Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.
Warnings: Past Rape/Non-con
Hello! This is a sequel to "His Endless Cycle" and "His Pale Green Eyes." Please enjoy :)
Kylo awoke with a jolt just as his head dipped towards the artificial gravity of the Finalizer, datapad slipping from his fingers. He caught the tablet with the Force before it could hit the durasteel floors and awaken the room's other occupant, and he called the object of his exhaustion back to him, gloved fingers curling securely over the spreadsheet of the First Order's current expenses. He stared at the numbers for another moment before placing it aside to stretch, rising from the armchair he had pulled into Hux's bedroom without the general's permission.
He had not imagined that the mountain of work would pile up this much with the general out of commision only a few cycles, but Snoke really did give Hux much of the responsibilities the Supreme Leader himself should have been attending to. It was a wonder that the general hadn't collapsed earlier during Snoke's rule.
He looked to the sleeping form of the other, the gentle rise and fall of the sheets along with the soft breathing that had lulled Kylo into sleep earlier continuing on softly like a lullaby. Strands of Hux's fiery hair covered his face, untamed by the pomade that the other usually wore.
Kylo moved over to the bed, brushing some of that bed hair aside. Hux slumbered on, still blissfully encased in his dreams just as the doctor had ordered. It had taken Kylo great pains to convince Dr. Andrienne to allow the general outside of the medbay, and he wasn't about to let his hard work go to waste by letting the general work himself to the point of collapsing again.
His eyes trailed down to Hux's lips, relaxed from the constant grimace the other seemed to always wear.
The kiss suddenly came to mind, the man's lips under his, gentle and hopeful.
Hux had not fought back.
He had sensed the other enjoying the contact as much as he did, and he wondered if he would have tried to push a little further if Hux had not been hurt, if Dr. Andrienne hadn't chosen that moment to return. Kylo reminded himself that he needed to be wary of the woman. She definitely had a good head on her shoulders, and he didn't want to be on her bad side in case she was ever the one who had to patch him up.
He would probably ask for her again if it ever came to that; she had done an excellent job on Hux, given their limited resources after the destruction of the Supremacy.
Hux shifted a little in his sleep towards his uninjured shoulder.
Kylo frowned. What if he had been imagining it though? The uncomfortable thought suddenly rang through him. What if Hux had only yielded to him because he felt obligated to?
He shoved the idea away as quickly as it had came. He would show Hux that he meant his word.
Yes, he was Darkness, but he was not Snoke.
A groan snapped him out of his own reverie. Kylo moved closer. Hux's eyebrows were tense, translucent red eyelashes trembling in his sleep. Was he having a nightmare?
He took a deep breath, wondering if he should wake the other or not. Or, he could go in and soothe the man in his sleep with the Force like he did before. He had already delved into Hux's mind many times without the general's permission, more than once not intending to; the other had been projecting very heavily that first time he woke after the stimulant overdose. He did not know why he was so reluctant now to go in.
Kylo gritted his teeth.
He should not have anything to fear.
He was not Snoke, he repeated in his head.
.
Hux was suspended in a cold blanket of Darkness, alone. He sighed, knowing that he should have expected as much as he began walking forward, onward with no destination in mind. He was used to this he told himself, this emptiness that had accompanied him all his life.
He paused when he saw a familiar scene forming before him, and he took a breath, biting his lips in an attempt to keep them from trembling. It was just a memory, a remnant of the past. He tried to will the nightmare away before it could completely form. It was-
His breath hitched and he felt as if the air had been forcibly sucked out of him when the fog cleared up.
He had failed.
Again.
Brendol Hux stood over Jekri's body, a smoking blaster in one hand and a belt at the ready in the other.
His father turned around, and he instinctively took a step back. Hux knew that he should know better; the old man had been dead for quite a few years now, thanks to him, but the one in his dreams always lived and breathed as if he were real.
And Jekri's death had always replayed over and over in his head like and endlessly cycling holo.
"Disgusting," his father hissed.
"I…" The belt struck him before he could form the words.
"You are weak." Another flash of pain. He bent over, trying to shield himself from the blows. It was never-ending. It was-
His thoughts trailed to Ren, a force of destruction, the soft kiss on lips. The pain dulled somewhat, and he made to stand up straight.
Yet, the belt came down again, sending him to the ground. He was suddenly a boy once more, the lanky academy cadet that had fallen in love with his dark haired classmate. Jekri's lifeless eyes stared back at him, pupils dilated because of him, because he had dared to hope.
He froze, feeling the fight leaving him. He was nothing more than a puppet trapped in this endless cycle, the bastard child of an officer of the old Galactic Empire.
"Hux!" he heard an echo from the recesses of his mind.
A wave of Darkness blocked the next blow, sending his father a couple of steps back. The man sneered.
"He will not save you. No one can save you from this."
Suddenly, it was Snoke before him, that same Darkness radiating around the disfigured form of the former Supreme Leader. His abuser laughed, a voice the croak of a creature long tainted with sickness.
"Did you think you could run from me? That you were free?" he asked.
Hux trembled, unable to move. He waited for the Darkness to protect him again, but it only pulsed menacingly, its touch cold.
The corners of Snoke's mouth turned upward into a smile, black eyes shining like a predator closing in on its prey.
"Ren is also Darkness like me. You will never escape."
"Hux!" His eyes snapped open to the panicked voice of another, his body suddenly frozen as if he felt hands all over him. Hux instinctively kept still and clenched his eyes shut again, hoping that it will pass quickly, that Snoke would change his mind. He was empty. He was-
"Armitage!" the voice repeated, and he opened an eye carefully to see the figure of Ren towering over him, not Snoke. He could move. There were no hands, only one gloved hand on his uninjured shoulder, Ren's hand.
"R-Ren?" he croaked, not trusting his own voice as he slowly sat up. His shoulder ached in protest, still bruised from the surgery.
"You were moaning in your sleep, so I woke you up," Ren explained, his expressive eyes wide with apology as he withdrew the hand.
"T-thank you," Hux replied after a moment, rubbing at his eyes with his good arm. He supposed it was a tad too hopeful on his part that the nightmares would disappear just like that. The Darkness he felt in that one had seemed too real for comfort. He wondered if it was from Ren when the other was trying to wake him.
His eyes trailed to Ren's hand, now clenched in a fist at the man's side as if he were afraid to touch him. He vaguely remembered someone shaking him awake now that his mind was more lucid.
He missed the warmth.
.
The next few cycles passed without much incident save for Hux pestering Kylo for a datapad after claiming that he would promptly die of boredom if he had nothing to do. Kylo aptly concluded that the redhead was a workaholic at heart after all despite everything that had happened. The mountain of official documents became a hill, then a desert by the end of the seventh cycle.
"Are you sure?" Kylo attempted one last time.
"Of course!" Hux snapped, green eyes flashing. "Who do you think you are talking to? And as you already pointed out yesterday, the wound is mostly closed." A furious blush flashed across the man's face as he turned around, most likely remembering the night before when he had slipped in the refresher and Kylo had came running. Hux had been adamant about taking showers on his own despite the stitches, and Kylo had chosen to oblige on the agreement that the general would continue to rest his full fourteen cycles as recommended by Dr. Andrienne.
Well, he had broken the agreement early and Hux had decided to return to work early. He supposed he was lucky they made it to nine. Kylo held back a smile as he went into the living room to allow the other some privacy to change.
The fire had returned as brightly as before.
"You promised me a new world. We've got a lot of work to do."
"I need you to rest first."
"Well, I'm rested, so there."
Kylo followed the general to the bridge upon the latter's return to duty, determined to keep an eye on Hux for the time being. Hux had been adamant about his return, not wanting the others to question his absence, especially now that it was decided that he was not to die from overexertion and an overdose of stimulants.
He watched absentmindedly from the side as Mitaka walked up to Hux, eyes beaming. He made a mental note to keep the two apart if they began to seem too intimate.
The other officers on the bridge steered clear of Kylo, their eyes averted to their work. He could sense their fear of him, well-placed in his opinion given what he has shown of his power.
Hux himself seemed to have no trouble returning to his current role. He could see the general muttering under his breath as he went through his missed comms from that morning. If he had not allowed the other use of his datapad, they would have likely numbered in the thousands by now.
Kylo himself had already secretly taken care of the most pressing matter at hand without Hux knowing. The Finalizer would have to go refuel soon before they could start doing any real work anyway, so that would give the general ample time to reorganize all those plans he and Snoke had been discussing into something more palpable for both Kylo and him.
For starters, rebuilding the fleet was going to take a while. He had already commed the other ships to join them, under Hux's guidance of course. The First Order had to show a united front after that fiasco, even with the Resistance torn to shreds like this. The thought of Rey sent a wave of anger through him, and he took a breath to calm himself when the nearest officer looked up. Destroying the control panel beeping innocently next to him was not going to make the situation any better.
He will need to reassert his newfound authority to the present before they could start on their work.
Which was, he had to admit, not very clear. He had figured that they would decide on something when Hux was fully recovered. He would give the other a few more cycles before discussing them in detail with him.
Kylo blinked, noticing that Hux was watching him out of the corner of his eye. He averted his eyes instinctively, turning around to leave. Hux would not get any work done with him watching so closely.
He made his way back to his new makeshift office in the Finalizer, much simpler than the gaudy throne room Snoke kept on the Supremacy, a desk and chair decorating the room along with a bookcase, empty for the time being. He sighed, slumping down on his chair to recall the recent events.
He had tried to ease Hux's nightmares like the first time, but his Darkness had nearly overwhelmed the man instead, almost swallowing Hux up like a hungry beast. His control of his powers was topnotch, so he did not understand how he could have lost control that last time.
He remembered how Hux had froze when he touched him, eyes glassy and distant. The general's mind had automatically went blank, and for a moment his own heart had stopped, thinking the other had died.
Kylo could not chase the memory from his mind. He supposed it was too good to be true that Hux would be healed so easily after the kiss, that he could push things further. The paranoia, now free in the open without the oppression of Snoke, was free in the open to take hold.
He feared that he had released something worse in the man.
.
Hux cleared the last of his messages with a satisfied stroke of his finger on his datapad before turning back to Mitaka.
"It seems that we are up to date. I must commend you on your work, Lieutenant."
The other man saluted him before glancing around to see if there was anyone within earshot. His eyes returned back to attention when he saw that the coast was clear. "I'm glad you're okay, sir," Mitaka admitted after a moment.
Hux looked at him, the words in his mind at the tip of his tongue for a moment before he swallowed. He wondered if Mitaka had a hand in Ren's timely discovery of him when he had been on his delirious way back to his quarters before he collapsed. "Thank you," he managed.
Mitaka beamed. "We'll need to go to refuel soon, sir. The Supreme Leader has already chose a location beforehand, but he told me to run it by you first. Wait, let me send you the coordinates." He rummaged through his datapad, forwarding the message.
Hux frowned slightly, wondering when in the world Ren had the time to slip this past him during the last few cycles. His datapad pinged, and he swiped to open the message. Hux nearly dropped the device but held on, his fingers gripping the screen so hard he feared it would crack. Did Ren do this knowingly?
"Sir?" Mitaka asked, seeming to catch onto his hesitation.
He wanted to reply, to brush it off, but his eyes were frozen on the planet listed on the map in the screen, the name like honey on his tongue.
"Arkanis…" he muttered to himself, the nostalgia washing over him like waves. His last memories of his home planet was of his father pushing him into the transport ship during their escape when the New Republic had invaded.
It was raining that day.
"If all is well, then I will inform the others to set a course for Arkanis, sir." He looked at Mitaka, who was staring at him expectantly, the worry glimmering in the edge of the man's eyes. "Or, if you'd prefer, there are other stations close by we can choose as well," the lieutenant offered Hux a way out. Hux wondered if Ren had advised Mitaka on this as well.
"That's…" Hux hesitated, unable to come up with an excuse to cover for himself. There wasn't really any reason not to go either. "Arkanis is fine," he replied. He shouldn't worry the lieutenant anymore.
Mitaka saluted him briefly before darting away, determined to take as much off of Hux's shoulders as feasibly possible as he went to the crew to input their new destination.
Hux grimaced, wondering just what Ren was trying to accomplish by bringing him back there of all places. Arkanis was long ago, a buried piece of his history.
He returned to his datapad, determined to distract his wandering thoughts with whatever work he could get his hands on. There was also the matter of their future. They will have to talk about the direction of the First Order soon. The thought made him uneasy. He had dedicated his life's work to Snoke's vision. He did not remember whether or not he had found it twisted, only that he had followed blindly in his pursuit of the end of his own collar.
Hux swallowed thickly. Never again, he told himself. He will allow himself to hope.
Ren had allowed him to hope.
A low rumble indicated their jump to lightspeed, and the darkness dissipated into the familiar vortex of bright lights when a sudden pressure seemed to surround him as he were submerged in water. He blinked, the voices of the crew around him muffled. He thought it strange and looked around to see if anyone else was affected.
The pressure only intensified.
"General?" Mitaka was beside him in an instant, looking worried.
"I'm fine," he managed. "I'll be returning to my office to catch up on some work. Inform me of any changes."
"Yes, sir!"
He could almost feel the worried stare on his back as he escaped from the bridge, the pressure around him only getting heavier as the door slid closed behind him.
Hux stumbled along the corridor to his office, leaning on the wall for support as a high pitched buzz permeated the air around him. He frowned, trying to shake the sensation from his head as he attempted to reason out the cause. He had only taken one pain stim today at the request of Ren before he left his quarters. There was no reason for such a strong reaction from the nervous system.
He entered his office, finding its familiar sight a comfort. It wasn't until he was halfway to his desk that everything suddenly became quiet, the buzzing gone and the pressure remained a weight upon his body.
He heard a laugh.
"You cannot escape from me," Snoke's voice echoed throughout the confines of the room, surrounding him with its intensity.
He froze mid-step, his knees giving way as they fell to the floor, hard. Hux covered his ears instinctively, bending over to shield himself from the being that was not there.
Snoke was dead, he told himself, chanted repeatedly. The dead cannot hurt him.
Brendol sneered at him in his head.
"No… no…" he whimpered. "Stay away."
He imagined hands on him again, pushing him down, spreading his legs. He hugged himself tighter, fighting the sensation, when suddenly a wave of Darkness washed over him like in the dream. Brendol disappeared, and the pressure shivered as it were alive.
"Hux?"
He blinked, suddenly free, and he looked up slowly from where he had crouched down on the floor.
The surprise in Kylo's eyes weighed down on him. He did not deserve their warmth. He was tainted, so tainted. He felt the Darkness surrounding him again as it had been doing all his life, hostile once more, threatening to snuff out what was left of his pathetic existence.
He gasped, feeling the Dark swell around him even more. He could not breathe.
"Hux," Ren crouched down until they were at eye level, placing a careful hand on his arm. He was now suffocating, his mind going blank. "Hey, what's wrong?"
He wanted to tell Ren what was wrong, but his voice failed him, and the hands, they returned in full force. He felt himself going numb, as if his body were thrown into a sea of ice. He was scared, he realized, scared of the Darkness that radiated from the other, much like Snoke's. He was scared of the warmth.
But, Ren was not Snoke, he reminded himself. He was not. He was not. He was-
"Armitage?" Ren repeated, expressive dark eyes worried.
The Darkness then lifted, as if a Light had flickered it away, the Light that was left in Kylo.
Hux took a breath, his lungs gasping.
"It's nothing," he reassured the other. "The pain stim was wearing off."
He allowed the other to help him up, and Ren led him over to the desk, withdrawing his hand as soon as Hux had seated himself.
"I'll go call a droid to bring a new one," Ren told him, turning around. Hux rubbed his arm absentmindedly, missing the warmth.
.
Kylo had felt Hux's distress from across the ship and reprimanded himself for letting the other return back to work so soon as he watched the man administer a fresh pain stim from the corner of his eye. He knew that Hux didn't need it; he hadn't felt physical pain from the other when he had entered the room, but he had definitely heard the laughter.
It was laughter from Snoke, amused and cruel.
"Look at him. Do you think you can take him from me?"
Kylo had told the voice to shut up, blocking it out as he had crouched down to help the general to his feet. But, he had felt the presence only grow stronger.
"You cannot control me. I am now part of you, and he is still mine, forever trapped in Darkness. There will be no Light to save him."
I will be the Light, Kylo had told him.
"You are Darkness. I raised you to be Darkness. There is no more Light for you to cling to."
He snapped out of his reverie when he felt eyes on him. He wanted to walk over and just embrace the other, to let Hux know that he would not let anyone harm him here, but the man had frozen again when he touched him earlier, had been tense until the moment he let go.
The general looked away when their eyes met, his gaze turning to the shiny surface of his desk.
"Please ignore that display, Supreme Leader," he muttered.
Kylo felt his heart drop. He was losing him.
"Just call me Kylo when we're alone. There is no need for the honorifics," he replied after a moment, not knowing what he could say that would reassure the other.
The change in topic seemed to work for the most part as those pale green eyes warmed. "So no more Ren either? I was rather used to that one," he jested weakly.
"Kylo is fine," he told Hux, rather taken aback those eyes. He could never seem to get enough of them when they weren't glaring at him. He had noticed that they would sometimes change color depending on the lighting and Hux's general mood. They were a deep sea-green now, courtesy of the lights he had dimmed earlier at Hux's request.
The general sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I suppose you would want to use my first name as well." Hux seemed to consider this for a moment as he pulled out his datapad. Kylo once again wondered to what extent was this man a workaholic. Hux continued, "It's already too late for me to give you permission though. You've already used it several times without my consent."
"Slip of the tongue," Kylo dodged before cautiously asking, "Which do you prefer?"
Hux paused, seeming to truly think about the question. Those long lashes fluttered. "I'm not quite sure yet."
Kylo wondered if Hux's first name reminded the other of the man named Jekri. He frowned, finding the thought quite distasteful.
"I mean," Hux continued, seeming not to catch Kylo's sudden change in mood, "I think I would have to hear it a few more times before I can decide. No one has called me by my first name since…" he trailed off, fingers tightening on the datapad.
"Since Arkanis," Kylo completed for him.
Distant eyes stared back at him. "Yes," Hux muttered after a moment, "since Arkanis."
They fell silent for a while, Hux's fingers against the glass screen of the datapad the only sound in the room. Kylo wondered if he had said something he shouldn't when Hux finally spoke.
"Why Arkanis?"
Kylo looked away, feeling just a little guilty for prying through Hux's personal files while the other was asleep. "I thought you would want to visit your home."
Hux laughed lightly. "I suppose it has been a while." He fell silent, and Kylo skimmed the surface of the other's thoughts. He saw longing. A massive green ocean spread out as far as the eye could see.
"Armie…"
Kylo tore his mind away, finding Hux looking at him suspiciously, head tilted to the side. He decided that the other looked quite vexing when he did that.
"Did you want to go planetside while we're there?" he blurted the first thought that came to mind. He cleared his throat when Hux's brows furrowed. "Uh I mean to say, you've spent so many years up in space, it might do you some good to walk on solid ground."
"Yes." Hux paused. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea."
He hoped he had made the right move.
.
The Finalizer arrived at the blue planet and the refueling began, led mostly by Mitaka. Hux had given up helping after the lieutenant insisted repeatedly that he spent the day off.
"You haven't been back for a while, right? You should use the time to catch up," Mitaka had said. "Don't worry, we'll be fine. You've trained us well."
Hux sighed at the memory as he and Ren boarded the Upsilon-class shuttle with a small entourage of stormtroopers. Even the phrase "a while" was a bit of an understatement. It was fast approaching two decades since he had set foot in the waters of Arkanis.
The descent went rather smoothly as they broke through the clouds towards the spaceport of Scaparus, and Hux spotted a collection of towering sharp buildings built to let the rainwater slip off of them, much larger than the small city nestled between the cliffs than he had remembered. He grimaced as they neared the grey city, a stark contrast against the green of the surrounding lands.
Arkanis had became a prosperous planet in his absence under the rule of the New Republic.
He recalled watching the men of his mother's village disembarking on their small boats on fishing trips whenever the rain lessened, their livelihood depending on such a dangerous trade that he had been taken aback by the luxuries the Hux family had been able to indulge in when his father had finally taken him away to the mansion.
The current capital city of Arkanis looked like a stranger to him just as his father's mansion did that first day.
The clouds parted above them as their ship descended, and the sea came into full view, it's clear blue-green waters a strange contrast to the gray city. The sunlight reflected off its surface, nearly blinding him as the shuttle approached the star port.
He remembered standing at the edge of a cliff as a small child, clutching his mother's hand as she pointed to the horizon on a rare clear day. Her words were lost to him, but he remembered sea green eyes looking into his with all the warmth of a mother's love for her child.
Hux blinked, wondering just how young he had been then before Brendol Hux had taken him away from that seaside village. The Empire had needed children, and he was the bastard child of one of their most prestiged.
He wondered if she was alive somewhere in that gray city. He swallowed the thought thickly. What would he do if she was?
"Armitage…" The blinding reflection seemed to be calling him into its depths. He imagined himself sinking into the calm waves, encased in its warm waters.
The red of Starkiller shone before him, the same red that had struck Jekri point blank in the face.
Hux tore his eyes away from the ocean with some difficulty as he remembered the bright red reflection of the Hosnian System in the sky. He was Starkiller. It mattered not whether or not she was alive.
He noticed an intense gaze on him and saw Ren studying him in the corner of his eye.
"Nostalgic?" the man asked when he seemed to realized that Hux had caught him staring.
"It is rare for it not to be raining," he commented.
"Armitage…"
He blinked. He had thought he imagined the voice earlier, but it seemed to grow even clearer now that they approached the ground. He looked around, searching for the owner. Something was calling him, something warm.
They disembarked with a small entourage of Stormtroopers. The people of the city made way for them, bowing their heads respectfully as they exited.
"Where do you want to go?" Ren asked him.
The corners of Hux's lips tightened involuntarily. "Why me?"
"It's supposed to be some time off for you, remember?"
Hux looked at the Stormtroopers. Even if he did agree to this ridiculous notion of a "vacation," there was no way the two of them could move around the city without being noticed.
"I'm not sure about this, Ren."
"Kylo," Ren corrected him.
Hux cleared his throat. "Kylo…" The name sounded foreign on his lips. "I don't really have a destination in mind. It's all changed."
Ren… no, Kylo seemed contemplative, his eyes darting to the inhabitants. The ones nearby bowed hastily as they passed, moving on their way a little quicker than usual. Fear was a powerful weapon.
Hux sighed, trying to dig up something from the depths of his memories so that they would not continue to stand there awkwardly as they have been doing for the past ten minutes. He suddenly thought of the village with its little huts and the men with the fishing boats and spears. He had not spotted it on the shuttle on their way down, but he still remembered the way.
"There was a place, but..." He looked at the Stormtroopers, a stark white against the gray of the city. Kylo nodded and dismissed them for the time being.
They boarded a droid-piloted hovercraft bound for the outer city after Hux had deposited his greatcoat and First Order cap back at the shuttle in favor of a poncho purchased at from the first store they came upon after exiting the main building.
"Are you sure you don't want one?" Hux asked Kylo as the droid powered up the vehicle.
"I'll be fine."
"Don't say I didn't warn you," he told the other. Downpours in Arkanis always caught anyone off-guard, native or not. The weather here was unpredictable.
A wave of Darkness washed over him, a contrast against the warmth he had felt earlier. His eyes drifted to Kylo, who was staring vacantly at the passing buildings. It wasn't Kylo.
"You cannot run…" This voice as different from before, menacing, hungry.
Hux looked up, eyes darting around frantically as they sped through the city. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary though. It was just Kylo and the droid. He leaned back in his seat, trying to hide his grimace. Kylo should be keeping track of anything hostile around them, he tried to reassure himself.
The large gray spires began to become fewer in number as they exited the central city, and the hovercraft entered an area filled with ocean huts, remnants of the city's relatively recent history.
Hux let out a breath as they stepped off the hovercraft as the droid beeped patiently, indicating that it would wait for them to finish. He walked up to the ruins of one of the buildings, a tattered structure with only a few walls that remained standing. The people were long gone.
"You don't sense anyone here, do you?" he asked the other after a moment.
Kylo shook his head. "No."
Hux sighed, knowing that it was too good to be true. He wondered where the inhabitants had gone. Perhaps they had merely moved into the city, he told himself as he bent down and picked up a rusted fish hook, turning it in his hand. The air around him froze, engulfing him as if he were suddenly dunked into a body of water.
He saw a man before him, well built from years of fishing and eyes a brilliant green.
They had to run. The New Republic had come for the ones at the "Academy," and were taking everyone in the area in for questioning. It mattered not that they were merely people of this planet. If it was found that they were in any way involved, they will be arrested.
His sister was a janitor there. He had to protect her at all costs.
They had to run.
A woman ran up to him, hysterical, his childhood friend. She had deep blue-green eyes the color of the sea. He knew that she also worked at the Academy as a kitchen worker. She had had a child with the one they called Brendol Hux. He recalled that she had called the man a monster, that she had no longer been allowed to see her son.
His heart dropped at the thought as several ships took off into space from the nearby city.
"He's taken Armitage!" She pointed to the sky. "My son! He's taken him!"
He hugged her in attempt to calm her down. They needed to run.
They needed to run.
Hux dropped the fish hook with a gasp, the image in his mind still as clear as the current sky.
"Any luck?" Kylo asked behind him.
He tried to calm his trembling lips. "I must have been mistaken. I should not have come here." He walked briskly back to the hovercraft, Kylo close behind. "We're going back to the Finalizer. "
"Wait, Hux," Kylo tried to stop him.
"Take us back," he ordered the droid as soon as he had made sure the both of them were on the hovercraft.
"Hux," Kylo repeated his name as the hovercraft flew back into the main city. "Talk to me." He grabbed his hand in an attempt to calm him down, but Hux only felt a sudden wave of Darkness wash over him like before. He held in his breath, trying to calm himself down. Kylo seemed to immediately sense the change and let go, eyes apologetic.
Hux let out the breath he had been holding. He didn't mean it. He wanted to apologize to the other, but he did not know what exactly he was saying sorry for. For pulling away?
He felt so pathetic; he could not even touch Kylo without freezing now. His bottom lip trembled, and his chest felt like something was mercilessly crushing it. He didn't want this.
He had no reason to fear the other.
"Kylo," he began, finding his voice.
"It's okay," the other interrupted before he could continue. "Please don't apologize. It's not your fault."
He leaned back in his chair silently, trying to ignore the knot that was building up in his chest, threatening to spill out.
.
Hux continued to stare blankly at the buildings as they passed through the city enroute to the spaceport. The other had been silent since their abrupt departure from the outskirts of the city, and Kylo pondered at how he could break up the tension.
He remembered the way Hux had froze under him again. Kylo sighed. He needed to remind himself to keep his hands to himself for the time being. He did think it was strange how the Darkness flared up in him the moment his fingertips touched Hux when he had not meant to summon the Force to his side. It was rather unnerving.
He gulped, pushing the fears to the back of his head.
"Do you want to get something to eat since we're here? I heard of a decent place earlier," Kylo asked, breaking the silence between them.
"When did you have time to ask?" Hux blinked before his face softened in understanding. "Oh."
Kylo flashed him a grin as he told the droid the new coordinates, knowing that Hux had deduced that he had gotten the information from the storekeeper's mind earlier as he was waiting for Hux to choose one of those strange looking ponchos.
Hux paused briefly before they entered the establishment, eyes darting wildly around them as if he were searching for an attacker. Kylo tried to keep his thoughts to himself as he allowed the other to reassure himself. He had been scanning the area around them with the Force for hostiles since they arrived on the planet, so he was fairly certain that they were safe.
He wondered if it was part of Hux's seemingly worsening paranoia. The man had done something similar earlier when they boarded the hovercraft too.
"Two bantha stews, and…" Ren's eyes scanned the menu, entranced by the slew of Arkanisian dishes.
"You'd want to order the tau-fish," Hux told him.
"The what?"
"Trust me."
Their food came in a timely manner, and Hux lifted his spoon to his lips, blowing lightly before taking a sip. Kylo tasted his own stew, reveling in the rich flavors. It had been far too long since he had eaten something other than ration bars. The tau-fish took a little longer to come, and the way Hux's eyes gleamed said it all.
The other caught Kylo watching him, and Hux swallowed a particularly large bite before taking a sip of water.
"How is it?" Hux asked, his ears turning slightly red at being caught indulging.
"Very good," Ren admitted, enjoying the subtle flavor in contrast with the bantha stew in addition to the almost childlike shine he had caught in the other man's eyes. "Is this like a staple?"
"My mother used to cook it all the time when I was young. It's reminiscent of her cooking," Hux explained after a moment.
"Reminiscent?"
Hux smiled meekly. "Hers was better."
Kylo found himself looking away, hoping that the other didn't notice the heat on his own ears. He had never seen the other smile like that. It was rather pleasant, he had to admit to himself. He took another bite of the fish.
He found himself wishing again that he had drawn out Snoke's death.
.
Hux left the diner feeling quite full and much calmer than before, he had to admit. He had not expected Kylo to make such a recommendation out of nowhere, and he supposed it did have its uses.
He took a deep breath of the moist Arkanisian air.
It had really been far too long since he had returned. He had known not to get his hopes up for the village, but he supposed he could settle for this small self-indulgence for now. One of his mother's people must have been the cook, so they were still alive, scattered throughout the city.
He half-wondered if he should have asked to see the cook, but it seemed like it would serve no purpose and only get his hopes up. Besides, he had already confirmed that, although the taste was similar, it was still not his mother's cooking. Hux closed his eyes briefly to collect his thoughts.
No, he told himself. He was not allowed to be that greedy. He had already messed up earlier when he had suggested that they visit the abandoned village.
Even if she were alive, he was no longer her son.
Then, as if the his thoughts had brought it to life, the Darkness returned, looming, hostile. Hux whirled around, trying to pinpoint its location. It crept through the shadows around them, breathing its decay as it closed in, ready for the kill. He was certain this time, even though he didn't know how.
There was someone following them.
Hux looked at Kylo, who seemed not to notice. It made no sense. He knew that Ren must have been scanning the area around them as soon as they stepped foot into the city. It was not like the other to be so negligent, and Kylo was strong in the Force. He remembered how it had surged when Kylo had grabbed him earlier.
Hux bit his lip. He knew there was nothing to fear from the other, but the feeling had been too much for him. It reminded him of Snoke.
The presence he sensed around them right now also reminded him of the man.
He paused, suddenly realizing why Kylo couldn't sense the enemy closing in on them.
The Supreme Leader was too much Darkness to notice his own kind.
He saw the blaster in his mind's eye before it fired.
"Look out!" He pulled them both to the ground as the bolt whizzed through the air above them, hitting one of the houses. The inhabitants screamed and began running, turning the entire scene into rampaging feet.
All he could think of was the Darkness around him, threatening to swallow him whole as he pulled into himself, unable to move.
Snoke's voice laughed in his head.
He was drowning in the ocean, pulled down its depths by an unseen force.
A ray of light cut through the Darkness, surrounding him.
"Armitage." The voice was gentle, soft.
But, he couldn't breathe. He couldn't. He-
"Armitage, come to me…"
.
"Hux?" Kylo gasped, flipping them over to shield the other. Another blaster bolt roared above them, spraying dust and rock into the air. He searched for the attacker with the Force but found only Darkness everywhere. Kylo looked back down at Hux, the pale green eyes glassy, the man hyperventilating under him.
He reached out with the Force, finding only a sudden empty fortress in the other's mind.
"It's okay. I'm here," he coaxed the other. "I won't hurt you. Armitage, please…"
The general blinked, seeming to snap out of it.
"Kylo?" Hux managed to choke out with some difficulty. He immediately looked to the side. "Over there!" Hux pointed to a caped shadow disappearing behind a house. Ren lashed out with the Force, catching the figure in its tracks.
They ran over to the Force-frozen assailant, but the man merely bent over and crumpled to the ground, frothing at the mouth.
Hux grimaced, holding the wall of the building next to him for support. "Cyanide."
Kylo cursed, pulling out his comm to message the Finalizer. A rain of glass fell from his gloves instead, and he realized that he had smashed the device with his weight earlier when Hux threw them to the ground. He could sense the one in Hux's pocket vibrating.
"How did you find him so fast? The Darkness was cloaking him," Kylo inquired more than to himself than to the other as Hux took his own comm out, hands trembling around the object. Kylo didn't understand how he himself could have missed the sniper. He had been scanning the area for enemies since they landed.
Hux frowned, still obviously shaken. "I sensed him." The man shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know how..." The comm in the general's hands buzzed again, and Hux stared at it blankly as if he didn't know what to do with it.
Kylo admitted that Hux did look very pale. He had to get them back to the Finalizer, and fast.
"I'll take it," Kylo held his hand out.
The general finally nodded and handed Kylo his comm, eyes still glazed over.
"We heard there was some commotion at the market. Are you okay?" Mitaka's voice echoed from the other side.
"We were attacked," Kylo replied, noticing the surprise on the other end on hearing his voice instead of Hux's. "My comm was crushed during the attack so I'm using Hux's. Don't worry. He's fine."
Or so he hoped, as he looked over to the general. Kylo blinked at the now empty wall before whirling around.
Hux was gone.
As always, thank you for reading!