Keeping Your Promise

More Trouble

Summary: Yeah, just add it to the list at this point.

Warnings: Mild descriptions of medical trauma

The villagers stood in contained crowds, barricades of stormtroopers detaining them with weapons raised as they looked on in horror; behind them, their homes were set aflame and their resources run dry at the hands of the First Order, their livelihood decimated in the early hours of the morning. War was an ugly, retched thing, though it always appeared necessary, at least when it was presented by the media. As a nurse it was nearly intolerable to watch these people, see them as they held tight to their lives as Kylo Ren, the Commander of everything unfolding before you, drowned their world in chaos.

The taut skin of your knuckles, nearly bound to the frame of the Command Shuttle, thrummed in beat with your pulse as you peered into a reality you never imagined you'd bear witness to; of course you'd known your Master was a powerful, feared man, but you'd never seen him in action. He was outfitted in his robes again, a cowl draped around his helmet and hanging asymmetrically from his shoulders as he terrorized the village. The wind seemed to frame him with an additional aura of death, his mere presence commanding even the elements themselves. Looking at him, one eye glued to the potentiating terror just beyond the descended ramp, you empathized with the villagers, knowing he had no bounds, understanding he couldn't recognize them to begin with.

The month since he'd stripped you of your free will had passed quickly, spending the first half cooped up with Mason, helping him catch up on patient cases; not that you felt any loyalty towards Ren, you knew you couldn't tell Mason about the incident, leaving its memory to strangle you when there was nothing to fill the time. After the first two weeks, Mason had healed in time to attend his spin-off residency on the Finalizer, his absence leaving you with too much silence, too much spare time to overanalyze the last time you'd seen your Master.

It felt like he'd taken something from you, even as your autonomy had returned it felt defaced, an uncomfortable reminder of the control he'd stripped you of. What kept you up at night was trying to understand his reasons behind the act; there was too much between you and him for it to be a natural inclination on his part. It had been such a paradigm shift, one week he'd left you with a pair of his briefs, the next he was using your will to prove his point. It didn't make sense, and that fact bothered you. What changed so drastically in the week you'd spent away from him? You weren't ignorant that he could take what he wanted, but maybe you were naïve in thinking he wouldn't take it from you. Foolishly, perhaps, you'd convinced yourself that – even for the shortest, most minuscule period of time – you'd meant something to him as he'd meant to you.

The thoughts bombarded your foggy head as your watch had pulled you from whatever distorted amount of sleep you'd obtained last night, the red face blaring into your puffy eyes less than thirty minutes ago. Its incessant chirping was accompanied by a cryptic message scrawling COMMAND SHUTTLE LEAVING. TEN MINUTES. in too-fast a cycle for four in the morning. This was the first instance you'd been called to work unexpectedly, the first time the watch had served any other purpose than to track you. It was an unwelcome reminder that, for the time being, you were still chained to the life of Kylo Ren.

As of late it seemed like you'd been yearning for the trial to start, exactly a week separating you from complete severance from your Master or even the First Order. That's how you had to look at it, though, growing tired of wasting time worrying about something you couldn't control, its date creeping ever closer as you fought to convince yourself everything would be okay. That was the farthest thing from the truth, you knew, taking into consideration you would soon either be dead or an unemployable bum being antagonized by an unhinged stormtrooper and exploited by a man who would never respect you. Truthfully, nothing was okay and nothing seemed like it would be okay any time soon or any time ever.