Before you get started... this is a violent chapter in parts. There is an attempted rape and graphic torture scene with Hux, but it is in no way an attempt to glorify either of those behaviors. That occurs after the first line break in the story, so please read with caution.
I debated this chapter a lot, but this development has always been in the plan. I think it fits with the dark feel of this story, but please read carefully and know that nothing portrayed in that scene is something I think is even remotely okay. Anyway, even though this was tough to write and isn't a positive chapter, I hope it's good.
"General Hux, fetch my apprentice. We have much to discuss."
The red-headed First Order General stood from his kneeling position and bowed his head to Supreme Leader Snoke sitting on the throne.
"Supreme Leader, I regret to inform you that Kylo Ren is not aboard the ship."
"Where is he?" The hideous creature glowered down at his General.
"He was not very specific my Lord, but some nearby planet I believe."
"And why is he there, General? Has the Resistance fighter given up the location of the map already?"
"He has not, sir."
"And Ren's slave, is it obedient, catering to his every whim and desire? Has he completely destroyed its spirit?"
Hux considered his next words carefully, pulling his lips into an ugly sneer as he thought of how protective the insufferable young Sith acted toward the girl. Ren had made a mistake in caring for her, and now Hux would use that to destroy him and prove to Snoke once and for all that Kylo Ren could not be trusted.
"If I may, Supreme Leader, I fear that Ren has failed you, failed the First Order. I am sorry to tell you that he seems to treat the girl with, forgive me for saying so… kindness."
"Impossible," Snoke hissed, knowing full well it was entirely possible.
The Light was strong in his apprentice, and though he tried everything to crush it, erase his Skywalker blood, and leave only Vader, he was failing. Snoke would unaccustomed to failure. What he wanted, he would get, and he wanted Kylo Ren to embrace the Dark Side fully. For the cruel creature, this made his decision easy. If Ren wouldn't break the girl, he would do it himself.
"General Hux," Snoke's voice echoed around the room, laced with hatred and warning of something terrible to come. "With my assistance, I believe you will find Ren's chambers easy to enter. The girl is yours. Tell her… hm yes, tell her Kylo has given her as a gift to you. You may do as you like until our Kylo returns, but see to it she lives, General. For now."
Hux bowed his head and swept out of the room, an ugly smirk forming as he stalked towards Ren's chambers, victorious. Snoke chuckled, the dark sound echoing around the throne room where guards in red armor stood like statues.
"You disappoint me, Kylo Ren, but I will make you my Vader. Yes, there will be no more Ben Solo. I will end the conflict in you, even if I must destroy the galaxy to do it."
Rey was thoroughly engrossed in a book when the doors to Kylo's room slid open. Her eyes flickered up for a moment, and she smiled softly at him, then returned to her reading. It's not Kylo, her mind practically screamed, and she looked up again. She was on her feet in an instant, stumbling backward, the book entirely forgotten as she stared at the pale, red-head Kylo despised. General Hux.
"H- how… how—"
"H- h- how?" Hux mocked with a sneer, the door shutting behind him as he stalked toward her. "Ren left me his codes, of course."
"He wouldn't!"
"You dare speak to your master like that?" His voice was eerily calm.
Another man's voice echoed in her mind, and Rey had to tamp down the instinct to adapt, apologize, cower, beg forgiveness. Hux was inches away from her trembling form as she stood her ground despite the fear.
"You're not my master," she spat out.
"Oh, but I am, little Rey," he reached out a hand and grabbed her chin.
Two electric prongs dug into her side, Hux already tired of her insolence. Electricity jolted from the stunner and through her, and she crumpled as everything went black.
Two Stormtroopers dragged the limp girl to the prison cells on the other side of the ship, following the General. They tossed Rey, who was already beginning to wake up, onto the ground with a solid thud, giving her no chance to brace herself.
"Leave us," the General ordered.
The door shut behind the Troopers, plunging the small cell into darkness for a moment. White lights, blinding in their brightness, burst to life. Hux leaned down to Rey. Her eyes flickered open, blinking against the harsh light. It had all happened too fast, and her mind was whirling, a jumbled, confused mess that was trying to make her do a million things. Blood filled her mouth. Her head ached from the impact making it hard to think.
Hux raised a pale hand, brushing her hair back with a smirk, his eyes full of the same lust Rey had seen every day at Jzchar's brothel.
"No," she snapped, eyes lighting up as she slapped his hand and jerked her body back.
Her back was flat against the wall as she stared at Hux.
"Kylo said-" she started.
"Kylo Ren left you to me! He gave you to me as a peace offering, which means you belong to me."
"No," Rey snarled back, but doubt crept into her mind, taking root inside her.
She couldn't bear the thought that Kylo had played the long game. It didn't make sense for him to spend months healing her, helping her mind heal, teaching her, letting her work on little projects for fun only to rip it all away. Unless- no. If he wanted her truly broken, truly subservient, this was how to do it.
Many years ago a master had done this, made her trust him so much she felt like she had a father. She had fought him until he was kind, and then she stopped as he began to treat her like a person. Then one day, just when she began to feel comfortable, he had nearly killed her. After that moment, she always did as she was asked until that day in Jzchar's brothel. Something had snapped then, something that never really permanently fixed itself… the desire to really live. The only thing that could break that for good was exactly what Kylo was doing to her now.
"Yes, little Rey. Your master doesn't want you anymore. You're mine now, and I do want you," he moved closer until their faces were inches apart and she could smell his sweat mingling with the scent of soap, the bars Kylo hated but kept anyway.
Live or die. Fight or survive. This isn't living, though. What a naïve, silly dream freedom was. Kylo Ren left her to Hux like a spare part, like she was nothing.
"I don't believe you," she found the strength to argue, even though it was a lie.
The strike was so sudden, so unexpected she barely felt it at first. Then the all too familiar pain lanced through her face, her cheek reddening and eyes watering. Tears formed, less from the pain and more from the confusion, the loss of someone who she believed all along had been protecting her.
"You'd better start."
Fight or die. Maybe one lead to the other. Rey remembered that feeling, not the feeling of freedom but of hope for it, but it was only a memory now. It would never be real.
"This will be your home," Hux gestured to the bare white room. "I will come to you, and you will serve my every need."
No need to question what that statement meant.
"I won't do it," Rey found herself saying, even though her mind screamed at her to stop, to survive.
Years, no, a lifetime of protecting herself at all costs had conditioned the young woman to endure and do anything to stay safe, the opposite of what she was doing now. Even when she thought Kylo was angry, those instincts had overridden everything in her that didn't want to submit.
Another blow came, this one glancing off her nose. Warm blood spurted down her face, and she heard the nose crack and the familiar feeling of a break. It wasn't the first time her nose snapped.
"We'll start now," Hux whispered into her ear, wrenching her head back with a brutal grasp on her hair that ripped strands from her scalp. "And you will call me master."
Rey punched the pale man square in the nose, probably hurting her own hand more than his face, but it felt good. It also enraged him. He tossed her to the ground by her hair, and Rey realized her mistake, one she would have never made before. She was in kicking range of someone who wouldn't hesitate, didn't hesitate.
His heavy black boot found her ribs. The scream came unbidden as the air was literally kicked out of her.
"You. Are. Mine!" He shouted, each word punctuated by another kick, one slipping and striking her face, drawing more blood.
"Stop! Leave her alone!"
Kylo, Rey thought, looking toward the door. Maybe, just maybe, this was all a lie and Kylo was just held up on that planet and had finally returned.
"Hux! I know that's you! Leave her alone!"
The sound came through the other side of the wall, muffled by the metal panels. Not Kylo. Rey curled in on herself, laying on her side at Hux's feet, using her skinny arms to protect herself. Hux ignored the voice entirely, bending over her and pushing her back.
"Get off," she spat, spraying blood across his face, fighting uselessly as he pinned her beneath him easily.
The loose clothes she borrowed from Kylo wouldn't help her. She shoved at him uselessly.
"Hux, don't hurt her!" Banging accompanied the shouting.
"Am I hurting you?" Hux murmured, moving a cold hand underneath her black sweater, moving upward.
"Kylo will kill you!" Rey snarled, fighting harder.
"Kylo gave you to me!"
"Let her go! Stop this Hux! Do you hear me?"
His other hand closed around her throat while she pummeled him, pressing downward until she was gasping for air. She tried to inhale, struggling, choking. Her face was wet with blood and spit. The stranger next door was still screaming, screaming like she was trying to. Hux was looking at her with the eyes of a mad man, the eyes of most men. Not Kylo with the sad, broken eyes, Kylo who had protected her. Kylo who had betrayed her, had played this game to break her like she was nothing, meant nothing.
With the little air she had, Rey finally screamed.
She pushed upward, trying again to get this disgusting person off her, no longer willing to give in to this life without a fight. Hux flew backward, smacking into the wall so hard the metal paneling bent. Rey drew in a deep breath full of her own blood, coughing on the warm liquid. She rolled over, spitting as she knelt and reminded her lungs what air was like.
Across the cell, Hux stood, staring at her with something akin to fear.
"That's not possible," he growled.
Rey stared down at her hands pressed to the white and bloody floor, suddenly utterly exhausted. The man looked at her, then all but ran to the door, shutting it behind him and leaving the girl alone, alone except for the Force.
The planet would be safe enough for Rey. Its people were not welcoming, nor were they slavers. The climate was cold, but she could adapt. The town was small enough that she would feel comfortable but large enough that the addition of one girl would be unnoticed. All that was left was to fake her death and leave her here. Then lie to his Master. Oh yes, the easy part, he thought ruefully.
He should be doubting this reckless decision, questioning it, but he had rarely felt so sure of anything in his life.
In saving Rey, he would flirt with the Light for a moment then he could return to the Dark Side and give himself fully to the cause. Find Luke. End the Resistance. Crush his mother.
Leia Organa, not his mother. She would be proud of what he was doing.
He smashed his fist into a panel of his small ship. He didn't care, shouldn't care what his mother thought of him. Pain lanced through his arm as he struck metal. Leia was not his mother. He hit the hard metal, again and again, smashing the panel until his knuckles bled and his hand ached. Even through the pain, he couldn't get the image of his mother's smiling face out of his head.
Kylo exhaled heavily and dropped the mask at his feet. His display screen was smoking and cracked, but it would work. It had functioned through worse. Snoke was due back the next day, which meant he had only a few hours to get back and get Rey off the First Order ship. His master was never early and never late.
What Kylo Ren didn't know was that the Supreme Leader had already returned to the ship and that Rey lay in a prison cell, trying to figure out what she had just done and believing Kylo was responsible for her suffering.
Okay, well that was something. I tried to capture Rey's confusion as best I could and make it realistic, so I hope that works for you guys. We're nearing the end, and I'm really excited to get the next couple chapters out to you guys. I've had this series of events planned from the beginning, and now it's just figuring out how to execute it and fill in the minor details.
As always, thank you for the reviews and please continue to review/follow/favorite. Happy new year, and I hope it is better than 2020!