Force Destiny

Heated Debate

Kylo closed his eyes as he sat alone in the medbay, floating in a state between consciousnesses and oblivion. There was a med-droid hovered beside him, silent as she stabbed another injector into his wounded side. At least the droid didn't question how he had reopened the wound. There was another flash of pain as the droid cauterized the wound, but he was too distracted by reanalyzing the fight with Rey to focus on it.

It didn't make sense. He wasn't angry with her for what she had done, but he was more concerned with the darkness he had sensed in her. Was it him? Was it their bond? Had he done this to her? Or, was it something else? Was it Luke twisting her thoughts? He had sensed the height of her darkness on Starkiller, but that was nothing like he felt in her as she contemplated killing him moments prior. How was that possible? How could someone so good have a darkness that rivaled even Sidious? It shouldn't have surprised him, he conceded. Luke had always said, "powerful light, powerful darkness." She was strong and powerful in ways he had never witnessed before, her light purer than anything he had ever felt. Certainly, her darkness would be as well.

This darkness was what he had wanted from the moment they had first met, when she immediately tried to kill him. Wasn't it? Her strength of light and moments of darkness intrigued him, and he only wished for her to stop lying to herself and embrace it. She was in every way his equal, she could challenge him in ways no one else could. But this? This was different, and he couldn't determine why – not until he read that text and witnessed that vision. The Force had warned him, and the historical text had shown him what would happen if she fell. It wasn't the fantasy he'd had of her joining him.

Kylo saw the truth of it already; she was not Rey like that. Since Crait, he had seen brief moments of Rey, of her forgiveness, compassion, and hope, but then the darkness dragged her under its control again. She could fall; could become him. He found he didn't want that. No matter how far he had fallen, no matter how profoundly he still wished she had joined him, he knew what the darkness would do to her. With the threat of Sidious's return, it only bolstered his resolve. It was too late for him, but he couldn't allow what he had endured at the hands of Sidious to happen to her as well.

"Ren!" his general's harsh voice sliced through the silence. The clicking of boots echoed down the corridor toward him. Blue shuddered in fear at the anger in his voice, rolling away to hide in the corner. Kylo groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. He reluctantly opened his eyes, forcing himself back to reality as Hux burst into the room in his typical melodramatic style. Kylo's hand shifted to his belt instinctively as he noticed the bright red hue of his general's face. "What have you done!"

"Isn't that the question of the day," he answered dryly, too exhausted to be offended by Hux's boldness. The general vibrated in fury, his bright blue eyes alight with an intensity that bordered on homicidal. If Hux was Force-sensitive, Kylo had no doubt the Force would be tightening around his throat. "I am assuming this is concerning your failure on Concordia? They lied about the location."

"Concor... What? Yes...No," he spat. "Arkanis!"

Ah, yes. The weapons test has been successful, then.

Kylo had gone into battle on no sleep, fought in said battle, probed a man's mind, been shot, survived, and endured a fight with Rey. Kylo didn't know if he had the strength to weather anything else, especially from a man that made him consider murder every time he entered the same room.

Who cares about your useless planet when Rey...

No, he wouldn't allow her to dominate his thoughts, even as the agitation grew. Nothing made sense anymore. He wanted to unleash the anger built inside him, scream, destroy, tear the room apart. Perhaps a game of wills with Hux was the perfect distraction. "Did it fail?"