I heard Ash skid to stop and felt a rush of relief flood over me. "Get away from her!" He yelled at Sawyer and I sense my husband back away in fear. From what I could tell, Ash slammed Sawyer against the wall, most likely blinded by rage. "Sawyer," He growled as I heard another slam. "I don't want to hurt you," He started, calming down from the initial wave of rage. "But I swear on my life, if you touch her again, I'll kill you." He threatened, which made me feel surprisingly safe. Ash let Sawyer down and Sawyer started panting in fear, wow you were just the meanest person on Naboo, what happened? "Hey sis," He whispered in a calming voice as he ran towards me, tearing apart the chains I was in like a savage. "You came." I looked up at him as he caught me. "You called. He responded with a smile on his face. "Are you alright?" The idiot asked, this dummy. "Yeah I'm fine." I said sarcastically, a part of me hoping he would believe me. As soon as he let me go I covered chest in embarrassment. 'Kriff, did he see my-' My cheeks began to turn red at the thought as looked around for anything to cover myself with. Ash clearly noticed my discomfort as he took off his hoodie and handed it to me. I quickly grabbed it throwing it over myself, instantly feeling better. "Thank you," I whispered grateful for the act of kindness. I felt a familiar presence close to us, "The kids." I thought out loud as I grabbed Ash's arms for support. "What?" Ash asked confused, tilting his head to the side. "They're here." I explained further, realizing that what I had said was rather vague. "Impossible." He shook his head, patting me on the shoulder as if I was the dumb one. "I just put them down for nap." He smiled as me reassuringly. Did he forget that I have six kids in total, and they are all here? "The other triplets." I gestured in a circle to emphasize my words. "Ansa, Apollo, and Aaron?" He clarified even more, not being able to wrap his mind around the simple fact that there were other kids on the planet. I nodded aggressively at the fool, trying not to laugh. "They're here?!" He asked again and I pursed my lips together, don't blow up on him, he's just dumb we know this. "I didn't even know they were on Naboo!" He exclaimed with something I could actually agree with. "Me either." I chuckled realizing that he was probably confused with what I was saying. "Where are they?" He asked, realizing another rescue mission was due. I closed my eyes, tapping into the force to see where they were. I felt the pain in back my grow stronger as the energy I was using to locate my kids was preventing my body from healing and subduing the pain. "I can sense them." I responded to the question, disconnecting and feeling some relief on my back. "Let's go." Ash grabbed my hand eagerly, pulling me to the exit. I tried to follow him, but failed as the sting from the gashes in my back hurt, a lot. I collapsed to the ground with a pant, trying to catch my breath, and trying not to cry. "Rebel, you are not fine." Ash said concerned, I was though, I just needed a few moments to catch my breath. "We need to get you looked at." He continued, lifting up my chin and giving my neck a break. "What did he do to you?" He turned his attention to the actual culprit, Sawyer. "What did you do to her?" He growled, glaring at Sawyer who was still in the room. "I-" Sawyer started, causing me to panic, I didn't want Ash to know, he was just saying how he looked up to me, how could he look up to someone who was tortured so easily. "Nothing!" I blurted out, preventing the story from being told, I would rather die than tell him. "Let's just go get the triplets." I directed the attention from me to the kids, the people that actually needed saving. I attempted to get on my feet, failing miserably as I collapsed again. "I'll carry you." He offered, placing his palm in front of my face. Is this man dumb? "No, Ash." I declined, shaking my head. "I'm too heavy." I explained my reason, remembering all my years of not exercising that lead to me being in this state. "What?" Ash asked, almost offended at my words. "What are you talking about?" He asked, not letting me answer. "Just get on my back." He ordered, turning around. "I'll give you a piggyback ride," He continued to not let me speak, how rude. "You tell me where to go." He finished talking, offering a compromise. "Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly, hovering my hand on his shoulder, worried I would break his back. "Yeah, of course." He nodded, not a seed of doubt in his mind. "Okay." I finally agreed, placing down my palm. 'Idiot' I thought as I climbed onto his back. 'This is how you get hurt, how you get killed, trust.'.
We found the kids room on the same level, they had been tied up. I wanted to murder, who the kriff tied up my kids? MINE. "Hi kids. Ash whispered, trying not to startle them, untying Ansa. He's good with kids, that's kind of adorable. What am I thinking? No, he's dumb and he's an idiot and for force's sake he's married to my sister. I stepped forwards to untie the boys, trying to distract myself from the thoughts I was having. After we had finished freeing the kids and saying our hellos Ash got up to leave out of this horrid basement. "Come on, kids." He stood up, carrying the boys in either one of his arms. "We'll take you back up to the room." He continued, heading for the door as I went to stand up, thinking that the tiny bit of rest I had would make my injuries disappear. I collapsed. I didn't learn my lesson and fell. It was worse, however, considering that Ansa was right next to me. "Mama?" She asked, concerned, leaning over me. "Mama's okay." Ash comforted Ansa from the clearly disturbing sight. "She's okay." He whispered, putting his hand on Ansa's shoulder, however it almost seemed like he was trying to consol himself. I felt my eyelids start to flutter close, I felt weak, I hate this. "Uncle Ash is just gonna give her a ride for now, okay?" He propped me up into an upright position, making me feel more inferior. 'You're supposed hide when your weak, not just wave it around like a white flag.' I heard Reese criticized me, convincing me to change the attention to someone far more important. "No, Ash." I coughed, trying to get out of his reach. "The kids-" I started, pointing at them as they trembled in fear. "The kids are fine." He finished my sentence, cupping my face with his hands. I raised on eyebrow, how would he know? Their not even his kids. "Aren't y'all?" He checked with the kids themselves, trying hard to ease my worries. They nodded thoughtlessly, probably too scared to disagree. "You've been walking all your life haven't you?" He joked, thinking it was funny because they were three. It wasn't. "No, Ash." I repeated my words, completely ignoring his words. "They're three years old, they've only been walking for two years, you idiot." I shut down the idea of them walking on their own. "Still," He tried to reason with me. "That's plenty of time for them to become experts, isn't it?" He put forth the idea, refusing to give up. "They don't need me to carry them." He insisted that I was the one to be carried, that I was the baby. "No, see?" He finished convincing me that the kids were fine with walking on their own. "Hop on." He ordered, and I followed. Once we reached, Ash set me down on the edge of the mattress and the kids greeted each other, starting to play as I flinched everytimethe oversized hoodie touched my wounded back. "Do you think we could talk outside for a sec?" He asked, nudging his head towards the door. I nodded, weary of the kids and how I couldn't be healed with them in the room, however we couldn't kick them out of the room either. We both went outside, not disturbing the kids. "You don't have to tell me what happened," Oh thank the Force. "I just need to know where it so I can take care of you," He finished his sentence, causing me a spike of anxiety. He has to take care of me? Does he even know the difference between Concerta and Adderall? Can he wrap a bandage? "My back." I felt tears flood my tearduct, causing my eyes to water. Wow, my eyes are watering. "Okay." Ash said understandingly, not forcing me to cry. "I'll get the supplies." He said somemly, going back into the room. "Are there any medical personnel here you trust?" He asked, clearly concerned about his lack of knowledge in the medical field. However considering that the last time a nurse or doctor took care of me here, I was asleep for 10 days, the answer was no. "There's no one here I trust more than you." I relayed my contempt in a more loving was that with a single word answer, I mean this man could literally kill me. He opened the door to ear-spliting screams from the kids, causing him to take a step back out of shock. "Do you want the kids out of the room?" Ash turned around to face me, asking a question that I was fighting to blurt out yes to. But I had to be the responsible one here, and ask the questions, "Who would watch them?". His eyes lit up at the question, as if he had been waiting for me to ask it. "There's actually this really nice babysitter that I trust." I didn't know if he thought the words 'I trust' meant a lot to me, I mean the man trusted Palpatine. "I actually think she's the one I saw you talking to earlier." Now that piqued my interest, probably because I talk to a ton of people. "What's her name?" I asked, trying to narrow down the list. "Martha," He replied excitedly, getting me excited too. "Yeah, thats her!" I recall the almost child that I had been talking to a while ago, such a sweet little thing. "Great!" He clapped, making me flinch involuntarily. He clenched his teeth together, saying sorry, as I waved it off with a flick of the wrist. "Come on kids!" He broadcasted his voice to the kids. . "We're gonna go spend some time with a nice lady named Martha for a little bit,"He explained his reasoning for breaking up the fun, all of them leaving the room except Ansa. "I wanna see Mama though," She protested leaving me, refusing to leave with the rest of her sib- cousins. "I know you do sweetheart." Ash bent down to her level, attempting to reason with her. "I know." He stroked her cheek, comforting her."But Mama's not feeling well right now." He fibbed about my condition. "So you'll have to wait just a little bit." She nodded with a disappointed yet understanding expression, stalking out the door, stopping when she reached me. "I hope you feel better soon, Mama." She said in an adorable tone, reaching her arms up for a hug I couldn't resist. "Aww thank you, Sweetie." I squeezed my daughter tightly, remember a conversation I had had with a maid on Ryloth when I was pregnant. "Are you gonna hate the kids?" She asked pointing down to my enlarged stomach. "Why would I?" I asked confused. "Well, after all that their father did to you…" She trailed off, letting the silence speak for itself. "It's not the children's fault their father is a creep." I stated clearly, making it clear I had no intent of pre-judging innocent children. "Okay, time to go, Ansa." Ash brought me back to reality, making me let go of my child. Ash left with the kids to bring them to their babysitter while I went into the room, racing with anxiety. What if he gets disgusted by my scars? What if he judges me, I mean I'm not in the best shape. What if he's secretly like Thrawn and I'm throwing myself into a trap? I heard his foot steps, breaking my out of my overthink trance. "Okay, Ash I have to warn you." I placed my palm between us. "It's not pretty." I hung my head in my hands, bashful. "And it's not in a good spot and its so embarrassing and I'm so sorry." I apologized, feeling bad that Ash had to take care of me. "Rebel, Rebel." He repeated my name, placing his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him through the gaps between my fingers. "You've been through enough," He said guiltily, as if it was his fault for not getting to me in time. "I don't want you to apologize for anything okay?" He shook his head remorsefully. "Nothing that happened is your fault, no matter what they say," I felt a pang of sadness, rememeber what his wife had said a few days earlier. "Believe me, I've been down that road before." He mumbled, looking down at the ground. "What did Palpatine do to you?" I tilted my head to the side, as Ash turned around and started gathering supplies. "I don't want to talk about it." He snapped curtly, sending me a look of hatred. I took a step back, shocked at the tone and anger behind his eyes. "I'm sorry." I whispered, feeling bad for bringing back bad memories. "No it's not you." He hung his head with a defeated sigh. "It's just, a lot of things have resurfaced today and I'm just not ready to deal with all of it yet," He explained with a pained expression on his face. "Now take your top off." He ordered, pointed at me up and down. I gasped at the abruptness of the command, turning the hoodie into a turtleneck. "Ash!" I yelled at him. "I know, I'm sorry." He laughed at the awkwardness of the situation. "It's the last thing you need to hear today, but I just need to get you taken care of so it doesn't get infected." He excused his unruly conduct, which still did not make me feel any safer. "I won't look, I promise." He guaranteed looking over at the wall. I started undressing, looking behind me every once in a while. I felt Ash's eyes on me, breaking his vow. I turned me head in his direction, causing him to panic and look somewhere, clearing his throat in embarrassment. I scoffed at him, honestly not surprised at his action. I cleared my throat, letting him know I was finished. "Do you mind laying down on the bed?" He asked point over to it. I ran over to the bed, struggling to cover everything. Once I was comfortably laying on the bed, Ash brought over the tons of supplies he had managed to accumulate for my injuries. "It's gonna sting a little, I'm sorry." He warned apologecticly, however I was grateful that he took the time to warn be beforehand. "It's okay." I answered, moving myself into a more comfortable position. "It has to be less painful than what put me in this position, right?" I asked jokingly, using not very funny dark humor. He chuckled humorlessly, sounding almost nervous. He pressed the anti-bacterial drenched cloth onto my open wounds, sending a sharp stinging pain down my back. "Ow! Ow!" I yelped in surprise, not expected the extend of pain, considering what Ash has stated before. "I'm sorry, I lied." He sounded pained to tell me that, even though I was the one in actual pain. "It's gonna sting a lot." He concluded, continuing the practical torture. "How do you know so much about this?" I questioned, trying to distract myself from the sting of the medicine. "I had to do a lot of this to myself too," He answered calmly, answering my question for earlier. A moment of silence passed, where Ash was working on my wounds, and I was thinking about what I would say to Sawyer later tonight. How would I even address him? I mean do I just have to forgive him at let it go? Suck up my pride and just go to bed with the man that had tortured me not even hours before? The man that could be a possible danger to the kids? Ohh- the kids, their so adorable. I remembered the day that Ash and them spent at the beach. Of course I was watching from afar but seeing Ash play with them was comforting. "You love those kids," I commented, smiling fondly at the memory. "Of course I do," He stated matter of factly, sounding slightly confused at my sudden remark. "They're yours." I could sense the soft smile appear on his face as he finished his sentence. Mine? "What's that supposed to mean?" I finished the rest ofmy thought aloud, inquiring as to why he would love kids just because I had given birth to them. "Nothing," He dismissed my worries, which made me worry more. I opened my eyes, turning my head slightly to see Ash turning bright red. I tapped into his mind, deciding to find out what he meant myself. Oh- were talking about children, not making them. You miss Rue that much? "No, tell me what you mean," I insisted, now really interested on what he meant. "Rebel, I like you a lot, why wouldn't I like your kids the same amount too?" He finally gave in to my interrogation, sighing defeatedly. He started massaging my shoulders, causing me to tense up as unpleasant memories starting popping up in my brain. "What are you doing?" I asked wearily, knowing that Ash would never do anything to harm me, however somethings I couldn't control. Dumb trauma, dumb Master. "I'm sorry." He apologized, moving his hands away from me quickly. "Your shoulders felt tight," He clarified the reasoning behind his actions. "What are you, a masseuse?" I mocked, hiding my new found nervousness, not that I didn't trust him, I didn't trust the action. "I'm sorry," He muttered, moving from his position. "No, no, I mean, you can, if you want to," I stopped him, grabbing his leg. I removed it quickly, however realizing my poor hand placement. "What's this?" He asked, pointing to a burn on my lower neck. "If you don't mind me asking," He followed up his question, apprehensive of my silence. Yet, my silence wasn't a result of anger, or sadness, it was me trying to build up courage to speak of things not even my own flesh and blood knew of. Things that I had wished to forget about, and bury deep inside my buzzing brain. I took a deep, shaken breath, swallowing the weld up tears, and held in screams accumulated from years of torment. "It's a brand." I barely managed to whisper, even worse memories now flooding my entire headspace, making it feel like my brain was going to explode. "Who gave it to you?" Ash continued however, not being able to read my mind or sense I hated talking about this. "Thrawn." I complied to the what seemed like interrogation, as I threw his name out into the world, hoping he would burn in the firey depths of Mustafar. "Did it hurt?" He asked a rather dumb question, as if scorching metal tatooing my skin in the worst way possible would feel like a breeze in the park. "Everything he did to me hurt." My heart betrayed me, letting my emotions and weakness show as a tear rolled down my cheek. "Rebel, I'm so so sorry," There it is, the pitying tone I get every time I open. Gosh, I must sound so dumb right now. "It's not your fault." I shook my head, dismissing his worries. My eyelids began to grow heavy, tired from the resurfaced trauma and injuries of the day. I closed my eyes to rest them, falling asleep before I had a chance to set an alarm. I'm never washing my face again.
I woke up after what I could assume was a few minutes, grogily rubbing my eyes and yawning. Ash was gone, probably getting dinner or retrieving the kids. I got up from the bed, putting on the hoodie that was still on the ground, folding the blanket that had came from no where. The door swung open as I heard Ash's footsteps walking in. "Ash, I'm glad you're back. I wanted to-" I started, cut of when I saw a familiar face, my own to be exact. Ash sent me a warning glare, his gaze pointing to my bra on the bedpost. I stepped infront of the garment with haste, trying not to cause Rue any suspicion of us. "Why is she wearing your hoodie?" She asked, seeming livid at the fact I was not wearing my own clothing. "Is this your room?! What is she doing in here?!" She practically screamed, pointing her finger at me, accusing me of something I could never even think about doing. But that's the way it worked, it was always my fault, honestly I can't even complain considering that this is how I had acted not even a year ago. She was just giving me a taste of my own medicine, how could I fight her over that? "I should go." I started to leave, deciding it was best if I just left. "No, no, no. This is good." Ash stopped me, "You two need to talk, so talk." Ash pushed us together so that we were face to face, making us both grumbled in disagreement. Just because I couldn't blame Rue for teaching me a lesson, I couldn't forgive her for her actions, which actually brought me physical pain. "I'll go get the kids and then we can get out of here." Ash turned to face the door, starting to walk out before Rue had stopped him. "No, you stay here." She snapped her finger, pointing down at the ground next to us. "You want us to talk?" She folded her arms, a sarcastic tone in her voice as Ash turned back around to now face her. "Fine, we'll talk." Her teeth clenched in frustration, looking me in the eye. "Rebel, I'm sorry for pouring coffee on your head." With an insincere apology, most likey just because Ash was here, she glared at me, causing shivers to go down my spine. "Wh-" Ash tried to question Rue's statement, since it had been his frist time hearing of such things. "Now, you tell me what you're sorry for in detail." Rue trapped me, cleverly making me the bad guy as she jabbed her finger into my chest. Ow. "Rue, I'm sorry for insulting you and your family-" I looked down at the ground, swallowing the tears that wanted to be released. I can't cry in front of them, I can't cry in front of Rue. "Tell him what you said about him to his face." She ordered, pointing at Ash. I still refused to speak, for fear that I would break down into tears. "What are you, gonna cry like a crybaby?" The last word of her sentence rang in my head. Crybaby, I've wanted to be one, I wanted to be the strong one. "I-" I stumbled around, looking for the words, and the strength to say them. "Ash, I'm so sorry." I apologized, feeling tears run down my cheeks. "I called you stupid." Cried, confessing everything I said. "Oh that's fine." Ash waved off the offense, wiping my tears. "You call me an idiot all the time, Rebel," He addressed me by my name causing more heartache. "You know this." He continued to freely forgive me, not knowing the severity of what I had said. "No, it was different this time." I explained, pushing him away and shaking my head. "I meant it." I felt the words drop out of my mouth, like bombs onto Ash's poor little heart. "But I-I didn't really mean it." I attempting to save his heart. "I just wasn't thinking." I really did try. "Is that really what you think of me?" But the damage had already been done. "No I-" I started, taking a step closer to him, trying to save our friendship. "That's all I am to you, an idoit." Ash took a step back and I saw tears in his eyes. "No, Ash." I stopped him from going further, holding onto his arms. "You're my bestfriend," I confessed, looking over at Rue, shocked at her expression. She was smiling, she was genuinely happy that the friendship between her sister and her husband was ruined. "And my only one at that." I whispered underneath my breath. I took a few steps back from Ash as he left the room, going to collect the kids. "You win." I sighed defeatly. "YOU WIN, OKAY?!" I raised my voice feeling the agony of heartache all over again. "You've turned the entire Rebellion against me, you've taken away my friendship with Ash, YOU WIN." Tears of anger streamed down my face. "I'm stuck here at the castle just like everyone wanted!" The sly smirk on Rue's face aggravated me more. Is she that happy that my life is ruined? "So just go living your life as miss perfect, and leave me alone." I wailed, overwhelmed with the emotional rollercoaster the past day has been. "Cause our friendship is over." I finished my rant as Rue started walking out the door. She stopped, however, pausing to look at from over her shoulder, saying her final words to me that broke me. "Our friendship was over a long time ago Rebel, it just took us an eternity to realize."