Chapter Text
Mallory was fairly certain that she was dying in a hospital. She was also fairly certain that she was an adult.
Nowhere in her memory was being moved to this strange snowy place, or of being turned into a toddler.
Perhaps this was a fevered dream conjured by her brain so that she would be happy when she passed.
Or maybe, whispered a small, rather unwelcome part of her mind, this is real.
She determinedly ignored that part.
Instead, she decided to enjoy the dream - unrealistic as it was, the view was beautiful. Towering snow covered mountains, with bright sunshine glinting off them as the sun set, enclosing a beautiful white city.
A rustle sounded near her ear, and it drew her attention nearer to where she was. There was an arm around her, holding her up. She patted it curiously, and a low laugh sounded in her ear. "Do you like the view darling? Is it pretty?" Deciding that, in for a sheep in for a lamb, she may as well act the part her brain had given her, she gurgled and pointed out. "You like it? You like it? Oh such a pretty clever little baby! Who's the best baby?" Mallory took the opportunity to take a good look at the woman her mind had provided. Bright red hair, dark blue eyes, and creamy, not pale, skin. She was tall, at least from what Mallory's infant perspective could provide, and overall quite beautiful.
"Ales? I'm home." A man's voice cut off the now-named Ales's cooings and she smiled brightly.
"In here Ched! I've got Dara with me." Wow...this dream was detailed. Mallory turned the names over in her mind.
'Ched' entered, and Mallory evaluated him with a cool glance. Black hair and eyes, quite good-looking, wearing almost medievalish clothes. He and Ales made a striking couple, Mallory decided. And they seemed nice enough. She would like growing up with parents like th- her brain screeched to a halt. This was a dream. A remarkably detailed and cohesive dream, but a dream all the same. And yet...her mind had never conjured something so detailed or so beautiful before. She let out a small shriek of frustration, which had the unintended side effect of garnering her parent's, no the dream constructs, no parents, people's attention.
Immediately she was engulfed in cuddles and apologies for ignoring her. She must be an only child, and her parents must be quite young for this sort of reaction. Mallory gave up. Obviously, somehow she had been transferred through space and time into a toddler's body. She promised herself a good old freak out later, but for now enjoyed basking in the adoration of her new parents, something that she had rarely had as the middle of three children.
...the cooing and doting could get a little annoying, Mallory decided.
**************
"Commander Cody. Execute Order 66."
"It will be done my Lord."
"It's treason then."
"Do it!"
"It is not the Jedi way."
"We are encouraged to love unconditionally."
"He is the Chosen One!"
"You were supposed to bring balance to the Force!"
"I am the Dark Lord of the Sith."
"My hunger is as boundless as my power."
"Always two, there are."
"The Line of Bane."
"I call for a vote of no-confidence in Chancellor Valorum."
"Tell your sister...you were right."
"Soon, I'm going to be a Jedi."
"Snips."
"Skyguy."
"Traitor."
"Liar!"
"Father!"
"What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of the Dark Lord of the Sith?"
"Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders."
Mallory, no, Dara now, woke up crying. Again.
Every night since she had somehow been...transplanted, she had had terrible dreams. A lot of them often contained lines from the Star Wars franchise, which was super odd, but often it was just flashes of horrible images that flickered across her juvenile brain and left scarring that no child below their first year of life should bear.
The worst part was, there was no way she could tell her parents about it. At eight months old, she did not have the physical ability use words. She could barely sit up on her own. Instead, all she could do was cry and try to forget the horrible things she saw.
A light flicked on, and her mother stumbled sleepily into her room, followed by her father. "I'm sure babies aren't supposed to cry this much." Ales said a bit tearfully, as she rocked the screaming baby. "Are we doing something wrong? I've been trying everything I can, but she wakes up like this every night."
Ched looked just as tired and frazzled as his wife, and Mallory Dara felt very guilty. It was her fault that they kept being rudely awoken by her screams. But she just couldn't stop crying once she was distressed. Probably because of the whole baby thing.
"Maybe...maybe there's something, you know, wrong. No, not like that Ales, more like something the doctors missed when she was born. Like...her heart or something."
"There's nothing wrong with our baby Ched!"
He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Can't we at least take her in and get her tested...just to see?"
It took several minutes of arguing, during which Mal Dara's sense of guilt only grew. On the bright side, she had stopped crying. Eventually, Ales agreed, and as soon as the sun rose the next day, the couple took their baby into a medical centre.
Dara did not approve or like it. In such a high-tech place, you would think that they would find a nicer way to take blood tests and things rather than just sticking a needle into a helpless crying baby. But no. Apparently the needle really was necessary.
She took a vicious pleasure in screaming as loudly as possible every time the needle entered her poor abused little body. And every time it was taken out, for good measure.