Really sorry for the extremely long wait. Procrastination was not letting me write anything. Here it is though and I hope that you enjoy it(If there are any of you left). Oh and a very happy Christmas! PS, I know that light saber wounds don't bleed but I made them bleed anyway.
Chapter 4
Ahsoka held Vader's gaze, squirming slightly against the force of the stare. Her own hack-like eyes were fixed on his piercing golden ones, both of them were seemingly competing against each other. One was on the defensive, while the other on the offensive. The squirm shown by the Togruta was nothing compared to the fierce assault that was taking place in her mind. It appeared as if Vader was going all out(which knowing him was quite possible), having already ripped through her defenses after seemingly finding a weakness in her mind defenses. He kept searching and turning everything upside down in his quest to find it. What "it" was, Ahsoka did not know.
Her mind was usually in perfect shape with her mental barriers standing strong and proud in the forefront. Even with all the torture that Ahsoka had received in the past few days, she had prided herself in never letting her guard down and of keeping her mind in order with the frontiers as secure as ever if not even stronger due to the unpleasant circumstances that she was subjected to during her imprisonment. You always had to be prepared when a dark lord of the Sith was involved. What's more, where others would now be grovelling on the floor broken and pleading for mercy, she had remained completely sane and unperturbed in her stronghold that was her mind, after all, your mind is your sanctuary, and this was all Ahsoka had left right now.
So for someone to very simply crush through her defenses which had held against strong inquisitors and intruders alike, was, to put it simply, mind-boggling. All those years that she had spent trying to order her mind and find her peace, had all just ended today, proven by her attempts to find a dark lord who she was currently chasing through her mind, who just so happened to be her old Jedi master turned dark, who just so happened to be rampaging through her mind, and who just so happened to be screaming at the top of his modified deep voice creating one of the worst headache known to the galaxy. yeah. That bad.
If anyone were to ask her right now how she was feeling, she would have replied with saying that she felt peachy. And by that she meant the really rotten kind of peachy that was purple and corroded because of decay and had bugs flying around it who were just trying to reach to the last bit of ripe(or at least consumable) flesh of the once juicy fruit(obviously not anymore though).
She did not yet understand how Vader had come into her mind so easily nor did she have the time to figure it out as she was trying to defend herself from drowning in the dark tsunami that was flooding her mind at that very moment plus trying to find a dark lord of the Sith who was running around he mind. If she had taken care to pay attention however, she would have noticed that the wall that protected her mind from intruders was actually very much intact. The only thing that seemed out of place was a mount of ruble scattered in some dark and shadowy corner of her mind, a place that she had ignored and locked away at the back of her head to avoid the torrent of emotions that came with it. Eventually, she had forgotten it was even there.
Suddenly, unnoticed by everyone, a piece of the debris that used to make up the broken down wall fell forward with a resounding clank, leaving something uncovered that had remained stowed away and forgotten for many decades. I you dared to look, it no longer had the decayed and unused look to it that had been dominant in its appearance for many years. Now, it sported a vibrant blue hue and every once in a while, it radiated a wave of energy.
This Fissure was the reason that Vader had been able to pass through Ahsoka's fortifications.
This fissure was the old bond between Ahsoka and her master, Anakin Skywalker, something that even Ahsoka herself had forgotten that she had. And that was her mistake. But she remained ignorant of this, too preoccupied by the Sith and the wake of destruction that was left in his path.
Vader was searching for something.
Of that she was sure.
Many would ask how she came to that conclusion.
Honestly, it was very simple actually. Specially since said Sith was whizzing through her mind and upturning every memory that he could find in his path of destruction. He would stop suddenly and look through the memory in front of him for a second before he would continue sprinting through her mind.
And even though he stopped every time, she could not reach him. The reason for this being that whenever he looked at a memory, the memory flashed before her minds eye.
So far, he had not opened anything too bad but she was conscious that it was just a matter of time before he found a memory about something other than training sessions and missions that she had long forgotten about. She cursed herself silently for not having worked harder on ordering her mind and meditating, it would have been useful in situations like this. "Oh well, could have been worse"she thought before muttering "at least he hasn't stumbled upon some bad memory like the trandoshan hunt... Oh great, why do you hate me so much universe!" Yep, you guessed it, right after she uttered the name of the memory, the walls of her mind reflected the experience to perfection. "Right," she thought "this is my mind, any memory I mention and it literally appears in front of Vader´s eyes. OK, note to self then. Must not speak. At all. Great. Just great."
Vader´s was way too busy looking at the images that danced upon the walls so Ahsoka thought "This is my chance to catch him." She sped towards him at full speed but just when she thought that she was going to make it, he turned to her. Not completely, but just enough so that his left eye could be glimpsed. What she saw in his eye, was something that she could not explain. It awakened feelings inside of her that she thought she would never feel again. That gaze that he set upon her, she had not seen since she let go of the past and walked towards the future.
His eye was blue again.
It had returned to that crystalline blue that she had first set her eyes upon the very first time that she met him. Those twinkling sapphire eyes that had rested on her face so many times before with a mixture of pride and regret, were gazing back at her one last time, even after the apprentice had left the master, all those years ago.
Her breath caught in her throat as she gasped in shock at what she was seeing. "It must be an illusion" she thought. Yet right there in front of her were the eyes of her old master, gazing back at her own, just as they had in Christophsis, all those years ago.
Then, he tilted his head to the side in a detached manner, before the edge of his mouth quirked upwards slightly and Ahsoka felt a sharp pain exploding from my side.
She shook her head disbelievingly and looked downwards before doing a double take. From her abdomen, she could just make out a red blade with a hilt splattered with blood sticking out of her singed flesh. She looked upwards and stood dumbfounded looking at her master. No, Vader. She realized with a start. "He had faked all of it!" She thought fiercely. She looked back towards her wound and savagely took the light saber out of her body, barely wincing at the charred flesh that was left behind. She lifted her face in a way that only the lower part of it could be glimpsed before a low growl escaped her throat. A frown found its way into her expression and she rose her gaze to meet Vader's. Vader's own smirk grew wider as a fierce snarl escaped her throat and her eyes shone a brilliant amber, much like his own. She tossed the light saber savagely to the side and got in an aggressive stance, baring her teeth.
But it was only for a second. Before long, she shook herself and her eyes returned to their signature sapphire and she broke her aggressive stance in favor of falling to her knees with a disbelieving look on her face. She brought her bloodied hands shakily towards her face and observed that they were trembling intensely. She looked upwards again and regret was plastered all over her features. She looked back down and a tear rolled down from her cheek before she flailed helplessly and tumbled down onto the ground because of the lack of blood. And there she lay, dying in a pool of her own crimson blood that continued to drip from her wound and as Vader approached her fallen body, she heard the words "Change of plans I guess" being whispered next to her ear as darkness overtook her and she lost herself in her unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, Vader rose from his crouching position next to Ahsoka and turned around to stroll through her mindscape as he thought back to his prisoner (who was currently bleeding to death on the floor of her own mind). She wouldn't die, one could not die in your own mind. But, her injuries would travel back to the real world with her where she would now be slumping against her bounds, her life force escaping her. He would be ejected from her mind in a few seconds when Ahsoka's consciousness shut off. This would be about…now. And suddenly, the ground shook and a blinding light flooded his vision before he found himself back in the prison cell with, true to his prediction, a slumped and pale Ahsoka sagging against her chains in front of him, her blood dripping down her chains. He would have to work quickly if he wanted her to survive. Which he obviously did. But there was no need for her to be fully cured. After all, pain was a tool that very few could resist.
Ahsoka's point of view
Oooh, my head. Actually, scratch that. Oooooh, my body.
What have I been doing!?
I feel like I have been stabbed by a lightsaber. Considering that I am in Vader's castle, I probably was.
As my senses returned, I became aware of something else in the room. Or someone, to be more precise. Greaaat, Vader is probably looking at me right now. Best not to keep him waiting then(lest he stab me again). I laboriously lifted my head and I cracked my eyes open before hurriedly shutting them together. I blinked a few times to get my eyes used to the light(not that there was that much light mind you) and to get my bearings until the blurs and shapes melded together forming a prison cell. And right in front of me stood my mortal enemy. Vader. He appeared to be pacing around the cell with his back to me and his hands held behind his back. He rose his head and his voice boomed and echoed around the cell as he said "I see you are awake." "Yes, what of it." I replied, my expression guarded. "Nothing, I was just wondering when I could keep torturing you."
I rolled my eyes and said "What is it with you and torture, it's like you can't live without it" His eyes widened suddenly before going sombre "That's because I can't. Every day of my life is torture now, I can't escape it, so why should anybody else? "he said darkly. "Oh" I responded stunned at his outburst.
Angrily, he turned completely and suddenly started throwing slashes of pure dark energy towards me. His eyes were filled with bloodlust and soon, his face was mere inches from mine. I tried to recoil but I found that the blood drenched chains that held me could not stretch backwards any further.
I was trapped.
He grabbed my throat and started closing his fist while I gagged and fought desperately for air to enter my lungs. Then, he whispered into my ear"You don't understand what I have gone through. You don't understand and you never will!" By then he was shouting into my ear and I recoiled in shock.
Then, and without warning, he grabbed my right wrist with his free hand and pushed the dark side into the scar. I opened my mouth to scream before I realised that I had no air left. I franticly moved my head from side to side, a silent scream etched on my face. And then, very abrubtly, his hand left my throat and air rushed into my lungs. I gasped in relief, momentarily forgetting the pain in my wrist.
But my happiness was short-lived, since as soon as he let go of my throat, a sharp pain exploded through my whole body, numbing my body for a few moments. I managed to look down to see an eerie black glow encasing my wrists. Vader had let go of my arms and I watched as a smirk played its way into his eyes. I watched horrified at what he had done and all the while, a high pitched scream tore through the air around me as the pain got more intense. All I could feel was pain. Hot, white and searing pain. Soon, I realized that the scream was mine. I could no longer find it in me to care though. All I wanted was for the pain to end.
And the, as quickly as it had come, I fell into darkness.
I looked around me. All I could see was darkness, utter and complete darkness. Oddly enough, I did not feel scared. I felt the darkness welcoming me and a part of my brain tried to push it away. The other did not. I faltered and looked around me. There was nothing. Nothing at all. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, I found piercing blood red eyes shining into mine before a deafening scream tore through the silence.
I hope that you thought it was good and not too confusing. Please review but no flames please.
