Restoration of Light (Star Wars/Kylo Fanfic)

Chapter III: Human

"Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" ~Obi-Wan Kenobi

The too-big white armor clattered a bit as Azalea marched down the cobblestone street, walking on the left side of Poe, who was handcuffed with the white restraints they had found on the troopers that they left slumped behind the large wooden crates. She and Jess kept bumping into his sides, earning discrete glares and elbow-nudges from Poe. It was difficult to see anything in their peripheral vision through the large helmets. How do they shoot through these things??

Azalea had been slightly taken aback when they removed the helmets and armor of the stormtroopers and looked at their faces. One of them had dark brown hair and a soft, pale face; he looked to be about her age. The other had a sharp, narrow face and copper colored skin, he looked slightly older, maybe late twenties. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but she surely wasn't expecting them to be so... human. It came as a bit of a shock to her, even though she knew Finn was an escaped stormtrooper. She had never actually seen an armored one with their helmets off. The thought had never occurred to her before. Any time she'd seen them she was usually shooting blasters at them, and receiving fire in return.

Jess looked at the map that displayed electronically on the forearm of her smooth white armor. She then nudged Poe with the muzzle of her blaster.

"Turn right here, resistance scum," Jess commanded, her voice coming through the helmet sounding like every other stormtroopers. She was fully embracing her role, and so was Poe as he yanked his arm away, rolling his eyes at her. They turned down a larger street from the side alley they'd been walking down for a while. Where the last street had been lined with small, tightly packed sandstone houses, and only a few other troopers and people in dark uniforms passing intermittently, this street was wide and more spacious, with commanding officers speaking in small groups, going in and out of buildings, and formations of stormtroopers marching by.

Azalea started sticking to the cotton fabric of the uniform from sweat. It's just from the armor and the heat. Breathe, she silently reassured herself. There were white tents set up in some places between the buildings with guards outside of them. A trooper pushed a handcuffed woman wearing a long dress into one of the tents. One of the Cyrillia. Azalea gave the woman a thoughtful look, though she knew it would be lost behind her mask.

As they passed one of the groups of officers, the suited men stared at the trio with skeptical gazes. Poe stared straight back defiantly, daring one of them to approach. Azalea noticed that one of them had the distinguishing's of an admiral.

"You there!" Just perfect, Azalea thought. They halted and faced the admiral as he spoke to them. "Where did you find this prisoner?" The admiral recognized Poe from the time that he was interrogated by the First Order, and Poe remembered him as well. How could he forget the man that put him through hours of physical torture?

"He was-"

"We saw him-"

Azalea started sweating more as she and Jess accidentally attempted to speak over each other. Poe just held the admiral's hard stare.

"You miss me, admiral?" He spit out the title like a piece of rotten fruit. The man in black sneered at him, and Jess took the chance to answer the admiral's previous question.

"We found him sneaking around the perimeter, sir."

"Were there any others?" The admiral spoke to Jess but kept his heated gaze on Poe. The hatred behind his eyes made Azalea want to shudder in disgust, but Poe simply continued to meet his stare with a much cooler one.