Lux Bonteri
18 BBY
Red Guardians' Prison
Skorix

Lux woke up face-down in a pile of dirt. His whole body was sore. It was freezing cold, which meant that he was probably somewhere in space. He had been kidnapped by someone, though he wasn't sure exactly who it was or what they wanted. It couldn't have been the Empire or he'd be a dead man.

He sat up and rubbed the dirt from his face. Prison bars surrounded him, with a dirt wall behind him. The other cells around him seemed to be empty, leaving him alone. Where was he?

Lux heard a noise coming from down the hall as a figure approached his cell. He was wearing scarlet-red stormtrooper armor with black designs. He stopped in front of Lux and removed his helmet to reveal a middle-aged human male. "I don't believe our luck," he said, smirking. "I didn't believe the brothers when they said they'd got ya. We gonna be rich!"

"Who are you?" Lux asked. "What do you want with me?"

The man tossed his helmet between his hands. "It don't matter who I am. The Empire has some Jedi on the Wanted List that you knew when you was younger, and we want the money from 'er head. You is gonna help us or you is gonna die."

His basic was giving Lux a headache. He was talking about Ahsoka; that much was clear. How he knew Lux had known Ahsoka was beyond him. Maybe it was listed in her description or something. "No. I don't have to help you do anything. I'll let you do whatever you want to me before you ever lay a finger on her." Ahsoka had been at the estate when Lux was captured, and it was making Lux feel better that they had gone after him instead of her directly.

"The Red Guardians are gonna get 'er and sell 'er to the guy in the black suit. You'll see."

Lux paused a moment, thinking it through. There was no way these Red Guardians were clever enough to figure out that he was in contact with Ahsoka. Of all the people to capture about it, why him? "How did you find me?"

"We got a call from one of them people at the cantina in Iziz."

There were only a few people who knew that Ahsoka was staying at the Bonteri Estate. "Who?"

"Arnaqueuse was the name."

Arnaqueuse? Lux didn't know anyone by the name of Arnaqueuse. Maybe someone's full name that he knew? Ahsoka's name started with the same letter, and it was relatively short. Could it be her name in her native language? But why would she sell him out?

For the money, he thought. She's broke and has no way to support herself. She was probably trying to get the Red Guardians to turn Lux over to the Empire and collect a portion of their pay. That would explain why she didn't intervene when he was kidnapped.

And I thought she was a loyal friend... Next time, I shouldn't be so naive.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Lux Bonteri
12 ABY
Imperial Medical Research Laboratory
Wobani

Lux was alive. If not for Ahsoka's intervention, he would be dead. She had saved his life yet again. He'd lost track of the amount of times she'd done that.

He slowly sat up from his cot and felt around his stomach. There seemed to be a small bandage covering where he had been stabbed, but nothing too serious. He couldn't help but notice the purple hue of his veins, most likely from whatever substance Ahsoka had given him to save his life.

Yersinia stepped inside and locked the door behind her. "You feeling better?" She asked.

"Yeah, no thanks to you. It was Ahsoka who saved me."

"It's a shame she won't remember it. Dr. Pestis has taken away her memory, as he is a reasonable life form. He requested that I offer you the same thing. I can take away your memory, or I can kill you." She sounded almost sorry for him, though Lux wasn't sure why.

"No. I'm keeping my memory. Kill me if you have to. I just wish..." he trailed off.

Yersinia sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the room. "What? Tell me."

Lux let out a heavy sigh. "I just wish we could've had a moment together, just the two of us. I haven't been able to hold her close, or anything like that in years. Now that Kal's gone, I need her support just as she needs mine."

Yersinia remained silent for a few seconds. Her voice came out like a whisper when she did speak. "What's stopping you?"

Lux hadn't been prepared for that question. What was stopping him? "You and Dr. Pestis, for starters."

She shook her head. "You had the chance when she used the syringe to save your life, but you didn't. You had the chance the whole time you were on Naboo, but you didn't. You have the chance right now, but you aren't."

"I can't."

"You see, it's all under your control. The chains are the easy part. It's what goes on in here," she said, pointing to her temple, "that's hard." She stood up and walked towards the door. "Just something to think about."

Now that he thought about it, he probably could've picked a fight with either Yersinia or Dr. Pestis and won. Neither was particularly good at defending themselves. He could easily fight his way out, but he didn't. He himself was allowing them to keep him locked up.

Lux hadn't been ready to accept the fact that Ahsoka was really alive again. It had taken him years to get over her death, and he didn't want all his grief to be for nothing. He was trying to protect himself and his son from the truth by pretending to be strong because he wasn't ready to accept it.

He was wrong. The doctors weren't stopping him; he was stopping himself.

A/N: It's been an interesting Monday to say the least. I'm super tired, so I probably missed a ton of errors in this chapter. Sorry about that.

I haven't updated in a while, now that I think about it. School has completely taken over my life, which leaves very little time to write. I have so much homework, but I don't feel like doing any of it. Procrastination is a wonderful thing.

Just kidding. I do not reccommend it at all. Do not try this at home, kiddos.

I should probably get to bed before I start having dreams about statistics. As much as I would love to be analyzing z-scores of the ACT test in my dreams, no thank you.

I'll see you in the next update, and may the force be with you!