That won't happen to you

Chapter 54

Her screams were stopped by his hand. Only a bare shadow of it came through.

If he would take his hand away, it would probably be heard throughout the entire ship.

She squeezed her eyes shut, but it did her no good. Eyelids did not stop the liquid he sprayed into her eyes.

It milled its way through the young Togruta's retina, blinding her once again.

Kix would not be able to figure out how this happened, Gil had made sure of that.

And she... she would not talk. She would be too scared to...

Ahsoka screamed. She screamed so loud, but nothing got past her hand. She didn't notice. The pain in her eyes numbed her other senses.

It burned deeper and deeper until she felt like fire was flowing through her veins instead of blood.

Only slowly did it subside, turning from a conflagration into an ember.

She must have stopped screaming, because it was completely silent. She opened her eyes, which she had squeezed tightly shut.

Nothing came but blackness.
Panicked, she grabbed her face and rubbed at her eyes, but it was no use. She was blind. And this time... it felt so much worse.

A quiet sob escaped her. She let herself fall forward, but was caught by two strong arms.

"Shhh... shhh. I am with you. Take a deep breath" Gil's voice whispered to her.

"G...Gil..." she sobbed his name softly. "I'm here" he replied calmly.

"I...I can't see ... I can't see anything" she then brought out before tears started to flow from her eyes in streams.

"N...Nothing at all?" Gil asked cautiously.

"A...absolutely ... n...nothing" the teenager cried into his shoulder.

He pulled her closer to him. "I'm sorry... I should have been faster... I should have protected you..."

She just sobbed. On and on. And on. And on.

There had just been hope. She had started to see, found friends.

The friends had betrayed her, taken her sight away again....

WHY?

Anger boiled up inside her. WHY HER? What had she ever done to anyone?

How had she deserved this? Because of some birthright? Because of her species? Was that why she was doomed?

Anger burned through her, but this time the fire gave her strength.

She wanted to stand up and punch them in the face. She wanted to...

...hurt no one.

The rage faded as quickly as it had come.

No matter what they did to her, she didn't want to hurt anyone. She didn't want to be as bad as them.

She wasn't like them.

She wouldn't hurt anyone.

She would show them that she didn't care what they did to her.

She would stay strong. She, she could do that.

Somewhere inside she felt that she could. There was a little ball of energy. It was pulsating, beating like a heart. It was warm and bright.

And it told her that she could do this, that she could stay strong.

It told her that she can't be broken.

That she can survive.