Surprise @diazuk-legacy ! I was your Secret Santa! I hope you like this one-shot and don’t think I took too many creative liberties with describing Servant Two.
Servant Two never had much of a choice regarding the course of his life. From the moment he was able to serve, he served. Freedom was a forbidden word, discouraged from all of the Emperor’s Hands. In return, the Emperor gave them power—the privilege to be His voice among all His subjects. Their words, in turn, became the Emperor’s word. And in the Empire, that meant power.
Yet the Servants were not foolish to think that power was enough to intimidate everyone in the Empire.
There were some Sith who believed they could do better than the Servants. They thought, in their naivety, that the Emperor’s inner circle worked similarly to their silly power struggles.
They all learned their lesson when the Servants were done with them.
Yet there was one exception: one person, a Sith whom the Emperor forbade to dispose of.
As Servant Two kept a close eye on the Emperor’s chosen, the Emperor’s Wrath, he failed to see what was so special about this Sith.
Why was it that his Emperor chose this Sith above everyone else?
Servant Two knew that even thinking this went against his vow. Their duty was to follow orders. The word of the Emperor was law. His wisdom was beyond the realm of understanding. As much as Servant Two wanted to understand, he knew he would never be able to grasp fully what his Emperor deemed or didn’t deem worthy.
Yet why did his heart ache every time he met with the Emperor’s Wrath? Why did he feel disheartened each time he tried to speak to the Emperor and was met with silence instead? His gaze, which fell on him so long ago— felt so out of range, as if his God was no longer in this realm.
Yet that couldn’t be, could it? He wouldn’t abandon them.
Right?
Servant Two was terrified of the answer. Because just even questioning his Emperor’s presence meant he doubted His power.
Yet it was too late for him. This existence was the only thing he had ever known. It was the only way he could think of surviving.
But could devotion, adoration, and loyalty be enough to hide the truth?
They were still following the orders of a God that was no longer there.
“We live to serve Him,” Servant One told him as if that was enough to eliminate all his fears and doubts. “We must keep his voice alive.”
What is there left to keep alive? he thought.
But rather than saying this, he kept following orders. He kept whispering in the Servants’ minds empty promises and broken vows.
He watched from the shadows as the Emperor’s Wrath stopped following the Emperor’s voice. They knew his ambition would be unstoppable. That his lust for power was unlike any other Servant Two had ever seen.
Yet they believed they could control him. Use him just like they did in the past to eliminate Darth Baras.
They had been wrong. Servant One returned with bruises and a wounded ego after almost being choked to death. With their spy robots destroyed and the Dark Council’s betrayal imminent— it was only now that they realized how weak the Emperor’s Hand had become due to His silence.
They were hunted down and destroyed by those who first sought them to further their selfish agendas. By those who were now in positions of power thanks to their influence and intervention.
Yet there wasn’t much they could do. Not with the Emperor gone. After all, their power came from Him. And without Him, they were nothing.
#project hail mary
#photography
#aromantic
