MONOCHROMATIC [A POE DAMERON X READER STORY]

part 1; chapter one

You breathed heavily as you pressed your back against the cool surface of the dark hall. You'd slipped in a small space in the wall, desperate to avoid any prying eyes as you worked your way through your panic attack. In and out, in and out, you breathed, struggling. Eyes shut. Eyes opened, because you couldn't trust that someone wouldn't find you and drag you out. Eyes shut again, because you wanted to escape and not be here...

"You! You there. Where is she?" 

Your breath caught in your throat as you gasped. The voice was undoubtedly Hux's; he was on the hunt for you. You'd managed to flee from a meeting the moment it had ended without anyone noticing.

"Where is who, General?" the robotic voice of a stormtrooper asked.

You slipped slightly out of the crevice in the wall, your hands gliding across the cool surface of the wall.

"Where is who?" he mocked --- and then he said tiredly, "My fiancee, you complete and utter buffo---"

"I'm here, Armitage," you said. You walked confidently, putting on a fake show just for those around you. You knew you didn't look like someone who had just had a mental breakdown in a dark corner. You looked as powerful as your father to them. 

But stars, were they wrong to assume that you were. 

Truth was, you were tired. You were tired of this life. Your father had a strict command over you. You would never fully escape it. You had a fiance to take over when he was dead and gone.

"Ah, my love," he said, examining you closely. "Where ever did you disappear to?"

"The refresher," you said automatically. 

"Oh." He shook his head, slightly embarrassed. "You disappeared without a word. I had begun to worry about you." 

"I'm quite alright, General," you said, nodding. He would be charming, but you had long since stopped loving him the way you should be.

"Good." His gloved finger touched the tip of your chin, tilting your face upward. He pulled his hand away. "Since you disappeared, we've made a sudden progression in the search for the map of Luke Skywalker. The Resistance pilot that General Leia Organa herself sent to retrieve the map of Skywalker's location has been captured. Unfortunately, his droid that carried the map managed to escape our grasp."

"How is that sudden progression?" you asked, walking alongside Hux now. "It sounds like failure."

"You'd better learn to control your tongue," he snapped. Your blood went cold. "If Ren manages to get the location of the droid out of the Resistance pilot, then we will be successful." 

"The pilot is being held here now?" you asked. 

"Yes," Hux said, and at the moment, you heard a scream of absolute agony that made you jump. "That would be him. I sent some stormtroopers in there to get him comfortable. Ren should already be in there, preparing to deal with the rest."

You stared in horror at the set of closed doors, where the sound was coming from. Hux chuckled to himself quietly. 

How did he think this was amusing? A man's life was being taken from him behind these very walls. Couldn't he feel the ripping of his mind --- the tearing of his soul as he broke him piece by piece---

"My love, are you all right?" he asked. 

"Yes," you whispered, blinking quickly. You wiped your face of any horror. "I'm quite fine... just --- just feeling not like myself is all."

"I can tell," he said. "You've been out of sorts since this evening." 

"I know," you said. "I apologize."