Enslaved - Part 1

The Zabrak watched her fall, a bloody mess across her face as she screamed and fell back. Then she disappeared completely. He was frozen, his eyes wide. The scream ripping through his chest as she vanished from sight. He had tried to explain it to his master to beg for forgiveness… but there was nothing he could say when Sidious was like this. He was frozen! He tried to move, to speak, to scream! He couldn't move. He wanted to reach her. To protect her. That was his friend, his only friend! She was… she was his apprentice, his best friend, and so much more.

There was no mercy in the ways of the Sith. She had been foolish, there was no way she was strong enough to defeat him -why did she try? He felt as though a hollow darkness had overtaken him, and a voice spoke to him from within, the voice of a child… of himself.

The memories had to be hidden… Now you know why I locked them away. He realised too late… it was to protect… her. Now he had failed.

Sidious turned and he was on one knee at once in instinct. How is it he could move now? Had Sidious held him in place or was it his own fears? His hearts raced and his breathing came heavy. He knew what was coming. He had felt it before, but even the lightning was nothing compared to the pain on the inside. It were as though he had been torn in half like their pendants, like he had when he had been dragged away that day so many years ago. He just got her back… and now…

"Good, my apprentice." Sidious croaked, his hands by his sides. There was no lightning. No punishment… and he was not dead. He looked up, his eyes reflecting the pain, the rage at his master… and himself as well as confusion. "Take that anger you feel, Maul. Use it to give you power!" He hissed. "She would have only weakened you, now you will be even stronger than ever before!"

Was… was that the answer? To make sure he didn't feel this pain anymore? Turn it into rage… Turn it into power… he didn't want to use it… he wanted to forget again… forget her. If he could forget once he could again! It was too much!

"But…" His master cackled, "You still must be punished for your… disobedience." There was a flash of light in his vision, and the pain from his master was almost a relief in comparison.


She could hear something moving… her body was so heavy, something rumbled beneath her, yet still she couldn't see. Her whole body ached, though the pain in her head was splitting. She groaned, her senses tingling as she tried to move.

"The ashen one is waking up." She heard a voice above her somewhere, and tried to shift away, though found it so hard to move.

"Give her another dose, she is still healing anyway." She struggled to raise her arms and push away whoever was there - but her limbs would not respond, her hands barely twitching. She felt something sharp against her neck… and she was fading away again.


It was hot, there were sounds unfamiliar all around, smells of filth and sweat and animals. There was an uncomfortable thick heat in the air, her skin felt sticky, and her head still pounded. Zaiya managed to open her eyes this time… though she discovered that she could only see out of her right. It seemed where she was struck was still healing and the left side of her head was wrapped up in bandages. The light was bright but she lay in shadows, at the bottom of some hole. She sat up squinting around to try and see where she was.

"Don't move so quickly," came a voice. She turned, spotting a figure near her, also sitting. It seemed that the hole she was in was not dug. Smooth stone lined the walls and floor, angled corners and from what she could tell, deliberately deep so that ordinary people would not be able to climb out of it. She looked back at the figure, her vision clouded in her good eye, and slowly came into view. It was a Bothan, a brown fur covering their body looking ragged from rough treatment, and animalistic snout extending out the front of the face, framed by a mane of longer fur, or hair... two eyes glinting back at her dully, this Bothan was almost as worse for wear as she was.

"Where…?" Zaiya began but the Bothan reached out to steady her with a small paw-like hand,

"Lie back, the Masters won't be returning for a while," the small creature, like a mix between a lion and a wolf if they could stand on two legs petted her arm. Zaiya thought it was a she, though couldn't be sure yet.

"Masters..?" She asked, with a groan. Looking up she could see there were buildings beyond the strange pit, and whatever she heard and smelled came from up there. "Where…am I?" she groaned.

"In the pits…" The voice began to be more distant, it seems sitting up had sent her mind spinning. She was so dizzy.

"I don't…" She tried to speak but she was having trouble forcing out her words, her body still weak from the attacks and whoever had her. It felt strange, she couldn't reach her magick… memories and thoughts swirled in her head. Where was her master? Was he alright? She shifted again, trying to make herself stand, all the sounds melted together and she felt something warm tugging on her arm. Her world spun. "Master…?" She breathed, where was he?

She felt the ground moving, her vision still so blurred, her senses clouded. A bright light blinded what sight she still had.

"Well well, look who's awake." The heavy accented voice chuckled. "We were taking bets to see if you would die, it seems you earned me some money, girl."

"I'm surprised she isn't dead…" came a second voice as a shadow approached her, there was the shuffling of feet and this time the grip to her arm wasn't gentle. She grunted in pain and tried to pull away. She grit her teeth, trying to force herself to focus, to snap out of this daze.

"I have to… find my Master… I need to…" She wavered and there was a short silence.

"We can help you find your master." The first voice told her, she felt a hand slide down her arm, for a moment she thought she felt fur. She felt something at her neck, and reached up, however the moment her fingers touched something of cold metal, she felt shocks through her body again, the hands holding her up letting go. She dropped hard to the stone floor, writhing in agony.

"Hook her... ...nd get this.. processe... select buy… ...ecial projects..." She heard bits of the conversation and clanging as the shocks faded away. Suddenly she was hoisted by something cold and metallic around her neck, dragged across the rough ground and thrown, hitting metal. Once more she was lost, and out of control. If only she could regain her senses…! She had to get back, make sure he was alright, and to report to Mother Talzin…

Whatever she had been thrown onto, it seemed that it was a transport of some kind, she heard an engine starting somewhere and there was a rumbling under her. Again, she was being moved.

"Mother…" She breathed, "I need your help…" She tried to rise again, to use what she could of her power. The Nightsister Magicks or the force… but she was too weak, drained by the constant damage to her body. She couldn't feel her connection to them… was she cut off? How was this possible? Even as she fought to stay awake, unconsciousness pulled at her, as though they were dark tendrils dragging her down into the depths of an ocean. She swore for a moment that she saw her master's face, but she could hold on no longer.


Time flowed strangely for her. She was wracked with pain, and thrown in and out of dreams. She was not sure how much time passed, but she knew there was no way to tell and nor could she push her way through the mire of fog and cloud that kept her sleeping.

She had the strangest dreams… of her master's face, of him in pain, she witnessed him training… fighting… killing… She saw her mother, frantically searching through a box of trinkets, finding a holo-recorder and… rushing out of the Nightsister temple. There were other visions, of a desert and some… human child. None of it made sense. She saw her master in a room, wide and round flashing of sabers- he was in danger!

She sat up with a gasp. Her vision was still blurry and light seeping into the room. This was… not the same place she had woken up before. She heard whispering and rapid steps, the Nightsister sat up and moved to rub her eyes, but winced in pain, the bandages still covering half her head. What had happened? Was she blind? No… there was more she could see than last time, more than just blurry shadows. She glanced around, noticing the heavy metal collar still around her neck, making it hard to move. It appeared the room she was in was something like an infirmary. She was in some sort of cot. As she squinted, she heard a sound and saw wooden doors at the end of the room open, a figure entered, flanked by two others. From the silhouettes she could tell the one was male and… had strange hair... The other two were more colourful, so she assumed they were Twi'leks.

"Ah… you are awake, young one, it is good to see you are not too damaged." His voice was deep and soothing. Zaiya blinked as he drew closer, she could make out greenish eyes looking at her, but nothing too detailed. What she had thought was hair, pointed in tufts atop his head, were in fact ears; large ones, like some kind of animal, but he spoke eloquently enough.

"Where… am I?" she rasped. "Who are you…?"

"My goodness, you are parched." There was a snap of his fingers and she saw him turn his head to the pink shape. The girl - at least it looked like a girl - hurried off to fetch a cup of some sort, and when she returned, slender hands pressed the cup into her own.

"Thank you." Zaiya murmured. She could feel a strange tingling in her fingers that she's had since waking up, though only just seemed to notice it.

"Such manners…! I think you will fit in here." The male before her, chuckled. "I am Harasan D'Sarr, the Master of the estate. Who might you be?"

"I am… Serenna." Zaiya replied, unsure about giving her real name when she was in such a state. There was a soft chuckle from him as he reached out. Zaiya flinched away and he paused. "Forgive me, you are still healing, I have had my doctors do what they could for you, but it seems they are unable to heal your left eye… though your right seems to be much better now. Can you see out of it?" He tilted his head down, seemingly to see her face better.

"I… I can, though it's blurry."

"Yes, yes, It would…" Zaiya didn't recognise this accent, she tried to place where it came from. "Do not fret, little one, it will heal, and then we will be able to get you to work!" He laughed cheerfully.

"Work…?" Zaiya frowned, "I am afraid there has been a misunderstanding, I need to return to my Master, I think he is in danger--" She moved to stand when large firm hands grasped her shoulders.

"I see…" D'Sarr replied softly. "Perhaps there has been a mistake…" She could see a blurry shape of a smile on his face before it vanished again. "It seems that my contacts thought you were one of the servants I had been expecting… my, my this is most unfortunate."

"It does not have to be, if you would supply me with a ship, I have contacts that can compensate you-" Zaiya began.

"I am… afraid it is not so simple, you see, this collar here," he made a gesture to it as his hands released her. "It is locked by your genetic signature when you were processed, and only a change in the system through the proper channels and permits." He explained, "If you try to leave, it may kill you."

"That's barbaric!" Zaiya gasped.

"I know, I know, I do not agree with these horrible things, but it is the law here, and for the safety of all, considering there was a revolt some time ago… but enough of the needless details…!" he waved a hand. "You need to return to your master, yes? Let me try to get in contact with the men that brought you here, they should be able to know a way to fix this terrible error!" He reached out and cupped her cheek, smiling. Zaiya stilled, watching him carefully through blurred vision. She was hesitant, and pulled away, but nodded anyway. If this D'Sarr was going to help her, all the better for it, perhaps she could afford to recuperate, at least for a day or two… speaking of…

"How long have I been here?" She groaned, rubbing the back of her head.

"A while… " he replied with no definitive answer. "But you are still healing, whatever happened to you was awful… you must be in a lot of pain." He reached out a large hand and ran it over her hair. She felt her hackles rise, unused to such touches, and pulled away cautiously. "Now, you must be hungry, you will need to build up your strength so you can heal." He tutted as he pulled away, "It's such a pity that it was your pretty face, these tattoos are just fascinating…"

Zaiya turned her head slowly, was that…? No, surely not. She shook her head and pushed the thought away. She shifted to the side of the bed but he held up a hand.

"No need to strain yourself, my servants will tend to your needs, my dear." He purred, and stood. "I will leave you to rest. I hope you will have the energy to talk later." Hands behind his back, he turned away from them and headed back to the door. "Rest well." Zaiya frowned, there was a weird atmosphere in the air, and the two servants left behind just smiled at her.

"Our master will look after you." the pink one nodded.

"What are your names?" she asked with a careful look to their faces, they seemed to be smiling, but it was difficult to see them.

"I am Ketlana," the pink one replied, it seemed the blue one wasn't very talkative. "My companion is Ieyazi."

"You have served your master a long time?" She asked.

"For many years, we are very happy here." The girl smiled, from what she could see through the haze.

"And you as well?" Zaiya asked, looking to Ieyazi.

"Oh, Ieya can't speak, she's deaf."

"My apologies." She looked at the Twi'lek face on. "Can you read lips?" Ieya nodded. "Then I will try to be mindful of that." Ieya seemed to smile at that, afterwards she stood and headed out to get some food it seemed. Ketlana stayed by her side. Zaiya regarded her cautiously, she felt like she was being babysat, but said nothing, perhaps she was too used to dealing with criminals? Still, what D'Sarr had said was bugging her. They needed collars for servants?

Ketlana began to tell her about the place. How her master was quite wealthy, how he made sure everyone was well taken care of. They ate well and had good sized rooms as well as this wonderful medical facility.

"What does he need such a medical facility in a private home for?" Zaiya asked, but before she got an answer the door opened again, and Ieya returned with a platter, various meats thankfully, and she realised how hungry she was. Part of her felt guilty that she was sitting and waiting in this place, unable to check on her master. She hated to leave him alone with the monster that had done this to her eyes. If he could and had done this to her, then what would he have done to her master? Still, she was in no condition to fight… or even fly until her sight was healed.


Notes:

Oh lawd. Anyone able to guess where she is? Things are not looking good! I am sorry in advance... but it's gonna get worse.

Next chapter is a big one! It's about 4.7k words and will be a bit heavy so please bear that in mind. It's angst o'clock up in here! So look out for Enslaved part 2 next week, followed by Broken part 1.

As always please please please if you can leave a comment and let me know what you think, it really really helps me. I love seeing the kudos notifications too it makes me so happy! You all give me such LIFE and MOTIVATION! Thank you so much to all of you and I hope you have an amazing week! I shall see you next time!