'Am I going to die Ren?' Hux asked tonelessly.

The former general was standing, straight backed, and dwarfed by the massive weight of the Sith Fortress. It loomed menacing, impossible and ageless above them, its very sight a reminder of power unbeknown to those not chosen.

'I don't know,' Ren answered, his voice filtering tonelessly through his mask vocal modulator.

Sarcasm broke Hux moment of awed and resentful contemplation.

'You are useless you know,' he scoffed with a sneer.

:: Earlier ::

When Kylo got into Hux quarter this time, he was met not by a blaster in his face but by a beeping little droid that whirled madly a few times before disappearing into the bedroom with urgent and vocal biping. The now familiar face of the young lieutenant popped out in a few seconds and presented a smart salute.

'Is Hux ready?'

'He'll be in a few moments sir.'

'Perhaps,' Hux shouted from the other room, 'if you had not picked such a ridiculous equipment for me to wear it would not be taking so kriffing long!'

A muffled noise followed his statement with an associated string of hissed curses, some of which in a tongs Kylo didn't speak. He had no idea Hux spoke so many linguae. Determined steps resounded closer before the door was thrown open to reveal the ex-general.

'Seriously Ren…'

'Supreme Leader,' Kylo corrected out of habit.

'… Where is my uniform?' Hux finished in the tone of someone who knows a lost battle when he sees one but is not past being petty about it.

The outfit fitted Hux like a glove. Ren practiced eye appreciated how the dark, leathery fabric in parts, had been cut to allow for good movement range without being cumbersome or loose. The meshed fabric too, was deceptively resistant. The fact Hux had messed the straps up was just a bonus. Kylo took a few more seconds to look beneath the surface and take in Hux force signature. He looked a bit wrecked still, with his hair mussed and his breath a bit short, but his condition had stabilised. Threads of the Dark Side were lightly ghosting his skin, leaving him unharmed yet but for a slight icy shiver now and then. A slight craving shot up Kylo's core at the memory of how he had harvested the spawned power.

'You've been relieved of your functions I believe. On basis of being a traitor.'

An ugly scowl twisted the ginger's face for a second before smoothing out in a blank façade.

'Traitors to the Order are to be interrogated and swiftly executed. Not give their quarters back along with new…' His tone turned to distasteful. 'Cloths. Your handling of protocol remains abysmal.'

'You are not needed anymore.' Ren addressed the lieutenant.

Hux nodded imperceptibly to the man and Mitaka left them. Ren noted the slight to his authority but chose to ignore it; the lieutenant was useful for the time being. He would pay later. The droid was cowering in a corner and Hux just shut the door on it before crossing his arms and looking at Ren expectantly.

'You are to accompany me on Exegol.' Kylo stated, not beating around brushes. 'Palpatine asked you to be brought to him.'

Hux eyes widened in surprise before his expression took an angry twist.

Kylo felt the simmering undercurrent of anger flare to life beneath Hux collected surface. It was fascinating, to feel Hux in the force. His face barely twitched as conflicting emotion raged beneath his skin. The denial that Palpatine could even be alive, the anger that he should be, the rage that the Force would have somehow made it possible…

Anger that they were all being played like puppets by a man that should have known when to die.

'So, the old corps of the Empire just has to twitch for the leader of the First Order to surrender his command?' Hux spat, a sneer on his face, 'Are we not even entrusted the execution of our own traitors, that I must be brought to him? I expected you to have a bit more backbone Supreme Leader.'

Hux answer was telling, but Kylo needed a confirmation of his hunch. Without warning, he grabbed the side of Hux face and dived in the man's mind after the information he sought. Hux breath hitched before his eyes scrunched shut, knowing fighting Kylo off would only drive him to his knees. Working under Snoke had taught him when to show his belly in the hope of survival.

Kylo did not have to delve deep. Hux believed their summon to Exegol was about his supposed betrayal of the Order. Which was preposterous, as if Palpatine would have any interest in such trivial matters. He had no idea… Hux kept nothing but a feverish impression of the past cycle. He had registered the pain and fever consuming him but not understood the origin of it. He was also confused about Mitaka report of his healing, and Ren's reasons for wanting him alive.

Whatever had bloomed in Hux was neither of his own making nor volition. And he had no control over it.

Kylo slipped out of Hux mind, leaving the man on the cups of heaving, breathing hard through clenched teeth. He had grabbed onto the doorframe to keep himself standing so tight that his knuckles had turned white.

'Don't do that again,' Hux seethed.

'You are in no position to make demands,' Ren answered flatly.

They silently made their ways under the vigilant gaze of the gigantic statues of long dead Sith Lords. Hux had gone quiet after their exchange in front of the fortress and just followed Ren's lead under and in. Resigned, but still curious and filling information in, in case he survived and lived to see another day. His mind an incessant buzz of sorted activity at the back of Kylo's own.

But Kylo was focused on the dangerous target they were approaching. He did not like to be back here, so soon. He resented and hated Palpatine, and the infuriating thing was that he was sure the decrepit being revelled in it. He had played Kylo from his most tender age to foment those feelings, after all.

Mists and shadows were curling around Kylo, welcoming him in an eery way as a wielder of the Dark Side. Those who connected to this side of the force soon learned not to fear moving shadows in the dark and listen for their whispered secrets. But where the Dark Side flowed through him, beckoning, it caught onto Hux like spiderwebs. Foreign and hindering. Possessive. Hux walked through the stream and they just coiled around him, crawling his body. In under a few minutes, he was shivering, frozen to the marrow of his bones.

The focus of the General sharpened when they entered an open area, ridded with livewires and tech that caught Hux weary attention. The Emperor chambers, Kylo knew where Hux didn't. They looked more like a grotesque lab than anything, despite the conspicuous absence of the alien tech Kylo had caught a glimpse of during his last visit. He could feel them lurking in the shadows, out of sight.

He felt Hux flare of irritation and disgust from the Hux, his thought spilling loud enough for Kylo to catch on.

'… and he withheld this tech, knowledge and riches all this time, letting the Order fend in the dirt for itself…'

But the ranting train of thought was interrupted by the very…. Thing they were seeking audience from.

'Kylo Ren. You have not yet betrayed my trust,' a raspy voice called from the darkness.

There was a flash of light as electricity coursed along a broken cable, revealing the broken shape of the old emperor, dangling like a grotesque and diminished puppet from its mechanical anchor.

It felt like Hux train of thought was course circuited by the sight. Perhaps Kylo should have forewarned him. Or perhaps not.

'Overdramatic still,' he caught Hux brain kicking back into gear.

Kriff, did the man never ran out of spit? Kylo was half convinced that by now the man must run on it and caf alon. Still, Hux was usually mindful of his thoughts, but it seemed his recent demotion had taken a toll on his carefulness, leaving his natural acerbic and bitter temper a wider range of expression. It felt like the man wanted to toe the cliff closer and closer to see when it would give.

Palpatine gave a low, ominous chuckle, his cowl low and only his distorted mouth showing from underneath it. The flesh was greyish and dead looking.

'The fallen General of the proud First Order,' Palpatine acknowledged. It would have looked solemn if not for the subtle hint of derision fringing his words. 'Come forth boy.'

Not even given a chance to advance, Hux was mercilessly driven to his knees and yanked forward by a tug of the force until he stood right under the suspended form of the undead emperor. The hanging black robes were at arm's length and Hux was forced to crank his neck to face the decrepit thing. From up close it was made painfully apparent it was little more than a torso and a head moved about by a long and bulky mechanical arm, whose fixations were lost in the far away darkness of the vault.

Eyes looked down on him, shining with madness and malice, and a smile stretched the antic skin. Hux felt a primal shiver wracking his frame.

'Ah. What a wasteful yet wise move was made on you,' the corpse breathed out. 'Perhaps I have underestimated your value Lord Ren,' he stated wistfully, turning his head to the knight.

'What is he?' Kylo asked, careful to keep his interest from showing.

'A wound in the force,' the Sith lord explained, dismissively. 'He was crippled. My offspring severed his connection to the force as an infant.'

Hux breath hitched. What… Did that mean?

'Oh yes my boy,' Palpatine continued with a cruel smile, catching upon Hux thoughts effortlessly, 'you are apparent to me. But you have been made useless, weaker even than your mother was.'

Lies. He remembered her, beautiful, slight. Caring. Neither abuse at the hand of his father nor his military training, or any decision he had lived through had ever shaken her memory from him. Unbroken.

'You…' He started, irate.

His voice stuck in his chest, muted by another force trick.

'Don't try my patience. Your mother was one of my spies, tasked with keeping an eye on the Arkanis Academy and Brandol ambitons. You were a tool in her wooing of your father and discarded the moment you outlived your usefulness.'

Palpatine turned his attention to the silent knight, before elaborating further with a disgusted sneer.

'His connection to the force is too badly damaged. He is useless to me.' With a flick of the force, the emperor sent Hux skidding through the room to stop at Ren's feet. 'What you did to him reopened the force wound he is harbouring. It is festering.'

Kylo contemplated Hux sprawled form and ragged breathing. He looked like a broken doll with the Dark Side coiling hungrily around him, ready to sink its teeth. A grotesque puppet whose string had been cut.

'Is there something to be done?' Kylo asked.

Palpatine gave him a long, calculating look from beneath his shroud.

'The Dark Side does not like being denied his own. It wells in him and he is too weak to fight it. Left unchecked it will ravage and consume him. He will die,' he stated slowly in mock caring. 'But this power can be drawn as you already have.'

Kylo shuddered at the memory, brought forth the forefront of his mind. Craving gnawed beneath his skin, hungering for the taste of power. The curls and threads woven around Hux frame took life, whirling toward him in sympathy. Reaching out. Hux body arched, fighting the force keeping him down as pain wracked him.

'Keep him, Lord Ren. If you so desire.'