Triton was home to many more advanced civilizations than Elrood. Many days and weeks of war room planning had gone into this first day. As such, I was not surprised that the command shuttle was away for twenty hours. It was the middle of the night cycle when Kylo returned to our quarters.

I stayed in bed, remembering the state of his mind after the battle on Elrood. I expected him to shower and come to bed to sleep. Forcing my eyes shut, I pretended to be asleep.

Crack!

I shot upright. The light of the fresher revealed Kylo standing at the sink with shards of glass scattered around him. His scraped and bleeding hand clutched the side of the counter. His gaze was hazy and fixed on nothing.

"I hate Snoke," he raged, teeth clenched. "I hate being here. I just need to find the map and it's not here!"

My legs dangled over the side of the bed, my feet refusing to touch the floor. I held myself with my arms and used my gentlest voice to comfort him. "The Supreme Leader is wise. He knows you'll find it eventually."

"He's a fool," he shot back. "And a Sith."

I blinked in confusion. "Aren't you a Sith?"

My regret was instantaneous. With a heated glare, he stormed over to me and grabbed my face with one hand. My heart leaped in fear as I gazed up at him. As he dug through my mind, his eyes studied the confusion on my face with morbid curiosity. He pinched my cheeks between his fingers with slight pressure.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," he said vacantly.

"Then teach me," I mumbled.

He squeezed tighter, bizarrely disfiguring my lips. I winced.

"Kylo."

I tore myself away from him, but he had pinned my legs to the side of the bed. He caught my arm and leaned down to kiss me. My hands dug into his shoulders to keep him away, and he reared back. Disappointment washed over his face.

"Lucia…don't refuse me."

"No," I snapped crossly. "Not tonight."

I laid down and pulled the sheets over my head. My body trembled as genuine fear gnawed at my stomach. He'll be back to normal in the morning. Soon enough, I sensed him leave and heard the shower running. Adrenaline and tiredness battled for dominance inside of me until the latter eventually won out.

Kylo's restless activity and my own troubled mind continually woke me up. The light of star charts danced around the room as he continued his frantic research. The swoosh of doors opening and closing brought me in and out of quickly forgotten dreams, mingling together the events of the real world and those created by my mind.

I eventually woke up, eyes wide awake, when the room was dark and still. Kylo's rhythmic breathing from the other side of the bed indicated that he was asleep. I turned over, pulling the sheet up to my chin. My eyes fell on an unusual beam of light painted across the floor. When I realized its source, I quietly slipped out of bed.

The bioreader screen was red, displaying the word "ERROR." Deciding to take a quick peek inside, I crossed my arms to conserve my warmth and padded across the floor. The bright light inside the room caused me to squint as I got closer. I stuck my head through the doorway and blinked.

The room was no larger than a storage closet. An armchair and some kind of displayed artifact were the only objects in the room. My eyes became fixated on it, and my feet began walking of their own accord. I felt magnetically drawn to it until my hand was reaching out…and touching it.

It felt ancient, and cold. I knew it immediately.

The mask of Darth Vader.

Suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation on my neck. I reached up and attempted to gasp, but no air could squeeze into my lungs. Panic came instantly as I silently cupped my hands around the ghostly grip on my neck. I can't breathe! My feet were glued to the floor. I can't move!

"How could you," a voice growled behind me.

I couldn't look at him or even attempt to explain. Or fall to my knees and beg for forgiveness. As the edges of my vision began to darken, my body was seized, and I was suddenly dangling over his shoulder.

Blood rushed forcefully back into my head as I clung to his back upside down. His broad footsteps shook my body to the core. He entered the bedroom, and I was gripped with fear.

He roughly tossed me onto the bed.

TW: SA. Scroll to # to skip.

My heart pounded as I scrambled away from him. His hand closed around my ankle and pulled, dragging me to the bottom of the bed. I blindly kicked at him, but nothing seemed to deter him. He yanked my pants down and shoved a hand into my panties, feeling how not ready I was.

His eyes, wide with anger, snapped to my face. I gasped, lips quivering.

"Tell me 'no,' Lucia," he mumbled, haphazardly jerking his pants down.

I shook my head feebly. This can't be happening!

My body was dead weight as he rolled me over. I trembled from head to toe as his hand fisted my hair and pressed my head into the mattress. My eyes were wide, and my lungs quivered with silent and shallow breaths.

I felt his erection brush the back of my thigh. His dry fingers futilely rubbed my clit, and I squirmed away from his touch. He leaned over me, fanning the back of my neck with humid breath.

"Tell me 'no,'" he growled in my ear.

When his erection pressed into me, my entire body and mind froze. He shoved it inside, and the stabbing pain seemed to tear my body straight down the middle. I lay there paralyzed by shock and fear.

The friction alone triggered some lubrication, but not enough. Each thrust brought waves of radiating pain that seemed never-ending. His sounds were short and animalistic. I felt hot tears soak into the sheets under my head.

After only a couple of minutes, he climaxed. I felt a strained groan on my neck as his semen spilled into me. His body trembled as he breathed into my skin, heavy and loud.

#

A gasp interrupted his labored breathing.

And then, everything was still.

He rolled off me and covered his face with both hands. I remained exactly where I was, feeling the burning pain sink deeper into my pelvis. Something too thin trickled out of me. With a weak hand, I slowly pulled my pants back up.

I felt like a hollowed-out vessel. An empty shell.

I heard a quiet sniffle.

"I feel it," Kylo rasped, his voice muffled by his hands. "The pull to the Light…"

He sobbed—a wretched sound in his chest. His breath shook.

"It only goes away when I'm with you, or…" He choked back another sob. "It's…t—tearing me apart…"

When his hand brushed my shoulder, seeking comfort, I reacted immediately. I rolled to the very edge of the bed and curled my body away from him. His voice suddenly changed, sounding softer, like he was a completely different person.

"Forgive me, Lucia," he pleaded desperately. "Please, forgive me. Please. Please…"

A beat of silence went by. Even if I tried, I couldn't feel less sympathy for him.

"You're pathetic, Kylo," I murmured.

His sniveling stopped.

I should have yelled at him. I should have fought him. I should have run away. I should have called for help. I should have done something. But all I could do was lay there, feeling like my mind had been stuffed into a lifeless corpse.

I stared sightlessly at the wall until the light of the day cycle began to fill the room.