I woke slowly, trying to figure out what had happened. Breaking through the wave of pain that rolled through my head, I thought back to the last thing I remembered.

Anakin...talking to me...his hand on my knee...injected...drugged...game...game!

I'm lying on my side, and I immediately roll over, trying to get back to alertness, to get my head to stop pounding, to get free, to get up, to do anything.

And in doing so, I roll straight into a pool of icy water.

Ankles, wrists, mouth taped. Swim, fight, get to surface, hurry, need air!

All of this comes crashing down on me at once. I start flailing, panicked, my brain having no control over my muscles.

STOP. RELAX. I practically scream in my head. Instead of struggling, I find myself slowly floating. As my eyes dart around, I catch a glimpse of silver at the bottom of the pool.

I try to quicken my descent, and my racing heart leaps with joy when I realize what it is. I slit my bonds with the knife and stroke hard to the surface as spots swim before my eyes. I break through the surface of the water and gasp for breath, coughing and sputtering, clutching the side of the pool for dear life.

I pull myself out and curl into a ball, spitting up more and more water. The chlorine in it burns my throat, and I rub my eyes, trying to clear the blurriness.

Finish. I tell myself. You must finish. I had no clue how much time had passed, but I could not just give up.

I look up and finally take in my surroundings. My belt rests inside a glass box, which I waste no time in smashing open, ignoring the bits of glass that find my patches of exposed skin and embed themselves into it.

Using my last ounce of energy I have, I jog to the wall, slam my hands on it, and sink to my knees.

After a few minutes, my head begins to clear and I seem to have cleared all the water out of my stomach. I sit down against the wall and start picking the glass out of my skin, watching as thin beads of blood appear and snake down my body along with the water, staining the pool beneath me red.

Ouch. I think. But I brought this on myself. Probably was an easier way to do it, but I could barley see straight, much less think.

Anakin enters the room beaming from ear to ear. "That was fantastic Ahsoka! You were under a minute, thirty seconds!"

I look at him with a look so hostile and unforgiving it could have killed him where he stood.

"Bite me." I snarl.

His expression shifts, from pride to confusion, and I realize that he is oblivious to the source of my anger.

"What's got you so worked up Snips?"

I stand, hands on hips, flinging water droplets everywhere.

"Number 1, you drugged me! Without me knowing! That's not fair!"

"Was it in the rules?"

I pause, thrown off. "What?"

"Was. It. In. The. Rules?" He repeats, enunciating carefully.

"You didn't mention it." I say, wondering what angle he is trying to play.

"All is fair in love and war. Enemies won't play by the rules, Snips, sooner you learn that, the better."

I frowned, realizing he had an excellent point. Damn. So I regrouped and retorted. "But I still could have drowned and died! Does that mean anything?"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. I would have stepped in long before that. I had monitors on you and a med droid standing by. You were perfectly safe."

I fall silent. He had me, but I was still majorly ticked.

He reached out a hand to touch my shoulder, but I instantly recoiled back.

"Sharp as a tack Ahsoka, I knew you'd figure it out. It's alright this time, it'll be just like the first level."

I shake my head, not believing a word he said.

"Good, Snips. You learned another lesson. Trust is earned, not given."

"You're right about that. Now, can we get on with this game?" I snap, my patience wearing thin.

"You sure you're okay? You don't want to get cleaned up first?" He asks, gesturing to my tiny wounds.

"I'm fine. Let's just do this."

He sighs and pulls out the mask again. "Don't make things harder than they need to be, Ahsoka. It's just a game."

I nod, and steel myself, before sinking into the black oblivion of a drug induced sleep, one where there are no dreams, no nightmares, absolutely nothing at all.