The darkness is infinite. Her feet are cold and her limbs are numb as it stretches around her - threatens to swallow her whole. She wonders if she'll ever be warm again as she tries to remember the color of the sunlight on Alderaan. Bright yellow light filtering through tall green trees. There is nothing green in the barren hostile world that is Hoth. And at nights, the darkness is infinite.
And in the shadows of her small chamber lurks a faceless man. He has infiltrated her mind, every part of her being as he violently tries to extract every secret she's ever had. And when the pain sets in, it is excruciating. Like he is drilling a hole through her skull with a needle. She can hear his voice in her head. Loud and clear. Like steel cutting through glass. And she wants to scream but the air has been crushed from her lungs. And all she can do is watch her breath condensate in the icy darkness above her bunk bed as she desperately tries to remember the color of the sunlight on Alderaan.
And the pain and the cold and the darkness have rendered her weak body numb. She wants to get up, she wants her voice back and her secrets. She wants to yell commands in the control room of their rebel base. She wants- But she feels like she can never move again. Trapped in darkness and cold and pain forever. In a halfword of shadows and faceless terror.
And she doesn't know how long she's been lying in the darkness. Paralyzed and afraid. But then the anger sets in. It is sudden and violent in its ignition. It is a promise of salvation and power. She won't ever have to feel so helpless, so afraid again. She will fight him with every part of her being. She will kill him and avenge what has been taken from her. She will make him suffer as much as she has when he stripped her of all of her secrets. She will-
And it is her anger that suddenly sets her free. That makes her jerk awake in a violent scream. Hot sweat dripping from her forehead despite the unbearable coldness. And when she finally does look up, it is the smugglers tall frame that stands out against the darkness that never quite goes away anymore.
….
She seeks him out much later that night in the icy maze of the rebel base. He is standing in the hangar on top of his ship in the half light between night and dawn and she wonders if he is trying to avoid the darkness too.
She immediately feels uncomfortable under his frank scrutinizing gaze.
"You don't look so good," he states matter-of-factly - but for once the trademark swagger is lacking form his voice.
"I couldn't sleep," she tells him when she doesn't look at him.
He shifts his weight from one foot to the other.
"Well, come on up then," He waves at her with one hand. "I could use some help."
And when she climbs through the Falcon's top hatch and reaches for the hand he has stretched out to help her over the edge, his fingers are warm against her icy skin. And for once the darkness becomes a little less unbearable.