Chapter Text
You're running, lungs aching as your boots pound the forest floor, pushing you closer and closer to what you don't know. All you know is you have to keep going, you have to reach what is calling you. In the distance, you hear electric sounds hissing and crashing together. Heart pounding, you realize what exactly you are running to. That's the sound of lightsabers; you are running straight into a fight.
For a brief moment, you wonder if you should stop running in the direction of the battle. Still, something you can't quite name other than a calling has you running faster and harder than ever before. Wind and tree branches leaving small scratches across your face, cloak whipping behind you, and seeing a clearing just ahead, you feel yourself getting closer to whatever and whoever is fighting.
As you come to the edge of the clearing, you slow down, careful to not make any noise and draw attention to yourself. Back against the base of a large tree trunk, you slowly pull up the headpiece of your black cloak, hoping that it will help keep you camouflaged in the darkness, and peek your head around. You inhale sharply as you take in what is happening before you. Two figures are fighting, moving so quickly the lightsabers are just a blur of blue and red. You can just make out the outlines of the wielders of the ancient weapons, a smallish figure fighting with every ounce of strength they have. Still, even to your untrained eyes, they do not have the same skills as the owner of the red lightsaber. As you take in the impossibly large figure dressed head to toe in black with a red glow illuminating a silhouette and inferior skills, all the breath leaves you at once. Before you can even think, you bust into the clearing, hand automatically going to the side of your thigh where you feel long, cylindrical, metal…
You wake abruptly, chest heaving, and searching frantically around your room. Taking in your surroundings, realizing you were alone and the morning light has not yet peaked through your windows, you sigh and slowly lower yourself back into the bed. You raise your hand to your chest, feeling your heart race in your chest, trying to calm yourself down, breathe Y/N, breathe. It was only a dream.
As you caught your breath and slowed your heart, you couldn't help but replay the dream in your head. Something calling you, lightsabers, fighting, and the ridiculous thought of you actually stepping into the battle ready to join. Absolutely ridiculous. You were royalty, a princess, and certainly had no training on how to fight or even defend yourself. That was not something that would ever be allowed on your home planet. But even knowing that, you couldn't help your mind drifting towards the towering figure wearing all black and glowing red. Your heart started to race again, blood rushing to your cheeks and, to your dismay, other places as well. Sighing, you rolled over, staring at the wall across your room.
Today was the day you were to meet with your father and discuss your "future." You huffed a laugh "future." Women of royalty had one purpose and one purpose only, produce a male heir, and then they were discarded. You rarely saw your father, let alone spoke to him. That desire was beaten out of you long ago. There was nothing to ever discuss; what your father said was law, and there was never any room to question him. Secretly you hated him. You hated everything that he stood for and wanted nothing more than to run away and keep running, taking control of your life, and seeing the galaxy. After today, there would be no hope for that; your fate would be sealed.
Throwing your bedding off of yourself, you got up and put on a silk robe and went out to your balcony. The cold air pricking your skin and a light breeze blowing your long hair back, you lifted your gaze to the sky, seeing the stars of the neighboring galaxies twinkling back down at you. You thought of your meeting with your father, already knowing what was to be discussed, and bile rose to your mouth. You were to be wed to some king on some planet that your father wanted to build an alliance with. From what you have heard, the man that was to be your husband was vile, he already had 3 wives, and you had absolutely no desire to be his 4th.
Sighing, you turned to go back into the warmth of your room to get ready for the day. There was no point in trying to go back to sleep, between your dream and the dread of the meeting today, it would be no use.
Suddenly you hear distant screaming, frowning you turn back onto the balcony, gazing across the city, trying to find where the screaming was coming from. Seeing something on the horizon moving closer and closer, you realize what you are seeing. TIE Fighters are barreling towards you, using their laser canons along the way.
Panic surging through your veins, you run towards your bedroom door. Your father's guards already running around, getting prepared to defend the king. You spot your handmaiden, locking eyes, you run towards each other.
"Lucie, what is happening!" you say breathlessly, eyes darting around while people run past you.
"We are under attack. The First Order has come. We have to get the hell out of here." Lucie drags you in the opposite direction. The guards were running, pulling you towards the maid's quarters.
A mixture of confusion and dread seeped into your mind. The First Order was here? Why? What could we have that they want? You were ripped away from your thoughts as a massive boom sounded off on the east side of the castle. That sounded like it was near my father's quarters.
You followed Lucie down the stone hallway, passing rows of old wooden doors, finally pushing through the last door on the left. Entering into the maid's common room, over a dozen eyes whip up, looking at you. You feel the collective sigh of the group of women, a sense of security filling up the room. What did these women think you could do for them if the First Order found us?
Taking a deep breath, you said, "Is there a way out? We have to keep moving. We cannot stay here."
"There is a secret door that opens into the grounds of the castle, this way." An older woman said.
"Please lead the way," you said to the woman, eyebrows slightly furrowed. Secret door? How did you not know of this? You roll your eyes at yourself, hint the name Secret door, you dumbass. Huffing, you follow the women through the door and a small, narrow, damp hallway until you reach what looks like a stone wall. The older woman pushing through the stone door, you empty out into the grounds of the castle.
Screams coming from the group of women behind you as you stand there, shock, and something else you can't quite name coursing through your veins as you take in the scene in front of you. Chaos. Chaos is all you can see—buildings on fire and crumbling to the ground, leaving nothing but rubble in its wake. Your father's soldier and some stormtroopers dead, scattered around the green grass while the fighting continues.
As you are taking in the sights, partially hidden behind the open stone door and the bushes concealing it from the front, you hear another First Order ship landing. This ship doesn't look like anything you've seen before. It's not a TIE Fighter or a transporter. It has long wings that taper into a point, and as it prepares to land, the wings move up, so they are sitting vertical, reaching high up into the sky while the base comes to a graceful stop. You see the hatch open into a long ramp, steam billowing from the corners and edges as a handful of stormtroopers ascend down. You start to look away, to gather yourself and figure out a plan to get yourself and your group to safety when something, no, someone pulls your attention back to the ramp. A dark hood figure starts to walk off the ship. He towers over the stormtroopers lining his path, and his broad chest makes you swallow hard. As he peers around, reaching for something located on his side and taking in his surroundings, he glances your way, and you notice he is wearing some sort of mask. Even though you know he can't see you through the brush, all the breath leaves your body as his mask collides with your eyes, and he ignites his red lightsaber. Fuck. It's The Supreme Leader.
You break your eye contact with the mask and frantically search a way out that will conceal yourself and the group. Just ahead, you notice a small path could lead you through the woods on the backside of the castle.
"Come on. This way." You hush to the group, grabbing Lucie's hand.
Carefully you make your way past the brush and along the side of the castle's stone walls. Eyes constantly scouring ahead of you to avoid any of the fighting or rouge blaster shots. One-shot comes narrowly close to your head, causing a big pillow of smoke, ash, and rock hitting you instead. Coughing, you push forward quicker, seeing the safety of the woods getting closer and closer.
Heart thumping in your ears, you break through a clearing between two barn-like structures built for the landscapers. Clearing the last obstacle between you and the woods. Taking a deep breath, you lead the group into the clearing and immediately finding stormtroopers on both sides of you, blasters already aimed and waiting for you.
Stopping dead in your tracks, the rest of the women stopping as well with frightened faces on each of them, you see a stormtrooper a bit taller than the rest, wearing chrome armor walking towards you. You take a deep breath, straightening your back and pulling your robe over your nightgown tighter. A strength you didn't know you had pushing your chin up to meet this stormtrooper eye to eye.
"And where do you all think you are going?" The chrome stormtrooper asked in a surprisingly feminine voice.
You remained silent, not answering but also not breaking your stoney resolve.
"Very well. Come with me," she said. The stormtroopers circling you and the group giving you no choice but to follow the chrome leader.
You could feel the fear from the women dripping behind you, and when your own fear started to creep in, you pushed it away, determined to not let anyone see it. If you were to die, you would not let the fear seep into your mind. Your final moments, you would be strong, maybe the first time in your life.
The chrome stormtrooper approached the odd-looking ship that you saw earlier. Glancing around, you noticed all the dead scattered around and noticing there was not a single one of your father's soldiers left. Adrenaline pumping through your body, you came to a stop just a few yards away from the ship. You felt his presence before you saw him—The Supreme Leader.