To Pay in Blood - Luke Skywalker

Chapter 1

Mountains - Warrior Cats MAP ^^^ (I know it's Warrior cats, but just focus on the song!)

LUKE'S POV

Luke was struggling to suppress the ragging shivers that slithered violently over his body as he lay restless on the metal slab protruding from the ash-coloured wall of his cell, his azure gaze frantically flying from each corner of the solitary room, his features pale and sickly. The strong, iron-like bindings around his wrists kept him from even caressing the Force with his senses, causing him to shrink physically and emotionally into himself, his very soul coiling into a tight sphere to protect the only kindle of light remaining in his being from the darkness that continued its unrelenting assault to drag him beneath the surface once again.

A venomous chill seeped into his lungs. His heart was logged so harshly within his throat that he felt as though he was suffocating. The frigid feeling of ice rendering through his veins only served to remind him of ghosts, of visions that he wished he could some how snuff out and never relive again.

Glimmering dots of scarlet littered the walls and floors of the cell, hazy in his sight that was gradually filling with watery diamonds and he couldn't resist remembering the blood, envisioning it pouring forth from his victims, coating his hands in thick, oozing red; those hands would never be clean again... Their screams still rattled in his brain, vibrating agonisingly within his skull, so stomach-curdling that his insides lurched at the memory.

He longed for something to break the silence of the cell, the soundlessness taunting him as his thoughts grew steadily more urgent, shrieking for his attention. He hated the lack of distraction. Being trapped in the frigid void of misery that carved ruthlessly into his soul with the sharpness of a blunt dagger. Being barricaded in his mind that had been warped by darkness, clinging to him like a plague that would never part from him until death finally ripped it away...

A tear slipped from his eye, trailing down his cheek like a rain drop along a windowpane, leaving a hot, salted streak in its wake. It was soon followed by another, and then another until they had completely flooded every inch of his skin. A searing pain expanded at the back of his throat as he struggled to not allow the final remnants of himself to shatter. He loathed every living, breathing heartbeat that weaselled by since his redemption, even more so now that he was stuck within this cell, darkness his only companion, doomed to wallow in his mistakes for all eternity. He gnashed down mercilessly on his lip, attempting to draw blood, to stir some sort of physical pain in hopes of driving away the raw guilt, the excruciating realisation of what he'd done. He would be willing to endure a laser being plunged into his abdomen than handle the emotions that caused his heart to shred into multiple pieces.

To only add to his smothering torture, a swirling darkness was ravenously eating away at his sanity, whispering to him in cruel flirtation, so seductive that Luke could hardly bear to ignore how it promised to resolve his pain, to cease his suffering, if only he could just fall back into it mitts... Yet he knew that the darkness was just a charade; each promise was just another lie, a phoney, trying to shake him, to fool him once again. It would merely be a quick fix, like an intoxicating drug, quenching his pain, yet never completely ridding it from him. He longed to hold onto the tiny beam of light that still flickered inside him, like a child clinging desperately to its mother, yet he feared the darkness would soon build too high and the light would flicker out once again, unable to handle the weight of the torrents of blackness crashing over it.

Luke knew the darkness would never truly leave him. He'd fallen too far within its depths for it to have not left a stain on his heart, for it to have not tainted his soul. Had it not been for his father's unwavering hope, he would still be caged within the void, the devil still playing its wicked games. If he was to ever slip from the ledge and fall back into the awaiting chains of the dark side, he knew he wouldn't return again.

Luke yearned to sleep, to allow his drooping eyelids to fall and his rigid limbs to ease, yet he knew there was no relief from the horrors that ravaged his dreams. With his arms quivering, Luke raised himself to his feet, finding only torment in lying down as he staggered to the opposite wall, folding his arms against the chilling, scathing surface of its black panels before burying his face into his palms. A strangled cry slid passed his lips as his tears dribbled from his eyes, cascading down his hands and arms, drenching the sleeves of his shirt. With the Galaxies prying eyes excluded from his pitiful cell, he allowed himself to succumb to the anguish riddling his soul, barely able to breathe as sobs quaked his frail form, horrid memories streaming ceaselessly through his brain.

How had he reached this point, you might ask? Luke wasn't honestly sure himself. It had began with an innocent mistake, one that many would risk to keep there loved ones alive, yet it had gradually grown into a debt that he'd never be able to pay. Most was a hazy blur of violence, of blood, of agony and he was disgusted with himself to admit that he had once relished in it, that he had once enjoyed the monstrous feeling of senseless murder, of inexcusable death.

What had happened was now carved into the deepest depth of his soul and he would never be free of it again...

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Hey guys!

I hope you're excited, because this is the first Luke Skywalker fanfiction I've ever done! I'm very happy to be introducing it to all of my Wattpad and FanFiction readers!

So, the little twist in the tail; this story (or Novelette as I like to call it), as you can tell is going to be a flashback story. I've never done it before, so please bear with me and if you have any feedback or ways I can improve, there is a line between constructive and rude, so keep that in mind.

Thanks you guys!

M. Elyse Lynch