Heated

36

It's been five days since Stryker left.

Anguish and despair seemed to be the only emotion I have felt since.

Not because I miss him. Well maybe I do. Not the Stryker that tried to kill me, but the Stryker that was my friend.

Was.

He's gone now.

I miss Alec, Lux, and Jaxxon too.

They're not gone, they just haven't wanted anything to do with me since. I don't blame them.

All within five minutes, they almost witnessed their friend die, get banished, and believed I betrayed them.

I only attempted to talk to them once.

"Alec please, talk to me." I stopped him in one of the meeting rooms.

Like ice, he snaps my name. My real name, not Bolts. And that makes my stomach curl.

"Just stop! How can we put ourselves at risk, knowing we could be next? That Lord Vader won't try to kill us for being near you." His eyes brimmed red, like he's been crying.

"Please-It's not like that-I didn't mean-"

"Look if you care about us, you'll understand."

Tears swell in my eyes, but I blink them back, "No-I understand. I care about you guys. It's probably safer this way." I spill with a choked voice. Everyone that's been close to me has left. What's a few more.

Alec pleads, sounding pained, "I'm sorry." He turns his back and walks away.

I haven't attempted to talk to them again. They need space.

The days have drawn slow. Minutes felt like hours and hours felt like days. The loneliness was all-consuming.

The bruises on my neck and the nail marks on my hips have finally faded away. No more reminders of Stryker left. Except the ring he gave me all those weeks ago that still sits on my windowsill.

Throwing it away has come across my mind many times. I want to. But I haven't. It is a piece from my home planet that I will probably never see again. It's from the last place I have ever seen my dad.

So maybe I should want to throw it away. But I actually don't.

The isolation of Hangar 16 has become comforting. It's quiet. I pretend I don't hear whispers when I walk through the halls, but I do.

"Don't get too close, Sebi, wouldn't want Lord Vader to kill us for breaking his toy."

I am safe from others attempting to hurt me, but at what cost. I have no one now.

Here, in Hangar 16, I am far away from everyone. It is an escape from the realities of the situation. I don't know what people assume happened or if they assume Vader and I are together.

Lord Vader hasn't tried to talk to me either. The few times I have seen him, his hood is over his head and his eyes are the fiery yellow color I once used to fear.

Everyday at 1-hundred, when I finally can't push myself any longer, and when my eyes burn from exhaustion, I leave the Hangar to sleep. Every night a tray of food sits outside the door. I don't know who puts it there.

I only go to the cafeteria once a day now. I am too tired in the morning for breakfast, and too focused in the evening to leave.

Every day I eat lunch with Sky. We sit in silence. However unlike the silence I have received from others, this one is comforting. He is the only other person that knows what happened. He knows the truth.

Fatigue from physical exhaustion burns through my muscles. They scream and beg for me to stop working, but when I am working, I am not thinking.

Every night I work overtime, not being able to stop myself from over exerting myself.

I need to get this ship done. I need to do something fulfilling. I don't know what else to do with myself besides work.

My mouth stretches in a yawn and I'm losing focus.

Did I forget a wire in the circuit? Was it the copper one or the blue one?

"You need to sleep."

A startled yelp leaves me and I drop my wrench on the ground. The metal clatter echoes through the empty hangar. No one else comes into this hangar except me.

A black leather gloved hand bends down and pics up the wrench and puts it in the tool box for me.

"I'm fine." I respond back to Lord Vader. This is the first time he spoke to me since Stryker and his voice awakens the nerves in my body.

"He was not a good person." He says, getting into my head that's full of anxieties.

"He used to be."

"No he never was."

I remain silent.

"Coruscant, remember that night at the Cantina?"

"Why is this relevant-"

"Do you remember throwing yourself at me?" He interrupts.

"No," I mumble quietly. The more I think about it, I can't quite recall anything that night.

"Exactly. Do you know why?"

"No."

"He drugged you."

Shock replaces my anguish, rendering me speechless.

"He gave you a Stellar Serenade. A drink intended to get women to sleep with people. He gave that to you, hoping you would go home with him that night. You shouldn't feel bad."

Lord Vader explains that as if it should be comforting to me. Comforting to know that someone I thought was my friend was actually drugging me. It's not comforting. It's heartbreaking.

The chasm in my chest deepens and a tear swells in my eye and I don't respond. The tear glides down my cheek and I look away and wipe it. Hurt and anger fills my lungs with suffocating air.

"You're mad at me." It's not a question, it's a statement.

"Yes."

"I won't apologize for protecting you."

"And I won't thank you."

"Let's go." He abruptly ordered with a stern voice.

"I'm working." I bend down to reach for the wrench again, but his hand grips my arm, halting my movements.

"You need sleep."

"I'm fine." I say as I suppress another yawn.

Ignoring my response, he pulls me away from the ship with a tight grip. My skin ignites from the physical contact that has been absent the last five days.

Overcome with fatigue, I don't attempt to pull out of his grasp. And a small part of me doesn't want to pull out of his grasp, as he leads me out of the hangar.

Lord Vader keeps his hold on me, as if he was supporting my tired body upright through the corridors.

Reaching the end of the current corridor he takes a right, rather than a left.

"That's not the way to my quarters." I yawn.

"We're not going to your quarters."

Oh?

Oh.

We're going to his quarters.