Author's Note: Second-to-last chapter! If you thought the action was good last chapter, then you better buckle up for this one! Y'all get this one early this week because of a wonderful comment left on this over on AO3, so say thank you to Mimi!:-D
Trigger Warnings: Hostage situation, more shock-gag.
Chapter XVI
Ahsoka got out of the ship right ahead of Ventress, and immediately headed for her Master's office to - she shuddered. To report her failure.
She'd thought Ventress was right behind her, but when she actually made it to his office and turned around, she realized she had slipped off somewhere along the way.
Oh great, she thought weakly. I have to do it alone.
She stopped in front of the guards, taking a deep breath. Hide your fear, hide your fear. Do not show weakness. And what covered fear better than anything? Anger. Which wasn't hard to dredge up. Her heart pounded in her ears as she counted up all the reasons. Boom. This mission was supposed to be her chance to prove herself. Boom. Clearly, this other apprentice was deeper in her Master's counsel than she was. Boom. She was sick of not being able to control her life, her choices. Her future. Boom. The thought of imminent pain made her afraid, and being made to feel afraid, to feel weak… well, that was her surest way to anger. Boom. Two deep breaths. Three. The door opened of its own accord and she heard, "Padawan. Come in." She gave her collar one big yank, and stepped inside.
"My dear Padawan," Count Dooku said from behind his desk. "What is your report?"
"My lord - " She stopped, trying to bring moisture back to her throat. It had gone so dry, she couldn't utter a word. "My lord." That was better. "I'm afraid the mission did not go as planned."
The Count frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Master, they must've been waiting for us. I don't know how it happened, they came out of nowhere - " Her heart rose into her throat inch by inch as his frown deepened further and further at her words. She tugged the collar again, seeking its grounding pain. From pain, fear. From fear, anger. From anger, strength. "Master, there were - " Her voice cracked. "Jedi."
She actually jumped as the Count stood up so fast his chair toppled to the floor. Blast it, Ahsoka, you really couldn't hide your emotions better than that? You don't. Show. Weakness.
"What happened?" His deep voice boomed. "Did they see you? Were you recognized?"
Ahsoka had opened her mouth to answer, but was stunned into silence at his last question. How did he know?
"Answer the question, Padawan."
She snapped back to attention. "Yes, yes sir. One of them did."
The silence that followed scared Ahsoka more than anything else her Master could've done.
One heartbeat passed. Two.
Suddenly the Count was a flurry of activity. He strode over to her and roughly grabbed her upper arm. "We must make preparations."
Ahsoka could only be pulled along as he started traversing the hallways. Her legs ached as she did her best to keep up with his long, powerful strides.
"Master?" She asked, breathless from their fast pace. "Master, where are we going?"
"You need your injection," he replied, not breaking stride for an instant.
Ahsoka wondered how that could possibly be the most important thing right now, but she didn't dare ask any more questions. She knew better than that by now.
They had just reached the infirmary when the intruder alarm started going off. Dooku didn't look backward, just waved at a medical droid who quickly stuck the needle in Ahsoka's arm.
As soon as that was finished, Dooku turned her around and fiddled with something on the back of her neck. There was a soft click and suddenly she no longer sensed the presence of the red light in her mind.
"Come, Padawan Tano." He took her by the arm from behind, only to pull her wrists together behind her back. To her astonishment, she heard the click of handcuffs and felt cold metal press against her skin.
He dragged her toward the door. "We are out of time."
Anakin jumped out of one of the many Republic gunships that now circled the castle of Count Dooku. What is it with this guy and castles? Anakin thought as he lightly touched down on the grass. Igniting his lightsaber the second he was upright, he ran for the door just as Obi-wan touched down behind him and called out, "Anakin, wait!"
No more waiting, Obi-wan. I am done failing my Padawan.
He burst through the door just as Obi-wan caught up to him.
He took a second to let his eyes adjust to the dark gloom that pervaded the narrow hallway he found himself in. He reached out as far as he could with the Force, searching for any form of life.
There. He was about to bellow out an enraged, "DOOKU!" when Obi-wan went, "Shh! Listen!" Anakin froze.
Very, very faintly down the hallway he heard, "Master!"
Anakin's breath caught in his chest. It was Ahsoka, he was sure of it. He started running flat out, using the Force to pinpoint the noise. As he ran, the cry steadily grew louder and louder.
"Master! Master, wait!"
Anakin frowned, not slowing down for a second. Wait? No Ahsoka, I've finally found you! I'm not stopping now!
The cries turned more panicked. Anakin put on a burst of speed, knowing Obi-wan would be right behind him.
"Master, wait! What are you doing? No please, not - "
The cries cut off with a reverberating snick.
Anakin took a hard corner, and there she was. His brave, incredible Padawan was right there… in the literal clutches of Count Dooku.
Sinking back into a fighting stance, his eyes quickly swept over Ahsoka's body, needing to check if she was okay - other than having a Sith Lord attached to her - and he couldn't be sure in the dim light, but were those marks all over her body?
The Count tightened his grip on Ahsoka's shoulders, pulling her back flat against his chest. His glowing red lightsaber illuminated the two of them, and now Anakin could see why Ahsoka's cry had been cut off. She was wearing a gag.
The red glow also illuminated the utter fear in his Padawan's eyes. Anakin forced down his rage.
Dooku raised his lightsaber higher. "Not another step, General Skywalker."
"You won't get away with her this time, Dooku!" Anakin shouted down the hallway.
The Count simply smiled, taking a few steps backward toward a door he now noticed was open to the outside.
Obi-wan stepped up behind him. "Let Ahsoka go, Dooku, and we may go easy on you."
Now the Count full-on grinned. "Tut, tut, Obi-wan." He was steadily moving backwards now, dragging Ahsoka with him every step of the way. Anakin felt his rage grow as the light from the open door began showing the two figures more clearly, and he could see - from what little of her skin he could actually see - just how many new scars there were on Ahsoka's body. He could see how pale her face was, and the dark circles that lay under her confused and terrified eyes.
She kept staring at his lightsaber and shaking her head vehemently, before struggling more violently in Dooku's grip.
They were now abreast of the doorway. Count Dooku continued, "Now, now, Obi-wan, you know that is simply not true." He took a few more steps, his feet now touching grass. "I believe I will take my chances."
Anakin was done with this charade. The Count was clearly banking on stalling them long enough for his escape plan to come to fruition and Anakin was not about to let that happen. He tried to rapidly close the gap between them, but the Count matched him almost step for step.
Enough of this. Anakin pointed his lightsaber directly at Dooku and snarled. "Let. Her. Go."
Ahsoka didn't understand what her Master was doing. Why was he pretending like she was a hostage? Surely he knew she would go with him willingly? Surely he knew that she had absolutely no desire to be caught by this dark-haired Jedi currently menacing them with his sword? She struggled in her Master's grip a bit more, trying to get closer to him, and as far as possible away from the Jedi.
Her booted feet squished in the grass soaked by the continual fog. She tried to turn her head around, tried to see if she could look her Master in the eye and perhaps ascertain his plan, but he was holding his lightsaber too close to her neck.
Her breath came harder as the Jedi snarled at them. "Let. Her. Go."
Nope, she definitely did not like this guy.
Then her Master spun her around to face him, extinguishing his sword. Cupping her cheek with one hand, he reached the other into his cloak. "My dear Padawan." He gave her one of those strange smiles that used to terrify her. "I so enjoyed our time together."
Before Ahsoka could even guess at the hidden meaning behind those words, her world lit up with pain and she was thrown backward. She crashed right into "General Skywalker", and the both of them knocked down "Obi-wan", as her Master disappeared beneath the grass on a hidden platform. Seconds later they saw his ship fly away from the island.
Even as Ahsoka writhed in the arms of Skywalker, and tears leaked from her eyes at the fiery torture that pulsed through her gag, her mind couldn't let go of the fact that her Master had just abandoned her to her worst nightmare.
