I fell asleep minutes later, worried about my new job but mainly feeling quite blessed and peaceful because Kylo Ren's body was touching all of mine and it was pure bliss.
_____
"Nira. Wake up." A deep and mechanized voice spoke to me.
My eyes flew open and my heartbeat immediately accelerated. I looked up and saw Kylo Ren. He was wearing his mask and armor. "What? Is something wrong?" I exclaimed, sitting up quickly.
"No. We're training soon and you need to be ready." With that, he walked away. All of my worry dismissed after he left the bedside.
My training with Kylo Ren passed by very good -- well, the weight training always sucked, but Kylo Ren and myself both noticed obvious improvement in the combative department.
Finally Kylo Ren announced the end of our training session for that day. He then began to explain my plans for the day to me.
He took off his helmet and held the bottom of it with two curled fingers. I turned my attention from his beautiful hands to his even more beautiful face. My vision's trail lingered at his thick, lush lips for just a moment before looking up to his shadowed eyes.
"We're going to the Lunch Hall, Nira. I know that you've eaten all meals alone in a cell for your entire stay at The First Order, but it's only because I didn't deem you ready to face the other citizens. The Lunch Hall is where everyone eats. Of course, different people have different lunch schedules, but regardless, you must prepare yourself to have a few strange encounters in the Lunch Hall."
He then fit his helmet back onto his head and added in his deep electronic voice, "Your job will commence immediately following lunch."
Kylo Ren then turned and strode towards the door. I followed him closely behind. We took a transporter to get to the Lunch Hall.
Directly after the doors to the transporter slid open, my ears were greeted by a variety of sounds. I exited the transporter after Kylo Ren and looked to my right and left.
We had arrived in a wide, long hallway with grey floors and white walls. On one side of the hallway were several transporters. Across from each transporter, in the adjacent wall, was a single set of black doors. Several different people and other beings were exiting the transporters and entering the room beyond the doors.
I began walking forward, my head still turning this way and that to get a good view at all of the beings walking by me. I was abruptly stopped. I realized that I had bumped into Kylo Ren as I slightly stumbled backwards.
Kylo Ren turned around to face me and leaned towards me. "Nira. I want you to stay close to my side. Don't let anyone touch you and if anyone speaks to you, do not respond. Do you understand?" He asked. I looked straight into the eyes of his helmet and nodded. I felt much more unsafe after his discomforting words.
Kylo Ren turned towards the doors and confidently strode towards them. I swallowed, braced myself for the worst, and quickly hurried after him.
The doors slid open and we walked in. Setting in several places in each wall were large slots that resembled the one in Kylo Ren's room where I got my food. Lines of hundreds of different unique beings were stacked up against the slots. I watched as a man reached into a slot, pulled a tray full of food from it, and walked off towards his table.
There were ten large rectangular tables that extended from one wall to the other in the massive room. On the far side of the room was a black platform that rose above all of the tables. On the platform was a small black table that looked as if it could hold maybe twenty people -- the ten large other tables looked as if they could hold two hundred each.
All of the tables were rapidly filling up and the lines next to the food slots were dissipating.
I tried not to stare too long at all of the gruesome and supernatural beings I walked by as I followed Kylo Ren through the boisterously crowded room. After a while I merely focused on the back of Kylo Ren's back. I tried to block out the vociferous noises around me.
As Kylo Ren had predicted, people did try to talk to me. As I had mentally predicted, I did not enjoy it in the slightest.
"Hey, little lady."
"Where are you from?"
"You wanna sit with us, girl?"
"Yeah, I saved a seat for you right here on my lap, sugar!"
A chorus of whistling greeted me as I walked past one particularly rowdy table. Kylo Ren raised his palm towards them and, without even turning his head to look, silenced them (presumably with The Force).
We reached the tall black platform, which turns out had steps on both sides. Kylo Ren past the platform and towards a food slot behind it. He grabbed his tray from it and waited for me to grab mine.
I stepped forward and looked expectantly at Kylo Ren. "Go." He commanded; I could barely hear his metallurgic voice over all of the shouts, whoops, and clatters that whirled around the room.
I looked back at the slot and took a step towards it. A small red light flashed directly above the slot; I took it to be a motion sensor. I faintly heard a small beep emit from the slot. The back wall of the slot slid upwards and a tray of food was pushed out. I reached into the slot, grabbed the tray, and turned towards Kylo Ren -- he was already walking away.
We reached the black platform a second time, and this time Kylo Ren ascended the steps. I followed him; my anxiety was at its highest level.
We reached the top of the platform and he sat at one of the metal black seats around the table. The seats were welded into the ground. I hesitated before taking the seat next to him. It took several minutes for the rest of the seats around us to fill in.
I could only hear two things -- the clinking of silverware and consistent chatter. I glanced down at the nutrition discs on my plate. I then looked shyly around at the group of people sitting near me.
"So, you've finally decided to introduce us to the famous Nira Leven?" Asked a woman from across the table. She slyly smiled at Kylo Ren, who was staring at her from behind the mask. Even though he wore the mask and shielded his face, everyone knew that Kylo Ren was giving this woman a deathly glare.
"I'm -- " I cleared my throat and spoke in hopes of cutting the tension, "I'm Nira."
The woman, along with several other important-looking persons surrounding me, all turned their heads to look in my direction. The woman's eyebrows were raised and she wore a devilish sneer.
"I am Rulara. Nice to meet you, Nira." As she spoke, her taunting smirk widened. I uncomfortably nodded towards her.
Kylo Ren suddenly stood up. "Rulara. I have some paperwork from one of your clients to give you. I'm going to go retrieve it."
"Better hurry." Rulara cooed in an almost demeaning manner. Kylo Ren stared at her for a few cold moments. He then walked down the steps of the platform. I watched the top of his helmet disappear and then I turned back to my plate.
He left me alone.
This is not going to go well, I thought worriedly. I quickly glimpsed at all of the people sitting directly next to me.
There was the red-haired general that Kylo Ren constantly spoke to (I believe he is called General Hux); he was seated directly across from me. Then the woman, Rulara, was seated diagonally from me. On the other side of Kylo Ren's vacant seat was a man with green scaly skin, and across from him -- and next to Rulara -- was a woman with extremely frizzy, black hair and dark brown skin.
The frizzy-haired woman next to Rulara introduced herself. "Hello, Nira," Her voice boomed, but it had a surprisingly calming effect, "My name is Fruvis. I am the Stormtrooper Growth Operations Manager."
I nodded politely. She stared at me serenely for an instant and slightly nodded aback. Fruvis's pure aura was authoritative. I felt like whatever she said would become the automatic law.
Everyone looked at the green-scaled man expectantly, waiting for his introduction. He completely ignored us and continued to pick away at his nutrition discs. After several moments Rulara, Fruvis, and the redhead's attention focused back on me.
"I am General Hux, but I believe you know who I am." He spoke snidely and with overconfidence. I held back a grimace and repeated the polite nod.
We went back to eating, but the semi-awkward peace only lasted for a few minutes.
"So, Nira, how was it that you decided to join The First Order?" General Hux randomly questioned; he spoke in a completely innocent and unknowing tone, but I highly suspected mock innocence. I slowly looked up at him with squinted eyes and a frown upon my face.
"What do you mean?" I slowly, skeptically asked. I was trying to figure out if General Hux was merely messing with me or if he genuinely didn't know that Kylo Ren had abducted me.
"What sparked your interest for The First Order? What ignited your passion?" He asked, leaning forward, putting his elbows on the table, folding his hands, and resting his head on his knuckles. Hux wore an expression of mock curiosity about the subject, and I realized that he was insulting me for the fun of it.
Anger and annoyance filled me immediately.
He's accusing me of something, but what is it? Deceit? Disloyalty? Unwillingness to fulfill the needs of my new job?
I neglected to reply to Hux because I thought it would be in my best interest; I knew that refusing to give him an adequate, sarcastic response would be the more mature of options. Furthermore, provoking one of the highest ranked generals in The First Order is not one of the best choices to make mere hours before your new governmental position in The First Order is due to commence.
I instead looked down at my nutrition discs and continued to nibble at them.
"Really, Nira. I truly want to know. There's nothing in your background that would instigate a future as a warrior in The First Order. Explain to me why you chose this field." His putrid voice reached my ears. I was then positive that General Hux was ridiculing me for pleasure.
Rulara and Fruvis didn't participate in any of the mockery; I highly appreciated them for that. General Hux, however . . .
I continued to ignore his ruthless comments as they continued to flow from his mouth.
"See, I don't know why someone as weak as you would pursue a career in the battle business!"
"I also thought to be any type of warrior you needed some kind, any kind, of intellect! Apparently standards have been lowered, which is purely ridiculous, in my opinion."
"Has your training been going well, at least? You've been training for a few months now. That should mean you're at maybe, let's say, beginner's level, correct?"
"Nira, tell me again, I forgot. Why do you think you fit in here?"
"General Hux! Control yourself!" Fruvis suddenly scolded in her commanding voice. I looked up from my plate, which is what I'd chosen to focus my visual attention on as I endured all of the nasty comments thrown at me by General Hux.
She was coldly glaring at him from two seats down. He smirked back at her; Hux seemed proud of what he had done to me. Fruvis kept her menacing scowl towards him alive for a few instants, but then turned back to her nutrition discs.
General Hux left me alone for only thirty seconds at the most.
"Traitor." He then whispered. I peeked up at him and saw that Hux was seething with anger; I could see a fire of fury blazing behind his eyes.
"You are useless to us. You will never be one of us."
I could only timidly stare up at him. I didn't know whether to believe what he was saying or to stand up for myself. I cowered in my seat, unable to make a decision.
"You are going to die here and no one is going to miss you. Not even Kylo Ren. You think Kylo Ren cares about you? You're wrong. You think anyone cares about you? No. No one." General Hux muttered loud enough so I was the only one able to hear his fiery, corrupt, harmful words. Rulara and Fruvis couldn't hear his antagonizing due to the immense volume of the citizens occupying Lunch Hall.
"You are worth nothing to anyone. How does it feel to be useless to every single living thing? You may think -- "
Kshh!
I jumped backwards and nearly knocked my metal seat out of it's welding; a bright red lightsaber had pierced General Hux's lunch tray directly in the middle. I pushed myself as far back into my seat as possible.
I looked to see who my savior was, and I was barely surprised when I saw who it was. Kylo Ren stood directly next to General Hux and he viciously pushed the lightsaber further through the table. Rulara and Fruvis were leaning away from the lightsaber, staring at it with grimaces of fear.
"Tormenting the girl?" Kylo Ren furiously exclaimed from behind the mask. I had never witnessed him more enraged. I had experienced some pretty angry Kylo Ren moments at that point, but none of his past fury reached the dangerous potential that it did in that moment.
He yanked his lightsaber out of the table and stowed it away. Kylo Ren then quickly grabbed the front of Hux's robes and forcefully pulled him to his feet. "Who do you think you are?" Kylo Ren stated angrily.
I saw his knuckles clench tighter around the clothing that Hux donned. General Hux wore an expression of pure terror and panic. His eyes flitted side to side -- I could see that he desired some form of escape from Kylo Ren's clutches, or possibly he was searching for someone that would rescue him.
The platform had grown silent, but the Lunch Hall still boomed. I watched the fatal interaction in awe; I was not planning on stopping whatever was going to happen to Hux.
"Do you think you're above her? Above anyone?" Kylo Ren spat -- his voice was void of all emotion except for red-hot fury.
General Hux still resisted replying to his irate superior. Either that, or he was too scared to say anything.
Kylo Ren thrust the despicable redhead back into his metal seat. Hux cried out with pain upon impact.
"You are a piece of filth." Kylo Ren aggressively accused in his low, metallic, deadly voice. General Hux avoided eye contact with the dangerous man who clearly wanted to end his life (and could easily do so).
Kylo Ren then turned to me. He assumed his usual posture that he always did when he was enraged by something; his arms were slightly extended, his head was slightly bowed, and his fists were tightly clenched. "Nira. We are leaving."
Without another word, Kylo Ren strode towards the stairs and began gracefully descending them. I stood up and followed him.
I felt extremely satisfied with how violently Kylo Ren had handled General Hux after Hux had berated me in front of two new possible acquaintances (Rulara and Fruvis). I also felt . . . Proud of him, for some odd and unknown reason.
I struggled to keep close to Kylo Ren as he thrust through the doors of the Lunch Hall and towards a transporter. I was no longer hungry; not only had I ate most of my provided nutrition discs, but Hux's insults had caused the loss of my appetite.
So, yeah. That's how my first official meal at The First Order went.
_____
Author's Note
I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow, guys! I'm praying!
Question: Favorite musical artist? I like Drake, Nicki Minaj, Fetty Wap, One Direction, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Eminem, and several others that I can't think of!
OKAY EMERGENCY! Check out the gif attachments from last chapter and this chapter! They are a sweet duo! ;)
Okay, bye bye :)