"Everybody stay close," Piper stated. "The fog can really mess with your head."
Anakin thought about asking how but to be honest he didn't really feel like talking, he was just too lost in thought. He felt his mind drift back and forth from everything in his life, for one he was concerned for his men, he tried not to think of the torture they must have been endured with. Then his mind would drift back to Padme and their argument he was still trying to figure out what was wrong.
Anakin gazed over at his old Master who was walking diligently although the heavy cloak he was wearing was obviously slowing him down. Anakin began to think of the Republic and the Council and just how messed up everything truly was. He thought of the most recent mission, and how Obi-wan faked his death to save the Chancellor. He thought of how the Council didn't trust him and about how Obi-wan, his mentor, his Master exposed his own weakness to fulfill a duty to the Republic. He understood why Obi-wan did it, he truly did, but he couldn't help but feel betrayed. Did Obi-wan even care about him? Anakin always thought he did, but the most recent mission made him really question it for the first time ever. How could Obi-wan fake his own death without telling him?
Anakin gazed at Ahsoka, she was walking quietly taking in her surroundings. Anakin then began thinking, what if he had to fake his death, would he tell Ahsoka? Yes, of course, he would. Anakin could never imagine putting Ahsoka through that kind of trauma. He knew it would not only hurt her but completely violate their trust. So why would Obi-wan do that to him?
He doesn't care for you that's why.
Anakin froze. He would recognize that voice anywhere.
"No," he whispered to himself. "Not again."
Can you deny it? He never cared for you. And he never will.
That soft feminine voice came again, as loud as day, from behind him. Anakin froze and turned around, he didn't see anything. Just fog.
"Who's there!" Anakin yelled out into the grey fog aggressively. "This isn't funny!" He shouted again, but there was no response. He was just answered with the swirling clouds of grey fog.
"Master?" Came another concerned voice. Anakin heard it but he was too focused on what was calling out to him to respond.
"Master?" Came the voice again with more concern, this time though he felt a gentle hand touch his arm.
Anakin jerked around to see his very concerned padawan gazing at him. "Ahhh!" He gasped.
Ahsoka immediately put her hands up! "I'm sorry!" She stated "I...You were just talking to the fog."
Anakin calmed down as he sighed. It must have been his mind playing tricks on him. "Sorry, Snips." He stated. "I just… I." He looked at her, her big blue eyes widened as her mouth parted a moment indicating that she was concerned. He sighed again, he really cared for Ahsoka but she didn't need to know about his past.
"Just thought I saw a ghost!" Anakin laughed to himself a little trying to play it off.
Ahsoka clearly didn't buy it, just gave him the same concerned look. Then her gazed switched. "Why do you always do that?" She asked with hurt in her voice.
"Do what?" Anakin asked, smirking.
"That." Ahsoka began with a mix of hurt and frustration in her voice. "You're clearly hiding something, something that is clearly hurting you and instead of letting people help you, like me, you just push us away."
"Snips, it's not like…" Anakin began.
"No, it is like that!" Ahsoka continued this time with more frustration. "You get upset when people hide things from you but then you hide everything from everyone! And keep anyone who could help you out!" "I know this war is getting to you! But you're not the only one it's hurting! Everyone has been affected by it too and the only way we are going to get through it is if we help each other, but you can't let anyone help you!"
"Snips….Ahsoka.." Anakin tried. "I…."
Ahsoka held a hand up and turned around to keep walking.
"HEY!" Piper shouted from the head of the group. "We need to keep moving!" "This fog tends to have a pretty high percentage of Carbon Monoxide so we don't want to linger in it for too long!"
"Shouldn't we wear our masks then?" Obi-wan asked Piper.
"You could, but they aren't really meant for gas, so it wouldn't really make a difference," Piper stated.
"Oh okay." Obi-wan started scratching his beard.
Obi-wan was just so unsure of everything, this whole planet was such a death trap. Then for what felt to him the millionth time, out of the corner of his eye he saw a black object slither into the fog.
Obi-wan looked again at where the black object was. It's just my mind playing tricks on me. He told himself.
Piper, who seemed to sense his uneasiness asked him. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Oh nothing, just my mind playing tricks on me. If I am correct, Carbon Monoxide makes you see things, right?" He asked.
"Well yes." She stated. As she saw the same black figure slither through the fog. "Are you seeing something?" She asked.
"I keep seeing a black figure move out of the corner of my eye," Obi-wan answered.
"You mean the Plague Doctor?" She asked.
"What!" Obi-wan asked.
"The Plague Doctor, the one with a Tophat, he's been following us this whole time." She stated. "Well following you."
"What why?" Obi-wan asked. "And how do we make it not follow us."
Piper turned around. "NOS CUM VOBIS!" She shouted into the fog.
For a moment the faint outline of the Top-hat Plague Doctor appeared in the fog and then disappeared.
"Yeah, he isn't going anywhere." She told Obi-wan. "This is what happens when you talk to a Plague Doctor, they follow you because they want your dead body." "He is very attracted to you."
Obi-wan turned around. "I am so sorry sir but I do not plan on dying any time soon."
"No, say it in their language," Piper stated. "Say: 'Paenitet me, domine, quia non intentio in aliquo tempore cito mori.'"
"'Paenitet me, domine, quia non intentio in aliquo tempore cito mori." Obi-wan copied her.
The Plague Doctors' outline appeared through the mist again. "Mortis Finis." His dark low voice appeared through the mist.
"What did he say?" Obi-wan asked.
"Dead End." Piper cautiously said a look spread onto her face indicating that she was thinking something. She looked back at Anakin who was facing someone off to the side. A horrifying realization spread across her face as she realized it wasn't someone, it was something.
"Anakin!" She cried.
Obi-wan turned to face him, a look of horror spread across his face.
Pipers "keep moving," words echoed through the fog, but Anakin was just too focused on his Padawan to notice. He began to panic, he tried to think of things to tell Ahsoka to make it better, but he knew there was nothing he could say to her that would make her feel better. Unless he told her the truth. But he couldn't do that, she wouldn't look at him the same if he did that.
He then sighed to himself taking a step forward to continue their journey.
Suddenly he felt cold figures wrap around his wrist. He immediately turned back around to see the all too familiar face of his mother. Except it wasn't his mother.
"Ani!" She cried. "Why couldn't you save me!"
Sweat began to drip down Anakin's face as he gazed into the mutilated face that was his mother. She looked exactly, if not worse, than the last time she saw her. Her face was pale white, her hair sticking up at all ends. The skin of cheeks was peeling off, to show the grey flesh and white teeth that her cheeks would usually hide.
Anakin jerked back. "Stay away from me!" He cried.
"You saved the man who cares less about you multiple times!" Her voice shirked louder and louder. "You couldn't even save your old mother! I LOVED YOU ANI!" She reached her bone black hands out to him and grabbed him by his cloak.
Anakin looked down and was horrified by what he saw. Her flesh was burned to a black crisp and was slowly peeling off her burnt bones. He tried to push her off of him, but her grip was too tight.
"Leave me alone!" He cried as he gazed up to her look at her face. Her eyes were bright yellow and her mouth was bright red.
"AHHHHHHH!" She began shirking as her face began melting, turning her skull into a black leathery paste.
He kept trying to push her off of him but found himself frozen as he gazed on her melting face.
"Anakin!" Came a feminine voice from behind him.
He tried to yell for help but he could barely scream as he looked into the melted face that was once his mother.
"Anakin!" Came the masculine voice of his old Master.
"Master!" Came the worried voice of his padawan.
"Anakin get away from that!" Rats voice echoed through the fog. Anakin turned his head around for a brief moment to see everyone staring at him frozen in horror.
Anakin then turned back around and saw it. A humanoid thing that was latching into him. It wasn't his mother. It is a creature whose flesh had melted to the point where there were no facial features. The only feature on its black leathery skin was a red hole where its mouth was.
All of a sudden Piper came from behind him and kicked the creature to the ground while shoving Anakin back. It fell to the ground, the sound of bones crushing spoke through the air at the moment of impact. The creature began squirming on the ground as silent murmurs escaped its mouth hole. Piper then pulled her gun out and shot it in the head.
Everyone was quiet and motionless. Just the sound of heavy breathing was heard through the air.
Ahsoka gazed at Piper who was staring down the creature making sure it was dead. Then she looked at Anakin who was sitting on the ground breathing heavily. He looked utterly traumatized. Ahsoka, who was still slightly mad at him, rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She felt like she wanted to cry and she didn't entirely know why.
Anakin, who was still trying to register what happened, barely noticed his apprentice's slender arms wrap around his upper torso, but then he felt her head bury itself into his shoulder and that was when he snapped out of his daze.
"It's okay...I'm alright Snips." He started gently, but his apprentice did not let go. She just wrapped her arms around him tighter and buried her head deeper in his shoulder.
Anakin, realizing she wasn't gonna let go, took hold of her arm and let her hug him. He felt like he was going to cry, this was the warmest hug he had gotten in a long time. I guess my little sister really cares about me. He thought to himself.
"Are you alright?" Obi-wan stated. He had squatted down to eye level with Anakin and had this concern look on his face.
Ahsoka let go of him and Anakin felt himself getting annoyed, it was as if Obi-wan had ruined a warm moment.
"I'm fine," Anakin stated with slight venom in his voice. "Like you would care." He said quietly to himself, but not quite enough for Obi-wan not to hear.
A wave of hurt rushed over Obi-wan, but he pretended not to hear or care.
"What was that thing?" Anakin asked as Ahsoka helped him up.
"An Ant-Walking Alligator." Piper started still looking at the dead creature. She then turned to Donovan. "How is this thing here, we can't be that close to the inners of the city can we?"
Donovan looked at his GPS Device. "No, we have only been walking a couple of hours." "Maybe this one just wandered off too far."
"Wait there are more of those things?" Obi-wan asked.
"Tons!" Rats stated.
"When the bomb went off there were two main groups of people affected by it." Piper stated. "The ones that were vaporized instantly and the ones who were just on the outside of the blast zone, so they either got burns or radiation poisoning. But they still had a chance to live."
"But then there were the ones who were in the middle." Rats continued.
"The most unlucky souls in the universe," Donovan added.
"They got the blast from the bomb, but they weren't close enough to it to be vaporized." Piper continued. "So they were burned to a crisp just before death."
"Most of them died within a few hours," Donovan added. "But for some reason, some just kept walking."
"Forever doomed to wander the streets between life and death." Piper continued.
The six grew silent. Obi-wan's face was numb from horror. Oh, this planet just keeps getting better and better. He thought.
Piper put her gun away and turned. "We have to keep moving." She began but then paused. The fog was beginning to separate and the sun was starting to peek through relieving a devastated landscape with buildings in all sorts of stages of decay. She squinted her for a moment. "CRAP!" She yelled reaching for her gun.
And just then a loud bang was heard through the departing fog.