For allbingo
Jan. 11th, 2021 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: ‘Till Death Do Us Part
Summary: The deaths of Rey’s parents.
Prompt: Blood
Author’s Notes: Trigger warning for misogyny, torture, past abuse, major character death.
To say Palpatine would suck to have as a father-in-law as well as a dad is to undersell it.
Special thanks to diasterisms’ “I Will Be The Wolf” (here, warning for explicit sexual content: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20430281/chapters/48468344) for the Akisi idea. Akisi is, in her fic, ancient Sith for “beloved”.
“Trias...”
Nerys Palpatine, nee Shan, stirred even as she looked over towards her husband. Whatever the agent Ochi had hit them with, it was potent stuff, that she couldn’t deny.
"Nerys,” Trias said groggily. “Thank the Sith’ari. You’re okay."
“We’re on Ochi’s ship,” Nerys said. “I can only assume.”
Ochi strode in. He could have almost been called cute, in a terrifying way, Nerys thought. Trias translated even as Ochi chittered.
“He says the Emperor wishes to speak with both of us,” Trias said. “He wants to oversee the interrogation...personally.”
“How do you understand him?” Nerys said.
“I had an extensive education. One good thing my father did.”
Ochi switched on the comm system, patching a transmission through.
It was for the first time that Nerys heard the Emperor’s voice. It was one of those sounds that was the most terrible thing that she had ever heard. Leathery, almost lulling people into a false sense of security over the idea that he was just a harmless old man.
“Trias the betrayer,” the Emperor sneered. “I should have known that you were behind this. Fleeing to Jakku and leaving behind my teachings, fornicating with a nobody and a scavenger...”
Nerys almost would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire. Fornication? How old-fashioned was this man?
“I can’t say why you would associate yourself with her,” the Emperor drawled. “Surely you would be wiser and choose someone of Sith blood?" A beat. “She has no place in this story. She comes from nothing, she is nothing.”
“Don’t,” Trias said firmly, “Talk to my wife like that.”
Nerys stood, grateful that they were at least on a comm connection. That way her father-in-law — and how absolutely twisted was it that this was her father-in-law? — wouldn’t have to sense how frightened she was, on the inside. Courage was being scared to death and doing the right thing anyway, her father said.
"I’d rather be a nobody than a monster like you." Nerys said.
Palpatine laughed. Another awful sound, that could have tricked one oblivious into thinking he was a harmless old man. And yet to Nerys, it sounded like something out of hell.
“Feisty one,” Palpatine said. “Admirable, but you’ll learn respect. Suffering will be your teacher. And if not suffering, death.” A beat. “Ochi...begin the correction.”
“You can do what you want to me,” Nerys said. “I won’t break.”
“What about your husband?”
Nerys froze. She could swear her terror was already frozen in her, threatening to come out in a scream. And Trias’ resignation — that look on his face.
That creature’s hurt him before.
“Nerys,” Trias said. “My pain is meaningless. Trust me on this.”
Nerys turned towards the comm. “You wouldn’t...you wouldn’t torture your own son.”
“He is not my son.”
Nerys swallowed. “He’s the child of your body, presumably. I...I don’t want to believe that the man who raised him would torture him. Please...”
Silence.
"Of course I’m a monster, garbagepicker,” Palpatine said. “What’s your point?”
Nerys cried out as if she’d been struck even as Ochi struck Trias with some sort of electric prod. Trias gritted his teeth, but Nerys could tell it hurt him.
Trias, her Trias — he was being tortured at his father’s orders, and her hands were bound. She had to look away; she couldn’t just be complicit in her husband’s suffering...
“Look at him,” Palpatine hissed. “This is your fault. Leading him astray with your feminine wiles. You caused his suffering. He’s paying for it, with every strike."
Nerys supposed she should look.
Palpatine was right, after all.
It was her fault.
***
Ochi and Palpatine gave them reprieve, and Nerys crouched next to him as best she could. “Ri’ia, Trias, I am so sorry,” she said. “I was so weak...”
"Akisi,” Trias said softly. “Please, don’t. You were strong. Brave. Stronger than him.”
“He’s right. If we’d never met, this never would have happened...”
“No, akisi, never," Trias said. “If I’d never known you, I wouldn’t find a home. Healing. A daughter. There’s no moment, whatsoever, that I regret with you. I love you. I’ll suffer a million times over if it means you won’t.”
“I’d say the same, Trias.” Her eyes became wet with tears. Wet, and hot — tears threatening to boil over. “If I hadn’t met you...I’d never know that there was hope on Jakku. Beauty there.”
“Nerys, beloved — dry your eyes. You don’t deserve to cry.”
Nerys laughed, a bit strained. “My hands are bound." A beat. “It’s embarrassing. I’m a scavenger. I should break out of this."
“You’ll think of something. In the meantime...”
She had comforted Trias before. When he was woken in the night from nightmares, she’d told him to take deep breaths and remember where he was. (How she could do that when they were both prisoners, she didn’t know)
Now it was his turn to comfort her. To reach up and dry the tears from her eyes, tears that were falling out of helplessness.
“It’s necessary," Trias said. “To keep her safe.”
“I want to keep both of you safe."
“You’re keeping me strong,” Trias said. "That’s more important than anything.”
***
Palpatine started back up again. Ordered Ochi to. Trias would tell her it was okay to close her eyes, every time. It didn’t reduce the guilt she felt — and the growing anger.
“You’re a sick and evil man, Your Highness,” Nerys snarled.
“How do you think I got this far?” Palpatine said. “Interesting — I never understood how love could drive people to action.”
“That’ll be your downfall,” Nerys said.
It was her turn to hurt, to feel the lightest pressure of the Sith dagger cutting her cheek. Slicing it. Ochi...he could take her life in a heartbeat.
“You’re a shell,” Nerys said. “Just an imposter in a cloak. The real Emperor died on the second Death Star, and you will never, ever be him.”
Palpatine’s voice lowered to a hiss. "That’s your first mistake.”
It was Trias’ turn to scream her name as Ochi burned and branded her back. As she retreated into memory.
***
“The Sith have a whole culture,” Trias said to her. It was when she was pregnant with Rey, when Rey was nothing more than a concept. “I was thinking of at least teaching her the language.”
Nerys raised an eyebrow. “Sith language?”
“The Sith didn’t start off as evil," Trias said. “They subjugated a species. The Massassi. They...” He sighed. “My father was always the sort who was...speciesist. I suppose you’re familiar with that just through history.”
“Yeah. I heard.” Nerys sighed. “We’re not teaching our daughter that. I mean, do you really want to pass on what your abuser taught you?”
“No.” Trias said. “The Sith culture, though...we can use it for good. Teach her where she came from, piece by piece. How you made me better.”
“You made me better too,” Nerys said.
“We made each other better. And our daughter...” Trias paused. “Whatever happens, I’ll make sure she never goes without knowing she’s loved. I’m not my father. I never want to be.”
“My parents are a good place to start.”
***
They healed her, just enough for her to stand. Nerys hurt, ached — but she forced herself to stand up straight, with Trias. She wasn’t about to give in.
"Where is the girl?” Palpatine said.
“Oh, so this wasn’t just you torturing us because you enjoy it,” Nerys said sarcastically. “You’re a sadist, Your Highness. You know it and the Dark Side of the Force knows it."
Trias nodded. "You had no hesitation hurting me. You had no hesitation hurting Snoke.”
“You forget the first rule of the Sith, betrayer,” Palpatine said. “To be a good Sith does not come across through coddling one’s apprentice. It comes through strength. Through strength I gain power...although you were always a Force-blind disappointment of an heir. There is that."
“Better that,” Trias said evenly, “Than a fascist.”
A huff from Palpatine. “I felt my granddaughter on Jakku. You think you could hide her forever from me?”
“She’s not on Jakku.” How did you lie to a Sith, let alone one of the most powerful Sith out there? “She’s gone.”
Ochi stabbed Trias.
The scream that came from Nerys could have been ripped out of her.
"Why?” Nerys said. “He’s your son.”
“He is nothing,” Palpatine said. “Just as you will be. Ochi...finish her.”
The dagger plunged into her stomach, driving the breath from her body.
***
Ochi, on Palpatine’s orders, dumped the two of them in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert. No memorial, no dignity, not even an inscription. Ochi knew that Palpatine was enraged at his son’s defiance, at his son’s betrayal, and the woman he thought tempted him to treason.
Ochi knew the Emperor would be angrier still at the loss of valuable information. But it would send a message, too. To let others know, eventually, that defying the Sith had its price.
Ochi covered the grave with enough sand, before walking away. He never had time for heretics anyway.
Summary: The deaths of Rey’s parents.
Prompt: Blood
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author’s Notes: Trigger warning for misogyny, torture, past abuse, major character death.
To say Palpatine would suck to have as a father-in-law as well as a dad is to undersell it.
Special thanks to diasterisms’ “I Will Be The Wolf” (here, warning for explicit sexual content: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20430281/chapters/48468344) for the Akisi idea. Akisi is, in her fic, ancient Sith for “beloved”.
“Trias...”
Nerys Palpatine, nee Shan, stirred even as she looked over towards her husband. Whatever the agent Ochi had hit them with, it was potent stuff, that she couldn’t deny.
"Nerys,” Trias said groggily. “Thank the Sith’ari. You’re okay."
“We’re on Ochi’s ship,” Nerys said. “I can only assume.”
Ochi strode in. He could have almost been called cute, in a terrifying way, Nerys thought. Trias translated even as Ochi chittered.
“He says the Emperor wishes to speak with both of us,” Trias said. “He wants to oversee the interrogation...personally.”
“How do you understand him?” Nerys said.
“I had an extensive education. One good thing my father did.”
Ochi switched on the comm system, patching a transmission through.
It was for the first time that Nerys heard the Emperor’s voice. It was one of those sounds that was the most terrible thing that she had ever heard. Leathery, almost lulling people into a false sense of security over the idea that he was just a harmless old man.
“Trias the betrayer,” the Emperor sneered. “I should have known that you were behind this. Fleeing to Jakku and leaving behind my teachings, fornicating with a nobody and a scavenger...”
Nerys almost would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire. Fornication? How old-fashioned was this man?
“I can’t say why you would associate yourself with her,” the Emperor drawled. “Surely you would be wiser and choose someone of Sith blood?" A beat. “She has no place in this story. She comes from nothing, she is nothing.”
“Don’t,” Trias said firmly, “Talk to my wife like that.”
Nerys stood, grateful that they were at least on a comm connection. That way her father-in-law — and how absolutely twisted was it that this was her father-in-law? — wouldn’t have to sense how frightened she was, on the inside. Courage was being scared to death and doing the right thing anyway, her father said.
"I’d rather be a nobody than a monster like you." Nerys said.
Palpatine laughed. Another awful sound, that could have tricked one oblivious into thinking he was a harmless old man. And yet to Nerys, it sounded like something out of hell.
“Feisty one,” Palpatine said. “Admirable, but you’ll learn respect. Suffering will be your teacher. And if not suffering, death.” A beat. “Ochi...begin the correction.”
“You can do what you want to me,” Nerys said. “I won’t break.”
“What about your husband?”
Nerys froze. She could swear her terror was already frozen in her, threatening to come out in a scream. And Trias’ resignation — that look on his face.
That creature’s hurt him before.
“Nerys,” Trias said. “My pain is meaningless. Trust me on this.”
Nerys turned towards the comm. “You wouldn’t...you wouldn’t torture your own son.”
“He is not my son.”
Nerys swallowed. “He’s the child of your body, presumably. I...I don’t want to believe that the man who raised him would torture him. Please...”
Silence.
"Of course I’m a monster, garbagepicker,” Palpatine said. “What’s your point?”
Nerys cried out as if she’d been struck even as Ochi struck Trias with some sort of electric prod. Trias gritted his teeth, but Nerys could tell it hurt him.
Trias, her Trias — he was being tortured at his father’s orders, and her hands were bound. She had to look away; she couldn’t just be complicit in her husband’s suffering...
“Look at him,” Palpatine hissed. “This is your fault. Leading him astray with your feminine wiles. You caused his suffering. He’s paying for it, with every strike."
Nerys supposed she should look.
Palpatine was right, after all.
It was her fault.
***
Ochi and Palpatine gave them reprieve, and Nerys crouched next to him as best she could. “Ri’ia, Trias, I am so sorry,” she said. “I was so weak...”
"Akisi,” Trias said softly. “Please, don’t. You were strong. Brave. Stronger than him.”
“He’s right. If we’d never met, this never would have happened...”
“No, akisi, never," Trias said. “If I’d never known you, I wouldn’t find a home. Healing. A daughter. There’s no moment, whatsoever, that I regret with you. I love you. I’ll suffer a million times over if it means you won’t.”
“I’d say the same, Trias.” Her eyes became wet with tears. Wet, and hot — tears threatening to boil over. “If I hadn’t met you...I’d never know that there was hope on Jakku. Beauty there.”
“Nerys, beloved — dry your eyes. You don’t deserve to cry.”
Nerys laughed, a bit strained. “My hands are bound." A beat. “It’s embarrassing. I’m a scavenger. I should break out of this."
“You’ll think of something. In the meantime...”
She had comforted Trias before. When he was woken in the night from nightmares, she’d told him to take deep breaths and remember where he was. (How she could do that when they were both prisoners, she didn’t know)
Now it was his turn to comfort her. To reach up and dry the tears from her eyes, tears that were falling out of helplessness.
“It’s necessary," Trias said. “To keep her safe.”
“I want to keep both of you safe."
“You’re keeping me strong,” Trias said. "That’s more important than anything.”
***
Palpatine started back up again. Ordered Ochi to. Trias would tell her it was okay to close her eyes, every time. It didn’t reduce the guilt she felt — and the growing anger.
“You’re a sick and evil man, Your Highness,” Nerys snarled.
“How do you think I got this far?” Palpatine said. “Interesting — I never understood how love could drive people to action.”
“That’ll be your downfall,” Nerys said.
It was her turn to hurt, to feel the lightest pressure of the Sith dagger cutting her cheek. Slicing it. Ochi...he could take her life in a heartbeat.
“You’re a shell,” Nerys said. “Just an imposter in a cloak. The real Emperor died on the second Death Star, and you will never, ever be him.”
Palpatine’s voice lowered to a hiss. "That’s your first mistake.”
It was Trias’ turn to scream her name as Ochi burned and branded her back. As she retreated into memory.
***
“The Sith have a whole culture,” Trias said to her. It was when she was pregnant with Rey, when Rey was nothing more than a concept. “I was thinking of at least teaching her the language.”
Nerys raised an eyebrow. “Sith language?”
“The Sith didn’t start off as evil," Trias said. “They subjugated a species. The Massassi. They...” He sighed. “My father was always the sort who was...speciesist. I suppose you’re familiar with that just through history.”
“Yeah. I heard.” Nerys sighed. “We’re not teaching our daughter that. I mean, do you really want to pass on what your abuser taught you?”
“No.” Trias said. “The Sith culture, though...we can use it for good. Teach her where she came from, piece by piece. How you made me better.”
“You made me better too,” Nerys said.
“We made each other better. And our daughter...” Trias paused. “Whatever happens, I’ll make sure she never goes without knowing she’s loved. I’m not my father. I never want to be.”
“My parents are a good place to start.”
***
They healed her, just enough for her to stand. Nerys hurt, ached — but she forced herself to stand up straight, with Trias. She wasn’t about to give in.
"Where is the girl?” Palpatine said.
“Oh, so this wasn’t just you torturing us because you enjoy it,” Nerys said sarcastically. “You’re a sadist, Your Highness. You know it and the Dark Side of the Force knows it."
Trias nodded. "You had no hesitation hurting me. You had no hesitation hurting Snoke.”
“You forget the first rule of the Sith, betrayer,” Palpatine said. “To be a good Sith does not come across through coddling one’s apprentice. It comes through strength. Through strength I gain power...although you were always a Force-blind disappointment of an heir. There is that."
“Better that,” Trias said evenly, “Than a fascist.”
A huff from Palpatine. “I felt my granddaughter on Jakku. You think you could hide her forever from me?”
“She’s not on Jakku.” How did you lie to a Sith, let alone one of the most powerful Sith out there? “She’s gone.”
Ochi stabbed Trias.
The scream that came from Nerys could have been ripped out of her.
"Why?” Nerys said. “He’s your son.”
“He is nothing,” Palpatine said. “Just as you will be. Ochi...finish her.”
The dagger plunged into her stomach, driving the breath from her body.
***
Ochi, on Palpatine’s orders, dumped the two of them in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert. No memorial, no dignity, not even an inscription. Ochi knew that Palpatine was enraged at his son’s defiance, at his son’s betrayal, and the woman he thought tempted him to treason.
Ochi knew the Emperor would be angrier still at the loss of valuable information. But it would send a message, too. To let others know, eventually, that defying the Sith had its price.
Ochi covered the grave with enough sand, before walking away. He never had time for heretics anyway.
