Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Twenty: Secret Oath's Sworn & Blood Ties Broken

The Will of the Force...it was the excuse they all used to protect themselves from the prosecution for their sins. All through the history of the galaxy, from the first emergance of the Jedi until their downfall, there had been countless casualties of a private war. A war that had touched him earlier in life, and left its mark on his soul. It was the same sound he heard calling him, the screaming voice of a woman pinned beneath the rumble of a blown out building. Blood shot eyes, and the smell of burning fuel pooling, surrounding her, and her voice quaking in fear as she reached out offering up her child. The way her mouth shaped into the scream as he was pulled up into his father's arms. The thunderous sound of cannon fire as it hit the black air blotting out the glow of the stars overhead. All that he could see reflected back in her eyes were the streaks of green laser fire streaking from one ship to the other. The air was thick with the smell of carbon and sulfur, and the blood of saint and sinners alike. The last day he stood on the ground of his home world, Arkanis, and the last gasping breath of the Empire before the Rebellion crushed its neck under their boots. He held onto her face all through his life. He watched her offer him up and as he was carried away, he heard her last words die on her lips.

"I love you...I love you...I'm..I'm sorry..."

And from that day, the Will of Other's meant nothing next to his own, because hearts were easily to turned against their masters. They shed their skins and took on the guise of righteousness, and all in the name of Freedom. But what is Freedom without Order? What is life without it's moments of pain and pleasure? What would you give to have just one moment to set the past right again? He couldn't rewrite his history, but he could see to it that the Future was one written by his hand. Armitage had held the world on the edge of his blade more than once. He could do it again. But this time there wouldn't be anyone to stand in his way. There were somethings stronger than ancient words spoken to bind a soul to its will. Armitage had learned the cold hard truth, if you want to keep someone loyal, make someone tow the line, even unto their death...Blood was the only thing that held stronger than words over old shrines spoken by broken lipped men, and sanctified by an all seeing unknown Force. Armitage Hux preferred to speak directly with his mentor. Over the years before Ren's appearance Hux had made it his mission to find those responisible and make them pay for his pain. But as the years never offered answers, he saw the perpetrators face as those that fell under his vengeful callouse indignation. He didn't care who it was to blame, who's hand had engineered his fate, or the cause they would offer as reasoning for the screaming voice in his brain. He turned his back on reason...there was nothing but submission to the hand of justice, the call of the voice for order to be restored to the universe, and if that meant blood would color the earth beneath their feet. Then so be it...blood took longer to wash away, but that only served as a reminder for those that would dare to challenge his resolve. It washed clean after a bit of time and was gone. Hux paid the color of things no never mind. For the most part, they all bled and died the same, death wasn't picky over its prey.
The Voice of Darkness was ringing out through the cosmos, searching for willing souls to carry out it's will, and to score it into the hearts of every man, woman, and child. A hand fit to rewrite its history and reclaim the glory of its wisdom, that could tune every heart beat to the rhythm of its drum.
It's Vision.
General Hux sat in the midst of Kylo Ren's quarters staring into the black ashes cradling the face of a true, loyal visionary. A soul of true will, an unbending, unfailing mind who turned the page of his story, and in doing so created a legacy beyond what he carried in his veins. Hux reached out sliding the black glove off his hand, and laying it reverently on the warm hard plastiod helmet still cradling the memory of it's bearer a lifetime ago.

General Hux: They don't know you at all. Do they? They can't understand the genius of your plan...of your vision! A glorious world ruled by law and order, not sentiments and ancient ideology. You were simply trying to make them better, make them stronger. But they couldn't see it...not like I can, not like I do. Our world. Our EMPIRE!

Hux leaned over the obelisk where the helmet laid in repose. His eyes moving over it slowly taking in every detail he could. He couldn't tie into the memory of the great man that had worn it every day until the last of his life. A man who had all the power in the universe at his finger tips, but that still meet those worthy enough in battle with only his skill and wits. He admired the mask, the iconic symmetry of the form it created, a strong and imposing face. One that had instantly brought strength and bearing to its wearer, and fear...most of all fear. Fear was a useful tool to shape the world, it could cower even the bravest of men, you just needed the right nerve and they will crumble under your fingers.

General Hux: They have no idea.What's coming for them...they will fall to the tidal wave as it descends upon each and every world. There will be none to stand against us this time. They never could see what was always just on the cusp of their view. Before they looked away to the past...to the glory and splendor of by gone ages, and they failed to lay the foundations deep enough. Fools! They couldn't have known what it meant to be a survivor...Not like you...not like me. We have made our plans...and soon...we shall reveal ourselves and bring the weak to heel, or watch them fall. Our revenge will be complete! Soon...

Hux had ventured into the young lions den a few weeks after he arrived. Snoke took months of training the weakness...the soft feeling humanity out of him, or so he'd thought...pathetic fool. He relied too much on his power and never saw the truth right in front of him. Ren wasn't the sort to serve...he was the type to rule, but while he could acquire the power he wasn't the one with the will to use it. He relied too much on harder hearts than his own. Snoke had been right on that point...betrayal was in that families blood thicker than the black night that enshrouded Hux's memory. When he saw the icon settled on its bed of ashes, the emptied mass graves of Ren's fallen victims, more or less an ode to the overstatement to proving his worthiness to stand in his shadow. It was a reaching, groping high handed failed attempt to recall the glory of a fallen hero to those who believed in a world made whole under one rule and one law.

General Hux: Soon everything will come full circle! Just as we always planned...just as you showed me it would...just as I promised. The Resistance will suffer as they have made us suffer. Their pitiful excuse for a rebellion, their ideals of freedom for all and their misguided notions of unity beyond class or cause.Their HOPE will die slowly, we will bleed them of every last drop until there isn't anything left for them to cling to. The dimming LIGHT will be snuffed out when the shadow falls down over their eyes, and the skies shall burn CRIMSON tears!

Hux could feel the empty hand of the Darkside reach out through the murky abyss. The ghostly hand bent and broken, plunged into his chest and curled around his heart, Hux could feel the fire boiling around the tough muscle. But he took the pain and swallowed hard against the agony, and kept his eyes forward. There was more to him than meets the eye, he may not have the power of the Sith, but he did have the one thing the Darkside coveted most...The heart of a true believer, one that would never stop...one way or another...he would see the world fall to its knees or watch it all burn down around him.
Through his gritted teeth Hux pushed against the phantom hand gripping his soul...

General Hux: A new DAWN shall RISE! And it will bring order, it will bring absolute submission, and it will bring horror. They will cower beneath the might of our combined strength and resolve. I...Will...Finish....What...You...Started. My Lord...