In a blink of an eye, she sucks that lake dry. Part of him can't help think how much effort it took for the construction workers and Stormtroopers to build that artificial lake under the Emperor; how many droids and how many men-power. He should now – he was now in charge of that place. And there she was, mad beyond recognition, hurling all that water mass up in the sky, covering the sun, making a roaring sound of a vast waterfall. A thunder, a scenery of outmost terror and beauty – something that reflects her inner self perfectly. The wall of water roars and forms a rainbow in its base, a mist and brilliant foam down where the water clashes back to the basin.
Even her anger subsides at the sight – she marvels at her own creation like a child would to a sand castle it just built.
Everyone around her sees what she did, he makes sure of it. He doesn't make a move. In fact, he leans on the fence and tries to look as relaxed as it is physically possible to him.
She gasps – the effort lasts for too long and for too much. But she is stubborn, she won't let it go. He interferes and lets the spectacle last for a minute longer, lending her his strength. Then, as her power is drained, he puts the waterfall down. It roars and it splashes around and overflows over the edges. The war barons wail in fear, soaked to their skins.
Their pestering nature, their greedy little agendas, their gloating over the fact the First Order has to tip-toe around them to get new ships and new freighters and new weapons… Resistance put them all back into business. It all makes him almost want to sneer at the spectacle. But it is all ultimately so woefully and dully unimportant.
He wants to praise her for her abilities, but she gasps and trembles, and clenches her fists around the fence. The reinforced steel bends. The knuckles on her hands spring up and tense.
It was too much. She took it for too long, dead-bent to make them all tremble.
Now she's trembling. Panics – I cannot pass out.
Oh, but please do. Remember Takodana forest.
Let me be of service to you. Use me.
It is either because his appeal lures her or because she is so drained – but she falls back and he catches her.
Very good – you can't release too much too soon. They'll hate you too much for your powers.
Rey?
Rey!
Physical and mental exhaustion – he pushed her too hard, and she couldn't resist the challenge. But he should know better, with all that training on both sides of the Force and all that fine education. The regret is almost overwhelming but he turns on his heels as soon as he leaves her at the care of the medical staff.
He learned this from Snoke – this is Snoke peeking through him, even from the other side: pushing him beyond his limits, relishing in his unrefined power but with complete disregard whether it will leave his apprentice broken and damaged.
When no one is there to see, he buries his fist into his old crossbow wound. The pain is an electrical jolt and it brings brutal clarity back into his mind.
Thanks, Chewie.
Otherwise, his weak mind will just wander back again to the sensation of her hip pressing against his lower belly. And then he'd lose it – again. He wonders how he didn't lose it while he was carrying her.
You have compassion for her.
But there he was – he had the opportunity to live that ultimate imperial fantasy. His Empress in his arms, him playing the role of the dark prince. After all, she was communicating with her late grandmother's spirit or energy signature or whatever in all hells it was.
A lovely family, the whole lot of them.
Let her rest.
He goes back to the command center and these young, newly appointed officers around him flinch. There is disdain – there is fear. Those are the things he is well acquainted with and that give him a strange sort of focus and contentment. There are many of Hux supporters there too – a bunch of hotheads with ambitions unsupported by anything consequential, offering only their vanities and alarming lack of scruples. Vultures, he thinks and frowns.
"You man", he commands to the most hateful among them. "Inform me about Mandalorian unrest". He probably wouldn't even react hadn't the man had that passionate quality in his hatred. He was one of Hux's most loyal officers.
Paze shudders and frowns.
Saxons can handle the Nite Owls pathetic shreds. They do not need help.
However, they're scanning the outer regions of Mandalore system for Hux's escape pod.
The edge of man's lips tries to curl up a bit into a sarcastic smirk when he gets the fare share of his Force suffocation.
"I do not appreciate the tone of your voice, Paze", he says coldly and ponders on how low this man's pain threshold is compared to his own.
He could go on without air, his feet dangling above the floor level for minutes and minutes on end – Paze is at the verge of dying mere seconds later. His bones start crackling like glass very early on.
Pathetic, he thinks and he thinks out loud.
Then he releases the grip. Paze falls and yanks against the hard floor, making barely human guttural sounds.
"Stay alert", he says to the others. "Nite Owls will attack soon. Prepare for the Blitz Krieg".
No one dares to help the man on the floor who spasms by this point, releasing terminal sounds. He won't die, but he'll remember this, as all of them will.
"This is a lesson, Officer", he says down to him in a mock-mentored way. "Never underestimate your enemy. This is war, not your father's class at the First Order academy".
If he is to be the loyal shadow of the former leader, he might as well be the shadow to those deserving.
He counts on that uprising and expects Mandalore won't fail him. He needs to be out of Coruscant and away from her.