Lillibet - A Star Wars story

Getting ready

Turned out, when Kylo said she had to fight, he didn't mean right away. A respectful amount of time had already past, and no one had brought it up again. There was this rumor going around, that they had a Resistance fighter on board, as a hostage. Naturally, all the attention was shifted from her to him. But she didn't forget it for a second. The idea of dueling again, with anyone, and this time to the death, is not something that can just slip your mind.

She wanted to make sure she was at her top performance. She needed to know that she could kick anyone's butt with ease. So she did her regular schedule of training and lessons every day, and then went back to do some more. There was nothing better to do anyway. She even tried meditating and stuff, to channel this force she apparently had. She saw no difference. But maybe there was a difference, just not that obvious. Because it was either the Force, or her newly found motivation, that allowed her to excel at everything she did.

Basically, her lessons were all over. She knew everything she had to when it came to flying TIE Fighters, shooting all kinds of blasters and even using the lightsaber. So she knew that meant General Hux didn't have to visit her now and then to check up on her performance. And he didn't. Or at least, not in the regular way.

He wouldn't appear on her door any more, early in the morning, to ask her about her training. He would just go to the room she trained by herself late at night, and stand by the door to watch her. Sometimes he wouldn't even say anything. Other times he joined her. This wasn't a scheduled meeting for him, just like it wasn't a scheduled training session for her. This was just him visiting a friend, after a long day of work, before going to rest.

There were times that he looked like he was smiling. But the door he was standing by was so far away from where she trained, that she could never be certain. Some nights he didn't come at all. Or maybe he did, and she was just too staunch to her lightsaber to even notice. These interactions they had weren't exactly the best. They even had a dose of creepiness to them. But she honestly didn't mind. It even felt like it increased her performance and durability, simply because she wanted to do her best around him. So, you could even say, she wished he came. And, after a little while, spotting his dark figure by the door alone was enough to indulge her brain into some endorphins.

The best nights were the ones he was feeling like training a little bit with her. He would walk in, take his coat off, and pick up a fake saber. What made those sessions great was that she could really estimate her improvement over time. At first, she always lost. Not because he was better at handling the sword, but because he knew how to use his strength and height in his advantage. But now, the possibility of Hux not ending up on the floor, with a couple of bruises by the training saber was out of the table. And every time that happened, Lillibet would jump and laugh, mocking him, and he would just walk out without saying anything. Acting like he were upset. But she knew he wasn't; she could feel he was anything but that.

It had been a couple of days now that he hadn't come at all. Lillibet was used to seeing him almost every night by then, and that meant her training these days mostly consisted of her looking at the door, waiting. So when he appeared that night, she didn't just go on as usual. She stopped, swept any drops of sweat that were running down her forehead and neck, and walked to him. Nothing seemed off with Hux at first. Only the fact that this must have been the first time he was not wearing his black gloves. Just this small area of exposed skin made him look naked to her eyes. Wearing gloves indoors can serve only one purpose, and that is to hide something. Now the General was putting everything he had on the table. No secrets.

But as Lillibet got closer, Hux started looking all the more different. Honestly, it was nothing in his appearance. And probably no one else would have noticed it. Even she wasn't sure if it was something she saw on him, or felt in his presence. Was this what the force was? Just feeling other people's minds? Or was it just that there was, in fact, something different in his gaze?