What’s happening?

He fought the urge to roll his eyes for a hundredth time or so. Maybe less, maybe more, and honestly, no one could forbid him to do that - he was the master here, after all. It just seemed that one more time, and he’ll be able to see his own brain from the inside. Lumis took a mental note to never again go anywhere with both Vette and Quinn.

Anywhere they went, any place, any time the bickering never stopped. Well, it was Vette who always initiated it, obviously, but Quinn just happened to be petty enough to not let go any remark that escaped her mouth. At least they had enough common sense to do it quietly, and with time became nothing but a background noise, reaching Lumis’ ears only in quiet places and in dumbest pieces. “Is your underwear all in Empire’s symbols too?” made him regret his entire existence,

Luckily, Nar Shaddaa was a noisy place.

Regretfully, it was still a literal armpit of the galaxy.

More or less peaceful and guarded territories like the Promenade were a rarity, while most of the planet was a mess, fought over again and again by numerous gangs. Going deep into any sector was always accompanied by screams from here and there, sounds of blasters, street fights and weeping, robbed people begging for their lives, gangsters and bounty hunters terrorizing civilians, chains of transferred slaves clanking, shadow drug dealers bargaining for a pinch of spice, and many, many more. It disgusted him to his very core, yet couldn’t be dealt with. It was a Hutt territory, after all, and he was only one sith - not even a Lord yet. So it all became a background noise as well, until Lumis stopped thinking about anything except the job: the sooner he finishes, the sooner he gets to leave this place.

“No! Please, don’t, please!”

Another sound reached his ears, distant, different from all others in its desperation. A woman, very young, according to her voice, and very, very scared, crying and begging for mercy. Quinn behind his back sighed wearily - this place disgusted him as well. They didn’t stop.

As they kept walking, the screams grew louder, clearer. Now he could hear the sobbing, and another voice - male’s, not as clear, maybe slightly drunk, but rough and deep, and vibrating with satisfaction and anticipation.

The woman kept begging and crying, right in the alley they’ve just passed, tight and dirty, the home to trash and womp-rats, and all sorts of scum.

“It’s Nar Shaddaa,” he told himself. “It’s just Nar Shaddaa, it happens every day. It’s nothing special.”

He kept thinking that, but anger, fiery and spikey, flared up inside him, clouding his judgement, making an ugly mess of the thoughts in his head.

“Please, don’t, I beg you, I beg–”

“Come on, doll! You gonna love it! Just be a good gal’ and I be gentle!”

There was a sound of struggling, then a pained groan from a man, followed by a ringing slap; a crying, muffled shriek and a sound of a cloth torn apart.

“–you kriffin’ bitch, I fucking warned you, you gonna–”

It took Lumis a moment to realise that he stopped walking, completely mortified, frozen with anger and an old, irrational fear, the woman’s screams echoing in his ears a thousand times louder.

“My lord, we can’t–” Quinn started, but shut up abruptly. Lumis rushed past him, half-blind, half-conscious, utter rage boiling in every inch of his body, ready to wipe out anything from existence.

The gangster - a typical dirty brute reeking of sweat and alcohol - didn’t have the time to react. An invisible grip ripped him away from the woman, lifted up and slammed into the wall. And again, into another wall. And again, and again, and again, until he was a bloody, pathetic mess on the floor. He tried to reach the blaster with a shaking hand, but of course, he never had the chance. The same invisible grip lifted him into air this time, firm and steady, letting him see who was behind this. 

Normally, Lumis would cringe in scorn and disgust as the man wet himself, absolutely horrified. Normally, Lumis would enjoy every bit of thick, pure terror emanating from a scum like this. But right now, he didn’t. His hand slightly trembled with fury as he tightened the grip - not on the throat this time, but on the limbs first, breaking bones with a loud crack, ignoring the desperate screams, and then - on the head, slowly, very slowly increasing pressure, until the gangster’s skull cracked, painting the walls with blood and brains, leaving drops on his armour. He cleared them with a sleeve.

His heart was pounding in his ears, deafening him, robbing him of sight, pushing up old, repressed, forgotten memories - a broken shrine, and blood, and bones, and musle tearing under his hands, screams and wails, and scratches on the doors from people trying to get out, to get away, to escape from him, to survive at any cost. He never let them. He didn’t spare them. He never will.

A quiet muffled sob awakened him from this state. His vision slowly focused on the girl in front of him - a young twi’lek, greenish and beautiful, her face wet from tears, an ugly bruise on her cheek, small bruises from man’s fingers on her arms and thighs.  She looked sixteen or less - almost a child, but not on Nar Shaddaa, - crying silently and terrified even more now. Of course she was - she didn’t know what to expect from a sith - nothing good, for sure. Lumis wondered how she managed not to faint yet. The smell of rotting trash, and pee, and fresh brains was almost suffocating. 

He squatted down in front of her, pulled out a dagger - the girl shrunk tight, expecting more pain, - and stretched it to her, hilt forward. 

She was scared, and confused, and still too terrified to move at all - Lumis waited silently, patiently for long minutes until she reached for the dagger hesitantly, her fingers shaking. She could barely hold it in such condition.

“Keep it close,” Lumis said, using a bit of Force to make the girl hear and remember him, and calm down a bit. “And go for the eyes.”

And then - he left in haste. There was nothing he could do here anymore, and he couldn’t stay here any longer. The stench, the dimness and the narrow walls were crushing him.

“She won’t survive,” Quinn said quietly from behind as they continued walking. “Even with a weapon she doesn’t stand a chance against anyone.”

“She’s got something to protect herself now, Captain Logic!” Vette exclaimed.

“It won’t help her, she clearly doesn’t even know how to hold it!”

“You don’t need to hold it, you need to stick it into the bastard’s face! Even a slight chance is better than complete helplesness! Ugh, but you’ll never understand. Hey, wait! Your lordship, can you, uh… turn down the super-sonic speed a bit?”

Lumis didn’t hear a single word. He didn’t even see where he was going, getting away from this place as fast as he could, the Force guiding him in blind. 

He wanted three things now: to kill, to throw up, and to crawl into a corner of his room on Fury and hide, locked safely.

He couldn’t afford the last two, but the first one… The first one he could do.

_________________________________________________________

thanks @sunsetofdoom for inspiration! ^^