So just to update everyone with what is happening with Fork in the Road: I am currently struggling severely with "I'm a horrible writer and none of my readers deserve the crap I'm writing" with it. Also I've hit a bit of a wall when it comes to the next conflict / arc. I keep having mild ideas but none that are a concrete. (also all my free writing time keeps going to new **shinier** ideas) I also feel like my chapter quality is starting to drop because of the previous reasons, and I don't want to give you guys something I'm not completely happy with. I haven't abandoned it though, I'm just taking a break!
So this was based off a kink!meme prompt that was really similar to the main fic except for the fact it wanted Kylo/Hux as the pairing (and for them to defect together). I then managed to twist this to the point where it barely resembles the prompt that inspired it. *sighs* this is why I don't fill as many kink meme prompts as I would like.
At least this one is a true hypothetical way the main story could have gone but won't instead of a 'I had an idea and created a whole new verse for it' like the others.
Does this count as another bridge scene rewrite? Probably. I'm sorry I can't seem to stop myself.
Pairing: Kylo/Hux
Warnings: mpreg; implied/thoughts of torturing/killing pregnant people
They had talked about it. Talked about the possibility of leaving the First Order. Sometimes they talked about setting off on their own, cutting off all ties and seeing if they could create a life on one of the planets, getting as far away from the conflict as possible. Other times they talked of going to the Resistance, using a mother's love to ensure their safety. They had talked about it many times, talked about the various hypothetical ways of going about it but they always knew it would be impossible. Impossible to shake Snoke and all of the First Order off. No. There was no way for them to leave they agreed.
Or at least Hux thought they had agreed.
They are literally seconds away from removing the Resistance as a threat for good when he feels Kylo Ren's presence slip into his mind.
'I am going with my father. I'll find a way to contact you when it is safe for you to join me.'
Hux is glad he has so much practice in schooling his face so those serving under (and over) him do not know what he is thinking. He is lucky that nobody can see the fury he is feeling despite there being no obvious catalyst for it. Kylo Ren had the reputation of being unpredictable in his emotions and reactions. Hux was the one who was reliably consistence and reasonable.
'Also you might want to evacuate the base.'
At least that comment is followed by a shake in the building that can only mean something has happened. Hux can pretend his anger and confusion is focused on that instead of Kylo Ren's words.
The explosion is traced and while damage has been done everything is still operational. They will still be able to complete the task set for them by the Supreme Leader. After that Hux will deal with his lover. Hopefully the mess Kylo Ren has made isn't as bad as Hux believes it to be.
The planet shakes this time. The damage has reached a point where the planet itself is cracking. As much as Hux hates it he ends up doing as Kylo Ren suggested and evacuating.
Once he has ensured everything important it getting off the base he leaves himself. It is once they have set everything up to fly directly to Snoke that Hux feels Kylo slip back into his mind. The first thing communicated is relief that Hux is alive and didn't end up dead when the base was destroyed. The second is an apology for leaving. Hux excuses himself and finds a place where he can have this conversation privately. Where he doesn't have to risk someone reading what is going on from his expression.
Kylo regrets leaving him but he couldn't risk the time it would take to convince Han Solo to take him too. He couldn't risk people becoming aware of the plan and trying to stop him. He had to do it. It was his best chance at leaving safely (and remaining safe).
Hux can feel a headache coming on. This was not how he thought the day would pan out. He woke up in the morning believing the day would hold the First Order's ultimate triumph. He did not think he was going to end it with the base destroyed and his lover defecting (taking their unborn child with him). He cannot fault Kylo Ren though, it was the best chance he had of leaving undetected. It also has the added advantage of bringing him within his family's protection. Snoke will have to plan a way of getting him back, especially now they have the map to Luke Skywalker (by now potentially have Luke Skywalker).
Ren promises he will find a way to get Hux to him (which is stupid because Hux is the one who thinks up the plans, Kylo Ren is the one who does things impulsively which is why they are in their current situation) but for now he has to go. The ship he is on has arrived at the Resistance base and he needs to focus on that. He will contact Hux as soon as he has news.
Half a week passes without the presence of Kylo Ren slipping into Hux's mind and Hux is starting to worry. He had been sure that between Kylo Ren's parents and the child there would be no way for any cruelty to come to his lover. Now he is starting to doubt that. In the First Order a prisoner being pregnant would not stop steps being taken to either get information from them or remove them as a threat. Maybe he was wrong in believing the Resistance softer than that.
He is (rightfully) scared when the Supreme Leader calls him to a private meeting. Snoke will be unhappy that Kylo Ren and the child have vanished (and perhaps perished). He will be angry and will blame Hux for it because there isn't anyone else that could be held responsible.
Hux tries to walk to his death with his head held high.
"I have news as to where Kylo Ren is being held."
"Supreme Leader-" Hux doesn't know what he wants to say. He has nearly accepted Kylo Ren's death and now the Supreme Leader is talking about him being held somewhere. The thought of him meaning where Kylo Ren's body was being held seems impossible (the Supreme Leader has little interest in Kylo Ren himself, and would have little want to retrieve a body if it was not useful).
"I need you to organise a team to retrieve him."
"I-" he feels like he should say something or maybe ask one of the many questions that are weighing on his mind. His options all seem too dangerous, too much like admitting he might have feelings for Kylo Ren past those that are allowed by their positions (past the mutually gained pleasure their fucking is supposed to only be). "Yes Supreme Leader."
"Do not disappoint me." Hux feels as if there is a second threat there. Feels that Snoke probably knows the real reason for Kylo Ren's disappearance and knows the hypotheticals explored by them in the dead of night.
"I will not fail your Supreme Leader," Hux says with a bow.
"Good. You are dismissed."
Building the team is harder than he expects it to be. They lost a lot of good, competent Storm Troopers in the fall of Starkiller Base. There are still plenty more but Hux had not yet realised exactly how much damage they had taken (hadn't yet gotten the chance to calculate it). He finds himself laughing. The Resistance might still have a chance yet.
He picks out the best he can.
As an afterthought he adds himself. The mission is far from what he usually does but he needs to be there. Needs to see what has happened to Kylo Ren. Needs to find out why he has not contacted Hux yet. Needs to know if something bad has happened or if Kylo has cut off his ties to the First Order. Cut Hux off in order to have a better chance of returning to his family.
He is both looking forward to and dreading the mission. At least he will have the answers as to what happened to Kylo Ren (and his child) after they left his mind during the fall of Starkiller Base (and Kylo Ren's defection). He fears the answers will not be the ones he wants (Kylo Ren has cut him off, or worse – Kylo Ren is dead).
It is hardly a day from when he puts in his decision of who will go to when they are leaving to attack the Resistance base and retrieve Kylo Ren.
Hux stays on the ship as the Storm Troopers swarm on the base. He stays on the ship and transfers the information between them as needed.
"We think we have found him," FR-2675 says and Hux' full attention is on him.
"Where are you?"
"In the base. One of the rooms is locked. The door is different General Sir."
"What sort of different?"
"Like it has been reinforced somehow General Sir."
"Do you want us to blow it open?" SS-1643 asks.
"Yes of course I want you to blow it open. Our mission is to search every corner of the base to find Kylo Ren. I want no rock unturned."
"Of course General Sir," FR-2675 says and a few seconds later he hears an explosion through the coms.
"Well. Is he there?" he demands and the sounds of bodies hitting the floor is his response after a minute of silence.
"Dammit! One of you report immediately!"
No words come from any of them but a presence slips into his mind.
'Did you miss me General?'
Hux tries to hide the relief in his own mind. He does not want Ren knowing exactly how much he missed him. Apparently Kylo finds it nonetheless because a smugness presses into him that can only belong to the other man.
'Where are you?' There is a pause as apparently Ren just decides to find the information instead of allowing Hux to give it. 'Stay where you are.'
Hux wants to snap how he had no plans of leaving the ship anyway but the connection is broken.
Hux doesn't have to wonder long about what Kylo is planning before the Storm Troopers tell him. It soon gains a predictable pattern: a Storm Trooper reports that they have found Kylo Ren, that Storm Trooper's body hitting the ground (and perhaps the hum of a lightsaber) being the next sound that comes through the coms. Kylo Ren is carving a bloody path through their men and Hux has a feeling it is leading towards him.
"You can come out now," Kylo Ren's voice calls from outside the ship and Hux throws him com to the ground (the only way he can express his anger at the other man currently) before walking out. He really hates the man (lie).
"I wasn't there because you told me to be. I was trying to command the troops I brought in order to retrieve you," Hux says. Seeing Kylo Ren makes it clear to him how his lover really was fine. Sure he was covered in blood and dirt, but it wasn't his blood. The Resistance apparently was as soft as he believed. "You didn't contact me."
"The room I was in blocked the Force from coming in or out," Kylo Ren explains as he walks closer causing Hux to scowl.
"You're dirty," he grumbles as Ren reaches out to him.
"And you are always too clean for the blood on your hands," he slips back into Hux's mind and Hux can see how he believes that Hux planned the attack to be a massacre of Storm Troopers. Planned it so he could get to the Resistance base without being stopped. Hux decides to just let him believe what he wants.
The resistance pilot (Poe Dameron, Hux remembers him well) looks awkwardly away when the two embraced. He doesn't leave them though, apparently determined not to let them escape despite how clearly he does not want to be there.
The battle is over far too quickly.
General Organa is quick to find them.
"There you are," her whole body relaxes when she sees her son. When she notices Hux she tense right back up. "What are you doing here?"
"I was sent by the Supreme Leader to retrieve Kylo Ren," Hux says.
"He's with me," Kylo Ren says.
General Organa looks between them (and briefly to Dameron who avoids her gaze) before crossing her arms. "So you're the one I have to bury on a moon," she says and Ren's mouth quirks just slightly and Hux knows it's some joke between them. Hux understands enough to know what it is a joke about and cannot resist the urge to flush at it. That apparently pleases the woman.
The pleasure passes from her quickly and a frown takes its place. "You two had better have some pretty useful information because Force knows I'll have a hard time trying to convince the council to just exile you both."
Hux was right about a mother's love ensuring their safety. Even if he still isn't convinced that this is actually the right decision. It's not like he can escape at that moment though. So for now he will stay and see how it all plays out. The plan can always change in the future if it needs to.
