The cell was painfully lit up so there were no shadows to hide in. Cameras were covering all sides of the room, and no less than four of them were trained on Barriss herself.
Her restraints had her facing away from the door, so she couldn't see who was coming or out. At least, not with her eyes. Barriss felt Ahsoka long before she walked in the door. As soon Ahsoka walked in though, her stomach started churning again. She forced it down and walked around so she could see the cage they were keeping her in.
She was entrapped in laser walls, and her limbs were cuffed to the chair she was sitting in. Electrodes were taped to her head, and Ahsoka could see at least three other methods of sedation in the chair. It's like she's an animal, a monster they have trapped in a cage, she thought. Is she allowed no dignity?
Barriss seemed to breathe easier at the sight of her. She looked to the cameras, then made some sort of gesture to Ahsoka. It was a bit awkward with her restraints, but Ahsoka understood what she meant.
"No," she told her, hardening her face. "Either we talk here or not at all. You said you wanted to talk, and now you have the chance to do it."
The Mirialan's face fell, but she swallowed her pride and spoke. "I'm sorry I roped you in, last year. I thought you would want it."
"Why?" She asked, suspicious, but giving her a chance. It was a lot easier when she was in a cell and Ahsoka wasn't. "I've never talked about wanting it before."
Barriss looked again at the cameras but decided she didn't care about them. "Be honest, Ahsoka. You know that the Jedi, the Republic, they aren't right. None of us should have been forced to do their dirty work and get blood on our hands for them."
Oh, she wanted to make this about ethics? Sure, Ahsoka would play along. "That was not your decision to make. I should have been allowed to come to that decision by myself."
"You did decide, but you never would have considered it if I hadn't shown you the way," she chided her, slipping back into her mentor role. The only thing was that Ahsoka wasn't looking up to her anymore.
"By framing me for murder?"Ahsoka confirmed, and she saw Barriss' confidence slip. "And that makes you so much better than them?"
She shook her head, smiling. "I've risen above them, and I'll never sink to their level again."
Ahsoka raised an eyemark. "Their level? Care to define who's on 'their level'?"
"Oh, not you, Ahsoka," Barriss assured her as if she were talking to a child. "Don't worry, I don't-
"Just stop."
"I...stop what?"
"Stop acting like you know everything and I'm clueless," she told her. "Stop acting like I don't understand."
"You don't understand-"
She whirled around to face her. "Okay, then tell me! Tell me what you think happened that night, and I'll tell you my side of the story!"
Barriss groaned in exasperation. "You're still hung up on that? That's not why we're here!"
"No, it is," Ahsoka informed her. "That's exactly why we're here, so make it worth my time. Otherwise, I'm leaving, and I don't think you want that to happen."
That finally snapped Barriss out of her fantasy. She thought for a moment, then cleared her throat and started over.
"I knew that the Republic was failing, better than anyone here. I had to do something to expose them, so everyone would see how flawed the system was and make the people responsible pay. The Jedi would always back up the Republic, so they had to take the fall too. I got volunteers to bomb the hangar, and I saw everything unfold. I didn't expect them to trace it back to the Jedi so quickly, though, so I had to deflect it. I had to choose someone who would see the same way I do, so I chose you. I knew you would understand, eventually. Like you do now."
Ahsoka crosses her arms, turning away. She couldn't stand to look at her. She's delusional, she concluded, Barriss is actually insane. Who does she think she is?
"What they did to you, it just proved everything I already knew. The Jedi didn't do anything to save you from the Republic's clutches. They didn't, but I wasn't going to let you die because of them. I got you out, and then I made my own escape. I've been looking for you ever since."
Ahsoka let that sit for a moment, not that it made it any more acceptable. "Just so we're on the same page," she clarified, "you decided to rope me in during the whole mess, not before?"
Barriss nodded, hoping that they were finally getting somewhere. "It was a last-minute contingency, I never meant for you to get involved."
"And if that hadn't happened, I would be just as bad as all the other Jedi?"
For a second time, Barriss lost her resolve. If this had been chess, Ahsoka would have checked her twice by now. The look on her pale green face told Ahsoka everything.
Uncrossing her arms, Ahsoka faced her and made eye contact. Barriss didn't have to listen to anything she was about to say, but she was going to hear it.
"Funny, because that's not how I remembered it," she started and began pacing around her restraint cell. If the Republic wanted a testimony, they would get one. Ahsoka's kind of testimony.
"Over a year ago, Anakin and I were caked in to investigate the bombing of a Republic hangar, which killed government employees, clones, and Jedi alike. The bomb was traced back to Jakkar Turmond. Do you deny it?"
Barriss shook her head, not quite seeing where this was going. "What does that have to do with it?"
Ahsoka went on, continuing to circle her. "We found that the bomb was actually nanodroids that had poisoned his bloodstream. When confronted about the food in her house that was also infused with nanodroids, his wife, Letta, confessed she had fed them to him. She was taken into custody and I was sent to interrogate her. She also confessed that a Jedi had forced her to feed him the food and threatened her to do so. When she was about to say who blackmailed her, she was Force choked and killed immediately, and because I was the only person in the room, I was blamed for it. Do you deny it?"
"It was the only way to show how corrupt the Republic was, I just had to show you!"
"I was arrested and incriminated for a crime that you committed and was framed not only for Letta's murder but the murder of several clone troopers who had been standing guard in the Detention Center until you killed them. I ran because I knew I was not guilty, but the dead bodies that you put there suggested otherwise. Do you deny it?"
Barriss pushed against her restraints, not liking where the conversation had gone. "A small portion compared to how many the Jedi have led to their deaths!"
"When I went searching for the truth, you attacked me with Asajj Ventress' lightsabers, hiding your identity so that you might walk free while I was arrested and tried!" Ahsoka pointed at her accusingly. "Due to your COWARDICE-"
"I am not a coward!"
"-I was expelled from the Jedi Order AGAINST MY WISHES and tried by the Republic. You did not give yourself up, but Anakin Skywalker found the truth and brought you before the Senate to confess. I was almost sentenced to death in your place and was nearly executed for crimes I did not commit! Do you deny it?!"
"I DENY IT!" Barriss screamed in her face, furious. "I don't know why I came to you, you're just as brainwashed as them! I thought you had the sense not to trust the Jedi or the Republic, but now you're defending them both!"
"You think I trust them?!" Ahsoka shouted right back. "You think I came here to get you to talk for them? I don't give a rip about your testimony! If that was the only thing I came here for, I wouldn't have wasted my time!"
Barriss scoffed at her, disgusted. "Don't you dare plead innocent, Ahsoka. Don't act all righteous when you know what you've done."
She curled her hands into fists, resisting the urge to punch her. "You're one to talk, at least I didn't commit genocide!"
"Then what are you here for, because it clearly wasn't to help me escape, despite all I did for you!"
"For me?" Ahsoka went dead quiet. "No, it's what you did to me. Not 'for.'"
"I don't see you in a cell," Barriss hissed, tugging at her restraints again.
Ahsoka nodded, walking as close as she could without touching the laser barrier between them. "Not now, you don't," she whispered. "You didn't see me all last year, being held and tortured because someone tried to turn me to the Dark Side."
Barriss's face twisted in hate, and her eyes started to glint gold. "You should have complied."
Although Ahsoka knew the Jedi weren't going to be happy about Barriss's fall, Ahsoka decided to let it happen. It was going to make this next bit so much easier. Besides, she wasn't afraid of the Darkness like she used to be.
"You want to know why I came? I came because you're desperate. I know what happens next in your scheme for freedom. Seeing as your contingency plans always involve someone getting hurt, I'm here to make sure it's me and not anyone else."
Barriss's hands balled into fists, and Ahsoka saw her eyeing the restraints. Any second now. "Just so you know, I didn't want this to happen to you."
"Oh, I know Barriss didn't," Ahsoka assured her, taking a breath. "That's why I'm sorry she's gone."
That stung, deep. Enough to make her hesitate one last time. For one hopeful second, the Darkness faltered, and her eyes cleared again. For some reason, that scared Ahsoka more than the Darkness. She had thought that all the Light was gone and she had been ready to tell Luminara that despite her efforts, she couldn't bring it out. Yet during that one moment, something made her doubt herself.
Then it was gone. Her eyes went pure gold, and she reached a hand out as far as she could with her restraints. Ahsoka reached out at the same time, knowing what was coming. She had a plan to stop her, but she wasn't sure how well it would work.
It's now or never, she told the Sister. Remember, you can't turn red.
No red, she replied. Got it.
Barriss let loose a surge of Sith Lightning, intending to fry the circuits of her restraints and destroy the laser cage she was trapped in. Ahsoka, at the same time, drew the Dark Force to her like a magnet. It pierced through and overloaded the laser, and created a bolt going from Barriss's hand to Ahsoka's hand, who was morphing into the Sister. Her skin darkened and her eyes also changed from blue to gold.
The Sister grinned at Barriss, who was trying to pull her Lightning away from her opponent. "You're not the only one who's been exposed to the Dark Side," she informed her, sneering. "What's your next move?"
She had no choice but to cut off the attempt. This Dark version of Ahsoka was stealing her strength, and she didn't have much to begin with. Barriss paused for a moment, taking a breath, then screamed and let out an uncontrolled, unchanneled blast of the Force. It destroyed her cell and knocked Dark Ahsoka backward, but it zapped all of her power. She now had to wait to try anything even close to that magnitude again.
Which meant she had to run.