Equilibrium (Reylo)

Nineteen: Legacy

Ben stirred side to side in his sleep, the binders straining himself down. His muscles tightened into knots, his chest heaving up and down from exhaustion. He wished he had the room to move more, though he was too tired to do so.

Ben felt cold sweat at the crown of his head. He knew being exposed to the heat of the hot surges of electricity clashing with the chillness of air in this chamber wasn't good for him. Especially when all he had on were under shorts.

Ben hadn't been able to take of any sort of comfort to draw himself to sleep. He just closed and opened his eyes every while, catching a few minutes of shut eye as he could get. But Ben took comfort in the fact during all this torture that Rey had the chance of getting herself as far away from the First Order before they reach the Resistance. He didn't need her to ship herself to him like she did before. To risk her life for his again. He didn't need another throne room battle to happen, especially if all his men weren't under his command anymore. She definitely wouldn't be safe here.

Ben needed to remain on his toes. He couldn't let his guard drop for a moment when Hux was the one orchestrating this whole ordeal. He couldn't allow to show him that he was weak. But what else can I do? I haven't eaten in almost a day. I have barely slept at all. I can't fight him even if I was able to tap into the Force. Most of my strength is already gone.

The two stormtroopers that stood guard outside the chamber walked inside, an annoyed Hux marching right behind them.

They entered the room, an expression on the redhead's face that was familiar to the Supreme Leader. He's stressed out.

Maybe this is finally my chance to finally push him, Ben thought to himself. To make him tick. What is his plan? If he must not want to kill me, there has to be a very good reason so. He would have done it by now.

Ben lifted his head up, hissing at the pang of the excessive migraine pounding against the back of his head. "They. . .won't accept you," he growled, his voice dry and barely spoken at a low volume.

Hux paced across the room in front of Ben. "Who said they accepted you," Hux bit back, clasping his hands behind his back.

"They chose to follow me."

"You threatened their lives!" Hux yelled. "When I kill you, they will know it's their right to follow me."

"And I thought I was a monster," Ben muttered, meaning for the general to hear.

Hux stopped in his tracks, scoffed and turned to look at who once his superior in the eye. "You turned away from the order what we could have brought to the galaxy."

"At least my men respected me," he said, trying not to think about all the sins he's committed. "They followed my orders and you will have no honor—"

"Honor?" Hux asked, the word foreign to his ears coming from the traitor lying limp in front his eyes. Being electrocuted over and over again will do that to a person, especially if they won't help destroy the enemy. Instead, the Master of the Knights of Ren would rather fall in love with a girl and grow soft.

Did he ever think once about his master plan? To become the very incarnation of the man he looked up to. That man was true villain. This man, Kylo Ren, was a conplete fraud compared to Darth Vader.

"You think some following some legacy is honorable?" Hux asked, shaking his head like a parent would scold their child. Hux lifted his chin up, shaming his former comrade for his poor decisions, knowing he how he will make better ones than this imposter. "I will make a legacy of my own."

Ben balled his hands into fists, squeezing his fingers together and feeling a high from the blind, red anger in his veins. "Just wait until I'm out of these cuffs."

"Then what?" Hux asked, knowing he had the higher ground. "No one is coming to save you." Hux turned to the machine, allowing a stormtrooper to operate it this time. "And until I know what is in that mind of yours," he told him, "we won't have to continue doing this."

And then, the sound of sparks crackled like whips inside Ben's ears. Following it was the white hot pain breaking the images in his mind to a bleak nothingness.