MOONDUST ▷ OBI-WAN KENOBI

CHAPTER XII. strangers

☆ | CHAPTER TWELVE; STRANGERS.

{"how strange it is that after all that, we are strangers again"}

The view from General Grievous's flagship was chaotically beautiful. The Battle of Coruscant was a mess of Separatist and Republic forces, explosions and blaster fire lighting up the sky above the ecumenopolis. Out in the action, it must've been incredibly overwhelming, with massive ships soaring through space, firing their best weaponry to defeat the opposite side. However, from the other side of the glass in the observation room of the flagship, it almost looked peaceful. Various ships danced around each other like brightly colored fish, the explosions looking less like fatal occurrences and more so like flowers blooming atop the downed vehicles.

Ingrid Faye's gaze was torn from the battle erupting in front of her by a sudden feeling that ran through her, sending chills up her spine as if she had been doused in a bucket of ice water. She turned around, as if expecting the originator of the sensation to be standing behind her, but she found nothing. In the observation room, she was alone. However, there was a new presence on the ship that still occupied her mind.

It was a presence she was very familiar with. One that she once welcomed, it was now a threatening existence that she had learned to despise. She had come face-to-face with this powerful force many times since they became enemies many years ago, but every time she felt him close by, it felt the same as it had the first time they stood on opposite sides. Her feelings, which she had been instructed by her new master, Count Dooku, to embrace- rather than suppress- and channel into power, were strongest around this enemy, which not only gave her more power than ever, but often threw her off balance.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was both her strength, and her weakness.

Ingrid turned around quickly, her midnight-black cape billowing out behind her as she marched out of the observation room with the intention of making her way to the bridge, where General Grievous resided. Her Master hated Grievous; he thought him to be a repulsive disgrace to existence. He spat upon the general's choice to replace most of his body with cybernetics until he was more machine than living creature, but Ingrid always found him fascinating. What sort of devotion to a cause would motivate someone to replace their own body with robotics in order to better serve their cause? Certainly nothing Ingrid was capable of.

A side effect of the limb replacements Grievous underwent was a hacking cough, and Ingrid could hear the barking noise even before she stepped through the doors to the bridge. Once she entered, the droid guards fell into their designated positions in a silent salute as she walked past. She wasn't exactly sure where she stood when it came to the hierarchy of the Separatists- certainly not as high as her Master- but she commanded much respect and was treated as such.

"Furiosa," General Grievous greeted her, bowing his head as she approached him. Under the tutelage of the Count, Ingrid had earned a new name, but even after nearly two years of having that identity, it still felt foreign to her.