Midnight Rose

[Belle]

Red and blue played across the wet pavement, casting chaotic colors as they flickered in rapid patterns. The edges bled into the burning neon green of the Rose's sign, faint rings of cyan and yellow that clashed strangely on the eyes.

The sound of the crowd was muted, barely above whispers as they hovered on the perimeter of the emergency vehicles that had circled the entrance to the Rose's side-alley. Their words slipped away from her, just fragments sticking in her ears. Words like 'beaten' and 'body'. She couldn't focus. The tips of her fingers felt unnaturally cold, her body shivering even though it was a warm night. The stretcher slid out of the darkness, coasting on anti-grav plates, and Belle felt that cold seize her chest.

Lily was unrecognizable. Her blonde hair was matted with red, and her left arm rested... wrong, somehow. Her face was so swollen it was hard to know she was human at all. The Rose Girl uniform she was wearing was torn, rips in the faded jacket and skirt exposing thick, deep bruises that ran up her arms and legs and across her exposed belly.

Belle stepped forward, shoving her way through the crowd. People complained. She didn't care. She didn't even hear them, her eyes focused on the motionless body. She reached the line of vehicles just as the stretcher slid into the back of the waiting ambulance, and an arm swung out to catch her, finally stopping her in her tracks. The medics were already starting to remove Lily's clothes, bacta packs being torn open and applied, neurodes attached to temples. She tried to break free, but the arm tightened around her, refusing to let her go. As the doors swung shut she felt an uncontrollable panic rise up, wrapping its hands around her throat. Without thinking she threw out an elbow. She connected with something hard, pain shooting up her arm, and the grip on her tightened.

"Knock it off," came the growl in her ear. It was Rox. The krogan held her as the ambulance activated its thrusters and lifted into the sky, followed swiftly by two of the cruisers. Flanking the emergency vehicle, they glided off, receding until they were swallowed up by the night, their flickering lights lost in the glitter of the city center.
She watched until they were gone, straining her eyes, as if by sheer determination she could reach out and bring them back.

The next hours were a blur. She and the rest of the Rose's staff were briefly questioned, their statements taken. Jack was livid. Belle had never seen him truly angry before, but now she could hear him shouting from down the hall, demanding to know what the police were going to do about 'them.'

'Them.' One of the girls had come out just as 'they' were leaving. There had been two. They'd brought their speeder into the alley and pulled Lily out before dumping her onto the ground. The girl said it was hard to get a good look at their faces, but she remembered what they were wearing:

Suits. And their heads had been shaved.

Belle knew it didn't prove anything. There were plenty of those kinds of men around - well-dressed apes masquerading as bodyguards for the wealthy and powerful. She knew it could have been just a coincidence. But she also knew that it wasn't. An icy lump settled in her stomach and refused to go away.

"Those bastards," Jack spat later, pacing around his room. "The Hell do I pay protection money for!? My best girl ... "

He slammed his fist on his desk, rattling datapads, bottles, a lamp, and the uniform cap Lily had been wearing - the only thing that had been left behind. Its dirty flower drooped. Belle couldn't take her eyes off it. It mocked her.

Jack paced a few more times before coming to a stop. "Sorry," he muttered, straightening a dangerously leaning stack of pads. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before leaning back and perching on the edge of the desk. "Tonight has been a nightmare, I know. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Jack laughed hollowly. "Bullshit." He unscrewed the cap on one of the many bottles arrayed across his desk and took a swig of pale blue alcohol. "But hey, you say you're fine? Whatever. You're fine." He scooped up an empty shot glass and poured himself another mouthful. "Me, I'm not that proud."

He offered her the shot. Belle looked away. Shrugging, Jack downed it. "Me?" he continued, tilting the bottle again with a chuckle. "Me... Well, right now, I feel like I could burn this whole worthless city to the ground."

Belle glanced up at him.

"Surprised? I guess I understand. I know what people think of me, a man of my profession. What kind of loser running a first rate strip joint cares about his girls, eh?" Another swallow, a shimmering drop running from the corner of his lips and down his chin. He wiped it off with the heel of a thumb. "When I got here, I had nothing. No food. No credits. I didn't even have a Prime. I was just pulled here by accident in one of the Emperor's great 'expansions.' The Empire's always trying to forget about us, the dumping ground of their paradise... I won't fib, I did a lot of unclassy shit back then. Anything I could to survive. I lived out of a durasteel packing container that had been used to ship droid units. I can still smell the oil... The only person who gave a damn about me back then was this girl. I couldn't understand why. She was a street walker. There were nights I probably made more than she did. There was no reason to give me a damn thing. But she did. She reached out, this beautiful dame, and she protected me. When I finally turned myself around... when I finally got this place... she was the first one I went to.

"That's right," he answered the question in her face. "Lily was - is - that girl. Damn woman... she wants to protect everyone. She was worried about you, you know. When you didn't show up for work last night..."

Belle's throat tightened. Her fingers knotted in the fabric of her pants. Her eyes burned. She didn't want to do this, not in front of him. That weakness... "It's my fault," she whispered.

"What? No." Jack put the bottle and glass down. He slid off the desk, and knelt, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. Surprisingly, though, he stopped short, instead resting it across his bent knee.

"Of course it is! If I wasn't so stupid, she wouldn'tve even been out there. That's why she was, right?" she demanded. "She's not a delivery girl, she doesn't have to wear that. She covered for me so that you wouldn't be angry, right?" She covered her face. The images kept coming, the dread, the terror, what Lily must've gone through. Because of her... She'd been targeted because of what Belle had done. "It's my fault... If I was here, she wouldn't be hurt..."

"Yeah, it would be you that'd be hurt. You think Lily would like that?"

She shook her head. No, of course not. Lily wanted to protect her. Lady Yuki had protected her. Even Jack was trying to protect her. And Belle? When she tried, she just made things worse. She got her friends hurt. Maybe even killed.

"Lily wouldn't want to see you cry."

Belle swallowed again, sniffed, and lowered her hands. Throat still tight, she nodded. Stronger. She had to become stronger. "Who did it?"

Jack held her gaze for a few seconds, then stood, making his way around to the back of his desk and taking his seat. "She'd yell at me for telling you anything about them."

"Please."

Jack shook his head. "If you're pissed, you're not the only one, but running off and trying to 'get revenge' is just going to get you killed. I'd never be able to look her in the eyes again." He puts his hands down on the desk. "Look. We'll be able to visit her soon, and in a while she'll be back. This is the end of it.

"I won't lose anyone else."