Blinded by the Dark | General Hux

XV

Amelia curled herself into a tight ball on the sofa in the General's quarters, burying herself in the blanket he draped over her ever so gently. She closed her eyes in tiredness and shame, turning into the cushions with a shiver.

"I'm so sorry..." she whispered, swallowing back tears which only made her throat sorer. He looked back at her from pouring her a drink over the other side of the room. "Ever since I came along it's been incident after incident. I'm sorry for showing you up again." 

"You haven't..." he replied, screwing the cap back on the whiskey bottle. "If anyone says anything I'll have them demoted." He held the glass out to her over the back of the sofa with the smallest of smiles. "Here...Might make you feel better." 

She was thankful as she took it with shaking fingers but nervous at the fact she didn't and never had drunk before. She just hoped she wouldn't offend him if she didn't like it.

"Thank you," she muttered with a nod which he returned, going to sit in the armchair across from her, taking a good swig from his own glass. 

"It's been quite the eventful few days...I'm surprised no one has killed each other yet."

She nodded as she decided to try the drink, first sniffing it, unsure at quite how she felt about it before taking the tiniest of sips. It was strong, completely overpowering, tingling at her lips then her throat as she swallowed it down, making a face and coughing a little at the lingering burning. 

"Wow...that is...strong." 

He smiled over the top of his glass at her, completely fascinated and noticing a warmth in him that he could not attribute to the alcohol. She just made him feel alive in such a tender way. 

She kept her glass close to her as she turned back into the sofa cushions. She wasn't one for conversation at that point, nor really doing anything. She allowed herself to just drift and think, take some time before trying to explain herself and he understood. 

They were quiet, just getting lost in their own thoughts, him about those plans he had just discarded and how he intended to go about them while she was trying to think of ways to justify her actions to herself. Attacking her master, again, and showing up the General. How well this day was going...

That was until she felt a soft nudging at her hand holding the glass and so opened her eyes to a little orange ball of fur nuzzling it's face into her fingers, trying to get a feel for who she was, what exactly she was doing there in its owner's quarters. It caught her gaze and cocked its head with curious green eyes, pawing at her. 

"Oh...Millicent, no. Get down..." Hux said, putting his glass down beside him, about to get up but stopped when Amelia smiled. "Sorry about her." 

"No...She's fine...she's lovely." She stretched her hand out to stroke her but Millicent retreated, shrinking away and looking to her master who gave her a nod toward Amelia. 

"She's fine...She can be in here. She won't hurt you." 

She gently stroked her head and the cat nudged into her hand, curling into it as they spoke. 

"They all know me now, don't they? All those troopers and officers, they know I'm weak. I'm not what they thought I was." 

"It doesn't matter. That image was created by Ren. He was the one who ensured you never showed fear or sadness. It was for his own gain, in order to prove himself to the Supreme Leader seeing as his faith in him was dwindling. The fact you stood up against him is a feat of fearlessness in of itself to those bystanders. They'd never dare oppose someone with so much power but there you were."