Chapter Text
Black walls ran upward as far as the eye could see. It seemed impossible but you could reason it was a mind trick. That's all everything was wasn't it? At least that's what Kylo thought as he stood at the back of the large chamber. He wasn't listening to what Hux was saying to Snoke, too distracted by the thought of what was about to become of him. He had failed, big. He knew that what awaited him was worse than death. Hux turned about face and started in his direction. As the fiery general moved closer to him, Kylo felt a slight tingle around his neck. Kylo took a fighting stance, even though he knew he stood no chance against the supreme leader. Suddenly he was dragged forward, his knees buckled in an attempt to stop it but all it did was allow him to be dragged across the floor. He fought, he thrashed and grunted as he fought against the hold around his body. It was all in vain as he was lifted into the air in front of the monster looking creature. Held there in the air he bared his teeth in an attempt to tell Snoke he would never stop fighting, that's when the pain really started. It was excruciating, like his body was being pulled apart atom by atom. He screamed out, it was a broken muffled sound. He pushed back with his mind, eyes screwing shut attempting to loosen the hold on him. That's when it all stopped. His body hit the ground and crumpled into a pile of black robes. His head hit the ground, helmet long gone.
With blurry vision Kylo looked up, his long hair fell past his eyes. There was a bright orange standing above him. He looked almost ethereal like this. Face focused and sweaty, arm outstretched like he was reaching for something. Kylo couldn't help but stare. Nothing else mattered in that moment except the beautiful creature standing above him. Maybe he was dead. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. The man looked down at Kylo with glowing emerald eyes. “Ren” His voice was hoarse and broken. Kylo stared like a child in awe. A pale hand reached down to him, Kylo accepted it. He stood. He was taller than the red head, by a few inches, he knew this but it seemed to matter a whole lot at this moment. Reality started to come back to the knight, Snoke. Whipping around Kylo searched for the supreme leader, finding nothing but a crumpled body on the chamber floor. He stared, shaken. Slowly he turned to look back at Hux. Hux was breathing irregularly, eyes not focused on the tall man in front of him, instead he was focused on the thing on the floor. He wasn't scared, he was angry. Rage swam in his eyes and they seemed to be burning holes into Snokes body. He had never seen the pristine general like this, he was simultaneously excited and terrified. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of that stare.
Kylo grabbed Hux’s shoulder and stared at him. Their eyes met. Dark brown meeting striking green. “What did you do?” Kylos voice was unlike Hux had ever heard it, he had seen Ren’s face many times before. But his voice, he had never heard it without the module altering it. It stunned him and he shook his head. “I don’t know.” Kylo’s eyes narrowed at the general before him. He was a symbol of strength, intelligence, passion, and most importantly fear. He planned everything meticulously, every outcome every piece mapped out on his personal chess board that he called life. But this, this was not that general. This was a man who didnt know who he was or what he was capable of. Kylo narrowed his eyes and reached out with the force. Searching the general for something that wasn't there before. Kylo suddenly realized that it was incredibly easy to read him, it had never been this easy. Ren assumed that in the past the intense resistance he got from the general was just because of his mental fortitude, his ability to be the monster the rest of the galaxy saw in him. But it hit him so incredibly suddenly that his knees wavered. That resistance was one he had known before, not exactly, but it was so discreet he hadn't ever noticed it before. This was the force.
It was in Hux, not just that it was all around him. Radiating like a force field of energy that if you looked close enough you could see plain as day. It was him. This energy was the general. The mad man made of fire and ash. Built from nothing to something. He was a force user. Kylo smiled. It was small but noticeable clearly because the man in front of him wavered and looked at him like he was insane. “You have the force.” Hux’s mouth moved open and closed but nothing would come out, eventually he was able to make out a weak “Yes.” Kylo stepped back fully throttled by this revelation. “Why didn’t you tell me? No. How did I not know?” Kylo’s face morphed from intrigued to confused and angry to skeptical. Hux sighed and ran a hand through his hair. That hair that was always perfectly gelled down was now messy and fluffy looking. The knight's eyes followed his hand as it raked through fire. “First of all, why would I tell you Ren? Second of all, I had to hide. If anyone knew I-“ he faltered. He never faltered, never stuttered. The taller man softened his expression and relaxed his shoulders.
“I know.” They stared at each other for who knows how long. Kylo felt his hand twitching very slightly in the direction of Hux, like it was telling him to reach out for him. Hold him, keep him here in this moment forever. But he couldn’t, sounds out in the corridor broke their connection. They both looked at the door then each other. “We need to get out of here.” Kylo fixed his mess of robes and brought a bit up to cover his nose and mouth like a mask. “And do what? Soon they’ll find out what we- I did. They’ll come after me. I’m a dead man.” Hux stared off into the distance. When he woke up this morning this definitely was not what he imagined was going to happen. “Far away. Far from the first order. We don’t need it. We have the force.” Kylo moved to be in Hux’s field of view. “We have to go, now.” Hux shook his head, clearing his mind like an etch a sketch and reinstilling that chilling demeanor. “Ok.” Hux looked up into Kylo’s eyes.
Two figures ran through the hallways of the finalizer. The fiery angry demeanor of Ren and the icy calm attitude of Hux mixed together and created a storm nobody could figure out. Stormtroopers stopped in their tracks. Other officers watched in awe as the two moved quickly together, in sync. By the time they reached the docking bay alarms had started to blare. A large group of white armored troops stood in the way of their freedom. All it took was one look between the two to know exactly what was about to happen. They fought side by side. An unstoppable force, one that was unlikely but worked better than anyone could have ever imagined. Red light streaked across the space as Kylo fought with his well known tool of death. Hux disarmed a stormtrooper and fired off perfect shot after perfect shot. Back to back the two worked as a team. Kylo felt something prick at the back of his mind, following his instincts he grabbed Hux’s waist and flipped their positions. Just then directly 10 feet in front of where Hux had just been standing two stormtroopers entered with large melee weapons. Neither had anytime to dwell on the contact because the fight was far from over. Hux sucked in a breath and began to take out the remaining fighters on his new side. Kylo squared his shoulders and showed off his saber gracefully despite his size. Spin after spin the two new stormtroopers watched clearly intimidated and regretting their decisions. But soon it was too late the knight was on them faster than light. Kylo fought both at once flipping and using the acrobatics he had learned over years of practice. It was over much too fast for anyone else to realize.
The two stood over the bodies of their once loyal troopers. Sweaty and out of breath Hux holstered his blaster and ran for the nearest ship. It was decently sized, nothing even remotely close to the size of the masterpiece that was the finalizer, but it'll do, he reasoned. Entering the ship he made his way to the cockpit and settled into the pilot’s chair. His trained hands moved around the space flipping switches and turning dials like it was second nature to him. Kylo entered the ship, lightsaber still angry and glowing bright red in his hand. He placed his hand on the co-pilot's seat and leaned over to look at what Hux was doing. Momentarily mesmerized by the general's trained movements he didn't realize the tip of his saber cutting into the floor of the ship. Light smoke and the sound of burning metal drew both of their attention. Kylo immediately closed the saber and hooked it to his belt. Hux rolled his eyes and went back to work initiating the launch sequence. The ship shook and lifted uneasily, then it was gone. Kylo grabbed the seat tighter to avoid flying backwards as the ship shot out of the open bay doors with incredible precision despite its speed. He shouldn't have expected anything less from the general.
The smaller shuttle raced through space and away from the finalizer. Hux watched from a rear viewport the ship disappearing from view. Everything he had worked for, everything he built. Gone. His ship, his fleet, his rank. All for nothing. He was leaving behind his greatest achievements and it was like he was a little child again. Hiding from his fathers wrath. A pain crawled into his chest and settled there. His hands gripped the steering device tighter. His already pale fingers becoming paler. Kylo ducked into the cockpit and sat down in the co-pilot's seat and rested his hand on one of Hux’s trying to get his attention. Hux seemed to snap out of a flashback and look directly at Kylo. His hands loosened their grip and Hux let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. “Let me.” Kylo said carefully, it sounded weird coming out of his mouth. He never spoke carefully to people. He never cared. Suddenly the events of the last 30 minutes came back to him and he was extremely confused with himself. It didn't matter though because silently Hux let go of the controls and got out of the pilot's seat. He disappeared into the back of the ship and Kylo shifted into the pilot's seat. Silently he settled into the familiar rhythm of flying a shuttle. Flipping the switch for the hyperdrive, Kylo finally let his shoulders relax slightly into the seat.
Hux moved like a robot through the ship. He ended up in the kitchen doing what he always did when the memories came back, he made tea. Standing there by the counter silently he heard distant screams in the back of his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to drown it out. Soon the teapot itself started to scream, he reacted quickly by moving the pot off the heat to stop the sound. Sighing he poured the boiling hot water into a cup watching the steam rise up into the air. It hit his face and started to relax him. The first sip was like a reminder to himself that he could do this. Hux sat at a small table with two chairs against the wall of the kitchen. Sipping his tea and staring off into the distance he didn't know how long.
Soon Kylo entered the kitchen looking for Hux. He sat across from the man silently. Only then did Hux realize that the knight had even entered the room. He really could move silently if he wanted to, Hux guesses he just chose not to on the finalizer. Hux continued to stare off into the distance, waiting to see if Ren would start a conversation or just simply continue to stare at him. “We’ll be entering the outer rim soon. The first order can’t track us this far.” Kylo spoke, staring directly at Hux’s eyes that were focused elsewhere. Hux closed his eyes for a minute then got out of his seat and moved to place his empty cup in the sink. He stood there in front of the sink looking down pondering something, anything to say. Kylo stood and moved to stand behind the general. He reached out but stopped himself. The knight's hand hovered near Hux’s shoulder. He had taken parts of his uniform off and was now left in a slightly disheveled looking button up with the bottom half of his uniform untouched. The sleeves were rolled up and slightly ripped from the battle earlier. His long coat was discarded on the counter to the left. Kylo took a deep breath and placed his hand on the general's shoulder, it was cold. Hux turned around and they faced each other a mere few inches from each other. Hux looked up at the man standing right in front of him. “What do we do now?” His voice was tired. “Anything we want.”