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kalevalakryze · 7 months

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Yhe'na Det Och'sa

Chapter Six: Daark'a Ehtu

Summary: With Shin gone and the threat of facing the consequences of her attachments once again, Ahsoka and co are left battling a ticking clock. It's up to Shin to keep themselves in one piece until rescue comes. Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3| 4 | 5 | 6 AO3 Link: Here! Notes: All amazing artwork posted in the fic done by @somewillwin Warnings!: This chapter will include torture Drowning, skin peeling, bone breaking, psychological torment, and more. Please continue at your own risk. This chapter is imperative to the story we are telling HOWEVER, if you want to skip this update and read only chapter 7 when it comes out, the aftermath will explain the happenings in much less detail than it's written here.

The first thing Shin noticed upon waking up was the extreme restrictions that were suffocating them. It was not just binders on their wrists and ankles, but a suffocation in their very soul. The Force, it seemed, had abandoned them after their failure.

It had all felt like a nightmare, like every cold night on Ibaar alone combined with the feeling of yellowed eyes on the back of her head on Ilum, yet as their eyes began to blink open, they were met with waves of pain in their head and their hand.

Strong bindings kept the pre-teen bound to a table, she couldn’t see the door from where she sat, though there was… something humming in her ear, the sounds of an Imperial probe droid, maybe? Whatever it was, it was just out of eyesight, no matter how they fought to turn their head against the table.

“Finally awake?” The voice was sickly smooth, unchanged by the mask of their helmet this time. Her footsteps were light as she rounded the table, all shining armor and smooth leather. A hand reached out, fingers gentle against bruised flesh as she cradled the child’s face, giving Shin a full view of yellowed eyes and the poison in her veins, inky blackness spreading through sickly pale skin. “Poor thing,” Her bottom lip pouted out; If it were anyone else, Shin may have felt actual sympathy.

Shin tried to wrench their head from her grasp, though they only succeeded in the gentle grip turning harsh, pity melting away into something worse. “Forgive me,” The grip lessened again and Shin’s brows furrowed.

“Your play on niceties or compassion won’t work on me,” the twelve-year-old rasped, eyes narrowing as they forced themselves to meet the Sith’s gaze. “ I know what you are, ”

This enticed warm laughter from the woman, though it sounded wrong , otherworldly, like it was coming from a body that did not exist in the physical realm. The woman’s lip pouted as the raucous laughter died down. “The message didn’t stick . Hit her again,” A dismissive hand was waved, sending panic through aching bones. Again? But what…?

A memory, a flash of something rancid in their veins. “Where is Fulcrum?” Searing pain at constant refusals and sealed lips. It was then that Shin became aware of the pain in their entire body.

“What did you do to me..?” No amount of training could mask the waver in their voice or the involuntary way their body began to tremble. How could she forget? How could her body allow her a reprieve from the agony in her bones? The humming droid from the corner came around the table.

Shin’s heart dropped to her stomach. How long had she been here? How much was her mind refusing to show her in a feeble attempt to protect her? Red lights gleamed on an ultrachrome needle, a separate tube that went up into the IT-O droid drawing a sickly yellow liquid into the cartridge for the needle. “Your dedication to your…” A pause. Those same sickening fingers stroked across the dried and cracking paint on their cheeks. “Master is commendable, Padawan.”

Having to pick between two evils, Shin allowed her head to lean into the cold hand that cusped her cheek, trying to lean as far away from the needle as physically possible as the droid awaited its next command. “I can shut it off,” The Inquisitor promised, thumb stroking across the pre-teen’s cheekbone as yellowed eyes looked from girl to droid pointedly. “If you only tell me where to find Fulcrum, this can all stop.”

“You’ve gotta keep Snips safe for me…” A Jedi Knight had told her, once. She did not know his face, or his name, all she’d been able to recognize was how wrong he was, but… She promised the Jedi that day, all of them , that she would keep Ahsoka safe. If that meant this , then she would do it. For Ahsoka.

With a deep breath, the child wrenched their chin from the woman’s hand once again, leaning themselves closer to the needle. She watched as poisonous eyes tracked the movement, narrowing as she came to see Shin’s decision. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.” The Force shined on her, for just a moment, as their voice steadied and their fear hardened into a steely resolve.

The mask of sympathy and friendliness dropped as quickly as the Inquisitor had donned it. “Liar!” She almost screeched, voice reverberating off the thick walls in the small cell. “Again.” The droid wasted no time in closing the gap between itself and the captive human.

The inquisitor’s fingers wound harshly through their hair and tugged, exposing the column of their throat as the robot’s arm extended out, plunging the needle into their skin. The poison was tepid as it coursed through their veins, igniting a path of white-hot fire as it spread. A gloved thumb brushed over her bottom lip, coaxing the scream they’d been choking back, ringing in their own ears as the Inquisitor listened with something akin to joy.

Meditation had come to Ahsoka easier after the Clone Wars. Sure, she hadn’t been able to reach into the force, not without risking her position and risking her health with the poison that it had become. With Shin, in teaching them to navigate that darkness, she’d come to pick up tips as well. It was always a welcome reprieve, a moment to breathe when the entire galaxy seemed to be crushing in around her.

Now, standing alone in the center of the wrecked cabin of the T-6, meditation was the last thing the Togruta wanted to do. Every time she closed her eyes, the force would echo with the haunting hiss of lightsabers burning in the air, blue and red flashing behind closed eyelids, like she would open her eyes and be there like she should have been in the first place.

It had been a week since Shin had been taken, and she felt no closer to discovering where or why they had taken her. Scouring every network and every lead put her no closer to finding them, and the ship wasn’t getting any closer to repairs without touching down somewhere safe. But where could be safe when their damages had been tagged and the Imperials were searching for her again?

She needed to move. She knew this as a truth, however, she found that her feet were unwilling to obey and that her mind knew just as well as anything else. She could not make decisions out of fear, she needed to let her fear of losing Shin go… She had to face the reality of letting Shin go.

Her montrals twitched at a sharp ring, though she did not move. Huyang’s steps were slow in his approach, a glowing comm tucked safely in his hand of mismatched metals, after they’d repaired him with the random scrap they could find.

“Lady Tano,” Even the droid sounded exhausted, eyes downcast as his arm extended. At least Kaeden had the mind to stay silent until Ahsoka’s eyes had settled on her holographic form.

“I don’t have time,” Forcing her eyes away from Kaeden’s, the Togruta settled a stony glare on Huyang. “ We don’t have time, She doesn’t have time for this,” Reaching out, Ahsoka rested a hand on Huyang’s arm, still warm from wielding leftover durasteel over his components, ready to cover the comm and end the call.

“Fulcrum, you are being ordered to dock with the Rebel fleet for necessary repairs. This is non-negotiable.” Kaeden’s voice was hard, and authoritative, acting far above any rank she held in comparison to Ahsoka’s own.

Tired eyes focused back on the hardened medic. “On who’s order?”

“General Organa. I can transmit the data file with your orders on it if you’d like, but your orders are to dock and wait for necessary repairs to be completed,”

“Kaeden…” Ahsoka’s shoulders sagged, though Kaeden remained unperturbed.

“We will be expecting you in two standard hours, Fulcrum.”

Well… it was time for Ahsoka to practice what they preached during the war; Good soldiers follow orders.

Shin’s weight sagged bonelessly on the table, muscles shocked out and unresponsive to each attempt to even twitch a finger. They’d found a position some point in the - night? Day? Time was impossible to keep track of, the Inquisitor returned at the rarest times, with no schedule to her movements, and all they’d been able to see through bruised eyes was the sight of their own blood splattered on dark durasteel . - it hurt less than every other way they’d positioned themselves, though it dug into the bruised and swelling skin at their wrists uncomfortably.

The scrape of metal against the floor ripped her out of whatever semi-lucid state they’d been floating in, poisons and serums still warming their veins. Purge Troopers were hauling in a giant metal tub, empty and void of any details. Tired eyes watched them work, glad to have some kind of activity to stimulate their senses, with everything else in their world dulled and painful.

Neither trooper spoke a word as they settled the tub in the corner, and Shin was glad for that, too. She’d heard about the people under those buckets, knew where they’d come from, had heard their voices in the echos of visions or on Ahsoka’s datapad that she thought was hidden. Clones, ones who didn’t know The Clone Wars, and only knew to kill Jedi, much like herself… in a very backwards way.

They listened until two sets of footsteps faded into nothingness until a single, loud, purposeful stride echoed off the walls leading to their cell. The Inquisitor. She only walked that loud when she was excited about something… Shin had learned fast that whatever she could be excited about would hurt.

“So,” A strong hand clamped down on around their jaw, bruised and cramping, abused flesh giving under the press of fingertips into bone. “Do you have anything to tell me today, Jedi?”

“I am no Jedi,” Shin rasped. If they’ve said it once, they’ve said it a thousand times. It helped to keep their conviction when the real questions started, and the haze of drugs pushed into their system would have the truth on the tip of their tongue, barely bitten back with each shout as flesh was stripped away, or electricity was shot from the table, or the IT-O droid found something worse to pump into her bloodstream.

The hovering of the droid, however, was notably absent today. The sound of running water filled the room; When did they get a tap? Shin didn’t know, and couldn’t find it in themselves to care. Hell… Maybe the Inquisitor finally believed that they had no idea what was going on, maybe the Inquisitor would let her wash away the blood and the bile, and then release her? It sounded too good to be true, but they wanted it to be reality so bad.

“Truly, I have to respect your devotion to your Master,” There was something like admiration in her tone, though Shin knew by now that it was only a mask, something meant to lure her into a false sense of comfort or accomplishment. “There are not many Padawans who would do the same for their Masters and even fewer Masters who would do so for their Padawans... Tell me, do you think she’s looking for you?”

There was a beat of silence as the Inquisitor pulled the glove from her scarred hand, dipping it into the water to the first knuckle as it filled. Yellowed eyes watched her, inquisitive in nature as she studied the way the pre-teen's face scrunched up.

Was Ahsoka looking for her? How long has it been? Days? Hours? Weeks? Months? Where was she…? “She’ll come for me,” They decided after too long of a silence.

“You think so? That she’d risk herself? Your entire pathetic Rebellion, for you? She’s a Jedi, young one. Jedi don’t come back for you.” This was the first hint of truth that Shin could feel in their words, though she couldn’t afford to pay it any mind, not with the effort it took to keep their face impassive, pretending like those very words weren’t exactly what she was thinking.

“She’s different,” Shin spoke of the conviction of a dead man walking. But… It wouldn’t be safe for her, or the Rebellion. Everything Shin was doing to keep quiet would be for nothing if Ahsoka came for her.

Warm fingers wrapped around Shin’s wrist, sending a flash of pain up their arm through the torn flesh. “You poor thing… I almost feel bad for you.” The bindings were undone quickly, and the Inquisitor allowed Shin to drop bonelessly to the hard ground, body sprawled painfully in every different way at the woman’s feet.

Every scrape, bruise, and overworked muscle cried in agony at the movement, though Shin was too relieved to feel cool metal against their feverish face to offer much more than a quiet grunt. “We’ll make something useful out of you yet,”

That …. Certainly sparked some warning bells in their head. As the woman reached to haul her up by the back of her tunic, Shin found enough energy to swing out. Her nails caught against a smooth cheek, flesh tearing in her swing. The Inquisitor seemed unphased by the attack, even as blood welled up against her cheek and raced down her face. “ That’s the spirit.”

“Huh?” Was their only utterance, before they were given the harsh reality of the heavy tubs placement in the room. Fingers wound through the hair on the back of her head, igniting their scalp with the sharp pain of being pulled on, the water she was dunked into was positively freezing, maybe even colder than Ilum.

Their hands flailed, one still broken and unable to get a grip on the edge of the tub, while the other curled around the rim and tried to push back against the force.

There was a harsh tug at their hair once more, then the sting of cold air against their face; Air was sucked into their lungs in a harsh gasp. Through their eyelashes, Shin could only make out the mirthful stare of the Inquisitor’s haunting eyes. One breath… two- then the freezing sting of water once again.

“Where is Fulcrum?” The voice hissed through water-logged ears, shaking the frail child as if it would clear their mind and make them more complacent.

“Where’s your sanity? ” Shin spat back between shuddering breaths, uninjured hand reaching back to dig blunt nails into the thick glove wound into the sopping brown hair at the base of the skull. “I know where that is just as much as I know wherever this Fulcrum is,” Tightening her lips into a thin line, Shin forced herself to meet venomous eyes, resisting the urge to reel back at the mirth that met her gaze.

“You remind me of myself, you know,” The Inquisitor began, giving a harsh tug to the twelve-year old, forcing them to follow, boots slipping against the smooth floor as they struggled to ease the tension in their hair. The relief of being shoved back into the chair was not lost on Shin, as the Inquisitor’s hand was forced to release their hair so their head could fall back into the stiff rest.

“Young, stupid. Trusting a Jedi to save you… The only one who can save us is ourselves…” It seemed solemn, the way her tone shifted- Shin knew she couldn’t trust it, had learned in... whatever expanse of time that they’d been here, that the dark-sider’s moods shifted faster than Palpatine's upon seeing a planet to plunder.

Again, a gloved had stroked its way across the dried, cracking paint across reddened cheeks, fascinated with the way a human had been accepted so easily into a pack of predators. How easily the Inquisitor could turn this child into a true predator. “You think yourself part of her family, her pack,” The older woman droned, brushing a stray droplet of blood from the corner of their lips. “But family wouldn’t leave you with me, a mother would have come for you, but a Master will leave you to die, will replace you in days without so much a second thought…” Fingers tightened around their jaw at this, hard enough to bruise as they couldn’t pull back from the unrelenting force.

“You’re wrong,” Shin seethed, eyes narrowing as the binders built into the table were secured tight around her wrists. “She will come for me, and for you… I know it,”

Laughter barked past the woman as the lights turned up, bright enough to make them squint. “I will be pleased to watch your hope crumble and die with your remains, Jedi .” The door slid shut behind a sweeping cape, leaving Shin squinting in the light, unable to find solace even as they shut their eyes. This was going to be a long night.

Silence, thick and suffocating, where it should have been filled with the excited stammering of a small human, bugging her over the time they were spending, docked and unmoving to the main ship. “Lady Tano,” Huyang’s voice drew her attention away from her empty concentration on the transparisteel viewport. She hadn’t been keeping track of time; kriff, they could have missed their meeting by days for all she knew, lost in the vastness of open space, searching for a signature that was lost to her.

It was just like the day of the Purge. She couldn’t feel Obi-Wan, she couldn’t feel Anakin, or Master Plo- she was alone … again.

Her montral twitched, catching the sound of human footsteps against the floor, unable to turn around in time before a warm, gentle, well-meaning hand settled on her shoulder, pressing enough to turn the pilots' chair.

Now face to face with Kaeden for the first time in months, Ahsoka felt a selfish relief flood her bones. She wasn’t as alone as she had been before… Rex was out there with the Ghost crew, she could call him to help find Shin, Kaeden would help too… Hope swelled in her chest as she followed the marks of exhaustion across Kaeden’s face, worry clear as day as her free hand moved to cradle the Togruta’s cheek.

“Look at you,” Kaeden’s tone was soft; One that Ahsoka still had to get used to, when it came to that tone and hands that urged to heal more than the physical. Her fingers were gentle as they stroked across her lekku, following the path between her montrals to rub carefully soothing circles into the soft leathery skin.

Despite herself, Ahsoka leaned into the touch, desperate to find a reprieve, no matter how much she’d told herself she’d been made for this life of loss and pain. “Don’t we have a meeting?” She grumbled, voice weighed down by the world pressing down on her shoulders.

“Bail can wait,” Soft hands moved to gently grasp her biceps, squeezing the muscle there to urge Ahsoka to rise. With the Togruta towering over her, Kaeden had to crane her neck to press a kiss to the underside of her jaw. “You need rest,” She pointed out, broaching the topic as carefully as she could,

“I can’t leave her out there, Kaeden.” Ahsoka shut down just as quickly as she allowed herself to open up, already turning her body to stare back out the view port. “Anakin never left me, what kind of Master would that make me,”

“But you’re more than her Master, and you’re more than your Master. I can’t pretend I understand all your-” An almost crude hand gesture was made behind her back. “Jedi hangups. You aren’t Anakin, you aren’t Ashla, you’re Ahsoka, and you’re her mother,” She reminded, reaching to grab the woman’s wrist, thumb pressing between the thin grab between armor and skin, feeling the older woman’s pulse jumping against her wrist.

Ahsoka’s lips parted to speak, though Kaeden pressed on, moving instead to slip into the pilots' seat, urging the Togruta to stand between her legs as she smoothed her hands up and down the expanse of uncovered skin from her elbows to her shoulders. “You need rest if you want to find her, you don’t need to be a Jedi to figure that one out.”

There was a huff of indignance, awarding Kaeden with a small victory as the Force Sensitive typhoon of a woman sunk to her knees, head resting tiredly in her lap, cheek smooshed against the medic's knee as wandering fingers pressed into soft skin, chasing away the mind-numbing headache that had begun days ago.

“What if they ruin her, Kaeden… What kind of mother would that make me?”

“You trained her, ‘soka… You won’t lose her, not today, not anytime soon. We’ll get our girl. And you know… I may have lined up the Rebellion’s greatest pilot to get us there.” Pride swelled in her tone, bringing a scoff of laughter from the nearly dozing Togruta.

“Miara is still flying for Bail?”

“Got promoted to Captain, too. She’s going to lead her own fleet soon. I’m proud of her.” It was almost nice, having somewhat of a normal conversation even if Shin should have been bugging Kaeden about every ship her sister would fly, or what operations they would run, or something another. “Come on, I bet your bunk is gonna be mighty comfy.”

“You haven’t seen it in a while,” Ahsoka countered almost dryly, allowing herself to be guided back to her feet and into the main cabin. Scorch marks still sliced through giant chunks of the ship, forever etched into the metal as Huyang wielded pieces of the tables lowering mechanisms back together. “Huyang… take a break. I’m sure they’ve got an oil bath open if you need one,” Her head shifted towards the doors to the airlock, recently repaired and currently locked into the main ship’s bay.

The droid paused in his repairs, blinking at the two women, Ahsoka almost draped across Kaeden’s shoulders. It wasn’t until he caught Kaeden’s lips moving, mouthing a reassurance, a promise that he should not have been able to feel the meaning behind, that he finally lowered his tools and made the time to give himself a rest.

If Ahsoka curled up tight into her side in that small bunk, making a large, fearsome predator into the smallest ball she could manage, then that was Kaeden’s business. At least she could say that the woman found at least a moment of reprieve against it all.

Water. Chair. Water. Chair. An endless cycle that Shin couldn’t keep track of. When she thought she was in the chair, she would be reminded with a jolt of ice-cold water soaking her skin and when she thought she was clawing for the surface of the tub, she’d be reminded of her place in the chair with the horrible feeling of flesh being torn from its home on her skin, all with the haunting soundtrack of the Inquisitor’s laughter, of insults and threats, promises that they stopped keeping track of, not wanting to remind themselves of what else was planned for them each time the woman delved into detail about her plans to ‘ save’ Shin.

“Have you thought about my offer?” The woman asked for what had to be the seventh time since she stepped in the cell that ‘morning.’

Peering through swollen, bruised lids, Shin managed to spit a gob of blood at the shining armor on her chest. “Suck my dick, dema’golka .”

Tutting, the Inquisitor reached to grab at their face for the umpteenth time. “A child of mine would never use such foul language.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not your kid, isn’t it,” They rasped, unblinking even as a thumb pressed painfully into their chin, force threatening to shatter their jaw as anger flared in the other woman. Maybe, if Shin could just get them mad enough, they’d kill her, and all of this would be over… But she couldn’t truly make herself do that, not when there was a chance Ahsoka would come for her.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, youngling,” A glove was removed, and Shin watched as pale fingers moved to comb through the tangled disaster of limp hair hanging down their face, the woman’s thumb brushed across the Padawan braid in contemplation. “Same hair, same eyes… same face. Makers, you could even be a clone of my very own.”

This train of thought seemed to take over the Sith’s mind, as instead of following through with whatever she’d had planned for them that day, the Inquisitor simply disappeared.

It wasn’t until after the IT-O droid appeared to administer their protein shot for the day that the Inquisitor returned, this time, with another in tow. “Can you see the resemblance, Sister?” The yellowed eyes of another Sith scanned over the pre-teen. The Force rang sharp in Shin’s ears for the first time since she was taken, a warm voice and an older woman laughing as she called for her Padawan Trilla.

“She does bear much of your resemblance, though I’m certain you had more blood here-” Shin shrank back as the newcomer’s thumb brushed across the column of her throat. “Perhaps you are being easy on them on account of them possibly being your kin?” A sharp eyebrow rose as the Second Sister looked between the Inquisitor and her captor, smugness radiating from her posture as her arms crossed.

“I can assure you, Sister, that this Jedi is being dealt with as the Grand Inquisitor has demanded himself. You may want to rethink any plans you may be forming some report on my hospitality .”

“I’m not a Jedi,” Shin needlessly piped up.

“Speak when you’re spoken to, scum,” The Inquisitor hissed sharply, hand extending and wrapping an invisible force around their throat, restricting their breath as she turned back to the Second Sister. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Sister. Some of us have important duties to this Empire. Shouldn’t you be chasing the scrap yard boy?”

With a scoff and a flick of her cape, Trilla stalked from the room, leaving Shin struggling to breathe against an infuriated Inquisitor. “Do you see what you’ve done?” The woman started, replacing her hold on their throat with the force with her still ungloved hand, an inferno against skin that hadn’t been given enough time to dry, cool to the dark touch of fingers curling around her throat, pressing into their windpipe, feeling the struggle of their arms against the table and the way each breath wheezed in their throat.

As black began to dance in her vision, Shin recalled the way the Force had reached out for her with Trilla’s name. Scrambling for that same thread, Shin pulled, mentally exhausting herself just to have a chance to grasp that thread. When she pulled, reality responded in kind. The metal at their wrist twisted and bent as their hand pressed against the restraints, darkness flooded their very being, and floodgates opened wide as they scrambled for that taste of power that brought forth the sudden freedom of their right hand.

The windup wasn’t enough to do enough damage, but they did manage to catch the Inquisitor by surprise when their fist connected firmly to the underside of her jaw. “That’s two,” They called, sagging into the remaining restraints as the power sapped just as quickly as they’d found it, leaving them reeling and only more exhausted than they had before, only a solid punch to show for all the effort it had taken.

“I’ll have your tongue!” The Inquisitor spat as she stumbled back, recovering quickly with a hand pressing into her own face, catching the blood that streamed in rivulets down their chin from a split that formed in her bottom lip.

“Careful not to choke on your ambitions, bachu e’dai. ”

Growling, the Inquisitor wasted no time in hailing the Interrogator droid, earning Shin a prick that felt more like being skewered through the neck as a fiery concoction filled their veins, a quick-acting sedative that had them blinking out of consciousness all too quickly, finding themselves lost in the tornado of the consequences of their display of power, trapped in the nightmares of a metal suit and aching limbs.

Shin’s lightsaber hadn’t left Ahsoka’s side once since she’d picked it up off the ground, hooked onto her belt and nestled close to the shoto that she’d once offered to a too frail human child. If they found Shin whole, would they need to begin again? Even if so, Ahsoka was determined, they were more than worth it, she would teach them everything over again if it meant she could just have them back .

It was dangerous territory, this attachment. Ahsoka knew this wholeheartedly, knew the dangers it inspired in Jedi all over, and knew that even the thought could lead a well-meaning Jedi to the Dark when they couldn’t simply accept their loss. But there was something beyond her personal feelings, her love, and her fear that urged her to fight tooth and nail to get them back like it was woven into the Cosmic Force itself.

Numbness hallowed her chest as she stared across the war table, listening to Rex argue with Kanan over bringing the entirety of the Ghost crew on the rescue mission. Kanan couldn’t understand the need to keep Shin’s existence secret when so much was at stake, and Rex wasn’t about to receive some lecture about having enough boots on the ground, not from a jetti.

“This isn’t helping anyone !” Kaeden finally spoke up, effectively silencing both soldiers as she reclaimed her space beside Ahsoka, nonchalantly pressing a ration bar into her hand as she moved to lean over the table to study the reports of fuel trails. “We know it was an Imperial ship, and we know it was one of those-” Her voice dropped to a whisper as if acknowledging their existence would bring an entire legion of the Sithlings to their airlock. “ Inquisitors that have been chasing your crew… I think the less Force Sensitives we have on this, the better,”

“I’m not sitting back, if that’s what you’re implying,” Ahsoka’s voice was rough as she spoke up, wrapper crinkling as she split the small package of the grainy bar open.

“No, of course not, Fulcrum,” Honeyed brown eyes settled on Kanan. “But this is a big reason why this team needs to remain small, and why you can’t use something like this to train your kid. Ahsoka should be our only Force user on the strike team.”

Kanan huffed indignantly at that order, though he was quickly cowed into obedience with Hera’s hand on his bicep. “We understand this is a sensitive situation, we’re glad to help any way you can use us.”

“Thank you, Captain Syndulla,” Kaeden had the full authority of the room, all eyes on her as she went over the facts once more, and the resources that the Rebellion could spare to their cause.

With someone else taking the reigns, Ahsoka was content to float in the painful limbo between her attachments, chewing on her ration bar only when those sharp eyes would flicker towards her own and soften immediately upon locking gazes.

It wasn’t something she’d have been as comfortable with in any other situation, but with Rex standing at her right side, all blue and white plastoid, she knew she could trust her team, her tribe to take care of her, and Shin. That’s what they were for, after all.

“We have to assume that Shin was taken to the Fortress Inquisitorious,” Hera piped up, cerulean eyes focused on the star map, blinking lights outlining the shuttle’s position at the time of attack. “But if we thought Stygeon Prime was tough, this is going to be impossible.”

“Nothing is impossible with hope, Captain,” Ahsoka reminded her during one of the few times she’d managed to speak during the entire meeting. “And nothing worth doing is ever easy… and they’re worth it,”

“And a heaping of jetti tricks don’t sour our chances either,” Rex added, shoulder lightly bumping into Ahsoka’s as a smirk pulled at his grizzled face, contagious enough to even have the Togruta’s lips twitching towards a smile.

“Let’s bring our girl home,”

With Shin’s ‘chair’ out of service due to broken restraints, they found themselves not in the dim red lighting of their usual cell, but an almost common Imperial holding cell. There was no tub of water in the corner, but an entire refresher setup built into the corner of the cell.

They did not offer themselves time to consider their position as they wrenched themselves from the hard metal cot, chains clinking as they moved, secured to their wrists and waist like something primitive; Certainly not a method of restraint that such a technologically advanced opponent would be forced to resort to…

Shin learned quickly of the meaning of these odd, leash-like restraints as they dragged themselves towards the fresher. The sink, promising cool water and a chance to wipe away the blood and grime, was just in their reach. But only enough so the pre-teen’s fingers could scrape against the rim of the sink’s basin, serving to remind them of just how dehydrated they were. Especially with the sound of the water rushing through pipes and a slow drip from somewhere in the cell that they could not see.

“Please,” They had almost sobbed; It had been so long since she’d had water, making her almost yearn to be dunked again, if not just for the promise of hydration that drowning would bring her. “Please…” They rasped again, shoulders threatening to rip from the sockets as she pulled and strained against her bindings, desperate to reach the tap.

Their efforts were in vain, and eventually, exhaustion pulled them back to the ground, knees scraping against the floor as they still strained to be closer to the running water.

It was then that the same inky, putrid thoughts began to invade, penetrating her mind like a sharpshooter, honing in on the cracks in their defenses from their pull at this limited power before. The pipes could bend to their will, she knew how… she only had to take it, just like she did with the Inquisitor.

The pipes groaned under an experimental pull, not quite ready to break, but still bending to their will. Before more progress could be made in working towards the water source, the ray shield at the cell door was deactivated, and in marched two black armored Purge Troopers.

Again, neither trooper spoke to her, or even truly acknowledged her as her restraints were undone from where they were secured to the wall, and she was all but dragged from their cell and down a twisting hall. They did not bother to blindfold her, though delirium stopped the young Padawan from truly memorizing their paths, focusing only on the burn of their flesh against the floor with each turn.

The room they were brought to was dark, and the metallic smell of iron hung pungent in the air. As the troopers dragged Shin up from the ground to a hard-backed chair, they got their first look at their new accommodations.

The Inquisitor sat across the table, though this time, the standard issue helmet was locked around their head, hiding either the bruising from the hit Shin had managed to land or whatever punishment she’d received for allowing her puny prisoner to get the chance to hit them. Part of Shin hoped that the Empire was evil enough to rip her face off, just like they’d done with the open, gaping, patches of flesh across their arms and legs, burning from their trip across the ground.

“Fire your cleaning guy?” Shin rasped, staring straight into a dark shadowed mask as the Purge Troopers gathered their wrists, using the binders to secure them through a loop on the table, and the long length of chain was finally abandoned, wrapped up and taken with the troopers as they left.

“You must think you’re pretty special,” The Inquisitor’s voice was distorted through the helmet, a vocoder just barely picking up on the woman’s wheeze. “But trust me, you are no different than any other who’s survived this long in our halls. You know it’s your destiny just as much as I do,”

“So you like having me around? I’m going to have to RSVP no to that party inv-” Shin’s quip was halted by the slam of hands against the table, too close to the swollen and bruised hand that they hadn’t been able to fix on their own. They still had no idea how long it had been since that fateful day on the ship, weeks, days, months… Kriff, even years, it felt like. Huyang had given them a lesson on this once when Ahsoka wasn’t around, that a captor keeps you separated from the concept of time, he said it drove humans nuts, but really, all Shin could focus on was the rumbling in their stomach and the genuine desire to find a sonic if the Force was feeling willing.

“You are a lucky one, that I haven’t yet disposed of your childish tongue, youngling!” They hissed, all venom and power where she stood over the child, fingers pressing danger close to their own hands.

“Do it,” Shin snapped at last, though they were unable to rise from their chair to meet her, could only curl their right hand into a fist atop the metal table, chin raised defiantly towards the woman. “You say no one is coming, you tell me I’ll die here. What do I have to lose ?”

The mask on their face slotted itself away, now. Shin could see the mottling of bruises where they danced across her face. The Inquisitor leaned close, her hand clamping down on Shin’s broken bones. “Everything.” She whispered with conviction. A promise, that she would see fulfilled herself.

Instead of slicing her tongue clear from her skull, The Inquisitor let the child’s hands go, finding joy in the shuttered gasp that followed the sudden release of pressure. “You will lose everything, Shin. And I will rebuild you whole again. You will fulfill your destiny, whether you want to or not,”

Indignance was a dangerous thing, and Shin had grown to learn stubbornness from her mother and Huyang, so as they breathed the pain from the front of their mind, the child forced themselves to straighten. “You aspire to take everything because you have nothing. Even your connection to the force is on borrowed time-” Again, Shin found themselves cut off, this time, by the sickening sound of bones snapping under harsh weight. The pain didn’t register at first, not until silver-blue eyes followed the way the artificial lights shined off the metal of the Inquisitor’s saber, not until they saw the way their fingers bent, crushed between the table, now bearing a rather large dent.

When they felt it, it was worse than their skin being torn from their body, worse than the liquid fire pumped through their veins. The pain traveled from the tips of their fingers to the bottom of their elbows, resonating sharply in their ribcage as their vision tunneled and their breathing became haggard.

All snippy remarks were lost as the Inquisitor’s lips pulled into a smile, finally believing herself to be in control once more as shock stalled Shin’s mouth. “Let the droid in, I have important business to attend to… and Shin? I warned you.” She called to the troopers outside, having to wriggle her saber against Shin’s fingers to properly remove it, earning a sound that the child had only barely been able to bite back.

Any bravado Shin had was lost when the droid hovered into the room, and any pain they felt when the Inquisitor had smashed their fingers was yearned for, as a Trooper entered the cell behind the droid, heavy hands clamped onto their shoulders to secure the frail child in place as the droid cycled through its many different attachments, ripping skin, muscle, and tendon alike, and crushing bone like it was nothing more than an obstacle. Screams and cries were torn from the Padawan’s throat, and Shin had lost track of each time they’d lost consciousness.

Soon, they came only to know the Trooper, who they’d mentally nicknamed “Stony Fuck”, the IT-O, lovingly named “Pointy Fuck”, and the Med droid that stopped them from bleeding out on the table, “Fuck fuck”. All lovely names half thought of in delirium.

The hands on her shoulders were ever-present, the prickling at her skin felt like it would bubble its way to her very bones and disintegrate her being, and consciousness became a hard thing to hold on to. They weren’t sure how much time was lost, just that they did not see a human face, or a kind face, since the Inquisitor had abandoned them all that time ago, bringing them to almost yearn for the venomous woman’s attentions once more.

The sound of fighting broke Shin from her hazed stupor. Chair scraping at the way their body jolted with a start. There was blaster fire, and the sound of lightsabers hissing and- was it true? Was it finally time? Ahsoka came for her!

“Meht!” Shin tried to shout, though their voice would not cooperate, vocal chords torn and shot from the screaming, unable to form even the smallest sound to garner the Togruta’s echolocation to easily pick her up in the chaos. And yet, the door slid open. Shin could not turn to see the door to the hall, but the shadow illuminated by a white light was enough to promise her salvation.

“ Tazi Unt,” Ahsoka had called, though her voice began to fade as her footsteps rounded the chair. “I’m right here, you’re safe.”

“Hit her again” Electricity coursed through the very fiber of Shin’s being. The smell of singed hair and skin met them first as consciousness pricked into their bones. Next came the pain, overwhelming as it pulsed in waves, between destroyed hands and the open skin where the droid had grown bored of their hands, and had simply moved on to whatever skin it felt like attacking next.

“She’s back,” The Inquisitor sounded almost relieved by the promise of Shin’s survival as Fuck Fuck rose from its place at Shin’s side, charged paddles tucked back into the slots on its chest where the excess energy was dispelled safely.

“Wh..” They were on the floor, now, though the table was in eyeshot, all blood and glory on display as the Inquisitor and droid knelt at the child’s side. Shin did not acknowledge either of them, instead, their eyes were unfocused. “Meht…” They whispered, glass in their throat and tears in their eyes, wasting what little water they had in their system as the realization of their dream dawned…

Ahsoka wasn’t coming for them. The Inquisitor was right about that, at least.

“You’re going to have to kill me,” Shin stated, devoid of emotion, unable to pick from the brewing storm beneath their skin.

“Still?!” The Inquisitor’s rage mounted any concern she may have had for her captive; All the work she put into turning someone so weak, and it still wasn’t working? She turned back to the troopers at the door, barking orders that had faded into a dull ringing in Shin’s ears as their weight sagged back into the bare space on the floor.

There was something almost beautiful about being submerged, in the way the bubbles would race to the top as the air was wrenched from her lungs. The promise of peace when it was all over, even as their blood stained the water, even as electricity was pumped into the water, forcing their body to contort and writhe as her body became a conduit for each volt.

If they didn’t drown her first, the amperage would be enough to kill her. And while the Force was silent, the child found herself hoping to find the power to force that dial to turn up, to be done with suffering in the face of nothing. She would not talk, and her death would mean nothing for the Rebellion. She would die as she was born on Ibaar, as nothing and no one.

“But you’re more than that. Because I’m more than that.” A voice called out, a person she could not hear, their voice distorted and far away as water pressure pressed against their eardrums. “Inside of you is everything she is, everything that ever has been and ever will be.” And then, clearer now, Ahsoka’s own voice, an echo from their argument before it had all gone wrong. “I just want to keep you there in one piece.”

They might not be in one piece, and may never be that way again, but they could live. If anyone could teach someone how to survive the impossible, it was Ahsoka Tano, and Shin had always been an avid learner.

Broken and bloodied hands scrambled at the lip of the tub she’d been submerged in, feet pressing against the bottom as they struggled against the hand keeping them down. The hilt of the Inquisitor’s saber was smacked into their hands time and time again, ruining their handholds each time they managed to get a grip, further damaging the spindly digits under the force.

It was just as the lack of oxygen began to burn through Shin’s lungs, and their eyes began to slide closed in acceptance, that a faint green glow ignited in the cell, and the weight pressing them down was torn away.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” A stranger called, pulling Shin’s frail form from the tub. The man was large and warm, his touch was kind and gentle as he saved them from their doom, though Shin did not find immediate solace in her savior’s arms.

“Let go! Let go! ” The child flailed and sobbed, elbows smacking into the stranger’s body, practically bouncing harmlessly from a stubbled face and a heaving chest as they writhed. “ Just let me die!” They wailed; anything but to find herself in another altered dream. She could not trust the warmth of his hands, could not trust the reality of the safety he offered.

The Force prickled; light and unburdened. It felt like coming home, and in the safety that pressed across the Force, Shin found that the fight was leaving her body, allowing the small child to collapse into his broad chest, soaking the rough material of a prison tunic.

“You’re safe, now… We’re safe,” This was said quieter, though he spoke in a way that Shin would have followed anywhere in that moment.

“ Where’s my mom?” Shin rasped into the man’s chest, blinking her eyes open just to close them again as only a slightly dirty towel was dabbed against her eyes, clearing them away where they could not swipe their hands to clear the blockage.

“I don’t know,” He admitted, wrapping the towel around a particularly large gash along their abdomen. “But we will find her. My name is Baylan Skoll,” His voice never once lost that warm edge, even as he hauled his own beaten and abused frame off of the soaking ground, bringing the child up with him.

“Shin… Tano,” The way the man paused was lost on Shin, but he took it in stride; truly, the chips of paint on their face could have revealed that much, and the fact that the Imperials had decided to try and torture basic information from one of Tano’s own had seemed like a memo in the book on ‘how to torture someone Wrong’, yet he could go back in time and prevent her torture just as much as he could prevent his own.

“Do you know your mother’s comm code?” He questioned carefully as he led the way through decimated halls. Leaving the Inquisitor’s corpse behind, unmoving in the cell that had almost been Shin’s tomb.

“I do, but normal comms can't get through, and it isn't safe, and-”

“I understand,” He promised, his own breath short even as he marched their way to one of the small hangars. Dead troopers littered the halls, though Shin could not find it in herself to mourn for their lives when none of them would have done the same for her. “I will deliver you to safety, with a communication device that you can use to call your mother. Rest now, child,”

The command was obeyed without a thought, penetrating the Force itself to soothe them, and as the ache in Shin’s bones allowed her to sink into the arms around them, floating not in the whirlwind of sleep, but a comfortable in-between, Shin was able to listen to another being's heart thumping steadily into their ear as dreamless sleep enveloped them.

To say that she had been willing to tear a hole in the galaxy would have been an understatement; Ahsoka knew there was danger in those thoughts... However it didn't stop their traitorous whispers in the back of her mind the moment Huyang had filled her in on what had happened.

It had been weeks since she'd seen Shin last; the scorch marks where blue and red sabers had clashed and slashed into the ship still smelled, burnt metal filling the cabin with its stench. She tried not to think about the smell of burning iron, the way battlefields had rushed to meet her in the smell of human blood, smoldering the blade of a tortured crystal, but every time she got out of bed, or crossed the cabin, the Force would echo the sounds of the fight, of her kid, fighting a battle that she had failed to prepare them for.

Huyang clanked into the cockpit, loud enough to echo painfully in her montrals as he approached, joining her listless stare into the empty vacuum of space. "She's out there somewhere," He tried to soothe the Togruta, though it had only agitated her more.

"I know she's out there, Huyang," She snipped, muscles in her jaw flexing painfully as she tried once more to reach across the galaxy, into their bond, only to be met with emptiness. " Where is what we need to know. How to get in there, what we're going to find... That's what we need-"

As if on a cue, like the Force had grown weary of Togruta and Droid torturing themselves over this; a light began blinking along the ship's communicator; an unknown link was reaching out to the Fulcrum Network. Ahsoka leaned forward, fingers fumbling for the button. "Do we really have time for this?" Huyang questioned, exasperated that Ahsoka could even think about working.

"Fulcrum?" The voice on the other end was distorted like they'd only just managed to patch through comms, but Ahsoka and Huyang could recognize it anywhere.

"Let them know where you are, I will leave you here once I know you will be safe," A voice sounded off, further away from the small human on the other end. Ahsoka did not recognize it, but... what choice did she have but to trust it?

"I'm on Jes-" Ahsoka could almost picture the furrow of their brows; Galactic Basic was still a struggle for them, they'd picked up on Togruti, Wookie, and even the slivers of Mando'a that Ahsoka had been able to teach them much better than the more complicated planetary names in Aurebesh. "Jestefad," There was a pause as the girl must have been looking towards whoever was with her for confirmation. Huyang was already dropping into the co-pilot's chair, putting in the hyperspace coordinates, and getting their cloaking devices online. "There is a bad electrical storm, it might help shield you, but..." After another pause, Ahsoka was engaging the shields already.

“It might be too dangerous; I don't... If you need to..."

"Don't-" Ahsoka whispered on her end, knowing the distortion for Fulcrum's comms wouldn't allow her words to go through.

"If you need to leave me behind, I understand;"

"We're not far, Daaark grut, You are coming home," Ahsoka promised as the comms grew more distorted, before dropping entirely. She wasn't even sure if Shin had heard her, she just had to hope that she wouldn't resign herself to being left in the Mustafar system, so close to so much darkness. It was with strength offered in her family, with Rex and Kaeden at her side, that Ahsoka was able to swallow her pain, ignore the uncomfortable itch at the man’s voice that had been with Shin, and confirm the new coordinates Huyang had entered into the hyperdrive. Now, it was a matter of getting to Shin before the storms took them out.

Translations: Daark’a Ehtu - Togruti - Dark Mind Meht - Togruti - mom Dema'golka - Mando'a - Monster bachu e’dai - Togruti - Fart Face

#Shin Tano AU #Shin Hati #Ahsoka Tano #Kaeden Larte #captain rex #Hera Syndulla #Kanan Jarrus #Star Wars #Baylan Skoll #Fanfiction #tw blood #tw torture #kaedensoka

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