Annnd here we go, new chapter! Snape, meet Snoke. Snoke, meet-

"Are you done staring?"

Kylo's voice echoed coldly over to where the man still stood frozen before the window. This whole time he had gotten more questions out than answers, he realized. It never took this long, and he could only think of one other who had been able to resist his advances.

"Get out of my head." Her eyes were so full of fire, of strength and power unlike anything he'd ever felt-

But now here was another, standing right before him. This time, though, Kylo couldn't sense this Snape's Force, for some reason. Perhaps he was so powerful that he had learned how to cloak it. Was that even possible? He would have to ask his master. Before his patience finally ran out, Snape had turned back around. His voice was wavering, unsteady as he asked,

"What...year, is this?"

"34 ABY. What year are you from?" Kylo asks it as a taunt, a corner of his lips tilting up condescendingly into a smirk. But he watches as Snape frowns, confusion contorting across his features in a way much more animated than previously as he replies. "1998."

1998 what? Kylo didn't recognize the calendar. It was probably Earth-specific, he supposed, given that the planet had never really received outside contact and thus, had not conformed to the galactic standard time.

"Are you an al-human?" Snape then asks, turning fully towards him and scrutinizing his frame.

Of course he was human. Which meant that they both were- or at least, this Snape considered himself human. But Kylo had had enough of the trivialities, choosing to regard the other man quietly instead and watching his discomfort grow with each passing second of silence. It was time to bring this to the Supreme Leader. Whatever was happening, he would know. Kylo wouldn't doubt it if he was even behind it all.

"Come with me, I'll show you." He finally responds, the words coming out more like a command than a request. A gloved hand extends stiffly towards the exit of the infirmary in a mock invitation. Snape's mouth opens, but he catches himself as he swallows whatever he was about to say and, casting one last look behind at the blackness, walks silently after Kylo.

Kylo does his best to ignore the increasing volume of stares cast their way as they went briskly down the corridor, his own eyes fixed forward in a steely gaze. From the corner of his vision, though, he could see Severus' head swerving side to side, returning the stares of the troopers and officers they passed by. Kylo wondered what he could be thinking, about all this, instinctively reaching out again towards Snape's mind before quickly withdrawing. Normally, Kylo could feel out the raw emotions of people within his vicinity, but Snape's were still stubbornly locked behind whatever barrier he had managed to construct. Though he'd never admit to it, Kylo already felt a certain measure of respect towards him.

Finally, they arrive at the lift. A trooper already inside steps out of their way as they enter, and the three of them stand in a terse silence as the doors close before them, with Kylo taking the center of the small area. His eyes flick to Snape, watching as he slowly leans backward to observe the trooper beside him. The man shifts uncomfortably in his white armor under the other's gaze, head darting furtively in his direction. Kylo holds back a sigh,

"Do not stare." Snape quickly returns back to an upright position, eyebrow raising at the command as he faces Kylo, who continues,

"Stormtroopers. They serve as our tactical ground units, specifically trained to follow the First Order."

As the words left his mouth, he silently wondered why he even felt the need to explain. This man was nothing more than a prisoner. Nothing more. He sees Snape's eyebrows tilt even higher at the words, and his own reply comes out in a critical tone.

"So you are at war?"

Before Kylo can answer, the door opens to the trooper's floor, who quickly steps out and hastily leaves them behind. When the doors close once more, a sudden memory surfaces to his head in a flash: a boy with a jagged scar down his forehead, not so much unlike his own. His face had been one frozen in hatred and defiance, lips parted to show gritted teeth and eyes filled with barely-suppressed tears.

And then it was gone. Kylo took a second to process what he'd seen before addressing the man who still stood stiffly beside him,

"Who is...the boy?" Though he still kept his face forward, he felt Snape shift beside him.

"Who?"

"The one with the scar. He seemed important to you." Kylo could tell from the other man's reaction that he was correct, as he heard a sharp intake of breath.

"How do you know of him?" Snape finally uttered, and Kylo tilted his head to face him.

"You were dreaming about him. Among other things."

He let those last words hang suspended in the air between them as the door opened once again, revealing a long walkway that led to a spacious room at the end, its walls completely painted in deep, ominous crimson and casting the entire space in a bloody glow. Buttresses arched like the dark ribs of a beast from either side of them, sleek and polished like everything else. Kylo let Severus step out before him, though he saw the hesitation clearly on his footsteps echoed through the space as they started down the hall, the only sounds save for the low, incessant drone of the ship around them.

Severus took the sudden transition in a shocked silence, but he realized that this was its intent: the entire design was meant to intimidate and subdue, to strike fear and awe. It appeared to be a throne room of some sort, the kind that old kings used to hold court in, though the seat at the center was currently unoccupied. As they approached closer, he could make out a row of guards behind it, nearly blending into the backdrop in their imposing blood-red armour, along with two identical machines hovering suspended in the air on either side of them. Snape could only imagine what their purpose was.

He slowed to a few feet behind Kylo as he felt a familiar, instinctive twist in his gut that grew stronger with each step. There was danger approaching, and it was the same way he felt whenever the Dark Lord's presence was near. Something old and evil and powerful. Not even the Mark was as accurate as this.

But whatever was to come, he'd be ready this time. Snape took a deep breath, and stopped at Ren's side.

-who then abruptly drops into a kneel. Snape blinks, looking down from the man and back to the empty throne. Of course someone with the title 'Supreme Leader' would require everyone to prostrate themselves before him, but there was no one there at present. In that moment of hesitation, a voice suddenly echoes through his very mind, dark and silky and filled with authority.

"Kneel."

Without another thought, Snape found himself falling to one knee beside Kylo. He barely represses a look of surprise when his eyes lift up to meet a figure sitting at the throne, but the feeling is directed more towards their appearance than how they had gotten there.

Snape had thought that Voldemort's image couldn't be outmatched, but as he looked upon the Supreme Leader's visage he realized otherwise.

The...creature sitting before them bore a striking semblance to a shrunken corpse, with sunken eyes and pale, twisted skin pulled over numerous ancient scars. One such wound even appeared to have nearly split his skull in half, creating a deep indent into the flesh. It was a miracle that he was even alive, but magic could work far darker acts.

Of course, Snape kept all these thoughts carefully guarded behind his own facade as he felt the same presence that had spoken to him glide across the edge of his mind, smoothly feeling for cracks to slip through. It felt so much like how-He suppressed a shudder when the face of Voldemort flashed for the briefest moment to the surface, but it was enough to send the presence coiling back.

"Hmmm."

The creature still sat casually as he regarded the both of them, but Snape knew that he had seen it too. His eyes met the Supreme Leader's asymmetrical, pale blue ones, forcing himself to blink away the sudden memory of the Dark Lord's eyes as they flashed before his vision once again. Both were so blue and hauntingly familiar, so filled with cunning and wickedness. His own mind reached out and brushed lightly against Snoke's, feeling the other's hunger for power and control writhing at its surface.

Snape knew what to do then, but he was not sure he could do it. Not again.

After a pause, Snoke breaks into a cold grin, his gaze not leaving Snape's.

"So you are the one my apprentice saved." Snape doesn't respond, waiting for him to continue. "Kylo must have thought you quite important to have done so, though I really must commend you on your little feat. How did you do it?"

There was genuine curiosity in his voice, though Snape knew that he had an ulterior motive. They all did. "Disapparation." He was unsure if he should add a sir to it, so he left it at that.

"Explain."

"I can dematerialize and rematerialize myself to any location that I wish." Snoke's eyes widened at this, and Snape felt the prodding presence at his mind return. Assurance, Kylo had called it. Honestly it was getting aggravating. Apparently satisfied at the integrity of his reply, the Supreme Leader withdrew and leaned back in his seat, a new spark of interest in his otherwise dead eyes,

"Can you do so now?"

"Unfortunately I cannot without my wand, which is currently in your custody."

Snoke paused at this, contemplating, but unlike Kylo he did not throw a fit at the term. Finally, he speaks.

"Now tell me, Stranger, do you serve the side of the Light, or the Dark?"

It was always either one or the other with these kinds of people. Snape kept his expression cool as he gave the briefest pause; long enough to not sound like he was desperate and short enough to sound genuine.

"The Dark side." At the reply Snoke broke into another, wider smile, his features twisting even more as thin lips parted into a wicked grin. One of his shriveled hands lifts up, fingers indicating him to come forward.

"May I see?"

It was a command, a challenge; and it was now, or never. Snape knew he had no other option, if he wanted to live. So he nods, rising slowly to his feet and approaching the throne. He felt Kylo's eyes boring into his back from behind, but setting his jaw, walks to the creature and stops just in front of him. Up close, Snoke looked even more grotesque, more gargoyle than human.

Snape only had a single moment to clear his mind before the other suddenly reached out, pallid fingers closing around the air before his forehead. And though he was not physically touching him, Snape instantly felt as though two hands had grabbed his head and squeezed. Show him what he wants to see. The vice-like force of it was invasive and increasingly crushing, and he found himself barely clinging to consciousness as his mind collided painfully with Snoke's and spiralled down and down, reaching deep into the darkness.

Show him what he wants to see.