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Chapter Five
Kylo Ren stormed through the halls of the Starkiller base. Hux was insufferable, going on and on about the superiority of the Starkiller base. It took everything in Ren to not kill the man where he stood. Destroying a hallway had never felt so good.
His apartment door swooshed open, lights turning on automatically.
Turning to the comm-link in the wall, he summoned food from the mess hall, then stomped through the main room and into his bedroom. Dropping into a chair, Kylo Ren gingerly lifted a cloth off of a small table. Underneath sat a wreck of a mask. Just looking at it calmed Ren. Opening his mind to the Dark side, he felt his grandfather, Darth Vader.
"Help me, Grandfather." Kylo Ren clenched his hands. "I am not strong enough… There is a prisoner here, I cannot enter her mind, she somehow eludes me."
He stood up and began to pace. "She is not trained in the ways of the Force. She is very sick. Yet I cannot even grasp her mind, let alone manipulate it! Its like… its like…"
Ren struggled for an analogy, "I don't know… water through a screen?"
He waited for a response from the Dark side. None came.
Eventually, the droid came with his food and Ren covered the mask up, leaving his bedroom.
Kylo Ren jerked awake. A glance at his bedside clock said it was too early. He groaned and rolled over, wrapping up in the blankets and shoving the pillow back under his head.
Unbidden, images of the woman flashed in his mind's eye. When he first saw her, beaten, but still defiant. When she glared up at him from the flat of her back, abandoned by her friends. How soft her hair was, how smooth her skin felt under his fingers, her smile with the one dimple, the calluses on her palms, her throaty laugh when he said something exceptionally witty—
He bolted out of bed, tripping over the blankets as he ripped them off. Panting, Kylo Ren hunched over, hands on his knees. Those memories didn't belong to him. They belonged to the Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron. Somehow these memories of her must have slipped into his mind during his interrogation. He laid back down, but sleep didn't come. The days had dragged by. The monotony grated on Kylo Ren's every nerve. Everyday, he awaited news of the map, the droid, the traitor, the pilot, or the girl who helped them escape Jakku. Not even a scrap of news.
Morning came eventually, worsening his dark mood. After a quick shower, Kylo Ren wiped steam off of the mirror, staring at his reflection. Black hair clung to his face and neck, he pushed it out of his eyes. Those dark eyes that looked so much like his father's… pale skin from his mother…
He screamed, rage ripping through him. Gripping the edges of the sink with both hands, the mirror cracked, then shattered as he unleashed the Force. Hunching over the cracked sink, he panted.
Getting dressed, he clicked his mask in place, grabbed his lightsaber and headed for the bridge.
"You're in a fine mood this morning." Armitage Hux's voice drifted from behind Kylo Ren. He whipped around, robes snapping, arm out stretched. Today was the day Ren would strangle the smug bastard. All movement immediately stopped on the bridge, everyone holding their breath for the inevitable explosion.
Kylo Ren dropped his arm, reaching for his lightsaber instead, turning to assault the various consoles. A lower ranking officer shrieked and covered her head. The man next to her slapped a hand over her mouth.
Having done considerable damage, Ren stalked from the bridge. Supreme Leader Snoke would be furious if Kylo Ren killed Hux. The retribution would be more than Ren was willing to pay. Maybe.
It was only eight 'o' clock.
Muted clicks woke Lys. Pressure surrounded her, cool and soothing. Something held her nose closed. A hard tube held her jaw open, extending partially down her throat, bringing air to her lungs. Mild panic began to set in. Opening her eyes, her vision was distorted. Figures moved in the bright room outside the tank she floated in.
Moving to bang on the glass, Lys' arm tangled in some wires attached to her chest and back, ripping the sensors from her skin.
Frenzied mechanical beeps brought several of the figures to her tank. After a moment, vents in the floor of her tank opened and the liquid started draining. As soon as her head cleared the liquid, Lys pulled off the nose plug and gingerly pulled the breathing tube from her throat, coughing.
Her feet touched the floor and the last of the liquid disappeared down the drains. Her legs wobbled underneath her, but before she could collapse, a droid opened the tank and pulled her towards itself. A second medidroid wrapped a towel around her mostly bare body.
Lys' last memories faded into her mind in bits and pieces. Jakku, the First Order, a botched escape attempt, her injury. Lys glanced down at her leg and winced. A large circle of flesh was raw and inflamed. Faint red streaks shot through the surrounding skin.
Lys craned her neck, searching for any clues as to where she was. A medidroid turned and she caught a glimpse of the First Order symbol on it's chest. Resignation overwhelmed the hope beginning to rise in her. She was still a prisoner. One they wanted alive apparently, having gone through the effort of bacta treatments.
"Where—" Lys cleared her throat, her voice raspy, and tried again. "Where am I?"
The droids ignored her. A hospital gown slipped over her head, her arms pulled through the short sleeves.
"How long have I been here?"
The droids continued to ignore her, moving her to a bed, and covering her thigh in salve and bandages. Once finished, side rails were raised on the bed and two droids guided it out into the corridor. A pair of stormtroopers fell in step behind the droids.
Down the short hall and to the right, Lys was wheeled into a different room, smaller with one bed. The troopers stopped at the door, taking up positions.
Transferred to the second bed, the two medidroids left. A third came in shortly after with a tray. It helped her sit up and started bringing the broth to her mouth. As soon as the smell hit her noise, Lys' stomach growled. The broth tasted bland, but it was food.
"Your condition is stable. The infection is eradicated, no further treatments are required. In a day or two you will be fully healed."
A combination of relief and alarm rose in Lys. Now that she was no longer on death's door, what would happen? The droid said nothing further, answering none of her questions.
After her meal, a droid inserted an IV into her arm and sleep fell over her.
A strange pattern developed. Lys would wake up, the same tasteless liquid would be poured down her throat, and then she would be put back to sleep. Time did not exist for Lys anymore, with no window or even a clock.
Maybe she did die after all, and this was hell.
Halfway through yet another meal, the door to her room opened. Lys' head whipped around.
The man in the mask. Kylo Ren. Fear and anger squeezed her throat. The medidroid tried to bring another spoonful to her mouth, but Lys refused, not taking her eyes off of the intruder. He paused in the doorway, a hand on his lightsaber. Her cheek ached at the sight.
"Report," his voice robotic through the mask. The droid stopped pressing the spoon against her lips and turned to the man.
"The patient is completely healed, sir."
Kylo Ren stepped closer to the bed. He took off a glove and reached for her face. She leaned away from him, teeth bared.
"Don't touch me."
He paused, then tsked, aggressively grabbing her head with both hands.
"You do not make demands," Ren threatened, gripping her head tighter.
"Or what?" Lys sneered, her hands shook slightly, she squeezed the blankets harder. "You don't scare me."
"I'll show you pain beyond your worse nightmares."
"Do what you want with me. Poe escaped, the Resistance has the map now."
Kylo Ren's fingers pressed into her skin, pulling her face closer to his mask, "What makes you think I don't have him?"
Lys snorted, glaring at the eye slits of the mask, "You'd never catch him."
A pressure built inside her head. She tried to jerk her head away, but he didn't let go. Her hands clutched his wrists, trying to pull his away. The uncomfortable feeling only intensified, like he was squeezing her brain. Lys squeezed her eyes shut, panting, "Get out of my head!"
"So this is where you've been disappearing to."
His hands lifted from her head, and just like that, the pressure on her mind disappeared, too. Kylo Ren spun towards the door, moving to block Lys from the newcomer. Too late. She recognized the man as her initial torturer.
"Leave."
"I have just as much right to be here as you." The man responded, coming further into the room, staring at Lys. "I don't think we've been introduced. I am General Hux."
"I remember you," Lys snapped, Hux smiled. Ren moved, blocking Lys' view of Hux.
"She's my prisoner. Mine." A shiver crawled up Lys' spine at Kylo Ren's dark tone.
"Oh, yes. Of course," Hux said, sarcasm pervading every word. He sidled around to the end of the bed. Lys scooted back, the blankets slipping from her legs. Kylo Ren moved closer to the bed. The general stared down at her, a small twist to his lips. Abruptly, he snatched at the bare ankle of her left leg and twisted. The sudden motion jerked on Lys' newly healed injury, she cried out in surprise and pain.
Red light flared. Kylo Ren's lightsaber crackled an inch from Hux's chest.
"Let. Go," he growled.
Hux raised his hands defensively, "Alright, alright."
He turned with a smirk, and left the room. Kylo Ren deactivated his lightsaber, shoulders heaving, staring after the other man. Slowly turning towards Lys, he seemed to be examining her. A hand reached down towards her leg. Lys slid as far away as the bed allowed, drawing her knees to her chest. Ren froze at her movement, then he snatched his glove from the covers, knuckles white, and followed Hux from the room.
Lys took a deep breath, hunching her shoulders. All of her energy slipped away, her leg burning.
"Lys Valon, please continue eating." The droid simply held the spoon to her mouth again.
After finishing her meal, a second medidroid bustled in and began attaching sensors to her chest and back. The various machines whirred to life as they analyzed the incoming data. An IV needle was inserted into the crook of her elbow.
A few minutes later, her eyelids grew heavy, the room swimming. Lys fell into unconsciousness, yet again.
