Hux knew something was wrong before he entered the throne room. This was partly because of the obvious thing that was wrong, which was that their ship had recently started breaking apart. But it was more than that. Maybe it was the emptiness of the corridors near the throne room, as if people had decided to stay away so they couldn't get in trouble. Maybe it was the smell of the air. Or maybe it was a Ren thing. Even though Hux wasn't Force-sensitive, he sometimes imagined that he-that anyone, surely-could detect the energy of the petulant princeling stomping around the place. Probably it was all in his head. But still.

So when he opened the door to discover Snoke's bisected body before the throne, heaps of smoking red armor scattered all around, and a pile of black-clad Kylo Ren in the center, he understood the situation immediately. Time then passed in five discrete moments.

In the first moment, when he thought Ren might be dead, he felt a piercing horror and despair.

In the second moment, he was filled with disgust at himself. He hated Ren. How could he react to his death with anything but joy?

In the third moment, Ren's hand twitched, and Hux remembered that he had sworn to kill the princeling the moment the opportunity presented itself. He reached for his blaster.

In the fourth moment, Ren stirred, and Hux saw clearly the fork in the road ahead of him. He could pull his blaster out and shoot immediately, or he could do nothing. Either way, his decision would haunt him forever. At this point his traitorous hand refused to move, thus making the decision for him.

In the fifth moment, Ren woke up, and the opportunity was lost. Hux cursed himself.

"What happened?" he asked, sharply, automatically, the way he did everything.

"The girl murdered Snoke," Ren replied as he pushed himself up. He walked up to Hux. "What happened?"

It was not until the obvious lie spilled from Ren's mouth that Hux grasped the import of the truth. The idea that the scavenger girl had singlehandedly faced down Snoke, Ren, and a roomful of Snoke's personal guards was first of all impossible, and secondly if it were true, Ren would be ashamed, covering it up, not proclaiming it to the world with such ease. Ren had killed Snoke, or helped the scavenger kill him, or something of the nature-the details made no difference.

The realization filled Hux with pure fury. This stupid boy with his mystical powers and his temper tantrums, this boy who had never done a damn thing for the war effort yet had always been permitted to run wild around the First Order's nerve center for unclear reasons, this boy had beaten him again. He had seen his chance and taken it, he had created the same scene of carnage Hux had so frequently envisioned carrying out himself. And then, given his chance in turn, Hux had promptly failed the same test. It was unbearable.

The worst part was that he knew exactly what was coming next.

"She took Snoke's escape craft," he told Ren, feeling as if he were acting a part in a play. Nothing he said or did mattered anymore. Ren would blow all his work up and he'd be powerless to stop it.

"We know where she's going. Get all our forces down to that resistance base. Let's finish this." That was Ren, asserting command immediately like the entitled brat he was.

"Finish this? Who do you think you're talking to?" Hux retorted. He wasn't going down without a fight, even if it wouldn't be much of a fight. "You presumed to command my army?" He began counting up in his head. "Our Supreme Leader is dead! We have no ruler-"

And precisely on the count of three, he felt the brutal pressure on his windpipe. How could someone be so predictable yet so hard to outmaneuver?

"The Supreme Leader is dead-" Ren shouted.

"-Long live the Supreme Leader," Hux gasped as his vision swam. He thought his fury would burn him to a crisp.

Afterwards Hux felt like a disconnected mind riding along in an independently operating body. His hands gestured and his mouth barked orders while his brain spun dizzily along a short, unyielding loop of Kylo Ren thoughts.

Supreme Leader. Kylo Ren. Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. Handsome. Whiny. Powerful. Irresponsible. Occasionally Brilliant. Always Ridiculous. Ren. Ren. Ren. My Supreme Leader Kylo Ren.

Could have killed him. Could have beaten him. He always beats me. Pathetically thoughtless and impulsive yet he always beats me. Doesn't even notice. Kylo Ren, my Supreme Leader Kylo Ren.

The loop was only broken when they finally arrived on Crait and he had to focus on the coming battle, which was a whole new house of horrors. At the beginning he swore to himself that he would hold his tongue and let Ren do whatever the hell he wanted. The stupid boy wouldn't listen to him anyway.

He managed it, briefly. He followed Ren's commands as they advanced on the fortress door and chased after the enemy's Falcon. He tried to grit his teeth while they spent a year's worth of ammunition on an old man standing still on the salt. But his patience, usually reasonably expansive, had been destroyed by the Supreme Leader Kylo Ren chant in his brain. "That's enough," he finally hissed, because his anger hurt worse than Ren's Force-fingers on his throat. "That's enough!" When Ren didn't reply, he couldn't help adding, "Do you think you got him?"

They hadn't gotten him. Not that it would matter, if it weren't for Kylo []-ing Ren. "Bring me down to him," Ren demanded. "Keep the door covered and don't advance until I say."

Hux's anger warped a little at this, became something stranger and more uncomfortable. Ren in the middle of a mission step out from the safety of their shuttle to face Luke Skywalker alone? Among other problems with this, if Skywalker struck him down, Hux would never get the redemption of doing it himself. "Supreme Leader," he protested. He didn't mean the title to come out sounding so sincere. He didn't mean to feel a tiny shot of affection when he said it, as if from a twisted sort of pride. As if, if somebody had to beat him, better for it to be Ren...no. Ridiculous. As ridiculous as the suspicion that any part of him genuinely hoped to guide Ren to do the right thing, to give up his childish tantrums and reach his full potential...if only to make him a worthier rival...when he continued, "Don't get distracted. Our goal-"

The floor fell away from him and the wall slammed into his back. Naturally.

He briefly considered just staying in the heap where Ren left him, but an irresistible sense of duty dragged him back to his feet to watch the duel. It occurred to him that Ren's misbehavior might be intentional. That he might be consciously or unconsciously procrastinating because he had confirmed that Leia Organa was alive and well and among the group of rebel survivors they were supposed to be hunting down. That they might have come here for nothing. It would be totally typical.

Then Skywalker became insubstantial and vanished into thin air, which seemed like a basically appropriate end to the whole surreal nightmare. Hux followed Ren into the (of course) empty cave, staring fixedly at him as if he might vanish too. He watched as the princeling knelt, picked up something, and froze. He went up to him and saw that his hand was perfectly empty.

Hux opened his mouth to say something nasty, but decided against it. He had studied Ren's moods, over the years, far more carefully than anyone sensible should, and he recognized this one. This was a Kylo Ren Thing. A Skywalker/Solo/Organa/whoever Thing. If he spoke now Ren wouldn't even hear him. Ren was, as of a few hours ago, the one and only and overwhelming difficulty in Hux's life, but Hux was barely a speck on the grand tapestry of Kylo Ren's Problems. That was the most infuriating thing about Ren, worse than the tantrums, the disrespect, the misdirected violence. He didn't pay Hux any damned attention. He never would. And it made Hux feel like insects were chewing through him from the inside.