Chapter 15: The Forsaken

"My name is Kolic, and you are on Forsaken property."

Kolic Kat was a tall, muscular Twi'lek with dark navy skin and sea-green eyes. The rifle-nosed blaster held in his hands remained lined up with Derek's forehead, the little red laser shining down on them guaranteeing that the a laser shot would not miss. The rest of the Colony members stood completely still as the Kolic's companions all took out their own rifles, and took aim.

Perhaps running towards complete strangers wasn't the best idea, Obi-Wan admitted silently to himself; though he really had no regrets. To see people, real, living people with the ability to keep their drool in their mouth, was a blessing – even if those people were overly suspicious and prepared to decapitate them with a simple squeeze of their triggers. He kept his voice steady, feet firmly planted to the ground and one hand on Anakin's shoulder, as he spoke up, "I assure we, we mean no harm to you."

A dark skinned human woman with delicate features but fire in her eyes stared coldly at the Jedi Master. "You may not have come here to harm us," she snapped. "But you are still on our property, scavenging for supplies that rightfully belong to us."

"Excuse me?!" Nathan burst out, ignoring the others' warnings. "Did you buy all of Coruscant when we weren't looking?!"

The dark woman tightened her grip on her rifle and sneered.

"Everyone just calm down," Kolic barked before looking back down at the Colony. The Jedi and military were down on the streets while the 'Forsaken' remained on the rooftop of their small apartment complex, six women and seven men, all armed. "What are you doing here?" he called down.

"Scavenging for supplies, as your friend stated," Obi-Wan replied, slipping back into the calm, smooth tones that had gotten him named the Negotiator during the war. "I must insist, though, in letting you realize we didn't know there were 'territories' now."

"And we didn't know others got stuck here during the Coruscant evac," a brown-haired man stated. "We searched this entire area – why didn't we hear of or see you guys before?"

"We came here only about a week ago – we weren't left behind, we came here willingly. We are a team of volunteers that have made it our mission to return to Coruscant and remain here until a cure for this pathogen has been found."

This caught the others off guard – even calm, rigid Kolic's eyes widened, and the Twi'lek turned to his comrades in confusion as whispers flew from one to the other. Finally, the brown-haired man returned his focus to them. "How do we know you ain't just some party of brigands or looters?"

Obi-Wan took a step forward, and tugged on the small Republic insignia sewn onto all their uniforms. "We have been dispatched by the Galactic Republic for this assignment," he stated. "I am Jedi general Obi-Wan Kenobi, this is my partner Anakin Skywalker, and fellow Jedi Jason Dean. The others with us are our team, varying forms of Yaazix-5 soldiers to medics and scientists."

Now, the hostility was less in their eyes, and friendly interest peaked in Kolic as he leaned forward. "Medics? Do you have a doctor with you?!"

"Yes."

The Twi'lek spun around and immediately began conversing with the brown-haired man and dark woman. Fierce whispers erupted between the two, and with the Force, Obi-Wan caught the words, "I recognize them from the HoloNet" and "we can't just turn them away, not if they've got a doctor" and "Natasha, this is a godsend, we don't have time to be picky". Then, Kolic Kat turned back to them, and dropped his weapon completely, grinning. "You can come into the apartment," he offered. "We'll do a quick search, make sure you're telling the truth; and then, I think hostilities will have no place between us anymore."

xXx (Inside Forsaken Headquarters) xXx

The apartment complex was small but efficient; Obi-Wan could see that as soon as they entered the front door. The downstairs hall and lobby were rather spacious, the floors and walls stained but cleaner than the Colony's own hospital. The Colony members were led in by the brown-haired man and a young human woman with various tattoos marking her face in shades of blue and purple. It was the man that told them they could keep their weapons; but that any threats would be eliminated immediately. "Sorry 'bout the whole gunpoint thing before," he said sincerely. "But you can never be too careful nowadays – living beings can be just as dangerous as the biters."

Obi-Wan managed a warm smile. "We don't blame you at all for being careful. As I said before, my name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and we are the Colony."

The other man nodded, and shook the Jedi's hand. "My name's Hadrian, and welcome to Forsaken HQ."

After being led towards a back room, where Kolic and the others from the roof were waiting, the Colony members were stripped of their military gear, their weapons put at their feet but still within reach, and each person searched. According to Kolic, they were searching for any signs of looting or cannibalism – the very thought made chills run up Kenobi's spine as he tapped into his mental bond with Anakin, unable to see the younger man because he was facing a wall. "What do you make of all this?"

"I'm standing here in a t-shirt and boxers, Master. I don't know what to think right now"

"Well, do you feel anything suspicious?"

There was a brief pause. "No, actually. I mean, there's the usual danger signal bleeping in the back of my mind; but that's been there ever since MAV first broke out"

"I don't feel anything either" he said. "So I suppose we just comply to their rules, and then we all have a nice cup of tea and chat"

He could hear his former apprentice chuckle through the Force. The sound was pleasing and rare; so Obi-Wan hesitated before slowly asking, "Anakin, are you alright?"

Another pause, this one dragging out longer. "Yeah. Why?"

"About before…"

"I don't want to talk about it right now, Master. I'll explain later"

"But are you sure you're alright?"

This time, he didn't even get an answer, because the man searching him gave him the all clear and guided him back to where his gear was stored. "You can put back on your stuff, but please don't touch the weapons," he was instructed, his lightsaber and blaster set aside from his small backpack and military clothing.

As soon as everyone had gotten back into their gear, all their weapons at their feet, they all moved onto the second floor, where several of the back walls had been torn from the apartments to make a few small rooms and then one large one. Kolic and Hadrian took Obi-Wan and Derek into one of the smaller rooms, all four unarmed, and they discussed everything from members of each group to a brief description of supplies and then the goals of both groups. While the Colony strove to find a cure for MAV, the Forsaken were bent on simple survival, all of their fifteen members having missed the ships during the main evacuation. They were left stranded, to fend for themselves on a wasteland of a world, by themselves.

"We were angry at first," Kolic admitted, words clipped with a Ryloth accent. "It was anger misplaced; but there all the same. We were bitter that the Republic had unwittingly left us to die, and while it was wrong, that same anger drove us all together, one by one, some coming in pairs." The Twi'lek picked at the hem of his brown jacket, frowning. "I must say, it is kind of a relief to see that there's still a galaxy out there. When help never came back for us, we figured the biters must've spread and infected the entire kriffing universe."

"Only Naboo is left intact; at least it was, the last time we heard," Obi-Wan replied quietly. "I am sorry for the troubles you endured."

"I still can't believe you guys were crazy enough to come back to this place," Hadrian commented, cocking an eyebrow. "How's the whole hunt for the cure thing going anyway? Was it worth it?"

Derek snorted, lips twisting into a half frown. "We've been here a week – still too early to tell. But so far, let's just say I wouldn't give this place five stars."

Kolic's violet eyes began flickering with some sort of fervent emotion that Obi-Wan couldn't quite place. "It'll be nice to have some allies," he said quickly. "We're not saying everyone's gotta be buddy/buddy with each other; and we don't have to combine our groups either. But, you know, strength in numbers kind of thing. We've got supplies – you've got the means to find a cure. You know what I'm saying?"

"An alliance," Obi-Wan confirmed, nodding while rubbing his beard. "The offer is most likely probable to go through; however, don't you think that consultation with both groups will be necessary first? It doesn't seem like your members trust us very much. There are no hard feelings – don't mistake me – but for the comforts of everyone, I believe some level of trust must be present before strong ties are bonded to each group."

"No one trusts anyone these days," Hadrian said grimly. "We stumbled upon another group of about ten people two months ago. They let us in, offered us shelter, offered to feed us. It was only when they served dinner when we found out every single one of those bastards were kriffing cannibals. They were serving people at their dinner; and blast it…!" The middle-aged man's face darkened. "…it was like all our little hopes and dreams clinging to civilization vanished. Those sleemos."

Obi-Wan and Derek shared a revolted expression before the Jedi Master managed to find his voice. "If I may ask… what did you do to them?"

Kolic's face darkened, shadowed with something slightly menacing, and his hands curled into tightly-clenched fists. "We killed them. Every single one. Here's a tip from the experts, my new friends: it's not only the biters you need to be wary of. The living kill just as easily, and the law of the galaxy has changed. It's now kill or be killed…"

"…and the only way you beat the beasts of the world is by being bigger monsters than they are."

xXx (One Hour Later) xXx

Anakin stayed relatively close to Jason while the other Colonists wandered around, conversing with the Forsaken members, slowly making friends. Anakin scanned the area with the Force, unable to sense any immediate danger; but there was a slight shadow covering the dark woman named Madeline, who simply stared at them with suspicion and contempt in her eyes.

"Jason, what's your reading on that Madeline woman?" he murmured, not taking his eyes off of her. She was distracted by staring at Inya and Josh, so she didn't notice the Jedi's attention.

"Angry," Jason replied a moment later. "Hostile. Probably not a threat – simply hardened by everything that's happened. Can you really blame her for not trusting us? We could've been plotting to take over their entire little system here, kill them all, and take what they had."

"I don't blame her," Anakin reassured the other Jedi. "I'm just… being careful."

Jason nodded, opened his mouth to say more; but Anakin sensed his next question and cut him off. "I don't want to talk about before, Jason," he said quietly. "I'll try to explain what happened to you and Obi-Wan later; but not now. Just not now, okay?"

Jason obviously wanted to press harder, further. But after a brief moment of thinking, he sighed, and nodded reluctantly. "Just make sure you're alright, okay?"

"Okay."

They went back to observing their surroundings. That's when he noticed the usually bright, hot sunlight was dimming considerably. Moving to the barred windows, Anakin glanced outside, frowning at the blackened skies. "I think it's going to storm," he told Jason, frowning. "Didn't think Coruscant still did that, considering the weather we've seen so far."

"Oh, the weather around here is as unpredictable as the nine Correlian hells," a man from behind him stated. "When the grid went down, so did the weather controls for this mechanical hunk of a planet. It can rain one day, then a month of drought, and then it'll kriffing snow. With no weather controls, Mother Nature has moved back in; and she's a bitch. Best serial killer out there, if this virus is anything to go by, and those kriffing biters are her kriffing offspring."

Anakin turned away from him, and went back to frowning out the window. Jason came up behind him, and he turned his attention to him. "Don't you think we should be heading back to Standards?" he whispered. "I mean, if this weather is as unpredictable as that man said…"

Thunder crashed overhead, so sudden everyone jumped. Then, the rain started coming, pouring down in heavy sheets as if someone had just turned on the great water faucets in the sky, allowing all the seas of Kamino to bear down on the planet.

Behind him, Josh muttered something intelligible while Nathan went with his usual "Holy shit."

Andre Lynn, who'd been tending to a pregnant woman with a broken arm, cocked an eyebrow and whistled. "Well that storm is gonna be a pain in the ass to get through."

"We won't have to go through said-pain in the ass," announced Derek's sudden voice; and everyone turned as the four men from the meeting entered the large back room.

"Hadrian allowed us to do a mind search with the Force to ensure that no premeditated hostilities were intended," Obi-Wan announced, noticing how all the Forsaken glanced at each other. "We found no ill intentions; and thus, with his hospitality, Kolic has invited us to spend the rest of the day here with him and his group until the storm lessens and the mutts disperse from the streets."

Kolic spoke up, mainly to the Colonists. "You're little 'adventure' down there attracted all sorts of unwanted attention from all sorts of unwanted things. Me and the rest of the Forsaken are offering you guys some food and temporary shelter until this deranged weather lets up."

Anakin glanced at his mentor. "Are you sure you can trust them?" he asked via the Force.

Obi-Wan turned to him, and offered a wan smile. "I sensed no deception in Hadrian when I searched his mind, and I still don't find any ill intentions in their Force-presences"

He didn't either; but that still didn't stop the cautious churning in his gut as the Colony and the Forsaken all shook hands and began chatting loudly, smiles erupting on many faces now that they were reassured that there was no danger amongst them.

Anakin didn't miss the curious fact that when he finally shook hands with Kolic, Madeline smiled for the first and only time. It was a cold smile.

xXx

The storm raged on into the night, and spare sleeping bags were pulled out when it became evident the Colony was to be staying overnight with the Forsaken. The small generation system that they had hooked up lit up the rooms with light, and as a dinner of freeze-dried Nubian dishes and dehydrated fruit was prepared, Anakin sat on the windowsill of one of the empty apartment rooms, the lightning occasionally illuminating the dark room.

Whenever the electricity in the sky crashed with the rolling thunder, he could see quick flashes of the mob of mutts down in the streets and alleys, wandering around aimlessly. Hunched bodies stumbling around in the puddles below; and even the storm couldn't completely drown out the musical chorus of their groans and snarls.

He closed his eyes tightly, hands wandering to the sides of his head and he tangled his fingers in his ears, trying desperately to block out the horrid noise. The growls reminded him of the earlier battle before, the echoing cries of his Master in his ears as Death lured him into another one of his sadistic traps. Copying Obi-Wan's Force-signature, disguising the mutts to look like the other Colony members. He'd played her game just as she wanted, being a gullible fool. He'd almost died, he'd almost gotten Inya and Josh killed, Standards now left unguarded…

The Force had always been the one thing he could trust in his life, always with him, even before he'd ever left Tatooine as a boy. Now, it was warped into something twisted, dark, something that Death had tainted so that he no longer knew if he could trust the very thing that made him the Jedi's Chosen One.

"Anakin?"

It was Obi-Wan's voice that called to him; but how could he tell that was really him? What if it was another trick? What if he looked up and it was Death there, smiling at him? Grinning ear to ear with her bloody fangs and little black eyes and mottled skin and slithering, hissing voice, whispering lies…

When he felt the firm hand on his elbow, he flinched violently and almost screamed. Almost. Only a quick self-check prevented himself from doing so. It was Obi-Wan standing before him – he could see that now – as the Master watched him with concern in his gray eyes, Force presence sturdy and light. So unlike how it had been when Death feigned being him. "Anakin, what's wrong?" the older man asked quietly, slipping onto the thick windowsill before him, hand not leaving his young friend's arm.

He stared at him, trying to convince himself that this was Obi-Wan – because it was obviously so – and that Death would not be able to trick him so easily next time. He'd be more careful, more cautious. With attentive fingers, he placed one of his hands on Obi-Wan's – feeling the other man there, physically, helped. He didn't disintegrate into a putrid demon as 'he' had before, when Death had worn his Master's skin. This was Obi-Wan. And Obi-Wan would not harm him, as he was his partner, his best friend, greatest protector. This was Obi-wan, and he was safety.

The feeling was comforting, warm and soothing; but of course, it couldn't last. Nothing that made him happy ever did. Almost as soon as he let his muscles and mind relax, a haunting chill ran down his spine, and he felt as though the room temperature had dropped several degrees. He immediately tensed back up – and he could tell Obi-Wan had noticed – but he didn't care much at all, because there, behind Obi-Wan, standing in the pitch black corner with only her face and long neck sticking out of the shadows…

Death smiled at him, and raised one finger to her lips, shushing him. "Quiet now, Chosen One," she whispered, head tilting to one side, stringy gray hair falling over her sickly white skin. "This is our little secret, the first of many. Now, Obi-Wan wants to know all about our game earlier; but be a good boy and don't tell him. Because then I'm afraid I'll have to hurt him. Hurt him bad."

He didn't react the way he wanted to. He wanted to scream, or run away, or throw the Force all around until this thing was gone, out of his life and out of his mind. He blinked several times at her; but she remained there, smiling at him.

Slowly, he turned back to Obi-Wan, tearing his gaze from her maimed face to look at his Master.

Obi-Wan was holding onto his friend tightly now, feeling the way Anakin began trembling, rocked when he saw how suddenly clouded and misted over the younger man's eyes had become. "Anakin?" he ventured slightly. "Anakin, what is it?"

For a moment, the Knight didn't reply; and when he did, his voice was thick and unsteady. "Master," Anakin whispered hoarsely; and Obi-Wan's jaw dropped slightly when a tear fell from the young Jedi's eye. "Master, please tell me I'm not crazy. Just tell me right now."

For the first time, Obi-Wan Kenobi the Negotiator was speechless.

Death winked at him.

Anakin gripped him harder, licking his lips, more droplets rolling down his face. "Please, Master? Just say it, just once. Say it right now. Tell me I'm not going insane. Say it…"

"…please, please, Master, tell me I'm not crazy…"

xXx

The Forsaken's basement was rather large, open, and covered in medical supplies, cots, and other health tools. She wasn't sure what had drawn her down here, but now she was, and Inya took time to look over the cots with the white sheets, the lab stuff set up. Nothing compared to what Standards had, but decent enough. Obviously, the Forsaken had attempted finding some sort of cure, as Kolic had told them upstairs. Upstairs, where most of the groups' members were eating and laughing and joking like they were all old friends.

She'd slipped away to look around – nobody from the Forsaken seemed to question where she was going or seemed objective to the idea – so she trailed downstairs, small blaster slapping against her thigh as she walked. Why the basement? She didn't know, but she kept on looking around, fingering the viles and sheets and various tools before going over to where a little wall was constructed of thick, white plastic.

She pushed the makeshift curtain out of the way and then screamed.

She screamed long and hard, loud enough for everyone upstairs to hear and start running towards her position. She stumbled back several steps, shaking from head to toe before she realized the mutts before her, though growling and snapping and clawing, could not harm her.

There were five of them, each one in its own separate glass cage as if they were bugs in a huge vile. Five mutts, falling apart with their flesh hanging off their blackish skeletons, what little left of their skin covered in injection wounds. They were rotting, one of the creatures missing its two legs as it rolled around on the ground of its big vile; the glass was soundproof, because she couldn't hear the guttural growls it was obviously making.

The reason for the creatures was logical in the back of her mind – the Forsaken were trying to find a cure, and capturing some of the beasts was a decent move.

No. What scared her the most wasn't the mutts themselves, but the single creature that was in the front most cage. Skin peeling off the bone, face shrunken in and jaw hanging slack, but in better shape than the others. A mutt that Inya had only met twice before the poor person became the sick creature it was now.

Just as the Forsaken and Colony members jumped down into the basement and ran over to her, Inya breathed the mutt's name.

"Ahsoka."