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When he’s conscious again, Hux’s first thoughts drift towards the Force users and how they were right about the afterlife thing.
Because he just died, didn’t he? And now he can, inexplicably, think and experience, in a way, even though he doesn’t feel a thing. No sense of temperature, nor his own body, no smells, no sounds, and blackness all around him.
Then, he notices it’s not only blackness. There are tiny spots of light everywhere, each of them seemingly a far-away star. The logic drives him to a dreadful conclusion: he’s not dead yet. He’s been spaced; that’s how they got rid of his body, and he’s dying right now. The reason he can’t feel anything is, well, shock, probably. Even the wave of fear that floods him isn’t accompanied by stomach ache or frantic beating of his heart.
He tries to look around, to locate the Steadfast, but of course he can’t move.
There are worse ways to die, the painful ones, for example. Sure, that blaster bolt hurt, but at the moment Hux feels nothing and hopes it will stay like that until the end. Can’t be long now.
Suspicious, he begins counting the seconds. At two thousand, he has no choice but to admit he cannot be alive, floating in space like that.
The despair that realisation brings, feels so real, and human, and like something only the living should experience. Is this it? Is it his existence now? For eternity? He’s spent thirty-six years living in fear only to die and swim in dread forever?
Why exactly are emotions available in the afterlife? Aren’t they just chemical reactions in the brain? A brain he doesn’t possess now.
Surely, he’ll go insane in the next few hours, seeing how the panic seems to spike and spike and spike within him. Or wherever his emotions reside now.
He almost bends in half, laughing hysterically and utterly silently.
It takes him a few embarrassingly long seconds to suffocate that amusement, and then some more to notice the dark reddish glow surrounding a white shape that appears in front of him. Studying it carefully for what feels like half an hour, he decides it must be hind legs and a tail of some kind of animal-like creature that looks like it’s made of light. The rest of it is either behind him or―
Is this my afterlife body? he thinks stupidly and while he still can’t exactly feel anything, Hux discovers he’s able to move it, bringing the front paws into his field of view. They look relatively long and delicate, though there’s nothing here to compare them to, really. They’re blindingly white and glowing dark red, too, making him think about his own hair colour when it’s wet. There are tiny bubbles of light dancing around him slowly, as well, both white and the same dark red shade.
This is madness. This must be madness.
What would he give for some gravity. For an up and a down. For some semblance of order.
Something (the Force?) must have heard his thoughts because his flailing legs (paws, he supposes) suddenly touch something very floor-like and he can feel it, solid and cool. When he looks down, there’s a pool of light on this new black, shiny surface, not unlike a star destroyer’s polished floor. The light is coming from him.
Hux tries lying down, his movements awkward in this strange animal body. The solid surface is still underneath him and he stretches carefully, trying to determine if he’s on some kind of hovering platform or if maybe the floor goes on endlessly in four directions, because his sense of sight alone doesn’t supply him with the necessary data.
Well, there’s only one way to find out and it’s not like he’s got anything better to do. He gets up on all fours and takes a few steps. Performs a single, awkward jump to test his thought-made floor’s endurance. Tries jogging, then running, then jumping as high as he can.
After what could be any amount of time between a few hours or a full standard day he feels confident enough to run at full speed and to roll onto his back once he gets bored.
He considers experimenting with the magical thinking, but some mistrustful part of him keeps postponing. What if the wish-granting thing is limited? He was already given a body and a surface to walk on. What if he’s bound to pay for all of it? In Hux’s world, one doesn’t simply get something because they asked, much less because they thought about it.
But, his ever hungry part worries, what if the wish-granting thing is limited in time? Maybe he should grab as much as he can right now, while he still can?
Could you maybe provide me with an afterlife manual... Force?
Hux keeps looking around, but nothing useful appears. To his great surprise, he finds himself thinking about Ren, of all people. Well, it’s not that surprising, really. For one, Ren used to occupy his thoughts very often even though they were hardly pleasant. Plus, Ren is the only person Hux knows personally that has connection to the Force. The strange part is that Hux is actually wishing for Ren’s company while normally he’d only want Ren to be as far away as possible. And for him to have no power over Hux, which might be true now.
The thought makes him almost giddy. Ren is no longer his superior. He can’t hurt him anymore.
Who can be found in the afterlife, though? Is it possible Hux will eventually stumble upon someone― dead like himself? His father, for example? The idea makes him physically shudder.
He tries to approach the subject of other afterlife dwellers from a different angle: is there anyone he’d like to meet here? Definitely no-one from the Republic. Or the Resistance. Or the First Order, to be perfectly honest. Although maybe... No, not even Phasma.
There might be one person. Although he doesn’t want to exactly meet her, just― He’s maybe a tad curious about his mother.
You’re getting sentimental, he chides himself, but before he can continue the berating, he notices a blue light to his right.
Is the wish-granting machine working again?
Oh, but he’s not entirely sure he wants to get closer to the source of that light. He will, of course, his curious nature will take him there, but he will also regret it, most likely.
Thirty steps, and he can tell the blue light has a white core that’s shaped more humanoid-like than Hux in his present form although it looks like this person is sitting on the magic floor. Ten more steps, and yes, they are sitting on their heels, head bowed, dark-ish blue hair hiding their face. They’re wearing “clothes”, too, a simple shirt and pants, both seemingly made of light as well.
They raise their head and Hux stops dead in his approach. He’s been noticed. There’s no turning back.
He can’t exactly recognise this person’s face yet, though it’s vaguely familiar.
Two more careful steps.
A hand outstretches in Hux’s direction, palm up. Half a meter between them.
“Hux?”
Hux freezes with his front paw raised, head tilted so he can look into Kylo Ren’s face.