These Violent Delights

Chapter 60: He Didn't Want Peace.

WARNINGS: Extreme graphic depictions of violence and gore. 

—

Madness engulfed Exegol. 

The two hordes had since moved away from the Citadel, pushing toward Kylo's ship. Starfighter missiles barraged the grounds, and the land shook as X-wings wrapped the AT-AT walker in a tow cable to bring it down. The AT-STs were the next victims to fall, relief flowing through him as clouds of dust enveloped their destroyed units. He never thought he'd rejoice in seeing the Resistance demolish First Order machinery, but as he ran to safety with his ex-Resistance, ex-prisoner, and Force dyad lover, Kylo realized there must be a first time for everything.

Soldiers remained preoccupied as they ran through, and judging by the suffocating fear surrounding them, he assumed it was on purpose. They didn't get by unnoticed, that's for sure, but 'troopers and Resistance fighters were hesitant to approach after seeing how easily he could cut through them.

Besides his own efforts, ground and air support were putting in work, effortlessly mowing down enemies from every angle. Kitten only fired four times, and Kylo only had to slice through a dozen assailants by the time they got in close range of his TIE silencer. For a moment, the Supreme Leader thought maybe they'd get away without a hiccup.

But those low, foul voices picked up in the air again, floating all around him and penetrating his senses. Kitten looked at him with terror in her eyes, and he knew she heard them, too. Which only meant one thing—Drox was nearby. Kylo stopped, the wind whipping around him and throwing his cloak into a wicked flurry as he set his eyes on the bastard scum himself.

"Kylo, leave him! We have to go!" Kitten yelled, tugging on his arm. "He's not worth it!"

"He has something of mine," he said, nostrils flaring as he looked at her. He jutted his chin towards the silencer. "Get inside and stay there."

Kylo didn't listen to her protests as he stalked toward Drox, ripping through enemies and allies alike. He felt eyes on him, but right now, he was untouchable. For those that dared fire, he gracefully dodged their shots with the Force, leaving a trail of bodies in his midst.

It wasn't long before Drox noticed that the Supreme Leader was after him, and after kicking a 'trooper in the stomach and shooting him in the head, he stumbled back in hysteria. A black mass tearing through the red-painted battlefield with crazed eyes and a domineering stance, Kylo looked just as he felt as he closed in on Kitten's ex. A predator intent on killing his prey.

Too fixated on his approaching doom, Drox found himself between two Stormtroopers. Kylo didn't waste time deciphering whether they were his or Hux's. He didn't care. Before they could attack his target, he Force-propelled them back, flying them through the air to crash into the distance.

"You're mine, Drox," Kylo yelled, grabbing his lightsaber. He stomped out a foot as it flashed alive, spitting red to match the rage flaring in his sternum. He raised it to his eye level and looked at Drox's terrified face down the length of his crimson, crackling blade. "It's just us now."

Drox looked at him with wide eyes, mouth agape. "Don't come near me! I, I have the crystal in my hand!"

Without hesitation, Kylo flung his lightsaber at the current bane of his existence. It spun through the air with smooth momentum, slicing through Drox's wrist like a hot knife cutting into butter. After it boomeranged back to him, the Supreme Leader curled his fingers around the hilt to clip it on his belt.

"Not anymore," he deadpanned, glancing down at his victim's severed hand on the ground. As the kyber tumbled away from them, silencing the voices, Drox looked at his stump spewing blood and started screaming at the top of his lungs.

They were shrill, blood-curdling screams, the kind that rang in Kylo's ears, drowning out the sounds of war. The kind he thrived off of and needed. He closed in, his powerful strides no match for Drox's feeble attempt to flee. Grabbing him by the throat with one hand, Kylo leaned his shoulder back, formed a fist, and swung at his jaw. Over the cries of battle and blaster shots, the sound of his face breaking was crystal clear. Drox's eyes rolled back as he sputtered out a fountain of bloodied spit, trying pathetically to throw a punch, but his opponent blocked him with ease. The Supreme Leader let go of him and raised his hands to fight, but Drox spun around to run for his life.

Kylo let him go for a few moments to incite some false hope, then Force-propelled him back. "We aren't done yet."

Drox flew through the air to land at Kylo's feet, struggling to get on his knees as his ruler circled him. "GET UP! GET UP, AND FUCKING FACE ME!" Blood pouring from his wrist and mouth, Drox looked up at him with pleading eyes. He was hysterical as he babbled, begging for his life, but Kylo grabbed his throat to pull him to his feet. "I SAID, GET UP!"

Drox stumbled forward, groaning as he clutched his hemorrhaging wrist against his stomach. "Please, please..."

His pleas made Kylo furious. He hit him in the face once, twice, three times. Over and over again until he felt the life slip away from him, and Drox's face was just a sack of skin holding splintered bones and bodily fluids. A war raged around him, but all Kylo could focus on was destroying this one man, making sure that he took his last breath while he was watching. But he knew he had to get back to Kitten, so he released him, using the Force to keep his victim upright as he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders.

Kylo spoke intimately to him, as though the two were old friends. "Any last words?"

With both eyes swollen shut and crimson liquid oozing through his busted lips, Drox croaked out his distorted, breathless words. Kylo had to lean in to decipher what he said. "I... had....her....first."

Rage ripped through him. He threw his head back and yelled, a guttural howl that clawed its way out of his lungs, unleashing his anger and malice and shrouding them in a cloud of emotion just as charged as the air on Exegol. Grabbing a fistful of his hair, Kylo snapped Drox's head back and used his other hand to grip his mutilated arm, pulling it up and shoving it down his throat. He watched with satisfaction as his enemy thrashed, his mouth filling with blood as he choked to death on his wrist.

As he began to fade, the Supreme Leader opened himself up to feel what Drox felt. Fear, anger, grief...he dug deeper, inserting himself in his mind to devour every last thought and memory he ever had, only to be punched in the gut with memories of Kitten.

Even though it hurt, Kylo consumed all of them like oxygen. Their happy times together, their intimate times together. The way he felt for her, the way she felt for him. On the surface, it seemed genuine, making his head spin with nausea, but then he found an inkling of deceit and tugged on it, exposing the truth of their connection. Drox didn't give a fuck about her. He only cared about himself and finding validation in partners, especially with women behind Kitten's back. The only thing he liked about her was that she was hard to win over. And now that she had moved on, it became a challenge to him. Drox saw her as a prize, something to win and collect and brag about, not care for and protect and cherish.

And it made something snap inside of Kylo. Again.

He let go of Drox, and the shitbag stumbled back, his arm falling out of his mouth as he coughed. He was near death and would collapse any minute. Kylo followed closely, grabbing his lightsaber and igniting it before poising it back. With a fluid swing, he sliced Drox's head clean off his shoulders. The headless body sank to the ground, knees digging into the dirt to briefly balance his dead weight upright. Before it fell over, Kylo leaned down and grabbed his mother's lightsaber off his body.

"Thanks," he mumbled, securing both lightsabers under his belt as the corpse collapsed, landing right beside his severed head. Swooping down, he collected a fistful of Drox's hair, picked up his head, and turned around to make his way to Kitten...only to see her surrounded by four Stormtroopers. Carrying her ex's head like a prize, he broke into a run, guilt settling into his stomach.

What if they kill her before I get to her? Why did I spend so much time on Drox when I knew she needed me? How will I ever—

His paranoia didn't last long. Within thirty seconds, she had taken them all down by herself. Kylo slowed his pace, his eyebrows rising in awe. Bodies lay lifeless around her as she straddled the last helmetless victim, the heel of her stiletto lodged into his eye socket. He glanced around the quieting battlefield, then back to her. She was shouting, repeatedly stabbing the soldier's eyes out with her heel, alternating between the sockets. Once the 'trooper stopped moving, she wiped the blood off her face and stood up. She casually looked at Kylo as he approached her position, catching her breath.

"Hey."

"Hey, back." Kylo glanced at the slain Stormtroopers, then back at her. He threw Drox's head at her feet. "Happy birthday."

She looked at it and frowned. "Who the fuck is that?"

"Your shitbag ex."

She raised her brows. "You...decapitated him."