Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What are you doing in my office?” Hux demanded, his voice flat and cold as the surface of Odacer-Faustin. He’d come out of the refresher surprised to find an older man in Jedi robes standing by his desk. Hux gripped the towel knotted at his waist while his other hand steadily pointed his blaster at the stranger. The other man looked unconcerned by the threat of imminent death.

“You can see me?” A relieved smile stretched across the man’s face as he stepped away from the desk. “Can you hear me as well?”

Hux didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. The blaster went off and through the other person to hit the opposite wall in a shower of sparks.

The man chuckled. Where once he was by the desk, he was now standing in front of Hux. The stranger looked him up and down with a thoughtful gaze before saying, “You’re strong willed. I like that.”

Hux was not a superstitious man. He believed in science and calm, logical decisions instead of the passionate mysticism of the Force that Kylo Ren represented. However, this close he could see that the man was subtly translucent that no real man could ever be. Combined with the Jedi robes and being immune to blaster shots, Hux strongly suspected that the Force was at work.

“I will ask you again,” Hux said evenly. “What are you doing in my office?” He flicked on the safety. The blaster was of no use in this situation and he didn’t want his temper to get the best of him. Accidents meant paperwork, and paperwork meant time he didn’t have. He was already swamped enough with the near-daily accident reports he had to fill out on behalf of Kylo Ren.

The stranger nodded and folded his arms into his sleeves. “I’ve been watching you.” Hux was acutely aware that he was in nothing but a towel. “And I think you would be a great fit for my grandson, Kylo Ren.”

“Absolutely not.” Hux would not—could not—deal with this right now. He had a ship to run, he had tactical strategies to go over, and he did not need a kriffing Force ghost talking to him about completely inappropriate things. “Get out of my quarters and do not contact me again.” With as much grace as he could muster, Hux walked stiff-backed to his bedroom and let the sliding doors hiss closed behind him.

The ghost’s cheery voice came through the closed door. “We’ll talk again, General Hux.”

Hux was very tempted to give into the childish urge to throw his blaster. Instead, he set it down very, very carefully on his nightstand before getting dressed for alpha shift on the bridge. This was just one more reason to hate the Force and Kylo kriffing Ren.

Chapter Text

The ghost, much to Hux’s extreme displeasure, would not. Go. Away. It didn’t matter if Hux paid him any attention or not because that menace talked on and on and on.

Currently, he was in the mess hall with Phasma as she talked about some updates on the new batch of troops she was training. Things were going well, as expected, and he didn’t really need to be here listening to her. Except he desperately wanted to drown out the voice of that ghost chatting on beside him.

“His favorite food is Coreillian mashed tubers,” the ghost said abruptly after a very long one-sided conversation about the many virtues of Kylo Ren’s good looks. “It was the only thing he would eat growing up, and his father used to tease him that Ben would turn into a plate of mashed tubers.” Fondness colored the ghost’s voice, who was no doubt lost in old memories.

If that ghost liked Kylo Ren so much then Hux didn’t understand why he was the one being harassed. Was this some punishment from the Supreme Leader for an unknown failure? Hux tried not to scowl too deeply as he ate and nodded along to Phasma’s report. If he concentrated enough he could block out the—

“Oh there he is now. Doesn’t he look so handsome in his black robes? He gets that fashion sense from me, you know.” The ghost sighed as if re-living a cherished memory. Or maybe he was just deranged…Hux didn’t know and he didn’t care to think about it. He didn’t want to have anything to do with the ghost or acknowledge its existence.

However, against his will, Hux’s eyes flicked over to the entryway doors. He was just time to see Kylo stomp in like the uncultured, backwater planet peasant that he was. Even from this distance Hux could see the anger radiating off of Kylo. It was in the tense lines of his shoulders to the lights that flickered overhead in danger of exploding in a shower of sparks and glass. Kylo had better not cause any more damage on his ship if he knew what was good for him. They had just replaced those bulbs recently after a recent outburst of his.

The ghost floated a little to the left of Hux with his chin resting in his palm. “My, he doesn’t seem to be in a good mood. You know he had the worst tantrums when he didn’t get his way.”

Hux ground his teeth together and tried very hard to keep his thoughts to himself. That idiot is always in an awful mood. Someone should put him out of his misery.

Apparently he was projecting because Kylo Ren snapped his head around to look at Hux. The knight wasn’t wearing that horrible helmet for once, so he got a good look at Kylo’s stupid face scrunched up with deep suspicion.

Stay out of my head! Hux projected when he felt Kylo’s not-so-light probing along the surface of his mind.

Then stop projecting, Kylo snapped back. A light burst somewhere in the corner of the mess hall and Hux resigned himself to filing another maintenance request. Again.

“My grandson is looking at you. You should do something.” The ghost elbowed him in the shoulder as if it were a friendly nudge. However, it was a ghost so it went right through his body. It was the most unpleasantly cold sensation he’d ever felt, and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Some of that displeasure must have shown on Hux’s face because Phasma stopped talking and gave a polite cough. “Is something wrong?” Her tone was reserved, face neutral as she regarded him, but it rankled Hux nonetheless.

He gripped his fork in his hand and determinedly ignored the ghost’s insistence that he share his tubers with Kylo Ren. “I’m fine, thank you Phasma, but I believe you can inform me about the rest of your report later. I find I have other matters to attend to.”

He got up, disposed of his tray, and quickly exited the mess hall to get away from two of his biggest problems. Hux could feel the beginning of a headache forming behind his eyes, and he pinched the bridge of his nose when he was sure there was no one around. It was a momentary sign of weakness his father would have never approved of. Then again, his father had never had to deal with temperamental Force users and the ghosts who were obsessed with them. Hux needed a way to end this.

Quickly.

Chapter Text

No one else could see or hear the Force ghost. Not Phasma. Not his crew. Not even the Supreme Leader during a very uncomfortable meeting where the ghost had alternated between mocking Snoke and raving about his grandson. A whole week with his own personal demon that seemed determined to drive him to an early grave. Hux was not a weak man, but even he had his limits. The stress was starting to get to him as much as he hated to admit it. There’d been more verbal fights with Kylo Ren, tense conversations with his officers, and even the troops were tiptoeing around him the same way they reacted to Kylo during one of his tantrums.

Hux was in his office with a mug of caf beside him. He was going over expense reports on his datapad and wondered if he should dip into the slush fund because of another completely inappropriate tantrum from Kylo. That man and his stupid kriffing map. Hux would never understand why the Supreme Leader was so lenient with the Force user when he was more trouble than he was worth.

His datapad dinged signaling another message and Hux swiped open it. The message read:

DID YOU HEAR THAT KYLO REN HAS AN EIGHT PACK? HE'S SHREDDED! TAKE A LOOK AT THIS TRAINING VIDEO; YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES.

“What!” The screen cracked when Hux threw it against the wall in a rare fit of rage. It clattered to the steel floor and landed face up. Hux could see Kylo’s video automatically playing with the sound at high volume. “Ghost you get out here right now,” he snarled. He was done with ignoring the being’s presence in the vain hope that it would go away. “I know you can hear me!”

The ghost suddenly appeared sitting on the edge of his desk as if he’d always been there. “I see you got my message.” He fondly looked at the video of his grandson practicing his forms. “Manipulating electronics is hard when you’re a ghost, but I’ve always been talented.”

“I need you to stop meddling in my affairs,” Hux demanded and rose to his feet. His nails bit into his palms to stop himself from shaking in furious anger as he attempted to look down his nose at the ghost. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I have a ship to run. I don’t need to hear anything else about Kylo Ren. Do I make myself clear?”

The ghost’s lips kicked up in a small smile. “You know, when you sound like that you remind me of my old master,” he said placidly. He didn’t seem fazed when a near-empty mug of caf went sailing though the air. It passed through him to shatter against the wall right near the blaster scorch mark. “Of course he never threw anything.”

Hux would have wrung the ghost’s neck if it was even a remote possibility. “Get. Out.”

The ghost held up his hands as if in surrender before winking out of existence.

Hux sighed and slumped back down in his chair, too tired to sit properly in the way his father had drilled into his head since a young age. The ever-present pounding behind his eyes was worse than before. Kark it. He pulled out a tumbler and a very expensive bottle of whiskey from his desk. Only when he was on his second glass did he feel in control enough to get back to work.

“Mitaka,” Hux said through the comlink.

“Yes, sir?”

“I need a datapad sent to my quarters. My previous one has malfunctioned.” He looked to the side to see that the tech had stopped working. Liquid must have spilled on it from his ill-thought-out plan of hurling his mug. The screen sparked once before going dark.

“Right away, sir,” Mitaka responded back swiftly.

Hux cut the line, satisfied that at least he still had some semblance of control in his life. He would work on the rest of the reports for another hour or so before taking a sorely needed shower. It was one of the few luxuries he permitted for himself, and he looked forward to having the hot spray work out some of the tension. He most definitely needed it.

Chapter Text

Hux stood on the bridge in perfect parade rest. He was commanding his ship due to sheer willpower and his ingrained sense of proprietary. He was also running on very little sleep because of an incredibly talkative Force ghost who insisted on speaking about Kylo Ren every kriffing minute. (The Force ghost—as he had explained many times to Hux—was named Anakin, which Hux refused to use. Naming things meant it was real and had permanency.)

The ghost seemed determined to get the two of them together so, in true Hux fashion, he had dug his heels in and done the exact opposite. He had had no less than six near screaming matches with the knight. It usually ended in property damage and a lot of colorful expletives reverberating down the hallway, but at least it made Hux feel slightly better.

It was relatively calm on the bridge since the latest altercation. Maybe he could end delta shift slightly early for some much needed rest. But because he was cursed, Kylo Ren stomped in with the presence of an impending explosion. “Lord Ren,” he said neutrally and did his best to ignore the way the tension in the room spiked to near palpable levels.

“I require command of a small battalion of your troops,” Kylo demanded.

“No.” He didn’t turn his gaze away from surveying the many screens below him. His crew confidently moved about, diligently working hard to keep the Finalizer on track.

Kylo’s breath hissed through the voice modulator in frustration. “It would be wise to heed my orders.”

“I don’t care what you think,” Hux snapped and turned around to face that petulant child. He wasn’t sure if that was directed at Kylo, the ghost wherever he may be, or both but at this point he didn’t care. “I am the general of this ship. I will not give in to your ridiculous demands because of your problematic, emotional states. They have no room as part of the First Order. So get yourself together, Ben.”

“How do you know that name?” Kylo snarled. Four data screens exploded behind him in a shower of glass and arcing electricity. “Tell me!”

One of Hux’s crew members stood up with a hand hovering over her blaster. “General, do you need—” she cut off in an anguished cry when she was picked up and carelessly thrown against the far wall. She crumpled to the floor, dazed but still conscious as others rushed to help her.

“Stop terrorizing my crew!” Hux barked out when metal floors creaked and rippled under the force of an invisible pressure. “We’re not your playthings and Chewie isn’t going to put things back together for you after another one of your tantrums.” Hux was spitting mad. He didn’t care about the repercussions of using personal attacks against Kylo Ren. He was so done, and willing to use anything that Force ghost had said as ammunition.

Hux was jerked towards Kylo with a vicious wave of the knight’s hand. “You know nothing!”

Hux’s throat closed up by invisible fingers. His breath came out in a breathy wheeze. “I know everything,” he bit out with as much dignity as he could muster. Hux could see his furious scowl reflected in the shine of Kylo’s ridiculous helmet. “Your kriffing grandfather…won’t leave me the hell alone.” He drew in another small breath of air. “…About his… precious…Benny-Boo.”

The oppressive pressure in the room abruptly disappeared and everything became brighter. He stumbled on his feet when Kylo suddenly let him go. Black spots were dancing along the edges of his vision, and he could hear the muffled concerns of his crew above the high ringing in his ears. It took focused concentration to realize Kylo was standing in front of him with his helmet under one arm.

“My moth—Ben’s mother used to call him that. She said it was a nickname her father had for Ben’s namesake,” Kylo whispered with a surprised expression on his face. “You can talk to my grandfather, Darth Vader?”

Hux coughed and irritably waved away an officer who seemed about to reach out to him for assistance. “What?” he said blankly.

“Anakin Skywalker.”

“Yes?” The ghost suddenly appeared as if summoned, took one look between the two of them, and clapped a friendly hand on Hux’s shoulder. “Oh I’m so glad the two of you are talking. You should really take him out on a date.”

Something shattered deep, deep within Hux where his soul used to be. “Mitaka, you have the bridge.” He strode off without another word while a talkative Kylo and equally talkative Force ghost trailed after him.

Chapter Text

“Hux, we need to talk about this,” came Kylo’s voice from the other side of the door.

“Absolutely not.” He didn’t have to talk about any of it. Not the debacle on the bridge the other day. Not the Force. And not Kylo Ren who had been camped outside his bedroom door all day. The only reason that wretched man hadn’t forced his way inside was because Hux had threatened to make Darth Vader go away. Not that he could, but the Force user didn’t need to know that. Instead, Kylo had used the Force to barricade the doors to trap Hux inside instead. And, unfortunately, the ghost was here too.

“My grandson has been waiting for you for hours,” the ghost said. He was hovering more or less in a sitting position above Hux’s bed. “Loyalty is a great trait in a partner.”

“I said I was sorry!” Kylo growled and hit his fist against the wall.

“He does seem very sorry about your lover’s spat,” the ghost added.

At this point Hux was an expert at ignoring the being. He deliberately typed out another short missive and sent it off. Another report done, forty more to go.

“Let me in.” Kylo had been like this, oscillating between anger and remorse, ever since Hux has gotten out of the bacta tank. It had healed the worst of his injuries, although the phantom feeling of fingers on his throat hadn’t left him yet. Hux had only acquiesced to going to the med bay because he needed his voice to order his troops around. “Could you at least ask my grandfather some questions?” Kylo wheedled in a way that set Hux’s teeth on edge.

“Ask him yourself,” Hux said brusquely and continued on with his work. Unlike some people, he had actual obligations and responsibilities that couldn’t be put on hold. He could just picture Kylo Ren slumped on the other side of the door with his ridiculously long limbs splayed akimbo and head tilted back against the door. No doubt he was pouting because this was Kylo Ren: Lord of the Overdramatic Emotions.

Kylo thunk’ed his head against the door. “You know I can’t do that, Hux,” he grumbled. “My grandfather is somehow blind to me through the Force.”

The ghost nodded. “It’s true. I’ve been trying to communicate with him for years, but he’s shut me out. He’s incredibly strong in the Force.” Pride made his chest puff up like an overstuffed pelikki.

Hux rubbed his temples. “Wait Kylo, I think I do hear your grandfather. What was that?” Hux asked with false concern. “Darth Vader said his grandson is an utter disappointment and should have been tossed in a trash compactor?” It was most definitely the pain medication that made Hux so amenable to provoking the errant knight. “He also said your helmet is a travesty,” he continued smoothly.

There was a charged silence before the door to his quarters burst open with the sound of twisted metal on metal. “He did not!” Kylo clawed his way inside like an angry animal. He nearly tripped over his tattered cape when it snagged on a sharp edge. “He didn’t say that! Where is he?”

“Must you ruin everything you touch?” Hux asked in irritation. That door would have to be completely replaced again. Their monthly expenses were getting dangerously close to being in the red.

Kylo ignored him in favor of jerking his cape free with a violent tug. “And my helmet is in honor of my grandfather.”

“It is a very nice looking helmet.” The ghost floated over to hover beside Kylo.

“Is he here right now?” Kylo asked.

Hux gave him a perfectly blank look. “No.”

“Tell him to use a different polish though,” the ghost continued and made a half turn around his grandson. “It’ll give it more shine.”

Kylo folded his arms across his chest. “Well, tell my grandfather I wish to speak with him,” he demanded.

“General, you should tell my grandson that his muscles look very nice today.”

“Hux, are you listening? Ask my grandfather what he thinks of my lightsaber.”

“Tell him the lightsaber is very impressive and is just the right amount of menacing.”

“Also ask him if—”

Hux slammed his hand down on his desk. “Enough!” He fixed his gaze on that Force meddling ghost. “Stop talking to me about your grandson and nattering away about Kylo’s virtues. And you,” he snarled and looked right at the knight, “I don’t care about you at all. So stop bothering me when I have things to do.”

Hux had expected Kylo to stomp out in a snit like he usually did, but instead there was the hiss of latches being undone as he took off his helmet. “Hux,” Kylo said seriously, “you cannot lie to me. The fact that you can communicate with my grandfather is a sign. His words are wise, and if he is urging us together then that means it is destiny.”

“What? No.” This was devolving very quickly into one of those terrible soap operas that Phasma claimed she didn’t watch on her days off. It was highly distressing. “There is no destiny between us.”

Kylo reached out towards him. “I find your lack of faith in us disturbing.”

“Stay away from me,” Hux hissed and knocked Kylo’s hand away. “There is no us!”

“Search your feelings; you know it to be true,” the knight insisted.

Kylo reached out to him again and Hux knocked his hand away a second time. And then a third time. It rapidly turned into some horrific slap fight that both embarrassed and enraged Hux in equal measures. This was ridiculous. All of this was ridiculous. “Get away from me!” He slapped Kylo across the face.

“You remind me so much of my Padmé.” The ghost sniffed and used a corner of his sleeve to wipe a ghostly tear away. “She played hard to get as well.”

Hux gave an unintelligible sound of rage in response.

Chapter Text

“Hux, give me your hand.”

Hux looked up from where he was pouring over maps. He was in the conference room with some of his personal officers. “Why?” he asked evenly.

“I am in need of some assistance and seek my grandfather’s council.” Hux could feel Kylo’s glare on him despite the helmet that idiot still insisted on wearing.

Hux counted to five while the other officers uneasily glanced at one another. His crew were still settling into the normal workflow after the Force choking bridge fight between himself and Kylo last week. “Unfortunately, he’s not here. So if you would be so kind as to leave me to my work.”

“If you don’t give it to me then I will take it by force,” Kylo threatened.

Hux’s temper spiked but he reined it in. Somehow the matter of yesterday’s slap fight had circulated through the ranks, and Hux didn’t need to tarnish his image any more than it already was. “If you will excuse me, gentlemen,” he said formally before walking out of the room. He grabbed a fistful of Kylo’s cloak on the way out.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t jettison you out into space,” he hissed once the blaster doors had closed behind them.

Instead of answering, Kylo stripped off his glove and encircled his thumb and pointer finger around Hux’s bare wrist where there was a gap between the sleeve and glove. “I can’t see him,” he said shortly after.

“Because he’s not here,” Hux responded irritably. “He doesn’t follow me around all the time.” Thank the stars for that. “If he’s around then I will let you know.” No he wouldn’t, but the knight didn’t need to know that.

“Maybe the connection needs to be stronger,” Kylo said thoughtfully and clamped down on his wrist in a tight grip.

“Excuse me,” Hux said in glacial tones and tried to tug his hand away. The knight’s long fingers felt like hot bands around his wrist. “This was not what we had agreed upon.” Somehow, during their slap fight their gloves had come off. The bare skin-to-skin contact had done something so Kylo could see the Force ghost. This had led to a terse set of negotiations after Hux had quickly weighed the pros and cons of being the conduit between grandfather and grandson. Better to suffer through some minor physical contact than to be harassed as a verbal messenger.

“We agreed upon physical contact,” Kylo said defensively. He did not let go of his grip.

“Minor physical contact, you imbecile.” Hux dug his heels in when Kylo tried to tug him down the hallway like some sort of wayward child. “Unhand me.”

“It will be but a moment,” Kylo said patiently. It was humiliating to privately concede that Kylo was the stronger one of the two of them. And if the knight chose to—like right now—Hux could do nothing to prevent himself from being pulled along. “And you weren’t doing anything important anyway. The Force should take greater precedence.”

“Absolutely not." Hux struggled against Kylo anyway despite knowing it was fruitless. He still had dignity. “I have a meeting I need to get to and—”

“You’re making this more difficult than it should be,” Kylo cut in and waved his hand.

Outrage robbed Hux’s voice when Ren used the Force and swept him up to bob alongside the other man as if he were nothing more than an object. “You…Kylo!” he spluttered with his face flushed in embarrassment. He would not get into another slap fight with Kylo. He would not. He would not. He would not. “I’m bringing up this insubordination with the Supreme Leader during our next meeting.”

Kylo let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. “The Supreme Leader approves of my connection with you. He says it makes me stronger.”

Hux had no response to that other than the dangerously treasonous thought that, with minimal respect, Snoke was completely out of his mind. Two stormtroopers walked by and he tried to appear as if floating under Force control was an every day occurrence. Nothing to see here. Move along. They slowed down in confusion, but a quick glare from him had them snapping hasty salutes before marching down the hallway. He was never going to be respected again.

He settled into a moody sulk as he was toted around while Kylo searched the Finalizer. “Is this even important?” he grumbled after a while, well beyond the point of caring when a group of his officers walked by them. He caught one of them poorly hiding a smile, and Hux made a mental note to assign that one to sanitation duty.

“Yes.” Kylo turned a corner a little bit too fast and banged him into the wall.

Just like a child, Hux thought waspishly and shrugged off the throbbing pain in his shoulder. Kylo may be powerful in the Force, but he was careless. No wonder all your toys broke.

I would take better care of you, Kylo responded with an injured air.

Stay out of my head! Hux snapped. He hated that Kylo had such easy access to his thoughts.

“Grandfather!” Kylo called out when he saw his grandfather near his personal quarters.

The Force ghost quickly turned around with a suspiciously guilty look on his face. Hux thought he saw something flicker out of sight. “Grandson. Hux,” the ghost greeted. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

“Grandfather, I have need of your advice as I struggle through something that meditation in the Force has not helped me with.” The knight swept into a half bow of respect.

Hux rolled his eyes as he floated alongside Kylo. “Yes, please bestow your divine wisdom upon your disciple.” He gently bumped against Kylo like a piece of driftwood. As soon as Kylo released him he was going to hit the other man.

The Force ghost folded his hands into his sleeves. “Of course, I will be happy to help. What does my handsome grandson and his agreeable boyfriend need?”

“How do I get my cape to flow as dramatically as yours when I make an entrance?” Kylo swept his ragged cape over his shoulder. Hux could only stare at him with offended outrage.

In an instant the Force ghost had transformed into Darth Vader. “Impressive, most impressive,” he said in a deep modulated voice that Kylo had always tried to imitate. “However, it could use some work. Let me show you the way.” His cape swirled around him in a dramatic way, and Hux could swear hearts were floating above Kylo’s head.

Kylo started chattering beside his grandfather as the pair talked and dramatically walked down the hallway together. The knight didn’t seem like he was in any hurry to release Hux judging by the death grip on his wrist.

Hux sighed. He hated Kylo Ren.

“Sorry,” Kylo called back carelessly when he accidentally smacked him against another wall.

So. Kriffing. Much.

Chapter Text

Hux had begrudgingly accepted that Kylo Ren and his stupid Force ghost grandfather was a part of his life now. And, in true Hux fashion, he had devised the best way to minimize complications and maximize efficiency so he could continue to do his work without interruptions. At least that was the story he was going with if anyone had dared to ask why he now walked hand in hand with Kylo whenever they were together.

“I’m so glad the two of you found each other with a little help from me.” The Force ghost wore dark Jedi robes that were almost black. He looked around the same age as Kylo. Earlier, the two of them had discussed hairstyles and the best way to maintain an artfully careless look. Hux’s snide suggestion of a buzzed cut was met with twin looks of appalled judgment.

Hux nearly broke his stride to level a glare at the being. “We’re not—” he broke off in a defeated sigh. “Don’t you have some other people to bother? Maybe you can cross over now that your business is done, or whatever you Force users believe in.”

Kylo looked hurt. He’d stopped wearing his helmet unless it was for meetings or out in battle. It still took a bit to get used to how emotive the other man was. “Hux, that’s not a nice thing to say.”

“Well, I’m not a very nice person,” Hux sniped. “I kill people. You do too,” he added as an afterthought. “This ship is nicknamed the Star Killer.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t be nice to family.”

Hux very wisely refrained from commenting on that as they walked into the canteen. A couple heads turned their way, but on the whole no one was going to draw attention to themselves for staring at their superior officers. Kylo still had a hair-trigger anger management problem.

Obtaining lunch was an easy affair, and Hux settled in the far corner of the room. He tried to sit as far away from Kylo as possible with their fingers still entwined. That idiot was having an animated conversation with his grandfather about droids and mechanics while he shoveled some grayish, gooey substance into his mouth. Hux looked up when he heard someone approach them.

“Sir,” Phasma said respectfully. She slid into the seat across from him. Her helmet was off, and Hux could see amusement dancing in her cool blue eyes as she looked at the joined hands. “This is new.”

“It’s the Force,” Hux said to her unasked question. She’d been off ship for a month-long mission and had missed a lot of current events. “Kylo can’t see his grandfather without connecting to me. Trust me, this was the easiest solution.”

“Or maybe you just like holding hands.” Her face remained perfectly blank as she ate her ration.

Hux scowled at her. “What utter nonsense. Of course I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to.”

A small smile curled up one corner of Phasma’s mouth. “Then who is he talking to?”

It was then that Hux realized that Kylo had let go of his hand at some point to use both of his hands to animatedly talk with his grandfather who was nodding along in agreement.

“Ren!” he barked out. Both Skywalkers snapped their heads around with matching guilty looks. Hux stood up in a towering rage. He was only faintly aware of people very quickly exiting the canteen. “Have you been able to talk to your stupid Force ghost grandfather this entire time?”

Kylo gave Hux a shifty look. “To be fair, I didn’t know about it until recently.”

“Did you know about this?” he asked dangerously and leveled a glare at the Force ghost.

“Uh…I think I hear Padmé calling me,” the ghost said before disappearing from existence.

Hux growled and threw his hands up in the air. “I’m done.” He stomped out of the canteen while determinedly ignoring whatever Kylo was saying. He was never letting the knight near him again.

He was thinking about all the ways he was going to disembowel Kylo when he opened the doors to his private quarters to find a woman standing there with a blue tint around her. “Who the kriff are you?” Because of course it was another Force ghost here to bother him.

The woman gently smiled. “I hear you’ve been having Skywalker troubles, so I thought I would give you some advice on how to handle them.” A book suddenly appeared in her hands titled Skywalkers, the Force, and the People Who Loved Them.

His life. He can’t even.