Surviving Together: General Hux x Reader

Chapter V

...

The journey forward was long and parlous through the surrounding forest. It was as dense as the ones on Kashyyyk but its terrain was different with it being unpredictable with its steep hills and dirt clifts.

The chilled air that blew once in a while cooled your heating body but wasn't enough to hinder it. your lungs felt raw and the saliva in your mouth tasted metallic.

Your lips were cracked and dry from dehydration, and licking them didn't help moisturize them... your mind wandered to the idea of sipping a little water from the last half full canister, but you knew it would be hard to stop drinking once you started... it was a tempting death wish...

...

As you trudged on through the forest for what seemed like an hour, you two remained silent until the general finally broke the silence, "where's the water, I'm thirsty..."

"You don't need it..." you spat out, your lungs feeling heavy as you spoke. "... not until we find a stream or a spring..."

"We haven't seen anything for a mile; all I'm asking is a sip of water."

"No..."

"give me the canister soldier."

"I'm sorry sir, I can't give it to you..."

"Fn-4067, I order you to give me the--", you immediately toss him to the ground. 

The general let out a yelp as he landed on his wound, cursing out loud as to why you did that.

"...it's Fn-4047. Not 4067..." you rasped.

You had enough carrying him around, your lungs were going to explode if you continued on for a bit more.
How could he forget your name?, you had just told him about an hour ago.
And why was he asking for water when you've clearly stated over the past hour that there wasn't enough for two to share... so him asking was just foolish on his part.

"what difference does it make?" he seethed.

You turned your head slightly towards him and stared at him, "because that's who I am. I am 4047, not 4067, we're two completely different people..." you puffed, you fell on your knees, and took in long, hard, aching breathes. he was absolutely callous of his soldiers, wasn't he...

"So, what? It's just a random set of chronologically ordered numbers that were entered into the first order database as your identification. It shouldn't matter if I was off by one digit."

Your mind thought of the word bastard and imaged a scenario where you told him you could leave and he'd have to find his own way around this place, but even then if you could say those words your lungs would burn more from exhaustion... 

As you panted you looked down at the makeshift bag and saw the dangling canister..., you were so thirsty... without thinking you grabbed it and opened the lid.

"hey... what are you-- HEY! that's the last bit of water!"

You chugged the last of the liquid before the general scrambled his way to you. "you inconsiderate bitch!"

You moved away from him just as he reached out to grab your limb.
"You've already had your share of water!" You huffed back.

"That's it, I'm having you reconditioned the first thing we get back."

You had forgotten that was something he could do. reconditioning was just as worse as getting executed, maybe more so. It meant the death of your self-image; you'd lose your sense of self, your personality, the original you, and be transformed into something else... Some of your fellow comrades have had to recondition, and you had taken note of their differences. it was as if they were turned apathetic and antipathetic towards others of their kind...

You kept crawling backward, kicking the dirt into his face to slow him down. 

As you were going back you felt the ground steep upwards a bit. Thinking it was a hill, you continue backward until you were shocked into realization as you fell off of what was actually a cliff. Fortunately, it wasn't a high fall and you were able to cushion yourself as you hit the ground. You groaned as you pulled yourself together, your hands were covered in... mud.

mud?

You looked up, and low and behold there in front of you was fresh water running down a cliff of piled jagged rocks. How you didn't hear it before was astonishing, but at least now there was no need to resent about the water shortage.

General Hux made his way over to the edge of the cliff and saw the glistening liquid that laid before him. "...oh my god.", he said awestruck.

You instinctually rush over to the running water and plunge your entire face into it, feeling its cold, refreshing qualities on your face and into your mouth. you lifted your head up for air and began splashing the liquid onto your forearms, and onto your neck cooling down from your exhausting trip. 

The General made his way down, fumbling immensely to get to the water. He too submerged himself into the chilled liquid and gulped it down loudly.

You both drank and bathed yourselves in the stream until you both felt as if the liquid could seep out of your orifices and pours.

You laid on your back and stared at the blue sky and the trees surrounding it. You were so glad to have stumbled onto this miracle, otherwise, you'd have had to make some drastic decisions. you glanced over to the general who too was laying on his back, staring upwards; you were relieved it didn't have to come to those decisions...

"fn-40-- 47."

Your gaze fell back to him, "general?"

"listen. I didn't mean to say back there... that you were a bitch... really, I was in the heat of the moment..."

"To be honest sir, I'm not upset you called me that..."

General Hux briefly moved his gaze down to you and furrowed his brows together in confusion, "you're not?"

"No... I'm more upset that you couldn't get my name right...", you leaned up to look at him better. "Even if they are just a few digits away from each other, they are our names... and it's the only thing I've got... the only thing I own."

he chuckled slightly at you, "well you must have had another name?"

"never had one," you stated bluntly.

both of you fell silent as awkward conversation subsided for a moment...

"(Y/n)"

"what?"

"I've always like the name (Y/n)..."

The general stared at you for what seemed like hours, his blank face showed he was processing what you just said.

"(Y/n)..."  he repeated, pausing before he continued on. "that's a good name..."

...