Chapter Text
Several flashing lights casting through a small dirty window, just enough to notice where the source of the light was coming from… A pair of Imperial shuttles arrived nearby Nea's hiding place with the engines making equal noise as the rain that hits the ground, creating noise with every surface they fell on, filling her ears and senses.
“Fuck!” Nea said nervously yet frustrated as she observed the situation displaying in front of her tired hazel-ish eyes, realising what was about to come as she carefully peered her head over the window.
The room was dark, just as any other in Vardos, her family’s home planet. Since it’s no longer an “alive” planet; Nea's skin, pale skin, lacks colour, just like that room. It’s not an unusual sight for the average straggler habitant that resides in that planet, they are all used to this lack of colour, emotion, or life.
She carefully tried to keep looking through the window with the lights off as to avoid getting caught by the sight of whoever was outside. She clumsily stepped back and tried to return to the bed that’s on the corner of the cold and humid room, her whimpering and heavy breathing could be heard all over the room, causing her to feel as if her heart were about to explode at any moment from how self aware she was at that instant, knowing that she was about to be found. Resignation and sadness filled her expression, because she felt a huge wave of panic at the anticipation of what was about to happen; Anxiety weighing heavily on her shoulders.
Her nervousness increased almost making her head burst when she heard people coming into the small- barely visible room, her skin tingling from adrenaline as she saw several, tall, white figures approaching with a strong and efficient walk.
Nea's heart stopped for a moment, skipping a beat as she finally recognised a pair of Stormtroopers making their way inside the room, getting gradually more intimidating the closer they got. The lights those soldiers were holding in their hands cruelly blinding her in partiality as soon as they spotted her on the bed, trying to catch her breath. The harsh light that was directed towards her face made her close her eyes and try to cover her face with her hands. Footsteps and several voices were echoing through the hall that lead to the room, creating a chaotic atmosphere that was being muted by her internal dialogue.
“Not so smart of you to come back to this…hovel.”
A tall, grey haired man said disdainfully to Nea as soon as his eyes found her trying to find shelter on the bed in an act of blind innocence and dumb naivety even. His expression betrayed his satisfaction and a hint of cruelty, showing it with a subtle smirk that tugged at his lips as he kept a proud look on his face. He looked slightly disheveled.
Nea immediately looked up at the man, recognising him without a problem. Her limbs failed to move as fear was filling her whole body. Her mind screamed at her to get up and try to escape… or even find a way out, but at that moment she knew better than that.
Her heart was beating with force, and her hands were shaking as she lowered them completely from her pale and tired face, willing to be seen and exposed to those men.
As soon as she lowered her hands, the mysterious man took that as an “I give up” gesture and nodded at the troopers, signalling them to proceed. They swiftly moved towards her, understanding and following their leaders indication with unmistakably efficiency. Nea decided against resisting, both for her sake and because her body was already aching from tiredness and even soreness from what seemed to be running for a while (and in this case escaping)…according to her heavy, and painful breathing, and her slightly shiny forehead covered in some droplets of sweat.
It was not difficult for them to lift her from her spot without a single effort since her body showed how unmistakably malnourished she was.
She could hear some faint voices distorted by their masks, even some yelling…But her current fear and tiredness caused her brain go numb for a moment as she was dragged away from that room without a single protest on her side. Everything around her felt violent yet meticulous, and she could barely notice how the men holding her made cruel comments about her. Her eyes started to fill with tears, making the orbs shine as they were exposed to the lighting of the surroundings outside that room…That cruel and raw reality that has taken a lot from the young 19 year old Nea.
She was being held with her hands behind her back, as she was handled with roughness and little to no dignity. One of the stormtroopers holding and dragging her to the shuttle twisted her arm with malice, forcing Nea to whimper out of pain, causing her to snap out of her dissociative and hazy state. As soon as she regained control of her messy thoughts and scarred mind she lifted her face to look up, spotting the grey haired man walking in front of them, a subtle limp as he moved with his hands behind his back as he proudly made his way to the shuttle, expecting the soldiers to do the same, with her on their power.
The rain falling on Nea's face reminding her that this may be the last time she’ll see the outside world, the last time she’ll feel that wetness that delicately hits her face with grace as the droplets mixed with her own tears. The last of her freedom being torn off her because of something she never did.
Her only sin was to be who she was.
That painfully rachitic, small young woman that avoids involving herself in any big or unnecessary problems, now being taken away by an army that will have no mercy with her, just for the mere fact that she unfortunately comes from the Versio's dynasty.
A sharp sound echoed inside the ship as soon as she was thrown into the shuttle with no apparent care for her wellbeing; It was clear that the stormtroopers have been at least instructed to treat her with certain brutality, because even in their programmed and meticulously trained nature, treating and manhandling a girl like her, a girl that could clearly not defend herself against such vicious treatment exceeded what she at least knew about them.
She has lived many unfortunate encounters with the First Order, being a victim just because of where she came from and who she was, and how convenient it was to use her for their interests.
Her mind was focused on the memories of what they’ve taken from her, directly or indirectly since her childhood, an aspect and background that could explain her erratic reaction when she saw them again.
Everything replayed inside her head, making her flinch a little with the thunderous sound of their departure from that rainy, and abandoned orb called Vardos, once a Galactic Empire allied planet, now showing it’s loyalty to the growing dictatorship of the First Order and its Supreme Leader: Snoke. She has never been really connected to her roots, her life has made her move constantly, never allowing the young woman to settle down and enjoy the easiness of life as she was supposed to, just like her parents wanted for her. But just for this time, she felt helpless as she saw the planet starting to disappear behind them.
Nea managed to sit up from her spot on the cold floor of the flying machine shifting her position a little so she could look up at the stormtroopers that were holding her down while Nea was almost pleadingly asking for permission to JUST sit up, showing a genuine troubled expression that made them both ignore her completely and silently allow her to do so since they didn’t stopped her.
While trying to lean her head back seeking for even the smallest amount of comfort and relief from the excruciating pain she felt when she breathed, her gaze crossed with the grey haired man’s strong and even hateful gaze that was directed towards her, and merely her, without having the chance to have some sort of calm during the storm.
“You don’t look like your dad.” He mentioned as he broke casually broke the silence with a condescending tone as he looked down at her.
With an unusual delicacy that wouldn’t be expected from someone like him, he bent down and with certain malice that was implicit in his actions he reached down to pet her head, which caused her to flinch involuntarily as the hand approached her fragile body.
“You certainly look like your mother, though” He added with mockery and some kind of lustful and dark tone.
Fátima sighed, and pouted a little. An infinite amount of things passed through her head, filling her thoughts with various possible scenarios; The main topic that occupied her head was the memory of her mother. God, she missed her mother…before she could think about her further, the mysterious man made her go back to reality.
“That fucking whore.” He said in a gruff tone, as his face showed clear disdain over Nea, and her mother. “SHE RUINED IT ALL!” He yelled sharply as he aggressively planted a harsh slap on her face, without hesitation.
She whimpered both in pain and surprise, the sudden hit was enough for her fragile body to fall to the ground.
The man got closer, with his eyes still fixated on her, and her bruised and abused body. His nose was twitching a little, as if he was growling.
Without warning he took a good handful of her hair, and yanked her head to look up at him, without caring about how scared and vulnerable she looked. In his mind, every single problem that he has ever had was entirely her fault, somehow, and he was going to make sure she knew it. Nea couldn’t help but whimper in pain again, while looking up at him this time.
“I didn’t had the privilege to kill your mom.” He added roughly, with a guttural tone.
“But you look so much like that bitch, that I think I’ll have the same fun.”
She didn’t even had the chance to sit up again before a needle was inserted into her arm, with no opportunity for her to react; A cold sensation mixed with pain extended to her whole arm, her vision went blurry as the black followed shortly after. It didn’t took long for her to fall unconscious, leaving her limp body completely at their mercy.
Gideon Hask; the mysterious man has been waiting for an opportunity like this for years, and he was going to absolutely make sure he had the most of it.