the darkest night ♛ kylo ren (2)

chapter twenty five ♛ the mission

The pit in my stomach deepens with every step closer to wherever Hux is taking me. The Force is swirling and pulsating again, as it had when I first landed eyes on this ship from the window of a command shuttle, and I can feel the squeeze on my lungs tightening, the ghost of flames licking at my fingers as we slowly approach the dark being whose rage can be sensed from ships away.

And as I sense this, I begin to pick up on Ren's heartbeat, as well. He's there, too. This is it.

Hux steps into a large, brightly lit elevator and before I can protest, one of the troopers uses his blaster to shove me in after. I glare into his smirking rat face as we ascend, only breaking the gaze as nausea roils over me, the heaviness of the darkest waves of the Force settling over me as heavily as stones.

When the doors slide open, the first thing I see is the back of a rounded black helmet and broad shoulders, and my eyes sink to the floor. I swallow as Hux marches me forward, dread pulling at every inch of me. We stop at the base of a throne, and I have force myself to slowly raise my eyes to the one who occupies it.

I would barely call him a man. His limps are long and bone thin, swathed in a robe of an eye sore of gold threads. A twisted, scarred face stares back at me, tiny eyes narrowed, mouth curled into a sneer.

"Supreme Leader, I caught this woman communicating vital, private information with contacts within the Resistance. They have been informed of our impending strike." Hux starts, and I notice a little spit spraying from his lips as he forces out the angered words. "We had been keeping her prisoner, but Ren had insisted on freeing her, to keep her as some pathetic little pet, I assume." He finishes, glancing triumphantly where Ren kneels beside me.

I feel his gaze then, burning into the side of my face, his heart rate picking up as he deciphers these words. The heat of his anger threatens to scald my skin. Shame prods me. I can't even look at him.

So I glare at the Supreme Leader challengingly instead.

"Leave us." Is the first thing he hisses, a quiet but apparent undercut to the satisfied general.

Hux balks for several moments, his mouth opening and closing several times like a fish. Then he clears his throat, respectively inclining his head.

"Yes, Supreme Leader." He replies, so quietly I must strain my ears to hear it. Then he briskly spins on his heel and retreats from the room, hands clasped behind his back. As soon as the elevator doors shut behind him, the Supreme Leader begins again.

"I had always wondered when you would find your way back to my apprentice, child." He starts, addressing me for the first time. I turn my head back to him, hoping the hatred burning in my gaze is apparent.

"Of course, I had almost assumed that you had died in that fire at the Jedi Temple as I had told him. You would have only served as a deterrent from his true destiny, after all. I couldn't have him running back for something so useless, a provider of weakness." He growls, eyes skittering to Kylo. He stands from his throne, pacing villainously.