Blinded by the Dark | General Hux

XXVI

Amelia trained with her saber, spinning it in every possible direction and knocking back constant attacks from small droids, rolling it in her hand above her head and knocking them into the walls. She ducked and dodged, sweat dripping from her head, red blotches forming on her skin when she rolled along the floor. 

"Faster..." she thought to herself, trying to push harder despite her lack of energy and burning muscles that begged her to stop for just a moment. 

The door to the training room slid open and she sighed, using this as her excuse to finally stop but not before completing one last round. She shut them down with a wave of her hand then turned to the General who had let himself in, suitably impressed at her obvious skill and giving her a rare-to-most smile as she jumped down from the platform. 

"Hi..." she said, grabbing her water and a towel then walking to him. 

"Good afternoon...I see you're as deadly as ever. You know there's something strangely attractive about that." 

"As is there in being a General, although I don't think you'll want me to hug you," She pushed her hair, completely wet with sweat back.

"Is Ren here?" 

"He was called away a little while ago but he made me stay." 

"Then there's no reason I can't hug you, even if it is a tad gross," he muttered, wrapping his arms around her waist and she rolled her eyes with a small laugh. "We don't have many opportunities together so I'll make the most of it." 

"It's only been a couple of weeks." 

"Yes, but the only times I get to see you, let alone hug you are in the evenings and occasionally the morning if we have time so I shall take what I can get." He leant in to kiss her and she smiled but soon enough pulled away from it. "What..."

"He could come back at any moment...it's risky," she said, biting her lip and looking around while taking his hands now rested on her hips. 

"I'm incredibly offended." he said and she laughed, shaking her head that she rested on his chest. "But I will settle for this even if it's equally as risky...though I must say, I'm very used to getting what I want." 

"Then someone ought to disobey you once in a while."

"Yes..." He smiled a little then sighed. "It's all just so frustrating that we can't just come clean without it being a big deal, without it being a death wish." 

"It's mostly Ren...He would kick off and...I don't even want to think about it." 

She looked down, her eye catching the lightsaber on her hip, an audible sigh escaping her when she did. 

She hadn't had to think about anything to do with her training and connection with the Force for some time, not since Ren had struck her and they had argued causing sessions to come to a grinding halt. But so much had changed since then that now she began to seriously question her path, her future. 

All this training and teaching, her stronger and stronger connection with the Force, it was all leading up to one thing, one already dictated goal: joining the Supreme Leader and ruling by his side, if she was chosen over her master, of course. And while before, even when she had first been told, she believed that path, that life might not be what she wanted, now it was even more clear. 

She wanted to choose, she wanted to be loved, live a life out of secrecy with the man who stood before her now, slightly concerned now she had gone quiet but hardly sure how to ask if she was okay because interaction was far from his strongest suit. 

But that didn't matter because even in the limited time they had been together they had already learned and grown so much, some of it coming from their friendship beforehand. Whatever his issues with showing concern or affection, she was beginning to understand his ways of expressing them, appreciate the moments when he might rest his head on hers or take her hand and run small circles on her palm with her thumb: only ever tiny things, only ever gentle, in fact him holding her waist now was quite a feat. It was always enough though and she didn't want anything to break that...even though she knew the reality was that one day they'd be torn apart, either by going on those separate, already decided paths or by being caught and punished. There was no other way.