Summary: More prison verse. Luke is not having a good time.

R&O: Part Two

A sound that Luke had really come to hate - that of the cuffport to his cell sliding open with the heavy scrape of metal on metal - roused him from the light doze that he had managed to slip into. Seconds later, someone pounded on the glass window.

Luke groaned, pressing his face against his mattress for a few frustrating seconds. He could have sworn that they'd just woken everyone up an hour or so ago for kriffing count. When the hell were they supposed to be allowed to actually sleep?

Prior to being an inmate, he had been happily unaware of "count" even existing. But, he had learned over the last two nights, having gone through the process several times now, that it was real and that it sucked. It was exactly what it sounded like. Several times throughout the day, every kriffing inmate in the entire kriffing prison had to be visually seen and counted as being present.

Wherever they were and whatever they were doing, when count time came around, they all stood up at attention and didn't move, as an officer and a droid came around and scanned their tracker and had each of them give their last name and inmate number. And then they waited, standing perfectly still and not moving until whenever the hell count cleared and the prison could safely verify that everyone was where they should be.

It was the most boring and frustrating process he'd ever been a part of. And the worst part was, if one building got their expected numbers wrong, the whole prison had to do the whole thing all over again.

"Skywalker! Get up!"

"I'm up, I'm up," he snapped, throwing his threadbare blanket off of him and getting to his feet before anyone could try and shock him into compliance. The concrete floor was cold and a medical droid was standing on the other side of the door to his cell, staring emotionlessly at him.

"Number."

"Skywalker, 051983."

"Step forward and give me your arm."

Luke scowled, hating that he had been reduced to nothing but a number. But he did as he was told without any comment or wasn't really another option; either he did what they said or they came in to get him and he wasn't eager to have that experience. He extended his arm out through the cuffport and looked away as a sharp needle pricked his arm. An icy cold feeling immediately followed, spreading through his body at the same time that a rush of dizziness forced him to catch himself against the door or otherwise collapse entirely.

He took a few deep breaths, trying to hold back his own despair at having to endure the process of Force suppression once again. The hollow, cold, empty feeling was going to drive him crazy. The lack of awareness was making him irritable and frustrated. He swallowed, blinking the spots out of his vision and felt the familiar urge to throw up. When he looked up again, the droid was already walking away. He stumbled to his bed, pressing his hands into the sides of his head to try and control the spinning.

"Chow time!" One of the officers hollered into the section, just as the lights flickered on in both the section and the cells for the day. Luke thought they were obnoxiously bright, so that it would be difficult for any of them to sleep.

A few minutes later, a food tray was pushed through the slot and Luke looked up at it, wondering if it was even worth the effort to try and eat. Just walking back to the door sounded like hell.

The food itself wasn't the problem; even if it was disgusting, Luke had a strong stomach. It was the suppression drugs that were making it almost impossible as they were being administered to him right before he was supposed to eat. He was only given two meals a day and had exactly ten minutes to eat before the tray had to be returned.

Luke was convinced that they were doing it on purpose.

Getting something in had to be better than nothing at all though. Tomorrow was going to be his first rec day and he didn't know what to expect. He wasn't living with anyone, which was either a small mercy on part of his father, or the prison simply didn't want to risk it. It didn't matter either way, Luke thought miserably. He was going to meet the rest of the section tomorrow. Sighing, he stood up to retrieve his food, committing to downing at least half of it.

A/N Thanks for reading!