Chapter Text
You make your way down the stone pathway leading away from your palace, pink skirts billowing around you as you giggle silently. You keep ahead of the young man betrothed to you at birth while he calls your name; Lethe, Princess of the lush planet Rane, allied to the First Order, fourth in line to the throne, blah blah blah. You don't care for such titles, you are 12 and haven't a care in the world. Okay fine, you do care about a few things. Your fiancée Arek, on the other hand, is 5 years older than you and shows more concern and less playfulness than you prefer. He'll soon be as serious as your parents, hopefully not as uncaring as them. Sure, you know they love you, but they see no use in a daughter who has never been able to speak. They've already married off your older sister, Sienest, and with your older twin brothers Donnic and Fenryl inheriting the throne you're pretty much left to do what you wish. Outside of your lessons that is. You prefer to spend that time playing with Arek, and he wishes you would calm down. He is like a brother to you, your faithful protector. But right now, you just want out of your stuffy palace.
You stop briefly to sign that he should hurry up before turning around and smacking right into a tall black blob. You silently yelp in surprise as you fall backwards only to be swiftly caught by a strong pair of arms.
“Ah, this must be King Vonar and Queen Britale's youngest, Princess Lethe. Your highness, are you alright?” Standing right next to the person you walked right into, you recognize that distinct accent coming from none other than General Armitage Hux of the First Order, no doubt on one of his many excursions to your planet to discuss politics with your father. You rub your now sore nose before nodding in reply even though you're sure the General doesn't care about your well-being at all.
Arek catches up to you and apologizes for your carelessness before protectively pulling you away from the stranger clad in all black. You know your suitor doesn’t much care for those who hold their grasp on you for longer than what is deemed normal but you just roll your eyes instead of making it worse.
{Good afternoon, General,} you sign with a curtsy. You look up at the new man, and notice he is immensely talk and way more clothed than is necessary for an early summer day on your planet. His face is covered by a foreboding black mask that is staring straight at you. It unnerves you to your core. You feel a slight buzz at the back of your head before Arek grabs your arm, making you realize that you were staring at him for a while.
General Hux gives you a look of displeasure, "Your highness, you know that I don't know any sign language." You wonder after all these years that if he truly doesn't know, or doesn't care to learn.
You scowl at him while Arek translates, "Sorry, sir; she was just saying good afternoon."
"Ah, right, well … yes I suppose it is a good afternoon," he replies, resuming his march up to the castle.
You turn to Arek, ignoring the General, {Who's the new guy?} You're unsettled by that mask but it's best to know who is who in your kingdom.
He only responds with a shrug.
Deciding it's best not to deal with creepy men in masks, you start running away from the castle again as your father opens the palace doors, greeting General Hux. "Ah, General, what a fine day for you to come! And who might this young fellow be?"
You hear the General reply with an introduction to the newest edition to the First Order, Commander Kylo Ren. You suppose that they're here to try planning "advantageous marriages" to high ranking First Order officers again, including this Ren guy. You snicker because your sister and you are both tied to men, and your brothers don't care enough to bother courting anyone at all.
Faintly, you feel a voice in your head, I heard that. You jump, clapping your hands over your ears even though it was all in your mind. No one's been in your head before but now you know that you don't like it. You twirl around, getting ready to sign angrily at the culprit only to see Commander Ren's cowl enter your home and you shiver.
You glower at the doors before tossing what just happened from your mind, taking off in a sprint to reach the river, your favorite spot outside of the palace and as far as you can go with only Arek. He finally catches up to you. "Gods, Princess, PLEASE slow down. I can't protect you if you keep running out of my reach," he huffs, placing a gentle kiss on your forehead. You don't like when he calls you princess and kisses your forehead like a child, but you decide to only scrunch your nose in mild annoyance.
With a sigh you sign, {I'll be fine, Arek. The kingdom is safe as safe can be, especially with those high ranking First Order officials so close. Relax a little.} The wink you give him is not helping him feel any better. And of course after saying that, you get a feeling of something bad about to happen in the pit of your stomach. You've had this feeling before, half of the time leading to nothing good but you decide to not tell Arek of this and try passing it off as a fluke feeling. You take your shoes off to dip your feet in the cold river, looking for fish while Arek sits on the hill to watch over you and around you, keeping you safe.
Minutes later he sees a slight rustle by the forest's edge. You hear the worry in his vice as he gets up, "Lethe, we should go." It's a big thing when he refers to you by your first name.
You look up to see an blaster shot fly by Arek's face, barely grazing his cheek. You'd yell in anger if you could, but instead you're instantly running; forgetting about your shoes. Arek grabs your hand as you both clamber up the hill towards the safety of the palace.
Shots are still flying at you, one of them hits your leg and pain tears through you. Your scream is silent but Arek still notices from the empty space where your hand used to be. You sign obscenities at your attacker as you grit your teeth to stand and run. Arek comes back to you, flinging you over his shoulder so that you won’t further injure your muscles. You silently curse him for protecting you rather than saving himself or getting help. Well, to be fair, he IS yelling for the guards. You wonder where they are as Arek gets to the top of the hill, with all of his efforts being met with getting a blaster shot straight to the chest.
Arek goes down, and so do you. Scrambling over to him, you grab his hand as he reaches out, “Run, Lethe; protect yourself.”
{No, not without you,} you sign with one hand. Tears fall freely and blur your vision as you struggle with pulling him to safety.
The assailant has gotten closer now, asking where Commander Ren is while pointing their blaster at your face.
As Arek takes his last breath, the bitter tears on your cheeks give way to the power of anger, making your hair and small rocks around you lift from their resting places. You. You took my dearest friend from me. You were using the Force to communicate your rage; you would be more stunned under better circumstances. But now isn’t the time, your fiancée is dead and you want to make his killer PAY. You feel that same buzzing in the back of your head as before while you will the attacker away with a fling your hand at him. He immediately flies back into the forest as you hear troopers and your palace guard approach. Hearing the sound of heavy boots, you turn and see the man in all black in your view as you try getting up.
Suddenly, you are forced back down. "Stay down," the distorted voice commands you.
NO, HE KILLED AREK. HE DESERVES TO PAY! You don't care if this damn idiot is Supreme Leader Snoke himself, you will get vengeance. You struggle to get back up but fatigue from the blaster injury and using whatever powers you somehow just awakened for the first time makes it easier for Kylo Ren to put you to sleep with the Force. The last thing in your mind before unconsciousness is him, assuring you he will kill the rebel assassin.
Your sleeping form is brought back to your chambers, the Commander himself carrying you to your bed as your nursemaids flutter about. He places you down on your bed and silently stalks out of the room, only glancing back to order your servants to not tell you that he helped, only that troopers brought you here. He has no time nor care for young girls getting attached.
You rouse long enough to hear the voices of your parents and General Hux outside your cracked open doors, discussing the incident and what to do with your newfound Force sensitivity. There is no concern for Arek to be heard in your parents voices, as Hux is quick to point out that you are now free to be pledged to a member of the First Order. You hate them for deciding your future without you, but you know that either way you could never have a say in it. Still, you strain to hear what they plot for you.
Trying to get up, you feel yourself being forced back down on your bed as you hear Ren telling your parents that you would make a great asset if you were trained in the Force. You struggle against his powers but it is evident that even with his attention out in the hall, he is decidedly too strong for you to overpower so that you can run out and object.
You hear beeping on a datapad before Hux announces that there will be a trainer waiting for you, and that you will depart immediately when you awaken. You struggle harder as the Commander senses you've heard enough and luls you back to sleep with the Force. You wonder why such men as a high ranking First Oder officer and that masked outsider would care about a useless spare princess who can’t even talk but you’re too exhausted from the day and the pull of the force that you quietly drift off to dream of lightsaber fights and your now-dead protector.