Chapter Text
Small gifts keep friendship alive.
For a moment, their eyes meet. Cold, blue eyes meeting warm, brown ones. Intimidated and unsettled, the young woman quickly lowered her gaze. The slight tug on her collar told her what she had feared, anyway. Her master was preparing to hand the leash to the man with the cruel, cold eyes.
"Clever girl. Very well played. I hereby turn you over to my best man,” confirming her fears as he patted her head condescendingly as if she were nothing more than a sad, little animal that needed reassurance. Another tug on the leash caused her to stumble forward, and as she stared at the shiny black floor, she tried in vain to shield her confusion and racing thoughts.
"I've always been very pleased with you. But he needs you more now."
Not knowing how to respond, she bit her trembling lower lip and forced herself to remain silent. What could she do?
Nothing.
Feeling deeply helpless, she squinted again at the man in front of her, whose rejection of her had been made clear in his expression. He seemed to be anything but enthusiastic about her being presented to him as a gift. Making no effort to seize the leash, he glared contemptuously at her master.
"What do you want me to do with this?”
She flinched involuntarily at the sound of his monotone, yet threatening voice; and when her master commanded her to undress in front of him, she wished herself far, far away from the current, and overwhelming, situation.
Despite all this, to undress was a familiar command. As she began to fiddle with the fastenings of her dress, the man with the cold eyes raised his hand in a stern and commanding manner to stop her from continuing. Confused, she paused, not letting go of the clasp she had been working on. Her apparent future owner had not yet seized her leash, and it was doubtful that he would considering how he continued to stare at her with disdain.
Uncertain, she looked to her master.
"Go on...” he growled, impatience in his tone.
Without hesitation, she slipped her dress off her body and let it slide down her curves. As was commonplace for her, she wore no underwear and so she stood in front of both men, stark naked. She had long forgotten the sense of shame one would normally feel standing naked in front of others, for she had learned early on that no one would take such a sense of shame into consideration given her status. Even still, she was uncomfortable standing so defenselessly between the two men in uniform, both of whom radiated so much intimidating authority and whose mutual dislike of each other hovered thickly in the air.
Placing a hand on the back of her neck, the tall man beside her purred, “Did I promise too much, Hux?”
Not knowing if she wanted to please him at all, she cautiously looked up at the addressed man, who seemed to refuse to even dignify her body, presented to him in such a way, with a glance. Instead, he stared past her and fixed his unrelenting, ice-cold gaze on her master.
But it was not only that.
No, his eyes reflected pure hatred paired with a barely hidden lust for murder. Her fear turned into panic and with all her might she prevented herself from pulling vehemently on her leash to break free.
“Don't you like her?” he asked in a dangerously calm tone that made her blood run cold.
The red-haired man remained silent, seeming to assess his options. But it appeared that he, too, had noticed and taken seriously the other man's subliminally dangerous tone.
Silently, he grabbed the leash.
“I usually prefer my gifts intact, Ren...”
“Hux...” Ren responded, warning in his voice, and the young woman flinched. If he were to burst in anger, he would hit the next best thing, either her new master or more likely, her. Without thinking further, she let her fingertips gently touch the gloved hand of the man named Hux. Making every effort to act inconspicuously, she tightened her shoulders slightly so that her breasts lifted slightly and were better displayed. Putting on a submissive, but at the same time, seductive smile, she looked up at him.
“Master, please give me the chance to prove to you that I can satisfy you despite my flaws,” she breathed softly.
She anticipated arousing some desire in him; rather, his expression momentarily took on a frightened, almost intimidated, look. He quickly suppressed his reaction, replacing it with one of pure disgust. As if he might burn himself under her touch, he pulled his hand away in a flash. He did not want her.
He really didn't want her.
Relief spread through her body at his reaction. Maybe her master’s intended arrangement could all be averted after all… Maybe she would be able to disappear from this place within a few moments.
But her hopes were dashed when the heavy hand fixed on the back of her neck moved to her chin and squeezed her cheeks. Dark, almost black, eyes gazed into hers; the façade of the once cheerfully teasing Ren was gone for good.
“You will take care of him, read his every wish from his eyes, and do whatever he asks! As you can see, he's in desperate need of a little distraction...”
She nodded quickly and automatically repeated his order: “I will take care of him, read every wish from his eyes and do everything he asks!”
And with that, Ren patted her cheek roughly, his face showing satisfaction in her acquiescence. For a moment, she felt strangely dazed, not bothering to wonder why all this was so important to him; especially since the general had made it very clear that he did not want her.
Any impulse or sense of urgency that she had before to beg Ren not to leave her here and stay with him had disappeared.
Turning to the increasingly pale man, Ren gave him a dry look.
“And you... You haven't thanked me yet!”
Hux clenched his jaws tightly and his grip on the leash hardened.
“Thank you,” he groaned out reluctantly.
Without giving her another glance, her now officially former master let go of her aching chin. Just as roughly as he had grabbed her, he deliberately ran into Hux's shoulder as he passed. Certain that both men would now be at each other’s throats, she clenched her hands into fists tensely.
"Have fun, Hux,” the dark-haired man whispered menacingly as he walked away. Relieved, her hands relaxed again and feeling oddly empty, she watched him disappear without a word of goodbye. Knowing that there would be no way out of her situation, she looked cautiously at her new owner. His eyes, his expression, full of contempt and disgust. She ducked her head a bit and, hoping to make him merciful, put on a small smile.
But her gesture of appeasement was not successful; in fact, it was far from it.
She watched him pull the glove from his right hand with agonizing slowness. It was only when a hard blow hit her face did she understand why he had taken off that glove. Frightened, she squealed and buried her hot aching cheek in her hands.
Hoping to get an explanation so she could do better in the future, she looked up at him. His ice-blue stare, full of fear and intimidation, set upon her, his expression aloof and unmoving.
Opening her lips, she wanted to ask him what she had done wrong, what she should do better, what she could do to prevent such a blow from happening again.
But before she could even make a sound, she saw him lunge again.
She tried to duck away but was too slow. The back of his hand landed forcefully on her already aching cheek. Had he not had a firm grip on her leash, it would have slammed her against the wall behind her. The black leather of her collar dug painfully into the tender skin of her neck as the blow jerked her backward.
Again, she let out a frightened squeak.
If the skin of her neck was not burning so badly, if she had not been so shocked by the blood dripping from her lip onto her hand, she would have tried to tear herself away.
Instead, she just stared at those thick drops of blood, feeling paralyzed by the throbbing pain of her lip and the ever-growing realization that Ren's “best man” must be a monster. Panic spread through her, causing her lungs to tighten and her breathing to become intermittent and irregular.
From the very first moment she saw him, she had feared him, both him and his cold eyes. Something dangerous and unpredictable hid behind the unmoving, controlled facade. However, she had never expected him to show his true colors so quickly. The hope that she would somehow get along with him melted away and tears of despair gathered in her eyes, which she immediately suppressed with full force. She could expect neither mercy nor pity from the general. On the contrary, she was sure that tears would only spur the sadism of him, and men like him.
Though deeply confused, she managed to swallow her tears, looked up at him again with her head bowed and whispered helplessly, “Please... Please tell me what I did wrong!”
As soon as she had finished her plea, he lashed out for the third time. Intuitively, she ducked and raised her arms protectively. She was aware that she should not have been able to escape his rage, and so she was hardly surprised when, in the next moment, she bounced violently against the wall and fell powerlessly to the floor.
Feeling like a defenseless, cornered animal, she pressed herself against the wall, quickly crouching down to offer him as little attack surface as possible. When he took a step toward her, her whole body jerked in on itself, too confused, too frightened, too faint to get a sound out of herself. He could do whatever he wanted to her and she was the last one who could do anything about it. There was no mercy, not for her, not from him.
The gentle nudge of the tip of his boot against her leg interrupted her train of thought and made her whimper anxiously, burying her head under her arms and pulling her legs even closer. He snorted contemptuously, and her body was beginning to tense up once more in preparation for further blows or even kicks.
The expected kick failed to materialize, but not only that, she listened as he moved away from her.
Her breathing continued to be heavy, short and shallow, and did not calm down as she watched him make himself comfortable on his sofa as if nothing had happened. She watched in disbelief as he calmly picked up one of the many bottles on a large serving cart and thoughtfully poured himself a glass. Sipping from that glass, he sank deep into the soft cushions with his eyes closed. Her eyes were not particularly good, yet she blurrily recognized his relaxing features.
Slipping her head back under her arm, she closed her eyes, overwhelmed, and curled up a little tighter.
This was too much.
Way too much.
His lack of emotion made her shiver. She began to imagine his face in the moments where he had struck her; it was terribly rigid, neither anger nor joy in hurting her had been reflected in his face. She could only see this barely bearable train of contempt, which had made it very evident of what he thought of her. His blows had been of such unrelenting harshness; it was as if he were punishing a subordinate for an offense.
What had she done that caused him to strike so suddenly out of nowhere?
Continuing to feel powerless and at his mercy, she barely noticed as thick tears made their way down her slowly swelling cheeks. She would lie here and wait, hoping he would leave her alone.
Maybe Ren would change his mind and bring her back to him?
Licking her chapped lip, feeling the metallic taste of her own blood in her mouth, she realized bitterly that Ren must have known what was going to happen to her. He had seen how reluctant and disapproving the general had been. Ren had known, and yet he had left her behind. A thick lump formed in her throat.
That very morning, Ren had taken her, just as he had every morning.
Confused, she paused, opened her eyes, and looked more and more confused at the dark, shiny floor.
Like every morning? Really, like every morning?
Swallowing hard, she suddenly realized that she did not remember any other morning with him. Deeply irritated, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, searching for other memories with Ren and finding nothing. Nervously running her fingers through her slowly swelling face, she opened her eyes again and squinted into the dimly lit room.
She could only get a feeling that they had a history, and that they had done it together often. It was not only a vague feeling, but it was with absolute certainty that she had been afraid of him, that he was not to be trifled with. Why else had her whole body tensed so much at his touch? Why else had she felt panic at the sight of his angry face?
Slowly wiping her wet cheeks dry, she tried to calm down, telling herself that this was just a protective function of her mind. Stabilizing her breathing, she gave the monster another glance, making sure that there was no more danger from him, at least for the moment.
Meanwhile, he pretended that she was not present.
Almost relieved, she curled up again. This had all been too much, too sudden. No wonder her head was so strangely empty. Tired, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, in and out. Maybe Ren would miss her while she was away and bring her back? Anything seemed better than staying with the general, who already appeared to hate her guts.
And so, she fell asleep, hoping that Ren would rescue her from this nightmare tomorrow, and the empty and confused state she found herself in would go away.
She was not yet aware that this was only a taste of all the horror that would await her.