Chapter Text
Carina regains consciousness slowly, her body thawing out. She can’t feel her limbs yet but, at least this time she can breathe easily. She’s scared to open her eyes, frightened at what she might find. Mentally sighing the blonde steels herself and metaphorically puts on her armor. Preparing for battle like a warrior who’s got the odds stacked against them.
Mustering up all the courage her small body possesses, she cracks her eyelids open. But her eyes can’t see anything clearly yet. Fuzzy spots of darkness cloud her vision.
Sounds trickled into her eardrums, muffled and far away. ‘It may be voices’….she thinks. Her eyes start to droop back shut intending to send her back to oblivion, but fate has other plans. Because suddenly, she feels a malevolent presence tearing through her mind, shredding the flimsy barriers shielding it. It’s dark and gravelly voice utters one single command. AWAKEN.
Obediently, her mismatched eyes snap open and readjust to the bright lights. The woman’s body feels wet and numb to the cold. She gasps for air while coughing from the sudden influx of air reaching her lungs. Finally able to see her surroundings, her eyes focus in on a figure suspended in the air screaming and a man kneeling in submission before a creature enthroned.
No one notices Carina’s existence and curiously the newly revived woman steps closer only to bump into a thick glass wall. ‘Must be one-way glass,’ she thinks to herself as an explanation. Hearing pain-filled screams brings Carina back to reality and a med droid takes her vitals.
While being routinely poked and prodded, she stares on in horror at the scene that she is a spectator for. Carina’s thoughts begin to run faster than her current murky brain can handle right now. She cradles her throbbing head in her small hands and feels a short silk robe wrap around her body. Sighing in relief at the feeling of being covered became short-lived when a familiar metal collar and chain are placed around her neck. Tears begin to gather in her mismatched eyes but the woman bravely pushes them back.
Her thoughts turn to fearful wondering, ‘why has he awakened me?’ Carina inwardly cringes thinking about the endless cruel possibilities to her presence being required.
The droid hands her leash to a praetorian guard who Carina hadn’t noticed standing there before. They harshly yank on the chain, briefly choking her for a second, before leading her into the room towards the dais and her nightmare.
The blonde passes by the kneeled man who looks up in curiosity and wariness at the new visitor in the throne room. They lock eyes and he looks at her as if he already knows her whole life. Before she can ponder her observation any longer she’s pulled by her chain again. Facing forward again, Carina hopes that she’s marching to her long-awaited death. But after seeing the smug grin on her captor’s grotesque face, those dreams are out of reach.
The guard stops before the throne and harshly kicks her behind the knees. Presumedly demanding she kneel before this sadistic creature.
She falls to the ground and a small pained groan escapes from her lips. The monster, Snoke, chuckles lightly. His sadistic nature doesn’t surprise Carina at all. Her pain has always filled him with humor and joy. “Be gentle with Lady Carina, we wouldn’t want her to get hurt.” She isn’t fooled by his seemingly kind words, his sinister tone reveals his true intentions.
That monster obviously doesn’t give a damn if she was hurt, as long as she is alive to do his bidding. After all, Carina is no stranger to suffering. The guard finally passes the chain to Snoke who leisurely gives it a test pull. As if he needs proof that she is totally at his mercy and command. Her frail body jerks in his direction and a dark smile tugs on the corners of his disfigured lips. Snoke, finally pleased with his slave’s obedience, holds out his large hand towards her. And without further prompting, Carina shakily places her hand in his. She already knows the consequences that follow refusal.
Snoke closes his eyes and hums in satisfaction for a moment, relishing in his strengthening power, before opening them to look upon the man at his feet with distaste. “My wayward apprentice,” he roughly commands. The kneeling man, Kylo Ren, raises his dark-haired head but makes no move to stand. His brown eyes again briefly lock with Carina’s. She can see the questions and curiosity in his gaze. Carina feels an urge to fidget under his scrutinizing gaze but holds strong. Right then she vows to herself that if she ever escapes that no one will ever cause her to be fearful again.
While Carina is making her silent promise, Kylo Ren examines the strange girl chained to the Supreme leader. His eyes trail over her damp blonde hair to her striking pale blue and amber eyes. He thinks to himself, ‘she would be beautiful if she wasn’t shivering from fear and malnourished.’ As Kylo focuses on Carina, he fails to notice Snoke redoubling his tortuous efforts on Rey until he heard louder screams pierce the air.
His gaze quickly snaps back to the last Jedi and sees her in more agony than before. Confused, Kylo looks back at Snoke and sees him tightly gripping Carina’s hand, so much so that his nails pierced her pale and delicate skin. He quietly observes the effects of Snoke’s touch draining Carina and weakening her. Her already pale skin whitening to an unnatural pallor. And then suddenly, it all stops. Rey’s body falls to the floor with a smack.
Snoke seemed to have noticed Carina’s life force start to fade and stopped before killing her. The blonde is more valuable to him alive after all. Seeing her helpless and chained to his cruel Master, Kylo knew at that moment that they could help each other. She is the key to everything he wants.
Carina cries quietly, not from being used almost to the point of death, but from guilt at causing the other woman’s immense pain. She truly would rather die than help aid in anyone’s torture. Rey’s chest heaves from enduring Snoke’s torture and she can only imagine what the chained woman has to go through regularly. “Please, master, don’t make me hurt again!” Carina’s voice brokenly begs. Rey instantly feels enraged when Snoke smacks the blonde demanding her to cease her crying. No one deserves to be used and abused. The hard smack knocks her unconscious and she falls limp into the arms of a praetorian guard who holds her in place. Like a battered doll.
As Carina remains unconscious, Kylo kills the last obstacle holding him back and completes his training. Rey is surprised when she doesn’t feel the red lightsaber strike her body but hears another one ignite followed by a loud thump. She staggers, trying to quickly stand up, and turns around to see Snoke cut in half from her own lightsaber. Her mouth falls open in shock but there is no time to as questions. They have a hell of a fight in front of them now.
All of the guards start to surround the pair except for the one holding up Carina. Kylo, though focused on the battle in front of him, sees signs of Carina slowly regaining consciousness. In response, his fighting gets even more vicious and lethal. He has to make this quick before she can fully wake up. He doesn’t want her to see him in a bad light. Rey and Kylo fight with everything they have. Both carry a common goal to eliminate the immediate threat. Though they individually have different plans after the battle is over.
With the red guard rapidly declining, the lone guard holding Carina decides to take action. They remove the remaining half of Snoke’s body from the throne, it flops onto the floor joining its other half. And they drop her in the seat of power before joining the fight.
Rey is currently losing to one of the guards and as if hearing her struggles Carina jolts awake in a panic. She immediately sees the danger that Rey can’t seem get herself out from. Instinctively, Carina thrusts out her hand and drains the life force from the guard attacking Rey. This opens a window for Rey to throw Kylo her lightsaber to kill the last remaining guard.
Carina sags back down into the throne after expelling most of her already spent energy. She breathes heavily, trying to catch her breath and bearings. With her eyes closed from exhaustion, she doesn’t see the looks on Kylo and Rey’s faces as they are pulled into a force vision.
They witness Carina dressed in a royal purple dress made from fine threads and intricately embroidered with gold. On top of her blonde waves is a crown made up of gold flowers and thorns upon her head. Carina sits on a golden throne, one hand outstretched and holding the hand of someone enthroned next to her. But the unknown figure never comes into focus leaving the two spectators wondering who rules beside her.
As if noticing their intense gazes she turns towards the pair and her crimson lips part into a sly smile. And like an Empress beckoning her subjects forward, holds her remaining hand out to them. Almost reaching out for them. All too soon, they are ripped out of the force vision and pushed back into reality.
Rey comes out of the force-induced daze first and addresses the blonde woman. “What’s your name?” Carina doesn’t respond, too weakened to form a response. But she opens her dual-colored eyes to examine the aftermath of the battle. Rey notices the woman’s eyes linger on the bodies and tries to distract her by saying, “It’s ok, you’re free now that Snoke is dead.”
She attempts to smile at the frightened woman in what she hopes, a comforting way. Carina moves her attention and locks her tired eyes with the brunette and loses her breath for a moment. Rey doesn’t seem to notice the change in the blonde and switches on her lightsaber. She uses the blue blade to slash at the chains attached to Carina’s neck. The metal collar splits with little resistance, finally broken, and clatters to the floor.
Carina smiles at the sight and lightly touches the bruising pattern wrapped around her neck. She grimaces in pain but still brightly beams at Rey, the woman who helped free her from enslavement. Before Rey can say anything the newly freed woman wraps the Jedi into a hug. Rey is shocked still but can feel the gratitude the unknown woman feels for her freedom. Carina nuzzles her face into the brunette’s neck, trying to regain some warmth. Rey’s cheeks immediately flame and she struggles to calm her now racing heartbeat.
Now holding her in her arms Rey can see the clear signs of abuse and neglect this woman has probably faced for years. The blonde shifts in her arms and slightly leans up to breathily whisper in Rey’s ear, “thank you.” inciting a shiver from the heroine in response. Carina pulls back and Rey gives her a strained smile but before she can respond or do anything else, Kylo ascends the steps towards the newly vacated throne.
He looks at the woman who is destined to be queen and holds out his hand to her with a soft look in his eyes. “Be my queen and you’ll have more freedom than you can imagine.” Carina is confused by this man’s sincere and meaningful declaration. I mean how could she be a queen? Seeing the doubt painted all over Carina’s face Kylo continues his efforts. “Together we can make the universe a better place. I can give you everything you desire and more only if you let me.” Carina shifts her gaze to the floor, feeling very conflicted and doesn’t know what to say to any of that. But, she can’t deny that his offer is tempting, especially to a woman who has been enslaved since she can remember.
Rey is shocked by his confession and desperation claws at her chest demanding her full attention. She can’t let this girl be controlled once again, no matter how persuasive Kylo can be. Before even getting a chance to decide Kylo pulls Carina towards him using the force and Rey retaliates in kind. She quickly whips out her hand and tries to pull Carina back to her.
They continue this struggle until they hear the blonde woman scream in agony and an overwhelming force pushes them away from Carina. She falls to the ground clutching her arms against her shaking body. She raises her mismatched gaze to look at both force users and finds them both knocked out.
Before planning what she should do next, Rey suddenly regains consciousness with a gasp. Quickly standing up Rey rushes over to Carina and gently helps her stand up. Her voice filled with remorse, Rey says, “Sorry about that, but I have this feeling that I need to protect you.” Wiping the blondes’ fresh tear tracks from her face, Rey pulls on the woman’s arm leading her to Snoke’s private ship.
Before boarding, Carina turns back to the man who offered her everything and reaches out her hand. Slowly, Kylo’s body begins to heal slightly faster. This would allow him to wake up far sooner than possible. Carina sees it as a small gesture of gratitude for the man who killed her abuser. Satisfied that she repaid her debt to him, she climbs into the waiting ship. And soon all she could see were stars flying by their rapidly moving ship. She gazed at her surroundings in wonder and excitement for what’s next.
Carina begins to laugh hysterically and Rey looks over at the beautiful woman concerned. But soon her confused expression is wiped off her face at seeing Carina’s joy and relief at being free. Rey soon starts to laugh with her.
Meanwhile, Kylo wakes up minutes after their escape and slowly gets to his feet. Almost down falling like a newborn fawn. He briefly wonders why he’s not in immense pain but soon dismisses that trivial thought upon discovering Carina missing. The new Supreme leader growls in anger and immediately begins piecing together plans that would destroy the resistance and get her back.
And when he has her back..he’s never letting her out of his grasp again.