DYAD

ELEVEN

Vicrul and I jog down the hall, our training clothes light on our backs. We turn a corner, skidding to a stop in order to avoid collision with several stormtroopers and an unnecessarily well-groomed man.

I lean forward, bracing my hands on my knees, Vicrul doing the same. A pair of black boots stops before me and a pale hand grabs my chin, jerking my face up.

"You're no Knight of Ren." The orange-haired man sneers, then his eyes narrow and he scowls. "Where have I seen you before?" I pull away from him with a growl, crossing my arms.

"General Hux. Nice to know you don't remember our last encounter." Vicrul steps closer to me, hand drifting to the blaster he always carries with him. Hux's brows lower even more.

"You're that problem from Jakku." He realizes. "You were supposed to die on Starkiller." I shrug, meeting his gaze.

"Sorry for the disappointment, General." Hux surges forward as if to grab me, but Vicrul steps in between the two of us, glaring at Hux and the stormtroopers aiming at him.

"If you lay a finger on her, I will gut you." Vicrul warns, eyes flashing. "Don't think I won't." Hux sneers.

"Harvester of Men, you seem too compassionate to be the Supreme Leader's right hand man." I start at the words.

Supreme Leader?

"General Hux." Kylo's face has a stony look on it. He's mad. He's always mad. I roll my eyes, stepping back for Kylo to talk with Hux. I grip Vicrul's elbow, pulling him with me. Hux smirks at the action.

"Supreme Leader. I see you've taken the girl as your pet." Vicrul bristles. "I assume you have the prisoner ready for transport?" I step back into Vic's chest, and he wraps a hand around my shoulder.

"Prisoner?" I glare at Kylo. "You have a prisoner here?" I curl my fists. "Kylo..." His eyes narrow.

"Yes. This is my ship, I carry my prisoners here." Hux has laughter in his eyes. I feel anger rising in my chest.

"Prisoners? You have more?" He gestures something to Vic, who leads me away. "He has prisoners here?"

"Yes, occasionally. Not too often, though." I nod numbly.  "Don't be afraid, we won't let anything happen to you." I shake my head, laughing.

"I'm not afraid, Vicrul." We walk in silence for a few minutes, still trying to catch our breath from our run. "Hey, Vic?" He turns to me. "Years ago, when I was still one of Master Skywalker's students, Kylo- who was Ben back then- left with Luke and Lor San Tekka on some mission to look for ancient Jedi artifacts on Elphrona." We walk into my room, boots whispering on the tiles. "He met you guys there, but when we talked about it, he told me that you were savages." I avoid his gaze as I lean against the wall. "And I understand that. From the forest, but..."

     "You're wondering why we don't act like that all the time?" I nod. "We're still human, Luella." He smirks. "Except for Ushar, the ugly brute." I laugh a little as well. The Tognath warrior is tense and rude, but a good fighter from what I've seen while training with Vic and Ap'lek.

     "Why is General Hux here?" I ask after a moment. Vicrul sighs. "And is Kylo the Supreme Leader? Who's the prisoner?"

     "Slow down Lu, I can only answer one question at a time." He says with a small smile. "Hux is here for an important meeting with several other officers. Very top secret, they can't hold it anywhere but here on the Night Buzzard." I nod. Makes sense. "Yes, Lord Ren killed Snoke a few weeks ago and inherited the title. The prisoner is an official who defected and-" He stops. "I can't tell you anything else, I'm sorry." I cross my arms, letting out a breath, gaze falling on my pale skin.

"Can we train more?" I ask. "I want to go on missions with you guys." I haven't seen the sun since that snow-world. "I'm tired of sitting here doing nothing."

"I doubt Ren will allow that to happen." He chuckles. "He's very protective of you." I grunt, remembering Kylo's warning about Vicrul.

"It's always been like that." I close my eyes, resting my head on the wall behind me. "But when we were little, his father would come visit him and Master Luke, he'd take Ben and I on a flight around the planet." I smile to myself. "Just us. Not Hennix, Tai, or anyone."

"You love him, don't you?" I snap my eyes open to see Vic looking at me with a new kind of emotion in his eyes.

"I-I did, before Yavin. I don't think I could bring myself to love him how he wants me to. Not yet." He raises my chin with a finger and a tremor shoots through my body, feeling like stars raining down on my skin. My neck, my shoulders, my arms, my fingertips, my hips, my legs, my knees, my toes. "Vicrul..." I try to say something, but the words catch in my throat as he pushes a strand of hair from my face.

"May I?" His eyes are searching mine, gaze like the heat of a trillion suns on my skin. I can only nod, my mouth is dry and it's as if breathing has become toxic.

I think that maybe time stops as his lips meet mine, and the feeling of stars on my skin only intensifies.

My heart pounds in my chest and I can only focus on how soft this ruthless warrior feels against my mouth, how he invades all my senses. There's no way to tell if this moment is real, but there's a kind of raw and burning emotion in the way his fingers curl around mine.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, there's a voice screaming for me to stop, to pull away, but he wraps his arms around my waist, and as I realize that we fit together, I don't ever want to leave his side.

After a moment, he pulls away and I rest my head on his chest.

Kylo's going to kill me.

I curse myself silently in various dialects as Vic runs his hand through my hair.

Kylo's going to kill me.

But I think it will have been worth it.