Chapter Thirteen: Answers and Repercussions

A/N: I've been gone. A while. I know, I'm horrible, but senior year is a stressful year, let me just tell you. Scholarship applications, dual credit english essays, freaking AP CALCULUS BC, sports, music, and now theatre. It's been quite an eventful almost year. But I have returned with another chapter, so I guess the promised filler will have to wait. I said I'd have this up before the year was over, so it's a bit rushed, and everyone seems out of character (at least to me; it's been a WHILE) but I wasn't about to break my promise. Also, I'm out of chapter outlines to fiddle with, so… But anyway, have a late Christmas/holiday present from me!

Kylo refused to meet Hux's eye as panic and frustration raged within him. How could he be so stupid? He should have never answered her. He should have gone about his night like usual. How were they connected? Why was the Force continually making their paths cross? He sat down, head in his hands, head spinning from all of the questions he had no way of getting answers to.

"What in the galaxy was going on in here? I was retiring for the night when I felt another Force signature upon the ship, one I wasn't familiar with, and who does it happen to be? The scavenger girl, Rey. Care to explain, Kylo?" Hux wasn't sure what he'd just intruded upon, but he knew he needed answers, and they'd better be good because he would not accept any excuses about why the two of them had been kriffing holding hands. Kylo was silent for several moments, mind working a mile a minute, having trouble organizing his thoughts. "Well?" Hux snapped.

"Do you remember, in my vision, when I told you about my next encounter with Rey on Starkiller II?" Kylo asked after a moment.

"The part where you say she potentially turns to the Dark side? Yes, but how is that relevant here?"

"Any time a person attempts to prevent a vision from happening, it always comes true. I didn't want her to know what the vision meant, and now that she does…" The sentence lingered in the air for a moment.

"She'll end up going down that path no matter what," Hux finished for him. Kylo could only nod as Hux sighed and shook his head, taking a seat beside him. "Show me?" he asked. Kylo looked to him in confusion, but nodded, holding out a hand towards him and concentrating. Hux sucked in a quick breath as his vision went hazy for a moment, clearing to reveal what must be Starkiller II at sunset.

He stood across from Rey, whose fury was evident in her expression, if not then in the humming of the air around her that set his nerves on edge. She marched towards him before charging the rest of the way, and his saber easily came up to block the initial blow. She set a rapid pace when they broke apart, heavy blow after heavy blow surprising him, putting him on the defensive. It wasn't until she misstepped that he regained the upper hand. As he began a more tactical approach, precise strikes completely throwing her off. She seemed surprised at his change in fighting style, clearing expecting the same erratic, powerful swings from their last duel.

Rey, to her credit, and to his surprise, kept up with him well, somehow finding a way to turn the tables on him, forcing him to switch tactics more than once. Images quickly blurred and the duel seemed to suddenly reach its end, as if someone had just skipped a scene in a holo-movie. Rey's fatigue caught up with her, and she found herself once again seemingly beaten, Kylo bearing down on her. He felt no satisfaction in her defeat, however, only worry and despair. The thought of, "How could I let this happen?" flitted through his mind before leaving as quickly as it came.

"You've gotten stronger," Kylo told her, "But not strong enough."

"We'll see about that!" Rey bellowed as they broke apart. He felt himself flung backwards through the air with the Force, and he barely landed on his feet as he reacted. He looked into her eyes to see a familiar golden hue, and pure terror had him frozen on the spot. The realization of what was happening crashed down on him; failure, fear, regret, and resignment were the most apparent feelings swirling within him at the moment. As he watched her head straight for him, he only hoped Hux would make it back to the Finalizer alright, previous plans be damned. He watched the blue saber in her hands arc down harshly towards him, preparing himself for the final blow, feeling the heat of the laser mere inches from his face-

Hux gasped back to reality as the vision cut, breathing heavily as imprints of future Kylo's terror continued to assault him, slowly fading. Kylo himself was shaking, not fully prepared for the second viewing, hand that was previously extended now unconsciously clutching one of Hux's. Hux squeezed Kylo's hand in comfort, and Kylo only then realized what he was doing, embarrassment mixing with his fear. Hux sent as much reassurance as he could at the moment through their bond, along with a flicker of amusement. He watched as Kylo relaxed minutely, but bowed his head in grief.

"I can't save her, Hux, and I… I don't know what to do," he whispered brokenly. Hux sighed, a soft expression on his face.

"Hey," he whispered, gently tipping Kylo's chin up, to both their surprises, meeting his eyes. "You'll find a way; you always do. And you had better believe that I will be by your side through all of it. She's not lost yet, Kylo, not if we have anything to say about it." Kylo let out a soft laugh, slowing pulling Hux into his arms.

"Thank you," he told him. Hux reciprocated the embrace, humming contently in response.

XxX

"What were you doing talking with him, Rey? He's a danger to us all!" Luke exclaimed. He knelt down beside her as tears began falling down her face. She choked down a sob as she answered.

"I needed to know. What the vision meant. I-I… I think that, deep down, I knew what the answer was. I just didn't want to admit to myself that I'm beyond saving." Luke's harsh tone softened, as did his voice.

" …No one is beyond saving, Rey." She looked to him, not believing his words. "I don't know what you saw or why you saw it, but I know that there is so much good in you that the Dark Side wouldn't stand a chance, not for very long, at least."

"I'm scared," she admitted. "I don't know what to do."

"There's not much we can do, but the future is still uncertain. Rest for now, and put it out of your mind." She nodded tiredly, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I will try," she responded. She arranged herself comfortably on the cabin bed in her room as Luke turned to leave. Their eyes met as he stopped in the doorway to give her a reassuring smile, and she saw his haunted gaze. He seemed to be remembering something nightmarish, but before she could ask if he was alright the door closed, and she was left alone with her thoughts.

XxX

Kylo let out a breathless laugh as his back collided with a wall, Hux with his saber to his throat, looking very proud of himself indeed. "Excellent! You're such a fast learner," Kylo told him with a bit of pride as they both deactivated their sabers, taking a well deserved break from yet another successful training session. In the weeks since Kylo's conversation with Rey, things had been looking up for them. The Knights of Ren had been doing a lot of work, unbeknownst to Hux, and the First Order's finances had recovered quite nicely. Starkiller II's progress was ahead of schedule, leaving Hux and much of the crew with more free time than they thought they'd have. Kylo and Hux had plenty of time to train and had gotten a lot done.

Hux's usual combat style was precise and elegant, his footwork a sight to behold, and he often used Kylo's wide swinging, aggressive style against him, striking when there was an opening in his defenses. He could easily dodge and parry blows, and while it wasn't the most offensive style, it proved to be the one he was most comfortable with. Not only that, but it allowed him time to observe his opponent and anticipate their movements.

Kylo's combat style was very much the opposite of Hux's. Having received little training in any actual form from Luke or Snoke, his attacks were often aggressive, wild, and a bit all over the place. It had gotten less so since his last training period with Snoke; he was quite a bit lighter on his feet, and though his attacks were still aggressive, he had figured out how to combine that with his defense to create powerful counterattack opportunities and ways to turn the tide of battle in his favor.

Kylo often overpowered Hux to gain an advantage in their duels, but Hux's quick thinking usually brought the advantage back to him. He was not afraid to use the occasional Force move to even the odds, nor was he against switching to a more aggressive fighting style, mirroring Kylo's intensity to throw the Dark Jedi off before outmaneuvering him and his weakened defenses.

That day's duel had been a close back and forth between the two, with Kylo's aggressive, energy consuming offense eventually being his downfall. Tired, winded, and running out of ideas, he'd made the fatal mistake of lunging at a more than prepared Hux, who not only sidestepped and deflected his attack, but managed to use his own momentum against him. Kylo found himself barely holding onto his blade when Hux's saber came to rest against his throat, yet he couldn't care less that he'd lost.

"Well, I have a halfway competent teacher," Hux replied smugly. Kylo scoffed and rolled his eyes with a smirk of his own.

"My only wish is that I could train with you using other forms, perhaps something more defensive or acrobatic and Force oriented. Unfortunately, my uncle is probably the only Force-user still alive who fights that way."

"Then perhaps he'll prove a challenge should you and I ever cross paths with him." The two made their way back up into the ship, Hux intent on showering before taking up his position on the bridge while Kylo was very much looking forward to a meal and a nap. Neither, however, would be getting their wish at the moment as Mitaka made his way hurriedly towards them. Hux stopped with a sigh while Kylo looked very much like he was going to Force choke someone soon. "Dopheld," Hux addressed him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, general, Lord Ren, but there's been another citing of the Jedi. And… General, I think you'll want to see where." Hux and Kylo exchanged a look before following Mitaka.

XxX

"Luke, you can't be serious!" Rey exclaimed as the Jedi strode determinedly towards a ship. It had been a few weeks since that night, Rey throwing herself into training reluctant Luke every day. They had been in the middle of a duel, Rey with the upper hand, when he ended their training session, seeming to come to a realization and needing to address it as quickly as possible. As soon as he'd told her he was leaving for some stormy weather planet in the outer rim, refusing to tell her why, she had followed him to the outside of the base, Finn and Poe not far behind her. "What's so important that you can't tell anyone—

"We need answers, about Ben and your vision. I'm seeking out the answers the only other way I know how."

"What about all of your preaching about putting it out of my mind and trying not to change the future?" Rey demanded to know. "What happened to trusting in the Force to guide me down the right—

"The Force is flawed and unpredictable," Luke suddenly interrupted her, face dark. "Using it for the wrong reasons, even if you do so with good intentions, leads to nothing but suffering. It doesn't have all the answers and it never has. I've put my faith in it one too many times, and look how that turned out. Young Jedi in training massacred, a powerful Dark Side user turning one of the most powerful Force sensitives of this generation against his family, and I'm the one who's left to fix this mess! Again!" Rey stopped at his sudden outburst, looking at Luke as if never truly seeing him before. He sighed, looking away.

"So what are you saying?" she asked him quietly. He let out another sigh.

"I've seen good, talented, brave men fall to the Dark Side because they thought their future was set in stone, because they thought the world needed fixing, because they thought they were doing the right thing… And no matter how hard I tried, to help them see reason, help them realize their mistakes, I've only ever made things worse, whether it be out of fear or recklessness… I don't want the same fate to befall you because I didn't try to help you find answers…" He finished, voice barely above a whisper, defeated. He finally met Rey's eyes, and she saw the determination and uncertainty in his eyes. "We need answers Rey, and it's time I got them straight from the source." She nodded, an unreadable look on her face.

"Then be careful," she told him worriedly. Without another word she watched him go, his ship disappearing into the distance.

"What did he mean, when he said he'd put his faith in the Force one too many times?" Poe asked. Rey didn't respond, eyes still staring at where she saw Luke's ship last, not until she felt Finn take her hand and squeeze it comfortingly. She turned to Poe with an unknown look in her eyes.

"He's…" A look of realization came across her face. "He's cut himself off from the Force; I don't know why I didn't see it before!" Poe and Finn gave her matching looks of confusion at that statement. "He still feels when the balance of Dark and Light shift. He's Luke Skywalker, so how could he not? But using it, allowing it to flow through him? He could hardly meditate when last I saw him try, and during my training, he hardly demonstrated any Force abilities. When he did… He always looked as if he was committing some unspeakable crime…" She felt herself shaking, with what she didn't know. "Has he lost so much faith that he's willing to throw away such an essential part of himself?!"

"Rey?" Finn asked in concern as she seemed to lose her temper. She looked to him apologetically before continuing to explain, voice calmer.

"He's hasn't cut himself off completely, but it would explain why he didn't know anything about what had gone on in the galaxy since he'd been missing, or why he couldn't make out anything in the visions."

"Visions? Visions like you going Dark Side visions?" Poe questioned. Rey nodded. "So he's basically been ignoring the very thing that makes him a Jedi for the last… However many years he's been in hiding?" She nodded again. "What's he figure that'll do?"

"I don't know," she told him, though that statement might not have been entirely true. The way Luke had just spoken, coming clean about his experiences and mistakes? He was afraid, truly of what she wasn't entirely sure, but he was, and it had driven him away from the Force.

And now he was going to confront Kylo.

XxX

Kylo and Hux stared disbelievingly at the footage of an older model X-wing landing under a thicket of trees, shielding it from the pouring rain, on the surface of a planet the general was all too familiar with. Mitaka and Phasma watched their reactions warily, fully expecting one, if not both, of them to break the holo-projector. "He just arrived a few minutes ago," Mitaka told them nervously. "He hasn't done anything but exit the fighter and fall into that strange trance." Hux and Kylo observed said trance with suspicion before they both realized just what he was doing.

"That's not a trance," Hux informed him. It was then that Kylo heard a voice in his head, distant yet firm, one he hadn't heard in over a decade.

'Ben.' Kylo sucked in a surprised breath, a hand to his head, struggling to uphold such a far away connection. The other three looked to him in concern, but he waved them off as he tried to focus. 'By now your men will have already sighted me. We need to talk, alone. You know where I'll be waiting.' As soon as it had been established the connection ended, and Kylo let out a harsh breath as the pain that had slowly started in his head receded. In the holo-projection Luke came out of his trance, and stared straight at the source of the footage. With a wave of his hand, the projector went blank. There was a silence in the room for a moment until Kylo spoke up, shaken.

"He… He wants to talk… With me… Alone." Hux shot that idea down immediately.

"You're not going without me," Hux declared, unmoving in his decision.

"Armi," Phasma began, trying to dissuade him.

"I'll not leave you to face him alone. Never again," he told Kylo, ignoring Phasma's attempt to change his mind. He felt a rush of gratitude through their bond and he sent comforting reassurance back. "And besides, it's time I face a part of my past as well…" he added quietly. How could he not when they were going to Arkanis?

"Let's go change. After that, we should leave," Kylo addressed Hux, who nodded. He was following Kylo out of the room when Phasma and Mitaka caught his shoulders, holding him back for a moment.

"Armi, are you sure about this?" Phasma asked, concerned for her friend.

"No one's making you go," Mitaka reminded him.

"I know, but I want to be there for him. I have to be. I couldn't bare the thought of him having to face such an important figure from his past without someone by his side, supporting him. He would do the same for me. And… I have a feeling that hosting the meeting on Arkanis was deliberate."

"You think he wants you to be there?" Mitaka asked.

"Why choose Arkanis in particular or encourage Kylo to come alone unless he knew I would insist on coming? He must know I'm Force-sensitive. How he knows I haven't the slightest idea, but he wants both Kylo and myself in the same place."

"Why?" Hux looked to Phasma uncertainly.

"I don't know, and I don't like it." He sighed. The more they discussed it, the less he liked the idea of this meeting. With one last worried look he left the room, the trip back to his quarters filling him with an unshakable sense of unease. Dressed and ready to go, he arrived in the hangar bay to find Kylo waiting by his personal shuttle. The two of them entered it and made the trip in silence, both consumed in their thoughts, trying to understand Luke's motives. It wasn't until they were within the planet's atmosphere that they spoke to one another, both not quite confident about their decision to make the trip.

As the ship touched down, Kylo admitted, "I don't know if I'm ready to see him again," averting his eyes as shame and regret bubbled to the surface.

Hux took Kylo's hand gently in his own and assured him with determined eyes, "You are, and this time… You won't be alone." Kylo squeezed his hand softly in thanks, taking a deep breath before lowering the ramp of the ship.

XxX

Luke looked up at the command shuttle landing across the clearing from him, its ramp lowering to reveal Kylo and General Hux, as expected. He couldn't help the slight smile that came to his face knowing his hunch had been correct. He walked out from under the trees shielding him from the planet's usual light drizzle of rain, meeting the two halfway between the ships. The three were surrounded by trees on all sides, hidden from all prying eyes save any from above. His eyes flickered to their joined hands for a moment before focusing back on them.

"I see you decided not to come alone," he addressed them.

"That was never your intention," Hux fired back with absolute certainty.

"And so it wasn't." Luke's eyes fell on Kylo, who, for the first time since that night, met his eyes with something other than anger and hatred. For a moment, Luke could see his young nephew hiding behind the eyes of the now feared Dark Jedi Kylo Ren. "Ben," he addressed his nephew kindly.

"Luke," Kylo greeted back as evenly as he could, though he cursed internally as he heard the shake in his voice. When hunting down Luke and Rey to kill the last Jedi had been his original mission, he expected to meet Luke with hate and bitterness and an uncontainable fury that had built inside him since his academy days. But now… Many things had changed. His view of Snoke, his relationship with Hux, the Force, and himself most of all had changed. He was no longer out for blood or revenge or whatever sick and twisted reason he'd gotten into his head under the tutelage of Snoke. No. Now he felt every feeling he'd been forced to repress and lock deep within himself that night and every day and night that followed. Hux couldn't help the sharp breath he sucked in at the sheer emotion radiating from Kylo, insisting that the water running down his face from his eyes was from the rain and not the sheer heart wrenching agony that Kylo was feeling. With all the confidence he had left and everything he was feeling inside reflected in his eyes, he said to Luke the two words he'd never thought he'd say: "I'm sorry."

Luke's gaze softened at his nephew's words and emotions palpable in the Force. "I know," he whispered gently, and a weight seemed to be lifted from Kylo's shoulders at those words. "But that's not why I asked you to be here."

"Then why are we here?" Kylo questioned,trying to collect his thoughts.

"I need answers," Luke stated simply, "And you're the only two who can give them to me."

"And why would we do that?" Hux asked.

"To help Rey," Kylo answered suddenly, turning to look at him. "That night, she needed answers from me, about the vision, about her future, about a great deal many things. I didn't get the chance to tell her them, and it's been eating away at her ever since." He looked to Luke now. "Is that right?"

"Yes…" Luke responded, "And I have questions of my own." Kylo met Hux's eyes, searching for a sign. Hux looked back with reassurement.

'Go ahead,' Kylo heard in his head. 'I trust your judgement.'

With a nod, he told Luke, "Ask away." It was clear Luke wasn't expecting him to agree so easily, but he quickly recovered from his shock.

"Why were you talking to Rey that night?"

"She reached out to me. She wanted to understand what the part of my vision that she saw meant. She had her suspicions before and I… Confirmed them, though that wasn't my intention. She believed that she would turn to the Dark Side the next time we faced each other in battle. I tried to assure her that I wouldn't let that happen." Luke absorbed the information for a moment, finding that it matched up with what Rey had told him.

"And your vision? Does it end there?" Kylo gulped inaudibly, meeting Hux's eye at the question.

"No. It… It ends with myself, Hux, and Snoke… And Force lightning." Luke shuddered as his memory of the Emperor resurfaced briefly.

"And Snoke?" Luke asked, hopeful of Kylo's answer, "Are you still loyal to him?"

"I haven't been in quite a while," Kylo responded automatically. "We plan to end his tyranny."

"How?"

"Starkiller II," was the reply. Hux's eyes went wide as he processed what Kylo had just said.

"You want to target the citadel?"

"It's safer than facing him in combat and a guaranteed victory."

"If he's planetside," Hux pointed out.

"Which he will be," Kylo assured him.

"And if I don't trust you? If I think you're bluffing, and you'll choose to target the Resistance's base instead? What then?"

"We don't expect you to trust us, but we do want you to know that our two side have a common enemy now. You can consider Kylo, myself, and any officers and troops under our command as allies, as we've already told General Organa. When the time comes, we'll call for a ceasefire of all of our troops. You can interpret that information as you wish," Hux replied. Luke observed Hux, his expression, his demeanor, his body language, his Force signature. He didn't quite know what to make of him, but as he saw the looks Kylo gave him out of the corner of his eye, something told him there was more to the man than he'd initially thought, though he couldn't quite tell if that was reassuring or not.

"One last question," he told them before turning his attention fully to Kylo, drilling him with an intense stare. "Why do you want to save Rey?" Kylo took a deep breath before answering.

"I've been down the path that she's on her way to taking. I know what it does to a person, how it completely changes them, turns them into something unrecognizable. It tears you apart inside. I've seen glimpses of total darkness, of the absence of Light, and… It's terrifying, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It condemns you to an inescapable fate of loneliness, hate, anger, suffering… And there's no turning back." He met Luke's stare with a look of complete determination. "I made her a promise to never let that happen. I've seen Rey, seen the good in her, the Light in her, and I won't rest until she's free from the influences of the Dark, until I know she's safe… And no one will stop me." Luke gave him the first genuine smile he'd seen in years.

"That's all I needed to hear." He looked between the two of them, a strange glint in his eye. "I'll be seeing the two of you." Hux gave him a respectful nod and Kylo a weak smile, and the two continued standing hand in hand as the X-wing disappeared from sight.

Closing A/N: I'm going to apologize again for being gone so long, and for the sorry state this chapter's in. I wrote 2/3 of it in about two hours, so it's cobbled together, the characters are a mess, and I had to redo certain parts since I haven't finished the filler chapter that was supposed to go up first (which is still in the works). While I cannot, unfortunately, say that I'll be back to updating semi-regularly (and in less than almost a year), because life really hates me right now, I can wish all of you a very Happy New Year! 2019 is here, so go out there and make this year better than last year, and try not to fail at your resolutions in the first month or so of the year! See y'all next update! :)