bakerstreet | the mutual captivity dependency (romance) meme

the mutual captivity dependency (romance) meme

the mutual captivity dependency (romance) meme

No matter how hard you fought, how subtly or overtly you rebelled, or how many times you tried to escape, you ended up at this point all the same: you're a prisoner. Perhaps you're just a regular, run of the mill captive, perhaps a hostage, a science experience, a weapon to be used, yet, no matter what, you're not free.

But you're also not alone.

There's someone else confined along with you, who you met through your mutual imprisonment. The only thing you two may have in common is that you're both trapped here - and that's enough. The two of you grow close (it seems you're closer to them than you've ever been to anyone, but that could just be the situation); soon, something begins to start between you, tiny and delicate. You can't speak to what that something is, not in a place like this, but you know you want it to last. They are another reason to keep going.

Captivity, of course, has a way of stripping everything from you, including reasons to live. Surely, it is only a matter of time before this small - and still somehow world encompassing - comfort is taken from you...

...no. Not this time. They've taken all you have, right down to your freedom, and it stops now. You won't let the person who's become most precious to you in this hell be stolen away.

No matter what.

HOW TO PLAY

Comment with your character and preferences. Are you open to AUs and assumed CR? What are your limits? Given the subject of the meme, there's likely to be triggering material here. Do you prefer very dark fare or a light at the end of the tunnel scenario?
There's one prompt that could be smut, but feel free to play it in others if you're open to it. However, I'm going to be posting this as a smut meme on TLH later this week.
Reply to others. RNG.

PROMPTS

Prisoner of War: Who's side were you on? Or were you just an innocent civilian caught in the mire?

Hostage: Take heart. You're worth more alive than dead.

Scientific Experiment: What an interesting specimen you are. You will have to be tested.

False Charges: One or both of you are here because of lies told against you; eventually, though, you may begin to believe that your worth is truly that low.

Do the Dirty Work: Your powers are useful, maybe even enough to use you as an unwilling assassin.

For Different Reasons: You're imprisoned for different reasons, and you still draw close. After all, does it matter when you're both stuck?

Most Unforgivable Sin: One of you is a prisoner in the most basic of senses: hostage, slave, what have you. The other? Well, it's much more complicated. The other is a person forced against their will to be a lover, spouse, or sex slave of those in charge. What if that other does find someone they actually love? It could cost you both your heads.

Equalized: Maybe you were in different social strata before, but now, you're both common dirt.

Should Be in Charge: One of you has a higher ranking in the system. Will you use your power to manipulate them or to skew things in their favor.

Beneficial: You both have something the other wants. It's a mutually beneficial set-up, and that's all it needs to be. At least, that's how it starts.

Love at First Sight: You never thought you'd see someone like them here, and maybe it's because you've been cut off for some long, but you're feeling so smitten, even if that's usually not you.

Needy: You're not cut out for this. Almost immediately, you reach out for anyone who can offer to take you under their wing.

Won't Fall: To you, it's all to keep yourself sane. You won't actually fall in love, not in a million years.

Traumatized: It's hard to care for someone so broken, someone who's seen such terrible things, but you do it anyway.

Brainwashed: Before you met them, you never doubted your masters. But now...

Flower of Hell: Such a beautiful ray of light should not belong here in this darkness. Cruelty will snuff if out. You don't want that to happen.

Kindness: They showed you an unprecedented act of charity and selflessness. You feel drawn to them.

Tend to Wounds: It's easy to get hurt while captive. At least you don't have to wait for your wardens to fix you up. You have someone kind or dedicated enough to tend to you and you alone.

Anything to Protect You: They can't protect themselves, so you'll do it for them in any way you can.

Using Them: Really, you don't care for them. You just want their protection and their help. At least, that's what you keep thinking.

Burned Before: You had another prisoner before that you loved, and they were sent away or killed. You want let down your guard again.

Human Contact: You've been deprived for so long, you crave any attention.

Can't Touch: You're in cells, kept apart. You can never touch.

Barely See You: There kept away from you and everyone else for most of the day, but you still have feelings for them.

Separate: They're to be taken away, perhaps even to another outpost. What will you do?

Frustration: How long has it been since you've been with someone? You may take any opportunity to get some privacy.

Have Hope: You don't want your partner to lose faith, so despite your own beliefs, you'll stay positive.

Promises: You keep telling them things, swearing that you'll follow through and you'll both be okay. Inside, a part of you may fear it's all hollow words.

Escape: You're going to leave, but not without them.

Punishment: For your crimes, both of you will be punished. How much will your affections mean then?

Forced to Torture: Not only does your closest person have to be tortured, but you're the one who has to do it.

All a Sham: The truth is out. They were only playing you. In fact, they may

Turncoats: Your captors have pitted you against each other.

Fight: You may argue or even come to blows, yet soon enough, you'll be wanting to forgive and forget because there's no one else to look out for you.

Jealousy: They're all you have here, so you're not inclined to share.

Taken by Another: Someone else captured here with you all saw what you had and decided they would steal away your significant other.

Know How to Break You: Your tormenters know they can't hurt you with torture, but if they hurt the one you care for? That's another story.

Death: There's no need for prisoners who won't keep on the straight and narrow. You've pushed the envelope too many times, and now, execution is the easiest option for your captors.

Finally Free: The two of you have finally made it out alive. Suddenly, in the light of day, things seem different. Was all of this, all of these feelings...were they true or out of some desperate need?

WILDCARD

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

[seeking fellow captive for prisoner of war scenario? Or perhaps a kind member of the Resistance?]

[ooc: So. Poe might not exactly be kind, but it's been implied that Poe and Ben knew each other as kids. Once he found out who Ren really is, he might be more inclined to kindness, even if he'd still be wary toward him. Interested?]

[let me know if this works as a starter.]

The battle had been harrowing. The Supreme Leader managed to escape the conflict, but not without losing a few of the First Order's greatest assets. Several high-ranking officers had been killed, a couple captured. General Hux, the orchestrator behind the Hosnian massacre, would stand trial for war crimes of unparalleled magnitude. The First Order's dark enforcer, Kylo Ren, would suffer a somewhat different fate.

It was an ancient Jedi technique that brought him down. The wall of light was only meant to contain him, but Rey lost her temper and unleashed a devastating ability no one was aware that she had. She blocked him from the Force, perhaps permanently. And as of yet, no one knew how to undo what she had done.

After that, it was all too easy to throw the powerless Knight of Ren into a holding cell. He would be detained for the time being, in the hope that such a crushing defeat would make him talk. Hux would go down with his Empire, but Kylo Ren might actually be worth more to them alive than dead. (At least, that was the story the General told. Those that knew the rest of the truth wisely kept their mouths shut.)

Was it revenge that brought the Resistance pilot through the underground cell block? Was it curiosity? Something else entirely?

Kylo Ren sat in the back of his cell, cuffed and restrained. He still had his mask on. At least, for now.

Some said it was good for closure. Others thought it was long overdue vindication. Poe could say both, but deep down, he had no idea why he was there. Many had called for the dark knight's death, but the voices couldn't stand against the wishes of the New Republic and in truth, not many would dare go against an Organa. When Poe added his support to her, most paused and bent to the will of the two that many still called heroes.

In the end, Poe wondered if there was enough of his old friend to be grateful that his life had been spared. After everything that happened to him thanks to Rey, he privately thought that he'd suffered enough. He might not be Force sensitive, but he'd heard enough from those that were to make him think it'd be like losing a limb, or even worse... a part of his soul. Still, when he stepped into the cell, there wasn't a shred of pity on his face.

There wasn't much else, either. Kylo Ren still figured pretty prominently in his nightmares thanks to the time he'd spent on the Finalizer. It wouldn't do to show the faint twinge of nerves that made his back tenser than usual and knotted his stomach.

"It's been a long time, Ben. I wish the circumstances were better."

A few stray beams of light from beyond the bars illuminated the terrifying mask as Kylo looked up at the man who entered his cell. He recognized him - the Resistance pilot that once possessed the map to Skywalker, the prisoner that managed to escape with the first of far too many traitors. Unfortunately for Poe, those memories didn't readily stretch back to the days they grew up on the same military bases or played in the wings of the same senatorial chambers. Nor was he in any mood to acknowledge them if they did.

"That name is dead to me." He insisted, far more calmly than anyone would have expected from Kylo Ren. "...even now."

The vocoder still made him sound inhuman, but it wasn't the stuff of nightmares anymore. His tone was apathetic, almost weary. There was something missing, a gaping void where violent passion used to be.

"Do the Jedi think so highly of what they've done that they send you to interrogate me?"

It would be fitting, really. And at least it would be a short reprieve from the silence.

He knew it wouldn't be so easy and he was fine with that. Being comfortable around the other might happen in time, if Ben allowed for it. If not, then he'd stay there, rotting away in a cell for as long as he lived. If he could be pulled from the dark, then there was a chance for him to go free in the future. It all depended on if he'd let Poe and Leia help him.

The light shining off of the mask was enough to make Poe's heart thump a little harder in his chest. It was a sight out of his darkest dreams and while he'd moved past the initial trauma from it all, the fear was an old, deep seated one. It left him at odds with himself. He knew he should hate the man sitting there before him but he just couldn't. Not when he could remember a gangly limbed young man chasing him, chastising him for climbing trees when they'd come to visit he and his father on Yavin 4.

With a shake of his head, he stepped closer to that nightmarish visage. It took steeling his nerves to reach for it, but soon enough, his fingers had slipped under Ben's chin and around his jaw, looking for the release. He wanted that damned mask off.

"I'm not here to interrogate you. We've got all the information we need, and from willing sources. I'm just here to talk to you. Is that so bad?"

Kylo Ren stiffened as Poe approached. His back was already against the wall. There was nowhere to go, and when the pilot's fingers tripped the release on his helmet, there was nothing he could do to stop it being pulled off.

"Talk to me..." The vocoder broke in the midst of his disbelief. The last word came from his own lips, unfiltered and unprotected. It was weaker than even he remembered it sounding.

Underneath that mask was a sad, pale face that had aged far too much for its years. A large, twisted scar bisected his face - Rey had done that several years ago, and it never did heal well. None of the wounds from that encounter did. His eyes were dark, sad, perhaps even scared. His nose and ears were still too big for his face, and his lips looked permanently pressed into a pout. He did look like Ben Solo, for the most part.

"...what could you possibly want to say to me?"

Not so scary, this way.

To Poe, he wasn't the man he'd come to fear and hate. Ben was another victim of the war. Of the First Order. Leia said he was a victim of the Dark Side and Rey, even in her anger, agreed with her. She hadn't been on board with mercy for the Knight, but Poe's persistence as well as Skywalker's, had swayed her. For now, though, he was Poe's problem to deal with.

Part of him wanted to reach out and push the hair back from Ben's face. He wanted to tip that face up, make him look up and see the damage he'd done, but Poe wasn't cruel. He just didn't have it in him anymore. A few years earlier and he would've gunned him down where he sat. Now, he just wanted to find a way to ease the sadness in Ben's eyes.

He couldn't help but trace the scar with calloused fingers, though. By nature, Poe was tactile and delivered his own brand of comfort through touch. Some might not agree with it or like it, but if anyone knew Poe, they just knew how he was.

"That I'm sorry. So is your mother. She said she never should've sent you away. She wanted to be here but the current political bullshit is demanding her presence and she knows better than to toss me into the arena with everyone. I'll end up shooting someone if she did."

His reputation for volatile rage and deadly powers frightened people on both sides of the conflict. However, Ren's face, by itself, was never frightening, even with the scar. It had always been too expressive, which was why he hid behind that mask. It was, as the Supreme Leader once said, for his own good.

And now it, along with his powers and his rage, were gone.

He flinched when Poe touched him. The way he trembled corroborated Leia's interpretation, alluding to any number of horrors he may have faced within the First Order. It was hardly a stretch. The Supreme Leader essentially sacrificed his apprentice to make his own escape. They all saw it happen. In the end, even Kylo Ren was merely a pawn whose worth was no greater than his current usefulness.

He caught a glimpse of Poe's eyes, and then turned away. His weak laugh was bitter and broken. "...She's only sorry that she didn't do it sooner."

Poe's normally expressive mouth tightened at the accusation. He'd been in enough arguments defending his hero and pseudo political mentor that one more really wouldn't bother him, save the simple fact that it's her son. Still, he couldn't let it slide quite so easy. Not when he owed Leia so damn much.

Just as he was about to snap out a pointed retort, the laugh truly registered and the sound grated on Poe's nerves. He knew that sound. He'd heard his own pilots and fellow members of the Resistance laugh like that. It was a laugh he'd come to hate as much as he expected it from those that had made it to the end of the conflict.

"Don't you dare. She sent you away because she thought you'd be better off training with Skywalker. You better be glad you still have her here to give a crap about you. Trust me, kids miss their moms when they're gone no matter how old they are."

It was clear that Poe spoke from experience.

"She was afraid of me..." He countered, but without the usual malice. Perhaps it was a true fact at one time or another, but it would be far more accurate to say she was afraid for him.

At the moment, most of his memories of her, his childhood and practically anything before he turned to the dark were hazy at best. He couldn't tell the difference anymore between what actually happened and the Supreme Leader's assessment of what happened. All of them were painful.

"She's never been afraid of you. Neither was your father."

There was quiet certainty in Poe's voice. He knew he could draw Ben out, if he just had time. Patience was something he'd learned during the war, but even that could be tremulous at times. At least, it could if something really wasn't worth waiting for. Trying to help Ben was worth it.

Sighing, Poe moved to sit down nearby, wincing just a bit as the motion jarred old, nagging injuries. The war hadn't been kind to him in more ways than one.

"What do you want? Right here, right now, tell me what you want."

For so long he felt as though he were being torn apart. Now, there was nothing left to tear. Kylo Ren seemed to curl in on himself when Poe sat down. He really was trembling. There was silence where there used to be voices and phantom pain in his soul. The more he attempted to reach out with his mind, the heavier the nothingness that came back to him.

"The Supreme Leader's guidance..." He whispered brokenly. "I don't... I don't know what to do..."

Even after being selfishly tossed to the Resistance, he still trusted his master more than his mother. That, in and of itself, was disconcerting. The First Order may not have been kind to him, but pain was better than nothing at all.

"Snoke pretty much handed you to us so he could get away. He used you in every way he could. His 'guidance' is what go you here."

Seeing his old friend so very broken was damn near painful for Poe. He wasn't a bleeding heart in any way, but he truly hated to see suffering and Ben... oh, Ben was suffering. There was nothing he could do to return the Force to him and really, there was little else he could offer him, save a shoulder to cry on or an ear to bend if he needed to talk and he had a feeling that Ben wasn't anywhere close to the point that he'd be willing to do either.

Still, he couldn't stand to see him so torn up. With a soft grunt, he stood and moved back over to Ben and bent to remove his restraints. The cuffs, he left on but he could stand to see his old friend restrained like a rabid animal. Beside that, Poe knew the cuffs would deliver a debilitating shock if Ben tried to hurt him. All he had to do was say the word and the former Knight would be a writhing lump on the floor.

"What you can do is rest and recover. You can listen to your mother when she comes to visit you. You can learn that some of us aren't your enemy. You can... try to remember Ben Solo. You can try to remember me."

Rest? Recover? Listen and remember? Those were insurmountable requests for the former Master of the Knights of Ren. But stripped of the Force and locked in a cell, what choice did he have?

Over the next several days, the Resistance saw a side of Kylo Ren that people didn't think possible. They expected rage. They prepared for violence. But not once did anyone need to use the cuffs to shock Ren into submission. Even freed from the additional restraints, he didn't lash out. He didn't speak much. He barely even made eye contact, and left whatever food they brought him uneaten and untouched.

At night, they could sometimes hear him beg for forgiveness, but it was to the Supreme Leader for his failure, not the galaxy for his crimes. Once, they heard him mention Han Solo, but couldn't make out the context.

Decades of conditioning did not simply go away overnight. But so far, Poe came closer than anyone else to getting through to the man underneath the darkness. As the guards observed, "He looks at you. Speaks to you. He won't even acknowledge the General, and he outright hid himself from Rey like a wounded animal."

It'd been a few days since Poe could visit thanks other duties, but he knew exactly what was going on. Ben's recovery had been left up to him, along with a multitude of other things that took up far too much of his time. It left him worn and on edge but such was the burden of command, even if it wasn't something he'd wanted in the first place.

He'd trade almost all of it for his cockpit once again.

The news wasn't much of a shock to him. Leia had told him that she couldn't seem to reach him and honestly, he wasn't surprised at his reaction to Rey. He'd tried to warn her but in the end, they both knew that her presence wasn't likely to be well received for a while. After a few quick words to the guards, he slipped inside the cell and finally let his gaze settle on the man that had kept his attention for so long.

"So I hear you're not eating. What can we do to fix that?"

He was in the same corner as before, curled up on his side. Streaks of light cut through his face like open wounds, but he didn't seem to care. He wasn't asleep, given that open eyes followed Poe as he walked inside the cell, but he didn't sit up. He was weak and tired. Eventually, he just looked away.

"...they always fought, didn't they?"

He ignored Poe's question in favor of a stray thought, a memory of his parents he was relatively sure was real.

He watched Ben for a long, silent moment before he moved to sit nearby. His question seemed out of place, but oddly enough, Poe seemed to know exactly who he was talking about. He let his head fall back to rest against the wall, idly staring up at the ceiling for another few moments as he gathered his own thoughts.

"Pretty sure they did, even more than anyone else realizes. A couple of times that I can remember back on Yavin 4, but that was a long time ago. When he came back to the base, after they found Finn... I don't think they did. Not really. They had something else they were thinking about."

As Poe responded, a few long-forgotten memories floated through his mind. They were loud amidst the unnatural silence. His parents were always loud, though - Leia screaming at Han, Han shouting all the way down a landing ramp, Leia screaming even louder at the hull of the ship. Both of them screaming at him...

"The traitor..." He muttered.

Cuffed arms shook as he slowly pushed himself up. For a brief moment, he dared to look Poe in the eyes.

"... Destroying Starkiller. I know."

That still rankled Poe to no end. Even now, hearing Finn being called a traitor was enough to bring a sharp frown to a face that used to be more accustomed to smiling and laughter. It wasn't exactly a pleasant look and in recent past, that look had been enough to frighten troops and enemies alike. He knew it probably wouldn't bother Ben, though.

Still frowning, he reached up and shoved his hand through his hair as he fought to keep his own frustration at bay. If anything, Ben Solo was more like his parents than he'd want to admit. Kriffing stubborn.

"Your father's last act was to try and save you. Your mother asked him to. Starkiller needed to fall but they were thinking of you just as much. She still is. She'd die apologizing for the things she thinks she's done to you."

"Han Solo's death was a test of my resolve. The means by which I would finally conquer the light." The words flowed too quickly, too smoothly, to have gone unrehearsed. Furthermore, they weren't even true.

He remembered the day Starkiller imploded. He could still feel his father's hand on his face and the pull to the light had gotten stronger, not weaker! The Supreme Leader, however, was wise, and the rigorous training Kylo Ren later endured all but erased the burden of such a failure!

At least, that is what the Supreme Leader said, and what he kept telling himself.

He bit his lip, slumping into the corner. "...he said he would help me... with anything... And he did."

The admission was a painful one - that as steeped in the darkness as he was, Kylo Ren didn't actually have the strength to kill his father in cold blood without Han willingly giving himself up. They both had their hands on that lightsaber.

"He could have fought back... He could have run..." Fists clenched inside cuffs. Ren buried his head. "He helped me kill him."

Poe knew that deep down, Ben didn't believe the crap that Snoke had been shoving down his throat all these years. He couldn't. He knew Ben was smarter than that. It had just been a case of being controlled and lied to for so long. Now that he was away from the source, it sounded like Ben was finally starting to truly doubt it all.

Maybe there was hope after all.

He watched in silence as Ben buried his head in his hands. If it'd been anyone else, Poe would be beside them, an arm around their shoulders in silent comfort. He wanted to do that right now, but he didn't know how it'd be received. Even cut off from the Force, Ben was still well trained and knew how to fight. The cuffs might stop him from killing Poe, but he could still do some damage before they could be triggered.

"He could've, but he didn't. He stayed because it was you. All he wanted to do was get you off of Starkiller and take you home. He didn't need the Force to know you were still doubting it all. He loved you, Ben."

"He didn't love me... No one ever wanted me... Until the Supreme Leader..."

His voice faded, and if he could have buried himself any farther in that corner, he would have.

Kylo Ren was no longer sure which thoughts were really his own and which had been inserted by the Supreme Leader. There was a part of him dying to latch onto everything that Poe said and believe it with all his heart, just like there was a part of him that always wanted to come home. But that part of him had been destroyed! He burned it off and cauterized the wound! So why was it still...

When he lifted his head again, the light glistened off tracks of tears.

It was heartbreaking to see someone break down so completely. To some, they'd see this as a victory, and in a deep, darkly vindictive part of his soul, Poe felt a vague glee at the torment his former tormentor was putting himself through. Just the thought of that made him feel almost ill with self-loathing, though. He wasn't here to wallow in someone else's grief and it was selfish to even entertain the idea.

The hard lines of Poe's face softened and after a moment of hesitation, he got up and moved to crouch before Ben, a hand settling gently on his arm. He waited to see how that simple contact would be received. If it wasn't met with violence or withdrawal, then Poe could try more to help ease Ben's spirits.

"That's not true."

Unfortunately for Poe, the breakdown wasn't a breakthrough yet.

When he crouched down in front of Kylo Ren, he was met with a confused, somewhat frightened expression. Ren flinched at the touch, expecting there to be pain as he desperately begged the Supreme Leader to forgive him for his weakness.

Some things were just going to take more time...

Kylo Ren - Star Wars

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Let's do this!

Looks good!

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