Pleasure & Pain: Epilogue

I awaken, and feel the confusion around me. I don't understand what I'm seeing. There are pipes and smoke and other noises. It confuses me because the last thing I remember was the fire and death, the world ship around Mrykr. I have memories of Nom Anor, of the thermal detonator, of Tahiri's pain and cries in the Force as I could feel the life blood draining from me, the Force slipping away from me, the Force slipping away from her. The vision of her pain-filled green eyes flashes before me.

I remember dying.

How did I come to be here? Where is here.

I sit up, and feel the jelly like substance still clinging to me. I shiver as I look down, noticing my nudity. I look around, still confused by my surroundings. Another vision of green eyes flashes through my mind, and some part of me hopes to see her.

Then I see someone, not the one I want to see, but someone else, someone cold and metallic, someone whose Force presence is a dark oily stain on my awareness. Her red hair is pulled up into a simple braid, there is a fading bruise on her cheek and she's wearing a shift not quite large enough to cover her modestly. In fact, it reveals more than it leaves to the imagination. "Where, what, who, who are you?"

She just smiles at me, which sends shivers up my spine. That smile does strange things to my stomach, it's cold, calculating and predatory, yet I find it oddly compelling.

She walks slightly closer to me. "I am Lumiya. Welcome back Anakin. Welcome back to the land of the living."