Allegiance | Kylo Ren

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I had just managed to fall asleep when I felt Mason shaking my shoulder slightly. I squinted my eyes at him, a bit annoyed at being woken up.

"What?" I groaned, slapping his hand away when he tried again to wake me.

"It's time to run your tests." He gave me an apologetic smile. "It won't take long, I promise. You'll be back to your nap in no time."

I rubbed my eye with the back of my hand and sighed, sitting up so Mason could take my arm and help me off the bed. I leaned against him slightly as together we made our way out the door and down the hall, turning in to a room that I hadn't noticed before.

Inside the room was a large machine with a gap in the middle, all kinds of strange wires and mechanisms branching from it like roots from a tree trunk. With Mason's help, I settled down onto a long, narrow pad. He placed a small pillow beneath my head and turned away to examine a control panel against the wall.

"Try and stay as still as you can." He instructed, his fingers moving quickly as he set up the machine. It came to life with a muted whirring noise. "You'll be inside for about ten minutes, and then you're on to the next test."

"I'm going inside that?" I eyed the machine warily. "What does it do?"

He gave a soft chuckle. "It's going to take a scan of your internal organs. From there we can see what kind of progress you've made, and whether or not you need to stay longer. You've healed unpredictably well so far, but this is just an extra precaution to make sure we're not letting you go too soon."

I nodded, and he pressed a button on the control panel. My cot began to move beneath me, shifting my body so I was located in the direct center of the machine.

"Just relax." Mason called to me from outside. "I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you."

With that, he left.

I had no way of telling how much time had passed. I tried counting the seconds in my head, but quickly lost track and gave up. I considered trying to take a quick nap, since I had been cheated out of it before, but I couldn't seem to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Instead, I waited impatiently as the minutes crawled by, listening to the occasional clicks of the machine as it scanned my body.

The sound of the door opening sent relief running through me.

"All done!" Mason's cheerful voice made me smile.

The clicks ended, and I felt the cot moving back out of the machine. Mason helped me off with careful hands, leading me back out of the room.

"What's next?" I inquired, silently hoping it wasn't anything similar to the body scan.

"Next, I'll take a look at that scan and then give your stomach a quick feel to make sure everything is alright bones-wise." He led me into another room with a raised bed in it. The bed was identical to my other bed. In fact, as I looked around, I realized the room was identical as well. All that was missing was my moody roommate.

I took a seat at the edge of the bed, swinging my legs as Mason retrieved a print of my scan. He examined it with careful eyes, seeming to take in every tiny detail of the very detailed picture of my innards. I wrinkled my nose as I caught a glimpse of it.

Mason noticed my reaction and chuckled lightly. "I won't make you look at it. But it's looking really good. There's no noticeable buildup of scar tissue beyond what's normal. Your organs are continuing to work, and there's no sign of internal bleeding. Your subcutaneous stitches," he gave me a pointed look, "have stayed in place nicely."

I gave a sheepish smile. "Those are harder to tear out. I would have had to put more effort into it."

He shook his head slightly, a smile curving his lips. "They're also harder to replace, so I'm glad you decided to spare yourself the effort." He placed the scan on the bed next to me, flipping it so it was facedown and I wouldn't have to look at it. "Now, I'm going to lift your shirt and feel your ribs and spine to make sure it's all in the right place, okay?"

I nodded, suppressing a shiver as his hands lifted the hem of my shirt to the bottom of my chest, exposing my torso. His touch was soft as he ran his fingers over each of my ribs, applying slight pressure to each of them as he went. I became acutely aware of how close his face was to mine, and suddenly Kylo's words came flooding back to me. I stared down at my lap to hide my flaming cheeks, hoping that Mason wouldn't notice. He didn't; he was focused solely on his work, a slight frown creasing the skin between his eyebrows as he examined my ribs.

"Does Lord Ren have to go through these tests as well?" I asked to break the silence.

Mason pulled down the front of my shirt and made his way to the other side of the bed, lifting the back of my shirt this time. "No, his injury cut primarily through muscle. It was long, but not deep, like yours. Plus," he gave a soft laugh, "I doubt he would let me run these tests even if I begged. He's terribly stubborn, in case you hadn't noticed, and he definitely doesn't like doctors."

"He's not that bad." I felt the strange need to defend my roommate. "He's just not very trusting. And he doesn't like you, that's for sure. I don't know about doctors in general—it might just be you."

His fingers shook a bit as he laughed. "Well, that must be true, since he tells me to leave every time he gets the chance. And then there's that he decided to receive untrained medical care over the wide array of doctors we have here."

I frowned, unsure of what he was referring to. Then it came to me—the stitches. "Oh, yeah, there's that." I shrugged. "Like I said, he's not very trusting."

Mason finished the examination of my back and let the hem of my shirt fall down. "It just seems a bit strange to me, that's all. Don't you find him a bit scary?"

I shrugged again. "Not particularly. He's moody, but not all that scary."

Mason shook his head in wonder, his green eyes fixed on me. "You have lots of courage, I'll give you that. Personally, I'm terrified of the guy. He seems unstable, like he'd snap any minute and just destroy everything in sight."

I shook my head. "I don't think he's really like that."

Mason's eyes darkened. "I've heard stories, though. Stories of him turning on crew members and staff, unleashing all of his pent-up anger on them and absolutely mutilating them. Trust me... he's not safe to be around. The sooner you can get away from him, the better."

I frowned, but didn't argue. Instead, I offered my arm, and Mason took it. He led me back to the room where I was staying, and helped me settle in before departing. All this was done without a word, as it was clear that my roommate was asleep.

I leaned forward to catch a glimpse of his face. In sleep, he looked young. There was no crease between his eyebrows, no frown etched across his features. He looked... peaceful. His black curls fell messily across his forehead, and his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

I fell back onto my pillow, conflicting feelings waging wars in my chest. My eyes fluttered shut, and soon I fell into an uneasy sleep.