back to you | paul atreides

forty six

I remember the wind blowing my hair into my face and the sand scratching my eyes so I couldn't see anything. I could feel my body, weightless in the air, screams that made my head shake but I couldn't even hear myself. I was expecting the descent, waiting for the moment I reached my peak and my stomach would drop as I began to dart back toward the ground, but that moment never came. Instead, I remember my body being grabbed while I was blind and afraid mid-air, my vision going in and out.

I saw people. Weird-looking people. Harkonnens. I could hear the plane. I could feel the gag in my mouth. Flashes of movement and being moved.

I was in a room with people. My vision was less blurry, my thoughts were becoming clearer.

My daze was shaken by the sound of a booming voice. The Baron.

"I don't care what condition she is kept in." He spoke. "She must only remain alive."

He needed my life? What could he possibly need from my small and uninteresting life?

"So I can't keep her?" Said a familiar, teasing voice. The hairs on my arm stuck up.

"No, child." The Baron scolded.

I could hear the small huff and shuffle of Feyd-Rautha as he repositioned himself, displeased by his answer.

"She is nothing but a tool for us to reach the Atriedes boy. He is only powerful because my people are cowards who fear his abilities. To gain power over him, we must make him afraid."

I blinked my eyes open in the face of white light. I turned my head to see Feyd staring at me, his face curious.

"So we just wait for Paul Atriedes to find us," Feyd said, eyeing me.

"Why didn't you just take him?" I croaked through the gag, not even sure if I was audible. I hadn't realized how dry my throat was.

My eyes moved across the room to meet the Baron's. He was staring down at me as I struggled to breathe again.

"We need a war." He stated simply. "We need to make a statement. Killing him at once would be far too easy and your people are still full in numbers."

You know he is too powerful, I wanted to say but held my tongue. They would have no chance against Paul, they would be dumb to think they did.

A small whimper from across the room caused me to whip my head toward the source.

"Alia!" I panicked at the sight. "What are you doing here? Are you alright?"

"She came along for the ride," Feyd laughed, "She was far easier to capture than you."

"They want me to help them," she told me quietly from where she was sat, "tell them things. I know not to, though."

The poor little girl. "It's alright, I'm here. Don't say a single thing to them."

She nodded, already knowing. Alia, too? They knew they couldn't take Paul on his own, so clearly they were trying to get all the leverage they could. Alia may have powers but she is still just a child, barely two years old. Any and all of her abilities have been instinctive, she doesn't know how to control them.