Allegiance | Kylo Ren

VI

I awoke the following morning feeling unexpectedly refreshed. There was minimal pain in my torso, and I felt well-rested for the first time since the battle. Under the close eye of Mason I was allowed to try and sit up on my own, and I couldn't help but give him a high-five as I accomplished the simple task.

"Well done!" He said, grinning. "You're healing nicely. I think a good night's rest did you well. And you've managed to refrain from tearing out any stitches for an entire ten hours!"

I laughed at his sarcasm, feeling giddy at my rapid improvement. Unfortunately, my intestines had not repaired enough for me to eat solid food, so I still had to have my breakfast inserted directly into my stomach through a tube, but I felt strong, and that was nice for a change.

Ren had not seemed to move. He remained solitary, a storm cloud in a hospital bed, and did not react to my happiness whatsoever.

I turned to Mason. "So when can I stand up? Walk?"

He made a face, clearly hesitant to let me do anything more than sit up at the moment. "Give it two more days, if you keep up this rate of improvement."

I frowned, but didn't protest.

When my breakfast was finished being transferred, Mason turned to Kylo.

"How are you feeling this morning, Lord Ren?" There was an uncharacteristic tremor in his voice. "Would it be alright with you if I checked your stitches?"

"I'm fine." Ren's voice was curt, and he waved Mason away as if his words weren't making the doctor leave fast enough.

"Yes, Lord Ren."

As he left, Mason rolled his eyes in my direction, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. The door closed, and I was once again in silence.

The absence of noise had become so familiar that it was almost like a reunion with an old friend. I was no longer choked by it, overwhelmed by it. Instead, I embraced it, and was almost comforted by it.

It was broken by a long breath exhaled by Ren. I glanced over. Even through his dark shirt, I could see a dark patch where his stitches had reopened. His hand hovered over it, trying to contain the damage without betraying his pain.

"Kylo, you're hurt again." I breathed, wondering too late if I was allowed to call him that.

"No, I'm not." He retorted stubbornly, not seeming to notice.

"Yes, you are." I swung my legs over the side of my bed, feeling a twinge of guilt at Mason's warning to not walk, and hobbled to the door, holding my rolling IV with one hand. My legs felt weak from underuse. I gripped the handle of the door and pulled, but it wouldn't open.

I turned to see Ren holding out one hand, using the Force to hold the door shut.

"You need a doctor." I protested.

"I'm fine." He growled, his jaw set.

I hobbled to his bedside, glad that my IV was on wheels. I gazed down at him uncertainly, and he met my look with a challenging glare. Hesitantly, I reached out a hand towards him. When he didn't throw me against the wall, I pulled up the hem of his shirt about an inch. The wound was gaping underneath, the weak stitches giving way easily. Blood was oozing out, staining his shirt and his bed beneath him.

"You're losing a lot of blood. Too much. You need Mason to redo your stitches."

"I don't need some idiot doctor to mess up again."

I gazed at him helplessly, my hands limp at my sides.

"You do it."

My eyes widened. I stared at him, trying to assess whether or not he was serious. He didn't seem to be joking.

"Me?"

"Yes. You watched the doctor fix you before. Now you will do it for me." His expression was solemn.

"I can try and fix it a little." I tried to sound optimistic, panicking internally. "I mean, I can't really make it hurt less, but I can add some temporary stitches to stop the bleeding."

Kylo nodded. I retrieved the materials from the drawer of my bedside table, taking a deep breath before turning back to the bed. I pulled up his shirt, and he slipped his arm out of it so I could pull it over his shoulder. I exhaled quietly, trying to steady my shaking hands. I used the bed sheet to wipe away some of the excess blood before leaning in close to assess the damage.

I could feel Ren's dark gaze boring holes into the side of my head, but I tried not to acknowledge it. He watched my every move as I used the pliers to thread the wire through the skin and tied it into a small knot. I eyed the first stitch. It wasn't pretty, but it would do. I repeated the same process until I ran out of wire, resulting in about six average-looking stitches. My patient showed no sign of feeling any pain, staying perfectly still until the last stitch was finished.

"There." I gently dabbed the wound with a clean part of the sheet. "All done. It's not pretty, but it's holding you together."

Kylo examined my handiwork, then gave a terse nod. "Good." He pulled his shirt back down, leaning his head back onto his pillow.

I wiped my hands on the edge of his bed sheet, then returned to my own bed, still shaking. We lay in quiet for a while. I wasn't sure how long—it could have been minutes, or hours. We said nothing to each other.

When Mason reentered, he had a clipboard in his hands. He greeted me cheerfully and stood at my bedside, writing something down. Then he clipped my liquid lunch onto the rack and connected the tube to the connecter in my stomach. He froze when he noticed the dried blood on my hands, and my incessant quivering. His eyes slowly scanned over to Kylo's bed, where he took in the bloody sheets and Kylo's soaked shirt. His green gaze met mine, and I silently begged him not to say anything. He obliged, silently lifting my shirt to make sure I hadn't disrupted my own injuries while tending to my roommate's. Apparently I hadn't, because he dug in his pocket and pulled out a clean rag for me to wipe my hands. I accepted it gratefully, scrubbing at the contours in my fingers to get the foreign scarlet out. When I was finished, I handed it back to him and he turned on his heel and left.

The silence that followed was less comforting this time.