Lost Hope

Chapter 14

Kylo stood beside Hux as he stared down at the Storm Troopers below, the time was nearly right for the attack to begin. He turned away and stared out at the stars on the other side of the ship's glass... a planet was in the distance. Zeh was there, he could sense it, and it burned him deep in his core that he had left her to be captured... her wounds could have killed her. His own wounds had been treated after he had left and escaped to this ship to work closer with General Hux and to regain his strength.

"Lord Ren." Hux spoke up and rejoined him. "Are you still not pleased? Phasma assured me these are her best."

"They do please me General, I just..." He trailed off with a slight growl and turn away. "This is taking to long. When will we reach the planet?"

"A day or two at the most." Hux told him confidently.

"Move faster."

"The ship can't go any faster." Hux argued lightly.

Kylo clenched his teeth; Zeh could be found useless to them any moment and killed. It was what Snoke wanted, one of them to be dead, and he wasn't about to let his training go to waste over a change in his master's plans. Skurn would be brought back alive if he had to kill every Resistance member on that base himself.

"Phasma!" Kylo snapped her name as the chrome colored armor appeared in his line of sight. "Make sure we are ready to fight. This is a chance to destroy the Resistance once and for all and they have no idea we've found them... I do not want this opportunity ruined!"

"It won't be." Phasma responded curtly. "My Storm Troopers are the best, they will not fail you Lord Ren."

"Make sure they don't." He growled as he walked out and down the silent halls.

His steps paused as he turned to look back over his shoulder, it felt as though someone was near him... no one was. Kylo shook the feeling off and kept going, he needed to let off some of his restlessness; there wasn't time to feel paranoid. However, the feeling wouldn't go away and seemed to only grow stronger until he once again turned his head to the side... This time startled by a pale glowing figure walking beside him.

"About time you let me see you." The man stated as if nothing was unusual. "The Dark side is wavering inside you, I can feel it."

Kylo scowled under his helmet, how dare this man; this dead man, insult his loyalty to the Dark side. "I am loyal to the Knights of Ren and the Dark side."

"You sound like my old apprentice." The man sighed. "Do not follow in his path."

"Vader." Kylo stated rather than questioned it. "I will complete what he started for the good of the galaxy."

"The light still calls to you. I might be dead but I can still sense it."

"Soon that feeling will be crushed." Kylo snarled at the specter. "Once Skywalker is found and destroyed the Resistance will lose hope... and be destroyed with him."

"The girl will stop you. The Force is strong with her."

Rey. Yes, that girl was a nuisance... she would pay for scarring him too. Untrained and she still beat him. He glared at the figure and activated his lightsaber. "She will die too."

Kylo wished the blade would kill the dead man again but knew it would be pointless to try and instead fixated his anger on a nearby wall, destroying it completely. One of these days he'd hit something that shouldn't be, he was aware of that, but in that moment all he cared about was unleashing his wrath that had been pent up inside for too long. By the time he was finished the unwelcome visitor had disappeared... good riddance. He stalked down the hallway; not failing to notice how the Storm Troopers and other staff avoided him, sensing his anger... not that it took a Force sensitive to feel it this time. A smirk appeared on his face, he liked the fear they had of him; it made him feel powerful... unlike Hux's arrogant attitude. That man just plain hated him, and Kylo hated Hux just as much, but at least that didn't seem to get in the way of their goal.

Upon reaching his room, Kylo settled down to meditate in hopes of shaking off the call to the light and narrowing down on the location of the rebel base. Unfortunately, that wasn't what the Force decided to show him.

Sounds of battle were around him, everything was dark unless it was burning, and blasters could be heard from all around him. But there were more than blasters in this fight. Through the smoke he could make out red lightsabers twirling around in a deadly dance as the Knights of Ren fought both the Resistance and occasionally, it seemed, each other. There were others there too, Jedi. He couldn't make out their forms but the glow of two blue and a green lightsaber fighting the Dark side told him enough, Skywalker was in this fight. He tried to move closer to his enemy but the scene shifted and he found himself on an outcrop of rock, overlooking the battle below while the sounds of a second one raged behind him.

He couldn't turn to see these fighters, only hear their shouts of pain and glory as they fought, getting closer and closer to the edge until he was sure they would go through him or knock him off as well... if that could happen in a vision. Finally, Kylo found the will to take control of the vision and whirled around in time for a tall dark figure to retreat into a cavern tunnel while two other figures in black were left outside... one disturbingly motionless while the other struggled back to their feet. It didn't take long for him to realize he was the one moving.

"Zeh, get back up!" His vision-self ordered and shook the still figure. Kylo could see blood glistening on the vision's gloved hands. "Zeh!"

He moved closer and knelt down across from his other self. Was she dead? He couldn't believe that. He refused to believe that, not after what he was about to do to save her life... again! He couldn't let her die like this. A gargled cough made him move back as Skurn started to move again, though it didn't look like she would make it. Kylo turned away from the two figures, satisfied they were going to kill whoever they'd been fighting, and turned to look down at the fighting below. Yes, there was Skywalker; he could see the man wielding the green lightsaber from here.

"Now how do I kill you?" He muttered to himself, hoping the Force would show him that as well.

Surprisingly it did. The vision shifted and he found himself on the ground once more, this time near Skywalker as he fought off several Knights of Ren. The Jedi master was so focused on the opponents he was battling that he didn't have time to react as a new cloaked figure showed up through the thick smoke and activated two blades... a moment later one of those blades was stabbed through his uncle's back while the second was used to block the green lightsaber as the killer spun Skywalker around and stabbed him through the chest. The name whispered by the dying man shock Kylo to no end, surely someone as good as that wouldn't turn on their own free will... especially not when he planned to kill them first!

The visions faded and he glanced at the clock, faintly surprised at the time, those visions were longer than they seemed. Kylo stood up and began pacing... the visions had shown a very interesting future, one where his uncle was killed,not by him but still killed all the same. The question was, did he want that to happen or did he want to change it? He and Skurn obviously were going to die of their wounds if the battle lasted much longer after Skywalker died... but if hetried changing the outcome... it might allow his uncle to live. Frustration began to race through him again as he stormed out of the room.