The Harrowing Fate of Davits Draven
A.N: Timeline setting: Concurrent with Operation Cinder.
Davits Draven's head hurt… a lot!
It ached and throbbed and pulsated in agony, as if he had been hit by some blunt object over the head, not enough to kill him, but rather simply to stun him.
Perhaps that was because that was exactly what had happened to him.
He had been out of base on an assignment. Someone had contacted him offering some information, something that would be detrimental to what remained of the empire. Draven didn't know who it was, but he didn't care. He needed this. His career was on the verge of collapse.
If he could bring information back, then he would be seen as valuable again.
So he had gone to meet this 'Savage' person on an outer rim planet.
Upon arrival, there had been no one at the coordinates.
And then he had heard movement behind him, before everything went black.
And now he had awoken. How long had passed he didn't know. Where he was also was a mystery.
Glancing around, Draven swallowed a nervous gulp. His surroundings quite clearly a cave of some kind, but not one that looked at all natural. Instead, the cave, no, the room was full of various items and constructs, many of which resembled tall stone statues.
Around the perimeter of the room was what appeared to be a lake of iridescent water, or at least what looked like water?
Draven suspected that was not the case.
Shifting his shaky gaze around further, Draven identified several light sources. Tall green torches that radiated light that he had never seen before were present, assembled around the edge of the water like substance.
Groaning again at the pain in his head, Draven then looked down, and realized his predicament.
He was tied up, suspended on some sort of metal device, one that looked imperial in design.
He had been captured by imperials!
And then he noticed something else. His attire.
Rather than being clothed in his usual rebel gear, Draven found himself bare to the world, which explained the chill he was feeling. The only part of his body that was covered was his lower body, for which Draven was secretly grateful. Being captured was one thing. Being exposed completely was another.
Pulling his arms tightly, Draven tried desperately to free himself, to no avail.
Huffing in frustration, Draven ceased his attempt to escape, his eyes moving back to surveying the cave around him. Clearly it had been excavated by someone, and had evidently been lived in.
The question was, by who?
And then a voice echoed across the cave, one that sent his blood cold.
"Your escape attempts are pitiful General, and are ultimately futile. You are my plaything now!"
Draven's eyes locked onto the figure that was now moving towards him, a vicious smile present on his face, teeth barred to him.
"You?!" Draven spoke, shock and horror in his voice as the golden eyed monster stepped towards him.
"Me!" The monster snarled back, coming to stand directly before Draven's suspended form. The General tried again to pull himself free, to escape this monster's grasp.
But again, he had no luck, something which the monster clearly enjoyed as he chuckled deeply.
"I'm going to enjoy this!" The monster snarled again, his eyes full of wild fury and rage, as well as what looked like anticipation.
"What do you want with me?!" Draven cried out, fear overtaking him. He had been captured before, and had shown no terror in a way he knew he was doing so now.
But the situation was different. This was not captured by a Stormtrooper patrol and their lousy officer. This was being stuck in the literal arms of the devil.
The monster chuckled again, before a dark look appeared on his face.
"Why General Draven I thought that would be obvious. I want revenge!"
Draven could not for the life of him grasp what was going on. Revenge? Revenge for what?
"What did I ever do to you?!" Draven asked, hissing in pain as his head pulsated again from the blow, one that he now assumed had been delivered by the monster now before him.
"Nothing to me General, nothing at all. But to my sister!"
Every statement that came from the monster's mouth only further confused Draven. From his recollection he had done nothing to anyone's sister before, much less one that looked like the monster before him.
"I don't know what you mean! Let me go!"
The monster growled sharply this time, a hand coming towards his chest at incredible speed, administering a sharp punch to Draven's gut, one that would clearly bruise.
"Oh but you did General. You did. And this will continue until you figure it out."
Another sharp blow came to his gut again, followed by three more, each more painful than the last. Each punch added bruising on top of bruising, and if it continued, Draven was almost certain he'd end up with a few cracked ribs.
After the seventh punch, this one causing Draven to yell out in agony, the monster stepped back, a satisfied look on his face.
Draven hoped briefly for a second that his ordeal was over.
Seconds later, it got worse.
"Don't think this is over yet General, I fully intend for you to suffer for what you did to her! Or at least, tried to do to her!"
The monster then turned his back briefly, bending down to pick up what appeared to be a portal power cell, before moving it behind the stand that Draven found himself attached to.
Draven could not see behind himself, and all he could hear was the sound of the monster connecting various wires and components together, before the hum of the power cell coming online echoed across the cave, and the monster stepped back around in front of him.
"A remarkable piece of technology this, one I acquire a long time ago and haven't had to chance to test yet. I had fully intended for it to be used on another of my greatest foes, until circumstances changed. However, I now have the perfect test subject before me!"
Panic flooded Draven as he attempted to marshal what strength he had left to pull himself free.
But still, the straps that held his arms down did not budge.
"Tell me General, on a scale of one to ten, how badly does this hurt?" The monster spoke, the dark malicious look returning to his face as he thumbed what appeared to be a remote trigger in his hand.
Draven began to speak in response before volts of electricity surged through his body, sending his body into a violent spasm. Draven screamed in agony as the torture continued for a few seconds more, before mercifully it stopped.
"Well General? How badly?"
Draven took several large breathes, oxygen returning to his lungs after it had been forced out by the shock treatment.
"One to ten General, answer me?"
Draven still said nothing, partly due to lack of breath, partly due to his desire not to buckle any further.
"Hm, perhaps you need another demonstration?"
Draven barely lifted his head before the monster thumbed the trigger again, sending more volts of electricity coursing through his body. This burst lasted longer and was infinitely more painful. Draven felt the world around him begin to fade.
And then he lost consciousness.
Draven awoke with a sharp gasp. He had no idea how long had passed, but his situation had not improved.
The monster now sat on the floor before him, his legs crossed and his eyes closed, as if he was in some sort of deep meditation.
Draven tried to make no noise, as to not draw any attention to himself. The last thing he wanted was a repeat performance of earlier.
Unfortunately, it didn't work.
"Well General, ready to answer my question now?" The monster spoke, his golden eyes opening as he stood up, the trigger still in his hand and poised at the ready.
Rather than risk a repeat, Draven answered timidly, the pain still aching throughout his body.
"Ten."
The monster only laughed darkly in response.
"Excellent, then this machine works wonders. I acquired it from the Imperial Inquisitorius. They use such frames for interrogation and torture. Normally the individual on the receiving end is a Jedi, but I figured I would allow you the honour of testing it first!"
Draven groaned in response, lifting his head to look at his surroundings despite the strain in placed on him.
"Why don't you just get it over with!?" Draven attempted to snarl at the monster, the comment coming out instead almost like a whimper.
The monster moved towards him with speed, standing before him, face to face.
"Oh don't tempt me General. Besides, you still haven't figured it out. I had you pegged as a smarter man than this. How… disappointing really."
Draven raised his head again, eyes locking onto the golden ones of the monster before him. What was he going on about?
It was then that the monster raised a single hand. Draven braced himself, expecting another punch to the gut or worse.
But instead, the monster before him did no such thing. Instead, he simply moved his hand in front of Draven's face, lightly resting on it, his spindly fingers touching all sections of his face.
Moments later, Draven wished the monster had hit him instead.
Images flashed through his mind, as well as what felt like deep lacerations of pain and agony. The monster before him was inside his head!
Draven was forced to watch as various images shot through his mind. In them he saw a young human boy playing with some toys, and realised with horror that it was him.
The monster was not only inside his head, but inside his memories.
"Arrgg! Get. Out. Of. My. Head!" Draven spoke slowly, gasping in pain and agony as the monster continued to push through, not at all disturbed by what he was doing to Draven.
The image changed again, this time to one with Draven as a grown man, witnessing a pair of Imperial Stormtroopers beat an innocent man to death for simply voicing his opinion, and all the while the image of Draven remained still, not interfering.
Draven remembered this moment. The individual had in fact been a rebel informant who had given up information to the empire in exchange for his life. When he had discovered the betrayal, Draven had acted, setting it all up to look like the innocent man had been behind everything, and that he was still in league with the rebels, which of course he was not.
In the end, the man had been beaten to a pulp, and Draven had left satisfied that no more information would be leaked.
"Hmm, and they call me a monster!" Draven heard the voice of the monster speak in his own memories, before the image began to fade. "But this is not what I seek this day."
Draven would be lying if said he didn't feel remorse for what he had done that day, but it had been in the name of the rebellion. In the end, that was what was important. If he had to sacrifice one life to save the many, he would without a doubt.
A new image began to appear, this one of a meeting inside the command centre of Yavin Four's rebel base. Draven could see himself, standing side by side with Mon Mothma as they debated something.
And then he heard voices from the discussion itself, and Draven knew what was about to happen.
He remembered this!
"Therefore Admiral Raddus, you are under orders to terminate Commander Ahsoka Tano on sight!"
Draven winced at the voice of Mon Mothma in the image, and even more so at the smug look on his past self's face as the room had erupted into chaos and arguments.
And then he heard the monster snarl, and felt himself yanked out of his own memories and back to looking directly into the golden eyes of the monster before him.
"GOT YOU!" The monster snarled, his eyes burning much brighter now, full of rage and hatred, and his teeth snarling and gnashing at him.
"You ordered her execution! My sister in the force! And now you will pay!"
Draven attempted to explain himself before him felt volts of lightning once again course through his entire body as the monster reactivated the device Draven was suspended on.
This time the torture went on for much longer, and just when Draven felt himself losing consciousness, the agony ceased.
"Why did you do it General!? She was no threat to you! Not like I am! But still, you attempted to kill her! And even now, you can't admit that she was right, and that you were wrong! She killed the Emperor! She was never his puppet! She never would be, unlike me!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, just let me go. I'll fix this, I promise!" Draven attempted to plead through heavy breathes, wild terror flooding through his body.
"NO!" The monster all but screamed, his eyes full of a desire for revenge.
And then Draven heard another sound, and suddenly the monster before him was bathed in bright red light.
The tell-tale hum of an ignited lightsaber blade forced all the air out of Draven as his eyes caught a glimpse of the ominous red blade that emerged from the hilt grasped in the monster's hand.
Another sound hit Draven's ears in that second, one that was not the hum of the lightsaber, or the heavy crazed breathing on the monster in front of him. Instead, it was quiet, yet high pitched, and sounded almost like some animal calling out for his mother.
It was then that he realized that it was him, whimpering uncontrollably.
A dark smirk came to the monster's face as he titled the blade, pointing it directly at Draven's chest.
"I should kill you for what you tried to do to her! I want to kill you!"
Draven braced himself, closing his eyes and accepting his fate. To be taken out in the field, serving as a loyal rebel agent would have been perfect.
But instead, here he was, tied up and about to be murdered by a crazed monster.
In a way, he supposed he deserved it.
So Draven waited, eyes closed for the end.
What felt like hours passed, and still the end did not come. The monster hadn't left, that was clear, and the lightsaber could still be heard humming menacingly.
And then he heard the monster release a roar of rage, and heard the blade swing, distorting the air as it did so.
Draven took a deep breath, expecting the end.
But instead, all he suddenly felt was a burning sensation on his hand, one that caused him to yell out in agony.
Opening his eyes, Draven witnessed the monster step back to admire his handiwork, the blade being extinguished in the process.
Glancing over at his right hand, Draven gasped at the sight of his three central fingers, now missing from where the blade had severed them clean off.
Knowing there was nothing he could do, Draven accepted the loss of the fingers, looking back at the monster before him, who, for the first time seemed to be relaxed and at ease.
"However, she would want me to let you go, so that is what I will do, for her." The monster spoke, his voice clear and stable.
"What? What do you mean?" Draven struggled to say as he suddenly found himself dropped to the stone floor beneath him, his intact hand coming to cradle his severed finger stumps in pain.
A dark look appeared on the monster's face again, before he gestured towards the exit of the cave with his own hand.
"I said you can go free. I have business to attend elsewhere anyway, and you are just a waste of my time." The monster spoke in response, gesturing towards the cave's exit for a second time,
Draven looked up at the exit. In the distance he could see what appeared to be a thick red fog, one that covered the surface outside the cave.
"But, how will I get off this planet?" Draven questioned, confusion in his voice at the sudden change of events. One moment he was seconds away from death, now he was not?
The monster chuckled again, the sound sending chills down Draven's spine.
"Get off this planet? Oh General Draven, you misunderstand. There is no way off of Dathomir! I am not going to kill you myself. Lady Tano would not want that. But that doesn't mean I'm going to help you. You are on your own from now on. But make no mistake. If I see you anywhere on this planet again for any reason…" The monster finished his speech with a gentle gesture of his lightsaber hilt towards Draven's chest.
Draven gulped in response before speaking.
"But how will I survive?"
The monster shrugged his shoulders, clearly not caring at the predicament that Draven now found himself in. He wasn't being tortured anymore, but he was stranded.
Stranded on a hostile planet he knew nothing about. In all likelihood, Draven doubted he would last the night.
And clearly the monster knew that too.
"Go on then General, RUN!" The monster bellowed again, taking a menacing step towards Draven as he did so.
Draven didn't wait around, summoning what energy he had left despite the agony his body was in and sprinted for the cave exit, entering into the wilderness of Dathomir beyond.
As he left the cave, the last thing Draven heard was the fading cackling of the monster who had exacted his revenge.
Author's thoughts
Well, this is probably one of the darkest things I have ever written huh? I kinda feel bad for poor Draven.
I know I said there would be a bit of a delay but I wanted to post this one shot as I am quite proud of it. It's one of my favourites so far.
Plus more Maul is always good right?
Anyway, I have a quick question for all you readers out there. Are you still enjoying these one shots? As I have said in the past, I have a secret project in the works that I can focus on instead if people want something different. That doesn't mean the one shots will stop, it just means I will shift my focus a bit. So tell me, what would you rather have? More one shots, or the possible appearance of my super secret project? (oh and no, I'm not revealing what said project is yet. Gotta keep something secret right?)
Now that's done, I hope you enjoyed this dark one shot.
Next time round three 'space-dads' go into overprotective mode when their 'children' are threatened. Anyone want to guess who the 'space-dads' are?
As usual, comment and speculate at will. Speaking of which:
cousinxcaps: You might be onto something with you guess. Have to wait and see I guess. :)
Maliwan: Glad you enjoyed the chapter. The rebels are probably pretty shocked by Thrawn's sudden change of heart. We'll have to see if the alliance holds together.
Travis Middleton: Glad you enjoyed Thrawn and the rebels working together, even if Thrawn pretty much did all the work.
Hera and Rukh working together was written solely because they did fight in the series. Thought it'd be cool.
Garrick and Iden's confrontation was fun to write. I felt she was a bit too leniant on him in the game, so I had them shoot each other here. As for the other members of Inferno Squadron, they wouldn't have met yet in this canon, but I imagine Hask is loyal to Rax and the empire. That being said, the person who carried Iden out of the bridge after she'd been shot was written with the idea that it was Del Meeko, so there's that at least.
As for the Acolytes of the Beyond, I can confirm they will appear, but not in the way you'd expect. Let's just say they have some beef with a certain someone. :)
FossilQueen1984: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Thrawn is smart to propose an alliance. They will need to work together in order to win after all.
jamese765: I'm glad I was able to fullfil a dream for you. :)
jojobinks: I left Iden's fate up to the audience, or at least until I decide to use her again for something.
Jayson-Master of Storm: Glad you liked the ending of this mini arc. It was tough to write it all out, hence the delay.
Thanks for your understanding regarding a break. I will take one now for a bit, but more will come.
However, as for an additional story in this AU, I don't really want to as I can't find anything to do a feature length story on. For now, the one shots serve to continue this AU.
That being said, my super secret project is a whole new story, one that will be incredibly long too.
Thanks again. :)
Mysterious Guest one: Glad you liked the one shot. I wonder what game Thrawn is playing? Is he being genuine, or not? Only time will tell. :)