Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Star War or Disney, obviously. But you know Legal things
WARNING: um… people die in this chapter. I'm not exactly pleasant ways. This story was meant to be quite dark so ummm. I hope you realise this is a mature fic. Pretty unpleasant stuff.
Anakin relished the feeling of moisture against his face. The slave opened his mouth greedily, letting the water build up in his mouth before swallowing as much as he could, shamelessly letting the water run down his throat. It tasted foul, as if dirt and metal had been mixed with the water. Still, old habits die hard and Anakin would never let a chance to drink moisture go to waste. You never know when you won't get another sip again.
The sight made the people around him look at him with disgust, a distinguishable circle of empty space began to form around him as more people instead chose to interact with each other rather than the strange boy trying to catch rain on his tongue.
"Are you okay, man?" A weird-looking octopus person eventually had the courage to ask. His eyes were large black orbs, and he had no hair, instead, he had tentacles draped down his head, falling over his shoulders. He seemed to be one of the few others besides Anakin who did not seem to mind the heavy downpour.
Anakin tried to open his mouth to greet him, but only metallic-tasting water escaped his lips, spilling over his borrowed black robes, causing the alien only to laugh at his idiocy.
"Name is Kel Do. A Pleasure." If he was offended by Anakin's habit, he didn't show it, instead, the man named Kel Do only gave him an amused smirk. The smile was fake. Anakin had seen enough to spot the tells of a fake smile. Though the effort to pretend to be kind to him still didn't go unappreciated.
"You might be the only person enjoying the storm." He continued to speak, confidence dripping off every syllable. Speaking clearly came easily to him, something the slave couldn't help being envious of. "I swear if I get my eye whipped one of my tentacles, I'm going to scream."
"Sorry," Anakin finally gulped, the metal-tasting water still dribbling down his chin. His urge to gag was completely drowned by the luxury of water. "This much water is incredible."
"Really?" The man continued to laugh at him. "You've never been to an aquatic planet?"
An aquatic planet? Was this not already a world covered in water? Anakin couldn't imagine a place with more then this, what would moisture farmers even do on such a world? Occasionally on Tattooine, he would hear about other planets where water was not an issue, but they sounded so fantastical that Anakin tried to pay no attention to them. The last thing you wanted to hear whilst your skin started to peel from dehydration was that water was treated like sand on other planets. Using water for washing dishes, baths, and water-hungry gardens was just wasteful. Water was a luxury, not something to be wasted on chores.
"Where are you from?" The alien tilted his head, the tentacles flowing off his shoulder like hair.
"Tattooine."
"Outside the Empire?" A look of confusion spread across his face. Anakin gave a small nod, unsure of where Empire space ended. He only knew what little he did of space from whispers and complaints of his Masters.
"How'd you get stuck here?" The man laughed boulderosusly. "I suppose the Inquisition has no concept or borders. Were you trained in a military school? Do you know how to fight?"
He knew how things were built, he knew how to cut corners in order to make a droid functional but twenty percent cheaper, what he didn't know was how to fight. However, he did know one thing.
"Yes." He lied, better to tell someone they want to hear then to tell the truth. Lies were so much prettier than the truth anyway.
"Really?" He raised a brow. Unfortunately, Anakin's lie was only as strong as he was, and considering his apparent lack of muscles compared to everyone else, not very.
"Listen up, kiddo, I see a long future between us two, so why don't we partner up for now. I'll teach you the ropes of the Empire, we can be like Sherlock and Watson. You have that in the Rim, right?" No clue.
"Partner up?" He had never heard of someone wanting a partnership. Was that like unpaid slavery? Could slaves do that? Was he still technically a slave?
"You really don't know anything." The alien smiled. A genuine warm smile, God, it was bright. Anakin almost had to turn away from the warmth of the man. He was making fun of Anakin, that much was obvious. Yet, it didn't bother him as much as it did with his Masters'.
"You and me," he pushed his finger into Anakin's chest. "I'll teach you all you need to know about being part of the Sith Empire and you make sure I don't get stabbed in the back. Sounds fair, no?"
Anakin nodded once again, It was strange to be addressed so much in one conversation. It felt weird to be spoken with rather than spoken too. It was strangely exhilarating, yet exhausting. How did people talk so much?
Thankfully, he wouldn't have to speak long as a figure dressed in a familiar black robe stood above the large mass of people on a platform made of steel to fight against the wind.
"My name is Cin Drallig." His voice competed against the storm, though the speaker that was attached to his collar was able to overpower the rain, only drowned up by the occasional thunder. "Years ago, I was in the very position you are in now, cold, wet, without purpose."
"You are here not for glory, not because of wealth, nor some grand destiny. You are here because you happened to be born with slightly different DNA than the rest of the population. No more, no less. You are a commodity of the Empire. For the Empire does not deal in gold or silver, rather blood and plasma." Anakin noted how some puffed out their chest in pride at being talked down to, as if being a weapon was some sort of grand honour.
"As most of you are aware, this is not the Inquisitorius. Instead, the Inquisitorius lies eight kilometers East of this location. Consider this your entrance exam. You've all been checked for contraband, so congratulations from this point on. You can take out any weapons you've hidden." Anakin remembered the search at the trade stations before being shuttled down. It had been… invasive. Anakin was shocked at just how many people, and what was even more impressive was the weapons they were taking out. Swords, guns, one particularly impressive display was someone taking out some sort of gun-chainsaw mix.
"There is only one rule to this test that all must abide by. Anyone who breaks this rule will be charged with capital punishment. There is no leeway, nothing up for debate. Destroy any of the drones that are watching your performance no matter the circumstance, you will be put down. The Noble Families are watching, do not disgrace yourself."
"Did you put a bet on yourself?" A whisper from Kel'do asked, well, the closest thing to a whisper in a storm.
"Pardon?"
"Noble families" Kel scoffed. "They are too busy drinking champagne and eating caviar at the Inquisitorius surrounded by Inquisitors to notice anything that's happening around them. Almost everyone watching is in a bar or pub right now, exchanging bets. This stuff is broadcast every year, didn't you watch the last one?"
Anakin shook his head no. His Master may have watched it, though Anakin could never keep track of events. The number of times his old masters threw extravagant parties tended to blend together with the reasoning. It could have been a birthday, a successful trade deal or whatever this was for all Anakin knew.
"Really? You can bet on anything. Percentage survived is the most popular category, but there is also bets like individual survival. I convinced my whole family to put credits on me surviving. A fuck ton. My family isn't rich so we took out loans, but it'll all be worth it."
"There is no official time limit on the exam," Anakin tuned back into Cin's speech. "Although things have a tendency to reach a conclusion on Coruscant. I suggest you do not delay and get past the doors as soon as possible. There are monsters that lurk in every shadow. The creatures of Coruscant know the schedule of the Inquisition better than many of you. Your enrollment is their feast and they are patiently waiting around the borders of the Inquisitorius. They are just as aware of today and if not more prepared for it than you. Do not underestimate them…"
"Good luck."
As soon as those words left Cin's mouth, several people dropped off the edge of the building, breaking out into a sprint. Anakin couldn't help his hand shooting to his mouth as these people willingly threw themselves off the edge. Some sick part of him made him walk over to the ledge to see the red gore splats against the concrete, yet no one around him looked surprised at this apparent mass suicide.
What's wrong with these people?
Anakin, not being able to help his curiosity, ran over the the ledge to see the field of corpses, only to see something that was even more obscure than sudden suicide. These people slid down the wall using it as a guide before leaping off it to land on a nearby lower rooftop. Some were able to grab each and every window edge as they dropped down to slow thor fall. The amount of trust they put int their grip strength was more then Anakin had in himself surviving this hell.
These people were inhuman. In a matter of seconds, Anakin saw some people who were already standing next to him already on the rooftop of a nearby building. They could leap gaps like hops and fall great distances without so much as a bruise. They weren't human.
"Idiots." Kel scoffed, looking down at the runners. "There is no time limit. Now is the time to build teams, plans. It isn't some sort of race. No matter, they are better off filling the bellies of something that wants to eat us."
Idiots? No… they were incredible. Anakin couldn't do that, he only recently started eating full meals. How was no one else shocked by this? They couldn't all be this inhumane, could they? It had to be because they were aliens; they weren't human like him. Sure, some of them looked human, but it was impossible for him to do that. Did his heart always beat so loudly?
"Come on. We should find some others. We could either go with a brute strength approach where we get a huge number of people and just start running, or get a smaller group and try our best to sneak by. What do you think?"
Anakin couldn't speak; he could barely talk. Thankfully, Kel was talkative enough for two.
"You're right, fewer people is probably quicker." Kel started to walk off, treating this as if it was normal. ""Are you okay?"
"I'm just," wanting to cry, in over his head, definitely going to die. "Surprised."
Kel nodded, no doubt misinterpreting Anakin's fear of dying to just be nerves.
"We'll be fine don't you worry. You're with me, and trust me. I know what I'm doing."
Kel reached out his hand. It was so much larger and while they were equally callosed as his own, Anakin could tell they were born from weights and weapons, not from wires and wrenches, like his own. Anakin reached out and shook his hand. His grip was strong, confident. This was the hand of a fighter, yet had the nobility of a soldier rather than some petty slave gladiator.
"Do you sense that?" Kel asked, his face convulsed into a face of confusion.
Anakin could sense something, though clearly not to the extent of Kel as this whole planet made his brain scream of danger. Anakin was about to open his mouth to talk, but the aquatic alien exploded into a red mist, all that was left of him was the bodiless hand still gripping onto Anakin's own.
Blood and gore sprayed against the rooftop, covering the unfortunate who were standing a little bit too close.
What had happened?
One moment Anakin had the closest thing to a friend, and the next he was holding onto a fleshy stump. Someone screamed, and the rooftop became noticeably emptier. Yet still Anakin stood still shocked. How could someone so wonderful disappear so quickly?
Slowly, still in shock, Anakin turned his head in the opposite direction of the blood splatter. On a distant roof, a large creature, one with thick limbs and a large stature, sat with a pile rubble-built up next to it. Didn't Cin say something about these monsters being prepared? He did, didn't he.
A small laugh escaped his lips as he held onto the hand of the longest friendship he ever had as the realisation slowly came to him. He was going to die.
"Well, I suppose we have begun." Cin murmured as the creature prepared to hurl another rock.
—-
Padme was in shock. She noticed the huge boulder being hurled at the building a few blocks southeast of her away at a building that looked uncomfortably similar to hers. It seemed that all the applicants were placed in a rough circle in large groups around the Inquitorious, judging that there was another group northwest of her. She had tried her best to listen to the Inquisitor, trying to explain the rules, or rather the lack thereof, but she had only gotten every second word as the wind drowned out any attempt to hear she made.
"Yeesh, glad I wasn't over there." A voice sang next to her. Padme turned around to face the voice, which had nonchalantly disregarded the death of her fellow peers, an annoyed scowl etched into her face. How dare this person make a joke about such a tragedy, and yet, when Padme saw the face she was stunned into silence.
The woman was, well. Everything Padme wasn't. That being someone who could actually survive. Her body was an impressive display of years of effort, and while the woman wore large baggy combat pants, her top was so tight that it hugged her muscles to a degree which left very little to the imagination. If Padme tried, she could probably count the women's abs. She was perfectly sculpted, every muscle was defined, yet still kept her body flexible and athletic. Was this what she would have looked like if she had trained since birth? Somehow, Padme doubted it, as this was something that you couldn't train to achieve.
"You okay, or are you just going to stare?"
"Sorry," A warm blush found itself on Padme's cheeks.
"Why?" The woman scoffed.
"I'm Sabè."
"Ventress." She said a little too comfortably, a lie perhaps? "You should probably get going, you're going to be left behind."
True to her word, Padme, or rather Sabè, looked around and found a lot of her peers leaping off the rooftop. Okay… she definitely couldn't do that.
"Well, why are you stil-"
Before Padme could finish turning the accusation back at her, Ventress did something Padme had never seen done before, especially in the context of greeting someone. She uncomfortably easily stuck two fingers down her throat. Her body convulsed, her mouth sending spittle as she retched. Whatever she had for breakfast, bile and mucus all erupted from her mouth, coming out in a waterfall of foul-smelling fluid.
Ventress took a few seconds to catch her breath, coughing up whatever didn't fully throw up, but as soon as the air made it past her lips, her hands were already shifting through the vomit. The sight was sickening and honestly, Padme couldn't be sure what was worth all the effort until the Dathomirian finally pulled out a plastic bag containing some red gem. It was pretty but Padme didn't see how it was worth all that effort. A family heirloom she wanted to sneak in?
"Jeez. I mean, you could have just hidden that in your boot."
"Wouldn't have worked. If a vibro-sword didn't meet the allowed criteria, then this sure as hell won't. I'm not very good at hiding my masking the Force just yet, so the only choice was to hide its Force signature by smothering it in my own body." She coughed, spit continuing to fly from her lips.
Force signature? The Inquisitors that had guarded her throughout her childhood commonly mentioned having the ability to sense things, but Padme had paid no real mind to them. Did everything have one?
Shit, she was going to have to figure out all the capabilities of the Force if she was to pretend she was something she wasn't. Whatever it was, she had to admit it was pretty. The shiny red gem seemed to glow by itself, it certainly was an impressive gemstone. Nothing worth shoving two fingers down her throat, but still.
"Kyber." A rough voice growled. Padme didn't need the Force to tell her someone was approaching, instead, she just needed to feel the ground shake as the hulking figure took ground-shaking step by ground-shaking step.
"Dathmoirian bitch, how'd you manage to get your hands on a pretty stone like that." A large yellowish alien growled. He was large, really large. He towered over the girls by several heads, and he could have eaten her and Ventress and still had room for two more people.
Padme could recognise the race, the Houks. The perfect gladiator race. A slave unlike any other. They were unbelievably strong, and when they fought with Wookie in the slave rings it was always greatly advertised throughout the Empire. Her father had been offered one as a gift, expecting praise and thanks, only to be kicked off the planet in the next hour.
It was almost comical to see such an imposing figure in black robes that barely fit. Robes would be a generous term, although as to her, they were more like a blanket. A very poorly form-fitting blanket.
"It's none of your concern, Houk." She sneered. Even her sneers were beautiful. Unlike the Houk's who gave a hideous smile, his teeth as larger than her fingernails.
"Little girls shouldn't play with such dangerous tools." His voice sang, or rather drummed, considering the depth of his voice.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Padme threw herself between the two. "Are we really going to fight over some rock?"
He looking down on her as if she was a child. An annoyed father having to explain something like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yes."
Anakin wanted to die, which was a sick irony because it was really easy to right now. His armed were bound with belts and rope so tight they bit into his skin, his mouth was gagged with some cloth ripped from a sleeve and he struggled to see out of one eye as it had become swollen and bloodied. Honestly he didn't think they needed to put so much effort into it, they just wanted a chance to show off their skills before they all died.
"Feral I don't like this."
The group Anakin had been captured by were all the same race as they all had varying shades of yellow and black skin with a crown of horns protruding from their head. Anakin had never seen such a race on Tatooine, but then again, Anakin hadn't met many races from the Sith Empire on Tatooine. Still, it hadn't been difficult to quickly figure out who Feral was. While everyone wore clothes that were significantly finer than Anakin's own there was only one who had glowing green runes upon his. Feral.
He was the one who gave the orders, the one who had the best the best equipment and despite not being the largest nor the fastest in the group he still excluded an aura of leadership.
"You are welcome to go back to the surface if you'd like. I don't think the Tenentatek was able to eat most of Korel, I'd hate for it to starve. Right Korel?"
Korel had also been able to pick from the crowd. Not cause of any magic runes or personality traits. He was the only one missing an arm.
"What if we get trapped? At least on the surface we could run, down here if both or exits could get blocked. This is just a tunnel of death. Not to mention these drones are the loudest things in existance. It's telling every monster in a hundred-metre radius where we are."
"That's why we caught the bait." Sacrifice was a more fitting term. Anakin had his ankles tied to together and the skin on his wrist being cut by how tight his binds were.
Yet, despite being the one tied up, Anakin could feel the fear creeping up from inside them as well. Ever step rang a little too loud, every shadow a little too dark. It was eating them up from the inside, slowly but surel,y the idea that their training wouldn't save them.
They weren't like Anakin in that regard either. Anakin was weak, frail, inexperienced, while they looked as if they had been groomed to kill since they came out of the womb. Muscles adorned them comfortably as if they had had them for years, and when they beat Anakin up and tied him, they had spent minutes arguing which knot would be the best to use, as if Anakin knew how to escape any knot. Anakin just suspected they all wanted to distract themselves, pretend this was all a game rather than the execution this planet was actually.
The main difference was that they weren't used to fear. Not that it made him any superior for it, Anakin would have traded the days he was isolated, abused and starved for any amount of training they had. Still, Anakin was used to pouring wine for rich Masters under the threat of losing a finger. He was used to having insanely short deadlines for tasks that would require twice the number of people and twice the amount of time.
Yet these people, the ones born better than him. They are unfamiliar with feeling death so close, creeping behind them. There was a small satisfaction in their misery.
"Do you hear that?" A voice murmured, looking into the darkness as if staring hard enough would make them disappear.
"Shut the fuck up." Feral hissed through his teeth. "It's just the fucking drone."
There had been a drone following the group, it took it's time to record Feral. Preferencing him over anyone else in the group. It would even follow him whilst his teammates were being mauled to death. Strange. The drones, when they saw a person dying, would rush over eagerly to record the suffering, yet, when it came to Feral, he was given preference.
Even Feral had to admit when he was wrong, though. Not openly, of course. But what would turn into a five-minute head turn became three, then two, then one. He too could feel something watching them from the shadows, and it was slowly gnawing at his paranoia.
"We will make camp here. Check your supply, and tend to your injuries. We move out in five."
Korel seemed to drop to the ground like a sack of bricks, clutching the stump of his arm with deep, pained breaths. They were all injured in their own regard. Some only had surface-level injuries like Feral, who only had a small dash above his brow, which was no longer even bleeding anymore. Others were missing some fingers, some clutching bruised or cracked ribs.
Out of everyone, it was Feral who took a moment to sit down next to him. He wasn't taller than Anakin, and while he dwarfed him in the size of his muscles, there wasn't anything too impressive to him.
"Idiots, I swear." He sighed. "You know before we captured you I lost two men to a chirodactyl because they needed to take a piss and thought themselves better just to piss in their pants."
The tight bonds around his wrists became slack as Feral dragged his blade along the rope binding his wrists. Anakin opened his mouth to ask why, if by some miracle he had a moment of mercy and was letting him go. But instead a sword with glowing green runes fell into his lap along with some sort of stone.
"Sharpen that."
"Why?"
"Cause I'll have need of it soon," Feral answered uninterested in talking to him, intentionally misinterpreting what he asked.
Still, Anakin was a slave, and in his heart, he wasn't one to refuse an order. Though he had never been handed a sword, no less sharpen one. Though it hadn't been difficult to grasp, make a sharp thing sharper. It was strange to hold something so primitive. Even the rotten-toothed homeless of Bestine had vibrio-knives which they used to hold unlucky victims at ransom.
Even Feral's peers had better tech than him. Anakin's eyes darted over the eight other men tending to themselves, testing the trigger on their blasters or the vibration of their vibrio-swords.
Compared to that, this sword was a relic that should have been hanging over someone's fireplace. Sure ,it could kill someone, yet so could a rock. It was far from the best he expected from someone trained since birth to kill.
Yet, when Anakin ran his fingers across the steel he could feel the glows of the runes, something deep inside him sang. Magic.
"You're technique is shit, where did you learn from?" Feral looked down on him. "You reek to muchlike a wooka to not be from Nabooians territory, accent is too shit that you can't be from the Core, and a Mandalorian could make a sword shine with shit."
"Colonise? You, from Dathomirian space boy? No, you've got an Eastern Rim drawl to your words." A cold prick stabbed his brain. Like someone had taken a cold steel pike and just rammed it into his forehead.
"Come on boy, spit it out," Feral growled. The stabbing pain caused him to send a hand up to his forehead. He could feel the words begin to form on his tongue.
"Then again. Doesn't really matter in the long run, I suppose though." Just as quickly as it came, the pain left. Only lasting as long as Feral's interest in him which clearly wasn't long. "I seem to have more pressing matters to attend to."
The alien flicked off the grime which had clung to his pants. The mud and filth flicked onto Anakin's own face in such a way that it seemed intentional.
"Well…Give it to me." Feral held out an expecting hand. The sword… A part of Anakin told him to put the blade between his ribs, a part Anakin was too well trained to ignore. He hated how relieved he felt handing the sword to Feral like the good slave he was.
"Feral!" A scream echoed through the tunnel.
The second largest of the eight aliens marched up towards Ankin and Feral. God, he was massive. Like it was made of foam he picked up his heavy two-handed weapon, swishing it around in the air as easily as a child swinging a stick.
"Ajax." Feral falsey greeted.
"I've been thinking-"
"That's not like you," Feral smirked.
Slap!
The sound echoed through the tunnels. Time seemed to stop, everyone frozen in their shock, surprise and Anakin could feel slight joy radiating off the observers.
Not so much in Feral, as in his eyes, Anakin could see a rage heated and raw, one that would have made his previous masters envious. His smile was forced to the point that the strain on his skin keeping the ends of his lips tugged upwards, looked physically painful.
"You have failed princeling. You led us poorly, men who have sworn fealty to you, now lay dead in monster shit because you would rather a bridgen made of corpses rather than just walk around a canyon. You spit on our loyalty by using us as fodder for any monster you are too cowardly to face yourself. How many more of us have to die following for you to realise you are a bad leader?" He took a steadied breath.
"No more, I will not allow my brothers to die for one man's ego. I challenge you, to the death. No weapons, no help, no mercy. Only honour."
Feral spat the blood from his lip, it seemed Ajax had a stronger slap than he expected.
"Very well. I accept your challenge. Though, no weapons? I have to refuse that."
"Scared? Or are you just now realising you are nothing without mummy's little gifts?"
"You challenged me, to the death, no less. I choose what we fight with and we fight with what we have on hand. If you wish to fight me barehanded by all means. Though, you'll find yourself short of a few fingers when you try to catch my blade."
"Coward." Ajax growled.
"Traitor." Feral spat.
The two stared each other down. Ajax was bigger, second only to Korel. Though now that Korel was an arm short, he would now be the biggest. He reminded Anakin of a wraid, a large reptile creature of the Tatooine dunes. Thick and large, his muscles pushed against his robe, and every step was felt through the vibrations of the metal tunnel.
As Ajax walked back a few steps, he kicked up the long pole with some sort of intricately designed blade atop it. Anakin had never seen such a weapon on Tatooine, it seemed to be a weapon for a warrior, not the dune rats of his home world.
How such a large weapon got through made him suspect that the Inquisitors clearly weren't trying too hard enough when it came to Ajax. Then again considering that Feral's entourage all had weapons that all should have been caught meant there might have been something else at play.
To his shock it wasn't Ajax who began the fight but instead Feral. Anakin thought for sure the larger of the two would be more aggressive. Feral's magic sword went up for a powerful two-handed blow, but the knife-pole thingy Anakin didn't recognise had a much larger reach, forcing Feral to abandon his attack as the weapon swung in a large arc, the blade of the pole collided with the wall, sending a jump of electric sparks. Of course, it was electric. Thankfully, they were all wearing rubber boots so no one would get electrocuted to death, but still.
Ajax, realising his advantage, took it. With the tube being so small, Feral could only move forwards and backwards as he narrowly dodged and parried Ajax's blows. Though that was all he could do as Ajax continued to stab at Feral, who with each dodge was getting slower and slower.
Electricity jumped again as Feral deflected the weapon to the side and up, causing small limbs of electricity to climb up the wall. Now that Feral wasn't dancing at the point of a blade, he launched himself forward, his only other choice being to retreat further back.
Ajax was waiting for him. The large man matched Feral's ferocity, surprising the smaller man. Feral didn't have the time to drag his blade along the shaft of the weapon to bisect Ajax, but without many options tried anyway, only getting halfway down before Ajax gripped his sword arm wrist and twisted till.
Pop.
"Well well well, looks like you need a han-" Ajax's rather obvious line was cut short by a wet gurgle escaping his lips.
"Come now Ajax, don't try to be witty. It doesn't suit you."
Anakin didn't even see Feral stab a knife into Ajax's abdomen. As if his wrist wasn't broken Feral gave a sick smile, jerking the knife out of Ajax before stabbing him again with all his weight behind it, sending the two sprawling onto the floor.
The two were a storm of limbs. Ajax, let go of his weapon, instead prefering to use his nails and teeth in such close combat, while Feral proceed to pul; out his intestines with a knife. Ajax screamed in pain, flailing around before finally managing to get his two feet under Feral and pushed him off.
Feral looked… well feral. He had a mixture of Ajax and his own blood painting his face as Ajax with his dagger like nails left its scars upon him. He looked like an angel of death, blood glossing his lips. Feral's tongue licked the cut around his lip, a sick look of orgasmic euphoria graced his wild eyes. However, Ajax didn't fare the same, Feral's knife left more than just scratches.
Ajax was barely standing, attempting to hold what organs were threatening to fall out of the several large holes Feral had left. How he was even standing to Anakin was a miracle.
"I… won't die, I can't die… please. I can't die." Ajax mumbled in shock. His face was pale, what used to be a strong jaw of marble was now weak clay. He was so deep in shock that Anakin suspected he didn't even realise his intestines pushed through the gaps between his fingers.
Ajax's eyes searched the crowd for help. A last wordless begging which was only answered by the drone taking every angle it could of the dying man.
"I do regret this Ajax. I knew this was going to happen eventually; Mother told me so. And well, she is a bitch and a half but she's often a correct bitch and a half." Feral recited, he spoke too confidently for this to not be something he had rehearsed. "If it is any consolation, I do wish it wasn't you. Though I suppose, butchering a pig doesn't send quite the same message as butchering a bull."
Some looked away, unable to bear the guilt, while others were relieved. Anakin recognised the look from his time on Tatooine, when only one slave would be punished in front of the group. How happy he was when he wasn't the one picked from the crowd. At least Ajax's death would be quick as Feral went for the coup de grâce.
Though it was strange to Anakin that Feral dropped his knife if he was going for a finishing blow… oh. This wasn't a mercy, but rather a lesson.
"I LEAD YOU." Feral broke Ajax's nose with a punch from his non-dislocated hand.
"I SAVED YOU." Feral stomped his foot down so hard Ajax's right foot cracked.
"YOU WERE NOTHING, NIGHTBROTHERS!" Several blows from the metal tipped boots of Feral caved in Ajax's ribs. "YOU WERE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS, NIGHTSISTERS' BITCHES! I FUCKING MADE YOU!"
Ajax cried tears of blood as his ankles, ribs and arms became broken and cracked under Feral's blows. Seeing such a large man cry was uncomfortable to watch.
Feral wiped the sweat from his brow, streaks of red from his bloodied knuckles dyeing his forehead in streaks like tribal paint.
"Take off his clothes."
"What?"
"It seems like you all forget who is in charge." Feral sneered, the blood of Ajax glossing his skin. "Let me teach you."
Feral grabbed Ajax, impressively hoisting the large man up by the back of the robe with his one working hand.
"Beat him," he explained as casually as breathing. "Whoever kills or holds back the most is getting kicked out into the cold to fend for themselves."
They all took a look at Ajax with a look of pity. The large man who had represented their desire for mutiny was now a crying heap of broken bones.
"I'll go first." Korel growled, the one-armed man struggled to stand. With those wounds it was obvious to Anakin and everyone around that he wouldn't be able to survive without a group.
Feral had a sick smile on his face. If the pain from his fight bothered him he certainly didn't show it. The drone that was watching them certainly seemed to love it.
God, Ajax's fear was nauseating. It was so thick and pungent in the Force that it Anakin's head swirl. He could taste his thoughts, the fear swimming in his head.
'Which one would do the worst?'
'How would they try to out-torture eachother?'
'What would be after his death?'
Anakin could taste his breakfast, and sweat began to drip down his forehead. Like the dry heat of Tatooine, Anakin could feel the fear fester around him. The fear was nearly strong enough to overwhelm that hunger. A primal hate that Anakin could only envy, as he could never feel such emotion.
Anakin turned his head from the torture of Ajax looking into the shadows. Where was that other emotion coming from? Such hate, such hunger, it didn't originate from Ajax. Ajax was nothing but fear, something else was here. Something far worse.
A loud creek sent all their heads up, shooting to the sky. Something was in the tunnels with them. Something large.
"Tie the bait back up." Feral growled, dropping Ajax face-first into floor, annoyed that his 'lesson' had to be cut short. Soon everyone else began to sense the hunger that was rapidly approaching.
Next thing Anakin knew he was being tackled to the ground and getting his limbs retied violently and without the pride they had put in it before. They smashed his head against the floor and his joints were near dislocated in an effort to bind him as quickly as possible.
"It's getting closer." One man who didn't have his knee on Anakin's skull looked around the tunnel like it was in the very walls.
"Blasters up, we will blast it into ash and cinders."
"Did it go past us?" A brief silence followed. The rattling of the tunnel died with any of the words of the groups. Perhaps it was just a strong gust of wind or they had got lucky, and whatever it was wandered pass.
It didn't.
These tunnels weren't designed for people. It wasn't just a straight line, it curved and had conjoining tunnels from the sides, bottom and of course the top, like a maze of extra large pipes.
From one of these tunnels openings were the tunnels joined, approximately fifty meters behind, a large fat mass slowly appeared from the shadow of the roof. It was large, large enough to the point it took up the whole tunnel and had to pull itself forward with it's long slimed tentacles. It was basically all mouth, a wide circular maw of teeth and bloodied gums similar to a sarlacc.
"Rathar!" He had never heard of a Rathar, but he'd seen enough to note that those teeth were made for sawing its victims into a bloody mush to greedily drink down.
They are just as aware of today and if not more prepared for it than you. Cin had told him that, hadn't he? The creature had been waiting for them, in the tunnels, using its body to seal up behind them to keep them trapped in this rat maze.
"Run." Feral whispered to himself absorbed in the hideous sight. "Run!"
Feral is the first to move, injured, he still covers meters in seconds. A testament to how better trained they him. Anakin himself was the second to start moving. Like a pathetic sand worm he wriggled his hands now painfully bound and torso bruised from being carried around like a sack.
"Blast it." Korel roars. The largest of the men, the most educated and the one missing the most arms heave Anakin up onto his shoulder. Ever step the large man takes sending shockwaves of pain into Anakin's ruined ribs.
A smell of ozone filled the tunnel as plasma cut through the air repeatedly blasting the mouth of the monster.
However, the heated plasma did nothing to stop its charge. The beast's gums had becomes calloused and scared. Thick fat had built up around its front helped protect it from becoming instantly flash cooked from the super heated plasma.
"Oh fuck! Oh fuck! What's wrong with this thing! This fucker should be dead!" One man cried. Clearly they were as shocked as he was that the blaster fire did little to stop it as the mass of fat managed to crawl it's way through the blaster fire like nothing.
"Drop the bait!" One man yelled.
"Don't you fucking dare!" Feral roared "Not yet."
Anakin's heart thumped in his chest rhythmically to the fast past march of the men running for their life. Bile and spit rose up his throat, he had been carried facing towards the monster giving him a horrific clear view of the monster making ground. Its fat was covered in a mixture of mucous and substances Anakin didn't want to think about allowing it to squeeze through the tunnel with little Anakin could do was beg that Korel was much faster without an arm then he was with one.
Someone screamed next to him, followed by the sound of begging then finally wet crunching. It's tongue had picked him up as if had been nothing and shoved the man into it's maw without even taking a moment to slow down.
"A drop ahead!" Feral roared, "Prepare the bait and pray!"
What? No, no, no.
Anakin did his best to wiggle out of Korel's grip but that only made him square tighter on his ribs.
"Let him go."
"You sure this will work?" Korel asked earning a glare from Feral.
"Would you follow the easy meal or be shot at more?"
Korel shrugged and held Anakin out before the drop. The slave tried to speak, a final beg perhaps to save his life, a dying insult that would haunt them for the rest of their lives? Nothing came to mind, nothing then a pleading look that met only Korel's own eyes of desperation. Anything to survive.
And so he fell.
—-
Pamde screamed as she ripped the knife out of the skull of the strange monster which seemed to be an unnatural mix of both a scorpion and a mutt. Blood and gore had long since spoiled her clothing and clumped in her hair. The brief moments when she saw her reflection in broken glass, was painful for her pride.
"Well hunted little one." The Houk patted her on the back smearing the blood on his hand over her ruined clothes. She was to tired to care about the stains building up on her robe, but still she seethed in anger.
"You could have helped me!"
"And steal your prey? I am many things, but so cruel as to take the pleasure of another man's kill? I will not make a cuckold of you yet, little one."
"I don't think you understand what that word means."
"You will be surprised how well versed in many things my dear." His smile was so large she could see the gaps in his teeth. "I could make you feel as if this hell hole were the pleasure houses of Chandrila." He proudly boasted. Yet… Padme couldn't think of anything worse.
If there were one planet she hated more then Alderaan, it was Chandrila. Where Twi'leks, Togruta and Humans were sold like cattle for the sake of the Empire's lust. The air in the major cities smelt of sweet smells and spices with the very air laced with aphrodisiacs, and you would struggle to walk the streets without running into CEOs and royalty going off on vacation to sample all the latest 'product'. Her Father had once been offered a gift from a Chandrillian senator, what the senator failed to mention that the 'gift' had been no older then twelve.
"You come near me and I cut it off."
"Come now? So hostile, besides I'm not the one you should worry about." His eyes traced to Ventress who was fighting across the room. She truly was in a class by herself as she fought five of the creatures by herself across the room. Padme had little too worry about, this had been their sixth skirmish with monsters and it had been made abundantly clear that it wasn't Ventress who she had to worry about dying.
By some miracle the Houk and the Dathormirian had decided not to kill eachother. Padme liked to think it was because of her expert negotiations but considering that both of them had ignored her the whole time a small part of her couldn't help but admit she was just tagging along.
"Ventress." Padme glared. The woman certainly wasn't best friend material but she also wasn't the one trying to get in her pants. "I thought we ended up agreeing not to kill eachother."
It had been a painful and time consuming effort for Pamde to tell the two teenagers that murdering eachother wasn't the greatest idea when the two weren't even competing. At the best of times they were argumentative, their middling was just insult based on race and their worst was violent.
"She's Dathomirian."
"Xenophobia? Is bigotry really important right now?"
"Stereotypes exist for reasons." It wasn't untrue, though that reason was often exploitation rather than evidence. "Dathomirians can't be trusted."
"So your plan to leave the girl who is probably the best fighter here?" He scoffed at her words.
"Let us both kill her. A team up of sorts, with your brain and my brawn we could achieve anything."
"You just want the lightsaber." His gross smile gave him away.
"What if I let you keep it?" The large alien proposed, not even a shred of truth in his words. If he had actually let her keep the weapon then she knew he was fully prepared to snap her neck the second her fingers wrapped around the hilt.
"Can't you wait till we at least till we are in the Inquisitorius?"
"And let the bitch make 'friends'? She's alone, outnumbered and considering the bitch seems to be death on legs, tired from the slaughter. This is our best chance. Why do you think she separates from us while we fight? She makes herself a worse target because she prefers not have her back exposed to us. We are a threat to her."
Ventress emerged from the shadows illuminated in the red light of her saber. She of course had not a scratch on her, the only sign of her slaughter was the slight blush on her cheeks and rain mixed sweat on her brow. She may have been a bit tired but she clearly had plenty room to spare to kill a dumb human and a overconfident houk.
"You look," exquisite "well." Padme gave a small bow to her.
Ventess only sneered, preferring only to walk right past her to the houk.
"We are close. Are you tired, how deep are those cuts, are those wounds infected?" She fired off rapid questions, completely ignoring her.
"I am fine." He growled.
"I'm fine too." Padme chimed, not that anyone asked.
"Don't feel too dishearted little one. She only hates you because you have the least kills." The houk laughed.
Ventress only gave an annoyed stare before once again marching off on her own, leaving the Houk's claim hang uncontested.
"I've been holding my own." Padme whined to herself.
The houk only laughed louder at her.
"She's been counting kills. Not just of us, but of the small groups we have passed."
"So?"
"So, you won't make the cut. She'll leave you to die the moment you enter the Inquisitorius." He explained. "But the best assassins are the ones you least suspect."
His large hands wrapped around her own, closing her fingers around the knife in her hand.
—-
Anakin had no light, and so he fell in the dark, his only company his screams as he fell. His fall was not perfectly vertical and so his head bang the side of the metal wall and while he could not see the damage he knew he was bleeding from his brow judging by the wetness.
His head felt heavy, ringing like a gong and the urge for his eyes to fall to the back of his head was painfully present. The pain drew him back from his unconsciousness but the weightless in his stomach brought him back to fear till he again collided against another wall bringing him back to unconsciousness before begin woken by pain.
Fear and pain danced between eachother taking turns taking the lead in the cerography his descent. The two flowed between like lovers embracing eachother tightly, when his pain began to subside his fear brought him back and when he thought the fear was soon to leave pain brought his lover back keeping the two of them clung tightly to him. With those unseeing eyes of his Anakin felt the climax of their dance, pain raising fear up above himself. The approaching and ever present bottom of this pit coming ever closer. Then pain got it's climax.
Anakin bounced against the floor, he felt inertia try to crush every organ and bone he had. Cin Drallig had told him on the ship that through magic- the Force, the impossible was something that only applied to the inferior. Those born unloved by the Force.
It didn't feel that way as Anakin threw up a liquid he couldn't see. Though he didn't need to know it would have been a sick mixture of phlegm and blood, judging by the smell of iron and the way it clung to his chin, covering the lower half of his face.
What sick irony does whatever God have to laugh at his misery. Having the masses watch him beg for death as he body refuses to die. Even now he felt that swell of magic inside him keep his heart pumping, his brain producing whatever chemicals it needed to keep him conscious. Something wanted him to live, to suffer a bit longer.
He tried to crawl away. His knees bloodying themselves against the rust of the tunnel but soon he collapsed once again. His tired legs barely not even able to support the twig that was his body up.
For how long he laid their he didn't know. It felt like hours with the ringing in his head, though, deep down in his heart he knew his suffering had barely just began. He could tell it hadn't been too long by the sound of a buzz.
The drone wasn't far behind him. No doubt recording his fall and now his shattered and broken body. Even in death he was used for the benefit above him. A slave to the very end he suppose. How he wished he could be working on ships enjoying the heat of a welding torch rather then in a pool of his own blood preforming for the pleasure of all those watching.
He couldn't help but wonder if Kel's family was watching him, laughing gleefully as the man who let their son die slowly died himself. Maybe they cheered when that boulder hit Kel, he was spared from this. A quick death was a good death. Better then this.
Cin had been wrong about him. He wasn't desperate, he didn't value his life, he just wanted the pain to go away.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Metal rang against metal with each ring getting louder and louder.
The monster? Please just be quick.
"You look terrible."
To Anakin's surprise it wasn't one of the monsters that hid in the shadows. Instead it was a boy, no, barely a man standing above him. He was handsome. Perhaps the most gorgeous man he had ever seen Illuminated in the red light of his saber. Beautiful didn't even begin to describe him. He was perfect. His hair was a caramel brown and his beard, despite the the fact it could barely considered such, gave him the semblance of a young adult about to become a man.
"God?"
"Don't worry I get that a lot." He smiled.
—-
"Chirodactyls are circling the sky, they are intentionally waiting near the Inquisitorius. Looks like these last kilometres is going to the worst." Ventress sighed.
Padme, trying her best to emulate the women also kneeled down next to her trying to get a peek over the shattered wall rubble. Meanwhile the Houk was busy trying to draw a piece of male anatomy in the dust with a big stick.
"There would be tunnels, sewage lines, transport tunnels. Some of them must lead to the temple, no?" The Houk offered, only have paying attention to the conversation.
"Anyone who would let put themselves in a situation deserves to die."
"We could wait here. Build a larger team." Padme suggested earning an immediate glare from Ventress, for the first time today showing what could be a semblance of fear in her eyes. So, that's why they were rushing so much. The Houk was right. Ventress wasn't putting up with her cause she was capable, but rather cause she wasn't a threat. Despite seeing several teams, they hadn't joined up with them for fear of betrayal by them but rather Ventress fear of mutiny. As the only one with a lightsaber a large group would only pose the risk of getting her killed or at least her prized weapon stolen.
"There is a park here." she drew it with her saber on the concrete, leaving a scotch mark map against it's surface. "It's low enough that chirodactyls shouldn't spot us and open enough to allow us a clean run. Crossing the park will put us close enough the Inquisitorius to make a break for the entrance."
"I say we put it to a vote." The Houk interrupted, for once actually contributing. Though his eyes didn't stray from the 'art' he was trying to create.
"Excuse me?"
"I say tunnels, you say park and the little one says wait. It's quite simple, we all vote." The large man smirked knowing how lofty the claim of
If there was one hated term in the Empire, it was democracy. It had been the failure of the previous Government before the Darth monocracy. Some planets stll practiced the evil practice, claiming that their democracy was fair and just, though they only were allowed to make decisions that affected their own planet. Only the Darth could make galaxy-wide decisions in order to prevent the canabalistic tendancy of such a government.
There truely is nothing crueler then democracy.
"All in favour of tunnels." No one's hand raised. Padme could tell he was a little annoyed at her not raising her hand but to his plan it still worked out fine.
"All in favour of the park." Again no one hand rose
"All in favour of waiting." Only his hand rose.
"Okay I thought I explained the rules clearly but I suppose listening isn't women's strong suit.
"No. We go through the park, no waiting, no tunnels, no voting." Ventress spat, her chest puffy my out similar to the way some birds would when trying to imitate another male. Unfortunately for her when you are half the size of a Houk it didn't matter how much posturing you do.
"I'm going to stay here with the little one. If you want to die, by all means. Though, do leave the lightsaber, saves me the trouble of retrieving off your corpse."
"You will do as I say, or you will die here and now." The Houk raised a brow at Padme, as if to say 'wouldn't she be better if she was dead?'. She gave a strong shake of her head causing the large man to sigh.
"I suppose it's two against one. Hail democracy." He spat the word like venom. Hoisted up on his on petard.
It only took eight minutes for Padme to regret not stabbing the knife into Ventress' back. The park had become completely covered in a metallic-tasting fog; it was thick and carried smell of rust.
"How is there fog? This fucking storm should blown this shit away." The Houk growled in a hushed voice.
"Coruscant's far orbit and troposphere meant that the planet has to have an artificial climate," Padme recited, finding comfort in her history lessons. "We are probably near a faulty climate-control centre." It would certainly explain why this fog tasted like rust and dirt.
"Everything on this planet is fucking faulty." He sighed, running a hand through his nonexistent hair. "Let's cut our losses and head back, this fog will get us killed."
He had no idea just how right he was. She was completely blind in here, it wouldn't even take a monster to kill her, just a poorly placed flight of stairs.
"We'll run?" For the first time today, Padme felt some semblance of hope.
"Not without that kyber. Let's find Ventress, kill the bitch, and head back."
"Do we have too?"
"Does Ventress strike you as the forgiving type? If she finds out we abandoned her then we-" He stopped mid-sentence.
"You okay?"
"We aren't alone."
What? Fuck fuck fuck, what she do? Run? That was a good plan, but it would only end up with her dying five minutes later. It would be fine, she had made it this far and she wasn't ready to die just yet. She just needed to stay calm and say close the the Houk… the Houk? She turned around only to find fog around her.
Where was he?
She screamed, not caring that she was effectively sending a loud please come eat me to every monster around.
She was alone, In the fog, with apparently a bunch of monsters she couldn't sense. Wonderful. Just wonderful.
"Houk ? Ventress? Literally anyone?"
To her credit someone did hear her painful begged screaming. The figure was quadrupedal, grey-skinned and seemed to be made more of muscle rather than anything else. It looked as if one of her hounds back on Naboo had been forced to feed steroids to the point it was one sleeveless sweater away from joining a gym.
"Oh fuck." She swore. "Fuck me, fuck this, fuck-"
The beast pounced, or rather, more accurately shot at her. Whatever illusion that this beast was anything else besides roided up muscle was immediately shattered along side a few of her ribs as the beast collided with her. She gasped in pain, feeling her chest on fire as tears came shockingly fast to her eyes.
She tried to let out a pathetic whimper. Were animals capable of pity? She couldn't remember, she had never heard of any wolf sparing a sheep cause it cried loud enough. Then again she couldn't think of much besides, ouch, my ribs. What she wouldn't give for a stim, better yet cyanide.
The beast stalked her, admiring it's own work as it flicked it's long whip like tail. She was going to die. whatever part of her possessed her to think she could some how survive something that those who trained their whole lives for was a part of her she wanted to strangle to death. Stupid pride, stupid her and stupid Palpatine's for their apparently shockingly effective yet creative assassinations.
She never considered herself religious. Yet she found herself quickly praying to any god that would listen to her. None listened to her.
The monster opened its jaws gladly showing her its large and Padme-killing teeth. She would have liked to say she somehow fought back, that in this moment she discovered her hidden latent Force powers.
With a single wave of her wrist the beast's jaw's were ripped apart spraying the dead grass in blood and bone. It was then she rose through the ranks of the Inquisitors, became Supreme Inquisitor Queen Padme the Attractive, completed her civil war against the Palpatine's and ruled the Galaxy with a firm yet fair slightly clenched fist.
Reality was crueler than her last wish fantasies. Instead there was no space magic, no one who came to save her. Instead she wept, openly, and without shame as snot dripped down her nose. Whatever fight she had left in her died with any pride she had left while the beast's jaws slowly closed around her throat till.
It gave her a sniff.
It sniffed again and again before finally opening its large jaws to… growl in annoyance? As if her being alive was more of an inconvenience. The beast scrunched up its snout in disgust before sniffing the air looking for something. Something by that wasn't her.
As quick as it came, it disappeared into the fog.
What was that? Frankly she didn't care, her hand shot up to her rapidly beating heart. Left by herself in the fog, her legs still shaking she had nothing left in her. And so Padme cried. Her arms found their way around her knees. She missed her palaces, she missed her hand servants, she missed her bodyguards. Most missed how she looked, being called beautiful and radiant. Now her face was pimpled and blooded.
This wasn't fair. None of this was fair! She didn't deserve this! She was good! She was!
She didn't know how long she had laid curled up and crying, but a familiar burning hum filled the air near her leaving the scent of ozone. Ventress couldn't see her like this. Not with snot running down her face.
"You survived?" The Dathormiaian raised a brow, appearing out of the fog like a red illuminated Goddess. "Though, barely."
Padme didn't bother to talk back across, afraid that her cracked voice and sobs would give her away. Instead she brushed off the dirt off her tear-sodden pants.
"Where is the other idiot?" Other? Oh, the Houk. Probably fine,
"We got lost in the fog," She quietly whimpered.
"Very well," Ventress didn't even bother to spare her a second glance as she began to walk off. Was she just going to leave her? Probably. Ventress only valued strength, a department she was lacking in. Though, there was a benefit to indifference as while Ventress did not want her presence when Padme stood to follow she was not met with refusal. It would be the best she would get from the Dathomirian.
Thankfully, Ventress seemed to know her way through the fog as she confidently stalked her way through with herself following quitely the Dathomirian like an abused puppy. Eventually, the fog began to thin and the smell of rust was replaced by the smell of iron.
"Took you two long enough." A deep pained voice spat. Padme raised her disheartened eyes to scene that looked to be straight out of the horror film. Several of those dog-like monsters were missing heads, legs and tails, the whole floor was covered in blood and gore. The smell alone burnt Padme's eyes but seeing the sheer amount of guts on the floor made her spit the phlegm in her throat in disgust.
The Houk didn't look much better, sitting alone in the gore. He looked half dead, or rather completely dead, just barely hanging on with a shred of life. The first thing Padme noticed about him was that his entire body was covered in bite marks and deep gashes to the point that if by some miracle he ever did recover, half his body would be kept together by scar tissue. The next thing she noticed was that his large face was missing an eye and large chunk on the left side showing exposed bone.
"Oh god."
"You survived? Impressive." Padme couldn't be sure but it almost sounded as if Ventress was happy.
"Couldn't let a bunch of women outdo me."
"Vornskr have a mild venom in their tails? Can you still move?" Ventress asked slowly walking up towards him, disragaring the sexism.
Those were vornskr? She had read about them in Fett's book about Ysalamri. They were the natural predator of the reptiles back on Myrkr, though after the Ysalamri purge, the numbers had been reduced to endangerment due to lack of prey. It seemed that instead of putting the remaining last bits of the species in a conservation they instead brought them to this death planet in hopes that they would use their ability to sense force-sensitive creatures to hunt new students
Oh, that's why she hadn't ended up like the Houk. To them, a species that relied on their ability to sense things via the Force, she was basically no different than ant. Ironically her lack of Force powers had saved her.
How pathetic.
"Please," He tried to laugh. "It will take more than a little venom take me down."
Despite his bravado Padme noticed the strain in his voice. The venom was probably making his throat feel as if it was made of stone, then again he was also missing half his face which certainly couldn't have made it any easier.
"There is no way we could possibly carry him." She pointed out the obvious.
"Give me ten minutes, I'll be up on my feet." He tried to smile but the venom in his body just made it looked as if he was having a stroke as only half his face moved.
It would be dangerous, slow, and honestly Padme would have to drag him by whatever skin remained. Still, not impossible.
"Ten minutes?" Ventress twirled the saber in her hand. "A shame, I was actually beginning to hope you'd survive."
What was she talking about? Padme did suppose the risk of him bleeding out in less time than that was a major risk.
"You could try cauterising his wounds."
"Yes, I suppose I could." Ventress hummed. The red saber cut through the air, quick and fast. The Houk had layers of fat protecting him, it had been the only reason why the vornskr hadn't been able to rip out his carotid artery. However, compared to the jaws of a vornskr, a lightsaber didn't stop moving. His fat bubbled and seared, his muscles turned to vapor in seconds by the heated plasma. One moment Houk had a head and the next he didn't.
"What's wrong with you!"
"He was dead weight, we cannot afford to wait ten minutes in this fog. We are too far to let weakness cloud our judgement."
"We were almost there!"
"So was Orpheus," Ventress turned, her saber painfully ready to strike her down. "He too was a few steps away, yet he looked back."
Padme bit her tongue, angry that someone less cultured than her recited classic literature to her.
"I will not stumble at the finish line because you mistake moronicity for morality." Ventress sneered.
She never even learnt his name; in her mind she just referred to him as the large guy. Now he was just the dead guy. His one remaining eye glared at her, no doubt blaming her for his death. Maybe he had been right, that killing Ventress would have been the better option. Instead, she, who was so desperate to avoid any sort of confrontation, had inadvertently betrayed him. Did he blame her? Could have this all been avoided if she just listened to him.
Padme gave a kick to the Houk's head.
Judgemental arsehole.
A/N: This Chapter was originally like 16k words however I cut a huge part of Padme's perspective cause well… it wasn't good. It would have boosted word count sure but It really wasn't something I enjoyed re-reading. Sorry this has taken such a long time to update but lots of editing. Also took a big chunk of Anakin's part and put it to chapter 3 as it felt like a better cut off for his part and has made the next chapter already have 3k words. They were suppose to end this chapter at the Inquisition but as I was writing it I realised this is already quite long I haven't finished editing as I write this note and it's already above 8000 words.
Wooka = Dathomirian for Wookie. That and Jai for Jedi and Whuffa was the only known words according to the wiki
Omg have I been busy. Final year of uni so I have to do an intensive before I start prac which is just me spending 8am-5pm at Uni for a week followed by assignments due every two weeks. Fuck me im so tired. Work has been giving me more hours which is good cause im a broke bitch.
Anyway, I also finished the red rising series and on the third book of stormlight archives which is good. On one hand I enjoy Kaladin… on the other my god, I hate how easy Roshone got off with Kaladin. Such a great build up just for the most underwhelming confrontation. The two barely had any interaction.
I think if I had to say my favourite series/one off books I've read it would be.
Also this is not a ranking, idk which my favourite is, just these 3 are my top right now.
Red rising series
The first fifteen lives of Henry August
A Song Of Ice And Fire series (Winds of Winter is totally coming out this year T-T)
My gosh I didn't realise just how many bots are in this site. Every day it's _ would like to commission your story for a fanfic. And only half of those are good enough to actually put in the name of the message.