This is my first time writing for the Star Wars fandom, but I just couldn't get this little idea out of my head. If you think I should make this more than a two shot or you have any ideas of how this story should go, please feel free to message me. Hope you enjoy!
The first time he saw the inside of the room was when he was eight years old. They'd strapped him down, metal rings digging into his skin so much that it hurt to move, not that that put him off trying. But the worst was the helmet – a large metal contraption that looked more like a deformed spider than anything else. It was lowered from the ceiling, a panel shifting to the side to allow it to descend until it was level with the boy's face. Two of the workers of the room stepped forward and each taking a side, carefully led the helmet over his face until nothing but spidery wires and cool titanium metal could be seen, covering the boy's face completely. All consuming.
He attempted to struggle so that they couldn't buckle it around his chin, but one of the men simple pressed the button on the side of the bed, discharging a small zap of electricity which didn't feel very small for an eight year old. The few seconds it immobilised the boy was all one of the workers needed for the shark snap of a clip to sound in the small room.
Next came two metallic hands, each with a fork at the end that resembled a pair of scissors. The boy could no longer supress his screams as he lay helpless to stop these arms from forcefully splitting his eyelids apart so that he would not be able to close them should he wish.
"Stop struggling boy." spat the ginger-haired general who stood watching from the glass windows from above the room as if it were some strange fish tank which he was merely observing. "Make sure that helmet is secure." he said to one of the workers as he adjusted the device so that the arms would not slip even if its victim should move. That had happened a few children back and it resulted in a need to get rid of it since a blind soldier is a useless waste of resources. Hux gritted his teeth at the memory of the specimen with damaged eyes hanging limply in the restraints due to having passed out from the pain. Hux hated to see wasted resources. The First Order has no time for useless resources – everything must do its job and have its place or else chaos would reign.
"Please let me go! Please!" the boy cried, a mixture of salted water and snot running down his face which made the general recoil in disgust.
"How weak you are. How pathetic! You have been chosen to be part of a large future, a large world than before. The First Order has given you the honour of having the opportunity of being among its ranks. You should be grateful."
The child said nothing in return but continued crying silently, perhaps at the idea of having his future ripped away from him or perhaps it was his past that he would morn, a brief reminder of what it was to be free. Either way Hux didn't pay attention and wouldn't have cared anyhow. He merely pressed the small button near the microphone before speaking into it.
"You will learn the power of the First Order and you will obey our command. If you survive this then you will be a soldier, wearing the honoured suit of the Stormtrooper. Commence the session."
He said watched as one of the workers on the panel next to him flipped a couple of the switches, commencing the hologram.
Hux couldn't help the smile that twisted his mouth into a sickening grin. He loved the first five minutes – they squirmed and tried so hard to shut their eyes but then they all broke, their stretched eyes suddenly unable to turn away from the screen not because of the helmet but because of the darkness that began to take hold of their minds. It wiped away light and replaced it with darkness, the darkness that made them stronger so that they would no longer feel anything as they crushed the First Order's enemies without second thought. The army was one entity, all linked by their training. And soon this small, dark skinned child would be one of them.
But to Hux's great dismay and confusion, five minutes came and passed, turning swiftly into ten and then fifteen and still the child struggled, his eyes still filled with horror at the images of death and destruction before him instead of the normal awe. That or the candidate was not strong enough to withstand the brainwashing and instead shut down, killing the specimen, the perfect natural selection for the army.
"Get me Kylo Ren. Now!" Hux cried to one of the men, his frustration at the boy's state clear in both his tone and fiery eyes. The man scurried off almost tripping over his own feet in attempt to complete his newly given orders. Soon enough, the cold stench of fear permeated the viewing room into which the cloaked figure entered, his face concealed by the black and silver mask. Hux stared into the dark void where the man's eyes should have been.
"Why have you summoned me Hux?" came the rough, deep sounding voice of the figure.
"We seem to have found an anomaly." replied the general, beckoning Ren forward towards the viewing screen from which the boy's struggling form could be seen.
As soon as he were able to see the child Kylo Ren couldn't help the strong intake of breath that pierced the near silence of the control room. He could feel the Force emanating from the boy, like that of an untapped power source yet to be tamed, wild and pure. It made his face soften behind the mask as he saw not just the dark skinned boy but also his own childhood form which had had so much raw power. The power that Snoke had smoked out.
"How long has he been in the simulation?"
"FN-2187 has been in there for approximately twenty minutes." Hux replied.
"And he hasn't shown any signs of either brain damage or desire to conform to the hologram's violence?" Kylo Ren couldn't help the sound of disbelief that trickled even through the mask's filter. For someone to resist that long against brainwashing with no trained powers was indeed a feet, one that Kylo could deeply admire as he watched from above.
"None whatsoever."
Kylo Ren nodded before ordering that the workers in the room release the boy from the confines of the helmet but not from the rest of the restraints. Once the workers had complied they were told to leave the room, allowing Kylo Ren to enter.
Immediately the boy's eyes dilated in fear and from the strange feeling of power that the stranger gave off. But against the cloaked man's expectations, the boy didn't speak. Neither did he cry out to be released, to be returned to his family… Instead he stared at the mask as if searching for the human beneath its metal body.
"Do you know who I am FN-2187?"
The boy shook his head warily as he continued eyeing the man.
"My name is Kylo Ren. I am the leader of the knights of Ren. What is your name?"
The boy shook his head once again, his top teeth biting down on his bottom lip. Frustrated at the child's silence, he stretched out his hand, fingers outreaching towards the boy's face which had, along with the rest of his body, frozen with tense muscles. Beneath the mask, Kylo Ren concentrated fiercely, his eyes narrowing in concentration as he rummaged through his victim's mind. The boy certainly had power but without the knowledge of how to tap into the Force he was unable to defend his mind from Ren's attack. Kylo Ren couldn't help but smile.
"How much anger you have little one." He watched in pleasure as the child shuddered in fear and pain at having his mind seen and picked apart. "Oh how delicious is your knowledge of pain and loneliness FN-2187… no we shall not call you that for you deserve not that name nor the one from your past. You shall soon meet your new master and he will give you a new name for your new life. You will be at one with the dark side of the force, by my side."
Kylo Ren knocked the boy unconscious with a flick of his hand after which he walked out of the room.
"What should we do with the child my lord?" asked Hux before Kylo Ren could disappear.
"I want both you and him in the Connection Room in twenty minutes. Make sure that he is bound properly, don't underestimate him because of his age. I will contact Snoke and he shall decide the boy's fate."
And with those words, Hux watched as the cloaked figure walked off, the door automatically closing behind him with a hiss.