For allbingo
Dec. 31st, 2021 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: Changeling Child
Summary: The interrogation, with roles reversed.
Prompt: The Same Only Different: Canon AU
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
“I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance onboard.”
The room is already enveloped in shadows, and Ben’s face — battered, bloody from the blows placed upon it — is a stark contrast to it, all of it. He wonders if the fine splash of his blood really stands out against the shadows, necessarily.
His captor stands across from him: Taral Ren. The man who killed Lor San Tekka earlier. Ben can remember him all too well; for example, the jarring cheerfulness that led Ben to think he was possibly insane. His helmet reminds Ben of a TIE pilot’s helmet, in a way — was that intentional, he wonders. Something about the twisted face of it (or some mockery of a face, more specifically), the tubes and wires that connect it…
It looks almost like an apparatus. Almost.
“Comfortable?” Ren says.
“Not really,” Ben says wryly.
Taral steps forward. “I am sorry about the stormtroopers, for what it’s worth,” he says, and there’s something about his voice that is too softly intimate, too much like he’s speaking to a friend — or a lover. "About the troopers. They weren’t supposed to be rough on you. Of course, Hux is a bit of an oaf…”
Ben can’t say he disagrees there. It’s unsettling, he thinks, to have something he actually agrees with Taral on.
“We both wanted the same thing from the old man,” Taral says. “Perhaps he’ll be more forthcoming with you than he was with me."
“He wasn’t ‘forthcoming’,” Ben says coldly, “Because you killed him.”
"To make a statement.”
Ben remembers how Taral left the villagers alive. Perhaps seeing Tekka murdered, by Taral’s twisted rationalization, was punishment enough.
Taral changes the subject quickly. Too quickly. "You were strong. Are strong. You do deserve better than this, Ben.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know many things. I know the old man gave you the map…I just don’t know what you did with it.”
"Why would I tell you?”
***
Taral hesitates, just for a moment, before removing his helmet. And Ben feels like he’s been punched in the gut.
“Poe?” he says. Poe looks…older. Sadder. There’s something about him that just doesn’t seem right, Ben feels. He should be more vibrant. He thinks he’s happy, but he lies. That’s what Tekka said, didn’t he?
“Ben, I’m sorry.” Poe’s voice is soft. “I wouldn’t have run this far if I didn’t have to.”
“You traitor,” Ben hisses. “Inconceivable…”
"Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve ever done, has been for us.”
Ben knows it. Knows that Poe loved him, once — he doesn’t know if Poe still loves him, really. If he even means to love him, at all. Poe loved him the way he loved everyone — compassionately, fiercely, devoted to protecting them.
“Did you kill the people at the Academy?”
“I good as did.”
Ben glares at him. Even that’s not convincing. Nothing about this makes sense, in the end.
"Ben,” Poe says softly, "I’m sorry. And…I’m sorry about what I’m going to do next. It’s good for everyone. It really is.”
***
Poe loves everyone. Of course he does. It’s his reasoning, Ben knows, for combing through Ben’s head, looking for memory after memory. It’s his reasoning for forcing Ben to relive every terrible moment — his mother’s death, Poe (only five at the time) staring at the box lowering Shara Bey into the ground like he was going to find some way to conquer death. Running away to join the Spice Runners. Sela Trune’s death, when he was unable to save her.
Poe, his dear Poe, breaking down to him in tears when he just couldn’t save anyone.
He already hates Snoke for taking Poe Solo and warping him into something he was never meant to be: his unsullied love for others being twisted into something doing evil in the name of loving others. It was never meant to be that way. Not once, not ever.
He hates Snoke. Hates this doppelgänger that’s impersonating Poe too — like a Clawdite with Poe’s face. A being that’s twisted everything about Poe into something dark.
“Ben,” Poe says softly, “I’m sorry.”
He says it before retrieving the critical piece — and Ben already feels sick.
“I’ll never forgive you for this,” he says.
He hears, before darkness takes him, Poe simply saying, “I know.”
Summary: The interrogation, with roles reversed.
Prompt: The Same Only Different: Canon AU
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
“I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance onboard.”
The room is already enveloped in shadows, and Ben’s face — battered, bloody from the blows placed upon it — is a stark contrast to it, all of it. He wonders if the fine splash of his blood really stands out against the shadows, necessarily.
His captor stands across from him: Taral Ren. The man who killed Lor San Tekka earlier. Ben can remember him all too well; for example, the jarring cheerfulness that led Ben to think he was possibly insane. His helmet reminds Ben of a TIE pilot’s helmet, in a way — was that intentional, he wonders. Something about the twisted face of it (or some mockery of a face, more specifically), the tubes and wires that connect it…
It looks almost like an apparatus. Almost.
“Comfortable?” Ren says.
“Not really,” Ben says wryly.
Taral steps forward. “I am sorry about the stormtroopers, for what it’s worth,” he says, and there’s something about his voice that is too softly intimate, too much like he’s speaking to a friend — or a lover. "About the troopers. They weren’t supposed to be rough on you. Of course, Hux is a bit of an oaf…”
Ben can’t say he disagrees there. It’s unsettling, he thinks, to have something he actually agrees with Taral on.
“We both wanted the same thing from the old man,” Taral says. “Perhaps he’ll be more forthcoming with you than he was with me."
“He wasn’t ‘forthcoming’,” Ben says coldly, “Because you killed him.”
"To make a statement.”
Ben remembers how Taral left the villagers alive. Perhaps seeing Tekka murdered, by Taral’s twisted rationalization, was punishment enough.
Taral changes the subject quickly. Too quickly. "You were strong. Are strong. You do deserve better than this, Ben.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know many things. I know the old man gave you the map…I just don’t know what you did with it.”
"Why would I tell you?”
***
Taral hesitates, just for a moment, before removing his helmet. And Ben feels like he’s been punched in the gut.
“Poe?” he says. Poe looks…older. Sadder. There’s something about him that just doesn’t seem right, Ben feels. He should be more vibrant. He thinks he’s happy, but he lies. That’s what Tekka said, didn’t he?
“Ben, I’m sorry.” Poe’s voice is soft. “I wouldn’t have run this far if I didn’t have to.”
“You traitor,” Ben hisses. “Inconceivable…”
"Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve ever done, has been for us.”
Ben knows it. Knows that Poe loved him, once — he doesn’t know if Poe still loves him, really. If he even means to love him, at all. Poe loved him the way he loved everyone — compassionately, fiercely, devoted to protecting them.
“Did you kill the people at the Academy?”
“I good as did.”
Ben glares at him. Even that’s not convincing. Nothing about this makes sense, in the end.
"Ben,” Poe says softly, "I’m sorry. And…I’m sorry about what I’m going to do next. It’s good for everyone. It really is.”
***
Poe loves everyone. Of course he does. It’s his reasoning, Ben knows, for combing through Ben’s head, looking for memory after memory. It’s his reasoning for forcing Ben to relive every terrible moment — his mother’s death, Poe (only five at the time) staring at the box lowering Shara Bey into the ground like he was going to find some way to conquer death. Running away to join the Spice Runners. Sela Trune’s death, when he was unable to save her.
Poe, his dear Poe, breaking down to him in tears when he just couldn’t save anyone.
He already hates Snoke for taking Poe Solo and warping him into something he was never meant to be: his unsullied love for others being twisted into something doing evil in the name of loving others. It was never meant to be that way. Not once, not ever.
He hates Snoke. Hates this doppelgänger that’s impersonating Poe too — like a Clawdite with Poe’s face. A being that’s twisted everything about Poe into something dark.
“Ben,” Poe says softly, “I’m sorry.”
He says it before retrieving the critical piece — and Ben already feels sick.
“I’ll never forgive you for this,” he says.
He hears, before darkness takes him, Poe simply saying, “I know.”
