I woke up with an awful headache.

It didn't help that I could strongly smell metal and dried blood, almost making me feel sick to my stomach. I tried to reach up to my head, but quickly realized that my hands were tied behind my back.

My grogginess instantly vanished as I assessed my situation, finding out that I was sitting in the middle of a small cell, the awfully familiar sound of clanking chains right behind me. My stomach dropped as the realization sunk in.

I was back at the orphan farm, captured and tied once again.

I growled in panic as I tried to free myself, almost coughing as I leaned a bit too forward, causing the metal collar on my neck yank me backwards.

My breathing felt quick and shallow, as I felt like a helpless child once again. I felt like I was transported straight into my very nightmares.

"Ah, the fucking rat is awake." A raspy voice mockingly said as a man emerged from the dark hallway to stop in front of the metal gate. He pressed a code and it came sliding open, and as soon as he entered the cell with better lighting, my blood ran cold upon recognizing him.

He looked a lot older, but I still recognized him as the man who used to torture me.

He sat down to look at me at eye level, a disgustingly amused smile plastered on his face. "Funny how fate is, eh? You, the little fucker worth only ten credits, would eventually be worth ten thousand?"

He chuckled. "What did you even do to piss off the hutts that bad?"

My brow twitched at that newfound knowledge. So they don't know what was the item I stole?

"None of your fucking business." I spat out. He immediately slapped me across the face.

"Grown some balls, huh?" He scoffed. "You think you're all important now? Just because you have a bounty on your head?"

He grabbed my hair to harshly yank my head backwards. "You're still just a fucking rat that came from us. We dressed you, fed you, gave you a place to grow up because your own fucking mama threw you away because she couldn't be bothered keeping you. Whether you like it or not you owe us, so have some fucking respect!"

My eyes widened at his words. "I was... thrown away?"

"Aw, you didn't know?" He pouted mockingly. "Your mama left you on the streets like she just dumped some trash. That's why it was so easy for us to find you."

"FUCK YOU!" I screamed and spat at him. It disgusted me how he could mock my orphanhood so casually. At the same time, I felt a newfound pain at the knowledge that my supposed mother left me on her own accord. I always just assumed that I was forcefully taken. Or she died at childbirth.

But finding out that I was so willingly thrown away, I felt an overwhelming feeling of hurt and betrayal. I felt my sense of self crumble into pieces.

As I expected, he slapped me once again for talking back. "The hutts said we should take you alive, but they didn't say anything about torture."

He chuckled menacingly as he started to unclip something from the back of his belt, and I was quick to recognize it as the black whip I dreaded so much.

"No--" I started to plead, but was cut off as he kicked my torso at an angle so I fell on the floor facing down.

"This ought to silence your dirty mouth."

"NO!" I screamed as the first whip landed on my back. I choked out a tear at the searing pain.

I hoped it was just a nightmare. I hoped I was bound to wake up soon, with Qimir shaking me awake back into the cave I started to feel solace in. But then everything that happened in our last encounter came crashing back on me, how I treated him like a complete stranger, yet he still chose to bring me to safety in his last moments despite what I did.

With the way he got sucked out straight into space, I doubt anyone could even survive that. The guilt that I was the one that brought him to Collossus gnawed me to my core, asked him to risk his life, only for me to get captured and give up.

I can't give up now.

As I felt the third whip land across my back, I bit back my scream and instead, I pulled my knees closer to my chest to sit up. I closed my eyes and focused, internalizing my pain just as Qimir had taught me.

Then I felt it. I felt the force building up within me, waiting to be unleashed. Every searing pain I felt only increased its magnitude, pushing its boundaries, trying to claw itself out of me.

And just as I felt it became unbearable, I released the force with a scream.

A shockwave shook the entire room and beyond, sending the man flying against the metal gate. The force was hard enough to knock him unconscious, and I was quick to take the opportunity to free myself. I looked down at my hip and sighed in relief as I saw the dagger was still there. Thankfully he was dumb enough not to confiscate it.

With just a little reach, it was easy to cut the ropes binding me, but as for the metal collar on my neck, I could only manage to detach the chain using the force, but not the mechanism of the collar itself. I left the collar be and diverted my attention to escaping as my top priority.

Thankfully the gate had been slightly misaligned from the shockwave earlier, so it was easy to pry open. Having no idea how to navigate this fucking place, I I started running to whichever direction hoping that it led to the exit.

As I reached the staircase, I stopped in my tracks as three men appeared. Their eyes widened at the sight of me, quickly realizing that I was supposed to be their captive. Cursing, I changed direction and ran to an alternative route.

The place honestly felt like a fucking maze. The hallways were long so there really wasn't anywhere else to hide, and I could only hope that another doorway would magically appear so I can lose the men hot on my tail.

But of course, luck was not on my side as I eventually reached a dead end. Cursing under my breath, I withdrew the dagger on my hip and held it tightly in my hand as I faced the men, whose smiles were menacing as they realized their advantage, unsheathing their own blades as well.

I bent my knees at a defensive stance and just as the first one charged towards me, I easily dodged him and managed to slice his stomach causing him to double over in pain. The second one attempted to stab me straight in the face, but I managed to crouch down and kick his knee, producing an awful cracking sound.

Perhaps it was because I've gotten used to Qimir's quick movements during our sparring, that these men's movements felt too slow for me.

The third man, seeing how I easily subdued his companions, screamed in fury and charged blindly, enabling me to easily flip him over, his own momentum causing him to painfully smack on the floor. I stabbed him once on the chest, making sure he won't be getting up anytime soon.

I wondered myself why I was suddenly so comfortable stabbing people despite being so horrified with my first kill back then.

Perhaps, it was the adrenaline pumping through my veins. Or maybe it was the fact that these people were involved in this child trafficking syndicate, and that it was hard for me to see them as human beings.

Capturing and torturing children-- it was better off to call them animals.

I started running once again back to the direction of the staircase earlier, now realizing that it was the only way out of this floor. As I reached the area joining the two hallways and the staircase, I saw another group of men--around five of them--running towards me from the other hallway. I thought I was going to be able to runaway from them as the staircase was wide open, but I suddenly felt a stun gun connect with my back, causing me to drop as an electric shock coursed throughout my body.

It was a good five seconds before the electricity stopped, leaving me no choice but to writhe on the floor in pain. I felt someone forcefully grab my hair to lift up my head.

"You think you can run away from us again?" The painfully familiar voice of my then torturer hissed into my ear. I could only whimper at my futile effort on escape, knowing that I was bound to undergo another set of whipping after pissing them off.

All of a sudden a red ominous light shone from the top of the staircase, together with the sound of metal being sliced and burnt. It was like the air thickened as a thick, heavy aura started to envelope the entire place.

I'd recognize this aura anywhere.

The torturer must have noticed this as well because he was quick to make me stand up and headlock me, pointing a knife right into my neck to hold me as hostage.

Sure enough, a dark figure slowly descended the stairs, his red lightsaber dragging across the metal floor, leaving a trail of burnt metal. His stone cold gaze pierced through the dark space, holding nothing but murderous intent. His hair was disheveled, arms and face splattered with blood, looking like he just crawled straight out of hell.

I could only whisper in disbelief.

"Qimir."

*****