Even the Dark Side Can't Take Our Memories

Chapter 22 - ...Are Not the End

Ahsoka sat hunched over on her bed, her head in her hands. Thick drops of rain pattered against the window like hail, making metallic pings against Ahsoka's roof. It had been hours since Ahsoka had watched Barriss's holomessage, and she did not know what to do with herself. It wasn't like she hadn't felt the pain of losing Barriss before, but this time around, she could have stopped it. Ahsoka could have stopped Barriss from leaving, but she didn't.

Ahsoka choked on the air in her throat, anxiously tugging on her lekkus. When did she become like this? When did she become the kind of person who could be ruined, wrecked, torn limb from limb by love? She never used to be the sentimental type. At first, being with Barriss was just fun. It was an addition to Ahsoka's already happy-go-lucky life. Who cared that she was living and fighting a war, risking her life by the day? She was happy, surrounded by people she cherished. And now she'd gone and thrown it all away, and for what? The Jedi had always done their part to prevent their peacekeepers from gaining attachments, but they had never done anything to stop Ahsoka from becoming attached to the Jedi themselves.

Why had she left?

With her back to the door, overwhelmed by her own self-induced misery, Ahsoka did not hear the familiar bzzzt that she'd grown up surrounded by. As she took deep breaths to try and calm her raging mind, Ahsoka froze, her hand clenching where it lay on her fast-beating heart. She sensed it. A threat.

Ahsoka whirled around just in time to see a burned circle of metal fall through her rusted door, an infamous red lightsaber following soon behind. Ahsoka panicked, her heart rising up in her throat. She had no weapons, nothing that could protect her from the wrath of a Sith blade. Ahsoka dove under her bed to grab her pathetic poles of metal, and whirled around to find a shimmering, deep rouge rod of murderous light inches from her neck.

***

Ahsoka rolled under her bed, promptly sweeping out a leg in an attempt to trip her attacker. The veiled rogue was vigilant and leaped over Ahsoka's speedy leg with ease. Ahsoka twisted away from the floor, flipping upwards and pushing against the Sith. Or, at least, they seemed skilled enough to be one. Ahsoka's metal poles were no match for the lightsaber, and the wielder promptly sliced the metal in half until Ahsoka was left with nothing but smoking shreds. She clenched her jaw, tossing the remains of her weapons onto the floor, regaining her composure in a split second before springing over the assailant's head. With her back pressed against that of the other person, Ahsoka whipped her arms over her head and around the combatant's neck from behind. She tugged, and could hear ragged breathing from behind her. The being could not seem to get their lightsaber around to hit Ahsoka, until it brushed dangerously close to Ahsoka's thigh, causing shooting pain to run up her leg. She clenched her teeth against the affliction, and this moment of weakness gave the ominous figure the chance they needed to slip out from Ahsoka's grasp. The aggressor whirled around to face Ahsoka, their tightly grasped lightsaber against their side. Ahsoka's fists were clenched by her own. The assailant carefully pulled back their hood, a wicked grin splitting across her face.