The Cruellest Thing

The Villain

The rain stopped after the sun had set. Rose checked her overalls but they were of course still damp.

"I guess I have to borrow your coat for a while longer," she said and sat down.

He barely looked at her and continued stare into the fire, poking it with a thin twig. His hair hung onto his face and beard stubble was visible. She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

When he wasn't his usual slimy self, he didn't look that bad she realised. He looked ... normal. Her thoughts returned to their earlier conversation – it was strange to imagine that someone like Hux had parents, had been a child once ... but of course all people in the First Order had parents, had friends, lovers and even had children themselves.

Rose had of course known that she wasn't fighting monsters but people, but it still hadn't occurred to her that they were real people. How strange.

She picked up a piece of fire wood and started to whittle. She tried to carve simple ornaments in it. After she finished, she let her fingertips wander over the badly carved ornaments and the rough edges. From the corner of her eye she saw that he was looking at her. Probably plotting ways to get rid of her once she had fixed the long-range comm.

She put the branch down and put the knife away.

"What was the special occasion?" she asked.

"What?"

"When you bought the blade."

He pressed his lips together and didn't answer.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Come on, we're stuck here and it's boring."

"Alright, if you tell me about your medallion first."

She hesitated shortly, then she straightened herself. "My sister made it. She kept one half and gave the other to me."

His eyebrow rose. "And why didn't you want to talk about it?"

"Because she's dead," she made an effort to keep her voice steady. "She was the pilot who destroyed your dreadnaught," she added after a moment.

For a moment Hux looked as if he wanted to sneer, but then he just looked away. Only then she realised that she had clenched her fists. She exhaled and brushed her hair out of her face.

"Your turn."

"I brought it after my father was killed."

"Oh ... so was he killed during a battle?"

He scoffed and looked her in the eye. He leaned forward and said quietly. "I orchestrated his death. I bought the knife to commemorate the occasion."

A shiver ran down her spine. "You killed your own father?"

He shrugged. "He got what he deserved."

Rose gulped. A sudden bang of fear ran through her. She had thought that she had gotten a sense of him, that she was never afraid of Hux – that she had been scared of his gun, what he would do with it but never him. She wrapped the coat closer around herself.

He laughed joyless. "By the stars! It really bothers you, doesn't it?"

"He was your father."

"If you'd known him you would understand," he said with a scoff. "Or perhaps you do understand – I'm told I'm the spitting image of him. A cold, merciless sadist."

"And here I thought you delude yourself about bringing the galaxy order and stability, but you actually admit that you're evil."

He laughed again, but it sounded forced. "Evil is a relative term is it not? But I know what I am – I blew up an entire system, killed billions. Men, women and children. Don't tell me that you wouldn't kill me if given the chance."