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There was a crash of dishes on the floor, followed by a cry of despair from Ahsoka
Her routine in her abode was interrupted by the terrible sight.
"No!" her face scrunched up in a horror of sorts as Barriss entered her room. Ahsoka had not seen her in years but the reunion was one most unwanted in this circumstance.
"Ahsoka...." Barriss could only meekly call out with shame and embarrassment. She had no excuse for her appearance and the horror it presented.
Ahsoka was not completely panicked but her stoic demeanor had realized what happened.
"Forgive me, Ahsoka. I didn't want to face you like this" Barriss could barely talk
"Why? How?!" she asked, her eyes welling up a little. She choked back tears, not so much because Barriss appeared again without warning, but from the radiance around Barriss.
There was no time, no warning to help Ahsoka brace herself with the horrible truth.
Barriss tried to hold back stoic tears as Ahsoka marveled at her. She was so beautiful, even as she glowed in the Force.
But Barriss was dead on a far away planet, and Ahsoka knew time with her was running out as she reached and failed to take the hand of a ghost from the Force....
"I have.....fulfilled my destiny. It's ok, Ahsoka. I think I just needed to see you one more time"
Ahsoka's stoic demeanor held her together after the initial shock. In her wisdom, she realized what may have happened.
"I understand" she replied with reluctant acceptance, though her heart burst to want to hear more. To say more. To say all the things taken for granted that can never be spoken.
"Do not mourn, Ahsoka. Just know that...." Barriss looked into her eyes and choked "....know that I am at peace after our long journey."
Ahsoka drew a quick breath "I don't know how I'm-"
"-Oh, Ahsoka. I will always be with you. The Force will always be with you"
Ahsoka nodded as Barriss started to fade. The Force was pulling her to finish.
"It is time" she concluded.
Ahsoka's heart quickened and broke. She tried to reach out to hold Barriss, but could not.
"It's ok, Ahsoka. Let go....you have to let go...." Barriss choked a little as well. For she desperately wanted to break from her stoicism of death to embrace her lover.
Ahsoka began to show frustration as Barriss' image grew fuzzy and felt distant.
"Wait....WAIT!!" Ahsoka knew that letting go was the Jedi way. But Barriss would become one with the Force, and the loneliness of her absence began to crush Ahsoka in her soul. It would be a loss forever. There was so much more Ahsoka wanted for them both, so much to say. She was not ready and now it would all be gone.
"I'M NOT READY!!! PLEASE!!!" Ahsoka did what she does best, raging against the dying of the light. She was busting through her stages of grief like a gundark in a pottery shop. She reached out for Barriss, absurdly trying to pull her back with the Force.
Barriss reached out as well, but knew it was futile. She had been so ready to pass on peacefully. But now she craved life with Ahsoka. She could not bear the separation, and hated that her ghost form could never hold her love again. Even being one with the Force would feel like yet another prison. Barriss could not make a sound by this time, and simply mouthed the sacred words from her heart to Ahsoka's before her form was lost.
Forever.
Barriss' soul was on fire. A tremor surrounded them both as Ahsoka's Heart became the fury of a dying sun. Tears flooded as she lost all sensibility and Jedi discipline
Barriss almost could feel herself in mid evaporation
"DON'T GO! I'M NOT READY!!!!"
A storm thundered, and the Force was ruptured briefly.
A Vergence electrified around them. Ahsoka was wise but there was so little time. After all, who could ever be ready to let go of their love?
She threw out her hands at Barriss with a bursting heart, so intense was her concentration in the Force with Barriss that reality itself was compelled to bend to the will of two lovers. The midichlorians reshaped the conditions in the heat of the moment, causing Barriss and Ahsoka to grab each other so very solidly!
For Ahsoka unknowingly and unwittingly unlocked the true secret to immortality. The secret Plagueis spent his entire life attempting to perfect. The secret Darth Sidious tempted upon Anakin to save his beloved Padme.
The Sith failed in such a quest with their own defeated nature. Plagueis failed to achieve such immortality because he craved power, not love. He failed to understand that Love was the key to truly living forever.
Ahsoka and Barriss accidentally breached that veil with the power of their love in a simple embrace. But even this power could only be temporary. From a certain point of view, true love was an immortal thing that even death could not conquer.
The will of the Force is rarely understood, but as the lovers held each other in the swirl of it, they knew better than to waste time with questions.
Barriss cried out in surprise and joy. Ahsoka could see her bright tears streak down her face. Real tears that shined as they fled down her face. Tears that sparkled. Like falling stars.
They held each other and kissed. Furiously kissed and held hands and caressed before all would be lost to time
Their hands caressed and groped, more for the sake of remembering than lust (though they certainly heated their physical kisses with a flushed desire that could only be dreamt for in this fast moment).
Ahsoka wanted to remember every inch of her beloved, to memorize her curves and shape for the loneliest nights that lay ahead. Barriss held Ahsoka in every possible grip to never forget desire and hot passion when she became one with a Force that was beyond all comprehension.
They finally stopped and gasped. Now it was time.
"Barriss, there is no need to fear nor mourn" a voice called out. They turned to see the ghostly forms of Master Katri and Master Luminara call to her.
"Come now" Luminara beckoned "We will guide you. It is natural for sadness, but also joy. Ahsoka, we will always be with you. We will not be gone forever. For the ones we love are never truly gone. Celebrate us by living"
Barriss and Ahsoka sighed but felt fulfilled by the cathartic release. They embraced more softly, for the last time.
"Live" Barriss whispered her final word to her true love. Ahsoka could not help but sigh and smile
Barriss slowly backed away, her hands drifting from Ahsoka's. No more words or regrets needed to be expressed. It was okay to let go now.
Barriss' eyes lingered on Ahsoka for an extra eternity. she smiled, then turned to join her Masters. In a slow fade, they finally stepped out of this existence to be in the Force.
Ahsoka held her breath, and lingered in it. It would take a long time to recover from moments of sadness, to walk her life without the one person she needed most.
She felt a little ashamed of her lost control. Ahsoka sat in meditation, put all of her energy and thoughts into the love she had. For the moment, she was no longer sad that it was over, but felt the glow of a happiness knowing it happened.