splinteredstar | squad fic: anh overlap

squad fic, overlapping with a new hope

splinteredstar

Okay. This one is original timeline period, starting...around about the same time as new hope? Possibly

Occasionally I'll have bits that over lap with rogue one, so that finn and poe can fanboy over bohdi and Hux can be really snarky at kennic

Also rogue one is dying for "but they're not actually dead!" Aus

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This timeline and the next one are somewhat unusual, but, well. I'll get there. *wink*

wtf-ktula

(rogue one is totally dying for those aus. That movie broke my heart.)

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You know that bit in end, where the empire blows up the archives at scarif? I assume they spun that as rebel action. Which is what would be taughy in the order. Which means hux would just now be finding out that the empire destroyed their own goddammed archives for no practical reason

And he just. Stares.

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They would have to spin that as rebel action.

Omg, Hux. His poor brain.

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And starts swearing. Insulting their battle plans, their sense of logistics, their goddammed basic sense -

He goes on for ten minutes.

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It's a mix of incredibly high brow insults and filthy outer rim swears.

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Aaaaahhhhh I love that so much about Hux.

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Eventually he finishes. Adjusts his collar and brushes his hair back. He turns and sees kylo staring with open mouth, and flushes slightly.

"Well, yes," hux starts to try and look professional again. Kylo holds up a finger

"Hux," he says, awe struck, "I love you."

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"I grew up in a smuggler ship and /I've/ never heard some of those swear words. Fuck, you're magnificent."

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Cue Hux trying not to be awkward about it haha.

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Kylo stops him by sticking his tongue in his mouth

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Now this has the same basic squad split up as before. Most of what I have is for the imperial side of things.

The crucial timing is that they get there /before/ the destruction of alderaan.

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Also. Kylo. /Vader/.

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Omggggg. Kylo.

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Hux and kylo are integrated into the empire. Honestly don't know how. Hux probably leverages starkiller knowledge. Kylo is taken in as an Inquisitor.

Hux stands out for being the only officer who's not terrified of Vader

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Now. I told you about Tattooine Slave Culture, right? Kylo connecting with his grandfather through the symbolism of slavery and the slave made free?

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Yes, you did!

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One of the things that kylo has done, with his robotic hand, is carve symbols in that language into the casing.

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Leia, the dragon who comes in smoke and fire, for his mother. Lukka, the free one, for his uncle. Rey, the wanderer, for his cousin. Ekkreth, the trickster, the slave who makes free, for his grandfather.

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Palpatine doesn't recognize the symbols, doesn't know that they stand for anything.

But Vader does

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Omg, yes.

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Vader corners him, sometime when he knows the emperor won't be watching. Kylo meets his eyes and holds out his arm, displaying all the marks

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Vader stares at them. His aura is chaotic, disparate, none of the grudging peace kylo is used to from his grandfather. But he has never, ever felt afraid of Vader. Even when he was supposed to be

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"Mom," kylo says into the silence, his thumb over the Leia mark. "My uncle. My cousin." He pauses over the mark of Ekkreth. "My grandfather."

They both know that Ekkreth is called the Sky-walker.

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Vader says nothing, and walks off.

wtf-ktula

!!!

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Kylo lets out a breath. He is not Luke. He does not know if he can do what luke did, if admiration and despiration can take the place of love and pure light, enough to save his grandfather

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But he has to try.

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Vader - quietly interferes in things. He knows how to work around the emperor, at least in the small things.

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He watches kylo ren, the way he moves and the way be fights, and -

And-

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.....

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"The child survived, then."

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*screams very quietly*

Omg and Vader still thinks it's just one.

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Vader has kylo cornered again in some quiet corner. Kylo nods. Vader's voice is as flat as his own, but his emotions are bleeding into the force.

His aura is like a beast in a cage, trapped under shields that are cracking under the force of it.

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" Twins. A girl and a boy. Mom and uncle luke." Another crack in the shields, and kylo feels the buckling in the force. He smiles, one side of his mouth hitched up behind his mask.

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"Hi, grandfather." He says.

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Vader - has nothing to say. He has too much to say.

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Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh omg Anakin, that is, like, so much to have just dumped on him.

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"Sidious told me the child died." This goes without comment. Sidious said a lot of things. "He also said - my wife-"

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Kylo shakes his head, even though it hurts to do so. "Dead in childbirth. Or. At least we think so." He shrugs very faintly. "It's hard to find records. It took us a while to even figure out who she was, much less anything - " he's rambling, he realizes, and forces himself to stop.

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Vader nods, very faintly. He's not really surprised.

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"....he will he interested in you more, if he knows the connection. I suggest that he does not find out."

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It is treasonous, but kylo nods. Vader - cannot understand what he is feeling from his - his grandson.

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Aaaaahhhhhhhh.

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Some canon events happen. Leia is captured by the Empire. And Vader meets her and -

He thinks, smoke and fire and storm.

He thinks, oh. Oh no.

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He - he cannot be sure. (He is already sure.)

(Obi Wan was close to Bail organa, he remembers. Bail had always wanted a daughter, he thinks.)

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Aaaaahhhhhhhh. Vader.

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And tarkin does the whole "give it up or we will blow up your planet" deal.

But -

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Back when kylo was ben, one of the first things he remembers feeling in the force is grief, ever present and quiet, woven into the air around his mother.

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It was familiar, an old injury that could not heal fully, a part of her as much as her anger and her pride. It spiked, when she talked about her father or her home, all the people ben would never meet and all the places ben would never go.

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(She didn't talk about home much.)

And so the death star charges -

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- and kylo ren throws all of his wild impossible power into the space around them, and /pulls/

(It's a bit bigger than a blaster bolt)

wtf-ktula

KYLO OMG

KYLO

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He can't stop it. He tries, fuck knows he tries, burns out his sense of the force - but he can't stop it

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Aaaaahhhhh that is somehow worse. Like, I knew he couldn't, because that's way too much power to be able to stop. But.

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Shhhh, still typing

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- but he drags it out of alignment, pulls enough power out of the beams - (he spends half his days in the mind the man who built starkiller, he knows knows how it works) - that it's a glancing shot, not full strength

It will kill millions of people. The worst disaster to ever touch alderaan's people

- but the planet survives

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*loudly screams*

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- and kylo passes the fuck out for at least a day

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Tarkin bluffs his way through it. Says that was a warning shot, and that Leia should Consider Her Options from there out.

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But he's bluffing and they all know it

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Leia goes back into her cell. Tarkin starts shouting to find out why the planet is still there

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(Hux thinks something about well maybe if you didn't kill off all your engineers you'd be able to find out...)

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I. Honestly have no idea how the rescue happens! Maybe Obi Wan dies there, not sure. Probably

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I'm so proud of Kylo omg.

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Now, I mentioned that this timeline is a bit different. Onto the rebellion side of things.

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Luke and Leia land on a rebellion base, as before, and as well as the powerful young woman with a lightsaber, the perpetually exasperated healer, and the friendly pilot with a star struck expression -

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They are greeted by an older woman with an army jacket and her hair done up in alderaan braids

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Princess Leia and General Leia Organa stare at each other for a long moment. The general smirks, and doesn't introduce herself.

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(Leia isn't surprised to be back in the rebellion. Some part of her never left.)

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!!!!!!!

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General Leia knows that things are different already. When she emerged and the bright light of alderaan was /still there/ - yes, she knows things are already going so very differently

She's not the only General Organa around, and for that, she will accept any strife

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- but the first thing she does is take luke and Leia aide and explain a few things

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She doesn't mince words. She tells them everything she knows - about Anakin, about Vader.

Neither of them believe her, completely. They don't want to.

But they're both very good at telling when someone is lying to them

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Kylo recovers. Sidious suspects. Vader /knows/

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"...the organa girl, then?" He says, when he can get kylo alone.

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Kylo nods. "Yeah, that's mom." He looks away. He looks so damned young. "....she never really forgave you for. Well. Any of it."

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Vader huffs. It's almost laughter.

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Vader does not tell Sidious

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General Leia gets a package, a bit after this. It's mixed into the normal Intel drop from their imperial crew, and she opens it in her office.

A few minutes later, she emerges, an odd expression on her face.

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"Dameron, you know these things."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Giving someone a battle trophy is generally an honor, yes?"

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"...yes?"

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Someone bursts in, announcing that grand moff tarkin had been killed by am Inquisitor!

Leia breathes "And that was going to be my next question."

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"...um."

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Leia smiles brightly. "I have, in my office, a box containing moff tarkin's command cylinders and what I presume is his slull."

Skull

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Poe blinks. "- okay, I can see what he was going for with that."

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"Yes, it's actually quite thoughtful, really."

wtf-ktula

Omg! That's beautiful.

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Leia can't even be upset, because he /definitely\ got it from her side of the family

Yesterday at 3:57 PM

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...there definitely needs to be Leia + Vader bits but I'll have to think about that

wtf-ktula

Any Leia + Vader stuff will be so intense, and this is intense stuff already.

Yesterday at 9:27 PM

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Seriously

I just want Leia to have closure D:

wtf-ktula

Me too. She hasn't had the opportunity for any so far, she's just been kinda forced to keep going.

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Okay. Headfic. At some point - maybe it's fall over alderaan - hux gets slated for execution. Vader is aware that this is his grandson's....something.

Maybe they've had the husband talk, maybe they haven't. But Vader knows that hux is /something/

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Vader looks at his grandson and -

- he is loyal to the empire but -

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- it takes some maneuvering, and Vader is burning through any trust the emperor has in him, but -

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Hux shows up at a resistance base, a little bit dusty but in one piece.

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"Ah. General Organa." Hux says, cheerfully sardonic.

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He offers her a data disk. "The last batch of intel."

She takes it. "General hux. I'd heard you were slated for execution."

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Someone on the side, who was not read into the identity of their informant, asks "wait wtf it's - him? How is /he/ an informant??"

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"I married into the rebellion, I'm afraid."

Leia says, almost at the same time, "he's my son in law."

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Bail blinks. "Um."

"Your grandson makes questionable life choices," Rey explains.

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"Excuse me, I thought marrying me was one of the better decisions he's made."

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Rey rolls her eyes. "Yes, marrying you was less dangerous to himself and the galaxy than the time he joined a cult. Congratulations."

"/thank/ you."

Bail tilts his head. "....I have a few questions."

Leia sighs. "It's a long story."

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(Bail's job in these scenes is to meet his grandson's husband and be all "I have a concern.")

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Hux smirks. "If it makes you feel better, I'm fairly sure that Vader was judging the hell out of me too." He pauses. "You all have had the conversation, yes?"

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Leia nods. "Vader knows, then?"

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They've ducked in somewhere private by now

heyktula

"I married into the rebellion" omg

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"He does. He has been...looking the other way, with certain issues." Hux huffs. His expression tightens, and only someone who knows him would recognize it as worry. "Kylo has - hopes."

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Leia swears under her breath. "You know the chances of that. You know what it took, before." Kylo is not Luke. Leia is not her brother. They do not have the pure gentle light that drew Vader back from the dark

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Hux runs a hand through his hair. He likes it just as little. "Of course I do. I tried to talk him out of it. You know how he gets."

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"I know what he'll be like if it doesn't work." Leia snarls, and then she pulls back. Here and now hux is on her side in this. "But there's no way to keep him from trying, you're right."

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And yes. Hux married into the rebellion.

heyktula

I am feeling so much stress for Kylo right now.

Idolizing his grandfather as much as he does and then having a chance to turn him to the Light?

Aaaaahhhhh

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So are hux and leia!

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Here's a secret: Vader is only as loyal to empire as he must be. He knows better than anyone, the flaws in the system and it's weaknesses

The emperor has his obedience. But Anakin Skywalker was born a slave

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(His grandson bears the mark of Ekkreth, of Lukka. His grandson believes in him. "You helped me learn how to be free," kylo whispers, quiet one night. "How to be something more than a weapon."

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His grandson's fate would be worse under the empire. An Inquisitor in truth, at best. Whatever demons the death of the empire stirred up, it would be worse to leave it.

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Here's another secret: Vader has always had a plan to eliminate the emperor, he's just never had the power to do it himself

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(Here's a fact: kylo ren is nothing if not powerful)

heyktula

Yes yes yes.

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The last timeline of the headfic is "OKAY LET'S SHOUT AT THE JEDI ORDER UNTIL THEY STOP SUCKING" if that helps

heyktula

IT DOES

Yesterday at 8:28 AM

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Okay. I think there's only one real bit of this chunk of the headfic I have left.

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Honestly have no idea how it would happen. Maybe force ghosts are distracting sideous

heyktula

(I am already so into this setup)

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This is the last bit of the original trilogy plot line.

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Kylo sends a message through his normal Intel channels: "Ekkreth is active"

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Everyone who knows what that means - pauses a bit, because it's kylo and kylo has a blind spot the size of a star destroyer....

....but it doesn't feel like a lie, and general Leia is very good at detecting lies.

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They set up a meeting. Some planet where imperial presence wouldn't be suspicious.

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Leia stands on the edge of the field and waits. She will not be shot down. She has that much faith in her son's skills and intent, at least.

(He'd rather destroy democracy than her. She'd rather it be the other way around, but she'll work with what she has)

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The ship lands. There is a heaviness in the force, but Leia only raises an eyebrow

(She wasn't afraid of Darth Vader when she was 19. She was hardly going to start /now/)

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Kylo steps off, and pulls of his mask. The rebellion stills, muttering - they'd never seen him without it.

"Mom." He breathes out. He'd known his mother was - he knew her force signature as well as his own - but seeing her, having her /here/ in truth instead of in theory -

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"Hello," she says. "Alderaan. That was you?"

The air shifts, sparking, but why would he feel -

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"I'm sorry," he starts, talking too fast, "I tried, I couldn't stop it completely, I /tried/, I'm so sorry-"

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- oh

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"Ben." He freezes. Her expression softens. "I'm sorry. Kylo."

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He swallows, thick and heavy

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"You saved my planet. You saved my father. Alderaan lives." She smiles, even though she rather wants to cry. "Thank you."

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Kylo's hands come up and - freeze, unable to move further. Leia steps into the space between them and wraps her arms around him. His hands settle on her shoulders, delicately

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"...I did what I could." He mutters into her hair. "I..."

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(He's still not sure when she got so small. When she started feeling breakable. She isn't, not the way that he is - but, but...)

heyktula

Aaaaahhhhhhhh.

The hug. My feelings.

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Kylo is not good at hugging.

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(Insert a sensible scene transition here)

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Vader looks at Leia - she stares back at him, unafraid, no bravado. He looks at her and Looks at her - she is present in the force, raw and unconventional, self trained if at all-

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- and then she Looks back at him, and she is a lightning bolt in a storm, enough anger to power a wildfire caged within cortisis bars of will and determination - deep darkness against blinding light

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- and she Sees him, and all she can think is that he looks so /tired/

Luke had called him sad, once. She never believed him, and it was no excuse, but here....

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....it's still not an excuse, and it's barely a reason, but she's swallowed worse. She's hasn't learned fear since she was 19, but she has learned compromise

Also, unrelated, but in my head squad hux and kylo are currently navigating the Imperial Social Circles and it's /hilarious/Hux really didn't expect to get along with his father's wife this well, honestly. Turns out she dislikes brendol almost as much as he does

Heyktula

I can totally see them getting along really well once a mutual hatred of Brendol has been established.

Star

...he may have introduced himself with "Hello, I'm your husband's bastard." Which lead into roughly what happened in the snippet I posted

Heyktula

He does very much strike me as the kind of person who has weaponized his weaknesses.

Star

Yep. Plus at that point he hadn't decided if he hated her or not?

They're at some fancy party now and Vader is there? And I'm not sure why? But hux and Vader are making small talk about kylo and everyone else is just gawking at it and it's incredible

(Hux having not told anyone that he was a. Married, b. Married to a man, or c. Married to Vader's newest assistant)

(Brendol is trying not to choke on his champagne )

(His wife is not helping him in the slightest)

Heyktula

ahahahahahahaha

yes, that's beautiful

Star

"I hear you're married to Ren."

"Oh, I hope he's spoken well about me! He's always admired you a great deal."

Most have never heard hux so charming

"He's spoken very highly of your engineering skill. You built his arm?"

"Yes, and help him maintain it - the designs carved in are him, though."

"Hm."

Ren may or may not have volunteered his husband's skills with prosthetics

Heyktula

Of course he would have.

And Hux would be amazing at it too.