Hunger of the Pine ➢ Kylux

When the smoke clears

Finn eyed the hidden faces standing guard around him, curiosity running rampant inside his brain. Of course he had heard many stories of the famed Knights of Ren during his time with the Order, but never did he think he would ever actually get the chance to be in their presence. How ironic this all was, Finn thought. For almost all of his life, the ideals of these creatures were idolized amongst his peers and even himself, as much as he hated to admit it. They were put upon a pedestal of pristine excellence, making them what all troopers yearned deeply to achieve. Years ago, he would have felt unquestionably honoured to have such an opportunity, although now, all Finn felt was disdain.

Across the bay, Kylo lounged casually against the wall, swimming through the other man's thoughts. A small smirk of satisfaction crept its way onto his lips at the ex-trooper's hidden realizations. After lingering a few more moments, Kylo pulled away and traveled into a nearby corridor where two other Knights sat in silence, looking over their weapons while engulfed in an undivided focus. With their faces exposed, both appeared almost harmless. Their young, soft features were an oddity inside the Order, but comforting none the less. Before him, was a dark skinned woman, whose curls extended tightly from her head in natural bursts and another man, younger than Kylo, with a clump of shaggy, fawn coloured hair and dark, mischievous eyes.

"Sir." They regarded him in unison, immediately halting their work.

Kylo waved them off with a duck of his head and ran his fingers over the hardy metal staff sprawled out despairingly on the counter. "The pilots have alerted me that we shall be landing shortly." He paused when he came upon a heavy indent in the weapon, though continued only a breath later, " When we arrive at the base, I want you all to keep a close eye on the prisoner. The man may seem powerless, but he will not be underestimated, not this time." Kylo withdrew his hand back to his side and looked both Knights in the eye, "Are we clear?"

They both nodded frivolously, though the man decided to speak up, much to the enmity of his female counterpart. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, who is he? I know that he is with the Resistance, but back there, at the cantina, it seemed as if you two had come into contact before."

"Cearest, it is not our place to question Lord Ren!" hissed the woman as she turned to him, expression tight.

Her unyielding loyalty to him sent shivers of sweet contentment running through Kylo's body, forcing him to bite back the fighting urge to smile. Despite this, he nodded to her, "No worries, Roza." Then, Kylo's gaze shifted to the man standing beside her, "Cearest was only being curious."

The Knight, Cearest, swallowed, wanting nothing more than to back away from the taller man and return to his task of repairing his weapons. He tensed when a broad hand came lightly into contact with his shoulder in a domineering grasp. "Our prisoner is none other than FN-2187, our first and only stormtrooper to ever defect and turn against us."

"He defected?" Roza gasped. "I bet the General is dying to get his hands on that one then. He probably won't even spare us a second glance when we arrive alongside him." Kylo didn't doubt this for he knew the high levels of frustration Hux had felt for this particular case. All his life, he had spent perfecting his system of selection for the Order, only taking the best of the best. Yet, after all that hard work, it only took one renegade to destroy it all.

When they touched down on the iron expanse of landing strip, Finn was first to be shoved out of the vehicle, flanked on all sides by the Knights, Kylo trailing closely behind. Outside waiting for their arrival, stood Captain Phasma, as poised and uniform as ever. Kylo's heart fell only slightly when he realized General Hux was nowhere to be found, though he cleared his head almost instantly after the thought crossed his mind. Certainly Hux wouldn't be out here at this time of day, the sky had already begun to fade into a deep magenta, with its many moons peeking brightly out from the clouds. Even so, an absence of the General was of no importance to him, such feelings were a luxury that he couldn't allow, no matter what was said nights previously.