Chapter Text
Pain radiated from every corner of his body. His head hurt so badly that he couldn’t think; couldn’t breathe.
He sobbed as he felt himself being shifted. His bones felt like they were shattered, grinding together in a way that made him want to vomit.
Coughing, he nearly choked out, his vision swimming as fluid dripped from his lips.
He was ripped fully from unconsciousness by the blistering agony of movement, as he was forcibly turned to lie on his back.
Choking up blood and water, he gasped for breath, his lungs feeling like wells of torment. His vision swam, black and white lights marring his sight, reality blurring in and out of focus with pure blackness.
His head was throbbing, a concussion robbing him of higher thought.
There was only pain.
“Well, well, well. Look what we have here.” Came a low, gravelly drawl from above him. “If it ain’t Obi Wan Kenobi.”
He struggled to process the words, his brain feeling like it was melting. He felt like he should understand them, but his head hurt so much.
He squinted up, the dim light above him enough to sear his eyes, making him want to vomit again.
Above him, shadowed with an odd, wide-brimmed hat, festooned with more weapons than he could count, stood a blue skinned man with very, very sharp teeth and narrowed, crimson eyes.
The man grinned, feral, down at him.
“Just the man I was lookin’ for.” The man said, squatting down beside him.
The man held something strange in his hands. A metal device.
A collar.
It snapped around his neck, making him scream at the sudden shift of his body, and at the odd, horrifying hollowness that ripped through his soul as soon as it clicked shut.
He didn’t understand - what -
“I designed this collar special myself.” The man explained. “Extra strength, since I know you Jedi are real slippery. You in particular, Kenobi.”
Tears streamed down his face. He tried to open his mouth; to beg, to plead, he didn’t know. But his throat was so raw.
Why was it so raw? He struggled to understand, to remember -
“I need to be sure you can’t slip away this time. Not that you look like you can so much as move. Those clones sure did a number on you, it seems.”
He blinked, confused, panicking.
“You got quite a bounty on you already. Dead or alive. Lucky for you, alive pays more.”
The stranger rose, blocking out the sun high behind him with his odd hat.
He shivered, feeling shrouded in darkness suddenly.
“And I intend to collect. After all, everyone should know that Cad Bane is the best Bounty Hunter in the galaxy.”
The darkness closed in tighter, making his vision start to go black.
He passed out.