Before we begin, a very important message:

This quarter I'm taking an independent study class focused entirely on writing an entire novel (at least 40k words) by mid-June. Fanfiction is fair game, hence the creation of this story. If you choose to stick with me through this journey, just know that it will, at the very least, be interesting. And will likely update and be edited quite often.

Because there's not enough Rey/Hux in this world without the very prominent presence of Kylo Ren, I've decided to take matters into my own hands and create something for them. At the moment this fic will definitely be T-rated, but that rating will likely go up (in the future, as I intend to make this relationship a slow-building one). And given that I'm very hesitant when it comes to the SW universe (as I've never read the AU, but I've grown up with the entire series), this will definitely be a challenge.

These first few chapters will probably include some bits of exposition for my peers, heads up.

And now, without further ado, this terrible monster.

The Ties that Bind, the Ties that Break

Chapter 1: "I Just Followed Your Scent; You Can Just Follow My Smile"

In a sea of white, a lone figure stood in stark contrast, when Rey came to. Her mind spun as her hazel eyes strained to adjust to the harsh, bright light permeating the room. What had initially knocked her out had been a blow to the head, and now the pain was coming to haunt her, throbbing in her temples. When she moved to shield her gaze with a hand, she grunted at the grim realization that she had—once again—been chained to a First Order interrogation chair, her wrists, arms, and ankles shackled her in place, restraining her movement. Rey grit her teeth, struggling, though she knew her efforts would not prove fruitful.

At least, not purely physically.

She could at least move her head from side to side to glance about the—ship, she realized when she saw how small the space was, with its cramped grey walls and low ceiling. However, with how Rey felt every bit of turbulence, she noticed that this was a smaller shuttle, not a huge Star Destroyer. She was in the middle of transportation to wherever the new First Order base was now located, after the destruction of Starkiller Base not months before.

Her eyes wandered from Stormtrooper to Stormtrooper, wondering just whose mind she could penetrate, which one would do just what she willed, which one was weak-minded enough to let her in. If she could just get one of these identical, uniformed soldiers to follow her order…

"That won't help," a regal voice declared from directly before her.

Rey trained her gaze to the dark figure, whose face only looked whiter and paler in contrast to the black of his suit—his uniform, which was pressed to crisp perfection, with no present wrinkles. A black overcoat hung off his shoulders as a deception to the eye, to make himself appear larger than Rey suspected he actually was. Nothing about him looked out of place, from his boots that shone to his slicked hair.

"What won't?" she uttered, playing naïve. She challenged those green eyes, tried to stay focused on them. But her eyes couldn't help but trail back to his cheekbones, sharp enough to cut through glass. And they widened when she realized his hair—the shame shade of a Jakku sunset or open flame—was entirely natural, in a shade Rey had never seen on another person before.

The man scoffed, the corners of his thick lips twitching upward ever so slightly before restoring back to a permanent scowl. "I know your intentions, girl," he assumed, his voice laced with nothing but contempt and disdain for her, though she had never seen this man before in her life. She certainly would have remembered that hair. "Influencing the mind of one of my Stormtroopers will do you little good."

Instead of leaving his explanation at that, he decided to further her anger by teasing her. "Besides, what would you do once you had them under your grasp…? Have you free, and then what? You have no weapon."

"I'll steal yours," Rey challenged. The First Order couldn't have gotten rid of her lightsaber. During her last confrontation with Kylo Ren, he'd tried to pull it from the snow. The Force had instead chose Rey as its rightful wielder, and she doubted Ren would give up on it that easily. Which meant it had to be somewhere on this shuttle.

Holding up his blaster, the man raised a brow. "Coded to my prints," he explained. "Don't even think about what will happen if you use it. Supreme Leader Snoke was very specific in his orders—he wants you alive."

Rey only knew of Snoke from her brief training with Luke Skywalker, and even then his name was only said in passing, or in some sort of history lesson. His name carried a weight, a burden, where when General Organa mentioned him it was in anger and sadness, as he was the man that had corrupted Ben and tempted him into becoming the villainous Kylo Ren. What indeed, Rey wondered, would a man like that possibly want with her…? Perhaps as payback to what she had done to Ren, in defeating him, in deforming his face and coming out on top, though she had never wielded a lightsaber before that first battle. The mention of Snoke wanting her sent a shiver down her spine. This flame-haired man's presence made Rey shrink back in freight.

Because, unlike Kylo Ren, he didn't have to hide behind a mask. The notion of terror was ever present on his face.

Rey's biting words died on her tongue.

For what seemed like hours the man held her gaze, unwavering, unmoving—a psychological torture from which she couldn't escape. The walls then seemed to close in; the shuttle seemed to shake.

Or… was the shuttle shaking…? The man finally broke his stare from Rey to glance about the room, his face clearly confused.

Another black-clad man peeked his head in the room. "General, we've detected an anomaly," he announced.

Given that the man turned at that, Rey deduced his rank. The General glanced back at her momentarily, gave her a last scowl and shuffled out of the room, his troops clinically falling behind, leaving her alone.

Though Rey figured she wasn't truly alone—the General must have left a Stormtrooper or two behind, on the other side of the door, from where she could not see them, could not detect them, could not bend one to her will. Damn. The shuttle shook again, harder.

This was more than just some anomaly in space. Suddenly this became an actual danger, a threat that saw no affiliation. Was this an attack? Rey wondered. But if so, did the Resistance even know where the First Order was taking her? She struggled against the bonds, if only to just glance around and understand what was happening. The shuttle had to be in lightspeed, right? So then how did—

The General stormed back in, a few strands of his red hair out of place. Within moments he leaned in her face, his gloved hands on either side of her bound arms. The intensity in his green eyes made Rey wonder just what was going through his mind, because when she tried to look in, he clearly had her blocked out, almost as if he'd locked his head from a Force user before. "Did you intentionally sabotage this ship, girl?" he accused, each word pronounced, crisp, terrifying. Rey immediately broke out into a sweat, unable to shrink back, unable to get away from him once again.

"What? No!" she cried, heart pounding as the ship shook. Rey shrieked when suddenly they were in a nosedive. Oh, Kriff, this had to be the end… How did he possibly think she had something to do with this damage? Sure, she could use the Force, but she wasn't all-powerful. It was because of her own arrogance and inexperience, after all, which had gotten her captured by the First Order in the first place. Defeating Kylo Ren, then, had just been some sort of beginner's luck. The General must be panicking as much as she was, and deep down, she could feel he needed something—someone—to blame for this misfortune.

He opened his mouth to speak again, as if to demand if she was lying, but with how the ship shook, Rey could tell they had indeed hit something, and she wished she knew just what had happened, where it all went wrong. Then, a pull. Gravitational. The General slipped and slammed into her, and Rey screamed at the force of being pulled into a new atmosphere.

Faster, faster, everything tearing apart before her—if she could just… go before impact, make her death merciful, that's all she could wish for in this moment. She apologized for letting down her friends in the Resistance—Poe and Finn and BB-8 in particular, to Luke for letting him down as his padawan, to Leia for failing to bring back her son to the light. To her family, whoever they were, wherever they were, for never finding them.

With her feelings out in the void, no matter how silent, no matter that no one else would know, Rey had at least made some peace with herself. And with that content thought, she closed her eyes, started to steady her breathing, and she gave herself completely over to the Force with a few final words: Forgive me.

If there's any critique you'd like to spout, I'd be more than happy to hear it, especially since I'm being graded for this! Reviews are always appreciated, of course.