Missing You: SWR Fanfiction (BOOK 2)

Chapter 17

Cece's words from the night before echoed through Sabine's head all day. The girl obviously knew what she was talking about, being a prisoner in here for so long. But the Mandalorian felt absolutely helpless.

Sabine examined the blueprints that had been assigned to the two of them. It was a weapon: she could tell that much. But not of it's use, or function. Just a list of an instructions that only skilled experts could complete.

As their midday portions were being served, she took advantage of the brief two minutes of break to ask her fellow captive about the machine they were building. 

"I don't know." Cece muttered, looking down at the scarecley eatable ration in front of her, nibbling at the edges. "We never know until they test it. But each new invention seems to be more terrible and destructive than the last."

Sabine swallowed the gloop-like liquid they were being served, and felt the urge to throw up. Not only from the disgusting glop they called "food". She had eaten worse in her  life. The very real fact that she was involuntarily helping the empire win the ongoing war was sickening in the worst of ways. And it would do no good if she rebelled. She had no way out and the weapon would get built no matter what. 

As she quietly got back to slaving away over the machines, her mind dwelled back to the young man she had left in a hospital bed. How would Ezra react when he woke up? Both her families most likely were sure that she was dead. And she couldn't blame them for that. It took all her effort to not break down. There was no one to save her now. 

*****

Never had Sabine feel so relieved to rest on the cold floor during the rest time they were provided. Her stomach grumbled, longing for fulfilling food. She scoffed, knowing it was highly unlikely that she would  get a good meal ever again. 

"Hey Sabine?" Cece whispered from across the cell. "Wait that's your name right?" She asked for confirmation, afraid she had gotten it wrong. 

The mandalorian nodded and turned to the younger girl. "What is it Cece?" She gently queried.

"Can I ask you a question?"  She asked as Sabine nodded her approval. "What were you doing, you know, before the empire captured you? Were you a Rebel or something like that? Did you have a family?" CeCe questioned in one big breath. "Did your family care about you? Have you ever, like , loved someone?"

"Whoa, easy there." Sabine laughed weakly, surprised at the amount of questions the girl had for her. "Yes, I was apart of the Rebellion, and a member of a ship called the Ghost." She started to explain, not knowing how to sum up her life. CeCe stared at her, her eyes full of curiosity and the everlasting sorrowful that was always there,  at what she now considered a friend. "The Ghost crew was my family." Sabine said longingly, smiling sadly, as she remembered them. "They took care of me when no one else did, believed in me, and were always there when I needed them. If that's not family, I don't know what is. And yes again," She told the girl. "I did love someone. I still do. With every piece of my heart."

The longtime captive hugged her knees, gazing at her new cellmate. "Please go on," She begged, eager to hear about this person who meant so much to the mandalorian.

Sabine sighed and shook her head gloomily. "His name is Ezra. Ezra Bridger. The most clumsiest, goofiest, loyalest and kindest person you could ever find throughout all the galaxy. And he loved me. Something that I failed to realize." She blinked away tears. "That will be something that I will regret for the rest of my life."

"What happened to him?" CeCe inquired in a tiny voice.

Sabine chuckled lightly. "That's a very very long story. But what happened was one day, he got captured by the Empire and tortured incredibly badly. It was all my fault too." She blamed herself for what happened. She could never forgive herself. "But after a few failed attempts, and some other events that I would prefer to not talk about." (She was referring to Vader and Mustafar.) "He came back to us in a coma. He hasn't been out of it since. Well last time I heard anyway. I had to leave to aid somewhere else but now..." She trailed off. 

"Well enough of me talking about my life." She changed the subject. "What was yours, before you came here?" Sabine was curios to know of the girl's past, wondering what she could've done to end up here. 

CeCe knitted her eyebrows together, as if in thought. "I-I really don't know." She finally admitted, putting a lose strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "I remember being happy, and fighting against what I think was the Empire. I wasn't apart of a 'rebellion' though. " She got a far away look in her eyes, trying to recall her past life.

"Anything else?" Sabine felt depressed for her counterpart. It was bad enough missing your family. It was even worse to not even remember them, and just work for the evil Imperials. She wondered what kind of girl CeCe was before she was imprisoned. 

"I think- there was a girl" CeCe chewed on her lip in thought. "She was older, and took care of me. I loved her and she loved me. But everything besides that is just fuzzy. After staying here for a while, you learn to survive and in order to do that, in order to leave behind the pain, you forget."

Sabine's heart broke for the girl. "One last question," She finally responded after a moment of silence. "In estimation, how old do you think you are?"

The young girl shrugged, thinking. "About... fifteen I would say." She answered. "Maybe older, maybe younger. I was gifted with machines from an early age and that's why the Empire keeps me alive."

"Get your rest now." Sabine commanded, echoing the words of Hera from the past. "We have work tomorrow."

As she watched CeCe fall asleep, the young woman made a vow. She would protect CeCe at any cost, and take care of her. No matter what happened. And if she could find a way out of the hellhole they were in, she wouldn't hesitate to do so, even if it cost her her life.