All of the Stars

Part 15: Hope

"Oh shit. Ooh shit..." A voice hovers over him, far away, as if in a tunnel. It is taking short quick breaths.

He felt a hand firmly tapping his shoulder.

"Wake up man, come on, wake up!" The voice sounded urgent. "Leia is going to kill me, man, come on, wake up!"

Kylo grunted, trying to move his arm to swat the man away, but stopping as he realised his hands were tied in front of his body. The pain of his shoulder and legs and head was making his whole body stiff.

"Oh yes. Oh yes, okay you're awake." The voice sounded relieved. The tapping stopped. "Here, let me get those." The man rustled around, patting his pockets.

Kylo opened his eyes, separating the dried blood that stuck his eyelashes together. The dark skinned man was sitting kneeling in front of him. He gently reached forwards, almost as if he was scared of making sudden movements in front of Kylo, and undid the cuffs, chucking them onto the bed.

"Help me up..." Kylo mumbled, wincing as the air touched his teeth and his lip stung against the floor.

The man looked at him and then blinked out of his trance.

"Oh right, yeah sorry." He moved to try to prop him up.

Kylo winced as the blood drying his face to the ground was pulled away, the pain in his ribs that had been a dull throb increased.

"Where is Y/N?" Kylo sat with his back against the wall, holding one palm to his ribs, the other checking the damage on his face. His head hurt.

"Y/N?" The man looked confused. "Oh, yeah the girl..." He answered, trailing off as Kylo glared at him.

"She's in her room I think..." Kylo looked at him closely.

"Where is that?" Kylo replied suspiciously.

"Oh?" He stopped, realisation dawning on his face "Oh. No, I don't... I don't, like, know." The man raised his hands awkwardly.

Kylo stared at him, suspicious.

"What is your name?" Kylo asked. The throbbing in his head was getting harder to ignore.

"Finn. Finn, that's me." He smiled.

"Why did you leave the first order?" Kylo asked, trying to turn his head to inspect the damage to his shoulder. His mouth twisting with the pain.

"Wha... What?" Finn stopped smiling. "How... How did you know?"

"Your thoughts." Kylo winced as he brought his hand back with blood covering his fingers.

"Hey man, I dunno what your boundaries are, but I don't appreciate you reading my thoughts."

Kylo looked at him, trying to raise his eyebrows but giving up as his nose stabbed him with pain.

"Don't make your thoughts so easy to read, then."

Finn looked awkward again, Kylo was realising he did that quite often, however, in his haze of pain he didn't care.

"Can I have some help? Or..." Kylo trailed off.

"Med centre. Right." Finn seemed colder now.

"Where is it?" Kylo tried to stand.

"Okay, no. You aren't walking. I'll get a stretcher." Finn stood and walked to the door, then looked out, motioning to one of the guards but blocking Kylo from view.

He walked back into the room then took a seat on Kylo's bed.

"So uh... Who did this to you? I mean, you didn't do it yourself..." Finn trailed off, his attempt at lightening the mood failing.