:: Chapter Thirty Nine ::
"I've had her here for over a week but still I don't have my answers," grumbled Arcann while he paced the steps leading up to his throne.
The two Knights who guarded the sanctum turned their helmets toward each other, confused and wondering whether he expected them to respond.
"Why does she have to be so stubborn and difficult? Why is she so…"
"Perhaps torture would speed up the process?" offered one of the Knights.
"No! Maybe. I don't know," Arcann snapped.
'Or I could choke my father out of her, force him to answer me,' he entertained the thought briefly and spun around to his guards.
"And I wasn't asking either of you! Dismissed!"
The last thing he needed now was for his Knights to witness him waver. To hear the doubt in his voice and watch his indecisiveness. If word got out then his Empire would crumble and he would lose the respect of those who served him. Some already doubted him, he knew.
People had turned against him when he'd ordered the Scions killed and several Knights had refused the orders then fled. Others now questioned, in their own minds and never to his face, why he held the Outlander prisoner rather than execute her for his sister's murder.
'We would have fared better under Thexan's rule' were words he'd heard once or twice as well. A reporter had even had the nerve to pose it as a suggestion to the people of Zakuul during a live broadcast. Arcann had her killed for it the second she went off the air.
"But Thexan would have known what to do with this," he muttered to himself and took a sharp turn.
His quick stride led him away from the throne and to the elevators where he made his descent to the new prison cells he'd had his workers build recently, directly underneath the Spire. He turned the hallways and dismissed everyone from their post—he needed no witnesses nor did he need protection.
"Up!" His knuckles rapped against the glass of Eliza's cell but she made no effort to move from the comfort of her bed, not even when he stepped inside.
She sucked her teeth and without bothering to look, keeping a steely gaze on the ceiling instead, she drawled, "Well well, looks who's back for round two. Can't say I've missed you."
"I saw the security footage, I know you were calling for me after I left the other night. Shouting my name, asking how far along you were, were you not?"
"So what?"
"I thought I might offer you a deal."
"Oh yeah?"
"I will have my private physician examine you, answer any questions you have about your condition."
Eliza rolled onto her side and propped her chin up on the back of her hand. "And in exchange?"
"You answer my questions about my father and your bond with him."
Arcann's hands clasped behind his back and he waited. This is what Thexan would do, he figured. A show of kindness to compel cooperation from the enemy and perhaps this way, he'd achieve more than he would by using brute force though he remained prepared to resort to the latter—even as he realized she would sooner die than break to a show of violence.
"Alright, fine," she decided after a hot minute of considering her options.
Unwilling to show him just how desperate she was for answers of her own—he'd only take advantage of it quite as he was now and she had no interest in him driving the bargaining price up higher.
A curt nod followed and Arcann disappeared for no more than five minutes before he returned with a physician in tow. An older man, bowing an awful lot in the presence of his Emperor. Streaks of silver locks woven through his dark brown hair and he had a mustache that half reminded Eliza of Doc.
"Well, let's see then Miss," he tried with kind eyes and pulled up a chair at her bedside. "Please, lie back and relax."
Eliza did as instructed and straightened out in bed. Chewing on the inside of her bottom lip while she went to lift her shirt up, fully expecting a sonogram of sorts and prompting Arcann to turn away immediately, averting his eyes.
"Oh no, Miss, that's not necessary. We have the latest technology here, our mediscans pick up on everything through any material with just a few clicks. A real time saver in case of combat injuries. Now, let's see…"
Her fingers nervously drummed against the mattress while she recited a desperate prayer to herself, 'Please no more than six, seven weeks.'
Silence thickened the air in her cell and minutes passed by like hours until the physician finally spoke again.
"Healthy as can be, though, I'd like to prescribe you some vitamins if you would like?"
She glanced past his shoulder at Arcann but he had his back turned still and Eliza nodded. "How far along am I, please?"
"Four weeks and five days exactly."
"Oh thank the stars!" she sighed out with great relief. 'Fuck you, Ravage, enjoy your losing streak.'
A small chuckle escaped the physician when he noticed her sudden joy and he patted her knee.
"It's too early to tell the gender but, with my Lord Emperor's permission, I will return in a few weeks to check on you," he said but then considered, "Should you still be here then…"
"That's fine," said Arcann and he finally turned back around. "Are you finished?"
"Yes, Emperor Arcann. Except…" the physician hesitated and bowed his head once more.
"Well?"
"The cuff around her ankle is on too tight, it's interfering with her circulation."
"I will fix it. Dismissed."
"Of course, my Lord." The older man made a hasty exit, only barely catching the word of gratitude Eliza shouted after him while she sat back up.
"Alright, your turn," she told Arcann, remembering their deal.
He took the chair the physician sat in earlier and reached down, taking her calf in his good hand to lift her foot onto his lap. With a few simple clicks of the controller he carried on him, he extended the width of the cuff around her ankle so it sat loosely, yet not wide enough to slip off over her heel and foot.
"Thanks…" Eliza frowned.
"My father, start talking. I want to know all of it, anything you know," he demanded and put her foot back down.
"All of it, huh?" She hung back and curled her legs up underneath herself. "Alright.
"Millennia ago, on a planet far, far away and now known as Nathema, a very cruel little boy was—"
Arcann held his hand up to stop her. "Not that. Not right now. Your bond with him, why he chose you, how it works."
"Our bond? Pff… fate, destiny, and a very complicated bloodline. A gift from the Force," she began telling.
Careful not to give away too much, only those parts needing to be shared in order for her story to make sense but she kept quiet about the things he could use against her. Mainly the price of using her gift and its ineffectiveness against him. She also chose to withhold what she'd learned about the holocron and her only way of ridding herself of Vitiate—that wasn't any of his business.
"... he used his manipulation of the Force to withdraw into Kira's body after she killed him. When I freed her from the carbonite and we connected, your father used that connection to transfer his essence into me. He spent years keeping her alive just long enough for me to find her."
A low rumble came from behind Arcann's mask and he frowned in thought. "How does he do it?"
"I honestly don't know."
"Can he hear you now? Can he hear us discussing this? Is he present?"
"No," Eliza shook her head and tapped against her ankle cuff. "I suspect this thing is keeping him at bay."
"But what about Nathema? I know he was there."
"He was, I don't understand how. I suspect the planet doesn't affect him the way it does others due to his bond with that place but I can't say for sure."
"And he protected you? That's why you were unharmed after the explosion?"
"I believe so, yes, unless I've grown impervious not only to fire but to collapsing buildings, which I doubt."
The answers gave Arcann much food for thought and he fell silent while Eliza laid back down, an idle hand caressing her tummy and for just a moment, she smiled.
'A straight shooter through and through, Shan,' she thought to herself but then frowned as well. Remembering what had happened to the man she loved, whose child she now carried and she glanced at her jailer sat in silence.
"Why did you try to kill him?"
"Who?"
"Theron."
Arcann gave her a blank stare and followed it through with a shrug. "I wanted to get to you, he was in my way."
"Is violence your answer to everything?"
"Isn't it yours?"
Eliza pursed her lips and turned to gaze back up at the ceiling.
"We were tricked, you know," she said after minutes passed where both were lost in deep thought.
"Hm?"
"Your father. He used the bond he has with you to lure you to Nathema, knowing I was headed there. I don't know specifically how—"
"I received a warning in a dream, recurrent, that you were traveling there to find your partner. It felt so vivid and real my gut told me it was true and encouraged me to find you," Arcann provided a piece to the puzzle.
"That explains it. He used my fears to propel me into action, knowing I was more concerned about Scourge than I was focused on confronting you."
"He's after me, then, just as I suspected. Just as you are," he deduced and slunk back in his seat, a deep sigh reverberating inside his mask.
"Can you blame me? You and your brother attacked Korriban, you started this war. Your father killed my mentor, my great uncle. Imprisoned my husband who you then kept around as your own little scientific research project while you laid siege to both the Empire, the Republic and terrorized your own people."
"Do not speak of my brother!" Arcann shot up and held a pointed finger to her face—clearly, she'd touched a nerve. "Do you think I asked for any of this?"
Eliza barely even flinched at his sudden outburst and rolled her head to the side, refusing to look at him.
"All I ever wanted was to make my father proud! To achieve everything he wanted me to achieve but it was never good enough! I wasn't worthy of his attention, of a single word of praise or even being acknowledged!" he spat while he carried on.
"I faced his challenges and went out on the battlefield! Returning from your worlds, from Korriban, bringing him trophies and proof of our victory and did he care? No! He wouldn't even look at me while I sat there, the burns on my body still fresh. After losing an arm for his conquest!"
"So what?!" Eliza sneered and now jumped up to face him. "You had a shoddy childhood and a crappy father, and?!
"My father was killed before I was ever born. My mother kidnapped me when I was three years old, tore our family apart and fled the Empire to dump me with the Jedi after which she returned to our old home, got herself arrested and hung herself! I never even had parents but do you see me stomping around punishing the entire galaxy for my shitty upbringing?!"
She ached with the rising urge to punch him. "But no, let's all give a big boo-hoo for the poor Emperor of Zak—"
Arcann wasn't half as self contained and struck her across the face with his cybergenetic hand, drawing blood from her lip.
"If you never had parents then you don't know what it's like to face their constant rejection!" he barked in anger and though his hand rose to strike her a second time, it wavered in the air instead before he lowered his arm back down.
The pain brought tears to her eyes but she bit them back and argued, "And if you think I don't understand constant rejection, not being good enough, being denied the love and warmth, the pride of a parent then you've not done your research on the Jedi!"
Quiet hatred filled up the space between the two adversaries. Both stood challenging each other only through body language while time ticked the minutes away. Eliza's palms twitching and desperate for her confiscated weapons while Arcann fought nature and instinct to stop himself making any rash decisions. They'd gotten him nowhere so far, only into greater turmoil, and he'd slowly come to realize the woman before him required a different approach.
Finally, he stepped back and retrieved an unused napkin from her nightstand. He offered it to her but Eliza just slapped his hand aside.
"You'll never be good enough for him, quit trying, you no longer need his approval anyway. This is your Empire now, your rule, not his. You don't have to—" she started quietly but soon found herself interrupted.
"But I do. I do have to carry out what he set in motion. My brother and I started this war at his command, years ago and when I seized the throne, I couldn't just walk away from that. Your Empire and Republic would have retaliated, you already did by invading Wild Space to find us. I had to make a stand."
"You could have placed the blame on your dead father and sent a peace offering, aid to make up for the assaults. There's always another way."
'There is always another way…' The words echoed in his ears but it wasn't her voice he heard.
The phrase rippled through him bringing a peculiar, calming effect and Arcann slowly sunk back down into his seat. Before he could even decide whether he wanted to share anything further or not, his mouth had begun to spill already.
"My brother used to say the exact same thing whenever I'd react impulsively," he admitted in truth.
In fact, it had been those words running through his mind a week earlier that had compelled him to spare Eliza and her unborn child from a carbonite prison.
"He sounds like a wise man."
"He was and I loved him. I looked up to him even after he betrayed me."
"What happened?" asked Eliza while she picked the napkin up and finally used it to dab at her bloody lip.
"After we returned from our victory on the battlefield and my father still failed to do as much as acknowledge my presence I… I became so furious, unlike I'd ever been. I wanted to kill him, felt my blood boil and moved in to strike but Thexan stopped me.
"He came between us to protect our father, to fight me and…"
It was too difficult to finish that sentence and the words hung in the back of his throat like a knife. A hint of pain reflected in his eye and Eliza decided not to ask.
"We used to be so close. He always had my back and he always built me up. If I struggled with training, Thexan would wake me at night and we'd practice in secret out in the gardens. He'd speak to father not of his own accomplishments but mine, insisting I was every bit his equal even when I wasn't. He was my brother and my best friend."
Emotion dominated his voice but Arcann caught himself before he could give in to any further sentiment. He rose up from his seat and strode toward the door of her cell, ready to leave and questioning why he would even tell her any of this in the first place.
"We'll talk more tomorrow," he informed her with a sudden brusqueness.
"Arcann…" Eliza almost grabbed his arm to stop him but then took a step back and let her hand fall to her side.
'Don't forget who he is and what he's done. His personal tragedies do not excuse his crimes,' she reminded herself and swallowed back the words of comfort she'd intended to express.
"Yes, tomorrow," she said coolly.
His exit was swift and once he had left, Eliza scolded her own bleeding heart. It always tempted her to care more than she should, to help even those who didn't deserve it and it had almost led her to show kindness to a man wholly unworthy of it.
She slunk into the bathroom adjacent to her cell and treated her swollen lip with ice cold water while her mind worked to digest every second of her interactions with Arcann.
Why care about her unborn child? Why provide pregnancy vitamins and loosen the cuff around her ankle, and then slap her moments later? Why rage and yell at her one minute, then share something so personal and painful, only to shut down again and walk away?
"Boy's got issues, that's for damn sure," she muttered to herself.
'But I could use this…' she realized and washed her hands while contemplating any and all means to extract herself from her situation and return home to those she loved.
