My heart had bruised into a deep black, darker than any midnight sky and as Anwar's eyes shine in my memory, only to then perish into a complete nothing, I understand that there is no hope for light, nor is there even a flicker of motive in every fibre of my raging system, to ever lust for anything other than vengeance for what my life had become by the hands of so many other's – So many touches upon my fate and yet, I never even got to add my own fingerprint into the path, in which my soul had died among the journey of cruelty.
"What are you going to do to me?" The ginger girl kneeling before the throne spat as she hid behind the bindings of her silver shackles, "– Sentence me to hang upon the walls of the Kingdom? You can't do that, I basically gave you all of your power!"
I had waited for this very moment since the second her raging flame of hair was ready to battle the burning of my blood. I sat upon the throne with my arms resting on the gold and my face stinging with the touch of morning dew. Many servants had gasped upon the sight of the horrific gash across my face, which surprisingly didn't bleed but the smell was just as metallic as the taste that filled my mouth from clenching my teeth down on the insides of my cheeks, from trying so hard to restrain myself from throwing clenched fists in their faces, whilst those young girls in white aprons, begged to tend to the burnt flesh.
But, I refused to cover it with a bandage. I refused to calm the crying sting with a buttery ointment – For I wanted to see the reactions of the servants, StormTroopers and every single person who walked these halls as if there was a smell beneath their nose or as if they were still mounted to their high horse... But most importantly, I wanted to see the twitch in Ruby Mayse's demeanour and I relished in the way her shoulders stiffened when the guards threw her body to my feet.
I hate everyone here and I want them all to perish. I loath those who knew about my royal imitation and had a part in it, and Ruby Mayse was the opponent to my soul – She was the reason that I was brought into Kylo Ren's vile and evil embrace... And I wanted nothing but revenge, so I forced her to look me in the eyes, whilst she fought to not glance at the gash between them and bow to my crown and authority.
The crown of the Queen and the power that it gives, is only a mask that I wear as all I have ever known myself to be, shifts and twists brutally into someone else, someone who has been abused and beaten into this shape of a woman who's mind relapses and tortures itself, only to keep its vessel alive, for the girl from the slums is dead, as dead as Anwar is – Leaving nothing but my vessel, which no longer kneels before the threats of another or retreats as they make their power play, but rather instead, I make my own counteracts and I smirk as I pick up my Queen piece and laugh sardonically as I knock the rest of the pieces off the entire chest-board.
All this time I had moved in silence and hidden behind the much smaller roles, but now after Kylo Ren has revealed the truth and uncovered the darkness of imitations, I have nothing left to lose – No future, no glimmer of an escape. There are many reasons to give up, after-all, Kylo had said so himself that so long as everyone thinks that I am the Queen, I will be the one to hand him the crown and the whole of Jorkhan, as if it were a chest-board for him to destroy... And although, I had lost everything, I had gained nothing to lose and the emptiness only craves revenge – So instead of making moves in silence, I know that it is now time to stand in power and say, checkmate.
I know my eyes shine with something that they have never gleamed with before as I tilt my head to the side and pout lightly with a mocking chime as I watch the way Ruby's wrists twist in her restraints.
I can only assume that this was how pathetic I must have looked that day I knelt before her in the green fields, holding my palms open and awaiting the drop of a meaningless gold-coin, which never came.
That day my fear was running wild and my thoughts were spinning, but this time, my mind is clear. There is no sign of the plague of fear, but rather a numbing sensation as I sigh the very words that Ruby had answered my endless questions with, on that very day...
"With patience in time, comes answers," I smile but the skin around my eyes doesn't crinkle in the way that it would before I was stolen from the orchards, forced to wear a crown, and sleep beside a merciless man, who was lying to me, just as much as I was to him, "I believe that is something that you often told me?" I mock the weak and vulnerable, Ruby Mayse.
Upon my taunts, Ruby Mayse scoffs and spits upon the bottom hemming of my long and expensive dress, to which the brand new guards who were appointed to my side, after Kylo Ren had presumably killed the other two, who were also affiliated with The Resistance, step forward from behind her and tilt their masks with question as they cock their blasters in the direction of the back of her head – And as much as I want to watch her brain splatter upon my dress instead of her watery spit, I shake my head and hold up my hand to ease them away as Ruby's shouts echo throughout the great hall.
"You're weak!" She screamed, to which, I swear that it even makes the tapestries that had been hung in the hall and all around the Kingdom for the wedding today, seem to waver at her sounds. Ruby shakes her head as her thin lips twist into a demeaning scowl, "It wouldn't surprise me if you threw yourself off the balcony before the wedding instead of facing the wrath of The First Order's intentions." She said.
Her words portray a marvellous image in my own mind, which is exactly what she wanted – I can easily see it. The guests of the wedding, waiting on the field below my balcony, which overlooks the white ceremony. I can feel the gust of gentle, hot wind flow through my hair and veil, which also sways my wedding dress to the side as the emotions cause havoc in my beating chest, before ultimately, I suck a sharp breath in and make the cowardly jump.
My heart was frayed like the end of an old rope and in this building rage, I construct elaborate rationalisations for why everything would turn out alright, that maybe destiny will be able to find a way to save Jorkhan, but the nagging voice in the back of my mind spoke of nothing but doom ahead.
Death is a perfect way to escape my fate, whether that be a dull and treacherous future by Kylo Ren's ruthless side, or simply just sooner than the eventual happening of him killing me with the rest of Jorkhan – I grin and bite back a brittle chuckle – Maybe, I should throw myself off the balcony.
"That does sound like a good idea," I raise my eyebrows to Ruby by my feet, "You do really always come up with the best ways to fool the crown and The Order!" I chime, giving into the claw of laughter and letting it overstep her shouts.
The action causes a new wave of nauseating pain to strike the wound upon my face, but I don't wince, nor do I lift my hand to apply a soft pressure, for the pain in my heart is more devastating, and yet there is no cradling for it as it chokes on the lullabies of a traitorous endeavour to come.
Fires of fury and hatred were smouldering in my small narrowed eyes as I weighed various and creative means available to me for exacting revenge. Ruby kneels in-front of the throne, with her dress twisted and spread upon the carpeting that leads to the main doors at the end of the hall. Her silver cuffs are a clashing to the gold pin upon her breast, the emblem of the Kingdom adorned to her stone-cold heart and all I can think about in this sudden moment, is plucking it from the material and stabbing the sharp end into the icey-chill of her blue eyes.
The slamming of the chamber, golden doors interrupted my musings though – All too quick and all too soon. I lifted my head as her's twisted too, and we both watched as a couple more StormTroopers entered the hall, their armour clinking and their voices vibrating the tension of the room, as they came to remind me that I only had so long before I must begin getting ready for the ceremony.
" – It is upon Kylo Ren's suggestion that you chose the traitor's punishment soon." One finishes the other's words, sending a heated wave of hatred to prickle upon my skin as my fists clench on the arm-rests of the throne.
Ruby chortles with wide eyes, "Traitor?!" She almost laughs, but nobody even payed her attention – Not even I, for I was too focussed on the underlining of the order, the tiny fragment of sneer from Kylo Ren, who all along, was playing every single one of us as if we were puppets on strings, only we didn't know that we were attached to his wicked actions, for he was playing a better game of imitation that I could have ever.
Ruby turns her face back to me and furrows her brows, but there's still an uneasy smile amongst the litter of freckles upon her pale face, "There's no need for punishment. I haven't done anything wrong, nor am I the true villain." She nodded, referencing to The First Order, right in front of members of their army, but so long as the minutes draw before the wedding, these type of guards still bow to the crown of Jorkhan, after being given by The Order, before the union was decided.
She was partially correct – The First Order are the real and most dangerous enemy of them all, but she was my enemy. It was as if I was watching everything unfold in my own head, in slow motion. In a brief and suspended second, time ceased to hold its certain sway given by the warmth of a sunny day, as my malicious intentions cause a thunderous discharge upon my morality, killing the rest of it violently but I only gain momentum in the shots.
With a wicked smirk spreading across my face, I flicked my wrist, and waved the StormTroopers all closer and in unison, they seemed to circle around, my traitor – The ginger woman, who had ruined every aspect of my life, tried to kill me and eventually, was the one who was the reason that Anwar was now, so suddenly, torn from me.
If I were even remotely feeling sentimental at this moment, I might have ceased back from just the terrified etching that was smacked across Ruby's face as she bowed frozen, whilst the StormTroopers awaited my order. She took in every detail that she could in the hall as a layer of tears finally sprung above the blue, till she was face to face with me, the Queen of Jorkhan.
I breathe in a big breath of air, the summery scent of a bright day even lacing in the smothering atmosphere of a dying planet, before sighing it loudly out and cocking a brow to the trembling girl before letting my own features fall into the face of a cruel leader, "Your punishment for being affiliated with The Resistance and conceiving plans to overthrow The First Order is –" I begin, my voice filled with nothing but balance and certainty, but Ruby Mayse cuts me off with her high-pitched tone.
"You think I care for a death sentence?" She wallowed over the shaking of her own voice, a lump clearly forming in her throat as her hands wrung around the shackles, "Death is sparing me from a world ruled by The Order, a world ruled by scum!"
All the times that she had called me scum, or even remotely looked down at the ever-present marker between who I was, and who she is, creep back to me. I glance to my hands momentarily, noticing the way the nature's fruit doesn't stain my palms and dirt isn't embedded beneath my nails. She absolutely loathed me from the moment that we met, for I was a dirty girl from the slums, who found more happiness with an empty stomach than an overfilled one, and she born with sovereignty and enough riches to share, but she never would... Because she's just like the rest of the rich in Jorkhan, entitled and utterly, selfish.
I tilt my head to the other-side and smile, ignoring the uncomfortable tug and sharp sting from the aftermath of a duel with Kylo Ren and his burning lightsaber. I smile, and this time, it's utterly genuine, "Then, that wouldn't be much of a punishment, would it?" I ask her rhetorically, and almost laugh at the sudden way the corners of her lips twitch downwards.
I glance to the StormTroopers only once, refusing to flinch at my new reflection in the panes of their masks and listen to the distant shouts from the people outside, who run around the palace, trying to ensure that the wedding between the Queen and Kylo Ren, will be perfect as the guests begin to arrive early and the people curl round the golden gates, whilst on the other-side, the slums are burning down in protest.
I flick my eyes back to Ruby's own of wide blue and mine are only narrowed in ever-perpetual doom as I finally give the final order, "Your punishment for your crimes against the crown of Jorkhan is a life forever spent..." I utter, leaving suspense and running my tongue along the bite marks in my cheeks before smirking around my next words, "– Working in the orchards with all of those other, filthy scum-people who live in poverty."
When the cruelest punishment for such an entitled woman, leaves my lips, I see all the left over dwindle of hope in Ruby, fall onto the floor and metaphorical birds peck on the remains of her stone-heart that spilled beside it. I watched the way her body reacted to the news, as if the Universe had crumpled in one sentence, she's utterly silent for one second but in the next, she screams in agony, her face scrunching up and fading as she limped back to the floor, her hands interlocking and begging for forgiveness.
"No!" She shook her head as the tears began to spill down her pale cheeks, only adding further enjoyment at the sight of her misery. "Please –"'
I raised my hand once again, attempting to push all of her useless pleads back into her mouth, but she wouldn't stop sobbing, and that was only music to my ears.
I blinked with boredom down to her, "– No longer will you live a life of authority, but you will kneel in the dirt to those with power and actually work an immense amount of hard labour to only get a humbling crumb, not served on a golden plate, but scraped beneath your nails." I say, to which she only understands the certain remarks that are laced to my sentences, "I hope that your punishment will enlighten you, in return for your crimes."
"You can't do this!" She sobbed, attempting to reach for my ankles but she screeches as a StormTrooper pulls her by the shoulder, back into her place, "You can't–"
I only continue, for I can do this.
"I hope you truely, learn how the other life of my people in Jorkhan, live – For you have exiled yourself away from the Kingdom with your own gloat and craving for more. This was your own doing, Ruby Mayse, and you have deserved this punishment since the first time I had met you." I say, never stuttering or choking on my own words like I often would around her, as she made all the threats and twisted my future.
Ruby sobs harder. With no mercy or kindness, a single and final sentence would burn her hollow soul into a being of nothingness, just like mine had. Within those eyes, I only saw the figure of a misanthrope who hated all and every kind of society and features of a lesser-human, unless it proved worthy in a certain power or wealth, which she could wield to be her own violent weapon.
There is a fire within me – One much more alive than it had ever burnt with prosperity before. The flame has no weakness, no pity, no mind, and it now, suddenly, causes wrath to consume whatever it pleases. Its only criteria is to take from her, what I had lost and reduce her life to ash or into something so molten and foul, that it leaves her just as empty as I had become.
She was always brutal and savage, and now, I suppose I am nothing but those two things too – It could be considered a change of the heart, but I no longer feel the warmth of a beat inside my chest, only the ice burn of the place in which it had died, but the flames of vengeance burn hot and violent, with no care what will be left in dust.
So, when I stare into the tears flowing from her eyes, I only smirk for it has no power to even sombre this match I hold. I recall how Ruby torched my insides and forced me to wear the burdens that this heavy crown brought. If it wasn't for her, I would have never met Kylo Ren and foolishly given him my heart, only for him to stomp upon it, scar me for the rest of my life and then promise to kill my home.
Her pleads are endless, but they fall on deaf ears, "No, no!"
Ruby Mayse had poured the gasoline, but I was the one to throw the flickering spark to the drops on the ground and as she cries and screams, I only promise to myself that I will be the one to watch the Kingdom that she tried to save all along, burn to the damned ground.
"Guards." I motion the two who had most recently arrived, barking to them another order, "Take her to the orchards – Her new home."
I chuckle low and shift comfortably in my seat whilst the crown above my head shines with the reflection of the two sun's rays, which peek through the windows as I watch her get dragged down the hall by her thrashing arms as her feet kick around – She looks desperate and weak. A true sight to behold and I can only hope that she keeps this act up all throughout the Kingdom, so her peers can see the way she acts, the exact way that they expect all the scum people, that they loath so dearly, to act.
And at that very moment, when the doors slam behind her and her wallowing scream's are only the faint echo of a memory, I am reminded of the same sight that I had only seen once before, only that girl's shoes were kicking through mud instead of the rumpling of a crimson carpet.
"Is there anything else? My Queen." One of the first two StormTroopers from earlier today, ask me, their voice even through the muffling of the mask, sounding apprehensive to speak to me, who still has such a frightening smirk upon the wreck of my burnt face.
I snap my eyes to him, leaving the memory of my mind, but holding onto one fragment, "Actually – Yes," I say, my voice much softer now but still... Different.
It doesn't matter if I hung Ruby Mayse along the walls of the Kingdom, as she had threatened to do to Anwar if I didn't keep up with my imitation, or spared her life like I had somewhat done so now – Jorkhan was as good as gone anyway.
It is only a matter of time before we are all dead by the hands of the true villain, as she had called The First Order – But, I have decided that I wouldn't be the one to watch the grounds that I was born upon, perish. Potency was at my fingertips, only – I would rather be dead than watch my nails burn black with the dust of abolished cities, the nails that belong to the hands that would soon wear the ring that ties me forevermore to the vicious and barbaric, Kylo Ren.
I stand abruptly from my throne, but make no effort to move as I curl my fingers into my palms, seemingly holding onto one habit out of everything else I had lost, " – Bring me the girl from the dungeons that you picked up from the orchards a week ago." I order from the StormTroopers, who nod at my request, "I must punish her for her crimes, too."