Chapter 2: Throw it away now

Disclaimer

I still do not own Star Wars

A/N

Hey all!

So, here's a new (extremely late) chapter for you all! If you haven't seen, I've also polished up the first chapter a bit, so, go ahead and check it out! Things get pretty dark here ( leaving a warning here for torture and violence) and then they get weird and surrealist ( I guess? ) So I hope you all like it!

Enjoy!

Shocking, really quite.

A secret bathed in starlight.

Throw it away now.

It had never occurred to General Hux that he would ever dread a special assignment given to him by Snoke. Hux practically lived for the distinction of being given important tasks. However, this one appeared to be the exception ... and what an unnerving exception.

It is well past the hour he would normally retire to his chambers, where he would read some paperwork to lull himself into a fitful slumber. His eyes are dry and bloodshot as he holds the stubborn, unwavering gaze of the infuriating, lowly scavenger before him.

"It appears we've arrived at an impasse. I hope your simple mind is capable of grasping why this is ... undesirable," Hux drones

In response to Hux's pedantic voice, rephrasing -yet again - that which he had been telling her repeatedly for the past four hours, the girl grits her teeth. " You'll never get anything out of me. You can't even wield the force, how would you succeed when someone who can wield it failed." They had already went over this point, however, she seemed to feel the need to remind him of this "fact" of her's periodically. And each time she did, the more self assured she seemed to become. This stubborn attitude puzzled Hux to no end.

Hux sighs and shakes his head. Yes, it is common knowledge that he has no affinity with the force, but, seeing as he has often been in close proximity to Kylo Ren, Hux has developed the ability to effectively shield his mind. Furthermore, he is far more in control of his emotions than Kylo Ren is of his. The discipline Hux has over his emotions allows him to keep up his mental barriers with great ease.

He allows himself a smirk as he remembers the look of surprize across the vagabond's face when she had attempted to invade his mind - only to find an invisible wall blocking her. Since then she's been throwing herself over and over again at this wall of his to no avail. Her inexperience with the force is very clearly evident in her technique - if exerting all of her force over and over in the same way could be considered a "technique".

Sure, she has managed to tire him to an extent, but he can also tell that beneath her veneer of toughness she is also beginning to break. Her forehead glistens with a sheen of sweat and her clenched fists tremble, yet,her eyes glint with determination and a hint of madness.

Yes, she infuriates Hux to no end.

Hux looks the girl squarely in the eyes and gives her a patronizing smile. He knows he will break her - he has to. It is only a matter of time.

"Now, Girl, you will be telling me what I want sooner or later. You have no say in that matter," Before she can correct him on how to address her, Hux spins around and motions to a pair of his Stormtroopers guarding the interrogation room door. "However, you do have a say in how much you will suffer until you do."

While he had spent most of his time in the Starkiller Base in the control room - dealing with various leadership affairs - he is no stranger to the various methods of torture he has readily at his disposal. Most of which are simple and very effective.

"My Stormtroopers and I have several things in store for you...yet, I'm not certain that you'll find any of them particularly enjoyable."

The girl's eyes widen in fear at the impending prospect of torture. Yes, that's more like it, Hux thinks to himself- pleased. Now things could finally start to go somewhere. One of the Stormtroopers sets down a briefcase on the table next to where Hux is seated.

"Leave us now," Hux orders, and the pair of Stormtroopers salute before exiting the room - the door sliding shut with a mechanic swoosh - and then everything goes dead silent.

Hux feels the girl watching him as he opens the briefcase to inspect its contents. He pays her no mind as he approvingly appraises the instruments before him.

"I'll give you one last chance," He deadpans as he holds up a mallet to inspect it - making certain the girl can see it as well. " Tell me where the resistance and Skywalker are hiding." He turns his gaze from the mallet to the girl and is unsurprised by the obstinance he finds staring back. He doesn't mind that, he was hoping he'd get to teach her a lesson.

Hux stands up and crosses the few feet it takes to stand right next to her. She is tightly bound to the interrogation chair, and he notices her breath hitch at his approach. Despite all of her efforts to appear otherwise, Hux knows she is afraid. He knows that over the past hours he has demonstrated sufficiently to her that he is the one with all the power here. His gaze drops to her bare legs and freshly dressed bullet wounds. Her pant legs had been ripped crudely mid-thigh to allow space for them to be bandaged properly. That would be a good place to start.

Without warning, Hux raises the mallet and hits her hard on her left thigh's wound. The girl shrieks in pain, and Hux remains unaffected as he steps back to let his lesson sink in.

"Tell me where the resistance and Skywalker are hiding, " he restates just as calmly as the first time - a smile spreading across his lips. "For your sake, I hope you answer. Because I dare say that I have far sharper instruments at my disposal."

The girl's expression of acute pain morphs into one of searing anger, and just as abruptly as Hux had hit her, the girl spits in his face. Hux jolts backwards away from his prisoner - frantically wiping the spit from his face, wholly disgusted. As soon as he has thoroughly wiped it all off he is assaulted with rage. How dare she.

"Wrong answer," he growls before springing forward to hit her other bullet wound with the mallet - eliciting another pain-filled yowl from the girl.

Hux takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. He needs to relax. This impudent girl will not get him to lose his temper any further. He takes a few more deep breaths as he walks back towards the briefcase. He supposes he can take things up a notch. That decided, he reaches for a scalpel, and a smile returns to his lips. The girl is hanging her head now, perhaps trying to hide her expression? He can hear her shaky breaths as he approaches her once more. Hux roughly grabs her by the chin and forces her to look at him.

"You will watch me, " he orders. " And if you don't I will make it hurt worse."

He notes with satisfaction that her eyes are watery, and when he lets go of her chin she keeps her eyes trained on him. Good, at last, some level of obedience. Hux holds the scalpel poised over the bullet wound on her left thigh - its' fresh bandages now soaked through with blood.

"Tell me where the resistance and Skywalker are hiding," he asks evenly for the third time.

The girl's bottom lip quivers, but she still manages to hold his gaze defiantly and doesn't utter a word.

Hux lets out an exaggerated sigh before shrugging his shoulders and lowering the blade to the reopened wound.

"Stop."

He can tell that the girl had meant to put more force than she had into the word, but it comes out as more of a sob than anything. Hux smirks and doesn't stop. He feels an odd tingling sensation all over his body - as if a draft had been let in the room - but he shrugs it off as nervous anticipation.

"I beg your pardon?" He asks, as if he hadn't quite heard her or didn't quite understand what she wants.

"I said, STOP!"

Suddenly, the tingling sensation is back - only far stronger this time - and before he knows it, he is careening through the air across the room, and slamming into the wall adjacent to the door. Woozy, Hux tries to get back to his feet but he falls back down and sees stars. The room around him spins, and he can register the look of surprise across the girl's face before he dives into darkness.

And then,

light.

Such bright light.

And colors.

Coming straight for him.

And these colors form... images?

Faster and faster and faster they flashed before him, becoming clearer by the second. He wants it all to stop - to dive back into the peaceful darkness.

But the images have another plan as they become clear as day - as clear as a holovid displaying scenes playing over and over.

The images bleed through - like water spread across a freshly painted canvas. Hux stands, bathed in their brightness - their purity. But then there is no light, only sounds can be seen. And the sound is a voice of many screams. A scream sound. Over again and over and over.

The small girl- torn away.

Torn like a sheet of blank paper - in two - the duality of a broken life.

Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back! Come back!

Over and over the scream sounds scream.

And Hux has no hands to cover his ears. No hands, no eyes, no body and no ears. Nothing remains in the torn page of a rey of obstructed light.

And now he sees with eyes that can't speak.

No more are there many - the girl is alone - there are only two of her where once was one. Was that no-scream-life just a dream?

The closer he sees, the more the rey of an obstructed girl disappears.

Push and pull - fight. She must fight to fill the time and empty the mind.

And wait.

Time flip flops and extends itself like taffy. Time was sweet, but lost its will to continue. And the image ends abruptly - a quick death. Like with the accused man, the floor is falling from beneath him and Hux is now hanging - neck broken - by a noose of scream sounds.

Cutting, ripping, pain.

Just a thorough comeuppance

to feel all again.

Hux wakes with a shout. It takes him a few moments to realize that he is back in his quarters, lying down in his luxurious king-sized bed. He sits up, lets out a long sigh of relief, and rubs his eyes only to find himself touching something...wet? It takes him a few moments to register that he is crying. And he doesn't even have it in him to stop himself.

What the kriff happened!? Was it all...a dream?

A knock on his door gives him the motivation necessary to regain some measure of control over his emotions - the tears stop flowing at least. Hux opens the door to find a nervous-looking Mitaka standing there.

"General," he greets with a nod of his head. "I came to inquire after ... your health." His tone is measured- careful.

Hux furrows his brow, " my health?" He queried - his normally smooth voice rough from sleep. "Am I sick?" That might be a decent explanation for the bizarre dreams.

Mitaka wrings his hands. " No Sir - erm- you hit your head rather hard. I believe the consensus among the Stormtroopers that came to your aid was that the girl used the force against you.

So it wasn't all a dream.

A lump forms in Hux's throat and he tries to swallow it down before speaking. " Is that so?" That is all he can manage. He doesn't know what to say. Doesn't know what to think. But he knows that if he had merely been thrown back by the girl's use of the force...what explained the odd visions(?) he had experienced immediately after. They had felt...foreign. As if they weren't his own - or originating from his mind at all. But they felt so real all the same, almost like they had happened to him, almost as if they were memories. The idea sends chills up his spine -not all that unlike from the shivers he had felt before the girl had unleashed the force against him. And that is all the more disturbing.

"Uh, Sir? Do you need to see a medic?"

Do I? Hux wondered to himself. He was starting to question his sanity, and he wasn't entirely certain if there was anyone on the entire moon with experience in dealing with the mentally ill. If that was indeed what he was... And even if there was, he would be too ashamed to admit it to anyone.

So, as confidently as possible, he replies to Mitaka with a "I'm quite alright, thank you," before dismissing him. Disoriented, Hux walks back towards his bed and ponders what he could possibly do next.

He realizes that he is rife with exhaustion - both mental and physical, and he supposes that the best course of action would be to sleep on it. So, with his mind set, he removes the full uniform he is still wearing until he is in nothing but his regulation boxers, folds them, and places each piece back in their rightful place - neatly into his closet. To his surprise, it doesn't take long before he succumbs to a deep slumber.

It doesn't end here.

Nor there - nor any place again.

Over, it will turn.

Mum?

Yes dear?

The little girl is staring at the ground, she is ashamed. Why?

I want to go out and play... Can I, please?

The mother bites her lip and casts her eyes to the ground.

There's no time, dear... We'll be leaving the planet soon.

The little girl hangs her head lower - if that's even possible.

The mother turns away.

A man - a monster, something tells him - slams open the spacecraft's rickedy door.

Out of my way!

The monster grabs the little girl by one of her three buns and flings her against one of the spacecraft's walls.

Stop!

It is not the mother that protests, no matter how much the little girl wished it was.

He feels her tears. He wants to make the monster stop. He can't stand tears.

Stop, she says? Stop?! How about she stops getting the fuck in my way?! Always in my fucking way! Go make yourself useful! Go check the damn engine! It had better be running perfectly by the time we take off.

The little girl's forehead is bleeding. She walks on unsteady feet to the engine. She knows she must do as she's told.

She He hates the monster.

It is all clear when

in your depths you discover

the pain is so near.