Trigger Warning: People in cages, cages hung over cliffs.


Chapter VI

Despair, it turned out, was the name of a location. Ahsoka decided it was aptly named.

She hadn't had a hood put on her this time, but it turned out the door they wanted this time was just down the hallway.

The droids led her outside, Ahsoka's feet stumbling and dragging on the ground as she fought to keep up. It turned out she was right in her guess that they were by the sea; when she stepped outside, it almost filled her vision completely. A harsh wind tried to blow her off her feet, bringing spray off the sea with it. It blew into her nose and eyes, microscopic drops hitting her body, soaking her to the skin. Looking behind her, she could see the outline of the great castle-like compound where she was being imprisoned. Sadly, she couldn't make out any specifics; the place was too shrouded in fog. She turned her attention back to where the commando's were leading her, and finally spied their destination.

The island they were on fell away into cliffs on all sides, and it was on one of these cliffs that another torture contraption had been set up. Ahsoka stared at the large cage that swung wildly over the stormy water, and tried to control her beating heart.

The cage was made of the same rusting metal as the bars of her cell, but this cell was not nearly so spacious. It was narrow and rounded at the top like a birdcage. It was not attached to the arm it swung from by a chain, no, nothing so safe as that. No. The Count knew the art of torture well. What connected the cage to the arm holding it over the water was a simple, very frayed rope.

Force, she couldn't believe it was an actual, fibrous rope. She'd never even seen one in real life, just seen them in old holovids. And with every rough push from the wind, the more frantically the cage swung, the more it looked like the rope would snap.

The droids slightly tightened their grip, pulling her to a stop at the edge of the cliff. A B1 was waiting for them, and he quickly pressed a few buttons on his control panel. The cage swung back to land, and the droids yanked her towards it. Ahsoka didn't have much strength left, but she used what she had to try and slip from their grips. Drugs were one thing, lack of sleep was another… but taking away her only resource - the Force - and possibly letting her drown?

Well, I knew I was at the end of my limits. I was really hoping to not have to create new ones, she thought as she twisted and pulled, trying to get away from this whole ordeal.

But she was too weak. The B1 opened the door for them with a "Roger, roger!" and then her already bruised body was shoved in.

She gripped the bars tightly, trying to take deep breaths through her nose as the arm was swung back out over the roiling ocean. She stared down at the frothing waves, unable to help the ice that gripped her heart.

The droids all turned around and marched off, their work complete. And Ahsoka was left alone with her thoughts. She gulped.

Attempting to settle in for the long haul, she folded her legs underneath herself, and leaned against the bars. Her heavy head rested uncomfortably. She had been right about the width; she barely fit. But there was quite a bit more space above her head, as if the Count was used to entertaining guests much taller than herself.

It wasn't the fact that she was in a cage. That didn't bother her. It wasn't even the fact that she was free-floating in open space. Heights had never been a fear of hers. It was that she couldn't do a single thing to help herself. That she was literally hanging on by a thread, and if that thread snapped, she would sink to her doom. Trapped in a metal cage that she couldn't escape from. She was bound, gagged, cut off from the Force, and with every swing her heart jumped into her throat, wondering, Is this it?

Even as scared as she was, she was truly more exhausted than anything else. The waves, rough and frightening as they were, were also somehow soothing to listen to. Ahsoka wondered if all oceans were like that. This was the first one she'd ever seen, as her own home planet - that she barely remembered - had been mostly mountainous terrain. It was what her people had always loved best.

Her brain decided that was enough terror for the day, thank you very much, and her body wholeheartedly agreed. Her eyes drooped shut. Her body sagged. And the sound of the waves lulled her off to sleep. Her final thought before it took her was, Despair, indeed.


She woke up a few times in the night. Understandably, it was a fitful sleep to begin with, and an especially hard push from the wind, or a splash of spray from an especially large wave would easily bring an end to her dozing. But this time she had woken up because she felt a presence. Not with the Force, that was for sure. But in the way most humanoids could sense when someone was nearby. When someone was watching them.

The storm had reached its end, and the wind and waves were finally calm. Fog remained around the compound, but Ahsoka could see the clear light of millions of stars overhead. But she knew none of that was what had woken her.

Rubbing some of the sleep out of her eyes with her still bound hands, she sat up slightly, peering ahead into the gloom surrounding the shoreline. Blast it, if only I didn't have this - she choked slightly on the words. Force-suppressing collar on. I could figure out what's out there in a second! Unfortunately, she'd have to rely on her old-fashioned senses.

She tried to call out, "Hello?" through the gag, but it definitely didn't come out sounding right. She couldn't be sure, as her Force-less, stifling existence was still messing with her head, and the lack of fuel in her body did nothing to help. But she hoped it came out sounding like an inquiring grunt as opposed to a plaintive one.

The mists parted slightly, and Ahsoka could make out a cloaked, hooded figure standing on the shore. Watching her.

They just stood there, still as the statues at the Jedi Temple, the slight breeze ruffling their cloak. But not enough for Ahsoka to make out who it was. She tried for one more questioning grunt, but still, the figure stayed silent. Motionless.

Ahsoka's thoughts turned angry at this perfectly free person who decided to spend their spare time staring at the captured Jedi, probably delighting in her torment. It's probably just Dooku anyway. Wanting to check on his prize. Well, I'm not going to indulge him.

Not wanting to put the cage through the shifting that would be required in turning her back on him, she simply let her stiff body slump against the bars again. Shutting her eyes, she pretended to fall asleep.

She peeped one eye open a few seconds later, and the figure in the mists was gone.