~ 𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 ~ A Ben Solo/Kylo Ren Story

7.

~~~~~

Celeste was advancing far faster than Kylo had expected. In another life, perhaps, he could have been a school teacher. He reveled in watching her excel quickly, her progress a reflection of his own skills. Snoke was pleased with him, Hux was generally annoyed with him, it was a win-win-win situation! Not to mention the many benefits of having not one, but two incredibly powerful force users on the side of the Sith. 

They had been training for about a week, and Celeste's mood had seemed generally improved. She still held an irritating fondness for Hux. The General had also taken a liking to the girl, which Kylo irrationally hated. He tried to limit the moments that she was around the general, with some success. 

Celeste also didn't seem to hold a grudge against Kylo for knocking her out. He had put a lot of effort into making sure her room was pleasant and making her life outside of training as smooth and nice as possible. He was, though, making a concerted effort to not develop a real relationship with her. It was purely a master and student relationship between them. Nothing more, and that's how he intended to keep it. 

~~~~~

Celeste cringed slightly when she looked in her closet. All the shirts in the closet were too low cut in the top and too high cut in the bottom for her liking. She would have to pick out her own clothes, but evidently, the First Order controlled her wardrobe as well as everything else about her life on the ship. She hated the stares the got from most of the stormtroopers and was glad she couldn't hear what they were thinking as Kylo could.  

She was losing weight. A combination of intense exercise, stress, and not eating, was making her feel faint and sick for the majority of the day. She wasn't to blame, really, the food she was given was rather disgusting, in her opinion, and she wasn't hungry often anyway. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. She wasn't training today, who could it be? She opened it.

"Yes?" General Hux stood in front of her stiffly. 

"I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me in my quarters for dinner this evening, as soon as you'd like," His nose and ears were flushed. 

"Oh. Um, I don't know, I'm kind of tired and sore..." She trailed off. She wasn't lying, and she hadn't been sleeping well either. Strange visions seemed to keep popping up in her dreams. A different room with a leaky tap. An outdoor base, filled with people running around in orange uniforms. A blurry-faced woman with a soothing voice. The name "Rey," was also prevalent, whoever that was.  

"Well, I could bring our meals to your room, instead, if you're tired," He replied quickly, almost anxiously. 

"Oh, sure I guess," Celeste could not think of any more excuses to say no. It wasn't that she disliked the general, she was just always on edge around him. On the plus side, it seemed that when she was around Hux, it annoyed Kylo, which was rather entertaining. 

~~~~~

There was mostly awkward silence over dinner. Then, once they had finished, Hux blurted out a question.

"Have you ever kissed someone?" 

"Excuse me?" Celeste asked, taken by surprise. Unprofessional, to say the least. 

"H-has anyone ever kissed you?" He asked again, persistent. 

"Um, I mean, other than when I was like four, no...why? I don't suppose it's in my training...?" She laughed nervously. "Have you?" She asked. Hux flushed darker. 

"Not really," 

"Oh, okay," She bit her lip, looking down. Suddenly, she felt him move closer to her. Her heart sped up, and not in a good way. 

"Look, I find you very pretty, and I want to do this before I die. Come here," He said, demanding, putting his hand under her chin, somewhat roughly. 

"Wait, what, no-" She said as he pulled her closer. 

~~~~~

Kylo felt Celeste's distress. He faintly heard Hux asking her to dinner. Faintly heard the beginning of their conversation. Perhaps he heard through some mysterious gift of the force, perhaps he was eavesdropping, even he didn't know. What really caught his attention, though, was when Hux said the word "kiss." He sensed her fear. That couldn't mean anything good.  

He stood and walked quickly to Celeste's room. He hesitated for a moment at the door, then he heard her panicked voice. 

"Wait, what, no-" Ren's blood boiled and he opened the door a few moments later, after not hearing her voice again. 

Hux was roughly pulling Celeste into him, his hand gripping the back of her head, the other pinning one of her hands to the back of her chair. Her eyes were open, frightened, and confused, while Hux was aggressively kissing her. She didn't appear to be reciprocating, too surprised to react. 

"General," Kylo acknowledged, eyes flashing. He could barely see through his rage. Hux nearly jumped out of his skin, pulling away from the poor girl instantly. Kylo noticed that she was holding the small, delicately carved knife in her other hand, and sensed that she had been moments away from using it on Hux. However entertaining that would have been to witness, Ren didn't think he could stand another second of Hux kissing her. 

"Out," Kylo demanded. The general rushed away silently. Vega trembled. 

"I guess you were right about him..." She said, staring at the knife with surprise. 

"When did you take the dagger?" He asked. He didn't remember her pocketing it during training the day before. 

"I-I don't know? I don't remember," Their brows furrowed in unison. 

"Strange. I suppose you can keep it," He said. Her eyes lit up. 

"Stay away from Hux, or you may actually have to use it on him. I give you full permission to stab him if he ever attempts to do that to you again," He smirked.

"Yes, master. Thank you. I was planning on it," Celeste quickly said, not wanting to seem useless and weak.

"I know. I'm pleased you were ready to defend yourself," He turned to leave, his brown eyes twinkling under his mask, glad of her reaction.

"Thank you," The blonde said again, quietly, as he left her room. She locked the door behind him, frantically wiping the general off of her lips. 

~~~~~

Kylo didn't understand why it angered him so much to see Hux kissing the girl. He barely knew her. Of course, he was angry a lot, but this was just blind rage. He was afraid he was becoming attached to the girl. 

No, of course not, he rationalized. He just didn't like to see them kissing because it was him. Hux, with that irritating sneer. Not to mention how unprofessional and unethical it was. Yes, that was it. Anything Hux did was wrong in Ren's eyes, in all honesty. 

But that kiss crossed a line. He was glad that Celeste was moments away from stabbing the general. It was almost as if Kylo was rooting for her. 

A/N: Hello! If you're enjoying this story so far, please consider leaving comments, votes, add it to your reading lists, or even follow me for more stories in the future. It really means the world to me, and I love seeing everyone's comments and thoughts! This story is currently under editing, and your support keeps me motivated to continue. If you like my writing style, be sure to be on the lookout for more, similar stories in the future! Thank you! :)

EDITED