Cyare (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

29

Ahsoka woke up to a familiar white-walled room. She was laying on a bed, a slight incline pushing her head above her feet. Her vision was fuzzy, but she was not in the cage at least. She blinked and her surroundings snapped into their normal crystalline focus. She tried to sit up, but was stopped by a rough canvas restraint around her arms, legs, and waist. She struggles for a few seconds, panicking. The door opened slowly, and Barris walked in.

"Thank force! You're awake." She hurriedly set a medic's report down on the bed. "How do you feel."

Ahsoka eyed her warily. "Like a caged animal. Where's Rex?" She hedged. This was felt like another illusion, but she had yet to see Barriss in them.

"In a bacta tank. We're trying to contain the infection on his back. It's a miracle he's lived this long. Your work I presume?" Barriss sat down in a chair across from her bed. Ahsoka nodded slowly. She found no presence other than her own in her mind, and felt for the bond with Rex. It was true. He was in a bacta tank, fighting the infection.

Barriss leaned forward slightly. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened in there?" She asked softly. Ahsoka froze.

"Why don't you tell me why I'm tied down first?" She spat. Barriss raised a dark eyebrow.

"What do you remember about your rescue?" She asked hesitantly.

"Not much." She frowned, thinking back to before the blackness of sleep.

"You attacked the med team, almost tore Kix's throat out with your teeth." Barriss supplied. Ahsoka flinched, reflexively sliding her fangs out of their gummy sheaths.

"I thought... they messed with my head. In the cage. Made me see things, live them, actually. Horrible things. He tore through my shields like they were paper." Ahsoka shivered, pulling at the restraints again. She winced as her wrists burned. Shifting her arms slightly, she felt the drag of bandages against sheets.

Barriss ducked her head in sympathy. "That... that is awful." She said hesitantly. Barriss was the perfect jedi padawan, good at controlling her emotions to a point it annoyed Ahsoka. It was nice to see her struggle with finding a way to express them. She's too perfect.

Ahsoka gave a dry chuckle. "Awful is the understatement of the century. Can you please get rid of the stupid restraints? They're hurting me." She tugged at the confines for emphasis. Barriss gave a start.

"I... I suppose it couldn't hurt. You have to stay put though, until Kix comes to see you." Barriss stuttered. She waved her hand and all around Ahsoka came a resounding click. Ahsoka sat up slowly, pulling her knees to her chest and rubbing at her wrists which were heavily bandaged.

Ahsoka tested the force around her again. It all still seemed so real... but she didn't buy it. Other illusions had been like this and they all ended in her  friends and family trying to kill her.

She gave a small smile at Barriss. It still felt real, but she had to get to Rex, real or imaginary. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, testing their strength. If this was the infirmary, then the bacta tanks were down the hall and to the right. About fifty feet away. Could she subdue Barriss enough to get there and hide before her friend came after her and gave up the pretense of not being there to kill her? Or was this really real?

Ahsoka had no clue. She prepared herself, then pushed off the bed, launching herself at the mirellian. Her hands closed around Barriss's throat and she knocked the both of them to the floor. Barriss's eyes showed shock, fear, and confusion. She flailed at Ahsoka's hands, but her attempts to unseat the other padawan grew weaker and more desperate until the older girl was slumped on the floor, unconscious. Ahsoka stood quickle. She had probably set off a silent alarm when she left the bed, so no time to waste.