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Anakin's POV
My ears rang while being engulfed with the light sound of drops dribbling down into a small puddle of maroon. My vision was blurred, with only the small sight of a deep scarlet covering the floor at my feet. I watched as each drop fell from my many wounds; distracting myself from the pain of the torturous inflictions, as well as the pain of my broken heart.

"Baby stop." I whispered weakly, my head hanging low with little to no energy to hold it up anymore.

I was gazing at the puddle near my feet; noticing a bare foot stepping into it, "Not yet," The woman I love, my torturer; placed her finger under my chin and lifted my head up for me so our eyes could meet, "Not until I'm satisfied." She brought up her other hand, and cupped my face in her palms. The mask on her face; hiding most of her features from me.

"Are you actually enjoying this?" I whispered as she used her bare thumb to wipe blood from my mouth.

She was quiet for a moment; her gaze scanning my features with a small amount of empathy in her eyes, "No," She admitted, "Every time I hurt you, I feel the pain as if it's my own."

"Then stop." I begged.

She slowly shook her head, "I can't, not until I no longer feel it. Not until I get rid of the weakness."

I sighed weakly; her palms being the only things holding my head up from falling, "Just know-" I whimpered as her amber gaze bore intently into mine; tears of pain falling from my eyes, "That I love you, even now; even while you're hurting me, I still love you (y/n)." I cried, and she immediately dropped my head down; removing her hold on me.

"I thought we've been through this," She sighed heavily, her foot leaving the puddle of my blood, and it marked her steps on the floor as she walked towards a dresser, "You don't love me, you never did." She placed the bloodied knife into the drawer, before closing it with her knee, "My fatal condition alone is a symbol of that."

"But (y/n) I-"

"No, no." She raised her hand and closed her fist; using the force to close my mouth before I could finish my defense with the truth. The truth that has been hidden from her for so long, "I'm done hearing your fabrications." She turned around, and grabbed ahold of another object that I couldn't see; her force hold on me was still in effect so I couldn't speak.

She faced me once more with a lightsaber in her hand, and her eyes locked with mine; she ignited it. The crimson light illuminated her sickening eyes, and reflected off of her black mask. She looked vicious, the complete opposite of the sweet woman I once held close to my heart.

But even as I'm hanging here in pain, covered in my own blood; I love her. I know my girl is in there somewhere; hiding, too afraid to come out and face everything that's happened. She truly believes that no one loves her, that I don't love her.. that I gave up on her, but I haven't.

My lost angel has fallen victim to Sidious's treacherous lies. I just wish I knew how to get her to listen to the truth.

"Do you remember that time I was taken aboard the malevolence," She began as she slowly walked towards me, a hint of mischief in her eyes, "And tortured by General Grievous?"

She released her hold on me so I was finally able to speak again, "I do remember." I mumbled in a weak whisper.

"So," She stood in front of me and brought the lightsaber dangerously close to my face, "Do you also happen to remember what you said to me before I left that day?"

I slowly nodded, my gaze being stuck on the red light that was making me sweat with nervousness, "Something that I didn't mean."

I told her that I hated her.. when it was really the complete opposite. In a way, telling her I hated her, was my own fucked up way of telling her that I love her; not that it makes it right. But I was so stupid back then, I never should've been as immature as I was. Maybe if I never abandoned our friendship all those years ago, things would've been different now. I could've protected her longer, I could've been married to her and spent years proving my love to her. But I was childish, another reason why this is all my fault.

"Or so you claim," She shrugged while bringing the light to my cheek and scorching the flesh. The room was pervaded with the screams of my suffering. The sound of the skin sizzling was next to my ear, and it made me unbelievably nauseous.

After a few agonizing moments, she finally stopped, and pulled the blade away from me. I sighed with relief, but I could still feel the stinging pain, as well as smell the burnt flesh.

"My turn, since we're going down memory lane," I spoke boldly while I was breathing stiffly; trying to recuperate from her torturous act that was mild compared to her previous ones, "Do you remember that I came looking for you; and that I tended to your wounds for nearly two hours? I even talked you through your pain, and let you you hold my hand when it was too much for you." She keeps thinking of all the horrible things I've done, ignoring all the good - so I thought I'd remind her, "Or what about the day I proposed?"

A year I've been on the run, and I've met countless women in that time; some came with offers.. offers that I refused because no one could ever compare to the woman in front of me.

Something flashed through her eyes, but it was gone before I could comprehend what it was. She then remained silent, and slowly brought the red light towards the corner of my forehead, "Hm, how would you like a matching scar?" She threatened, completely ignoring what I said; making me believe that it actually made her feel something. So she's resuming to torture, to push that feeling away.

I swallowed nervously when she began lowering it down, but I was thankfully saved by a knock on the door.

She groaned; pulling the weapon away from me, and retracting the crimson blade, "Come in." She instructed the unknown person, well, unknown to me. She however probably knew who it was.

The door slid open quickly, revealing Cal. He eyed me for a moment with an emotionless expression, before his gaze shifted to his master, "Admiral Tarkin will be arriving shortly." He informed her, and she rolled her eyes; spinning away from me to walk out of the door. Cal eyed her casual appearance in confusion. She wasn't in her dark armor that she had on when I first saw her. Instead she wore a gray long sleeve—covered in my blood—with black leggings, and no shoes, "Are you not going to change?" He asked her.

She shook her head, walking right past him out of the door, "He's not important enough." She uttered before disappearing from our view; not even bothering to give either of us another glance.

Cal waved the door closed, before strutting over to me. His eyes scanning the the floor, as well as the multiple wounds inflicted upon me, "Not even I expected her to be able to go this far. I know I couldn't have if Ahsoka was in your place." He sighed; turning away and walking towards the bathroom, before reappearing with a wet cloth.

"The (y/n) we once knew, isn't there anymore." I told him, even though it wasn't something I believed. But as someone who is constantly with her, I wanted to hear his view.

He brought the warm cloth up, and began cleaning the blood from my torso, "I wouldn't be so sure," The corner of his lips tugged like he wanted to smile, but he suppressed it, "Just last week, she sent Jimmy to Coruscant on a french fry and milkshake run."

French fries and milkshakes, she always had a strange obsession with that combination. Wait did he just say- "Jimmy is alive?" I asked in surprise.

He nodded while bringing the cloth up towards my face, where he cleaned the burn, "All of the four are, she still favors them, protects them, loves them even. Although she won't say it out loud."

Realization crossed my mind, "That's why you had Max leave on Tatooine, to protect him."

Cal nodded, "The clones were meant to be sacrificed to give the illusion of you winning. Lilith would've had my head if Max was among the fallen. Not literally, but she definitely wouldn't have been happy with me." He sighed, folding the bloody cloth to clean side before going into his pocket and pulling out a healing gel.

There really is a part of her in there, and it may be more present than I initially thought. Because if she was fully consumed, she wouldn't care for the clones, or even Cal for that matter. I feel like there is this part of her thats hanging on by a very thin thread.

"This is for the burn," He gently placed the gel on my cheek, making me wince at the sudden coldness.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked suspiciously. She didn't order him to do this, he was doing it on his own accord.

"Truthfully," He continued softly applying the gel, and the pain from the burn was slowly subsiding; bringing me relief, "I feel sorry for you." He backed away as he capped the gel closed, and wiped his hands on the clean side of the cloth, "I hated you for so long, thinking that you did everything to her." He looked back up to me as he threw the cloth into my blood on the floor, "But I took a trip to Mustafar, and it was there that I discovered I had a new ability." He placed his boot on top of the cloth so the scarlet liquid soaked through it, "Are you familiar with force echo?"

I slowly shook my head, "No, I wasn't the best when it came to my studies." I tended to get distracted with (y/n), a lot.

"To put it simply, I can sometimes see the past if I touch an object solely connected to it." He used the force to pick the cloth up from the floor, that had small drops of red falling from it, "Even your dried up blood from when Sidious attempted to murder you." He flung the cloth away from us, landing it in a bin not far from where we were.

"So you saw?"

He nodded, his green eyes meeting mine once more, "I saw everything, from the moment he stabbed you, to the moment he took her; while you laid there crying, helpless." I opened my mouth to speak, to beg for him to help me get her to see the truth. But just as Lilith did before, he used the force to stop me from talking, "This still changes nothing. We were both wronged by the order, tortured mentally, and physically," He placed his hand on his chest where his scar was while his green eyes shifted back to amber, "Ahsoka still broke my heart and tried to kill me when all I wanted to do was protect her. And you did the same to (y/n), even if you happened to change your mind in the end." He growled angrily, "At one point, you both abandoned us, leaving our shattered souls for Sidious to pick at. So now we're here, and we're trapped in his web of lies with no way out other than death; so accept it." He released his hold on me, and turned around to leave the room.

"No," I mumbled; prompting him to stop just as he reached the door with his back to me, "You may have given up, but I can't. I won't."

I heard a growl come from him, and in one swift motion, he grabbed his lightsaber from his belt, and ignited it. He quickly threw it in my direction, and my eyes widened as I watched the blade come close to me; only for it stop when it was barely an inch away from piercing through my chest.

"What the hell are you doing?" An angered mechanical voice boomed as the lightsaber flew away from my chest, landing in Liliths grasp; her fury-filled eyes were on Cal as she caught it, and retracted the light.

He stiffened and looked down to the floor in shame, "I'm sorry Master, I let my anger get the better of me." He quickly defended his actions.

She got closer to him, and I could see the fear slowly creeping up until he was nearly shaking, "Cal," She placed his lightsaber under his chin, and used it to lift his gaze, "I may love you, but if you ever try to kill him again, you will meet the end of my own." She pushed his lightsaber into his chest, and even he appeared to be surprised by her murderous threat.

He nodded slowly, his eyes watering, "I understand Master." He spoke low, his shaky voice coming out in a whisper.

"Good, now go to your room." She tilted her head towards the door. He bowed to her, his glassy eyes meeting mine quickly, before he turned around fully, and left in a speed walk. Lilith turned her head slowly to face me, "Teenagers." She rolled her eyes, while bringing her hands up to her mask so she could remove it.

"You wouldn't really kill him would you?" I asked as she fully removed the mask, and winced slightly at the feeling of the unfiltered air.

She looked up to my eyes, and the vile yellow appeared darker than usual, if that's even possible. It was almost as if I could see that thin thread that her last bit of humanity was hanging onto—slowly tearing, "I like to consider myself to be capable of a lot of things." She spoke in her raspy, yet normal tone, "I do hope you're comfortable like that by the way," She pointed to my restraints, as she turned and walked over to the egg-like structure in the corner, "I just had an exhausting meeting, that resulted in two dead captains, I'd rather call it a day." She pressed a few buttons for the structure to open, and she stepped inside of it; before sitting down, and closing her eyes.

She sleeps in that thing?

"Do try to keep quiet, I would like more than only a couple hours," She spoke without opening her eyes, and the structure closed around her, until she was no longer in my view.

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What do you think is happening to Lilith?
Do you think torturing Anakin is changing her in any way? Let me know your theories!
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