Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Thirty Two: The Hidden History...

In the beginning, there was no one to question my motives, my loyalty,...or my methods. Then I fell into his shadow. The only power he carried resided in his blood, but his desire for power, to carve out a singular identity not tied to the name he sprung from had been too much of a temptation. Kylo Ren was too strong to stand against alone, so I made myself indispensable, bidded my time and sought out every opportunity to undermine his rash decisions. I let my mind become my weapon as well as the tool of his downfall. But the girl had been unexpected...as well as the connection she seemed to share with Ren. When she came along I could finally see the chink's in his armor, Snoke never expected that she would sacrifice herself to save what little there still lived of Ben Solo. I watched him fall farther under the weight of his sins, farther away from the purpose he had declared was his evidence of right, and with each step he took the more he betrayed himself to the Will of the Darkside. Soon his failure will become my greatest achievement. Soon the power will be mine, and mine alone. No more shadows blocking the light of glowing flame of glory from shining on me.

Hux reached back into his memory of that night. He remembered the grotesque smell of Snoke's burnt decimated corpse, the way his bttom half had rolled down the dias landing in a pile of congealed entrails bathed in blood. The smell reminded Hux of the ways human flesh smelled when burned. He stood there looking at the throne, hollow and vacant, almost as if it were taunting him. A finally twist of the knife in his gut he had to suffer at Ren's hand. Hux could almost feel the blade in his belly as he stood there looking down the long aisle. He could count the slow and steady progression of his life by those steps. He had once been the only one to breach the guarded sanctuary of the Supreme Leader. The only one worthy enough to hold the hem of the wise, powerful, and imposing Master of the First Order.

"But things don't always go according to plan, do they? You cannot count on anyone, on anything...besides your own mind and your own strength. You must be in command and not allow others to take your will from you. There are ways to serve, to be loyal...but never resign yourself to the ambitions of others. For a man to be a leader to be the master of others, he must learn to first master his own will, his own fears...He must burn them, bleed them out of his body until there is nothing but strength, determination, and only then will he be worthy to rule others."

Hux rubs the scorched mark through the thickness of his uniform, he slowly pulls the sleeve back his eyes trace the outline of a relic of the Empire, one that had disappeared, but not died. The two circles one greater and the other servant to its master, but two...always the two...the Master and the disciple, the deep furrows of the design required reaffirming. But he had become a skilled hand at maintaining his ties to the past. His hands shook as he bore down into the fresh scars burned on his forearm. Even noe after so much time had passed, he could still feel the bright red blade of the man who'd given it to him, he remembered the way his green eyes held his own in their gaze. He was instantaneously back there staring into his father's stern face as he pushed the brand deeper into his flesh. A man that tolerated no form of subjugation in himself or in Hux, only the strong can survive, a lesson he had burned into him. Literally. 

"No weakness, Armitage."

He had become a part of something bigger than the First Order. Something stronger and wiser than either the SITH or the JEDI. Because they had learned how to survive when others didn't. No weakness, only strength, no pain, only power...mind is might, mind is self, mind makes us ONE. No weaknesses...Hux turned on his heel, a habit he'd picked up in the early days of the academy, and began the long walk back to his command post...

He didn't get far before a soft cooing voice came to him over his shoulder...

Dark Rey: Leaving so soon? Back to pretending you're in control, that you have power, that you're more than the rabid cur Snoke used to carry out his bidding? How it must rankle you to have been so close to absolute power only to have it snatched away from you, it's delicious.