Quarantine has honestly made me a worse procrastinator. BUT I got to you guys with a new chapter pretty much on time, and now that we're really getting into the story, I'm honestly so looking forward to what I have planned, and I'm especially looking forward to writing it!
I mean, I know Reyux is just that tiny little ship that has no clout (and it's even harder to find people who are not only fans of the ship, but really uncomfortable with another one, whoops), yet here you guys are, supporting me every few weeks with your lovely words that keep me going. You honestly don't know how much that means to me, especially during this time when this is the main form of communication we have to take.
To Do the Next Right Thing
Chapter 7
Instead of going through the entrance, Rey opted to find an opening big enough for the three of them, somewhere in this crumbling structure. Of course, this had Armitage confused.
"Why not use the entrance?" he asked. "BB-8 could easily hack into an old and unused door from years ago."
"Damn right I could," BB-8 piped up, and Rey shushed him.
"Look, you know I don't mind the language, but Poe does. And he'll blame me if he hears it from you," she pointed out, still gazing around—aha.
"We'll have to carry BB-8 inside, but this will do." A few paces down from the entrance, there was a crack in the wall big enough to fit the three of them, but BB-8 would have to be lifted into the opening.
"You still didn't answer my question," said Armitage, but he followed Rey regardless.
"I'd rather be deeper in the academy and have BB-8 hack into a directory that leads us to the mainframe computer," she replied, trying to pick up BB-8. "Come on and help me with him."
Armitage raised a brow, looking behind him. "This isn't very far from the entrance," he said. Still, he did as he was told and helped Rey hoist BB-8 up into the crack. Rey followed behind, hoisting herself over BB-8 to land. When the droid rolled down, Rey tried to catch him on her own, but fell instead with an "oof!" He landed on her stomach, so he was unharmed, which would make Poe happy. She, however, was going to need a few moments to recover.
When Armitage followed, he hadn't seen how Rey fell. "That wasn't a far landing," he said. "You should have waited for me."
"I forgot how heavy he was," Rey grunted, moving up onto her elbows. For a Jedi, that had been a pretty ill thought out move. But Armitage, to her surprise, leant her a hand that she quickly took to be hoisted back up.
He yanked a little too hard, and, off-balance, she knocked right into his chest. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, but made no move to step back just yet. She always thought he was on the shorter side, especially compared to Chewie and Kylo Ren, but right against him, she realized there was still a bit of a height difference.
His hand was warm.
Clearing his throat, Armitage was the one to step back first. "I overestimated your weight; I apologize," he said, trying to hide the clear blush threatening to spread across his face by taking the lead.
"It's fine!" she called, gesturing for BB-8 to move ahead.
BB-8 avoided puddles on the ground from rain pouring from holes in the ceiling. He brushed ahead of Armitage, looking for any sort of doorway that he could hack into, to get a map of the place.
"The system is pretty old, but I think I can get a directory," said BB-8. "But I need a light first."
"Oh!" Rey jogged up to her little droid friend, realizing the only source of light she had on her was, well, her lightsaber. Still, she activated it. Out of her peripheral vision, she noticed Armitage still wandering ahead slowly, almost in a trance.
"Wait..." Rey realized as BB-8 started to tinker with the old door, holding her lightsaber high so it wouldn't graze him. "Don't you have a light attachment?"
"I do," he admitted. "But I like the sound of your lightsaber more. And it's yellow now, so I can see better."
Rey scrunched her nose. "You cheeky little—"
"Got a directory!" he beeped happily, ignoring Rey so he could roll over and project the map to Armitage. Traitor!
Armitage finally snapped out of his trance, looking down at BB-8's projected directory. "Ah. It's starting to come back to me." With her lightsaber still on, Rey approached both of them, trying to figure out just where they were.
Luckily, Armitage pointed out everything, so Rey could see just where he wanted to go. "We'll have to round about this corridor, and see if BB-8 can hack into this lift to get us up to the third floor—otherwise we'll have to find stairs."
"I don't trust old lifts that haven't been maintained in thirty years," Rey pointed out. "We'll have to take stairs."
The
Rey sighed. "I'm not a big fan of using the Force on him, but in this case, I'm going to have to. He can go downstairs fine, albeit slowly." There was Poe's looming threat, repeating in her head.
"BB-8, where would the nearest stairwell be?" Armitage asked. "We almost always took lifts, from what I remember."
"Looks like it's just around the corner from where the lift would be," Rey observed, starting ahead.
The whole, depressing, crumbling building, with its overgrown moss and vines taking over, puddles littering nearly every surface, made it difficult for Rey to ever imagine an Imperial Academy, with order and structure in nearly every crevice. She couldn't imagine Armitage growing up here, his mother giving birth somewhere on this planet. And yet, she could feel in the Force just how cold this place had been, in its prime. This was where Armitage would think abuse was the only form of affection. This was where he would start to be molded into the ruthless General who gave the order to blow up the Hosnian System.
Once at the stairwell, Rey deactivated her lightsaber so she could concentrate completely. "I'm going to walk backwards up the steps and carry BB-8 through the Force. Tage, you follow behind him in case he falls. I'm not losing my X-Wing to Poe by getting him damaged."
"Isn't that X-Wing... insanely old?" Armitage asked, as Rey started to lift BB-8. Slowly, slowly... BB-8 was taken a little off guard, but he knew to stay still so Rey wouldn't drop him.
"It's not every day you get to pilot Red 5, Luke Skywalker's legendary X-Wing. It's the ship that blew up the Death Star."
Armitage just raised a brow, as if his entire life's work hadn't been dedicated to recreating a similar weapon. "Not exactly something I'd idolize, but then again..."
It was always the levitating exercises at which Rey was weakest; they required the most concentration and the least amount of movement. But so far, so good. She had a hand outstretched, keeping BB-8 just a bit off the stairs, looking behind every once in a while to see just how many steps were left. Armitage had his arms out, keeping up just in case. Rey wondered if those skinny arms could lift a lightsaber, let alone an entire droid.
But they made it up, without Rey losing her concentration. She set BB-8 gently down once they reached the third floor, and with Armitage's help reading the directory, and BB-8 hacking into every door, the mainframe computer hadn't been too difficult to find.
Rey blew on the old dust, realizing that the layered walls kept the rain from penetrating the machinery, thank the Maker.
Armitage coughed, waving a hand in front of his face. "Hopefully this old hunk of junk can give us what we need."
"Just a record of your birth, right?" Rey replied. "Your mother's name wouldn't be forged... would it?"
Armitage shrugged. "I don't know. I've never seen it before."
"You were never curious?" she asked. "I would have jumped on the opportunity to find out my parents' names, if I wasn't waiting for them on Jakku."
"By the time I was old enough to snoop around, it didn't matter anymore."
BB-8 plugged into the computer. "It's pretty old, but I think I can get around everything. It might take a while, though."
Rey dug out her datapad from her bag. "All you need to find is a birth record for Armitage Hux and transfer it so we can read. Afterward we'll search for his mother's name in a general database, so we can at least figure out what planet she's on."
"If she's still alive," said Armitage, still remaining a bit pessimistic about the whole thing.
Sighing, Rey leaned against the wall. "You're afraid that when we find her, she won't like you."
"Can you blame her?" Armitage crossed his arms. "My name is no secret throughout the galaxy—surely she's heard of the awful things I've done."
Rey shrugged. "Maybe she's a First Order sympathizer."
"Doubt it. If she was a mere kitchen worker in the Empire, it was probably just a job to make ends meet. Not to mention the very system she relied on ended up chewing her up and spitting her out, from everything Maratelle loved to brag."
The very name instilled more fear in Rey than Kylo Ren ever had. Maybe it was because she'd seen him through young Armitage's eyes: from the steely, cold, grey gaze, permanent frown, sharp chin and nose pointed down at him. She always had her graying, auburn hair pulled back into a severe bun—and she had been even taller than Brendol. Rey couldn't imagine the idea of someone tasked with taking care of her beating her in the shadows, especially with her venomous words.
She always called his mother a whore. Rey could only imagine how much that warped whatever positive thought he'd ever had of her—of anyone.
"I think I found it," BB-8 piped up. "Transferring to the datapad now."
Armitage looked over her shoulder as she finally pulled up the file. Maybe he hadn't been curious about his record then, but he certainly was now.
"Let's see... You were born 4 BBY—looks like your birth date is coming up. Wow, you were rather small for an infant. Father, Brendol Hux, Mother..."
"Redacted," Armitage finished, sighing. "I feared this would happen."
"Damn!" Rey shoved her datapad back into her bag. "How are we supposed to find her now?"
Armitage rubbed his chin, contemplating. "It's a long shot if he's still working, but we could try Jasko's. That way you'll be able to get a clear signal to transmit to your friends about our progress."
"And what if that doesn't work?"
"I didn't think it would come to this, but if we're looking for hard copy, untampered files from the Empire, we'll have to go to its birthplace: Coruscant."
"Coruscant," Rey repeated, her eyes widening. She'd of course heard about Coruscant, had read about it and seen it in meditations from Jedi before her. The home of the Jedi Temple, before Darth Vader destroyed it. The entire planet nothing but a giant city.
She'd never even been to a city before, on any planet.
"Do you think these files still exist?" she asked, still dumbfounded that their adventure might have to come to such a place. Sure, the idea was exciting, but... she couldn't deny the fear that came with that excitement, if her pounding heartbeat was any indication.
"They'll have to." Armitage shrugged. "We used quite a few files from the Empire to build the First Order."
Almost a distressing amount, Rey thought to herself. It looked like this would have to be their best bet, if Brendol could keep his mother's name a secret here on his homeworld.
Fruitless and exhausted, they returned to Scarparus Port with their droid transport. The owner shot them a dirty look, but held her tongue when her eyes darted to the lightsaber hilt at Rey's side.
Her stomach rumbled. "We should pick up some food, after Jasko's. And fuel."
Armitage sighed, wringing out the ends of his scarf now that they were under shelter. "I was never one for hot showers, but I could really use one of those, too."
"I want out of this poncho," BB-8 complained. "It's hard to move fast without tripping up."
Comm booth. Questions. Caf. Food. Fuel. Then back to the Falcon to shower and rest, before they left Arkanis. Rey let Armitage lead them toward Jasko's, keeping her head down (and trying to hold her breath as that damn fish smell kept threatening to gag her).
Once inside, Rey realized they were the only ones occupying the small, dark cantina. A lone man, heavier and bigger in size and seemingly just a bit older than Armitage, raised a brow at their entrance, but continued to clean the cup he was currently holding with a damp rag.
Rey decided she should probably check in with Finn and Poe first. "Hi," she greeted, just trying to be polite. The man said nothing, but kept his eye on her, staring her down. "If your comm booths are still working, I'd like to use one to make a transmission."
"They are," he replied, his voice gruff. "But it's going to cost you."
"That's ridiculous," said Armitage. "There's no need to monitor—"
But Rey held a hand up to silence him. Concentrating, she realized this man's mind certainly wasn't strong enough to deter her influence—in fact, nothing really occupied it outside of tasteless images of various women (and disgustingly, he'd dressed her down the moment she walked in). With a strong, calm voice, she commanded, "You will show me to your comm booths and let me use one free of charge. You'll serve us free caf and food, and answer whatever questions my friend has for you."
"I will show you to our comm booths and let you use one free of charge, then serve you free caf and food, and answer whatever questions your friend has for me," he repeated, setting the cup down so he could lead her exactly where she needed to go.
"Friend?" BB-8 and Armitage murmured.
Rey shrugged. "It slipped out. I doubt that's Jasko, though."
Armitage shook his head. "No, Jasko would be closer to my father's age. Or whatever age my father would be now. This might be a dead end."
"Ask anyway," Rey suggested, shooting him a cheeky wink. "He'll answer all your questions and serve you whatever you want, free of charge."
Once in the comm booth, Rey plugged in Finn's location. She wasn't sure what time it was on Ajan Kloss—maybe they were asleep. Maybe he was just busy. Maybe he was on a jog. But at least the signal was clear, far better than what it would have been if she had tried to contact him from the Falcon.
"Hey, Finn," she sent. "I hope you get this soon. Tell Poe that BB-8 is just fine, no scratches on him at all. Arkanis is terribly rainy, and the entire port smells like rotting fish. No one is very friendly, which I guess makes it the perfect place for Armitage's homeworld, right?
"The Academy was a dead end. We found his birth record, but his mother's name was redacted, so it looks like this little adventure is going to detour us to Coruscant. I've honestly never been to a city before, and maybe while we're there, I can see the old Jedi Temple. But since it's the birthplace of the Empire, Armitage insists an unaltered copy of his birth record should be attainable. It means we're going to take a little longer on this journey."
She sighed. "I miss you. I miss you both, and Rose, and of course Chewie, and everyone else on base. But... Armitage isn't that bad for company, now that he doesn't have very much to live for. He kicked my ass at dejarik, so maybe Chewie might actually have a worthy opponent. He just seems so lost, without a cause. And I hate to say it, but he's already helped me through some things that have been plaguing my mind since the war ended."
Alright, she was taking too long with this. It was time to wrap up. "That's just today. I'm sure we'll make more progress soon, and I'll be home before you know it. This is Rey, signing off. May the Force be with you."
When she stepped back from the comm booth, she notice Armitage at a small table, BB-8 settled beside him. He'd been good enough to even order her a cup of caf and some food.
"I didn't know if you ate meat, so I went the safe route and ordered just a simple frothy egg wrap," he explained as she sat across from him.
"Oh, I do, but thanks." She hadn't expected Armitage to act so considerately. Feeling her stomach rumble again, she dug in with a huge bite, probably a little more zealously than she should have. "Also, thank you for not ordering anything with fish," she added, her mouth still full. "I'm still not over the smell."
Armitage made a face, taking a sip of his caf. Whoops. She was so used to eating alone, and with her friends, they never really judged her. She'd forgotten there were... manners to consider.
"The man is Jasko's son. He knew nothing about my father, so I didn't bother to ask about my mother, either."
When Rey took a sip of her caf, she scrunched her nose. Now that she thought about it, she'd never had it, but she liked the smell, whenever Poe had a cup. But the taste was so... bitter. "So... Coruscant it is, then?"
Armitage pushed a small container toward her. "Sarlacc cream. I like my caf black, but that might make yours taste more to your liking."
"Oh." Rey added some of the cream into her caf, watching the color lighten up. When it was fully integrated, she took another sip. Much better. "Thanks, Tage."
"Yes, looks like we'll be heading to Coruscant. I haven't been in quite some time, admittedly, but the files should be in the old Senate," he said. "Luckily everyone knows Basic, and BB-8 should be able to hack into the computer without a problem."
"And on a core planet, there should be no problem finding her in a general database afterward—especially if she ever ended up changing her name," she added. Wow, this caf was so much better now. Was it supposed to perk her up like this? "I've never been to a city before. I've been to towns and villages, of course, but nothing like Coruscant."
"Well, you're in for quite the culture shock, then." He sighed, looking at their attire. "Admittedly, we don't exactly have the wardrobe to fit in. We're definitely going to stick out, at first."
Rey groaned, after taking another bite of her wrap. "I hate picking out clothes. I have no idea what looks good on me."
"You have a tendency to wear rags that drape over your body. But I can only seeing that being a hindrance once you're off a desert planet."
"I need something versatile to fight in, in case we get into a squabble."
Armitage waved a hand. "I'll think of something, don't worry. We still have most my credits, after all."
Rey briefly wondered what she would look like in a dress. Kind of strange, she supposed. She'd only ever seen glamorous women wear them, and the last thing she was, was glamorous. Coruscant... she had a feeling she'd both adore it and loathe it. Would want to stay there for some time, but would eventually want to leave.
She remembered visualizing how Rose and Finn had described Canto Bight, with all its glitz and bright lights, and figured Coruscant would be something along those lines.
There it was, that feeling of fear and excitement again.
Or maybe that was just her body reacting to the caf.
Rey and Armitage had to carry the fuel they bought out of the Post, but once out of the view of prying eyes, Rey used the Force to carry it along. She didn't care if she was getting soaked, but she made sure BB-8 constantly stayed under Armitage's umbrella. So. Arkanis had been kind of a bust, other than bringing forth this barrage of unpleasant memories—and the planet certainly didn't leave a great impression on Rey. Maybe they should have just started with Coruscant. But how was Armitage supposed to know his birth record would have his mother's name redacted?
And besides, this way, she bought herself a bit more time to figure out this whole future, though Arkanis seemed to operate outside galactic law.
Once back on the Falcon, Rey placed the fuel down and made sure BB-8 hadn't soaked through any circuits. Luckily he hadn't, though once the poncho was off, he felt the need to quickly speed along the corridors of the ship like he hadn't gotten any exercise today.
"You can use the refresher to shower first," she told Armitage. "I need to check on the ship, try to find a route to Coruscant and somewhere to land the ship that won't be conspicuous."
"Trust me, you can keep the ship hidden with your Jedi tricks like you did at Jasko's," Armitage assured, finally taking off his scarf. "Plenty of the rich and privileged have quite the weak minds."
"I'll think about it." The thought was appealing at least, especially because she wasn't sure where one would park a ship as iconic as the Millennium Falcon where it wouldn't garner attention on a planet like Coruscant.
Rey shed her boots and hung up hers and BB-8's ponchos to dry, as well as Armitage's scarf. She could hear the run of water coming from the refresher—did he have towels in there? There were some out here in the main hull, one of which she immediately used to pat down her hair and clothes so she wasn't dripping everywhere. While running diagnostics, Rey refueled, grateful that, so far, the ship was in order and no terrible conflict seemed to befall them. Really, in hindsight, this adventure was in such small scale to the war that it was almost a breath of fresh air. Even the route to Coruscant wasn't plagued with problems, other than the fact that they'd be on a near empty tank of fuel once they got there, with no idea where they'd be headed next.
When she heard the water shut off (he'd taken quite the long shower—didn't First Order officials have to keep things short?), Rey gathered a few towels, almost tripping over BB-8 in the corridor. "Shouldn't you be charging up?" she chastised.
"A few more laps, and I'll lie in," he promised, zooming past her again.
Like a petulant child, he was. Rey doubted he was ever this flippant with Poe (but probably more so with Finn).
She knocked on the door to the refresher. "Tage? I don't know if you have towels in there, but I brought some just in case—"
To her horror, the door dashed open, as it hadn't been locked.
And Rey immediately saw more of this man than she'd ever thought she would in her life.
"What the hell?" Armitage cried, and they both quickly turned.
Rey flushed, unable to get the image out of her head (was that a good thing or a terrible thing?). "I'm sorry!" she yelled back. "I thought you'd locked the door!"
"I thought I did!" Great, now they were in a screaming match. But who was going to turn around first? Hopefully not him.
They stayed quiet, frozen. Rey could feel the steam from his hot shower on her back. She swallowed, trying not to think about his... posterior, or the fact that his arms, while pale, were more muscular than she'd originally thought.
But her mind did linger on his back, focused on these two twin, vertical scars plaguing his shoulder blades. They were off color, yet integrated into his skin like they'd been there for years.
Rey hadn't looked at that memory, not when there'd already been so many painful ones she'd experienced of his.
"I'm going to back up," she decided, breaking the silence, "and hand you the towels. When you... cover up, though, do you mind if I look at your back?"
"My..." He sighed, as if he'd just remembered they existed. "I suppose that's fine." His voice was terse, hardened.
Rey backed up, holding out the towels in what probably looked like a very stupid gesture. She hated that her mind kept lingering on his body like she'd seen it for far longer than in actuality. Silently Armitage took the towels from her, their fingers brushing.
"Alright, you can turn now."
She took a deep breath. But now Armitage had a towel wrapped low around his waist, like it was almost straining to stay on around his thin hips. Rey doubted the flush had left her face, but she could blame it on the steam, at least.
When her hand reached for the scars, he warned, "Don't touch." It was so sudden she jumped back.
"Sorry," she uttered.
He closed his eyes a moment. "I try to just... block that memory, as much as possible. I won't even look at myself, if I can help it."
"No wonder I didn't see it." She couldn't keep her eyes off them, like how she sometimes couldn't keep her eye off strange disasters on Jakku. "How did it happen, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Exam on a simulated battlefield. I didn't see a thermal detonator in my peripheral vision and it blew out my back. I woke up in a medbay a week later with only a nursing droid looking after me," he said in a rush.
If he was still a cadet, then it had probably happened while his father was still alive. "How old were you?"
"Fifteen," he replied, still quickly.
He'd had them for as long as she'd been alive, she figured, knowing his age.
"I can... try to heal them, I think," she suggested. "It takes away some of my Life Force, but if you really resent them that much, Tage..."
"No." Armitage shook his head. "I've had them for long enough. If Ren gave you this new lease on life, I don't want any part of it."
"But—"
He held up his hand. "Don't waste any of that on me. I've lived most my life with them, so there's no harm in living the rest like this. Besides, I'm lucky that these are the only physical scars that haven't healed."
She supposed he had a point. It was still awful that they not only took up so much of his back, but so much of his life—and he'd have to keep living with them. Out of all the things he found unattractive about himself (which Rey was having a more and more difficult time believing; it wasn't like he was ugly at all), this was obviously the most prominent thing.
"Don't feel sorry for me," he said sternly. "The last thing I want is your pity."
"But you deserve some sympathy," she countered. "I know no one's offered that to you at all, but there's no harm in accepting it, especially now."
They were silent again. Armitage turned, shifting the towel higher up on his waist. "I'm... sure you want the refresher. You're still soaked from out there."
Rey blinked, then shook her head. "Right," she said, backing up. "I'm sorry I disturbed your privacy."
With one hand on his towel, the other grabbed his clothes. "You're fine," he assured, squeezing past her. "I realize this is a shared space now, not that I'm used to it. Hopefully BB-8 isn't scarred like you are."
"I'm not scarred." Rey rolled her eyes playfully. "You need to stop thinking of yourself as nothing but ugly. Trust me, you're a far better sight than a shirtless Kylo Ren."
Armitage didn't have a response to that. "I'll remember to lock the door tomorrow," he said instead. "The other towel is right there for you."
"Thanks." Rey shook her hair out of her buns. "I'll see you in the morning."
He nodded, and walked across the corridor to the crew's quarters. Rey shut the door and quickly stripped out of her soaking clothes.
After being out in the unrelenting rain for so long, Rey felt like she could be under the hot spray of the shower for eternity.
The "whoops I found you in a compromising position" scene was definitely in my head probably moments after I thought about this story. And look, I know Force Healing is a really stupid thing finally brought forward in the saga, but here I go again, trying to spin all the worst ideas from TROS and trying to make them somehow work out (even if it's a retcon just for me). Can't blame a girl for trying.
In quarantine, your kudos and comments are even more appreciated than usual!
