jacen solo (jacen) wrote in starnomad, @ 2016-02-17 15:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: jacen solo, character: rikki barnes, date: [62.05] |
Who: Jacen Solo & Rikki Barnes
When: 62.05
Where: Exact location unknown.
What: They keep being torn apart.
Rating: Low
Status: COMPLETE.
The floor blurred in front of him as it suddenly came very close to his face. Jacen's hands pushed out automatically, and he landed on them, his wrist half giving way underneath him - just one more pain that was hardly noticeable from every other pain screaming through his body. For a moment, or maybe for five, he lay there wishing that he could just black out for a while. He'd done that last time, much - he knew - to Rikki's horror, but blacking out meant that he didn't have to feel how every inch of his skin felt raw, or how his wrists were tender, or it hurt to breathe. He might have a broken rib, or maybe three or four. Self-evaluation was difficult when his mind found it difficult to clear, and what he wasn't even certain of right now was what it was all for. Sometimes they didn't even ask him questions, and when they did, they frequently felt like the sort of questions that could be answered by anyone - so why him? Sometimes he wondered if they were just trying to figure out how long it would be before he broke completely. Sometimes Jacen wondered it himself. His chest hurt as he pulled a breath in, wishing for the one hundredth time that he could feel the Force, that he could do just a simple healing meditation - anything. It seemed like ages ago since he'd kissed Lyric and promised him that he'd be back. The thought of the kiss kindled the smallest flame in Jacen's heart. He'd promised Lyric. No matter how impossible it seemed right now, he would get back to Lyric. Lyric needed him. Derek needed him, and Rikki needed him to be alive and he needed to get her back to Anakin. The thoughts didn't knit his body back together, but they rekindled his ability to turn over and so he did, opening his eyes to seek Rikki. Each time Jacen left she didn't know if she'd see him again. In the back of her mind Rikki knew that was the purpose. In however long it had been since they had taken her she hadn't broken, she hadn't given them anything that was of use no matter how much pain she was in. Because she had nothing to lose anymore, she was as good as dead so what was the point? But now, now they held Jacen in front of her like a present. He was someone she loved, a part of the family she wanted back so dearly, and now they had him in their grasp and could do anything they wanted to him. It took every bit of determination she had to remind herself that no matter what she said, they would still hurt Jacen. Hurting people is what they did, they planned to hurt and destroy the entire galaxy. But each him Jacen was taken away it broke her a little more. They brought him back and he was breathing. That was all that Rikki could really hope for. Slowly she pulled herself close to him, reaching out to brush her fingers against his wrist to check the pulse, how quickly it fluttered beneath his skin. "Jacen, are you still awake?" she asked, her voice a soft whisper even though she was certain they listened to them. Her fingers against his skin almost made him flinch. Most of the touch he'd had for however long he'd been out this time, had been anything but soft, but Rikki's touch was soft, and she was trying to help and right now all Jacen wanted was to sleep undisturbed and try to heal. The problem, of course, was that he knew that wasn't going to be allowed. They wouldn't let him sleep, and it wouldn't be on any sort of schedule either because so far it hadn't been. They would come in, leer at either of them, and then just leave - just enough to pull them out of any sleep, rank up the adrenaline, and make them fear that this was the time one or the other of them would be taken again. "Yeah," he pushed the word out between his lips and he sighed and then promptly wished he hadn't. He found her hand with his own despite the aching in his wrists and held onto it. "You okay?" As much as Jacen needed the rest Rikki couldn't help but be relieved he answered. If he was conscious and could hear her that meant less of a chance of lasting damage. Then again the Yuuzhan Vong and their bird torturer didn't seem interested in actually killing them. Instead their interest seemed to be entirely on breaking them. But for what? To turn them into agents to infiltrate? To get at the secrets of the Jedi? Rikki didn't know and Anakin hadn't been able to tell her. Everything past his death had been a blur of his own discovery. "You're back." Rikki offered instead of answering his question. Her fingers tightened around his for a quick moment, grounding herself in having companionship even if she would give her life to see Jacen safe instead of here. He had to survive this, he was meant to do more and she knew that. But Rikki had already changed the future. Anakin was alive, Jacen was in love with a boy from the undercity, just how many paths had she changed so far and what consequences had she wrought on the Galaxy? There was no telling really. She had to hope that they would be better than the Galaxy anakin had left behind. "Can you move?" There wasn't much Rikki could do to make Jacen comfortable but she could try. Jacen pulled himself in on himself for a moment minimising the amount of movement he had to make at all. There was no Force to draw on but he could at least mimimize the movement and try to give his body something to work with. But for Rikki he'd move at least enough. Rikki was as close to a Lyric as Jacen was going to get right now and Jacen would move the Galaxy for Lyric. He shifted in response to her question, and then added a coarse sounding: "yeah." How long had they actually been here? How many times had they taken him away to just inflict pain and ask questions and say meaningless things that Jacen couldn't make head nor tails of. Riddles were one thing, but this was a unique form of torture that he didn't know how to even combat. And all of it without the Force was its own sort of deprivation. "We have to get out of here." But he had no real idea how. "The first time they broke my legs." Rikki's voice was quiet, passive, the memory running almost like a movie in her mind. The pain was so common place now that it just seemed like part of life, the same as breathing. They'd underestimated her training that first time. While she didn't have the force she had knowledge. That knowledge hadn't gotten her much further than this room. Her legs were broken and the bird healed them when she felt like it. But that momentary bliss of being knitted back together was quickly replaced with a new torture. Sleep was harder to get now. Her attempts to escape became more erratic as they tightened their noose around her. That was until they put an actual noose around her neck. And now they had Jacen to dangle in front of her. Punishment wouldn't just be for her now and she knew that. They'd use Jacen against her, because nothing else had worked. She held onto his hand and tried to think, even if that seemed to be a difficult task in itself. If she could get Jacen out at least, it'd be worth the attempt. "Any ideas?" Jacen looked over at her. How many months had she been here since Myrkr? It stung that Anakin had been right -- They should have been looking for her all that time. Instead she'd been alone, dealing with this for far longer than Jacen had been and Jacen was impressed suddenly with the resilience that she had. It occurred to him that his ability to fall back on the Force might actually be a handicap here. He was so used to being able to do so that when he couldn't it was harder to keep going. "No," he admitted, his fingers tightening around hers just a bit. During those times when they'd taken Rikki he'd looked. They'd left him alone figuring, perhaps correctly, that without the Force there would be no escape for him. And he'd looked for a weak point both obviously so, because he knew they likely expected it, and less obviously so. But there was the one door, it opened at different intervals so you couldn't plan on it. If Rikki had tried... He frowned - feeling for a moment the weight of feeling that it was impossible. During transit would be the obvious time but they never took them together. It would mean likely leaving one behind to perish. Even if they were able to pull it out. His lips felt cracked and dried and he didn't even really have saliva to moisten them with but he tried anyway. "They're probably listening." He pointed out, unnecessarily perhaps. She knew it as well as he did. They were listening. There would be no reason for them not to. Rikki hadn't necessarily figured out how they watched and listened but there was no real privacy in a space like this. They were at the mercy of their captors which meant any planning was automatically compromised. It had been bad enough when it was all just in her head, but there would have to be a way to communicate here otherwise she would never get Jacen out. But then a thought struck her and Rikki gently untangled her fingers from Jacen's. "Yes" she said carefully, slowly dragging her finger over his palm to trace out the word in galactic basic. Looking down at him, Rikki tried to catch his eye to look down at him. "Yes" she repeated, slow and careful as she traced the word in his palm again. |