Chapter Text
Awareness came to me slowly. The way that a tingling sensation comes to you. Slowly than all at once. I was aware that I existed, and present. That I was there, amidst space and time. Alone and yet surrounded. Aware of the ever-present void and my place there.
A strange presence was near me. Hovering, almost unsure. Then, an understanding ran through my consciousness. I could understand the thoughts and feelings of the entity before me.
You are in the space between time. You have a rare chance before you.
Chance? What do you mean, chance?
You are going to live another life. You are going to enter a universe that is familiar to you. You will have a life fraught with all manner of things. Destiny, Fate, abilities that seem unfathomable. All this will happen to you. You can change things. Change the Path, change the One.
No. Please, no. I just want to rest. I- I’m not special. I’m ordinary, I haven’t done any major in my life, please! Please just leave me be.
When the time comes you will understand. But not now. Now you must begin. But be warned, too many deviations will change the universe too much from what you knew. Destiny and Fate will come for you, no matter how hard you run from it.
I was startled when I began to fall, at least until I realized it was the sensation of falling. It seemed like I fell for an eternity. Then, the odd feeling of forming, as cells began to increase. Cells to tissue, tissue to muscles, and so on and on. I was warm. Content, even. The muffled sounds coming from outside the womb were fascinating once I realized I had grown ears and was able to hear. I continued to grow, until all I could feel was intense pressure. I suppose this is what birth is like. Uncomfortable, to say the least. The scream I let out when I emerged from the womb would startle my mother and the attendants of her chamber. I was handed to an attendant, cleaned, and examined before being returned to my mother. It was with hazy eyes that I saw the shape of my mother. Cold. She seemed cold. Like not even the pain of birth would faze her. One of the servants spoke up.
“Another daughter, my Lady.”
“Indeed.” She was almost disinterested in the fact. The sky was blue, her mother had gone through birth, and she was another daughter.
“The Emperor will be displeased, my Lady.” While the servant looks composed there is an undercurrent of fear in her voice. Emperor. My father is an Emperor in this life. Emperors rarely are benevolent and kind to their subjects, let alone their families. Politics and subterfuge are going to be my life, where everyone will want to use me for their own designs. Probably my new family as well.
“The Emperor was disappointed with his first daughter, then his second, then third, and will undoubtedly be disappointed with this one. No matter, I have obeyed my directives. Our plans are measured in centuries, after all.” Measured in centuries? I have heard that before, where the fuck have I heard that before? “Does His Majesty know that I was in labour?” Wow, this woman must be a stone-cold bitch. I have never heard such an apathetic voice in my lif—
My life. But it is not, is it? My life is dead, for all intents and purposes. Some deity or being decided to pluck me from the void and drop me here. For what, for change?! Of the One?! So it is suddenly my responsibility to change someone, for better or worse? Who knows which way it is supposed to be because I don’t! At this time, my tiny infant body cannot handle all of these overwhelming emotions, and so of course, I start to scream at the top of my lungs. My mother’s blurry face scrunches, and hands me off to an attendant.
“He does, my Lady, and should be here soon.” Spoken too soon, the doors of the chamber open, revealing a man in military uniform. A servant standing off to the side heralds his arrival.
“Emperor Shaddam IV of House Corrino, ruler of the Golden Lion Throne, Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe.” Wait…
“Anirul. Well? Do I have my son?” He says this impatiently, which means he definitely wants a boy, which I am not. Off to the side, I seem to get the impression that my mother wants to roll her eyes, but she seems like too much of a lady to do so.
“I am afraid not, my Lord. You have another daughter.” Upon knowing this information, something seemed to settle over my new father. Not quite acceptance but instead, resignation.
“Would that I could be rid of you, witch! If I would not have to face the repercussions from the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, you would be gone from my sight and plague me no more.”
Bene Gesserit? Bene Gesserit?! There is only one universe where that name is applicable. Tell me that I did not get dropped into the fucking Dune universe?! With giant fucking sandworms and the major fucking time skips! Seriously?! With Shaddam IV as my dad?
Wait, if I’m number four, then that means that Irulan, the future wife of Paul Atreides, is my sister.
What the fuck is my life going to be like? I’m most likely going to be married off to some man, or to be made a concubine. Like what the fuck, dude, this is the hand Fate dealt me? Before I commit to an existential spiral, my mother answers my father.
“Another daughter for you to make an alliance with.” My father makes a face at the answer.
“I already have two daughters for that.”
“Three, you mean.”
“No, Irulan would take the throne after me. She is the most prepared for it.”
“And she is your favourite.”
“Just as Chalice is yours.” Oh, great, so my parents are just assholes. To each other and everyone else except their favourites. That bodes well. “Well, does she have a name?” My father asked. “The proclamation must go out.”
“She does.” Stone-cold. She is doing this just to spite him. And admittedly, it is obviously working.
“And?” If his neck vein could pop open from the sheer frustration lacing his body, I’d be impressed.
“Nashira. Nashira of House Corrino, fourth daughter to Shaddam IV, Emperor of the Imperium.”
“The bearer of good news? That is cruel, even for you.” His voice was quiet.
“She is good news. She is a healthy child. A healthy Princess, my Lord.” Even with my fuzzy vision and dulled senses, the tension in the air was palpable. And then, the understanding of my circumstances dawned on me.
Unwanted, by my father and mother. Another daughter in the Imperial House, where a son was needed more than ever.
But as the Voice in the void said, Fate and Destiny have a claim on me. A purpose for my being here, in this existence. Well, never let it be said that I am not spiteful.
Fuck Fate.
Fuck Destiny.
I am the bright star and only I guide myself.