[A/N: Hello my lovelies! I am updating early today because I will be extremely busy this evening. I love you all very much! I hope you have all had a wonderful week and I hope you enjoy this next update! -K🖤]
[🌌This chapter contains swearing, extreme angst, and depictions of a perilous situation that is uncomfortable.🌌]
***
Uncontrollable tears escaped my squeezed eyes as I continued to flail against those who trapped me within their inescapable arms. I forced my crying eyes closed in preparation for the lethal impact of the man's fist, wondering what I had done to deserve this.
But instead of being brutally abused, the man grabbed my face and pressed his fingers into my cheeks, puckering my lips painfully as the men holding me began to chuckle at my humiliation.
"We can't have a bruise on that pretty face, hm, Princess?" He muttered, grasping my chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Open your eyes." He commanded, harshly patting my cheek, resulting in me being forced to obey. He ran his thumb over my lips, pressing my quivering bottom lip with the pressure of his wandering and forceful thumb.
Nauseating terror flooded my body as my limbs trembled cold with pure fear. No one had ever dared put their hands on me when I was on Interitus.
But I wasn't on Interitus anymore.
And I was completely alone with five men whose eyes burned with a terrifying evil that inspired uncomfortable chills to formulate over my skin.
My chest wracked with sobs as multiple hands continued to roam my arms and torso. "Please stop..." I begged, to which my throat was immediately grabbed by the man who had gifted me a beautiful drink in the bar we were once in together.
Why were they doing this to me?
[A/N: Dear reader, the following paragraphs insinuate a perilous situation regarding ⚠️harassment⚠️. Please continue reading according to your own will. 🖤]
"You're in no place to give orders, right, fellas?" He questioned, earning hums and grunts of agreement from the four men that each touched me in one form or another. "You're worth quite a lot to someone out there. Willing to pay a fortune for a little, naive Princess." I struggled to breathe as his grasp tightened around my neck. "Such a pretty little Princess, all alone with no one to save her."
"My Poe," I nearly gagged as his grip tightened around my neck, "P-Promised that he would always protect me." I gritted with trembling lips as he sneered in return. "He gave y-you that, didn't he?" I was referring to his swollen black eye and split eyebrow that furiously bled down the side of his face. Knowing that Poe had acted on my behalf made me feel proud and confident, confirming that he would fulfill his promises to me.
He gritted his misaligned teeth before smirking grimly. "This will heal," He motioned to his closed eye that swirled with inflammation and bruises, "It will go back to the way it was before." His hand that was around my neck released his relentless hold as he slowly dragged his hand downwards in a tantalizing manner. "But you won't. Not after this." He whispered, spreading his fingers widely as he groped the front of my chest harshly.
I physically cringed and screamed at feeling his roaming hands run over my chest without my consent. "Stop!" I weeped, now being roughly handled as Poe's jacket was being violently tugged from my arms. "Stop, please!" I begged, my voice hoarse as it echoed through the otherwise abandoned alley behind the lively bar where no one could hear my screams from the inside. "Poe!" I shrieked into the night sky and towards the stars who could only watch silently as the transgressions continue to unfold.
His jacket was stripped from me as I loudly sobbed, now feeling more vulnerable than before, a helpless prey that had been led and trapped by carnivorous predators that had stalked me for a unknown period of time.
I wildly kicked and swung my arms to free myself. With the confirmation of an agonizing groan, I had successfully managed to strike one of the men behind me. He viciously shoved his hands against my back, knocking me to the ground with increased force.
I immediately opened my hands before me to break my fall. Upon impacting with the ground, I screamed out in paralyzing pain as my previously injured wrist suffered the brunt of the major trauma. I cradled my throbbing hand into my chest as I started to crawl away from the men, gripping the cobblestone street with one hand as I weeped in agony and confusion for why I had been targeted and manipulated. "Poe, my Poe..." I wheezed through blinding tears, hoping that he could hear my pleas for him as I attempted to crawl away to my freedom.
My head snapped backwards as my hair was being pulled savagely, enticing a scream to tear from my throat. "Get back here, Princess." My long braid was being spitefully tugged as if it were a rope, pulling my scalp and straining my neck as I was involuntary dragged back to the snickering group of vile men.
I fell at the feet of the man with the blackened eye, crying out as he pressed his steel-toed boot onto my loosely wrapped wrist. "Please! Please have mercy!" I bargained as his weight on my hand resumed to increase, stressing my bones and previously bruised skin.
"Mercy?" He repeated with a snarky tone. "Your father had no mercy when he led the crusade that slaughtered my village." He knelt to me, making our eye contact to be level and at the same height. "Daemon Bellica, King of Interitus, the Planet of Destruction and Wealth." He gritted, gripping my damp cheeks as tears relentlessly fell from my blurred eyes. "Imagine my surprise when we received a transmission, describing the massive bounty for the return of the beloved daughter of that very same king."
His hand abandoned my cheeks as he ran a finger down the side of my neck, to my shoulder, and finally down my bare arm that shivered in terror. "Please, I-I will ensure that you receive twice the allotted bounty once you release me safely to my pilot..." I whispered as his hand reached behind my head to grab my hair that my Poe had lovingly braided on Cor-Al.
With the bow already having been snatched, he began to unravel my wavy hair, defiling and disrespecting it with his filthy hands and intentions. "Your pilot believes you are somewhere on the other side of the city." He brightly smiled, just like he had grinned at me from within the bar. "This was the plan from the beginning, Princess. Once he cornered me outside and left me with this," He motioned to his blackened eye, "It didn't take much convincing for him and his friend to follow a group advantageous young men claiming that a charming young Princess was wandering the streets alone. They left you alone and unprotected." He chuckled as his hands continued to ascend my hair, unwrapping the strands and revealing it to fall around my shoulders. "The youth of today will do anything for easy money."
My heart shattered as I realized that Poe couldn't hear my cries for him. I forced my eyes closed in embarrassment and defeat as my cherished hair was being aggressively brushed through by the hands of every man that surrounded me, curious to touch and investigate a precious part of myself. "Let me go to him, please." I begged, searching the bruised face of the man that wrapped tendrils of my hair around his hand cruelly.
"I might." He whispered as he brushed his knuckles down the side of my face, inspiring vomit to rise in my throat. He forced my face close to his as I shoved my hand against his chest harshly. "No amount of money or wealth could equate to the very moment knowing that the king will realize that his untouchable daughter has been...corrupted." He released his foot that had trapped my hand and I immediately pressed it into my chest for comfort.
Corrupted?
What was he insinuating?
"I will release you to your pilot." He ultimately decided, and I sighed in slight relief, unsure as to why he hadn't freed my hair from his hand if I was to be leaving. "After we each get a rightful turn to experience the wonders that Interitus has to offer." He menacingly growled as he sinfully wrapped my hair around his hand and pulled my head back, attaching his lips to my now exposed neck.
My eyes widened as I struggled against his larger form, slapping my fist into the side of his face as I tried to force him off of me. "No! No, no!" I shouted through gasping sobs as I couldn't pull away from his salivating mouth. He continued to trap me with my imprisoned hair as I screamed and kicked my legs viciously. With my free hand, I voraciously tugged as his short brown hair to release his lips from my skin that he was now harming with his teeth.
Before I could push myself away, he raised me by my neck and mercilessly slammed my back onto the ground, knocking the air from my lungs and stunning me momentarily. My vision was foggy as I quietly pleaded for him to stop. Everything was blurry as I slowly blinked, seeing double and hearing distant laughs and grunting sounds from the man hovering over me.
He still gripped my hair, but had reached down to my trembling legs, separating my knees and forcefully spreading them apart. I shook my head as he positioned himself in the now open space, resuming to mutilate the sensitive skin of my neck and inserting his hand beneath the hem of my shirt.
My pleads were ignored and my cries devolved into whimpers as the four men surrounded around me and only observed my struggles with snickering and despicable smirks of pleasure.
A sudden and familiar melodic trill caught my attention, and I craned my neck backwards to peer at the alley upside down. My quivering lips parted as my breathing began to increase with a new hope. "BB..." I whispered, noticing my droid rapidly zigzag down the alley indignantly. "BB!" I screamed as he frantically beeped in concern, also catching the attention of the men standing near me.
"Deal with it." The man commanded to his minions, snarling as he released the stinging skin of my neck from his teeth. "This won't take long." He whispered, violently pulling my hair and knocking my necklace away from my cleavage to give him access.
BB-8 squealed louder than I had heard him ever before, angrily circling the men that attempted to chase him with objects they had armed themselves with that were once laying idle in the alley as pieces of discarded scrap metal.
"(Y/N)!" My name was being distantly shouted, a heavenly beckoning towards the light, completely opposite of the darkness that hovered over me in threatening intimidation. Tears spilled from my eyes as I recognized that baritone voice, the sweet and honeyed voice that I adored and cherished deeply.
The voice that I loved, especially when he said my name.
He had returned for me.
"Poe!" I shouted in return, hearing two pairs of frantic footsteps at the entrance to the alleyway behind me. I forced my head backwards, despite the incessant tugging, to finally rest my eyes on my pilot that was bolting down the alley to reach me.
"He's too late." The man sneered as he gripped my chin and lowered his face to mine. His venomous lips were mere inches from entrapping my own, trying to abduct my kiss that was only ever intended for my one true love. His steamy breath hit my cheek as I turned my face away, crying against his prying fingers.
My first kiss was meant for Poe Dameron, and no one would ever steal it from me.
I gritted my teeth and ignored the ringing in my ears as I felt a surge of energy pulse through me unfamiliarly and forcefully, charging the atmosphere around me.
A moment passed, leaving me temporarily unconscious and unmoving on the cobblestone. Upon opening my eyes, I inhaled deeply as the man's crushing weight had suddenly departed from me, leaving me gasping for air at my newfound liberty.
The stars above me shone diligently as I attempted to recall the seconds that I had lost unwillingly and the strange sensation pulsing through my veins. Muffled sounds permeated around me and I flinched at hearing approaching footsteps. I closed my still crying eyes and cowered, lifting my hand before me and shaking fearfully. "P-Please don't touch me... Don't touch me again..." I begged, turning my head away from the figure that was rapidly kneeling to meet me.
"Princess..." The voice whispered, immediately inspiring me to open my eyes and perceive my beloved savior. Poe was hurriedly kneeling beside me with a busted lip and a panicked, truly fearful expression as he hovered over my laying figure. "My Princess..." He continued, lacing his fingers with mine as I tenderly reached for him with a trembling hand.
"M-My Poe..." I gratefully sobbed, now feeling safe and protected as he shielded my body with his own, burying his face into my hair that was strewn around me, evidence of my struggle and the forceful nature of the men that subdued me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck as I weeped into his comforting shoulder. He gently lifted me from the ground and plastered me against his chest as he rested me on his open lap. Poe softly brushed my tangled hair from my shoulders and positioned it down my back, detangling it with his careful hands.
"Oh, baby..." Poe gripped the back of my shirt as I shook violently in his embrace, still traumatized and terrified due to the recent events of the past few moments. He removed my head from his shoulder and pressed his sweating forehead onto my own clammy one. "I'm so sorry, I'm so very sorry. I didn't mean to leave you, beautiful." He painfully sobbed and laid his cheek against my damp skin. "What did they do to you? What he did he do?" He demanded, eyeing the downed men behind us that he had already dealt with as Finn continued to aggressively kick their sides incessantly, supported by BB-8 as he cheered for Finn to resume the violent antics.
Poe's hand rested on my face, preventing me from curiously peering at Finn who was grunting as he delivered blow after blow. I stared at Poe's bleeding lip and gently touched it with my thumb, wiping away the scarlet residue from his scruffy face. "Poe...your lip..." I whispered, tending to his injury as he softly lowered my hand. "Are you okay?"
"(Y/N)," Poe chided, cupping my cheek within his palm, "Don't worry about me, sweetheart." I found comfort in running my uninjured hand through his curls as he pressed his lips and nose onto my tear-stained cheek. I closed my eyes restfully in his embrace, feeling that I was back where I was supposed to be. "Tell me what he did to my Princess."
I swallowed harshly and sniffed as Poe rubbed my sore back tenderly. I embraced him again and rested my head into his shoulder, my lips resting by his ear. "They tricked me, Poe. They tricked me into coming out h-here." I cried against his orange flight suit, staining the material with my incessant tears. "Why would they do that?"
"My sweet girl," He rubbed my arm that draped over his shoulder, kissing my temple as I was wracked with gasping sobs, "People can be..." He tightened his jaw and nuzzled his nose near my ear. "You can't trust anyone like you do freely, okay, baby? They don't deserve your kindness."
"He unraveled y-your braid, Poe." I caressed the back of his neck as he held me tighter in his arms. "They took your jacket from me and they didn't stop when I said n-no." My chest heaved as I relived the torturous moments once more. "He grabbed my throat and squeezed it," I dropped my head into Poe's neck and inhaled his scent that I thought I never would enjoy again, "...and he touched me."
Poe was already rigid and tense with wrath, but he straightened himself even more, breathing deeply and huffing vehemently. With a loving hand, he raised my shameful face and searched my eyes with a concerned and protective glare. "He touched you?" He lowly repeated, holding my cheeks as I nodded in confirmation.
"He grabbed my-" I glanced to my chest and cringed at the memory, "Very hard. After that, he got on top of me and spread my knees apart so he could lay on me. He put his hand under my shirt and pulled my hair and-"
"Shh, come here, my love, come here." Poe guided my face to his shoulder once more as he rubbed my back in circles, comforting me as I shook my head to forget how I was mistreated outside of his safe presence. "It wasn't your fault, you hear me? You did nothing wrong." His lips ghosted over my ear, and I suddenly felt his fingers investigating my neck.
He tipped my chin upwards and ushered my face into the distant lights of the city, illuminating my bruised skin. He gasped with parted lips, gently swiping over the trail of circular bruises that had been left behind by another. "I told him no. He put his lips on my neck and-and he..." I whispered, resting my hands onto his chest as it rose quickly. His breathing had increased, but his hold remained gentle.
With a soft touch, Poe held my left wrist, attempting to press his cheek into my palm. I hissed and pulled my hand away from his fingers, tucking it safely into my chest as I whimpered in response. "This is all my fault, Princess. I never should have brought you here."
BB-8 rolled over to Poe and I, trilling as he leaned against my leg. I wiped my tears and caressed his side, faintly smiling as his mechanical lens inspected me. He turned to Poe and melodically chimed.
"Yeah," Poe responded, palming my cheek as he began to stand, "Your M- The Princess is safe now. I want you and Finn to take her back to the ship." He commanded, assisting me to lean into him as he helped me to my feet. I began to shake my head, not wanting to be separated from Poe again. "They're going to take you away from here." He sighed and pressed a kiss to my forehead, closing his eyes as he held my face in his hands.
Finn shuffled to us and draped Poe's jacket over my shoulders while Poe began to zip it again, making me feel less exposed and comfortable under his jacket. I covered his hands with one of my own as I relished in his closeness, afraid that we were to be separated forever. I never wanted to be away from him ever again. "Tuus sum..." I whispered to Poe with a tearful voice, knowing he couldn't understand my native tongue. "Tuus sum." I repeated, meaning every word to Poe as I admired his handsome features that scanned my own.
"Finn, take her to my ship. BB will follow you. I will be there soon." Poe directed, abandoning me with Finn. The man that had once forced me to the ground had been laying unconscious nearly ten feet away, due to a strange phenomenon that none of us knew how to explain. "Hey, asshole!" Poe shouted, gripping the shirt of the man and throwing him against the brick wall. "I thought I told you to keep your distance from my girl and to leave Merox." He grumbled, winding his fist backwards before slamming it into the man's face repeatedly.
I covered my mouth in shock as Finn turned me away from the unfolding scene just ten feet away. "Come on, Your Majesty. I don't think Poe would want you to see this." He gently guided me away as I spared yet another glance backwards.
"You touched her?! You put your hands all over her and your fucking lips on her beautiful skin." Poe used his other hand to ram into the man's abdomen, who groaned in response. "How dare you?" Tears pricked Poe's eyes as he vengeantly punished the filthy criminal under his stare. "You violated her body and you touched her hair, her braid..." He didn't care what he had to do to the man, as long as he avenged the sins that had been committed by this stranger's forceful hands.
The man coughed into his hand, releasing a crimson stream onto his fingers. "She's free reign in every galaxy, you ignorant fool. You think we're the only ones that know about her and the price on her head? You eliminate us and five more will take our place. Her father is the reason why so many in the farthest reaches of the universe hate the royals of Interitus, the Monarchy of Mayhem. He took everything from us." Poe crushed his man's nose with a solid punch, earning a trail of incessant blood. "Interitus will fall. The royals will fall. And your Princess will be brought to her knees-"
"Shut your damn mouth." Poe gritted, kneeing him in the abdomen violently. I closed my eyes tightly and covered my face as I heard several additional blows land. "Don't fucking talk about her like that." I held onto Finn's left arm as he began to walk us away from the spectacle, the conversation between the men fading as more distance was introduced between us.
"She deserves it." The man spat onto the ground while Poe kicked his knees out and sending him tumbling. "Your little Princess will be ruined. Deflowered." He sneered towards Poe who kicked him harshly. "You're nothing but a stupid pilot who thinks he has a chance. But thousands of others also believe they have the chance. The chance to finally destroy King Daemon's legacy and bloodline by killing his only daughter who will never live to reign as the Queen of Interitus!"
Finn hurriedly covered my ears as we walked, pressing his opposing hand against my left ear and forcing my right ear into his arm that I held generously, muting my surroundings. BB guided us down the streets, continuously checking back to me as I silently allowed Finn to direct my steps. He looked backwards and cringed as we finally left the alley, gawking at the gory scene behind us.
BB-8 chimed and turned on a small light from his chest, illuminating the path we were to follow and brightening the dark shadows of the street. I shivered and held onto Finn as he finally released my ears, now that we were out of earshot of Poe's inhuman wrath.
"Your Majesty, I am so very sorry." Finn began, looking down to me from his much taller height. "After we had left to handle that guy the first time, Poe heard some guys talking about a young and beautiful woman who was an apparent stranger to Merox, roaming the streets by herself. He was convinced they were talking about you and feared that you had left the bar to explore the city without him."
I shook my head negatively. "I never left, Finn. I waited like he said," My lip quivered as we walked and I bit it to prevent from crying again, "I waited for him to come back for me."
Finn sighed and patted my hand that held the inside of his elbow. "Poe was... Princess, he... When we heard you scream, it was the most scared that I had ever seen him. He heard you scream for him and he immediately believed he failed you." He swallowed harshly as we turned a corner, following BB. "You must know that he lov-"
I paused in my walking and held my head that spun and dizzied me irreparably, just like the moment when I had unexplainably fainted in the alley. My ears rang and BB hummed in concern as I swayed. "Wait, Finn. Just a moment, I..." I gripped onto his arm, furrowing my eyebrows as my mouth dropped in sudden shock.
"I've never seen anything like that before." Finn whispered, turning to face me as his eyes widened in shock. "I'm guessing you haven't either?"
My crystal necklace, given to me by my mother, was glowing brightly, illuminated from the inside.
What was even stranger was that it was apparently levitating on its own, hovering inches above the leather jacket covering my torso.
"No, I've... I've never seen- This hasn't happened before." I explained, staring in awe at the necklace that levitated silently.
Finn studied me and glanced behind him as he pondered what he had witnessed over the recent moments. His jaw dropped in a horrifying realization as he held my shoulder, removing me from my trance. "Your Majesty, I think we should get you to the Resistance base as soon as possible. I have a friend that you need to talk to. She can help you."
He began to walk quickly as I shuffled after him, glancing from him to my necklace as it continued to hover miraculously. "What's wrong, Finn? Finn?" I called after him as we exited a side street of the city, preparing to tread across the sand to reach Poe's ship.
"You don't know, do you?" He gasped and scratched the back of his neck, glancing behind us and expecting Poe to join us any moment. "I didn't know that force-users had ever been born on Interitus, Your Highness...let alone any other royalty."