I plan on keeping this fic relatively short, but we'll see how it goes. Hope you enjoy!
Kylo Ren jolted awake, finding his chest bare. He had been stripped down to his undershorts. White bandages were plastered all over his body. He was being blinded by the brilliant white lights above him, and he winced as he raised his right arm to shield his eyes.
"Arm down. It is in the healing process," a garbled, monotone voice voice commanded. Kylo rolled his head to the side and saw the metallic, glinting silver of a medical droid. He let out a sleepy breath and closed his eyes. The heaviness in his head told him that he had been under medication.
"How long have I been in the med ward?" he asked. He scrunched his face and hissed, feeling a stinging pain across the right side of his face. Then, with a pang to his chest, it all came back to him: the interrogation. The murder of Han Solo. The fight in the snow. The destruction of Starkiller. The slash to his face. The traitor. The girl.
The girl.
"You've been out for an entire day, Ren." The voice was unfortunately all too familiar. "That's an entire day I've been kept away from my duties and been in charge of making sure you don't do anything else stupid."
Kylo opened his eyes and lifted his head to shoot a glare at Hux, who he found standing across the room from him, arms tightly folded.
"The Supreme Leader apparently finds me the most capable of overseeing that," Hux crowed. He raised his head and strided toward the bottom edge of Kylo's cot. "He requested your presence when you awoke. So I shall see you in the Throne Hall shortly." He gave a smug smile and turned on his boots.
Kylo watched Hux as he exited the white room, shooting mental daggers into his back. As soon as Hux turned out of the room, an officer hesitantly entered, a thick bundle of fabric in hand. Kylo recognized him.
"Y-your clothes, s-sir," Mitaka said with a nod, his hands shaking as he set the bundle down onto a tray near Kylo's cot. Kylo watched amusedly as Mitaka gave another subservient nod with eyes to the floor before hurrying towards the doorway.
Wincing, Kylo slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, his eyes settling on the stack of new clothes. He let out a sigh, dreading having to face the Supreme Leader after his miserable failure.
….
"I don't understand," Rey said, shaking her head. "You wanted to pass on your knowledge and training, to restart the Jedi. So what keeps you from training me?"
Luke Skywalker looked down into the small fireplace, a grumbling breath escaping his mouth. "I've already told you. I tried, and I failed. I shouldn't have even done it. Their ways are too outdated, too restrictive, a product of another time. It was my fault." He shook his head slowly, his eyes distant as he looked back across at Rey. "It was all my fault."
"Can't you just try again?" Rey asked, stepping towards him boldly. "I'm different, I'm not like–" She paused, judging Luke's reaction to her words. His jaw tightened, and his eyes glinted with the suggestion of tears, but he did not speak. She continued. "I'm not like him. Kylo failed you. I won't."
Luke opened his mouth, sucking in a breath. Rey's heart skipped a beat as she waited for his response, but he turned and wordlessly brushed past her. She scowled, mouth open as she flipped around to face him. He was walking toward the hut's opening.
"That's it? You're not even going to say anything?" Rey couldn't believe that the Resistance was putting so much stock into this guy, couldn't believe that this man was the one who had been the subject of the myths she'd heard growing up, the one who'd ended Vader's iron grip on the galaxy.
Luke stopped before the entrance of the hut and looked back at her. "I only know one truth," he said. "It's time for the Jedi to end."
….
"Even after eliminating your father, you still have a weakness, Kylo Ren," Snoke intoned, his hologram leaning forward on its giant thorne. "Must I remind you that your grandfather perished from the same fatal flaw?"
Weakness. Flaw. As much as he didn't want them to, Snoke's words still cut deep. Kylo tightened his fists. "I have no such weakness," Kylo retorted boldy. He was overwhelmed, on edge from being berated by Snoke about the events on Starkiller for the past twenty minutes, from having the relive everything. By the time the Supreme Leader had asked him about killing his father, it had taken all of his willpower to keep his voice steady, to keep his father's expression as he fell back off of the metal walkway from his mind. All the while, Hux stood by, watching smugly.
Kylo was miserable.
Snoke sat back, his face lifting with an expression of condescending suspicion. "As if it was not made clear enough before, you feel pity towards this scavenger," Snoke hissed. "Compassion."
Kylo's arms tensed. "No, not compassion. But I told you, the girl has great strength in the Force. She could be useful to us," he explained. The thought of training her flashed through his mind, and for a moment, he felt a bead of hope.
But that moment was short-lived. Snoke waved his hand dismissively. "We have no need for an untrained and inexperienced Force user. We have you, and that is all we need."
"But with the right training–"
Snoke's holographic hand slammed down onto the throne chair. "Kylo Ren, do you question my judgement?"
Kylo's gaze drifted down to the base of Snoke's throne. "No, Supreme Leader."
"In any case, I have been made to question your resolve to our cause. I see that another test is needed," Snoke declared, straightening in his throne. Kylo's gaze darted sheepishly back up to the glowing, looming figure. "You will find the girl, and you will bring her to me. Then you will prove your dedication to the First Order, and to the Dark Side."
Kylo's heart leapt to his throat. "Supreme Leader–" He cut himself off, knowing he would only be digging himself into a deeper hole. Snoke was watching him expectantly, and Kylo gave a single nod, collecting himself. "Yes, Supreme Leader."
Snoke narrowed his eyes and pointed a long, glowing finger in his direction. "You will find her, or I will," he warned. His gaze drifted casually away. "I give you 30 standard days. And you, General Hux," he said, pointing, "you will now be in charge of all operations and personnel aboard the Finalizer, including Kylo Ren."
Kylo raised his brows and turned to meet Hux's glowing expression.
"Yes, Supreme Leader. Thank you, Supreme Leader."
Kylo looked down at his boots, frowning as Snoke's holograph fizzled away. He kept his gaze lowered to avoid Hux's pompous expression as the General strode with renewed purpose from the Throne Hall.
As the doors slid shut behind Hux, Kylo was left alone in the hall with his thoughts. He looked down at his gloved, fisted hands, realizing that they were shaking. Everything from the past forty-eight hours was weighing down upon him.
Misery had turned to agony.
He was still struggling to comprehend what he had done to Han Solo–his father–and now, this. Now, he would presumably have to watch Snoke do only-Maker-knows-what to the girl. Rey. He felt her name on his tongue, though he had never spoken it aloud. The image of her lifting his lightsaber after she'd caught it, poised to strike, hung in his mind. His one chance at connecting, at having something with someone a little bit like him–someone who could maybe understand–was now shot.
And it was all his fault.