Fandom Fight for Control [closed]

[cleopat]

“I better get a bigger room,” Lavinia grumbled, allowing them to move her to the bed. She pulled back the sheets before climbing in, not once thinking how odd it was to sleep in her dress.

She beamed at the two men, adding in her own good nights to them. She noted the water placed on her bedside table, and she thought nothing of it in the moment, but Lavinia in the morning would be grateful for it.

Once Sienar left the room, her attention turned back to Armitage. “You said his name. You can say my name, just this once.” She didn’t know why she was back on that topic, and surely she wouldn’t even understand it in the morning either. But she remained insistent, even as her body sunk into the comfort of the bed.

“Just once,” she reiterated, her words softer as sleep started to sneak up on her.

 

[Lucyfer]

Armitage had turned as Sienar did, intending to leave with him, but was paused by Althea calling out to him, demanding to be named. ‘Lieutenant-Admiral is a mouthful.’ That complaint wouldn’t fly and he knew it. Considering Sienar was also unworthy of his new rank was another thing he wouldn’t be saying.

He glanced back at her, and thought she must already be asleep as he did so. Still, he sighed, “Good night, Althea,” and with that he walked after Sienar, who had a huge grin on his face as he waited at the door.

“Good night, Althea,” he parroted, once the door shut behind both men, “Awww. At least I know you’re a good man, Supreme Leader.”

Armitage ignored him, entirely, and just took the turn towards his own room, intent on leaving Sienar, and all of this, behind.

In the morning, he’d pretend it hadn’t happened, out of respect for Althea. He’d pretend not to remember it, and still hoped she wouldn’t recall any of it, either.

 

[cleopat]

Lavinia smiled after Armitage, happy to finally hear her name from his lips. Even if it wasn’t her real name. Her inebriated state couldn’t differentiate that difference at the moment.

The door shut behind Armitage, and she son drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Lavinia woke to a horrendous pain pounding in her head. “Oh, fuck.” There was a get-together the night before. The girls going to Takodana for a night out. Alcohol was involved. Then they came back, and Rani brought her to Armitage.

“Oh. Fuck.” She reiterated those words again as the remainder of the night flashed in her memories. What she said. The things she did. She had fully embarrassed herself, and it reminded her why she didn’t like to drink often.

She could only hope that Armitage would just forget that everything she said didn’t happen. But she knew she wouldn’t be so lucky with Sienar.

I wonder how long I can get away with laying in bed. And she was about to find out, because Lavinia would refuse to move until someone requested her presence. Partly from the pounding headache. Partly cause she wanted to die of embarrassment before she saw anyone that day.

 

[Lucyfer]

A month had passed since Kylo Ren was forcibly removed from the First Order. A month with whispers of his location, always in the Core, dogging bounty hunters and First Order assassins alike. General Aksel Schaeffer had created a hit squad to find him, working under the table with Matja Tarkin towards the same effort – the latter detail unknown to the majority of the First Order. He also operated in the Core, overseeing the many boots on the ground of the planets overtaken.

The Supremacy had finally been restored in that month, and Sienar Fleets was producing numerous ships of war as the First Order finally resumed their conquest plans, looking to the planets who held out.

Today, that meant Corulag, and Baron Carric Danthe, who brushed aside Supreme Leader Armitage Hux and Lieutenant Althea Storax with excuses of needing to speak with the ‘elected’ representatives of Corulag before deciding on terms to present to the First Order.

“It may be a week,” he said.

The news was not encouraging, given that Kylo Ren’s description matched someone who stole a ship on Corulag nearly a month back. The only reason Armitage even knew, or cared, was because Reveille had uncovered it – a month back, to the day they lost the scientist Demici – not that they truly had him, but his genius was something desired. Reveille considered something might be amiss on Corulag, a thought that Armitage kept in the back of his head as he exited the palace, trying not to let too much of his irritation show.

It was a losing battle. One white-gloved fist was clenched at his side, not at all hidden by the white attire he donned. He thought it might do him some good to attempt a different look, although he still had plenty of black uniforms. The white and gold one seemed a touch more diplomatic, and it seemed to draw more eyes to him.

For better or worse.

“This was a waste of time,” he couldn’t help but comment to Althea. He was debating not giving the Baron his requested week and just striking, but he knew how that would make the First Order look. With Tarkin and the Resistance still standing opposed, they couldn’t afford too many missteps. Not with the rumors circulating Lothal.

Thankfully, that seemed well in hand. The crew of the Exigency was actually quite the boon in showing how the First Order dealt with people of all sorts of races, which seemed to quell some of the dissent. He hadn’t heard much of any issues for about a week now. The show of aid and unity to the planet, and the efforts they were going through to build it up, seemed to be convincing people that the Order had nothing to do with Tarkintown. Or at least, keep them distracted.

~***~

The Lothal situation was indeed well in hand. The rumors started to surface after a week. After another, they were all but dead, handled efficiently by the aid efforts of the First Order, Kos’tel’lanni, Rani, and Jinah, and – unbeknownst to the First Order – Nyx’s agents that were already moving among the citizens of Lothal, silencing anyone who wanted to dare say that the First Order was behind Tarkintown.

In spite of the ease of handling Lothal, the Grand Marshall was unsettled.

General Aksel Schaeffer found rumors of Kylo Ren, and had bridged a tentative agreement with Tarkin of a ceasefire until Kylo Ren was handled. The Grand Marshall had approved it, even if she knew Tarkin was still supplying the Resistance and likely helping to hide and aid them. He had made that information public in an announcement on the HoloNet, urging planets to stand up against the First Order.

Yet, Kylo Ren eluded them, and Reveille worsened.

It had started small, with nightmares of the few days she spent in Kylo Ren’s presence repeating and worsening in each iteration. She woke up choking. She woke up feeling a foreign pressure crushing her into her own bed. The times Valles Sienar stayed over, she’d woken him. And then she’d pushed him aside, or flinched at the slightest touch. Sparring became problematic; she lost more than she won, part sleep deprivation, part freezing up and trying not to react as thoughts flooded her head of being pinned to a wall.

She knew it was just arms holding her.

But that insurmountable pressure of the Force always returned to the forefront of her mind, and she couldn’t fight.

Her focus was fading. Or rather, her ability to juggle multiple things and bring them together, was fading. Reveille could focus, but only on a single thing…and for far longer than she would have ordinarily needed to.

Every time her datapad pinged, and the number wasn’t immediately known, she became wary.

The loss of her wasn’t immediately noticeable – Kos’tel’lanni became aware quickly enough and stepped in as a guiding hand in her role as Admiral, offering suggestions rather than giving demands, letting Reveille take the time to consider and order them.

“You need help.”

It wasn’t Kos’tel’lanni to say it. It was Sienar, as he sat off to the side of her bed, desperately wanting to reach out to Reveille as she sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head pressed against her legs. He wanted to – but he knew what would happen if he did. He didn’t know all that had happened, but he knew it was getting to Reveille in a way the entire Cadet program hadn’t.

He also knew those were words she didn’t want to hear – and words no one else could ever hear about her. The Grand Marshall had to seem in control…and that was what she was losing with each passing day. This was the only way to regain it that he could think of, and so gradually, he helped to talk her into it, until they found a way to request the psychologist Onna to arrive at the Exigency a week earlier than planned under the guise of needing assistance with the situation on Lothal.

Reveille wouldn’t meet with Onna in her own office, of course, but she had sent for Onna to meet with her in her own quarters on the Exigency. It would continue to play to the guise of needing help with Lothal, to the rest of the crew…and help her to figure out how she was even going to approach this situation. Or if she was going to approach it. ‘I don’t even know if she can help.’ And if she couldn’t, then she might spread the news to others that Reveille was not fit for her position.

~***~

The sun bled over the planet of Dathomir. Will o’ wisps lifted above the swampy waters and shimmered and smoked eerily in the gloom, as all manner of twilight creatures began to awaken as that red sun faded over the horizon.

Darth Nyx stood on the outskirts of one such swamp, the loamy soil scenting the air, along with the myriad of weeping trees. She did not stand alone as she looked to the horizon for the arrival of the corvette that would hold Kylo Ren, commander of the Knights of Ren, and her own apprentice Zeme’lodi’csapla.

Arrayed behind her were women of varying races, all of them, Force sensitive witches, for Darth was not a title that suited any of them. Nightsisters, they were called, no longer only zabrak, but host to any who felt the call. There were Nightbrothers as well, now taking a different path from before, but they were not present with her even if they, also, fell under her authority.

Darth Nyx had called Kylo Ren back.

After a month, neither he nor Zeme’lodi’csapla had called to return. They had sent Nyx information about planets convinced, as she returned information about the workings of the First Order on Lothal, and elsewhere, as she could gather it. She sent information about the bounties on Kylo Ren and other details – and sent those Nightbrothers after any hunter who moved onto his trail, so he would not be disrupted.

A month, and he had pursued the task she had assigned him without complaint, without interruption.

It was more than Nyx had expected, and she intended to reforge their connection after a month, and bring him closer to the center.

 

[cleopat]

A month as the aide of Supreme Leader Hux had been just as eventful and stressful as anyone would imagine. Althea played into her new position quite well, despite any setbacks she faced.

Now that Kylo Ren was gone, she and Armitage worked closely together in that time to bring the First Order back up and expand its control in the Core. As whispers of Kylo Ren being spotted in the Core circulated, she always braced herself to see him lurking around the corner, but he remained a ghost.

As a result, she stopped worrying so much about him when they were planet side, so her main concerns with Corulag wasn’t about him. Rather, it was about Baron Carris Danthe, who didn’t seem so eager to talk to her or Armitage.

The baron merely stated that he needed to talk to the other representatives, but she didn’t buy it one bit.

Althea’s gaze shifted to Armitage, still not used to seeing him dressed in all white and gold. He looked regal in the colors, worthy of the title Supreme Leader, but her thoughts have never been spoken.

“I am sharing the same thoughts.” The baron was too quick to dismiss them. “I think that the baron already made up his mind. I have a feeling that he will not speak to these representatives. Rather, he just wants to irritate us with this needless wait.”

There was another off feeling settling in her stomach. Althea couldn’t quite place what it was, but the entire planet gave her a bad feeling.

She ignored it. Maybe it was nothing. “What should we do about him?”

~~

Although calling the Supremacy her home, Onna Varik rotated throughout the various star destroyers of the First Order to ensure that everything was running smoothly between the various therapists and psychiatrists that worked under her and the officers that saw them, which, surprisingly, was more than she had expected when she joined the Order.

It was amazing how many people needed help when it was promised the simple fact that they’re patients was kept a secret. Doctor-patient confidentiality was a thing she strongly believed in.

Normally she maintained a very set schedule, alternating between the ships on a specific timeline, but with the message the Grand Marshall sent her, she knew she had to head to the Exigency a week early. They were in changing times, and Onna had to deal with unexpected shifts sometimes.

The situation on Lothal was just that. She wasn’t surprised that they needed her to help with some of the new recruits.

But what did strike her as odd was that the Grand Marshall wanted to meet in her own private quarters. That in of itself made her question any other reason for her early appearance. She wouldn’t comment on it. She would wait and see what was going on.

When she arrived on the Exigency, Onna was immediately escorted to the Grand Marshall’s room by an officer, and her bag, with her clothes and other necessities for a prolonged stay, was taken to her room by someone else. Her datapad remained on her.

The walk was uneventful. She couldn’t gather any unspoken information from the officer, so either he didn’t know anything, or there was truly nothing else going on. Onna suspected the former.

At Reveille’s door, Onna lifted a hand to the button next to the door, signaling that she was waiting. “Grand Marshall, this is Doctor Varik.”

~~

The blurred stars through the viewport transformed back into twinkling dots as the corvette exited lightspeed in the planetary orbit over Dathomir. The anticipation and anxiety was high in Kylo Ren.

He and Discord had finally been called back to Nyx on Dathomir, and thus leaving behind their mission in the Core.

And their mission they did well. Working together in a tolerable manner, the two gained support of many of the planets who also did not wish to see the First Order extend their control over them. The name Ben had to be used more than he wanted, but it was for their benefit. And it worked out more often than it did not.

Also the new clothes Discord had initially purchased helped out as well, although he would be harder to admit that. His old clothes had mysteriously disappeared, but he didn’t bother challenging her on that. It was worthless. They were just clothes.

The corvette landed not that far from where Nyx stood with the other Nightsisters. After only communicating with her via messages, he was eager to see her once again, and hear what she had to say to him.

It could only be positive things. He succeeded with very little setbacks. Trying to avoid the hits and bounty hunters laid out by them had been near entertaining. Did they really except to be able to surprise him? To ambush him? And with Discord at his side, it was two strong Force users against these hits.

But they continued to fail where Kylo succeeded. Occasionally, his mind wondered back to the woman he’d imagined to set out these hits against him. He’d often imagined her reaction to his message, or her reaction to discover that one of his Knights kidnapped her dear scientist.

He would just have to wait for that.

The ramp lowered to the damp ground, and Kylo descended into the view of Nyx. He was aware of the Nightsisters behind her, but he ignored them for now, even if eyes focused on him.

He stopped a few feet in front of her. “Darth Nyx,” he acknowledged, head nodding in a greeting.

 

[Lucyfer]

Armitage agreed with Althea’s deductions, glad he wasn’t the only one to get that sense from the Baron. He had likely determined he wouldn’t join the First Order, and would use that time to try and garner support, or block the First Order by some other means. Armitage hadn’t noticed much of a presence of Tarkin here, or the Resistance, so he wasn’t certain how the man intended to do so much.

He found he wasn’t worried, “We wait, as we agreed,” Armitage answered as they continued to take the turn towards the hangar that would return them to their ship. “No matter what support he gathers in standing against us, it won’t be enough.”

They had taken down Chandrila with less than they had now – a hub of rebel scum if ever there was one. Corellia had also fallen. Corulag would fall just as easily as the others, if not easier. “We will take note of what he does, and if anyone steps in to aid Corulag, of course.” They would fall next.

Presuming it wasn’t Tarkin or the Resistance. Those were already on the list, but harder to reach. Tarkin would have to fall in pieces – eventually, he’d launch an assault on Spira and Tepasi, but at the moment those two worlds were fairly well protected. “We must honor our agreements, even if others do not.”

And if they still won after giving him that much time? All the better. People would know of it.

~***~

The comm rang in Reveille’s own room, and she sighed at the sound of the voice on the other side. She had known when the woman arrived, but it did not make matters easier. ‘She doesn’t know the real reason. She doesn’t need to know the real reason if you don’t like her.’ She didn’t know Doctor Varik well. At all, really.

And there were situations on Lothal that could require her insight.

With a swipe of her datapad, the door unlocked and slid open to allow the woman to step in, as Reveille exited the office part of her room to step into the living area. She was still fairly fond of white, even if she knew quite a bit of other options were at her disposal in her new position, and so it was in white she greeted Onna Varik. “Doctor Varik, I appreciate your arrival, even if it is a week earlier than usual,” she said, taking in the woman before her.

Standard Arkanian traits was the first thing she noticed, rather like Carise Sindian…and Sindian was a snake. Her brother and she didn’t look much like the nobility of Arkanis – not that they were nobility.

She realized she didn’t know where Onna originated. “Let’s go back to my office to talk. Is there anything I can get you? I know the trip here isn’t short from the Supremacy.” She’d made a couple of trips out during this time, but not many.

She trusted Armitage to manage things, as he trusted her. ‘A terrible decision, really.’ She didn’t know how obvious she might appear to a woman of Onna’s profession, but in her own mind, she was normal. Dressed in her whites, with sleep deprivation lingering in bags under her eyes – but that was nothing new in the Order.

~***~

Darth Discord followed Kylo Ren out of the corvette, but unlike him, she did not stop short of Nyx. She stepped right to the woman, and was embraced as she came close. Wordlessly, they held each other for a few seconds, before they parted, and Zeme’lodi’csapla moved to stand to Nyx’s right, a step behind, in line with the others who were arrayed before Kylo Ren.

Nyx looked to the man who stood apart, away, with a warm smile. A welcoming one, “Commander Ren,” her arms opened, but she didn’t step to embrace – though she would have welcomed him if he did.

If not, her arms would fall back to her sides, as planned, “You have achieved much in the Core, succeeding in every step of the way to secure a strong foothold against the First Order and the other enemies we have. I could not have asked for more,” every word was warm, every word was proud. “I am only sorry to have called you back from your efforts. I thought, however, it was time for you to understand things a little more. I am certain it will aid you even further.”

It was then she would step to his side, and gesture towards the others with her, “What do you know of the Sith, Commander? What do you know of the Nightsisters?”

The women did not speak, but they bore looks of curiosity, to varying degrees of openness and guardness, as they took in the stranger in their midst. Some were older than Nyx, and there were a couple of children in their ranks, an odd arrangement, to be certain.

All with lightsabers.

All brimming with the Force.

 

[cleopat]

Althea had wanted to offer the suggestion of attacking Corulag before anyone did have the chance to step in to their aid and complicate things further, yet Armitage offered a fair point. They had to honor their agreements, lest others in the galaxy hear of their betrayal to follow their word.

A lot more force would have to be used instead of diplomacy.

The hangar was fairly quiet, with only a few workers strolling about to ensure everything kept running. “Are we to return immediately to the Supremacy?” Their visit on the planet lasted shorter than she had anticipated, and though there were other planets to visit, there was some time between the scheduled meetings.

Althea didn’t get the chance to hear an answer from him. Their shuttle burst into flames before them, and the sheer force of the blast knocked her off her feet, her back and her head hitting the solid ground beneath her. The noise of the explosion caused a loud ringing sensation in her ears, and for a moment, she attempted to blink away the spots in her line of vision from the impact of her head.

She was aware of pain, but she didn’t think to immediately move in case of another attack, or that it was even a deliberate attack to begin with. Althea tried to roll over, so she could slowly get back on her feet, but her head protested the movement.

~~

The first thing Onna noted upon meeting the woman were the bags under her eyes. Not an uncommon sight in the First Order, but it was still an observation she made note of. “Of course. The issue seemed urgent, and I was easily able to rearrange my schedule to make the trip.”

Being rather short in height, Onna also noted their height difference, but that was hardly of any significance.

She did take advantage of the offer Reveille presented. “Just a glass of water, thank you.” Her stomach also yearned for more solid sustenance, but she had already planned to eat after their meeting, however long it will take.

She followed Reveille to her office, and the entire time, her trained eye subconsciously made careful observations of the way their Grand Marshall handled herself. If any ticks or movements would give her a clue as to what is going on in her mind.

There was something going on alright, but she would be slow to uncover that issue. See how Reveille reacted to her. “So the only issue is just the one concerning Lothal and your newer officers, correct?”

~~

Kylo merely watched as Nyx and Discord silently embraced each other, and when she held her arms out as if expecting the same from him, he just stood there. The idea of an embrace was uncomfortable for him, and so he didn’t walk forward to her, but he would’ve if she requested.

She praised and complimented him for his accomplishments in the core, and Kylo could feel the pride swell within him. No one had openly praised him like she had before, and he soaked in every word, eager to hear more.

He wasn’t even annoyed that she had call him back. Not when she so openly praised him in front of others.

His gaze followed her as she came to his side, and once more as she motioned to the Nightsisters in front of them. Following her questions, his eyes flickered over each of them for a few seconds, taking in their different appearance.

“To put it in so many words,” he began, “the Sith are an ancient order of Force users devoted to the Dark Side.” Much more could be said about the Sith, but in the moment, he felt that she only wanted to gauge if he was in the right direction for knowing who they were.

And the Nightsisters he knew a little less about. “Historically, the Nightsisters were those from Dathomir who were Force sensitive, and powered by the Dark side. I admit, beyond that, I know little else about them.”

But looking at the Nightsisters before him, they had changed over the years. They came from places other than Dathomir, and he couldn’t recall the Nightsisters of the past wielding lightsabers.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Finalizer.’ Armitage would have corrected, if given a moment. The Supremacy was still not his preferred ship, even if it was the largest in the fleet and home to the former Supreme Leader Snoke. If anything, he figured he Resistance and other enemies would make it their main target, presuming he or Reveille were there.

He would stick to his original flagship.

He didn’t get a moment to speak, though.

The ship he was returning to exploded in front of him, and he had just enough time to move his arms up to shield his face as the blast blew him backwards. He skidded on the pavement, attire preventing some damage, but the white was soon coated in dirt and rubble.

Debris had flown; his arms had shielded his face from the worst of it, and he’d managed to keep his head up so it didn’t bang on the ground, but his arms were torn up by the shrapnel. The white sleeves were now torn and bloody, as were parts of his legs, and chest. He cursed under his breath, not even hearing himself with his ears ringing, but he was recovering quicker than Althea.

A part of that was due to seeing the movement of shadows, and seeing blasters start to appear. He lowered a hand to his own, and gripped it tight as he sought one shadow that seemed to be aiming at him.

His blue eyes narrowed as he saw that to be true – a royal guard. He snapped his arm up and pulled the blaster free of its holster, before he fired quicker, accurately, through the guard’s head. “ALTHEA!” He shouted, able to hear a bit then as the ringing died down.

It didn’t help that alarms were going off, and chaos reigned, but he pulled himself up to his feet and sought the woman amidst the rubble and shadows.

~***~

Reveille led the way back to the office, more clean than it usually was, in truth. She had handled one project at a time, rather than balancing multiple ones, or jumping from projects. As such, everything was put up, rather than scattered. “Not entirely,” Reveille hedged on an outright answer as the door was opened, “Please, take a seat. I’ll be back with your water in a moment,” she assured, before she would step out.

She was able to get the water within her own quarters, and bring it back in less than a minute. She went around to her own side of the desk, gaze briefly touching on the corners of the room before she took her seat, door shutting. “Lothal has a fairly unique situation compared to other areas, and we do not have the resources currently to deal with it. As I am sure you are aware, Lothal has been host to multiple battles over its time – even in the supposedly peaceful era of the New Republic’s reign, it was not spared from pirate attacks, or revolutions by those who disliked the Tarkin family holding an embassy on Lothal.”

It was mostly true. It was more her own way of trying to find out a few things. “I have been told you are the resident expert on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and we seem to be dealing with a larger number of individuals who are already experiencing this, to varying degrees, entering our ranks.”

‘So how the hell do you deal with it?’

She couldn’t ask it like that. “I know it would be beneficial if they could all find time to speak with one of our therapists, but is there anything you can suggest for methods of coping or assistance in the meantime, that I can work into common knowledge or training suggestions to my captains and officers?”

~***~

Kylo answered in brief on both the Sith and the Nightsisters, “Correct,” she agreed, for there was nothing wrong with his words. They were shallow and surface understandings. Likely, he would have more to say on the Sith than on the Nightsisters, as he indicated his knowledge openly, “It is curious that you note the Sith are devoted to the Dark Side, and the Nightsisters powered by it. You are not wrong on either side. The Sith were, indeed, devoted to it,” the past tense was useful there, “and the Nightsisters are powered by it.”

No shift. “In the past, the Nightsisters depended on Dathomir, as in the past, the Sith depended on a singular view of the Force. As I am sure you can feel, this planet is soaked in the Force.”

She did not say Dark side of it – just Force.

“There are places throughout the galaxy that hold such power, and Dathomir has always been one. The Nightsisters of the past never learned how to wield their power when they were off Dathomir. I have changed that.”

With a gesture, fire appeared over every palm. “Ancient Sith were incapable of what they called magick.” The fire Kylo had seen her use before, “They did not understand the ties to the Force in every living thing, or how to pull it and create out of thin air, but the Nightsisters have always known,” she smiled, “It is a shame that the Sith and Nightsisters never truly learned from each other, or merged their teachings.”

With a small gesture, each fire was extinguished, as easily as it had appeared, “I have learned, in my time, that the only constant is Change. The Sith of the past, the Nightsisters of the past, would not embrace change and so stagnated, grew weak, and fearful. Darth Vader had begun to see otherwise,” some praise for her former master was deserved, and necessary, “his history as a Jedi a boon to him, as it is to you, Commander Ren. Everything you have been through, everything you have learned, has given you the opportunity to push us all further.”

He could be a power for a far better future. For more power in himself.

“I think you are ready to begin to learn with the Sith viewed as magick, and to learn of times before the Rule of Two was enforced…for that rule is, indeed, long outdated.”

 

[cleopat]

Althea swore she heard her name through the muffled noise in her ears. She looked up, and immediately swore at the sight of guards pulling out their blasters, their gaze focused on the duo. The attack was meant for Armitage Hux, but she was also targeted due to her proximity.

There was a sharp pain in her side, but that was ignored. One hand swiftly whipped out her blaster, landing a fatal hit clean in the head of two guards.

They had to get out of there. She didn’t know how many others were after them.

Something wet dripped down the side of her face, and she knew she had to have had multiple minor lacerations all over her body from the shrapnel, but all that was ignored when adrenaline kicked in. “Armitage!” she screamed, seeing the man. Seeing the blood that heavily contrasted against the white of his uniform.

Althea rose to her feet, and her legs trembled under the weight of her own body. They needed to find a way to escape, but due to the explosion, many of the other shuttles in the hangar suffered structural damage, if not completely destroyed.

~~

Onna took her seat, her gaze scanning the meticulously clean office. There was nothing unusual about that, she noticed that higher officer’s offices were either pristine, or an organized chaos. When Reveille returned, she took her water, offering her gratitude, but the way Reveille’s gaze seemed to flicker to the corners of the room did not escape her notice.

Interesting.

She nodded along to Reveille. Yes, she was aware with Lothal’s situation, and she had expected an outcome like the one she described. “It may be difficult to recommend an umbrella technique for everyone, as each individual could have a specific need that needs to be met in order to combat the symptoms.”

And Onna greatly wondered if Reveille was talking about herself in some extent.

“If you are able to give me some of the symptoms that you’ve seen any of them exhibit, that would greatly help me determine the best route to take in terms of coping techniques.” And she had to know if Reveille would be talking about herself, or indeed had a particular officer in mind.

~~

Yes, he could feel the heavy presence of the Force in the planet. It reverberated in every tree, in the ground, in every living creature that hid in the foliage of the planet as the Nightsisters and Kylo gathered round.

It was intoxicating.

His attention shifted at the flames that appeared on their palms from seemingly nowhere. He was aware of the power, having experienced it before, on Chandrila. Kylo yearned to learn that power.

Perhaps it was a shame that the Sith and Nightsisters of the past never learned together. The power they could have created, with this partnership, would’ve made them a truly unstoppable force in the galaxy.

As the flames were extinguished, he turned back towards Nyx. He soaked in every word she spoke, even if the mention of Darth Vader’s Jedi past and his own previous training befuddled him. Kylo had spent so much time and effort to rid himself of that past, but she saw it as a potential teaching tool?

He would not dismiss it. Instead, he would see where she led him with it. In his eyes, Darth Nyx only held his best interests at heart, and he couldn’t see any other potential motive behind that.

“I am eager to learn anything you offer to teach.” He tried not to sound too eager, even though he did wish for the training to start immediately.

There was already a month wait for this moment. Any further delay would be an irritation.

 

[Lucyfer]

More blasterfire, and then a shout, drew Armitage’s attention to where his lieutenant was, getting to her feet. He was grateful she was able to rise, as he saw the blood sliding down her cheek. He held in his panic, and kept his focus on his anger, as well as the situation that was unraveling before them. He didn’t consider stealing a ship. He imagined their best bet was to get out of the hangar, and into a shop or nearby home, where he could radio for aid.

Not everyone on the planet would be aware of the treachery of the Baron. Right now it seemed to be only his royal guard that were, and Armitage put a shot through the head of one that rounded the corner.

“With me, Storax,” the name dropped easily – more easily than her first name did, but it was still a progression from titles into familiarity.

He eased his voice into something calmer than that initial, panicked shout, and forced himself to sprint to cover behind a ship so he could discern which way to go, and make sure she was on the same page as him. There were enough other ships and pillars to seek protection behind, and Armitage was fairly certain they hadn’t rigged any others to explode.

His back pressed to one, and when she would catch up, he would speak in a hushed tone, “We are to return into the town proper, and into a business.” Which business, it didn’t really matter. It would be a spot to rest and radio for assistance. That’s all he needed.

~***~

Particular, individual symptoms would indeed be treated differently from others. Of course there couldn’t just be a blanket way to treat it, given it could be triggered differently. Still, Reveille had hoped for something. ‘Do you want to tell the truth now?’ She couldn’t help but ask herself as her mind tried to consider how to frame her symptoms as a wide-spread thing.

It wasn’t, so far as she knew.

The aversion to certain forms of touch in particular were not wide-spread. Perhaps nightmares or fitful sleeping was more common, but….

“I’ve had reports that some of the newer recruits seem to be struggling with sleep, and it is impacting those who are within the same barracks,” Reveille found herself saying, trying to wrap the lie around the truth, to cover it well enough, “It’s been indicated that some of those same individuals are also ones who are underperforming in practice spars, freezing up, or reacting in self-sabotaging manners.”

It was the best way she could think to cover it, but it felt inadequate. She’d heard of PTSD being triggered by sounds, like blaster fire, not these things, and it made her wonder briefly at whether or not what she was going through was actually that, or if Varik could even assist.

~***~

Kylo’s eagerness was obvious, even without his words. It hummed through him, and Nyx could only smile for it, “I knew you were ready,” she said, before she turned to the others, “Set up camp, please,” she addressed the women, and they broke apart to begin such, packs left some steps behind coming into sight, and structures starting to be built.

“The Jedi take their power from the Force around them – the free-flowing energy that exists everywhere. The Sith take their power from within themselves. What both neglect is the Force that rests in all living things – the Force in me, the Force in the grass, the trees, the mist,” she gestured out towards it all, “Dathomir is rich in this, and it is why for so long the Nightsisters stagnated, unable to connect with the Force on other planets,” she began to walk, “Come with me.”

She wanted to show him what she meant. “All modes of using the Force are useful, and all have their downsides. I hope for you to master all forms, for only through that will you truly be able to overcome all adversity. It is why your training as a Jedi was brought up, and why that training with Darth Vader bestowed upon me was useful. The Jedi have taught you already to reach out and manipulate the Force outside of yourself.”

She led him to a bloom of a tall flower on a thick stem, and she plucked it from its stem, “What the Jedi did not teach you was how to twist the Force of others. They would call it dark,” an amused smile crossed her lips, “but this is how one can create…how one can heal,” she drew the Force slowly from the dying bloom, “Feel what I am doing, Commander.”

The flower wilted in her hand. Her own presence in the Force grew – not by much, no, but it grew as it leeched the flow from the flower.

She touched her other hand to the stalk of the flower.

The energy flowed, and life bloomed, the stalk growing taller, a bloom manifesting again, and this time the bud opened, the pale green flower opening its petals to the moon. “To manifest the Force in such a fashion, requires Force from another. Life always require life. It is why the lightning of the Sith is so taxing on them – they pull it from within, and so damage themselves. They knew no better.”

 

[cleopat]

Althea followed after Armitage, her own movements slower than what they are normally. She couldn’t bring her thoughts away from the blood that splattered his clothes, and she could only hope that it looked worse than what it really was.

She stumbled behind the ship he ducked behind with her blaster still in her hand. They did need to get into the town, somewhere they could get help. And call for assistance. But getting out of there and away from the general vicinity of the palace would be the problem.

“There should be a landspeeder or two nearby. If not here, then right outside.” They were a valuable ground vehicle in a city like Curamelle. “I can hotwire one and get us away from here. The further away we are, the better.”

Adrenaline pumped in her blood, fueling her body’s flight-or-fight response, but she was loosely aware of a dull pain in her side. It was likely just a bruise from when she slammed against the ground during the initial explosion.

Her head also still pounded from the impact. A concussion was possible.

~~

Onna patiently listened to the symptoms Reveille listed off. While some of them certainly were some officers would experience, others confirmed her own suspicions for what was truly going on.

“I see.” One leg crossed over the other. “Some techniques we recommend to sufferers of PTSD is quiet meditation, maybe some yoga, sometimes animal assisted therapy, but all of this must be utilized with individual or group therapy sessions, and in more severe cases, mediation.”

She leaned forward in her seat. “But what interests me is that some of the symptoms you’ve listed suggests an interpersonal trauma, such as assault.”

Onna knew that the Grand Marshall had temporarily worked with Kylo Ren, who was a volatile Force user. She’d heard stories from patients who survived his violence, or were witness to it. “What other symptoms are you experiencing?”

~~

The Nightsisters only faded into the background for Kylo as Nyx began to speak. He was completely entranced in what she offered, even if most he already knew. He knew of the Force. But he was curious to see where she would go with that.

He followed diligently. She spoke of the different forms of the Force, that which he was trained in. But twisting the Force of others, that wasn’t even something the Sith taught. That sparked interest like nothing else.

As instructed, he reached out with the Force to feel how she manipulated the flower. Right before his eyes, the blooms wilted before blooming once more. She did as she said. She drew the Force, and gave it right back, but then the bud bloomed as she placed more of the Force in it.

“Why hadn’t either the Jedi or the Sith work with the Force in this way before?” He could guess for the Jedi. Taking the Force from something or someone else could quickly cross into the dark side, yet being able to move the Force from yourself into another would be a valuable healing skill for the Jedi.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Why do we need a speeder?’ Armitage was rather against the idea. A speeder would just make noise, and there was a bustling street just right down the steps from the palace. He shook his head, glad it at least wasn’t pounding. “No, all we need to do is get out of the hangar – there were shops and businesses right outside the palace.”

Perhaps she had a point in considering that getting further away was better, but he couldn’t help but think they’d be noticed. Speeders weren’t subtle craft. “Let’s try to get out of here first.” He still figured trying to hot wire something would take too long.

He moved along the side of the ship, and glanced around it, taking in that more royal guards had shown up, and were starting to spread out to search the area, apparently having lost sight of them.

He considered the directions they were moving in, their line of sight, before deciding to sprint to another ship in an effort to try not to be seen, and make as little noise as possible.

~***~

Medication. Though Reveille understood the need and use of it, she still felt herself revolted at the thought of needing it to just…stay normal. She was fairly certain she’d suffer nightmares the rest of her life than admit to being unable to heal her own mind. It seemed, Onna had also figured out that she was speaking of herself, boiling it down to trauma related to interpersonal relationships.

Still, Reveille tensed.

She considered dismissing it, but there wouldn’t be a way to explain that to Sienar. Still, answering the question posed to her was difficult.

What else was she experiencing? ‘Every waking day I wonder if my datapad is going off because of him, I wonder if he’s found a way onto the ship or sent spies on it, I can’t enjoy sex, I can’t enjoy sparring, I can’t enjoy anything….’ She didn’t say that.

Instead, her voice dropped, “None of this leaves the room. That’s…how this works, correct?” Stars, if her crew started to think she was losing it, or if her brother caught wind, she wasn’t sure how she’d manage that fallout.

~***~

Nyx could only shake her head, looking sorrowful, “The Jedi used to,” an interesting thing she’d found among their holocrons, “They would restore dead crops, and heal the wounded, but I suppose, as time went on, they determined it was not their place to take energy of others. Or perhaps they forgot how to restore it,” Nyx did not have the answer for why the Jedi ceased the practice, but she knew it had existed.

She had seen the ancient tomes.

“As for the Sith, their arrogance in this matter was their undoing. Those I have spoken with consider this practice inferior, and wish to rely wholly on their own power, rather than consider the power beyond themselves. It is why so many corrupt and decay, as your old master Snoke did,” she had known him to be a hobbled thing, and she knew speaking of him, over Vader or Palpatine, would be better.

It was someone Kylo could hate. Someone Kylo could try not to be like. “Of course, that changes now,” with the Rule of Two and so many other things, “There is no need to limit ourselves to one practice. It would be like choosing only to use grenades,” she chuckled, “A grenade may open a locked door, or destroy your enemies, but it is not always the most…advantageous option.”

 

[cleopat]

And a speeder could help us get out of the damn hangar. Althea didn’t voice her irritation at his rejection of her proposal. It wasn’t worth the energy, something she was quickly losing.

She watched Armitage sprint to the next ship, and she hesitated to follow him. Not because she didn’t trust his judgement, but because she wasn’t confident in herself. She worried she may stumble, she may not run fast enough, or that she would cause some sort of loud commotion.

But risks had to be taken. Taking a deep breath, Althea sprinted to the ship, ignoring how her side protested the sharp movements.

The outside of the hangar could be seen. But as more royal guards gathered in the hangar and spread out, it was quickly becoming riskier to make more movements. “I suppose you don’t have a way we could create a distraction in another part of the hangar?” Something that would lure the guards away from them.

~~

Onna straightened. So she was right. Most of this had to do with Reveille’s own issues, and not those of her officers. That was why she wanted to meet in her own quarters, so she felt like she had some advantage in the situation.

Also, the way her muscles tensed were very telling. An instinct to protect herself.

She nodded. “I am very strict about doctor-patient confidentiality. The only exception to this is if I feel you are an immediate danger to yourself or have plans to harm others, in which case I would report this to your higher up. In this case, that would be your brother, Supreme Leader Hux.”

A few times she had to do just that, and for both reasons. Onna figured Reveille wasn’t at risk of intentionally harming others, and she seemed to stubborn to contemplate suicide. She only hoped she was right.

“So you are correct. Nothing will leave this room. Please, tell me everything that is bothering you.”

~~

Of course the Jedi would be too weak in their emotions to want to continue such a power. They cared so much about controlling their emotions and not let power overtake their desires, that they may have purposely left the skill in the past.

The reason of the Sith hit too close for him. She mentioned how his arrogance was his own undoing, how it proved his decay, and she was right. His was arrogance in his own ability to read Kylo’s mind, that he was unaware of his apprentice’s true intent.

It only made sense why his arrogance caused his grotesque facade. Kylo didn’t want that. He didn’t want to see his own body fall before his eyes.

He would eagerly accept the teachings of Nyx.

“I wish to learn how to draw the Force from others.” He could manipulate the Force around others, such as when he wills an object into his grasp, but to know how to draw the Force from it? He could be limitless. “When do we start?”

 

[Lucyfer]

Armitage could sense their opportunity for a clean escape was shortening. The open air between the hangar and the exit was large, and the guards were covering as much ground as they could. “Not unless I want to throw my blaster,” he indicated, irked. He didn’t have anything that was likely to cause an explosion on him.

‘Unless….’

He considered the ships around them, and wondered if any of them might have been damaged enough that a blaster shot might be the final straw – a way to cause another explosion to take out some of their enemies, as well as give them an opening to escape.

“Look and see if any of the damaged ships are exposed enough to damage further,” he said then, deciding that had to be the route. “Another explosion should cause enough of a distraction,” and damage to allow for a cleaner escape.

At least, that was what he hoped, as he edged to the other side of his current hiding place to try and spot such an opening.

~***~

‘Who would you report to if my brother was a danger?’ That, Reveille didn’t ask. She had some idea it would be herself, but she didn’t need to know. Armitage would likely never seek out help of this sort, and he would only be bothered to learn she had done so.

She mutely nodded as Onna assured her of privacy, beyond that rather specific circumstance. In spite of that, her throat was still tight against any word escaping her.

She barely knew where to begin. She was trained to think this was something stupid, something frivolous that she would get over. It hardly needed airing – the only reason Sienar learned anything was, well, he had been there. If he hadn’t seen, she likely would have continued on.

“You’re familiar with Kylo Ren, at least from rumor, I presume,” she managed to say, “I was only briefly acquainted,” she wished she hadn’t been acquainted at all. “It seems to have…left some mark on me,” even if the physical ones had faded. “It’s ridiculous.” She wanted to dismiss it all then and there.

Sheer force of will kept her from doing that.

And balling her fists on her lap, over each knee, hidden by the desk, though the tension likely was obvious. “His misuse of the Force against me in various situations has me jumping at shadows and imagining its pressure when I know it isn’t there.” When she knew he wasn’t there. “That’s all. I just need to get over that.”

~***~

“We have already begun,” Nyx noted, though she knew Kylo meant the opportunity to attempt it himself, the instructions that would bring him to be able to twist the Force to his own will. “You are familiar enough with the theory, and you are aware already of how to feel the Force outside of yourself. You are steps ahead of many I have trained.”

A small gesture, and she started to walk once again, “The difficulty is in wresting the Force from something else. No matter your philosophy on the Force, that it is unified, that it is living, you must know that the Force bonds.”

That much was accurate. “These bonds are strong. You know it, in the bond you have with your lightsaber. Others may take it from you, but when you call it, it will return to your hand, over others. The crystal is infused with your power, your own energy, and so it will always answer to you.”

And she drew her hand forward, to snap the lightsaber from his side with the Force. “So I want you to take it back. Reach out, and take it back.” But already, she was seeping her own power into it – just a little, overcoming his own power within the lightsaber, as she came to a pause.

She wouldn’t destroy his essence – no, her power moved in the metal of the material, rather than the crystal.

But she would make it difficult for him to simply pull it back to him without that fight to draw on his own essence once more, to draw on the kyber and overcome her will. She wouldn’t put up much of a fight – this was to help him, after all – but he needed to get familiar.

And with his own bond with the saber, that gave him an anchor to start practicing with.

 

[cleopat]

Armitage did have an idea, and Althea nodded. It was their best bet in the moment to ensure an escape without further injury. “Understood,” she whispered.

She edged to the other side, opposite of where Armitage stood. Her eyes scanned the hangar, mindful to not be seen by the guards. She focused on the area where their shuttle once stood, as the ships in the vicinity would have the higher chance of being damaged.

There was a smaller shuttle about twenty feet from where theirs once stood. It was heavily damaged, with much of its exterior exposed. Lifting her arm, Althea focused on a spot near the engine, where the greater chance of an explosion laid.

Two shots fired in rapid succession, and to her relief, the shuttle erupted into a fireball. “Let’s go!” she urged. Her feet sprinted towards the exit in their once chance at escape.

Her heart pounded, and a mixture of blood and sweat stuck to her skin, but none of that mattered. Her sole focus narrowed on the exit that grew closer.

~~

Oh yes, she had heard about Kylo Ren’s encounter with Reveille. Onna didn’t know the specifics, as she rarely waste her time with rumors of bored officers, but it still had intrigued her. Anything involving Kylo Ren intrigued her.

“It isn’t ridiculous.” She first wanted to assure the woman. “I have had numerous officers come forward to me after having an encounter with Kylo Ren, all with less time spent with him than you experienced.”

Anyone who encountered someone who could cause physical harm without touching them would leave a deep scar.

“There are several techniques we can utilize to try and lessen your symptoms. Since you contacted me not that long after they started appearing, I believe we can simply use cognitive processing therapy, and medicine won’t be necessary.” She drew out her datapad, only to take notes on how their session progressed.

“Are you familiar with any deep breathing exercises? They will be able to help alleviate any anxiety attacks you experience.” Onna made a quick note, only taking her eyes away from Reveille for a second. “I will ask you to recount one of these moments with Kylo Ren in as much detail you can give. From there, we will discuss the fears created by the situation to try and reduce its emotional and physical impact on your body.”

She gave a brief pause to allow the woman to soak in what she was telling her. “Are you accepting fo this therapy?”

~~

Naturally they had already begun. They had begun with the Force theory Darth Nyx lectured to Kylo. But his hands itched to do something physical. It experiment with new Force teachings. He needed to do something.

He nodded along to more of what she said. He was aware of the Force bonds, that he experienced that with the lightsaber he built. It was one reason he was able to use it with such ease. A part of him was in that saber, in the crystal that powered the weapon.

His eyes widened when Nyx suddenly had the saber in her hand. A moment of panic and anger flared in him. He felt vulnerable without the weapon, and no one had dared to take it from him before. “With pleasure,” he muttered. One hand reached out as he allowed tendrils of the Force seek his saber.

It didn’t come back into his grip like it normally did. He frowned before pushing on that Force even harder.

But he recalled her words, how there was a bond between him and the very essence of the saber. Kylo sought out that bond, calling forth the essence to come to him.

It took a moment, but soon the saber flew back into his grip.

 

[Lucyfer]

Armitage had noticed the shuttle, but his own vantage was not so good. He sought another, but didn’t need to. Althea, it seemed, was located in a good area to fire on the shuttle. He heard the shots before she said anything, briefly concerned they were being fired upon.

Then the shuttle blew up, and he didn’t waste any time in following after her, stumbling a moment but then quickly regaining himself.

The dual explosions were drawing attention to the hangar. Other guards, and other people, were starting to rush in to see what was going on. They cleared space for those rushing out, and Armitage felt a bit of gratitude for the crowd then, as the pair were eaten up inside of it.

He was able to reach Althea’s side, and he grabbed her arm, wrapping his fingers around the upper portion of it, to pull her off towards the side and slow their pace so they could turn off from the hangar, and the palace, and towards the market.

With people aware of the situation and crowding around, he had some hope they’d be lost amongst them, and able to slip into a building before his bloody uniform became obvious.

“I’m never wearing white again,” he couldn’t help the complaint as they stepped out from the main gathering of people, and he spotted a shop that looked open.

~***~

Kylo Ren had likely traumatized hundreds of officers before his departure from the Order. Reveille wouldn’t ask for names; she knew she hadn’t been alone in having concerns about Kylo Ren, though she may very well have been the only one to actually stand up to him. She knew that Mitaka had a few negative experiences just for delivering news.

Still, there was some relief in hearing she wouldn’t need medicine. Just cognitive processing therapy. Whatever that was. The words made sense. Strung together, Reveille couldn’t quite place what it would involve.

Apparently talking about what happened. Perhaps deep breathing, which she was familiar with – she nodded at that. Was she accepting, though? “Maybe.” Reveille had known she would need to talk about it.

That didn’t mean she wanted to. “Can you explain how this is expected to help me? I’m not familiar with cognitive processing therapy,” or any therapy, at all, though she imagined that went unsaid.

~***~

Nyx did not push too hard to influence the saber, but she let Kylo work it out, feeling his fruitless struggle to simply pull it from her grasp. She did not laugh, she did not mock or smile, but she waited for him to recall what he needed to do. And when he had done it? The saber slipped from her fingers and returned to him.

She gave an approving nod, “Very good,” the praise came easily, “It will, of course, be different when you are working without the anchor of yourself there, but we will move to that next, now that you have the feel for it. It is about overcoming the desires of the item in question and making its desires your own. Not unlike the mind tricks, but on a different scale.”

Another point of comparison, as she started them back towards the tents that were being set up, “It will be easier to work with dead objects, before we move to plants and animals, or people.” Oh yes, even people could be leached. “The Force in those objects are more…stagnant, yet malleable. They do not fight, as there is not as much of a guiding conscious to resist.”

It was with that thought that she pulled two plates that had been lain out in the camp set-up, and offered one to Kylo, “You are going to turn it into fire. You are going to burn it.” And she would demonstrate as well, thus her own plate.

 

[cleopat]

Althea felt like she could breathe easier once they were on the streets. People passed them, some interesting in the explosions coming from the hangar of the palace, others just going about their day.

She was heavily aware of the grip Armitage had on her arm, but she didn’t protest. The last thing she wanted was to be accidentally separated from him. She glanced at his bloodstained uniform, better able to process the extent now she didn’t have to keep focus on the guards shooting at them.

“Shame, white looks good on you.” And it did. She preferred him in that color. “Are you okay? Are there any serious injuries?” She hoped the white only made the blood look worse than it was. The bloodstains in his chest area were the ones that worried her the most.

She led them to a shop that looked opened, and as she opened the door and stepped through the threshold, it fortunately seemed empty as well. Good.

~~

Maybe was better than an outright refusal. Onna had been impressed so far with Reveille’s willingness to cooperate. She had heard of the Cadets’ stubbornness, but Reveille evolved from that. Or was just that desperate to function normally again.

“Of course.” She wasn’t surprised that Reveille was unfamiliar with the process. Many weren’t. “The theory surrounding this theory stems from the idea that the sufferer’s beliefs about the causes and consequences of their traumatic events produce strong negative emotions, which in turn prevent accurate processing of the traumatic memory and emotions resulting from the event.”

She paused to allow Reveille soak up the information. Onna was aware it was all very new to her. “Because the emotions are so overwhelmingly negative, the ability to process the traumatic experience and gain an adaptive understanding of it prevent the person from being able to move on from the event.”

Another pause. “This therapy will allow us to process the event by getting past any so-called ‘stuck points’ and progress towards recovery.”

She knew that there would be much Reveille wouldn’t understand concerning any forms of therapy, but she was more than willing to explain. “Did that help? Or do you need further explanation?”

~~

A flare of pride flickered at the simple praise Nyx offered. It was so simple and minute, yet it had an effect on his desire to continue to please. And he would try his hardest to do just that.

Kylo tried to keep the memory of how he reached out for his saber. It would aide in his future endeavors to hone the skill and master it.

He took the plate in one hand. She managed to turn it into fire so effortlessly, and Kylo felt doubt that he could do the same. His mind focused on what she had just said. Overcoming desires of the item, and forcing its desires his own.

The Force reached out to the plate in his hand. As she instructed, he willed the item to do what he wanted, which was light it on fire. He concentrated for a few minutes, but still nothing had happened.

And he was getting frustrated.

“How did you do it?” He almost demanded to know, but he knew to not exert such a tone on her. Still, frustration was evident.

 

[Lucyfer]

Armitage didn’t think much on the comment about white; he half-imagined it was a comment necessitated by the ranking difference, even if Althea had hardly been quiet when something bothered her. He was only visibly relieved when they entered the store, “I’m fine,” he didn’t know if that was true, but he had been able to run, and to walk, here.

It could be adrenaline. “Find a place low, and behind something,” they weren’t safe yet, and Armitage himself finally released her, and then moved to a wall.

His thoughts briefly lingered on the lack of contact. And on the worry he might have bruised her arm from a grip he was only beginning to realize had been far too tight.

His eyes flickered from window to window, trying to make sure he wasn’t easy to spot. The store smelled of sugar, candy on display all around them, but he ignored that as he drew out his datapad, glad to find it remained in one piece. Not even cracked.

He called up to the Finalizer, and it did not take long before there was an answer. “Supreme Leader?”

“Captain,” he returned. The one who had taken Phasma’s place was doing a fair job of things so far, “A retrieval is requested, the Baron attempted to assassinate myself and Lieutenant Storax. We are not far outside of the palace,” his datapad could be tracked. “Send troops down as well to disable ground defenses around the palace, and TIEs to destroy what aerial forces they have; we’ll eliminate the palace with a turbolaser shot as soon as the defenses are down.”

He had no reason to play around or wait now. Corulag would fall by force.

~***~

People had plenty of ways of learning things, from observing, to hearing. Reveille understood, in some regards, that hearing the trauma might help her to consider it differently, the way a thorough explanation could help some people better than seeing something constructed. To understand how a thing worked visually was different. The processing was different. This understanding was used for training Stormtroopers, and acknowledging the different ways of learning meant exposing them to various methods so that it would sink in.

It might, indeed, help her to process it differently, or in a way that allowed her to move beyond it. ‘Can it make it worse?’ She didn’t want to ask that. She didn’t want to consider it, but she wondered if she might process it wrong and just make things worse for herself.

Still, she found herself hesitantly nodding, a slow agreement. “I think I understand as much as I will without practice,” practice, training, learning. If she could keep it in line with that, perhaps she would trick herself into accepting it.

“I…accept this method, for the moment.” Onna couldn’t force her to keep on it, but it was a reminder to herself that she could exit at any time, as well.

She had told her to talk about a moment with Kylo. “Does the moment matter? Does it have to be a chronological thing, or…?” What was the best way? These were probably stupid questions, but Reveille was trying to ignore the embarrassment that threatened to overwhelm her and send Onna away.

She had to try this, for her own sake. She couldn’t keep losing herself, or her control over herself. Eventually, too many would notice.

~***~

Kylo Ren focused on the plate, but even Nyx could see where he was going wrong, as the coven moved around them, the camp coming together beautifully. Her own plate remained in her hand, to be used as an example when he asked for help.

Which, inevitably, he did.

Nyx nodded, “It is not a simple matter, no matter how I make it appear. I have had years of training in just this art,” she did not want him discouraged, after all. Nor frustrated for too long. There was a level of frustration he would experience now, and as they continued on. “From what I felt as you were using the Force, you were…heavy-handed is the best descriptor that I can think of. You are used to forcing yourself and pulling the energy from yourself, and it seemed as if you were trying to press the plate into fire, rather than grow the plate into fire. A fire needs to breathe.”

Slowly, so he would catch it, she reached out into the Force of her plate, a Force that was mostly stagnant. It roused as she began to encourage it, the gentle prods starting to get the Force to move in reaction. “You must think of your desire. Feel the Force in the plate, and make it move in its current shape and form. Movement warms,” as it always did.

Indeed, the plate in her hand would start to give off an unnatural heat, which she would purposefully intensify so it could be felt even where he stood.

“The Force within the plate cannot act strongly against you, but its flaw is that it does not desire to act at all. You will find in living things, they will act and fight, but this will not. It is why it is good to practice,” even if that initial movement of it could be difficult, so unlike the Force around them that was malleable and willing. “I know you will come to understand it.”

The heat surged in the center, and the plate seemed to crumble to ash, to dust, giving itself up to fuel for the fire, in Nyx’s hand. “An hour, a week, it will come to you and you will learn from that stepping stone to master all the other techniques, but this is the base of it – to grow the Force.”

Not press it. Not crush it. To grow it. “Everyone here, is here to aid you, for as long as it may take.”

 

[cleopat]

Althea hardly noticed the bruising grip, even as Armitage let go and stepped away. There may be a bruise on her arm tomorrow, but that was overshadowed by the pain slowly blossoming on her side as the adrenaline faded.

She sought out a place behind the counter. She leaned against the wall, and in that moment, her legs weakened, and she slowly slid along the wall to sit on the floor. Her breathing increased as the pain took over, but she wouldn’t complain about it. It was probably nothing, just everything hitting her all at once.

Armitage spoke to the captain over his datapad, delivering orders to subjugate the planet. She had no qualms with that order. “Shouldn’t we question the Baron before killing him?” Her voice was weak, but she didn’t notice.

Right as she finished the question, an Ithorian came through a door Althea assumed led to the back of the shop. He looked startled at the appearance of the obviously two wounded people. One behind his counter, and the other merely leaning against a wall. “Can I help you two...”

They were obviously not his normal customers.

“Don’t give away our location, and we’ll compensate you nicely.” It wasn’t her place to make that offer, but Althea figured Armitage wouldn’t have any objections.

~~

The questions Reveille posed was not uncommon for patients. Onna didn’t give her a condescending smile to reassure her, but her gaze wasn’t unkind.

She knew she had to be careful around Reveille. It was a miracle that the two women were in the same room to begin with.

But she could still feel that Reveille was holding back something. For now, she wouldn’t poke at this theory. She would wait.

“No, it doesn’t have to be in chronological order. It would be best if we worked in order of those moments you felt left the biggest impact to least, but ultimately, our sessions will revolve around where you decide to take things.” It was a way to let her patients felt some semblance of control, and it would only force things backwards if Onna dictated where they began.

Reveille would choose where she wanted to start, and Onna would adapt their path from wherever that was.

~~

Her assurance that it wouldn’t be so easy to learn this skill, that it would take years of training, did not do much in alleviating the frustration. He didn’t want to feel so weak or helpless.

So he aptly listened to Nyx’s observations of how he used the Force just now and committed it to memory. He had always been taught to seek the Force from within himself, so to learn and adapt to pull it from something else would take practice. And patience. And he had to remind himself of this every time he failed.

He observed how Nyx utilized the Force in the plate to shift and create fire, without using her own Force. It was still an unusual technique, but Kylo understood a little better.

He nodded, indicating his understand to what she told him. “I think I get it now.” But could he do it?

So he tried again. He reached out into the Force of his plate, and he attempted to encourage it to move. There was nothing at first. No movement. After a few minutes, he wanted to give up, but then the plate slowly grew warm. Light smoke rose from the surface, but nothing more. Still, it was better than before.

It was all he could attempt at the moment, and he still wasn’t satisfied. “I just need to try again.” Kylo thought he was trying to convince Darth Nyx of his capabilities, but he knew he was just trying to convince himself.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘What do we need to ask?’ Armitage had no idea why he should waste time with questioning the Baron, but perhaps that was just it. The Baron couldn’t have the resources to stand up to the First Order, yet he had invoked an immediate attack by trying to assassinated Hux and Althea. “Delay that order to strike the palace. I want it infiltrated, I want the staff killed, and I want the Baron arrested,” he clarified.

It could be useful.

“Understood, Supreme Leader.” She said, as someone appeared off to the side. Althea made a quick promise of compensation if they were silent.

Armitage didn’t confirm it. He wasn’t in the mood to confirm it, and Althea looked…quite a bit worse. “Do you have any medical supplies?” He asked. Though he couldn’t tell how badly Althea was bleeding, her breathing and the way she slumped, rather than remain standing, suggested a wound worse than he could see.

The benefit of black was it hid wounds. That meant from him, as well.

~***~

Reveille wasn’t certain she knew which moment was the worst, but two stood out – her near death at his hand, a death that her brother had prevented, and the moment on Korriban when Kylo Ren had suffered his nightmare and strangled her in his daze. Neither were pleasant memories.

There were also all the moments of being entirely immobilized. The hangar of the Exigency in particular, stood out as one where panic and worry had been high. To be brought onto that damned ship by Kylo Ren, and shot at by her own soldiers….

She forced her fists to relax in her lap. ‘Pick one.’ It didn’t matter which. Just one, and they could go from there.

“Korriban,” the word was out before she could think it through much longer, forgetting the way his thumb had caressed her face when he gripped her chin for a moment – forgetting the near death in favor of the moment where she thought she’d made some progress. It was certainly where she figured out far more about Kylo Ren than she should have – where she figured out exactly how to get under his skin. “We took a trip to Korriban, I hardly understand why, but we took his shuttle.”

She had to frame it, “He never planned for guests. I was wounded on-planet,” those things seemed like background noise compared to the rest. “Neither of us were exactly willing to defer or allow the other any semblance of control in the situation, so rather than one of us sleeping elsewhere, we both slept in his bed. That should have been, but apparently Kylo Ren is plagued with nightmares, and apparently those nightmares make him attempt to kill people in their sleep.”

There was a deep bitterness in saying it, an irritation with herself for not just ceding the bed and sleeping in the cockpit. Bitterness for trying to calm Kylo Ren afterwards. “The…other encounters weren’t unexpected,” she had a mouth. “But that one was entirely so, and he was just…so afraid.” She didn’t want to pity him, but she still did.

~***~

Yes, Kylo did need to try again. Again, and again, and again, until he got it, but it was apparent to Nyx that his frustration was soon to override his capabilities. It might empower himself, but it wouldn’t help his focus here. “Yes,” she agreed, “You will get it soon,” the smoke was a good start.

She did not, however, encourage him to try again immediately. “It may be better to take a moment to eat, or to drink. To step away from it for a few minutes before returning to it,” there were some parts of the camp to assist with, as well.

She wouldn’t again remind him this was new. He knew that – that didn’t help his frustrations. “It is no failing of your own. My manner of explaining it may not be as apt as others. Perhaps some others will be better able to explain it, as well. Not all of them came from environments where this was the standard teaching,” they may be able to address his particular struggles, or find a way to help it click, or focus his frustration.

Which, she knew, would be another step.

But she would admit to wanting him to succeed here, before she told him they needed to see those things which were weighing him down, which continued to make him so easily frustrated to the point of a true black rage. There had to be quite a bit of baggage for him to overcome, and Nyx knew they’d have to unpack it.

 

[cleopat]

Althea had barely acknowledge that Armitage changed his orders based on her recommendations. She felt tired, and she knew she had to stay awake. Until they got medical help.

The owner still looked horrified, and he could only shake his head. “I’m only a candy shop owner. I have nothing else!”

As the pain increased, Althea looked down at her side. At first glance, she couldn’t notice anything, but upon closer inspection, the fabric did look a bit darker than the rest of her tunic, and when her gloved hands brushed against that fabric, she noticed how it felt wet. Well that’s not good.

A groan unwillingly escaped her throat. Carefully, Althea lifted her tunic and undershirt. The sight that greeted her made her grimace. There was definitely a nasty cut, no doubt caused by flying shrapnel striking her at just the right angle. The cut wasn’t terribly deep, but deep enough for a fair amount of blood.

“Do you at least have a towel, or something I could press against this?” She could last until help arrived, but fuck did she wanted something for pain.

The Ithorian considered her question, before nodding. “I do have a towel.” He walked behind the counter, brushing past Althea, and he opened a small cabinet that had some towels and wash clothes. She didn’t even bother to ask. Maybe he had to deal with cleaning up after kids far to often.

He turned around and gave Althea a towel. She nodded in appreciation before pressing it against her wound. There was an abrupt hiss, and the towel will now be forever stained, but it will help with any further blood loss.

~~

Onna didn’t know anything about Korriban. She heard about the planet in stories, but that was it. She didn’t know that Kylo Ren had paid a visit, or that he decided to bring Reveille along for the trip.

She could already feel they were making progress, even if Reveille would disagree.

So Onna carefully listened to the story, making any notes she deemed important to look over later. Reveille’s story only intrigued her for Kylo’s story and the opportunity to pick at his brain, which would be an impossibility. Even before he was outcasted, she couldn’t imagine that he would accept therapy of any sort.

“You both were in a very vulnerable position. You were not only injured, but you had to share a bed with him and sleep next to him. No doubt you would feel helpless waking up to his own power lashing out at anyone who happened to be near.” Onna believed that Kylo suffered from his own form of PTSD based on Reveille’s descriptions, but she’d never talked to a Force sensitive before.

“Do you think you’re angry at yourself for still feeling some sort of sympathy for Kylo? She could pick up on the clues with how Reveille mentioned he seemed to afraid. She noticed his weaknesses, and there was something there that still made her pity him in that moment of raw vulnerability.

~~

Soon wasn’t soon enough for Kylo. He wanted to know now, though he himself knew of that impossibility. He spent his entire life learning about the Force, and he knew of the possibility that he would continue to learn over the course of his life.

It didn’t make the process any less frustrating.

He didn’t want to step away from training just yet, as they had just started in his opinion, but he wasn’t in any room to argue. “If you feel that would be best.” His mind need rest, and his body needed nourishment. That would be the only way he will be fully prepared to tackle training in the coming weeks.

Darth Nyx attempted to soothe the hindrance he felt, but Kylo wasn’t entirely convinced. If he couldn’t learn from the apprentice of Darth Vader, his grandfather, then what hope did he have?

The plate was set down, and Kylo straightened as he looked at Nyx. “I will get this. I will understand and master this technique and make your proud.” He didn’t know why he had to said that.

He needed to ensure that she wasn’t disappointed in him. Not like Snoke had been. He needed to succeed his master for once in his damn life.

 

[Lucyfer]

Of course a first aid kit or bacta patches would be too much to ask for. Armitage didn’t waste his breath criticizing the man’s inability to be prepared, but he observed Althea as she tried to get an idea on her own situation, lifting the tunic.

He didn’t realize how white he went as he saw the terrible amount of blood on her abdomen. Wet and sticky. Hers – not some enemies.

He was moving as she asked about the towel, and he knelt at her side as she took them and pressed them to her side, moving his own hands over it. “Water. You must have water or something to drink?” Armitage asked, but it wasn’t really a question. It was a demand. He knew his soldiers would show up within the next ten minutes, but Althea was still losing blood.

He could help to keep the pressure on the wound, but he’d feel better if she drank something – even if he knew the effect wouldn’t be immediate, her hydration was important.

Not losing her to unconsciousness was important, for his own sanity. He knew they couldn’t just bolt out of there. He couldn’t carry her without an issue. They had to stay here, in one place, which didn’t have nearly enough to help her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were this badly wounded?” He found the hiss escaping, accusing, covering the dread that was growing in his stomach.

~***~

Onna spoke of the common sense things. Yes, she had been wounded, and the situation was not an agreeable one. It was certainly vulnerable. By default, sleeping was that. It had taken her quite a while to actually sleep with anyone, Sienar indeed holding that honor entirely to himself. She preferred they leave. Or she leave.

Too many people got murdered in their sleep among the Cadet ranks. Even if that wasn’t ‘accidental’, it was usually hard to prove who had done it.

Helpless was an apt descriptor at that moment. And so many others when it came to the Force. And now she couldn’t find that scientist who could help with that. “Of course I am,” perhaps Reveille should have realized Onna caught on without her stating it, but she didn’t note that. “Kylo Ren is a despicable person who refused to learn from his mistakes and tormented many within the Order and outside of it, for no reason,” Althea still came to mind, but there had been others. Mitaka, of course. “He doesn’t deserve any sympathy.”

And yet, she felt it. She had wanted to help him, but he had refused it.

~***~

Nyx nodded her agreement. It was what she thought was best, “You and Discord have been working in the Core for a month now, I do believe some rest is in order,” she was certain that the pair had rested, of course, but perhaps not as much as they should have. Dealing with others didn’t require quite the same finesse as the Force.

At least, not in Nyx’s opinion.

People were easy. Kylo was easy, his words confirming his desires. Snoke had royally fucked him up, and everyone else, but with so much room to grow and such a desire to please? He would bend easily. “I know that you will master it,” she agreed. “I have always known you would be someone special.”

Someone to make her proud, the way Zeme’lodi’csapla did – the way she stood apart as her apprentice, rather than a Nightsister.

She was that, of course, but a step above. “I am going to assist with setting up. We will resume, when you are ready,” she said, “And we will have much more to do, as well, but I know you will succeed in all of these lessons.”

 

[cleopat]

Althea wasn’t aware of Armitage moving over to her until he had knelt by her, pressing his hand over the towel staunching the flow of blood. Her hand moved over his wrist, weakly squeezing it in a moment of silent comforting.

The Ithorian nodded his head at the request. “Of course.” He hurried back through the door, reappearing less than a minute later with a glass of water. Althea graciously took the glass, muttering her thanks, and slowly sipped at it.

She didn’t want it though. She just wanted to rest her eyes.

Naturally Armitage wouldn’t allow that. “It didn’t seem important at the moment.” It wasn’t the full truth though. She wasn’t aware of the wound until recent. “Besides, there was too much adrenaline. I didn’t even feel the wound until we were in the streets.”

And even then she didn’t feel it necessary to mention her pain. She thought it was bruising or minor scrapes. Another sip of the water, her hand remained on his wrist. “I’m sure it looks worse than it is.”

~~

Onna tilted her head, listening to the comments Reveille added. Many before her had commented on the volatile nature of Kylo Ren, but Reveille did it in a different way.

And that was what interested Onna.

“But you continue to feel sympathy for him, don’t you? You wanted to help him learn his mistakes, but he refused that help, and in some way you’re blaming yourself for not being able to help him.” Her statements were pure guesses, but it wasn’t something that was uncommon.

It was a natural instinct for people wanting to help those who needed it, and if they couldn’t help? There would be lingering guilt for some time.

“And this guilt is making you hold on to this fear of Kylo Ren, because either way, he is still in your head.” He would be for some time, she figured. Reveille needed to let go any of that pity or sympathy in order to move past the event.

~~

Kylo and Discord had been working in the Core for a while now, and nearly every day they were doing something. Sometimes they would remain on a planet for a few days, up to a week, always talking to someone, trying to convince them of the First Order’s flaws.

A mental and physical rest would be greatly beneficial, even if Kylo won’t admit it. He would be too stubborn, too insistent that they continue the lessons.

But he didn’t. He knew it was useless, and that Nyx wouldn’t agree to it. It wasn’t something worth fighting over.

He fell for her words so easily. She offered him praise and comments he so desperately wanted to hear. “Thank you, Master Nyx.”

It was the first time he addressed her as such, but isn’t that who she was to him now? His Master in the teachings of the Force? Someone he would learn from?

“Is there anything you wish for me to do in help setting up?” Otherwise he would feel useless while the Nightsisters set up camp. He itched to do something, to further prove his worth in being there with them.

 

[Lucyfer]

Armitage grit his teeth at Althea’s first answer. It wasn’t one he could fault. He still wasn’t taking much interest in his own wounds, though given the adrenaline that was wearing off, he was certain they weren’t so bad as hers. He would need to see a doctor, of course. He was still bleeding and would likely lose a significant amount of blood for it – but not like her.

“Let’s hope that’s the case,” Armitage agreed, not moving her hand, or moving his own, from its place. “Keep drinking.”

He didn’t enjoy that they were stuck in a candy shop, or that there was another present, although the stranger had aided them. ‘Lemon drops are good for illness.’ He wasn’t sure why the thought came to mind, a truth of the Young Reveille when she’d gotten candy from Terex and offered them to the other Cadets.

He had taken it. No one else had. They were fearful of poisons. Was it Terex who came up with it, or Reveille. ‘Are lemon drops good for wounds?’ Maybe as a distraction. Maybe as a way to keep her conscious, so she had something to do.

He could hear TIEs screaming across the sky, from within the building. Soon, Troopers would be on the ground and to his position. “What is your name?” He asked the alien at last. He supposed, Althea was right. However this played out, the stranger had not acted in hostility, or kicked them out for bleeding on their floor.

He may want to extend some kindness to them, and knowing who they were would help him track them down later. “And do you have any lemon drops?”

~***~

Reveille’s voice iced as she answered, “I believe the fear is coming from the threat he sent to me via datapad after he was ousted from the Order, promising things would go differently when we met again.” That was reason enough to hold fear. He was already planning to cause her significant harm, likely death.

That was not something Onna could just talk away. The actual threat of Kylo Ren was a legitimate one, regardless of whether or not she clung to some guilt that she had failed to show him how he could be better.

He hadn’t had time to learn, before he went on to commit atrocities that could no longer be tolerated. “Or would you still like to presume that my fear is unjustified?” The threat was not one she’d let others know, not even Sienar or Hux.

It seemed an obvious enough thing.

Kylo Ren was a threat to the entire Order. He’d likely single out herself and her brother. That he had chosen to single her out first was obvious – she had been his downfall.

~***~

Master.

Oh, it was a beautiful sound, but Nyx would not allow her demeanor to change in recognition of it being spoken. She would not gloat, or let her smile widen. This was simply an affirmation of what they already were – there was no reason to gloat for that, for the child who had found the word they sought.

And he needed something to do.

Nyx could not dismiss him to leisure when others worked, she knew that already, and let her eyes flick over the camp. “You may assist Sister Kore,” she gestured to a light green child, a girl of Bri’n with splotches of pink over her body like scales, and paler green hair. Her ears looked more like horns, and her green eyes held no pupils.

Yet the Force was powerful within her.

In spite of that power, she was a child, and had yet a child’s understand of things, and she was struggling on her own to put up a tent, apparently taking her own initiative to start that project. The Force tried to help, in its way. Grass wound around the posts to hold it up, but would falter when she tried to move the post herself, causing a significant amount of frustration for the child. Not to mention the poles constantly being pulled out of the ground to be held up by the grass….

 

[cleopat]

Lavinia could only nod, taking another sip of the water before placing the glass on the ground beside her, her hand still wrapped around it.

The Ithorian didn’t know what he was supposed to do in the moment. The man hadn’t demanded him to request help, so he figured they already had help coming, which was confirmed by the sound of the TIEs. He did think to walk over to the window and flip the ‘open’ sign to ‘close,’ so no other pedestrian would wonder inside.

He thought the request for lemon drops was odd, but he didn’t voice that thought. Maybe the woman liked them. “It’s Ysho.” He walked over to a shelf with various jars filled with different colored candies, and had hand reached into the jar with yellow, round candies. The lemon drop was dropped onto a napkin, and Ysho hurried back over to the couple.

Lavinia couldn’t help the weak chuckle that sounded. “Really, a lemon drop?” She didn’t have the energy to think any more of it. The longer they sat there, the more exhausted she became. Staying awake was important, but all she could think of was taking a small nap. “I think I’ll just rest my eyes for a minute.”

Ysho heard Lavinia as her eyes started to close, and he knelt beside the woman. “Oh no, miss, don’t do that. Here, have this instead.” His hand extended the piece of napkin with the lemon drop on it, but she didn’t reach out for it.

~~

Onna tilted her head, intrigued by the new information. She hadn’t known that Kylo Ren contacted Reveille at some point, a message that held the unspoken promise of further violence. Yet she’d figured that Kylo would indeed explicitly state that, and not be as vague.

“You misunderstand me. Never have I said that your fear is unjustified, nor was that ever my intention for you to think that.” She could sense Reveille’s resentment, and Onna knew she either had to slow things down, or change course a bit. “Fear is justified, it’s a valid emotion in response to these repeated violent attacks where you had no control.”

The Grand Marshall was a woman who always had control, and with Kylo’s Force acting against her, Onna suspected those moments of loss control had greatly affected her.

“Let me ask you a question. When you experience these flashbacks, this fear of Kylo Ren lurking around the corner, how do you process that fear? Do you allow yourself to feel that fear, or do you try and push it out of your mind?”

~~

Kylo had no reason to suspect any ulterior motives from Nyx. She had his own interests at heart, to see him thrive and create the next generation of a powerful Sith, who so happened to be the grandson of her own master.

His own desires wouldn’t allow him to see anything else.

At her mention of something he could do to help, Kylo looked over at the girl attempting to set up a tent by herself. She was struggling, her own inexperience in the Force hindering her ability to pitch the tent.

Wordlessly, Kylo left Nyx’s side to make his way over to the girl. He knelt down next to the girl, bringing his face closer to hers. A tactic to make himself look less intimidating to the small child. “How about we try and put up this tent together?”

He wouldn’t immediately assume. Rather, he’d wait to see how the girl reacted to his offer, and if she will willingly accept his help.