Chapter Text
Jedi were not superstitious. Everything was black-and-white. Do or do not. Be attached or utterly detached. It either is or is not. If it was true that something was there or was not, then by all means, Ahsoka would love for Master Yoda, or anyone on the Jedi Council for that matter, to explain why there was a woman that only Ahsoka could see trailing her. Ever since the last battle — the one that was so water-logged, Kix had to treat all the men and command officers for pneumonia despite the fact no one had touched the dark waters— Ahsoka had gained an extra shadow. The woman was wearing filthy white, if Ahsoka could even dare call it white anymore, bridal gear. The dress was ripped and the corset was pulled so tight Ahsoka’s ribs twinged in pain at the sight. Her face was always covered by a shredded veil, more a rusty red than white. She never wore shoes, and her feet were black with cold sores and frostbite. The young togruta tried not to focus on the skin that she could see. Everytime the Woman appeared, the temperature would drop and the humidity would rise, making Ahsoka feel as if she were back on that forsaken, drab planet.
Three standard weeks after the mission and breathing heavily through her mouth, stranger things started happening. It started with small things slightly out of place, near unnoticeable. Her toothbrush would be on the side of the sink opposite from where she had put it when she left that morning, her datapad would be on the bed instead of on the desk, and her lightsabers would be switched. At first, she chalked it up to fatigue, and ignored it. So far, the strange occurrences only appeared in her quarters. After another night of slight-out-of-place-ness, she went to sleep with a heavy pressure behind her eyelids, right by her temple.
Ahsoka woke back up on the planet she really should learn the name and history of, the scent of salty sea and blood assaulting her nose, and the strong winds stinging her exposed skin. She found that she could only smell and see in this strange in-between (she wasn’t asleep, she was too aware. And this couldn't be a force-vision, she could feel the ocean’s spray. All too strange), there were no echoes in her montrals, and not a hint of salt graced her tongue. She could also feel , but she couldn't touch . When she looked down, she couldn’t see a body, but the raging water churned beneath where she… hovered? She tried reaching down, finding herself reaching below the surface without feeling anything but the wind. She retracted her arm, which she knew was there with the same vague sense that she knew she was here . The blood scent that had assaulted her nose earlier wafted back in stronger waves, and her face crinkled in disgust. She turned, facing the origin of the scent. Her disgusted face fell when she took a look at the scene laid out in front of her.
A ship had wrecked upon some rocks, and the ship’s debris was spread out in the water. While the middle of nowhere in the ocean was a strange place for rocks, they were not the focus of Ahsoka’s attention. There were bodies strewn in the water, their blood mixing with the darkness beneath them. She felt herself moving towards the wreck, shock keeping herself from protesting the involuntary action. She stopped on the ruined deck, the only part of the ship not largely ruined, her not-there feet landing on the splintered wood. There was a groaning sound behind her, and she turned around to see a figure standing over another, a sharp item representing a vibroblade held high in their hand. Ahsoka watched in horror as the figure with the weapon swiped at the other, slicing their skin open. She gagged when she saw the blade rip out organs from the victim’s torso. The figure stood and wiped the blade off on their clothing, humming a tune she had never heard before. The humming was eerie in the stillness of the ocean, accompanied by the harsh sting of the wind.
“Here comes the bride, here comes the bride,” the figure slowly spun as they hummed, and Ahsoka’s breathing turned faster. The Woman grinned as she finished wiping the blade off on her bloody dress. “Here comes the bri-ide, here comes the bride.” Once again, Ahsoka felt herself being tugged involuntarily, and she panicked, pulling against herself to get away from the Woman. The Woman smiled, baring her dark teeth, her rusted vibroblade pointed straight at the togrutra’s heart. The girl tried to scream, her voice not even making a noise in her own mind. There was no noise anymore, the wind had stopped its howling. She pulled against the tugging with all of her might, but her efforts were futile. Her scream echoed in the void around them as the tip of the weapon split the skin on her chest.
Ahsoka woke up for the second time, gasping for air. She tumbled out of her bed, stumbling into her attached refresher. She splashed her face with water, blinking when she noticed dark hair hanging in her eyesight. She whipped her head up to face her reflection, or rather, the reflection of the Woman. Ahsoka felt her face stretch wide as she watched “her” reflection grin with cracked, bloody teeth and black lips. She wanted to scream again when blood started staining the front of the bridal gown, pouring from the place where the blade had pressed against Ahsoka’s not-there chest. She made eye contact with the Woman in the mirror again, before the mirror shattered and the lights flickered off.
The girl gasped for breath once more, her chest heaving. The comm on her bedside table blinked with an incoming message. Without giving it a glance, she rushed to her refresher and checked her mirror. She found her own reflection. Sienna skin, white montrals with blue chevrons and her lekku. Not a hair in sight. She sighed in relief before going back to her main to give her comm attention. She brought back into the ‘fresher with her and played the message as she set the water in the shower to scalding hot. She rolled her eyes as Anakin’s voice filtered through the speaker, telling her not to be late to the meeting with the Jedi Council lest she have to face his wrath for leaving him to deal with the constant disapproval Council on his own. The next message made her snicker unashamed in the privacy of her quarters. Master Kenobi had yet to figure out how all the new technology worked, and she took joy in listening to his “good morning” messages because he didn’t know how to start and end a message, asking Cody to do it for him. An old man at such a young age, a shame, really. The third and final message was from Rex, and she smiled gently. After a campaign where Ahsoka was left in charge of her men, they had all grown closer, and her men had adopted her as a sister of sorts. Rex’s message always left reminders to take of herself as well as her itinerary for the day. She saved all three messages. For black mail material, of course. Not at all for sentimental value.
After listening and saving the messages, she tested the water and deemed it hot enough. Ahsoka stripped herself of her night clothes, but before she could climb into the shower capsule, her reflection caught her attention. There was a cut splitting the skin covering her heart, right where the Woman’s blade had been.