16 Works by The_Client
Listing Works
-
the thought of losing you by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
05 Mar 2022
Tags
Summary
Emperor Hux is distraught over harm to his Knight.
-
Padparadscha by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
05 Mar 2022
Tags
Summary
Elderly Rey ponders an unusual inheritance.
Series
- Part 6 of Instruments and Measures
-
Words and Actions by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
05 Sep 2021
Tags
Summary
They need to name a ship.
***
He doesn’t mind, never hearing his name spoken aloud. None of his old names fit any more, if they ever did. He needs no name now, he simply is.
Is with *him.* Is for *him.*
Series
- Part 3 of Instruments and Measures
-
In a Nutshell by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
27 Jun 2021
Tags
Summary
After years in exile, Leia’s son must ask her for a favor.
Series
- Part 4 of Instruments and Measures
-
Tags
Summary
After decades together, Hux and Ren embark on a new journey.
Series
- Part 5 of Instruments and Measures
-
No More Planets by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
09 Jul 2020
Tags
Summary
Hux absconds with Ren after the destruction of Starkiller, and discovers there’s more to life than imposing order on the galaxy. (And reluctantly teams up with a very unamused Rey to deal with their mutual enemy.)
***
“Snoke” – he won’t call him Lord now, let alone Supreme Leader – “commanded me to bring you to him.”“But you didn't.”
“No. I'm afraid I've kidnapped you. I know that might not be want you want. If so, I'm sorry, and I'll turn the ship around.”
In the ensuing silence Hux tries to count the beats of his own heart, finds he cannot keep his mind on the task.
“Supreme Leader will know you betrayed him. If you go back, he'll … you'll wish he'd execute you.”
“I’ll drop myself off on some planet, then, and send you back with the autopilot--”
He stops, because every word feels wrong.
“No.”
“No?” Hux is unable to place the word in context, can hear only rejection.
Don't leave me again. No torture of Snoke's could be worse. Nothing could be worse.
Series
- Part 2 of Instruments and Measures
-
Instruments and Measures by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
29 Jun 2020
Tags
Summary
Hux cares for Ren after Snoke’s harsh lessons, until he must face a moment of truth. Basically just injured-Kylo hurt/comfort in a non-linear narrative.
*
Hux is certain, therefore, that Ren cannot not-feel Hux's genuine desire to help and care for Ren. But it often seems that Ren can't quite believe it; that he discounts the perception as Hux would a physically impossible sensor-reading: the instrument must be faulty. Hux has concluded that the only way to proceed is to keep re-supplying the anomalous data-point, until Ren seems content to exist in a galaxy where grav-up reads as grav-down and the surfaces of suns as absolute zero, if only behind the door-panel of Hux's quarters.
Series
- Part 1 of Instruments and Measures
-
That-Which-Is by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
27 Jun 2020
Tags
Summary
Rey and Ben confront the ancient evil as they must: together. All works in this series can be read independently, or in any order, though this one follows closely on Duel Beyond Fate.
***
His bare hand reaches for hers, also bare. But she pulls her own away.
“No. We can’t risk losing ourselves in each other. It’d be too much of a distraction.”
Very softly: “Or everything else is the distraction.”
“What?”
“Something my grandfather said.”
Series
-
Post Credits by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
26 Apr 2020
Tags
Summary
Rey and Ben contemplate the next phase of their relationship. All works in this series can be read independently, or in any order, though this one follows closely on Resolution (Saving What We Love).
Content warning: very mild/brief references to mental health issues, abuse and suicidal thoughts
***
“I do want that, eventually, you know,” she says conversationally. Then, because she's no longer that eternal child on Jakku: “Sex. I mean, I’ve never felt like I needed it, but I’m interested. If you are.”
He manages only a half-breathless “Rey.” But he is, emphatically, interested.
“Ben. Rest and heal for me.”
“Okay.”
After a while he strokes the fabric of her raincloak, her knee beneath it. “I like the emerald,” he murmurs. “You’d look good in other colors, too. Sapphire blue. Garnet red.” You're beautiful.
“Color. Radical concept. Will you try it, if I do?” So are you.
Series
-
Waiting for Intervention by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
26 Apr 2020
Tags
Summary
Ben Solo's headspace from childhood through The Last Jedi.
***
“Then your fingertips touch across the worlds, and you know she must comprehend, all at once, what it is to be you – for in that moment you experience the totality of being her. And she weeps. Does not condemn, does not even pity, that sentiment poisonously rooted in the smug awareness of one's own superior position. You know the name for what she's feeling, even as you furiously try to suppress it from your consciousness, to strangle the hope (always false, always cruel). Compassion.
She weeps. And then she delivers herself to you. As if she chooses you.
But afterward, when the Voice has been silenced forever and in the idiotic flush of that victory you dare to hope – she demands that you go back. But every night you’d promised yourself you would never go back, would never again turn yourself inside out, contort and shatter yourself in futile efforts to please them. Never again. If you can never be content, at least you'll remain, at last, free.
And on the field of salt you prove that resolve, somehow find the unspeakable courage to step out and defy the terror of your past. And you survive.”
-
True Contingency by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
08 Mar 2020
Tags
Summary
An ancient evil returns to torment the new Supreme Leader of the First Order. All works in this series can be read independently, or in any order, though this one follows closely on Not Alone (Just for Tonight).
Content warning: mental health issues; implied/referenced abuse; references Leia’s peaceful, off-screen death (prior to the beginning of the story)
***
“One such as yourself could be of great use to me, both as an executor of my will in the galaxy I can no longer travel, and as a companion in my exploration of the limits of power.”
“And if I’m not interested?”
(Fragmented sense-impressions, deliberately dispensed: clones, captives, bodies emptied of minds. Blood drained and tested for what had once been believed to be the carrier of the Force, of the soul. The echoes of hideous torment knock the brash courage right out of him, leave him shaking, suffocating again.)
“I am still experimenting, seeking to extend my reign into eternity as is right and proper. I believe you can help me, one way or another.” A pause. “And I’m aware that you yourself had help, conquering your last master.”
Series
-
Not Alone (Just for Tonight) by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
02 Feb 2020
Tags
Summary
A loss brings Ben and Rey together for the first time since Crait. All works in this series can be read independently, or in any order.
Content warning: references Leia’s peaceful, off-screen death (prior to the beginning of the story)
***
“But in retrospect, I can see, the Force was hard for her. She loved Uncle Luke, but the Force would’ve kept him just beyond her understanding, out of her reach. If she’d become his apprentice she’d have been even more in his shadow than she already was, than everyone was, after the war. And I don’t think she ever came to terms with him. She couldn’t have, the way she kept the secret for years, made Uncle Luke keep it too.
“So she declined to be trained. Showed reverence for the Force, but kept it at arm’s length ... if she wouldn’t teach you, it’s because she’d convinced herself she had nothing to teach. Had made of sure of it.
“Then there was me. I think I was a worst-case scenario, even before … everything. If she thought … the way I am, any part of it, was down to something she’d done, then she must have been afraid the same thing could happen with you. Not because of you, though, you see?”Series
-
Duel Beyond Fate by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
25 Jan 2020
Tags
Summary
The duel on the Death Star ruins and its aftermath, re-imagined with a radically different setup and motivations. All works in this series can be read independently, or in any order.
Content warning: mild/brief suicidal thoughts
***
“Why did you let me do that?” she half-howls again through her tears. Tears of relief; of the remorse and horror and sheer unanticipated loss that she hadn’t had time to process before they were relieved. Somehow it all comes out sounding like anger.
“You surprised me,” he says, very softly. “I couldn't defend myself without hurting you. I can't hurt you.” He lowers his eyes, letting his hair fall in his face. “Besides, if it was … what you needed. If it's still what you need. Then you should have it.”
“You think I … 'needed' to impale you.”
“On Starkiller. Solo … my father. I think he knew. I thought I needed to take his life. I know now I was wrong, but then … he knew, and yet he said, 'Yes. Anything.' And afterward, when he put his hand on my face … not forgiveness. For him there was nothing to forgive. He just wanted to comfort me, even a little, any way he could, for as long as he could.
“Now … I just want you to have what you need. Anything.”
Series
-
Once the Weapon of a Jedi by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
19 Jan 2020
Tags
Summary
Rey builds something new from the remains of Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. All works in this series can be read independently, or in any order.
***
"When she’d first felt this on Takodana, accompanied by those terrifying visions, it had set her to fleeing as if for her life. During her subsequent struggles with Skywalker and with him she’d been distracted by her grand hopes, investing the saber with a significance that allowed her to ignore the accompanying discomfort. But now the buzz of the crystal was magnified, undeniable. Maybe it hurt it, being broken.
And though she'd stayed up for hours, night after night, gazing at her array of parts, she'd been unable to bring herself to assemble them."
Series
-
Ideals of Freedom by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
19 Jan 2020
Tags
Summary
Hux (the Spy!) lays his truth on Rose and Finn. Also hints of stormtrooper rebellion. All works in this series can be read independently, or in any order.
Content warning: mild/brief references to abuse, mental health issues and suicidal thoughts
***
“Even if your Jedi does for Palpatine – and survives – do you think that means the Resistance wins? We’re still a vast military organization, you’re still a ragtag band of madbeings. And even if you do win, I’m a collaborator now, aren’t I? Showing such good faith by letting TZ-1719 bring you into her pathetic little treason-game. Your oh-so-idealistic government, should you manage to form one, will want to be merciful , to promote peace and cooperation. I’m an extremely talented bureaucrat. I’ll find a way to make myself useful.
“And those of us who believe the masses are best ruled, firmly but wisely, by their betters – we’ll always exist. We kept Palpatine’s Empire running. We were quietly holding positions of respect in your Senate, when your precious General Organa was drummed out in disgrace. You can’t root us out, after all – not and maintain your ideals of freedom. Try to eradicate us, and you become us.”
Series
-
Resolution (Saving What We Love) by The_Client
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
12 Jan 2020
Tags
Summary
Rey takes Ben to Ahch-To to recover, and contemplates their next steps into a larger world. All works in this series can be read independently, or in any order.
Content warning: mild/brief mental health issues and suicidal thoughts
***
"In this, too, Skywalker perhaps never truly understood his error. Resist it, Rey! As if the yearning at the root of the island – the yearnings of the heart – could simply be ignored, shunted aside. You went straight to the Dark! As if the merest curiosity invalidated her entire being, made her unworthy of Skywalker's attention, his compassion.
How much damage had been done, through all the generations, by such an approach? Were not even rage and anguish and the temptation to harm best examined in daylight, talked through with mentors who understood, channeled mindfully into appropriate outlets rather than denied and suppressed until they festered beyond control?
And who better to help with that? Not punishment, which would help nothing and no one, but atonement. A way, perhaps, for him to find some semblance of peace and purpose at last.
A way for her to share the terrifying responsibility of mentoring the next generation, that she need not bear it alone."
Series