Note: Something special I wanted to do for this chapter was actually something I heard of in passing from my mother on another fiction she had read. Not sure how to explain this, so please bear with me.

Go to YouTube and look up a number of songs. Each scene will correspond with a song and time. So to get the most out of each scene, you will be jumping from moment to moment.

Song1: Legion of Doom by AudioMachine

Song2: Beyond Good and Evil by AudioMachine

Song3: Battle of the Kings by AudioMachine

song4: Guardians at the Gate by AudioMachine

Song5: 11 days of Hell by AudioMachine

Song6: Akkadian Empire by AudioMachine

Song7: For the Win by Two Steps From Hell

I put up the summary to "In the Path of the Ravager", the second Season. Also I AM SORRY! XD I was so busy making a summary in it, with an explanation of the first season for readers to not be lost, that I didn't realize I put up spoilers for chapter 46-47 before they were even up!

I AM SO SORRY! xD

Don't read In the Path of the Ravager before finishing this story.

Due to the emergency, I'll just go ahead and put up the last 2 chapters and get it over with. My bad. Derp…

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the clothes on my back.

Episode 19 - A Matter of Truth Part 2/2

(Song1 - 0:00-0:48)

No. No no no no no no NO! It can't be him! Yet while I look down on the black shape in the midst of the Sith army, I know it in my gut, deeper even. It's him. It's Nihilus. He's here. He's here for me.

"At last... the Dark Side is your ally." A voice whispers in my ear. I see a red lightsaber placed over my shoulder, lifted up, and moved to the other shoulder. Then just as quickly as the image is gone, I see him with his hand over my face draining my energy like a hungry fiend. It lasts but a moment, but it leaves me cold and empty. If memory alone makes me feel like this, the idea of experiencing it for real, again, is less appealing.

He's going to kill us all!

"We have to run." I whisper. To me it feels like I'm yelling, and it takes everything I have to lift my tongue at all to make sounds. I look desperately at Anakin, and he looks back at me. He frowns, but nods. He steps forward to get other's to run as well, which is not quite what I wanted, but it'll work.

"What's wrong?" Ahsoka asks worriedly. My skin feels clammy and I'm shaking like a leaf. I know it, and frankly, that doesn't matter anymore. Nothing does.

"Do you know what thing is?" Falon wonders. I can only nod as horror grips me. The Jedi are moving forward. The Sith make no movements to resist, and quite a few die before the Jedi realize the Sith are more or less surrendering.

They could not possibly be more wrong, yet right. The Sith are surrendering, but not to us.

(Song 2 - 0:37 0:51-entire thing)

The Jedi press forward despite Anakin's protests and before long hundreds of Jedi surround the shadow hovering in the center of the room. The Sith around them are captured and shoved to the ground and stripped of their weapons. Varus yells for them to halt and flee, but they do not listen. The Jedi surround the dark robed figure. They mourn the death of Windu and Fisto, and take mute satisfaction that Sidius is dead.

Not sure what to make of the hovering smoke-filled robes and mask, the Jedi stab it with their lightsabers. The sabers imbed themselves firmly in the robes and do not give when a few tug back. Ten lightsabers stab the smoking robes before the slightest move is made.

The robes and mask turn to look at one of them in the face, an unholy scream fills the room stunning everyone with fright, and an arm raises up. Smoke extends from the robe arm and shapes itself into a hand. Struck frozen with terror, the Jedi Knight can only lean back as the hand moves toward him slowly to graze his face tenderly like a lover.

The Jedi Knight falls down dead, spewing smoke from every orifice and looking as though he had aged hundreds of years into little more than a rotting skeleton. The slightest gust of wind causes his bones to disappear in dust.

Without warning the shadow moves violently, reaching forward and touching each Jedi around it, siphoning the life from them with but a touch of its hand. One after another they fall. A few try to stab it or use a Force Skill, but nothing effects it. The lightsabers lodge in the mist firmly and the skills pass through it as if the shadow is nonexistent. The shadow taps one simply on the hand he was holding a hilt with, and the person screams in agony as his hand is shriveled and mummified. The man's agony is short-lived as the robes lung forward and appear to almost eat his head off.

Faster than any living creature the shadow moves from one person to another in the room. It almost appears to teleport from one place to another it is so fast. Nothing stops it. Skills and powers and techniques fall short, not even slowing it down.

(song3 - 0:00-0:24)

Until it stops cold in midair. With a hundred Jedi already dead at its hand, the rest prepare themselves for the fight of their life.

They couldn't have been more right.

The lightsabers lodged in the shadowy form, lift up and hover around it. Smoke billows out more and more from it and go in all directions from it until it looks like a dark angel with dozens of lightsaber wings covered in black.

(song4 - 0:57-1:53)

Then the death toll started. The shadowy creature extends its hand like a whip and swipes across a dozen Jedi at once to one side while it flies toward the other side. The lightsabers spin around it in a wheel of death, and nothing, Jedi or Sith, escapes it's wrath. Rubble thrown at it is knocked aside like rocks. Pillars are cut like paper. Stalwart defenders either crumble into dust or explode in blood from being skewered by a dozen swords at once from different angles.

(No song. Let there be silence.)

All sound seems to cease. The light in the room no longer shined. What was a red sky filled with smoke and fire and distant lights turned a dull grey. The walls, once shining, cover in dust and crack as if they were from ancient times. In moments, every Jedi who descended the stairs are dead, and the horrific robed figure pauses to be in the air just in front of the rest of them at the stairs.

The shadows within and without correlesce into a stronger shape, and form a misty skeleton hand. It raises slowly up their ranks before pointing directly at Varus. The hand opens and turns palm up. A whisper goes through the room, soft enough to make one wonder if it truly was said, yet there was not one person who could deny the voice. It was hollow and without inflexion.

"Come, my apprentice. Now is our hour."

Did I say I was cold before? Correction, that was warm. THIS is cold. I'm pretty sure my heart just stopped. My legs and arms go numb and every fiber of my existence wants to stop and just die. The Jedi around me turn to look at me out of the corner of their eyes. I am quite literally in the spotlight. Between Nihilus awaiting my answer and the Jedi realizing there was a Sith in their ranks, I think this might be what stage fright feels like.

But its more than that. The idea of returning to him passes through my mind briefly, and I feel the stain of blood covering every inch of my skin and soul.

Time is slowed down while the horror of the situation dawns on me and I very distantly know my shoulders are being grabbed, I'm being turned, and shoved forward. A sound passes over me, but it's nothing more than a distant boom.

(Song5 - 0:00 - 1:09)

Pain shoots through my face and I realize I was just slapped. I look up to see Tree-Hugger. "I SAID RUN!" He yells.

The situation passes through me a second time, only this time it's more along of the lines of 'We're all going to die! just Run!'

"RUN!" I yell before turning to run myself. Falcon and Mother Hen, to their credit, follow along behind me.

I don't know where we run towards, or what direction, or where we are going. We weave our way through the halls one after another, and go up flights of stairs. Other Jedi run pass me due to longer legs and longer strides, and I have no doubt that I'm shoulder to shoulder with a crowd of hundreds and thousands. We can't all fit in the same hall, so we split up down every possible direction. I make sure to keep my friends close and after a moment, Tree-Hugger is right beside me. An angry cry fills the halls from behind.

I don't know where we're going, but that doesn't matter. A lingering gut feeling tells me it won't matter anymore, because I know what Nihilus is truly capable of. All of the little fights in this battle: The orbital space battle, the invasion, the Sith attacking, the whole 'Palpatine' appearance, the skirmish with the Jedi a few moments ago... It was all Nihilus playing and toying with them. It was his entertainment in true psychopath fashion. His way of staving off boredom. Those things paled in comparison to what he truly was, to his true power and true form.

Now everyone would know... They would understand.

Nihilus could only watch as his beloved apprentice fled from him. The other miscreants taking the hint and fleeing as well didn't matter, they were but flies. But when the 'chosen one'... this... Anakin Skywalker, as he was named, briefly gave him a smirk of victory, Nihilus felt something pass through him he hadn't felt in a very long time. It wasn't a true emotion, but it was... a... a memory of one. Just as losing a leg leaves ghost pain, the ghost of an emotion passed through him.

(Song6 - 0:17-entire thing)

Rage.

He's done playing. Starkiller is HIS! And no one! Not even this... 'champion', this 'chosen one', will take away what is rightfully his!

With an angry roar, Nihilus explodes. Black mist expands out over the entire room in an instant, clawing, reaching, clinging, to every surface and into every corner and reaches up to the roof. When the room fills with the black smoke, the smoke reaches out with hungry fingers into the halls, latches on, and floods in. Every doorway is overcome. Every surface is covered. Every opening is flooded.

As Nihilus comes across passageways, he splits himself and enters each one. Claws extend out of the mist grab onto Jedi all along the way, and pull them in, or they are overcome in the flood. All light is extinguished. All power and life is quenched. Anyone, Jedi, Sith, or clone, overcome in the mist is instantly skeletonized. Plants shrivel and turn to dust and the gentle breeze halts.

We run through the library and into another hall. I yell for them to run and what I feel in the force is more horrifying than actually seeing it. The world around me is an existence of life. I may not like the Jedi, but it is life, full and vibrant. Whether it is due to my Miraluka bloodline or being a Sith-turned-Jedi, but I feel a deep connection with the world around me, and everything behind me disappears in smoke. I feel if I look back I will look into a giant black hole, because that's how it feels. All life, no matter what form it takes, is being extinguished by the thousands. The connection of life that makes up the Force is being undone. All that is left is void.

That is what I feel as I run, and it only drives me further, but it's not just me. It's my team, my friends. I see Falcon fall short slightly of our pace, and I grab his arm and haul him forward. As I turn to do so, I see a black wave of mist so thick it looks more like water enter the room. Correct that: floods the room! It's overflowing and gushing out. a hundred arms extend out of the mist, grab onto people, snatch them off the ground, and pull them screaming into the mist.

Nihilus has been unleashed.

"RUN!" I yell and shove Mother Hen up the stairs ahead of me. Most other Jedi don't take the stairs and head down other paths. I can't criticize that, as any direction will work as well, but I know how Nihilus thinks. He is either after me or he is after the masses. But if he was after me, he wouldn't be unleashing his true form. He would grab me in his 'humanoid' shadow form because its faster. Also, the hover car we left HK behind with is on a higher floor. Hopefully this will be a short cut.

The four of us make it to the upper floor and make our way into a path that should lead us higher up. Make that five, I see Kota a little bit behind us legging it. Moments later I hear a chorus of screams from below and a cold pit appears in my gut. Nihilus just took everyone we were around. "We need to get out of the Temple..." I inform them. "Nihilus is going to kill everything here."

"The evacuation transports are close." Falcon responds.

"Closer than the port where we parked?" Tree-Hugger asks.

"Just take a left. We'll show you."

We take a left like Falcon says. No Jedi followed us up the stairs so we have no one to run over. After a few seconds we take a right under Falcon's directions, but it's what's to the left that scares me. Nihilus has already extended this far and like an angry tidal wave he flows toward us. I can all but see a face within the mist.

The others are head of me and there at the end of the hall is an opening. I see people out there. Clones and youngsters loading up on transports as fast as they can, and adults and Padawans are entering the hall at a later junction to meet the port as well. Someone even grabbed our hover car and is using it to grab a few extra people. I see HK sitting on the passenger seat waiting for me, obediently waiting in the car and guarding it like a good robot. I kick my legs into high gear.

We pass a fork unabated, but out of the corner of my eye I see a dark shadow reach for us. The tidal wave comes in on us from the left, and a hand reaches for Falcon. I Force Push him forward and Kota scoops the kid up in his arms as he runs, but Falcon is screaming. The hand had barely grazed his face, leaving it scarred and his eyes bleeding.

Hands tug at the end of my cloak and heels. I take off my Jedi robe and leave it behind to be consumed. Out of the corner of my eyes I see the blackness just behind me, reaching, lunging, climbing for me. Before me I see my friends and escape.

A hand extends past me and grabs Tree-Hugger by the ankle. He trips and falls flat on his face. Mother Hen screams "Master!" as he disappears from her sight. As I reach him, Tree-Hugger looks up at me, and what I see I will never forget. He's shocked. He didn't see this moment coming. I don't think he truly saw himself invincible, but what man can foresee the moment of his death?

This is Tree-Hugger. He's my friend, mentor, and between him and the others, they are all I have. They... they are all I can call family. To heck with the Jedi rules of no-being-attached. He's about the closest thing I have had to a father in fourteen years!

I pull out my lightsaber and swipe at the dark hand pulling him past me, but to no avail. "Keep going!" Is all he can manage before he is swallowed whole and his voice cuts out.

I hightail it out of there, and push the memory and incoming angry tears back. I focus every fiber of my existence into going forward at all cost. I feel the Force flow into me, giving me extra energy and strength. I'll have time to cry later. Right now all that matters is running.

A hand extends past me and reaches for Mother Hen and all thought of running disappears. Nihilus is not taking her, the last of my family, away from me!

(Song7 - 0:45-end)

I skid to a stop and thrust every bit of power I have into the wave of Nihilus just behind me. Every angry thought of self-preservation and the desire to protect my friends and family is focused into a technique I make up as I go along in my desperate mind. Blue light, darkness, and lightning extend out of my arms in a spiral and pushes into him, successfully halting Nihilus. The hand reaching for Mother Hen disappears into nothingness, and Falcon, Kota, and Mother Hen make it out of the building.

Whatever power I am pushing into Nihilus manages to push him back, but its draining. I feel my energy leave me like someone is sucking me with a straw, and I feel Nihilus push back against me. It's like trying to hold back the ocean by pushing a boulder into it. Hands crawl in through the corners and I reach up and extend the technique to plug the holes. Parts of the technique give and I have to compensate for the holes he finds against me. It's heavy and slowly I lose ground with each push he makes against me. I should be completely exhausted with all of the power and concentration I am putting into it, but just as I feel drained, I feel more alive than ever. I feel the Force flow through me, energizing me, as the Jedi teach, and I take what more I can grab of my own violation and tame it into submission, into a more refined technique, as the Sith teach, and I see the connection of life and death as a spider-web before me, and I manipulate it subtlety like a tailor, as what must be my Miraluka blood.

I allow myself enough of a lapse in concentration to look behind me. The transports are lifting off, most of everyone made it except a few Jedi or Clones that look like they willingly gave up their spots. On one of them Mother Hen turns around and suddenly realizes I'm not there. She tries to jump off to help me, but Kota grabs her around the waist and forces her to stay while it lifts off. Falcon is passed out in his arms, with a nasty black scar across his eyes.

Mist appears out of other passages behind me and reach for the transports desperately. The dark hands manage to grab one of them, and pulls it down before consuming it utterly, but the rest escape. I hear HK's demands to the pilot to return to its master, and I hear Mother Hen's screams. But despite it all... they made it... The mist floods into the hall behind me and come after me, but I laugh. It's almost comical. I managed to hold the Sith Lord back just long enough to get the guys out of here, but I lost Tree-Hugger...

I sure hope Mother Hen forgives me for that...

The black water hits me from behind and everything goes black.

(No more songs)

"Varus! No! Let me go! He's going to die!" Ahsoka pushed back against Kota. The temple was already getting beyond her reach, but she didn't care. Master was gone and Varus had just sacrificed himself. They needed her help! The team was a collection of misfits, smart-mouths, and general idiots, but they were a team because they helped each other. They always had each other's back. Lately, they had been having Varus' back more with the need to get him integrated, but then Varus had their back as well.

She couldn't just abandon them!

"Stop it, Padawan!" Kota would not budge.

With one hand he forced her back into the opposite bulkhead and ordered the clones to shut the doors. Ahsoka continued to fight against him, and watched desperately as the door shut, closing her view to the port that was now covered in black mist as thick as water. With the view gone, the finality of it all struck her, and she fell to her knees. She had bottled up everything with Maris to stay strong in the face of war, but now, in the span of thirty-seconds, she had lost both Master Skywalker and her partner, Varus.

It was too much.

Inside, she wanted to scream and cry, but it wouldn't come out. Whether by her Jedi training in containing emotions or the shock, it felt like there was a wall between her, her emotions, and the world around her. Distantly she saw Master Kota carefully tend to Falon, who was blinded with a nasty scar akin to a tiger swipe across his eyes, only leaving a dark infection in his veins. Distantly she heard the silence of shock and sadness and mourning around her, as youngsters could barely comprehend what had happened, Knights and Masters were falling into a silent depression, and the Clones had no idea what to say but stand at attention and insure their safety. Even the soldier code passing from pilot to troopers was in whisper so as to not upset them.

Ahsoka didn't truly comprehend any of it, because none of it mattered. She couldn't feel them in the Force anymore. The bond was snapped. Master was taken. And Varus, vulnerable, yet strong, Varus, was gone.

"This could be a problem..." A trooper said. He was looking out a window.

Ahsoka glanced out with teary eyes, and starred out. She was past the point of being shocked anymore.

The black water flowed up and around each tower of the Jedi temple against gravity, and also flowed out each window down into the city like a waterfall fountain. Nihilus was expanding out of the Temple doors into the city.

Coruscant was doomed.

"Signal complete public evacuation of the planet." Kota said grimly. "Every space-bearing ship, private ownership or military, is to load up and leave immediately. The Sith Lord is moving on from wiping out the Jedi, to consuming the planet. The bunker's won't settle it anymore." The clone is charge on the transport saluted and stepped over the kids to get to the front of the ship. He closed the door behind him and he could be hurt broadcasting to higher command.

"What's happening?" A youngling asked in quiet fright.

"Nihilus has many names, young one. One of them is The Devourer of Worlds." A Knight answered. She bowed her head in defeat. "And he has come here. Coruscant is lost... The Order is defeated."

Out of the thousands of Jedi and Sith in the battle, there is not a single survivor, and only about four hundred escapees. Three hundred of whom are younglings.

The Jedi are effectively an endangered species.

Anakin snapped awake. The first thing he noticed was that the weight of his lightsaber was not on his waist or in his hands. The second thing he noticed was how the air was grey around him. All shades of color was gone. The world around him felt alien and unnatural in silence. There was no 'feeling' of the Force. He felt completely cut off from it for some reason, and the feeling scared him. Never before had he felt cut off from the Force, from the energy it provided and the never ending well of life it was, nor from the reassurance it offered. Even the bond between him and Obi-Wan, and him and his wife, and him and his Padawans was gone. He felt completely alone.

"You're awake." A hollow voice acknowledged blandly.

Anakin jumped to his feet and backed away from the voice. He didn't even have to look at him to realize who it was, but being human nature, he had to look anyway.

Darth Nihilus, as a skeleton-shadow robed in black, with his mask absent, sat on the Jedi Councilor chair. They were in the Jedi Council chambers at the very top of the temple. A subtle mist flowed across the ground at his feet, and shadows extended over the windows that once provided a gorgeous view of the Coruscant sunset. In the Sith Lord's hands was Anakin's lightsaber. He rolled it around in his ghostly fingers and inspected it.

"You want this?" The Sith Lord presented it, and tossed it to the Jedi's feet. "You can have it."

Partially from rage at the genocide he had just witnessed, and not being one to waste an opportunity, Anakin snatched it and struck at Nihilus from the side. But the lightsaber did not come on and were it not such a tense time, the sight of him waving a lightsaber hilt might have been humorous. Nihilus sighed and shook his head in disappointment, as if dealing with a child. "Was that truly necessary?"

"You monster!" Anakin yelled. "You just murdered them! all of them! My... My kin! And your own allies!"

"And yet, here you stand, alive." Nihilus responded. "Curious... Now now, don't be like that. What is done must be done. If you are truly this 'chosen one' the Jedi claim, then you understand balance more than anyone. Your supposed to be the one to restore it, so let me ask you: What is balance?"

"Where all the Sith are dead!" Anakin affirmed. Not seeing a point to it, he put his lightsaber on his waist, but kept his mind racing. There had to be a way to kill this Sith, but no way he could think of . He saw the techniques do nothing and the lightsabers did not damage. Perhaps a nuke up his ass or shoving him into the sun or a black hole, but he hardly at those options at his personal disposal.

Nihilus sighed. "Is everyone so short sighted? Jedi, is energy infinite?"

Anakin scrunched his eyes in wonderment. What kind of game was this? "No. There is a LOT of energy, but it isn't infinite."

Nihilus nodded. "Good. Now, if a Jedi dies, does his energy go away? Or does the 'amount' of Light energy stay constant in the universe as a whole?"

"No... His energy returns to the universe. The Light is a constant. You will never extinguish us!"

"Ignoring the usual light vs dark rhetoric in that, Light and Dark are constant. The two energies never decrease nor increase in massive fluctuations. There is a rise as more life is born, and a drop as life is lost, but that would be on the count of billions of worlds lost or risen in order to give any real change. All Sith have access to the same amount of energy. All Jedi do the same. Now... what if the Jedi were to be fewer in number than the Sith?"

"I'm not going to sit here and be lectured!" Anakin yelled. He turned away to leave, and shoved the door open, but it would not budge. It was closed shut.

"The answer is this: The Jedi would become stronger than the Sith, as the amount of energy an individual contains grows. The percentage for each individual becomes higher. Much like... less people having access to the same amount of gold or real estate. The amount of gold or real estate never changes, but the number of hands with it decides its value."

"What are you trying to say?" Anakin hissed.

"I am saying, that despite what you may think of me... of Revan and Sidius and Malak and Sion and Treya... We have just saved your lives. The True Sith are outnumbered by you a thousand to one, making each individual one so much stronger than you, that... well... you just saw what I could do. Imagine a hundred of me. A thousand of me. Ten years ago, you Jedi numbered in the millions. Now your number in the hundreds. Do you not feel stronger for it? When 'They' come, the playing field will be leveled, and you will have us to thank for it. 'They' fear us because we know what made them strong. 'They' were content to sit back, watch you all grow like rabbits, and make them stronger and stronger until they could wipe the galaxy clean of all life. Now that will no longer be possible. I may be the last of the Triad, but we just saved the galaxy, Jedi. As the galaxy grows darker and contains more Dark Side, the less powerful the Sith become as there are more to share it, and same for the Jedi."

Anakin stared at him in open shock. "I-Is that what you call this?.." He gestured downward toward the dead floors below, and up above where the space battle between the Republic, Sith, and Confederacy was nearing its end. Few ships still fought. "IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL COMMITTING GENOCIDE!? WIPING THE GALAXY OUT TO SAVE IT!?"

Nihilus made a sound like clicking his tongue. "This would have been so much simpler if you had all listened when we returned, but no, you had to force our hand."

"DO NOT PUT THIS ON US!" He roared. The Knight trembled. He expected a lot of things from the Sith Lord. Hatred, anger, something he could predict or resist. But the Sith Lord was spouting rhetoric like a cheap cult leader to justify his actions, using twisted logic, and acting as both that he was completely justified and that he actually believed his own bullcrap! Correction: The insane freak might actually believe the crap he was spouting! Anakin was beyond the point of anger or rage, he felt himself left empty and hollow, trying to talk reason with someone who's logic was nothing short of alien. "You..." He said shakily. "Are a sick freak. A psychopath. A genocidal insane monster who sees angels where there are demons! It is no WONDER Starkiller ended up how he did! One moment with you, and I'm already nauseous just from listening to your excuses and self-justified ordeals! I cannot even comprehend what years with you must have be like!"

Nihilus said nothing, but stared at him as Anakin finished. Anakin didn't know if the Sith was hesitating, thinking, waiting, observing him, or just staring. Nihilus didn't move. His skeleton gaze laid on him for an extended period of time.

"And here I thought the 'chosen one' might be capable of understanding." He said flatly. "Such is balance. How could you ever hope to know the threat you face, when you have never walked in the dark places of the galaxy, or faced war and death on such a scale. If you had traveled far enough, rather than waiting for the echo of the Force to reach you, perhaps you would have seen it for what it was. Perhaps you could see the crimes etched into history by Jedi and Sith alike, and come to understand the need for redemption. Instead, you all wrote into your very code a need for detachment, to move away from your guilt and need to understand just what it was you have done to the galaxy. You stand yourselves up on such a high pedestal, you do not look to apologize to the ghosts of the past, and therefore in your final days those very ghosts shall lay you low. This is why I exist, Jedi. This is why Revan, Sion, Treya, Sidius, Malak… This is why our Sith Triad was born, to lay you low and humble and come to understand the doom you have planted for yourselves… and in so doing save you from it, before THEY do it for us. Because I promise you, Jedi, when they come, they will be less forgiving than I."

Nihilus finished his rambling, and waved the matter aside, "No matter. What I find truly curious is how you are still alive. Even now, I am trying to kill you. But... yet no matter how much life I drain from you, you do not die."

Anakin tried stepping out of the mist at the knowledge that even now he was being attacked, but the mist was everywhere, and Nihilus made the motion of rolling his eyes, not that he had any. After a moment, Anakin stopped and figured... if he wasn't dead yet, or soon would be, there was no escaping this. Not like he could get out of the mist. He chuckled anyway. "So, wait, are you saying I have an immunity to... you?"

Nihilus nodded. "To my draining... Which is quite curious. I form bonds with all things on contact, always have, and exposure to me kills everything now that... I share my addiction and hunger because of it. (The only one I have ever spared that part of me is Starkiller…) Yet, no matter how many bonds I form around you, you are a never ending well of life to draw from. As much satisfaction as such a feast you provide, even now, is, I am more curious than desperate to sate my hunger. What is it about you that makes you almost immortal, I wonder... Surely you can die from wounds or at least effected, that much is evident from your limp. You can die of age, that much is evident from the entropy in your cells. You can be diseased, as is evident from the infection in your shoulder wound."

His shoulder is infected? That's not good. Anakin gritted his teeth. He would need to get medical care sometime soon.

"Yet." Nihilus continued. "You are not affected by exposure to me."

Anakin chuckled. "Good riddance. You're not getting an answer out of me."

"Oh, I don't expect to. It is more of a curiosity for me to set my mind to and abate eternal boredom. Who knows, I might just keep you around to sate my hunger."

Anakin frowned. The thought of being kept in a cage and drained for eternity to fuel a Sith Lords need to feel alive was not very high on his bucket list. It was probably one of the few things that sounded almost as bad as losing Padme. Almost. "So you can't kill me. and I can't kill you. Sounds like a stalemate."

"Hmm... Not quite. I can kill you through physical means if necessary, but I see no reason for it. This complication you provide gives you enough value for me to choose not to entertain myself with you. But... more importantly, there is one curiosity that I know you can answer."

Anakin looped his arms defiantly. Nihilus motioned to the ground beside him and he glanced down, only to almost trip over himself. Varus laid on the ground beside his feet in the mist. His body was pale and his lips were blue as death, but he was breathing. Nihilus continued, "What have you done with my apprentice?"

"I could say the same to you." Anakin glared. He inspected Varus and found a pulse, weak, but there. "In fact, I will! What have you done to him, monster?"

"He's alive." Nihilus said offhandly. "He's used to being like this, even though, thanks to you, he may not REMEMBER it. but don't worry, he will. Even now, I am inspecting this barrier you placed inside his mind."

"Leave him alone! He is no longer yours!"

Nihilus continued unabated, "But to be more specific, I find it curious. I have made strides and efforts to bring him back and make him remember, yet, even now, he resists. What did you do to him that makes him so afraid to remember?"

"What did I do?" Anakin whispered. "I'll tell you what I did. I showed him what life is like BEYOND YOU! I gave him positive reinforcement! I gave him things even I didn't have at his age! I gave him a REASON to hold onto this life!"

Nihilus nodded as if he was seriously contemplating the words. "Yes... Yes! Yes, that makes sense now. Thank you for answering my question, but now it is time to say good bye. I'm taking him back. If there is one thing I've learned today, it's that I have to do things myself."

A groan alerts Anakin that Varus is waking up. Anakin steps between Varus and Nihilus. "You will not touch him!"

Nihilus's slight turn of his head looked like he was looking between Varus and Anakin. "Let us see then, which master he will return to, shall we?" A Force blow to Anakin's side throws him into a councilor chair opposite Nihilus. An invisible hand comes down on him and keeps him shoved down, and Nihilus didn't move a finger.

Varus groaned louder and slowly climbed to his shaking feet. He flinched and stepped away from the sight of Nihilus. "Varus, you okay?" Anakin asked.

He glanced at Anakin out of the corner of his eye, and Anakin knew he recognized the gravity of the situation. "I'm fine. Mother Hen, Falcon, HK, Psycho-Bunny, and the other's got out of here."

"Good." Anakin tried to smile, but couldn't. Nihilus's presence removed all good feelings from the reassurance.

"Varus." Nihilus said. Varus straightened sharply and turned back to the Sith Lord with large, fearful eyes. "Is that the name you go by?"

Varus gulped and nodded. Nihilus continued, "What name shall I refer to you by?"

"I'm Varus. Just Varus to you." He stated.

"I see and do you believe 'Varus' is who you are?"

"Yes." He said defiantly.

"I see. Let us have a story then. No? Okay. There was a Republic soldier. A simple soldier with the luck of an angel, or demon, depending on which side you ended up on. He participated in the later ends of a war against two Sith Lords, where one had simply disappeared days before the soldier signed up. This soldier learned he had the Force and was trained as a Jedi, and was found to have visions pertaining to the path the missing Sith Lord took in finding a galactic weapon used in the war that gave the Sith their advantage." Varus gulped and Anakin had a bad feeling about where Nihilus was going. "The soldier was tasked in following these visions, and he did, like a good little soldier. One planet after another, he followed the trail of the Sith all the way to the end, but just before the end, he was caught by the second Sith Lord. He was tortured as if he was a legend, and his enemies respected him more than his allies. If anything, the Sith troopers revered him."

Varus took a step back and shook his head in refusal, which struck Anakin as odd. Nihilus continued, "This soldier-Jedi was confronted by the second Sith Lord, but was spared. Instead he came to learn a valuable truth. He was actually the missing Sith Lord. The Jedi had taken his mind, wiped it, and turned him into a slave against the very mechanisms he had made before."

Anakin opened his mouth to yell, and tried to move, but no sound came from him and he was forced down.

"The soldier was revealed to be Revan. At first he tried to deny it, but the woman who would later be his wife admitted to the truth. His mind had been wiped and replaced with the identity of a loyal little Republic slave. His mind, his identity, his existence, had been raped."

"No..." Varus shook his head. "I'm not listening!"

"Varus." Nihilus said in a voice that sounded almost gentle. It could be said to be understanding and caring if it wasn't coming from a shadow-skeleton with a hollow voice, which made it all the more wretched and shivering. "You can call yourself Varus. Just as you know you were once called Galen."

"No."

"Just as you were once called Starkiller."

"No."

"Varus!" Nihilus snapped. "Galen. Starkiller. Whatever you consider yourself now. Your thoughts are plain to me. You deny it, while knowing fully you are Galen and you are Starkiller! You think some random imbecile hit you over the head with a brick and killed your past, but you know that is a lie to yourself! To even think otherwise is an insult to your intelligence and power while lying to yourself! You don't know how, or why, truly, deep down, why you transformed from my precious apprentice into his Padawan." Nihilus nodded in Anakin's direction. "But yet you do. You know what happened to Revan, intimately. You know the effect the Jedi's mind-wipe had on him. Search your feelings! The situations are identical!"

"No!" Varus yelled. His eye twitched madly and he looked like he was on the verge of hyperventilating. He wobbled on weak legs.

"You stood in this room!" Nihilus roared. "You stood before the Jedi Council! And rather than pay honor to the law of the galaxy and execute you for your crimes, they committed a crime themselves! For all of your master's lecture to you on the treatment of the enemy, the lecture falls short as hypocritical! You fought tooth and claw when you realized what the Jedi Council was doing to you!"

"NO!" Varus yelled louder and clutched his head while grunting in pain. Anakin could only sit in horror, mute and pinned.

"You had your mind-wiped just like Revan! You aren't the Jedi's willing little servant. YOU'RE THE JEDI'S KICKING AND SCREAMING SLAVE! THE JEDI RAPED YOUR MIND!"

The Sith's roar ended and left the room in silence. Before Anakin hadn't even realized until now how utterly silent the world was in Nihilus's presence. All things had ceased. Light, sound, emotion, life. Everything was sucked away. Anakin had never felt colder and more empty in his life than he had right now. Not since he lost his mother.

Varus's screaming and grunting in pain stopped as well, and his shoulders straightened oddly. His arms fell to his sides and he slowly turned towards Anakin. In his eyes was tears, betrayal, and a red iris; and the sight made Anakin feel the guilt of everyone involved. Varus knew. Varus remembered.

The Knight didn't do it to him, but he chose not to tell him until it was too late. He didn't choose to wipe Starkiller, but he chose to be the one there to pick up the pieces if he remembered.

Now the look in his eyes was all he needed. Varus remembered, and he looked even more vulnerable than ever. All of the confidence, caring, words, bonds, friendship, teamwork that they had over the months. Sector 7207, Dantooine, Kashyyyk, Manaan, their training sessions, the time he taught him how to make a lightsaber, the time he gave him reassurance and a green saber crystal... The reassurance he tried to give Varus when he unleashed his Dark Side on Kashyyyk and his first kill since being Varus. Every little talk. Every bit of it passed between them and while Anakin felt them to be genuine from himself, he had no doubt in his mind that Varus was remembering it all from a new light, and all the confidence he had built up was thrown back in his face.

That it was all a lie. That he was betrayed.

"Good." Nihilus stated, as though cutting through an emotionally turning moment was as casual as acknowledging the weather. Varus and Anakin continued to gaze at each other, and Anakin pleaded silently for Varus to not take it all as badly as he knew he would, and was. "When I'm done here, Starkiller, we're leaving. The planet's atmosphere will be gone within the day. You will return to the Ravager and await my return. We have... catching up to do."

Anakin silently pleaded with Varus not to do it, but Varus was a blank slate. In his eyes was pain, betrayal, hurt, but in his face was nothing. He looked almost as cold as his master, and the thought horrified Anakin. Varus turned away, extended a hand, and shattered a window with the Force. "Yes, my Master." Chills went down Anakin's spine at the words.

"VARUS!" Anakin managed to break free of the bonds holding him down and go after him, but Varus responded to his efforts with a full run and leapt out through the shadowy veil into the dark flaming city below.

Anakin stopped short of the window and felt himself go into a panic attack. This couldn't be happening! This... this wasn't real. This couldn't be real! Nihilus stood up and strolled over, or at least made the appearance of it. He made no sounds as there was nothing physical to his feet. "Let us get something straight, Jedi. Death does not give up what is his, and nor do I."

Anakin felt tears go down his face and glared at the Sith Lord. "I will stop you. I may not be able to kill you or prevent you from using your power, but I will not let you continue to abuse Varus. You're right. What my superiors did was wrong. But that doesn't justify taking a child and abusing him down to his core and obsessing over him. You call us rapists? I call you a pedophile."

Nihilus laughed and the sound was not a pleasant one. "He is precious to me. I killed his people. I ate them all. They were a very…" Nihilus grinned, a bit too widely. "Savory meal. I have eaten many meals, many peoples, but never have I been sated so completely off a single serving. I could have killed him easily when I found him, so easily, but I spared him. I was held back because of a single thought, a simple whim… Nothing more. For you see, the meal was so delicate, so delicious, I wanted to savor it. I spared him. I uplifted him, strengthened him. I will see him be greater and stronger than all who came before him, because he is not just born of the greatest meal to me…" Nihilus brought his face closer. "He is the final, scrumptious bite!"

With that said, Nihilus walked out the open window, walked on air, and waved back at Anakin casually. It was a mocking gesture and they both knew it. "Know this Jedi. I will let him do as he pleases, whether to kill your or spare you, but, if I find my apprentice taken from me, again…" Nihilus stopped and growled loudly, "I will return the favor!" Nihilus disappeared into the winds, undoubtedly to continue his work cleansing the planet. The veil shadow disappeared from the top of the Jedi Temple surrounding Anakin.

So… Nihilus was letting him be specifically knowing he would give chase to Varus? The thought gave chills down Anakin's back. Did this mean Nihilus knew Starkiller would kill him and therefore he didn't need to make the effort, or was this another game? It might be due to the fact that Nihilus couldn't kill Anakin with his power. He couldn't say, the man, if he could be called that anymore, was psychotic.

Anakin looked down from the top of the tower and saw the black mist-water flooding slowly over Coruscant. It was everywhere and spreading. Ships by the thousands were leaving in such vast majority they looked like stars and as far as he could feel, now that he suddenly could feel the Force again, he felt death and empty void. Coruscant was dying.

In the midst of this death was a single life moving rapidly toward the Dark Side sector of Coruscant, where the Ravager fell.