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“OW!”
“Oh, stop being a baby.”
“Not my fault you’re pressing too hard against it!”
“It’s just a scratch! Now hold still…”
Hux huffed, pouting as Kylo held his jaw, holding his head still, as he dabbed at the cut on his forehead.
During a routine scouting mission, their ship had experienced some rather severe technical difficulties, causing it to malfunction and crash. No matter how many switches they flipped, and buttons they pressed, nothing was working. Hux vaguely recalled Kylo trying to do something with the Force…but whatever he tried to do didn’t work, and their ship crash landed, hard. One moment they were airborne…the next, Hux was waking up inside of a crumpled ship, feeling as if he had been trampled by a reek, ten times over.
Kylo apparently hadn’t fared much better. He too had been knocked out by the crash, and got tossed around just as badly. Both of them were sporting some nasty bruises all over their bodies. Kylo was sporting a cut lip, and a black eye. Hux’s wrist was killing him, and he had a bit of a nasty gash on his forehead, making blood trickle down into his eye. How they avoided broken bones was anyone’s guess.
After rigging the comm system, the two managed to relay a signal back to the Finalizer…but rescue wouldn’t come until the next day, being several light years away from the Resurgent Class Star Destroyer. None too happy about the situation, they decided to hunker down for the night. The ship was too dangerous to be in, so they made camp outside. But once the sun went down over the horizon, it got cold…too cold for Hux’s tastes. He had left his greatcoat in the ship…only to find it torn in two pieces, after the crash. It must’ve gotten snagged on something, when the ship crashed. Probably how Hux’s wrist was impossible to move, too, without pain shooting up through his arm.
Seeing that Hux was shivering, Kylo had gathered supplies from the ship, and wood from the surrounding area, and attempted to make a fire. It didn’t succeed at first—Hux had tried some matches from his pocket, only to have the tiny flame go out before he could get it close to the pile. Frustrated, Kylo took out his lightsaber, and caught fire to the pile just by stabbing the energy blade into it. For once, the thing had a purpose. Despite the flames, Hux was still shivering, arms wrapped around himself, as he stared into the dancing embers. Kylo left to get something…and came back with a first aid kit…and his cowl, which he tossed on top of Hux’s head, before sitting next to him.
And now they were here.
Hux grumbled, as Kylo dabbed at the gash on his forehead, cleaning it out, and cleaning away the blood that was still trying to trickle down into Hux’s eye. After cleaning up what he could, he got a bacta patch from the kit, peeling it open, before carefully placing it over the wound, earning him another hiss of pain from Hux.
“Oh, hush…” mumbled Kylo again, smoothing the patch over the wound, feeling Hux tense beside him. He could feel his pain through the Force—it wasn’t strong, but it wasn’t pleasant, either. Highly uncomfortable. And he wanted it to stop, “And…I’m done. Should be good now.”
Hux pulled away from Kylo slightly, raising his hand up to touch at the bacta patch on his forehead. The wound was still stinging, but at least it wouldn’t try to blind him with his own blood. He knew a nice shower would be in order, once they returned to the ship. For now, he’d just have to deal with the crusting blood on his forehead and eyebrow.
“Thanks…” he muttered, lowering his hand, as he watched Kylo pack away the kit, before using the Force to toss the used gauze pad into the fire, watching it instantly catch aflame, before disappearing into ashes. Despite the materials they put in there, the fire was burning decently. Hux was almost afraid that it’d move outside of its ring, and start burning the grass around it…but so far, it seemed content to stay where it was. It helped that there was no wind, too.
Despite that, Hux was STILL cold.
“Kriffing hells…” he cursed, rubbing his hands together, before holding them out to the fire. Even with his gloves on, his hands were cold. His body was cold. He missed his greatcoat, dammit. Without invitation, Kylo slid closer to Hux, adjusting his cowl on the general, before pressing his shoulder against his. Hux blinked, looking over at him. Despite the chill, Kylo was practically radiating heat. How was that possible?
“Let me see your hands.” he said softly, holding out his own. Hux stared at them, suspiciously, before cautiously placing them in Kylo’s palms. The Knight squeezed them gently, closing his eyes, For a moment, Hux was going to ask him what he was planning on doing, before he felt a sudden warmth melt through his body, causing him to gasp. The warmth hadn’t come from an outside source. The fire was slightly warming his side, and Kylo’s hands were warming his own…but that warmth…had come from within.
It didn’t take long for Hux to realize what Kylo did.
“The Force?” he asked, getting a nod of confirmation out of Kylo, “…Guess it’s handy for things other than choking troopers and officers, and forcing your way into people’s minds.”
Kylo huffed at that, opening his eyes, dark ones starting into blue, “The Force is much more than that. I could try to explain it to you…but you’ve already made it clear, what your opinion on the Force is.”
Hux knew, all right. Though he couldn’t help but notice the bite in Kylo’s voice this time… From the get-go, he made it known to Kylo that he had no patience for his ‘ancient magic.’ The Force was a joke. An old religion that died out years ago, when the Empire first rose up. Hux was a practical man—he understood science, technology, and military stratagem. Not…hokey religions and magic.
Whether it was the cold, or the fact that that warmth felt so good going through his body…Hux decided to humor him.
“…Tell me about the Force.”
Kylo’s head whipped up, staring wide-eyed at Hux, as if he had suggested the craziest of plans to get off world.
“…You’re being serious…” he stated. Hux knew he had to have been feeling his sincerity through the Force. …Or read his mind. Either or.
“Yes.” he said, nodding, “Besides, it’s either that, or we sit here in silence until we fall asleep. And my head is still throbbing, so sleep isn’t happening anytime soon. So…go on and explain. Best you can.”
Kylo stared at Hux, trying to see if this was a joke, before nodding mainly to himself, still holding onto Hux’s hands, “…The Force is all around us. It guides us, surrounds us and penetrates us. It holds the galaxy together. There are many aspects of the Force…but I’ll go into those another time. When we have more time, as there’s several different ones to talk about.”
Hux rolled his eyes at that, before sitting up a little straighter at Kylo’s glare.
“The Force flows through every living thing.” continued Kylo, gesturing around them to the trees, “From us, to the trees, to insects, to a single blade of grass. The Force is with all of them. But only those of us that are Force-sensitive can manipulate the Force to our will. And in order for one to be Force-sensitive, you need to have a high count of midi-chlorians.”
“…Midi what?” asked Hux, blinking. In all his years at the academy, studying different sciences, he had never heard of that term.
“Midi-chlorians. They’re microorganisms that live inside of every living thing, including you.” said Kylo, nodding to the general, “But only those that have a high concentration of midi-chlorians can detect and use the Force. When using the Force, we ‘communicate’ with those midi-chlorians, and we then learn the will of the Force. In a way, we don’t control the Force—we just influence it, and bend it to our will.”
“So…” started Hux, trying to wrap his mind around all this, “…All this power you have…you got from microorganisms? And you ‘communicate’ with them, so you can manipulate the Force to your will?”
Kylo nodded, “Exactly. It’s not really a vocal conversation…more of a conversation of auras. Of inner peace. If I concentrate hard enough, I can easily manipulate the Force to my will, so I can bring down one or two X-Wings right out of the air. It doesn’t take any effort at all to lift something small, like a log, or dirt, or you.”
Before Hux could question that last bit, Kylo waved his hand slightly, and soon Hux found himself levitating off the ground a little bit, causing him to yelp and wrap Kylo’s cowl tight around his shoulders.
“P—Put me down!”
Kylo laughed—a sincere laugh that made Hux’s anger abate—as he did what he asked, gently setting him back on the ground near him, where he received a punch to the shoulder from the ruffled general.
“Also, the Force allows me to do this.” said the Knight, turning towards the fire, moving his hands around slightly.
Hux watched in fascination, as the flames danced a little higher, before something ‘burst’ out of it. A fireball came out of the main body of flames, shimmering in the air, before unfolding into a shape. There was a pair of wings, a tail, a long neck, and a horned head. A dragon. The ‘dragon’ shook its flame body, opening its mouth in a silent roar, before flying around the fire, wings stretched to catch the warm air coming off of the flames. All the while, Kylo moved his hands to the dragon’s movements.
“…You’re using the Force to manipulate the fire.” stated Hux, watching the dragon pause in its flight to turn towards him. Kylo made the dragon nod to Hux’s statement, causing him to chuckle, “So, even non-living things you can create into something.”
“Not…really create. Mold into something.” corrected Kylo, moving the dragon away from the flames, causing it to circle around Hux at a safe distance, “Just like with energy, the Force cannot be created or destroyed. The fire was already there. I just used the Force to manipulate the flames into a shape, ‘creating’ the dragon you see now.”
The dragon moved to fly in front of Hux, hovering in front of him. Hux almost extended a hand out to pet it…only to remember that this dragon was literally made out of fire, and pulled it back. The dragon let out a silent roar again, flying away from Hux and soaring around the fire a few more times, before plunging into the flames, becoming one with them once more.
“So…the Force isn’t all stupid religion and magic…” mused Hux, leaning against Kylo’s shoulder, watching the fire, “There’s actually some science behind it.”
“Leader Snoke got the information from the former Empire, who’d gotten it from the Jedi Temple, before they destroyed it.” explained Kylo, wrapping his arm around Hux’s waist, pulling him closer, keeping him warm, “The rest of the information is lost…but yes, there is some science to it.” A pause. “…And no, you can’t experiment on me, or my blood. I forbid it.”
“Wha—“ Hux looked up at Kylo, blinking as he realized what he did, “…Stay out of my head.”
“Hard to, when you practically broadcasted that thought.”
“Change the ‘channel’ to a different broadcast, then.”
“What if I only want to listen to yours?”
The two chuckled, smiling as they huddled together, watching the flames of the bonfire dance and glow, as the night dragged on. They had planned to have one of them stay up as a watch, while the other slept…but things never went as planned, when it came to General Hux and Kylo Ren.
They ended up sleeping against one another, letting the flames slowly die out on their own, as the dawn of a new day rose on the horizon, hours later.