Chapter Four~ The Awakening

Who would have known that a First Order ship would have a swimming pool? Obviously, they had a fitness center so that soldiers could keep in shape while off world. Being gone for months or years at a time was not a good environment to be healthy in unless one had an outlet for excess energy. Norra had taken to swimming every day, seeing as she had nothing else to do. It helped her feel like she was fit, and kept her from being sedentary. While she was in the pool, she didn't have to worry about the trappings of life on the Finalizer. All she had to think about was when to hold and when to breathe. It was meditative, much like her sewing was. It was a repetitive action that gave her something to focus on.

She had been there for nearly two hours, just doing rounds in the pool, taking a break every once in a while, to just float, giving her muscles time to rest before she went another round. Granted, she wasn't the only one in the pool room, though most of the others were off duty Stormtroopers making use of the heated jacuzzi at the shallow end of the pool. She assumed that they needed it after the rigorous training and planet domination they went through.

Having just swam her...hundredth(?) lap, she made to get out of the pool, hoisting herself up the ladder. It was only when she put her foot on the edge of the pool that she saw the shiny black boots right in front of her. She followed the line of the body, groaning internally when she was met with the weasily smirking face of the red-headed General Hux.

"Well, well, you seem to be quite the swimmer, my dear."

She didn't like the way he was eyeing her in her standard issue one-piece bathing suit, and quickly finished stepping out of the water and moved over to one of the tables where she had left her robe and other effects. "What do you want?"

"Must I want anything to come speak with our future Lady Ren?"

Rolling her eyes, she told him, "Yes. You wouldn't be here if you didn't want something. What? Come to insult me again?" She continued to not look at him as she put her robe on, "I'll have you know that Lord Ren is very well aware of your transgression towards me, and he is not happy with you." She turned to step away from the table and bumped into the man. It startled her. He wasn't nearly as tall as Kylo, but he was still taller than her by almost a head.

"And what makes you think he'll do anything about it? He's very rarely happy with me, it seems, and yet, has done nothing to challenge my authority. As he has none. At best, all he can do is go running to Snoke, who won't do anything, seeing as I'm their most capable general in the entire fleet. Did you know," he stepped away finally, "that I graduated top of my class in every subject?"

"Is that so?" Why was she humoring him? She should just go now, while she still had a chance to leave unscathed.

"Indeed, it is. You see, I come from a long line of military men, all of whom have been extremely successful in their line of work. None so much, however, as me. I am the first in my family to have risen so high so quickly."

"Well, good for you. Anyway, I was just on my way back to my room, so if you'll excuse me."

Norra turned to leave, only to have her arm seized roughly. "I wasn't finished."

"Let go of me!" she tried to yank her arm out of his grip, but he held firm.

"Why? There's nothing for you on this ship. No one for you to run to. Even Kylo Ren despises you. He's hated the idea of marrying you since the moment he found out about it. And why shouldn't he? You're nothing more than a fat little aristocratic who-" His sentence was cut off by a fist connecting directly with his nose. Norra felt something crack under her knuckles, and the general went flailing backwards.

Right into the pool.

She waited until he had come up sputtering, blood pouring from his nose and turning the water around him crimson. "Do not ever presume to touch me again. Do not speak to me, don't even look at me. This is your last warning General Hux. And I promise you, the next time, you'll leave with far worse than a broken nose." Norra turned and stomped away, only then noticing that the Stormtroopers had been watching the whole thing. Suddenly worried that they might arrest her for assaulting an officer, she fled to the relative safety of her room.

Once inside, she inspected her knuckles. They would be bruised for a few days, she imagined, but nothing that wouldn't heal. Shaking out her hand, she continued through the room to the refresher for a shower.

)0(

Kylo had been correct when he had said there would be no scar. Well, at least the one on her cheek didn't, but her lip, it seemed, she had bitten almost clean through. As such, she now had a small, puffy pink scar at the left corner of her mouth. She sat at her vanity examining it a few days after the incident that had caused it. She was wrapped up in a large towel as she looked at the scar this way and that. Oh, what would her mother say? Sure, she had had a few scraped knees and elbows growing up, even falling out of a tree and scratching her arm. But this? This was her mouth, the one of the few things she had always been complimented on. Sighing, she reached for the towel atop her head and pulled it off, turning it to the mostly dry side to run it over her hair. She flipped her head over so that her hair hung downwards, and was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the door beep, nor the signature whoosh as it opened.

"Oh, god! I'm sorry!" She flipped back up, head still half covered in the towel, and saw Kylo standing in the doorway, turned halfway to the door with one hand shielding his eyes as he blindly reached for the panel.

"Wait!" He stopped. She stood up, looking at him curious. "Did you need something?"

"It's nothing. Um, I just...I'll wait outside."

"Why?"

"Why what?" he turned his head ever so slightly, still holding his hand over his eyes.

"Why would you wait outside? And why are you holding your eyes like that? Did you get something in them?" She moved closer to him, reaching for his wrist. "Let me see."

Realizing she was so close to him, he backed up. "No!" Norra retracted her hand, confused. "I'm fine, it's just..." he took a deep breath, as if to steady himself.

"It's just what?"

He barked out a small laugh. "What do you mean what? You're naked!"

She stopped for a second, turning over the explanation in her head. "That still doesn't explain why you're covering your eyes?"

"Wha-what do you mean that doesn't explain it. You're naked and I'm in your room without your ladies. Isn't that a little on the inappropriate spectrum? Where even are your attendants?"

It took her a moment, but eventually it clicked. "Oh. I forgot."

"Forgot what?"

Crossing the room, she snatched up undergarments and a simple olive colored dress. "I forgot that I'm not on Ophuchi anymore."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

She looked back as she reached the dressing screen, "You can uncover your eyes, I'm hidden." She threw one end of her towel over the top of the screen. "My father took the ladies with him, sort of a 'screw you' to me apparently having something to do with getting him sent home. Anyway, we Ophuchians don't have the same reservations about nudity that most other places do. In fact, as children, most of us ran around completely naked, swimming together in the lakes around our homes. My mother and father would sometimes walk around our house naked as well. I was told it was normal among our people, but not other planets." She slipped the dress over her head.

"That's very strange."

She chuckled. "Only to you. Every society is different, what's normal to you might be extremely strange to me. Like your willingness to kill people that have done nothing to you." She stepped out from behind the screen to see him staring in her direction already, a look of hurt on his handsome face.

"You have no idea what I've done. Or why." He watched her every step with a wary eye, until she stopped right in front of him.

"I've heard the stories. About how you've ordered the execution of whole towns. Everyone who knows your name knows to fear you." She told him as she looked up at him.

"Then why don't you?" he took another step closer to her, until they were nearly chest to...well, chest to belly, as she was quite a bit shorter than him.

He watched her throat working, saw her trying to think of a reason. "Honestly?" He nodded, encouraging her. "I'm not exactly sure. Maybe because I see that you aren't as bad as people make you out to be. Everyone I've talked to has made you out to be this big dark shadow that spreads darkness through the galaxy, and yet...you've been nothing but kind to me since I've been here. You saved me from my father, and even from my own dark thoughts. If you're so big and bad, how could you be so kind? No, I don't believe it."

"Oh, but I am," he told her in a near whisper. "I've done things that would curdle your blood. If you knew all the things I had done, not just what people tell you, but what I've really done...you would not look at me so sweetly. You wouldn't have even let me touch you that night in the observation room." He turned and stalked away from her, his voice raising a little with each next word. "I've killed people, innocents, like you said. Children even. I've not only learned the Dark side of the Force, I live it, every day." His arms swung wildly as he spoke. "I feel it in my heart like a black hole waiting to destroy everything in its path." Kylo spun back around to see her right behind him, smiling gently at him. He stopped moving in fear of hitting her, all but the heaving of his chest. "Why are you still smiling like that?" he asked, seemingly on the verge of tears.

"Because, if you really had completely turned, the knowledge of what you've done wouldn't be bothering you. It wouldn't feel like a weight on your heart. You would feel nothing at all. Now, I do believe that the man I first met when I came here, Kylo Ren, is a dark person. But the man that sat with me in the observation room and made me feel better about myself than I had in years, the sweet man that wiped away my tear when my father caused them...that's the man I believe you really are." She told him, poking a finger in his chest. A single tear escaped his left eye, which she reached up and gently wiped it with the back of her fingers. His eyes slid closed as he grabbed her hand and pressed it to his face. "You poor thing."

"I don't need your pity."

"And I'm not giving you any. I don't pity you, but I do feel sad for you. You have been so devoid of love, something that I can't imagine." She searched his face, noting how drawn he looked. How pained his face was. "How long did you say you've been training under Snoke?"

His eyes shot open. He was surprised by the question. "Five years," he told her.

"And how long before that did you train as a Jedi?"

"I never told you I-"

"You didn't have to. You told me you trained since you were a boy, but not with Snoke. As much kindness as you have shown me, I know you did not always live in the Dark." She moved her head to look into his brown eyes. "How long?"

He gulped. "Eleven years. I was thirteen years old when I left home to train with my uncle."

Now it was Norra's turn to be surprised. She did the math in her head. "That would make you twenty-nine now." Confused, Kylo nodded. "Hm, you're older than I thought you were."

A small chuckle escaped him. "How old did you think I was?"

"I don't know. I didn't think you were more than a year or two older than I am, and I'm twenty-four." A strange look overcame his face. "What is it?"

Another laugh, "You're older than I thought you were. I thought you were only eighteen or nineteen."

She sighed. "Yeah, curse this eternal baby face. Anyway, I just thought of something. Why did you come here anyway? Did you need something?"

"Hm? Oh, not really. I just wanted to ask if you would have dinner with me tonight. Snoke is pushing to get this thing moving along."

Her face dropped. "Is that the only reason you wanted to have dinner with me?"

"Of course not." There was a little spark of something in her chest. "I also get really bored when I eat by myself."

It took her a second, but a grin cracked her confused expression. She curled her fist and punched his chest. "You're a jerk, you know that?"

"So, I've been told."

"You have?" she asked, surprised. "Who had the balls to tell you something like that?"

His face turned solemn. "Another apprentice, many years ago."

Realizing her blunder, she quickly backtracked. "Well, you want to eat dinner, let's go eat dinner."

)0(

He had surprised her by taking her to the observation deck, where a small table had been brought in and situated so they could watch the passing of the planets and stars. There were already covered plates and glasses and a decanter of wine waiting for them. The sight made Norra smile to herself. Kylo gestured for her to go ahead and followed her to the table to help her scoot her chair in.

Once he was situated across from her, an attendant came from the shadows to uncover their plates. How long had that man been standing there waiting for them? She suddenly felt bad for keeping Kylo talking in her room.

"Would you like some wine?" Kylo asked her.

"Sure."

The attendant reached for the decanter, but he stopped the man, instead dismissing him, taking it and reaching over the table to her glass. He managed to not spill a drop, filling it just over half full, as was about normal. He filled his, put the decanter down, then raised his glass in a small cheers. She raised her own and tapped it lightly against his. Unfortunately, the meal itself consisted of reconstituted dinners.

"You know, one of the things I'm definitely going to miss about Ophuchi is the food. I never realized how much I would miss having fresh fruit for breakfast every day."

"Really? You had fresh fruit every day?"

As she had just put a bit of food in her mouth, she nodded, giving herself a moment to chew. Once she had swallowed, she said, "All kinds, from the normal apples and peaches, to the more exotic Deluri fruit. That and fresh bread that the kitchens made every morning."

"That sounds amazing," he told her, taking another sip of wine.

"Well, maybe one day, when my father is a little more hospitable, we'll go visit." It was an off-handed comment, one that she didn't really think about until there was silence on the other side of the table. When she looked up, all she saw was a look of fear etched into Kylo's handsome features. "What is it?"

"You...want to take me to meet your family?"

It took her a moment, but then she realized, "Oh. I mean, only if you're comfortable with that. I'm sure my mother would like to know the man I'm supposed to be marrying. She wanted to come here originally, but Father made her stay back home."

"Why?" The strain in his voice had eased a little.

"Father claimed it was because she was the only one that he trusted to run things while he was away. Now I think he was just trying to make sure she wasn't able to talk me out of anything. He wanted me completely under his thumb. He knew that Mother was always my source of strength."

"Or maybe not."

Her eyes shot up to him, "I'm sorry?"

"You know that strength comes from inside you. It's possible that your mother was just the extra voice that you needed to get you heading in the direction that your heart already wanted to go."

A smile lit up Norra's face, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Maybe." She watched his face crack into a smile as well.

Just as she had looked back down and taken another bite, Kylo asked her, "What happened to your hand?"

A bit of the wine she had been about to swallow suddenly got sucked down the wrong pipe. She hacked for just a second, eyes beginning to water as she cleared her wind pipe. Once she had, she looked back up at him. His eyes were wide with concern. "I'm ok," she assured him. His gaze was uncertain, and he glanced at her hand. "It was nothing." She hid it under the table.

Kylo scooted his chair back, and stood to move around the table. He knelt down beside her. "You know, when you've been raised the way I have, you learn to recognize the marks that come from hitting something..." he lifted her hand off of her thigh, then said, "or someone," he smirked up at her from under his lashes.

Norra grimaced. "Someone already told you?"

Chuckling, he shook his head. "No one. But the Stormtroopers talk really loudly when they don't realize I'm around. And most of them don't know who I am without the mask and robes. They just think I'm another officer off duty." Still holding her hand, he went back to his seat. "So, tell me...did Hux look surprised when you sent him sprawling?"

A giggle escaped her. "Oh, it was fantastic. I don't usually condone violence, but after what that pile of nerf dung said to me, grabbing me and all that, it actually felt good to knock him senseless."

"I heard he fell into the pool." Kylo leaned forward, setting his chin on his fists as he listened.

"Yeah, he looked like a drowned rat when he came up. Though, we may need to have the pool sanitized, there was a lot of blood in the water."

He waved it off, "Don't worry about that. It's already being seen to. Now, enough about that little weasel. Why don't we enjoy the rest of our meal?"

)0(

A/N: Sorry for the delay, lovelies. I had a week long training for my new job. Luckily, the job, once I am completely done with training, will only be on the weekends starting out, so I'll still have plenty of time to write.

Also, I may be posting a Poe/OC fic, if y'all want. Let me know.

Read and Review, my dears.

AcaciaDawn