It's the oddest thought to have, but standing in the empty, echoing cavern of space where his master's presence was largest and deepest, he finds he mostly misses the certainty.
As if anyone could ever have accused him of being certain of anything. His entire life seems plagued by indecision and three steps one way and two steps another, and all of it a shifting spiral that would make no sense to the outside eye. He's not even sure it always makes sense to him, even as he stands in the middle and holds the web of it.
He at least knows what he wants. That hasn't changed no matter what else has.
He looks up at the high viewport that spills ancient starlight onto the dark floor and the dais above and finds himself caressing the memories that live here. They're certainly thick enough on the ground to be their own shadows at this point; pain and blood and scorched flesh, lacerated thoughts, shredded intentions. The worst of them are his but by no means all. Oh, by no means all.
Behind him the door slides open and rapid footsteps approach. The sharp sound echoes, boots as shiny as blades ringing true on the walkway. He half looks over his shoulder before turning back to the contemplation of emptiness. Alone, as he'd expected. No one ever came here except by express order and he'd counted on it, had chosen this place for it and it's nice to know he's made no errors with that at least.
When the entry closes and the light cuts off, he extends his awareness and force locks the door with a whisper. A moment later the ringing steps stop as the other reaches his shoulder. Military. Precise. Not continuing forward any more than he has, a mindful distance away from the first of the risers that lead upward to a platform that now holds nothing.
This was as close as either of them were ever permitted when his master was alive. Habit, he's noted, is hard to break. It will serve him now.
"General Hux," he acknowledges. The modulator on his new mask rumbles in the air.
"Supreme Leader."
Anger slices but he'd expected it so it passes by. A title made of nothing, floating as it is with the contempt sliding under every syllable like oil.
"Yes," he agrees. He clasps his hands behind his back, keeps his masked gaze fixed ahead which of course means that Hux must as well in case there is something there to look at. "You are wondering why I summoned you here."
"Yes, Supreme Leader." A tilted head, a lift of pale eyebrow in a polite question. "You have orders for me?"
"No. I am trying to decide whether to kill you where you stand."
It's to Hux's credit that he doesn't even flinch. He doesn't even go for the blaster at his side. "I am loyal, always, to the First Order and to you, Supreme Leader." The thin man turns to him, goes down to one knee on the black floor as he has done so many times before, his black uniform glinting in silver points. His head is bowed as is appropriate, conveniently hiding his eyes. It is perfect camouflage, not the least of which is because it's so familiar. In this place only his hair has color. "You cannot question my commitment to our glorious cause."
"I question everything."
"Lord Ren, I will not fail you."
"You will." He looks down and lets the potential in the moment swirl without resolution. The back of Hux's neck is exposed, a mere fingerlength but the pale skin is tempting in its vulnerability. "Snoke kept you because he gave you what you wanted; command of his armies and the instruction to use them as you saw fit. You aren't sure I can give you the same thing and treachery bleeds from you like smoke."
He reaches out before Hux can reply, curling his fingers. He grabs the surface of thought, freezing it in place without disturbing the layers below. He's not interested in whatever Hux has planned, has thought about planning, whatever he has probably already set in motion. He hears the man swallow, a tiny noise against the silence and he tightens the pressure, locking muscle to bone.
Kylo tilts his head, knowing what it will look like. In the audience chamber he is black on black, half consumed by shadows. The fact that the effect is intentional does not make it any less instructional.
Hux has made the first mistake by coming alone, the second by not treating this seriously enough in the opening moments. As if he expects Ren to still be under his master's thumb, that correction will lash out from a space that is uninhabited. A habit of thought that has betrayed him, the very pattern of it soaked into this room.
"You are not my equal and you never will be." He prods sharply, inflicting a splinter of pain. Considering the shrieking torture that has happened before in this exact spot, it's nothing and they both know it. A reminder only and he soothes it, a stroke of absolution to ease it away and at that Hux flinches. Better.
He starts to walk slowly around the man frozen in a position of subservience as if he's contemplating an animal for sale in the market. "You think that you can command the First Order without me and you are wrong. You think that they will be loyal to you alone and you are wrong. You think you know my weaknesses and you despise them." Anger surges in a red, sickening wave and he has to take a breath, another, to channel it. "My master punished me for every one of the failings he built into me and it pleased him to do so while you watched. You saw me ripped apart and you pitied me for it. Relieved each time that it wasn't you bleeding on this floor."
He can see the line of sweat starting, the tension in the man's shoulders as he keeps walking until he's out of Hux's peripheral vision, at his unprotected back.
"I am here to show you the error of your assumptions."
"Supreme Leader, I assure you…"
He steps forward and grabs a fistful of hair, yanking the man's head back. There's a thin whine, quickly cut off. He contemplates the exposed throat, the thin press of lips, the emanating emotions that are finally starting to slip from wariness to fear. Better.
"You assure me of nothing. You have failed to appreciate the teachings of the dark side. You believe in order. In technology." He steps forward, his legs flush now against Hux's back, pulling the man's head to the side to bare the pulsing carotid artery. A green eye rolls in its socket and there is a spike of sudden terror, hard and unexpected. Oh no, Hux is not liking this at all. Did he truly think himself invulnerable behind his title, his previous place, with Kylo too weak to attack it?
He tightens his grip to keep himself from doing anything worse. He still hasn't decided. "You believe in your training program, your soldiers that, as it turns out, can desert you. The things you build and the things you use. I will instruct you where your true allegiance should lie." He raises his other hand, fingers starting to flex.
"Lord Ren, if you will." The voice is a croak. "If I may speak?"
So close. He sinks deeper into the mind panicking below his twisted fingers. Almost there. "Yes."
"I swear. I swear to serve you faithfully, Supreme Leader, this is my purpose. My life's work. I believe in the First Order, the enlightenment we will bring to the galaxy. To free it of chaos, to give it the direction it needs under your guidance. I believe in all that we do. You cannot doubt me."
"I am used to doubting, General Hux." He leans down, letting his mask dominate the other man's field of vision. Almost there. "Snoke acted as if every move he made, every wish he expressed was immutable law, carefully thought out and planned for. His plans did not save him. His guards did not save him. My presence did not save him. He died on his throne, struck down by a slip of a girl he thought he controlled. I am not going to make that mistake."
Hux closes his eyes and his adam's apple bobs. "Ren. Please. Please." He doesn't want to beg, not even for his life and the shame and fury of it spreads like a stain, rippling outwards.
Kylo takes it and shoves, pushing the terror and humiliation as far down as he can into the mind below him, forcing it into compliance. Hux stiffens under the psychic assault, near choking in reaction. His back tries to arch, pushing himself backwards only to be stopped hard against Ren's body.
It's nearly beautiful, this moment.
Finally, with reluctance, Kylo unknots his fingers from their grip in the man's hair. Strokes it instead. Hux stares up, his eyes so wide there is only white around them.
"I am not going to bribe you, as Snoke did. I have no intention of catering to you. You will serve because you want to, because your ambition will accept no lesser place and you will serve me because you have no choice." He keeps his voice flat, letting the rumble of it spread out into darkness. "I will bend your mind, shape your flesh, carve your bones to the very marrow and you will fear me more than you feared even your father because I'll do it with no plan in mind at all. I am outside of your precious order."
"Supreme Leader."
"You think you know me. You know only what I can do with a master riding my will." He strokes that bright hair again, sliding against the mind below it.
"I swear, Lord Ren."
"You will serve. Because if you are not very, very careful, you are going to be the first to find out exactly what I am capable of without a leash."
There is a fervency rising in the other man's eyes, a sheen that could be tears, could be something else entirely. He inspects the damage he has caused. It's brutal. It could work. He leans in even closer, mask nearly brushing the upturned face.
"The chaos you have despised in me is what will bring us victory. Do we understand each other?"
"Yes. Yes, Supreme Leader."
There is no oil under the words now. It isn't exactly respect yet either, but it could be close enough to suit and the rest can come. Hux's head is resting against his thigh and he can feel the gasping breaths the General is trying to take.
Is this certainty? Does he trust in this? He cannot fight Hux for every step they take going forward and the urge to do violent harm is always so very close to his heart. Snoke's way.
But Snoke is dead.
"Then today you can live."
He lets go of his hold and steps back to let the other man collapse to the ground.
"I have recalled the Knights of Ren. See to it that their quarters are ready."
He turns and walks away before he can second guess this decision, as he second guesses all the others.