"I'll never tell you..." Ara's voice was weak, broken.
"Oh come now. You just need a little... Push. "Hux's voice was silky smooth, his hair immaculate as ever, but instead of his stiff coat and cape he wore a grey shirt, rolled up to show off his strong forearms and exposing his chest slightly as well.
As Hux punctuated the last word he moved closer to Ara, bringing his branding saber close to her chin.
Ara bent away from the saber as far as she could, with the wrists and ankles shackled, it wasn't far.
"Scared, are we?" Hux let the branding weapon extinguish, bringing his face close to Ara's that their lips nearly touched. "A nurse would be useful. One of your talent... Very useful indeed."
Hux let his eyes wander down to Ara's lips, his eyes softened but so slightly that Ara didn't even notice.
"I would never work for you." Ara turned her head, Hux instead being forced to stare at her jaw, her chest heaving with panicked breaths she tried to hide.
"Oh, Ara. If you don't comply, Snoke will just have to come back..." Hux took a step back and turned to the side, running his hand through his hair and dislodging a few strands which fell over his forehead. "I know how much... Fun... You two had."
Hux turns his head again, waiting for Ara's reaction. Instead, she kept her face turned to the side. Trying her best to hide her expression from Hux's eyes.
"Please..." She took a deep breath and her eyes met Hux's again for a brief moment, before being brought back and lingering on his green eyes.
Hux swallowed, his shoulders slumping slightly, making the shirt stretch over his back muscles which Ara could just glimpse.
"The First Order will be happy to have you." Hux straightened again, rolling his sleeves down. "Farewell, Ara."
He walked from the room, buttoning his shirt in the hallway once more. The two stormtroopers by the door glanced at each other behind his back as they watched him stride away. A hint of a blush on his cheeks that was just noticeable.
"Y/N!" Leia's voice was relieved. She swept over from the window at which she had been standing and brought her hand up to your face, gently avoiding the bruises and raw skin as she caressed your cheek.
"Leia..." You smile at her weakly. Without the support of Lieutenant James, you felt your energy waning.
"Please, sit." She motions over to a chair by the window, her eyes full of concern.
She sits down opposite you and places her hands in her lap, eyeing you cautiously.
"I assume you wish to know what happened?" You question, levelling off your gaze with her, playing with your fingers.
She shifts uncomfortably, dropping her gaze and speaks.
"If you are not too unwell, I understand that you were injured." She hides her desperation to know well. Her voice makes you think of a mother, while her intentions are clearly that of a General.
"Snoke led us of course, there was nothing we could do." You recount the story to her, starting with the ship problems and finishing at the last you remember before waking up, pausing to close your eyes and breathe when you became too light headed. Leia sat and didn't interrupt. Deep in thought.
"So... Kylo took Snoke's Force?" She finally speaks, looks intriguing. She sits up straighter, her eyes are bright.
"Only temporarily, we don't know exactly how it happened." You shrug. "Speaking of Kylo..."
Leia smiles, leaning back in her chair once more, although her interest in the recent matter is not yet over.
"Kylo is alright and recovering. We have already spoken." Leia reaches forwards and pats your hand.
You frown.
"He is awake?"
Leia widens her eyes, lifting her hand once more.
"Of course you can see him, I just wanted to speak with you first..." She smiles but you continue to frown.
"How soon can I see him?" You watch Leia, upset that she withheld the fact Kylo was awake from you, upset that you hadn't asked sooner.
"You can go right now, I believe I have heard all there is to know." Leia looks apologetically towards you.
You nod at her but stand up abruptly, managing to keep your balance.
"I shall fetch someone to take you there." Leia also stands, eyeing your stance.
She walks over to a control desk embedded in the wall and types out a quick message.
She walks back over to you and places her hand on your arm.
"I am proud of you, Y/N. You did well." She looks into your eyes earnestly.
You wonder how much she knows, you left out the deaths of the innocents, not wanting to repeat it for fear of how detached you were starting to feel to it all. Fear that Leia would see that something was wrong with you for how could you not feel after that?
She continued to stare and you stared back, thoughts running through your mind quicker than you could process.
Did she know?
Leia squeezes your arm gently and drops her hand, leading you towards the door.
The door opens and a familiar face stands, leaning against the opposite wall. Upon seeing Leia he quickly pushes himself off the wall and strides over, showing his teeth once more in a cheeky grin.
"General Organa." He bows slightly and then turns to you.
"Y/N." He tips his hat.
Leia rolls her eyes good-naturedly.
"Lieutenant James, you are not who I called." She smiles at him anyway and he grins, leaning against the door with his arm up against the frame.
"I'm terribly sorry, he happened to be busy so I volunteered." He leans closer. "Between you and me, he doesn't seem like the hardest of workers."
Leia crosses her arms.
"Is that so... For the he I called actually happened to be a she." Lieutenant James' smile stays plastered on, yet he turns to you with his arm outstretched.
"We had best be going then!" Lieutenant James calls behind him and drags you along down the hall.
Your previous fears forgotten you happily skip alongside him, giggling and managing not to cough.
"I believe as I am now calling you Y/N, you need something with a better thing to it than Lieutenant James." He turns to you suddenly, taking off his cap once more and running his hand through his short hair. "Tyler James, at your service. Please, call me Tyler." He extends his free hand to you and you shake it, smiling at him.
"Why thank you, Tyler." He inclines his head to you.
"Now, I believe you are to be meeting a special someone, and he is right through that door behind you." He points over you, resting his arm on your shoulder.
You shake him off and smile, suddenly nervous.
"Already?" You ask, almost wishing Tyler would say no and keep marching on down the corridor with you.
Tyler's smile wanes ever so slightly.
You curse yourself, once again, giving a reason for people to doubt your wellbeing you think.
"Here." He walks over to the door and takes your hand, bringing it up to the cool metal, as soon as you touch it the metal slides aside, revealing a room.
Tyler indicates for you to go in, upon watching you frozen at the threshold he instead marches in himself, dragging you behind him.
Kylo is sitting on the edge of a metal table, when he sees Tyler enter he stands, stiff and tall. Next he sees you being pulled alongside and he takes a step forwards, almost involuntarily by the look of his expression.
You stop, standing across from him, Tyler releases your hand and instead places it on the small of your back, giving you a tiny push.
Kylo's eyes flick over to him slightly, and then back to you as you are guided by Tyler's hand to him.
Kylo opens his arms slightly to you, question in his eyes as he doesn't utter a word. The silence in the room is thick as if weeks had passed since you had last seen Kylo when in reality even a day passing would have been a surprise.
You watch as he starts to lower his arms again, a flicker of hurt rushing across his face. Taking a few steps forwards you collide with him, wrapping your arms tightly around his waist. You feel him fall back slightly to lean on the metal table, his shoulders shaking as he chuckles.
You place your head on his chest, letting him stroke your hair. He rests his head on yours and sighs.
In his short-sleeved shirt you notice the blisters on his arms, but they, like yours are fading. Instead, red blotches remain, looking like a form of strange sunburn. Bruises that cover your body also cover his, purple-edged blemishes disappearing up his sleeve.
He wheezes slightly as he breaths, but warmth radiates from him, filling your body and heart.
"Y/N." He whispers, drawing back slightly to bring a hand up to your face, you blink up at him, a smile plastered across your face.
He looks pale and drawn, but much better than he did on the ship.
He leans down and caresses your lips with his, you step onto your tiptoes, deepening the kiss, enjoying the moan you draw from Kylo.
He pulls back and rests his forehead on yours, staring into your eyes with his dark ones. You gaze at them, the colour drawing you in. His eyes held galaxies, framed by his black lashes, fanning across his cheeks as he looked down onto you.
He suddenly lifts you, despite the pain it must bring his muscles, and places you on the bench behind him, keeping his arms loosely wrapped around your waist as he stands between your legs. His eyes also show his relief at being united again. You place your hands on his shoulders and lean forwards with a teasing kiss.
"I'm sorry you went through that..." Kylo whispers when you finish. He closes his eyes and leaning forward to rest his forehead against yours once more.
"There was nothing you could do." You whisper back, lightly pressing your nose to his affectionately.
You know your words won't help with his guilt. Thinking back Kylo had always wanted to protect you, perhaps not at the very start, but he did everything out of love for you. His training of you was what kept you safe when he couldn't.
Kylo was unsatisfied with your answer, as true as you found it, his mouth was set in a line, but you planted a kiss on it anyway, wishing to convey your thankfulness to him.
"I could do this all day." he sighed when you pulled back, grinning and watching your eyes mischievously.
"Maybe we can." You grin back, winking at him while trying to hold back your laughter. His eyes fill with an amused hopefulness. At this moment everything felt perfect.
"Maybe, maybe." He teases, bringing his finger up to brush your nose gently. You giggle, running your hands down his arms to hold his hands.
"I missed you, Kylo." You duck your chin and look up at him again. "I missed this." You drop his hand and gesture to him, his smile and his eyes.
"We will always have this when it is over." He takes your hand back and plants a kiss on each knuckle, which you realise are blossoming with bruises. "We will have this and more."
A loud wail breaks you out of your trance, you lift your head suddenly, turning to watch as Tyler dashes towards a new entrant into the room.
An orb like orange and white shape making various noises of what you assume is distress rolls towards Tyler. The shape you recognise as BB-8 continues to screech in a way that you don't understand.
"For the sake of... No... No stop! I'm busy!" You watch Tyler as he frantically attempts to turn the droid around, crouching and pushing him away as he continues to roll persistently towards him, but not gaining any ground. Both you and Kylo feel your jaws drop as he continues to struggle, whisper-shouting what you assume are swears to the small droid.
"BB-8 I told you... Two... Minutes!" He grunts, changing tactics and pushing his back into the bot, nearly sitting on the floor.
The sudden silence in the room makes Tyler freeze. Slowly he raises his head, no longer pushing against the bot he falls to the ground and is pushed slightly as BB-8 determinedly accelerates, his noises becoming more frenzied and stressed.
You and Kylo both stare and Tyler, open-mouthed, as he finally comes to a stop.
Kylo glances at you for a split second, his face so full of confusion it takes all the strength you can muster not to burst out into laughter.
Tyler struggles up from the ground, saluting in a way that makes him look comical, his uniform a complete mess and his cap hanging off his head. Even BB-8, perhaps realising the company quiets slightly, his latest wail trailing off until it becomes just a murmur.
"Lieutenant James, pleased to meet you." He says, his voice clipped and professional despite his appearance and recent action. "It appears, there is somewhere we are to be..." He gestures towards the droid, swallowing, his face red from exertion. He even pants a little.
This is the last straw for you, unable to hold back your laughter anymore, you double over. The pain in your sides ignored while you watched Kylo's bewildered gaze and Tyler's blush. Kylo turns back to you, his facial expression making you laugh even more, he looks almost horrified as he watches you clutch your sides, struggling to breathe.
Kylo turns back to Tyler, who had now managed to straighten his uniform, while his cap still sat at a precarious angle. Finally able to sober up, you grin at Tyler over the shoulder of Kylo, he grins back, slightly embarrassed.
The droid now sits almost silently, although he looks between the figures in the room also, his desperate wines sometimes escaping.
"Who the Hoth are you again?" Kylo finally speaks, breaking the silence in the room.