AN: I came up with this fic whilst talking with my sister, we both agreed that they never really showed you the darker bits of the war and the effects it had on others and how they cope with it, plus, seeing as though we love her so much, we decided to give Ahsoka a bit more hell.

This story stemmed from some dark events, just weeks before Anakin rescued the Chancellor, that we came up with and moves on from there.

Another thing we don't see is how Anakin's slow change effects the people around him, sure we see Obi-Wan crying about it on Mustafar but we don't really see how people view the small changes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, at all; all characters and places mentioned belong to their respectful owners.

Chapter 1

Moonlight streamed steadily into the Jedi temple, permeating the darkness with its radiant glow, a brilliant white against an otherwise dark world, a point of light and reason that gave on hope for the future. The howling wind whipped through the temples corridors, woefully crying out, as if it could sense the darkness that was smothering the Galaxy, sneaking into it undetected and treacherous, the galaxy was blind to its approach. Maybe no-one would notice until it was too late.

A shadow interrupted the beautiful stream of mesmerising moonlight, a small shape that sat on the cold stone floor, leaning again the wall, head rested against the empty window frame – the glass had long since gone -you wouldn't need to ask to know it was a Jedi.

A slight sigh escape the small figures mouth, seeming to echo around the cold corridor bouncing off the walls as if to taunt the person, to remind her of her sadness. Another gale of icy wind whipped in through the many windows of the very open corridor, seeping in through the walls and floors, you couldn't escape it. Never the cold, you couldn't ever run from the cold darkness.

This part of the temple was deserted, even in waking hours; no-one ever came here anymore, it had a dark history, and as time passed the small area of the temple had deteriorated, but some may think it made it more beautiful, vines wove their way into the walls, looping intricately and blossoming beautifully with innocent white flowers that seemed to glow in the moonlight.

The stone walls had eroded slightly from weathering; holes appearing in odd places were wind rushed in as if it were racing for shelter from the harsh cold of Coruscant nights. The long corridor had a series of decorative window arches running along it, each oval shaped one missing it's glass. As if the darkness had broken them too.

The small figure sat up slightly, slowly peeking her head out of what once was a window, her eyes taking in the courtyard outside, the yellowing stone give it an antique effect and made the area seem even more beautiful, though it had been left to die. The columns had weathered and fallen apart, littered across the floor in remembrance.

People rarely came her for one sole reason, a great tragedy had struck the beautiful place, it you searched deep enough you could feel the echo of hurt; you could see the blood stains. It was a place of pain, and the figure could feel the hurt resonated out of the walls just as she could feel the cold.

She could feel death, she could feel sorrow and pain and hurt and death…by force, could she feel the death, it echoed around like a sad song, never faltering, continuing its ode to the deceased, the murdered.

There was an attack, once upon a time this small quadrant of the temple was bustling with activity and life, it was a sight to behold, many called it the 'Chamber of dreams' and it was, it really was, there once was a time where you could simply be, you could escape the war for a short time and let go of your worries, you can grasp onto your hopes for the future and dare to dream of a better time.

It was a favourite of the younglings and Padawans, the ones who suffered from the war the most, watching their dreams smashed into pieces before them, watching themselves die a little bit whenever a colleague fell. Perhaps, they liked 'Chamber of Dreams' so much because they could close their eyes and pretend to be someone else for a while, dream of another life, a normal life…without war, and death, and pain.

This was not the life for children.

They came during the Battle of Coruscant, when the protectors and strongest fighters were preoccupied, they chose to attack the defenceless, the younglings, and the found the perfect place the do it. It was such a secluded area, it was all too easy to block all the exits and execute the children gathered in the room.

What once was the 'Chamber of dreams' was now the 'chamber of nightmares', they were all imprisoned in their own safe house, the one place they thought they were safe, the once place where they could afford to let their guard down, but in the end it had betrayed them too. Was anywhere safe anymore?

Not many knew of the tragedy that struck the order that day, only of the rescue attempt for the Chancellor above Coruscant, very few knew of what happened in the temple. It struck the order deeply, they had attacked their children and brutally executed them like livestock, many of the Jedi still had bad dreams of it to this day, but only 3 weeks had passed since the incident, who wouldn't still be suffering?

The innocents were always the true victims of war.

The figure shifted slightly, bathed in the gentle moonlight, her headtails shining in its silvery glow, her blue eyes shone with sadness and worry, she tucked into herself and wrapped her frail arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees.

She had known many of the younglings that had died on that fateful day, not too long ago, how could she ever forget them? After all, once upon a time she had a best friend, the best of them all, she saw past her exceptional skills and didn't hold them against her like all the others did, she valued her for more than her ability as a Jedi. She could've done so much given the chance, she had the biggest heart in the order, she was always there for everyone, making it her priority to be the pillar of support for the entire order.

Who was there for her when she felt hopeless? Who was there to hold her hand when they tortured her? Did she have a shoulder to cry on when she watched her friend slaughtered? No, of course no, they showed them no compassion, no sympathy, they laughed when then tortured them, cackled when they cried. Her friend was there for everyone else but in the end no-one was there for her.

Ahsoka knew, she'd seen the security recordings, she knew.

Of course she wasn't supposed to know, her Master would have a field day if he ever found out she'd sliced the system and got into the security databanks, she knew that they'd kept the recordings from the younglings to protect them but she had to see, she needed to…she had to know what her friend – her sister in all but blood – went through.

She wished she hadn't seen it, the blood, the screams, the crying…it haunted her to this very day, when she had first seen the recording, about half an hour ago, she had vomited, it was sickening. She had never seen her friend cry before, let alone scream, but she had, she'd screamed and pleaded, she'd even begged for death when the pain became unbearable, they gave it to her eventually, but not before they tortured her to insanity.

They'd done everything to her, they'd spilt her blood, they'd burnt her flesh, raped her. It had sickened Ahsoka, it almost made her lose hope, how could they possibly bring peace to the Galaxy when they had mobs like that stalking the streets.

Who were they? No-one really knew, they weren't Separatist – that wasn't even there style, at least they had some morals – these were gangsters, people who loved evil and crime, who lived for pain and hatred. Cruel couldn't even begin to describe the sick minds behind this attack, they were monsters, no…they were even worse, they were the things that hid underneath monsters bed, they were the worst sort of evil, they ones who did it for fun.

No-one spoke of the events; it was still a very sore subject, haunting the back of the Jedi's minds, weighing down their very souls. Particularly the ones who had seen the recordings - her Master was one of them. She remembered the day he came back to their quarters after watching the recording with the rest of the council, she'd never seen him so dejected, so horrified. He was so pale. He had taken one look at her and had almost broken down - perhaps he realised how easily she could've been amongst the long list of dead mutilated children – he'd collapsed into the couch and beckoned for her to join him, wrapping his arms around her when she did, as if he feared he'd lose her if he let go.

That was the first time she'd ever seen him lose control of his emotions like that, the first time she had ever seen him so scared, nothing ever shook his, he always remained strong, she knew he did it for her, but the massacre had hit him hard. It had made him realise the one place he thought would be safe – the Jedi temple - wasn't…and his Padawan spent all her time there.

She knew he regretted leaving her behind, she'd been deployed with him to the outer rim sieges but her Master had sent her back to the temple after a few weeks, when things started to get really ugly and the death toll began to start piling up, deeming it too dangerous for her. Obviously, the temple wasn't any better, within a week of her being back it had being attacked and it was only luck that kept her from being on the list of the dead, she usually spent all her time in the courtyard down in the 'Chamber of Dreams.'

From that point, her Master seemed to come to the oh-so-great epiphany that the only way she'd be safe was if he kept her with him, he didn't hover too much but he did insist on her accompanying him on even the smallest missions, it wasn't too suffocating for her to cope with but she had to admit she did feel a bit smothered.

Ahsoka sighed, she had lost her oldest friend in the attack, she was still a youngling – although they were the same age – she had no Master to protect her, it was supposed to be her job. She was strongly that her friend, she should've been there to protect her because nobody else would.

"I'm so sorry Blissany, forgive me for not saving you." Ahsoka whispered to the wind, hoping that maybe her friend would hear her cry for forgiveness.

The wind howled back in reply, a chilly cry of pain; it too knew of what had happened in this desolate place, it too dwelled in the horrible memory of the pain and suffering this courtyard held.

"Snips." There was a familiar voice. "What the hell are you doing here? It's not safe."

Her Master was next to her in almost a second, crouching down beside her as he regarded her with angry eyes, ones which morphed into concern when he saw her face – sad didn't even scrape the ice – he put a hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, he'd never really been very good at reassuring people.

"It's alright." Anakin could feel her sadness rolling off her in waves.

"No it's not." She replied hoarsely. "They killed them, Master. What did they ever do?"

"They had done nothing, there were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Anakin's words tasted bitter in his mouth, he knew it was selfish but he couldn't help but feel grateful that his Padawan was in the library for the whole of the attack, far away from it.

"She was all alone, she was in so much pain and I wasn't there for her."

"They killed them quickly." Anakin's lie left a funny taste in his mouth, but they all had unanimously agreed to not inform the others of the torture the younglings had gone through, the deaths were hard enough for the children to handle without them knowing of their friends suffering as well.

"Liar." Came Ahsoka's sharp, yet quiet, accusation.

"What do you mean?" Anakin pried further, his eyes hard as her search the blue depths on the young girls. She hadn't watched their recording, had she? No, Anakin pushed that thought from his mind, he'd explicitly instructed her not to, she wouldn't disobey him like that.

"I know, Master, I saw the recordings." She admitted, her voice choked with unshed tears and sobs held back by her pride. "I know."

Of course she would disobey him, him ordering her not to pry into the whole situation would've just made her curious which would've been incentive enough for her to do the complete opposite of his orders. He should've foreseen this.

"I thought I told you not to look into this." Anakin grabbed her upper arm, and leaned into her face. "Do you think I just like to hear myself speak? I gave you those orders for a reason, I've seen the recordings, I told you to trust my judgement and you go behind my back."

"I know." Ahsoka gulped slightly, her voice rising a few octaves as she became more distressed, it took a frantic panicky tone to it as she began to explain herself. "I just…I wanted to know what happened and I went snooping and then I found the security clips and when I started watching I couldn't bring myself to stop. It was so awful, Master."

"I know, that's why I was trying to protect you from it." Anakin sighed and let go of his strong grip on her arm. "You're too young."

Anakin stood up, his eyes sorrowful, he should've explained his reasoning to her, maybe that would've kept her away, he should've known his instruction would've only fuelled her curiosity.

"Come on, that floor is freezing, you're gonna get sick." Anakin held out his hand to help her up.

Ahsoka took his hand gratefully, allowing him to pull her to her feet, catching her when her shaky legs collapsed underneath her.

"I'm okay." She pushed herself out of his grasp. "I'm okay."

"Alright, time for bed, I think." Anakin regarded the young girl. "We're going out on a mission tomorrow and we both need to be rested."

"A mission?" Ahsoka whined slightly. "Already?"

"It's local, we're going down to the undercity, apparently there's been some Separatist activity there. We need our rest to be alert"

"I don't want to sleep." Ahsoka's voice was, once again, frantic. "I just can't…I can't."

"Shhh." Anakin quietened her. "Stop working yourself up, I'll help you find a dreamless sleep."

Ahsoka looked at him with doubtful eyes for a few moments before bowing her head and letting out a quiet sigh, which Anakin took as acceptance, so he put a hand on her shoulder and steered her back to their shared quarters.

AN: I won't be able to update this as often as I'd like, I'm afraid that weekly is the best you'll get. Sorry, please review. Btw, for those of you who have read 'warnings and fears', should I bring back Alex?