Private Going Down — Valery Noble

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

"I'm going down!" Valery called out through her comms, hoping to get out a last message with the hopes that someone would hear it. Something had caused her shuttle to violently shake itself apart, and with the small craft caught in the planet's gravitational field, there was nothing she could do to stop it from coming down. This should have been a simple diplomatic mission that had her away from home for a few days, but now she found herself in a struggle for life or death.

At an increasingly faster rate, the shuttle descended rapidly towards the surface of the forest planet below, after it broke through the atmosphere like a fireball. As she approached the tree line, she hoped to use the increase in drag to stabilize the ship, but it was no use. The controls were not responding anymore, and the shuttle hit the treetops with a deafening crash, branches and leaves breaking through the hull. Valery's head hit the console in front of her, and everything went black for the Jedi Master.

When she regained consciousness, Valery felt her head throbbing from the impact. As she slowly opened her eyes, the sight before her was nothing but chaos. Flames engulfed the shuttle, and smoke filled the air. The sounds of crackling flames and screeching metal pierced her ears, but she had to act quickly.

Using the Force to steady herself, Valery rose to her feet, her body aching with pain. She knew she had to get out of the burning shuttle, and quickly. She stumbled through the smoke-filled cabin, coughing and gasping for air. She could feel the heat of the flames on her skin and knew that time was running out for her. Slowly, Valery made her way to the emergency exit, the door already partially opened because of the impact. She stumbled through the opening, and her body tumbled out of the shuttle and onto the ground. The air outside was fresher, allowing her to draw in a deep breath of air, but the forest around her was also on fire and threatened to consume everything.

She had to get away.

But as she tried to rise up to her feet, she realized that her legs were no longer cooperating — she had to crawl, thereby leaving behind a trail of blood from several deep cuts all over her body.

Eventually, she stopped and used what little strength she had left to open her comm device, so she could send a signal out to the one person who felt what was happening here. <Love....> she said, her voice cracking while her body screamed. <It's not good... I can't feel my->

The signal was dead, and Valery just let out a soft, defeated cry.

Would she ever see him again? Would she still get to see her kids grow up? Right now, Valery wasn't sure anymore, and when things just seemed like they couldn't get any worse, she felt a familiar presence.

She felt him.

 

[Danton]

Danton had spared no time nor expense in hunting Valery Noble.

She had peeled his mind apart. Stripped him of the Force. Left him to rot in a sunless, rat-infested cell. He had almost gone mad in that asylum, and perhaps to the outside eye, maybe he already had. Dark voices still plagued the back of his mind. Sleep had evaded him at every turn. Shadows hung under his eyes and bruises purpled his hands.

Since the fall of Exegol, pain had become his only company and friend, and now Danton intended to introduce it to Valery, too. It was only polite. Only fair.

As he disembarked from the X-Wing he'd stolen, he surveyed the forest around him. It'd proven to be a fine ship, more than enough to shoot down her foolish little diplomatic shuttle. One blast to her hull and rear engines and he'd sent her spiraling into the trees.

Of course, she wasn't dead. That would be too easy. The Sword of the Jedi was nothing short of fate-defying, and she deserved a fate much worse than death besides.

Danton strode into the open clearing. Finding her didn't very long. A blood trail led him right to where she laid, a wounded mess, covered in cuts and dark welts from head to toe, her voice cracking in pain. Flames cackled as he approached. Never in his life had he felt this good, even if he was without the Force. Revenge could never be so sweet.

Upon reaching her, Danton crushed her comlink under his heel, casting her in his shadow. He hefted a long staff, a shocker on one end and a razor point on the other. The ghost of a smile crossed his haunted face. "Valery Noble. What a surprise. You remember me?"

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

Valery pushed herself up onto an elbow, and looked down through a red haze of blood running over her eyes. The ground was stained red, her body was cut open, scarred and burned, but none of that pain came close to what she felt deeper inside. Somewhere out there, Kahlil would know exactly what was happening to her, and even Vera could likely feel that her mother was in trouble. Even just the thought of leaving them behind hurt more than any injury ever could.

But what really deepened that fear and pain was the presence she felt approaching.

From behind her, she heard the sound of branches snapping underneath his boots drawing closer. She felt his anger and hatred for her through the Force, and noticed her muscles tensing when he stopped to cast a shadow over her. His voice was laced with venom as he spoke, and she just knew that the situation couldn't be any worse. Even Carnifex finding her here would have been a better outcome.

"...coward," she said, her voice strained from the pain she felt.

Valery then tried to slowly push herself up from her elbow with every bit of strength she could muster, but her body was simply not cooperating. She couldn't get up to fight back, and finally looked at him over her shoulder without the strength in her eyes faltering. But she knew that it wasn't going to last.

 

[Danton]

"Coward?" Danton pouted, then broke again into a smile. If Valery thought an insult that frail was going to unsettle him, she was sorely mistaken.

"Wrong answer, I'm afraid."

Danton thrust the crackling end of his spear into her side. A painful, electrical current would run through her whole body, scorching nerves and muscle. If she was on the verge of consciousness, this would surely snap her back awake, if only for the next minute. He had far more planned for the Jedi. She couldn't slip into the comfort of the dark just yet.

Circling her fallen body like a vulture, Danton went on, "I'm insulted you don't remember my name. We had such a wonderful time last we spoke. I thought we had something special." A deep well of hate flashed in his eyes. "You took something from me, after all. My life."

"I made a promise. Perhaps that, at least, you haven't forgotten. I said I would show you how weak you are, and what do you know? Here you are. A bleeding eyesore. Hard to believe I was once intimidated by you, but now I see you're just like me. Only human."

He stuck her again with the stun rod. This time, as she was wracked with pain, Danton would kick aside her lightsaber, making sure it was well out of her reach. He couldn't risk her pulling any tricks. But once he was finished, he spotted something else. The gleam of gold on her hand. A sharp and sinister grin curled his lip as an idea came to mind.

"My, my. You have a pretty ring there. Is that your wedding band?"

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

"Wrong answer, I'm afraid."

Valery's body convulsed in agony as the electric current surged through her. The muscles in her body spasmed and twitched uncontrollably, and her mind was filled with blinding pain, as skin and nerves were burned by his weapon. No matter how hard she tried to resist it, she screamed in pain and fell onto her stomach. Danton then began to circle around her, a wicked grin on his face, while Valery struggled to find the strength to fight back. But her injuries were too severe, and she could barely even move.

She was forced to listen to him, and even though she hadn't mentioned his name, she hadn't forgotten it. She knew exactly who he was, and what she had done to him back at the Asylum. It was for this reason that she knew just how dire her situation was. If he had simply wanted her dead, he could have blown her apart in his ship or killed her right now.

A quick death wasn't satisfying enough for him.

"You're not human," she said before she coughed up a worrying amount of blood, and slowly tried to reach for the lightsaber on the ground. "You're a monster- Ahhh!" she screamed in agony again, as he poked his weapon into her back, forcing her body to twitch and spasm into unnatural positions from the pain. Her weapon was kicked away at the same time, leaving her with no way to defend herself, but even now, things could get worse.

"My, my. You have a pretty ring there. Is that your wedding band?"

A tree behind the former Sith instantly snapped in half, as anger flashed through Valery's gaze, but even with that familiar inferno burning in her eyes, she lacked the strength to control her abilities. She couldn't fight back, call for help or even try to escape. It made her feel hopeless.

"You're. Not. Getting it," she said, her voice strong despite how frail she felt. The ring Kahlil Noble had made for her — for their wedding all those years ago — meant a lot to her. She never took it off for anything or anybody, and she wasn't going to allow this to become an exception.

 

[Danton]

"You're right. I am a monster. Maybe I always was, but you created this monster when you stole my life away. I'm only doing the simple kindness of repaying the favor."

Satisfaction still bursting through him, Danton advanced on Valery, intending to snatch the wedding band from her, but as her eyes flashed and a tree split in two, he froze. Dread pooled in his gut. For a tiny moment, he felt a stab of worry—even fear—that the woman beneath him was still powerful enough to peel flesh and snap every bone in his body.

But she wasn't.

For all the fiery hate in her gaze, she was still weak. The Force was not on her side and Danton didn't even need it to know. She was merely lashing out. So, he lashed back.

Danton dialed up the voltage and punched the stun rod into her back. As she convulsed, the moment he lifted the metal prong, he kicked her in the gut, trying to turn her stomach up. His wrist spun. The spear in his hand followed, the pointed end aimed now towards her like a gleaming arrowhead. Sunlight dappled his smile.

Then he brought the spear down and nailed her hand to the grass.

"Look at what you made me do," he said, and leaving the spear embedded into her hand, knelt at her side and attempted to rob her finger of the ring. "Remember that I had warned you what was coming when you left me in that prison. Remember that you did this to yourself."

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

Even though she was badly injured, Valery could still feel that brief spike of fear inside of him, when her uncontrolled use of the Force snapped an entire tree in half. But without the Force, Danton could just as easily tell that she was in no condition to repeat it, let alone target him directly with it. The anger and hatred for the Jedi Master returned, and he was going to make sure that she couldn't lash out like that again.

Valery let out a strangled cry as the stun rod was jammed into her back, sending a heightened jolt of electricity through her already battered body. She convulsed again as a result, leaving her helpless before Danton kicked her in the gut, causing waves of nausea to wash over her. She ended up on her back, coughed up more blood, and looked him straight in the eyes, as he spun around his weapon.

He smiled.

Then he thrust his weapon down and pinned her hand to the ground with the sharpened tip of his spear. Valery screamed in pain and could feel her consciousness slipping away when blood rushed out from the open wound. She wanted to still fight back, to use the Force to defend herself somehow, but her injuries were too severe and the instinctive movements she made when the weapon pierced her hand only caused more hurt. Tears welled in her eyes, and all she could do was watch when he crouched down and pulled the ring off her finger.

She had never taken it off before.

"You won't... get away... with this," she said, her voice finally frail, and her face pale from loss of blood and despair. The ring had always symbolized her greatest strength to her — Kahlil, her family — and now that it was taken away, she felt that a part of her had already died before he had even dealt the finishing blow.

Was it only a matter of time now?

 

[Danton]

"You sure I won't? Because I think I already am."

Danton waved a dismissive hand back to the wreckage of her shuttle. No witnesses. No survivors. Only him and Valery remained and without an active beacon, he felt more than confident her little friends in the Jedi Order would arrive too late. With some searching, maybe they'd find her, but not as she was. Her corpse would be unrecognizable.

Now that he'd taken her ring, Danton raised it to light. He squinted, catching the shine of real gold and the tiny runes engraved around the band.

"Fine craftsmanship. I'd say it would make a pretty penny on the black market." Like a coin, he twirled the ring between his fingers, as if intending to tuck it away into his pocket for safekeeping. Instead, he dropped it before Valery's eyes, then raised the toe of his boot.

He crushed and ground it into the grass. "Unfortunately, I'm not here for credits or worthless trinkets. I'm here for you, Valery, and for what you stole from me."

Danton yanked his spear from her hand. Blood bubbled from the wound, but before he could score any more marks on her flesh, a voice called from across the clearing—a larger man with a shaved scalp. It was one of the inmates from the asylum, who Danton had helped escape with.

Two others accompanied the man, and although Danton despised them all, they'd proven useful in his plans. Good, little lackeys. Didn't stop him from treating them like shit, though.

"What is it?" he snapped. "I told you not to disturb me."

One of the former inmates bent low. "The safe house, sir. It's ready."

Danton straightened. "Oh, finally." He gestured to where Valery laid. "Fetch the Jedi for me, would you? Let's welcome her to her new home."

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

"You're mistaken..." Valery said with a faint, bloodied grin to meet his twisted smile — an attempt to show that she wasn't broken yet. She still had some hope that she'd be able to survive this as well, simply because she knew that her husband had felt everything that happened to her. She could feel his emotions, and she knew that he'd find her. But whether he'd be able to before it was too late, she didn't know. Even now, the kids were their priority, and they couldn't just be left behind.

Danton then held up the ring, studying it for a moment before commenting on its value. It made Valery's blood boil, and as he dropped it right by her face, she wanted to grab it so badly, but couldn't with the spear still embedded into her hand. She clenched her jaw, and watched, as he forced it into the soil.

"I'll-" she stopped and cried out in agony when he yanked the spear from her hand, allowing blood to rush out. "...I'll die before I ever help you get it back..." she finally said, knowing it was a very sacrifice she might have to actually make. Danton then readied himself to lash out at her again but stopped as one of his lackeys interrupted.

She listened to the conversation that followed but moved no muscle, and the only sound that escaped was her erratic breathing and the occasional cough to clear the blood from her throat.

"Fetch the Jedi for me, would you? Let's welcome her to her new home."

"Of course," the brute said with his own wicked smile before he walked over to Valery, crouched down, and gripped her hair tightly. He yanked on it hard enough for her to scream out in pain once more, and kept the grip low enough to the ground to force her to crawl along if she didn't want to have her hair ripped from her scalp. Many of the inmates that escaped along with Danton from the Asylum knew who she was, and all of them wanted to see her humiliated, hurt, and eventually, killed.

This was only the beginning.

"You're not so tough anymore now, Jedi," he laughed once and pulled her along to follow Danton to his ship. "Just tell me where you want her, boss."

 

[Danton]

Valery's bloodied smile struck a nerve. He should've known her spirit would not be so easily broken. Even wounded, her wedding ring trampled and her muscles aching from electric shock, she was still the Jedi he'd feared back in the prison. Still the Sword of the Jedi. No matter the pressure, it was going to take more to dull her edge.

But he'd already planned for that, didn't he?

Danton towered over her, flame and fury in his eyes. "Defiance will only earn you pain," he snarled and brandished his stun rod, if only to watch her cringe. "But fine. Defy me. Either you give me what I came for, or you will die more slowly than you can imagine. I will build a palace of your suffering, Valery, and I will enjoy living in it until you draw your last breath."

He stood back as his lackeys seized her by the hair and dragged her across the clearing, kicking and screaming. While they mocked and tormented her towards the ship, Danton made an airy gesture at the hull. "Just toss her in the storage unit. I don't care."

However they did it, the men would shove Valery into the X-Wing's side compartment, a tight and claustrophobic space still hot from the ship's heavy engine use. Once they finished, Danton would gaze in at her from the outside, hollow with emotion. He felt nothing for the woman who'd stole his strength. The very essence of his soul.

She deserved this, regardless of what the voices in his head told him.

"Now, Master Noble. It's time to say goodnight."

He mirrored her earlier smile, the horror of hell in his eyes, then took his spear and jabbed her with the stun rod, wracking her with pain until finally, she was claimed by the dark.

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

Valery shot Danton one last look of pure defiance, just to make sure he knew that she wasn't going to help him. His threats of killing her slowly and painfully weren't going to change that, even though they did instill some fear in the Jedi Master's heart. Not because she was scared of the pain, but because she knew what she was leaving behind. She had even left for this mission in a bit of a hurry, so she hadn't been able to spend the time with her family that she would have liked before a trip this long.

Now, it felt as if she'd never be able to see their faces again.

The group of lackeys then ceased her by her hair and dragged her along like an abused animal in an attempt to dehumanize her and break down her will to fight. They laughed at her, shoved, and kicked her every step along the way, causing her ribs to scream in agony while only strangled cries could escape her busted lips. With minimal effort, they then lifted her off the ground and tossed her into the tiny cargo compartment, where metal panels were quickly stained red by her blood.

It was here that Valery could finally cradle the hand he had pierced with his spear, and channel whatever strength she had left to accelerate her body's healing. It would do little to save her in the long run, but she was already feeling so weak from the loss of blood and her broken body. This gave her just a brief moment of relief.

At least, until Danton appeared again.

She looked into his eyes, into his smile, and tried her best to show the fiery willpower she was known for. But with so much taken from her already, only a dimmed flame remained, that she feared would soon be extinguished forever. With the stun rod then piercing into her chest, Valery screamed once more and twitched in agony and despair until it finally overwhelmed her senses, and forced her into a deep slumber.

 

[Danton]

Ice-cold water crashed into Valery's face, waking her up from whatever false dream she was living.

As she looked up, she was greeted with a cell drowsy with torchlight, along with Danton's smiling face. Shadows flickered around his sunken eyes. He had been watching her carefully for the last hour, waiting for her to wake until finally, impatience got the better of him.

Call him desperate, but he was greedy for revenge.

"Sleep well?" he asked mockingly. She was not a pretty sight. Wrists shackled to Force-dampening manacles, Valery's arms had been raised over her head, chained to an iron hook in the ceiling, and the cell was terribly cold, as if she was a slab of meat left in cold-storage. She was far from comfortable.

"Ironic, isn't it? When we met, I was the one standing behind bars. Now here you are. A husk of a Jedi. A bird in a cage. The Force sure does have a sense of humor."

"Tell me, what were you dreaming of?" Danton paced around the bars. He pretended not to hear the voices in the back of his mind, some begging for an end to his madness and others clawing for blood. None of it mattered now that he had Valery where he wanted. "Did you see your fool of a husband? Your worthless apprentices, perhaps?"

"How about your children? Little sweet and bright-eyed Vera?"

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

Valery's eyes opened as gentle rays of sunshine warmed up her face in the morning. Her body was comforted by a soft mattress and kept warm by blankets and a familiar embrace. These were her favorite mornings — waking up with Kahlil keeping her close and keeping her from ever going away. After she had rescued him from the Wellspring, he had talked to her about always disappearing from her life, but never again. He wasn't going to leave her again, and she would never leave him.

Everything was perfect.

In this state of dreaming, Valery could not speak but laughed playfully as she rolled over and onto her husband's chest. She smiled at him the way she always did, and he smiled back with that same love in his eyes. Her hand then gently traced over his cheek, her thumb brushing through his beard before she leaned in closer to kiss him, gently and lovingly. These moments, as far as she was concerned, could last forever and she'd be the happiest woman in the Galaxy.

But even now, the morning got even brighter.

The sound of their bedroom door opening pulled her attention away, and to their daughter, who was peeking inside to see if her parents were awake. When both Valery and Kahlil noticed her, they waved her over and she sprinted towards the bed, keen on jumping on top for a big family hug.

She never reached the bed.

"Sleep well?"

A single tear rolled down Valery's cheek, as the splash of ice-cold water pulled her out of the safe confines of her dreams. The pain of body and mind returned instantly, bitterly reminding her of the dark reality she found herself in. It almost made the comforting dream she just had feel like a nightmare, as it showed her what she was possibly never going to experience again. The sunlight waking her up in the morning, the embrace of the man she loved with all her heart, and the smiles of her children.

Valery fought back the urge to cry and instead stared down the man responsible for her suffering with only coldness in her gaze. How could someone be this evil?

"Is this where your old Master kept you?" Valery then asked, before coughing up some blood. Even the slightest movement of her body made her wrists and shoulder hurt, but she wasn't going to make any of this easy for him. Until her last breath, she'd resist and fight back.

Danton then began to pace back and forth in front of her cell, and while his words sparked anger deeper within, Valery managed to suppress it. For now.

"I saw what I'll be returning to, once this is over," she told him, not because she cared to share her dreams, but because she wanted him to know that there was still hope left in her. As long as there's hope, she wouldn't ever be broken. But with those words, her expression softened, and she tried to look deeper into his soul.

Was it really just anger and madness?

"Danton," she said, finally choosing to use his name. "It doesn't have to be like this."

 

[Danton]

"Oh, no. This prison may be my master's, but it wasn't made for me." Danton's fingers hovered over the rusted bars of her cell. "This was where he stored captive Jedi. Tortured them. Experimented upon them. If there was ever information he needed, he would take them into this room, hang them up where you are now, and in a day, he'd have them singing."

HIs hand wrapped around the cell door. Slowly, he pushed it open, the metal groaning, and he entered the cage with a dark and eager gleam in his eye. "I'm glad you were dreaming of them. Your family. Because it may be the last time you see them again."

Don't do this, a voice in his head warned. You are making a mistake.

This isn't a mistake, another voice hissed. This is retribution.

His attention shifted back to Valery at her next words, anger flashing. Danton hated the soft expression she wore, like she was seeing something that wasn't there. He knew it was all pretend. He'd seen the devil for what she was, and he was not going to be fooled.

"Oh, but it does," he answered, venom in every syllable he spat. "You're in Force dampening shackles, but it's not like what I feel. Not even close. It's like there's an absence in me. A piece of my soul, just gone. Like it never existed. Do you know what that's like?"

"Picture your little girl again. Your lovesick husband. Now, imagine if I took away your sweetest memory of them. One minute it's there, and then it's gone. You know the memory exists, but when you try to look back on it, to see your husband's smile or hear Vera's laughter, it just… isn't there anymore. All you see or feel is a chasm where that memory should be."

"Imagine that, and you might feel a fraction of my torment." Hatred twisted every muscle in Danton's face. "But don't worry. I will help show you exactly how it feels."

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

When Danton explained what this room was used for in the past, a deep frown settled on Valery's face. Perhaps the Force nullifying shackles had one advantage for her now - they made it impossible for her to tap into the past and experience those memories and emotions of the Jedi who drew their last breaths here. But even without feeling and seeing it, she could tell how much they must have suffered.

So rather than speaking out against his threat in defiance, Valery swallowed her words and only wondered if she could last more than a day. She had so much to live for, so she still held hope, but for the first time in a long while, she felt afraid.

"I do know what it's like," Valery said, as she looked into his eyes. Into his anger. "I took it away because I know it's the only way for you to heal. To finally be rid of all the pain." She knew he didn't see it that way, but she would never torture or take away something so integral to a person for no reason at all. She had hoped that without the Dark Side at his control, he could no longer cause harm, but perhaps also find a way to live without it. To live a better life.

Neither seemed to be the case, as she looked down at her torn, bloodied clothes and broken body. Without the Force, she could not suppress her pain, and it was already starting to slowly break apart her fighting spirit.

Danton then continued to speak, and Valery finally averted her gaze. She clenched her jaw, tightened her fists and let out a short, pained breath. "I'm sorry it had to be this way for you, Danton. But I will not help you, and you will not take away anything from me." She forced her eyes shut for a moment, and fought back the tears as she accepted her fate and future.

A future without mornings like the one from her dreams.

 

[Danton]

"Heal?" Danton mocked. "Be rid of the pain?"

He whirled on her, his voice dripping with disgust. "No, no, no. You don't get to play the victim here, or the sympathetic hero. You are far from that. You peeled open my mind like it was nothing and stole the one thing I had left. My strength. You have no right to apologize." He rose up and looked down on her in silent fury. "Only to beg."

He turned for a nearby table covered in a long cloth. "If you want to keep basking in your own self-righteousness, fine by me. I don't mind playing the villain if you want to keep pretending to be the noble hero. I don't mind at all."

Danton pulled the cloth aside to reveal an extensive collection of torture devices. Knives, bone saws, pliers and hooks rusted with blood. He made sure Valery was watching.

"Like what you see?" he taunted. "These are old tokens from my master. Can't say I've ever used them myself, but I've seen how they work. The damage they can do, to body and mind." His fingers hovered over the table's edge. One dark look in her direction and he paused over what looked like a ten-tail shock whip. He picked it up.

"This is your last chance. Tell me how to recover my connection to the Force, or I will make you tell me. Just like the Jedi who last stood where you stand, I will make you sing."

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

"It wasn't strength," Valery said while she shifted around awkwardly. Her own weight pulling her down on the restraints was starting to make her wrists hurt even worse than they already did, and she couldn't tap into the Force to suppress it either. "You were a puppet to what you call strength," She said, just with a little more disgust in her tone. She had never encountered this man on the battlefield, but she could easily imagine what kind of evil he'd have been able to unleash on people.

"The only person here who is pretending, is you," Valery then said, but the strength in her voice faded quickly when she caught a first glimpse of what he kept beneath the cloth on the table. This wouldn't be the first time such instruments were turned against her, but this time she really saw no way out.

It was almost like her time in captivity as a Padawan under the Hutts.

What strengthened that feeling of despair, even more, was the shock whip he retrieved. Valery's eyes widened just a tad, and the metal chains linking her to the ceiling began to rattle, as she almost desperately tried to get away. But there was no place for her to go, so only one option remained. She'd have to face this pain and push herself through. Not just for her own survival either, but for her family.

"I'm not telling you anything," she told him again, still determined despite the fear that was slowly starting to creep up on her. "I'd rather die than help you hurt someone else ever again."

She swallowed hard and closed her eyes.

 

[Danton]

"How I was hoping you'd say that."

Danton lifted his chin. Part of him truly was glad Valery was putting up a fight. He owed her pain. He owed her suffering. She'd ruined him and he was going to make her pay in blood. But was it right? Would it honestly give him back his strength, or the peace he so desperately wanted?

Perhaps not. But it'd sure make him feel better.

He hefted the ten-tail shock whip, the leather creaking as he wrapped the end around his fist. With the switch of his thumb, he activated the shocker and the air hummed with crackling energy. He'd given Valery countless chances to escape this fate, to give him what he wanted, and she'd chosen the path of misery. All because of some false sense of heroism.

"You deserve this," Danton said coldly, but to himself as much as to her, like he needed the encouragement, to goad his hand to moving.

Silence lapsed between them. Voices mounted in his head, first one, then a dozen, screaming for blood and murder, and when they grew into a chorus of shouting, his right eye twitched and he raised the shock whip. Crack! He thrashed the barbed tail across her back. It was only what was demanded of him. Crack! She had asked for this. Crack! She'd made him do this.

After what felt like an eternity, Danton stepped back. He was panting by the time he finished, exhaustion creeping into his arm. Blood trickled down his knuckles, bone-white around the whip's handle. He released a ragged breath. "Are you ready to talk now?"

Valery Noble​

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[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: Danton

"How I was hoping you'd say that."

Valery kept her eyes closed and tightened her grip on the chains in anticipation of what was coming. She knew that nothing would have prevented this from happening now. He didn't just want to know how to restore what she took away from him — he wanted revenge, and the only revenge that would satisfy him was to inflict more pain on her than she had caused him. The only question that remained was if she'd be able to survive.

She had already lost so much blood, and her body was screaming in agony.

The buzzing of the shock-whip activating pulled Valery out of her own thoughts, and somehow, her body tensed up even more, as she panicked. Her past time in captivity had created a fear of these weapons, and while she could suppress or ignore it if she was able to fight back, she couldn't overcome it when she was restrained in a similar way as well. With every little bit of strength, she began to shift around, hoping to wrangle her way out of her bindings somehow. But there was no way out.


A brief moment of silence followed, during which Valery could feel her heart pounding in her mind. Images of loved ones flashed through her mind and finally...

Crack.

Her eyes widened as the barbed tail cut her back wide open, and screamed again, as another surge of electricity ran through her body. But it didn't just stop there — he kept going, striking her again, and again... and again. She cried, screamed in agony and despair, and desperately tried to escape, but she couldn't force her bloodied hands and wrists through the metal bindings, no matter how hard she tried.

After what certainly felt like an eternity, Danton stopped and left Valery hanging in her restraints. Blood was running down her back in erratic patterns, as it moved around torn flesh and open wounds. From her body, it dripped onto the ground below, creating a rhythmic echo inside the chamber. Without the Force, she would either slip into hypovolemic shock at this rate, or die before she could, but even with her body broken, she couldn't get herself to help him.

He'd only hurt so many more people. He had threatened her family.

"I.. c-can't..." she cried.

 

[Danton]

Danton had never raised a whip against someone before.

His master had done it all the time. Darth Hakan took great delight in tormenting his victims, like the scent of blood drove him mad with pleasure. Danton had used to think it was too much, too excessive, but as he observed the mess he made of Valery's back, he couldn't deny the stab of satisfaction he felt in his gut. Revenge was so terribly sweet.

Just not as rewarding as he'd hoped.

He had to remember what he was looking at. A devil, not a woman. A monster, not a victim. She was a Jedi, barely human, and she deserved to suffer every agony for what she'd done to him, to Kyrel Ren, and to the many Sith she'd ruthlessly murdered in the past. This was preordained retribution. This was justice.

"You can't, or you won't?" Danton hissed. "You're a Jedi Master. The greatest of your godsforsaken Order. Surely you know how to give back what's been taken. Surely you know how I can recover my connection. You're just too pointlessly stubborn to admit it."

Voices rang in his skull. Nearly a dozen, crowding his mind all at once. He shook his head and, seized by fury, he snapped over his shoulder, "Shut up, would you?!"

But no one was there. To anyone else watching, he was talking to himself, or to a ghost none could see. Danton was growing more mad by the hour, the edges of his sanity peeling back to reveal something much darker. More cruel. More sadistic.

He whirled on Valery. "Is this the state you'd want little Vera to find you in? A mangled eyesore? You can stop me with just a few words. You can stop all of this." Danton raised the whip and brought it down hard. "Tell me." He did it again. "Tell me!" Again. "TELL ME."

Valery Noble​

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