Private The Price of Addiction

[NPC Treasury]

The grass was cold. Or at least it felt that way. Yet there wasn't much that she could feel at all. Everything was growing hazy. Time seemed to slow down of it's own accord while Kay lay in a crumpled, burned and bloodied heap in the front lawn of her little tea shoppe now engulfed in flames. Moments earlier she was returning to her shoppe from the market. Unbeknowst to her, the opening of the door triggered an explosion set off by a bomb, sending her flying through the air from the resulting shockwave.

Weeks earlier she had kicked out a customer from her shop a few times for trying to steal the Spice that she had for use in one of her kinds of tea. Spice was addicting, yet Kay had thought that the doses that she had in a couple of her teas was small enough for it to not become an issue.

But she was dead wrong.

The man had come back and sought his revenge in a way that she didn't expect. Her own grief and mourning had clouded her mind so much so that she could hardly focus on anything else.

So that was probably why she couldn't see it. Probably why she couldn't even entertain the possibility of revenge being taken for what she figured was something so small....

Kay watched the embers and ashes fall around her like snow, unable to move and unable to even hear. She could only see the fire and feel the growing cold as her body bled out in the grass.

At least there wasn't any physical pain, for a large amount of her nerves were damaged along with some of her vital organs. Her emotional pain was ever present, however, even as everything was getting hazier and hazier, her life seeming to slip away. It was as though she was fading into a dream....

But this wasn't a dream that she could be woken up from.

A couple of tears slid down her cheeks as her eyes lost their focus, the fire reflecting upon them. Her livelihood and everything she owned; destroyed. That was the last thing that she saw.

And for her, in the end, there was no peace....

 

[Taa Nul]

Morcus had been enroute to pay a visit to Kay, having felt her inner torment and sorrow, hoping to try and cheer her up with one of his impromptu visits. While it was rare he would expose himself to his enemies, he would always make an exception for her. He and his escort of Death Troopers were close by when the explosion erupted in the distance. "NO!", Morcus yelled out, before quickly rushing to get there.

He found Kay's bloodied and burned body outside the coffee shop, falling to his knees to cradle her in his arms, his great sorrow visible upon his face. Yet he sensed a spark of life yet remained in her. She had not completely gone yet. "Get a medical capsule from my shuttle immediately! HURRY!", he yelled to one of his guards. "Yes, sir! Right away.", the Death Trooper said before rushing off with the others in tow. He would not lose the closest thing he had to a daughter, even if her friends and family might protest how he'd have to save her. He placed a hand upon her, concentrating and channeling some of his own essence into her to keep her alive while his guards hurriedly brought a medical capsule. He carefully placed her within it, the capsule assuming control over her vital functions to keep her stable.

By the time he and his escort had departed with the injured Kay to an unknown location, the authorities had arrived. Given there was no body, it would likely be assumed she had died in the explosion. A lie that would be prudent, for now. Time would be needed to rebuild Kay's broken form, and an investigation to her whereabouts would not be helpful to his efforts to try and save her...

NPC Treasury

 

[NPC Treasury]

Kay's ghostly form rose from her body, still connected by a tangible thread. She saw everything around her; the tea shoppe partially destroyed, the ash and cloud of smoke billowing in the air. And then there was a rift. Like a curtain being moved from one reality to the next, she could see the Netherworld. She recognized it, having traveled to it before to save friends that had become trapped. And now she could see it, the opening moving closer and closer to her, ready to wrap around her and ensnare her within.

That is until Taa Nul arrived.

The moment that he began channeling his essence into her, she felt the tug on her spirit from her body. Kay looked down to him, seeing his remorse as he cradled her as though she was a small child. She wanted to feel touched at the effort, but all that she could feel was guilt for driving him to this moment, even if it wasn't her fault. ~Morcus, I'm sorry to cause you grief...~ Her voice was but a whisper in his mind that faded once her body was connected to the medical capsule and even in her spiritual state, she seemed to lose consciousness once more.

Thunder cracked up above them and a bolt of lightening struck a tree near Morcus, sending sparks and embers all around them. Something wasn't happy with this turn of events.

 

[Taa Nul]

Morcus cared not for whatever or whoever else might desire his adopted kin dead. Kay would survive. He would make sure of it. He and his Death Trooper bodyguards loaded her medical capsule aboard Morcus's personal Lambda-class Shuttle, departing the planetary surface with haste. Morcus had plenty of assets available who could help save Kay's life, his private medical facility being one of them.

Several days passed by until they reached their destination, the medical capusle keeping Kay stable through the journey. The medical facility was located beneath the surface of Hoth, secured heavily by a regiment of Morcus's still loyal troops. In the aftermath of the Core Imperial Confederation's collapse, he had gathered as many of it's remaining troops beneath his banner as he was able to, giving him a force of loyal and grateful soldiers who would fight and die gladly in his name.

The shuttle landed upon a platform in the midst of a snowstorm, before being lowered down into the facility. As Morcus and his guards brought Kay's capsule out from the shuttle, they were quickly met by a team of medical professionals, some of the best the galaxy had to offer. Morcus would spare no expense to ensure his own health, and that of his friends and loved ones. Kay's treatment would begin immediately, and Morcus would remain by her side throughout all of it....

NPC Treasury