Cyare (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

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Rex's hands were on his blasters and had them ready, aiming but not firing. He'd seen Ahsoka redirect many blaster shots back to the point of origin and had no doubt the bald headed harpy could do the same. Ahsoka had her lightsabers lit and was standing in front of him. She watched the other primal predator carefully. Ventress gave a small, cruel smile. 

"What in the seven hells did you two do to get a five hundred thousand credit bounty on your heads, each?" She asked, her voice playful despite the lit crimson sabers held casually in her hands. Her tone took on a scary quality, "And what's stopping me from bringing you in?" She growled. 

Rex grabbed the wall behind him and pushed himself up into a standing position, making sure not to impale himself on Ahsoka's blade pointing backwards. He gripped one of the 17s in his right hand and slowly reached for his saber with the left. One of the perks of being ambidextrous meant he could dual wield and his left hand being as good as his right gave him an advantage that he could use to try and make up for his lack of skill. 

Ventress saw the movement and lashed out at him. Ahsoka deflected the strike and force shoved her back. Rex grabbed his lightsaber but didn't ignite it. Keep your cards at hand but don't play them until he was sure he needed it.

Ahsoka and Ventress began to duel. Rex kept his blaster trained on the assassin and forced himself not to fire. He wasn't afraid of hitting Ahsoka, he was afraid of Ventress redirecting the bolts into his wife or himself. Rex took a step and hissed in pain. Kriff, his ankle hurt, agony spiking up his calf in white hot shards. 

"You didn't answer my question." Ventress growled, twisting away from Ahsoka. "Why should I not turn you in and collect the reward." Ahsoka ducked a strike and dodged back closer to Rex. He hated standing around and feeling useless. Steeling himself to activate his lightsaber if need be, he answered before Ahsoka could. 

"Because if you went to any law facility they would arrest you immediately for your work with the CIS." He pointed out, shifting so he could side into a djem so stance at a moment's notice while hiding the fact that he was favoring his left leg slightly. 

"I could drop you off anonymously with a note to which account to send the reward." The assassin countered, unusually chatty. She aimed a slice at his head that he ducked under. Ahsoka pivoted and tried a similar move on Ventress. She seemed to come upon an idea and caught the ex-sith's blades in a lock, giving Rex a hurried thought of a half baked plan. It was better than nothing. Rex lunged and came up behind Ventress, igniting his golden blade and holding it at her throat. His ankle burned with the sudden motion and he nearly yelped. 

"New deal. You help us get the bounty off out heads and we let you live." Ahsoka snarled, sliding her fangs out of their gummy sheaths to bare them fully at the assassin. Ventress's blue eyes widened slightly as she felt the heat of the brilliant yellow blade at her throat. Then, she threw her head back slightly and laughed.

"You think I fear death? Please, by all means, kill me. I have nothing left anyways, always being hunted for my association with Dooku," She spat the name, all mirth leaving her voice abruptly. "My master abandoned me, my people were slaughtered in the thousands, the jedi want my head on a pike, and the CIS think I'm a traitor. Tell me, Tano, what can you offer that is better than death?" She asked. Ahsoka clearly wasn't expecting this. Ventress ha changed since their last meeting. 

She thought for a minute. "Freedom. At least in the republic. Help me clear my name, and I'll clear yours." Ahsoka said at last. It was Ventress's turn to be surprised. 

"A full pardon?" She asked, her voice small and stunned. She shook herself slightly, her air of cold dismissal returning. "Fine. Freedom for freedom. What do you need me to do?" She snapped. Ahsoka gave a grim smile and explained what they needed. 

~

"Just a little bit farther." Ventress sighed, not happy with this arrangement. It would be worth it though, not to have to cover her face when she walked the streets. Not to have to continually tear down wanted posters with pictures of her plastered all over them. They came to a small doorway built into one of the walls of the emunocompolis. 

She unlocked the door and let the clone and jedi into her small apartment. It wasn't too bad, considering the location. It was also pretty clean, considering her few possessions and rare amount of time she spent there. Still, it was as close to a home than she had ever known. Far better than the rooms Dooku had allotted her. She shut down that train of thought. No need to think about her abuser now. Not when the last traces of her time with him would finally be gone. 

She pointed to a private (and untraceable) communications terminal in the entry way. It was pretty low tech, but fancy for the level she lived on. "There. Call your friend." She forced herself not to snarl. She jerked a thumb at Rex, then over her shoulder at the small living space that served as a dining room, living room, and shop. "You, clone, sit and don't touch anything." Not that there was anything to touch.

Ahsoka blew out a long breath and keyed in Barriss's number. The mirialan picked up on the first buzz. 

"Ahsoka!" She breathed. "You're ok. I heard about your arrest. What happened?"

Ahsoka gritted her teeth. "Somebody killed Letta Turmond, the person behind the bombing, with the force. The corascant guard blamed me without hesitation, and Tarkin wants me expelled from the order so I can have a military trial. He thinks I'm behind the entire thing." She said all in a rush. If Barriss missed anything, she didn't let it show. 

"How can I help?"  She asked without hesitation. Ahsoka's shoulders slumped slightly

"I need you to run a list of all jedi with blue bladed lightsabers who had access to the specific nanodroids used in the bombing, compared with the location of the warehouses in the industrial section that use that kind of weaponry near Letta's address." She instructed. Barriss's brow creased.

"That'll take some time. I think I could have it you you in the morning if you call me first thing." She said. Ahsoka glanced at the chrono and almost let loose a torrent of Anakin's favorite oaths. It was after sundown. The entire day had gone by. Ahsoka nodded. 

"Ok. I'll do that."

"In the meantime, please tell me you're not sleeping on the streets. Corascant is dangerous at night." 

Ahsoka's lips curled up in a tired smile. "Don't worry. Captain Rex followed me to help with my search. He'll keep me safe." She left the sprained ankle unsaid. "And I have a place to sleep. Just help me get my name cleared and this will be over as soon as possible." 

Barriss nodded sagely. "Understood. Please, stay safe nonetheless, my friend."

Ahsoka smiled. "Will do." 

She just hoped she could keep that promise.

A/N - I'm stalling. I'm sorry. I don't want this book to be over yet. Less that ten chapters to go, probably less than even six. Updates will probably be slow for the next couple chapters. (Slow by my standards, so about every other to every three days instead of once a month because I'm an over achiever.) And then they will speed up towards the end of the book (So probably four chapters in one day when I get my stuff together and it all comes full circle.) I leave you with this warning, when the updates start getting fast grab the tissues. No Rotd, sorry.