A.n: Hey guys!

I hope you will like it! Please review and give my Kylo some love! Also thank you to SeaSaltstarfish for proofreading.

Steffy2106

Chapter 4:

Kylo was sitting at his desk with his datapad looking over the orders Hux wanted to execute. He had to be careful with everything he signed off on. Hux had the irritating habit of drowning the important orders in the middle of the most irrelevant ones such as food orders or fuel replenishment.

It was such a waste of his time – Being the Supreme Leader conferred him with all the power and yet he felt shackled. He sighed, approving an umpteenth order about uniforms.

Kylo growled with exasperation before standing up so fast that his chair fell backward. He was the Supreme Leader, he didn't have the will to deal with such frivolity!

He had appreciated it at first, keeping his mind occupied even with trivial tasks. With Snoke's death his mind was now free, and he didn't realise how much Snoke was in his mind, forcing thoughts in his head. Somehow now being alone in his mind was opening doors, taking his thoughts to places he didn't want to go.

He shook his head trying to concentrate on the documents in front of him.

Kylo rolled his eyes to yet another allocation of the resources…soap, detergent. He frowned when he noticed in the middle of the all these insignificant details the allocation of more than 200 Stormtroopers to Muunilinst.

He quickly closed the never ending list of documents to look at the military map of the First Order. He scanned the map, the planets at war or strategic planets they needed to get on their side..by choice or force.. but Muunilinst was not on the list.

Suspicion filled him, why would have Hux allocated 200 stormtroopers to a place where they were not needed? Had he already started his betrayal plan to overthrow him? Kylo balled his hands in shaky fists. No matter how much he needed Hux, he couldn't give him the slightest chance to do this. He already gave too much already.

Kylo rose sharply, deciding to go confront Hux before the other man could get a chance to find a convincing excuse. If he executed Hux, after proving his betrayal, the army would stay and most of his problems would be resolved.

Kylo stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Captain Tanner standing in the control room. Hux should have been there – Hux was always there, monitoring, spying, probably trying to find anything that would peg Kylo as a traitor. Perhaps what happened in the Throne room was exactly what he needed.

"Where is General Hux?"

The captain turned briskly and paled. Kylo narrowed his eyes, something was clearly brewing, something he had not been privy to.

"I- Supreme Leader." The man bowed in submission. "You were not expected so early."

Kylo anger increased and he could feel the muscles of his jaw twitch under the pressure of his teeth grinding. The man was brazenly ignoring Kylo's request. Any act of defiance meant death and yet... Kylo's nostrils flared in anger, Hux was right – Kylo might have the power but Hux had the loyalty.

"Again, where is General Hux?" Kylo barked.

The man quickly glanced at the scanner. "I – ummm- He is gone, Sir."

"Gone? Gone. Where." Hux was never going away from the Finalizer. Kylo took a step toward the man, leaning over him in a threatening gesture.

The man paled even more, looking around fruitlessly, clearly trying to buy some time.

Damn his loyalty ran deep. He dared disrespect Kylo twice in the name of Hux. Kylo was somehow impressed with such commitment, not that he would ever admit it to anyone.

The man started to turn red and cough as Kylo used the force to crush his throat. "If you want to live another day, Captain Tanner, I would advise you to answer me in the next 5 seconds."

The man grabbed his throat in an instinctive attempt to stop what was choking him. He let out some strangled sounds in an attempt to talk.

Kylo let go of some of the pressure, just enough to let the man talk, but enough to be still be uncomfortable. "Talk now."

"We have been informed that the scavenger girl was going to a secret meeting on Takodana. General Hux left with 30 troopers to stop them – dead or alive - for the murder of our Supreme Leader Snoke."

Kylo let go of the man, letting him fall heavily on the floor. An icy feeling of dread settled in the centre of his chest. What surprised him the most was the nature of such dread. He was not worried that Hux could catch Rey alive and have her reveal the truth. No, he was terrified that Hux would kill her.

This revelation shook him much more than he thought it would. He had told his uncle he would destroy her. He was so sure he could destroy her after she betrayed him in the throne room. She had left him to die and yet…

"Send General Hux to see me as soon as he is done." Kylo enunciated slowly, barely managing to keep his voice from breaking.

He turned around and walked back to his quarters as fast as he could without attracting attention. He had to warn her, to help her flee. He was not ready for her to die, not now, not today. He needed to know what this bond was all about before it was destroyed – What if killing her killed him too? At least it was the rationale he tried to convince himself of.

Kylo sat in his meditation room, where everything from the darkness of the room to the special stones on the wall were created to enhance and strengthen his connection to the Dark side of the Force.

He closed his eyes. Come on Rey – Rey listen to me it's urgent – Rey. He concentrated as much as he could, more than he ever did before, as beads of sweat started to form on both his forehead and upper lip due to the mental exertion. He felt it, the now familiar and eerie pull and push of the Force as he reached for her.

The link was still there, subdued yes but still there. He could feel it sometimes – like a low intensity electrical wave in is head, buzzing softly, reminding him every once in a while that he was not completely alone. Not in the invasive way Snoke had controlled his thoughts but in a much more soothing way.

He closed his eyes tighter, using all his remaining strength in a desperate attempt to connect with her. His head started to throb as the force he projected kept on reaching further and further but nothing was grasping it.

Kylo jumped up, letting out a scream of frustration. Did that stupid girl find a way to shield herself from the bond?! Kylo ran a shaky hand through his hair as a wave of jealousy mixed with his anger and frustration. That girl, barely trained, and yet she had bested him at every turn. Did she now manage to succeed in something that he was so manifestly failing? Could she control the bond?

He started to pace the room, the pounding headache clouding his vision. He shouldn't feel so concerned, he had tried to save her! Maybe the Force decided it was time for the Light to be smothered and – Suddenly his whole world went quiet, as if he was locked in a soundproof room.

He swirled around and met her surprised eyes, a surprise which almost immediately morphed in anger.

Kylo couldn't help but think that she was even more beautiful when she was looking so fierce with anger. He shook his head and quickly dismissed this traitorous thought.

"Thanks Maker! Rey listen you have to leave now." He panted with urgency. "They are coming, they will kill you. Go now!"

She frowned, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

He growled. How dare she doubt him? She had been the one to betray him – not the other way around!

"Doubt me whenever you like, but you have to leave Takodana now. We have new Stealth ships, they go undetected – They might already be there. Don't let my betrayal be for nothing." He pointed to his door. "Rey! Go!" He roared.

Finally, he saw resignation and a touch of alarm in her face and he couldn't contain his sigh of relief. She finally believed him, now he only hoped it wasn't too late. He opened his mouth to tell her to hurry, but he saw her sag as if someone was shaking her and the connection was gone, just as fast as it came.

He looked around his now empty meditation room as the weight of urgency dropped, leaving him far more exhausted as he expected to be.

He sat down on the floor, resting his back against the wall, his elbows on his bent knees. He took a deep breath, trying to give himself the much-needed composure he needed to have when Hux would come meet him. No matter what the outcome on Takodana would be, he had to remain impassive. He sighed, closing his eyes, leaning his weary head back.

He had noticed Hux looking at him, with a mix of suspicion and disgust when he thought Kylo was not looking. He knew Hux would pick up on anything remotely showing weakness, uncertainty or even pain, and it was in days like these that he missed his mask more than anything. His mask had been his shield and now he was bare.

At the thought of Hux succeeding and killing her, he felt a stab of pain in a part of himself that until recently he had thought that he had killed a long time ago, a part that had resurfaced a few months ago when he had been unable to kill his mother. A part that had screamed for revenge when the other tie fighter did what Kylo had been too weak to do. A tie fighter that Kylo destroyed in rage after his mother's death.

He needed to occupy his mind, do something – anything to stop thinking about the girl and how he felt about any of it.

He turned on the communication system attached to his belt. "Send me TR3402 or FT6329 in the training room." He ordered before changing in his sparing clothes and taking the direction of the training room.

There were a handful of stormtroopers who he had ensured had been trained even more intensely than the others in various hand to hand combat technique – It was a fantastic way for him to relieve some of the pressure and today it was a need.

He barely had the time to beat FT6329 twice than he was advised by Captain Tanner that Hux and his men were about to land in the Finalizer.

"Have him meet me in my quarters with a full report in 15 minutes."

Kylo had just finished his shower when Hux entered his quarters. His face was tensed, his step unsure and he didn't shout bloody murder for being summoned – All of these were proofs that he had failed.

The weight in Kylo's chest eased as he settled in his chair.

"You wanted to see me?" Hux asked, reluctantly bowing to Kylo.

Kylo nodded stapling his fingers under his chin. "Yes, I have been dying to hear how successful you've been on your secret mission to destroy the scavenger. So…Where is the body?" Kylo asked taunting.

Hux's face turned crimson with anger. "She escaped with seconds to spare – Somebody must have told her!"

Kylo didn't miss the accusation in his voice. "Oh? And who would have done something like that, uh? Me? You imagine I gave her a call and as we discussed the weather I informed her of your plan?"

Hux remained silent, his lips pursed so tightly they looked white.

"I didn't even know about this mission, which by the way required my approval, as with anything else. You can't just go out and do what you like without informing me first."

"Supreme Leader Snoke trusted my judgement!" Hux barked.

"And look where it got him!" Kylo sneered.

"This is not on me!" Hux pointed at Kylo. Kylo realised that Hux knew, or at least suspected that it was he, not the girl who had slain their leader, but without proofs he couldn't act.

Kylo raised his hand in dismissal. "Don't blame your failures on me. It's pathetic, Armitage."

Hux gasped in outrage at being called by his birth name but remained silent. His hands formed into tight fists. "You wanted to see me before all of this – why?"

"You've dispatched 200 stormtroopers on Muunilinst why?"

"Why?"

"Yes, why?" Kylo circled his desk to stand closer to Hux, trying to use the Force to get a better feel on him.

"How is that even important?" Hux frowned with what seemed to be genuine confusion. "The allocation of resources has never been of your concern."

"And yet you are drowning me in them."

Hux sighed. "How do you think we're getting all of this?" He gestured around. "We need money, funds, benefactors – call them as you will." The condescension in his tone almost pushed Kylo to murder. "And in exchange of the money, We provide them with support. In this case Trekdar, the mining lord, needed help to contain the uprising in the mines. We are this help."

This was a side of the war Kylo had never seen before – a side he didn't think he had ever wanted to see.

Kylo nodded sharply, dismissing Hux once more with a gesture of finality.

He sat on his coat with an heavy sigh. The scavenger…Rey was still alive. He still had a chance. He growled resting his head in his hands. A chance of what you stupid fool? You're a murderous Snake to her – A monster. She will never see the mistake of her choices.

Ben...why…Why save me? Her voice was a faint murmur in his head, and he wasn't sure if it was real or his imagination.

"Ben, why did you save me? "

Kylo looked up startled. She was there standing in front of him – her eyes reflecting a fondness that hurt him much more than any insult could have.

He cared, he hated to admit it but he cared for her in ways that he couldn't really explain. When they touched hands, he had felt all of her-a loneliness mirroring his, conflicts, confusion and above all an intrinsic desire to belong somewhere, anywhere. He knew her in ways he had never known anybody and no matter how much he knew that caring was not to his advantage, he couldn't help it. He couldn't help this small yet powerful part of him which kept whispering to him. They could heal each other They could belong somewhere, together, if only she was reasonable enough to see that her path wasn't the right one.

"Meet me." He blurted out surprising them both.

"What?" She asked jerking back. "Why?"

He nodded, he hadn't realized how much he needed to see her again in person but the fact she hadn't dismissed his words straight away somehow comforted him in his resolve. He shrugged dismissively. "Why not? Just you and me – neutral ground." He tried to keep his voice impassive, not to expose his desperation to be in her actual presence.

She needed to see that nobody could ever understand her the way he could, the way she wanted. He knew his feelings were a liability, he knew that he had taken a considerate risk when he warned her on Takodana but he didn't regret it. 'You have too much of your father heart in you' Snoke once told him and maybe it was true, maybe he felt more than he should. But he had no master now. He could follow his own path. Who was to say what he should or shouldn't do? Feel or not feel?

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised her chin.

He tried to stop the small smile tugging at the side of his lips, she was so brave – he couldn't help but admire her – her unwavering resolve that she was making the right choice, the complete absence of doubt. He had tried and failed so many times to do the same thing. He had doubted since his childhood and no matter what side he was on, the doubt never left him.

"Why should I trust you?" She asked challengingly.

The little amusement he had felt before disappeared immediately, replaced by the all too familiar feeling of betrayal. It was the feeling he'd felt when he woke up alone in the throne room, alone and only to find Hux towering over him, a murderous look in his eyes. "Why? Because I have never lied to you. Because, contrary to what you have done to me, I have never shown you betrayal."

"Because I betrayed you?!" She gasped with incredulity, offense written all over her face.

He waved his hand dismissively. He didn't feel like arguing right now, they could do that some other time – for now he didn't know how long the force would connect them and he needed to get his answer.

"Technicalities." He replied haughtily. "You have my word that I will come alone and will not harm you – unless provoked."

Rey detailed him, he felt very uncomfortable under such scrutiny but he remained impassive, meeting her hazel eyes with his bottomless dark ones.

Finally, she nodded as if she had found what she had been looking for. "I'll meet you, Ben, and I too will come alone and will not attack unless provoked."

"Where?" He asked this time not able to hide the trepidation from his voice – he had expected her to say no, never he would have thought she could trust him enough to accept.

"Ahch-To" She replied after reflexion.

"When?" He took a step toward her.

Rey looked down. "Tomorrow at the third sun," she whispered, before fading away.