Are you serious? Are you frickin' serious?
Obi-Wan was half aware the librarian was coming towards his direction. He needed to log off now and run before he was asked questions he couldn't answer.
Never mind the absurdity that the Colt was in the Jedi Temple, the fact that the gun even survived all these years was mind boggling. Did it even work? Even if it did, where the hell was Obi-Wan going to find gun powder on a planet made of steel and alien metals?
Obi-Wan slapped his finger against the board twice, effectively logging himself out. He ducked his head and dashed away just as the librarian turned the corner.
()
Obi-Wan stalked down the hallway in a haze. The Colt was in the Temple. What's next? Was he going to find the Impala too?
The thought of that made him laugh out loud, and he ignored the looks thrown his way.
Now he wished he risked the extra second and looked up the name of the Jedi who donated the Colt. The Jedi may be long dead, but at least it would've given Obi-Wan an idea where to look. Maybe even find out where the Enochian sigils were.
Did Castiel know? Probably not.
In the end, Obi-Wan knew what he had to do. He needed to get that gun, no matter what. He didn't have the authority, but he could get Qui-Gon to give him access.
Crap, crap, wait. Obi-Wan shook his head at that. He had yet to decide if he even wanted Qui-Gon to know about Dean. Knowing who and what Castiel was is one thing, but knowing Dean? In order to talk about Dean, he would need to talk about Sam. About John, about yellow-eyes, about everything. How do you explain something like that? Obi-Wan barely understood it himself.
If he wanted the Colt, there was no way around this. He would have to tell Qui-Gon everything.
A Jedi brushed past him. Obi-Wan thought nothing of it until another bumped him, then another. Jedi were practically running past him, trails of tension following shortly behind.
"What's going on?" Obi-Wan asked a passing Knight.
The Knight jerked his head towards the direction where everyone was gathering. "We've just gotten word the Rakghoul plague has broken out on Coruscant."
For a moment, Obi-Wan didn't know what he was talking about. It took him a second to remember what he read in his history class about the plague and that even confused him further. The plague died out centuries ago. "The Council has called an emergency meeting in the main hall," the Knight pulled away from Obi-Wan. "C'mon, let's find out the truth."
Without another word Obi-Wan followed him. Jedi all around him was talking, demanding to know what was happening and the same thing was said over and over again. The plague was on Coruscant and spreading quickly.
Master Krin and Master Matoko stood atop of raised platforms, waiting for the hall to fill. When a decent amount of Jedi gathered around, Krin raised his arm and silence descended upon the hall. "It's been confirmed," he said loudly. "The Rakghoul plague has broken out on the lower levels of Coruscant."
A collective gasp filtered through the crowd. Obi-Wan too felt his own heart give a horrifying lurch, hoping it was wrong. He could only imagine how many people were already infected, how many were being infected as he stood there.
"Authorities have already quarantined the plague in district 243-E," a large electronic map appeared behind Krin, highlighting the area. "The number of infected as well as the number of civilians trapped inside the quarantine are unknown. I require every able-bodied Master, Knight, and senior Padawan to enter the quarantine and rescue as many civilians as they can."
So Obi-Wan will be going, not Qui-Gon. Immediately all around Masters squatted down to instruct their much younger Padawans of the dangers, as many of them protested loudly to Krin's announcement. Others began to demand how this happened, since the plague was supposedly wiped out on Tardis.
Krin could give them no answers. "We don't know. Our highest priority at the moment is rescuing the civilians and making sure the plague does not break quarantine. Grab your lightsabers, we leave immediately."
()
Obi-Wan had gone into war zones before, but never with so many Jedi, and never without Qui-Gon. There was nothing his Master could really do, except pulled Obi-Wan into a hug and told him to be very careful.
The open doors of the transport allowed Obi-Wan an unmolested view of the traffic beneath them. Stark, neon colors swirled past them as the wind blew deep into his tunic, chilling his chest and arms. At some point he had to close his eyes and turn away as Dean's aerophobia seeped through.
The general traffic eventually tapered off. Emergency and law enforcement transports were all that hovered near the quarantine site, all waiting silently for further orders. Obi-Wan's own transport gave a sudden lurch and began to drop altitude into the district.
"You're not going to lose your lunch, are you, Kenobi?" Asked one of the Masters standing next to him.
Obi-Wan bit his lip. He shook his head. "I'll be fine."
"Good. Once we land, things are going to get bloody very quickly. On its own, a Rakghoul is easy to kill, but in a crowd, it's hard to know where one ends and where one begins. Keep your head and you'll do fine."
"Sure thing, General Patton."
The closer they got to the landing site, the worse the scenery became. Open flames made the air thick with black smoke and while the streets were clean of civilians, blood splatters were everywhere. Hover cars were turned over, set on fire, and burned scorched marks from blasters littered building walls. There were a few dead bodies of Rakghouls sprawled on the ground, unfortunately their claws were soaked in blood.
"Get ready," The Master flicked on his saber and everyone followed suit. Various lights of blues, yellows, greens and orange sabers illuminated from other transports.
A horrific scream came from the shadows and a black entity ran out and jumped towards the lowering transport to Obi-Wan's left. A green saber sliced through the figure and its two halves landed quite noisily on someone's hover vehicle.
That's when all hell broke loose.
Obi-Wan didn't bother to wait for the transport to land and jumped. The moment his feet touched ground, he had to roll out of the way of a swinging arm. He twisted and sliced through that arm, taking the head with it in one smooth stroke.
All around him, Jedi jumped and threw themselves into the fray. Dozens and dozens of ghouls began pouring out from the street, from open windows of buildings, claws out, teeth bared.
It took a minute or so for Obi-Wan to think past the killing, and to focus on the real issue. He stuck his saber into the chest of a ghoul, and yelled at a Knight a few feet next to him. "HEY!"
The Knight took off the limbs of one Ghoul before turning to him. Obi-Wan jerked his arm to one of the apartment buildings. "YOU WITH ME?"
The Knight killed his limbless Ghoul and nodded.
It wasn't long before they set up some sort of pattern. They went into each apartment, one by one, using the Force to guide them to hidden civilians, ushered them out and onto the awaiting transports. The real difficulty was trying to protect whole families from the onslaught of Ghouls that came from every direction.
Obi-Wan didn't pause, not once, for nearly five hours. By then his sleeves were soaked and heavy with blood and pieces of flesh. He didn't notice how he was slowing, how tired he was. Nobody noticed. There were still so many people trapped somewhere and everybody was tired.
Which is why he almost gets himself decapitated. "Son of a bitch!" Obi-Wan cried out, jerking back, touching his neck, praying the claws didn't break skin. His lightsaber twirled and he sliced that Rakghoul down the middle.
The Force screamed at him, telling him three more were descending upon him. Obi-Wan turned and managed to kill one, throw the other off its course, but the third landed right on top of him.
The RaKghoul was unable to pierce skin and Obi-Wan shoved his saber through its throat easily. It wasn't much, but it was enough distraction for two more to take its place. Then four more appeared.
Obi-Wan doesn't know at who clawed at him. He just felt the pain and stared horrifically at the three long gashes down his arm. All it takes is a scratch for the plague to spread. A bite or scratch.
He was so boned.
The Knight that had fought side-by-side with him saw the whole thing. A wordless conversation filtered between the two of them and Obi-Wan dropped his arm, switching off his saber. The Knight shook his head. "Not like this."
Not like what? If the Knight doesn't kill him, Obi-Wan will turn. There was no cure, he had to die.
The Knight raised his saber, posed in a non-lethal way. "No," said the Knight again and brought down the butt of his saber against Obi-Wan's head.
()
Obi-Wan jerked awake. Well, at least he tried to jerk awake.
Two straps across his legs, one across his shins and another over his thighs. One strap laid across his upper torso, just beneath the armpits while individual straps held his arms down. The last strap was bounded so tightly across his forehead, he was getting a headache.
What the hell.
"We do not have the right!" A voice was pleading somewhere in the background. Obi-Wan could not see. "We should contact his Master, let him know-"
"He could turn at any moment!" Okay, that voice was definitely Krin's. "We need to do this now or lose the chance forever."
Obi-Wan could feel his arm throbbing. It didn't feel like his arm has been treated, yet, and from the corner of his eye, he could only see a massive amount of red. Why hadn't he turned yet? Why wasn't he dead?
Where was he? He couldn't tell much from the enclosed walls around him, but it definitely wasn't the Temple. Maybe it was one of the temporary stations set up outside of the quarantine.
Master Matoko and Krin came into his view of vision. Matoko looked apologetic but Krin was unwavering in his glare. "Do not fight us, Obi-Wan," the green Master said. "You've been infected with the Rakghoul plague and we need the information inside of your head before you turn."
"That's just an excuse," Obi-Wan gasped. His throat was like sandpaper. "I think you've been waiting for this."
Krin doesn't deny the accusation. "It doesn't matter now," he said diplomatically. He turned to Matoko. "Do it."
"Don't," Obi-Wan rasped out, halting Matoko's fingers right above his forehead.
"I'm sorry," she whispered softly to him. "It's for the greater good." She planted her fingers against him.
Nothing happened.
Obi-Wan expected some sort of mental onslaught, expected to fight off Matoko until the plague overtook him and changed him. Instead, her fingers laid stiff and cold against his forehead and he blinked uncertainly up at her.
Matoko's brows were in deep concentration. "Something's wrong," she hissed.
"What is?" Krin was staring at Obi-Wan's relaxed, confused face. "Is his mental defenses that strong?"
"No," she hissed again, this time, a twinge of pain was in her tone. "There's something here. Something bright."
That's when she threw her head back and screamed as her eyes caught on fire.
()
A/N: Man, I hope I know what I'm doing. R/R, peeps.
Edit: Just FYI, peeps, the Rakghoul Plague is part of Star Wars canon. I didn't make it up! And though I do want you guys to think of Croatoan, I'm do not want you to think I created the ghouls. Nope.