conflictedheart | The Hunter and the Hunted

He wasn't certain what was worse - the cold or the burning. Maybe they were feeding into one another, at this point, he wasn't sure. His face and shoulder burned, his side burned, but the rest of him was cold. The snow, a logical part of his mind reminded him, but it was a far away concept right now. It wasn't just his body broken down from the fight against a traitor and a scavenger, not to mention that damned Wookie's blast to his abdomen, but his pride, and his energy, were stripped to nearly nothing.

The planet rumbled around him, a deep bass sound that echoed around in his skull, but even as the ground quaked in the world's death throes, there was no strength left in him to get up and continue. He had given the last of it to that fight, and now he was paying for pushing his body so hard. He would pay with his life, for he knew the planet wouldn't have long.

As the cold started to seep in further, replacing the burning, his mind replayed over what had happened so shortly before, despite everything in him that didn't want to think on what he had done. He had done what Snoke hadn't believed him ready for; he had destroyed the source of the Light that plagued him deep within. Yet... he could not deny what he had felt in those last moments, at the lone truly affectionate touch he had in so many years, at the hand of the father who he had forsaken. Killed. Even as he succeeded, he had failed.

The tear that fell was nothing against the pain of the burn across his face, eyes closed as he waited for the end to come.

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Isn't that too bad, he thinks a bit viciously at his medical staff being good at their jobs and fixing Ren up. It's somewhat childish, but the thought only lasts for a moment before he brushes it off for being anger-driven and useless. Though, it does seem like Kylo Ren once again fails to see the big picture. Once again is being some overdramatic Sith in training.

Hux resists the urge to shake him.

"The Supreme Leader tasked me with retrieving and bringing you to him, Lord Ren. As you've probably noticed, he doesn't take well to failures." He doesn't mention that he also doesn't allow himself to fail either. Even if most of him wanted to leave Ren in the snow, he's duty bound enough that he never would.

"I'd much rather not swap places and walk in your shoes, in that regard." After all, he's worried about pretty much one thing and that's keeping himself on top of his game. One day, he'll hold more power. One day, he won't have to think about this, won't have to keep checking to make sure Ren hasn't chewed his leash straight through.

(But maybe, maybe he was concerned about the welfare of this person who tries and tries and tries despite the odds being stacked against him).

That was new information. A dark brow rose at learning it, debating on the idea. If Snoke was beyond angry with him, he very well could have left him to perish on the collapsing planet-turned-weapon, but perhaps it equally meant their Great Leader wanted to punish him himself. The latter seemed more likely. Perhaps losing the girl meant less to him than his success with Solo. Not that losing to the traitor and the girl would go unpunished, but just maybe things could be handled.

"You've retrieved me and are bringing me to him, I presume, so you've followed your commands." Like a dog on a leash, forever bound by the restraints of the First Order and his own pride. Hux was often incredibly predictable in how he would respond to a situation, though he did occasionally manage to catch him off-guard. Maybe that was part of why he enjoyed returning the favor ten-fold.

Still, he watched Hux carefully, then snorted again. "I would be more worried about your own hide." But even the fact that Hux had been sent to collect him was an interesting one, leaving him again with two different possibilities. Either the General's failure had been taken in stride (he imagined still would be punished severely for) or Master Snoke wished to punish him in person. So, cautiously, Ren relented a step. "Neither of us have a place to be envied when we arrive."

This is true. Neither of them are to be envied. Hux has taken great care to think about it. To try and suss out what punishment may await him when they come to Snoke. He isn't a particularly imaginative person, but having dealt in strategy so long means he understands how to inflict pain. How to belittle someone. How to cut them down with only words and nothing more. Leader Snoke has more than that at his disposal, and he shudders at the thought.

Normal people shouldn't be caught in the pull of the Force. It's not right.

"You even less so." That much was probably true. The scar that runs across Ren's face is proof enough of this, he thinks. "I did what I set out to do. It was a failing of holding back certain members of the Resistance that caused Starkiller to crumble."

His words are delivered near-monotone, no inflection even if he feels the failure sit heavy on his shoulders. But to betray that would mean weakness.

"There is something I managed to accomplish that you would never understand, something that was long over due, regardless of the remainder of the situation." He still felt it, the moment when his blade erupted from the hilt where he and his father both touched, the faint hum as it went up his arm, the heat and glow of the crimson energy that went through and finally delivered to his father as much pain as had been given to him.

Beyond the bandage across his face, trying to keep the wounded flesh healing as smooth as possible despite the burn, Ren studied Hux for a time before giving a rude snort. "Really? Is that the line you plan to deliver to the Great Leader? I'm sure he'll take to that concept fantastically well."

"I see." He doesn't. Because while Ren is saying he accomplished something, Hux has his doubts. The other man looks worse for wear and not just from the grievous wound or the gash running across his face. Paler, maybe. More fragile, though he would never say as much. Ren's problems are (mostly) his own.

Staring at him flatly, he doesn't even deign to raise an eyebrow for the question.

"Of course not. I don't take issue with being straightforward with all of the reasons, including any that may have come from my oversight." In other words: he takes his responsibility very seriously.

He knew Hux didn't and ignored the 'I see' all together as the bantha fodder it was, taking a slow, deep breath and feeling everything down his side ache in complaint. They said it would take time for the bones themselves to heal up and they might never be quite right again, the scar would be an ugly one even with everything they had done to keep it from being so. He had listened, then snarled for them to get out. He didn't want or need their pity. Scars were that of a battle fought and survived; any warrior would, and should, carry them. Yet he had to look upon his own face and know how badly the damage there had been done.

"Mm." A flat sound, watching the General for a long moment before looking away. "He may call us apart or separately. Privacy or humiliation." The snort that followed said much because he knew it had an almost equal chance to be both as much as either.

They're both sidestepping that topic. Kylo Ren, he can tell, is dismissing it entirely– well, it only makes sense. Hux would never understand the ins and outs of such things. So there's no further point in discussing it.

As the other man speaks up, he tries to hold his gaze, to see if there's something he can find there. Some kind of answer. Normally, he's not a very nervous person, but with the veritable blade hanging above their heads, he can't help it.

"Judging from how poor both of our results were. Are. I have doubts he'll be willing to grant us peace through a private session." Humiliation is a driving factor in how much they compete with each other. Suffer enough shame and it roots itself in a strange sort of ambition. Do better than the other, always. Don't go through that all over again. Too bad they're both on the chopping block here.

(He has no illusions that he'll be the one kept, if it comes to eliminating the "weaker link").

"We'll be facing his wrath together, most likely."

Funny, because Ren thought very much the same. Clearly he would be the one kept if something should happen to need to push the other to that new height. He was Snoke's pupil and even though Hux so obviously dismissed it, there had been an accomplishment that day. Then again, he thought to himself as he watched the other and their eyes met, eliminating the home of the New Republic had done much the same.

"Unfortunately," Ren murmured with a displeased agreement in his tone, "you're probably correct." Neither would be given that dignity and it would hurt them that much more, drive spikes deep into already wounded egos, even as much as it would give them another push forward... if either of them survived. "Yet..." He hesitated, brows knitting as he became momentarily more thoughtful. "He could have told you to remain and sink with your ship, or left me behind. He chose for us to come to him."

There had to be a reason he wanted them still alive beyond his own dark pleasure in killing them, Ren was certain of it.

The Hunter and the Hunted

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