So, I didn't want to leave you guys with one short chapter, so here's another… short chapter.

Unknown

15BBY

Xyras's blue eyes shot open. He stood in a faint light – a dim spot. Darkness surrounded it – fog and shadows and nothing else. He pressed a hand to the metal floor and pushed himself up. His skin screamed at the touch – it was as though his palm were touching ice itself. No, not his skin – his hands weren't his anymore. They were chrome and circuit boards.

He let out a long, shuddering breath and watched as his breath evaporated into steam and then nothing before his very eyes.

Tentatively, he pushed himself up onto his feet, wandering close to the edge of the light. Something was… strange. Different. He could feel the air thick with something that made his mouth fill with bile. His teeth felt rotten and stale as he looked around to try and find the point of this corruption.

He felt something. A sense of… He didn't know what. It reminded him of Mera. That gaping pit in his stomach that seemed to never find a bottom. But what he could sense – it was worse. It hurt. It was the single most unimaginable pain he could contemplate.

"Whoever you are," Xyras said in little more than a stuttering croak, "I can help you." There was no response. No movement. Even the fog that drifted in through the vents did not flutter. "I can… I can sense your pain," he said, brow furrowed. "I can feel it… it's not too late, it doesn't have to control you!" He pleaded. "I swear, I'll help you, I'll do everything but please, just…" he took a breath and continued in a cracked voice, "stop. Stop hurting me."

There was no response from the darkness. Xyras looked around, spinning frantically as he felt eyes lay upon his back. He was going crazy – maybe it'd already happened. Looking around at the darkness a final time, he fell to the floor, grasping his head. Had it been his own pain he'd been sensing? Was that foul stench his own? He looked down at his hands. Both metal. One was fused to his wrist. His other arm was entirely made up of durasteel.

How long before the rest of him was gone? Replaced? Even those pure parts of him – his memories of Ving, of Mera… what if they went too?

…

He couldn't even remember the colour of her eyes.

Then he heard it.

A series of long, plodding footsteps. Heavy and harsh, clunking against the floor. He spun around, looking into the shadows as they grew closer and louder and quicker. Xyras' heart leapt into his throat as he screwed his eyes shut, awaiting the inevitable torture at the hands of Fourth Sister, Second Sister, First Brother – any of them. Perhaps all of them?

The footsteps stopped.

Xyras slowly opened his eyes and looked across the floor, heavy with a mist, his own hands lost within it. He looked up to see nothing – still the same darkness ahead of himself.

A long, rattling breath echoed across the chamber. Wheezing and gasping – like a veteran in an infirmary.

"I remember you."

There was a hiss as Xyras looked up to see a giant standing before him. Clad entirely in black, a long cape hanging off his shoulders. One of his gloved hands gripped the hilt of a red-bladed lightsaber. The scarlet hue illuminated the black dome of his helmet, the two lifeless eyes that glared down upon him.

He took a step forwards and Xyras fell back, frantically crawling away as the figure entered the light, pursuing Xyras into the darkness.

"You shall soon see what pain truly is…" he said, his voice as mechanical as his breathing. Xyras was suddenly grabbed – the figure moved a hand from a metre away and Xyras floated into the air. His neck began to constrict – he could feel the sides of his throat begin to touch. Looking down, the figure simply held up a single hand, his cold, disaffected eyes staring up at Xyras. Watching him.

"No-one will help you," the figure stated, "no-one cares."

Xyras was dropped to the ground, coughing and spluttering, swallowing down air while trying to crawl away, one hand still clutching his neck. "No…" he croaked.

"You will die a hundred times, and no-one will remember you."

"Please-" Xyras raised an arm, hand outstretched, begging for mercy. There was a flash of red and the lightsaber severed his metal hand and flesh arm. Xyras screamed as the pain seared across his body. Further streaks of red were followed by further shrieks and scalding pain. He looked down, finding his legs nothing but sizzling stumps, his feet and knees strewn across the chamber.

Xyras dragged himself away – the only limb he had left was his metal arm.

"You think fear has consumed you," the shadow of a demon said, stepping into the shadow with Xyras, leaving no light between them except the glow of his lightsaber. "But I shall show you true fear. I will show you the power of the Dark Side." He stretched out a hand, leaving Xyras writhing on the floor, his broken body twisting in pain and thrashing wildly. "And you will serve me. Whether you decide to or not, Inquisitor."

Wow, this was a short one. Shortest one yet… that doesn't feel good. Oh well, at least there's no way you've got too much of a good thing with this one!

Yeah, I was nervous with this one because… well, if you don't do a famous character justice, it's kind of terrible. So, here's hoping I did – if not, please leave me notes.

Anyhoo, I'll catch you guys next time when we'll be catching up with Ruv.

R.