there was likely no one in iden’s life that would have suggested that she was an emotional person. when she had been five years old, her father had offered her a lesson that she had held inside of her for far too long: versios don’t cry. she had cried the night her mother left, at five years old, and gone another seventeen years before she shed any tears again, once she had learned about her mother’s death – already buried, their last real conversation under a lie, being called a disappointment. she hadn’t cried since. she hadn’t wanted to, until now. but that kind of weakness and vulnerability wasn’t something that she could allow, especially not in the middle of a crisis, a goddamn terrorist attack. the only thing that she could hone it into was anger, frustration, rage. those were feelings that she had always been much more familiar with, something accepted by garrick versio, so long as it was utilized for action. it was the anger that spoke now: at hask, at her father, her mother, and herself. “this isn’t a happy moment, del!” she snapped at him, finally pulling away from the embrace roughly and taking a step back. this wasn’t something that she could focus on right now, she wasn’t sure that she would ever be able to face it. both hands curled into tight fists, ignoring the painful ache of their left arm. “hask has to die.” there was no mercy left to offer him. maybe del could, but she didn’t have it left inside of her. forgiveness had never come naturally to her. “regardless of whatever those things were. i don’t care. i don’t know who or what he’s involved with now, but he’s too dangerous to be left alive.” precisely what the empire said about them after they had defected.
The thing was, Del was raised differently than most in the Empire. His parents had stern hands, of course. They had his future laid out for him and their expectations were expected to be met, but they still allowed Del the ability to grow. They let him feel what he needed to and encouraged knowledge to it's top most degree. They saw how smart their son was and wanted to watch him fly to a high rank in the Empire. If only that had seen what he was going to become. He sometimes wonders, however, if they'd be proud of him. Would they look at him with that sense in their gaze like they did at his siblings? Or would there be disappointment because their brightest son had defected to the Rebellion? The one thing he was told constant horror stories about how he should never trust them? Funny how a Jedi is one of the reasons Del had opened his eyes to the other side. As Iden pulls away, there's a breath on his lips. A sharp sensation that stabs through his chest that isn't from any of the injuries that he's sustained from the battle that had just been at hand. It was something else. Something deeper. Something worse. "Iden." He starts, but stops again as he takes her in. The way her hands are curled into fists. The anger that seeps of her features. It's clear, not just by her words but her appearance that she wants Hask dead. She wishes for it. It causes him to sigh. "Iden you're going to make a great mother but if you wish to focus on Hask for now, we can do that. I can help you. We both want to see him gone."