Chapter 14 – Mind Control
Author's Note: In which Theseus and Ahsoka have to deal with mind controlling brain worms. :')
~ Amina Gila
Ahsoka turns for the door, only to see Barriss standing right on the other side. "You're back!" she exclaims in relief, "Were you successful?" The girl doesn't respond, instead standing there staring at her the same way those clones first did back in the cafeteria. Oh no. Was she taken over by the brain worms too? "Barriss, what's wrong?"
"She's possessed," Theseus breaths, igniting his lightsaber.
The Mirialan raises a hand, shattering the glass with the Force, hurling the shards straight at them. "We're your friends, Barriss! Snap out of it!" Ahsoka yells.
"I don't think that's going to work," points out Theseus frantically.
"It won't hurt to try," she hisses back. The Mirialan stalks into the room, smiling cynically as she ignites her lightsaber. She jumps at them, but Theseus has his lightsaber out in a moment, stepping in front of Ahsoka to block the blow.
She pulls back, slashing at him again and Ahsoka runs forward to intercept the strike. "Barriss, it's not you!" she insists. "It's the creatures! Fight them!" Barriss is a Jedi. She should be able to resist it, right? To fight back? And after what they went through together, Ahsoka really, really doesn't want to fight her.
"There's no use," Theseus warns, swinging forwards to catch the blue blade with his own. "We have to run." She doesn't exactly want to, but she knows they have little choice. They can't stay here and fight, or the clones will find them. There's nothing she can do right now, either.
Ahsoka swings at Barriss again, their blades clashing into a saberlock. She kicks the girl across the room into wall, before spinning and sprinting out of the room, Theseus close behind. She's eternally grateful that at least he's here with her. It would be very bad if he was possessed also. He's one of the best lightsaber duelists of his age, and Ahsoka doubts his skills would be diminished, even if he was being mind-controlled.
She hears Barriss running close behind them. The Force suddenly slams into her, and she doesn't have a chance to counter the push. She's thrown down the hall into the far wall. Theseus jumps in front of her again, lightsaber ignited.
He parries Barriss' strikes, forcing her back a couple steps as Ahsoka scrambles to her feet again, throwing a Force-shove at Barriss that sends her flying down the hall this time. They both turn and run without a word.
"Back in the shaft?" Theseus whispers as they run. She nods in confirmation. The still-open shaft is right up ahead, and they can't keep running. Without wasting a moment, she jumps through the opening. Theseus follows a moment later, just before Barriss rounds the corner. The other girl pauses beneath them for a moment, then continues down the hall.
"That was close," Ahsoka mutters.
"We're not out of this yet."
"We'll have to wait for Anakin to call," she whispers. But for now... they should probably hold still and stay out of sight. Silence settles over them, and they back completely out of sight of the vent covers, staying crouched in silence. She longs to talk, because the silence is simply a sharp reminder of the dangerous situation which they're in. The darkness, the narrow area... it's making memories of the factory nag at the edge of her mind again, as hard as she tries to suppress them. If not for Anakin, she would have died in there. A sudden beeping draws her attention to her comm. "This is Ahsoka," she responds instantly, pressing the button. "Come in."
"Ahsoka, listen to me. The worms are affected by the cold," Anakin says.
"Cold?" Theseus echoes.
"Rupture the coolant system." Right on cue, a clone walks past, stopping and looking up at the grate. Ahsoka jolts back, instantly covering her comm. She can hear Anakin's muffled voice talking but waits until the clone heads off before uncovering it again.
"The coolant system. Got it." Ahsoka disconnects the call, glancing over at her friend. "Come on." She moves the grate, peering cautiously down into the hall. All clear. "It's empty," she whispers before dropping down. They make it successfully to the room only minutes later.
Ahsoka hurriedly chances the settings on the controls and Theseus pulls down the lever. With a hiss, icy clouds pour into the room from the vents. She can already feel the temperature dropping. "Now we need to find somewhere to sit this out," Theseus warns.
"Yeah."
"Maybe we can go back to the bridge," he suggests. Which they better do quickly. Ahsoka is already shivering. She'd really like if they could find something warm to hide in, but first, they better contact the medical station again.
The temperature is rapidly dropping towards freezing as they run through the halls. She wishes she had her outer robes with her or something right now.
"There you are!" snarls Barriss' voice suddenly, "You can't hide from me."
Wrapping her arms around herself in a failed attempt to stop shivering, she looks over her shoulder to see the padawan running towards them, blue blade humming in her hand. There's no way either of them can fight properly right now. She wouldn't even be able to hold her lightsaber straight right now without dropping it, and Theseus isn't in much better of a position, even if he is wearing more clothes.
There's only one option. She jumps straight down into the freezing vents. Theseus lands next to her a moment later and stay as close as possible to each other. Her hands and feet are going numb now, she can hardly feel them at all. Well, as long as she can keep moving until they get back to the bridge... One thing's for sure. She'll never be able to stand being cold again.
The clouds of freezing air pouring out of the vents clearly must have obscured where they went, because she hears Barriss continue down the hall in search of them. Once she's certain that the Mirialan is actually gone and not waiting for them to come out so she can attack them, Ahsoka cautiously raises the grate, peeking out. Her arms are shaking so badly she can hardly even hold it, but at least the hall is empty.
"Come on," Theseus urges, scrambling out. They take off running down the hall again. The controls on the bridge are starting to ice over when they get there, but at least they're still functional for now.
"We're coming in awfully fast," she observes worriedly as she pokes a few buttons on the controls. Theseus stands next to her.
"This is Ahsoka Tano, can you hear me?" she calls, "I'm shutting down the engines. I'll try to reverse the –"
"Look out!" shouts Theseus, whirling around and blocking the blue blade that was heading straight for her head. The Mirialan kicks him back, spinning and slashing her blade across the controls. Ahsoka dives out of the way, shoving Barriss into the wall and grabbing one of the hoses which freezing air is spilling out, holding it out towards her. She – or more correctly the Geonosian bug in control – lets out a shriek as she clutches at her head, before collapsing to the floor.
Ahsoka collapses to the floor, Theseus hastily moving to sit down next to her, though he keeps his lightsaber ready for a moment's notice.
Barriss finally moves again. "Kill me. Please," she requests. What?! There's no way she can do that. The thought of the other girl being dead makes her stomach turn. Even if she asked, how is Ahsoka supposed to look anyone in the face and tell them she killed a fellow padawan, simply because she was asked to? She can't do it.
"I can't!" she cries, before stumbling to her feet, to look out the viewport. She practically collapses onto the control panel from the effort. The medical station is rapidly approaching outside the window. Hopefully, they'll be able to take care of letting the ship land properly, because there's nothing more she can do.
Barriss slowly staggers up, and lunges at her. Theseus reacts first, yanking her leg out from under her and she faceplants behind the chair. She immediately starts pushing herself back up again, the worm starting to slither out of her mouth. Theseus ignites his lightsaber, slashing through it before falling back to the floor again. Ahsoka pushes herself off the controls, sinking down next to him, moving as close as she can. Everything is icing over now, including them. If they don't get to the medical station and get help soon, they're going to freeze death. Staying close to each other is the only way to slow it down.
She scoots slightly closer, pulling Barriss closer to her, who now seems to be unconscious. The world is rapidly slipping into darkness, even as she tries to resist it. Theseus is already slumped over next to her, and she's pretty sure he's already gone unconscious.
She's not sure how long it's been when she finally hears movement and looks up to see Athea and several clones behind her. "Hello, Master Shan," she croaks.
"We'll take care of the supplies. You rest now, Ahsoka," Athea says.
**w**
Theseus jolts awake with a start, looking wildly around the room. The last thing he remembers, everyone except Ahsoka was literally trying to kill him. It takes a few moments for him to realize that he's in a medbay. But what about everyone else?
He looks anxiously around the room, spotting Ahsoka lying in the bed next to him. Barriss lays sleeping in the bed on his other side. At least they're both alright. His gaze lingers on Ahsoka for another moment. This is the second time in the past couple months that she nearly died right next to him.
This is war. People die every battle, people on both sides. They're all mortal, even if they're Jedi. Even they can die. Any day, one of the people he's closest to could die. It shouldn't scare him as much as it does, but he can't help it. It isn't helping that the one person he thought he'd never have to worry about losing because of the war – Vraz – is now dead. Life is such a fragile thing. He sees that now.
As a Jedi, he should be prepared to let go. He's not. He still doesn't understand the whole idea of just 'letting go' of emotions, at least not how most Jedi do.
It almost seems as though he should keep his distance from everyone if only to avoid the pain of their loss, because if what happened with Vraz was any indication, it would be much worse for the death of someone he has a bond with, but that seems wrong. If he doesn't get to know them now, he may never have the chance later.
He wonders where exactly he is on the whole spectrum of light and dark, because if what happened after Vraz died was any indication, it's not very promising. It's his secret, a dark thing he should probably tell someone – like Obi-Wan or his mother – about, but he can't. It would make it more real, and it's a fact he doesn't want to confront. Only Anakin knew, and Theseus wonders if the slightly concerned looks Anakin gives him every now and then when no one is watching are an indication of how much he remembers the incident. To the best of Theseus's knowledge, the Knight hasn't told anyone.
The sound of footsteps approaching interrupts his thoughts, and he looks up to see Obi-Wan stepping into the room.
"Master," the padawan states quietly in greeting, not wanting to risk awakening the others.
"It's good to see you awake, padawan," Obi-Wan replies. He's known Obi-Wan quite a bit longer than Anakin and spent more time with him, but still his bond with Anakin is slowly growing stronger than his with Obi-Wan. He knows it's because Anakin is so much stronger in the Force than anyone, but it's still slightly unsettling.
"Ahsoka and Barriss are going to be okay, right?" he queries.
"Ahsoka already woke up," he replies, "But you need to rest."
"And all of the clones?" Theseus adds. They aren't in here, not like that's unusual, but he hopes it's not because they all ended up dying since they weren't able to tolerate the subzero temperatures. It's not like they had the chance to try staying warm, although he supposes their armor would have provided more protection than the padawans' Jedi robes did.
"Yes, they're fine. They're all making a recovery," Obi-Wan tells him. He sighs in relief. Even if they weren't his clones, they're still people.
"Do you know what those things were?" he inquires.
"Brain worms. We found them on Geonosis when chasing after Poggle. The Queen was using them to control her minions. After the place was destroyed, the worms must have been trying to find new hosts," Obi-Wan explains. So that's why they decided it was a good idea to hide on the medical transport and make what could otherwise have been a for once peaceful several hours into a nightmare.
"They're all dead now, I hope?" he asks. The cold was supposed to kill them, but he can never be too sure.
"Yes, they are, and they've been taken for examination," Obi-Wan explains, before standing, "But you should rest now."
Theseus sighs reluctantly. He doesn't want to know what kind of nightmares will be plaguing him if he attempts to sleep. He lays back down on the bed, anyway, staring up at the ceiling. It's a moment like this when he has plenty of time to think, that his mind often drifts to things he's tried to force to back of his mind since the incident with Vraz.
It is your destiny to become like me. The words echo through his mind again, from his nightmare – vision? – months ago. He hasn't had any more since then, but that doesn't mean they aren't still disturbing him. Master Yoda would probably have advice about them, but he really doesn't want to talk to the Grandmaster about it. It's something he'd much rather keep to himself. Like... go to the head of the Jedi Order and say, "I'm worried that I might Fall." No, that's the last thing he's going to do.
If he keeps ignoring the visions and refusing to think about them, maybe they'll stop. But that won't help if they're warning you about something that's going to happen his mind has to supply. Okay, he needs to think about something else, like right now.
Always in motion, the future is. It's a phrase Yoda used to say all the time. Even if he had a vision of himself Falling when he got his crystal, that doesn't mean it's something that's going to happen. It could just mean that he needs to confront his darkness and deal with it.
Well... that's something he's not really sure how to do, so for now he tries to push it to the back of his mind. He has more urgent matters to deal with right now anyway, like working on his lightsaber skills. Which he could do if he wasn't stuck in the medbay.
**w**
Anakin watches the sleeping forms of the padawans in silence. Ahsoka is twisting about restlessly, even in her sleep. She nearly died again, when he almost lost her only a couple days ago buried in the factory as it is. He should have sensed something would go wrong from the start. He should have gone instead of them. He managed to save her again. Both her and Theseus. But he saved them. And used the Dark Side. Again. It's beginning to become like a second nature to him.
Is that it? Is that why Obi-Wan never wanted him? Because he can never be a proper Jedi since he's always so close to the Dark Side?
He wonders, sometimes, what his former master would do if he knew everything. He'd be disappointed, for sure. Again. It's not something Anakin thinks he can handle. It was bad enough knowing, with so much certainty, that he never meant anything to Obi-Wan. Now, he wonders if all the kindness his former master had shown him isn't what he did to everyone, because in all honesty, he isn't treating Theseus much different.
He misses what things were like before the war, before everything. And maybe that's another one of his failures, of his flaws. Why he'll never be enough.
What more do the Jedi want from him? He tries his best. He's tried with Theseus, and – and now, they have something. He wouldn't call it a friendship exactly, but they do care for one another. He holds himself together around Obi-Wan. He's teaching Ahsoka the best he can, and she's progressing fast. He's one of the best generals already. But none of it's enough.
What more could they ask of him? What do they want that he's not doing? He's still human... right? He can't just... not have emotions. He doesn't know how to be as cold and collected as most of the Jedi. He's not supposed to be upset about how the Jedi always treat him, but he can't help it. If he has this destiny, why does he have to do it completely alone? When he was young, he thought they'd help him, but no.
It baffles him how he can love Obi-Wan so deeply, when Obi-Wan clearly doesn't care for him.
He's always been so different from the rest of them to the point that he almost feels like he doesn't belong there, and it doesn't seem like that's ever going to change.
Sometimes he almost has to wonder if the only reason they keep him around is because of the belief that he's the Chosen One. Supposed to bring balance to the Force when he can't even control his own emotions properly.
He's not even sure if he even believes in it. Even if he does, does being the Chosen One come with no help at all? He can hardly lean on Obi-Wan when he needs to because reasons. Ahsoka and Theseus are fifteen-year-old padawans, and besides, he's supposed be raising Ahsoka. What kind of parent dumps all their problems on their child? He can hardly lean on Rex either. Yes, he can trust him to always have his back during a battle, but he can't ask for his support in that way.
And Padme... he was depending on her support a lot, but now he's not sure anymore. Not long before the second battle of Geonosis, she proved flat out that she didn't trust him. Or at least, she didn't have faith in his opinions. She didn't listen to him. She could have died and left him alone.
It's almost ironic that he feels alone, anyway. All he can do is keep trying to prove himself.
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