"When the sun has set, no candle can replace it."

― George R.R. Martin

Lucilla lay silent for hours. She had always been subtle and placid, opting to wordlessly curl up in her master's arms (or at his feet earlier in their relationship) but now, it grated relentlessly at him. The gaps between her blinks were so drawn out that anytime he checked on her, it was as if she wasn't blinking at all, as if her eyelids refused to work, as if to lower them for even the slightest second would transport her back to where she had come from. He had left her to communicate with Finalizer but with each worried visit, he expected to find her resting or on the brink of it but every time found her unnervingly staring at the same direct spot on the wall across from the bed. Her body was frailer than he remembered and the degrading outfit certainly didn't help but to undress her would be to put her into an even worse state without doubt; his only solution was to drape his dusty, retired greatcoat over her like a blanket.

Her breathing had regulated itself, her eyes had dried, the sobs had died but the stillness was more than he could take. Guiltily, he shuffled into the room for the umpteenth time but this time, he allowed the door to close behind him. In a less regimented habit that he had developed since the end of Starkiller, he gripped the back of his boot with the tip of the other and wiggled his foot out of its confines. He repeated the action with the other foot until he padded only sock-clad to the other side of the bed. Hesitating, he openly waited for a reaction to his lengthened presence and when there was none, he decided to try regardless. Ever so carefully, Hux's legs swung up onto the bed and his body hauled the short distance until his chest met Lucilla's back.

To a despair he didn't realize he had until he met her, Orion's stomach tightened with dejection when he felt her stiffen but still, he crossed his arm over her waist in a hopefully comforting gesture. The light pressing of his lips to her shoulder stirred nothing, nor did the nuzzle of his nose to the nape of her neck: Both wordless offerings of I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Not for a moment, at least. It took a minute of watching her dolefully before she became aware of his presence and when she finally did, he felt his heart crack when she slowly pulled away as much as the limited bed space would allow. At a loss, Hux didn't follow her or try to impose on her, just wallowed in the feeling of well-earned blame that now lay physically in front of him; it was a disguised mercy that he couldn't see her face. Perhaps his first question wasn't so well thought out.

"What happened to you?"

For a while, nothing happened. It was as if a deflector had come down between them. In a brief, shallow moment of relief; Hux hoped she might have been lulled to sleep at last. Instead and determined to unwittingly prove him wrong; Lucilla's first significant movement in an agonizingly long time occurred. Slowly, dragging; the dark haired darling hauled herself up into a slouched sitting position at the side of the bed. The greatcoat fell away to uncover the pale, creamy skin he had missed so much; the skin he only now realized had not escaped unmarked. Decorated with scratches, lacerations and bruises; it was clear she had endured recent cruelty and violence. While every effort had been made to ensure any signs of abuse had been healed before her sale by Zedar on Coruscant; it seemed the slave traders on Tatooine were not so considerate to either their clients or their slaves. He waited for something, anything. Anything that might suggest that his little dove wasn't damaged or harmed but a simple look at her would have told him she was both and more. Convinced that he would be given no answer or even acknowledgement, Hux settled himself in utter dishevelment and responsibility until a heart rendering breath made him sit up like an electric Bantha prod to the backside.

"Leave me be."

If she thought he wouldn't follow her, the damage must have been deeper than bodily and emotionally. Uncertainly, Lucilla found her feet and began to slink from the confines of the tiny bedroom while Hux watched her, downcast and at a loss for any pathetic defence of himself and his actions or lack thereof. When the bedroom slid back to allow her to exit, Hux scrambled from the bed and with legs longer than hers, managed to catch her arm before she left with a gentle, pleading hand. Lucilla, however, was not so gentle in her response. In fact, it was most uncharacteristic but what else could the redhead expect? Well, he certainly didn't expect her to rear back and strike like a viper.

The clatter that met his ears was sharp. The force was strong, the pain was instantaneous and followed the sound immediately while the stars before his eyes blocked his vision. Clutching his cheek and staring at the floor where her swipe had left him, all her could hear was the borderline sniffles; a mixture of devastation and absolute rage. Her palm and her fingers tingled with a strange, numbing pain as she stared him down with a heaving chest, as if daring him to interact with her again. His eyes left the floor and caught hers; those soulful sapphires he had gladly woken to every morning were now clouded: Petrified, broken, traumatized and furious. The material guarding her lower quarters swung with exaggeration as she tore from the room and into the even greater restriction of the bathroom where she believed he wouldn't venture after her.

But she was wrong. When he recovered, the once great General of the First Order boldly followed his lover with concern, a scarlet cheek and little fear of having the other one pinkened as well. The door was the same as it had been on Naboo; the soft weeps could be heard through the mobile slab of metal and only then did Hux question the sense to intrude upon her. But the need clawed at him; the need to be with her, the need to hold and comfort her and it all cancelled out the fear of being lashed out at again. Deciding not to take the mild assault as a deterrent, he wouldn't waste time and energy by pleading with her to open the door. Instead, he overrode the control panel as he had threatened her once before.

The sight before him was pitiful and heart-breaking. Seated on the closed lid of the toilet; Lucilla's ivory fingers had knotted mercilessly into her hair, seizing the roots in such a way that she had to be hurting herself. Her eyes were hidden by the bottoms of her palms and the flats of her wrists, almost digging them into her sockets. Her chest rattled with almost silent, wheezing sobs while her entire body trembled like the delicate leaves of Arkanis; a comparison he never thought he'd make or ever wanted to make. Should he approach her? Try and soothe her? He tried but the result was more or less the same as before. Penitent, his knees found the floor with little regard for hygiene and tried to push himself into her line of vision before prying her hands from her face.

"Lucilla." The forlorn plea roused frustrated gasps while she tried to wrestle her hands free but Hux was determined to hold them, anything that might ease her a little, even if it did take time. "Please…. What did they do to you?" In another bout of overcome violence and a fraught scream of effort, Lucilla's feet snapped together and aimed (successfully) for her master's stomach. Winded and forcing back a mouthful of bile, a thin sheet of material was the only thing between the redhead's bare back and the icy, sanitary steel of the bathroom floor. Without too much time to worry about himself, he moved quite swiftly when he realized Lucilla was no longer sitting and so pulled himself into a sitting position beside the sink.

"What do you think they did to me?!" He had heard of Arkanian Dragons. He believed as a little boy that these beasts could breathe fire though as he got older and common sense prevailed, he began to believe less and less in such beings. But the closest he would probably ever get to one was his beloved Lucilla just now. Her lungs drew her shallow breaths and forced out more at a struggle. Still scarred from her consistent wailing, her lip tremored from trying to restrain her emotions long enough and all while she stood over him; trying to cope with this new sensation of fury and rampage. "What do you think they did to a pretty, masterless slave?!"

"Lucilla…." The questions appeared to be rhetorical but only half the present people seemed to know that. Did he want to know? Did he want to think about it? The word was in his head but he wouldn't allow himself to focus on it. He focused on everything but that word. He thought he had endured torture; he had had sleepless nights, aimless wonderings and the echoes of her 'last moment' lodged in his brain….. But he had physically been unharassed, to say she had experienced the opposite was an outrageous understatement. Unable and probably unwilling to answer, Hux choked out some sort of noise of helpless apology that, judging by the burning sapphires, was not good enough. She was slowly losing her grip, slowly losing her ability to contain herself and ultimately face him. She started to unravel when her lips started to quake and her eyes began to refill.

"What do you think your father….DID TO ME…. to assess my resale value?!" Again, unwilling to answer, Hux remained in guilty silence. When she swept past him, he opted to ignore the pain in his gut and crawl out after her. If exiting the bathroom on his hands and knees was not a show of submission, nothing was. If she had even the slightest inkling of how to land the ship, Hux knew she would have done so and been gone before he could even grapple to his feet; something he barely managed to do. For now, his only saving grace was her years of captivity that had prevented her from ever learning such a basic skill. With that in both their minds, Lucilla quietly resumed her seated place on the bed as if none of the physical, mental or emotional attacks had just happened. He took the misleading docility as an opportunity.

"Little dove, I-"

"DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!" The snap was so sudden and so vicious as she rounded on him that Hux physically recoiled from the sheer venom every syllable was laced with; something he never believed her capable of. In an instant, she was on her feet again and he regretted following her once more while the ruthless barrage continued and her emotions just cascaded. "DON'T YOU EVER LET ME THINK I MEANT SOMETHING TO YOU! YOU'RE A LIAR! YOU'RE A MURDERER! I KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO HOSNIAN PRIME! I KNOW THERE WERE CHILDREN ON THOSE PLANETS! HOW DARE YOU TARNISH ME WITH YOUR VILE AGENDA! YOU'RE DISGUSTING!" Another breakdown ensued after the outburst but he didn't dare touch her, nor approach her or try and calm her. He deserved it; every word and he deserved it from her so he let it wash over him and seep into every blameful pore.

There were so many questions, so many answers, so many things he needed to tell her…. None of which she wanted to hear and could he blame her? Should he try and tell her anyway? Should he try and lay himself barer than he had before in a humiliating bid to make her see that he was sorry? Did sorry cut it though? 'Sorry' wouldn't un-beat her, 'sorry' wouldn't unmolest her, 'sorry' wouldn't heal the unbearable stab of abandonment to something worse than death.

"I need you to tell me what to do." The swirling undercurrents of disheartenment and utter emotional anguish were difficult to ignore but Lucilla seemed to manage that just fine. As if she had cried herself out of caring, her response was dispassionate and unsurprisingly cold.

"Let me go. Leave me on some inhabited planet and never let me enter your twisted mind again."

"No." The resolute reply was met with a boiling look of (and it was difficult for him to process such a look from her) pure hatred. Even to utter the words revolted to him to no end but he would try anything, anything to keep her with him. "You belong to me. I am your master and I am not releasing you."

"You are not my master." The stannic, calculated retort was startlingly uncharacteristic but nothing seemed like her anymore, the cruel stare cut into him even more. There seemed to be no traces of his darling companion left but he was determined to keep her all the same that by some miracle, she would return to him as her usual, doting self. "You stole me. You killed my master and you stole me like a common thief, not an honourable man." Lucilla found her feet and added a demanding prowl to her now dangerous and callous demeanour until she was face to face with the man she loved to deliver more verbal savagery. "And I would rather have stayed with him to be a piece of property for the rest of my, more than likely, short life than be subjected to someone who gave all the signs he loved me but decided the best way to keep me in my place was not to prove it when it mattered most."

"I do-"

"Liar." The definitive curl of her lip as the cutting word was spat made him flinch and she relished it. "You never loved me. You loved what I did for you, you loved what I made you feel but you didn't love me. If you did, I wouldn't have been dragged out of your quarters by my hair."

"I tried…."

"I tried as well. Tried to push them off and do you know what they did? They upgraded my collar to a New Mandalorian shock collar and proceeded to do what they liked with me. Before I was sold on, that is." Hux didn't have an answer or a comfort to that terrible anecdote and the more she whittled him, the more he felt himself crumbling like he had when he lost her, reputation be damned.

"I tried to get to you…. My master… Kylo Ren…."

"And there it is. The ultimate insult. You chose to save the man you utterly despise over me, the one you wanted a family with. Or was that a lie too?"

"No! It wasn't-!"

"You wouldn't even die with me like you doomed me to do. Coward."

"I had no choice…"

"You left me to die alone in your quarters, despite everything you told me!"

"I'm sorry…"

"I would rather have died. I would rather have been killed than subjected to what I was subjected to!"

"I know…. And I thought of nothing else…."

"I did try that, you know. I did try to die but they caught me." Hux pushed a hand through his unusually long and untamed hair but withdrew it quickly to wipe his eyes, an action that seemed to have affected Lucilla since hers started to fill again by the raw emotion of everything she had survived. Barely. "I could see why Aleen and the others favoured it! It was easier than being degraded and used for the pleasure of someone else! And with that done, I would rather have been unceremoniously tossed into a sarlacc pit than forced to do the disgusting things I was forced to do!" Orion didn't know why but she allowed him to touch her arm or maybe she didn't notice. He stroked it through his own sniffles and hers, it didn't make sense how it could all go so wrong.

"I do love you."

"I don't care."

"Please…. Don't leave me."

"You don't deserve me!"

"I never have but regardless-"

"No. You will let me disembark and you will never try to find me again, do you understand me?!" What could he do? If she was so steadfast in securing her release, how could he make her stay? He couldn't. Eyes locked onto one patch of her alabaster arm, he ignored hers boring into him. His strokes remained; gentle and benign but with the devastating realization that he was mentally recording her for when he resumed his lonely existence without her.

"I understand." He swallowed briefly but was unwilling to cease his genial caresses just yet, fearful that he didn't have enough to remember when he would lie in bed, pining. "We're near Coruscant. I'll let you off there." No thanks were exchanged, only a rough seizing of his chin to make him look at that beautiful, disdained face.

"You father held me against his desk. He pinned my hands above my head to render me helpless. No doubt he has bragged to his colleagues how he reduced his son's whore to abasement, the same one he was told he would call Empress." That deadly, pregnant pause was met with dread. He didn't want her to continue, didn't want to hear what had been thrust upon her but it wasn't about him. "He made me denounce you. He made me open my legs. Your father raped me for taking you away; to punish me for poisoning your mind against him and what he wanted you to do." Hux's eyes still leaked and it took strong, dragging inhales to keep the mucus in his nose but his mouth was dry. She didn't release his chin, just jostled it to renew the eye contact he wasn't sure he wanted to have. "And I want that image to stay with you. For the rest. of. your. life."Only then did she relinquish her grip to turn away without another glance back. All she wanted to do now was to find a place to be away from him on the tiny shuttle until they reached Coruscant.