"Laughs viciously"

He's here.

"Now, let's see what that fire of yours is capable of against real droids."

That fire, apparently, wasn't of much use. Or else they wouldn't have sent me here, where I could use everything but that fire. Here, where I could end multiple already jeopardized life's with but a single misguided flame like I had destroyed those on Coruscant months before.

Yes, months. Months without seeing anyone I knew, without word from anyone besides Anakin. He'd keep me updated on the war but every time I asked if I could help, he avoided the question and ended the call.

The jedi had decided they had no use for me after all. Maybe it was the fact that there was an ancient sith lord after me, which the little stunt in the training room made very clear, that made them decide to exile me. Or maybe it was the fact that they knew another sith lord was still haunting me to this very day, all be it less frequently. The fact that his dark power had aided me that day was an absolute no-go though, that much was sure. 

Fire wasn't what they wanted from me. But there was one other thing I could do that they needed.

"Doctor Fireheart, the patient is ready." A voice called from the door.

My back straightened as I sighed. Doctor, that was what I had become once more.

I turned around from the window looking out at the empty space outside the ship and glanced towards one of the assistants I had been working with for weeks and nodded. We were in a medical frigate in the middle of unoccupied space, stationed between two of the most brutal warfronts. I had almost memorized those stars outside my window, the way they flickered, the schedules of the ships arriving at the ports.

It wasn't bad. I had gotten my own office, got to choose my own team and quarters. I'd been working as a surgeon for the Republic; helping the clone troopers that had gotten wounded in battle. It was a bloody and messy job but at least it made sure those lives were saved instead of being discarded for the 'weapons' they were to the senators.

The patient we were going to operate on now was much different though. For that I was thankful, for I already knew the bodies of those clones inside out. The only variance was what kind of shrapnel I would find imbedded in some organ.

I silently made my way through the halls, glancing down at the blue OR clothes I was wearing and making sure all my hair had been pulled into the hat. No, this patient was one of the residents of a nearby planet. The ruler, to be exact, of a planet filled with precious spice mines that we traded with. He was one of the few who agreed to help us, one of the few to supply us with the much-needed medication.

Of course, the man had gotten a genetic tumour that I was the only one qualified enough in the vicinity to remove. It had been there all his life but had now gotten too large and had been causing symptoms for some time now. I stepped into the operating room and quickly disinfected my hands, noting the assistants I would be working with as they chatted away and handed me the sterile coat, helping me put on the gloves too.

"We've got royalty today, doc." The main assistant smiled at me when I had joined her at the table with the already sleeping patient and handed me the scalpel for the first incision.

They had no idea who I really was and I couldn't find the courage to tell them. "Oh, really?" Faking a smile, I almost subconsciously started the operation, opening the abdomen from the top to bottom. She kept handing me the exact instruments I needed, used to my way of operating after working together for so long.

"Yes, and a famous one at that, he, -" She continued on and on about him, telling the stories of how he ruled his people and how he became one of the biggest players in the spice trade.

I wasn't even listening. All I heard was a loud ringing tone in my head as my mind drifted off, to that one planet I was supposed to rule. The freedom there, the glorious feeling of the wind that would drift through my hair as I flew, the people that weren't as uptight as all the Republic officials I met here.

I was supposed to be free. To be able to fly whenever I wanted to, to use the magic that was roaring through my veins and to fight for what I believed in. Not being cooked up in some random medical facility far from anything important where there was no room big enough to be able to stretch my wings to their full length.

They could've at least discussed it with me instead of discarding me like some object they didn't need anymore. Even Obi Wan hadn't felt the need to inform me himself before placing me on a ship taking me to the middle of nowhere just days after the incident. He hadn't even felt the need to contact me since, despite the numerous calls and messages I had sent to him.

84 days. I sighed as scanned the operating area, pulling myself out of my head.

"Hey, Elide?" I stopped in the middle of the operation, glancing at the spot where the tumour was supposed to be. The assistant stopped her story, glancing at me warily. "Are you sure we got the right patient?"

"Yes, of course." She scoffed and then followed my line of sight. "He's got a tumour on the upper right corner, -" She seemed to hesitate. "Oh."

Our eyes met over the opened abdomen. "Did we do a scan before the surgery?"

"We thought it wouldn't be necessary, since his personal doctor already did." Elide's eyes were widened, her surprised smirk not visible under the mouth mask she was wearing. "It was genetic, after all. Everyone on his father's side got it, there's no chance he didn't inherit it."

"Right." I started closing the wound after making sure the tumour was nowhere to be found. "So, should I tell his father, or should you?" Smirking slightly, our eyes connected again.

Elide chuckled softly as she handed me the stitches. "Better keep it to yourself, doc." She watched as I sutured the wound together. "Or else we might find ourselves in need of spice again."

"Mmh." Scoffing softly when I finished, I pulled off my coat after having stepped away. "I'll write it in the report and talk to the patient about it. It's not our place, after all, to bring out the news."

"He'll no doubt want to silence you."

I shrugged before I headed towards the exit. "I can't say anything unless he wants me to. If he doesn't trust me enough not to, well, he can try."

~

With my fingers tangled in my hair, I looked at the pile of reports I was supposed to fill in. It was already 8 pm, and I was still in the operating wing of the station. There were some assistants there, some of whom I suspected to be doing nothing at all but still wanted to keep me company through all of it.

My concentration had been gone for some weeks now. I did what I had to do, but there was always that yearning for something more. To be able to do more than heal those that came to me, to be able to prevent them from getting hurt in the first place.

But what was unnerving me the most was this constant ringing in my head. It had started back on Coruscant but had gotten way worse the moment I had arrived here. At first I could always feel the crackling of the fire under my skin, a soothing feeling that let me know that I was alive. Yet here, that fire had diminished.

Together with the magic Arthas disappeared. It started with less appearances, followed by the ability to speak mere sentences before he wavered. At the end, I hadn't even spotted him for days. I didn't know whether I was glad or if it made me feel even more alone.

There was so little life here. Made entirely out of metal, the ship didn't contain anything of the wild nature I had grown used to on my home planet. The fact that about half of the people that were here were dying didn't exactly even out the amount of life on the ship. It was draining me and had taken its toll on my own powers.

I closed my eyes, focussing on the force that played around, searching for those little signs of life to fuel the growing need.

It was peaceful, until a loud alarm suddenly sounded and the lights shut off. Everyone close to me let out a startled yelp, their eyes glancing at the red flickering light at the door. I merely glanced up as the others started panicking. "What is happening?" One of them stood up and ran out, looking for anyone with an explanation.

I, on the contrary, tried to focus even deeper and found something that hadn't been there at first. A dark presence, coming nearer still. There were tendrils of anger that surrounded him or her, a vicious aura that seemed to silence everything around it. When the ship shook suddenly and clanging of metal on metal was heard, my eyes opened again.

"We're being boarded!" Another assistant yelled from the hallway.

"By whom?" I stood up abruptly, hands leaning on the desk.

"We don't know, some pirate!" Fear filled her eyes before she ran away. "You should get to safety, doctor!" She yelled as she passed.

"What in hell are they doing here?" Growling, I scanned my desk for the answers I was searching until my eyes spotted the report of the surgery that day and realization hit me. He is a bastard. A bastard, and a king. "Fuck!" I cursed and immediately raced to the hallway with the report in my hand. "Elide!"

The assistant turned towards me as she was escorting the personnel out of the wing. "Is there anywhere else where they could find the report of the surgery?" I dangled the paper in my hand.

"I don't know, I..." She realized what I was getting at. "There was a file that I made, it's on the main computer. We'll have to erase it but it's in the exact wing they've boarded."

"All right, just get everyone out of that wing!" I immediately raced towards it, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

"Doctor! It's not safe!" Elide yelled after me. "We should wait for the Jedi!"

I didn't even hear her protests but could only feel the temporal relief. Finally. I could finally do what I was meant to do. My hand instinctively reached for lightbringer at my side but found nothing except for the OR clothes I was still wearing. It was all the way back in my quarters. "Bloody hell." I cursed again before I snatched one of the scalpels off the tray as I passed, running through the hallways and losing my clogs along the way till I arrived at the location I was looking for and pushed the door wide open.

The halls, much to my relief, had already been evacuated. The lights were flickering, the red casting eery shadows as the alarm still sounded loudly through my head. I could disconnect this part of the ship after I had gotten what I needed, leaving the pirates to float through space until help arrived.

"All right, main computer." Eyes scanning, they found their mark one room further, a storage facility and part of the lab. The walls were made out of glass from the middle to the ceiling. It wasn't the best way to hide from the pirates, I realized, but I had to get that file.

I sprinted towards it, pressing the buttons and logging in. There was a loading screen next, making me curse under my breath as I glanced towards the hallway. Voices were coming closer, heavy footsteps sounded on the metal surface. "Come on, come on." Mumbling, I pulled up the correct file and downloaded it onto a disk. That presence, that furious presence, it was coming closer and suffocating me, as if it was pressing me underwater, deep down on the bottom of the ocean.

Another loading screen appeared and I cursed even louder, until a sudden harsh voice disrupted me. "- the surgery was this afternoon, so there has to be a report already waiting." It was a somewhat softer voice than I had expected but considering the static I heard waver through it I knew it was a hologram.

"Good." A more deep, low voice sounded after that send chills running up my spine. I recognized that voice but couldn't quite place it yet. "We'll have the report and then..." I duck underneath the cabinets hiding me from view from the hallway, holding in my breath as footsteps came closer. "then we can finally call the planet ours." The pounding in my head grew worse with each second.

"We'll have to convince the people first, Maul." The static voice continued.

My heart skipped a beat. Shit, shit, shit. I chanted inside my head as my eyes widened. That was how I knew his voice. I had heard it when I ventured into Obi Wan's memories. But he wasn't here for me, was he? My gaze darted towards the screen and found it at only at 60%. There was no way he knew what had happened between Obi Wan and me, no way he knew where I even had been stationed.

"Yes, yes but it will finally be within our grasp." Maul came even closer and I heard his metallic footsteps clinging on the floor, making me shudder with each thud. I sprang forward when the file was done transferring, half crouched as I then went to delete the file from the computer. I should've been hidden from his sight, had it not been for what I heard next.

"Turn right here." the holographic voice ordered and I immediately jumped back behind the low cabinets. Crawling slightly, I went to the corner and peeked around only to see his tall figure, red body with black tattoos swirling over his bare chest and those yellow sith eyes scanning the room. Fuuuuck.

I ducked back when his eyes went towards the spot I was hiding and cursed under my breath as I held the scalpel tightly in my fist. Oh, I'm in deep, deep trouble. I didn't even bring a normal weapon, what had I been thinking? The next string of words in my mind were full curses.

"Wait." Maul said just a few feet from where I was hiding. "I sense... a presence."

Fuck, fuck!

"Should I call in the others?"

I had to act. I had to keep the element of surprise. But would that mean that I would run, or fight?

No. I was tired of running.

"No." Maul stepped even closer and I could feel the force around him, the anger that he radiated, the anguish that consumed him. "This one is all mine." A dark chuckle followed but instead of worsening the fear, it only made me suck in a deep breath. "I sense... anger. Such sweet, delightful hatred." I heard him sniff loudly, as if he was trying to catch the scent.

He spoke the next words slowly as he took one last step towards my hiding place.

"Who are you?"

Me: Sees votes and comments drop dramatically when I update early

Sooo... You like late updates, huh?

Hehehehe

I can do that