Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.
"Tell them to kriffing hurry up!" Kylo snapped into the comm as he paced around the body, having just sent his current location to the stormtroopers. He knew they were most likely heading over from the shuttle, but every extra second they took lessened his chances at finding Hux.
"They're already on their way, sir. What's going on?" Mitaka asked on the other end.
"Hux disappeared!"
"Wasn't the general just with you, sir?"
"Yes," he snarled. Leave it to Mitaka to point out the obvious. "Don't you keep a tracker on him or something?"
He could almost see the bewilderment on the lieutenant's face. "There's never been any need for that, sir."
The sound of footsteps saved Mitaka from any further inquiries, and Kylo set off as soon as he saw the first of the white armored plates around the corner.
"Tell them to take the body back to the Finalizer for investigation. I'm going to go look for Hux."
"Should I send a squad to go with you, sir?"
"There's no need," he replied. The streets were already beginning to look unfamiliar. "Have them search the city on their own. If they find anyone involved, kill them."
There was a pause on the other end. "Did you mean bring them in for questioning, sir? I do not think they will be useful to us dead, especially if they have the general."
If Kylo could Force-choke the other through the comm, he would have done so. Instead, he took a deep breath to calm himself. Hux would have been scolding him for his behavior already. He needed to start acting more like the Supreme Leader and less like a Knight of Ren.
"Yes, bring them in."
"Yes, sir."
Kylo began his search by skimming the minds of the citizens as he ran passed them. Hux couldn't have been kidnapped right under his nose; Kylo had practically been inches away. He wondered if the general had simply run away, spooked by their near-death experience. That was highly unlikely.
He never fancied the other a coward.
He recognized a few of the buildings they had passed by earlier on the hovercraft, but still nothing stood out to him, no glimpse of orange or that poncho the other had purchased. He reasoned that Hux couldn't have gotten far unless the man was kidnapped after wandering off.
Kylo felt his blood run cold at the thought and shook it away from his mind. He was going to find Hux and punish whoever was responsible for making him go through this wild goose chase. He blinked; he was back at the diner.
One of the stormtroopers saluted him.
Kylo stopped, knowing that he wasn't going to get anywhere like this. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. There was one other possible option, and he began by steadying his breaths, sending his mind into the city in search for any signs of Hux's Force-signature. He had never attempted to look for another through this method, and he hoped that he would catch a glimpse, a memory, anything.
To his annoyance, he heard nothing but the muffled voices of the citizens of Arkanis going about their daily business. Kylo breathed and spread his mind out further. There had to be something, anything. He had to find Hux. He saw the possibility of rain, the latest catch of the sea, the attack on the Supreme Leader in the city, some missing shipment of bantha meat…
Still there was nothing.
He began to feel the panic creep into his mind, and he shoved it down, concentrating on his task. He will find Hux. He steadied his breaths and reached out further.
A love triangle involving the bartender and the best friend, today was the first sun of the week, bantha meat again… Kylo cursed.
He just needed a lead, something, anything.
It was then that he heard it: a faint, ethereal sound.
"Armitage…"
Kylo blinked. Something was calling the general, something inhuman. It didn't seem malevolent, and it almost seemed that it had let him hear its call.
He grimaced, setting off in the direction of the sound.
.
"Armitage…"
Hux walked through the streets in a daze, the sky darkening above him as the towering pointed buildings became scarce. He knew in the back of his mind that he was on the outskirts of the city now, away from the protection of Kylo. He should turn around, should head back. Where was Kylo?
"Armitage…"
"I hear you," he told the voice, a comforting warmth.
Something was calling him. Something warm and benign. It beckoned him. He tried to reason to himself that he needed to return. He needed to. Where was it that he needed to go again?
What was he doing here?
He can't seem to remember.
He was outside the city now, the old ruins of the Academy towering above him.
"Where…"
He turned away towards the ocean, his boots leaving the grassy hillside and sliding down into the fine grain sand of the beach. The waves licked softly at the land still, signs of a low tide as he walked alongside the ocean.
Hux remembered running across the Arkanisian beaches barefoot, his mother chasing him. He could see the Academy looming over the hillside, cutting the beautiful red and orange sunset like a knife that jutted out of the landscape. He had asked her what it was, and she had brushed it away from him with a story of the cave that sang nearby.
The cave. Hux blinked. He didn't remember any stories like that. He paused briefly, massaging his temple to clear his mind, except everything melded together in a blur. Why was he here again?
The cave. His feet were still moving despite his hesitation. The beach tapered into a massive cliffside lined with black rocks, slicked with ocean water previously from high tide. He jumped onto the nearest one and made his way through, using the exposed formation as a pathway around the cliff.
The cave. His mother had said that it would sometimes sing to those who could hear it, when they were most in tune with the Force. He supposed that she might have said something to that degree when he was young. He did not remember.
The mouth of the sea cave loomed before him like a hungry beast, large enough to swallow their Upsilon-class shuttle that awaited them back at the starport. He knew on instinct that in a few hours the sea would swallow the rocky foundation that he currently stood upon. Hux clenched his jaw and proceeded, the breaking waves behind him rhythmically spraying his poncho with mist.
His footsteps echoed on the damp rock as he walked deeper into the abyss, and it wasn't until the light from the entrance suddenly cut, dividing the rock into a gleaming black reflection and utter darkness, that he stopped. He took a breath, realizing just how deep he had wandered while following a voice of all things.
"Kylo," he suddenly muttered as an afterthought, the name cutting a clear path through his muddled thoughts. Nothing he was doing made sense, but his body continued to disobey him, lurching forward into the cave.
The voice no longer spoke to him; it now sang, tones echoing through the cave, encasing him in its embrace. He spotted a small trail of light up ahead from a crack in the ceiling and followed it. The song radiated from a bright light wedged between the rock where the sun hit it.
He reached out instinctively, and his fingers closed around a crystal.
Then, all was quiet.
He vaguely felt his body hitting the floor as his consciousness left him.
.
Kylo stepped carefully into the cave just as a wave surged in, covering the top of his boots before disappearing into the depths. He grimaced and began trudging through the foam. The water retracted back, and he broke into a run when the next wave came, just a little higher than the previous one.
Arkanis had two moons if he remembered correctly, and high tide likely submerged the cave. He knew that they would soon be underwater if he didn't hurry, given the force of the waves now.
With that thought, he proceeded into the darkness of the cave, drawing his lightsaber to light the way. The rocks were slightly less smooth here, but the water still touched his boots regardless as another wave entered the cave. He saw a small ray of light up ahead, shining from a crack in the ceiling, and under it he saw a familiar tuff of red hair.
"Hux!" Kylo extinguished his weapon and hooked it back onto his belt, using the ray of light to guide his way. The waves just barely reached the man, nipping at that ridiculous poncho before pulling out to the sea again.
"Hux! Hey!" He rolled the man onto his back and felt for a pulse, finding one, albeit weak.
"Hux!" he repeated, moving aside a stray strand of hair. The man's face was cold and clammy.
Kylo gulped, knowing that he had to move, that he should be getting the man out of this forsaken sea cave and into someplace warm as fast as possible, but his common sense was failing him, overtaken by a weight on his chest at seeing the other like this. "Hux, Armitage, wake up! Please…" he practically begged, remembering how he had spectacularly failed last time he used that phrase with Rey.
Translucent lashes fluttered, and pale green eyes stared back at him, barely lucid. The air around him suddenly swelled, the crash of the ocean waves against the rock outside quiet.
Kylo took in a deep breath, and the air seemed to shatter around him before sound returned to his senses. Those green eyes closed, and Hux became limp in his arms once more. A gleam from the man's hand caught the corner of his eye.
"That's…" he gasped, taking the kyber crystal from Hux. It's faint light still shone a brilliant white, and it glimmered slightly in his hand before a wave suddenly crashed into his side, nearly knocking him off balance. He pocketed the crystal and lifted Hux from the wet floor of the sea cave, the tide suddenly coming in full force. He shuddered, not wanting to know what would have happened if he waited any longer and the waters submerged the cave again.
Kylo rushed out of the cave, the waves washing up to his knees by the time he made it to the entrance. He moved nimbly across the jagged rocks, managing to make it to the sand before he saw one of the waves engulf the entrance of the cave, burying it.
He breathed out in relief and took out his comm, finding that the signal was dead. The sky above them rumbled, dark clouds covering the clear skies they had flown into just hours earlier, threatening a downpour.
Kylo's eyes scanned the beach as he realized that he was slightly lost, having followed Hux's Force signature blindly here. He cursed under his breath as he moved towards the spires of the city in the distance, the bundle in his hands turning colder by the minute.
"Over here," a voice called to him, and he turned to its source, an older man with brilliant green eyes, likely a native Arkanisian. He reached out with the Force, his senses hitting a small barrier before he could delve into the other's mind. The man was Force-sensitive. Kylo had no time for this nonsense. He grimaced and tried again, and this time he managed to skim the other's surface thoughts.
Worry. Guilt. A deep nostalgia.
The other seemed not to notice his attempt and instead beckoned Kylo to follow him. The sky roared again, and he could feel Hux shivering now.
He gritted his teeth and hurried after the stranger. He had his lightsaber and the Force if he needed them.
Kylo followed the man to the cliffside where a door suddenly jutted out of the rock, impressively hidden into the landscape. He hesitated as the man opened it with a code and took one step inside. A bolt of lightning shot across the sky.
"Please hurry. The downpour will start soon, and he needs heat."
He grudgingly followed the stranger in, finding a rather spacious living room furnished with wood and furs, dim light shining through glass windows likely camouflaged in the rock outside. The man beckoned him to set Hux on the sofa, and he finally stripped the drenched poncho off the general to replace it with one of the thick fur blankets the stranger procured. Kylo had to admit the garment did do its job; unlike himself, Hux's tunic looked relatively dry.
He heard another wave of thunder and then a sudden patter of droplets roared against the door and windows, complete with a gust of chill that seemed to permeate the walls.
Kylo sighed when the fireplace roared to life, sending a wave of warmth through the cozy living room before the stranger went over to the next room without another word and began tinkering with some pots. He preoccupied himself with watching the color return to Hux's lips, wondering what he would have done if the two of them did get caught in the downpour. He supposed he would have to have used his own body heat.
The thought sent an involuntary wave of butterflies through his stomach, and he barely noticed the man returning from the kitchen, offering him a steaming cup.
"Salted kelp tea. It will warm you up. I have messaged a transport to come take you back to the city."
"Thank you," Kylo replied, accepting it. He examined the contents, wondering if he should somehow check for poison. The man seemed not to notice his reservations, taking a long sip from his own cup.
Kylo brought the mug to his mouth, skimming the other's thoughts again.
He sensed the guilt again.
The man's eyes were on Hux, their deep green orbs far away.
"To be honest," the stranger finally spoke, "I didn't expect the Light of our people to still be protecting him after the Hosnian Cataclysm."
Kylo blinked. He had suspected the man was a native Arkanisian, but it was a surprise that the other knew Hux. The stranger's tone was quiet, almost sad, but his words obviously revealed that the man was a New Republic sympathizer. The lightsaber at his side shook ever so slightly as his thoughts trailed to it.
"There is no need," the stranger told him. "We take no sides in the war. The New Republic destroyed our way of life after all when they came here with their ships."
Kylo's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
"You may call me Garik. Armitage's mother was a close friend of mine back in the years." The man who called himself Garik smiled nostalgically. "Looking at him now, he takes after her more than that monster Hux." Kylo heard the afterthought clearly in the air, "I suppose on the surface at least."
"He is not like his father," Kylo found himself saying, despite never personally meeting Commandant Hux. He had seen the Commandant briefly in Hux's memories, and they already told him all he needed to know.
On the other hand, Garik did not seem surprised that Kylo had read his thoughts. The Arkanisian leaned back in his chair, taking another sip of the steaming kelp tea.
"Children tend to take after their parents no matter how far away they try to stray."
Kylo chose not to reply to that statement, instead taking a much too large swig of the tea. He wondered if Hux would prefer such flavors; he knew the man did keep a tea stash despite the general's reliance on caf.
"The Caverns called him, yes?" Garik said after a moment.
"Is that what you call that place? It has a very strong presence of the Force."
The man smiled wryly. "We sometimes hear them singing, back when we lived in the village. It was rumored that people who venture in come out mad, plagued with visions of the Force. His mother followed their voices after Hux took Armitage away." He shook his head, eyes far away. "She was never quite the same."
Kylo's fingers shifted slightly on the cup. "What happened to her?" he decided to ask. He had a feeling that Hux had been searching since they arrived on Arkanis.
"She fell into a depression, saying she had failed him." The man nodded towards Hux. "I tried everything in my power to keep her here; there is nothing but despair waiting for us in the stars."
"So your people have never been to space," Kylo commented.
Garik laughed dryly. "We are one with the sea, young one."
Kylo flinched and steered the conversation back to Hux's mother, ignoring that comment on his age from the man. "Where is she now?"
"I failed," he replied simply.
"She left," Kylo concluded.
"Yes. To find him, I've always assumed. It seems that she has not yet succeeded, or you would not be here."
Kyle nodded in response, taking another sip of the tea. It really did warm him up, just as Garik had promised.
"So what will you do now, Ben Solo?"
Kylo froze, feeling the Darkness seeping out. A rumble of thunder outside resounded throughout the room, shaking the pewter and glass in the kitchen. He breathed out, the wave of the Force washing out from him relentlessly.
Hux moaned in his sleep, eyebrows knotting.
Kylo heard a hum and the Darkness suddenly retracted. It was the kyber crystal, he realized, and he resisted pulling it from his pocket.
Garik observed all this almost curiously. "Forgive me, you go by another name now."
"How did you find us?" Kylo asked him, brown eyes staring into those brilliant green orbs.
"The Caverns called to me. They've been quiet since his mother left, then today they suddenly just started singing again." His eyes trailed to Hux again. "Do not get me wrong. I…" Galik hesitated. "I am aware that I failed him. We all thought it was fine for Brendol Hux to take his son with him. We should have all tried harder to protect the child, but we just watched." He took another sip of that tea, no longer steaming.
"I might as well have caused Hosnian myself."
Kylo stared into those brilliant green eyes for a moment as their shine seemed to dull with the fatigue of guilt and years of hardship. Another crash of thunder followed by a droid beeping outside tore him away from those eyes.
Garik stood up. "Your transport is here." The man nodded to Hux. "He should be out of the danger zone for now. It is best that you take him back to your ship for proper treatment."
"Ah, yes," Kylo muttered as he placed the cup aside on the table and moved to take the blanket off Hux. The general still slept on peacefully, oblivious to the world as Kylo threw the poncho back over him, finding it already surprisingly dry. He looked up to see the man holding out a packet.
"Salted kelp tea for the road."
"That's…" he hesitated.
"I believe Armitage would appreciate the nostalgia."
"Thank you," Kylo managed, taking the packet from Garik and slipping it into one of the pockets of Hux's poncho.
Garik smiled. "I am glad the Light still burns around him. Please take care of Armitage, Kylo."
.
Hux was drowning in smoke, the world beneath his feet burning in a brilliant display of fire.
Hosnian Prime, he immediately thought, but the forest around him told him otherwise. It was far too underdeveloped to be one of the core worlds. He could see a star destroyer in the distance raining another wave of death upon the land, and screams permeated the air.
He reached for his comm in an attempt to spare them of this senseless slaughter, but his pockets were empty. He had forgotten that he had given it to Kylo.
A beam headed directly towards him, a fiery red against the sky.
Hux blinked. He was suddenly in the Finalizer, viewing the destruction from his usual place on the bridge, the star destroyer in the distance continuing its rampage.
It was one of their own.
Hux grimaced. He had spent his life on the stormtrooper program, had stolen millions of forsaken children away from their slavers, their lives in exchange for complete obedience to the First Order. And now they were recreating themselves, creating a new generation of orphans.
His eyes narrowed. No, not today.
"Fire."
The star destroyer before him went down in a sea of flames. An angry roar permeated the air around him, and his surroundings returned to its usual dark void where Brendol Hux resided.
"You have failed," he heard a voice, his father.
"No," he found himself saying, turning to the man. "I've just begun," the words seemed to spill from his mouth.
He was standing at the mouth of a cave, the ocean behind him whispering his name.
"Armitage…"
Hux woke with a start, his breaths heavy as the instruments around him blared to life. He raised a hand to shield himself from the blinding light as he heard a voice in the background.
"Lights 50 percent."
He sighed in relief, leaning back in the pillows as he heard a med droid beep happily around him, removing the monitor lines and blood pressure cuff. A familiar face loomed above his, her round glasses immediately giving her away.
"Dr. Andrienne," he acknowledged her. He blinked again, realizing that he was back in the medbay of the Finalizer. He hoped that this wasn't going to become a regular occurrence.
He remembered a cave, darkness, a light. "What happened?" he managed, trying to shake off the disorientation.
"You had a small case of hypothermia. Supreme Leader Ren found you quite promptly before there was any major damage and brought you back here. Under normal circumstances, you should have woken up much earlier, but of course that was not the case, which is why I am currently talking to you like this. Did you finish your fourteen days of rest as prescribed?" Dr. Andrienne asked him in one breath. He could make out Kylo coughing behind her.
The doctor shook her head indignantly. Hux wanted to scold her for her insubordination, but his mind was too tired to even formulate a reasonable plot against her. It was probably not a clever idea anyway given that he was currently under her mercy.
"I'll need to run a few more tests now that you're awake to make sure you haven't caught anything strange from Arkanis. It's highly unlikely though, given that you've grown up there."
Much to his relief, Dr. Andrienne dismissed him relatively quickly afterwards, and he found himself back in the comfort of his own bed just a few hours later with orders from the supreme leader himself to rest for another cycle before returning to duty.
He stared absentmindedly at the ceiling, unable to fall back into the sweet comfort of sleep now that he was alone. Kylo had not spoken much to him since he woke, having instead watched quietly from the side as the doctor fussed over Hux's sorry state.
To his relief, his door slid open and Kylo stalked over to the bed quietly, grimacing when the man realized that Hux was awake.
"I remember giving explicit orders for you to rest," the man huffed.
"Can't sleep," Hux replied, turning his head to face the other. "Why are you here?"
Kylo rolled his eyes. "Just checking if you were actually resting."
Hux snorted. "Well I'm trying, really. You took my datapad away, remember?"
The supreme leader sighed and pulled over the couch that Hux hadn't found time to move back from last time. He supposed that the other wanted some advice on their next move now that they had refueled, and he propped himself up to a sitting position, adjusting the pillows behind his back. However, his assumptions were far off as Kylo began the interrogation instead.
"Why did you leave without telling me? That was very careless on your part," the man nearly growled.
"I…" Hux's voice caught in his throat, and he coughed to clear it, trying to find the right words to explain. It was all a blur to him really, and the more he tried to remember the more none of it really made sense. He felt as if he had been possessed, only snippets of memories available to him. It terrified him, and he didn't want to think about it, had been avoiding the thoughts since he woke up.
Of all the things that he had control of in his life, it was his mind that he valued the most. To have lost it so easily in these past few cycles was terrifying.
Kylo seemed to sense his unease and slowly placed an ungloved hand over his. Hux looked down at the sudden warmth entwined through his fingers, trembling slightly at the touch when he felt a wave of Darkness leak out. Kylo frowned apologetically and made to pull away, but he caught the other before the supreme leader's grasp could leave his own.
The man's palm was callused, an artifact from years of holding a lightsaber. Kylo's heat radiated stronger than the Darkness, and the discomfort dissipated as quickly as it had come.
Hux let out the breath he had been holding.
"Don't be scared," Kylo told him. "I promised I'd protect you, remember?"
He smiled weakly. "I seemed to have made that a little difficult for you back on Arkanis."
"Well, you're safe now."
"I suppose I am." Hux closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I heard a voice," he began, trying once again to piece together just what had happened after he walked away from the corpse.
"Garik said the Caverns called to you. There was something in there that was strong with the Force."
Hux furrowed his brows. "Garik?" That name sounded so familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he had heard it before.
"He… ah…" Kylo hesitated. Hux wondered if the man was deciding what to keep from him. It only made him even more curious. "He saved you from the cold after I found you," the man finally replied. "I followed your Force-signature to the cave, and then on the way back I realized I was lost just when it was about to rain."
"You got lost?" Hux snorted, prompting a glare from the other. He knew there was much more than that. He decided that he would prod Kylo on the matter later.
"It happens to the best of us," Kylo huffed. "Weren't you the one who was more lost?"
He closed his eyes, trying to remember the cave. "Yes, I suppose I was quite disoriented." It was still all such a blur to him. He remembered his feet taking him outside of the city past the Academy, and then there was the massive sea cave unearthed by the low tide. He had ventured inside following that so-called "voice" he heard and then…
His mind suddenly felt like it was going to split open as something clamped around his brain mercilessly.
His hands immediately went to his head, willing the wave of pain to go away. Kylo was up beside him in an instant, hovering over worriedly as he waited for the migraine to pass. It seemed to go as quickly as it had come, and he could make out something glowing under his hand before he had passed out in the cave, a crystal of some sort.
"Was I holding something?"
There was a pause.
And then, "Yes."
Hux looked at Kylo, eyes wide.
The man sighed and produced a small white crystal from his pocket, and Hux instantly recognized it as the one that had called him. It hummed lightly as he took it tentatively from the other, turning it in his hand to the light. The rock gleamed even in the dim lights of the room.
"It's a kyber crystal," Kylo told him.
"You don't have to tell me. I designed Starkiller out of these, remember?" He placed it slowly on the bedside table, the red glow of Starkiller suddenly fresh in his thoughts. He felt nauseous. Why had the crystal called out to him?
"Hux, look at me," Kylo's voice broke him out of his thoughts. The man hand cupped his face, tilting it towards those honey eyes. Hux's lips quivered. He didn't deserve this warmth, not after Starkiller, not after Snoke.
It was then that it happened again, the Darkness lashing out, angry. Kylo himself looked surprised.
"Yes, remember your place beneath me."
A wave of panic washed over him, and Hux jerked away, his veins turning to ice. He had heard Snoke's voice in his head.
It was Snoke. Snoke. Snoke.
.
Kylo felt the man's mind go blank again as the Darkness surged around them. He tried to reel in control of the Force, but it merely quivered and continued to spread throughout the room. He knew this was not normal, that he would never lose his reins like this, but despite this he could feel his control slipping.
"You wanted to know the secret to power?" He heard Snoke's voice echoing through the walls.
Hux curled in on himself.
"Absolute control. Find a source of Light and collar it. Stamp it under your heel until it can no longer move. That is when you have absolute power." He could almost see Snoke's bemused wrinkled face before him. "Look at him, so weak. You can take him now, control him just as you desire."
He saw himself over Hux's naked form, the other limp under him, those beautiful eyes blank.
Kylo lashed out in anger, attempting to dissipate the Darkness, but it only grew with his passion. He knew it was coming from him, and that only he could retract it back into himself.
He grimaced and tried another approach, feeling the phantom Snoke in his mind back away in surprise when he called on the Light. It felt strange, to have to utilize it again after he had fallen to the Dark Side so many years ago.
The maneuver seemed to work as the heavy air suddenly lifted, and Hux took a deep breath, pale green eyes blinking slowly, as if he was trying to wake himself from a nightmare. The man swallowed, those translucent lashes trembling as he attempted to speak.
"M-my apolo…"
Kylo held up a hand to stop him. "Don't."
He could feel the other's mind retracting again, and he reached out for the man's hand before stopping himself. Slowly, he reminded himself. He would have to take this slowly. He withdrew his hand, watching Hux's eyes follow them, the man's own hands folded tensely on the sheets.
"I'm sorry… I really do want..." he heard a small voice in his head, Hux's voice. Kylo looked up from the man's hands and saw green eyes wide with surprise.
He reached out slowly with his own mind, soothing the other's. He felt the Darkness surge again, but it simmered down as quickly as it had come, surprisingly calmed by Hux's presence in his own mind. Hux also seemed to be concentrating on the sensation, and Kylo leaned forward, his breathing shallow and careful.
"I want your warmth..." he heard the voice again. It was no longer the mere projections he had been catching before, but a timid yet concrete voice, as if their minds were connected and having an intimate conversation.
Kylo moved himself to the bed, feeling its weight give slightly under him. When Hux did not move, he reached over and slowly wrapped his arms around the man's shoulders before gently pulling the other towards him in an embrace. The Darkness flared again with the contact, but he suppressed it with the help of Hux's consciousness in his own mind.
Hux returned the gesture, circling his own arms around Kylo's waist carefully before tensing, unsure. Kylo immediately tried to pull away, but Hux held him close, unwilling to let him go. He let out a breath, relieved that Hux wanted this. With the Darkness now dulled to a soft smoke, Kylo reached out with his mind once more.
He felt the man's fear, loneliness, longing. Yet, the spark that had gone out long ago, that had been stamped out by Snoke and the Commandant Hux, was now shining.
It was hope.
Kylo heard a faint sniff and hugged the man tighter as Hux buried his face in his chest.
"Don't be afraid. I will teach you how to control it," he soothed the other. "I will protect you."
The flame in his mind's eye flickered and flared, content.
He understood now as he looked at the trembling form in his arms. The man had persevered even after years of torture and abuse, had been struck down again and again only to rise from the ashes again and again. Snoke had failed.
The Light. It was Armitage.
Thank you for reading! *hearts* *hearts*