. "Sounds like it's a little more than 'just'." He quietly observed. Ahsoka couldn't help but nod.
"I... I just want to sleep." She admitted with another sniff. "I'm tired... of the nightmares... of the crying..." A few more tears slipped down her cheeks as she was telling him, Wraith reaching out and wiping them away with his thumbs before guiding her face towards him. Ahsoka didn't want to, hating the thought of even talking to Wraith in this state. But her watery azure gaze met the warming gentleness of his amber hues regardless. Wraith looked to her with loving care and affection, and Ahsoka saw no sign of disdain or disappointment in his gaze. Only love and concern.
"What can I do for you right now?" He softly asked. Remembering their final night on Scarif, Ahsoka felt comfortable asking for a repeat.
"Will you stay with me?" She asked through misty eyes. Wraith nodded.
"For as long as I can." He vowed, standing up and sitting on the edge of her bunk. Ahsoka held his hand in both of hers, desperate to keep him near and feel something tangible. Something other than her own despair.
"Will you..." She started to ask, trailing off as she swallowed another sob, "Will you h-hold me?" Wraith said nothing more and slowly slipped into the bunk alongside her, Ahsoka sliding over to make room. He didn't get under the covers, but did stretch out alongside her, Ahsoka quickly sliding right up to him as Wraith wrapped his arms around her. Feeling the familiar warmth of his body, Ahsoka lightly exhaled as she pressed her cheek up against his clothed chest.
This was nice. Better than being alone.
Wraith started slowly rubbing her back, the soothing motions easing the tension Ahsoka had been feeling. The sensitive hearing her hollow headtails provided let her listen to Wraith's heartbeat, the rhythmic pulsing also soothing her strained nerves.
"The next time you start dreaming, remember me. Try to imagine me coming to help you or being right beside you." Wraith suggested in a low voice. "You don't have to do this alone, Ahsoka. I'll always be there for you. Through thick and thin, for better or worse." He promised. Ahsoka's next breath was far more steady. Those were words she'd been longing to hear. Living alone with this burden had grown so strenuous. To finally have someone know and help her... it was relief beyond words.
"Thank you." She quietly told him.
"It's gonna be okay." Wraith assured. He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Feeling a little safer, Ahsoka closed her eyes and continued to focus on Wraith's heartbeat.
"You're gonna be okay."
