Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

TIE fighters and X-Wings swarmed in a silent locust cloud in the vacuum of space. Flashes of green and red laser fire burst bright in the darkness. They fought a fierce battle above a pale jade planet, as it slowly circled in the darkness below, unconcerned with the raging of mortal beings.

Each Resistance pilot that blipped out of existence on the screen smote General Organa’s heart. Many of those small lights had a name - a face - in her mind. A small flare of pain went up inside her at each life lost to the First Order. She wished that this could have been avoided. There were so few of them left. But she could not permit another Starkiller to be built. No matter how many lives were lost in this battle, it would be nothing compared with the mass annihilation of another super-weapon.

Leia didn’t know where the new weapon was being constructed, not yet. She did know that the planet below them was one of the few discovered sources of the key element in solar energy containment generators, a component that would be vital to any new Starkiller project. The First Order had secretly set up mining operations on the uninhabitable world, and Leia was, at first, determined to obliterate the source.

The remnants of the New Republic had put a halt to those plans, however. Leia dreaded the reasoning behind the fragile new government's decision. It could mean only one thing.

Due to the new orders - instead of destroying the source of the element - they were trying to annihilate the First Order presence and then set up a perimeter patrol, blocking any more efforts at a mining operation and effectively securing the planet for the Republic. However, when General Organa’s fleet had arrived, so had the First Order. The standoff at the beginning of their meeting had started with two enormous vessels - the Star Destroyer and the Resistance command ship, along with dozens of other smaller warships and fighters on each side - facing off in silent defiance. It had quickly descended into a raging battle that neither side was willing to lose.

The more maneuverable TIE fighters easily picked off the X-Wings in open space, but pulled in close to the Resistance command ship for cover, they were holding their own as the Star Destroyer and the General’s ship exchanged fire. Both ships were taking heavy damage. Alarms blared around Leia as she gave commands, turning from one display screen to another, looking for openings, desperately trying to see a way out of this for her and her people.

If they went down in this battle - the majority of the remaining fighting force of the Resistance and the New Republic - there was little doubt that the First Order would succeed in subjegating the galaxy through the sheer terror of their reborn Starkiller operation. Yet, with a sickening feeling deep in her stomach, Leia realized that the battle was turning in favor of the enemy.

A volley of fire from the Star Destroyer ripped into the starboard flank of the command ship and the hull buckled. One more hit and they would lose containment, venting crew and atmosphere into the vacuum. Leia frantically called out to turn the ship, in order to protect the vulnerable spot in the shielding. TIE fighters moved in, attempting to blast through the weakened hull at close range.

“Get those TIE fighters out of there!” Leia called into the com, watching the screens as her pilots banked and engaged the enemy in deadly proximity. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the image of the Star Destroyer moving in, countering the banking movement of the command ship. The weapons lock detector shrilled in alarm.

With the damaged hull, she could not risk keeling over to align the firing trajectory of the heavy guns without exposing the compromised sections of the ship. Though she briefly considered it, Leia’s ship wasn’t in a position to ram the other vessel. The slick white of the Destroyer’s prow angled inconveniently up and to the side, allowing it plenty of time to slip away and round back on her if she attempted such a maneuver.

She closed her eyes for a split second, only long enough to blink the sweat out of her eyes as her mind spun for a plan that might save even some of her crew.

In the moment between closing and opening her eyes, a massive ship had appeared in the middle of the battle. One moment the two command ships had been slowly moving towards one another through a field of fighters, and the next moment the view of the other ship had completely disappeared behind the silent hulk of a vessel that had appeared out of nowhere.

The hull was matte black, barely visible against the void. In shape, it was similar to a Star Destroyer. Rather than being a long flat triangle, the black ship was shorter and had a much deeper hull, cutting down vertically into space. Large half-spheres protruded from the vessel at regular intervals.

“Stand down,” Leia heard herself saying. Why had she spoken out loud? Surely it was madness to let this new ship get off the first volley.

“Are we surrendering, General Organa?” asked one of her officers.

“No.” She stared out the viewscreen at the other ship. “No, we are not surrendering. But we are not firing on that ship,” she said decisively.

The three enormous vessels hung in the tense darkness, slowly moving in the heavy dance of crafts in the vacuum. The smaller fighters were still skirmishing around their hulls, but defensively now, each side waiting for orders.

After a few tense moments, the First Order Destroyer seemed to receive orders from command concerning the newcomer; all guns swinging around to attack the black ship. Before the first shot was fired, a massive pulse rocked from the hulk and both command ships were caught in a sudden gravity well, dragging them off center through space. The smaller fighters were jarred from their flight patterns, careening madly towards the dark vessel.

In the last moment, before the first crafts collided, the gravity well was gone and the fighters pulled out of their spins just in time to avoid impact. Both command ships began putting distance between themselves and the new arrival just as a message flashed up on all display screens in the system.

ALL VESSELS HALT AND CEASE HOSTILITIES. COMPLY OR BE DESTROYED.

Leia’s heart jumped unexpectedly as the words flickered across the screen. All motion came to a halt on the bridge as the crew looked expectantly towards their general. She drew a deep breath.

“Do as they say,” she said simply.

***
Hux had woken up first, stiff and sore, barely healed from the encounter with Snoke mere hours before. Ren had repaired the shattered bones so hastily, that even though he was skilled from so many training sessions, Hux wondered if some of his ribs had not completely knitted together. He groaned and Kylo shifted next to him, his dark eyes blinking open.

They sat for a moment longer, their backs to the control bank, long legs stretched straight out in front. Hux leaned forward, rubbing his face, running his fingertips over the rough stubble that had grown into a short a beard. He could not remember the last time that he had shaved. It must have been when he and Ren were still sharing the same quarters. That was...weeks ago? He was not sure.

He looked over at the knight, who sat in a crumpled heap of black robes. His face looked too pale and dark smudges lay under each over-bright amber eye. Kylo had the look of someone who had survived against all odds and still did not quite believe it.

Had he truly expected Snoke to kill him alongside me? Hux wondered. He knew that wouldn’t have happened, but Kylo was likely still under several delusions when it came to his master. Afterall, he hadn’t even attempted to kill the creature, only restrain him. Ren may have fought to save Hux and himself from death, but Hux suspected, with a sickening lurch, that he was still somewhat under Snoke’s thrall.

Groaning again from the stiffness in his limbs and the dull ache in his chest and sides, Hux clawed his way to a standing position. Beginning with the console directly in front of him, he carefully started taking inventory of the bridge. As much as he would have prefered finding a soft bed and passing out for several more hours, it was vital that they get the ship functioning and leave the sector before Snoke had a chance to send the First Order after them.

Hux could hear Kylo getting to his feet behind him as he began flicking through displays, looking for system reports and star maps. Ren also seemed to be moving slowly and was evidently feeling the effects of falling asleep while sitting up against hard metal. Hux finally located the date and time indicator display and sighed with relief at finally being able to orient himself in that small but significant way to the rest of the universe.

Kylo came to stand beside him at the console and stared down at the date display, eyes widening. “We’ve been here longer I thought,” he said in a raspy voice. He cleared his throat and turned to look down at Hux, who was leaning slightly forward on the console, flicking through maps and trajectory logs, trying to backtrack Snoke’s movements.

“You-” Kylo began, and stopped. He pushed his own heavy hair out of his eyes and studied Hux more intently. “You’ve gotten so thin,” he said at last. “I didn’t notice until now. Why didn’t I notice?” he asked, more to himself than to Hux. The general looked at him for a moment, wondering if there was going to be more. When there was nothing but silence and Ren’s lowered eyes, he turned back to the maps.

“Look,” Hux said, pointing to a map display and tracing his finger back along the ship’s route. “What was Snoke doing out in that sector?” He looked at Ren, who was obviously more concerned with Hux’s state of physical decay than anything having to do with practical matters. Hux snorted softly and enlarged the screen on the last system the ship’s records had logged. “He certainly took his time getting to us,” Hux muttered, noting the travel speed of the command vessel during the period that he and Kylo had been waiting.

Kylo’s eyes were still raking over Hux’s emaciated frame, his expression one that made it impossible for Hux to look him in the face for any length of time. He pretended not to notice when Ren quietly slipped away, vanishing off the bridge without a word. Hux glanced around at the piles of the motionless crew with a touch of fear now that he was alone. He pushed the thoughts away - thoughts of those lifeless bodies slowly rising, boneless and evil, drifting to their feet just out of his peripheral vision. He turned to check that they remained motionless more times than he cared to admit before Ren finally stepped back onto the bridge.

Kylo set a canteen of water and several ration packs on the console’s ledge. He unwrapped one for himself and started chewing. He watched as Hux greedily drank out of the canteen. His thirst had grown painful and the feeling of the cool tasteless water sliding down his throat was heavenly. A few drops slipped into his beard, tickling until he wiped them away. Feeling refreshed, he turned back to the display.

What had Snoke been doing before he picked up his prize Force user and his pet, as he had called Hux? His brow wrinkled at the memory of the scene, which had occurred so recently, yet felt like it had happened weeks ago. The feeling of time stretching only increased his determination to get them out of there. They could be attacked at any moment, and he kept glancing at the alert screens for any incoming craft warnings. He was angry at himself for sleeping, even if it had only been for a few hours, instead of preparing the ship for escape and possible battle. Afterall, they had no idea where Snoke was heading, or what forces he may have staged nearby. Just because the Finalizer was presumably several days away, did not mean that there were no other First Order ships just beyond sensor range.

“You need to eat,” Kylo said suddenly, interrupting Hux’s thoughts. He had been aware of the knight looming close to him for several minutes now, his own ration pack finished.

“Water is enough for now,” Hux responded. “I can eat later. Right now we have to get out of here. It’s not safe.”

Kylo looked displeased with that pronouncement. He reached out unexpectedly and ran a hand over Hux’s side, feeling his ribs under the thin shirt. The hand was incredibly warm and so large that it seemed to wrap all the way around his side, cradling his entire ribcage. Hux jumped back like Ren had hurt him.

“Don’t touch me!” he screamed with such venom that both men stopped dead and stared at each other. Kylo’s eyes were wide with shock, which was replaced with desperation a second later.

“You’re so thin. You look like you’re starving. How did you get like this? I don’t remember you being this...this wasted. When did this happen, Hux? How could I not have noticed?” He was shaking his head slowly as though willing Hux to explain it as a sudden change, something that had happened between their encounter with Snoke and waking up on the bridge. Hux glanced down at his nearly skeletal hands, the wrist bones poking up beneath the translucent skin.

“Hmm, let me think, Ren,” Hux responded, his own voice harsh and unfamiliar in his ears. “Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been eating nothing but one ration pack every few days. Maybe it has something to do with being so sick with pain every day, for weeks, that I could barely keep down anything that I did manage to swallow, and burned up any energy I had in the fire of being pulled apart and put back together again over and over.” He could feel his face getting hot with anger and fear. He could see the look on Snoke’s face when he had snapped his spine. And then the new torture of sleeping alone in that tiny cell. Of watching Ren fix their enemy, making him whole, perfect - even beautiful. He suddenly felt sick and leaned once more on the console, supporting himself against the tide of unwelcome emotions that threatened to drag him down into their undertow.

Kylo’s hand was stretched half out to him, as though he wanted, needed, to touch him, to reassure him somehow. Or maybe he was just frozen there, not knowing what to do, Hux was not sure. Ren’s eyes were too bright, the amber brown glistening, speaking of a regret he could not remedy.

“Hux,” Ren nearly choked, “I--”

“We don’t have time for this, Kylo,” Hux said heavily, with finality. “We have to get out of here. Do you understand? Snoke knows we’re here. We have to leave.” Hux gave an involuntary shudder then, and willed himself to turn back to the display in front of him. With an effort, Kylo pulled himself together, turning to the maps beside Hux. Together they planned their escape route.

***

By the time they finally jumped the hulking ship into hyperdrive, Hux’s hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. While Ren took the helm, Hux double and triple checked their flight plan the and engine and structural status. He was terrified that the ship might be rigged to explode. He couldn’t get the creature’s threat out of his head the first time he’d lay eyes on him. You did well not to transmit a signal. Your ship would have been atomized if you had.

Yet the thought of being caught idle in space, unprepared for either battle or flight, terrified him more than the thought of a bomb, and he frantically prepped the beast to make the jump to lightspeed. The controls were similar to those of the Finalizer, a craft he knew intimately. He had no trouble taking the place of the crew, programming the needed sequences and doing one last systems check.

He could not shake the feeling that the bridge crew would rise silently to their feet at any moment, faceless gleaming heads turned toward him, just out of his line of sight. He shuddered and worked harder, willing the ship to be ready.

“Kylo,” Hux said when they were at last ready to try the jump, “I need you to Force-scan the ship. Look for anything that feels like a device Snoke would have rigged; anything that requires him to, uh, deal with it before the ship moves.”

Ren gave him a weird look, dropping his eyes down to the controls in front of him from where he was sitting across the bridge. Oh god, now what?

“There was a device. I um, deactivated it.” Kylo shifted in the pilot's seat. All the color drained from Hux’s face. “It was set to keep non-Force users from flying the ship. But hey, we don’t count...so it was simple.” Hux stared at him in utter disbelief. Had he just made an attempt to...to lighten the mood?

“Goddammit, Ren!” he burst out. “Are you telling me we could have atomized the ship?”

“Well, I mean, if I hadn’t caught it, but I sensed it when I scanned the ship for issues earlier, before we, uh, fell asleep. Then I took care of the device a few hours ago, when I spaced the physician’s corpses.” Hux ignored the part about the corpses.

“Why didn’t you say anything when you first found it?!”

“Well, you asked about any immediate danger, and it wasn’t. It was designed to activate only when we started using the command controls,” he explained as though to a child, waving at the pilot controls in front of him. Hux looked at the seemingly harmless panel with sheer dread. “I fixed it, Hux, don’t worry.” Hux wanted to murder him. Instead, once he was done trying to bore a hole into Kylo from across the bridge, which he vaguely told himself might be possible now, he sighed and slumped into the commander’s chair. He rubbed his hands over his tired face, possibly for the last time if Ren didn’t know what he was doing. I wish I’d had time to shave, he thought.

“Punch it, then,” Hux said simply, not sure where that phrase had come from. Kylo turned and looked at him strangely for a moment, before sending the hulk hurtling through space with a hum deep in its guts, smooth and lethal; an enormous predator gathering speed for the jump.

***
They orbited a planetoide with a natural sensor-scrambling field while they endeavored to search the ship and come up with a plan for survival. Hux calculated that they could stay in orbit for several days at least before they would need to move out of the field to avoid detrimental physiological effects from the magnetism below. The planetoid was just an added precaution on his part. The ship had jamming equipment, but he felt safer with the planetoid doubling the effect, plus providing a shield from any attacking vessels.

They moved all the inanimate crew to a holding cell off the corridor leading to the bridge. Hux shuddered as he lifted the feet of one of the surprisingly heavy beings, while Ren took the shoulders. They would eventually need to figure these things out, or space them. But for the moment, the holding cell was the best option. Hux obsessively checked and rechecked the locking mechanism, until Kylo asked if he was scared of the things. He stopped then, merely saying he was being cautious.

Ren had christened the black ship the Eidolon, and Hux allowed it without comment. The ship was certainly imposing. The weaponry put even the Finalizer to shame, as did the efficiency of its engines and self-contained fuel generators. Perhaps the most intriguing features were the gravity well projectors and the skin of the ship itself. The hull was matte black, making it virtually stealth as it sped through the inky black. The hull also refracted energy - any and all energy - from scans to laser blasts.

The gravity well projectors, huge bulbous protrusions just under the Eidolon’s dark hide, were powerful enough to rip a Star Destroyer out of hyperspace. The projectors delighted Hux, who had always secretly desired them for the Finalizer. The mechanisms that Snoke had installed were beyond top-of-the-line. They were well advanced beyond anything Hux had even read about. So much power, Hux mused, practically stroking the weaponry specs on the console in front of him. What to do with it?

Safe for the moment, Hux took advantage of the opportunity to take a shower. Though the water did not get truly hot, the feeling of being clean was an oddly intense relief. He shaved his beard, taking extra care to cut the ruddy hairs as close as possible to his skin. The face revealed beneath was all angles, bone-white and pinched. He stroked his sharp cheekbone with his fingers, surprised at how different he looked with his cheeks hollowed out. His eyes were ridiculously large. Lost. Almost haunted. He shook his head, turning away from the mirror. At least he was clean.

They took turns sleeping in their old quarters, Ren insisting that Hux take the first rest period. For once, he didn’t argue. If Kylo reached out to him at all while he slept, Hux was unaware of it. When it was Kylo’s turn, Hux kept a small feeler of awareness out toward him, so slight that he was barely conscious of it, instinctively heading off dreams before they could even take form.

While Hux obsessively studied the ship’s battle and stealth capabilities, Ren saw to the more mundane tasks of setting up new quarters and locating as many supplies as he could. Their old quarters were too far from the bridge to be practical. Ren suggested that they use a meeting room located just off the bridge as sleeping quarters, and Hux absently agreed, not even looking up from the screen he was studying. Later he realized that neither one of them had thought to mention setting up separate quarters. He decided not to think about it too hard.

The last thing Ren hauled up from their old quarters was the mattress from the bed. It was flexible, and he was able to roll it up enough to carry it on his shoulder up to the bridge. Hux paused in his contemplation of the 3-D projections of the internal specs for the engines, and turned to watch Kylo as he walked past him with the mattress over his shoulder. A few minutes later, Kylo emerged from the makeshift cabin.

“Done,” he said. “The facilities for the crew aren’t far from the bridge. We’ll need to go back to the old quarters for showers, unless I can manage to find something closer.”

Hux walked over to take a look at their new living quarters, curious to know what Ren thought was a habitable arrangement. The door was far less secure than the one in their old quarters had been. Hux was relieved at that. He stepped inside.

Ren had moved the large conference table to the far side of the room, leaving it there to serve as a desk and a place to eat. The room was long and narrow, really just an extension of the bridge itself, with a large bank of windows wrapping along the entire wall, nearly floor to ceiling in height. The mattress lay on the floor pushed up to the wall in the middle of the room facing the windows. Hux took it all in for a minute, before turning to Ren. Watching him closely he asked his question, curious to see what the knight’s response would be.

“Where am I supposed to sleep? There’s only one bed.” Hux wasn’t disappointed. Kylo flushed scarlet, his eyes widening at his mistake. He looked at Hux, his mouth falling slack for a moment before he snapped it closed and swallowed hard.

“Oh,” was all he said, voice somewhat strangled. Hux had never seen anyone blush that deeply before. He could practically feel the heat radiating from his skin. Kylo tried to say something else, failed, and wheeled out of the room and was gone. Hux huffed a small sigh, smiling to himself and shaking his head. He went back to studying the ship’s schematics.

Kylo appeared several hours later carrying a slim mattress roll. He disappeared into the meeting room without looking at Hux. A few minutes later, he emerged and walked haltingly over to where Hux stood, still avoiding his eyes. His skin had returned to its natural shade of white, save for a faint glow on his cheekbones. He turned his attention to the screen Hux was studying, careful to stand a respectful distance from him.

“The only mattress I could find was the one from your holding cell,” he stated simply. Hux froze. The memory of Kylo abandoning him in that room came unbidden to his mind. “It seems like the only two rooms prepared for guests were the two we used,” Kylo continued. Hux wondered absently where the physicians had slept. Remembering the very un-human eyes of the one who had tried to slit his throat, he thought maybe they hadn’t needed to sleep.

“What about Snoke’s quarters; he sleeps, right? I don’t see him as someone who would skimp on luxury, when it came to himself,” Hux said, though he didn’t like the idea of sleeping in Snoke’s bed any more than on his old cell’s cot. Just then he noticed Ren shifting on his feet. “You didn’t go into his quarters, did you?” Hux asked, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. “There could be supplies, Ren. He eats, I assume. There may be blankets at least,” he added, realizing that he might stoop so low as to use a blanket from Snoke’s quarters if it meant not freezing during the night.

Kylo just looked at him. Hux could see his attempt to bring his features into some semblance of order, as conflicting emotions crossed his face. Again, Hux was struck by how human he was without the mask. Kylo drew a breath to speak but Hux cut him off.

“Nevermind,” he said. “We can make do with what we have.”

Kylo finally convinced Hux to take a break and eat some rations. He made him leave the work station and sit at the table in their new quarters. Once Hux sat down, he was grateful for the chance to rest his eyes. He was not hungry. He could not remember the last time that he had been. Even with his pants belted as tight to his waist as possible, they hung on his hipbones. He told himself there were more pressing matters than gaining his weight back, but the truth was he could not stand to think about his own body. It did not feel like it was his anymore. Not after what Snoke had done to him. What Kylo had done...

He shivered and yanked his thoughts back from the edge of that particular precipice. Hux cast around for something to talk about, something that would distract Kylo from the fact that he wasn’t really eating his ration pack, just shredding it onto the table.

“Did you really destroy the shuttle?” Hux asked.

“Yes,” Kylo said. He didn’t seem as sheepish about it as Hux would have liked.

“How did you do it? Auto pilot and self destruct? Force-fly it into a star?”

“Um, no...though either would have been much easier.” Kylo looked at him out of the side of his eyes. Hux could see some humor there. Apparently he enjoyed this guessing game. Hux was angry, though not as much as he felt he should be. Afterall, that shuttle had been his most obvious chance of survival. If only Kylo had helped him earlier, helped him to escape. If he had come with him.

Kylo sensed the change in Hux. He was watching his face carefully, though it did not feel like he was reading his mind. He must have seen the small light of amusement in Hux’s eyes flash out and turn dark and anxious as he remembered the feeling of being trapped, all his options stripped away, until there was no possible strategy left except to endure; endure and hope to god that Ren decided to help him. In the end, that is really all he had, and he could not forgive him for that.

“Hux,” Ren said softly, “there was new tech installed on the shuttle after we landed. It was, well, it was rigged for you. I couldn’t take the risk that you would get into the hanger and steal the shuttle. It would have blown as soon as you went to hyperdrive.” His eyes searched Hux’s, imploring, the fear showing. Hux just barely touched his mind with his. He was not skilled at this, but it was similar to reaching out with a hand, or in this case one tentative finger, and brushing his thoughts. For a moment he felt the concern, the sincerity. The battle he had fought with himself on how best to keep Hux safe. He also sensed--

No. He pulled back, snapping his newfound ability back behind his eyes. Had that warning come from himself or Kylo? Hux to took a deep breath, slowly let it out.

“Tell me how you destroyed the damn shuttle, Kylo.”

The knight smirked. Hux snorted. Whatever this story was, Ren was obviously a little smug about it. With no further prodding Ren launched into his explanation.

“I flew it out a safe distance from the command ship, but not too far,” he said, watching Hux for his reaction. “Only a few thousand meters. Just enough to make sure the blast wouldn’t cause any damage to the shielding. I set the auto destruct. And then...I space jumped back to the ship.”

Hux blinked. “Wait, you what?” He stared at Kylo, watching a decidedly goofy one-sided grin spread across his face. Ren laughed at Hux’s horrified expression.

“I pulled the Force around me, aimed, and well...jumped,” Kylo said.

“Wait,” Hux said again, “what about a suit?” Kylo was genuinely beginning to laugh now, the big grin showing both rows of teeth, his eyes bright and the skin wrinkling into long creases at their corners. Hux absently brushed away the thought that he liked seeing him like this. That this was the first time he had ever seen him this lost to joy.

“No suit,” Ren huffed out between soft peels of barely controlled laughter.

“You- you…” Hux being so obviously lost for words pushed Kylo over the edge and he laughed for real, eyes closed and tears running down his face. Hux was smiling wide now, and he imagined he probably looked ridiculous grinning like a fool at this lunatic Force-user. Ren finally pulled himself together, though the wide smile remained, taking up so much of his expressive face. He looked back at Hux with gleaming eyes, wiping away the tears he’d spilled in mirth, then leaned his elbows on his knees and just smiled up at Hux.

Something turned over in Hux’s chest, sharp and fast. He sucked in his breath, unconsciously holding it as his heart beat faster. I...I like this, he thought. This...what? Harmony? Sincerity? This intimacy...Hux stood up with a start, clumsy in a way he so rarely was.

“I’m going to check the field readings,” Hux said quickly.

“Hux-”

“The planetoide is obviously affecting us, well you at least,” he said, shooting a glance at the knight. Kylo was sitting up straight now, a faint hint of his recent laughter hovering in the muscles of his face, in the brightness of his eyes. “We will need to find a new hiding spot soon.”

“I will meditate, try and find us something.”

“Great, you do that,” Hux responded, not sure if he were going for approval or sarcasm. He really had no reason to doubt Kylo’s abilities, especially as he had apparently jumped through the vacuum of space using nothing but the Force. He shook his head and walked out onto the bridge to check the field readings.

Hux had thought Kylo might go find a private place on some observation deck to do his meditation, but instead he wandered onto the bridge a few minutes later and plopped down right in the middle of the command deck, staring out the main viewscreen.

Well, what did you expect? Hux asked himself. Kylo was quiet, the energy coming off him was peaceful, searching and calm. Vast. He was casting a net, Hux could sense it. He was reaching out with a webbing of Force, trying to catch flashes of energy threads, to catch something that would lead them to a new planetary system. Someplace safe.

The longer Kylo meditated, the calmer Hux became, wrapped up in the experience with Kylo. It wasn’t such an invasive feeling that it pulled him from what he was reading, but rather a background hum. It was steadily increasing Hux realized, and after a few more minutes, he was no longer looking at the screens in front of him. Instead he was wrapped up in the calm expanding feeling of Kylo’s mind, drifting with him through the cosmos. So peaceful. Snatches of flickering energy here and there, like bright fish slipping through the void and then disappearing. Kylo let them go, none of them quite what he was looking for.

When a searing bolt of energy hit them through the Force, Hux doubled over, grasping the console in a white knuckle grip. Both he and Kylo called out at the same time, fully enmeshed in one another through the Force, both struggling to get out from under the blinding weight of energy that had just crashed into their minds.

Hux felt Kylo reorganizing the light, reassembling it like code. The speed and grace at which he did so took Hux’s breath away. The feelings behind the light began to emerge. Terror, anger, pain. Then images began to filter through. A battle. A pale green planet glowing like a jewel in the velvet black. Ships. Canon fire. Laser fire. A woman’s voice, raspy yet pleasing, shouting commands.

At the sound of the woman’s voice, Hux felt powerful feedback from Ren. A longing, full of anguish and shame leapt within the knight’s heart, adrenaline crashing through both their systems. One word echoing endlessly in Ren’s mind. Mother.

Before Hux had a second to stop him, Ren was in the pilot’s seat, entering coordinates with a steady hand, fingers flying over controls. In mere seconds they were hurtling through space and towards the raging battle.

***
ALL VESSELS HALT AND CEASE HOSTILITIES. COMPLY OR BE DESTROYED.

It was the only thing he could think to write in the split second he had before the ships could begin any more offensive maneuvers. Hux had barely been able to shut off the gravity well projectors before pulling the smaller ships directly into their hull. Kylo and Hux waited breathlessly for the reaction of the command ships.

“Reach out to Leia,” Hux said, frantically punching controls, attempting to bring the cannons online, preparing for when the Star Destroyer decided to follow through on its orders to shoot them down.

“I can’t,” Ren responded, equally preoccupied keeping the Eidolon between the two hulking command ships and blocking their lines of fire. “She’ll sense it and know I’m here.”

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” More hurried swipes over the controls. How many access codes did the gun locks have? They seemed endless. No answer from Kylo. Hux managed a sigh.

“Their intention is to build another Starkiller Base,” Kylo murmured. “This planet is a source of an element in the shielding.” Hux glanced quickly at their coordinates, then out the viewports at the planet.

“Dammit,” he said under his breath. “I hadn’t realized that this is where we were.” They watched as the fighters broke off and began swarming back to their respective command ships. “Well, the threat worked at least,” he said, grateful that they did not have to shoot any of them down, at least at the moment.

He realized, then, that they had not discussed battle tactics. Up until this point, they had relied purely on each other’s reactions to the situation, partially aided by their Force link. Just what were their guidelines with all this? Would they actually shoot any of these ships down? Hux felt a sickening dread at the thought of firing on those vessels. Would the cannon’s lasers be red, like Starkiller? Red like fire, burning the Hosnian system, ripping apart the atoms of the trees, the oceans, the mothers clutching their babes.

Hux was shaking now, his hands completely removed from the control panel. No. He couldn’t. He would not physically be able to fire the cannons. Panic seized his chest as he realized he would allow them to get shot down before he would be able to defend them. He looked up at Kylo, threw out a projection of his fear. The knight spun around to look back at him for a quick second, before turning back to the helm.

It’s alright, he heard in his mind. You don’t have to fire, Hux. They’re complying.

Hux did a quick sweep of the sensors and glanced out the windows into space, the green planet curving below them. They were, indeed, complying. The fighters on each side had all docked within their command ships. The smaller command units were in formation behind their principal vessels. They were awaiting orders.

Order them to retreat, Ren said directly into his mind. The Resistance ship first. They took the most damage and will be slower. They need the extra time to escape.

Hux relayed the orders, and moments later the Resistance fleet reared and swerved out into open space, coordinates set for their base. In seconds they were gone, light speed making them appear to wink out of existence on the sensor readings. Minutes later the First Order fleet followed suit, and then the black ship was circling the jade planet alone.

They looked at each other from across the dark bridge, Hux’s face glowing red in the light of the displays. Kylo’s face reflected silver and green from the light of the planet below.

“The element used for the shieling is created because of the reaction between the atmosphere and the mineral composition of the planet, correct?” Kylo asked. Hux nodded.

“We have to burn the atmosphere,” Hux said quietly. He checked the sensors one more time. No life forms. Just swirling masses of thick green cloud, poisonous and deadly. The blood of a new Starkiller. Hux released the last of the command codes and the cannons came to life.

“Do you want me to do it?” Kylo asked.

“No. I’ve got this one,” Hux responded. When the atmosphere of the planet exploded into flame, devouring itself in sickly green fire, Hux breathed easier. Saving lives instead of taking them. A novelty.

“We need to get out of here,” Hux admitted begrudgingly, watching the aftereffects of the atmosphere-burn ripple across the planet’s surface.

“I never managed to find us new coordinates,” Kylo said, “Though I can get us safe enough for now.” Hux just nodded his agreement. “And you’re going to eat something. We’re going to get you real food.” Hux snorted. “And, I’m going to train you.” Their gaze snapped together. “If we are going to do this,” Kylo gestured vaguely at the ship and the shuddering planet, “whatever this is, you need training.”

They looked at each other for a long moment, green eyes meeting dark amber. Hux thought of training with Kylo. He thought back to all the things he’d heard about Jedi and Sith training. Yet neither of them had lightsabers, the crystal of Kylo’s weapon having shattered when the Jakku girl forced the blade into the rocky ground of Starkiller Base, causing it to feedback on itself and finally explode. Seeing the expression on Kylo’s face, Hux realized that he had absolutely no idea what to expect.

“Alright,” he said. “Teach me the ways of the Force.” Kylo smiled, and Hux almost laughed at the complete unreality of what he had just agreed to.

Chapter Text

Hux sat at the foot of the mattress, a rough blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He gazed down at the planet below out of the large windows in their new quarters. Kylo had chosen the planet, and although he hadn’t elaborated on it, Hux knew it played a part in the Force training he had so hastily agreed to. The green, brown, and white world below was far from any known First Order outposts, and Hux had made sure that they were camouflaged in the energy-dampening skin of the Eidolon . He was as confident as he could be about their immediate safety.

They had managed to get a shuttle, having first jumped the Eidolon to the fringes of a shady trade route, where they sent out a false signal and disguised themselves as another race attempting to purchase a nondescript shuttle for a low price. Hux had haggled with the two traders that had answered their signal, finally securing a drop-off point and price for the vehicle. When Hux, masquerading as a freighter captain, told them he was paying through a transfer of stolen First Order credits, the dealers did not question his desire to have the shuttle dropped off and left unattended while it was collected. They did, however, raise the price.

When they arrived at the pick-up point, Hux was relieved to see that the traders had indeed honored their agreement, and had left the beat-up shuttle at the coordinates unmanned and unwatched. He wasn’t sure that he would have been able to fire on them, even if they were nothing but smuggler scum. The thought made him sick.

Ren groaned at his first sight of the vehicle they had just purchased, once they tractored it aboard. He inspected it thoroughly and was able to, mostly, convince Hux it wasn’t rigged with any tracking devices. Once they had jumped to a new system, Kylo piloted the shuttle to a low-profile world to pick up supplies. They then jumped once again and established orbit around the chosen planet. They had been circling the world for a little over five hours.

He was alone in the room. Hux still couldn’t bring himself to sleep on the old cot mattress, and had asked Kylo to take it out of the room, mumbling that its energy was wrong and he could not sleep properly with it there, even rolled up in the corner. They continued to alternate their sleeping schedules. Hux was relieved. He could head off Kylo’s nightmares so much more quickly when he was awake, keeping one thread of Force on Ren as he worked on the bridge. That way he never saw any of Kylo’s dreams, not even the hint of an image.

If Kylo ever reached out to him while he slept, Hux was unaware of it. During the last several weeks of his imprisonment - the time he had spent alone in the holding cell - he had developed a knack for passing out as soon as he hit the cot. Whether it was a trick aided by the Force, or simply the exhaustion brought about by pain, shame, and fear, Hux did not know. He was just grateful. Even a week later, now that they were free - were they, could they, ever be free? - he was still able slip into immediate unconsciousness as soon as he lay down. No time to feel cold or gaze at the softly falling gray rain of his memories. No time to sense if the knight spared any thought for him as he plunged toward darkness.

“Hux.” Kylo was suddenly in the doorway, filling it. He had lost a bit of weight, though the sight of it was not as alarming as it was in Hux. Ren still had muscle to his chest and arms. Hux pulled the blanket closer, covering his own bony shoulders.

“Yes?” he asked, lifting his eyes up to Kylo’s face with an effort. He sensed himself looking pathetic and small, hunched up at the foot of the bed. He had no idea how he would be able to hike the terrain on the world below, let alone train in the Force, which sounded like an extremely fatiguing activity. When he had come close to mentioning it - months ago - on the command shuttle, he had been strong, at the top of his conditioning, wiry but powerful. Now he would be lucky to be able to carry his own survival pack.

“We’re going to have to start syncing our sleeping cycles,” Kylo said, keeping all emotion out of his voice. “There’s no way to properly train otherwise.”

Hux sighed and rubbed his thin hands over his face, feeling the soft scratch of stubble. He needed to shave again. He simply nodded. Part of him wanted to tell Kylo to go sleep in his old holding cell while he slept in the bed on the bridge. Ren shifted nervously as Hux remained quiet. He probably expects me to come up with the schedule, Hux realized. He looked over at the tall figure. Even his casual clothes are black. What am I doing here?

“Well”, Hux said, “are you tired now? I was just going to try and sleep, so…” He watched as Kylo just stayed where he was, hands holding the door frame above his head, leaning forward into the room, keeping his eyes trained to the floor. “This was your idea,” Hux said, suddenly sharp. “So get in bed, or go away.” Kylo looked up then, a wide, open expression on his face that Hux couldn’t read for some reason. He shambled over without meeting Hux’s eyes and dropped to a sitting position on the side of the mattress, jostling Hux with his sudden impact, and began pulling off his boots. Just great, Hux scowled to himself.

Ren pulled himself up to the top of the bed so that he could lean against the wall. He was wearing the type of loose pants intended for training and a simple black shirt, his hair falling over his face and just brushing his shoulders. Hux turned away from him after he was settled, gazing back out the window. It was no good, his concentration was completely shattered. All that he could think of was the sound of slow breath behind him, very awake, yet very soft, and the shift of the mattress when Ren moved. He could imagine those eyes on him, boring into his back, taking in his protruding spine, his skeletal shoulder blades under his thin shirt. The feeling of being watched, of being examined, continued to increase, until he finally stood up and walked to the head of the bed, sitting stiffly next to Kylo. He sat in mimicry of the lanky knight, legs stretched out in front, back leaning against the wall.

It was exactly the way it had been the first time they had attempted to sleep in the same bed. Both of them radiated discomfort. This isn’t going to work, Hux thought, refusing to look over at Ren. He looked at their feet instead, first his, then Ren’s, comparing. His own feet were slender and white, not particularly interesting. He kept his nails extremely short. There were a few very faint freckles on the tops. Next to Ren’s they looked like the feet of a child. Hux pulled his legs up and tucked his feet under the blanket, which he pulled off his shoulders and threw over himself, hiding his entire body except for his head.

“You need to eat,” Kylo said.

Anger flooded Hux’s mind out of nowhere, sharp and hot, then just as quickly dissipated. “I guess,” he mumbled.

“Should I get you something? What do you want?”

Hux just shrugged. What he wanted was to be left alone so that he could sleep in peace, or to at least stare out the window and not have to worry about Ren looking at him.

“I don’t care, Kylo.” He pulled the blanket more firmly under his chin, wishing he could just pull it over his head, but he did not want Kylo to think that he was being dramatic. “Just get whatever you want.”

Ren crawled off the mattress and went over to their makeshift pantry. Some of their new supplies were stacked under the conference table, others spilled across the the smooth surface. Even though Hux had felt the pull to organize and take inventory of everything Kylo had brought back, he had not yet found the energy. Kylo rummaged through the piles until he found what he was looking for. He extracted several bright fruits from a cloth bag and began to strip away the outer layer.

“Here,” he said, handing one to Hux. “These are good.” Hux held it, looking at it doubtfully. “Just pull it apart. It’s sort of segmented,” Kylo explained, ripping his own piece into smaller sections and popping them into his mouth. Hux copied him, and as he bit into the first section of fruit, juice spilling into his mouth and over his tongue, he gasped at the intensity of the flavor. His eyes watered. It had been months since he had eaten anything but stale rations, and the sweetness and the acidity of the fruit were overwhelming. He ate slowly, ignoring the sticky trails dripping down his chin. The taste was so fresh, so unprocessed, that he could not think of anything else as he ate.

When he finished he looked over at Kylo, who silently handed him another piece. When he had eaten that, Kylo handed him a slice of bread with a few thin slivers of cheese, then several more as they quickly disappeared. Kylo handed him the canteen of water and then got up to go to the refresher down the hall to wash his juice-sticky fingers. Hux followed him after a few minutes, eyeing the food stash wistfully as he left the quarters.

When they finally tried to get some serious rest, Hux found that it was easiest to let Kylo fall asleep first, while he wandered around the bridge checking status updates and making sure that the perimeter alerts were properly set and would wake them if anything came within sensor range, which he had boosted to its limits. He kept tabs on Ren through the Force, and when he was at last soundly asleep, Hux crept back into the room and carefully slipped into his side of the bed under the blanket.

It was a lot warmer with Kylo there. Hux realized that he must have lain in his spot first, before rolling over to his own side. The pillow smelled like his hair. Hux breathed it in once, then flipped the pillow over and dropped his head into it, willing the oblivion to come crashing down around him. It did not. Concerned, he rolled onto his other side, facing Ren’s large back, watching as his ribs slowly expanded and contracted with his even breathing. The faint light from the windows highlighted the outline of Kylo’s hand where it lay over his shoulder, the arm he was half lying on bent in front of him, doubling back on itself, resting his long fingers over his neck and hair in his sleep.

All Hux wanted at this moment was for sleep to overtake him. He had not slept in over thirty hours. His belly was finally feeling full. It should have been an easy thing to drop off the edge and plummet down into the darkness, just as he had been doing for weeks.

I feel safe , he realized, watching Ren’s side rising on an in-breath. There was no need to rush into the darkness of unconsciousness. His mind could take its time sinking down through the layers, drifting naturally, instead of being flipped off like a sparking breaker. Hux gave into the feeling tiredness that paired with his odd alertness, an irritating combination, at once urging him to sleep and to think. He nestled further into the pillow, absorbing the heat he could feel radiating from across the gap between his body and Ren’s. He wasn’t sure if the smell of Ren’s hair was coming from the pillow or the strands tangled in Kylo’s fingers. I’m going to disappoint him, he thought, sliding closer toward sleep. I’m too weak...can’t control the Force...can’t protect either one of us…

He woke several hours later with the image of Snoke’s face in his mind. It was neither the old twisted face, nor was it the perfectly restored beautiful face. It was a face in transition, open in places down to the bone, blood seeping into gauze. The surgeon’s tools snapped a bit of bone, rearranged a bit of flesh, connected the slim muscle fibers. Kylo’s hands were there too, following, healing, giving life to that face.

Hux reached out and clutched Ren’s shoulders. No! he shouted in Ren’s mind, his voice trapped by his constricted throat. Kylo jumped and then froze. Hux could feel him checking him over with the Force, making sure it was him, looking for the danger, the physical hurt. Finding what Hux could only assume was fear and panic, Kylo slowly shifted, turning over until he was facing him.

“He’s gone,” Kylo said, his voice husky from sleep and dreams.

“For now,” Hux replied. “He...he won’t let you go Kylo.” Ren turned his face and huffed into his pillow, rubbing his face against the fabric for a moment, as though trying to wake himself up enough for this conversation.

“I’m stronger than him, Hux. Like you said.”

“But...you didn’t kill him,” Hux said. Kylo blinked hard at him. “You didn’t even hurt him.”

“I was too caught up making sure he didn’t implode every single one of your organs,” Kylo retorted. For a moment Hux felt that icy grip in his chest, the knowledge that he was about to die. Then the other, warm touch that was Ren holding his heart. He rubbed his face.

“Could you kill him? If he came after us again?” Strange , Hux thought. Us. Not me, not you, but us. He took a long look at Kylo’s face where it lay half buried in the pillow. He knew that when Snoke came again, it wouldn’t be for just Kylo. He shivered. Ren was considering his question.

“Yes,” he said at last.

“I don’t believe you,” Hux stated flatly. With a frustrated sigh, Ren rolled over onto his back and glared at the ceiling. The silence lasted for several minutes. Hux reached out with the Force like he did while monitoring Ren’s dreams. Only this time he pushed harder, seeking to hear Ren’s conscious thoughts. He had never done this before, blundering in and stumbling through Ren’s mind, inexperienced and half blind. Kylo made a noise that sounded like surprise and discomfort rolled into one, and for the briefest of moments, Hux saw his thoughts, his active churning turmoil of a mind. He pulled out gasping from the effort. Kylo was holding him by the shoulders, staring at him wide-eyed.

“That hurt,” Kylo said.

“Sorry,” Hux mumbled, a terrible headache blooming inside his skull from the effort. What had he seen? He was trying to make sense of the images, of the voice - Kylo’s voice - that spoke his thoughts.

“But you did it,” Kylo pressed. “You saw my thoughts?” He seemed about to smile. He seemed excited. Hux felt like he was going to throw up.

“It’s a lot easier when you’re projecting to me,” Hux responded.

“Oh I know, believe me,” Kylo answered. “Reading other people’s minds is completely different than absorbing projections, though there are Force users that can’t even do that.” Hux stared at him. Ren actually seemed proud. “You need training, but your mind is naturally strong.”

Hux pushed at his throbbing temples. Kylo looked concerned and scanned him with the Force. He made a pained expression, sensing the headache. Reaching out he took the copper head in his hands, gently sending warm waves of relief into his skull, easing the pressure. After a few minutes, Hux could breathe again. The headache faded to a dull ache.

“That felt...different,” Hux said. “I mean, from the other times you, uh, healed me.”

“Oh, well I wasn’t healing you just now. Not really. It was more like, redirecting the energy from your head. You threw off your internal balance. I can teach you how to keep it steady so you don’t get headaches. Though,” he added after a moments consideration, “that would mean you could read my thoughts whenever you wanted, and I don’t know if I like that idea.”

“You read mine,” Hux retorted.

“Not very often,” Kylo admitted. “I have self control.”

Hux snorted so loud it was almost a laugh. Ren just narrowed his eyes in the gloom. Hux thought it best to change the subject.

“Ok, so if Snoke isn’t going to brutally murder me the next time we meet, shouldn’t you teach me some useful Force magic tricks?”

“Not magic and not tricks, but, can I teach you how to use the Force? Yes.” Kylo’s eyes lit up. They were two burning coals in his pale face. “That’s what the planet’s for,” he said, sounding suddenly young, almost giddy. “It’s going to be great.” Hux was instantly nervous.

“What’s so special about this particular planet?”

“Oh, you’ll see,” Kylo responded. Was he being, mischievous ? Hux was feeling tired already.

“Alright then,” he sighed. “When are we going down there?”

“Tomorrow,” he answered, not missing a beat.

“Tomorrow,” Hux repeated flatly. Why not, he asked himself. I can barely support the weight of my own clothes, but yes, by all means, let’s go hike around on a mystery planet and do Force training. “Will I need to carry a pack?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Ren responded, for once reassuring. “We won’t be down there for too long. We can bring a few things, but we probably can just leave them in the shuttle.”

That plan sounded a lot better to Hux. Maybe Ren was simply planning on teaching him to meditate. He might just be taking him to a beautiful, peaceful spot, maybe one strong with the Force, and they would practice breathing exercises and meditation posture. He found he was almost looking forward to it now.

***

On the way down to the planet the following day, Kylo explained to Hux how to balance the energy in his body as he projected outward.

“Don’t throw your mind at me,” Kylo said. “Try using your hand, focus your energy through it. It helps keep everything directed.” Hux raised his hand towards Ren’s head, feeling incredibly foolish, but knowing that this was exactly what Ren did while interrogating prisoners. He huffed a sigh and tried to clear his mind as Ren had instructed.

“Hold on just a second,” Kylo said. “Let me land before your first real try, just in case you knock me out.” Hux stared at him, his hand dropping as Ren set the shuttle down in a frosty clearing. “Alright, try it. Just like you are listening for my voice. You can sense that I’m talking, only my voice is all in my mind. You have to go a step beyond physical hearing.”

Hux pulled in a deep breath and raised his arm towards Kylo’s face again, feeling awkward. Then he blinked several times focusing his mind on the way Ren’s voice sounded, its low husky tone, trying to find that feeling inside Ren’s head. He didn’t push forward, instead thinking of their thread of connection, followed it as if he were responding to one of Kylo’s dreams, as if he needed to soothe him back to sleep. Then, all of a sudden, he was in. They both gasped at the feeling. Hux’s hand started to shake but he kept it stretched out towards the knight’s face, channeling the connection through his fingertips.

When he first found Kylo’s mind, the images had been steady, as though he were keeping his mind as easy to locate as possible. Once Hux was there in his mind with him, Kylo’s grasp on his thoughts began to slip, and Hux saw several images in quick succession, all accompanied by different emotions. His family's faces, superimposed with their names, like a double exposure of image and knowledge. Snoke’s face, changing from old to young, young to old, and endless succession. The emotions surrounding his image were mainly confused, hurt. Then Hux. Hux holding his own hand to his chest when Snoke broke it for the first time. Hux on board the Finalizer , strong and whole. Hux as Kylo carried him in his arms through the corridor to the cell, setting him down on the cot, turning to leave him…

Hux felt the memory ripped away from him, a new one set in its place as Kylo began to gain control again. Training. Meditation. How to breathe. Learning how to balance his energy for the first time and how it took away the headaches. Hux tried to absorb it all. The memories came so fast. It was easier than if Kylo were to explain each detail to him out loud, but it was not easy. Hux could sense Kylo’s understanding of his training, and it helped solidify the meaning behind some of his earlier statements on the way down in the shuttle. It was overwhelming, however, and he slowly began to back out of the connection, at last letting it drop altogether. His vision cleared and he was staring into Kylo’s eyes, his hand nearly touching the knight’s collarbone. He quickly dropped his fingers. Kylo looked a bit dazed, but his eyes focused and then he smiled - actually smiled - and heaved a deep sigh, shaking his head slightly.

“Well,” Kylo asked. “Headache?” Hux had to think about it. His head felt numb, fuzzy. But it did not hurt.

“No,” he reported, starting into Ren’s eyes. He still felt a little lost, as though they were still somewhat connected. He could sense a hum right before Kylo spoke.

“Were you able to absorb any of my Force training memories? I tried to pull up the ones that would be the most helpful to you in the stage you’re at.”

“I saw, and heard, and well, felt , quite a bit of it,” Hux said, going back over the glimpses he had caught from Ren. “You were going pretty fast.” Kylo made an indistinct noise at that. “At least I got the part about not getting a headache. I was able to connect it to what you said earlier, and it sort of clicked.”

Kylo was beaming. “Come on, then,” he said, pulling open the shuttle door, “Let’s go put it to work.”

The planet Hux stepped out onto was cold. Of course , he thought. Instead of snow, the grass was covered in frost, making the brown hue of the dormant vegetation muted and soft. The field in which they had landed was bordered on three sides by a frozen river. It snaked and twisted through the landscape.

Hux breathed in the frosty air, zipping up the dark flight jacket Ren had procured for him on his supply expedition the day before. It would have fit him perfectly three months ago, but at his current weight it was large. At least Ren seemed optimistic that he would regain his health at some point. Either that, or he didn’t comprehend just how truly wasted his form had become.

He followed Kylo alongside the riverbed, heading toward a grove of tall trees. They could hear the river rushing under the ice, deep and strong. Hux glanced back at the shuttle, keeping himself oriented to it out of habit. Kylo paused on a ridge, and Hux could feel him casting a net with the Force, similar to when they had been on the bridge of the Eidolon , right before Kylo had sensed that his mother was in danger.

Hux was still enmeshed with Kylo’s mind. He felt the web of Force expand and move through him, traveling outward like it was part of his own thoughts. Ren was keeping the search local, not stretching farther out than several hundred meters in each direction. He pushed a little farther...and there. Hux gasped. A spot flashed up in their joined consciousness, a bright orb, oddly heavy, ripping down through the fabric of the web. Hux jerked his mind away, back into the dim surroundings.

“What was that?” Hux asked, panting. The thing had been so real, so solid.

“That,” Kylo said, “is why we’re here.” From the direction Hux had sensed the thing, a howl went up. It was the wail of an animal, a large animal, calling its pack. A moment of silence followed.

“Kylo…” Hux began, his voice small with fear and uncertainty. His thought was interrupted when the grove nearby and the hill behind erupted in the joined voices of howling beasts, surrounding them from all sides astonishingly quickly. “Where are they?” Hux called out over another volley of bloodcurdling howling. They sounded so near, but he couldn’t locate them, even when one began calling right at the edge of the grove. He heard a snort up behind them, on a higher ridge twenty meters away. Nothing was there.

Kylo gave a strange whoop and almost laughed, his face fierce and determined. “It’s camouflage,” he called to Hux over the din. “They shut themselves off from your mind in the Force.”

“What are they?” Hux asked, breathless now, sweating under the flight jacket.

“Um, they’re sort of like wolves. Well, like wolves if they mated with rancors. Not that big though. I think they only get two meters at the shoulder.”

Hux choked. “We’re surrounded by invisible, Force sensitive, rancor wolves ?” he all but shouted. Kylo laughed again, eyes blazing with a strange light.

“Yeah,” he said, grinning maniacally.

“We don’t have any weapons,” Hux said, near panicking now, rechecking his belt, the jacket pockets, finding nothing. A howl burst out, farther from the tree line this time. They were advancing.

“We don’t need them,” Kylo said, his eyes flashing around like he could actually see the things and was keeping tabs on them. “The point is to locate them, and block yourself from their minds. Like they do.”

“I’m supposed to copy them?” Several arguments ran through Hux’s mind just then, some of the more significant involving the fact that he had not been informed of ravenous invisible monsters, and what he intended to do to Ren if they both lived.

“There’s one right there,” Kylo said pointing right in front of Hux, indicating the beast was only fifteen meters away. “Concentrate, like you did on the shuttle. You know it’s there, you just have to slip past the Force and actually see it.” Out of desperation, Hux threw up his hand and concentrated on the spot.

A monster is right there , he reminded himself. He could almost smell it. Using that as an anchor, he allowed his mind to find the barrier and slip through. It was like wading in knee-deep water. A flickering started, like a heat disturbance in the air, and suddenly he saw it. It was truly a monster. The body was squat and powerful, curled over in massive shoulders and forelegs. The hide that peeked out between patches of rough fur looked like cooled lava, tough and twisted, just like a rancor. The head was more like wolf. A wide row of teeth revealed themselves as the creature snarled. It’s claws were long, like wampa talons.

“I see it,” he yelled. “What do I do?” The howling continued all around, though the creature in front of him was silent. The beast began advancing on him, moving quicker now that it realized its prey could see past its shield. “Kylo!” Hux called. “What do I do ?” No answer. Hux was afraid to take his eyes of the beast to look around. He could no longer see Kylo in his peripheral vision. Where was he?

Concentrating again, he searched for Ren with the Force. His redirection of energy caused the beast in front of him to waver as his shielding guttered over it, though Hux could still see the thing. He groped for Kylo with the Force. He was gone.” Dammit. Dammit! If he ran, the creature would be on him instantly. He stood facing the beast, mentally measuring the distance back to the shuttle. He would never make it in time. Hux had not seen any branches or large stones on the ground, nothing he could use as weapon. He dropped his eyes to check anyway and in that split second the creature sprang at him.

Hands grabbed his shoulder, pulling him to the side as the beast leapt past, harmlessly slicing through thin air. He felt a mantle of energy drop over him, and the world suddenly looked like he was seeing it through distorted glass. Hux squirmed in the hands that held him, looking behind them for the beast. It had landed several meters away and was looking around in confusion.

It can’t sense us. I have a shield up, Kylo said directly into his mind.

How are you doing this? Hux asked back. Can it smell us?

All of its senses are being confused, Kylo responded. I’m doing what they do, only on a larger scale. We’re safe for the moment. Now concentrate. Find the rest of them. Hux obeyed. As much as he would have liked to argue, he knew that the only way to survive this was to follow Ren’s instructions minutely. If they got out of this, he could scream at him in leisure.

Stretching out his hand to help him focus, Hux slowly began to sweep the terrain. He could feel Ren helping him, guiding his mind through their own shield in order to find the locations of the other creatures. There are seven altogether, Ren said. As you find them, tag them. Assign them a thread. That way you can you can create a map and track them as they change position.

Hux searched. He found the one that had pounced and was still sniffing the ground for their scent. Every time it came too near, Kylo sent out a gentle pulse, causing it to turn and circle around the other way. Hux reached out to the thing the way he had so often reached out to Kylo while he slept, and hooked the creature with a thread, feeling it’s life energy and assigning it a mental tag.

Good, Kylo said in his mind, sounding impressed. Now the others. With Ren to guide him, Hux found five more beasts.

I only sense six in total, Hux said, continuing to scan the terrain. Kylo began to search for the missing beast.

Strange, I can't find the last one either, he said, puzzled.

Could you have miscounted? Or maybe they can shield themselves better that you thought?

Kylo shook his head. Hux could sense it without seeing it as they stood back-to-back, slowly circling, keeping an eye on all the creatures. He was tied into Ren’s movements, sensing them before he made them, mirroring his steps.

No, I don’t think so, Kylo responded. I don’t think it could have gotten out of range so quickly, though that seems the most likely. Or it’s dead. But these creatures don’t usually turn on one another that I know of.

Can we make it back to the shuttle?

Of course, but we’re not done with your training. Hux was sweating through his shirt. He could feel the drops pooling in the hollow of his throat and running down his ribs.

Kylo, he mentally growled.

Watch. Ren focused on the creature closest to them, sending out a pulse stronger than the ones he had been using. This time there was an intent behind it. Head east. It was more the feeling of the compass point rather than actual words. The rancor wolf instantly swung in that direction, pointing away from the shuttle and lopping off, it’s tall hunched shoulders bouncing under its skin. Now you. Herd them away from the shuttle. The goal is to be able to walk back unshielded.

Finally, Hux thought . An objective. Then we can leave? He felt Ren smile.

Yes, he said. Hux nodded. He pulled on the five threads still connected to the other beasts and found them all wandering around the plain, two of them in the fringes of the woods. He could see them all in a mental projection, as though he were looking at a screen on the Eidolon .

This mental map thing is extremely helpful, Hux said.

Isn’t it? Ren responded. One by one, Hux reached out with the Force, and showed the creatures the point on his mental map that he wanted them to head toward. Thinking the word east meant nothing to the beasts, but projecting the sense of the direction worked. Mostly. His beasts moved off more grudgingly than Kylo’s, and they had a tendency to stop as soon as he ceased thinking about them. It took a good twenty minutes, but he finally got all of them to keep moving. Once they were far enough away that the threads of connection snapped, Hux took a shuddering breath and turned to Ren.

Kylo held his hands up in defense, waiting for Hux to bite his head off. Instead, Hux leaned his hands on his thighs and lowered his head, trying to clear the sudden dizziness that assaulted him. A tight feeling clenched in his chest, uncomfortable, strange. He gasped, let it out, then gasped again. His breath was shaking him. He was shaking all over. He gasped again. It was...he was...laughing. He collapsed on the cold ground and looked up at Ren, still unable to catch his breath through the laughter. Kylo looked down at him with shock and concern, his expression only making Hux laugh harder.

Finally, he leaned forward and put his head between his knees and forced himself to breathe normally. It took a few minutes, as he kept thinking of his near death experience facing a pack of rancor wolves with no weapons, and of Ren’s incredulous face. Kylo had finally given up and sat down heavily next to him. Hux was eventually able to look at him without giggling. He heaved one last sigh.

“I’m exhausted,” he said. “And hungry.” Kylo smiled, happy to see he had not entirely lost his mind. He stood and held a hand out to Hux, helping him struggle to his feet.

“You weigh nothing,” Kylo said, shaking his head. “I bought lots of protein supplements. They’re not as good as the fruit, but they taste better than First Order rations, and they’ll put the meat back on your bones.” They followed the frozen river back toward the shuttle, Hux stumbling and fighting to keep upright on the uneven footing after having used up all his energy herding the creatures.

As they passed a rise in the bank to their left, Hux felt a flutter at the corner of his mind. Kylo felt it too, but he didn’t turn in time to block the massive body that came flying out of a subterranean cave next to the riverbank. In the split second Hux had to think before it plowed into Kylo, he realized that the cavern must have shielded the creature from both of them. It was larger than the others. The alpha. It was lunging for Kylo’s throat. Instead of protecting himself, Kylo had thrown a shield instinctively over Hux, leaving himself open.

Without having to think of what he needed to do, Hux scraped together every last ounce of energy left in his pitiful body and reached out and grabbed the beast around the neck with the Force. He pulled back with his mind, his body, his sheer will. You are not going to kill him, Hux thought simply. Against all odds, the wolf’s trajectory slowed and stopped just as in reached its claws into Ren's shoulder, tearing down, blood on its talons. Then it snapped around, turning and hurtling at Hux who was already falling backward. Right into the frozen river. The shield around him snapped off as Kylo cried out in pain.

The impact of Hux’s body cracked the ice, but it was the creature’s sheer bulk landing over him that sent both of them through the ice and into the freezing water below. Hux bucked, trying to get out from under the creature, its jaws snapping millimeters from his face. Shoving at it with his feet, he sensed the body of the beast get caught in the strong, deep current of the river. Hux reached up desperately, lungs already burning for air. He tried to grab the edge of the ice. The bright circle above was the only spot of light under the dark water. The edges kept breaking away and he was too weak to get his arm out and over the lip of firmer ice. As he struggled, one of his booted feet thrust straight down, deeper into the river. The current grabbed him and ripped him away from the circle of light, pulling him along under the ice. Nothing but dark. Trapped. Alone.

His fingers scrabbled underneath the ice, trying to find a purchase. He could feel the flesh tearing off, could sense plumes of his own blood flowing through the icy water. Not the vacuum of space, then. A black river. No air and no light. But at least it was not the void. At least in the river his body would disintegrate quickly. He would become part of the ecosystem, his atoms blending with other living things. This was better, all considered. All the same, he thought, still ripping at the ice, his grasp getting weaker as the last of the air left his lungs, I would have rather died doing something useful. Maybe fighting next to Ren. Bringing Snoke down once and for all. That would have felt good.

He sensed it then, the way his body seemed to shrink even further, growing smaller, as small as a child. He felt the walls materializing around him. A tiny place. Four walls. A floor and a ceiling. It was the closet. He could hear his father locking the door. The next training period for the cadets wasn’t for three days. He wouldn’t remember Hux was locked in there until he didn’t show up, three days from now. By then, Hux would be desperate for water and ashamed of having had to relieve himself on the floor, disgusted by the feeling and the smell. He would need to shower, barely able to make it to the refresher on his own. Too weak. Always too weak. All that was ahead, however. For now it was just the dark, claustrophobic closet. The place where he did not exist.

A moment later and he was no longer in the small room. It was suddenly bright. He was gasping, his lungs begging for air, straining to pull it into his chest. Was he laughing again? Is this laughter? Why does it hurt so bad?

Shh. Shh. You’re going to be okay. It’s okay. Panic in that voice. Strange.

He was being lifted and then he began to grow warm. The fluttering was back. The warm friendly buzzing in his head that used to lull him to sleep at night. Only it was stronger than before. Bright and hot. He gasped at the sudden pain in his fingers. They were roughly taken in someone’s hand. They stung for a moment, then felt better. It was bright for a little bit. Then he felt like they were going uphill, and then it was dim again. The arms started to lay him down.

No! he cried out. Was that out loud or in his mind? Don’t leave me here . Grasping the shoulders of the person holding him. Reaching up, blind, finding the neck, throwing his arms around, squeezing for all he was worth. No! Please, please don’t leave me here. Kylo! Don’t leave me in the cell, I can’t stand it. Please. Don’t leave me.

Shh, he heard again. I won’t leave you Hux. I promise. There was something that sounded like a sob. I promise never to leave you again. Oh god, I’m so sorry, Hux. I’m so sorry.

He could feel himself nodding against the neck, the hair that smelled like...what was that smell exactly? He was being clasped tightly. Then he felt the buzzing hum, felt a hand cup his head. Knowing what was coming and welcoming it, he plunged into unconsciousness.

***
The following poem was written for this chapter by mrlsqu

Under water voices sing
whispering
a cacophony: noises from my past
(fears and tears, regret and screams)
turned into a melody

Oh, harsh melody
sirens
stirring me a w a y
let go
come general, they mock, let go
gain peace in our bitter coldness

Oh, harsh truth
their greedy hands holding me & I
want to slip and slide
away until my limps
and mind and heart (or its remains)
are frozen.

Oh, harsh cold
I beg, take me forever
but then right above the surface
is another voice that calls
this time a symphony
of gentle, glowing warmth

That sings; A promise ‘I won’t leave you.’
(Please, don’t fade away)

          B. Hux, inbetween life and death

Chapter Text

This beautiful art was created by Stawberry-soo. She has also written an amazing Kylux fic called Just the Usual.  

 ***

He moved his head on the pillow and a dull ache flared at the base of his skull. Hux groaned and went still. He felt uncomfortably tangled in the blanket as he struggled to break through the haze that had settled so firmly around his recent memories. He had been in the small room...no...under the ice. Drowning. Kylo had...saved him. Somehow. After being attacked by that creature.

Ren.

Hux fought to sit up and realized he was still in his damp clothes. Kylo seemed to have simply laid him on top of the blanket and then pulled the other side over to keep him warm. The band of his pants had chafed his tender skin raw where it had twisted tightly around his waist at an awkward angle, the wet fabric constricting around his body. He straightened the waistband and the tension eased. Rubbing his hands over his scratchy jaw and rumpled hair, in disarray from drying while he slept, he looked around for Kylo.

He wasn’t in the bed, though dark smears of blood stained the sheets, telling Hux that he had been there at some point. Why was he still bleeding? Couldn’t he simply heal himself?

A stab of panic ran through Hux. What if he was hurt worse than he thought? Ren had managed to get them back to the Eidolon , and had obviously carried him at least twice during that effort. It might have been too much for his injured shoulder. He might have lost a lot of blood, especially if he had been more concerned with Hux’s safety than his own. Hux admitted that was in the realm of possibility, considering his actions on the planet.

He pulled himself to the edge of the bed, steadying his body for the trial of getting to his feet. He was pulling himself up, realizing that he could indeed stand upright on his own, when he saw him. Kylo was sitting against the same wall as the bed, curled up in a dark alcove formed by a girder running from floor to ceiling near the corner of the room. He was partially hidden, but Hux clearly saw is long feet and the pale hands clasping the dark fabric over his knees.

Hux approached slowly, sensing something was wrong. Ren was hiding in plain sight. There was no reason for him to have collapsed in the corner. Hux crept closer until he could see him clearly.

Oh.

Hux immediately clamped down on his panic. Ren sat hunched against the wall, his hands clasped in agony around his knees, his whole body looking broken and exhausted. His face gleamed with sweat. Long strands of his dark hair were plastered to his cheeks and neck. Those dark eyes of his, usually so expressive and alive, were dull and glazed, seeming to stare right through Hux and out into the void beyond the window.

Ren had pulled his shirt off, peeling away a layer of clotted blood from his wound in the process. There were four gashes: three deep and ragged, one shorter and more shallow from the rancor-like formation of the beast’s talons. The longest one started on the top of Ren’s shoulder, ripping over the muscle, and ended on his torso just over his opposite hip. The gashes became more shallow the farther down Ren’s body they had raked. Hux wondered vaguely what would have happened if he hadn’t been able to pull the beast back. If instead of his shoulder, the creature had caught Ren’s throat.

“You idiot,” he mumbled, trying to focus. “Why didn’t you shield yourself? I was in no immediate danger.” Kylo’s eyes flicked weakly up at the sound of his voice, but then dropped into their glassy stare again.

Hux knelt slowly in front of him. The pale skin around Kylo’s wounds was unnaturally red. The whole area looked slightly swollen and puffy, stretched tight and angry at the edges. He put out a hesitant hand and let it hover over the damaged skin, not touching. The heat coming off Kylo was intense.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Hux looked around the room frantically as if a med kit or a droid would suddenly appear out of thin air. He thought about the supplies Kylo had brought back to the ship just a few days ago. Had Ren thought to get medical supplies? Hux still hadn’t taken inventory. He mentally berated himself for being so careless. Now Ren’s life depended on having the right supplies to treat his fever and the infection so clearly raging in his system, and Hux was completely unprepared. Completely useless.

He fought the unexpected sting in his eyes. Don’t be a weak fool , he all but screamed at himself. Ren jumped. He must have heard him. Hux struggled to get a hold on his emotions, to slip into the calm efficiency he had used as the commander of the Finalizer and Starkiller Base. Where was that cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch when he needed him?

Scraping together what was left of his self control, Hux concentrated on making a mental priority list. Healing Ren’s infected wounds was number one.

Resources at his disposal:

Medicine? Unknown. Time to search the supplies? Possibly.

Med bay on the Eidolon? Ren claimed there wasn’t one, and Hux had been unable to locate any dedicated medical space in the logs thus far, though he had barely gotten started on that task. He had let himself slip so much...No, focus.

Snoke’s quarters? Maybe, but Hux didn’t know their location. He could look it up in the computer system. Could he get in? Surely Snoke’s chambers were sealed.

Droids? Unknown.

Outside assistance? Too risky. Not enough time.

There was one other possibility. A tremor racked through him. He reached out slowly, taking one of Ren’s hands in his. Kylo let him pull his hand away from his knee, and the other arm dropped at the same time, laying crumpled and limp next to his body. Ren’s eyes moved slowly, not tracking anything in the visible world. Touching him, Hux could sense something was terribly wrong. The infection and fever alone should not be making him this unresponsive.

“Kylo,” he said out loud, willing him to understand. “I need your help. I don’t know how to heal. In fact, I doubt that I have that ability. I need you to help me focus your energy. You have an infection and a fever. We need to get it under control, alright?” Ren didn’t give any indication that he understood, though he did stare towards Hux’s mouth while he spoke, his attention drifting away again as soon as he was silent.

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Hux emptied his mind and focused on what it had felt like when Ren healed him. He had been protecting himself from those thoughts for nearly two weeks, and the memory of the feeling came with a wash of something deep and dark. Ren groaned. Hux struggled to push the pain away, to remember only the healing. He concentrated on that moment, each time, when the flesh knit and the pain lessened. Still holding Ren’s hand, he brought their entwined fingers up to Kylo’s burning shoulder, hovering above the start of the deepest gash. He focused. Hard. He mentally demanded that Ren concentrate on healing himself, the Force stirring around them like electric mist.

The burning. Hux could feel it ghosting over his own body, could feel himself superimposed over Ren through their connection. He thought of all the cool soothing memories he’d sent Kylo before, and this time he made Kylo connect with them, to focus the sensation through his own connection to the Force, pulling at the infection at the cellular level, so much deeper and more intricate than what Hux could reach on his own. The pain of the wound began to be replaced with the ache of healing. Ren had never actually felt this himself, Hux realized, pushing the thought aside so that he could concentrate fully on directing Kylo’s energy. The fever began to fade and the skin started to knit itself closed, so much more slowly than when Ren was in direct control. Hux was sweating with the effort. Although the healing energy wasn’t originating inside himself, he was channeling a large portion of it, and it was draining his already exhausted system.

He felt the energy waver and drop away. The wounds had completely healed. He rested Kylo’s hand gently at his side and ran his fingers over the shoulder. No hint of the fever remained.  Hux sighed in deep relief.

He was about to smile and tell Kylo he was allowed to get in the bed rather than stay huddled on the floor when he saw his eyes. The half-formed smile faded. Something was still wrong. The fever was gone, the pain of his shoulder and torso had faded to a memory, but Kylo’s eyes were still vacant. His head lolled on his long neck, and he seemed to be watching things that weren’t there. Sweat continued to bead on his forehead as his eyes moved listlessly in their sockets.

Hux sensed something just underneath the surface of Kylo’s mind. He was practically projecting it to Hux, it was so powerful. Taking a deep breath, Hux plunged into Kylo’s mind, seeking the source. If he had another injury, Hux thought he might just have enough strength left in his system to soothe the pain to a tolerable level.

Ren’s eyes snapped to his, a moment of clarity breaking through. No, he said in his mind. Poisoned.

Poisoned...What was he talking about? Hux pushed a little deeper, trying to hear Ren’s voice in his mind again, trying to get some clue as to how to stop this new pain he sensed ripping Kylo apart. Then he felt it, the same hot weight as the creature that had been caught in Ren’s metal web back on the planet. Instead of feeling like a heavy orb, it was like a flashing bolt of thick energy. It slipped like a razor into Hux’s thoughts, seeming to sense his intrusion into Ren’s mind, latching on as if it had its teeth on his throat.

Hux called out and fell back, flinging his arms over his head as though warding off a physical attack. It was there in his mind suddenly, all of his pain and regret. Ren was there with him, pulled into his head by this thing, this venom that unleashed their Force sensitivity against themselves and each other.

The melding of their nightmarish thoughts was similar to the first time they had slept in the same room. Hux hadn’t been able to keep Ren out of his mind then, either. In addition to the familiar horrors of Kylo’s mind, Hux now had some excruciating memories of his own. The image of Snoke transforming, the pain of being torn apart and mended over and over.

The worst memory, however, was the moment Kylo had locked him in the holding cell with no word of explanation, keeping the Force clamped down on his mind, refusing to let him think or feel until Ren was a safe distance away. Not wanting to see what he had done, the wreck he left behind. That’s when his body weight had really started to drop off. When all he sought at night was oblivion. When Hux had voluntarily shut himself in the closet, his most painful memory from childhood, just to escape Ren. How dare you lock me up in my own personal hell and then project your pain onto me in your dreams. How dare you make me witness your guilt over what he does to me. How dare you.

He could feel Kylo’s mind there with him, wrapped up in the same sickly nightmare haze. He was fighting against the words in Hux’s mind, trying to block them out and failing. They were both collapsed on the floor, neither able to fight the poison in Kylo’s system.

You are weak, a voice grated in Hux’s memories. You are weak and foolish, just like your mother . Hux tried to cover his ears, to block out the cold voice. He couldn’t quite manage to get his hands to his ears. All of his limbs were paralyzed.

Kylo groaned a mere meter from Hux, his memories taking dominance in their joined consciousness. He was hearing Snoke’s voice saying almost the same words, only they were about his father. Ben Solo’s father is weak and foolish. Both Ben and Han deserve death.

Hux gasped, the images of his long-dead father and Snoke overlaying in his mind, their voices syncing together. Weak and foolish like your mother/father. Weak. Pitiful. Worthless. You would be nothing without me.

He remembered his words to Kylo in the holding cell. We have never been free. The images snapped back to the small prison, Hux huddled desperately for warmth, blocking Kylo, staying locked tight in the small room of his mind, hiding from him, from the pain.

Even when Snoke had been breaking him to pieces, Hux had been able to sleep in the same bed as Kylo. He had been able to reach out to touch him, calm him when the nightmares came. Kylo had been there to take away the cold, the loneliness. His deep soft voice in the dark room, saying his name. The warmth buzzing in Hux’s mind before he dropped off to sleep. Then the cell, the shock of hearing the mechanism turn in the door, the sense of Kylo walking away down the hall. Too weak, too weak. Just like your father/mother.

Kylo’s voice suddenly. Don’t make me do this. Images of his father’s face, of Snoke erupting through his brain like a cancer. You must, boy. The familiar feeling of Han Solo falling to his death, burning, forgiving, loving Ben still. Kylo sobbed, both in the present and echoed from the past. A small voice screaming, hating Snoke, hating Kylo Ren.

Then Hux’s face, white, hiding the fear behind a brave front, knowing the pain was coming. Ren’s anguish as Snoke snapped Hux’s bones. First his delicate fingers, one by one. Then his toes. Followed by his slim wrists and ankles. Each rib, slowly. The pressure building, the pain increasing beneath invisible thumbs, pressing on each slender bone until it parted in a blinding flash of anguish.

Their memories and sensations were overlapping. Kylo felt the true source of the other’s pain, the desperate yearning Hux had to be saved, to be protected. The choking ache of knowing he wouldn’t be, that he didn’t deserve it. Not General Hux, destroyer of worlds. Not the little boy locked in the room where he did not exist. Neither of them worthy of being saved. Weak. Foolish.

Kylo was trying to reach out to him. Hux could sense the effort, the need to reach out and touch him. He was begging for something over and over, and Hux could barely make out the words. It was mostly just the overwhelming feeling of sorrow and loss. I’m sorry, so sorry. Please forgive me. I know I don’t deserve your love. Please forgive me. Please forgive me.

Hux was dazed. He wasn’t sure who Kylo was talking to. His father? Ren kept reaching out, the paralysis beginning to release them. Kylo was able to pivot slowly and stretch out on his stomach, straining until he could just grab Hux’s wrist. He held it weakly, breathing in a sigh of relief, as if he had worried Hux weren’t really there until he felt him solid beneath his fingers.

They lay like that for a few minutes, both straining for breath, feeling the poison drain away from Kylo’s system. Their minds slowly pulled apart, disentangling and retreating. Hux lay sprawled on his back, the last of his strength spent. Kylo moved cautiously forward, reaching out and pulling Hux’s fragile weight towards him, holding him away from his body, gently, as though afraid to hurt him. His dark eyes were tired, but they were in focus, no longer glassy and lost. He searched Hux’s face, cradling it in his large hands.

Are you alright? he asked softly, his voice a caress in his mind. Hux gazed back at that face, that face that was as beautiful as the first time he saw it without the mask. The same night he had felt the light side of the Force and had realized it had been there the whole time, waiting.

“Hux,” Kylo said softly, his voice reduced to a raspy breath. “Are you alright?” Hux looked into Kylo’s eyes a moment more. He began to shake his head back and forth, twisting his face from side to side in in Kylo’s hands. A pressure began building in his chest, tight and desperate. A bubble of pure agony rising through his center, scraping up his throat. The sob tore from him, so unexpected that Hux froze, his wide brimming eyes meeting Kylo’s.

“No,” he choked out, another sob wracking him. Tears slipped out of his eyes, falling onto the floor, falling into Ren’s hand where he cupped his face. His chest was convulsing with the overwhelming power of his sobs. He was being strangled by his own body. The spasms were so strong that he no longer made any sound. Hux curled up on himself. His eyes screwed tight, shutting all of it out, retreating. Instinctively he looked for the small room. He needed to slip inside, to hide from this terrible pain.

Kylo was suddenly there, blocking the way. Hux fought him. He needed to hide, to be safe. He was not safe, and neither was Kylo, and he could do nothing because he was so weak weak weak. Ren wouldn’t get out of the way. He was blocking the room where Hux didn’t exist, not allowing him to enter, to shut himself up inside its nothingness.

“You exist, Hux,” came Ren’s voice, gasping in shared pain. “You’re real. You’re not weak. Please, don’t disappear on me again. I...I can’t go through that again.” Hux found that he could finally take a breath. It was a pitiful gasping sound released in a rush, a half-sob. Another gasp. He was on the verge of hyperventilating. He tried to steady it. Failed. Tried again.

Strong arms pulled him close, encircling his head, giving him a place to hide. His forehead rested against Ren’s chest. He was in a dark cave filled with nothing but his breath and Kylo’s heartbeat. He took in a long shuddering lungful of air, slowly released it. His body went slack against Ren’s. He concentrated on breathing, coming back to something that resembled calm.

Warm. He was warm. And safe. There was a headache also. His whole body hurt. He was hungry and thirsty. But all of those things were secondary. He was warm and safe, and Kylo had said he existed, that he was real.

Hux reached his arm around Ren’s ribs, holding him close. Slowly he began to relax. He felt crushed and boneless, sinking deeper into the safe darkness of Ren’s embrace. He fell asleep in the cage of the knight’s arms, Kylo’s chin resting on his hair

***

General Organa counted the ships as they appeared in the vacuum as if conjured there by some ancient magic. Her fleet was coming out of hyperspace, each sudden materialization on the screens and out the viewports confirming that they had in fact made it, that her people were safe.

It had been a stressful transition for all of them. Once the First Order had learned the location of their base, the entire planet had to be abandoned, and the search for a new permanent location had begun. She had been able to maintain order through it all, arranging rendezvous locations to keep her fleet up-to-date and organized. Her worst fear was that they would become scattered throughout the galaxy, picked off by the First Order and any others who stood to gain from the demise of the Resistance.  

Once the fleet was accounted for, the captains of each cruiser met on the Breha, Leia’s command ship. A location for the new Resistance base had been unanimously decided on, and preparations for the secret setup of the new command center were underway.

“The main structures are already in place, crude at the moment, but fortified,” General Organa explained, switching on the holo projection of the base’s construction. “We will make the jump to the system tomorrow. The details will be communicated to you through a priority-one security channel. I don’t need to tell you how vital it is that we keep this information secret. The fleet will be at its most vulnerable when we drop out of hyperspace. We will be sending scout ships ahead to verify that it is safe to make the jump.”

Leia pulled up a low-quality image of a hulking ship, the only one she had available to display. “The ongoing investigation into the black ship, which we encountered during our last clash with the First Order, hasn’t turned up any significant information. It was briefly seen in two sectors before disappearing completely. We are continuing to view the vessel as hostile, though the true intentions of its crew, or indeed their origin, is still unknown.” She switched off the projection, and moved on to the next point on her agenda.

“As you are aware,” she continued, “Snoke has turned up recently aboard the Star Destroyer known as the Finalizer, the flagship of the First Order. The former captain of the Destroyer, who was also the designer and commander of Starkiller Base, General Hux, is missing and presumed dead. The leader of the Knights of Ren…” here Leia paused for just a moment, steadying her voice, “has also gone missing. Also presumed dead, though I promise you, he is not.”

She stared at the faces in front of her steadily. None of them looked back at her with any doubt in their eyes. Her heart gave a small stab of gratitude. She drew a breath, about to continue with the meeting, when something rolled over at the back of her mind. It pulled at her. Something in the room wasn’t right. She looked over the small assembly again, searching for the pang of doubt. Nothing. She sensed nothing treacherous. Yet…

“We have learned that Snoke is redoubling his efforts to hunt down and destroy all Resistance members, making it essential we reach the base quickly and do our upmost to keep it’s location unknown.” She searched the minds in the room as best she could. No further warnings from the Force.

“There have also been some very disturbing reports about Snoke himself,” Leia was quiet for a moment. She didn’t want to say this out loud, didn’t want it to become real. “We believe him to have...transformed. It is possible his species can renew themselves, but that is only one explanation for his apparent return to youth. Another is that there is a new being calling itself Snoke. Whatever the explanation, something significant has happened in the top ranks of the First Order that might be exploited to our benefit. Full reports have been sent to you on secure channels. Please review them and report to me if anything of significance occurs to you, any knowledge your experience or race carries that we have not already considered. I look forward to welcoming you all to our new home tomorrow.”

Leia shook hands and murmured words of encouragement as the assembly filed out. Each face seemed sincere, each mind radiated loyal determination not to let her or the Resistance down. She shook her head gently once she was alone, and thought of the coming day with anxiety.

***

Hux woke to the sound of Ren rummaging through their food horde, pulling out packages in preparation for assembling a meal. Caf was brewing. Hux inhaled deeply as he sat up, rubbing his face. Kylo had put him back on the bed after he had...Fallen asleep in his arms. His mind shied away from the memory.

He needed a shower. He was still wearing the same clothes from when he had fallen through the ice. They were completely dry now, but they felt scratchy and stiff. His stubble had grown out to the point that it felt almost soft as he ran his hands over his jaw. His eyes slid over to Kylo, ready to turn away if he was looking in his direction. Kylo’s hair was wet, he was freshly shaven, and he was wearing clean clothes. The scent of his drying hair was subtle and mixed with the smell of caf.

Pulling himself to the side of the bed farthest from Ren, Hux climbed to his feet and began searching for his boots, finally locating them where Ren had apparently tossed them the day before. He saw that Ren had stripped the bloodstained sheet from the bed and had thrown it in the corner of the room. He sat back on the bare mattress and pulled his boots on. He would eat, get cleaned up, and then get to work.

During the incident last night, Hux realized that he had let himself get far too lax. He didn’t know nearly enough about the ship, and that could have potentially cost Ren his life. He started to organize his list of priorities, mentally slotting them into a schedule for the day. Still planning, he walked over to where Kylo sat at the table pouring caf. Ren slid a plate of food over to Hux, who sat down and began devouring his breakfast, only half aware of what he was eating. He was too consumed with hunger and planning to worry what he was chewing, though he realized that it tasted fresh. He drank his mug of caf, staring into the middle distance, thinking of the logs he needed to review, the schematics he would have to go over. Then there were those half machine things in the cell that still needed to be evaluated and…

Kylo slid his hand over the back of his, soft and questioning. Hux jumped. Ren withdrew his hand hastily, murmuring an apology. Their eye’s met for the first time since Kylo had taken his tearstained face in his hands the night before. Hux’s mouth fell open slightly, remembering. He pushed hastily away from the table and stood up. Avoiding Ren’s eyes, he quickly left the bridge and headed for their old quarters.

He took a long shower, scrubbing himself with antibacterial soap twice before he felt clean. He refused to think of what had just happened, or of what had happened the night before. He carefully shaved the soft red stubble from his face, gazing into the foggy mirror. His hair was getting long. He didn't have any scissors, so he just tucked it behind his ears.

Hux was buttoning his shirt when he started to feel uneasy. He looked around the room, knowing he was alone, but suddenly feeling a presence nearby, a feeling that he was being watched. It was familiar. It was also faintly terrifying. His hands trembled as he pulled on his boots. A faint pulsing at the back of his mind was warning him of danger. He was headed for the door when Ren’s voice sounded in a panic inside his mind. He jumped, realizing almost at once that Kylo was on the bridge and projecting to him through the Force.

What is it? he called back, hoping Kylo could hear him. He could sense him in his mind, their connection suddenly very strong.

Snoke is trying to reach out to me through the Force. I’m blocking him but-

Hello, my dear general. Hux froze in the corridor that led to the bridge. He spun around. There was nothing in the dim corridor. It just stretched impossibly far in either direction, empty. Hux tried to squirm away from the presence in his mind, but it remained clamped inside his skull. He couldn’t hear Kylo anymore. Hux moved off in a dead run for the bridge.

Kylo, he called through the Force, aiming every fiber of his being toward the bridge. He felt a small pulse back, but it was hastily blocked by the new voice in his mind.

You care so much for our Knight of Ren, I am touched, Snoke said, pouring his smooth words into Hux’s head. I too find thoughts of him difficult to ignore. And while he may shut me out for now, I only wish to provide him with a gift. Hux was only moments from the bridge. He began shouting Kylo’s name out loud as he ran, desperately listening for a response.

Please tell him something for me, if you’d be so kind, Snoke continued smoothly. I recall him being distressed over the way his parents abandoned him as a child. He has already dealt most efficiently with his father, but there remains the matter of his mother. Please inform him that I plan to take care of her, for his sake. He need never worry about her exacting revenge on him for his father’s death. Soon General Organa and her fleet will be nothing more than so many atoms, and our dear knight can rest easy, knowing he has such loyal friends who wish to protect him. Is that not so, general?

Snoke’s voice snapped off the exact moment Hux laid eyes on Kylo. He was standing near the wall of windows, turned halfway between the darkness and the door, his hands clamped over his ears and his eyes squeezed shut.

Kylo, Hux called in his mind. Ren’s eyes flew open and he dropped his hands.

“Did you hear?” Hux asked.

“Yes.” His eyes were widening, panic setting in. “He meant it, Hux. He’s going to kill her.”

“No, he’s not.” Hux replied. He straightened himself as best he could, squaring his shoulders and holding his head up, channeling that son-of-a-bitch who used to command the Finalizer. He began booting up the Eidolon’s systems, preparing for hyperdrive, bringing the weapons online one by one with a quick, cold efficiency he had missed. “We’re not going to let him.”

Ren stared at him. Hux caught his eye and nodded to the helm. Kylo slipped behind the controls.

***

The scout ships had all reported back. They hadn’t picked up anything on scanners, and the system appeared to be unwatched by First Order forces. Still, Leia felt a nagging doubt. She had learned to listen to such warnings. They had served her well in the past. This time, however, the feeling was too vague, too out of focus. It could be a whisper from the far future, or from the past. It might pertain to their current mission, or have nothing to do with it.

General Organa had made the firm decision to jump the fleet all at once. They were strongest in a pack. She wouldn’t send them in waves only to be picked off as they arrived at their destination. She also didn’t want to send them to differing coordinates for the same reason. If there was an ambush waiting for them, they would face it head-on, together. At least then they stood a chance of giving as good as they got.

She stood tall, bracing for the jump, and gave the command. At the mark, the whole fleet around her hummed into life and hurtled toward lightspeed. Once it had been confirmed that all craft were in hyperspace and on course, she turned again to the large projection of the system they were about to enter. She had studied the maps thoroughly and had memorized this particular projection. She had prepped the sensors to immediately light up the map with any and all energy sources as soon as they dropped out of hyperdrive.

Leia was so intent on the projections and double checking weapon and scanner readouts, she almost didn’t feel the sudden thrum of the Force, like a gentle tap on the shoulder, calling for her attention. She looked up and let her gaze wander around the bridge when the whole ship gave a massive shudder and was ripped out of hyperspace. Leia and her crew all simultaneously grabbed their consoles to keep from being thrown to the floor.

“Report,” Leia called, while furiously pulling up displays on her console. They were dead in space. It seemed that the entire fleet had been stopped in one fell swoop. Her screens lit up with the images of the Resistance vessels. They began reporting in, asking for clarification and orders. No casualties were reported and all vessels were accounted for. Leia allowed herself one split second of relief. Then she saw the dark shape in the void.

Her heart leapt. The black ship. It had to be the same one, there was nothing else like that craft on record. Her heart beat strangely. There was something about this vessel that called to her. It was the same the last time it had appeared and saved them from the First Order’s fleet. At first Leia had been terrified that the vessel represented some new threat, and while she hadn’t ruled out that possibility, the fact that the it had obliterated the only source of the shielding element for the Starkiller design had greatly increased her hope that they were somehow on the same side.

There was something else, something shielded from her. Something important…

The crew finished running an initial check, and reported no damage. The same report was coming back from the rest of the fleet. After the initial shock of losing the hyperspace engines, everything had come back online, and they were back to full status.

You can’t continue to your destination, the voice said in her mind. It sounded urgent and yet soft. Her knees buckled. One of her officers rushed to her assistance, helping her into a chair.

“General Organa, are you alright? Do you need medical?” She waved off the offer and concentrated on the voice that had just spoken inside her head.

Ben. Even in her thoughts, the name was like a prayer.

I...I don’t know what to...the voice seemed to waver for a second, and she could feel the full weight of her son’s emotions. All the loss and regret, the anger and the sorrow. His heart was breaking. Leia’s heart was breaking.

Ben. Oh, Ben. There were tears in her eyes now as she stared out the view screen, out toward the black ship. Her officers were turning to her, worried. One of them, a woman who had been with the general for decades, told them to give her space, that she’d seen this before and that it was the Force sensitivity. Nodding in understanding, the crew continued checking over their status and that of the fleet, readying themselves for any command from the general.

Snoke is waiting for you. It’s a trap, he finally managed. I’m sorry for pulling you out of hyperspace like that, but I needed to stop you from getting to the system. He communicated with me and Hux. He claims that your death would be...would be a gift for me. The voice in her head seemed to choke. She could read his emotions so clearly, as if she were staring into his eyes. She heard the feeling behind the other name he had spoken.

Hux...General Hux...He’s alive? There was a pause.

Yes. Another wave of emotion poured into Leia’s mind, jumbled, complex. Then softer, like an apology, Snoke...he...he’s insane. A feeling so strong that it blotted out all other thought washed through Leia. A terrible relief, followed by an even stronger wave of joy mixed equally with longing and sorrow. She realized that it was originating from herself.

Ben, there’s so much, so much we need to say. But I just need you to know, I...A blast rocked the ship before she could finish the thought. She felt more than heard the cry of dismay before Ben was gone. She groped for him in her mind, finding only a cold vacancy where he had been.

“Report,” she said calmly, rising to her feet. She could see the starboard side of the Finalizer out the viewport, slowly putting her ship between itself and the Eidolon. Squadrons of TIE fighters began swarming through her fleet. The ship rocked as the Eidolon’s gravity well projectors sent out a warning pulse, pulling all the vessels off balance for a brief moment before the projectors shut down. With the Breha in the way, the Eidolon couldn’t do much more than send warning pulses to the First Order fleet.

The TIE fighters rounded back, shielding themselves behind the Breha, taking random shots in passing without inflicting much damage. Just a distraction, Leia thought. She fully realized that the real target was the Eidolon. Her fleet was just a nice addition to add to the real prize. The real goal is Ben, she thought, her heart sinking.

“Do NOT let them reach the black ship,” she said. “Prepare to launch all X-wing…”

No. She stopped. Ben’s voice was firm, commanding. Don’t launch the fighters. You need to jump. NOW.

I’m not leaving you, Ben.

He’s only after me and this ship. You can escape.

I won’t abandon you. Not...not again. Never again, do you hear me? She felt her hands clasping the edge of the console, wanting to tear it apart as though it were Snoke’s throat. He will not get you this time, not now that I know...I will NEVER let him near you again. She felt a pulse of strong emotion from Ben.

Mom. I...I’m sorry…

Leia felt the engines began to thrum. The hyperdrive systems coming online. A message flashed up on the screens.

ALL SHIPS PREPARE FOR HYPERDRIVE. ORIGINAL COORDINATES.

“Shut the engines down! Alert the fleet, tell them not to jump!” She ran to the nearest console and began to furiously attempt an override.

“Our communications link with the fleet is disabled,” an officer reported. The ship began to move, starting its quick path towards lightspeed. Just before they were out of range, Leia watched a formation of TIE fighters dive headlong for the Eidolon. Then with a sickening lurch they were slipping through hyperspace, her entire fleet safe and traveling at her heels. She collapsed into her chair. A name and a face burning in her mind. Though she knew he would look different now. He wasn’t a little boy anymore.

***

Kylo was too distracted getting the Resistance fleet to safety to do anything about the six TIE fighters barreling down on them. Hux swung the cannons at the enemy and got a weapons lock. He froze for a split second. Then it was too late and the TIE fighters were in the landing bay, some specially modified tech allowing them to slip past the shields.

Ren turned as soon as Leia’s fleet was safely in hyperspace and ran into the next room, emerging a moment later with a blaster which he threw to Hux. “Use it,” he said, meeting his eyes for just a moment. And then he was gone.

Hux stood staring at the empty doorway for a moment. Without Ren on the bridge he suddenly felt afraid. He was frozen to the spot. If Ren died, it would be his fault. He should have shot the TIE fighters when he had the chance, but he had been a coward. Weak, like your mother.

He slammed the door controls, the blast panel sliding into place, as he turned to the internal scanners. He would try jamming the landing bay doors and releasing the force field, blowing everything inside into space. Setting the blaster within arm’s reach he began punching in commands, his fingers steady from years of training.

Hux, the bay doors are sealed...is that your doing? Ren’s voice in his head.

Yes. Going to depressurize the hold. He waited a moment for Ren to agree, and when he got feedback in the affirmative, he dropped the hanger bay force field and watched in satisfaction as five TIE fighters were sucked into the void. Each fired up and returned to the Finalizer, which hung motionless and silent. One of the TIEs is still in the hangar, Ren. Did any troops manage to slip past you?

I haven’t found anybody...But there is an odd disturbance in the Force. It almost feels like…Silence. It stretched out for far too long.

Kylo? Hux waited, his fear mounting. He was just reaching for the blaster when it went sailing from under his fingers and skittered across the smooth floor. Hux spun in horror as a panel slid open behind him and Snoke stepped onto the bridge.

“Hello, my dear general,” he said. “Did you miss me?” He strode over to Hux and took his chin in one of his graceful hands, the fingers of the other sinking deep into his shoulder. Hux bucked backwards, trying to break free. The fingers dug into his flesh painfully and Hux cried out. Snoke lowered his face, gazing into Hux’s clear green eyes, wide with fear.  

“I see you have,” he said, his eyes full of a dark emotion. Sliding his hand from his jaw around to the back of Hux’s head, he gripped him by the hair and pulled, tipping his face up. Leaning down, his eyes staring into his, he claimed Hux’s mouth in a frigid kiss.

Chapter Text

He tasted like nothing. He tasted like the void. Hux waited for the pain. He could not imagine Snoke touching him without shattering him somehow, without breaking him in some vital way. His mind wandered back to the throne room, the training sessions. He remembered Snoke circling him, caressing him, as he walked past with his predator’s stride. Soft. He had only ever hurt him with the Force, never his own hands.

They both sensed Kylo in the split second before he rushed onto the bridge, his energy crackling around him. Ren had felt Snoke’s presence vaguely already, the creature having shielded himself as much as possible up until the moment he grabbed Hux in an embrace. Kylo would have heard Hux’s thoughts plainly -- felt his shrill alarm -- as soon as Snoke emerged from the hidden panel.

Snoke didn’t release Hux’s mouth immediately. He made sure Ren saw first. Then he slowly straightened up to his full height. Hux’s wide eyes took in the face in front of him, and he saw an emotion flicker in Snoke’s dark irises. Fear. Snoke was afraid. Then he saw the mask drop down over that strangely vulnerable expression, the cold arrogance returning as he slowly turned to the figure in the doorway.

Hux was so close to the creature, he could feel Snoke's breath hitch as he looked at Kylo. The knight stood frozen just inside the doorway, taking in the sight in front of him in horror. Kylo’s hair fell around his face like a dark curtain. His smoldering eyes were snapping with an energy so fierce it was palpable. His chest heaved in anger and exertion from the run back to the bridge. He looked like a vengeful god made of marble and ebony, burning and bright.

Hux felt Snoke draw a breath to speak, but the next moment the creature was flying backwards, landing hard and sliding across the floor from the ferocity of the Force impact. The wind was knocked out of him momentarily. He lay gasping, now several meters from where Hux stood, still rooted to the spot, still waiting for the snapping of his bones to begin. Even the sound of Snoke’s sensuous voice when he had emerged from the secret corridor made Hux feel the agony, made him think of Ren anxiously trying to heal him. Thoughts of Kylo were mixed up in that velvety voice. He couldn’t hear it without thinking of Kylo’s hands on him.

Ren slowly approached Hux, never taking his eyes off Snoke. He could sense Kylo reaching back with his mind, scanning for injuries, worried that Snoke may have damaged him. Hux caught a few jumbled thoughts from Kylo as he projected slightly out of anger and guilt. Stupid leaving him alone. .. I should have known...I should have sensed it immediately and never left the bridge .

Kylo stood between Hux and the figure on the floor. Snoke had regained his breath and was sitting up, his gracefully proportioned head and neck outlined in the glow of the monitors. He slowly got to his knees, but at Kylo’s warning hand he stayed in place and didn’t rise further.

“I would never hurt your mother, Kylo Ren,” Snoke said, his voice shallow from the blow. He brought his eyes up to meet Kylo’s, looking almost demure as he knelt on the floor. “I only needed to get your attention.”

“Why did you...why did you kiss Hux?” Ren asked the question as though he didn’t actually want to know the answer.

“Haven’t you?” Snoke asked, seeming genuinely interested. Hux could feel the creature gently touching Ren’s mind for a moment before retreating again. “Ah, you haven’t. So I kissed him first. I’m surprised. I’m sure he’s more than willing…” Here Snoke glanced at Hux and gave a small smile. “But I apologize. I was just saying hello.”

“Why are you here?” Kylo asked, his voice full of conflicting emotions. Snoke’s smile broadened.

“Is this not my ship?” he asked, gesturing around with his long slender arms. “Not that I mind the two of you borrowing it, however. I know you will take good care of it.”

“That’s why you’re here?” Ren asked. “To take back the ship?”

“No,” Snoke answered. “You can keep the ship. I had it built for you anyway.” Hux could feel Kylo’s mind light up in confusion. “No,” Snoke continued, “I need to show you something. There was an item I was planning to give you once I was fully restored. I never got the chance, because, well, because of our disagreement .” His eyes flicked once again to Hux and then back to Ren.

“What is it?” Kylo asked. Shit, Hux thought. He’s interested . Hux wished desperately that Ren would turn Snoke into space dust before he opened his mouth. He could see the creature’s eyes spark in victory.

“I’ll show you,” Snoke said, rising quickly to his feet and heading for the door without another look back. Kylo paused for just a moment before following him. Hux trailed behind, not even bothering to pick up the blaster. If Ren chose not to fight, anything he tried would be pointless.

The tension and distrust rolling off of Kylo made Hux feel slightly more hopeful as they followed Snoke through the corridors of the Eidolon . Ren didn’t reach out to him with his mind, but he chose to attribute that to Snoke’s ability to eavesdrop on their mental conversation. And yet, it would have made him feel better to have Ren’s reassuring voice in his head.

Snoke made his way unerringly to a large set of doors. They were crafted to look like a carved temple gate, but as they approached and the bio scanners reacted to Snoke, Hux saw by the way they slid straight up into the wall that they were, in fact, heavily reinforced blast doors.

Kylo followed Snoke into the room slowly, keeping Hux behind him, one protective arm held back as he scanned the room for danger. Satisfied, he briefly nodded to Hux before walking over to where Snoke was standing near an alcove in the wall.

Hux looked around curiously. He had been right after all. Snoke spared no expense when it came to himself. All the furnishings in the room were lavish. It surprised him, though, that they were in such good taste. The apartment was oddly welcoming, even elegant. He could just see through the doorway into the spacious bedroom. A large bed stood in the middle of the room. For a moment Hux recalled Snoke’s claim that he’d built the ship for Ren. Hux clenched his fists until he could feel the nails digging into the flesh of his palms.

“Here,” Snoke said, removing an intricate wooden box from silk wrappings. “This is for you. It truly couldn’t belong to any other person in the galaxy, Kylo Ren. I took extreme care in getting it. I even felt it worth risking my life to come back and give it to you in person. You could have come into my quarters at anytime and found it for yourself, though I had the feeling you would not.”

“The doors were sealed anyway,” Ren answered absently, his eyes on the box. His whole being seemed focused on the present, as he half-consciously stretched his fingers. Hux could feel it too. It was as though a new voice had entered the Force just around them, faint but compelling. Calling only to Ren.

“That proves to me that you did not try,” Snoke answered with a laugh and a shake of his head. “The doors are keyed to your pattern. You could have entered anytime you wished.” Kylo didn’t seem to have even heard him. Hux frowned.

Snoke seemed to be waiting for Kylo to do something. He continued to hold the box loosely in his long fingers. Ren kept staring at it as the siren call continued to increase. Finally Kylo looked at Snoke, their eyes meeting.

“May I?” Kylo asked. Snoke nodded. In unison, each stretched out their arms. Snoke placed the box gently, reverently, into Kylo’s hands. The knight just looked down at it for a few breaths, as though he was suddenly dizzy. Then he flipped the latch and opened the cover. He gasped and withdrew the gleaming hilt of a lightsaber. The box fell to the floor as Kylo took a step back and ignited the blade.

It was black. Pure, jet black. It was an absence of light, yet it burned and hummed, the pitch much more resonant than Kylo’s previous weapon. This blade almost had a voice. It moaned and sang as the knight slashed it through the air in a few careful practice swipes.

Kylo’s face was sublime, alive in a way Hux had never seen. The closest he’d come to witnessing this expression was when the rancor wolves had begun their howling on the frost planet. The energy flowed from Kylo to the lightsaber, from the lightsaber back to Kylo, in a vibrating arc. Hux could sense the light and the dark clearly now. Somehow the blade was balancing him, reconciling the polar pull of the Force within him.

Hux could feel the exact moment Ren forgot about him. It was a if a vital switch in his machinery had suddenly been flipped off. The current cut. He staggered from the loss. He hadn’t realized what a vital part of him Kylo had become. How much he had been propping him up all this time. He felt like the breath had left his lungs. Kylo had withdrawn so quickly, Hux couldn’t even think as he fought desperately not to pass out.

It was then he realized Snoke was watching him. He met Hux’s eyes for a long moment, the expression on his face hovering between triumph and pity.

“It doesn’t feel very good, does it?” Snoke whispered under his breath, now closer than Hux would have liked. Both their gazes traveled over to the knight, who was still under the thrall of the black blade, naturally dropping into fighting stance as he swung it experimentally around his body. Hux realized that it had been months since Kylo had held a saber. “I thought I was going to die, literally die, when he transferred his attention to you,” Snoke said, meeting Hux’s eyes for a moment.

The two of them just stood watching Kylo, side by side, sharing a strange understanding that Hux was doing all he could to deny. In that moment, he wished Snoke had thrown him into the airlock. He wished he was just a lifeless, frozen body floating in space. It would have been kinder. And for a split second he caught Snoke reading his thoughts, and nodding in silent agreement. He caught Hux’s eye again. “Still think me as cruel as you did two weeks ago?”

For a terrible moment, Hux felt sorry for Snoke. He felt sorry for himself. For that split second, he wished he had never laid eyes on Kylo. Hux longed to be back on the Finalzer , cold without realizing it, without the blinding knowledge of what the light felt like arcing towards him from Kylo Ren. He wanted to forget. Or he wanted oblivion. He could not handle this loss.

Hux was not sure what he was about to do. It felt as though he were about to speak, about to confess these thoughts to Snoke. Like cold water being thrown in his face, he felt Kylo reach out to him through the Force, wrapping around him protectively. Ren flowed back into all the places he had left void just moments before.

Kylo deactivated the saber, still holding it possessively. He seemed to be slightly panicked as he came back to reality. He was checking and rechecking Hux, nervously eyeing how close Snoke was. He seemed to realize how completely vulnerable he had left Hux for those few minutes, how thoroughly the lightsaber had claimed all of his attention.

Hux felt Kylo scan Snoke too, looking for motives, for any evil intentions. Get out of his head , he growled at Snoke. The creature raised two graceful hands, denying any blame.

“I have done nothing to him,” Snoke said, tilting his head to the side in a show of submission. “We were just admiring you and commiserating about your lack of attention.” He flashed an almost pleasant smile, but the odd mixture of fear and possession marred it. “How do you like your present?”

Kylo looked down at the cold hilt in his hand. Hux could sense the powerful connection the knight had to this blade. After just moments of it being in his possession he had claimed it for his own.

“Where did you come across a darksaber?” he asked instead of answering Snoke’s question directly. The tall creature just smiled fondly back at him.

“A story for another time,” he said simply. “I must be returning to the Finalizer .”

“I’m not letting you out of my sight,” Kylo said. Snoke turned toward him, eyes going wide.

“If only you meant that the way I wish you did,” he replied, smiling sadly. “However, as much as I would like nothing better than to remain in your company, my new Star Destroyer may decide to follow the Resistance fleet if I am not there to dissuade them.”

“You said you would never hurt my mother,” Kylo growled.

“Nor would I, dear boy. But if you keep me here, then I will have no say in the matter.” They stood staring at each other for a long moment before Kylo nodded and relaxed his stance. Snoke swept past him before he could change his mind. Ren followed right behind him, Hux trailing behind. Their new marching order.

“What became of my crew, by the way?” Snoke asked over his shoulder as they walked toward the docking bay. “Please don’t tell me they are floating out in some asteroid field.”

“Why do you care?” Kylo asked. “They were dead anyway.” Snoke made a contrary humming noise.

“Not dead exactly, no.” Snoke replied. He looked back and caught Hux’s eye for a brief moment. “They can be quite lifelike .”

Once they reached the repressurized hangar, Hux could see why the last TIE fighter had remained in place. A docking bar tethered it to the metal wall. Snoke released it with a wave of his hand. He turned to Kylo, searching his face.

“I will be happy to tell you about the darksaber the next time we meet,” Snoke said. He moved a step closer to Kylo, making a move as though he intended to reach out and touch him. Kylo took a step back, ready to activate his new blade if Snoke followed through on his gesture. Instead, Snoke dropped his hand and sighed. “You really have no idea, do you?”

“Have no idea of what?” Kylo asked through gritted teeth. Snoke gave a slight shrug.

“The effect you have on people,” he answered simply. “The effect you have on…” he drawled to a halt and looked at Hux, staring him in the eyes. “The effect you have on powerful men.” He turned to Kylo again. “Do you trust, this one?” he asked, gesturing at Hux.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple question. Do you trust the general, or don’t you?” Snoke asked, a look of genuine curiosity spreading over his features.

“I trust him with my life,” Kylo responded. “He’s the only one I trust.” Snoke smiled, but there was a sadness in his eyes. And anger.

He trusts me with his life... Hux thought of the times Kylo had actually fallen asleep in the same room, even the same bed. This man who never let others so much as see his face had fallen asleep with his cheek resting on Hux’s fingers. It was the truth, he realized..

“So, if say, Hux could learn to...tolerate me,” Snoke said slowly, “you would trust his judgement?”

“I don’t see any danger of that happening,” Kylo smirked.

“True,” Snoke sighed. “The general and I got off on the wrong foot when we finally met in person.” He looked fondly at Hux, who was starting to feel like they had forgotten he was in the room. “Well, it is still a bit of information I will store away, just in case it becomes useful. Good day, gentlemen.”

Hux watched as Snoke piloted the TIE fighter unerringly out of the bay toward the Finalizer . He was a pilot too, apparently. Hux had a terrible moment of realizing just how little he knew about that creature.

“The Resistance fleet,” Hux said quietly. Had he spoken at all in Snoke’s presence? “Will he go after them?” Kylo stood looking out of the bay towards the Finalizer where it hung motionless in the dark, its fighters docked and prepared for the jump to lightspeed. He was clutching the darksaber’s cold hilt to his chest. Hux could sense him reaching out, searching through the vague impressions of the minds on the other ship.

“No,” he said at last. “Not at the moment, anyway. My mast-- um, Snoke, has other plans. I can’t read what they are, but they have nothing to do with the Resistance. None of the other officers seem to be thinking of them intently either. Some want to pursue them, but they don’t seem to be planning on it...It’s too distant to get more than passing thoughts and emotions.”

He turned back to Hux. In the bright lights of the landing bay, Kylo looked colorless. His sharp features and angular body seemed carefully drawn in ink. He was studying Hux. Kylo was obviously worried, but he was also strangely excited. The way he clutched that saber, as if it were a part of him, made Hux...what? A pang ran through him, cold and sharp. A type of cold he hadn’t felt in Ren’s presence before. It was something about him, the way he had bonded with a piece of ancient Force magic, the way he had left Hux, ripped himself out, not even noticing he had pulled away. It made Hux’s heart freeze and his bones melt.

Hux turned and headed for the bridge.

“If those plans of Snoke’s involve incinerating us, we’d better be ready,” he said as he passed Kylo, not looking fully in his direction, just concentrating on getting out of the bay, on making it back to the command deck. Hux did not look back to see if Kylo was following. He did not cast his mind toward him.

When he was walking past the security door of the cell where they had deposited the faceless crew, Hux paused to double-check the locks. They were still in place. He glanced behind, to make sure Kylo wasn’t there to see him being paranoid. The corridor was empty. He listened, and there were no footsteps. Why did that small fact feel so heavy? Hux was alone. He had always been alone. He would always be alone.

Hux shook all such weak thoughts from his head. He had to stay focused. If Kylo left, when Kylo left, he would need to figure out a way to survive on his own. He needed to have a plan in place. If Ren decided to go back to his mother and the Resistance, taking the Eidolon with him, Hux might be thrown into the bargain: one elite ship and one washed-up First Order general, complete with genocidal record. Hux shivered remembering the bursting atoms in the heat of the Starkiller’s beam. Whatever they decided to do to him, he would deserve it. Yet, he would avoid such a fate if he could. He would avoid being led to a small cell and left alone, forgotten, as Kylo walked free…

He would make sure they never took him alive, if it came to that.

He arrived on the bridge just in time to see the Finalizer make the jump into hyperspace. Hux scanned and rescanned the surrounding star system. He also ran several complex scans of the Eidolon, looking for any devices Snoke may have managed to place. Though he tried to keep it out of his mind -- at least until they had changed location -- he kept glancing at the panel that he now knew concealed a passage. His head jerked up at every noise, every shift of light and shadow, feeling the ghost of pressure on his mouth. The void kissing him with fear in its eyes.

When Ren finally made it to the bridge, Hux didn’t look at him. He finished the calculations and brought up the coordinates.

“I have your flight plan laid in,” Hux said as Kylo came to a stop next to him. He waited for Ren to move to the pilot’s seat, but he stood rooted to the spot. Hux could feel those dark amber eyes on him. He refused to look, instead pulling up the results of the latest scans.

“Hux...”

“Can you scan the ship? I’ve run several sequences already, but the devices might be shielded. I want to make sure he didn’t leave any tracking devices. Or any more bombs.”

“Hux...”

“And you may want to check out the hilt of your handy new saber too, just in case. Leave it to that bastard to give you a present that was actually rigged to kill you.”

“Hux,” Kylo was getting frustrated. Hux still didn’t look at him. “Listen, I need to...”

“...pilot us away from here before anything else can land on this goddamn ship because I can’t goddamn shoot it down? Yes, that’s exactly what you need to do,” Hux said to the control panel in front of him. He could feel Kylo glowering at him before he finally gave up and threw himself behind the flight controls. After a few minutes the immense ship was moving away from the scene of their encounter with the Resistance fleet and with Snoke. Hux felt slightly calmer as the physical distance increased.

When they were concealed within a debris field and all of his numerous scans for enemy vessels turned up negative, Hux checked the hidden panel on the bridge. Kylo stayed behind the controls, staring out into the wreckage of rock and asteroids drifting past the viewscreen, the rock pieces too small to cause any real damage with the shields up.

Hux fumbled around the edge of the smooth surface of the panel for several minutes before finally discovering the mechanism that allowed the wall to swing open. The passage was narrow and barely lit by hazard lights, making the walls reflect a dim orange the color of flame. He followed the passageway for a few meters, and then it took a sharp bend around a bulkhead. He nearly walked right into a dead end in the darkness. Investigating the edges of the wall, Hux again located a small locking mechanism and slid the panel sideways. He was standing looking out into the main corridor across from the holding cell.

He stepped out from the concealed passage and closed the panel behind him, watching as it blended seamlessly with the wall. Almost against his will, he closed the few steps between where he stood and the locked door of the cell. He flipped on the lights inside the small secure room, and stealing his nerve, looked in through the small observation window.

He cursed himself for being so foolish as he counted the right number of lifeless beings slumped on the floor in exactly the same positions he and Kylo had left them. Visions of them standing up on their own, faceless masks pushed up against the window, had been haunting him each time he had walked past, not daring to look. He heaved a sigh of relief and snorted to himself for his childishness.

Just then and large hand gripped his shoulder and he instinctively cried out in terror. All the reassurances he had just given himself were ripped away and replaced by a fundamental fear. A child’s fear of monsters in the dark. His heart groaned with the sudden adrenaline and his arms and legs felt weak. He realized who it was almost immediately, but not in time to stop the waves of panic flooding through his system. Tears stung his eyes suddenly.

“God dammit, Ren,” he gasped, trying not to double over as waves and waves of ice water coursed through his veins and his vision swam a murky gray. He heaved a breath, and then another. No. Oh no , he thought. I’m hyperventilating again .

Kylo stood rooted to the spot, his face both guilt-stricken and annoyed. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” he said. “I thought you would sense me.” Hux just shook his head, and gestured to the cell, trying to indicate that he had been too focused on those monstrosities to let anything else into his thoughts.

Ren’s look of irritation was slowly replaced by something more gentle. Hux looked up into his eyes as he fought to keep his breathing under control. Without meaning to, he was suddenly there inside Kylo’s mind, slipping in without warning.

Ren gasped and took half a step back. Hux sensed a moment of his pure, unguarded thoughts before Kylo frantically put up a wall against him, shielding the vulnerable pieces of himself that had been on display. Hux’s eyes widened at what he had just witnessed, his breath growing ragged again.

I can’t handle this right now , Hux thought desperately. He met Kylo’s eyes for a moment to confirm what he had sensed. Ren’s terrified, open expression was more than enough proof.

“Hux…” Kylo gasped, so much closer to a sob than a name. Hux shook his head, not in denial, but in wonder.

“You...you aren’t going to leave me, are you?” Hux asked, hearing the smallness in his own voice. “You aren’t planning on turning me over to the Resistance.” Kylo shook his head, his whole face registering a vulnerable fear.

Why would you think that? Kylo’s voice asked in his head.

“Because...because it’s what most people in this situation would do, Kylo,” Hux said, sighing and rubbing his face.

“Is it what...what you would do in my place?” Kylo’s voice was barely steady as he spoke, but he followed Hux’s example and spoke out loud. Hux heaved a sigh. He looked Kylo up and down, as though mentally weighing him, as though seeing all of him at once would help him decide.

“No,” he said at last, and shrugged. “My father was right. I’m weak, just like my…” he paused a moment, took a deep breath. “My mother,” he said at last. They stood a moment, just breathing, waiting.

“I brought back a bottle of alcohol,” Kylo said at last. “From that weird little planet where I picked up supplies. Want to try it?” Hux gave a weak smile and nodded. He trailed after Kylo back to the bridge. He had been doing a lot of that, he mused...trailing behind this man. Hux looked down at his own frail body. A shadow. He was Kylo’s shadow. He shook his head. He obviously really needed a drink.

Kylo rummaged through the supplies and finally set a deep blue bottle in front of Hux. They only had the two coffee mugs Kylo had bought and the one cup from their old quarters. Kylo grabbed the mugs and poured. Hux realized, with a little jolt of disappointment, that the alcohol itself was almost clear and it was only the bottle that was cobalt blue.

It was strong stuff. Hux sipped at it, longing to throw it back in one gulp, but he didn’t trust himself not to choke. It tasted slightly of herbs and a lot like fire. They drank in companionable silence for a bit. Hux could feel the ghost of Kylo’s mind, gently brushing over his.

“Your mother,” Ren said at last. It wasn’t a question or a demand, simply a soft statement, an invitation to talk if Hux wanted to. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had never told anyone this story.

“After the Rebels destroyed the second Death Star, my family fled to the Unknown Region.” That much Kylo likely knew already. “Or at least, my father and I did.” He paused, looking for the words. “My mother was taken prisoner. Tricked by the Rebels. So foolish…” he trailed off, and for the first time he realized that those words hadn’t originated with him. “Or at least, that’s what my father always said. That she was a weak fool.” He sipped more of the herb scented alcohol. Staring at the pale liquid, he took a small breath. “They tortured and executed her. I was only a few years old when it happened. I don’t remember her.”

Kylo was looking into his own mug, his long fingers wrapped around the smooth surface, gently swirling the alcohol before taking a sip. They were sitting within arms length of one another, but neither one reached out. Instead, Kylo let his presence settle around Hux, not smothering, but comforting. A warm crackle of energy that helped soothe the headache beginning to bloom across his temples. Hux heaved a sigh, feeling the relief of that energy as it embraced him.

“I have always been terrified of being like her. Of being weak and stupid, making the wrong choices. And what happens? I end up exactly like her. Tricked and tortured.”

“No one is going to execute you, Hux,” Kylo said, the thunder in his voice startling.

“No?” Hux mused, finally feeling the alcohol begin to hit his system. “I deserve to be executed, Kylo. I’m a monster. A genocidal monster.”

“Snoke’s the one who..”

“Untrue,” Hux interrupted. “I helped design Starkiller. I gave the order to fire. It doesn’t matter that Snoke was pulling my strings, that my father tried to craft me into a sociopath. I let them.” He looked into Kylo’s eyes then, all his loathing directed in at himself. “I am weak. I am foolish. I let those monsters contol me. I deserve to be locked away and to rot alone.” He let his head drop into his hands. “But I’m afraid, Ren. I’m a coward. I can’t...I can’t face a cell again. I would rather die.” He looked up at Kylo again. “Do you understand? I would rather die than be locked up. I would rather die than let someone else control me.”

They looked at each other for a long moment. Something unspoken passing between them. Kylo nodded slowly, almost against his will. Awkwardly, Hux stretched his arm across the table between them. Kylo took it without hesitation, gripping his fingers tightly, searching his eyes.

“Do you promise me?” Hux asked, as Ren crushed his fingers in a desperate grasp. “You won’t let them take me alive?” Ren gave a strangled noise. “If it comes to that. Ren, I need this. I...you’re the only one I trust.”

“I promise, Hux.” Kylo’s dark eyes were flashing and he was breathing hard. He suddenly let go of Hux’s fingers and went to the stand in front of the window. He stood gazing out into the dark debris field, his profile just visible to Hux from where he sat. “I need to meditate...clear my head.”

Hux just nodded and picked up his mug. He took it with him to the bridge, leaving Kylo alone as he arranged himself on the floor, reaching for the hilt of his darksaber. Hux suppressed a stab of jealousy.  He took a sip from the mug as soon as he was on the bridge.

He had just settled down to do some serious wallowing, when Kylo walked in from the other room. It had barely been fifteen minutes, and Hux grunted at being roused from his self pity before he’d even properly gotten started. The knight was agitated, and Hux idly wondered why he even bothered to meditate, as Ren threw himself behind the flight controls. This seemed to be the result every time.

“Who are we saving this time?” Hux asked, resigning himself to sobering up as quickly as possible.

“Not so much a who,” Kylo replied. He swiveled in his seat and held up the hilt of the dark saber. “There is a companion sword to this one. And we are going to go get it for you.”

“Another dark saber?” Hux asked, confused. That alcohol was a lot more powerful than he had realized. He struggled to focus on Ren’s words.

“No, it’s a lightsaber. I don’t fully understand yet. They are...calling to each other.”

“Ren, I feel we should talk about this,” Hux said, as Kylo engaged the engines and prepped for hyperdrive. “We have been rushing into things without a proper plan. It’s a miracle that we’re even still alive.” Kylo punched in the coordinates. “I mean, I think you should at least tell me where we’re going.” Kylo laughed as the ship started moving, clearing the debris field smoothly.

“We are going,” he said, slipping the Eidolon into lightspeed, “to make a deal with the devil.”

Chapter Text

General Leia Organa turned to the female officer that had spoken up on the bridge during her mental conversation with Ben, and gently grasped her shoulder in a comforting gesture. They had arrived in their new solar system unscathed, all ships accounted for. Leia wondered just how much their location had been compromised. Did the First Order know their current whereabouts? Or had they been tracking the black ship alone?

The Resistance fleet had been busy setting up a perimeter guard and advanced warning beacons throughout the system, anything to give them a tactical edge should the enemy locate them. The pilots that could be spared were given some time to settle into the new barracks for some much needed planet time.

Leia was finally able to take a few minutes and find her friend. She had some information that she knew the other woman needed to hear. They stood looking at one another for a moment, both faces anxious. They were of a similar age and height, though the other woman’s hair was fairer than Leia’s, hints of silver entwined with her once bright copper strands.

“He’s alive,” Leia said. “They’re both alive.” The other woman’s eyes filled with tears. She nodded gratefully. “He’s with Ben on the black ship.” The officer looked at Leia, her green eyes over-bright.

“So he...he helped save us? Or is he a captive?” She looked afraid of the answer.

“He’s not a prisoner. They are working together. So yes, he did help save the fleet. Twice.” Leia smiled at her kindly. “There was...something else...something deeper to Ben’s thoughts about him than just...survival. It’s almost like…” Leia broke off, shaking her head. “Nevermind. All I’m trying to say is that Kylo intends to protect him. He has a friend in my son.”

“Thank you,” the other woman breathed out gratefully, tears still threatening to spill. “You are truly the only other person who understands what it’s like to have this burden...loving a child that has done terrible things...knowing it both is and isn’t their fault…” Her green eyes went wide, worried she had said too much, that she may have offended Leia. The other woman simply smiled sadly.

“Yes,” she responded slowly. They have both done...terrible things.” She closed her eyes. Leia could still feel Kylo’s indecision, then the inner panic and horror. That’s what had alerted her to what he had done to Han. That one terrible pulse of pain, followed by hesitation. “And though I blame Snoke, I still…” she shook her head once again and sighed.

There were many decisions to be made and orders to give before she slept that night. These thoughts would keep for another time.

***

The Eidolon slipped into a solar system familiar to Hux and he gave Ren a jab with his mind. Kylo turned in the pilot’s seat to look back at him, one eyebrow raised. Hux glared across the bridge.

“This is the Endor system,” Hux said, carefully keeping all emotion out of his voice, as if they were discussing what to have for lunch.

“Yes,” Kylo replied.

“I assume we’re not here to talk to Ewoks.”

“We are not.”

“Kylo…”

“Yes, Hux?”

“Are we here because this is where the second Death Star was destroyed?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Kylo said, a lopsided grin on his face. Hux had learned the hard way not to trust that particular grin. “The Sith are not the same as the Jedi,” Kylo explained. “Powerful Jedi can sometimes continue on after death, or at least, they appear to do so. They are free to roam the galaxy. But Sith, well, they also sometimes live on after death. But they are, in layman’s terms, stuck. At the point where they died.”

There was a long moment of staring. Kylo waited for Hux to say something, while Hux tried to resist the urge to explode. He couldn’t possibly mean …

“So,” Hux said after the staring match yielded no clear victor, “we are here,” he gestured around them in an exaggerated manner, “very near both Resistance and First Order forces who so clearly would love to take our ship and our lives...to talk to a Sith ghost?” When all Hux got was an even more crooked grin in return, he wondered if he would one day learn how to throw Kylo across the bridge with the Force. Preferably toppling over equipment along the way.

“Well, this particular ghost likely knows where the companion saber is,” Kylo responded, holding up the hilt of the dark saber again as if Hux had forgotten about it. At that moment, Hux wanted to make him eat it.

“Are we talking about who I think we are?” Hux asked. More smiles from Ren. “It’s not your grandfather…” Kylo’s face sobered.

“No,” he responded evenly. “Anakin Skywalker has no fixed point. He did not...die a Sith.” Kylo’s brow suddenly wrinkled. “Once, I was very ashamed of that fact,” he said softly, “but now…I don’t know. It seems different somehow. Not a terrible thing to say. Just a fact.” He looked up at Hux then. “No, not my grandfather.”

Hux heaved a great sigh. Maybe, one day in the distant future, if they lived that long, Kylo would -- just once -- give him a straightforward answer.

“Kylo,” Hux tried again. “Are we looking for Emperor Palpatine’s Force ghost?” The smile returned. Apparently they were.

Hux closed his eyes. Sometimes, back on board the Finalizer , he had gotten a little bit cocky and had thought about what an extraordinary life he had. Hux would muse that he was youngest general in the history of the First Order, likely even in the history of the Empire. He had played a vital role in the development of Starkiller Base. He was admitted frequently to holo conferences with Supreme Leader Snoke. What an exceptional life. All of that, as accomplished as it was, he thought, didn’t really compare to looking for the former emperor’s Force ghost in a ship he helped steal from the supreme leader so that Darth Vader’s grandson could have a chat about sentient swords.

“Alright,” he said at last, after rubbing his face to the point of pain. “How do we find him...it? Do we need to calculate the exact coordinates? It’s been thirty years, the solar bodies have moved. And I have no idea how to scan for a Force ghost.”

Kylo just sat staring back at him until Hux stopped rubbing his eyes and looked up. Hux didn’t let his gaze drop, though he felt a strong urge to look away under the scrutiny.

“Yes you do,” Kylo replied.

“Kylo, there are no scanners I know of capable of locating whatever it is you think we are going to find,” Hux said, indicating the panel in front of him. “Is there a particle or energy signature or something?” He paused as Kylo started to smile again. Oh . Hux felt like an idiot.

Kylo saw, and perhaps heard, as Hux realized his mistake. Rancor wolves . It was the same lesson as before. Only instead of ravenous wolves, they were looking for a dead emperor. Ren motioned for him to come closer to the windows as he stood up from the pilot’s seat and drifted over the open deck in front of the starfield outside. Hux went and stood next to him.

“Did that thing-,” Hux motioned to the hilt Kylo still held, “ tell you to come here?”

Kylo seemed to think about it for a minute, turning the cold hilt over in his hand. Hux could sense it again, the faintest of sensations, just beckoning at the edge of his mind. Another voice in the Force. Calling to Kylo.

Ren nodded. “In a way, it did. I knew this was the right place. The saber’s presence in my mind isn’t the same as when you and I talk to one another. It doesn’t use language. It’s more like emotion, sensations.”

Hux just nodded.

“How do I do this?” He asked. Kylo gave him an amused look.

“We will search for him together,” he answered. “He is close. I sense it. Here…” Kylo hesitantly settled one of his long-fingered hands on Hux’s shoulder. “Follow my mind, but...hang back. Be my cover, be ready. This is not the same as the wolves. This will be...less pleasant, I fear.”

Hux swallowed hard. He felt Ren’s fingers tighten slightly on his shoulder, and then the sensation of Kylo’s mind slipping out into the void, casting a net. Hux felt the instant tug of a colossal weight in the Force, dipping like a black hole into the shimmering energy field. They fell towards it irresistibly, Hux’s conscience towed in the wake of Kylo’s, straight for the dark weight in the vacuum.

Next to him on the bridge, Hux vaguely felt the hand’s pressure on his shoulder turn painful as Kylo gripped him even tighter, groaning with the strain of keeping them from mentally hurtling right into the massive Force disruption.

Hux’s consciousness wasn’t so much following Ren’s as it was being dragged along by him. Hux threw out a thread towards the black weight in front of them, and jerked back in horror as a cold blade of energy shot up his spine. The thing out there was suddenly aware of them. It turned, a storm barely contained, raging and grasping.

Agony and intense hatred flooded through Hux, knocking the breath from his physical body and stunning his mind. Kylo had turned on the bridge and was grasping both of his shoulders now. Hux thought he was yelling, but he couldn’t tell if there were words behind the scream, or even if it were Kylo or himself that cried out.

The thing out there in the cold tried to claw it’s way into Ren’s head. Kylo’s hands were like vices on Hux’s slim shoulders, the bones creaking ominously in warning.

Be my cover , Ren had said. A flicker of anger sparked inside Hux. A small stab of anger at Ren for never preparing him properly for anything, never allowing Hux to come up with a strategic plan, one that might save them so much pain. Then a burning, fierce anger at the thing trying to posses the knight, the thing trying to crawl in his friend's mind. 

Friend. My friend . Hux shook his head, trying to clear a space to think. He reached up and grabbed Kylo’s upper arms, holding on for dear life. You can not have him , he projected out to the thing in the void.

Sensing the second mind, the dark energy mass thundered as in rolled inside its invisible cage. Hux fixed his attention on the thing. The pure hate coming from the entity was overwhelming. It threatened to drag his sanity from him, to crush his will. Hux began to fight it, and instantly it increased, ripping at him, stabbing into him, obliterating his thoughts, seeking a deeper hold.

In the one clear space Hux had left, the one reserved for the room, the lonely little boy, for escape, Hux stepped back into the tranquility and let himself go limp, mentally and physically. The ghost in the darkness convulsed at the sudden deprivation of emotion from Hux. It groped blindly for him, seeking the lost succor of his mind.

Meanwhile, Kylo had been freed from its grasp and he pounced, delving for the answers he sought. Images flooded their joined minds as Ren pressed deep. Once again, Hux could feel Ren assembling the jumble of visions and emotions, sorting them into an intricate puzzle of thought and meaning, until at last he had what he sought.

He pulled them both back into themselves with a gasp. They were kneeling on the bridge facing one another, Kylo’s fingers pinching into Hux with inhuman strength. Hux couldn’t help the tears that formed in his eyes and then flowed down the sides of his face from the pain, his mouth slightly open and his unfocused eyes barely registering Kylo’s dismayed face.

“I broke your clavicle with my thumb,” Kylo whispered, as he urgently sent the healing energy through Hux. The fire worked at his cells, and soon the burning heat of healing faded, and Hux could move his arm and neck. Ren helped him slowly to his feet.

“And your arms?” Hux asked. He knew he didn’t possess Kylo’s strength, but his own fingers ached from the grip he’d had on the other man. Kylo smiled ruefully.

“Bruises,” he said. “I am sure to have matching cuffs of them just above my biceps by morning.”

“You could heal them,” Hux offered. Kylo looked at him for a long moment, then shook his head.

“No,” he said. “They will serve to remind me. To remind me that you…” he trailed off, shrugged. “That you’re fragile. And I need to be more careful.” Hux just snorted.

“Was that thing out there, was that thing really the emperor?” Hux asked.

“Once it was,” Ren answered. Hux thought of the pure agony and hate he had felt clawing into both of them, seeking to possess them, to escape its terrible prison.

“Is that what you will become someday?” Hux asked, his voice barely audible. Kylo was silent for a long time. He drifted over to the controls, laying in a new course. 

“It might have been, once,” Kylo finally answered, arranging himself in the pilot’s chair and then looking back at Hux where he had taken his position by the main console. “But that is no longer my destiny.” They looked at each other from across the bridge and Hux finally nodded.

“You learned what you needed.” It was more a statement than a question.

“I can still feel it raging out there,” Kylo said.

“So can I. Let’s get out of here. But, Kylo?”

“Yes?”

“I need a full briefing, not to mention sleep and food before we take on anything else, alright?”

“Alright. This isn’t something we can walking into without a plan anyway.”

“But rancor wolves and demonic Force ghosts are something we can just wing?” Hux asked, deadpan. Kylo shrugged, but Hux saw the twinkle of mirth in his dark eyes. Hux sighed.

“Coordinates laid in, general,” Kylo said.

“Punch it,” Hux said. Kylo turned.

“That is the second time you've used that phrase. Where did you hear it?” He asked, clearly annoyed.

“One of your dreams.”

“Oh.” Kylo looked at him strangely. “My father used to say that.” He turned back to the controls and jumped the Eidolon into hyperdrive.

***

Saelyndrathn was a careful man. He was no ruthless dictator, nor was he a reckless mob boss. Neither role would have served him well. He was connoisseur. A collector of rare and precious objects.

He chose all of possessions with the utmost care. His wives were selected from only the most quality families. His slaves from the finest stock the black market had to offer. His citadel was tastefully constructed, not flashy, but extremely well stocked and armed. His bodyguards were among the elite of the galaxy. All of these things gave him tremendous satisfaction.

Yet none could match the object he held in his hands and that very moment. He turned the hilt lovingly before igniting the blade, the shiver of energy running up his arm like static as he felt the combination of weight and etherealness that was unique to lightsaber blades.

Saelyndrathn stared at it with desire. He had long ago learned to live with the regret of not being born Force-sensitive. It was an ache he must bare, especially when holding this sword, one of the two most priceless Force artifacts in existence. He swept the blade in a careful arc, mindful of the other artifacts in his strongroom. The space was large for a vault, but it was not the ideal training ground. His plans for expansion included a large shielded weapons facility where he would be able to train with the saber properly.

For now though, it was much safer to leave it housed in the strong room. Saelyndrathn was no fool. He knew the value of the blade he held. Force sensitive beings may be rare, but they were drawn to the objects in his citadel like moths to a flame, and it wouldn’t be long before one came calling to collect one or more of his treasures. When that time came, Saelyndrathn was ready.

The room he stood in was laced with a complex network of electronics and bio-wire, all backed up on several self-contained generator systems. The network was connected to each carefully-placed item in the vault, channeling and bending the Force energy within the artifacts to create a powerful network within the chamber. The pathway that led to the treasure room was designed to deal with any and all non Force-sensitives. The vault itself was protected from Force-wielders from within.

Saelyndrathn deactivated the blade and placed the hilt reverently back on its pedestal. He double-checked the status of the shielding, gave one final, loving look at the objects collected at the price of so much blood, and swept out of the room, sealing it carefully behind him.

When word came that the citadel had been breached, and a team of two men were rapidly making their way straight through his armed forces towards the vault, Saelyndrathn’s heart gave a wild start. Force-users. Powerful ones. His eyes blazed. What an excellent opportunity to test his preparations. If all went to plan, he would have two new additions to his collection before the day was done.

***

Above and to the right. There are concealed explosives .

Got them , Ren responded. Hux could feel the snap in his mind as the devices were deactivated by Ren, who seemed to simply pull the energy out of them, rendering them useless.

Breaching the gate and getting inside the fortress had gone smoothly enough, and so far their plan seemed to be working. Hux stayed at Ren’s side until they were in the cavernous interior. He then climbed to the second floor, which was a gallery open to the main courtyard below. From this vantage point, Hux commanded a view of the entire structure. Ren walked straight down the middle of the courtyard, appearing deceptively vulnerable. Hux traveled the length of the gallery in tandem with Kylo. The general located all the minds in the area and herded them to Ren, who knocked them out. Unconscious bodies were littered in their wake as they traveled deeper into the stronghold.

“Who commands this place?” Hux had asked as they had worked together aboard the Eidolon devising a strategy to liberate the second saber.

“A being called Saelyndrathn,” Kylo had replied. Hux paled.

“The Force obsessed academic? He’s essentially a civilized warlord, Ren. He’s known to have one of the most fortified citadels in the main systems. How are we going to get in, let alone out?”

“Trust me,” Kylo said. Hux rubbed his face.

“God help me, but I do,” he said, defeated. “Alright, tell me your insane idea. And then I will add some actual strategy, and then we may just stand a chance.”

Hux was impressed that the simple strategy seemed to be working. He scanned while Kylo deactivated. Their mental link was strong. Hux could see through Kylo’s eyes, while also keeping his bearings on his own movements. It was a little like working with two battle projection screens on the bridge of the Finalizer , a task he had mastered early as commander.

He felt Kylo’s mounting joy as they stalked closer to their goal, the raw energy crackling around him. Hux shook his head as he shadowed Ren’s position from above. He could not help but be affected by Kylo’s elation. He found himself smiling as he herded another group of armed guards towards the waiting knight.

Twelve, armed with laser rifles .

Acknowledged .

The men dropped to the ground, blind to Kylo’s exact location and unable to get off a single shot before they were down.

How much farther? The balcony ends in the next dozen meters .

We are almost to the entrance .

There are no immediate threats , Hux reported, making his way to the ground floor and falling into step with Ren. Hux could feel the buzzing warmth as he was swallowed up by Kylo’s shield projection.

“There”, Kylo said, gesturing between two pillars. “The door is there.”

“I can’t sense anything behind it,” Hux said. “You?”

“Only very vaguely.” Kylo held his hand out towards the concealed door, pressing his mind behind it. He snapped back. “Not good. There is a long tunnel, stocked with defenses. We will have to go slow. Both of us will scan.”

Hux nodded as Kylo reached out and slowly lifted the hidden panel. It was agonizingly heavy, and there seemed to be a mechanism trying to force the door back down. Kylo drained the device of its current, and the door lifted to reveal a dark corridor. Hux moved forward, but Klo held up his hand.

“I’ll go first,” he said. For just a moment he smiled at Hux. Ren gripped his own upper arm and grimaced for effect. “Not forgetting you’re fragile,” he said. Hux snorted, and then gave his full attention to the path in front of them.

They crept forward, deactivating all manner of devices along the way. Several times Kylo had them pause so that they could fully evaluate an intricately set trap before he was able to render it harmless.

This is slightly worrying, though it makes sense , he said in Hux’s mind.

What is it? Hux replied.

These traps...the father in we get, the more they are set for Force-sensitives. The ones at the entrance were child’s play, but these …

Kylo moved slower and slower. Hux began to get anxious. The feeling of Force energy was all around him now. It was feeding back, overwhelming him. In fact, it seemed to be building to a point near Ren.

“Stop!” Hux called out and grabbed Kylo’s shoulder, jerking him back as an invisible arc of Force current seared the air in front of Ren’s head. They were knocked back but unharmed.

Thanks , Kylo said, pulling them both to their feet. That wouldn’t have felt very good .

It was feeding on your own energy , Hux said, looking around at the dark walls, trying to sense more without activating any additional devices. That seems like some pretty specific tech .

Well, that was the last piece of it . Kylo said. We are at the vault .

Hux couldn’t sense anything through the door. It was like nothing existed behind it: not a vault, not rock, nothing at all. A vacuum of sensation. Ren stretched out one powerful arm and the energy lept off him. The door began to slide slowly upwards.

A small jolt of warning raked up Hux’s spine. He felt suddenly dizzy, nearly swaying on his feet as the doorway was unbarred before them. Kylo stepped forward. All warning died in Hux’s mind and throat as the Force web grabbed the knight, Hux felt the strands connect, the intricate filaments in the walls all refracting a power source from within the chamber. He felt the moment Kylo went blank. Just like the moment in Snoke’s quarters, something vital was ripped out of Hux and he staggered at the loss. Kylo was gone.

The knight didn’t even call out. He simply crumpled to the floor, lying motionless. Hux’s instinct was to go to him. He stopped himself. The same thing would likely happen to him. He didn’t allow himself to think that Ren might be dead. Instead, he tried to work out a way to get to him. He had felt the system flare up through the walls, Ren himself completing the circuit as he stepped through the door. It was a trap for Force-users. And it was brilliant.

There was a footstep in the hallway behind him. Hux spun to face the man who had been able to sneak up on him. The barrel of a baster stared back, the owner sizing Hux up silently.

“You are the weaker one,” the man said, his analysis sounding final. “But still powerful. Yet it is that one,” he made a small motion with the blaster, “that is the true prize.”

Prize? Hux suddenly knew who he was talking to.

“Saelyndrathn, I presume,” Hux said quietly, careful not to move and give the ruthless academic a reason to fire on the less valuable of his new acquisitions.

Something pulled at his mind from the vault behind him.

Kylo ? No. Kylo was still completely blank. It was something else…

“You are correct.” Saelyndrathn replied, smiling and looking every inch the gentlemanly scholar. “I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name…?” The smile continued as did the aim of the blaster directed at Hux’s forehead.

“I’m not sure that it matters, but we once met under very different circumstances,” Hux replied. “I am the former commander of the Finalizer and Starkiller Base, General Hux.”

Saelyndrathn’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Why, so you are. Forgive me, I did not recognize you. It’s been several years, but please forgive my rudeness.”

“Not at all. The oversight is only natural. I have it on good authority that I am slightly altered since our last encounter.” The scholar gave a polite chuckle.

“What brings you to my humble abode, general?”

“My companion and I heard that you had quite an impressive collection of Force artifacts. You could say we were a bit over-eager to examine them.” Hux felt the pulse from the chamber again. Not Kylo. There were two energy signatures, unique and bright, coiling together. Delight and joy washed over him, making him tremble.

“I have a feeling,” Saelyndrathn said, noticing Hux’s sudden shivering, “That there is a certain piece you are most eager , as you put it, to study in detail.” He moved a step forward, still training the blaster on Hux’s head. “Please, by all means, let me show you my treasure trove.” He took another step and Hux could sense the pair of Force-dampening wrist-restraints in Saelyndrathn’s jacket pocket. 

I will never let another man control me. I would rather die than be a prisoner again .

Hux spread his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Of course," he said. "I am grateful for the opportunity.” He turned, his hands still at the level of his shoulders and walked to the door. Feinting as though to enter, he instead dropped into a crouch and slammed his hands on either side of the door. With all his strength, he sent a pulse radiating into the filigree of circuits and wires that traced throughout the vault. He felt them light up and fuse in a glorious flame of Force energy and electrical current. The generators exploded from the feedback.

Several things happened all at once. The room was plunged into darkness as the lights shorted out. Hux felt Kylo revive and flood back into his consciousness, causing him to gasp with relief. Saelyndrathn growled and Hux heard the sound of a blaster discharging. He then heard the distinct sound of a body hitting the ground behind him.

Hux tensed, waiting for the laser blast to register in his body. It never came. He gave a stuttering breath and turned to look behind him. A crackling bolt of blaster energy hung suspended mere inches from his face, frozen in place.

“I’m too weak to hold it much longer,” came a low and raspy voice from the vault. “So I’d appreciate it if you would duck now.” Hux obeyed. The bolt instantly flew over his head and crashed into the vault wall behind him.

Despite the darkness, Hux went unerringly to Kylo’s side, sensing him easily now that he was conscious. He could also hear the new voice in the Force. It was emanating from the middle of the room, pure and siren-like. Hux pushed it out of his mind as he checked Kylo over.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his fingers trailing over Kylo’s face in the dark, pushing his damp hair back from his forehead, quickly checking every inch of his exposed skin with his fingers. No blood. No injuries. Hux’s panic began to recede.

“I’m alright,” Kylo said softly, reaching his hand up and touching Hux’s face gently. “Stop ignoring the saber. It’s getting impatient. I’m fine, just let me rest here a moment.”

“You’re sure?” Hux felt Kylo nod. Reluctantly, he pulled his hands away and stood to face the middle of the chamber.

It was calling him, bright and clear. The new saber was entwined in the energy of the dark saber, but its voice was unique. He moved forward slowly, sensing every object in the room, maneuvering carefully towards his target. At last he was able to reach out and take the hilt. The voice in the Force reached a fever pitch and he ignited the blade.

It was pure white. The light illuminated everything in the chamber with its stark radiance. Hux gasped. Yes, this . He straightened up, bringing his body into a perfect column, and swung the sword to the side, feeling the way it sliced through the air. The sound was like music, high and perfectly pitched, as pure as the light.

Hux threw his head back and laughed with joy.

***

They managed to get back to the Eidolon , though the effort drained all their remaining strength. After piloting the ship to a safe location, Kylo collapsed into bed. Hux set up his usual safety precautions, checking all the perimeter sensors to make sure they would sound an alarm if anything came anywhere remotely close. At last he collapsed next to Kylo, not as concerned as he usually was whether there was a large space between their bodies or not, clasping the hilt of the white lightsaber. He couldn’t help but notice Ren held the darksaber hilt to his chest.

He woke several hours later, and rubbed his face with one hand. The other was caught fast in Ren’s grasp. Hux wondered who had initiated the contact. He swept over Kylo with a feather light brush of the Force. He was still out cold. Hux gently extracted his hand from the warm grip, and grabbed the hilt of his sword where it rested against his hip. Setting it carefully on the conference table, Hux decided to grab a shower, then come back and make breakfast. Then he would ask Ren -- beg if necessary -- for lightsaber training.

Hux washed quickly under the slightly warm spray, wondering absently if Snoke’s bathroom had proper hot water. He shaved and then raked through his hair, tucking it behind his ears. It really was getting long. Maybe they could detour to a decently civilized world where he could get a haircut and some new clothes. He didn’t need anything fancy, just a pair of pants that would stay on his hips…

Hux froze. He had just pulled on the last of his clothes, though his feet were still bare. His eye flicked to his boots and then back at the door. It had slid open about an inch from the floor. A shadow trailed past, first one way then the other.

“Kylo?” No answer.

Kylo? He asked with his mind, trying to find him. The name was thrown back at him, reverberating inside his skull, Kylo,Kylo, Kylo ...He clutched his ears at the sudden pain. The door inched up. Stopped, inched again.

Hux was trembling in fear. He desperately tried to focus, but that son-of-a-bitch general was gone. All that remained was the little boy...the little boy afraid of monsters.

“No,” he whispered, barely any sound leaving his mouth. His breathing was shallow. Instead of looking for a weapon, Hux backed up, his arms out in front of him. “No, please…”

The door shuddered and opened the rest of the way. The faceless crew crowded into the room, making a semicircle around Hux. It perfect sync, they all tilted their heads slightly to the left and reached for him.

Hux tried to scream. No sound escaped his throat as he strangled on his own terror. The hands grasped him and one of them descended on his head. Hux plunged into dark unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Kylo Ren felt the exact moment that Hux was ripped away from him. Places inside his mind that had been so full and alive just moments before were suddenly cold and vacant. He started awake, gripping the darksaber and reaching out to Hux’s side of the bed instinctively. When his hand encountered only the blanket, Kylo flung himself to his feet and searched frantically with all his senses, seeking Hux.

The white lightsaber lay on the conference table. It was keening and wailing in the Force. Not so much a sound as a fluctuation of the substance of life itself, baying a plaintive cry of despair.

He called out in the Force, feeling the substance of of the ship shudder around him as he thrashed about for just one pattern.

Hux. It staggered back at him in a frail echo, bottled up inside his own head, reverberating sickeningly. Hux, Hux, Hux…

A Force-dampening field. Kylo crashed against it, tracking it. It was like a steel shell wrapped around Hux’s conscious mind. A cage.

Promise me, Ren. Promise me you won’t let them take me alive.

Kylo fled headlong down the corridor clutching the darksaber. He ran through the passage soundlessly, his bare feet hardly glancing the metal floor.

You’re the only one I trust.

Kylo’s heart was beating frantically. The shielding kept shifting location. He ran towards the landing bay, only to feel the shield shift and move towards the heart of the ship. Kylo pelted after it. He had to get to Hux. He had to protect him.

The feeling of the Force shield bobbed just in front of him. He rounded a corner. Snoke’s chamber door was flung wide. A dark maw.

Something moved and flashed within.

Snoke? Hux?

It was neither. Kylo ignited the darksaber. The soothing hum radiated up his arms. The black crystal sent tendrils into his mind. They were one, he and the saber. The balance teetering on a knife point, but stable enough to allow him to focus.

The thing moved again, revealing itself to be one of the faceless crew. It was carrying a shielding device.

“Hux!” Kylo called out into the chamber, not taking his eyes off the thing in front of him. No answer. The thing stood facing Ren. It was motionless. Then it tipped its head to the side, as though looking at him.

Kylo gave a hoarse yell and cleaved the creature in two from its neck through to its sternum. It fell apart, a mess of mech and flesh. Blood and oil pooled together on the floor. Kylo destroyed the Force damping generator. Then he searched again for Hux.

He was moving away from him. He was on a shuttle. It was about to…

No!

He was too far away. There was nothing he could do before the shuttle jumped to hyperspace except quickly throw a mental tracker to Hux, connecting with him for a split second before he was swallowed up in the void.

In the moment before he blipped out of existence, Kylo felt his paralyzing fear. Hux was not strategizing or planning. He was not in that space inside his own mind, so terrifying to Kylo, where he would sometimes disappear, shielding himself. If only he had told him how strong that ability was. How useful for survival.

He had neglected to tell Hux a lot of things.

Kylo fled back to the bridge, booted up some of the systems, and then threw himself into the pilot’s seat. He had to follow that fleeting blip of light before it vanished completely.

The Eidolon moved forward smoothly, taking up the pursuit. Ren focused his entire being on that one small spot of light ahead. He tried again and again to reach out to Hux, to connect. He was still too distant.

Even with the engines pushed to full, it didn’t feel like he was gaining on the shuttle. How could that be possible? Unless…

A terrible thought occurred to him. He wasn’t chasing a ship at all. It was a phantom. Kylo could sense that now. The light he’d been pursuing was merely a projection of his own mind.

Ren brought the ship to a halt, breathing raggedly. The projection in his mind stayed the same distance away. He had been chasing an illusion.

Growling in frustration, Kylo heaved himself out of the pilot’s seat and spun around. Standing just behind his chair was one of the faceless crew. It held a device in one spidery hand.

A projection orb. A sophisticated one. Kylo hacked it to pieces along with its owner, still screaming with rage.

Completely disoriented, he returned to the original coordinates. He set up a series of scans, inwardly acknowledging that Hux was much better at this than he was. If their situations were reversed, Hux probably would have found him by now.

Not that Hux would have wanted to. He might just dust his hands and sigh in relief.

Kylo shook his head, trying to focus. While the ship’s scanners were running, Kylo sat cross-legged on the bridge, attempting to meditate. He pictured the net, flinging it out into space. After just a few minutes it faltered and disintegrated. He couldn’t concentrate. He was shaking badly. Hux’s presence was missing from his mind, throwing him wildly off-balance.

Kylo stumbled into their quarters and retrieved Hux’s lightsaber. Holding it in his right hand, and the darksaber in his left, he re-positioned himself on the bridge. Resting his wrists on his knees, he allowed the sabers to dangle loosely in his hands, as he concentrated, first on the crystals within the hilts, and then out into the Force currents around the ship.

He listened to the harmony of the saber crystals, keening softly in their proximity to one another. Creating order. Bringing balance. Kylo breathed, centering, focusing. Even un-ignited, the hilts transferred a peaceful buzzing current up through his fingers. It was soothing.

Ren let his mind drift out into the vacuum to be caught by the Force, carried away. Breathing softly. Thinking of nothing but the darkness of the void and the brightness of the stars.

Only then did he allow himself to think of the general, bringing his energy pattern to the forefront of his mind. He focused on the feeling of Hux, the way he distorted the Force when he was near. He was a unique being. He threw glimmers as he moved through the energy field in a way no other creature did. Hux was fire and light, bright and blinding. He was beautiful.

Kylo concentrated on that feeling...searching for it...trying to keep the desperation out of his thoughts while he felt for Hux in the Force.

Nothing. He wasn’t anywhere.

Kylo felt like he was going mad. This was a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from. He turned and looked around him. No more creatures were on the bridge. He turned back to the void of space, gripping the hilts until his hands ached...and there!  A blip. A flash. Ren pushed his mind after it, eager and searching.

What he encountered was not Hux. The pattern and the sound in the Force were similar, but not as strong, not overwhelming like the general. This pattern was dimmer, but familiar. The pieces started to resolve, the puzzle falling into place as Ren snatched up the fragmented patterns of thought. Not Hux...but...

Hux had said his mother was dead. Yet this was most certainly her. Her thoughts were stretched back out to him, sending to him now, pleading for knowledge of her son.

Their minds met, suspended on a fragile bridge that spanned the vast distance between them. Kylo strained to keep the connection open to her, to make it possible for her to form thoughts in his mind with her weaker ability. He watched through her eyes as the whole story unfolded. Hux as a child, torn away from her when… Oh, Hux.

So that is what had happened.

Ren shook his head, the emotion of the mother affecting him strongly, entwining with his own feelings. He sent back a promise. The other seemed to acknowledge it. Then the strain became too much. Their bond tearing apart, ripped away by the vastness of space.

***

Hux slowly came to. His head swam with fuzzy lights, all merging and blending into one another. He felt like he was having a migraine except that there wasn’t any pain. Just his obscured vision and the feeling that something wasn’t right with his head. He felt that any second the overwhelming pain of a headache would hit him. Moving carefully just in case, he shifted and slowly opened his eyes, trying to focus.

He was in his bed. In his quarters. On the Finalizer.

No. Wait...

Hux sat up, trying to remain calm, taking in his surroundings. He was in his bed, the same one he remembered from his days as commander of the Finalizer. He was wearing a pale green shirt and black sleeping pants, his usual attire for slumber. The wall unit across from him glowed orange, spreading a welcome heat throughout the room. Everything was in its place, just as he had left it.

Instinctively, Hux looked over to the left side of his bed, as if he expected to see Ren there. No, Kylo had never slept in this bed… that was the Eidolon. Hux’s head felt like it was painlessly splitting open. His vision was swimming with warning spots, a black and white static at the edges of his sight. He blinked, trying to clear his mind.

Hux couldn’t remember how he had gotten here.

He thought he probably should have been on the planet below, seeing to the final preparation of Starkiller Base.

No. Starkiller was gone.

“Ren,” His voice sounded raspy and unused. He started looking around the quarters more frantically, still sitting up in the familiar bed. “Ren!”

No answer.

Panic was setting in.

Empty. Hux felt so achingly hollow he almost could not breathe.

Kylo! He called in the Force. Kylo Kylo Kylo echoed back, reverberating inside his skull, going nowhere.

Hux climbed out of the bed and rushed into the bathroom, just to see if there was anyone there. It was empty except for his own reflection staring back in the mirror. He stopped in surprise and looked closer.

His hair was cut and brushed into the usual style he had worn when he was a general of the First Order. It was a far cry from the long unruly strands he had been tucking behind his ears for the last month. He stood looking at his face for several minutes.

A soft beeping in the other room caught his attention. He knew that noise. It was from his other life. This life. It was his data pad alerting him that he had a message.

Cautiously, Hux approached the pad where it lay flashing on the bedside table. He looked at it for a moment before opening the alert.

General, we are entering orbit above the planet. The crew await your orders.

Without hesitation Hux sent a message back.

Assemble senior staff for a battle debriefing.

As soon as the message was sent, Hux froze. The message had been instinctive. It was what General Hux would have done. His hand went up to his face, his hair. Who am I?

There was a sound from the control panel alerting him that there was someone at the door. His heart fluttered and he felt the urge to seal the door and hide.

“Enter,” he said, almost against his will. The door slid open and Hux recoiled. His heart started to hammer, and he held his hands up in front of him, trying to ward off the thing that stood there.

“General,” came the voice. A familiar voice. He knew that voice, though something was strained, not quite right. He looked up.

Kylo Ren stood in the doorway. His helmet was still missing and his face bore the scar he had carried since the destruction of Starkiller Base. Hux blinked, but Ren was still there, still waiting for something.

“Yes, Ren?” The words were out before he could think. When was the last time he’d seen Kylo? Hux looked absently over at the bed, still unmade, rumpled from his disturbed sleep. Hadn’t Kylo been in his bed? No… He had never been in his quarters before, let alone in his bed.

What is wrong with me? Why would I imagine that the leader of the Knights of Ren had slept beside me, night after night? That never happened…

Hux thrashed around in his mind hunting for the answers to his wild thoughts. His mind felt fragmented. Important pieces were missing, scattered. He looked up at Ren and took a step back, his arms going up to protect his body.

“General,” Kylo Ren said again, and Hux hesitated, dropping his arms. “We have an appointment to meet with Snoke. Have you forgotten?”

“Uh, no. No, of course not,” Hux faltered. He had not remembered the meeting until just then. How strange. He never forgot important meetings. Now he was irritated with himself. He hated to keep the Supreme Leader waiting.

A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of Snoke. A flash of pain flared briefly in his hand. Then nothing. “Wait for me at the chamber entrance. I will be there in ten minutes.”

Ren nodded and departed as the door slid closed. Hux dressed hurriedly, fastening the slick black uniform. He checked his hair in the mirror, arranging the red strands into their usual neatness. He felt his smooth jaw. When had he had a chance to shave…?

Hux pulled on his boots and draped the greatcoat over his shoulders. He snapped off the heating panel, annoyed at himself for such obvious over-indulgence, and swept out of his quarters toward the conference with Leader Snoke.

***

Kylo had long since given up meditation and was crumpled on the bridge of the Eidolon, gripping the hilt of the white saber and all but begging it to tell him where Hux was. The white crystal sang in the Force but did not provide any answers.

He had gone over it again and again in his mind, trying to piece all the events together. If only he had not been asleep when they had taken Hux. If only Hux had taken his saber with him.

This had to be about the sabers. Kylo should have realized. They were the most valuable Force artifacts in the galaxy. Who better to find the companion to the darksaber than a fool being torn apart by the dark and the light. A puppet of a sociopathic being, a being bent on ruling the galaxy.

The anger boiled inside him. Rage at being treated like a plaything, used up and cast aside. False god. False idol . He had swallowed all of Snoke’s lies and now he was choking on them.

Instead of making him stronger, the anger drained him. Kylo lay on his side, curled into himself, barely breathing.

The panic was still there, as shrill as the moment he had first realized Hux was missing. It hadn’t abated for a single second, and his body was on the brink of exhaustion from the strain. He had a vague memory of waking up before Hux, of realizing that their hands were intertwined. Kylo hadn’t been sure which one of them had grasped the other, but the feeling had been perfect, and he had drifted back to sleep in absolute contentment.

Why had he not felt when Hux’s hand left his? He should have been able to sense it. Kylo should have held on, held tighter. That is what he wanted. What he needed. To hold onto Hux and never let him go.

Kylo had broken his promise. Hux was a captive once again. That is, if he was even still alive.

Ren jerked on the floor as though someone had kicked him. Hux had to be alive. He would have felt it if he had died... Just like he had been so sure he should have felt that hand slip out of his, should have felt the mattress shift, should have felt Hux leave the room?

Useless, he berated himself. Pitiful.

What was Snoke’s end game? He had never been able to fully grasp his master’s mind. Kylo could not keep up with the twisting logic of the Supreme Leader. It had been easier just to obey.

Snoke took Hux.

Obviously.

Why?

The sabers.

But Kylo still had them.

Snoke wanted the sabers brought to him…

Yes. That was it. It had to be. Kylo thought about the exaggerated way in which Snoke had presented him with the darksaber. He had said he was even willing to risk his own life to give the saber to Ren personally. Snoke must want the white lightsaber presented in the same way…

Kylo snorted. Why all these games? Where did they all lead?

He found that he didn’t much care. As long as Hux was safe. As long as Hux was with him in the end.

Kylo hauled himself off the floor and went purposefully to the control consoles and began entering commands.

***

The Supreme Leader had changed. Hux had forgotten that. The hologram he gazed at was not that of a ruined shell, but of a glorious being, radiating a graceful beauty. Hux was enthralled. He thought the word lovely and his stomach suddenly heaved. He was almost forced to drop to his knees and retch, but he was able to regain control over himself and straighten up, embarrassed.

Kylo Ren stood on his left. Yes , Hux thought, that is the correct place. His mind briefly flashed back to reaching out to that dark hair while Kylo had been dreaming, soothing his soft temple with his fingers.

No. He had never touched Ren before. They had a professional working relationship, nothing more. Why would he have such thoughts? It must have been the headache that he could feel even now, that painless agony in his head. The static from it was overwhelming. Hux blinked, trying to clear his vision.

“General Hux?” The hologram intoned. “Do you have the attack plan ready?” Hux snapped his attention back to the eyes above his, swimming in the dim light of the projectors.

“Yes, Supreme Leader,” Hux answered, calling the plans to mind. “All is ready for stage two. Stage one is complete. All enemy fighters have been grounded or immobilized through our infiltrator’s efforts, and we are in orbit around the planet. We should have it secured by the end of the cycle.”

“Very good, general. Please work closely with Lord Ren. He will help coordinate the attack. Report back to me as soon as you have secured the base.”

“Of course, Supreme Leader,” Hux responded. The hologram powered down, the image of Snoke dissolving into thin air. Kylo Ren turned and then waited for Hux to join him. They walked out of the audience chamber together. For just a moment, Hux had the strong desire to run. He shook his head. He needed to pull himself together.

“Are you feeling well, general?” Kylo asked. Again, Hux had a feeling of wrongness about the voice. They were walking down the corridor toward the bridge, side by side. Hux looked over at the knight. Kylo looked back, his face expressionless.

“I am well,” Hux responded, still trying to clear a space in his thoughts. Maybe he was coming down with something. His body felt strange. Feverish wasn’t the right word. Every now and then a terrible feeling of cold began to overtake him before it slipped away again, just like the flashes of some other life, some other time, that made no sense.

He was General Hux, commander of the Finalizer, and his mission was to destroy the Resistance base by the end of this cycle.

So why was there a small voice inside of him, wailing and pleading with him in despair?

***

Kylo had to destroy several First Order outposts before he was able to locate a commander important enough to know anything about the current whereabouts of the Finalizer .

It was as he feared. They were going after the Resistance base at last. His mother, both their mothers, he realized, were going to lose their lives.

He remembered Hux’s mother. They had met briefly when he was a child. Ben had accompanied Leia on a few of her less dangerous missions, and he had seen the red haired woman on the bridge.

She had looked at him with such sad eyes when they had first met, Leia introducing her shy son. After greeting him softly, she had looked at Leia, and his mother had laid a gentle hand on her arm, giving it a squeeze before introducing Ben to the other officers.

Now he knew the reason for the grief and longing in those green eyes.

Kylo had a second promise to fulfill.

He jumped the Eidolon to lightspeed, willing the ship to arrive in time.

***

The meeting with senior staff had gone better than expected. All were brought up to speed on the mission strategy. The only snag to the proceedings was when Hux was required to say that they would fire on the base, incinerating the compound. He felt a strange tightening in his chest and throat, and couldn’t get the words out.

Kylo Ren had stepped in and said the phrase for him, thereafter allowing the general to continue with the briefing. Hux felt both grateful and irritated for the assistance.

“Ren,” he said at the conclusion of the meeting, stalling the knight as the rest of the staff filed out. Kylo Ren waited patiently. When they were alone, Hux studied the other man. “Do you have… nightmares?” He wasn’t sure why he had asked that. It sort of just slipped out. Ren studied him for a moment, calculating.

“Yes,” he responded. Hux pulled back at the sound of his voice. Maybe he just was not used to the sound of it without the mask’s filter. He studied Ren’s face again. Dark eyes, pale skin, the scar… still, something was not right. Suddenly, as if of its own volition, his hand reached out and grabbed the knight’s. Neither of them was wearing gloves and their skin made contact.

Their palms had barely met before Hux was gasping for breath. He was in agony. His body was suddenly so cold that he began shivering violently. Fractures ran through his bones. There were places on his skin that felt like they were splitting open. Fissures opening up all over. Light pouring out. Darkness pouring in. He started screaming. The thing that looked like Ren but wasn’t dropped his hand.

He was doubled over, gasping for air. The headache that wasn’t a headache flared up behind his eyes. Hux straightened up, looking around the meeting room in confusion.

“General,” Kylo Ren said, “did you want to proceed to the bridge to commence the attack on the Resistance base?”

Hux smoothed the front of his uniform and cleared his throat. What had he just been thinking? It had seemed important…

“Yes, Lord Ren. After you.” Hux rubbed his hand briefly over his face. His cheekbones felt prominent, the flesh hollowed out. The general shook his head slowly and followed Ren to the bridge.

***

It wasn’t easy getting on the Finalizer, but since Kylo knew that Snoke actually intended for him to get aboard, it was not impossible. He was more concerned over leaving the Eidolon unguarded.

He locked everything down, setting his bioscan as the only release command. He set the shields to go up after he was clear of the ship, along with some other commands to help him ensure they would have a ship to come back to once he had Hux.

Kylo strapped the sabers securely to his belt, the white saber to his right hip, and the darksaber to his left. He set the Eidolon on a predetermined autopilot program, and stepped into the airlock.

It was over so fast, he barely had time to register the brown and gray planet beneath him as he space-jumped onto the hull of the Finalizer. The hulk of the Eidolon cruised by, close enough to snap off a few communication dishes and gun turrets, sending the debris floating away into the void.

Kylo clung to the door of the airlock he had crashed into, and reached inside with the Force, grabbing the mind of a technician and willing him to open the sealed door. Once inside and pressurized, he opened the inner airlock and sent the technician sprawling into unconsciousness.

He listened to the Force. A blank spot radiated its emptiness from the bridge. Another Force-dampening field. Kylo hesitated for a moment, wondering if this was the same trick that had misled him before. Something in his gut said that Hux was actually behind that shield. He made his slow, careful way to the bridge. It would not do to lose his head now. He needed to focus.

Ren left a trail of unconscious officers and troopers in his wake as he approached his target. He did not even need to ignite the sabers. The balancing effect of the crystals was helping him focus like never before, the power crackling down his limbs as he stalked forward.

The door to the bridge yawned open at his approach. No guard was in place. Kylo stepped into the command center. It was empty, save for two figures standing with their backs to the windows, facing him.

Hux was standing in his command stance, eyes blazing with a fierce light. He stared at Ren without acknowledging him. Snoke stood to his left, hands at his sides, looking equal parts thrilled and terrified as his eyes met Kylo’s.

Ren walked slowly to the center of the room, not too close, trying to read the situation. Hux had a Force-shielding device hooked to his belt next to a small projection orb.

Kylo’s eyes shifted back to Snoke. He was not sure what the creature had planned, but he decided that he would play along until he could figure out how to get his hands on Hux and free him of those devices. With the shield in place, he could not use his powers to crush them, and Snoke was standing close enough to the general to kill him if Ren made any sudden moves.

“I have brought you a gift, Supreme Leader,” Kylo said, willing his face and voice to remain calm. There was a quick flash of suspicion on Snoke’s face, followed by a look of sheer delight. Kylo swallowed hard. He had not been expecting that.

The face he had healed and formed for Snoke was the creature’s own from when he was young. He had allowed Kylo to see into his mind, just enough to get a clear picture of his youthful face, before the dark days that had so cruelly twisted his mind and body.

It was a beautiful face. There was something about it that called to Kylo. Maybe it was his own reflected energy from the healing process. Perhaps it was the strange way in which he had identified with those small snatches of memory that he had glimpsed in the other’s mind.

Kylo considered Snoke warily. He was still trying to work out the key to this encounter. Not sure how Snoke desired him to react.

Snoke was a dark shadow in the Force. He trailed bits of smoke and blackness in his wake, captivating and deadly. Kylo felt it reaching out to him now, beckoning. Familiar and comforting in its magnetic pull. The weight of Snoke in the Force had always been hypnotizing to Kylo... to Ben. He was a black void, drawing in all the light around him, consuming it while growing ever hungrier.

With an effort, Kylo shifted his eyes to Hux. Though he was dimmed to just a flicker behind the shielding, Kylo still sensed the warm light of him in the Force. Kylo studied him for a moment. He looked so similar to the first time he had ever laid eyes on him, nearly a year ago, when Kylo had been sent to Starkiller during the final stages of the project. His copper hair was perfectly groomed. He wore the same command uniform he had worn then, the deep black contrasting with his pale skin.

Kylo had been shaken by the light within him upon their first introduction. He had wondered how it could be possible for a general of the First Order to be so completely full of light. That was before Kylo realized that Hux had no idea he was Force-sensitive.

Over the next several months, Hux had sought him out again and again, goading him into reaching out with the Force. Each time it had happened, Hux seemed to gleam brighter. Kylo was convinced that he would go blind staring into the bright fire.

Hux needed a teacher. Kylo had not offered, however. He did not offer to Hux what he had suggested to the scavenger girl, the girl who simmered deep within the Force but was not blinding to him. Hers was an energy he could adapt and mold. Hux, though… Hux would engulf him.

Now it was too late. Kylo had been more utterly consumed by that light than he had ever imagined was possible.

He looked back at the darkness that was Snoke. His face held less of a thrall for him now, though he could not say he was out of danger.

Snoke seemed to notice the shift in Kylo’s attention. He veiled his eyes.

“General, we have a guest.” Snoke turned to where Hux was standing so passively beside him. When he spoke to him, Ren noticed that Snoke changed the timbre and cadence of his voice slightly.

To sound more like me, Kylo realized.

Snoke held out his hand to Hux, and he took it slowly, in a daze, squinting at Snoke as though trying to see him clearly. When their hands meet, Hux shivered and then went still, eyes dropping to the floor, connected to Snoke through their fingers.

“Don’t worry, Kylo,” Snoke said smoothly, looking away from Hux and back to his former apprentice. “I haven’t despoiled him in any way. Beyond the one kiss we shared on the bridge, our relationship has been quite chaste. In fact, it has yet to progress past this,” he held up their joined hands. “The general has a very strong mind. He knows when I touch him that... well... that I am not you, my dear.”

Kylo tensed. He wanted to rip their hands apart and pull Hux to him protectively. He looked back at Snoke and struggled to hide his thoughts.

“You want him to believe that you are me?” He asked, trying to sound casual. Snoke shifted and looked uncomfortable.

“That was necessary, yes,” he answered, dropping Hux’s hand. The general straightened up after that, and for just a second he caught Ren’s eye. There was a desperate spark of realization in his eyes before it slipped away, replaced by a sneer. He stood back in perfect command stance and glared at Kylo, all acknowledgment of who he was gone. “He needs more time to get used to me than I thought. This was the quickest way to gain his cooperation.”

“To destroy the Resistance base?”

“Among other things.”

“You promised me that you would never hurt my mother,” Kylo reminded him, nodding to the planet below.

“I’m not, my dearest. This is General Hux’s original plan. I swear to you that all I have done is restore him to who he was before the two of you came to me.” Snoke reached out a hand to Hux, as though to stroke his hair, but at the last moment he let his fingers ghost over him instead, falling back to his side. Snoke regarded Hux for a moment longer. He whispered, “Why this one?” Kylo wondered who he was talking to.

“Please don’t allow this to happen,” Kylo said, looking steadily at Snoke. He had his hands on the sabers and their presence was helping him remain calm. “Would you do that for me? Would you let them live?” Snoke turned to him with hope.

“I would do anything for you,” he said. He studied Kylo for a moment, reading his body language, trying to brush his mind with the Force. “Ah,” he said, shoulders slumping a bit, “I see. You are only trying to distract me long enough to get to him .” This time Snoke did run a hand over Hux’s hair, making him gasp and pull away, looking at Snoke with wide eyes. He swung his face to Kylo, pleading, then the mask dropped again, and Hux stood glaring at him. “You mentioned a gift?” Snoke asked, turning back towards Kylo.

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” Kylo said, holding up the white light saber. “I have the companion saber to the one you gave to me.” Snoke’s eyes gleamed as he looked at the hilt.

“Ah, yes. The saber.” Snoke held out his long hand and the hilt lept from Kylo’s grasp into his. He ignited it and swung it in a graceful arc. Snoke held it for a moment, appraising. “It sings for another,” he said abruptly. “I should have known.” He switched off the hilt and handed it to Hux. The general looked at it for a moment, recognition seeming to dawn on him. “Hmm”, Snoke murmured, taking it out of Hux’s hands. “Maybe that’s not the best idea.”

“You don’t want the sabers?” Kylo asked, now genuinely confused.

“I don’t mind having them,” Snoke replied. “They make you happy, and that alone is enough reason to keep them. They aren’t my style. I prefer Starkiller Base as a weapon.” Snoke fiddled with the hilt for another moment before setting it on a nearby console, forgotten.

“What do you want?” Kylo asked, his voice raw.

“I want many things,” Snoke snapped, his voice losing it’s liquid quality for a moment. “I want the Resistance gone. I want the galaxy to bow at my feet. I want to be the most feared and the most loved being in all of history.” He turned to Ren, glaring. “But most of all, I want you at my side, willingly.”

Kylo just stared at him incredulously. “You had me at your side. I would still be at your side if not for…” Kylo trailed off, the entire scenario clicking into place. Snoke saw the realization dawning on his face.

“Exactly,” he spat. “He was only ever meant as a thing for you to practice on. You were supposed to fall in love with me .” They stared at one another, the energy in the room snapping and hissing. Hux continued to stand stiffly at Snoke’s side, trapped in a separate reality from theirs.

“Why do you want me to love you?” Kylo asked, trying to keep his confusion in check. He needed information. He couldn’t save Hux if he didn’t understand the game Snoke was playing. The creature snorted, leaning his head to the side and giving Kylo an incredulous look.

“You would really ask me that?” Snoke scoffed. “Well, let me put it in a way you will understand, as you still remain blind to all that you are, all that men like the general and I see in you.” His face hardened. “The person you love, my dear, will be immortal. Do you realize that?”

Kylo stood in shocked silence. He looked from Snoke’s face, his lovely features twisted with emotion, to Hux’s blank expression.

“Immortal...” Kylo breathed.

“Yes,” Snoke snapped at him. “You are perfectly balanced between the darkness and the light. You have a command of both life and death. Look at me. I was nearly dead by the time you started to heal me, only hanging on through my will alone. Now I am a young man. You can continue to do this for me, for yourself, forever. There is no need for either one of us to die.” His eyes had taken on a strange gleam. He started to drift away from Hux and closer to Kylo.

Just a little farther, Kylo willed, keeping his eyes locked on Snoke.

“I told you I’d give you a reason you’d believe,” Snoke said, his eyes going suddenly soft and warm. Kylo shifted uncomfortably. “And it’s true, but…” He took a deep breath. “Oh, Kylo,” he whispered brokenly, looking Ren in the eyes. He was close now, reaching out as if he wanted to stroke Kylo’s cheek. “There is a stronger reason.” His fingers almost managed to make contact before Kylo grabbed his wrist and spun him around, forcing one long arm painfully behind his back.

Snoke gasped and struggled, though he didn’t use his Force powers. Kylo held him there, refusing to yield, pulling his arm until the bones creaked in warning.

“General,” Snoke gasped, “execute your plan.” Hux nodded from beside the controls and began entering the firing sequence.

“Hux!” Kylo called to him. He looked up at Ren for a moment, confused, hand hovering over the final control sequence. Just then a violent wave rocked the Finalizer, throwing all three men to the floor. The Eidolon’s pre-programmed gravity wave had temporarily knocked out the laser cannons.

Hux scrambled to his feet and started trying to re-initialize the sequence. Snoke rolled clear of Kylo and crouched on his knees. Ren lept to his feet, but Snoke promptly hit him with a wave of Force energy, and Kylo’s legs were knocked out from under him. He gave a yell of frustration.

“Hux, you can’t!” Green eyes flicked up momentarily, considering him. Hux turned back to the panel, trying to boot up the cannons. “Stop!” Kylo called to him, feeling Snoke’s vice-like grip on his ankle. He was being pulled back, Snoke trying to get a purchase on him.

Kylo grabbed Snoke’s wrists, forcing him back. He struggled, trying to get free of Kylo’s grip. Then he went suddenly still, gazing at Kylo. His breath hitched as he looked at his face. Kylo gave a frustrated yell, and threw him to the floor.

He turned to Hux, hands out to him, imploring. “Hux,” he said, “it’s me. Please. Don’t execute the plan.” Hux sneered at him, re-initializing the firing sequence. “You have made a fatal error in judgment and need to reexamine your plan for the flaw, general,” Kylo said, as sternly as possible. Hux looked at him, then down at the controls, doubt on his face.

“Kylo,” Snoke pleaded from his knees. “Please, you can keep him. I’ll let your mothers live. You can have whatever you want.” He scrambled forward, the long robes impeding his movement. “Just, you must… You must choose me first. You will choose me, in the end. I promise you, Kylo. It’s our destiny.”

Kylo ignored him. Snoke reached out with the Force and tried to grab his legs again, but Kylo was ready and simply blocked him out, creating his own dampening field around himself and Hux, protecting both of them.

Snoke was howling in frustration. Then he went silent. Kylo could feel him slipping away, moving backwards to the door. He didn’t want to let him leave. He knew he should kill him.

Something that wasn’t love, that wasn’t pity, something strong and real stirred in him and he could not end Snoke’s life. Maybe it was the thought of the old emperor, that shade in the void, full of suffering and hate. Or perhaps it was those flashes of memory he had seen from his youth, glimpses that reminded him so much of himself…

He turned all his attention on Hux. He was his focus now. Kylo had chosen him over Snoke, and now he would keep his promise.

Kylo reached Hux, who put his hands up as if to fight him off. “No!” He called out. “Don’t touch me.”

“Shh, Hux, it’s me,” Kylo gently took his wrists. Hux shuddered and looked up at him, his eyes going wide and filling with tears.

“Kylo?” He asked, his voice small and broken. “This is a trick,” he hissed, pulling back. He reached out a hand and snatched the abandoned lightsaber from the console. The blade flashed bright and pure, and Hux tensed, ready to hack this impostor apart.

Ren sank slowly to his knees and lifted his chin, baring his throat. “Strike me down, Hux. If you think I am not who I appear to be, if you don’t trust me… strike me down.”

The general had a hunted look. The white light reflected brightly off his features, throwing the hollows into deep relief. He looked both strong and fragile, battling his own mind, trying to decide what was real.

“I trust you, Hux. You’re the only one I trust.” The green eyes wavered. Hux lowered the white blade slowly.

“Kylo?” He asked again, louder than before. He deactivated the saber, hooking it instinctively to his belt, like he had been doing it all his life.

“Yes. I’m here.” Relief flooded through him. ”Hux, there are two devices on your belt.” Hux looked down, saw the metal attachments, and looked back up at Kylo, confused. “Does your head feel strange?”

“Yes.”

“If you take those off you’ll feel better.” Hux looked at him a moment, then reached down and slowly took the devices off, holding them in his hand. He looked back at Kylo. “Garbage chute,” Kylo suggested. Hux searched until he found one, and slipped the devices inside.

As he turned back, Hux was suddenly unsteady on his feet, his knees giving out when he tried to step forward. Kylo grabbed him, supporting his body so he wouldn’t fall. Hux tensed in his arms, afraid.

“It’s alright, Hux,” Kylo soothed, holding him loosely so as not to alarm him more. “It’s me.” Hux took a deep breath, then leaned in farther. He put his arms up and pulled Ren’s head closer. For a moment Kylo thought he was going to kiss him. Instead, he buried his face in Kylo’s hair and inhaled deeply. “Are you smelling me?” Kylo asked, surprised.

***

Hux breathed him in. Yes, this was right. This one was not a fake, he was real. He had thought so, once he had heard his voice. Then felt his touch. But it was his scent that finally convinced him. He smelled like his pillow after Ren lay in his spot first to warm it up. It smelled like his fingers after he had cupped Ren’s head while he slept, his hand tangled in the dark strands of silky hair.

“Kylo,” he sighed, sinking into him. He felt safe. He finally felt safe, and utterly, bone achingly, tired.

“You can’t fall asleep yet, Hux. We have to steal a TIE fighter and make it back to the Eidolon in one piece…”

“I love you. You know that, don’t you?” Hux mumbled into his shoulder. He could barely stand up. All he wanted to do was lie down. The body supporting him had gone very still. He felt a large hand stroking his hair.

“I love you too,” came the breathless reply.

“I know,” Hux sighed. “I saw it. In your head.” Kylo held him tighter.

“Yeah, I guess you did,” Kylo admitted. “Hux, stay with me… Don’t fall asleep. Oh gods, he drugged you, didn’t he?”

Hux felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. He felt himself being half led, half dragged behind Kylo to the landing bay. He only vaguely remembered being stuffed into the second seat of a TIE fighter and flown back to the Eidolon.

Ren supported him down the seemingly endless corridors to the bridge. He helped Hux out of his boots and outer layer of his uniform, then tucked him into bed. Hux laughed a little bit at being treated like a child, but Kylo only stroked his hair and told him to sleep.

Hux struggled up on one elbow.

“The perimeter alarms,” he said. “They need to be set to maximum…”

“I know Hux, I’ll take care of it. I’ll get us someplace safe and we’ll rest, alright?”

“That seems like a sound strategy,” Hux said blearily. Kylo grinned at him.

“It is. Now go to sleep.”

“Kylo?”

“Yes, Hux?”

“Will you,” Hux paused, swallowed. “Will you come back? I mean, in here? When we’re safe…”

“Of course.”

Hux lay down, still fighting sleep. He listened to Kylo programming the flight plan, then felt the ship moving through hyperspace before being maneuvered into orbit. He could just make out the gleam of atmosphere around a planet through the dark window.

A short time later, Kylo walked back into the room. He took off his boots, then slipped under the blanket. After hesitating a moment, he rolled toward Hux and cautiously put a heavy arm over him, nuzzling his face into his neck. The general leaned back against Kylo’s solid warmth and heaved a sigh of relief.

“Finally,” he murmured, and fell asleep.