And here we have the ninth installment of this story – and this is one of the ones I have been looking forward to writing ever since I thought up the story (I'm pretty sure most of you who have ever written anything kind of… 'plan it out' ahead of time like I do – and being so there have undoubtedly been moments like that for you too). This is by no means a happy chapter but a lot of things happen in here that are incredibly significant to the rest of the story, so read closely!

Thanks once again to all of my wonderful reviewers (and yes, even the smart-alecks). I wanted to point something out: I remembered after reading my reviews that I never mentioned this before – I write Obi-Wan as Obiwan because it reads the same on search engines and it gives me a bit of short-hand in writing the story. Also, I've read my fair share of Star Wars fics and this is the rule I use for capitalization of padawan and master: if it's referring to the actual person in replacement of their name, it's capitalized. If it's a title, it's capitalized. If it's just referring to the person who carries that title, it's not. …think of it as an odd proper noun. Just read over things a bit and it'll make sense.

Summary: See previous installments, please.

Disclaimer: The OCs in this story, the hospital, the animals, and the plot are mine. Nothing else. PLEASE do not use any of them or repost this story anywhere else or use the words within this story for your own purposes – if you'd like to repost it somewhere, ask permission. I work hard on this and it's my creation. Please treat it and me with respect.

Warning: This chapter has depictions of violence, neglect, and several other themes that may bother some people. Please read at your own discretion.

A new character is introduced in this chapter who will share the spotlight with Ahsoka, so be sure to get kind of familiar with him.

Flashbacks are written in italics.

And I also wanted to apologize to everyone: I have no right to complain about how my life is, regardless of how bad it gets. There's always someone worse off and it only goes to show that people can only deal with problems for oh so long.

Anywho, enjoy the chapter and please review!

Happy reading,

~Eliana

IOIOIOIOIOI

A last smile at her sleepy-looking patient was all Tocarra managed before she unlocked the door and slipped out into the hall, being sure to shut it firmly behind her so that no prying eyes could see into the small area. A glance around told her that no one else who cared enough to be a bother was near and, quite satisfied with that, she sauntered off down the hall and back toward the medical office at the front of the floor. Almost an hour and a half told the story of the events just passed and it showed when she passed by the now-empty reading corner, the darkened space now devoid of the joyful laughter that Donavan had drawn from the younglings earlier.

Her echoing footsteps were met with another sound just past the office doors and entered casually, one white eyebrow arching as she looked at the Jedi. Master Skywalker leaves – one Jedi – and somehow manages to multiply himself into four. All of them were disheveled looking with robes in a mess, rips and tears marring the once-pristine fabric that lay over the wearily held up bodies. None of them seemed to notice her presence through their conversation until Anakin glanced her way and immediately zipped over to her as fast as though he were able to fly.

"How's Ahsoka? Is she alright? Have you found out what's wrong? What are you-"

He stopped short when she held up a hand in request for silence, allowing the other Jedi to walk over to them before starting her explanation.

"She's fine – a little tired and sore, but she's fine. We went through a process similar to debridement not too long ago to ease her pain and I suspect that she's sleeping now."

"Debridement?" came the obvious question from the girl's master and Tocarra had to strongly fight against the urge to roll her eyes. For people who had a huge library at their exposal they obviously didn't know much.

"Debridement usually happens after a person is burned severely – the dead flesh is removed and covered with a gel-based, absorbable cadaver skin. It cuts the risk of infection and fluid loss down," she explained as she finally lowered her hand back to her side, "And to answer one of your other questions: yes, we know what's wrong with her an we're going to do all we can to prevent it from getting worse."

"I apologize if I'm interrupting you," another human spoke, ginger hair sticking out oddly as if it had been blown away from his face by a strong wind. He realized his forgetfulness a second later and offered her his hand which she shook, "Obiwan Kenobi. I apologize – we just finished speaking to our High Counsel and they now know that all of us including Ahsoka," he stated the last bit a little firmer as he glanced at the younger human who stood next to him, "are safe. However they request to know if you have any information regarding our other padawan."

"Other padawan?" Tocarra questioned, almost as if she were testing him for his knowledge before admitting to anything.

"Yes," one of the other guests spoke (she quickly introduced herself as Luminara Unduli to the doctor and the Togrutan quickly picked up on the pattern of their interrogation), "another Jedi padawan and his Master were sent here not long ago and we haven't heard from them since. They haven't kept contact and we fear for their safety."

With a huff of breath they found themselves under her scrutinizing eyes for a long moment before she spoke again, her words slow and deliberate as she carefully chose what to say as the icy blue irises shot straight into their souls.

"I need to be sure we're all talking about the same person here before I can give you any information. You're talking about a young boy, yes?"

"Yes," Aayla spoke next (she followed the same pattern of speaking before introducing and it was quickly driving the doctor insane), "he may have arrived here three or four days ago with his master."

"And his master was a human, correct? Black hair, black eyes, named…Zimerek I believe?" Tocarra questioned slowly, taking her time in choosing her words and noting every movement her guests made.

"That's correct," Obiwan told her and almost jerked his head back in surprise at the way the woman's face suddenly changed, twisting into a tight look of anger and protectiveness that he hadn't seen in many years (the last, he hated to admit, had come from Anakin's mother when she had spoken to his old Master about taking the child from his home).

"The boy is here," was all the doctor said, her voice quieter than a moment ago as she shot them all looks.

When she offered no more and didn't relax Anakin felt a stab of anxiety and unexplainable fear jump through his body like a lightning bolt, tearing into his system and forcing him to harshly swallow before he spoke again.

"Can we see him?"

The red face tilted and blue eyes scrutinized him, pulling him apart bit by bit as if to try and read his full intentions. She seemed satisfied after a moment and stated:

"I believe you all need your own medical evaluation. You've been through quite a bit in the past few days."

"Nothing we can't handle," Anakin replied and Obiwan had to restrain himself from smacking his former apprentice over the back of the head.

"Please. We must see him," Luminara tried her luck, "If you truly wish for us to get medical attention we will gladly do it after we are assured of the child's safety."

The studying eyes flew to her next. Finally Tocarra took a deep breath in resignation and told them in a whisper:

"Very well then. I can't deny you the right to see the boy since he's legally under the Jedi Council's custody. He is under a security watch so you must be careful around him… know that we're doing all we can for him – that's my only warning to you. Now, quietly. Follow me."

With that she turned and walked calmly out of the office, the white coat she wore rippling slightly in the air kicked up by the sudden movement. Half a moment later all of the Jedi trotted quickly after, all of them adjusting themselves and standing up straighter when they caught up to walk right behind her in order to preserve whatever dignity they had left in front of the few people in the halls. Obiwan raked his hand through his unsettled ginger hair to try and tame it, letting out a silent grumble in frustration when he couldn't manage to get it all to lie down. Master Secura adjusted herself where she held onto Luminara's supporting arm.

Through it all Anakin couldn't shake the uneasiness that plagued his mind – he had known Zimerek for a long while when the man had turned to the Dark Side and he had seen first hand what that…thing was capable of doing to a padawan. If that man had hurt this boy there wasn't a force that existed that could stop Anakin Skywalker from tearing him apart limb by limb and cell by cell in payback. Ahsoka meant the world to him (seconded only by Padme' in his mind) and he couldn't fathom the idea of a master wanting to do anything to harm their apprentice.

They walked back down the hallway that Anakin recognized as the one he had gone down earlier and he felt himself get a slight feeling of butterflies in his stomach at finally finding the lost Jedi.

But whatever it was that the he and the others had planned to see when they finally found the other padawan… wasn't this. Tocarra led them almost silently into a room not far from Ahsoka's and before they even reached the door all four of them had to shake their heads to clear them of the oppressive atmosphere that seemed to absolutely push them down toward the linoleum floor. The doctor walked through the open doorway with a professional strut that did nothing to give away her own despair at the being that resided here and drew up close to the bed, pulling the plastic clipboard off the bed's wall and placing it on the bedside table. Resting a hand on one of the half-foot-high plastic walls on the bed's edge, she carefully reached over with the other to slowly grasp and pull back the dark red covers that concealed the child underneath. Once they were drawn back enough to reveal his face she calmly lowered them to the boy's shoulder, turning around to press a thin finger to her lips in a gesture of silence before waving them over to where she stood.

They followed her instruction with scrutiny, walking as flat-footed and silent as their boots would allow across the expanse of the room to the bedside – and Anakin could've sworn he was looking at a dead body, not a child. What he saw was a skeleton lying on his left side under the covers, skin a sickly tan and far lighter than Ahsoka's, making it almost impossible to see the single white birthmark on his face. The prominent black lines and bags underneath his eyes didn't help with the look of death he bore – and neither did the sores that were present on his cheeks and forehead (and what happened to catch Anakin's attention the most was the black bruise that was swelling the left side of the boy's face). On the skeletal neck stood a pair large, red, angry-looking spots directly over both of his jugular veins that had multiple small holes in them that resembled needle-piercings. His small lips were pasty white…almost as white as the small breathing tubes that crossed from where they were secured with medical tape to the side of his head, over the jutting cheek bones, and into the small nostrils to help him breath.

Four separate intravenous lines crossed from under the bed covers to the bags suspended on the metal stands next to the bed and a loud heart monitor beeped the readings it received from the wires that led from the machine's side underneath the warm covers as well. A large screen on top of the heart monitor read in large, bold, white numerals: 92.2°F and had a small line graph displayed beneath it with the line showing a general downward slope.

"This is Djibourdi," Tocarra told them in a whisper that was so quiet it wouldn't have been heard if they stood another inch away from her, "He's about a couple years or so younger than Ahsoka… but as you can see, his condition is much further along than hers."

She halted in her speaking for a moment when the child shifted, shivering a bit as he tried weakly and vainly to find more warmth. In desperation she gently tucked the blankets around him a bit more, knowing in the back of her mind that the small gesture didn't do anything to help him at all.

"He is nothing more than skin and bones," Luminara whispered from where she stood, taking in the sight with shock.

"When he came to us, he was already underweight. He's only been here for four days and he has dropped around eight pounds," the doctor told them quietly, "He literally is skin and bones. This disease has no mercy."

"What is that?" Obiwan questioned, gesturing to the boy's neck.

Tocarra gave a sad sigh at the question, suddenly tightened her hands around the plastic wall around the bed for a moment before she found her voice.

"Djibourdi is receiving the same medication that Ahsoka will be getting – twice daily injections of a drug called 'Laizis B' followed by dialysis about two hours later. Unfortunately for him, Laizis can only be injected near a major blood vessel and it can't be below the midline so the heart can move it throughout the body easier. His sores are…beyond our control on his arms, especially in the crook of them where we would need to inject the medication-"

"So you inject it into his neck?" Anakin ground out in a hoarse whisper of shock, receiving several shushes in annoyance at how loud he was being.

"I'm afraid so," the Togrutan woman told him after a moment of making sure the boy was still in his fitful sleep, "and it…pains me to know how much agony it causes him to do so."

Djibourdi suddenly gave a sound of distress from where he was sleeping, his pale face twisting into a look of unrestrained discomfort as he was unwillingly rushed toward awareness.

"What is happening?" Secura questioned the Togrutan who reached over to gently touch the young cheek.

"He's waking up," the other replied quietly, as she gazed down at his face, "He's not feeling too good so he's not happy at the moment – and the last thing that he needs is to be awake. He needs to sleep."

A weak jerk of the young body announced him coming to full awareness, Djibourdi's eyes slowly revealing themselves from behind the pale, cold sheets of eyelids. The golden irises held a haunted look when he saw Tocarra standing before him, but the look he gave each of the Jedi surprised everyone but the doctor – he was looking at them in fear, such a palpable fear that made their stomachs churn. His eyes were quickly glazed over with tears when the familiar pain, weariness, nausea, fear, and exhaustion all piled onto his mind at once and, despite what the doctor standing near him tried to say, he knew it was there to stay for a long time.

"Djibourdi, shh," the doctor tried to soothe, stroking a prominent cheekbone with the backs of her fingers to try and lull him back to sleep despite the fearful shivers that wracked the young body at the motion, "You need to sleep, little one."

She caught his shaking glance at the Jedi and tried to reassure him of their nature.

"No no, child," she told him, bending over a bit so she wasn't towering over him as much, "No they are not here to hurt you. Shh…child, shh-shh…"

There was obviously no quelling the fear the boy had within him and he began to shake, trying to use his hidden hands to weakly and fruitlessly pull the covers back over his head to hide him from everyone's view. Out of the thin throat came several soft clicking sounds of distress and he tried to (once he found that he couldn't move the covers at all) bury his face into the pillow under his head - to which he only succeeded in painfully yanking the IV lines and the breathing tube sharply where they were attached to him with medical tape and gauze. With a sad look Tocarra turned back to the Jedi, telling them apologetically:

"I'm sorry, I don't know quite how to ask this…but can you all step out? I believe having so many foreign people here is putting him on edge."

"Of course," Obiwan quickly replied and the others nodded, stepping away without resistance.

"Thank you. I will join you again shortly," the woman promised before turning back to the child in the bed.

As they left, the only sounds that the Jedi could hear were gentle shushes and the beeping of the heart monitor that echoed through the room.

Even without his gifted sensitivity Obiwan knew it – and by the looks on the faces of the other Jedi, they had figured it out too. This boy was the one who had sent the signal through the Force, he had to be. By the way he had reacted to their mere presence alone told him that something had happened in the past few days that must prove rather significant… what else would cause someone to fear their own family? The Jedi had always had the unspoken bond of family between all of them, but this child had, instead of finding solace in their presence, reacted with a palpable fear that still had the man numb with shock. He and his fellow Jedi stood solemnly in the hall for a long few moments as they waited for the doctor and all of them turned with surprise when she briskly trotted out of the room and across the hall, knocking on the door to Ahsoka's room with an urgent fist.

A thin-faced man opened it only a crack and blinked inquiringly at her, listening to the fluent Togruti that she spoke to him before he turned and in turn spoke into the room. The door opened wider and a Togrutan man stepped out, his handsome face twisted with concern. He moved with the doctor back across the hall as the door behind him shut, the man ducking swiftly into Djibourdi's room while Tocarra stood in the doorway in a method of observing what he was going to do. After a few moment of watching whatever was happening she gave a sad sigh, reaching in to grab the door handle and pull the door closed in order to protect the pair from prying eyes.

It wasn't until she turned back to them that Obiwan finally asked the question he had been dying to ask since he saw the child and the second it left his mouth, the whole atmosphere changed.

"What has happened here?"

The doctor met his eyes with her own before letting out a huff of breath, giving him no verbal response but instead jerking her head back up toward the main office where she began to walk. They slowly followed her lead.

Without a sound they traveled a ways away and into a large room past the office. It was furnished with a large metal table with a projector fastened in its center, a dozen plush chairs, a few large potted plants in the corner, and a large counter in one corner of the room where a running coffee pot was making the dew of the gods. With a simple gesture from the doctor the Jedi all sat at the table and faced out of the large window across the room, all of them finding a little bit of solace in the beautiful view of the dark lake outside. In the back of his mind Anakin wondered about Rionon's fate but it was quickly locked away when a tray was put in front of all of them holding four cups of steaming caf, several things of sweetener and creamer, and a few black straws. Tocarra herself went back and poured her own cup, fixing it to her own standards before walking with it in hand to the side of the table opposite the Jedi where she sat down.

Everyone allowed the silence for a few warm moments, fixing their caf and letting the heat of the liquid bring life back into their fingertips (in all honesty Obiwan himself preferred a nice cup of herbal tea over this caffeinated load, but at the moment he didn't see a right to complain. When enough time had passed he decided to push a bit and began to speak.

"Doctor, where is Kailem Zimerek?"

She met his gaze wearily, emotions playing in her eyes that he couldn't quite name.

"Make no mistake, Masters," she told all of them, "I am a very tolerant woman…but the one thing that I refuse to stand up for is a person who harms a child."

The surprised looks on their faces gave her enough of a reason to lean back with a resigned sigh, settling herself in for the long haul.

"A lot has happened in the past few days, you understand," she started, "and it all began when Djibourdi arrived here with that… man. They came much the same way that Master Skywalker and Ahsoka did, but there was one major difference: any fool could tell that Master Skywalker cares for his padawan. He carried her in here despite his own exhaustion and almost had to be forcefully removed from her room. That man was different."

"How so?" Anakin questioned as he leaned forward, almost desperate to know everything that had happened.

"He drug the boy in here," Tocarra told him with a menacing flash of teeth, "Djibourdi could hardly stand upright but that man had a hold of him and was dragging him through the hall without a care – he couldn't have not noticed the tears that the poor child was crying by the time they got to Eddy and myself."

Another sharp jerk of the thin arm had the little Togrutan youngling trying his hardest to speed up his steps, his breath harsh and labored against the agonizing pain that shot through his body as his limbs forcibly moved themselves to follow his Master's silent order. A sudden stumble in his step almost had him pitching over if it hadn't had been for the painfully clamped on his bicep almost throwing him back to his feet.

A few whispered words to soft for the others around them to hear had him bowing his head down further, thanking the Holy Force that at that moment a man and woman came running toward them. He allowed himself to give into the weariness and fall into the man's arms who crouched quickly to catch him, the child's mind barely comprehending Zimerek's feigned calls of concern.

She took a slow drag of her drink with deliberation and slightly hung her head.

"We should've realized it then – it was the most blatant lack of care for a child I've ever seen… but I chose to ignore it out of respect for the Jedi and out of trying to convince myself that it was a sort of… hangover from the trip they had to endure. None of use wanted to believe what we were seeing and not a single one of us could get Djibourdi to tell us anything."

"Tocarra, iesle," Eddy called to her from where he stood near the bed where he had been pulling off the extra layers of cloth on the frail body.

When she neared she saw what he had discovered and felt her insides begin to boil with anger at the sight of the quickly swelling and darkening bruises on the sunk-in stomach, the twig-like legs, the prominent ribs – oh Force they were everywhere! Eddy met her own angered look with a pretty good copy as he turned his attention back to the boy who had tightly shut his eyes so as to avoid their gazes.

"Child, where did these come from?" the doctor found herself falling into stride, reaching over the plastic bed walls to gently palpitate the thin torso in order to see if the heavy bruising was caused by internal bleeding.

The only sign that he was even conscious was a tremor of a wince that crumpled his face but he made no sound at all and the woman ceased her movements.

"Djibourdi?"

He gulped and Eddy unconsciously found himself rubbing a thin hand in his own to try and reassure him as Tocarra made up her mind.

"It's fine, you don't have to tell us anything," she calmly told him and watched the golden irises wearily reveal themselves. She had to play her cards very carefully and right now her hand could only get her through one round at a time, "Let's check your weight and get everything started, alright?"

Eddy couldn't even find it within himself to write down the scale's reading and had to force himself to swallow the angry curses that wanted to boil out of his throat like the lava from a volcano. There was no way – no way in any galaxy that anyone could tell him that there was a perfectly innocent reason why an eleven year-old Togrutan boy only weighed fifty-four pounds.

"Where was Master Zimerek in all of this?" Anakin heard himself grind out, barely finding the self-restraint needed to keep himself calm and not go on a murderous rampage.

"In the hall," Tocarra told him, leaning back a bit, "He hardly gave us the amount of trouble you did, Master Skywalker. He didn't want to be anywhere near the boy once they got here and had contented himself with exploring the hallways and doors – never even batted an eyelash at our offers of medical assistance and a com-link for him to call his Council. Of course at that point Djibourdi was our main concern and that man was put on the back burner while we tried to get the youngling settled in. Eventually we did and he was able to sleep for a while before we started treatment."

She rubbed a hand over her tired eyes, sharp irises boring into each of their own.

"I tell you this only because it's the truth – I don't have the right to condemn anyone nor do I have the authority to speak to your council," she spoke strongly, "I'm relying on you to trust what I say and know that it is the truth and has not been changed."

Her guests all nodded in consent and she continued.

"Djibourdi underwent three rounds of Laizis all total – meaning that he had been with us for almost two days at this point," Tocarra recalled with a glance around to all of them while her thin fingers stroked the outside of her cup, "He was already in poor condition when he had gotten here and because of the injection site of the drug he had severe bouts of nausea and headaches, vomiting, light sensitivity – it drained what little strength he had right out of him. Through it all the boy was dead silent. He never said a word, never made so much as a squeak, we could hardly hear him breathe at times. The only exception was when you had to move him – he couldn't handle that without completely losing what composure he had and the walls around him would crumble like a sand castle in the wake of a storm."

She took another long drag of the steaming liquid from her cup, the light in her eyes suddenly very far away – Anakin had seen it hundreds of times on the clones when they finally found a break in the fighting. She wasn't here with the Jedi. Her mind was death-locked in the past as she recalled the events prior to their arrival.

"Never have I met a man as crafty as… him," Tocarra whispered quietly without warning, staring down at the table. Her lips twitched in what almost looked like a grimace, "He had us all fooled. He left the hospital that evening for something – an urgent bit of business had come up, he had told me when I asked. I didn't think anything of it… and as…horrid as it is for me to admit it I know we were all glad to see him leave. If he was gone, that meant that Djibourdi could sleep."

Obiwan was surprised to see the upset demeanor she suddenly took on as she paused, mouth opening and closing a couple times as she struggled to piece her words together into intelligent sentences. It was with a deep breath that she finally started once again and all four of the Jedi held onto every word she spoke.

"We aren't sure how he did it. We all saw him leave but none of us saw him return – not a single person saw him come back into the hospital and leave again… but it was Eddy who pulled the alarm."

"Alarm?" Obiwan questioned for clarification, finding his throat suddenly dry.

"There's a special alarm that must be pulled if a patient goes missing," Tocarra told him with a haunted glance, "Djibourdi was gone – he was missing and the IV lines were covered with blood like they had been torn from his skin. The child could hardly move his arms – there was no way that he had pulled those lines out and left that room of his own accord."

She took a deep breath, gazing at the holoclock on the wall above the door.

"It was about this time – it was dark, windy… hardly a night that anyone wanted to be out on. I don't know what…possessed Eddy to look out that window… but there will never be a day that I don't thank some almighty power for it. He was out of that room and flying down the stairs before I could find out what it was that he had seen."

Tocarra suddenly stood and turned around, walking toward the window that overlooked the lake, gulping harshly and taking in a harsh breath. Just as Anakin went to suggest that they should continue the conversation later she spoke, her softly accented voice quiet against every small hum of electricity in the room.

"The thing about screaming is that… no matter how hard you try to prevent it, it carries. Djibourdi hardly makes a sound but it…"

She turned her head to look at them.

"It was the screaming that caught our attention."

He couldn't quite understand what she meant until her gaze turned back to the lake and it was then that Anakin felt himself gaping like a breathless fool, images of horror flashing through his mind. Screaming, the harsh splashing of water, a palpable horror streaming from the young mind, desperation, a cruel face sneering down through water before everything distorted –

"Eddy got there first," Tocarra began to speak, missing the shaking of the tawny-brown head as Anakin tried to clear his thoughts, "Zimerek was trying to drown the child."

Without warning the raven haired man was bowled over with a freight train of force, all two hundred and fifteen pounds of muscle and bone in the Togrutan MO's body alight with fury and anger. A sickly satisfying crack met his ears and the Jedi fell sideways into the water, obviously stunned by the sudden and painful attack that had left a nice-sized crack on his head from bone-bone contact. It was with a feral snarl and flash of teeth that Eddy knocked him further away in the waist-deep liquid and sent a flurry of splashes and droplets of water into the air.

"I'm pretty sure that he never saw it coming," Tocarra said with a humorless laugh, shaking her head, "I've had the pleasure of knowing Eddy for years and…I've never seenthat kind of force from him. Djibourdi was taken away from the Jedi obviously and Zimerek was arrested."

The extra weight of the freezing water didn't phase the Togrutan man one bit. Eddy scooped the weakly flailing child into his arms and out of the water, ignoring the guttural screams and cries that the obviously shell-shocked boy was releasing and quickly waded his way back toward land. The Jedi padawan was held securely to him via a supportive arm under his bottom and thighs where his legs weakly wrapped around the larger torso and another strong appendage bent in between his shoulder blades that led to a hand that cupped the back of his skull. Come Separatist Hell or a wave of ticked off Storm Troopers, Eddy wasn't letting anyone else near the wailing boy who clung to him so desperately with stick-like arms wrapped around his strong neck and lekku. It was understood by everyone who ran past and into the lake to subdue the now-alert and angry Jedi Master who was fighting with furious fists and legs.

Whatever happened behind him did nothing to stop the Togrutan man once he reached the shore and shot back into the building, zipping past everyone who tried to gain his attention and rampaging up the stairs (the lifts were too slow for this – he had no mind to try, only to get as far away from that damned man as he could). When he made it to Djibourdi's room he slammed the door behind him and locked it tightly, throwing his body weight against it to ensure that it was firmly shut.

When he was undeniably certain that no one would get in without his knowing he carried his trembling charge to the bed, stripping off one of the fuzzy blankets from the top of the mountain of covers and, leaning back, was able to toss it over the soaked back of the child and maneuver his arms to wrap it mostly around him. Soon enough he was pacing around the back of the room with his arms back in their original places, holding the frightened child to him while he sobbed and wailed and cried like nothing the man had ever heard before. True enough, Djibourdi had every right and there was no way that Eddy was going to deny him that.

Every protocol that he knew from years passed had been tossed out the window the second that the boy had gotten to the hospital and now Eddy pushed past the final 'no crossing' line that had been invisibly strung up between the medical personnel and their patients, turning his own head toward the shuddering one buried in his neck. With a gentle clucking of his tongue he pressed their faces together and began to pace to and fro in the small room, extremely relieved when the horrified screaming melted down into the heated sobs that added more liquid to Eddy's already wet neck.

His tears weren't even hot – they were only slightly warm and actually served to cool his protector's neck instead of heating it up. Yet the man took it all in his stride, clucking his tongue and making those soothing sounds from his montrals that vibrated the younger ribcage with its frequency. By life or death he would protect this boy – the only child in his years of working in that hospital that had found a way to worm into his heart.

"And that's how we found them," Tocarra said with a slight waver in her voice, "Djibourdi hasn't – he hasn't spoken a word since. Not one word, not even a sound… the most we can get out of him are clicks and whines and we're lucky if we can get that now. Eddy's the only one who can get near him without getting the same reaction you all did and he's the one who had to redo the debridement and hook the poor child back onto the machines because we couldn't get close enough. Just being around water had him so agitated that he clawed and bit Eddy something fierce for a while until he remembered where he was."

"Where is Kailem Zimerek?" Luminara Unduli spoke for the first time, usually level voice slightly alight with a higher tone of anger, "If this is all true he must be arrested for treason and abuse to a minor."

"Master Zimerek is dead."

Tocarra said it with no emotion at all, turning around to look at all four of them with an even gaze that did nothing to give away her thoughts. None of them spoke for the longest moment.

"Dead?" Obiwan repeated in disbelief, eyes wide and gaping at her, "Did you-"

"No," the doctor stopped him before he could even ask, shaking her proud head to aid in her point, "Although we do believe in capital punishment on Shili for these kinds of crimes we all decided that his fate should be left to the Jedi – it's beyond our reign here. He was transferred to a prison inside the city walls and somehow in the middle of the night… without weapons, without the Force, and even with that hit he had taken from Eddy he… somehow managed to subdue the guards, sneak passed the droids. By the time they finally found him he was already gone. He had drowned in the city fountain."

"He ended his own life?" Aayla asked in disbelief, hardly able to fully grasp it all.

"Yes. He drowned himself – just as he had been trying to do to Djibourdi… only this time he succeeded."

"Did… did he ever say…why he tried to do that? Why he… he hurt this kid?" Anakin had to ask out slowly, for the first time in his life finding it difficult to speak with clarity.

"I had asked him," the woman responded while she sat back at the table, grabbing her cup, "I asked him: 'Why would you try to kill someone that you have sworn you life to protect?'"

One long drag of her drink wet her throat again.

"I'll never forget what he said. He look at me with… soulless eyes – an emotionless gaze and… he just kind of shrugged," she mimicked the movement before looking the youngest Jedi present straight in the eyes, "And he said to me: 'If I don't kill him, no one ever will. I have to kill him now to save him.'"

She gave a huff of breath and pained smile at that, looking at all of them.

"What does that mean? I asked him that too and he just repeated himself over and over again – no remorse, no sorrow, no regret… not even an understanding that he had tried to kill the boy. Nothing. He didn't fight the guards all the way to the prison and he didn't say another word. Not a single word."

"We will need his body for the Jedi rights," Unduli told her and blinked in shock at the response she received.

"We don't know where it is."

She sighed.

"About four or… five hours after the body had been taken by the city coroner, we got a call – from the morgue. The coroner had gone to officially examine the body but it wasn't there. The cooler had been opened from the inside and the keypad hadn't been touched on the outside of the door. Nothing else was out of place so that tells us that it wasn't a body snatcher and no one was on duty in the morgue right then."

"He must still be alive."

"I don't know. All I know is that Djibourdi now has several issues to deal with and it's not helping him at all with anything. He does not hear about this conversation," she suddenly ordered them firmly to which she received several nods, "The last thing he remembers is that lake and he doesn't need to know that the monster may be very much alive somewhere out there."

She gave a final look at the hanging holoclock before she stood from the table for the last time that night, addressing all of them.

"Now you know. I've held up my end of the bargain, now you have to hold up yours. Go down one level and get evaluated by one of the medical droids – then call your council. I have to go check on Djibourdi and Ahsoka before I start anything else. No exceptions," she shot at Anakin who had opened his mouth to protest, "I have to play my cards with certainty in the next few hours – and I'm afraid that I'm not looking to good with it at the moment."

Placing her plastic cup in the sink she headed to the door, bidding them all one final well wish before she was gone again, lithe body trotting with an air of precision down the hall toward where her patients were.

IOIOIOIOIOIOI

I hope you all enjoyed it! Please write me some constructive criticism or kind words – any flames will be removed and you'll be reported. I have no tolerance for idiocy.

Best of wishes, everyone,

~Eliana