He had thought over and over about what had happened, about why she had locked him up in this cage. She said his Mommy and Daddy were bad, that they tried to hide him from the Emperor. He knew his family was hiding... Daddy had told him more than once to be careful, so no one would find them. But they told him the people they were hiding from were bad men, not the Emperor.
And his name. That's when she had gotten upset, when he said his name was Thomas. Well, it was, wasn't it? Unless... unless his Mommy and Daddy had lied about that... No! Mommy and Daddy don't lie! But... if they hadn't done anything bad, why were they being punished, he wondered.
When the lady came back, he was silent. He didn't want the lady to get mad and leave him in there for longer. He did his best not to cry.
The lady smiled at him. "Now, then, that's a lot better. Would you like something to eat?" she asked him.
The boy nodded, then ammended, "Y-yes, please," so that she wouldn't be mad at him being rude again.
The lady nodded, and soon the boy heard a familiar voice. The men in white armor came in then, bringing his mother, who was screaming. When he saw her, the boy cried out to her, and soon the two were struggling to be together.
The lady paid the scene no heed. Once his Mommy had been made to kneel down before the lady, she pulled out a knife.
The boy had never seen anyone die before, but knew that knife was dangerous. He screamed. "No, please, don't kill my Mommy, I love her! Please, no! She'll be good, I'll tell her to be good, I promise!" he screamed.
The lady fixed him with a look, then turned back to his Mommy. "Your son is hungry," she said, dragging the tip of the knife down the woman's cheek, wet with tears. She followed the trail of tears back up to the woman's right eye, the point of the knife resting on the tear duct.
The woman didn't blink... instead, she looked straight at the lady. "Please... Lady Sera, please... just don't hurt my son..." she said, begging. Tears ran down the knife, down the handle, onto Lady Sera's hand.
Lady Sera watched them, then turned her eyes back to the mother's. "Your son is hungry. A good mother would feed her son," she said. Then, she began to press harder with the knife.
As Lady Sera dug the woman's eyeball out of its socket, her screams mingled with her son's. Once the deed was done, she pulled out the eyeball, severing the nerve endings with the knife, and held it in her now blood-covered hand.
She turned to the boy. "Here we are... it's time to eat," she said to him, and the boy looked at her with horror-filled eyes. He was crying openly now, shaking his head. "Come, now, your mother sacrificed one of her own eyes so you could eat, the least you could do is eat it," she said, admonishing him once again for bad behaviour.
The boy caught his breath and looked to his mother, who was now sobbing, with blood running down her face. He looked back at Lady Sera, then at the bloody thing in her hand. "It's okay, it tastes like candy," Lady Sera said. Her expression darkened. "Would you like the other one instead?" she asked, and the boy shook his head emphatically. Reaching out, he slowly took the bloody orb from the woman's outstretched hand, and, his eyes never leaving hers, put it into his mouth.
It was disgusting, but he had been starved for so long, it almost tasted... sweet to him. He tried not to think about what it was he was eating, but choked it down, horrified with himself at the thought that he wished he could have more...
"That's a good boy," Lady Sera said, smiling. "Would you like some more?" she asked, but the boy shook his head, panicking.
"N-no. No, th-thank you," he stammered, desperately hoping he wouldn't anger Lady Sera.
She nodded. "Are you thirsty anymore?" she asked him.
He shook his head. "N-no, thank you," he said.
She smiled, and lifted her hand. The cage raised up out of the water all on its own. When it had, she opened the door to the cage, and the boy got out, his limbs stiff. She held his hand and nodded at the stormtroopers, who took the woman away, screaming. The boy pressed his lips together to keep himself from calling out to her. He couldn't keep the tears from streaming down his face, however, and when Lady Sera saw them, she sighed. "Now, now, no cause for tears. Your mother is a bad person, and she deserves to be punished. Just like you do," she said quietly, and the boy looked up, startled. She smiled down at him. "Don't worry, it won't last long. You're going to be strong when you finish your training," she went on, as though she had not even mentioned punishment.
The boy sobbed. "W-what did I do?" he whined. He didn't want his eyes to be cut out....
Lady Sera grimaced, the boy could see her face as they moved towards a more light-filled part of the corridor. They were moving upward. "You haven't exactly been on your best behaviour," she said. She wiped his tears away. "Look, you're still crying, even though I've done nothing but take care of you," she said, shaking her head sadly. They stopped at a door, and the door opened before them.
Next Chapter?
Imperial Palace, Chapter 6
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