Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

Warnings: Past Rape/Non-con

As promised, here is Kylo's POV from "His Endless Cycle."

The red beam shone through the darkness of space, illuminating the durasteel walls as Kylo watched silently from his shuttle to Takodana. He had been too slow. The general was just so insistent on firing his little toy after they had nearly lost the trail to Luke Skywalker, so eager to prove himself more capable than Kylo to Supreme Leader Snoke.

If it hadn't been for that lone defector and a nameless girl, they might have already been on their way to end the Jedi. They would have destroyed the Resistance's last hope, and this would have all been over.

Kylo clenched his gloved fist, vowing that he would not fail this time. He would bring the map to Supreme Leader Snoke and prove himself better than that Force-null general once and for all. There was no need for such wasteful displays of power.

The Force surged around him, and one of the pilots looked up nervously.

Of course, he didn't expect to have everything literally crashing down on him as he lay in the snow just a few cycles later, the crack in the earth near him widening, threatening to swallow him into the abyss of the dying planet. He weakly kicked his body away from the death that approached him, huffing as the blood loss from the bowcaster wound threatened to put him to sleep. Kylo gritted his teeth, finally collapsing in the snow, feeling the blood slowly ooze out of him.

He wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. Kylo Ren, the epitome of raw power, had been bested by a scavenger girl with no prior experience in the Force. He grasped his lightsaber, remembering the moment its red blade ignited through Han Solo. He had still succeeded in destroying the boy named Ben. He had succeeded. He had…

The reality of it all struck him, and he felt as if a hand had ripped his beating heart out, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. Was this how it was supposed to be? Starkiller roared around him, the last wails of a dying beast.

Just as he prepared to close his eyes, a new blast of wind howled over him, and he spotted a First Order shuttle hovering above the trees.

"Ren!"

Time seemed to dilate around him, and he next saw a pair of pale green eyes lined with fiery lashes, wide with panic and what looked like fear. Kylo blinked once to steady his wavering vision. He hadn't seen that expression on the general before. Hux was supposed to be a wall of ice, a pillar of the First Order. He decided that the look really didn't suit the other.

The wave of fear from Hux that followed suddenly washed over him, nearly taking his breath away.

It felt wrong. He sensed the other's fear of Snoke, so irrationally thrust upon him by Hux that he didn't know what to do with it. Kylo wanted to soothe the man, but in his current state all he managed was a bleary stare. He didn't understand his current train of thought. Kylo was a being of destruction. He wasn't capable of things like "comforting" another.

Besides, Hux had destroyed the Hosnian System, had essentially committed genocide. Kylo had to remember that.

The general was saying something to him, trying to lift him off the ground. Kylo blinked again, trying to concentrate. There was something else.

Under all those layers of fear of Snoke, he felt fear for him, for Kylo. He did not understand. The man practically hated him.

In his delirium, Kylo reached upward to the general's face with a gloved hand, determined to show the other that he was okay. He wasn't going to die today. The eyes widened even more as Kylo's fingertips brushed against the pale skin, and the fear momentarily dissipated in place of surprise and something he was unable to name. The knight decided that would do for now and finally allowed darkness to take him.

.

Kylo supposed he must have dreamed the entire sequence up as he stared out into the abyss that was space on their way to Leia Organa's flagship. He never had the opportunity to further delve into the matter with Hux after Starkiller. If anything, it was as the rift between them had widened even more than it ever had, courtesy of Snoke. He had been suspicious before, but it was even more obvious now. Snoke was pitting them against each other to draw out their "strengths."

"Rabid cur." Snoke just had to say it loud enough for Hux to hear as the man passed him.

Well now that "rabid cur" stood over him in the remains of the throne room, seemingly in contemplation. He had felt waves of relief from the general suddenly drowned out by a deep emptiness as the footsteps approached him. Kylo wanted to partake in oblivion just a little longer, still reeling from the girl's betrayal. He had offered Rey everything. Why had she rejected him?

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt Hux reach for the blaster he knew the other always kept hidden in that kriffing greatcoat the general seemed to adore so much.

Kylo pretended to wake with a start, feigning confusion to cover his actual state of mind. He felt the anger run through his veins at the thought of another betrayal, having held on a small sliver of hope that he and Hux had something in common, being played like toys by Snoke. He was angry at himself that he had even hoped that they could understand each other. Perhaps it wasn't Snoke pitting them against each other at all. Perhaps it was always a mutual hatred.

Perhaps he had dreamed of those pale green eyes back on Starkiller after all.

If Hux wasn't going to be his confidant, then he wanted to make sure the general knew his place.

"Long live the Supreme Leader," Hux choked out under Kylo's invisible grip.

He expected to feel the other's anger, but all Hux projected was a strange emptiness. He didn't understand. Kylo expected the other to be sorely disappointed at missing the chance to become the new Supreme Leader, but all he felt was a faint glimmer that was now merely an afterimage.

He suddenly recognized it as a product of the Light.

It was hope.

Impossible. His hands clenched. No, Hux must have been "hoping" to kill him, to finally have the First Order all to himself. That was fine with him. He had destroyed the general's misplaced "hope" single-handedly, just as he did to everything.

Those pale green eyes filled with worry for him back at Starkiller must have just been a figment of his delirious imagination, just as he had suspected this entire time.

A wave of intense fear suddenly washed over him, stronger than any he had ever felt before, nearly breaking his concentration. He dropped Hux in surprise regardless, recognizing the feeling.

"Get your men ready," he ordered, turning away from Hux to hide his own surprise. He stomped away towards the shuttles, away from his second betrayal that day.

It was just his imagination he decided.

.

However, the emptiness Hux projected only intensified after Crait. Kylo himself was still reeling from the death of Luke Skywalker and actively sought out an outlet, concluding that he likely needed another scuffle with the general to distract him from the girl. All plans went out the door the moment Hux stepped into the throne room.

He could feel the barriers around Hux's mind radiating as strong as a Force-null could manage, but something seemed off as the general calmly explained some plans he and Snoke had previously been discussing, things Snoke had left in Hux's more than capable hands during his reign. Kylo realized that the bite was gone, replaced with something akin to surrender.

The general was operating even more like a droid now, systematically going through the papers in his hand. Kylo's own mind was starting to wander when Hux finally finished and seemed to patiently wait to be dismissed. It was then he noticed that the other's stare was far away.

Hux was no longer looking at him.

"General?"

Hux blinked, seemingly astonished at his own daydreaming.

"Is something the matter?" Kylo found himself asking. He could make out the slightest hint of purple peeking under Hux's collar. That was entirely his fault, he had to admit. The way the other seemed to be favoring his shoulder also gave him no relief. Shouldn't the other have already seen a medical droid for them?

"Everything is fine," Hux replied.

He knew it was a lie. Kylo left his seat and tentatively placed a hand on Hux's forehead.

He eased his way in. He wanted to find something that will tie the general to him. Hux knew the workings of the First Order much better than Kylo did, and as much as he hated to admit it, the general was one asset he could not afford to lose at this point in time. Perhaps in the future, when he achieved better footing, when Hux's usefulness had ran out, he would rid himself of the menace, but he knew now was not the time.

It took all he had to not just jump in like he would any interrogation. Hux had technically not done anything wrong, and the fear from before had returned. It made him uncomfortable, and he couldn't fathom why.

He first sensed Hux's surface thoughts, almost amused that the general really thought that he was going to give up absolute power so easily for a scavenger girl. It was an interesting conjecture, but not what he wanted from the other. He dug deeper.

"You feel… guilt?" This was unexpected. So, Hux did feel something from destroying an entire system. Kylo supposed the other had to have some humanity left in him even though the man was a prime product of the First Order.

This would not do. He had to find something, anything, to use against the general. Yet, his mind seemed to hit a sudden empty space.

Nothing. He was nothing.

Kylo grimaced. There was no way Hux could be nothing. He must have just hit one of the general's mental defenses. He gave the Force a stronger push.

Hux gasped.

Kylo froze, unable to tear his mind away from the scene that played in front of him. Everything was from Hux's point of view, and his body was frozen, the wrinkled form of Snoke on top of him. He didn't understand. Hux was Snoke's prized general, raised from birth for this position, a soldier.

"Kylo, stop." Hux's real voice sounded light-years away.

It couldn't be. It didn't make sense. It didn't make sense. It didn't make- the searing pain that shot through him, through Hux told him otherwise. It was at that moment a wave of despair washed over him, not from the memory but fresh from its owner.

"Stop!"

He pulled away, gasping. Hux kept a firm stance before him, seemingly unaffected, but Kylo could make out the other's slight trembles and dilated eyes.

Hux's left arm flinched in an attempt to reach for the concealed monomolecular blade that Kylo knew the other kept and for a moment he was about to counter, but the image of Hux shoving the knife in his own chest stopped him short. Kylo didn't know what to do.

"You're excused for the day," he managed to choke out, hoping to think about this on his own and for the general to leave before Hux decided to really attempt committing suicide in front of the new supreme leader.

Not that Kylo would let him.

.

Kylo wanted to seek Hux out, was determined to actually, but every time he would set out to do so Hux's memories of his former master, of Snoke, would stop him in his tracks. How long had the general been trapped? He had been completely oblivious, even scorning the other for seemingly trying too overly hard to earn Snoke's acceptance. It was nothing like that.

Hux was merely trying to survive.

The realization had left him guilty. He had been no better than his former master, had thrown Hux around without a care. The other had not seen a medical droid yet according to the ship's records, but he recalled the loud crack he had ignored when he slammed Hux against the wall of their shuttle back on Crait.

The seemingly weak-willed lieutenant called Mitaka had the gall to bring it up to him first.

"S-supreme Leader, if I may speak freely," the man stuttered, clearly afraid him.

"You may," Kylo replied, keeping his voice down to a low growl.

"I-it's the General." Mitaka took a deep breath, trying to compose himself, to control his fear. Even Ren found the effort irradiating from the man quite an amazing feat. The lieutenant continued after a moment, "I don't how much longer he will last."

"What do you mean by that?" Kylo inquired. He had a hunch that Hux had not been taking care of himself, but it must be quite obvious if even Mitaka was going so far as to bring it up. He reminded himself to consider giving the man a promotion should the occasion arise.

"W-well, the medbay's reported several dozen stashes of missing stimulants. We use them sometimes when work requires us to, but the human body isn't designed to handle so many without breaking down. Please, Supreme Leader." He bowed respectfully.

"Why do you care so much?" Kylo suddenly felt a wave of irritation despite the other's eagerness to help Hux. He swallowed with some difficulty, recognizing the foreign feeling for what it was.

It was jealousy.

"He's a good boss," Mitaka replied simply before giving him a curt salute and retreating from the room.

.

Two cycles later, Kylo had followed Hux secretly off the bridge, determined to confront the other once and for all. The general's movements seemed strained, almost dazed as Kylo recognized the course back to Hux's quarters. That would be an ideal place to talk, he decided, but it wasn't long before the other started slowing down and nearly lurched that he decided to act.

"General?" he called out cautiously.

Hux continued on, intent on ignoring him. Kylo gritted his teeth, trying to seethe the familiar rage in him. The general had no right to ignore him, the supreme leader. He grabbed the other's shoulder roughly to make a point, not expecting the other to suddenly freeze.

He felt Hux's mental cry of pain and barely managed to catch the general before the man hit the ground.

"Hux? Hey!" He didn't expect Hux to be this fatigued. Pale green irises rimmed with red stared back at him blearily before they closed. He shook the man. "Hey!"

It was then he noticed the sweat. Kylo pressed a finger to the other's neck and felt a pulse beating at least twice the speed of his, and he was already running on adrenaline. That can't be normal. Gritting his teeth, he picked up the other and ran for the medbay.

He recalled Mitaka's words.

The human body isn't designed to handle so many without breaking down.

Hux trembled in his arms, eyes clenched shut as sweat trickled down the side of his forehead, slowly loosening the gel in his fiery hair. The med-droids beckoned him to place the general onto the bed when he arrived at the medbay, and he reluctantly relinquished his hold, knowing he couldn't do anything for the other with his particular set of skills. Kylo was always a child of destruction, especially after he had stepped away from the Light.

Yet, as he watched the med-droids scurry about their business, he dared himself to hope. Hux will be fine, he told himself, chanted repeatedly in his head.

Kylo instinctively dived in to save the greatcoat just as they began undressing Hux, sliding it off the general's shoulders and allowing the droids to do what they will with the rest of the man's uniform.

His grip tightened on the gaberwool fabric as scissors cut through Hux's plain white undershirt, revealing a trail of yellowing purple bruises that ran down the man's side and neck. The shoulder looked particularly bad, a silhouette of bright red inflammation a stark sign that it might have required a little more attention than rest, and he inferred that Hux had not given himself any of that lately.

"Supreme Leader," the doctor, a middle-aged woman with dark hair and glasses, saluted him as she entered along with her assistant. "If I could ask you to please stand to the side for now. We might need a little more room." She eyed the monitor as it blared to life, beeping much too fast for Kylo's liking.

He didn't even have the chance to retort before she whirled around and started barking orders at the droids. Kylo grudgingly stepped back and let them do their jobs. An IV line was inserted in record time, and he finally felt the tension diminish as the monitor slowed.

The doctor gave a sigh of relief before moving an x-ray machine into place, and the droids ushered Kylo to the next room as the machine began buzzing. He paced in front of the door, feeling his patience growing thinner with each passing moment.

A droid finally opened the door slowly, allowing him back into the sick room, and Kylo swallowed hard at the sight. Hux was lying on his good shoulder, back facing him, and he could make out a long scar that ran across the general's pale back down to the hip bone, deeper than any of the other multiple smaller white lines that decorated Hux's skin.

He had expected the other to be clean. Hux was supposed to have had a privileged upbringing away from the physical demand of actual combat. The thought had always made it easier for Kylo to resent the other when they were still co-commanders.

Kylo supposed his assumptions were also a product of Snoke's manipulations, and he had fallen straight for it. He wanted to scream in frustration but managed to swallow his emotions for now. Destroying the medbay would only quicken Hux's death.

In his rage and self-resentment, he barely registered the assistant approaching him slowly, hands trembling around the datapad clutched to his chest.

"A moment, sir?"

"Report," Kylo ordered him.

"W-well," the man cleared his throat and took a deep breath. Kylo fought the urge to just rip the thoughts from the assistant's head. "General Hux has fractured two ribs and his shoulder. Under normal circumstances, everything should heal with a little time and external bacta application, but it looks like he has been using the shoulder inappropriately."

"Meaning?"

"The bone is no longer aligned. He must have had a secondary trauma recently to the area." Kylo's thoughts trailed back to when he had grabbed Hux's shoulder earlier. "We'd like to go in and readjust it before applying the bacta treatment, but we need his consent. Since he is unconscious..."

He grimaced. "Do it."

.

"Final diagnoses: chronic fatigue secondary to sleep deprivation, cardiac arrhythmias following an overdose of stimulants and caffeine, two fractured ribs, and one fractured shoulder requiring surgical realignment," Kylo read the report in his hands silently.

"He will be fine with some rest. We were actually lucky he knocked himself out before coming to the medbay. Overdose cases like this are usually much more combative," the doctor told him. She looked over at her assistant, who was still clutching the datapad like his life depended on it as he tried not to make eye contact with Kylo.

"You will not let word of this get out," Kylo told her, so distracted by the words in front of him that he forgot to draw on the Force.

The doctor held her hand up before he could repeat the command. "No need for that, Supreme Leader. I was not planning to in the first place." She turned to her assistant. "Do you need any assistance with that order, Matthew?" The man shook his head violently. "Good. We have a few cases lined up next. Could you help prepare for them?"

"Of course, madam!" He looked nervously at Kylo before he stiffened in a salute. "Supreme Leader." The man named Matthew scurried out of the room quickly, leaving Kylo alone with the doctor.

She sighed. "He's young, but he has a good head on his shoulders."

"You were trying to keep me from wiping his mind so you found an excuse to have him leave," Kylo commented.

She laughed. "Direct and concise. I like that. Do not worry, we will not betray you, Supreme Leader."

His eyes narrowed dangerously, but she ignored him, fearless.

"I wanted to have a few words with you about our General."

"Yes?" He readied himself. Was she going to recommend re-conditioning? Or perhaps a demotion? Either of those options were the proper next steps of course, but he found them both revolting. Snoke was dead. The man called Commandant Hux was dead. However, for the sake for the First Order, it is what he should do.

"Those scars on his back are old," she commented instead.

He blinked at her, but she continued, choosing to ignore his confusion. "The shoulder should take 2 weeks max to heal with the proper application of bacta, and I've also prescribed some for his ribs. The bruises on his neck are unsightly," Kylo flinched at that, "but they are already approaching the last stage of healing, so given our current limited supply, I'd suggest to just let them be. We've already passed the critical stage of the overdose, so we don't need any additional treatment for that although…" she paused, looking Kylo directly in the eyes. "I do not think he will be so lucky next time, especially if he is alone."

Kylo gulped, ignoring the fact that the woman seemed to be warning him, the supreme leader. "Understood," he muttered instead.

"Good." She looked satisfied.

.

He moved a strand of red hair away from Hux's face absentmindedly before he returned to his uncomfortable beside chair. Hux was sleeping, the man's face relaxed and the most peaceful Kylo had ever seen. He felt an inexplicable want of protecting the man.

Kylo remembered those pale green eyes staring at him back at Starkiller. Perhaps he had been wrong, he wondered. Perhaps they were indeed real. Hux groaned softly in his sleep, eyes flickering under the lids, likely caught in a dream.

He knew he shouldn't, but his fingers lingered close to Hux's ear. He took a breath and let himself in slowly.

Kylo was staring at himself, sprawled out unconscious on the floor in the middle of Snoke's throne room.

Was Hux dreaming of that day?

His hands trailed to his blaster. All he had to do was pull the trigger, and he would be free. He just…

His hands paused, frozen in place by doubt, by weakness, the very weakness that had plagued him through his life.

The dream-Kylo awoke, and everything disintegrated into darkness.

"Useless boy," he heard a man's voice. "You will always be weak."

He was suddenly on Starkiller Base, watching the red beam flash across the sky towards the Hosnian System. It trailed in front of him, morphing into a blaster beam before hitting a boy with dark hair in the head. Kylo turned to an older man with hair as red as the general's, although Commandant Hux's eyes bore only cruelty.

"You disgust me."

His eyes trailed back to the boy on the ground, blood pooling around the body, before pain shot through his own body.

"Armie…"

Kylo pulled away when he heard a moan. Hux's eyebrows were tight, painful. Kylo frowned and eased the other's thoughts back into the oblivion of sleep, something he had never tried before. Hux's expression relaxed, and he sighed, leaning back into his chair.

He didn't understand. He originally thought that he had been lucky, fully waking up just as the general was about to murder him in his unconsciousness, but now that he had seen it from the other's point of view, Hux actually had ample time. Why had the other not pulled the trigger immediately?

He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the feeling he felt through Hux's dream. Weakness. What was Hux thinking of when he thought of weakness? His thoughts trailed to the very last word he heard before he pulled himself away.

"Armie?" he muttered. Hux shifted in his sleep. The voice in the dream was soft, almost caressing. He was trying to remember when he had heard such a thing before and bile rose in his mouth when a distant memory surfaced. He had heard Han Solo call his mother softly like that, back when he was very young, when Ben was still alive.

Kylo froze.

Was Hux attracted to him? That was preposterous he told himself. There was a boy in the dream that Commandant Hux had shot in the head. It was…

He massaged his temple in frustration. He knew he had messed up. He had messed up with Rey, and right now the one person in the galaxy who could have had any connection with him was lying in the medbay, shoulder stitched up from a wound that he inflicted himself, and unconscious from a botched suicide attempt because Kylo had been too stupid to see Hux had been suffering too from Snoke's abuse and had nearly took his place as abuser.

He didn't even know if abuse was a strong enough word for what his previous master had done to Hux. He wished he had known sooner.

.

Those fiery eyelashes fluttered. It had been nearly two cycles since the event, and Kylo was just about to embark on a quick much-needed trip to his refresher.

"Hux?" Kylo called out uncertainty.

"Mmhmm…" Sleep crusted green eyes stared back at him blearily.

"Hey…" he managed, his mouth failing him. He wanted to yell at the other for being so blatantly careless, wanted to shake the general senseless for being such an idiot. He wanted to apologize.

Weak, useless boy…

Kylo frowned, feeling Hux's thoughts flow out uninhibited now that the general was awake. He saw the image of the monomolecular blade plunging into the redhead's heart.

"No, don't do that." He couldn't believe Hux was still thinking about that now.

"Get out of my head," Hux groaned, the words seeming to finally jolt the general awake. Kylo watched as the man sat up slowly, lips forcing back a groan from the sure pain that radiated from the bandaged shoulder. He supposed he should explain what happened before Hux went into shock.

"You overexerted yourself," he said the first words that came to mind.

"That I can see."

"And overdosed on stimulants." Oh, he wanted to add so much more, but he held himself back at the last second. "You're lucky I followed you. They said if you had been left alone, then…"

The man snorted to Kylo's disapproval. "Much thanks for that."

Kylo felt the rage building. He had practically saved this man's life. "You planned this?" the words escaped from him before he had even thought them through.

Those beautiful green eyes glared at him, the fire in them seeming to alight once more, albeit briefly. "What if I did?"

"Coward," he hissed. Of course, Kylo had known that Hux had planned all of this. He had accepted the possibility the moment the doctor told him that their general had overdosed on stimulants and caffeine of all things. Hux had already tried to kill himself that day in the throne room, although the shoulder stopped him before he could even draw the blade. Kylo supposed it was a good thing he had injured the other.

Yes, he was angry at Hux's indifference. The man had no right to still want to kill himself like this, especially after Kylo had saved him. He felt the familiar fire grow and grow, until he caught the remnants of thoughts in the air.

Thin as a slip of paper and just as useless…

Hux was unconsciously projecting again, those green eyes now dulled. It felt so wrong. He wanted to see them lit up again in passion. It could even be anger directed at him, he didn't care.

That must be his purpose in life, to always be under someone's heel, a dog's chew toy. It was an endless cycle.

"No, it isn't," he found himself replying.

Hux eyed him cautiously, instantly aware that the Force was thick around them. "Pardon?"

Kylo swallowed. He didn't want to scare the other. He wasn't Snoke, and he was definitely not forcing his way into Hux's mind. Not at this moment, anyway.

"That is not your purpose," he chose his words carefully.

It didn't work.

"And what do you know of purpose, when you cannot seem to find your own?" Hux snapped back at him.

He knew Hux had chosen those particular words to anger him. He could see the image in the man's head. Kylo swallowed his seething rage and continued, focusing on those green eyes.

"Your purpose is something that you choose."

He could see the other's mind whirling, likely thinking about Snoke or Commandant Hux. Kylo wished he had more schooling on speech back as a child instead of those wasted years training with the Light. Then again, he supposed the Light had some uses as he placed a hand on Hux's. The raging thoughts from the other became quiet.

"Stop," he whispered.

"Stop what?" Hux asked him, voice low and resigned.

"Stop thinking about the past." Kylo breathed out slowly. He was not going to let this be another Rey.

"I…" Hux looked confused, most likely thinking about his past. Kylo breathed in. Hux was thinking about their past, definitely not what he needed right now.

"You're doing it again," he said, stopping those thoughts. Hux became silent. Kylo wondered if he had gone too far. His fingers involuntarily trailed up to the marks around Hux's neck. The doctor had deemed them unworthy of bacta at this point, but they were still an ugly yellow, a reminder of the violence he had committed against the other.

"I did this, didn't I," he muttered, the guilt a heavy weight in his heart. He hands moved to the bandaged shoulder, and he felt the surprise through the Force. He had forgotten that the other didn't know.

"They had to cut open your shoulder to realign the bone. It's mostly healed now." Hux suddenly flinched and Kylo pulled away just as quickly, afraid that he had injured the other further. He forgot. He was a destroyer after all. He had to be more careful.

"Sorry…"

He could see Hux's mind wander into a disarray of thoughts at his apology. He saw himself as Hux's new abuser, a mere replacement for Snoke. A few memories ran through the surface of Hux's mind, and Kylo nearly grabbed the other to shake them away but held himself back at the last moment. He didn't want to displace that shoulder again.

"Hux," he managed to control the volume of his voice at the last moment. He gulped. Kylo Ren, leader of the Knights of Ren, was a being of destruction, not comfort. He didn't fix things, especially Hux. Yet, the green eyes that stared back at him seemed to melt away the creature of Darkness with their sorrow. "Look, I'm sorry," he repeated, his voice soft.

He could see a man on the surface of Hux's thoughts now, the one that had a blaster hole in his head. Suddenly, he sensed a wave of anger from the other. He supposed that was better than emptiness.

"You threw me against a wall in front of my men," Hux managed. The anger flickered like a dying flame. It had worked only momentarily, and he felt Hux's thoughts disintegrating into nothingness again. He had to save that flame. If anger, the source of his own power, wasn't going to work, then he'll find something. Anything.

"I know. I shouldn't have."

"Why did you save me? Why do you care?"

Because I just do!

"The First Order needs you." That definitely did not work, as Hux proceeded to turn on him.

"Well I don't need any of it!" Hux practically spat.

The flames flared up again, and as he expected, they started to wilt again.

Kylo took a breath.

"I need you."

Hux blinked at him, stunned for a moment. The man turned away, green eyes downcast. "You don't need me," he muttered. "You're just latching onto me, because I'm the only one who's been there consistently the past few years, a convenient target."

"Perhaps." Kylo had wondered about all of this himself, but if there was anything he was ever sure of, it was this. "But I still want you." The word "want" surprised himself as it left his mouth.

"That's preposterous." Hux also seemed not believe him.

He sensed the other's thoughts about Jekri and his control of the Force involuntarily flowed out. Ah, jealousy, he recognized again. Hux stiffened, and Kylo instantly noticed his mistake, pulling his mind back to a barely detectable level.

Hux looked away, and he sensed shame. He knew the other was thinking about Snoke, about Commandant Hux's words. But, they were dead now, and he will make sure their names were lost to all of history.

His hand found Hux's again, clutching the other's cold fingers carefully. He never wanted to let go. It was so strange; he was the Darkness. This should not be something that he deserved. Yet, he will grasp it with all his might just as he had accepted the Dark Side.

"No one will ever hurt you again. I will protect you," he found himself promising.

Hux finally looked at him with those pale green eyes. "Why?" The man's bottom lip quivered. "I am nothing."

"You are not nothing," Kylo breathed. He wasn't going to screw this up again, especially with Hux. "You've never been nothing to me." Hux was his co-commander, his rival, his general, and now, he was… He was…

Hux was someone Kylo wanted to protect, no matter what. How ironic that this would become of the Jedi-killer.

He could see Hux blink several times as the words, seemingly too confused to make anything of them. Had he been too direct this time?

"Since when?" Hux finally spoke, the faintest hint of red dusting his ears.

He smiled, letting out a breath. He still sensed the confusion in Hux's mind, but there was something else there. Hope. A commodity of the Light. Well, if this was going to save him, then...

"The Light. The Dark. Nothing matters anymore," Kylo told him. "Snoke is dead." He had destroyed him.

"You killed him," Hux confirmed. He always knew that Hux had suspected.

"I should have made it more painful," he found himself saying, remembering the images in Hux's mind.

He could feel Hux shrink under his passion and drew back. He was destruction, a child of darkness. That was fine, he told himself. He will destroy. They will rebuild.

"Let go of the past," he told the other softly. "We will destroy Snoke's First Order, rebuild it into something new. You want that, don't you?"

"What do you know about what I want?" Hux countered.

"Armitage," he found the name through the other's memories. He didn't want to use the name Jekri had used. "I know what it is you seek."

He had meant it to come out as confident, but the words were not enough to reassure him. Hux looked apprehensive, so he took a gamble and leaned in, capturing the other's lips softly in his own.

Kylo was a being of destruction. He destroyed the child prodigy Ben Solo and cut Kylo Ren's predecessor Snoke in half.

And he decided that he will destroy Armitage's connection to his former master, to Commandant Hux, destroy the endless cycle that the other had trapped himself in, no matter what it took.

Those beautiful green eyes closed, surrendering to the kiss.

He will not fail this time.

Thank you for reading! I'm not sure if I'm going to add more to this; there's scattered scenarios in my brain, but I'm a pretty slow writer T_T. See you next time if something does make its way onto my computer! *hugs*