Private Release Me

[Lina Ovmar]

Fear had been knotted in her stomach since Yavin IV, anxiety pressing upon her chest. How could she have possible been so stupid? She should have stayed away, after the day she met Sarlow here and she'd been able to walk away, she should have stayed away. But he'd been under her skin since, and no matter how hard she had tried to shake him she couldn't and now? She was pacing outside the conference room, wringing her hands, the black guard flanking it had watched her approach the door three times before walking away and going back to pacing.

Pregnant.

The word brought a wave of nausea, and she stopped pacing, letting out a slow breath trying to settle her stomach.

Pregnant.

With His grandchild.

The man she had sworn she would kill. An now what? Now she was in love with his firstborn son and carrying his grandchild.

"Kark!"

Her anger at herself pushed her back towards the doors of the conference room, ichor rising around her as she allowed her anger to get the better of her, her eyes becoming obsidian orbs as the doors flung open with a flick of her wrist. A dozen head swivelled her way, but her eyes fixed on Darth Carnifex at the tables head.

"Get. Out." her voice was alien, like a thousand whispers layered out of sync.

Confusion and surprise were her only answer, a flick of her wrist and a dozen dark tendrils punched up one my one through the tables centre splitting it apart and sending the room sprawling as the curled about each half and moved it so she could walk the most direct path to Carnifex, who hadn't moved. Why would he? She was not a threat. Not while she bore this mark, and even then, this was childs play, a tantrum. By the time she reached him, the room had emptied and he obsidian eyes were wet with tears of frustration.

"Remove the mark." She demanded.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

For a moment nobody moved, nobody said a word.

At the head of the conference table was the Dark Lord Himself, hands clasped together and one leg propped up upon the other as He listened in silence. The other members of the meeting had been sitting around the large table, with the current speaker standing as he had been speaking at length. The subject was of no consequence, certainly not after the sudden and violent interruption. Whatever words he'd been speaking had died on his lips, all eyes turned towards Lina Djo as the doors flew open.

The breaking of the table caused many to rise up in fear, eyes slowly turning to look at the Dark Lord; who hadn't budged an inch. With minimal effort He waved them away, and they all quickly gathered their fallen documents and other effects before filing out of the room. The doors would then close, leaving the two of them alone at last.

Darth Carnifex watched as Lina marched up to Him, her eyes on the verge of tears but lacking any trace of fear. There had once been fear, He'd sensed it festering outside the conference room, but that had been replaced by her rising frustration; which gave way to anger. She was angry, but not at Him. For the moment, her circumstances had eclipsed that gnawing hatred.

"The table was reinforced acacia wood logged from a planet who's biosphere is no longer habitable. Please refrain from causing any more damage to it." He slipped His leg down off the other, and let His hands fall down to His seat's armrests. He watched her curiously, unblinking eyes staring directly into her own.

"Convince me."

Lina Ovmar ​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Lina's anger pulsed, the two halves of the table behind her lifted to slam into the walls. She didn't care what wood was made of, if it irked him then it served its purpose well enough.

"Release me." She repeated, the whispered layers becoming laced with muted screams. "Release me so I can kill you now. So I can be rid of you before it is too late. Before I am...before I become..."

Before what? Before she fell in love with his son? Before she fell pregnant with Sarlow's child. Before she became a Zambrano? A wave of nausea washed over her and she stepped back closing her eyes. The ichor that formed her sheild, that encompassed her fury fell away into shadow and she stood swaying slight on the spot steadying her stomach.

When she ipened her eyes again, they were green and damp wth tears.

"I am with child." Her words were barely above a whisper, but saying them allowed rose a lump in her throat and she sank slowly to her knees, a sob escaping her.

Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord's brow furrowed slightly in annoyance, the edges of His mouth turning in a frown. That He was more concerned with the state of the table than her violence spoke volumes about how He viewed her; that all her power was little more than a passing irritant. Still, she had gained His undivided attention for better or for worse. He could tell that she was immensely troubled, and He didn't require the Force to glean such information. It was written all over her, she was practically screaming it at Him.

"Yes, I know." He stood then, moving with such quickness that it was frightening. The chair at His back tumbled away with the motion, clattering onto it's side. "I have sired a great many multitudes, Lina, I could sense the life growing within you before you even realized. It is my son's, I know that as well. I have been watching the both of you ever since he took you aside that day, he even brought you to the gala on Naboo. I knew my son had become infatuated with you for whatever reason, while his brothers only regarded you as a passing curiosity."

He towered over her, looming threateningly with eyes of blazing molten copper. "If I released you now, you'd do something foolish. You'd only end up harming yourself and the child of my line you carry within you. I will not release you until I know for certain that your feelings are not false." He crouched down so that they were near eye-level, although He still was elevated above her. "Speak truthfully, Lina, your freedom depends on what you say now."

"Do you love Sarlow? Would you ever hurt him to get to me?"

Lina Ovmar ​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Lina balked at his words. Child of His line. She wrapped her arms about herself, supressing a shudder and closed. No, it wasn't His line, she had to detach him from it, if she didn't she would resent this child for the rest of its life. It we their line. It was hers and Sarlows. Whatever came before them did not matter. He did not matter.

She didn't flinch or cower as he towered over, lowering to look at her face. His question made her eyes snap open and she met his glowing eyes. She blinked, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I love him so much I can barely breath without him." The admission caught her off guard. She'd never said it out loud, saying it out loud made it real. Which seemed like a ridiculous notion considering she was carrying his child.

"I would never hurt him."

Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He looked at her for a long time, stared directly into her eyes. He was searching her for any trace of deception, of falsity. His unblinking gaze was withering, it would've caused even the most hardy of warriors to shrink away.

But not Lina, she never looked away even while tears rolled down her cheeks.

After several minutes of growing silence, the Dark Lord rose to His feet. He stretched out one hand towards Lina, and the black ink of her brand began to vibrate and dance upon her skin. Suddenly, it leapt free from her shoulder, landing in the palm of the Dark Lord's hand before suffusing into His skin. The mark traveled up His arm and disappeared somewhere inside His tunic.

"I believe you," intoned Darth Carnifex, "Do not give me reason to believe it a misjudgment."

Lina Ovmar ​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Lina sucked in a shuddering breath as the mark left her, taking with it the great weight that pressed against her back, his constant presence that reminded her always of her position. She stared at her now bare arm a dozen things running through her mind.

She could run. Leave and never look back return to the shadows. Sarlow wouldn't follow though, his dedication to this family was unbreakable so she would be raising a child alone...much like her mother had done. Her mother...who had tortured and tormented her everyday of her childhood.

Lina was going to be a mother.

Drawing herself away from the thought that filled her with dread she climbed slowly to her feet, her eyes lifting back to Kaine's. "Leilah?" There was a touch of hope in her voice, if she could get Leilah out then at the very least one of the people she loved could be truly free.

Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"She will remain."

The chair at Carnifex's back flipped back to it's rightful position, sliding along the floor before stopping right behind Him. He sat down in the chair, crossing one leg over the other.

"Her status and residence will not change until a point of my choosing. While I do believe you, it would be completely foolish of me to relinquish all of my bargaining chips. There are things in motion that may return her to you much sooner than later, but until then she stays."

Lina Ovmar ​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Lina's heart sank but she nodded. Her eyes drifted away from him, staring unseeing at the mess she'd made of the room around them. For a long moment she stood swaying slightly on the spot, wrestling between her hatred of him and her fear of what was to come. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Do you see her in me?" she asked, slowly moving her gaze back to his.

The driving force behind her fear, the red skinned twi'lek that had been her tormentor. That had forced her to watch as she'd killed anyone on the ship they called home that dared to befriend her. That had left her body a mass of scars, each one she could recall the pain of, the unsettling reason behind. Lina had no idea what a loving mother was like, she had no idea what a mother was supposed to be.

She wanted him to say no. She needed him to say no.

But she knew the truth of it.

Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Darth Carnifex stared at her in silence, no change in His expression. But within His mind, He thought over her words; grappled with them. Because they cut to the heart of something that He'd not even entertained, that all of His cruelty towards Lina Djo had been because Anaya Fen was her mother. Sure, at some level He'd understood that, but at no point had He truly articulated the point as she had just then. The sins of the mother were being meted out upon the daughter, who had already suffered so much at the hands of that very same mother.

"Does it matter, Lina? The woman that I knew was not the same you knew. The Anaya Fen of my youth was boisterous and strong-willed, passionate and coy. She had not known fear until she met me, until that night beneath Dromund Kaas' stars. Until Omni. It was fear that drove her to do what she did, to you and to me. It is better that she is dead and buried."

He looked into her eyes, the seconds ticking by in silence.

"I see what she was in you, not what she became."

Lina Ovmar ​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

"Yes, it matters." she replied after a long moment. This was the first time since Ryloth that they had truly spoken, that he was not overseeing her training nor playing games with her. The first conversation where they could truly find an understanding. "It matters because she is why I am here. This isn't about punishment for a crime I committed as a child, this is about her. In everyway."

She searched his eyes, trying to find something of the man he had once been, something that wasn't utterly consumed and ruled by darkness. "You were cruel to your children too, Kaine. I do not want that for mine and nor will Sarlow. Whatever path they chose will be there own and you will not interfere."

She took a step towards him emboldened, determined to secure her future and the future of her child. "The battle we fight, that we will always fight, because you cannot look at me without seeing her. It doesn't touch Sarlow, it doesn't touch the family he and I build together. It starts and ends with us. I need your word on this."

Darth Carnifex