Lost Hope

Chapter 6

"You taught my apprentice something you never even tried to teach me about?" Kylo seethed as Snoke calmly watched him. "What is so important about her that you made me keep her alive and went so far as to start training her yourself?"

Snoke rose smoothly to his feet, his disoriented face not giving away the disapproval that Kylo could still sense. "She is a child of the Dark side, created by darkness and born to serve the darkness. You are a focal point, powerful, quick to learn, but she is strong too. Stronger than you in some respects... like your grandfather was."

"What are you saying?" He growled; Snoke would not replace him so easily.

"Zein Ren will fight for us... and die when she is no longer needed." Snoke's voice was emotionless. "I can't have her as a threat once the Resistance is out of the way."

"She is not a threat." Kylo defended, a strange feeling rising up in him. "I trained her to be loyal to us."

"A bounty hunter will never be loyal." Snoke's tone almost sounded amused. "My naive apprentice, she is only here so she will not be killed... That was your deal with her correct?"

He looked at the ground. "Yes."

"Then she is not truly loyal."

Kylo disagreed with that. If Skurn was disloyal she could have turned when she realized the Resistance had been winning... not that he liked admitting that. But he wasn't about to argue with Snoke. "Why give her an apprentice then? Especially one who looks useless?"

"A distraction for her through the day as we make plans. She and her apprentice are merely pawns in this game of war we play." Snoke sat back down and waved him away. "It is time for you to stop pestering me like a child and to get back to work."

Kylo glared at him from under his helmet before he turned and walked out. Something was bothering him about his conversation; if his master could just decide to dispose of an apprentice they had both taken time to train then could he be in trouble as well? He shook the thought from his head, he was the Master of Ren, he commanded all the knights here, Snoke knew he was a power that needed to stay alive. The halls were empty as he wandered through them, allowing his feet to guide him, as he stayed deep in thought... or deep in thought until the sounds of fighting reached his ears.

Annoyance pricked through him as he followed the sound to the hallway where a figure crashed into him the moment he turned the corner. With a grunt he lifted his head off the ground. "What is going on here?"

"Training." Skurn's voice answered as she sat up looking a bit dazed.

He stared from her back to where Lucifi was standing calmly with his lightsaber drawn. "That's what the training rooms are for."

"Yeah, we kind of got a bit too into it." She muttered and dragged him to his feet along with her. "Lucifi, start heading back, I'll be right behind you."

Lucifi nodded before limping back the way they'd come from, his bone colored helmet standing out in stark contrast with the darkness around him. Kylo tore his gaze away from the strange apprentice to stare down at Skurn. "I see he's learning fast."

"He used tutaminis... I didn't teach him that!" She hissed in frustration. "Snoke gave me a partially trained apprentice. I swear; his style is something I've seen before."

"Has he said anything about his past training?" Kylo questioned, concern for what was going on behind his back in Snoke's personal plans.

Skurn scoffed. "He hasn't said a word since getting here. I'm pretty sure he's mute."

"That limits his abilities somewhat." He responded simply, still trying to piece this puzzle together.

"Of course it does. I swear, if he gets lost and it's near a cliff I'll push him off of it... and I won't catch him this time." She stalked off after Lucifi with a sigh.

Kylo watched her go, inspecting her for any signs that she wasn't as loyal as she seemed. Of course there wasn't anything obviously visible; that would get her killed in minutes if it were. He would have to see if Snoke was right some other way, though he was hoping Snoke was wrong about her... Kylo didn't want to see his training go to such a wasteful end, especially not when he was starting to doubt his master's intentions for the both of them after the war ended.