In the End {1}

xix: Reparations

When Ahsoka woke up, there were white lights everywhere. She was in a hospital bed, covered up to her chin in a scratchy white blanket. She sat up slowly, rubbing her head.

"Easy, Ahsoka, you're safe," Anakin said, noticing that she was awake.

"Hey, Master," she said, laying back down. "What happened?"

His face hardened. "How much do you remember?"

In her mind, she pictured the dark room.

Just a little fun before we leave.

She remembered feeling helpless as Nyx did whatever he pleased to her. She couldn't move, speak, or defend herself. Images flashed through her mind, and she felt her stomach turn into a knot. "The general gist of it."

An awkward silence passed between them. They were both uncomfortable talking about what had happened.

"I swear, Ahsoka, if I had known it was going to end up like this, I never would've let you go in there alone. I could've been there to stop her, or I could've done something to help faster. She's lucky someone else got to you before I did because it wouldn't have ended well."

"Wait, what? 'Her' who?" Clearly, they were talking about two different things.

"Barriss, of course. She was found dead in the room with you. Poison dagger. From what I can tell, she took you back there to kill you but heard me coming and killed herself rather than answer for her crimes."

Barriss had been there? That explained the female in the room with them. Barriss hadn't lead her to that room, and Barris hadn't laid a finger on her while she was there. At least, not that Ahsoka could remember. She needed more details before she could piece together the story for herself.

"What happened to Nyx? He was back there, too."

"No, Ahsoka, he wasn't." Anakin sat down on the end of her bed, a concerned expression on his face. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She felt like she was going to vomit remembering what Nyx had done. No, she wasn't okay. "I'm fine now. I remember what happened very differently than you do, though."

"That's probably because of the drug in your system. It put you out for a while. I'd be surprised if you remembered much of anything that happened, really."

It couldn't have been as strong as he thought because she certainly remembered some things she really wanted to forget. "What about Nyx?" she asked.

"If it weren't for him, Barriss probably would've killed you. He came out and found me after you were supposedly in the 'fresher for a while. We think Barriss found you there and pulled you into a room. I don't want to think about what would've happened if Nyx didn't say anything."

Ahsoka's gaze fell, realization dawning on her. Nyx totally played them. He took her to the back room to took advantage of her then went and got Anakin so he wouldn't look guilty. It was sickening.

The only thing that didn't add up was Barriss. She had said something about a deal to Nyx. Had she paid off Nyx to incapacitate Ahsoka so it would be easier to kill her?

She took a deep breath. Anakin had been deceived, and no one else was going to be able to clear it up for him. As much as she didn't want to talk about the previous night, he had to know.

"Master," she started, "do you remember when you asked me if I'd tell you if Nyx ever hurt me?"

"Yeah, of course," he said. "I thought you two were getting along fine."

"He lied to you at the bar, Master. I'm pretty sure he was the one who drugged me. He took me back to that room, and then he put me on the bed and..." she didn't want to say the rest out loud.