Chapter Text
General Hux had not known it, but the hologram chamber was an exact replica of the room he stood in now. Kylo Ren’s good arm had been draped over his shoulder for much of the walk down to this place. Pride or fear had compelled Ren to draw away at the last moment of privacy before entering the throne room of the Supreme Leader. Both their necks craned up to the Supreme Leader, waiting. Hux had a bad feeling about this.
“General Hux, I see you have brought me Kylo Ren. Good, good,” the Supreme Leader examined him.
“Our strategy must change again, General,” Snoke began, “the Resistance will find Skywalker and there lies our unraveling. It is imperative that the First Order gain control of the Core and starve the Resistance of resources. I entrust you with this task.”
“Yes, Supreme Leader,” Hux replied and turned to leave Ren alone with his master.
“GENERAL!” Snoke bellowed and Hux froze before turning back to the Supreme Leader.
“I am…displeased at the loss of Starkiller Base.”
“I take full responsibility, Supreme Leader.” Snoke considered him, pale and resigned to his fate,
“Stay and witness.” His eyes swiveled to Kylo Ren. “Is it done?”
“Yes, Supreme Leader,” Ren rasped, “Han Solo is dead.”
Snoke seemed to consider it for a moment. He gestured with his fingers splayed at the at the figure Ren cut before him, murmuring, “and yet…”
Abruptly, Snoke’s terrible fingers grasped the armrests of his throne as he leaned forward, “Step forth, Kylo Ren, and tell me why you have failed to bring me the girl.”
Ren stepped forward, one foot dragging slightly. It caused the fabric caked with dried blood to scrape across the floor. Hux found it was a terrible sound in all that empty space around them.
Ren took to his knee before his master to explain, “The girl was stronger in the Force than I anticipated. She called it to her, the Light, and the Dark followed; righteousness, then rage. She stood on the precipice of the Dark Side when she cut me down.”
“The Light still calls to you,” Snoke spat with disgust, “and now this girl in her innocence has compelled you to compassion.”
“She can be turned, Supreme Leader! She can become one of us!”
“You, Master of the Knights of Ren, infatuated with a scavenger! You cannot turn yourself fully to the Dark Side and you expect me to believe that you can turn this girl?”
“By the grace of your training I shall not fail,” Ren answered.
The Supreme Leader rose up and loomed over Kylo Ren. Hux steeled himself, against what he did not know.
“It is time to complete your training, Kylo Ren. This is your final test,” and with that Snoke pressed his long index finger against Ren’s forehead. Kylo Ren screamed, guttural and primal like a dying thing. Hux clapped his hands over his ears, unable to tear his eyes from the tableau before him. The cauterized wounds from lightsaber strikes ruptured suddenly with Ren’s skyrocketing blood pressure and Snoke dug his finger more deeply into the torn flesh of his forehead. Bloody and screaming, Kylo Ren vibrated under the onslaught of Snoke’s Force attack until he was suddenly still and quiet. When the Supreme Leader lifted his finger, Kylo Ren slumped against the floor.
“General, take him away.”
Hux was panting, exhausted from having watched such a thing.
“Is he dead, Supreme Leader? Did he fail?” Hux dared to ask as he looked down at Ren.
“That remains to be seen. He is in the dreamtime now, the labyrinth of his own nature. He will awaken when he has completed his trial. Should he fail…we shall see,” the Supreme Leader trailed off, his mind moving onto other things.
Where it not for the rush of adrenaline, Hux would not have been able to hoist Ren’s dead weight off the floor and sling a long arm about his shoulder. The tips of his boots dragged across the floor as Hux retreated from the throne room and headed towards the medbay. He was going to stick Ren in a bacta tank until his body healed and then figure out the rest later.