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Everyone knew Hux was a dragon. It wasn’t something that was spoken of aloud, but the Hux family was old and powerful and well known. Nowadays people tended to turn a blind eye to such things. Hux never transformed on base, keeping to his human form. He kept any power that he had tightly under wraps. Dragons, after all, could only do so much with their size. Generals of the First Order had more powerful forces than magic at their hands.
In fact Hux seemed to despise anything extraordinary. He had always been blunt about the fact that he held the force in contempt. He refused to put more than a token effort into finding Luke. “There are more important things in the galaxy than wizards,” he’d said when Kylo had pressed him.
The only thing he seemed to hold in more contempt than force users were royals. When he first met Kylo he gave him a disgusted once over. “A prince, how quaint.” For a moment his eyes seemed to flash with something, but he’d turned back to his data pad instead, ignoring Kylo.
“I am a Knight of Ren,” Kylo said with a frown, “not a prince.”
Hux had made a disinterested noise in response and Kylo had found himself dismissed and furious. He ignored the strange curl in his stomach that Hux caused, determined to hate the man twice as much as he seemed to hate him.
Ben had been a prince. Spoiled and weak. His mother had been royalty, a princess in every meaning of the word. She wore gowns of gold and lead her men into battle. Princess Leia was everything a royal should be and weaker for it. She never once questioned if there were things in the galaxy that were more important than being good and fighting evil.
Kylo was stronger than either of them. He had dedicated himself to the knighthood of Ren. He’d bled for it and he'd killed for the idea of the order. He’d been made a Lord of Ren through his own hard work, earning his position and power like his grandfather before him.
Hux, though, was determined to make Kylo’s life difficult. Every step of the way the man hindered him, demanding facts and logic when all Kylo had to offer was his intuition and the way the force guided him.
“If you want more troops you’ll have to provide me with actual evidence. I’m not wasting more resources on your wild chase when we’ve come so close to completing the StarKiller,” Hux said. Once again he was looking at a screen, not even sparing Kylo a glance.
“I have evidence. Itis not my fault you are too weak to see the way the force guides us to this planet,” Kylo said.
“Is this the same guidance that you’ve wasted the last several cycles following and taken away my men for? Tell me, what do you have to show for the resources I have already given you?” He waited a moment, knowing Kylo had nothing. “Exactly. I’m running a real operation here. Give me something substantial or stop wasting my time.”
“Of all people you have to realize that there are things that break the laws of science,” Kylo growled. He was barely resisting the urge to unsheath his light saber. He was so close to finding Luke, he could feel it.
“Of all people,” Hux repeated softly. “And what is that supposed to mean?” For once he glanced up from his pad, eyes challenging him with that soft unnatural glow that Kylo had glimpsed when they first met.
“Everyone knows what you are,” he said. He didn’t know why he hesitated even now to say the word.
“What I am is a general who believes in following proper protocol. Fill out the correct form with real data and you will get your troops. If your ‘force’ is correct there has to be evidence to support it. Stop being lazy and go find it.”
General Hux made it clear that he would not be intimidated or bullied. If there was one thing Kylo learned quickly it was that Hux was incredibly protective of the StarKiller. He kept paper copies of every blueprint of the weapon. He oversaw every detail he conceivably could. While Kylo destroyed things with abandon on the Finalizer even he showed some caution when it came to damaging things on the Star Killer. The few times he lost his temper Hux had appeared, eyes glowing and commanding him to calm down.
The Star Killer was a thing of beauty and had better accommodations than any other base. Kylo’s quarters were gilded in gold and hot food was delivered every night. The giant control chambers glimmered. Hux sat on his large practical chair at the command center like it was a throne. He was always surrounded by his masked soldiers who were trained to be obedient faceless protectors of his weapon. When people made mistakes he would have them summoned there to deal with them publicly.
Hux’s entire life was dedicated to building the most powerful weapon the universe has ever seen. The eater of Suns and the destroyer of planets.
It wasn’t a surprise then that the day his control finally snapped was when his beloved base was falling apart under his feet.
“Get up,” he growled. “We’re leaving.”
Kylo had no idea how he had found him. He’d been left bleeding out in the middle of a snowy forest, the ground crumbling beneath him. He resisted Hux’s grip. “Let me go,” he said weakly, trying to break free and retain some shred of his pride.
Hux’s hands, like talons, tightened into Kylo’s shoulder. “Be still prince, or I’ll tell Snoke I was unable to find you and leave you here to die.”
“Do it. It would be better than living with this defeat” Kylo said, humiliated when Hux put an arm under his legs and scooped him up close to his chest.
“I don’t have time for your hysterics,” Hux said. He seemed about to say something else, but the planet shuttered beneath them, the rock they were standing on crumbled into nothing. The last thing Kylo was conscious of was the cold wind against his face as they took off, somehow soaring up instead of falling down.
When he woke up Hux was there, looking as unruffled as always, dressed in a pressed uniform. He didn’t look at Kylo once as the medic droids came over and examined him. He didn’t say a word the entire time Kylo was conscious, remaining a still, looming presence at the end of his bed.
He was still there the next several times he woke up. For the most part he stayed perfectly still, only coming alive when one of the droids attempted to provide Kylo with medical care he disagreed with. He hovered, watching their every move. He argued about the proper tightness of wrappings. Kylo was pretty sure he heard him hiss at Phasma when the woman finally managed to drag him away to rest.
“There’s something wrong with him,” Kylo said when Phasma returned and took up Hux’s post at his bedside.
She shrugged. “He's just nesting. His home and hoard have been destroyed. He’s latched onto you for whatever reason to compensate. It happens.” Kylo didn’t ask how she knew so much about typical dragon behavior. There was something ancient about the woman that did not invite questions.
He’d accepted the other man’s interference until he awoke and found he was no longer in medbay. It took him several long moments to realize he’d been transported to someone’s quarters, and several more moments to realize Hux was sitting in a large chair off to the side of the bed, looking at his pad again.
“Why is it so hot in here?” Kylo asked. He’d been meaning to ask where he was, but upon sitting up he’d been overwhelmed by the heat. He could see the sweat pooling down onto his stomach. “Where did my cloths go?” He was sure he’d been in a medical robe the last time he’d woken up.
“The medical bay was too cold. The heat in here will help you recover quicker,” Hux didn’t look up from his pad, but the action seemed more forced this time.
“And the medics just let you take me?” Kylo asked, suspicion growing.
“The medics are incompetent,” Hux replied. “You’ll be better here. In my quarters.”
Suddenly Phasma’s words came back to Kylo and he realized what was going on. “For fucks sake. You’ve kidnapped me.” As if his life hadn’t been bad enough, Hux had gone stereotypical dragon on him and had kidnapped.
“I am protecting you,” Hux replied, as if the whole scenario wasn’t ridiculous.
“Where is the logic in this?” Kylo asked. He understood that the destruction of the Star Killer had hit Hux hard, but there were limits.
He was not a weak royal to be kept as a dragon’s plaything.
“You’re mine and I’m keeping you nearby. If I were to let you out of my sight something might happen to you. It’s perfectly logical,” he replied, his tone even.
“I’m not yours,” Kylo replied.
“You’ve been living in my domain and eating the food I’ve provided you. Regardless of whether I want you or not prince, you are mine,” he said. Kylo wanted to offer a denial, but he realized he had never asked why he’d been provided with better food than everyonr else. A vague memory of his mother warning him not to take gifts from creatures surfaced. He probably should have paid more attention to her lessons on royalty. At the very least he should have looked into dragon laws as soon as he’d been assigned to Hux
“Despite whatever territorial things you’ve been doing without my permission, the fact remains that I don’t legally belong to you,” he said. At least he was hoping that was true.
“Would you prefer to go back to the medicbay?” Hux asked. Kylo considered the question and realized he wouldn’t. Now that he was in the heat he realized it was cold there, and the sheets were nowhere near as nice.
“Fine, I’ll stay here until we reach Snoke,” he said, already feeling the call of sleep.This was the most energy he had spent since his defeat.
Hux looked pleased. “Good. I will awake you if Snoke calls, until then rest.”
As much as he hated giving the other man his way Kylo gave up. He really was tired, and now that he was over the shock of it the heat felt good against his healing skin. Kylo laid his head back down onto the pillow, pausing when he felt a stiffness at the base of his throat.
“General,” he said coldly, “tell me that’s not a collar around my neck.”