#im still baby-new to the fandom but we shall grow my archive oh yes

[go-hux-yourself]

Haruspex

I’m back at it with my bullshit haha :D This came about as an idea from this post about the hero showing up on the villain’s doorstep, and I kind of went with it :D

Also on my ao3 here :) My masterlist archive of bullshit i write can be found linked at the top of the blog or here.

--

His door chimed.

No one ever came to his personal quarters on this ship; or at least, not without being expected.

Hux was not expected. But it wasn’t nearly as big a shock as the state of the man himself.

“I didn’t know where else to go…” Hux muttered as he shouldered his way into Ren’s personal quarters without pretense despite the hour. Ren didn’t even try to stop him, so startled by this uncharacteristic aura of--

Well, confidence certainly wasn’t the word he was looking for. Not for the state of mind Hux appeared to be in. There were heavy bags under the general’s eyes, his uniform was rumpled, hair loose about his head, and a sort of hunted gleam shone in his eyes where there was usually cool disdain. He looked like a man possessed, and the desperation was rolling off him in waves.

“Something is-- Someone is messing with my head. With their damned force nonsense, or something to that end. I need you to make it stop.”

Ren frowned, at both the assumption, and the fact that Hux was actually asking him for help. The fact he assumed it was something force-related-- not the byproduct of too much caf and not enough sleep- and wasn’t immediately accusing Ren of being the perpetrator, was also interesting. “What makes you think someone is using the force against you?”

“It’s the logical conclusion,” Hux brushed off quickly, green eyes jumping about the room as if trying to search out some relief locked inside the durasteel walls. His gaze settled on Ren. His fingers twitched at his sides, gloveless. His hands looked cold. “Now please, just-- Work your magic or whatever it is you do, and make it stop.”

Ren frowned again. Hux never said please to him. He had to pause and center himself for a moment, and make sure this wasn’t some dream, or that he hadn’t gone too deeply into meditation and was in some weird force-hallucination that included his co-commander.

Ren didn’t feel any disturbance in the force, either around them, or from Hux himself. And Hux looked like he’d been on the tail end of extended stim use. Either that, or he was truly unhinged by some rogue variable that required Ren’s intervention. “When was the last time you slept, General?”

Hux gave him what surely couldn’t be a hurt look, but then, the man did look exhausted, and was clearly distressed if he’d come knocking on his rival’s door for help.

“I’m not crazy,” Hux stated softly with deadly calm, stopping his idle fidgeting and observances of the other man’s quarters.

“I didn’t say you were,” Ren stated, though the implication was there.

Hux was bleeding anxiety, the usually-composed man clearly frayed at the ends. That Hux sought out Ren’s help spoke to a many magnitude of things; mainly that he was more concerned with this potential ‘thing’ tormenting him than appearing weak to the man that could usurp his position.

Such a thought was a novelty Ren wanted to believe in. That Hux was exposing a potential vulnerability to Ren for exploitation-- and trusting that he wouldn’t do so in his plea for help- struck something inside the other man. That he considered Ren worth trusting at all, let alone with what was most certainly delicate information, was throwing Ren through all kinds of loops.

No one confided secrets to the knight. No one shared weakness with a literal mind-reader. If anything, people tried to throw up mental barriers against him, if they had the will for one.

Hux was one of those. But right now, he wanted the exact opposite, and it was a strange kind of power-rush for Ren, one he-- oddly enough- didn’t want to exploit. This was interesting enough on its own to merit helping the other man out.

Ren indicated his spartan couch, and Hux followed the gesture with tired eyes. “Sit down,” Ren instructed. “And tell me what I’m looking for.”

“I don’t know,” Hux told him with frustration, but he did take a seat, clasping his pale hands in his lap. His posture was straight, but forced. He was so damn exhausted it was a struggle to even keep what little composure he had left. “If I knew what was causing it, I’d have told you already.”

Hux tried to glower up at him as Ren stood before him, but the look only came off as pitiful. Ren considered his options, and decided that he would know what he was looking for if and when he encountered it within Hux’s mind. The general didn’t necessarily need to know he was going in completely blind. “What is it you’re experiencing?” Hux’s lips pursed into a thin line, reluctant. “Regardless of what you might assume about me, I’m not privy to your every waking thought, General.”

“Flashbacks,” Hux admitted, meeting Ren’s eyes defiantly with his own. “I’m seeing flashbacks.”

It sounded like he might need a trip down to medical with a psych-droid instead of a force-user, but Ren wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity to see inside the other man’s mind unhindered. The recent incursions on neutral-planets hadn’t strained the general, as far as Ren knew. And Hux hadn’t seen action on a battlefield in person since at least before Ren had come to the Finalizer. Whatever was causing him to lose sleep must be quite a thing indeed.

It wasn’t something he’d have trouble finding, anyways, as far as he was concerned. Whatever disturbing moments of galactic-warfare that was keeping Hux up at night, he knew he could wipe them from the general’s mind, or at least block them to the same end result.

“You must open your mind to me, if I’m to be successful.”

“Fine, yes. Consider it open. Just. Silence it, Ren.”

Hux’s choice of words almost brought a smile twitching to Ren’s lips. He was to be the silencer of these thoughts, just as the ship he piloted held the same name. He wondered if Hux had somehow strung those thoughts together and that’s how he’d ended up at Ren’s door specifically. It didn’t matter, he supposed, and he could probably find out from Hux’s own mind if he were curious enough.

Ren held out a hand, feeling with the force while Hux watched him and considered whether or not this was too great a risk to end his suffering; if Ren would somehow exploit this, meddle with his thoughts, warp his mind or do him even further harm under guise of assistance. Ren put down his hand and watched as Hux’s brow creased in response to the action. “This would be easier if you didn’t fight me, General.”

“I’m not fighting,” Hux affirmed stubbornly, frustrated and tired beyond belief and suddenly very fearful that this calculated risk was about to backfire and he’d get no relief. Ren didn’t need to be a mind-reader to know that. “Please,” Hux asked softly, the note in his voice plaintive, “I’m so kriffing exhausted.”

That was a word he’d heard from the general twice tonight, and it made him more determined to actually see this through to a good outcome. Ren raised his hand again, watching the other man. “It might be easier if you close your eyes.” Hux scoffed, but did exactly that as he sat there with his hands still folded over one another in his lap.

Hux’s impressive mental wall easily crumbled before Ren’s own focus, and it was shocking how quickly the general’s mind folded to his circumspection, leaving Ren with a very open picture indeed.

Hux was terrified. Or, some version of himself some twenty years back was. These weren’t the flashbacks he was looking for, nor did he expect to be immediately assaulted by them as he rifled through the general’s mind. Memories, Ren realized. Disjointed thoughts all with the same message of failure failure failure.

There were many of them. So many that he wondered how the general had been commanding the ship with such things blaring in his consciousness like an emergency klaxon. These were almost nightmares, but were once Hux’s reality, and the knight tried not to focus too hard on any single one lest he get pulled in and sidetracked.

Once Ren got past one, there was another, and then another bleeding into its place like a deck of flimsi cards, all in the background of Hux’s own consciousness that kept telling himself to ignore it-- that this was dead and done, that he wasn’t that boy anymore- and the pitiable self-assertion that he should be over this by now.

Hux’s incapability was literally haunting him. Torment long scarred-over was turned into fresh wounds again. It was a particularly cruel piece of work, one Ren wanted to remember for his own interrogation techniques, but it wasn’t impossible to find where the mental suggestion to revisit these old wounds had been hidden.

It was minor, as far as force-suggestions went, but very effective indeed. It wasn’t difficult for Ren to snuff out the suggestion, wondering who put it there in the first place, and the assault on Hux’s consciousness was gone like smoke wisps.

Hux was in a kind of dazed trance, exhausted and near-sleep, but trying to remain alert. The sudden lack of painful memories being thrust upon him was so relieving that Hux’s posture bodily relaxed. Ren watched him, feeling and seeing the relief there, and considered things about the other man he hadn’t thought of before.

This couldn’t be allowed. Whoever was responsible for planting the suggestion inside the general’s head was dangerous.

Such a subtle use of the force would be ineffective against him, but to force-nulls like Hux, it could bring the mightiest commanders into disarray if applied in the right places. And someone had known exactly where to attack Hux.

The fact that Ren had found anything at all inside his head made him justify keeping a close watch on the general, and it was barely a suggestion whispered into the other man’s mind before Hux tipped over into much-needed sleep.

--

Ch. 2 and others will be found on the ao3 post :)

--

kofi | ao3