Rising From Ashes

Chapter 6 - Recovering

Warning: Non-consensual medical experimentation and abusive relationships

~ Tirana Sorki

Anakin Skywalker

Predictably, it's not until after he does more – I don't know how far it is, but since I can feel the throbbing when I'm awake traveling farther down my arm, he must be far – and when I'm half-unconscious that... something unexpected happens. Then again, everything for months now has been one unexpected after the next, so this isn't far more major than most.

Aniya isn't here right now; I'm not quite sure where she is, but not here, when I awaken, it's to sensing someone else present. It's the same blue Twi'lek that we had seen earlier that we couldn't identify.

"I knew I would find you here," he says, something icy in his voice. I've seen that look on people, the way he doesn't even attempt to conceal his rage or hatred, though for what, I don't even know.

"Who are you?" I rasp faintly. Anyone else, and I might ask how long it's been.

"That is of no concern to you, yet."

I twist instinctively, jerking against my restraints – I couldn't have been here for too long, considering I'm not terribly sore right now, though then again, I haven't been here constantly. I don't know why Plagueis leaves me here sometimes and not at others. But either way, I don't appreciate the other's closeness. At all.

"I'm not here for you," he continues, "I have a message for your master, for Darth Sidious."

Any other circumstances, and I'd have some very snippy commentary to throw back at him. Not now though. Instead, I only watch him warily.

"Tell him," he continues, "That there's nowhere he can escape from me. That there is nothing he can have that I won't take from him, after he did the same to me."

I blink a few times, refocusing. "You're one of his victims, aren't you?"

I don't know why I didn't expect the flare of rage I feel in the Force. I definitely didn't expect him to hit me. "Sith are not victims," he snarls, "I am more powerful now. Tell him what I said, boy."

A swell of anger burns inside me, the thing that always coils when someone looks at me as though I'm nothing. Maybe it's that I fear so much I'm not. "My name is Vader."

"I don't care what he calls you," the Twi'lek throws back. "You will only stay his for a short time. Lord Plagueis has far more important uses for you." I loathe how fear twists inside me every time I hear the name. I'm... scared of him. I can't help it.

And I don't know who this Twi'lek is. It's certainly not anyone I know of. No Jedi would react like that, and Krell doesn't count. It has to be something else, and it feels far more personal. "I don't belong to any of you."

"You will always belong to someone. You were made by him."

On that note, maybe some of that snipiness is coming back after all. "Everyone is made by someone," I throw back, "It's part of being human. Except clones, anyway."

He hisses, and I stubbornly refuse to flinch back, instead glaring back at him. "I am letting you return to him only because Lord Plagueis demands it. Tell him."

"Why should I give him a message from you when I don't know who you are?" The Dark Side is whispering to me now, telling me to lash out, to crush his neck, and for some reason, something about that feels strangely... something. I don't think Plagueis would appreciate it though, since this is clearly one of his science projects, too. On second thought, sassing back at someone when I'm still restrained isn't a good idea after all.