Cara was sick of waiting. Sick of waiting to be threatened again, sick of waiting to be tortured again. She was sick of passing the time in constant fear – every footstep she heard outside of her cell made her pulse quicken and every TIE fighter she saw flying outside her little window made her heart ache.
The food she was given was sparse, the sleep she got was troubled. She was getting weaker with every passing hour she spent trapped inside her room. It did not matter though, she would not let it affect her. If she wanted to be useful, she needed to do something about it sooner rather than later.
She devised her plan before the next tray of food was brought up to her room. She knew how to fight, she knew how to defend herself. Ben had taught her everything she needed to know when they were younger. Granted, she had not had to use her skills in a long time; but she accepted that she would have to let her muscle memory take over if her plan was going to succeed.
Suddenly, there was a sharp knock on the door. She hid in the corner next to it, waiting for the bored Stormtrooper to open it himself and enter the room. As soon as the door creaked open, she struck. She slammed the door against the Stormtroopers helmet, once, twice, three times for good measure. He seemed to be knocked out, but she could never be sure: instead, she dragged him inside her room, all the while making sure that her foot held the door open. As soon as she had reached her limit as to how far she could push him without letting the door slam closed again, she jumped outside quickly, locking the Stormtrooper inside.
The hallway was deserted, luck was on her side. She decided to explore this level of the ship first – if she did not find anything of interest, she would figure out where to go next later. She was still amazed she had even gotten this far.
She stayed close to the walls, trying to make sure that no oncoming troops would spot her as she crept down the hallway. Doors ran the length of the walls on either side – fortunately, she was able to glance inside most of them through the small windows embedded into them. Most rooms just seemed to be control rooms of some sort, there was nothing she would be able to find there. As the time passed, she became more comfortable with her current situation. It was so quiet, so easy – she almost forgot that she was not even supposed to be there.
She walked the hallway a while longer, getting lost in her own thoughts as she wandered. It continued to be eerily quiet as she wondered if she would run into her mysterious captor. She did not even know his name yet – and still she felt as though she had known him for longer than the two slow weeks she had been trapped on this hazardous ship.
There was something about his voice. Even through the distorter, there was something in it she recognized. The rhythm of his words, the lilt with which he spoke. She could almost hear his voice in her head right now, sending a wave of goose bumps over her entire body. She thought back to the way his fingers had tightened around her wrist when she touched his mask – almost as though he was afraid of what she would find had she succeeded in taking it off.
Lost in her thoughts, she was about to give up when she heard two voices coming down the corridor. She did not recognize either of them. Frantically, Cara looked for a place to hide, and to her utter relief, she found one. Folding herself uncomfortably into a small alcove fitted into the wall, she held her breath as she waited for the two to pass. As they came closer, she was able to catch some of their conversation – a conversation which made her blood run cold.
"I heard he threw another fit. Bust up the entire control room next to the weapons storage room, you know." A young male voice said, trying to sound important.
"Hardly surprising. He may be strong with the Force but he still acts as though he is a child." The second voice seemed to be a woman's, but was still distorted by a helmet. Just like that of Cara's captor.
"The General seems to think it has something to do with that girl he brought in as his prisoner. Sets something off in him, I suppose."
It took Cara a few minutes before she realized that they were talking about her. She sucked in a breath, listening intently for any more information on the man that had taken her captive. Suddenly, Cara could hear a third set of footsteps coming down the hallway, and she pushed herself even further down the alcove, fear threatening to overtake her.
"Captain Phasma, General Hux requires your attendance in the main control room." This was obviously the voice of another Stormtrooper – their voice distorters were a lot easier to recognize.
"Did he say what the matter is about?" The female voice, Captain Phasma, inquired.
"No, just that he wants you there as soon as possible. Urgent, he said."
"Very well, inform him that I will be there shortly."
Footsteps sounded again as the messenger ran off in the other direction. Cara sat quietly, willing the two people so close to spotting her to give her more information. Anything that could give her a clue as to whom she might be dealing with.
"Ready the troops for weapons inspection. We need to be prepared for the next ordered raid." The female voice commanded.
"Captain."
Both footsteps walked in opposite directions, and it was not until the hallway was completely quiet again that Cara let out the breath she had been holding. After waiting a few more minutes, Cara untangled herself from her hiding position. Her limbs were stiff from crouching down, and she took a minute to stretch before she realized the mistake she had made.
"Hold it right there." The familiar voice of a Stormtrooper ordered, standing a mere few feet away from her.
She turned to him, ready to fight – until she realized she did not have any weapons on her. Where she might have had the door to aid her when she escaped, she certainly did not have that type of luck now. The Stormtrooper held a blaster gun, and pointed it readily at her. She could not move, terror suddenly overwhelming her. She realized it would be foolish to run anyway. She had no idea where she was going and could not be certain of another place to hide.
"How did you escape from your cell?" The Stormtrooper asked, seemingly interested. It did not go unnoticed by Cara that he had not fired his blaster at her yet, nor had he come closer in a threatening manner.
"Dumb luck, I guess." She tried to be as nonchalant as possible. She did not want to make any sudden moves that would change his surprisingly calm demeanour.
"I – I need to take you back to your cell."
"Go ahead, it's not as though I have anywhere else to run."
She had given him permission, and yet the Stormtrooper stood in his place, barley moving a muscle. The blaster was still pointed at her, however; and as much as she wanted to believe this particular foot soldier was not capable of harming her, she could not take the chance that he would still fire at her with his weapon.
The pair stood like that for a while, observing each other. It was odd, Cara realized, as the fear slowly started to ebb away from her. He still had not made a single move. Perhaps I can still run, and he would let me leave; she thought to herself.
It was right at this moment that she heard the heavy stomp of boots coming down the hallway. Her eyes once again widened with dread, and before she could make the conscious decision to run, she was once again standing face to face with the masked man that haunted her in her sleep.
"FN-2187, thank you for rounding up the prisoner. I can take it from here." He stepped closer to her, and she backed herself into the wall, desperately trying to decide whether or not to attempt to flee. He made up her mind for her though, as he used the Force to push her up against the wall and relinquish all self-control over her body.
"Did you truly think you had any chance of escaping on your own?"
She ignored his question as she tried to steel her nerves in preparation for whatever onslaught it was he had in mind for her.
"Or did you have some ulterior motive for sneaking around our hallways?"
She could still see the lone Stormtrooper out of the corner of her eye – and yet once again, he did nothing. He did not follow his commanding officers orders. Instead, he seemed to be watching the scene unfold, waiting for something, anything that would give him a reason not to leave.
As helpless as she felt, she noticed something that had puzzled her ever since she had been captured. As strong as his affinity for the Force may be, as much as he seemed to want to hurt her, he never once used it to choke the life out of her. Not when he first encountered her, not when he was interrogating her, or torturing her. Not even now, when she was clearly in violation of whatever it was she was doing on this forsaken ship. He had hurt her, sure, but he had never made an attempt to truly squeeze the life from her. Not the way she had seen him do with some of the other villagers back on Jakku.
"Am I now supposed to wait for you to hurt me or do you enjoy seeing me cower in fear in front of you?" She challenged him, trying to antagonize him to see what his next step would be.
"FN-2187, did I not tell you to leave?" Slowly, menacingly, her captor turned his head toward the Stormtrooper. As if snapping out of a daydream, the trooper shook his head and immediately started running back in the direction he came from.
"Now that we're finally alone…"
Cara swallowed, her throat suddenly becoming dry as his words grated on her every nerve.
"Will you tell me what you were trying to accomplish by escaping your prison cell?"
"I don't think that's any of your concern."
As he processed her words, he moved a step closer to her, ever holding his hand outstretched towards her as he continued to use the Force to subdue his prisoner. Under his mask, a smirk once more graced his face; a feat that only she seemed to be able to accomplish.
"Perhaps you'd like me to probe your mind again – revisit some old memories of your little friend."
She could feel her skin burn as he spoke, her defiance once again setting in out of a purely protective place in her heart.
"You would not dare touch any more of his memories."
He finally let her go from his grasp, and she slumped to the floor, struggling to catch her breath. Her lungs felt as though they were on fire and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end; and yet, she could not seem to look away from her captor, following his every move as he crouched down in front of her.
"Curious though, is it not? That you would feel so protective over someone whose memories you tried so hard to block from your own mind's eye?"
It did not go unnoticed by Cara that for the first time since she had been captured, they were at eye level. She could sense where his eyes were regarding hers; calculating her every move, her every breath. She stared him straight in the eye – seemingly straight through his mask, and mustered every ounce of courage to express her next few words.
"That is what you do for someone you used to love."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading so far, I really appreciate it! Reviews are always welcome (even though something seems to be going wrong with publishing them?) But I would love to hear your comments or any ideas you may have. New chapter soon!