Allegiance | Kylo Ren

XL

"Where'd you go?" Malia's voice was pitched with curiosity when I returned to the barracks that evening.

"I had some things to take care of." I responded curtly.

"With Dr. Mason?" The younger girl smiled mischievously.

I shook my head, fighting the urge to roll my eyes at her nosiness.

Her eyes widened. "With Kylo Ren, then?"

"Don't you have something better to do than interrogate me?" I tried to change the subject, not wanting to elaborate on my time spent with Kylo.

"No, I finished my chores." Malia grinned. "So tell me about Lord Ren! Is he nice? Is he," she wrinkled her nose. "Old?"

I gave her a wry smile. "He's only a few years older than me. So if that's old to you, then yes, he's old."

"So you've seen him without his mask on! What does he look like?"

I heaved an exasperated sigh. "Where are your friends? Can't you go bother them instead of me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know where they are. But you're my friend, and you're here, so I'm bothering you. Tell me, is Kylo Ren cute?"

"Malia!" I groaned.

"Is that a yes?" Her smile widened.

"I'm going to go get some dinner." I announced, whisking past her as I made my way to the door.

"Me, too." She matched me stride for stride. I chewed the inside of my cheek and stared straight ahead, wondering if there was some way to shake her.

"You can't blame me for being curious!" Malia whined as we walked down the hallway. "I've been stuck with the same group of sixteen-year-olds for as long as I can remember. But here you are, and you have a boyfriend and a reputation and you're friends with one of the most powerful people in the First Order—"

"Malia, please." I pushed open the door to the cafeteria. "You and your friends have glorified me too much. I'm honestly not that interesting."

"But you are!" She insisted as we made our way through the buffet line. "And you have stories you can tell me and people you can gossip about and adventures you can share! Plus, you have experience as a trooper—you can help me so I don't do stupid things."

"Doing stupid things is inevitable as a first year." I informed her dryly. "It's almost a rite of passage."

I made my way to my usual small table in the corner. Malia followed.

"Can I sit with you?" She asked hesitantly.

"Where are your friends?" I asked again. "You should be socializing with people your own age."

"Yes, but they're boring." She sighed.

I rolled my eyes inwardly and used my foot to kick the other chair at the table out, offering it to her. She took it happily, clapping her tray onto the table with a wide smile.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could I held up a hand to stop her. "Don't ask me anything about Kylo. He's none of your business."

Malia pressed her lips together, giving me a disappointed but compliant nod. "Fine. So how did you meet Dr. Mason?"

I exhaled silently, taking a bite of food to buy myself time. "When I got shot, he fixed me up."

"And you fell in love." She sighed happily. "That's so cute. How long have you two been together?"

I made a face. "Why are you so interested in my personal life?"

"Because I don't have one." She said dryly.

I couldn't keep back a laugh at her curt response. "Give it time. You're young, you have years ahead of you for that kind of thing."

Malia huffed, but didn't argue.

Taking advantage of her sudden silence, I quickly finished my meal and stood up. "Well, I'm off to the hospital. I'll see you around."

She looked up in protest, not quite ready to let me escape her scathing rapid-fire attack of questions, but I departed before she could say anything.

I gave a sigh of relief at the solitude that met me in the hallway. I wasn't used to being constantly accompanied by another person—usually, when I was with company, it was by choice, or by necessity. Not that I didn't like Malia. She had this youthful energy about her that made me smile, but being around her for too long exhausted me.

I almost crashed into Mason as I entered the hospital wing at the same time that he left it.

"Woah, hi there!" He laughed, grabbing my shoulders to steady me.

"Hi." I pulled him in for a quick hug. "I was just coming to see if you guys needed any help tonight."

"Well, I actually just clocked out for the night." He glanced over his shoulder, than gave me an uneasy smile. "But if you really want to help out, there's probably a few nurses drifting around in there."

"No, I want to spend time with you." I admitted with a small smile. "There hasn't been a mission in a while, so I'm sure there's nothing they really need me for."

"That's true." He gazed at me, his cool green eyes clouding momentarily with thought. Then he held out his hand for me to take. "Come with me. I have an idea of something we could do instead."