Let The Past Die

Chapter 4

“You don’t have to sit there all day, 438. You can get up.” Cardo tried, squatting only feet away from the bunny girl who seemed to be stuck in place on her knees in the corner. They had all fallen asleep with the assumption that once they were out she would get up and move. Explore maybe. They were sorely mistaken. She didn’t move all night, anchored in place. She had rested her forehead against the crevice of the wall and fallen asleep like that without issue.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, careful not to move as she stared him down, but she didn’t respond. Cardo let out a sigh. “Well, I tried,” he shrugged, standing and making his way to his workbench, turning his attention to the arm cannon that sat disassembled against the metal surface.

Ushar, who was sitting next to the fire pit polishing his war club, glanced in her direction. “She doesn’t seem to respond to optional directives. Only explicit orders.” The sound of Trudgen moving a chair away from the dining table and settling the bulk of himself into it seemed to catch her attention, her ears twitching at the sound of him setting his plate down in front of himself. It was clear she wanted desperately to look in his direction, but she refused. Ushar tilted his head, studying her movements. “I don’t think she understands that she’s allowed to choose now.”

“Then tell her to move.” Kuruk chimed in from across the room, not bothering to glance up from the armor pieces he was repairing. Ushar sat in silence for a moment, contemplating. “438.” The girl’s ears perked instantly at the sound of her title being called. For the first time that morning she actually turned away from the wall, her eyes locked on the knight with full attention. “Stand up and go sit at the table for breakfast.” Without a second thought she immediately pushed herself up off of the floor. Her steps were a bit shaky, surely from being sat on top of them for hours without relief. This caught the attention of each and every knight in the room, all of them clearly caught off guard by how quickly she followed his orders. She padded her way across the hall and approached the chair furthest away from Trudgen. The table wasn’t large, a simple four-chair table meant for quick meals and often used by Kuruk for mapping out flight paths.

Before 438 got the chance to sit, Trudgen hooked a large booted foot around the leg of her prospective chair and yanked it in his direction. He pulled it only inches from his own and nodded towards it. “Sit.” 438’s ears pinned to her head, her brows knitting together in clear hesitation, but she followed orders and slowly sat, resting on the outer edge of the chair, still trying her hardest to keep distance between herself and the knight. Trudgen took notice, a sound like a laugh rumbled deep in his hulking chest. “Don’t be scared, bunny. I don’t bite.” The look on the girl’s face made it incredibly clear that she didn’t fully believe that. Trudgen, after realizing she still had no intention of speaking, stood and retrieved an extra plate off the shelf, setting it in front of her. He tore a large chunk of meat off of his meal and set it on her plate.

438 didn’t move.

She stared down at it, a look of confusion plastered across her face. “Eat it,” Trudgen tried, thinking maybe she needed permission for that too. For the first time she didn’t obey automatically. “Eat that?” she questioned, her voice laced with fear. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?” he questioned. She nodded. “For food.” This perplexed him. “That is food.” Her face crunched. “That’s food?” Sheer disbelief. She reached out and pressed a finger against it before shaking her head. “I don’t think so.” Ushar glanced over at them, his eyes flicking down to what Trudgen had offered. “She’s not gonna eat that,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Trudgen sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Why not?” Ushar returned his attention to his polishing. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a bunny eat meat.” Trudgen’s face twisted. He glanced over at her, his eyes fixating on her ears, which seemed to make her suddenly self-conscious of them. “Bunny… right.” With that Trudgen stood, disappearing into the kitchen. There was a long pause of silence as they all watched her examine the offered sustenance. She prodded at it until it flipped over, the movement making her grimace in disgust. Slowly she used her palm to push the plate away from herself, moving it towards Trudgen’s chair like she no longer wished to be responsible for it.

The sound of the knight shouldering his way through the kitchen door and into the common room made her ears perk. He approached with a bowl in his hand, setting it down in front of her as carefully as a beast of a man was capable. Her face brightened at the sight of what was inside and she nodded. “That’s it,” she said, her voice sounding certain now. “That’s food.” Trudgen nodded, seating himself back down on his chair and focusing his attention back on his meal. “Yeah, now eat.” She didn’t hesitate this time. She pulled the bowl towards herself with both hands and got to work. She munched happily on the pieces of fruits and vegetables the man had brought her, swinging her legs contentedly beneath her.

No one interrupted her, no one corrected her, and for a while it seemed like she might have finally found a rare moment of peace. That was, until she reached the bottom of the bowl. As soon as the last piece of food left the dish she stopped moving. Her ears seemed to droop, her shoulders fell, and her face twisted into that oh-so-familiar look of discomfort. She slowly pushed the bowl away, moving it towards Trudgen just as she had done with the plate. Trudgen looked down at it, then at her, studying her expression as he noticed her eyes seeming to well with tears. “What?” 438 didn’t answer him. She just shrugged and shook her head slightly.

The other knights all seemed to turn their attention to her, slowing their tasks, some setting down their weapons. “It’s gone,” she spoke quietly, as if it was the most devastating thing in the universe. “Yeah…” Trudgen spoke, seeming confused by her sudden shift in mood. “You ate it.” She sighed. “I know.” There was another long pause of silence. “…Do you want more?” 438 seemed to freeze in place, as if what he was saying was being spoken in a foreign language. She slowly turned her head in his direction, squinting up at him like he was trying to play a trick on her. “More?” she repeated, testing out the feeling of the phrase in her tongue. Trudgen nodded once. “Yes. Would you like more food?”

438 stared at the knight for what felt like an hour before she slowly, carefully nodded her head. “I like more,” she said, the wideness of her eyes and the way she braced her body to the chair making it clear she was trying to determine whether or not this was some kind of twisted test. Trudgen went to stand but before he got the chance she grabbed the edge of the bowl, anchoring it to the table with all of her force. “This lab. They don’t monitor caloric intake?” The man didn’t seem to know how to respond to that question, glancing at his brothers hoping that one of them had a scientific sounding explanation.

“This lab is different, 438. If you are still hungry, you eat until you are full,” Ushar chimed in from his spot on the couch. Another word she didn’t seem to recognize. “What is full?” This seemed to snap something inside of Trudgen. He grabbed hold of her chair, one massive hand on each side, and pulled her away from the table. He squatted in front of her, snatching the bowl out of her hands and leaned in close. “Here, there will never be an all gone.” He didn’t wait for her to process his statement. Instead, he stood and reached for her wrist. The movement made her tense, but she didn’t yank away. Trudgen pulled her to stand and led her to the kitchen door, shoving it open with his arm and leading her inside. The space wasn’t extraordinary, just a simple kitchen, functional and clean. He released her and moved to pull open the cabinets one by one, and then the fridge.

Cold air spilled out of the chilled box, fascinating the girl. It was clear she had never seen anything like it before. He turned back towards her and pointed behind himself at the fully stocked shelves. “See that, 438?” She didn’t answer, just stared in awe at the abundance of objects, some of which she didn’t recognize as edible. “It’s never gone. Ever.” With that he went back and closed the cabinets, then moved to the fridge where he refilled her bowl to the brim. He stepped back into her space and set it down into her hands. “Go eat.” The girl’s eyes never left him as she slowly turned. “All of it?” she questioned barely above a whisper. “All of it.” Final, sure, no hesitation in his voice. With that she walked away, moving to go back to the table, settling herself back in her chair with careful movements.

Chapter 31

Vicrul paced the corridor of the Night Buzzard, anger pulsing through him in waves with every step he took. They had hurt her, beaten her, and he wasn’t there to stop them.

Every time he closed his eyes he could see how she had looked back in the clearing. She had run to them barefoot, her face beaten almost beyond recognition, her clothing coated in a thick layer of dirt and her own blood. Her body was frail, almost as it had been when they first met her back at the pet club. The look of relief on her face when she had spotted them broke something deep within them all. And then she had collapsed. He grimaced at the memory.

“Sit down, brother. You must be calm before she wakes. You will scare her,” Ushar called to him from across the common room. Vicrul’s head snapped in his direction, his shoulders rising and falling in a way that made it clear there was no calming him. “Did you see her?” he demanded. “Did you see what they did to her?” His voice choked through the room. “They claim to be the saviors of the galaxy. They call us monsters, murderers, mutants. But look at what they have done.”

He took hold of a chair that rested nearby and hurled it, the durasteel ringing as the object smashed against it before falling to the floor in splintered pieces. “I will kill every last one of them.” Silence fell over the room as Vicrul’s gaze fixated on the shattered remains of the chair, his chest heaving with the effort to rein himself in. “Slowly,” he growled. “Painfully. They will die regretting every choice they ever made.”

Ushar stood, stepping in Vicrul’s direction. “We all saw her, brother. We are all angry.” Before he could finish, the raging man before him moved closer, so close his face was only inches from Ushar’s. “Angry doesn’t even scrape the surface for what I feel,” he roared. Ushar didn’t react, he didn’t move away; he simply allowed his fellow knight to get it out. His eyes flickered toward where Pet was being kept. “I know. But we must keep a level head. The last thing we want is to frighten her when she’s already terrified. She escaped them all on her own. And we were here when she came running.” His hand found Vicrul’s shoulder, squeezing it to ground him back to reality. “Now we must focus. And when she tells us what we need to know, then we will act.”

Vicrul knew he was right. Always the level-headed one in every situation that arose. He huffed one last breath before moving to sit next to Ap’lek. The man sat silently, his axe in one hand, a sharpening stone in the other. He moved slowly, sharpening his weapon in an almost ritualistic manner. It was clear this was his way to keep himself collected. Trudgen sat across the room, his elbows resting on his knees, his forehead pressed against his clenched fists. Kuruk leaned against the doorway, arms crossed tightly over his chest, his expression blank.

The tension in the room was suffocating. Each of them wanted release. Each of them wanted blood.

To burn the planet down and everyone on it with it. But none of them moved. Not yet. The sound of the medical room door sliding open cut through the silence. Every head snapped toward it at once.

Cardo’s massive frame stepped out. His movements were slower than usual, careful, controlled in a way that made all of their chests burn with anticipation. Something in his posture alone made the room shift. On his hands was dried, darkened blood.

“She’s awake.”

The room went dead silent. No one moved. No one breathed. It wasn’t hesitation. It was a shared, unspoken pause where none of them seemed to know what they were supposed to do with the information they had just been given. Rage had a direction. Fear did not. And for the first time since she had run into their arms, there was nothing for it to attach itself to. Even Ap’lek’s sharpening slowed. The scrape of metal faded into nothing at all. Stillness stretched longer than it should have, heavy and thick, pressing into every corner of the room. None of them dared to move. None of them dared to speak.

Vicrul was the first to shove himself up off his chair, the movement so rushed that it almost toppled to the floor behind him. His steps were rushed, anxious, booming across the ground to get to her. He needed to see her, to touch her, to hear her voice. The moment he crossed the threshold of the room, everything stopped. The air inside the medical room felt wrong in a way he didn’t know how to describe. Much too still for a room occupied by Pet, much too quiet.

That’s when he finally saw her. Pet didn’t speak, she didn’t even move. She sat still as a statue on top of the examination table. Her eyes were fixated on the wall, but her gaze wasn’t locked on anything in particular. It was as if she thought the room itself wasn’t real, so there was no reason to interact with it. The silence around her stretched into something painful. Too long, much too long. Vicrul stepped forward.

Ushar, who had trailed in behind him, straightened immediately. “Vicrul. Do not.” But the words of his brother did nothing to stop him. Another step, then another. He kept moving till he was right in front of her, close enough that he could see the dried blood at her hairline. “Pet,” he spoke, his voice soft, restrained, careful not to startle her, but she didn’t react to him in any way. His hands flexed at his sides like he was fighting himself not to touch her. “Look at me,” he spoke again, even softer this time, but his tone was filled with urgency in a different way now. Again, nothing.

“Please. Just look at me.” Not even a flicker. It was as if she couldn’t even hear him. Like he didn’t exist in the same plane of reality as she did in that moment. His breathing started to change. Faster. His hands came up, but he didn’t touch. He stopped just short of her face, hovering there like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed in her space anymore. “Say something,” he whispered. Pet’s eyes didn’t shift, not even a little.

That was the final straw. Something in Vicrul cracked. “They broke you,” he said, voice teetering on the edge of rage and something much, much worse. Ushar stepped forward again. “Brother.” But Vicrul wasn’t listening anymore, not to any of them. His hands finally settled on her shoulders, like he was trying to anchor her back into reality, to get her attention, to snap her out of whatever trance the Resistance had put her into. “Look at me,” he repeated, voice rising now. “You came back to us. You ran through all of that and you came back, so don’t…don’t do this.” Pet didn’t respond. Not even when he shook her.

His grip loosened slightly, then he pulled her into him, pressing her to his chest hard. He held her as if letting her go would cause her to disappear.

He pressed his forehead to hers, breathing hard. He was shaking now. “Talk to me,” he said again, his voice raw and pleading. “Please.” Silence. His arms tightened around her, not in anger, but in refusal to accept what he was seeing. She had fought to find them, to get to them, to escape. And now she was here, but not really.

She didn’t respond for a long time. Not to Ushar, not to Vicrul, not to any of them. The room had gone still in a way that felt heavier than silence, like even breathing too loudly might shatter whatever was left inside of her. Then the Night Buzzard shifted. Kylo stepped into the room, his attention going straight to Pet. She was still sitting on the medtable in the exact same position. She wore the same distant stare. Kylo approached slowly. The room seemed to tighten with every step he took.

He stopped directly in front of her, and for a moment, he simply studied her. “What is wrong with her?” he questioned Cardo, his gaze never leaving her as he spoke. Cardo cleared his throat. “She seems to be in shock.” Kylo tilted his head slightly, as if considering something only he could see. He stepped closer, the space between them disappearing. Now he was close enough that his presence filled her entire field of vision.

“Give me a name,” he said calmly. This did nothing to gain a reaction from her. They all tightened. She never did this to them, especially not Kylo. Pet’s eyes stayed forward, her expression completely empty. He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice into something almost gentle. “Give me a name, pretty girl.” There was a long pause before slowly something shifted. Her lips parted, the first movement she had made since they had entered.

There wasn’t even a hint of emotion that came with it, just compliance forming in the absence of anything else.

“Elock,” she muttered, her voice shaky, her tone flat and distant. The name she spoke hung in the air like a curse. For a moment, no one moved. Kylo knew that name, that much was obvious, but the way it made his spine straighten made it clear to them all that it was more than just simple recognition; there was a memory attached to it. “Elock,” he repeated, the word coming with an exhale that made the other knights tense. With that he turned, heading back towards the door from which he had entered. “We go back.”

For the first time Pet’s gaze shifted, her eyes widening into something they could only describe as sheer horror. “Back?” A wave of relief washed over Vicrul; she was still in there, not completely gone. She turned her body towards him for the first time, her hands finding the fabric of his shirt. She pulled him closer, pressing her chest to his own, shaking her head violently as tears immediately began to fall. “No,” she sputtered, body visibly shaking with every shallow breath she took. “No no no.” Her voice was louder now, desperate.

Vicrul’s hand found the back of her head, his gloved fingers lacing into her tangled, blood-coated hair. “Pet, I am here,” he tried, but it only seemed to upset her more. “No. No going back. No,” her words were almost unintelligible, coming out between sobs. She felt like she was being strangled, like Kylo’s command had punched her right in the chest and taken every ounce of calm she had left from her with force. Trudgen took a step towards them, leaning down to her level to help, but she was already past the point of no return. “We will be with you, sweet girl. We are here now. We will protect you.” A sound like a broken scream escaped her and she clung to Vicrul even harder, as if letting go might kill her.

“No. I won’t. No.” She hiccuped, she pressed the side of her head to her knight’s chest, her hands clawing at his armor, trying to pull herself higher against him, as though she was trying to climb into his skin to escape. Vicrul adjusted his grip, one arm locking around her back, the other supporting her weight as he lifted her from the metal table. “I’ve got you. I’m here,” he repeated again, hoping that she heard him, that she believed him. And she didn’t respond, the only sound coming from her the gut-wrenching cries that made the Knights’ stomachs twist with something much deeper than rage. It filled them each with a wrath that was tangible in the air. Pet trembled in Vicrul’s arms, clinging like the world might tear her away again at any second. Above her broken breathing, above her uncontrollable shaking, above her indescribable fear, there was only one certainty left in the room.

Chapter 3

The girl sat in complete silence, her hands folded neatly in her lap as she rested on her knees in the center of the sterile white room. She had gotten good at this now. Waiting. Even at such a young age, she was aware of what her duties were when it came to her experiment. She had been conditioned to follow each and every rule that the scientists set in place, and she knew that if she was successful, she would be rewarded.

The sound of the laboratory door sliding open, caught her attention, white hair shifting against her small shoulders, her attention moving fully to the opening. They came at the same time every day she had learned to count the hours in her head to keep track of the time. “Good morning, 438.” A familiar voice rang out through the space, the noise making her ears twitch with excitement. She didn’t reply, just watched their every move with big dark curious eyes. She was not more than 2, still growing into the ears that sat heavy at the top of her head. She wasn’t fully aware of social cues yet and still refused to speak to them most of the time,

but the scientists knew that she was compliant when it came to the reward system they had set in place for her.

She turned her head towards the sanitation corner where they had been slowly training her to relieve herself. Her body shifted, leaning towards it as if to draw their attention to the fact that she had used and kept it clean since morning. She knew what came from that, a reward, and that’s what she wanted. The scientist turned in a circle, seemingly searching for any accidents to which he found nothing but clean stark white tile. “Very good, 438.” He nodded, jotting down something on the clipboard he held in his arm. “Treat?” She questioned, her voice tiny and hopeful. He glanced down at her, his expression clinical as always. A pause. “Yes 438. You will get a treat. But first, object training.” The toddler on the floor huffed in annoyance. She did not like this part, but she stood anyways and padded her bare feet over to the testing table as she always did.

She struggled to climb up onto the chair, her toddler body struggling its way up into the seat. When she finally made it up, she rested on her knees so she could see the table top where a small metal cube sat waiting for her, just as it always did. The scientist followed, seating himself across from her, the others standing behind the glass, observing every movement. “I get two.” the tiny bunny girl stated, holding up 2 chubby baby fingers and she tilted her head at the man. She wasn’t asking, she was telling him. 2 good behaviors equals 2 rewards. The man huffed a breath that could have almost been a laugh, but he knew better than to show too much emotion. He didn’t want to interfere with her test results. “Yes 438. 2 treats. But you know the rules. Only success gets you the second one.”

The man then pulled 2 sweets from his pocket, the candies sitting in the palm of his hand, showing her, teasing her. “Now. Be a big girl and move the cube.” 438’s eyes flickered from the cube to the candy and back again before she nodded. She reached her arm out in an attempt to grab hold of the metal object. The scientist snatched it away before she could get ahold of it. “No hands, 438. Like last time. Use the pull.” She pouted at him, but nodded. He carefully set the object back on the table.

438 scrunched up her face, her large eyes fixated on the object with the utmost intensity. She held her breath and pushed. Hard. She pushed and pushed until she became dizzy and red faced from the lack of oxygen, but the cube didn’t move. She made a grumpy little noise and turned away. “I can’t.” Her lip pushed out, wobbling in that way that made it clear tears were coming next. The scientist’s expression remained neutral. “You’ve done it before, 438. You can do it again.” She let out an angry little grunt and kicked her bare foot against the edge of the table. “Too hard.”

The scientist sighed, pausing. Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out 3 small wrapped sweets. The movement immediately caught the girl’s attention, her ears twitching as she sat back up onto her knees. “I want that.” She stated, pointing at his hand, her eyes fixated on the object of her desires. “I know. You can have all 3. All you have to do is move that cube. You can do that, can’t you 438?” The girl immediately nodded, a new wave of eagerness running through her as she refocused herself. She set her small arms against the table, resting her chin on top of her hands. She fixated on the cube, her face relaxed but her eyes filled with determination.

The room filled with silence, the scientist held his breath. He knew that if he broke her focus it would send the toddler spiraling into a tantrum and they wouldn’t get anything from her that day. She let out a quiet exhale and closed her eyes. There was a moment of complete stillness and then it began. The lights overhead flickered, slowly at first, and then faster. The observation glass the other scientist stood behind began to vibrate, the metal of the door frame creaked as the material shifted. Her eyes began shifting back and forth behind her closed lids and the metal cube slowly started to inch its way across the table. 438’s fingers tensed and the object suddenly shot across the room, hitting the white wall across the room with a boom’s thud, so hard it left a sizable dent.

The sound of the impact made her eyes snap open, the dark orbs fixating on where the cube had landed on the shiny tile below. A smile crept its way across her little face and she turned back to the scientist who was doing what he could to suppress his excitement. “Success.” He sighed, the relief clear in his voice. Before he could move she stood up on her chair, bending over the table and snatching the sweets from his palm. “I get three.” She nodded, seeming satisfied with herself. She scrambled off the chair and ran her way across the room to her favorite corner where her makeshift sleeping nest sat. She sat facing the corner, crossing her tiny legs and hurrying to unwrap her first reward.

-

“How much longer?” 438 questioned, fidgeting against the durasteel flooring. She had done exactly what Kylo had instructed. She had stayed where she was, refusing to move even an inch since he had left her there, but now she was growing impatient. “We are due to land any minute.” Ushar reassured her, his voice calm and his words specific, hoping this language would keep her from spiraling again. She didn’t respond, only nodded before her eyes fixated back on her lap. She seemed to be counting to herself. For what they were unsure, but it seemed to be keeping her calm so they didn’t question it.

The jerk of the night buzzard making its way into the docking bay made the girl flinch, her fingers digging hard into the flooring beneath her as her eyes widened in horror. “You’re ok. We are landing. Your body just isn’t used to it yet.” Trudgen tried, stepping in her direction which he quickly realized was the wrong move. She leaned away from him, her eyes shifting to stare at his feet, the expression on her face making it clear that if he were to move even an inch more she would bolt. Instead he backed away, hoping giving her space would be enough to keep the calm. The ship groaned and creaked around them, the hum of the engines becoming louder as the ship settled in its usual position in the docking bay.

The door to the common room slid open once again, Kylo’s towering frame standing in the entryway. The girl’s attention was immediately fixated on him, her expression filled with something almost like excitement, but with a clear tinge of fear. “Stand up, 438. I will take you to your new assigned position.” The sound of his voice coming through the vocoder in his mask made her jump, but she didn’t hesitate to follow his direction. She stood quickly, hurrying her way to his side, very careful to stay far enough away from him that there was no risk of accidental touch. She seemed eager, almost too eager to be taken off of this ship she deemed to be a contamination hazard.

The knights gathered into formation, following closely behind 438 who was trailing Kylo’s every step. As they walked down the ramp into the crowded hangar the girl’s ears pinned to her head, clearly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the space. Technicians clambered around with large tools, generals barked orders, troopers stormed down walkways. The girl’s hands flew to her head and for a moment the knights almost thought the hair pulling would resume, instead she grabbed hold of them and began to subduedly pet herself, doing what she could to calm her own nerves. Kylo never slowed his pace, taking off down the main corridor. The sound of their heavy boots thundering in unison against the flooring and the patter of her feet along side them was the only sound to occupy the hall. That, and the sound of her still panicked breathing.

The farther they moved through the base, the more obvious it became that 438 was memorizing every detail around her. Her eyes flickered constantly. She was counting doors, studying markings, tracking turns. Every so often her lips moved silently to herself, the quiet whispers perfectly timed with her footsteps. Left. Right. Hallway. Door. By the time Kylo finally stopped in front of the massive black doors leading into the Knight Hall, the girl had gone completely still behind him. Her chest still rose too quickly, but there was something calmer in her expression now. She had the route. She knew how many steps it took to return to her assigned position from the docking bay, and that alone seemed to steady her racing mind.

Kylo’s gloved hand moved over the access panel and the door slid open with a mechanical whoosh. He stepped inside and moved back, giving the girl space to move forward without feeling crowded. She tentatively padded her way in, her eyes scanning each and every object in the room. Immediately she noticed something odd. The space wasn’t bright, or mostly empty as her cell at the laboratory had once been. There was a large weapons rack against one wall, a circular seating area that rounded a large fire pit, and objects strewn about the room that clearly belonged to the knights. She turned, her attention now fixated on the 7 giant terrifying men around her.

“This is your assigned position?” She questioned them, her words coming out slowly, her tone filled with confusion. “And now it is also yours.” Kylo interjected before any of the knights had the chance to say anything that could send her into a panic. There was a long pause. “I don’t understand.” She shook her head, her shoulders moving up and down, the movement making it clear she was teetering on the edge of composure. “This… is a contamination risk.” They watched as her fingers dug into her palms once again. Kylo took a singular step in her direction, the movement making her head snap in his direction.

“You have been transferred. This is a new experiment. The results require integration.” 438’s eyes flickered around the room again, landing on the scattered belongings. Gloves. Armor pieces. Weapons parts. Signs of life everywhere. Her ears twitched anxiously. “Integration…” she repeated quietly, testing the word. “Yes,” Kylo answered without hesitation. He knew he had to sound absolutely sure of his answers. He knew that was the only way she would believe him. “With them?” 438 tilted her head in the direction of the knights. Kylo nodded once. “They are approved occupants in the shared environment. No contamination risk.”

Those words seemed to register with her. Her fingers loosened from her palms a fraction. The girl visibly processed that thought behind her wide dark eyes. Slowly. Carefully. Like she was rearranging something fragile in her head. “Approved…” she repeated under her breath. Kylo didn’t say anything. He simply waited. Her gaze flicked towards the movement of the Knights shifting slightly as they watched her. No alarms were raised. No scientists intervened. No containment procedures were triggered. He didn’t seem to be lying to her. Her breathing slowed, just slightly.

“If they are here,” she said slowly, carefully choosing each word, “then they are not contaminated.” She wasn’t questioning, she was convincing herself, trying to lock this information into the framework of her brain. “That is correct.” Kylo assured her. Her shoulders lowered a fraction, though her posture remained guarded. A quiet pause settled over the Knight Hall, the kind of silence that felt heavier than the noise outside. 438 remained still just inside the threshold, her gaze moving once more over the room as if confirming it would not change if she looked away.

Slowly, she took a small step further in, then another, stopping only when she could no longer see the doorway behind her without turning her head. Behind her, Kylo did not move, only watching as the information continued to settle into place. “You will remain here,” he said at last, calm and absolute. She hesitated for only a moment before nodding once, as if marking the instruction into memory. With that she moved, careful steps carrying her along the outer edge of the room until she reached the corner on the far side of the hall. She paused there, glancing once over her shoulder as if confirming no one had corrected her path. None of them said a word.

His fingers glided over the delicate skin of your neck as he carefully fastened the new accessory around your throat. A collar, a cold ring of shiny silver adorned with delicate engravings made especially for his favorite girl. The click of the thing being locked into place filled your ears, it made you nervous, giddy even, and you weren’t entirely sure why. This was something you had never allowed him to do to you before, and giving up that last bit of control to him was exhilarating.

“My loyal girl. You’d do anything for me, wouldn’t you?” He spoke, his voice low as he admired his handy work. You quickly nodded, you would, and that was no secret. Everyone knew how devoted you were to him, it was plain to see, and he lived for it. Nothing made him happier than knowing that you were completely entranced in every way.

Chapter 2

The girl’s demeanor had changed, to say the least. She was no longer calm and docile. No, that temperament was only for the cell, where she felt secure. Now that she had been removed from there, she was different. As soon as they had gotten her aboard the Night Buzzard she became something else, angry. She did not like that she had been taken from the only place she had ever known, and she was going to make them all very much aware of that fact. Her breathing was uneven, rapid and panicked as her eyes darted around the ship. She paced back and forth, more like a caged animal now than she had been when she was essentially exactly that.

Trudgen was the first to try to approach, to try to calm her, but she was not having any of it.

“You made me break the rules.” She growled, her big dark eyes now filled with hatred. Hatred for the men who she was now stuck with. Her pupils were blown wide with panic and short sharp inhales filled the air. “Now I’ll never get my reward.” Her eyes fixated away from him, refusing to give him even the slightest glance. “You don’t have to worry about that. We have rewards too. On base.” She shot him a look that could kill. “Liar. All of you, liars.” she hissed, her hands so tightly balled into fists that blood had started to pool where her nails pierced her skin. “You took me out of the controlled environment. Now my results won’t be consistent… you made me a failure” with that she shoved at Trudgen’s chest, which didn’t do much, and moved away from him to continue her pacing.

She quickened her steps, speaking quietly to herself every few moments. They would catch a word here and there. “Failure.” “Liars.” “Go back.” Over and over. Her shaking hands drifted up, absentmindedly finding the soft fur at the base of her ears. She tugged at it, gently at first. A nervous motion, then harder. “Failure.” The knights sat frozen, watching, unsure of how to react. She did it again, and again, and again, pulling hard enough to make herself flinch in pain. “Failure.” A few strands drifted down, the stark white fur catching the light before it settled against the durasteel below them.

“You took me out.” Her voice was louder now, her breathing stuttering in and out of her in gasps. More hair dropped past her shoulders. “Hey-“ Trudgen tried to speak, to calm her, but was quickly cut off. “You took me out of the controlled environment. I’m never supposed to be out. This is wrong, this is all wrong.” The anger was now melting into something else. Terror. They could all see the shift. “You made me a failure.” Cardo shifted in his chair, leaning forward. “She’s-“

“I see it,” Vicrul cut in quietly, his voice controlled. His gaze didn’t leave her. “Failure.” The word came out as a broken sob. They watched as the girl stumbled, catching herself against the wall, clawing at the metal hard enough to leave marks. Her chest heaved, breaths coming too fast, too shallow. “I stay in my spot. I sit still. I am a success.” She sharply inhaled and seemed to hold her breath, as if forcing herself to be silent. Her posture straightened and she kneeled there, folding her hands in her lap, just the way she had sat when they found her. It was as if she was trying to correct herself, to fix what was wrong, but after a minute or two she let out another sob.

Her hands twitched in her lap before snapping back to her ears. She yanked, a broken sound tore out of her throat as more fur came free, this time enough to leave thin angry red at the base where she’d pulled. Tears spilled over immediately, hot and sudden. Pain. “Hey-hey, stop,” Trudgen moved now, closing the distance between them carefully, hands raised before he touched her, trying to gently pull her hands away. “You’re hurting yourself.”

“Don’t!” she snapped, jerking away from him, scrambling backward until her shoulders hit the wall. “Don’t touch me. You’re not supposed to. I need to go back-“ her hands moved down to her arms, sharp fingernails digging into skin until blood gathered at the surface. “Take me back.” She shrieked, her face making it clear that calming her would not be an option. She clawed again, the sobbing only intensifying with every passing moment.

Cardo stood, no longer able to restrain himself from handling it in the only way a beast of a man would know how. He reached for her, his movements so fast she didn’t have time to react before his hands were on her. She screamed, not loudly at first, just startled, but when she realized what was happening her ears flattened to her head and she began to thrash. “Stop it.” He muttered, tightening his grip on her as she fought like a wild animal to get away. “Let go. Don’t touch me. I have to go back.” Her tone was frantic, she was growing increasingly panicked. For someone her size Cardo was shocked at how hard of a fight she was putting up

“Hold still-“ he ordered, trying his best not to hurt her but struggling to keep hold. “Cardo,” Ap’lek’s voice cut in, calm but firm, just as it always was.

She choked on a sob. Her hands twisted uselessly in his grip, fingers curling, clawing at nothing. “You’re making it worse,” Vicrul warned, sharp and final.

Cardo hesitated but didn’t release her. “She just needs to calm down.” She sucked in a breath that didn’t fill her lungs. Her ribcage constricted from the pressure of his arm around her torso.

Her head shook frantically, tears blurring her vision. “Go back,” she wailed, gasping for air. “Go back-“ louder now, desperate. Trudgen stepped closer, more urgent now. “Cardo, let her go.” The knight shook his head in disagreement. “She’s hurting herself.” The way he said it you would have thought he was the one who hurt her, sympathy for the creature laced in his voice. “And you’re scaring her,” Trudgen snapped, the edge in his voice rare and sharp. That sentence did it. Cardo released her, her body dropping to the floor where she curled into herself.

Sobs ripped through her chest and her hands once again went to work, clawing every inch of skin that she could. She wanted to peel it all off. She was contaminated. None of the scientists ever touched her, even the select few who had clearance to do her physical exams always wore gloves. “I have to go back.” She clawed again, dragging her nails across her cheek now, leaving thin red lines that welled instantly.

The sound of the common room door sliding open caught all of their attention, even the girl who scrambled to brace herself against the nearest wall. Kylo, he had heard the commotion. He stepped inside, movements calculated and slow. His helmet was gone, and he wore a cold unreadable expression on his face. Her eyes fell upon the white fur littered across the ground, then the scratch marks in the durasteel, and the blood. His gaze fell upon her, face flushed and cheeks tear-stained, body littered with claw marks and slowly drying red liquid.

Kylo didn’t raise his voice, he never had to, he commanded the attention in the room without even trying. “What is going on in here?” No one answered, the only sound to be heard the cries of the girl. His gaze swept once over the scene, fur on the floor, blood on her hands, the marks carved into durasteel, and then they landed on her.

She was completely spiraling. “Failure,” she choked, dragging her nails across her arm again. “I have to go back.”

“438.” Her body jerked at the sound of her title. The name hit her harder than anything else in the room.

“Look at me.” She shook her head, too panicked, her breath coming erratically. “Look. At. Me.” Her eyes unwillingly snapped to his, tears blurring her vision, her ears pinned tight to her head. Kylo stepped closer to her. Not rushing but fast enough to make it clear that he was the one in control. “You are done.”

The words were final, sure, but she blinked at him, confusion cutting through panic. “Done?” she whispered like she was taking in the feeling of that word rolling off of her tongue. “With that environment.” Her breathing hitched. “No. I have to go back. I broke the rules.” Kylo shook his head as he inched closer. “There are no rules.” His tone was flat and his words immediate. She froze, her body going rigid once again. Her hands stopped moving, her mind tried to catch up and couldn’t.

“…no rules?” she repeated, smaller now, more steady. Kylo didn’t soften, just stayed calculated.

“You have been reassigned.” That word clicked for her. Reassigned. She had heard that before. Her posture shifted, just slightly. “Re…assigned?”

“Yes.”

No hesitation. No explanation. “You are no longer needed in that facility. You will not return.” Her breathing stuttered again, as if the sobbing might break out again, but it didn’t spike this time. “You will adapt to a new position.” Her ears hopefully lifted a fraction, her fingers loosening in her lap.

“You will succeed.”

Her chest rose, fell, the sound still uneven, but no longer breaking. “I’m not a failure?” she asked, her voice soft and fragile. “No.” His answer came immediately, knowing that even the slightest hesitation would send her back into a state. Her shoulders sagged, like something inside her had just been released. “I’ve been transferred,” she whispered. Kylo straightened. “Yes.”