The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Nine

Chapter Fifty-Two: When The Darkness Comes To Call

AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka felt like she was drowning in air.

There was just too much – or too little, she didn't even know – of it around her, and for some reason she couldn't use any of it. Every time she tried to inhale the blend of gases that allowed her cells and consecutively her body to function, she coughed or even vomited up her own blood as her body tried to purge itself of it.

It was a strange thing, Ahsoka noticed, to feel as if one was being pushed to the brink of death by something that was supposed to bring life.

And she had thought that would be the end of it. She would be dead; gone forever from this life. But after the curious floating sensation came that same process of being unable to intake oxygen, in the way that one falls asleep one night and feels as if they are being awoken only a few moments later when it's really the next morning.

This shift between restless sleep and agonizing wakefulness happened over and over again in a horrible, incessant rhythm, until it reached so many times she had lost count.

Then, suddenly, it was as if she finally resurfaced. Gasping for breath, she fell down onto a cool stone floor, finding temporary relief in the contrast it provided from the blisteringly hot temperature of the air around her.

"Are you ready to tell me what I want to know?"

It took Ahsoka a moment to come back to reality completely, but it wasn't long before she remembered exactly what the Sith Lord who was holding her captive was talking about.

"Not one bit," she hissed, her expression unyielding.

Eerie yellow and red eyes met hers in the darkness. "Then I suppose you leave me no choice but to take the information from you."

"If you could take it, then you would have done it already." Ahsoka managed to push herself up into a sitting position, despite her various injuries sustained from the fall, and a few others she couldn't remember. She managed a tired smile. "Even with all the power you possess, you can't push past my defenses; you need me to give it up myself."

Clearly, the arrogance in her tone was something Darth Bane was not going to tolerate, for, a moment later he narrowed his eyes, whispering incantations and ancient words of power. Ahsoka was suddenly overcome by an overwhelming sense of fear, whispering to her to flee, to get as far away as possible.

Summoning what little energy she still had, Ahsoka stumbled back, hoping that this way, she would be have a little more room to compensate for an offensive when one came.

But the attack that came wasn't a physical one.

It was as if her mind was ablaze with fire, burning as if submerged in a river of lava. She clapped her hands over her lekku, trying to filter the pain away. Tears squeezed through her clenched eyelids and rolled down her cheeks from the effort, but there was nothing she could do.

She was strong enough to keep her walls of psychic white noise up, but not strong enough to ward off an attack of this magnitude at the same time.

And then, suddenly, it was gone. She collapsed to the ground, the smooth stone tile pressing up against her cheek. "Stop... Stop, please," she whispered. "My head... I–"

She broke off in a scream of agony, cut off by the sudden reappearance of the sensation that her very thoughts burned her.

"Would you prefer I find the answers I seek in your family's minds? That of... your husband, perhaps?" That horrible voice sent shivers of terror down her spine with every word it spoke.

"NO!! Please, don't hurt him!" Ahsoka managed to lift herself to her knees, but fell down again a moment later, cradling her fractured rib. "He's not strong enough – you would kill him before you could even look deep enough to find the information!"

"Then... your daughter. She has the combined Force powers of the family Dume and the family Tano. She will be a suitable candidate for the inquisition."

Her breathing was shaky, but still she managed to recover some strength and pull herself to her feet. "Not Aeja, not any of them!" she yelled hoarsely. Making threats to the people she loved renewed her determination. "The New Jedi won't stand for this!"

Ahsoka heard a laugh, and lunged in after it the direction she thought it was coming from. And then, out of the corner of her eye despite the impenetrable darkness, she spotted a fleeting shadow. She took two shaky steps towards it, but fell again.

Bane was shielding his presence in the Force in such a way that she couldn't track him. It was refracting off him like lights hitting a mirror, and being projected elsewhere to fool her.

"This is all an illusion; it's not real," Ahsoka whispered to herself. "It can't be."

"Oh, you'll find that it is very real," hissed the voice, and the shadows suddenly felt closer than they ever had before.

She was being wound up like a bug in a web – every step she had taken had brought the shadows closer. And now that she was down, she was totally vulnerable.

Ahsoka suddenly found herself in a swirling vortex of darkness, her limbs tied to her side by tendrils she strained to see. Panic began to rise in her stomach when she realized it was stopping her from breathing.

"Now, this is your last chance," he said.

Her head was pounding from the lack of air, desperate to breathe, but her nose and mouth had been blocked. She wasn't far from unconsciousness.

"Tell me where she is, or they all die. Every single one of them dies."

Kaylira is like my daughter. I will never betray her to you, no matter what happens. I'll die before I do.

Suddenly, the aura at one with the darkness became almost thoughtful. "No, you won't die..." Bane laughed darkly. "You'll watch the ones you love most die, and leave this life knowing that there is nothing you could have done to save them."

Then the darkness claimed her once more.

*Ahsoka's determination to protect those she loves has carried her through danger after danger thus far, but that could very well be about to change. With Lux down for the count and Ahsoka and the kids in a terrible situation, Padme and Kaya have a real task ahead of them. Will they succeed? And what has become of Kaylira? And, having been separated from Zannah, is she truly safe now? Or has the Sith Lady come back for her Heiress? You'll find out in the next thrilling chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

Oooohhh, CLIFFHANGER!!!

Hello all, how's everybody doing this Monday morning? I'm okay, but the knowledge that school is only two days away is pretty disheartening... And scary...

Anyways, to celebrate (NOT) I'm giving you lovely people not one, not two, but THREE UPDATES. IN ONE DAY.

HOW UNHEARD OF IS THAT FOR ME?!?!!

This has been an entire weekend in the making, so I hope you enjoy the next two chapters!! I'll do a big author's note at the end of the last one because I'm too lazy to put effort into making three, so if you have any burning questions you'll just have to wait until then...

Anyways, ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER...