Lengthening his stride, practically running through the halls, the sound of his breaths harsh through his mask, Kylo saw people flatten themselves against walls to get out of his way but didn't care.

Racing up the stairs, he turned the final corner and skidded to a stop one step into the throne room.

Carnage everywhere. Walls cracked, bodies, tiny bodies strewn around. Unconscious, or possibly worse. Snoke's gold clad figure was the only movement as he drifted among the bodies. Kylo took off his mask, staring around with unfiltered eyes.

Children. The Force sensitive children that Snoke had been collecting so carefully.

"I'm sorry, Supreme Leader," a rough whisper carried far further than it should have, and Kylo looked over. A flash of ginger hair, a hand still gripping a child's wrist. "I tried." A laboured breath escaped Hux's chest and no new one was drawn in.

Drawing closer, Kylo looked at his tight grip on the child and understood. Hux had not been Force-sensitive, but had accessed the current by riding the presence of the child, pushed it into the battle without any idea of what to do. They had both paid the ultimate price.

And all the many sparks that had first attacked Skywalker... Kylo turned in a slow circle and didn't need to count. It was all right here. A couple of the bodies were stirring, but most were either exhausted or drained. Why? Because Snoke had been expecting him to turn the tide. Maybe he had.

Rotation completed, Kylo found sunken eyes boring into his and for the first time, felt no urge to kneel.

"You!"

The word was like a physical force, shoving his gaze away as thoroughly as any blow.

"What have you done!?"

"I..." Amongst the cracked stone and drip of blood, Kylo fumbled his words. "I wasn't read—... I didn't mean to... I... It wasn't my fault... I..." He flattered. What had he done? "I did nothing!" he snarled, finally looking Snoke in the face again.

"Exactly! And in doing so, you betrayed the First Order, betrayed your blood lines!" Snoke snarled, whirling about and stalking away. "Skywalker lives! As long as he does, hope lives in the galaxy."

Snoke stopped, still facing away, his voice lowering, the disappointment clear in his tone. "I thought you would be the one to snuff it out. Alas, you are no Vader. You are just a child in a mask."

Kylo stood, unable to breathe or think. There was no air left in the room and no words in his head.

Turning away, he walked numbly out of the room, waiting until he was two turns down the stairs before his feet stopped moving. There, in the quiet darkness, he looked down at the mask still gripped tightly in his hand.

Thought you would be the one… no Vader… just a child… betrayed…

There was a shower of sparks in the dark space as the mask smashed into the wall, sending shockwaves through his elbow. Again and again he pounded metal into stone and felt nothing.

Only when the pieces fell to his feet, both hands braced on the wall, eyes closed, did he let the truth in.

He was nothing. Had always been nothing. An inconvenience to his parents, a burden to his uncle, a tool to Snoke. Never his own, never seen as a person and nothing more or less.

Leaving the scattered debris on the floor, Kylo made his way numbly down the rest of the steps, floating through the corridors with far less urgency than the journey in the opposite direction. But even his numbness couldn't make him blind to the stares from all sides. Probably, none of these people would ever have seen him without his mask before. They just saw the monster, the blankness, never him.

It wasn't until the wind hit him that he realised his feet had carried him to the main doors, rather than back to his private quarters. For a moment, he considered turning around and going back inside, but he ignored the urge, continuing forwards as if it had been his plan all along. Every step he took away from the building and the toxicity within in cemented his certainty; he did not intend to go back.

Without faltering in his path, without even closing his eyes, he reached out along the bond... reaching for her.

.

.

Troops spread out like a white sea, choppy waves topped with froths of blood. Snoke looked out over them with mild disgust. Hux would normally have dealt with them, with all these sorts of things.

"Skywalker has hurt us for the last time!" His words carried without effort, a simple modification of the air between himself and them to spread the message without having to resort to the indignity of shouting.

"From a recent victory, at great cost, he is injured and weak. Now is the time to attack. We will destroy the entire resistance, when he cannot come to their aid. The galaxy is ready for the new order, for our order."

They remained silent, watching.

"You will be known forever as the ones to finally, once and for all, bring peace!"

Now the cheers came. People were so easy to manipulate. Now they would finally end it all. Skywalker would regret ever letting him live.